News & Sports For Thursday June 30th 2005

Focus On Love Packages
How many Bibles are lying around your house, stacked up in a bookshelf or on a table? What about used devotionals from like several months ago, the ones you just haven’t had time to cart off to the dump? Well there is an organization that can use those old Bibles and devotionals to help spread the gospel. Love Packages, out of Illinois takes those materials and gives them out to people in other countries who don't normally have access to the gospel message. Today the organization's founder, Steve Schmitt will be Brian's guest for Focus on the Foothills. And you can hear that program later today after the midday stock report at 1:05pm.

Wilkes Residents Fall Victim To Fraud
Two more residents of Wilkes County have fallen victim to fraud over the last week. One woman called Wilkesboro police earlier this week after discovering that someone had been using her check card. Over the past month, the card has been used eight times in places that she had never been. But this wasn’t a case of theft, as the woman still had the card in her possession. Just up the road in Purlear, a woman called sheriff’s deputies after discovering that someone had charged items on her credit card 15 times in the past day. She went to get the card, only to find it missing, Apparently sometime during the last week, she misplaced the card and it got into someone else’s hands, who ran up charges until the card was maxed out. There are however suspects in the case and both investigations are continuing.

Gas Pump Damaged At Local Store
Sheriff’s deputies were called out to Fosters’ Grocery in Ronda this week, after someone damaged one of the fuel pumps at the store. An estimated $100 worth of damage was done, as witnesses said the driver pulled up, backed into the pumps and then drove away. Witnesses also said that the man was armed, as a small pistol could be seen in the vehicle as he drove off. No serious damage was done to the gas pumps and descriptions of both the man and his vehicle were turned over to deputies. That investigation is ongoing.

Deadline Today For Crop Reports
Today is the deadline for all local farmers to turn in their crop reports. Reports have to be turned in to the Wilkes Farm Service Agency, by explaining where your plot of land is and what was planted on it this season. The reasoning behind the deadline is to protect local farmers in case of a hurricane or other disaster, so that your information will already be on file in case you qualify for federal aid. One other thing to consider is that if farmers fail to turn in their reports, the agency will charge a late fee. For anyone who still needs to get that taken care of, you can call to set up an appointment at 838-3622.

Break-in With No Evidence
How do you break into a house without leaving behind any evidence? That’s what a homeowner in Moravian Falls is asking today, after returning to find over $5000 worth of materials missing. There was no sign of a break-in, no doors unlocked and virtually no way a thief could have got inside. Still, somehow a person did come in and took $4000 in cash, a watch, a laptop computer and also a ring from the home. There is a suspect in the case and deputies are continuing the investigation.

Fly-In This Saturday
A special event will be taking place this coming Saturday at the Wilkes County Airport. The 14th annual Fly-in will be held, with classic planes, cars and fire trucks on display. The event, put on by the Mountain View Ruitan Club, will go on from 9am til 3pm with plane rides and games for any kids who want to come out. In addition, the Carolina Historic Aviation Museum will have displays on hand. Once again all of that starts at 9am Saturday morning at the Wilkes Airport.

Renters Take Everything But The Walls
A Pineville man called sheriff’s deputies on Tuesday after discovering that a house he had rented out was almost completely bare of everything. The renter had recently settled his bill and left almost a week ago, but the man hadn’t had a chance until now to check the home out. The carpet had been ripped up and taken from most of the place, also the cookstove, several screens, a piano and other items as well. All total an estimated $9195 worth of merchandise was stolen from the home and just over a thousand dollars worth of damage. The name of the renter along with the place he worked was turned over to sheriff’s deputies and the investigation continues.

Man Arrested At Traffic Checkpoint
Sheriff’s deputies were performing a traffic check at the intersection of Old 16 and Vannoy Road on Tuesday when they saw a car speed up and then come to a dead stop. The driver just sat in his car, some 200 feet from the checkpoint, refusing to move. After deputies requested him to pull up he refused but instead drove the car onto the shoulder of the road and then stopped again. The vehicle had no registration plates and there was a strong smell of alcohol coming from inside. After the driver failed a sobriety test, deputies arrested 59-yr-old Albert Ray Barker and charged him with DWI and not having registration for his car.

State News

Ten Commandments Raise Questions In NC
Questions are being raised in Nash County tonight, after the Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this week. The local courthouse in Nash has a copy of the Ten Commandments on display, one that’s stood inside for almost 100 years. Now local officials are wondering if they’ll be ordered to remove it. The display has already come under fire once, as it was covered during a recent murder trial. The defendant’s lawyers had argued that it was unconstitutional to have the words “thou shall not kill” over the jury box while they were debating the man’s guilt. County officials said they had no plans to remove the Commandments unless forced to, but the county attorney is still taking a look at the Supreme Court ruling, to make sure they’re not guilty of a potential violation.

