Hay Emergency Declared

With livestock farmers facing a “hay emergency” because of the drought, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler today encouraged corn and soybean farmers to consider baling their stalks and plants for use as animal feed.

Reports from farmers across the state indicate that as many as 800,000 round bales of hay will be needed to make up the shortfall and feed livestock through the winter. Compared with the drought of 2002, the magnitude of the problem this year is much greater, Troxler said.

“There’s no doubt we are seeing a hay emergency in North Carolina,” he said. “When we had a drought five years ago, we were able to help farmers meet their need for 10,000 bales of hay. But that drought mainly affected only a portion of the state. This time the whole state is affected, and we’re talking about a demand that’s 80 times greater. It’s a pretty daunting task to try to ship in that much hay, so we’ve got to be creative in helping farmers cope.

“Corn and soybean growers also are suffering from the drought. Baling corn stubble and soybeans for hay can give these growers a marketable option for their damaged crops while providing our livestock producers with additional feed options,” Troxler said.

Farmers who bale these feed alternatives can list them for sale on the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Hay Alert Web site. Hay Alert allows farmers to place free listings seeking or selling hay. It also has a section for finding or offering hay transportation services.

The site is available at www.ncagr.com/HayAlert. Listings are searchable by county and state.

Cars Vandalized Saturday Night

Three car owners in Millers Creek believe a neighbor is to blame for vandalism to their cars over the weekend. Bobby Joe Smith, Sandra Smith, and Kathy Spears, who live not far form one another along Lovette Homes Street and Shingle Gap Road, discovered rocks had been thrown through the windows of their cars sometime between 9 Saturday night and sunrise on Sunday. Other people in the neighborhood saw the unidentified male suspect walking in the area during the time in question. He lives down the road from one of the victims. Total damage to the cars is over 900-dollars. Deputies are still trying to interview the suspect.

Man, WMoan Assault One Another

Two young children are staying with relatives, after their parents got into a bloody fight over the weekend. Deputies were called to he home shared by Steward Edwards and Latonya Sales on Martin Road early Friday evening. they found the two near a pickup in front of the house, her holding a knife, him yelling at her form the front seat of the pickup. She turned toward the deputies, knife still in her hand, and started to approach them. When she was told to put the knife down and back off, she cooperated.

Their stories about what happened differ a bit, but not substantially. It seems he has another girlfriend, and both agree he was trying to leave the house -- whether it was to go to her is a point in dispute. Nevertheless, a verbal argument started in the house, with each claiming the other started assaulting them. Edwards says she came after him first with a knife, then with a bat, both of which he took from her and threw into a field behind the house. Sales says he started hitting her with a sheathed sword, and she got out the knife to defend herself after he tried to strangle her. They agree with witnesses who say she chased him out of the house with a knife and was slashing at him as he got in the pickup and tried to leave.

Deputies found signs of abuse on both of them, consistent with most of their individual stories. Both were arrested on assault charges, and their children's grandmother was called to take custody of the kids. Deputies do not indicate either of the adults had to be taken to the hospital for treatment.

Expensive Mower Stolen

A Wilkes man says someone has stolen an expensive mower from his property. Craig Sanderson tells deputies he stored his 6-thousand dollar Husqvarna zero-turn mower under the carport -- at least he did until sometime Sunday. When he got home from a day out on Sunday, he found the mower missing. There were no obvious tracks noted by officers, and he doesn't have any idea who might have taken it. Deputies are waiting on some additional information to enter the mower into the national crime database. Sanderson says it happened sometime between Sunday morning at 9:30 and Sunday evening about 5.

Check Forger Swindles Maw Maw Bea's

It's not clear whether a woman was actually setting up a household, or if that is just the things she chose to steal, but a local business lost over 300-dollars worth of second-hand clothing and home supplies. According to the clerk at Maw Maw Beas, the woman came in last Monday afternoon about 2 and picked up more than 20 items including a window air conditioner, towels, kitchen utensils, and supplies for a baby's room. She wrote three checks to pay for the items, all on a Bank of America account, but not consecutive check numbers. When the woman left, the clerk got suspicious and called the bank, only to find the account had been closed. She describes the con artist as a Hispanic woman in her late 20's, about 5-feet, 5-inches tall. She gave the deputies the checks, which had the woman's name on them. However, they have not released the woman's name, in spite of waiting a week to release the report of the crime. It is listed as under investigation.

