Tuesday Morning Wreck Injures One

A breakfast-time wreck this morning on Highway 115 is responsible for potentially serious injuries to a local woman. Preliminary information from the Highway Patrol indicates Elizabeth Lira was southbound on 115 near Harold's Restaurant, and a semi truck pulled out of the parking lot in front of her. She hit the trailer, and was pinned in the car underneath the trailer for a time. Once she was extricated, she was taken to Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem. Hospital officials have not released her current condition. The highway patrol investigation is still in progress, and an official determination has not been made of which driver didn't see the other, so there's no word on whether any tickets or charges will be issued.

Man Beaten Up, Suffers Head Injury

A fight this weekend at a home in Traphill ended with a man being rushed to Baptist Medical Center with a severe head injury. 23-year old Matthew Scott Williams was hit in the head during a fight Saturday afternoon on Lovette Lane. Deputies and EMS crews were called to a home on Swearinger Road -- how Williams got there is not made clear in the report. Before paramedics took him to Winston-Salem, Williams told police he had been beaten up by 25-year old Michael McClellan and 21-year old Matthew Lovette. He was drifting in and out of consciousness when he talked to deputies,a nd they weren't able to get much more out of him at the time concerning the fight. When they looked up the two men, each admitted to a role in the fight, but each told a drastically different story. Because of the differences in the accounts of the fight, it will be up to the District Attorney's office to decide whether additional charges will be filed. Right now, each faces a single charge of Assault with a Deadly Weapon with Intent to Kill, Inflicting Serious Injury. Williams was released from the hospital several hours after the incident.

Foxx: Budget Stalemate Looms

In Washington, the budget clock is ticking toward yet another standoff. President Bush has told Congress it needs to pass the remaining 11 budget bills before it goes home for the holidays. Fifth District Representative Virginia Foxx says so far, only one of the budget bills for the year that started October 1st has been passed so far:

Foxx says she believes what will happen is that the Democrat-led Congress will either pass another continuing resolution, which keeps all agency funding at exactly what it was in 2007, or they'll lump it all into a so-called omnibus bill, which she expects she'll see Thursday night less than 24 hours before the current budget extension expires.

West Wilkes, Elkin Schools Among Nation's Best

Some students in Wilkes county are attending one of the top schools in the nation. In the issue of US News and World Report that hit the shelves yesterday, West Wilkes High School was one of three named a bronze medalist in the first-ever Best High Schools Report. Elkin Schools received a silver medal, and West Caldwell, Allegheny and Ashe county schools also made the bronze medalist rankings. No North Carolina schools received gold medals.

According to the US News web site, the schools were scored in the following manner: "Using a formula produced in collaboration with School Evaluation Services, a K-12 data research and analysis business run by Standard & Poor's, we put high schools in 40 states through a three-step analysis. First, we measured how each school's students performed on state tests, adjusting for student circumstances. We next evaluated how well each school's disadvantaged students did. Finally, we looked at whether the school was successful in providing college-level coursework." The top 100 schools were given gold medals, the next 405 received silver, and 1-thousand, 86 received bronze.

See the full report.

Several Counterfeit $100 Bills Passed Friday

Wilkesboro Police are investigating three instances of people passing counterfeit money. It's unclear if they're related, but the three cases happened close to one another, and in the two cases where the suspects were videotaped, there are similarities in the descriptions.
Friday morning about 6, police were called to Wal-Mart after a black female was seen passing counterfeit bills twice in a short period. In each attempt, she made a purchase of something small -- a package of boxer shorts was seen on one videotape. In the second attempt, the clerk questioned the bill, even taking it to another person to look at, but ultimately accepting it.

About noon Friday, a person went through the Wendy's drive-through during the lunch rush and passed another fake 100-dollar bill. The clerk marked it with a counterfeit pen, but says she didn't notice the mark turned black because of the crush of business. She did not remember the kind of car the person was driving, or a description of the person.

