Death Investigation
Wilkes Sheriff Deputies are investigating the Saturday death of a man who died at a friend’s home. 32-year old Jerry Wyatt was found Saturday morning on the floor of a bedroom. His friend, Stacy Church, says Wyatt had been drinking Friday night, and staggered to the bedroom about 11pm to get some sleep. An autopsy has been ordered.

Laptop Computer Stolen
Sheriff Deputies are looking into the theft of a laptop computer from the back seat of an S-U-V in a local grocery store parking lot this weekend. Freddy Sizemore of Moravian Falls says he went to Food Lion Sunday evening, and was in the store about 15 minutes. When he got back to the parking lot, he saw the glove compartment in his Ford Explorer had been gone through, and his wife’s laptop computer had been stolen from the back seat. Food Lion security cameras show a man getting in and out of several cars in the parking lot, then leaving in an older model Buick with a missing driver’s side front hubcap.

Similar Car Description in Gas Drive-Off
An older-model Buick is also the car being sought for a gas drive-off about half an hour earlier on Statesville Road. The clerk at Run-In Food says someone put about 31-dollars worth of gas in that Buick, then sped off. The clerk didn’t get a description of the driver, and the tag number he wrote down did not match any plate issued in North Carolina. Deputies say the fact that the clerk waited an hour to report the crime is a factor in their not having any suspects in the case.

Stereo, Speakers, CDs Stolen from Car
A Moravian Falls man tells sheriff deputies two-thousand dollars worth of stereo equipment and CD’s were stolen from his car Sunday night. Daniel Summerfield says he was inside a local business from about 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., and when he came out, he found his speaker box, two amplifiers, and CD player, along with a case holding 100 CD’s, was gone. The glove compartment in the station wagon was also gone through, but Summerfield says he doesn’t think anything was taken.

Missing: 2007-model Utility Trailer
Someone stole a brand new utility trailer from next to a rural Wilkes home Saturday. Mark Elledge, says the 2007 Model Hurst trailer was parked right next to the house, secured with a chain. Someone cut the chain and made off with the trailer, although Elledge says he never heard anything. The trailer is described as a black, 6-and-a-half foot by 12 foot trailer with white wheels and a fold down rear gate. It has minor damage to the left-hand side rail.

Left the Keys in the 4-Wheeler, Now It's Gone
A Hays woman says a four-wheeler was stolen from her yard over the weekend. Brandi Busic says she and her boyfriend had been riding four-wheelers late Saturday night, and parked them in her hard about 1 a.m. Sunday. When she woke up about 10 a.m., her ATV was gone. She’d left the key in it. The missing four-wheeler is described as a yellow and black 2000 Honda 450 model, valued at about three-thousand dollars.

C-Store Bandit Foiled
It appears there was no joy early Saturday for whoever has been breaking into Wilkes convenience stores and stealing cigarettes. This time, the thief broke a window panel in the back door of Reggie’s Service Station just outside Wilkesboro. Store owner Reggie Colvard found the damage when he opened the store Saturday. The would-be thief wasn’t able to get the door open, though, and so nothing was taken.

DWI, Other Charges After Sunday Wreck
Combine a large amount of alcohol, a little anger, and a vehicle, and the outcome usually isn’t too good. Sheriff deputies say that’s the short version of what happened Sunday night in a local mobile home park, leading to the arrest of a 30-year old woman on DWI and multiple other charges. According to deputies, Julie Goad Roberts said she was mad, as she backed out of a parking space in the park and slammed into a pickup parked across the street. They say she reeked of booze, and later blew a point-19, more than twice the legal limit, on the Intoxilyzer. Damage to the pickup is valued at over 500 dollars.

Regional News:

Mushroom Recall
A California company is recalling 10-thousand cases of mushrooms, some of which were shipped to North Carolina. Monterrey Mushrooms says its fresh sliced white and baby bella mushrooms may be contaminated with Listeria. The organism causes flu-like symptoms in otherwise healthy adults, but can cause fatal illnesses in infants, the elderly, and those with weak immune systems.

The mushrooms are packaged in several sizes of foam boxes and 10-ounce plastic bags, They were packed at Monerrey’s plant in Pennsylvania and shipped ot North Carolina and six other eastern states.

No illnesses have been reported to date.

Autopsy Confirms Boys Drowned
A preliminary report released Monday by the state Medical Examiner's Office said the Stokes County boys whose bodies were found last week had drowned.

A kayaker found the body of J.W. White, 4, on Friday, and rescuers found the body of his brother, 3-year-old Jacob. Both were found about four miles south of Danbury.

It brought an end to a search that spanned about 72 hours and involved hundreds of rescue personnel and local volunteers.

Fatal Crash Near Yadkinville
A Hamptonville man was killed Saturday night in a three-vehicle wreck at an Interstate 77 interchange near Yadkinville.

The North Carolina Highway Patrol said 57-year-old Timothy Gray Holcomb was driving a pickup truck that clipped an SUV he was passing near mile marker 74. His truck then went under the big-rig on I-77, causing it to overturn and spill its cargo of boxes onto the interstate.

Nurse Charged in 2001 Patient Death
Police charged a nurse Friday in the death of a woman she was taking care of in 2001.

Authorities said the Homicide Cold Case Unit determined Sally Jordan Hill, 50, of Matthews, is responsible for the death of Sandra Baker Joyner on April 15, 2001.

