Children In Wilkes Part II: Choices
Just over 7% of Wilkes County’s children are living in poverty, according to a study done by North Carolina’s Child Advocacy Institute. In part two of our series examining the study’s impact on local kids, we take a look at the family situation here in Wilkes. A new type of family structure is popping up, not just here in Wilkes but around the U.S. Grandparents are raising their grandkids. Here in Wilkes alone, 1084 children are living with their grandparents full time. This is due in some cases to their parents being in jail or in others they’ve simply abandoned the children and left. Also a lot of children here in the county are living in single parent homes, 6733 of them according to the study. How has this affected the kids? We’ll take a look at the numbers tomorrow in the final part of our series.

Local Woman Falls Victim To ID Theft
A local woman went to Duke Power, to get power hooked up to her house. What she found however, was that someone was already using her name to get power. In addition, the woman checked her bank account and found there was an additional purchase on it, to the tune of $170. Apparently back in December, she had left her wallet and the debit card at Food Lion in Millers Creek and the card was missing when she got back the wallet. Information was turned over to sheriff’s deputies and that investigation is ongoing.

Dog Food Recall Still A Concern
Pet owners here in Wilkes and across the state are being asked to pay close attention to a recall going on. It’s been almost a month since Diamond Pet Food issued a recall of certain brands, but already 76 dogs have been killed after eating the food. Included in the recall are all brands that were produced at the company's Gaston South Carolina facility, due to a toxic chemical that was discovered. The chemical aflatoxin, which is found in corn that's been infected with a certain type of fungus, was located in several cans of the food. It can make a pet sluggish and even in some cases cause sudden death. North Carolina's Agricultural Commissioner Steve Troxler is asking pet owners to get in touch with their local vet immediately if their pet has been weak, sluggish or just generally out of sorts. The brands involved are:
All types of Diamond Dog and Puppy Food
All types of Country Value Dog and Puppy Food
All types of Professional Dog, Puppy and Cat Food
You can determine if your brand is one of those under recall by checking to see if it has a Gaston facility production code. The South Carolina facility's codes have a capital G as either the 11th or 12th letter. Also those brands all have a sell by date of anywhere from March 1-June 1st 2007.

Video Game Thief Hits North Wilkesboro Home
A North Wilkesboro man got a surprise when he returned home on Tuesday. The door to his house was unlocked and some visitors had stopped by. Taken from inside was an N64 game system, several games and a CD radio. It’s unclear how the thieves got inside, as there was no sign of a break-in and no damage done to the door itself. That investigation continues.

Focus On Foxx
It’s a time of controversy in our nation’s capital. Questions have been raised about the president’s wiretapping plans, which some have called unconstitutional. While Democratic and Republican leaders have come out saying that they knew nothing about the program, that’s not exactly true, according to 5th District Congresswoman Virginia Foxx explains. The congresswoman will be Brian’s guest later today during Focus on the Foothills, as they’ll be talking about the wiretap controversy, going over what exactly Congress was told about the subject. Also gas prices and illegal immigration will be part of the conversation, coming up today at 1:05pm right after the midday stock report.

Hungry Thieves Raid Local Man’s Popcorn
Always keep your house locked. A North Wilkesboro woman learned why that’s a good idea this week. She returned home to find that thieves had been inside. No money or any other valuables were taken, in fact the only thing missing was a Christmas popcorn tin. There are suspects in the case, as some people were seen leaving the house. That investigation is ongoing.

Blood Drive Later Today
The blood supply continues to stay at extremely critical levels, as turnouts have been less than expected. Type O negative, Type A negative and Type B negative are all under a two day supply and all blood types are desperately needed. The American Red Cross has put together an emergency drive today over at Wileks Central High School, that will last from 8:30am til 2pm. No appointments are needed, but if you want to avoid the crowd as kids change classes, you can call 838-4563. And as always you must be at least 17 years old and weigh no less than 110 lbs to give.

All The Music That’s Fit To Steal
A North Wilkesboro woman called sheriff’s deputies after discovering her missing mandolin at a local pawn shop. Apparently the thief had come in and pawned the instrument for food. The suspect’s name and information were turned over to sheriff’s deputies, but he agreed to pay for the mandolin and return it, so no charges were filed. It’s still unclear exactly how the thief got inside the home on Little Mountain Church Road to steal the instrument in the first place.

Regional News

Highway 52 In Mt Airy Shut Down
Cleanup crews worked throughout the night and on into this morning in Mt. Airy, as they took care of a propane leak. An estimated 30,000 gallons of propane leaked out yesterday afternoon from Carolane Propane and caused Highway 52 to be completely shut down. It's unclear how the propane leaked, but there were no injures to people at Carolane and no evacuations were ordered.

