WCC Announces Elliot Scholarship Winners

Wilkes Community College has announced honors for fifteen students, who have received the Gertrude Elliot Allied Health Scholarship.

This year’s recipients are Amy Clautter, Ashleigh Douglas, Amber Whitley, Melia Inscore, Andrea Hawkins, Kasey Durham, Connie Caudle, Melissa Poe, Kristin Moxley, Christy Sturgill, Jennifer Blair, Kayla Billings, Julia Brannock, Shelia Malteva, and LeAnne Price.

The Gertrude Elliott Allied Health Scholarship was established at Wilkes Community College by Drs. Tom and Karolen Bowman. They are personally involved in the scholarship process and work with WCC officials to select the scholarship recipients each year. To date the scholarship has helped 82 students with over $107,000 in scholarship money.

Gertrude Webster Elliott graduated from Davis Hospital School of Nursing in 1954. She worked briefly at Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem before returning to Wilkes County to work for Wilkes General Hospital in the Emergency Room until her death in 1988. Gertrude will always be remembered for her loving care to the many patients she served and for her devotion and love of the nursing profession.

Contributions to the Gertrude Elliott Allied Health Scholarship may be sent to WCC Endowment Corporation/Gertrude Elliott Scholarship Fund.

Stuff Missing, But How Did the Thief Get In?

Some stuff disappeared from a North Wilkesboro home sometime int he past week, and no one is really sure how it happened. Jennifer Childress, who is in the process of moving out of a rental house, says she was last by the house a week ago yesterday. When she stopped by yesterday, she saw several items had been taken: a Monitor brand heater worth 600-dollars, a spare wheel and tire for a Ford Ranger pickup, valued at 50 bucks, and six Zebco fishing poles, four with closed-face reels and two with open-faced reels. Deputies valued them at 120-dollars, bringing the total loss to 770-dollars. Childress says only she and her landlord have a key, and there's no sign of forced entry. THe landlord doesn't know what happened to the stuff. The case remains under investigation.

We Can Actually Start Figuring Taxes Soon

A piece of news today from the IRS stands to affect some WIlkes residents -- those who pay the Alternative Minimum Tax. Wrangling in Cognress has kept that tax provision from beeing settled so far this eyar, and threatened to puch back the entire tax filing season because the calculations for AMT are required for everyone.

The Internal Revenue Service announced this morning it will immediately begin the final reprogramming steps for its income-tax processing systems to prepare for the upcoming tax season following final passage of the Alternative Minimum Tax “patch” Wednesday by the House.

The AMT and AMT-related tax calculations affect a number of core IRS processing systems that will need to be updated. The IRS is continuing to aggressively explore options for the 2008 filing season in order to minimize the impact of processing delays on taxpayers. Additional details will be available to the public as soon as plans are finalized.

To help the tax professional and software communities prepare for the upcoming filing season, revised copies of the 12 tax forms impacted by the AMT legislation will be posted to IRS.gov within 72 hours after the AMT patch is signed into law.

Thief Tries to Steal Jeep, Bungles up Ignition Instead

No one is sure why somebody's attempt to steal a Roaring River woman's Jeep didn't work, but she's glad for the failure. Mostly. Betty Phifer tells deputies she discovered the attempt Monday evening. Someone had gotten into the Jeep, and in their attempt to steal it had broken the ignition switch, which kept the vehicle from starting. While deputies value the damage to the switch at only 30-dollars, it's a bit more significant to Betty, who says now she can't start the Jeep, either. Interestingly, the doors on the 93 Jeep were locked before and after the incident, but the vehicle shows no sign of forced entry. Deputies continue their investigation.

Drivers License Errors: An Error in How Many Have the Problem

State officials now say that fewer than one in every 2,000 North Carolina driver's licenses have an error in the social security number...a little over 10-percent of the 27-thousand people that had been reported earlier this year. But the DMV also acknowledged that 16,000 driver's licenses that are expired or suspended were also issued despite inconsistent Social Security numbers, possibly because of error or falsified information.
The division found that the remaining licenses identified in a March state audit were either license holders who were deceased and had not been reported, licenses used for undercover law enforcement work or licenses with only slight information inconsistencies, such as a non-matching name, perhaps due to a name change. The DMV said it plans to send a letter to drivers with questionable licenses to verify their authenticity.