Joyner went to the Center for Cosmetic and Plastic Surgery in Charlotte on April 10 for an outpatient surgical procedure. According to authorities, the mini facelift surgery went well and Joyner was awake and talking when she was put in a recovery room.

Hill, a certified registered nurse anesthetist at the practice, was monitoring Joyner's progress. Officers said after a short time in the recovery Joyner became unresponsive and went into respiratory arrest.

Medical staff at the cosmetic surgery center tried to resuscitate Joyner before she was transported by paramedics to Mercy Hospital Main.

The mother of two died five days later.

Authorities say Hill gave Joyner a fatal dose of Fentanyl. No charges were filed initially, but someone contacted the district attorney's office in January with new information.

Reckless Driver Hits Utility Pole, Runs Off
A high-speed crash caused a large traffic backup yesterday evening, but surprisingly, no one was hurt. The Highway patrol reports Eduardo Ibarra was traveling northbound on Highway 115 near Broadway about 60 miles an hour and lost control as he tried to round a curve where the limit is 45. Ibarra smashed into a utility pole, then jumped out of the car and ran from the scene. He was captured a short time later, though, and jailed on charges of reckless driving, hit-and-run, and driving on a revoked license.

Stolen Car Found
Sheriff Deputies have located a car reported stolen from the side of Old Highway 60 near Clingman on Sunday. Yesterday, a deputy stopped the 1996 Ford Contour on US 421 near Highway 115. He arrested Roberto Perez Gonzalez on a charge of possession of stolen property. Gonzalez told the deputy the car had been loaned to him on Saturday by a woman who then left in another car.

C-Store Owner Shoots at Burglar
A Wilkes convenience store owner who has been one of the victims in a recent rash of break-ins took matters into his own hands when someone broke out his front window last night. Sheriff Deputies say Ralph Johnson, owner of Johnson’s Citgo on West Highway 421, took three shots at a man who had just smashed the front window and was trying to climb into the store. The man was not hit, and ran from the area. Johnson tells deputies he didn’t get a good look at the guy, except that he was a white male. That fits at least part of the description of a burglar who has broken into several C-stores and stolen cigarettes.

Stolen Stuff Isn't Funny, But...
It’s hard not to laugh at this case, in spite of the victim’s misfortune. A Roaring River woman reported Wednesday evening that someone came into her yard and took two items. She says the last time she was sure the items were there was on Tuesday about lunch time. So what was stolen? A 30-inch cement giraffe and a pink folding lawn chair.

Man Arrested, Loaded Pistol Found in Car Seat
A wanted felon was captured this week by an alert sheriff’s deputy. Corey Denny was seen by the deputy as he turned into the Shell parking lot at the Highway 268/18 Intersection near Elkin. The deputy says Denny walked up to him after getting out of his car, and smelled of alcohol, but did not appear to be drunk. However, the deputy knew Denny had no driver’s license, and was wanted for trespassing and injury to personal property. After he cuffed Denny, the deputy went to secure his car, and saw a 38-special in plain view on the front seat. Turns out the gun was loaded. So far, there have not been any charges filed in relation to the gun.

Death Investigation
The death of a North Wilkesboro man this week is under investigation. Sheriff Deputies say his wife found 34-year old Douglas Poteat’s body about 5:30 Tuesday evening. Although Poteat had multiple health problems, an autopsy was requested. The results of the autopsy aren’t back yet. The case remains under investigation, with no statement in police reports about whether they consider it suspicious or not.

Regional News:

Black Churches Vandalized
Members of some Winston-Salem churches are on edge after a series of unsolved break-ins.

Church leaders at Hanes Memorial CME Church said vandals have struck three times this year, with the most recent incident occurring last week.

They said doors were destroyed but nothing was stolen. Several thousand dollars of damage was done, however.

Golar Memorial AME Zion church was also vandalized last week.

Judge Finds Break-In
A vacationing District Court Judge was the victim of a break-in Monday afternoon or evening. Judge Mitch McClean says he arrived home from vacation to find his basement door broken and standing open. No other doors in the house were damaged, because the judge had set his right-hand garage door to be able to be opened by hand, so a family member could keep an eye on the house while he was gone. Judge McClean was unable to determine if anything was missing, but nonetheless has offered a reward for information in the break-in. Anyone who may have seen the burglar in the 22-hundred block of Meadowood Lane between 4 and 9 Labor Day evening is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 667-89-00, or Wilkesboro Police at 667-72-77.

Historic Courthouse Flower Bed Damaged
Someone drove over the flower bed and historical area behind the old Courthouse in Wilkesboro, causing extensive damage. But police don’t have many clues in the case, in part because it wasn’t reported until several days after it happened. Sometime between Tuesday and Friday of last week, what appears to be a dually pickup, or at least something with two pairs of tires, apparently backed into the flower bed, which means the vehicle was going the wrong way on the one way street. Wilkesboro police investigating the property damage call say the vehicle was carrying quite a bit of weight, judging from the tire tracks, and that the tires were fairly narrow for dual wheels.

