Teen Charged with Monday Home Break-In

Deputies have filed a juvenile petition against one 14-year old boy, and are looking for a second person involved in the theft of a number of items from a mobile home that had recently been moved into a lot in Purlear. The owners, Ben and Sherri Greene, say they went by to check on the home yesterday evening and found the back door knob broken off and the back window pushed open. Inside they found quite a mess, with food, pictures, the TV and other items thrown on the floor. Almost 13-hundred dollars in property was stolen, and later most was recovered from the home of a neighbor. About 500-dollars worth of CDs and DVDs are still missing. Deputies list the damage to the home at 5-thousand dollars.

Car Posted for Sale Without Owner's Permission

Often, the GoWilkes.com website is a place for people to unwind, relax, and talk about the events of the day. The site's classified ads, however, were one person's tool of choice when it came to trying to commit a crime. Recently, someone listed a vehicle for sale in the classifieds on the site, and gave out contact information for those who wanted to call. The only problem is, the car was not for sale. The victim says her husband recently died, and she had not given permission for the car to be listed for sale. She believes she knows who did it, but would not tell deputies the person's name. The ads work, apparently, because she says she discovered everything when she called to check her messages, and had received 21 calls about the car. Deputies list the case as under investigation.

This Grinch is A Girl, Victims Believe

One local family received a visit from the Grinch over the weekend -- the only difference being that this Grinch is suspected to be an 18-year old girl. Deputies aren't releasing her name right now, and we're withholding the name of the victim, who lives in Moravian Falls, until after deputies talk to the suspect.

This Grinch operated in a style that's a bit of departure from the classic, breaking into the home through the storm door -- shattering it, the screen, and two windows in the front door. Once inside, the thief headed right for the Christmas tree, and allegedly loaded up her goody bag with everything adorned in Christmas paper, ignoring several other expensive items that could have easily been taken, too. From dishes to clothes and men's aftershave, if it was wrapped in pretty paper, it disappeared. The total loss is about 900-dollars. Neighbors do not report seeing a large sleigh pulled by a small dog with a reindeer horn tied to its head, but there are a couple of aspects of the burglary that lead the victims to be pretty sure who their overnight visitor was.

Spring...or Santa?

There's been a rash of mailboxes being bashed and knocked down in Wilkes county recently, with a frequency that almost matches the days of early to mid spring when deputies respond to sometimes a dozen or more within a week. It almost leads one to wonder if this year's reindeer training course didn't bring Santa's sleigh to the roads of Wilkes county. Then again, maybe not. Deputies do have a suspect in one case, who can pretty well count on getting a lump of coal this Christmas. They haven't released the name of the 20-year old, but when they were called Saturday by Keith Laws, he said he know who had stolen the mailbox and post, because the person had left a note saying they belonged to him. Later in the afternoon, the mailbox and post showed back up, not quite as much effort expended in them being thrown down a creek bank as had been used to pull the post from the ground in the first place.

Deputies may have to consult with the man who knows if you've been good or bad, though, to solve two other cases reported over the weekend. Carl Anderson, who lives on Liberty Grove Church Road, and Gloria Hawkins, who lives on Cart Path Road, both say someone bashed up their mailboxes. Anderson reported the damage Sunday afternoon, and Hawkins discovered her damage as she went out to get the mail Saturday. No rogue elf prints or sleigh tracks were found in either yard.

Goss: Action Needed on "Candy Meth"

Senator Steve Goss of District 45 says he intends to introduce legislation in the next session to confront the serious problem local officials and law enforcement agencies are facing with the emergence of candy-flavored meth, a form of crystal methamphetamine.

Increasingly, national attention has been drawn to drug dealers marketing the dangerous designer drug in a candy-like form. Officials have found meth mixed with a variety of candies, drinks and other materials. This technique is apparently intended to appeal to younger people and make it easier for first-time users to try the drug. Federal officials have outlined the growing menace of the “candy meth” threat across the nation. Officials of the Drug Enforcement Administration have indicated the drug has spread to California, Nevada, Washington, Idaho, Texas, New Mexico, Missouri, and Minnesota. And now North Carolina unfortunately can be added to the list.

