From the Blotter

Worse than a pig sty

There was a big stink at the Waynesboro City Council meeting Monday night.

Residents from the Eighth and Wallace streets neighborhood asked officials to help alleviate a stench that's been lingering there for a few weeks.

"I went there myself and it smells awful … I mean outright awful, like a pig sty," councilman Willie Roy Williams said. "The smell is unbearable."

Officials agreed that the odor was coming from the nearby Mundy Gin, most likely from peanut waste or cotton seeds, and decided to send them a letter requesting a clean-up.

"They might not be aware that they're offending the neighborhood," city attorney Chris Dube said, "though I find that hard to believe."

Medicated thief

Police are looking for someone with sticky fingers and a foggy brain.

Last week, an Augusta woman reported that someone rifled through her purse while her car was parked outside a Waynesboro gas station.

Among the missing items were eight containers of prescribed medications including Phenergan, Lorcet, Xanax, Soma and Paxil.

The victim said she needed a police report so that she could get new prescriptions.

Bad dogs

Two Burke County women reported their pets were attacked by vicious dogs.

Last Wednesday, a Keysville woman reported that a mixed breed brown dog came onto her Story Mill Road property and attacked her Pomeranian.

When she tried to intervene, the dog became aggressive toward her as well.

Her pet's condition was not included in the deputy's report.

The day before, a Waynesboro woman told officers that a pit bull came into her Warren Drive yard and grabbed her dog by the head. The woman hit the pit bull with a board while it slung her dog back and forth, but by the time it dropped it, her pet was dead.

Deputies were unable to locate the pit bull.

Land, Oh Lord!

A Burke County landlord got rid of a bad tenant but still has a bad taste in his mouth.

According to a report filed at the sheriff's office, the evicted couple gave new meaning to cleaning up behind themselves.

Besides stealing the washer and dryer, they pulled down the ceiling fans and peeled up the carpet.

They also broke a few windows before clearing out and caved in sections of flooring.

The couple will likely face charges for property damage.

Bad timing

A Waynesboro man was arrested for burglary, thanks to an unusual coat and a bad sense of timing.

It began Feb. 16 when an East Eighth Street resident discovered her house had been broken into.

A wool horse-blanket coat was among the stolen items - but the burglar left a black hooded jacket in its place.

Just 10 days later, the victim phoned police when she spotted 20-year-old Lindsey Ward sporting her coat near the courthouse.

Ward told police he'd traded coats with a man known only as Willie - "a crack-head who hangs out at the West Sixth Street Jet store," Ward said.

He insisted the trade took place Feb. 13 or a few days earlier and stuck to his guns, even after he was shown a calendar.

When asked how he got the coat three days before it was even stolen, Ward didn't have an answer.

He was arrested after officers pulled out the black jacket and Ward exclaimed, "Willie done left my coat in that house."