Domestic Violence
Domestic situations are among the most volatile one law enforcement officers respond to. A sheriff deputy asked to monitor a man who was moving out of his girlfriend’s home nearly got caught in the middle of the fight that ended with the girlfriend being arrested. Deputy S.T. Roberts says 38-year old Robin Shoaf took a running start and punched 23-year old Timothy Ray Hall in the back of the head as he loaded his stuff from the house to the car yesterday afternoon (Wednesday). When he walked up to Shoaf after that, Deputy Roberts says she tried to pull away from him several times as he placed her under arrest. He ended up having to not only cuff her, but secure her using an arm bar, before he could get her under control and take her to jail. She faces charges domestic abuse and resisting arrest.

Wilkes Quilt Show This Weekend
The Wilkes County Quilters Guild is holding its annual Quilt Show tomorrow and Saturday. It’s at Lewis Fork Baptist Church, which is about 10 miles west of Wal-Mart on 421. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted.

The theme for this year's show is "Quilted Treasures.” Along with several vendors, there will be a quilt in a frame and guild members will be doing hand quilting demonstrations throughout the show. It runs from 9 to 6 tomorrow and 9 to 4 Saturday.

Regional News

Blowing Rock Logging Proposal Nixed, Alternate In Works
Federal officials say a new plan will be devised for a logging proposal near Blowing Rock that has drawn intense public opposition.

Forestry officials got more than 1,200 comments from the public, with most against cutting trees on 231 acres in Pisgah National Forest.

Opponents of the plan said the cutting would ruin views that attract tourists and destroy some ancient trees.

District Ranger Joy Malone said officials "clearly heard the importance people place on the scenic views of the forest from around Blowing Rock."

Malone said she asked her staff to develop an alternate plan.

More Teens Have Never Smoked
An increasing number of North Carolina teenagers have never smoked a cigarette, according to a survey of tobacco use by young people.

The 2005 N.C. Youth Tobacco Survey found that 74.2 percent of middle school students and 45.7 percent of high school students said they had never smoked. That's up from 64.9 percent of middle schoolers and 35.8 percent of high schoolers in 2001.

The findings, from a survey of 6,000 students at 177 North Carolina schools, were released Tuesday by the North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund.

N.C. Colleges: Better, Worse
A nationwide study released today says North Carolina is doing better at preparing students for college and keeping them enrolled. But it is also doing worse at making post-secondary education affordable.

The report by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education comes just a few weeks after a state think tank criticized near-annual tuition increases in the University of North Carolina system.

U-N-C spokeswoman Joni Worthington defended the system's efforts to provide financial aid to students who need it. She noted that a task force is expected to report later this fall a four-year plan on tuition rates.

The nationwide report card flunks most states when it comes to college affordability.

No Decision Yet on Sexually-Oriented Business Rules
The one-year moratorium on sexually-oriented businesses in Wilkes County will last another month, after a decision last night by county commissioners to extend it. The moratorium was scheduled to end today. It was put in place after a Statesville topless club owner started looking into opening a club in Wilkes.

An ordinance to regulate such businesses had been in the works since last fall. The commission agenda for last night listed the ordinance as a possible action item, but commissioners unanimously agreed to extend the moratorium on the advice of County Attorney Gary Triplett. He told them there were a few loose ends – things they may wish to consider that would make the ordinance both more restrictive and easier to defend in court.

The proposal is much more restrictive than similar ordinances already in effect in Ashe and Watauga counties. It places a 2-thousand foot – or nearly one-half mile – buffer around homes, schools and churches. In the other counties, the closets a sexually-oriented business can be to a home is 600 feet – about three blocks. Because of how homes, schools and churches are scattered throughout Wilkes County, the half-mile buffer ends up limiting the businesses to four areas – all of them near adjacent county lines.

Local Medical Supply Firm Sells
A medical supply company with a location in North Wilkesboro has been bought by a Michigan firm. Lovell Medical announced last week the purchase by Arcadia Resources, a company that markets home-care staffing services as well as medical supplies. According to a news release announcing the sale, Lovell generates about 3-million dollars a year in revenue. The sale includes Lovell Medical Supply locations in North Wilkesboro, Elkin, Mount Airy and Statesville.

New Bus Service for Wilkes, Beyond
There’s a new, four times a day bus service through Wilkesboro. The route starts in Greensboro and runs to Boone in the morning, then retraces the route. In the afternoon, the bus repeats the cycle. In the morning, a rider can be in Boone by 8:30 a.m. and to Greensboro by 11:45. The bus departs Greensboro at 3, reaching Wilkesboro shortly after 5 and Boone about 6. It passes through about 7:30 p.m. on the return leg. It runs seven days a week. It also makes stops at both Winston-Salem hospitals, making it a convenient way to get back and forth for medical care.

A round-trip ticket for the full ride costs only 10-dollars for students. So far, ridership has been light, but PART, the agency that’s running the route, has just started getting the word out. The route follows one abandoned by Greyhound as unprofitable.

Convenience Store Break-In, More Smokes Stolen
Another Wilkes county convenience store is the victim of a smash-and-grab burglary. Early yesterday morning, a newspaper carrier saw a broken window at Parsons Quick Stop in Roaring River, and called 9-1-1. A sheriff deputy found about 40 loose packs of cigarettes stolen from above the counter. A storage cabinet below the counter that holds cartons of smokes was open, but the store owner said nothing had been taken from it. He also said it appeared nothing else in the store had been touched. There are no suspects so far. It’s the third such theft in the past few weeks.

