Home Page 10/12/06

Please Help A Baby

Allison's Corner

The History of the Spirit

Items for sale

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Ann’s Thrift Shop, 1724 Hwy. 80 in Bloomingdale. Open from 10AM to 5PM. Closed on Wednesdays and Sundays. We offer good, used furniture at reasonable prices, very nice clothes, Avon products at discount prices, and much more!

For Sale... HUGE safe, weighs 1000 lbs. $950, call 912-823-3419.

Antique Upright Piano, cherry wood, fully restored, great condition, $900. Call 656-2343.

12-minute turbo tanning bed, 2005 model, $7,000 or best offer, call 728-5605 or 656-5515.

EZ Go Golf cart GT, 2006 model, red, gas, paid $6500, asking $4500. Call 728-7788.

2006 Kubota L2800 tractor, 4 x 4, just $11,500. Call 728-7788.

THE SPIRIT WORKS!

Police Reports

Bulloch County Sheriff’s Department

• A Deputy was southbound on Hwy 301 when he came up behind a slow moving green Chevy pickup. The Deputy pulled alongside the pickup to make sure the driver was okay, but as he did so, the pickup came to nearly a complete stop. He then got behind the truck and called in the tag number, which came back to a Ford Thunderbird. He made a traffic stop, and the driver was arrested for driving without a license, and having a license plate to conceal the vehicle’s true identity. (Dummy! You could at least have stolen a tag off another pickup!)

• A Deputy was working an accident scene on Hwy 67 around midnight when a white Camaro approached, then suddenly pulled into a parking lot of a closed Auto Tinting business. The Deputy went to investigate the car which was now parked beside the building. The driver was arrested for having no insurance and driving while suspended.

• An Ellabell woman and her boyfriend called 911 after a white pickup and a white Jeep Cherokee attempted to run them off of Hwy 119. The Deputy located the two vehicles at an Eldora Road residence, and a mother and her son were arrested for aggressive driving and reckless driving.

• A Portal man filed a report, saying he loaned his Ford Ranger to a man so he could get to work. He was supposed to return the truck when he got off work, but over a month later, he still doesn’t have his truck back.

• A Deputy clocked a man at 69mph in a 55mph zone of Hwy 46 and made a traffic stop. The man was arrested for driving while unlicensed.

• A woman was arrested for shoplifting, disorderly conduct, and possession of cocaine shortly after walking out of a convenience store with a $5 map without paying for it. (Shoplifting with dope in your pocketbook... a real criminal jeenyus!)

• A Deputy made a traffic stop on Homer Bunch Road when he noticed the truck moving very slowly and weaving in it’s lane of travel. As he approached the driver, he noticed a case of Bud Light in the passenger seat with one bottle missing, but no open container in the cab. He asked the driver for his license, and the man responded “They got ‘em.” The Deputy asked who got ‘em, and the man replied “The people in Atlanta. ...Why are you picking on me?” The Deputy told him he suspected him of drinking and driving, and the man replied “Heck yeah I been drinking!” The Deputy asked him to step out of the truck, and the man slowly crawled out, grabbing onto the door for support. He put the handcuffs on and told him he was under arrest for DUI and asked the man to take the state chemical test. “What?” The Deputy repeated his request, and the man again asked “Why are you messing with me?” The Deputy asked him a third time to take the test, and the man finally replied “Heck no I ain’t taking no test!” He was taken to jail for DUI and for driving while suspended, also for DUI. (He’s messin’ with you ‘cause you might kill somebody other than yourself!)

• A Deputy stopped an Augusta man for weaving on Hwy 67. The man handed over an expired limited permit driver’s license, and asked the Deputy to “cut him a break.” The Deputy asked if the man had been drinking, and the man replied “a couple.” Then it was three. Then the Deputy found a cold Budweiser behind the driver’s seat. The man was arrested for DUI, open container, driving while suspended, and possession and use of drug related objects. Additional possession charges are pending results from the state crime lab on three pills located in the man’s pockets. (Here’s your break... He got you off the road before someone else got hurt while you were drinking and driving! Coulda been worse!)

• Some jerk stole 5 GSU pin flags, the flag poles, and the cups from the pins on the Georgia Southern golf team’s practice course.

• A man was arrested after a Deputy clocked him at 51mph in a school zone at 7:50am. The man couldn’t produce a driver’s license or an insurance card, handing over his Guatemalan ID card instead.