Couple Awakens to Gunshots

A Wilkes family is fortunate they weren't injured when someone shot into their house this weekend. About 1:30 Saturday morning, Brandy Rich tells deputies she and her husband were awakened by a loud noise. After a few minutes went by, they got up and found a number of holes in the outside wall of their house. Deputies investigating the shots fired call found someone had let go with one blast from a shotgun, which had sprayed 10 to 12 pellets through the fenders of a four-wheeler sitting in front of the house, through the exterior siding, and through the wall into the house. None of the pellets hit anyone in the house. Rich says she believes she knows who is responsible. Deputies are not releasing the names of the men, due to the ongoing investigation.

IRS Issues SCAM ALERT

The Internal Revenue Service today alerted taxpayers to the latest versions of an e-mail scam intended to fool people into believing they are under investigation by the agency’s Criminal Investigation division.

The e-mail purporting to be from IRS Criminal Investigation falsely states that the person is under a criminal probe for submitting a false tax return to the California Franchise Tax Board. The e-mail seeks to entice people to click on a link or open an attachment to learn more information about the complaint against them. The IRS warned people that the e-mail link and attachment is a Trojan Horse that can take over the person’s computer hard drive and allow someone to have remote access to the computer.

The IRS urged people not to click the link in the e-mail or open the attachment.

Similar e-mail variations suggest a customer has filed a complaint against a company and the IRS can act as an arbitrator. The latest versions appear aimed at business taxpayers as well as individual taxpayers. The most recent version offers consumers 80-dollars for filling out an IRS "customer service survey."

The IRS does not send out unsolicited e-mails or ask for detailed personal and financial information. Additionally, the IRS never asks people for the PIN numbers, passwords or similar secret access information for their credit card, bank or other financial accounts.

Former NW City Manager to Retire

A former North Wilkesboro leader has announced he will retire from his current job as Hendersonville City Manager. Chris Carter plans to retire at the end of this year. A native of Elkin, he has a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a masters from Appalachian State University. Before moving to Hendersonville, he spent eight years as town manager of North Wilkesboro. He was the first manager appointed after Hendersonville adopted the city manager form of government in 1994. He tells the Hendersonville Times-News his biggest challenges as city manger have revolved around the controversial city staff resizing in 1995 and the work that seems to have gone on his whole career there to get the city's wastewater treatment plant in compliance and out from under an EPA oversight order. He says he plans to stay in the Hendersonville area, and probably will go to work in private industry after some time off.

Yard Tools, Go-Cart Stolen

A Ferguson man says someone stole more than 42-hundred dollars wroth of items from his front and back yards recently. William Underwood lives along Highway 268. He says he discovered a set of tracks in his front yard about a week ago that appeared to have been let by a dually pickup. He doesn't know anyone who drives one. The thief stole a red go-cart with a silver roll cage, worth about 32-hundred dollars; a tiller and two weed-eaters, together worth about 650-dollars; and a Troy-bilt pressure washer worth about 300-dollars. He provided serial numbers on the items, so deputies could enter them in the national crime database. No suspects have been identified so far.

Deputies Investigate Worthless Checks Case

Wilkes sheriff deputies are investigating a worthless check case against a woman who allegedly bilked a local store out of more than 300-dollars. Scott Ashely with Holly Mountain IGA tells deputies the 28-year old Wilkesboro woman came into the store twice recently and gave clerks starter checks on a Northwestern Bank account. The first check was for 182-dollars, and the second was for 80-dollars. Both checks were returned by the bank unpaid, because the account had been closed. The phone number given by the woman had been disconnected, according to the crime report. Deputies are still trying to make contact with the bank to discover why the account was closed, and with the woman, to see if she plans to make good on the checks.