Grocery Store Break-In, Few Smokes Stolen
A Traphill grocery store owner is a bit more fortunate in some ways. Sometime between 8 Tuesday night and 6:30 yesterday morning, a person who was apparently trying to steal cigarettes threw a brick through the plate glass front window at Dockery’s Grocery. Deputies found an empty cigarette carton outside the store, but owner Larry Gamble says he believes only a pack or two were actually stolen. He still has a 550-dollar window to replace, but isn’t out the several hundreds of dollars worth of smokes stolen from convenience stores recently.

Moravian Falls Gas Drive-Off
A quick-thinking clerk was able to get the tag number of the person who drove off from Moravian Mart without paying for almost 50-dollars in gas Monday morning. The clerk says a red truck pulled up and pumped 47-50 worth of gas, then sped off. When deputies went to the home of the North Wilkesboro person who owns the vehicle matching the tag number, a family member said the man no longer lived at the house, but that he did drive a small red pickup truck. So far, he has not been arrested.

Stolen Car Update
A correction from the Sheriff’s office on a story we reported yesterday on 3WC news. The license tag number of a stolen Ford Contour was listed on the original report incorrectly. The correct number, on a teal 1996 Ford Contour, is North Carolina T-Y-X 39-79. The car was stolen from alongside Old Highway 60 near Clingman Sunday afternoon. Neighbors reported a white man, about 6-feet tall with long dark hair was near the car minutes before the car was taken.

Man Claims Guns Stolen
A Hays man says someone stole two guns from his home, and he thinks he knows who. Joel Johnston told sheriff deputies that sometime between noon Labor Day and early Tuesday, a .22 rifle and .22 handgun were stolen from the house. Although he has given deputies the name of a person he believes may have taken the guns, they have not listed that person as an official suspect. There was no evidence of a break-in, and Mr. Johnston told deputies only family members and the person he identified had been in the house.

Regional News

AME Church in Winston-Salem Broken Into -- Again
Police are investigating a church break-in at a church in Winston-Salem that has been victimized in the past. The incident occurred last week at Golar AME Zion Church. It was the third time break-in at the church in the past two years. Nothing was stolen from the church, but the damage will cost about one-thousand dollars to repair.

Yadkin County Jail Plans Move Forward
Plans for a new jail in Yadkin County are getting underway this week, after a split county board voted Tuesday to hire a consultant. Following a lengthy debate, commissioners voted to hire Steve Allen to help with the site selection, design and other planning that will be necessary for a new jail. The county will pay Allen’s company, about nine-thousand dollars.

The current jail is more than 40 years old - and it is showing its age. On Aug. 3, its 29 inmates were transferred to jails in other counties after temperatures inside reached more than 100 degrees and some inmates showed signs of heat stroke. Before the evacuation, about 15 other inmates were already being held in other counties because of a lack of space in Yadkin's jail. It has only 24 beds and is not equipped to house women.

Closing the jail, in addition to the overcrowding, has cost the county more than $50,000 over the past month. Jails in other counties charge $45 a day to house an inmate.

Judge to Governor: You Broke the Law
A Superior Court judge has ruled Governor Mike Easley and others violated the constitution in 2001 by intercepting $225 million headed for state pension funds to help cover a budget shortfall.

Easley has defended taking the state's contributions to the pension funds, saying it was his legal duty to balance a budget that was off by $850 million. Some of the money was repaid by the end of the 2001, but $130 million is outstanding.

Fourteen current and former state workers sued, arguing that the decision hindered the financial soundness of the pension plan.

After hearing oral arguments in February, Superior Court Judge Joseph John agreed yesterday that the Easley administration and other state officials violated a state constitution provision requiring that retirement funds be used only for their intended purpose.

Domestic Violence
Sheriff Deputies have arrested two people for alleged assaults on others over the weekend.

On Friday afternoon, deputies arrested Carla Ruth Byrd for assaulting her girlfriend and a relative. Deputies say as they arrived, they saw Byrd she kick and hit both women. Although no alcohol-related charges have been filed, deputies say alcohol did play a part in the incident.

A North Wilkesboro man was arrested last (Monday) night for beating on his wife and son with a vacuum cleaner wand. Deputies say the woman told them Juan Galeas had been drinking before the incident.

Mailbox Bombings, Vandalism
Deputies are investigating a rash of recent mailbox bombings and vandalism

On Saturday, improvised explosive devices went off in the mailbox at two homes on Mulberry Road. Deputies say the pipe bombs were found by the mail carrier, and that they exploded between the time the carrier found them and deputies arrived. The explosives are described as being plastic bottles filled with tacks and unfired 22-caliber blanks. They have been confined in the Hazardous Devices Unit bus during the investigation, which is continuing.

Roman candles were the explosive of choice Thursday night, as three mailboxes were scorched along Old Highway 60 in Millers Creek. Neighbors say they heard a loud boom about 9:30 Thursday night, and the scorched mailboxes were reported early Friday afternoon. There are no suspects.

Around midday Monday, two Traphill-area residents called deputies to report their mailboxes had been vandalized. In one case, the vandals damaged an entire row of mailboxes and stole one of them; in the other, deputies say it appeared the mailbox had been ripped off its post.

Thief Grabs $288 from Woman's Purse
A North Wilkesboro woman is almost 300-dollars poorer today, simply because she went to work this weekend. Kristin Palmer tells Wilkesboro Police she was working at Mayflower Restaurant on Saturday, and when she pulled her purse from under the front counter at the end of her shift, she discovered 288-dollars in cash had been taken from the purse. So far, there are no suspects.

