Three Bath meth heads are now in police custody after being investigated for a length of time by authorities.

Tuesday afternoon, police nabbed Charles Ray Jennings Jr., 39, Saprina Williams Logue, 38, and Jerry Lee Pitts Jr., 19, for operating a meth lab in a dilapidated shed behind a home on Railroad Street. Surely, the homeowners were overjoyed.

The perpetrators were taken to the Aiken County detention center and booked on charges of manufacturing and trafficking methamphetamine. Against them are many items used in the creation of meth, including some freshly made meth in  a bottle.

Their bail is unknown at this time.

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Aiken Police are on the lookout for a man responsible for a weekend shooting in downtown Aiken.

The 46 year old victim of Aiken says a man jumped into the bed of his pickup truck late Sunday and fired a round into the cabin. The man was wearing a black mask and a dark cape when he shot at the man at the intersection of Greenville Street and Barnwell Avenue.

The shooter held on as the victim drove away, swerving back and forth to throw the man off the truck. His back window was shattered as he fired a round before finally falling off. Police noticed the man swerving and assumed he was impaired, becoming more suspicious as the man refused to stop.

When he finally stopped, police held him to the ground and noticed the shattered window and blood dripping from his shoulder. He was treated at the scene for a superficial wound.

Witnesses told police that they heard gunfire, but no leads have been given as to the identity of the shooter.

If you have any information that could lead to the apprehension of the suspect, call Aiken Public Safety at 642-7620.

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Evidence is being gathered from the crash site of a Cessna airplane that crashed off of Snipes Pond Road on Thursday, killing pilot Stephen Radke.

Radke was en route to Aiken Municipal Airport when the plane took a nosedive at a 45 degree angle in foggy, windy and rainy conditions. After impact, the debris field was scattered over a 300×150 foot radius and Radke was reportedly killed instantly.

No reports were received from the pilot that he was in any sort of danger over the course of the flight.

During the flight, Radke contacted an Augusta tower to tell them that he couldn’t see his landing site and would be flying back to his origin, Beaufort County Airport. Soon after, at 9:36 am, an explosion was reported by a crew of electricians and they called 911. He was slated to arrive at Aiken Municipal just four minutes later.

Officials are now awaiting the results of a toxicology report on the victim, and the NTSB is investigating the  large swath of destruction in the wooded crash site.

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Sunday trick-or-treating will still commence as planned in Aiken.

There is some confusion as to whether or not kids can go door to door since Halloween falls on a Sunday this year – in previous years,  kids were asked to do their rounds on the day before due to police not being in force on that day. To avert confusion, Aiken police have given the green light for kids to do their ghoulish work on Sunday. However, the city of Jackson asks kids to do it on Saturday.

As a reminder, Aiken authorities stress the importance of safety. Respect the privacy of those who aren’t giving out candy, make sure kids are fed a meal before trick-or-treating, and supervise them. Public safety will be in force to smooth things along, and traffic will be blocked off into Gatewood for the freakish night.

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The love of greasy fast food led many Aiken residents rushing to the new Five Guys Burgers, causing headaches for nearby businesses. Hungry patrons had to park all over the Millbrook Station strip mall due to lack of parking in front of Five Guys.

Customers found parking refuge in front of other businesses such as Cork & Bull Pub and Sakura – businesses which explicitly state that their parking lot is for their customers only. Three cars were eventually towed in the fracas.

The main problem in Five Guys week of existence is essentially a chain of parking nightmares. Customers going to the burger joint fill up Cork’s parking lot, who in turn fill up Sakura’s parking lot, and customers of each respective business are told to park wherever they can find a spot. Things weren’t eased when the owner of the strip mall hired a man to stand watch and try to assume control of the parking problem.

Eventually, law enforcement had to come out to fix the matter.

Things are just going to get worse – Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins are opening up new stores in the vicinity of Five Guys. The optimistic thoughts say that business will eventually plateau and things will correct themselves.

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An Aiken woman faces up to life behind bars if she is convicted of homicide by child abuse for the August 6 death of 16 month old Xzavian Knight.

Elouise Wade-Meria Taylor, 51, is accused of shaking the child and possibly punching or slamming him, inducing head trauma and killing him. Her bond was set today at $150,000, which could be appealed once a forensic radiologist submits his review of the child’s X-rays. She had been running the day care out of her home on Saint Johns Church Road since 1999.

Arguments from the prosecution say that the findings of the Michigan-based forensic radiologist will match  those of the autopsy. The results are expected within two to three weeks.

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Three of Aiken’s upstanding citizens have been charged in connection to the attempted theft of a moped on Jefferson Davis Highway.

One of the thwarted thieves, Donna Nicole Hatcher, was charged with possession of meth and cocaine on top of simple larceny.  Joeseph Ennis and Nicholas Stallings  were charged with simple larceny as well.

An Aiken County deputy spotted the thieves on Jefferson Davis loading a moped into the back of their 1997 Ford truck. As he gave chase, the sticky-fingered foes ditched the truck and took off running into the woods. Ennis, the driver, was caught in pursuit.

The $1,000 motor scooter was returned unharmed, while the other three were detained. At this time, Donna Hatcher is the only one of the group still in jail on drug  possession charges.

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Retired US Army Chief Warrant Officer Dexter Kennedy has been “making people better for life” and working on his strategy to graduate tournament-level martial arts superstars to a professional best-of-the-best team championship competition for more than eight years. He is now making his National Martial Arts League (NMAL) philosophy available nationwide through franchising.

Football, amateur and professional, is perhaps the most popular spectator sport in the United States, attracting over 40 million in attendance and many more millions in television viewership each year. Imagine what would happen if every man 18+ only had to pay a registration fee to try out for an NFL team. That’s the reality in the National Martial Arts League.

