Multiple Firearms Stolen from Homes Recently
Sheriff deputies are following up this week on several thefts of firearms from homes.

The most recent one was reported yesterday evening. John Beasley tells deputies he’d been gone on vacation for about a week, and returned home yesterday afternoon. A Ruger 45-caliber pistol had been left laying on his bed while he was gone. Beasley has identified a possible suspect – a 28-year old Wilkes man. The gun, valued at 425-dollars, has been entered into the national crime database, and deputies are looking for the man Beasley identified so they can question him.

A rural Elkin man also reported three firearms stolen yesterday, but the gun was actually nocied missing over the weekend. Dennis Smoot says he had been out of town for a week, and had let a family member house-sit. The thief took two shotguns and a Phoenix stainless steel 22 pistol. The family member who was house-sitting has denied taking the weapons, and deputies say the case is still under investigation.

The third firearm theft was reported last Friday, but the crime report was not released until today. Ferguson resident Michael Cockerham says he came home from work to find the gate on his front porch open. He went inside and found a bolt-action 22 missing, along with the magazine and a Nikon scope. The total value of the gun and accessories is 400-dollars. The thief had also taken a collectible Hot Wheels car, valued at 200-dollars, and a hand held scanner. Several high-dollar electronic items in the house were not taken, according to deputies. The crime report says a bedroom window was also open, but nothing in front of it had been disturbed as it might have if a criminal had climbed through the window. Deputies are interviewing a man identified by Cockerham as a possible suspect, and they’re still talking with neighbors as the investigation continues.

Half Price? How About Free?
A local businessman says even after he cut the price of a job in half, a man has taken advantage of him by not paying. Stanley Walsh says he pulled the transmission in a Chevy 2-ton pickup recently and had it rebuilt for a customer of his shop. He paid the rebuilder more than 18-hundred dollars for that work, and when he returned the truck to his customer, gave him a bill for exactly the same amount, throwing in the labor for free.

As part of the job, Walsh says he drove the truck twice to verify the transmission worked as it should. The customer wrote him a check for the bill and took the truck home, then called a few hours later, saying the transmission wasn’t shifting right. Walsh told him he’d come get the truck and have it looked at by the rebuilder, at no cost to the customer. But the man hung up, saying he’d call Walsh back. In the meantime, the man stopped payment on the check, and called Walsh back to say he wasn’t going to bring the truck back to be looked at – and he wasn’t going to pay for the job.

Wilkesboro Police are investigating whether the case will be pursued through criminal charges, or if the best way to stratighten things out is through the civil court system.

New Yadkin Jail OK'd
Officials in Yadkin County are moving forward with plans for a new $7 million jail, despite a public outcry last night in which residents pleaded for them to only make repairs to the existing jail in order to save money.

The Yadkin County Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 late last night to proceed with the new 62-bed jail.

Brady Wooten, the chairman of the board of commissioners and also serves on the county's jail committee, has suggested that the county might try to build an addition to the existing jail and possibly build a third story.

Most of the residents who spoke Monday night at the commissioners' meeting said they agreed.

Deputies Investigate Murder
A Wilkes woman is dead, and sheriff deputies are looking at her boyfriend as the suspect in her killing. A family member found 35-year old Lisa Ann Pierce early this morning, dead of an apparent rifle shot to the torso. An autopsy is scheduled to confirm the cause and time of death. Her live-in boyfriend, 43-year old Charles Eric Calloway, has been arrested for the murder. According to a sketchy crime report released this morning, no motive has been established.

Man Shot, Story Unclear
Deputies were called early Saturday to Wilkes Regional Medical Center, after a man showed up there with a gunshot wound to his face. The Hays man who had been shot said he’d given another man a ride to a house on Elledge Mill Road. When the other man got out of his truck, a third man, who the victim didn’t know, walked up and started shooting at him. At the scene, deputies found several live 9-millimeter rounds, and several items that were inconsistent with the victim’s story of what happened. For instance, he claimed the shooter had come from the left, but the shots hit him in the right side of the face, and there were bullet holes in the right side of the pickup. Deputies are still working to sort out what really happened and who was involved.