Stolen Car
Sheriff Deputies are on the lookout for a stolen car. A Hamptonville woman reported her 1996 Ford Contour was stolen while she was working Sunday afternoon at a chicken house along Old Highway 60 near Clingman. Neighbors say they saw a man less than 50 feet form the car not long before the theft was reported. They describe him as a white man with dark shoulder length hair, about 6-feet tall. Deputies do not have a clothing description for the man, or a name. The teal 1996 Ford Contour has North Carolina license plate T V X 39-79.

Stolen Pickup Recovered
Good news for one person whose pickup was stolen recently. The pickup was apparently abandoned by the thieves near a North Wilkesboro home Friday night. The homeowner called 9-1-1 after he had to move the truck to get onto his property. Deputies recovered the truck, along with nearly 300-dollars worth of roofing supplies and tools. Although the owner now has the truck back, the case remains under investigation, with no suspects identified so far.

Radio Shack Bomb Threat
Wilkesboro Police are looking to a disgruntled customer as a possible suspect in the bomb threat that forced the evacuation of Radio Shack and adjacent businesses on Friday. Just after noon, the store manager call 9-1-1, about 10 minutes after someone called him saying there was a bomb in the store. Authorities got everyone out safely, and found no bomb. The manager told police he had had a small dispute with a man over a cell phone less than an hour earlier. The man bought a small item and paid with cash, and the store has no security cameras, so police don’t know who he was. They are subpoenaing records from the store’s phone company to trace the call.

Labor Day Weekend Hme Break-Ins
Sheriff Deputies are investigating two large home break-ins reported over the weekend.

The first was reported Friday afternoon. A thief broke into a home on Mulberry Pine Lane and stole over one-thousand dollars worth of fishing equipment. The items were stored in the basement according to the owner, but the burglar broke in through the front door. Nothing from the house was missing. The owner, James Ward, told deputies he hadn’t been in the basement since June. The case is listed as under investigation.

Neighbors discovered a break-in Sunday afternoon at a home on Gabriels Way. Nearly 20-thousand dollars worth of appliances, home furnishings and electronics were taken. Neighbors gave deputies the tag number of a pickup that was seen in the area shortly before the burglary was discovered, and deputies have spoken to the occupants of that truck, but have yet to make an arrest. The list of items stolen may grow after the homeowners, a Florida couple, arrive and inventory the house.

Flooding Rains Possible
Some flooding is possible as moderate to heavy rain storms creep through our area tonight. A cold front is stalled over the top of the area, and showers and thunderstorms are likely to move repeatedly over the same areas much of the evening. Remember, if water is covering the road, turn around, don’t drown. You don’t know, especially at night, whether the road surface is still there.

Regional News

NC Couple Dies in VA Plane Crash
State police said a North Carolina man and woman were killed when their small plane crashed in Pittsylvania County, Virginia on Monday.

The man and woman were trying to return to Smith Mountain Lake Airport when their plane came apart, authorities said.

Their names haven't been released.

September: Ready NC Month
Gov. Mike Easley has proclaimed September as "Ready North Carolina" month to encourage citizens, businesses and schools to take steps to prepare themselves for natural disasters and other emergencies.

The governor's proclamation coincides with National Preparedness Month, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and held each September to encourage Americans to prepare for emergencies.

In the last five years North Carolina has experienced nearly 200 tornadoes, more than 3,000 severe thunderstorms, 15 tropical storms or hurricanes as well as blizzards, ice storms and heat waves. During these weather events, officials said it's imperative that citizens are prepared to evacuate or survive in their homes without power and other utilities.

Waterfall Plunge Causes Critical Injuries
A 39-year old Ferguson man is reported in critical condition, after falling down a waterfall near his home Saturday afternoon. Jeremy Allen Page was found at the bottom of Bucks Falls, about 20 minutes after he fell an estimated 70 feet. Page suffered a severe head injury, along with a broken back, along with his right arm and leg, and some broken ribs.

Rescuers from Ferguson and the Wilkes Rescue Squad had to strap Page into a stokes basket and carry him about a quarter mile to a waiting ambulance. He was airlifted to Carolina’s Medical Center in Charlotte from a landing area set up at the Ferguson Fire Department.

Bucks Falls is along Pumpkin Creek, about a mile and a half from Highway 268, off the unpaved part of Pumpkin Creek Road. Page is in intensive care, but is expected to recover.

Drug Connection?
Authorities are looking at whether there is a drug connection to the recent theft of tires and wheels worth 18-hundred dollars. Tonya Shumate reports she came home from working night shift at Wilkes Senior Village last Wednesday to find that a set of tires and rims that had been on a Ford Explorer were gone. She tells law enforcement there is a lot of activity on her road that she believes is drug-related. There have been no arrests in the case.

Generator Stolen -- Who Knows When?
Although a stolen generator has turned up at a local pawn shop, so far authorities have not made any arrests. The property owner, who lives in Georgia, said she came to check on the property last week and found that the storage building had been pried open and the generator stolen. She found it at the pawn shop, where the manager says it had been for over a month. He is checking records to find who pawned the generator, and is holding it during the investigation.