The NMAL provides maximum opportunity for martial artists, male and female, ages 18-50, looking to showcase their skills as well as stay in prime physical and mental condition prior to the NMAL team tryouts. Over time NMAL franchise teams can certainly emulate the success of other professional league team franchises.

For decades in America, various genres of the martial arts have languished within the limitations of their respective communities. Now, the National Martial Arts League Franchise, LLC is making a powerful move toward professionalizing the amateur martial arts tournament-level competition into a major league sport where competitors of all martial arts styles will be given an opportunity to represent their city/state team in a national championship like the Super Bowl, which is called The Kumite.

A nationwide league with the potential to expand globally can be more inclusive of martial artists than any existing martial arts platform. In addition to physical fitness and mental conditioning, the NMAL offers excellent career opportunities for coaches, referees, and front office administrative personnel. Coaches receive experience by working with competitors and preparing fight strategies while referees are presented with a challenge of officiating fast-paced, action-packed events. People involved with management aspects of the organization gain unparalleled experience and insight into the operation of a professional sports franchise. Franchisees also become more involved within their communities by providing a professional sports team, which becomes an active vehicle for recreation, community service and economic profitability.

Ranked within the top 7% of military-friendly franchises, NMAL offers U.S. veterans a 20% franchise fee discount on all new National Martial Arts League franchise offerings.

National Martial Arts League franchisees also become the owner of a solutions-based martial arts training facility, the Kumite Fightclub, which provides programs that address:

* Stress – America’s #1 health problem

*Obesity – 33% of American adults are obese

* Crime – Of which 16% of US citizens will be victims

* Bullying – 90% of 4th-9th graders report being victims

For more information, call 866-KUMITE1 (586-4831) or visit us at either of our websites http://www.thenationalmartialartsleague.com or http://www.thekumite.com.

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Industrial employment in South Carolina fell 3.2% over the past twelve months according to the 2011 South Carolina Manufacturers Register®, an industrial Directory published annually by Manufacturers’ News, Inc. (MNI) Evanston, IL. MNI reports South Carolina lost 8,747 manufacturing jobs over the past year, a significantly smaller decline than the 24,393 jobs MNI reported lost over the 2008-2009 survey period.

“Decreased demand continues to affect South Carolina’s manufacturing sector,” says Tom Dubin, President of the Evanston, IL-based publishing company, which has been surveying industry since 1912, “However we’re definitely seeing fewer job losses than we did a year ago, and the state’s favorable business climate continues to help improve the outlook.”

Bright spots for South Carolina include several plant openings such as Lava USA’s textile plant in York County; California-based Jatco’s production facility in Greenwood County; Materials Innovation Technologies’ plant in Lake City; Jetline’s Cherokee County plant; MTU Detroit Diesel Inc.’s engine production plant in Aiken County; and Boeing’s new plant in Charleston.

Manufacturers’ News reports South Carolina is now home to 5,111 manufacturers employing 262,929 workers.

Textiles/apparel saw the sharpest decline, down 8.8% over the past twelve months, and currently ranks as the state’s second-largest industrial sector by employment with 27,853 jobs. Significant losses for the sector included Blumenthal Mills’ closure in Marion County and the closures of several Milliken textile plants. Industrial machinery and equipment remains the state’s largest manufacturing sector by employment with 35,146 industrial jobs, down 5.7% over the year. Third-ranked rubber/plastics accounts for 26,142 jobs, down 1.6% over the past twelve months.

Other sectors that lost jobs over the year included stone/clay/glass, down 6.5%: chemicals down 6.1%; transportation equipment down 6%; printing/publishing down 4.3%; primary metals down 4.2%; lumber/wood down 3%; electronics down 2.8%; and paper products, down 2.7%. Gains were seen in furniture/fixtures, up 9.7% and food products, up 7.5%.

According to the Directory, South Carolina’s Northwest region accounts for the largest share of industrial employment with 164,900 manufacturing jobs, down 1.5% over the past year. The Northeast region ranks second at 47,659 manufacturing jobs, down 8.6% over the year. The Southeast region of the state is home to 29,054 industrial jobs, down 3.4%, while the Southwest is home to 21,316 jobs, down 2.6%.

MNI data shows Greenville is South Carolina’s top city for manufacturing employment, home to 23,821 jobs, down 6.6% over the past year. Second-ranked Spartanburg accounts for 15,036 jobs, with employment down 3.5%. Columbia is home to 9,687 industrial jobs, with no significant change reported over the year. Fourth-ranked Greer saw manufacturing employment increase 2.8%, and currently accounts for 9,673 jobs. Anderson accounts for 9,014 manufacturing jobs, with employment virtually unchanged from last year.

Manufacturers’ News, Inc., publisher of manufacturers’ directories since 1912, compiles and produces manufacturing guides, statistics and databases for all 50 states. MNI also maintains IndustryNet.com, an industrial search engine designed specifically for locating manufacturers and suppliers nationwide. For more information, contact Manufacturers’ News, Inc., 1633 Central St., Evanston, IL, 60201, 847-864-7000, FAX 847-332-1100.

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Staff Sergeant Willie James Harley is finally home amongst great tragedy as a member of the South Carolina National Guard.

His remains touched down at Aiken Regional Airport Saturday morning. The 48 year old was killed October 1 when an IED was detonated under the vehicle he was using to conduct clearance operations.

SSG Harley joined the Guard back in 1981 and proudly deployed to Afghanistan July 9 as a member of the 1221st Graniteville Engineer Company. He was slated to return some time in the summer of 2011. .

A motorcade transported his flag-draped casket to Simmons Funeral home, where further arrangements are being conducted. The family wished to have their privacy respected, as no interviews or media intervention was allowed over the weekend. Further details will be released this week.

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