Port Wentworth

• Dispatch reported a concerned driver had called about a black BMW northbound on Hwy 21 with a possible drunk driver. An Officer was about 2 miles ahead, and pulled to the side of the road to wait for the BMW to pass by. As it did, the Officer fell in line behind it and the car of the caller. The driver turned onto Hendley Road, and the Officer noted that the driver had gone off the pavement and onto the grass in the median while making his turn. The other driver pulled to the side to let the Officer follow directly behind the Beamer. Again, he noted the driver was straying over the centerline and onto the grass on the passenger side. He made a traffic stop and asked the driver for his license. The man handed over a leather document holder which contained his insurance and registration for a Jeep Wrangler. The other driver pulled over as well and told the Officer he’d pulled up behind the man at the intersection of Crossgate Road. The man appeared to be asleep at the traffic light. The Officer asked the driver how much he’d had to drink, and the man replied “Way too much!” The Officer asked him to step to the rear of his car to take a field sobriety test, but the man complained that “I can’t walk the line.” He was arrested for DUI Refusal.

• An Officer made a traffic stop on an older model Ford pickup for not having a working tail light. The driver was acting very nervous as he searched for his license and insurance. The Officer then asked permission to search his truck, and the man agreed. The Officer found a baggie containing marijuana and rolling papers, and the man was arrested.

• Officers were conducting a road side safety check when a Guyton man pulled up and presented his license. The Officer remembered him from a previous incident and knew his license had been suspended. He asked the man if he’d gotten his license straightened out, and the man said he had. Dispatch said he hadn’t. He was arrested, and a search of the vehicle led to additional charges of possession of marijuana.

• An Officer stopped a Honda Odyssey van around 2:20am when the driver failed to dim her bright lights on Hwy 21 near O’Leary Road. The woman was soon arrested for DUI. (Speaking of dim...)

• An Officer was approached at a convenience store by a Garden City man who told him he’d reported his 30’ race car trailer stolen back in 2005 in Pooler. He asked the Officer to go with him to a trailer he’d been told about parked along Rice Hope Plantation Road. Once there, the man provided the Officer with floorplans from the manufacturer, a set of keys to the door, and a complete description including describing the floor and spring assemblies. The man’s trailer was white, and the one he’d found had been painted black. The VIN number had been removed from the trailer tongue, but the Officer called the manufacturer and found another VIN plate beneath the stone guard on the trailer frame. The numbers matched, and the trailer was recovered. The trailer had been left on the site by a Statesboro man, and he responded to the scene as well. He explained that he’d bought the trailer at a race track, trading a $9500 engine for it. He offered complete cooperation in the investigation, which led to a phone call to the man he’d bought it from. That man was in Orlando, but said he’d traded an engine for it at a race track in Douglas, Georgia. The information collected was turned over to the Pooler detective who originally handled the case for further prosecution. (Wonder if Junior ever had to go through something like this!)

• An Officer was helping another Officer with a traffic stop when a woman pulled up in a gray Dodge van. The man who’d been stopped said that was his girlfriend, and she didn’t have permission to be driving his van. The Officer questioned the woman, and she said her boyfriend had gone to meet her father at the convenience store to show him how to get to their house. She had no idea why he was driving around looking for her, going too fast and getting pulled over by the Police . The Officer noticed the three young children in the van, and the odor of alcohol on the woman’s breath. Her father had pulled up behind her, and the Officer asked him to watch the grandkids. The woman was then arrested for driving while suspended and for DUI, and three counts of endangering children while DUI. (Welcome to town, Grandpa!)

• Dispatch put out a lookout for a white Dodge Stratus on Hwy 21 with a possible intoxicated driver. An Officer made a traffic stop near Hwy 307, and a Statesboro woman was arrested for DUI. A search of her car led to an additional charge of open container when the Officer found a bottle of Smirnoff Twisted Green Apple beer under the passenger seat, spilling out onto the floorboard. (You’d have to be a little twisted to drink one of those!)

Effingham County Sheriff’s Office

• Deputies responded to a burglary call on Fort Howard Road. Dispatch advised that the suspects had turned onto Mill Pond Road heading towards Hwy 275. One Deputy remembered seeing a car matching the suspects’ vehicle in the parking lot of the convenience store at Hwy 275 and Hwy 21. Two Deputies went there and the suspects were just attempting to leave the parking lot. They stopped as the Deputies pulled in, and were subsequently arrested. One man told them his uncle owned the property and had given them permission to take anything from the home they wanted. Deputies at the burgled home reported the copper tubing had been cut out from where the water heater was. Ceiling fans were missing throughout the residence, and the two adjoining residences. Both men were arrested for burglary. (Gotta wonder if they’re the guys that have been stealing all this copper tubing from residential homesites throughout Effingham and West Chatham!)