Regional News

NC Man to Run Across Sahara Desert
A North Carolina man will be one of the stars of a new movie from actor Matt Damon's production company. But Charlie Engel of Summerfield won't exactly enjoy the experience.

He and two others are planning to run across the Sahara Desert. The 43-year-old and his companions will attempt to run 50 miles a day in one of the world's most extreme climates. The 4,000 mile journey will take 80 days.

Landis Police Chief Resigns
The police chief of Landis has resigned. Chief Charles Childers was arrested about two weeks ago on felony child pornography charges.

Landis town administrator Reed Linn says Childers submitted a resignation letter Tuesday. According to a criminal complaint, Childers used the Internet to distribute child pornography across state lines. It also said he tried persuade someone he thought was an underage girl to meet with him for sexual activity. Authorities said that person is actually an undercover agent with the Michigan Attorney General's Office.

Childers faces a possible sentence of between 5 and 30 years in prison. He worked for the Landis Police Department for more than 25 years.

Ernesto Water Flowing to Sea
The overflowing Northeast Cape Fear River began to recede from rural North Carolina communities Monday, although forecasters said the waterway probably won't be back to normal levels until the end of the week.

About 140 people have been evacuated in Duplin and Pender counties, where the Cape Fear had swelled over its banks by about 6 feet, officials said. The water was beginning to drain Monday as the river purged itself of Tropical Storm Ernesto's rainfall.

No injuries were reported.

Unregulated Phone Service
BellSouth is asking state regulators to give up their oversight of the company. It wants to be able to set rates and service areas without restrictions or public hearings.

The arm of the state Utilities Commission that represents consumers intends to fight BellSouth's request, which was filed Thursday.

Atlanta-based BellSouth is North Carolina's largest provider of local telephone service. It's the first local phone-service company in the state to seek freedom from all price and service quality controls. BellSouth officials said regulation is no longer needed because its customers have choices that didn't exist decades ago when its services were regulated as a monopoly.

Ernesto Misses Us
A near miss. It looks like that’s how Tropical Storm Ernesto will go down in the Wilkes County record books.

Ernesto made landfall on the southern North Carolina coast late Thursday, coming ashore with heavy rains but sustained winds that fell just short of hurricane levels.

The storm's official arrival near Long Beach in Brunswick County came near the end of a long day of rain in the eastern half of North Carolina. The Wilmington area, for instance, received more than eight inches of rain.

And while as recently as last night, Weather Service forecasters had posted flash flood watches for Wilkes county and predicted several inches of rain today and tomorrow, now they forecast only periods of rain with new rainfall totals of around an inch.

Memorial for Longtime Doctor Tomorrow
The Wilkes medical community is without a longtime member, after the death Tuesday of Dr. Hal Burgess Hawkins. The prominent doctor, who was 81, had practiced in Wilkes County for 38 years, retiring in 1992.

Hawkins was one of the organizers of the Moravian Falls Fire Department and Water Association and the Moravian Falls Community Center. He served on the county school board for eight years, along with serving on the boards governing the Wilkes YMCA, Wilkes County Respite Care, and Wilkes Senior Center. He was a World War Two veteran, serving in the Navy form 1943 to 1946 in the Mediterranean and Asian Pacific theaters and earning six ribbons and seven battle stars.

A memorial service is scheduled for 2pm Saturday at First Baptist Church, North Wilkesboro. His family will receive friends immediately following at the Wayland Fellowship Hall. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be made to a scholarship fund established in his name, in care of the church.

Another Chain-Reaction Accident
For the second time in two days, Wilkesboro Police have worked a chain-reaction crash

Police say 34-year old Michelle Combs Bates was on West Main Street just east of Tyson Foods about 1 yesterday Wednesday afternoon when she ran into another car. That car was stopped, waiting on the car in front of it to turn left into the Kangaroo station. Bates was the only driver injured in the accident; she was ticketed for failure to reduce speed and not carrying her driver’s license. She was taken to Wilkes Regional Medical Center by Wilkes County EMS with minor injures.

Wilkes Unit Helps Surry County
Wilkes County’s Hazardous Devices Unit helped deputies from Surry County this week, after they found a box of old copper blasting caps in a home in Mount Airy Tuesday. The caps were taken to the fire training grounds and detonated, along with a batch of old explosives that had been held by the unit until there was enough to destroy.

Boom Lift Worth $60,000 Gone
There’s little information available on the largest theft reported in Wilkes County recently. A Mooresville man says he rented a 6-thousand pound boom lift to use on a job site. He came to the site, along Highway 18 North, Monday morning to find the lift gone. It’s described as a device with a 36-inch reach, and green in color. The rental company places the value of the stolen lift at 60-thousand dollars. There are no suspects at this time.

Home Break-In
Deputies are investigating a break-in at a home on Speedway Road. The homeowner, Jerry Bennell, says he dropped by the house, which is currently vacant, on Monday morning and found someone had kicked in the garage door. The only thing stolen from the house was a 19-inch Zenith TV. There are no leads at the moment.

Old Time Fiddlers Convention Tomorrow
Organizers of the Happy Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention say they brought in 12-hundred people to the inaugural event last year, and expect an even larger crowd at this year’s event, which is tomorrow.

The event, which will start at 10 a.m. and conclude at dark, will feature contests for old-time and bluegrass fiddle, old-time and bluegrass banjo, guitar, mandolin, as well as for bluegrass and old-time bands.

