Around the Region: Family Finds Unexploded Military Rounds, Man Arrested for Stealing Plants and State Senate Passes Drug Testing for Welfare Recipients

– Ft. Stewart Patch

A family in Pooler found an unexploded military round in a vacant lot behind their home on Wednesday.

According to the Savannah Morning News, Mark Bennett stated he found the round last week while cleaning the lot for his landlord but thought that is was scrap metal. Bennett told reporters he didn’t know it was an explosive round until police stopped him from driving down Little Neck Road in Pooler and told him a bomb squad was at his house.

Ordnance disposal teams from Fort Stewart and the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police were dispatched to the scene. The round was exploded with a C-4 charge, no injuries were reported.

– Cumming Patch

Herbert Martin Lynn of Cumming was arrested early this week after being accused of stealing $12,000 worth of plants, potting soil and equipment from Garden Wright Nurseries. After a search warrant was obtained most of the property stolen and items that had not yet been discovered as stolen were recovered at Lynn’s residence.

Several of the items reported missing from the nursery included 75 bags of Monrovia potting soil, 80 Japanese Maple plants, a tree boom attachment for a skid loader, various metal benches, folding tables and a ladder.

Lynn was charged with one count of burglary and was released from the Forsyth County Detention Center after posting a $11,110 bail.

– Roswell Patch

The Georgia Senate passed the Social Responsibility and Accountability Act on Wednesday taking state welfare recipients one step closer to having to pass drug testing before they can receive state money. The bill will still need state House of Representatives approval before becoming a law.

The drug testing legislation will require recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to undergo drug screening to determine welfare eligibility. TANF applicants not enrolled in Medicaid will be responsible for paying the drug testing application fee of approximately $17, however if the test is negative for controlled substances they will be fully reimbursed for all expenses as part of their first benefit check.