Around the Region: State Lawmaker Apologizes to Mormons, Inmate Charged With Striking Jailer and Robbers Arrested After Demanding Pills, Cash

– Marietta Patch

State Rep. Judy Manning apologized Thursday for her comments this week about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s Mormon religion.

“I have made a terrible mistake with my reckless words,” the Marietta Republican, whose district runs into Kennesaw and West Cobb, wrote on her Facebook page.

Those “reckless words” appeared in Wednesday’s Marietta Daily Journal in response to .

“I think Mitt Romney is a nice man, but I’m afraid of his Mormon faith. It’s better than a Muslim,” said Manning, a supporter of Newt Gingrich’s.

That comment popped out in a lengthy article about Cobb County lawmakers’ thoughts on the Republican presidential race. It came amid continuing questions over whether Romney’s religion will block his presidential hopes.

– Douglasville Patch

Douglas County inmate Alexis Daniels was charged with rioting in a penal institution after striking a detention officer.

According to a report released by the sheriff's department on Friday, several inmates had complained to officers that an inmate was spitting on them. Daniels refused the instructions of Officers K. Long and R. Gomez while they attempted to escort her.

"Daniels turned toward officer Long and threw a punch aimed at her face, striking her glasses," the report read. "Officer Long quickly recovered and the inmate was restrained on the ground by the officers."

– Cartersville Patch

In a second violent reported crime , a group of five, the youngest of which is 17, said two armed, masked robbers demanded pills and cash.

The five, ranging in age from 17 to 52 and all Bartow County residents, said the pair kicked in a motel room door left cracked open about 9 p.m. Saturday. One member of the party at —851 Cass-White Road in Cartersville—had left the room to retrieve a drink.

The victims said the duo pointed a gun at everyone in the room, began "screaming for money and pills," threatened to kill the group and fired a shot as they fled over a fence.

Anthony Lee Scorpio, 26, of 51 Valley View Drive in Cartersville, and Marcellous Jamarr Matticx, 21, of 129 Amberwood Lane in Kingston, were each arrested a short time later and charged with a number of crimes, including multiple counts of armed robbery and aggravated assault; wearing a mask to conceal identity; and a firearms violation.