The cost of entry is $5 per person with ages 12 and under admitted free.

The site of the event is on N.C. 268 West on the Jones Farm, the historic property of Tony Jones and his family, and home to Laura Foster's resting place. Laura Foster was Tom Dooley's lover and her murder is still considered by some to be an unsolved mystery.

A Knife at School
A West Wilkes Middle School student faces a charge of bringing a knife to school. The 6th grader, who is not being identified because he’s 12 years old, admitted to West Wilkes Middle School Assistant Principal Ramona Hemerick he brought the knife to campus last Monday and showed it to a friend. Charges have been filed against the boy in the juvenile court system.

Board Agendas Released
Three public governing boards will meet in the area Tuesday night.

North Wilkesboro Town Board’s meeting starts at 7pm in the Town Hall. Board members are expected to decide which of three entities will get a 30-year lease on Wilkes Regional Medical Center.

County commissioners will discuss the sexually-oriented business ordinance at their 5pm meeting, and School Board members will talk about board pay and a new track for North Wilkes Middle School at their 5:30pm meeting. All three are open to the public. We’ll have more details on each, during Tuesday’s 3WC newscasts.

Kayak Theft Unsolved Almost a Month Later
Sheriff Deputies suspect a 19-year old man is behind the theft of a kayak and other items from a Boomer business. He lives not far from Wilderness Lodge Canoe and Kayak, where the break-in occurred. Deputies have been unable to talk with Jason St. Clair in the nearly one month since the crime occurred. In addition to the 900-dollar kayak, over 600-dollars worth of tools were stolen.

Too Much School Spirit
Sheriff Deputies are investigating what appears to be a high school prank gone too far. S North Wilkes High School football player says he and some friends went to a game at East Wilkes in his pickup truck. When he came back to the truck, someone had keyed the side and written on the windows in lipstick, saying things like “you’re going to lose.”

The cost to repair the truck is over 22-hundred dollars. Deputies have spent much of this week interviewing several East High and North High students, but have made no arrests.

Have A Coke and A Smile
No one is quite sure how a Coca-Cola machine came to be on the side of West Meadows Road Thursday, but nonetheless, there it was. A sheriff deputy was called about the machine about 3pm, and could find no record of it being stolen, or how it might have gotten there. The machine has been returned to the Coca-Cola company.

Items Stolen -- Sometime in the Past Month
Deputies don’t have any leads, and it doesn’t sound like they expect to get many, in the theft of several items from a home on Byrd Road late last week. The man who called in the theft said the house has been vacant since his parents died, but the things they owned were still in it. He hadn’t checked on the house for about a month. When he did, he found the back door had been kicked in and a VCR, DVD player, and several dagger-type knives were stolen.

Pickup Stolen Early Friday
Wilkesboro Police officers are looking for a stolen truck. The blue 1997 Ford Ranger was stolen early Friday from the K-Mart parking lot. Gregory Thornton, who is a night-time delivery driver, says he parked the truck at the bottom of the lot near Wachovia Bank about 9:30 Thursday night, and when he got back from his delivery route Friday about 6am, the truck was gone. Police say the pickup is missing some paint on the hood, and has a crack in the windshield near the inspection sticker.

Identity Theft
A Hollywood Florida woman who has never been to Wilkes County tells Wilkesboro Police someone bought things at Lowes in Wilkesboro using a credit account falsely issued in her name. The woman says she knew nothing about the credit account until Lowes collection company started calling her because the bill wasn’t being paid. Purchases were made here and in Penbrooke Pines, Florida. The woman tells police the account was opened in January, and both purchases were made in February. She has no idea how someone got her personal information.

Horner Named VP of District Attorneys Group
23rd Judicial District Attorney Tom Horner has been chosen by his fellow District Attorneys as vice president of the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys.

Horner, who serves as district attorney in the 23 rd Judicial District (which includes Wilkes, Ashe Alleghany and Yadkin counties) was appointed to the post during a recent conference held in Wilmington . He has served on the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys Executive Committee since 2001.

Horner was first elected district attorney for the 23rd Judicial District in 1998. His office has received various awards for its work.

Regional News

Foxx Immigration Proposals
U.S. Representative Virginia Foxx, a member of the Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources, is proposing two solutions to the illegal immigration issue.

At a recent hearing on the issue in Gastonia, Foxx proposed a review of the 287-g program, which would enable streamlining of the deportation process for illegals. She also proposed expanding the 287-g program to community college.

“Illegal immigration is having a tremendous negative impact on our state and local governments,” said Foxx. “The first step in immigration reform must be securing our borders, but we must also streamline the processes for deporting illegal aliens who commit crimes. Federal staff is inadequate to do all that it is tasked to do, and that is why we must empower local, state and federal officials to do their jobs more effectively.” Foxx added.

The 287(g) cross-designation program allows the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency personnel to train local law enforcement officials on immigration law, civil rights, intercultural relations, and other legalities. With certification from this program, local law enforcement can enforce certain immigration laws, under ICE supervision.

5-1-1, Two Years Later
More than 1.2 million calls have been made to the N.C. Department of Transportation’s 511 travel information system since its inception two years ago today.

“Not only are people dialing 511 during times of disaster like hurricanes and winter weather, but more motorists are dialing 511 as a part of their daily travel routine,” said Jo Ann Oerter, 511 project manager. “By calling 511 motorists are able to receive the most up-to-date information on travel conditions, allowing them to better plan their routes and travel times.”