• A store manager told Deputies that a woman came to the cash register to pay for some items. She noticed the woman had a box of Tide-to-Go laundry detergent in her personal bag. The manager asked to look inside her bag, and also found rubber bands, razor cartridges, hair conditioner, lotion, fake fingernails and fingernail glue, and an emory board that the woman was not intending to pay for. She called the Deputies, who placed the woman under arrest for shoplifting. Total value of the items was less than $30. (Why risk going to jail for an emory board and some fake fingernails?)

• A Deputy clocked a Springfield woman at 67mph in a 45mph zone of Little McCall Road, and made a traffic stop. The woman couldn’t hand over her license because, she said, it was suspended. She was taken to jail.

• A masonry contractor’s employee couldn’t locate the company’s jack hammer at a job site as it got around to quittin’ time. Another employee, a Savannah man, seemed very eager to leave that day, and is a suspect in the theft of the $2500 tool. The employee called the owner of the company who was soon on his way to the job site. He passed the Savannah man on the highway, and signalled for him to pull over, but the man kept driving. The owner then called the man on his cell phone, and the man said he’d return to the job site, but he never showed back up. (Would it be easy to fence a jack hammer?)

• A woman was leaving her job at a Faulkville convenience store around 11:30pm when two men stopped her in the parking lot, demanding money. The woman refused, and they stole her keys and fled on foot. (Look for these guys to end up dead one day when they try that with somebody insured by Smith & Wesson.)

• A man called Deputies to report that someone had taken his motorcycle, drained all the oil from it, pushed it down the road, drove it without oil, then pushed it back to his home. They, they added vegetable oil instead of motor oil. The man told Deputies he suspects the people that live under his house, and asked the Deputies if they could hear them making noises. The Deputy didn’t hear anything, but provided the man with a copy of the report.

• A woman reported that three men pulled up at her place of employment. Two men wanted to look at the buildings for sale, one at one end of the property and one at the other end. The woman became suspicious, and returned to the office after a short time. The men never bought anything. A couple of days later, the woman found that $1200 was missing from her bank account. She checked her pocketbook and discovered that the third man had apparently gone into the office and stolen one of her checks, along with three carbon copies of other checks to copy her signature. The bank has refunded her account for the stolen funds.

• Just after 1am, a Deputy, travelling on a road outside of Springfield, found a 2006 Chevy HD2500 overturned on the side of the road, resting on it’s roof. There was no driver on the scene. After a few minutes, a man pulled up and said his son had been driving the truck. The man was told to go get him and bring him back to the scene. When the man’s son arrived, he explained that four deer had jumped out in front of him and he had to swerve to avoid hitting them. The Deputy noticed the odor of alcohol on the young man’s breath, and he was soon arrested for DUI and leaving the scene of an accident. (D’oh! A deer! A Female Deer!)

• A Deputy was near the intersection of Midland Road and Courthouse Road and heard some motorcycles approaching at a high rate of speed. As he watched, three motorcycles turned from Midland onto Courthouse, and then accelerated aggressively, each trying to get out in front of the other two. The Deputy followed behind, noting that he was going 105mph and wasn’t catching up to them. He activated his lights and siren, and the biker at the rear finally noticed him and pulled to the side of the road. The other two stopped about 200 feet down the road. They drove down to where the Deputy was waiting with the first biker. All three were then arrested for reckless driving.

• Around 8pm, a Deputy was northbound on Hwy 21 at 4th Street in Rincon when a man pulled out in front of him, turning left onto Hwy 21 from 4th Street. The Deputy turned around and made a traffic stop. The man said he didn’t have his license, but had insurance on the Toyota Sequoia. The Deputy ran his name and date of birth through dispatch, and it came back that he was suspended 7 times including habitual violator. The man was then placed under arrest for driving while suspended. Pretty quickly, another DUI charge was added, and after the man was patted down, a possession of marijuana charge was added. (How ‘bout we keep this guy off the streets from now on! Keep him locked up!)

