From the Blotter

Finished business

Three Waynesboro women accused of forcing their way into a Hale Street residence and starting a big fight will have 10 days to mull over it.

Jill Hughes, Tiffany Hughes Bellamy and Santrewl Hughes were among eight offenders charged in a Feb. 28 melee involving around 50 people, including a number of family members. According to the original incident report filed at the Waynesboro Police Department, they went to the home to take care of "unfinished business" from a party at the American Legion in which two women were assaulted with beer bottles.

Municipal Court Judge Percy Blount put an end to their business Monday when he sentenced all three to 10 days in jail and nearly a year's worth of probation. He also ordered each of them to pay a $750 fine and restitution. The judge found co-defendants Kiara Sherman, Cenethia Lewis and Rickey Hughes not-guilty. The two teens who were charged will appear in juvenile court.

The whole lot

Police were dispatched to the former Heilig Meyers parking lot Saturday after a caller told them two women were fighting inside a van.

Although the women denied any physical contact, the officer noted that both of them were breathing heavily. One had a swollen eye, the officer reported, while the other had a small cut on her face.

Both women maintained that their injuries were not new ones.

Three witnesses, however, said the women were not only fighting, but were doing so while the van was moving. They also said the children the women had brought along were running behind the van in fear of being left behind.

Although neither woman was charged for fighting, the officer arrested one of them, 31-year-old Tonya Crawford, on Richmond County warrants.

Poor pets

Two Mead Farm Road residents reported that their dogs were shot Wednesday.

A woman told deputies she found her Chow dead in a nearby ditch with a gunshot wound.

That same day, a man living just down the road said someone shot his dog in the hip while it was chained up outside his home.

The cases remain under investigation.

Objects in the rearview mirror

An Augusta man reported hitting a pedestrian who darted in front of his Chevy Blazer on River Road.

According to a report filed at the Burke County Sheriff's Office, the 40-year-old victim, who was wearing dark clothing, was knocked to the ground around 7 p.m. Friday when the driver's side mirror hit him.

The mirror was torn from the car, but the pedestrian did not seem to be injured.

He was taken to Burke Medical Center to be checked, and was released later that night.

The driver was not found at-fault.