Man Points Shotgun at Deputy
A deputy also had a weapon pointed at him over the weekend. The deputy had been called to a disturbance at a house on Christian Home Church Road yesterday afternoon about sunset. Dispatchers said several shots had already been fired. When he arrived he deputy noticed a man hiding in the shadows. When the deputy told the man to come out, he turned around, holding a shotgun, and started to approach the deputy, gun at the ready. The deputy took cover behind his patrol car, and as he was yelling at the man to throw down the shotgun, the man’s father came out of the house and took the gun from him. The man then ran into the woods. He was later identified as 38-year old Richard Wayne Holloway. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

Oh, Deer...
Wilkesboro Police are investigating a break-in, but it may not be what it originally appeared. Officers were called to Dixie Mobile Home yesterday afternoon, when a woman reported seeing the front door and window broken out of the business. A check of the inside found nothing missing, but a lot of blood trailing from the glass door through the building into a bathroom area at the back. No one had showed up at Wilkes Regional with injuries that might have been received from breaking a window. Later in the day, the investigating officer was told by the building owner that a witness said a deer had run into the plate glass window and shattered it about midnight. The owner and police are still trying to contact that witness and confirm the third-hand account relayed to the owner.

Job Site Theft
Another rural Wilkes job site has been visited by thieves. Friday morning, workers at a site on Pores Knob Road near Moravian Falls arrived at the job to find someone had stolen about three-thousand dollars worth of lumber and tools. The loss includes 19-hundred-75 dollars worth of lumber alone, along with four ladders, a DeWalt miter saw, and a set of air hoses. There are no suspects at this time.

Recount Scheduled Today
Election officials in Wilkes will recount ballots for two races this morning. In a news release, the Wilkes County Board of Elections annoucned it will perform the recount starting at 9 this morning, in the statewide race for Court of Appeals Judge and in the Senate District 45 race.

The statewide recount was called for by election officials after unofficial results shoed a several-hundred vote margin separated Donna Stroud and Linda Stephens. When that recount appeared iminent, David Blust, who lost by a few more than 300 votes to Steve Goss for the state Senate seat, said he’d ask for a recount as well.

The recount will be held in the County Commissioners room of the Wilkes County Office Building.

Holiday Traffic Focus
The Highway Patrol will be targeting speeders and aggressive drivers on North Carolina interstates and major four lane highways through the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Operation Slow Down began Monday, November 13th and will end on Sunday, November 26th. Last year 23 motorists were killed on North Carolina highways during the holiday.

Speed and aggressive drivers are the leading cause of traffic deaths in our state. The aggressive driver has been identified as those drivers who flagrantly violate the motor vehicle laws, including but not limited to: excessive speeding, following too closely, erratic lane changes, safe movement violations, and other forms of reckless endangerment.

During the Thanksgiving holiday, the Patrol will also be participating in the state’s Booze It and Lose It anti-drunk driving campaign and the national Combined Accident Reduction Effort, (Operation C.A.R.E). Sobriety checkpoints are being held throughout the state during the entire week.

Wreck Injures Three
Three vehicles were involved in a wreck at Highway 421 and Curtis Bridge Road Thursday that sent one of the cars spinning across a median strip and into the curb on the far side of the street. Fortunately, everyone involved in the wreck refused treatment by EMS. Marry Kennedy tells police she was eastbound on 421, and saw another car coming at her from the south. Leonard Bumgartner, the driver of that car, says he was going to make a left turn off Curtis Bridge on to 421, and did not see Mrs. Kennedy until she was in the intersection. Kennedy tried to avoid Bumgartner, and in doing so spun her 2006 Toyota across three lanes of traffic and the median strip, hitting a third car in the oncoming lane and coming to rest against the far curb. That car was driven by Donald Wachton. All three drivers were alone. Mrs. Kennedy has been cited for running the red light.