Garden City

• A woman told Officers that she purchased a toy remote controlled car from a door to door salesman for a Savannah company. She paid for the toy car with a check, made out for $25. When the woman received her bank statement, she noticed that the check had been changed to $125, as that was the amount deducted from her account. She contacted the owner of the company, who claimed that someone at the bank must have forged the change to the check, not anyone at his company. (Must be the guy down at the river Bank!)

• Officers responded to a local grocery store where the store manager told them about an internal theft that had occurred. He said only two of the three bank deposits for a day in early September had been made at the bank. The man interviewed the two assistant managers who made the deposits, and the book keeper who prepared them. About 45 minutes after the book keeper finished her interview with him, she abruptly resigned. The store is missing $11,000.

Bloomingdale

• An Officer clocked a Chrysler 300M at 116mph in a 70mph zone of eastbound I-16. The driver made no attempt to slow down as he passed the patrol car. The Officer activated his lights and siren and pursued the driver, who was now weaving in and out of traffic in an attempt to elude the Officer. He exited on Pooler Parkway and turned southbound, making a U-turn at a subdivision entrance. As the Officer pulled in behind him, the New Jersey man pulled to the side of the road. The Officer instructed the occupants to put their hands out the windows so he could see them. He was a little surprised that there were four men in the car. One by one, all from New Jersey, they were brought out and handcuffed and made to lay face down on the pavement. The driver didn’t have a license, so he gave his name and date of birth. The Officer smelled the odor of alcohol and marijuana inside the car, but not enough to arrest them for possession. The car belonged to a New Jersey woman who was not present. The car was impounded to wait for her to show up and pick it up. The driver had given the Officer a false name, and was given one chance to tell the truth. He did, and was arrested on a parole violation warrant, DUI, driving while suspended, reckless driving, and fleeing to elude. The other three men were taken to a convenience store to call for a ride.

Rincon

• An Officer noticed a Ford Taurus speeding 67mph on southbound Hwy 21 in a 45mph zone. He activated his emergency equipment to make a traffic stop, but the car made a quick left turn into the WalMart parking lot. The Officer followed as the driver raced up and down the aisles. The Officer called for backup and finally got the car stopped.When he approached the driver, he noticed a large amount of tobacco shavings in the driver’s seat and floorboard, common among drug users as they replace the cigar tobacco with marijuana. The Officers separated the driver and passenger, both Florida men, to interview them. The driver said they were on their way to Virginia to see his aunt. The passenger said they were heading north to see some girls, but couldn’t give a destination. The Officer asked permission to search the vehicle, but the man wouldn’t agree to it. The Officer then called for a K-9 Officer, who alerted on the rear quarter panel of the Taurus, a common area for stashing illegal drugs. A search of the car was negative, but the car had been rented from Hertz and was due back the previous week. As official with Hertz asked that the car be towed. The driver then mentioned to a detective that he was driving the “decoy” car. Officers located a set of car keys from an Enterprise rental car inside the Taurus. The driver admitted those belonged to his girlfriend who’d been staying at a Pooler hotel. Pooler Police were notified and were already at the hotel in regards to the woman staying past checkout time. Further investigation led the Officers to believe the men were meeting a man at a Rincon location to make a drug transaction. Both men had extensive arrest history for possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

Bryan County Sheriff’s Office

• A Deputy was southbound on Hwy 17 just after 2am when he noticed the red Dodge Neon in front of him swerving over the fog line and the centerline. He made a traffic stop, and a Hinesville man was arrested for DUI and open container.

• Around 3:30am, another Deputy was northbound on Hwy 17 when he noticed a black Ford Explorer also veering over both the fog line and centerline. He made a traffic stop, and the Hinesville man said he was on his way home from a nightclub in Savannah. He was arrested for DUI. (Sounds like he was drunk enough to be going the wrong way to get to Hinesville!)

• A Deputy stopped a black Subaru northbound on Hwy 17 after observing the driver weaving in his lane of travel, veering across both the fog line and the centerline. As he approached the driver, he noticed a 12 oz. Natural Light can in the floorboard behind the driver’s seat. After obtaining the man’s license and insurance, he noticed the smell of alcohol and asked the man who the beer can belonged to. “Mine.” The man was arrested for DUI and open container.

• Deputies responded to a Pembroke residence for a report of a fight. They found two women there, each with visible injuries. EMS was called to the scene, but both women denied transport. As they were separated, one woman continued cussing and yelling. By now, a large crowd had gathered, including several small children. The woman would walk to her home, then turn around and return to yell and cuss some more. The Deputy warned her to quit using the profane language, and then instructed both women to stay away from each other. The woman said something else, and the Deputy again warned her to just go home and stay away from the incident location. The woman replied that the only way that would happen was if she was arrested. The Deputy obliged, charging her with disorderly conduct. (Ask and ye shall receive...)