Elkin Schools Appoint Interim Superintendent

Some students who live in Wilkes county have a new, temporary school superintendent. But she's someone they probably know -- former assistant superintendent, Debbie Brown. Barry Shepherd resigned last week as superintendent of Elkin city schools, effective January 21s. He's accepted a superintendent's job elsewhere.
Elkin School Board members voted 4-1 Tuesday night to have Brown serve as interim superintendent. James Freeman cast the dissenting vote, saying he had nothing personal against Brown, but that it should go through an interview process.
After a long career in teaching and administration in Elkin City Schools, Brown was hired about a year ago as assistant to the superintendent. "She has been with us about a year and knows the system as well as anyone," Chairman Stewart Roten told the Elkin Tribune. "She is a product of Elkin City Schools. She has been involved in decision making as Barry has. It will make it an easy transition. He won't have to bring her up to speed on much of anything," the chairman said.

In the selection for the long term replacement for Shepherd, Roten said the board will advertise in state wide publications that cater to school systems and superintendents. Board members have not talked about the type of individual they want. "We will likely discuss that at the planning retreat," Roten said. The retreat is planned for the week following Shepherd's departure. It had been scheduled before Shepherd's announcement.

WIlkes Woman Choked During Fight, Taken to WRMC

Sheriff deputies have issued warrants for a man alleged to have tried to choke his mother-in-law during a fight over a telephone. Deputies were called to the man's home a little before 9 last night, and found Karen Cleary with obvious bruising on her neck, complaining that she was having problems breathing. She was taken to Wilkes Regional for treatment. Cleary and her daughter Angela, who is the wife of suspect Gregory Cardwell, told deputies Cardwell had grabbed Karen by the throat and dragged her from the kitchen to the living room of the house. They say he also hit her head on the floor and continued trying to choke her, until Angela intervened and got him off her mother. He then allegedly threatened them, saying if they called the law, they'd regret it. Deputies charged Cardwell with Assault and communicating threats.

NC Right to Life Endorses Thompson

North Carolina Right to Life PAC joins South Carolina Citizens for Life (SCCL), its sister affiliate in South Carolina, in endorsing former Senator Fred Thompson for President of the United States of America.

“By endorsing Fred Thompson for President, North Carolina Right to Life PAC wants all North Carolinians to know Senator Thompson’s long-standing pro-life record, his unwavering commitment to protecting unborn children from abortion, and our belief in his ability to win,” stated Barbara Holt, PAC President. “As President, Fred Thompson will be a strong advocate for life at all stages.”

Fred Thompson amassed a 100% pro-life voting record as a U. S. Senator from Tennessee. Fred Thompson opposes abortion and believes that the 1973 abortion on demand U. S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided and should be reversed. He opposes the use of our tax dollars to pay for abortion and supports parental involvement laws. While supporting adult stem research which has produced 72 therapies, Fred Thompson opposes embryonic stem cell research which requires the destruction of a living human embryo and to date has produced no cures.

Woman Steals Cash from C-Store

A security videotape contains a complete record of a woman taking over 200-dollars from a store safe Monday morning. Deputies were called to Pleasant Hill Grocery in Elkin by manager Jonathan Ashley, who told them about the theft. According to the crime report, a clerk working in the store had been talking to another woman for some time, and left the checkout counter for a couple of minutes to go to the restroom. During the time the clerk was gone, the other woman walked around the counter, reached in an unlocked safe, and took out 211 dollars. It's not clear from the report whether the clerk had any knowledge of what the woman was doing. Ashley gave deputies a first name he learned from watching the security video, and said once he obtained the last name, he would file a theft warrant on her. Until then the case is inactive.

2 Dozen Hay Bales Stolen (1 was a Baker's Dozen)

A Ferguson man isn't clear what someone else may have wanted to do with the 25 bales of hay they took from his property over the weekend, but he'd really like to have the hay back. Vilas Church called deputies Monday morning to report the hay was missing from his field. He'd also seen the vehicle belonging to someone he knows, leaving the area with several hay bales in the back. He gave deputies that person's name, but because the investigation is not complete, they are not releasing it at this time. The accused thief was driving a 2000 Chevy S-10 pickup when Church saw him near his property.