Portable Heater Stolen
Sheriff Deputies are investigating the theft of a portable heater from a home being built on the edge of North Wilkesboro. A painter working at the home on Poplar Trail arrived for work last Thursday to find the 17-hundred BTU Redi Heater and a sheetrock sander missing. The value of the tools is estimated at one-thousand dollars. The painter says he had taken weather-stripping off the doors the previous night so he could paint the doors and frames, so there was no visible sign of a break-in. So far, deputies have no suspects.

Tools Stolen
Wilkes County Sheriff Deputies are investigating the recent theft of several tools from a home under construction. One of the men working on a home that’s so new its lot doesn’t even have a 9-1-1 address arrived at work last week to find his tools were missing. One of the house’s windows was open, but everything else was locked up.

The missing tools included a cordless DeWalt jigsaw, a cordless DeWalt impact wrench, a finish nailer, and a variety of smaller tools. Total value was 13-hundred dollars. The man believes one of the other crew members at the site may be responsible. After interviewing the other workers, the deputy agrees. But so far, there have been no arrests.

Assault Charges after Knife Fight
Two people suffered minor injures, and both ended up going to jail, following a scuffle over money last week. 19-year old Victoria Goodman had shown up at 29-year old Daniel Hartley’s house to collect some money owed by Hartley’s wife, according to a crime report. Deputies say a Hartley and Goodman exchanged words, and then slashed at each other with knives. Hartley suffered a laceration to his torso; Goodman was cut on the arm. Deputies did not find the knife, but charged both people with Assault with a Deadly Weapon and took them to jail.

STIP Comments Sought
The N.C. Department of Transportation is asking for public comment on the their plans for the upcoming seven year period. At a meeting this afternoon, state officials will see input on the 2007-2013 Draft State Transportation Improvement Program.

This meeting will provide an opportunity for citizens to talk with department staff about the Draft STIP and the transportation projects it details for their area. Citizens may also submit feedback via mail and e-mail. The meeting starts at 2 at the Wilkesboro Civic Center. Registration starts at 1pm.

Computer, Equipment Stolen
Sheriff Deputies are investigating the theft of computer equipment from a Ronda business. Precision Fiber reported the break-in and theft early Thursday. Between the times they closed Wednesday and when they opened Thursday, someone broke into the business, kicked open two doors and stole an E-machines computer, a wireless router, and a cable modem. Total value is 500-dollars. There are no suspects, and the case remains under investigation.

AMBER ALERT
The N.C. Center for Missing Persons is issuing a statewide AMBER Alert for Mariah Poland, a two year old girl from Nash County. Mariah was abducted in a stolen vehicle.

Mariah was left unattended in a vehicle by Amy Calvin as she made a purchase at a convenient store in Rocky Mount. An unknown black male left with the stolen vehicle. He has been described as 6' tall and 200 pounds wearing black clothing. He may be operating a stolen green Honda Accord with North Carolina registration VRD-3824.

Mariah is 2 years old and weighs 30 pounds and is 36 inches tall. She has brown hair and brown eyes and was wearing a red infant sleeper with white snowflakes.

Purse Stolen from Car Trunk
A Wilkes woman may not only have lost a valuable bracelet, but she may be set up for a future identity theft. The woman tells sheriff deputies she was picking up her grandchild at a local church school last week, and put her purse in the car’s trunk when she went inside. After picking up the child, the woman stopped at a local store, and that’s when she realized the puse was not in the trunk anymore. There several people in the school parking lot at the same time she was there, and the woman says any one of them could have opened the unlocked car and popped the truck to make off with the purse. Besides the bracelet, the woman lost several ID’s and bank cards, along with her cell phone.

Light Up Downtown is Friday
Friday night is the annual Light Up Downtown celebration in North Wilkesboro. Organizers say this year will feature three stages throughout downtown providing a variety of entertainment. Nearly 20 performers and groups are slated to appear. Of course Santa will be there, in the lobby of Wilkes Towers from 5:30 to 9pm, and there will be hayrides to take you anywhere you want in downtown. Food and craft vendors will line 10th street during the event. The Christmas lights are set to be turned on at 6:15pm.