• Deputies responded to reports of people buying and selling drugs at the corner of Mutcherson Road and Black Creek Church Road. A Deputy stopped a man in a red Ford, and asked the man for his license and insurance. The man handed over his license, and the Deputy walked back to his patrol car to run it through dispatch. It came back suspended. But the man took off running while the Deputy was on the radio. He’s wanted now for driving while suspended, expired tag, and obstruction. (And you left him your suspended license? Idiot!)

• Around 2:20am, a Deputy was doing business checks of the two convenience stores at Hwy 280 and I-16. At one, he found a man asleep in his car. The man said he was the paper guy and was waiting on the papers. (Man I’m glad our papers are delivered in the early afternoon!) The Deputy finished up with that guy, and noticed a car had pulled into the station across the highway. He’d already checked that store with no one there. He went over, and noticed another man asleep, this one in a blue Ford. He also noticed the man was holding a cup of beer in his hand. (That’s talent!) He woke the man up and asked for his license. The man said he didn’t have his license, but had three tickets with his info on them. The Deputy noted that the tickets were from the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, for habitual violator, open container, and failure to maintain lane. He verified the man’s habitual violator status through dispatch, then placed him under arrest for open container and habitual violator again. At jail, the man was ordered to empty his pockets, and he pulled out a crack pipe wrapped in a napkin. When the Deputy asked what that was, the man said he didn’t put that there! The Deputy pointed to the video camera recording the process, and the man admitted it was his crack pipe. (Why think about letting this guy out of jail? Ever??)

• Deputies responded to an Ellabell residence and a man was arrested on charges of cruelty to animals and dogfighting after neighbors complained. Several dogs were confiscated from the scene, suffering from obvious neglect. (Another one that should never be allowed outside the jail again! Ever!!)

Pooler

• An Officer clocked a man at 39mph in a 25mph zone on Moore Ave. and made a traffic stop. The man said he’d left his license at home, but dispatch said his license had been suspended for child support obligations, no insurance, two failures to appear, and points. He was taken to jail.

• Just before midnight, an Officer clocked a Savannah woman at 88mph in a 65mph zone of eastbound I-16. He made a traffic stop and asked the woman for her license and insurance. “My purse was stolen earlier today, so I can’t show you my license,” she said as she handed over her insurance card. Dispatch advised that her license had been suspended, along with the registration on the car. She was taken to jail.

• Two Officers responded to a Pooler residence where a woman was complaining that another woman wouldn’t release her children to her. (The children were inside a Ford Expedition.) As one Officer attempted to get the woman to let the children out, another woman began yelling, and soon all three women were yelling at the Officers. Eventually, all three were taken to jail on disorderly conduct and obstruction charges, and one was charged with assault on a Police Officer.

• An Officer assisted the Rincon Police by responding to a local hotel where a Florida woman was staying. The Rincon Officer arrived and had her Hertz rental car towed from the hotel. The two women were then warned that they’d stayed past checkout time, and would have to vacate the premises or pay for another night.

• A woman told Officers her sister took her Enterprise rental car while she was sleeping to go to an appointment at DFACS in Savannah. While there, she was arrested on charges by DFACS. The rental car was then driven away by the sister’s boyfriend, and he has not contacted the Pooler woman. Officers entered the car in GCIC as stolen.

• Around 11pm, an Officer clocked a Florida man at 101mph in a 65mph zone of southbound I-95 and made a traffic stop. After giving the man his citation, he asked permission to search the vehicle. The man was soon on his way to jail for possession of marijuana.

• A church pastor noticed the garage door on the church property was partially open, so he walked over to investigate. The lock that normally secures the door was missing, and so was the church’s $6900 riding lawn tractor.

• An Officer was southbound on South Rogers Street when he clocked a Ford Expedition at 50mph in the 35mph zone. He turned around to make a traffic stop as the Expedition was pulling into the convenience store parking lot. Witnesses told the Officer the man that got out of the Ford had run to the trailer park behind the store. One witness escorted him to the man’s residence. The man said his brother had brought a friend over to drive him around, but the witnesses identified the man as the driver of the SUV. He was arrested for driving while suspended and failure to yield to an emergency vehicle. (The guys that try and lie their way out of it really bug me!)