Woman Attacked, Man Sought

Sheriff deputies have issued warrants alleging a man beat on a friend and tried to break into her house. The incident was reported by Kristina Allen last week. She said 31-year old Dwight Payne had come to her rural North Wilkesboro home and struck or kicked the front door, damaging the door and an adjacent wall the handle slammed into as it opened. Cost to repair the damage will be about 500-dollars. She says Payne also had pushed her to the floor earlier in the day. He was not at the house at the time deputies were there, and she did not have visible injuries, so they issued warrants for damage to property and assault of a woman.

Computer, Electronics Stolen

A local woman is missing two computers and other electronics worth a total of over 4-thousand dollars, following a recent break-in. Frances O'Neill reported last week that while she was attending to her husband, who was hospitalized after a stroke, a person took the electronics from their home. The person the O'Neills accuse of doing this, whose name has not been released, is also accused of taking two-thousand dollars out of their checking account, causing eleven checks to bounce. Mrs. O'Neill says the person she beoieves did this is the only person she knows of that has access to the house. The case remains under investigation.

Juvenile Escapee Leads Deputies on 90-minute Chase

A youngster that had e3scaped form an out-of-county juvenile detention center led local deputies on a foot chase that lasted quite a while. Deputies were called to an address on Dehart Church Road Friday afternoon after a tip that the boy was there. As the first deputy pulled up, the teen ran into the woods.



Two other deputies arrived, and the three began pursuing the boy through the woods, eventually enlisting the help of Wildlife officers in the search, which lasted more than an hour and a half. Once they closed in on him, the boy would not remove his hands from his pockets. It turns out he was concealing a pair of scissors, which he threw onto the ground when he finally gave up. He was detained for Alexander county authorities, who picked him up later in the day.

Woman Uses Child as Drug Hiding Place

There's no other way to describe what one Millers Creek woman did than to say it's amazing. And not in a good way.



The woman, who is not identified on a sheriff's department crime report, was driving recklessly on College Street yesterday afternoon about 1. The deputy says when he pulled her over, the woman was slurring her words, but when asked if she'd had anything to drink or if she'd taken illegal drugs, she said no. She'd gotten out of the car at the request of the deputy, and when he asked if she would allow him to look through the car, she asked if he had a search warrant.



Then -- and this is where the amazing part comes in -- she crawled back into the Mustang, into the back seat, and began loving on her 6-year old boy. The deputy watched through the window as she tried to stuff a baggie into her son's front pocket, and when that didn't work, she put it in his back pocket. At that point, the deputy arrested the woman, as there were also prescription drugs in the car that did not belong to her.



The baggie she'd tried to hide in her son's pocket turned out to be marijuana, and the deputy found straws and apparent cocaine in the car. He called social services and after they took custody of the boy, he hauled the woman to jail, where she was booked for child abuse and multiple drug possession charges. Her bond was set at 75-hundred dollars.

Head-On Crash, No Injuries

Several drivers are fortunate a wreck this week wasn't any worse than it was. All three and the passenger in one car escaped injury. The wreck happened Wednesday evening on Oakwoods Avenue near South Bridge Street. Warren White tells Wilkesboro Police he fell asleep at the wheel, and drifted into the northbound, or oncoming lane of Oakwoods. He woke up just as he impacted with a northbound Dodge driven by Mary Wheelock of Moravian Falls. her car spun across the lane and into southbound traffic, where 30-year old Travis Spicer of Elkin was swerving off the right side of the road, trying to avoid the wreck. Wheelock's Dodge crashed into Spicer's Chevy, which was already off the side of the road. The Ford driven by White traveled some distance south of the point of impact before coming to a stop. In a wreck that could have seen multiple serious injuries, no one was even checked out by EMS. White did receive a ticket for an unsafe traffic movement.

Bundle Up Tender Plants

The arctic high pressure system that brought severe weather to the south and over a foot fo snowfall to parts of the upper midwest and northeast is now affecting Wilkes. National weather service forecasters have placed a freeze warning in effect tonight, and temperatures six or more degrees below freezing are expected the next three nights.



Because of the string of warm days that have preceded this system, a lot of flowering plants and leafy trees are blooming or budding. Those plants that can be brought inside should be for at lest the next three nights. For those plants that can't be brought in, you can cover them with an old sheet, a sheet of canvas, or even plastic buckets -- just be sure the bucket doesn't touch the plant anywhere.



Don't use plastic sheeting to cover up your plants, though, as experts say that will actually increase the frost damage, rather than protecting the plants.

Stone Mountain Fire Under Control

Firefighters have a Wilkes County wildfire under control after two tries to put it out. The fire burned about 96 acres near Stone Mountain State Park on steep mountainsides and ridges before firefighters said it was controlled. The fire reportedly started when a debris fire got out of hand.





Firefighters thought the blaze was contained late Tuesday. A controlled burn was set up early Wednesday to destroy potential fuel for the fire, but winds gusting to 30 mph pushed those flames into new areas, burning about 5 acres. The state forest service said an air tanker and helicopters dropped water on hot spots and some crews were ferried in by helicopter because of the steep terrain. No homes were damaged by the fire, and no injuries were reported.

WalMart to Move to Old Super K-Mart

The persistent rumors are finally borne out. WalMart does plan to convert the old Super K-Mart building in Wilkesboro to a Super WalMart. The WalMart company submitted a site plan to town staff this week for a 177-thousand square foot store, which is about 5-thousand square feet larger than the existing store.



The store will have a number of aesthetic improvements, in accordance with the "big box" store regulations adopted by Wilkesboro earlier this year. It will include landscaping and trees in the parking lot, and will have a false roof and facade to cover the rooftop air conditioning equipment. The store will no longer be able to store inventory outside where it can be seen from the parking lot, and the site plan indicates the new Super WalMart will have a new free-standing sign along Highway 421.



Wilkesboro town staff has not fully reviewed the plan, according to the Journal-Patriot, but will complete a review in time for the council meeting April 24th. The Department of Transportation is already reviewing a traffic analysis.

Fire Jumps Lines, More Fire Danger Today

Less than half a day after they thought they had a large fire near Stone Mountain State Park controlled, firefighters were back yesterday afternoon for another round. They'd set a back burn in the early morning hours yesterday to rob the fire of fuel, and it appeared to be contained about 3 a-m. But gusty wind yesterday afternoon pushed the flames outside the control lines in several places, prompting another call for manpower, planes, and helicopters to get the flames under control. The nearly 100-acre fire is the largest since about this time last year, when 430 acres burned. Over 75 firefighters, including a crew of trained teen-agers from a juvenile detention center, brought the fire mostly back under control last night. But there's more worry, with an increasing fire danger this afternoon doe to low humidity and increasing westerly winds.

Alarm May Have Foiled Burglary

Wilkesboro Police think a burglar alarm may have scared away someone trying to break in to a local store early yesterday. Officers responded to an alarm at Mike's Bait and Tackle on Highway 268 shortly after 5 a-m. Someone had tried several times to break out the glass in the front door. Two different sized rocks were found in front of the door, and there was evidence of three different attempts to break the glass. Officers say the only damge was to the door, though, and the intended thief never made it inside. The store does have a video system -- as of the time of the report being filed, officers hadn't been able to view the tape to see if it showed anything. The case remains under investigation.