Domestic Violence with A Twist
Sheriff deputies say a recent domestic violence incident has a strange twist. Donald Roberts tells deputies his son was beating on his front door about 1 a-m last Tuesday, and woke up his family. He wanted to take his 15-year old sister with him, because she knows where the son’s wife is now living. When his father said no, the yougner Roberts became belligerent, and started to beat on him. Dad fought him off, and the son hasn’t been seen since. Roberts did not report the crime to deputies until more than two days

Stolen 4-Wheeler
Wilkes County Sheriff Deputies are looking for a four-wheeler that was stolen this weekend. Boyd Simmons called early Friday morning to say the four-wheeler was missing. He said he regularly lets a neighbor borrow the 1999 Honda four-wheeler, and had let him borrow it Thursday night. The neighbor had parked the four-wheeler in his own yard for the night, and woke up Friday morning to find it gone. He had taken the keys to the four-wheeler inside with him. It’s worth about 56-hundred dollars. So far, there are no suspects.

Brotherly Fight Ends with One in Jail
A Wilkes teenager was hurt during a fight with his brother, who ended up being arrested. Sheriff Deputies were called to a home on Crysle Cemetary Road in the wee hours of Saturday morning. 17-year old Logan Cardwell told deputies his brother Jordan had hit him multiple times during a fight. Jordan, who is 16, refused to follow a deputy’s instructions to go back in the house and cool down, insisting instead that the deputies take him to jail. He was booked on a simple assault charge.

McGrady Vacation Home Burglarized
The owner of a vacation home in McGrady had to clean up a mess and call the sheriff’s office when he arrived in Wikes last weekend. That’s because someone had broken into the house. The man, who lives in Brevard, says he’d locked the house when he left it the middle of last month. But when he got there Saturday afternoon, the front door was unlocked and a window was broken. Inside, the thief had not stolen much – a set of deer antlers and a DVD player were all the owner could find missing. He told deputies a local plumber had been scheduled to do some work at the house, but they have not been able to get in touch with the plumber to find out whether he may have noticed the damage.

Identity Theft
A local public servant is the latest victim of identity theft in the area. The EMS worker, who lives in Ronda, told deputies Friday that someone had taken nearly 40 dollars out of his bank account without his knowledge. The man says he doesn’t know how someone would have gotten his account number or other bank information.

Break-In Reported
A Wilkes woman says more than 300-dollars worth of property was stolen from her house this weekend. Karen Kirby reported the theft yesterday afternoon. She says she arrived at her Miller’s Creek home to find the front door pushed open. When she got inside, she found several medicines had been stolen, along with a cell phone, a pair of Nikes, and some clothes. Neighbors said they did see a white picup in the area earlier in the day, but no one was able to remember a tag number or a description of whoever was inside.

Police Bust 40+ Drug Dealers
Wilkes authorities have spent the past week rounding up drug dealers, in what they say is the biggest such sweep in two decades. The arrests started after indictments were handed down by a grand jury last week. The indictments alleged more than 150 felony drug crimes, committed by more than 40 people.

It’s the result of more than a year of work by police in Wilkesboro and North Wilkesboro, along with the Sheriff’s Department and State Bureau of Investigation.

Police said that the roundup included upper-level to midlevel drug dealers, involving such street drugs as methamphetamine, marijuana and cocaine, both in powder and crack form.
Police also arrested dealers of such opiate-based prescription painkillers as Darvocet, Percocet and Oxycontin. Authorities said that the dealers got the drugs through "doctor shopping," a practice that involves getting multiple prescriptions by visiting various doctors across the region. Authorities said that no health-care professionals were involved in illegal activity charged in these indictments.

Vending Macines Broken Into
Two vending machines were broken into in Wilkesboro the middle of last week, and police have arrested a man for one of the break-ins.

The first break-in was reported late Wednesday night at DJ’s Car Wash. According to the police report, a customer of the car wash called 9-1-1 to report the machine had been broken into. When the officer called the owner, he was told the machine had been broken into the week before last – but no police report had been made on that break-in. So far, police have no suspects in the break-in.