Goss is engaged in discussions with legislative leaders and staff and the Office of North Carolina Attorney General, Roy Cooper for advice on possible new legislation to deal with the problem. Goss concluded, “It is up to state legislators in partnership with counties, cities, towns, and law enforcement agencies to do everything possible to deal with the potential threat in North Carolina. If it takes a new Regional Task Force and additional funding, I hope all state legislators will see the need to move on the issue as soon as possible. At the same time, we must leave room in the legislation for local officials to use the funding available without having to jump through bureaucratic hoops which can take too long to be effective”

TV, DVD's Stolen

Something doesn't quite add up about the theft of a TV and DVS from a rural Wilkesboro home. Kennechia Barnes, who works at Tyson, says her mom picked her up from work just before 2 Saturday morning,a nd when she got home, the TV and DVDs were missing. She tells deputies she lost her keys some time ago, but didn't worry about leaving the home on Country Club Road unlocked, because here mother is always home. Saturday night, it turned out that wasn't the case. While Barnes and the deputy were both given to believe initially that the only time Mom had left the house was to pick up her daughter from work, in the deputy's words, "Fact was, the home was empty from 8pm to 1:50am." There have been no suspects identified at this point. Total loss is about 300-dollars.

Reported Knife Fight Injures Man

A Cricket man suffered a potentially serious injury during an altercation he says started when two men started talking with a lady friend he was out with. About 4 yesterday afternoon, Harold Staley says he was out with the woman, who he would not identify, and had stopped at Rock Creek BP. He says two men -- he doesn't remember their description -- started talking to her outside his car -- he doesn't indicate what about. He got out and says one of the men pushed him to the ground and pulled a knife. Staley says he grabbed the knife out of the other man's hand, cutting his palm in the process. He says the men then left. He ended up at Wilkes Regional to get stitches in his hand, the woman friend and the men long gone. When deputies tried to get him to tell more, the intoxicated Staley was uncooperative. He said he'd get the names of the men from his woman friend and take out his own warrants on them. The deputy filed the case as a possible assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, and it is listed as still under investigation.

Anyone Seen a VW Micro Bus?

Well, if nothing else, someone ought to be able to do a passable imitation of a Partridge Family show, now that they have a Wilkes man's 1973 VW Bus and his '73 pickup and camper shell. James Roten called sheriff deputies late last week after a family member told him he'd seen someone towing off the mini-bus and pickup Thursday afternoon. The family member couldn't tell Roten what kind of vehicle was being used to do the towing, and he didn't have any description of the thieves. There were some camping supplies in the back of the pickup, bringing the total value of the loss to about 32-hundred dollars. No suspects have been identified, but the case remains under investigation.

Wilkes Economic Status

State officials have released their overall ranking of economic conditions, and local officials find few surprises. Surry County, which was hit hard this year with multiple plant closings and the loss of an estimated 1,000 manufacturing jobs, continues to rank in the bottom tier of the state's 100 counties in terms of overall economic health. This is the second straight year that Surry and nearby Alleghany county have both been designated as a Tier 1 county, which the N.C. Department of Commerce labels “economically distressed.” Thirty nine other counties, many of them in eastern and western parts of North Carolina, were in the same category with Surry and Alleghany.
Wilkes county, on the other hand, is felt by state officials to be doing better, and remains in the second, or middle, tier of counties. Stokes and Yadkin counties are in the same tier.
State law requires that the commerce department annually rank all 100 counties, taking into account the unemployment rate, median household income, population growth and assessed property value per capita. The tier designations offer companies more incentives to invest in economically distressed areas of the state by giving them a higher tax credit for each job created than in urban counties. Tier 1 counties are eligible for $12,500 in tax credits for each new job with a minimum requirement of five jobs. In Wilkes and other Tier 2 counties, a company adding jobs in those counties are eligible for a $5,000 tax credit for each new job.
Commerce officials said each of the state's 100 counties retained their existing rankings.

Fugitive Assaults Deputy

A Wilkes man faces several new charges, following an incident at Wilkes Regional Medical Center that took the efforts of two officers to bring under control. Authorities were notified early this morning that 33-year old Robert Jason Landrum had sought treatment in the emergency room at WRMC, and was about to be dismissed. He had an outstanding warrant, so a hold order had been placed on him. As a deputy arrived to arrest Landrum, he had to wait a few minutes in the library. A Wilkesboro police officer who knew Landrum pointed him out to the deputy just as Landrum made it to the outside door. The deputy followed Landrum into the parking lot where he notified him he was under arrest. At that pint, the deputy says, Landrum became belligerent and abusive, ultimately elbowing the deputy in the chest and pushing him into a glass wall in t the waiting room The deputy and an employee of the hospital subdued Landrum, and he was escorted to the patrol car. When the deputy searched Landrum, he found a pair of scissors and two pairs of hemostats that belong to the hospital. WRMC officials are evaluating whether to file theft charges for those items. IN addition to the outstanding warrant, Landrum was arrested on a charge of assault on a law office.