Durham Man Arrested After Signing His Name
Durham police arrested a man on Monday in a case of identity theft after he signed his own name to a credit card purchase. The man had stolen a card three months ago from another person in the Raleigh area, using it all this time to run up over 33 purchases. The man was finally discovered after he used the card to get a room at a Durham hotel, signing his own name on the receipt. As it was different from the one on the card, a red flag was put up and police were notified. 29-yr-old Henrick Kutwa is facing 33 counts of financial identity fraud.

Easley Signs New Bill Into Law
Gov. Easley signed a bill this week that gives law enforcement officers more powers in the hunt for pedophiles on the Internet. The Child Exploitation Prevention Act makes it a felony crime to solicit anyone over the internet who is identifying themselves as a child. The bill also allows the SBI to investigate the technology and methods used by pedophiles to develop patterns of behavior that could be used to track them down. Before this bill went into effect, anyone caught online could only be charged with a misdemeanor.

Police Asking For Help In Search
Police in the Charlotte area are asking for people across North Carolina to help in the search for a man missing since Monday night. The man, Cordelro Renrecko Peoples disappeared around 8:30pm on Monday and hasn’t returned. His family is concerned not just for his disappearance but also because Peoples has a kidney problem that requires medicine. Medicine still sitting at his home on Beacon Hill Lane. The man is described as being 5’1 ft. and weighing 95 lbs., with brown eyes and black hair. Anyone with information about Cordelro Peoples is asked to call 911.

Raleigh Police Fired After Investigation
Two Raleigh policemen have been fired today after an investigation that found they had violated department procedure. Two other members of the department have resigned and two have been suspended. The officers involved told internal affairs that they routinely ignored calls, doctoring computer reporting and lying to others when asked if they had responded. So far, all the calls ignored have been minor occurrences, such as reports of trees lying in the road or complaints of loud music. The officers blamed their actions on the fact they were overworked and had to pick and choose which calls to answer. The department released a statement saying they had been tipped off by other officers and took the appropriate steps.

Sports Headlines

Fastpitch Baseball Camp Coming Up
For any kids 13 and under who want to develop their baseball skills, a camp will be going on starting July 9th at the West Wilkes Middle School. There are only a few slots left for the camp, as you have to pre-register. Camp instructors will teach players how to work on their defensive skills, like how to field balls, hit their cut off man and turn a double play, while also working on their hitting technique and baserunning. Registration is $15 and to sign up, you can call Coach Summer Vogel at 927-3870 or send an email to CoachV@tristatebreakers.com

Last Day To Sign Up For Volleyball
The deadline is today for anyone who wants to join the local volleyball league, as a second round of tournaments start in July. It’s open for anyone to take part, from middle school students all the way up to adults in separate 3 on 3 divisions.
There is a fee to register, as it costs $30 to sign up your team to play. Once again today is the last day to sign up for July’s tournament and to do that you can either call 957-7363 or shoot an email to holloways@wilkes.k12.nc.us

American Legion Notes
Some news and notes from around the local American Legion fields. With their win over Wilkes on Tuesday, Rowan County not only advanced to the second round, but also walked away with home field advantage. And one other team moved on to the second round, as Stanly County beat Mooresville 11-0, taking the series three games to one.

ACC-Big Ten Schedule Released
And for anyone who’s counting down the days until college basketball returns, the schedule has been released for this fall’s ACC-Big Ten Challenge. The event starts Nov. 28th as Virginia Tech and Ohio State match up, then one day later five games are up on the schedule, including a rematch of this year’s NCAA championship. Illinois and North Carolina will battle it out Nov. 29th, along with Wake Forest & Wisconsin, Clemson at Penn State, Purdue at Florida State and Miami, who takes on Michigan. The challenge wraps up on Nov. 30th, with Duke going against Indiana, Northwestern taking on Virginia, Maryland against Minnesota and NC State facing off against Iowa.

NASCAR News & Notes
In Nascar, a major sponsor has signed on for the fall race in Charlotte. Starting next season, the race at Lowes Motor Speedway will be known as the Bank of America 500, a title which is going to stick around for at least the next five years. And in other NASCAR news, Brian France spoke out this week during a teleconference about the diversity we’ll be seeing within NASCAR in the next few seasons. France said that doors were being opened, especially with Indy Racing rookie Danica Patrick doing so well in her first season on the track. He hinted that there could be an influx of Hispanic, African-American and female drivers making their way onto the track in the next few years.