About mid-day Thursday, police were called to Key City Furniture, where an employee walked into the break room just in time to see another employee breaking into a vending machine. As he investigated, the officer found that other employees at Key had seen 38-year old Eric Dale Church in the break room with the lights turned out on several occasions. This time, the plant manager said, Church had gotten the machine open and taken an unknown amount of money. He was fired on the spot and banned from the property, according to the police report.

Operation Slow Down
Highway patrol troopers statewide are starting a special emphasis on speeding and other driving hazards today, which will run through the day after Thanksgiving. Operation Slow Down occurs at this time each year, and involves troopers statewide making an extra effort to get drivers to slow down, use seat belts, and safely restrain children. The Highway Patrol says speed is the number one killer on North Carolina highways.

Drugs Stolen During Break-In
A Wilkes woman says her ex-boyfriend has a drug problem, and that’s why she believes it was him that broke into her mobile home. The 24-year old woman said she’d gone out for a short time Wednesday afternoon, and when she came back home, she found the front door open.

Several bottles of prescription medicine were stolen, along with a number of CDs by artists the man liked. Other, more expensive items were left behind, which leads deputies to believe it was not a random break-in. So far, they have not made any arrests.

More Drug Arrests, Not Part of Sweep
In addition to the sweep of suspected drug dealers across the area last week, Wilkesboro Police have recently arrested two other people for drug trafficking and possession.

Both arrests happened Wednesday. The first is related to a shoplifting case we told you about on 3WC News last week. Nerys Shoemaker had been arrested with over 200-dollars worth of merchandise, after being stopped by a security guard at Kohl’s. When she was booked into jail, two bottles of prescription medicine were found, neither of which was in her name. The detective investigating the drug portion of the crimes said a bottle of hydrocodone that had been prescribed two days before had started with 120 pills, and there were only 40 left when Shoemaker was arrested.

The second arrest happened just before midnight Wednesday at Red Carpet Inn. Wilkesboro police found marijuana, hydrocodone, Xanax and drug scales in a room occupied by Jason Lamar Lea. They had been called to the hotel by someone who suspected drug use was going on in the room; when they arrived, Lea let them in and gave them the drugs, which had been put in a dresser drawer.

N.C. Baptists Expected to Make Historic Change
The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina could expel any church that endorses homosexuality after its annual meeting this week.

On Tuesday, the organization is expected to pass a measure that would alter the articles of its constitution to provide for such exclusions. Some local churches said the move symbolizes a divide that began years ago between conservative and progressive churches.

With 1.2 million members and 4,080 churches, the N.C. convention is the second largest association of Baptist churches in the nation. It had previously kicked out several churches that ordained gays or blessed their relationships, including a Cabarrus County church in 2003, which accepted two gay men as members and later baptized them.

And since last year, members of churches that support a group called the Alliance of Baptists, which endorses gay rights, have not been able to serve as trustees for Baptist organizations.

Harley Dumped, Damaged Druing Break-In
A Wilkes woman believes her ex-boyfriend is to blame for a break-in at her house recently that caused more than a thousand dollars damage. The woman had gone to a club Wednesday night, and got into an argument with the man. Early Thursday morning, her mother woke her up and told her to go check the garage, because she’d looked out and seen a hole in the window. Her mother says she had heard a ruckus outside late in the evening as she was watching TV, but that she’d assumed it was her daughter.

When the daughter opened the garage, she found a Harley turned on its side, there were other scratches on the gas tank, various wires and lines on the bike had been cut, and the tires had been slashed. So far, deputies have not arrested the man.

Generic Acetaminophen Recalled
A company that makes store-brand acetaminophen for Wal-Mart, CVS, Eckerd, Food Lion, Lowes Foods and dozens of other large retailers is recalling 11 million bottles because small metal fragments were found in some caplets.

Perrigo Co. told the U.S. Food and Drug Administration it discovered that some of its manufacturing equipment was wearing down and passed 70 million caplets through a metal detector.

Fragments were found in about 200 caplets.

The FDA said Perrigo told the agency about the problem on Nov. 1. The FDA took a week to investigate the report before informing the public. The agency did not know when Perrigo tested the pills.