State News

NC Universities Violate The Constitution
North Carolina’s public universities are under attack today, for violating the constitution. The Pope Center For Higher Education, a conservative think tank, issued the accusations in a report released on Tuesday. The report said that campus speech codes are the problem, as they restrict what people can say. 13 of the state’s 16 public universities have policies that restrict free speech, including Appalachian State. ASU was cited for not allowing abusive language, insults or taunts. In addition, Fayetteville State was reprimanded for not allowing vulgar language, UNC Chapel Hill for not allowing sexually explicit jokes. The Pope Center said that such rules open up the universities for a lawsuit, one they would lose.

Troops To Be Welcomed Home Today
Some troops from Iraq will be welcomed home today. This afternoon, B Company of the 1-126th Aviation Regiment will be greeted by friends and family during a ceremony in Salisbury. The event starts at 3pm at Catawba College. The soldiers have served a year and three months in Iraq, logging 4400 flight hours in combat.

Tobacco Farmers Criticize Buyout
Now that the first payments have been sent out, some tobacco farmers in North Carolina are having second thoughts about the federal buyout plan. Some growers feel that they’ve been shortchanged as much as $60,000 and are talking to lawyers about suing the government. An estimated 181,000 producers and 380,000 tobacco quota holders are taking part in the plan, which forks out $951 million each year for the next ten years. As a result, companies can buy tobacco at cheaper prices.

Officials Raid NC State Building
SBI officials raided a building on the NC State campus yesterday. The search was prompted by an anonymous tip over the internet to the National Center for Missing Children. The SBI wouldn’t release any details, but did say that no one at the university is involved in the investigation.

NC Shell Fishing Taking A Hit
Pollution is slowly strangling North Carolina’s shell fishing business. That announcement came on Wednesday, as parts of the state’s economy continues to struggle. An estimated 2800 acres of shell fishing land has been closed down on the Newport River, thanks to contamination from pollution. State officials are blaming people who live on the waterfront, who they believe are dumping materials into the water for use as their own personal dump.

Sports Headlines

High School Basketball
Taking a look at high school basketball from last night, it was Mount Airy over North Wilkes 84-52. Despite playing at home, things didn’t exactly go too well for the North Wilkes Vikings, who gave up 45 points in the second half alone. Aaron Church led North Wilkes, the only Viking to score in double figures. With the loss, the team drops to 3-11. Meanwhile up the road in Millers Creek, it was Ashe County over West Wilkes 72-49. Micah Dancy had 14 points to lead the Blackhawks and Kurtis Lankford added 11, but it wasn’t enough as the Huskies used a 42 point second half to seal the deal. West drops to 5-10 with the loss. On the girls side of the court, it was Ashe County over West 59-50. The Lady Blackhawks got a great performance from Lauren Overton, who had 22 points, but she was about it as Meredith Wingler was the only other West Wilkes player to score in double figures, finishing with 11. West falls to 3-12 with the loss.

NCAA Scoreboard
Around the college basketball scoreboard last night, it was Winthrop over UNC Asheville 74-49, UNC Greensboro took care of Montreat 96-68, UNC Charlotte had no problems against LaSalle as the 49ers won 64-52. East Carolina lost to Memphis 77-67, Wake Forest was upset by Clemson 74-73. The Deacons got 27 from Justin Gray but it wasn’t enough as they fall to 11-4. And Duke survived another test as they took care of Maryland 76-52. J.J. Redick had 27 points to lead the Blue Devils, while Sheldon Williams added 19 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocks. Duke stays undefeated at 15-0 with the win.

NC State Lands More Football Recruits
Some good news for NC State’s football team. Even as the Wolfpack keep losing players to the draft, there are some incoming freshmen looking to fill their shoes. High school senior Jevon Walker is the latest to sign on with the Wolfpack. As a senior at South Dade High in Florida, Walker was a safety, defensive end and also a linebacker. He racked up 104 tackles, seven sacks and 3 interceptions. In addition, the 5-11 180 lb. Walker runs a 40-yd-dash time of 4.4 seconds and turned down offers from Colorado State, Mississippi and Eastern Michigan to come to NC State.

Moore Named Coach Of The Year
If winning a national title wasn’t enough, Appalachian State football coach Jerry Moore was honored again this week. The American Football Coaches Association named Moore the Division I-AA Coach Of The Year. With 14 victories under his belt, Moore has the most wins in Southern Conference history. He’s also been invited to serve as an assistant coach in the 2006 Hula Bowl, a college version of the NFL’s Pro Bowl all star game.

NBA: Charlotte vs. Toronto
It was Toronto over a wounded Charlotte Bobcats team 95-86. Charlotte was missing five players, including rookie Sean May and last season’s rookie of the year Emeka Okafor, both out with injuries. Gerald Wallace led the Bobcats with 15 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 steals, but it just wasn’t enough. The team drops to 11-24, with Milwaukee coming to town on Friday.

NASCAR Rookie Walking Wounded
One NASCAR driver hopes to be healed in time for the Daytona 500. Rookie David Stremme strained ligaments in his leg while blowing away leaves in the yard. Because of the injury, Stremme will have to wear a brace on his foot and might not be able to climb into his #39 Dodge for Chip Ganassi Racing. No replacement has been named if Stremme can’t suit up.