Then Friday evening, officer were back at Wal-mart, after a clerk questioned yet another fake 100. She had marked it with a counterfeit pen, and then called a manager to the register. But the person presenting the bill simply walked off and left the hat they were buying behind. The clerk says the person who gave her the bill was black man, but had no clothing description. However, she did describe a man who was also at the register at the time, saying he was black, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and baggy jeans. When an officer looked at the security tape, there was some question as to whether the person that had given the bill was a man or a woman. All three cases remain under investigation.

Two Large Kerosene Heaters Stolen

Sheriff deputies say they have no suspects so far in the theft of a kerosene heater last week from a house under construction in Wilkes. The site is on Lexi Drive in MIller's Creek. Thomas Jarvis reported the crime Thursday morning, saying when work had ended for the day Wednesday, his laborers had put away the tools and secured them for the night, but due to the size of the kerosene heaters, they were left at the site. The construction isn't far enough along that the building can be fully secured. Two white, 55-thousand BTU Reddy heaters were taken. By the time of the report Thursday, one had already been replaced so work could continue. Although deputies interviewed all of Jarvis' hired help, Jarvis did not believe any of the laborers was responsible, and the investigation bore out that belief. The case remains open.

German Shepherd Stolen, MIxed-Breed Shot

A Wilkes dog owner says someone shot one of his dogs and took the other. Sheriff deputies were called to Victor Verela's home in Ronda last week after Verela came home and could not get one of his dogs to respond. His wife says both dogs were outside shortly before she came home, and she had been playing with them both until that time. But she went inside, and when Verela came home, only his mixed-breed dog would come to him -- the German Shepherd was nowhere to be found. Later that evening, he bathed the mixed-breed dog, and found a bloody mass in its hair, and evidence that it had been shot with a pellet gun. The dog was taken to the vet the next morning and is apparently okay, according to Verela. The female German Shepherd has not been seen since. Deputies are investigating the case, and if a suspect is identified, they would potentially face a theft charge and a charge of cruelty to an animal.

Dr. Alford to Enter Consent Agreement with NCMB on Friday

The oft-delayed disciplinary hearing for a local doctor accused of writing prescriptions to close family members and writing himself a prescription for a controlled substance has now progressed to a resolution. Doctor Glen Alford of Wilkesboro is charged with writing prescriptions for close family members several times, including prescriptions for a number of pain killers that are controlled substances. He's also charged with giving some of the drugs to family without a prescription. He's accused of asking a drug company to provide free samples of two sleeping aids for his own use. Each of the charges is a violation of the state's rules of professional conduct, according to charging documents from the Board. His hearing on the charges has been delayed several times, and according to an agenda released Friday from the North Carolina Medical Board, he is set to enter a consent agreement during the Board's meeting on Friday. A consent agreement is a negotiated settlement between the board and a doctor that avoids a hearing on the matter.

Foxx: Politicians Need to Heed Do-Not-Call List, Too

Fifth District Representative Virginia Foxx is speaking out, in opposition to automated phone calls by candidates and those groups trying to garner voters either for or against candidates. In testimony before Congress yesterday, Foxx described what led her to join the push to allow folks to sign up for a political do-not-call list just like the one for general telemarketing:

Foxx authored the bill that would make political calls subject to the same rules as regular telemarketers.

Suprise Wakeup: Sleet and Freezing Rain

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 AM EST THIS MORNING.

FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET WILL GRADUALLY TAPER OFF OR CHANGE TO LIGHT RAIN TOWARD SUNRISE. HOWEVER RESIDUAL ICY SPOTS WILL PERSIST ON MANY ROADS ESPECIALLY BRIDGES AND OVERPASSES ACROSS
WATAUGA...WILKES AND YADKIN COUNTIES THROUGH MID MORNING. A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW...SLEET...OR FREEZING RAIN WILL CAUSE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SLIPPERY ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES...AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.

Accidents and icy roads are causing road closures. For a while this morning, 421 was closed at the foot of the mountain, but it has reopened. Highwa 16 has also been closed from Deep Ford Road north.