The FDA said that neither it nor Perrigo know the source of the metal. Both are investigating. The agency would not say whether Perrigo or any of its suppliers were still making acetaminophen.

Shoplifter Caught, May Face Drug Charges
Wilkesboro Police recovered more than 200-dollars worth of merchandise when they arrested a woman accused of shoplifting from Kohl’s Wednesday. The woman had been stopped in the parking lot, after a Kohls security officer saw her stuff nine items into her purse, including two bottles of perfume, three pairs of jeans, three shirts, and a pair of earrings. As he was interviewing the suspect, 29-year old Nerys Shoemaker, the police officer reported she was having a hard time keeping her balance, and was slurring words so badly it was hard to understand. When he got her to jail. The officer found several pill bottles on her, but none of the bottles had her name on them. A narcotics investigator has been assigned to that part of the case.

Lowes Theft Investigation Produces More Charges
Lowes security personnel have been spending many long hours reviewing security videotapes, as they help police build the case against a man accused of repeatedly stealing merchandise without paying. 51-year old Ronnie Lee Moore is already charged with multiple counts of shoplifting from Lowes, for a series of items taken from the store throughout June.

Another videotape review Tuesday found two more instances of alleged shoplifting. In the first, which happened June 9th, Moore is seen putting a DeWalt combo tool kit in a cart and pushing it and what appeared to be two cases of tile grout through the garden ceter entrance without paying. The value of the tool sets is almost 0ne-thousand dollars.

The second incident happened June 30th. Again, Moore is seen on the tape loading a DeWalt combo set into a cart, along with a Husqvarna chainsaw. Again, he’s shown walking out the garden center entrance without paying. Total loss this time was over 500-dollars.

The tape review and investigation by Lowes Security and Wilkesboro Police is ongoing.

Purse Stolen
A Wilkes woman tells police officers someone opened her car door and stole her purse while she was at work yesterday. 18-year old Brandy Davis said she left the car unlocked, and when she came out from work, found the purse missing. Her check book, check card, and driver’s license were in the purse. Unfortunately that means she may find herself the victim of identity fraud, as those items contain enough information for an identity thief to strike.

Identity Theft
Another Wilkes resident reports they have been the victim of an identity thief. Tammy Hayes called sheriff deputies Wednesday after being told by her bank someone had used her debit card to to buy over 400-dollars worth of merchandise at a Foot Locker in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The thief tried a third purchase of over 300-dollars, but the bank turned that transaction down. Mrs. Hayes says she doesn’t know how the identity thief got her debit card number.

Stolen Trailer Recovered
Sheriff Deputies have found a utility trailer reported stolen last month. The stolen trailer was one of several crimes Wayne Phillips reported last month, including the theft of a number of radiators out of cars. The utility trailer was found recently at the rural Wilkes residence of James Roberts. He was arrested for the theft after Phillips positively identified the trailer.

Man Charged With Biting, Grabbing His Girlfriend
A very public argument ended with a man in jail, charged with assaulting his girlfriend. Wilkesboro Police were called to Ruby Tuesday’s about 11 last night, after employees reported a disturbance. Melissa Barbee told officers her boyfriend, 27-year old Byron Parsons, had bit her on the shoulder and then grabbed her several times. Each time left a visible mark, according to the police report. Parsons was arrested and charged with assault on a female.

Just Good Ol' Boys...
A wild police chase last night fortunately ended without anyone getting hurt. A shreiff deputy parked along Traphill Road looked up about 9pm, tos see a car barreling toward him on Huie Road. After the car slid through the stop sign and nearly hit another car, the officer turned on his emergency lights and began to follow the car. Once the deputy hit his siren, the driver sped off, driving as fast as 85 miles an hour through 35 mile-an-hour speed zones.

The driver apparently thought the Ford Escort was the General Lee, because he locked up the brakes at the driveway to the Grocery Bag and slid into the parking lot Dukes of Hazzard-style. On the way into the lot, he narrowly missed another car and two people waling in the lot. He jumped out of the car and started to walk toward the deputy and confront him, took a swing, and seconds later found himself on the ground, tackled and pepper-sprayed by the deputy with the help of a couple of bystanders.

