Break-In Nets $450 in Jewelry

Sheriff's deputies are investigating a break-in at a rural North Wilkesboro home Tuesday afternoon. Tama Bare arrived home just after 3pm Tuesday, to find a number of items missing from around the house. Deputies say the house showed no signs of force being used to get in, but bare said the front door could easily be jimmied with a credit card or something similar. The missing items were all jewelry taken from a shelf in her bathroom. they include a quarter-karat diamond and white gold earring set,  a heart shaped gold pendant, a ladies watch, and a heart shaped diamond ring. Total value of the missing items is 450-dollars. Bare offered deputies the name of a 31-year old local man as a possible suspect. The case remains under investigation.

Fight Victim in Critical Condition

An update on a story we first told you about last week. Hospital officials in Winston-Salem say the condition of a man severely injured in a bar fight last week has taken a turn for the worse. Randall Smoot has been in Baptist Hosptial since the fight at Dooley's April 9th.



As we originally reported, Smoot was hurt after he reportedly struck Jeffrey Scott Davis with a glass ketchup bottle in the men’s restroom. Davis turned on him and knocked him to the ground, and according to a police report, kicked him repeatedly while he was down.



Davis was charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and jailed on $15,000 secured bond. When they are finally able to interview Smoot, police say they will probably have reason to file assault charges against him.

Hmm...Don't Believe the Dog is Supposed to Be Out

The first clue that something was amiss at a Miller's Creek home, was when the owners found their dog outside as they returned from being out for the afternoon. Ronald Brewer called sheriffs deputies yesterday evening, saying he'd returned home to find the dog roaming loose, and when he pulled up at the house, he found the front door had been kicked in. When he and deputies went inside, they found a stereo missing, along with about 20 CD's and several bottles of prescription medicines. Total value of the loss is about 400-dollars. So far, deputies have no suspects.

Porch Tools Missing

A couple of items sitting on a local man's front porch, aren't sitting there any more. Larry Drown, who lives in Ronda, reported yesterday afternoon that he'd discovered a chainsaw and a push mower that had been on the porch, weren't anymore. The total value of the items is about 600-dollars. Dronw says they disappeared sometime overnight, and he doesn't know who came on the porch and took them. Neighbors haven't reported anything out of place.

Trailer Break-In

Wilkes sheriff deputies are investigating a theft of several tools from a storage trailer. Yesterday morning, an employee of Mountain Top Builders discovered a trailer that had previously broken into had been pulled off its blocks, and the side door had been pried open. The business owner, Cecil Blevins, says he went inside the trailer, he discovered a Husqvarna chain saw missing, along with a Dewalt saw, and an air-powered framing nail gun. The total value of the missing items is 11-hundred dollars, and the burglary caused about 550 dollars damage.



Blevins says he fired two workmen about two months ago. One of them had the code to get in the trailer door. In both cases, the fired employee threatened at the time of the firing to retaliate against Blevins. During the burglary, the thief left behind some blood, and detectives recovered some paint samples as well. Detectives plan to question the two men in the near future.

Tax deadline Extended

If you were directly affected by the windstorm, the IRS has thrown you a bone, by extending the due date for your tax return from yesterday to tomorrow. In addition to affecting Wilkes and most of the Carolinas, the storm affected most of the northweast. The IRS announced the deadline extension late yesterday.



Across the Northeast, there have been power outages and public transportation problems making it difficult in some cases, if not impossible, for some taxpayers and tax professionals to meet the April 17 filing deadline.

Chase Leads to Taser Use, Damage, Arrest

A high-speed multi-agency police chase this weekend resulted in damage to a sheriff patrol car, a Taser being used,  and the arrest of a 19-year old Madison man. A sheriff deputy was driving toward Wilkesboro on US 421 near the from the highway 115 exit, and encountered Jonathan Schroll, who passed him at about 70 miles an hour. The deputy caught up with Schroll near Brushy Mountain Road, and paced him at 70 in a 55-mile an hour zone. As the car approached the 421 and Business 421 intersection, the deputy says the driver slowed down to about 50 miles an hour, but would not stop for the lights or siren.



