Columbia City Paper

Compiled by Todd Morehead

HONEA PATH

Tax Dollars at Work

The Anderson County EMS Advisory Commission has voted to withhold county funding for the Honea Path rescue squad while an investigation into suspicious credit card charges moves forward.

Officials are investing the squad after county officials discovered an EMS credit card was used for such dating services as Singlesnet.com, eHarmony.com and Match.com.

Honea Path Police Chief David King said he didn’t know who had the card at the time of the purchases, according to the Anderson Independent Mail. Authorities are also exploring the possibly that the charges could be linked to identity theft and credit card fraud by a person not associated with the rescue squad. The squad receives about $25,000 per year in public funds, according to one report.

CAMDEN

Honey, I Don’t Have HIV

A Camden man has been sentenced to six years in prison for not disclosing his HIV infection to his ex-wife.

Prosecutors said Joel Bedenbaugh, 47, told his wife he took medicine for a blood disease throughout their five-year marriage, but never disclosed that the medication was for HIV. A jury found Bedenbaugh, a former teacher, guilty of exposing others to HIV. His wife was not infected.

CHARLESTON

If She Scooped, You Must Acquit!

Dorchester County Council wants Circuit Judge Diane Goodstein to stop bringing her dogs to work. According to one media report, the council has asked the county attorney to write a letter asking that only service dogs be allowed in the court building.

Goodstein told the Charleston Post and Courier that her dogs, an Airedale and two spaniels, are housebroken and haven’t soiled the courthouse floors. The judge said she believes the rumors started when she was witnessed on her hands and knees cleaning mud tracks left by a construction worker, according to the report.

OUCH! Naked Reverie Ends with Taser

A Charleston man’s naked escapades in an apartment complex parking lot came to an abrupt end after residents reported the disturbance to police.

According to the Charleston Post and Courier, police responded to reports of a naked man jumping on cars and running around the Ashley Shores apartment complex. The man was reportedly yelling, “He was the sun, the moon and that he was all-knowing,” according to the report.

When authorities arrived on the scene, the man jumped into a nearby marsh and made his way toward the Jenkins Orphanage. Police later Tased the man and transported him by EMS to an area hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

ORANGEBURG

Porn: Entertainment While You Wait

An Orangeburg man on probation for burglary has been arrested for allegedly breaking into a woman’s home and watching Internet pornography while waiting for her to return.

Jaquetin Fox, 18, is charged with armed robbery, first-degree burglary, grand larceny and kidnapping. Police found four knives and lengths of cord that had been cut from the blinds and appliances that were placed strategically around the house.

“All that stuff wasn’t positioned around the house so he could talk about the weather,” Capt. Mike Adams of the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety Adams told the Orangeburg Times-Democrat. “It certainly takes on the appearance of more than a simple burglary.”

ROCK HILL

Ah, Sheee-it! That’s Just Low, Man!

Police are seeking information about a stolen golf cart that belongs to a woman with cerebral palsy.

According to the Rock Hill Herald, Haley Christmas, 27, enjoyed parking the golf cart in her yard to smile and wave at passing cars. Christmas reportedly named the cart “Bye-Bye” and has worn an oval shaped track in the grass from driving in a large circle.

When someone stole the golf cart earlier this month, Christmas’s father told the Herald, they also “stole [Haley’s] soul.”

An officer working the case said that in all his years on the force, he’s never seen a crime as rotten as stealing a golf cart from a disabled person. The Christmas family said they hope the thief simply returns the cart on their own.