Other deputies arrived and carted the 39-year old Jeffrey Baugess off to jail, where he head-butted a deputy who was trying to give him a breath test. He now faces more than more than 10 charges, including two of assaulting an officer. He’s being held on a 15-thousand dollar bond.

2 Jailed for Having Stolen SUV
Two men are in jail, after sheriff deputies arrested them when they refused to give up the keys to an S-U-V that had been stolen in Boone. Deputies arrested 23-year old Stacey Heatley and 33-year old Matthew Puckett early yesterday. They had seen the stolen Blazer earlier in the night, but had been unable to confirm it was stolen because of computer problems. When they were finally able to run the tag, it confirmed the S-U-V had been stolen earlier in the day. When they went to the men’s apartment to confront them, Puckett became belligerent to deputies, and denied knowing anything about the Blazer. Deputies arrested both men for possession of stolen property, and for drug possession, because there was an open baggie of marijuana laying out on the living room table when they arrived at the apartment.

Business Mileage Deduction to Increase
Good news for those who drive for business. The IRS says new mileage rates will go into effect for next year, raising the deduction for business mileage to 48 and a half cents per mile. Other mileage deductions have increased as well, because of higher automobile and gasoline prices. For this year, business mileage can be deducted at 41 and a half cents per mile.

Results of County Races
In complete by unofficial results, Democratic Commissioner Luther Parks led the field with 7,404 votes. Republican Zach Henderson, the chairman of the board, finished second and won re-election with 6,442 votes. David Day, a Republican challenger, finished third with 6,252 and Democrat Matt Ledford came in fourth with 5,692.

Sheriff Dane Mastin was unopposed in seeking a fifth term. He had 9,137 votes.

In the clerk of court race, Republican Janet Handy held on to the office she was appointed to last year. after the retirement of long-time clerk Shirley Randleman. Handy had 8,317 votes, while Democratic challenger Brenda Barber got 5,171 votes.

Wilkes Results for State Races
The races for N.C. House and Senate districts in Northwest North Carolina offered a few surprises.

45th Senate (Alexander, Ashe, Watauga and Wilkes counties)

Democrat Steve Goss appears to have edged Republican David Blust in the race to represent the 45th District. In complete but unofficial results, Goss won with 24,104 votes to Blust's 23,804.

Goss is a retired Baptist minister. He lives in Watauga County.

Blust, a Watauga County commissioner, beat Wilkes County's Sen. John Garwood in this spring's Republican primary. Garwood blamed his loss in part on his controversial nonvote on the N.C. Lottery. He didn't vote for the lottery, but he could have blocked its passage by using a parliamentary procedure when he was absent because of health reasons.

Foxx Wins Re-Election
On a day when Democrats took control of the U.S. House of Representatives, voters in Northwest North Carolina re-elected U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, solidifying the 5th District as a Republican stronghold.

Foxx's Democratic opponent, Roger Sharpe, lost by a wide margin despite campaigning on hot-button issues - dissatisfaction with the Iraq war, Congress and Pre-sident Bush - that resonated among voters in other states and helped Democrats take seats held by Republicans.

Unofficial election results released by the State Board of Elections showed that Foxx had a commanding lead, with 95,466 votes to Sharpe's 71,499. The total gave Foxx 57 percent of the vote.

Find complete voting tallies for Wilkes county here.

Rain Comes Down, Playground Goes Up
Heavy rain and mud didn’t put a stop to the first day of two days of construction yesterday, as volunteers and workers from Swing-n-Slide worked side by side to set up a new playground for the Ebeneezer Christian Children’s Home. A spokeswoman for the company says the value of the playground is over 28-thousand dollars, plus the hundreds of donated man-hours to put it together. Work continues today.

The long awaited Health and Human Resource Directory for Wilkes County is printed, and the staff at United Way is getting ready to mail and hand deliver these directories out to the community. The directory has over 120 health and human service agencies listed along with an address, phone number, contact person and an explanation of what the agency does.