Two more deputies and a Wilkesboro officer picked up the chase near Taco Bell. They stopped the car for the first time near Lowe's, and as they tried to approach, the deputy says Schroll sped off at between 70 and 80 miles an hour, hitting a patrol cruiser in the process. On Highway 16, a deputy was able to disable the car, causing it to swerve and hit a line of mailboxes near the Run-In store.



Officers stormed the car, and opened the driver's door, ordering Scholl out of the car. He would not respond to any of their commands, and a deputy ended up using his Taser to bring the situation under control. After they had Schroll checked out by EMS, deputies contacted his parent, who say the teen is bi-polar, and has not been taking his medication for about six months. He faces a multitude of charges, including assault on an officer for ramming a deputy's car as he sped away from the stop near Lowes. He was being held without bond, and may face commitment to a medical facility as well as jail time.

Latest on Wind, Roads, Power

The windstorm of April 2007 is winding down in Wilkes. For the first time in over two days, the county is NOT under a high wind warning. Downed trees are still impacting power service in the area, but Randy Wheeliss with Duke power says the utility has only 2400 still out. And while the cleanup will take some time, Jim Caldwell with N-C DOT says at the moment, downed trees aren't causing any road closures.



We've been told of no major damage from the storm in Wilkes -- a better result than in nearby counties, including Forsyth County where a tree fell through a school roof yesterday. Two pre-kindergarten students suffered minor injuries at Kimberly Park Elementary School on North Cherry Street. Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools said the students suffered scratches. None of the students was taken to the hospital. At least one local school, North Wilkes Middle School, is reported without power.

Latest on the Wind Storm

The High Wind Warning for Wilkes continues until noon tomorrow. The latest Weather Service advisory says sustained wind of 15-30mph will continue into the night with gust likely up to 60mph.



Emergency Management officials tell me they haven't been able to compile a full list of damage yest, but they have nothing working they call major damage. Of course, numerous trees are down, and an official in the emergency management office told me some of them have fallen on houses, but she was not aware of major damage or injuries.



North Carolina DOT reports about 80 trees down across roads in Wilkes. Brian Hamby says most of the trees are down across secondary roads, and as of mid-afternoon the only major road that had been completely closed due to downed trees was 16, which is now back open.



Marilyn Limeberger is with Duke Energy. She says 49-hundred Wilkes customers are without power, part of more than 200,000 statewide. Power crews are on the way from other states to assist in getting power back on.



A number of other services have been interrupted by the storm, including Internet service for some customers. Emergency services all have backup power.

High Winds Cut Power, Delay Schools

High winds are causing a number of problems around Wilkes today. The first is with school delays, Wilkes county schools are running on a two-hour delay this morning. Dr. Steven Laws, the Superintendent of Schools, told 3WC News earlier this morning the delay is because of the numerous power outages throughout the county caused by the high winds. BROC and Head Start are also on a two-hour delay.



Concerning the high winds...they are expected to continue through much of the day. The National Weather Service has a high wind warning in effect through noon. As we have experienced since evening, high winds will continue to maintain above 30-45 miles an hour, with gusts above 70 at times, according to the weather service. Those winds are more than enough, especially with the soft wet soil, to knock over large trees, down branches, and pull down power lines. Of course, it gets worse the higher you go in elevation, and in the gaps between the mountains.



Weather service and Highway Patrol officials advise extreme caution driving high profile vehicles. That includes the family van or SUV, aws well as pickups, campers, semi trucks and box trucks. The wind will make driving hazardous because it whips vehicles around and incereases the suciton effect when large vehicles pass. In addition, falling branches can obsturuct roads, especially secondary routes.



Several thousand people have been reported to be without power at times through this wind storm. Duke Energy reports more than one thousand people without power currently in the areas north and west of the Wilkesboros, and scattered outages through the rest of the county.