United Way Guide to Be Distributed Soon
United Way says it has printed enough to give them to the Personnel Managers at the businesses, the Guidance Counselors at the schools, Social Services, churches, and to the doctors and dentists offices. The directory has also been translated into Spanish. If you would like to get your name on the list to receive a copy of this directory, call Rita Smith at 651-7802.

C-Store Manager Says Employee Stole $928
A local business owner tells sheriff deputies one of his employees has been stealing from him. Jim Blevins, the manager of Four Brothers Convenience Store, said he’s fired the person, who we are not identifying because he has not been charged with the crime.

According to Blevins, the former employee was working the closing shift the middle of last month. The next morning, Blevins found two safe drops had been recorded on the store log, but the money wasn’t in the safe. The total of those cash drops was 600-dollars. Blevins said there was also nearly 230-dollars in cash for phone card sales missing from the till. When he confronted the employee, Blevins says he denied any knowledge or responsibility for the shortage.

Deputies are continuing their investigation of the case.

Theft from Pickup Bed
Nearly 1000-dollars worth of tools and chairs were stolen from the back of a pickup, according to a rural Wilkes man. The theft happened about a week ago, but the report was only released today. Nathan Mathis tells deputies someone came onto his property and stole the items, which were laying in the bed of the pickup. He says he saw a van at the edge of his property, but by the time he made it to the front door, the van had sped off. Neighbors say the van stopped at the edge of the property to pick someone up. They were able to give deputies a partial description of the men in the van. The case remains under investigation.

Firefighting Foam OK'd to Mass Kill Chickens
The government has approved the use of firefighting foam to quickly kill chickens if there is an outbreak of deadly bird flu in commercial poultry, an idea researched by animal health officials in North Carolina and Delaware.

The Agriculture Department says water-based foam can be an alternative to carbon dioxide, which has traditionally been used to quickly kill large quantities of birds.

Taylorsville Hospital to Close
Operators of Alexander County's only hospital say they will close the 25-bed facility and move emergency care to a nearby doctors' office.

Frye Regional Medical Center of Hickory, which has operated the Alexander hospital since June 2002, will move the Taylorsville operation to a new urgent care center at the Taylorsville Family Care Center on N.C. 16. Hospital officials did not say when the facility would move.

Polling Places Change
As you head out to the polls today, be aware that a couple of voting places have changed. If you live in the Walnut Grove precinct, you’ll need to go to the Piney Grove Church Fellowship on Absher Road, instead of the usual location at Wilkes County North High School. That’s because construction at the school is making the voting place inaccessible. New Castle precinct voters will also have a different poling place, at the Ronda-Clingman School. Polls are open until 7:30 this evening.

Wilkes County Airport Theft
Sheriff’s Deputies are keeping an eye on the area around Wilkes County Airport, after somone stole a set of wheel chocks off the airplane parking strip there this weekend. The theft was reported Saturday afternoon by Robert Goss. He said a man dressed in dark clothing walked across the runway, pick up the chocks, and walk away. A neighbor said his deer stand had been distrubed the same day. Deputies report other minor thefts at the airport, including several directional light covers taken on different occasions. Right now they have no suspects.

Tires Slashed
A local pizza delivery driver was without his way to make money for a while late last week, after someone slashed all four tires on his car. Brandon Wiles says he went ot a party at a friend’s house Thursday evening. When he woke up Friday afternoon, he discovered the four flat tires. He gave police the name of a woman he said had been very angry at him previously. They have not made any arrests in the case so far.

Utility Trailer Stolen
A Moravian Falls man tells sheriff deputies he has no idea who drove onto his property and towed off a utility trailer. Douglas Knight reported the theft Friday. He said the trialer had been on his property on Brushy Mountain Road when he checked Tuesday. The trailer is a double-axle model, and measures six feet by 12 feet. It has two rails for mounting motorcycles. Although deputies say tracks indicate a vehicle was used to tow off the empty trailer, it wasn’t clear what type of vehicle it may have been.