511 has received several new upgrades to the system since its debut including the addition of weather conditions to the top menu earlier this year.

Heavy Labor Day Traffic, Highway Patrol Warns to Slow Down
The Labor Day holiday weekend marks the end of a busy summer vacation travel season and heavy traffic is expected statewide this year. Speed is the leading cause of traffic deaths on the state’s highways. Troopers will be cracking down on speeders and aggressive drivers during the holiday weekend. There will be an increased presence of Troopers on all interstates in North Carolina.

Last year, there were 1,071 crashes, 565 injuries and 13 fatalities investigated by the Highway Patrol statewide during the holiday period.

Gas Prices Lowest of Summer
Good news if you're traveling: Gas prices are continuing to drop. AAA Carolinas pegs the current average price statewide at $2.76, and it's down to $2.63 across the S.C. border.) That's still higher than drivers might like, but it's well below the prices from most of the summer.

Labor Day driving is expected to be up 2.3 percent over last year, according to AAA Carolinas, while fewer people are flying.

Man Arrested After Internet Sting
A 37-year-old man faces charges soliciting of a minor by computer after believing he was communicating with a 15-year-old girl. Horace Alford Barnhill, of Fairmont, was arrested Thursday without incident, according to Greensboro police.

Barnhill, police allege, requested a meeting via online chat for the purpose of sexual activity and arranged a meeting. He was also charged with two counts of carrying a concealed weapon. Barnhill was placed in the Guilford County jail under a $5,000 bond.

High School Shooting Suspect in Court
A teenager accused of killing his father and opening fire outside his former high school was obsessed with school massacres and sent e-mail to the principal of Columbine High School in Colorado warning of his attack, authorities said Thursday.

The e-mail read: ``Dear Principal, In a few hours you will probably hear about a school shooting in North Carolina. I am responsible for it. I remember Columbine. It is time the world remembered it. I am sorry. Goodbye.''

Orange County Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass said Alvaro Castillo sent the message Wednesday morning, shortly before two students were wounded by the gunfire in the school parking lot in Hillsborough. One student was grazed by a bullet and another was injured by flying glass.

When Castillo was arrested near the school, police found pipe bombs and weapons in his van.

Prominent Baptist Pastor Dies
The Rev. Mark Corts, a former Baptist State Convention president and national denomination leader who led what became one of Winston-Salem’s largest churches, has died at the age of 68.

Corts, the senior pastor of Calvary Baptist Church for nearly 40 years, died this week of congestive heart failure at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, according to his son, Jon. Corts had been in declining health since the early 1990s, when he had a heart attack.

Corts retired in 2002 from Calvary Baptist, a church that now has 6,500 members.

No Special Session
A special legislative session to consider an override Gov. Mike Easley's sole veto this year won't occur after a majority of members in the House and Senate declined to return to Raleigh.

Thirty-nine senators and 81 House members have turned in signed documents saying that reconvening the General Assembly to consider the bill again isn't necessary, the Senate Principal Clerk's office said late Thursday. According to the state constitution, a majority in each chamber is needed to prevent Easley from recalling lawmakers back to town.

The signings mean the bill, which would have required that all state institutions and agencies allow representatives of employee associations with more than 40,000 members the chance to meet with or recruit workers, won't become law.

Tuesday Wreck Sends Three to Hospital
Three people were taken by EMS to Wilkes Regional Medical Center yesterday after a two-vehicle accident on US-421 at Dancy Road. Wilkesboro police say the two drivers give somewhat different versions of what happened.

Brian Bare says he was turning onto 421 from the Belk access road when the car driven by Pamela Walker pulled from the inside westbound lane in front of him in the turn lane. He tells police that caused him to slam on his brakes, but not in time to avoid hitting Walker’s car.

Walker says she was in the turn lane, stopped to turn into Crossroads Harley, when bare hit her from behind. When police got there, Bare had moved his vehicle in front of Walker.

Walker and two other in the car, Jennifer Staley and her infant daughter Haley, were transported to Wilkes Regional for treatment of their injuries. Police have not issued any tickets in relation to the wreck.

EMS Hopping Due to Second Multi-Injury Wreck in an Hour
A chain-reaction wreck less than an hour later kept Wilkes County EMS busy, as people from all three cars involved asked to be checked out. Police say 28-year old Laura Shepherd turned off Collegiate Drive onto Highway 268 eastbound, and wrecked into another eastbound car just in front of Burger King. The second car rammed into a third, which was stopped waiting for traffic to clear for a left turn.

Shepherd was ticketed for failing to slow to avoid an accident, and for not carrying her driver’s license. A passenger in her car and the driver of each of the other cars asked to be checked out by EMS, and refused further medical treatment.

Teen Drunkenness -- To the Extreme
A Wilkes County teen was airlifted to Baptist Hospital after sheriff deputies found him passed out in the middle of Old Highway 60 in Millers Creek early this morning. When they found the boy, who is not being identified because he’s 15, his mouth was bleeding and he had several cuts on his head. Deputies say he reeked of alcohol. As EMS arrived to treat the boy, they nearly hit a 17-year old boy who was literally stumbling drunk, and walked out on the road in front of the ambulance.

The 17-year old admitted both boys had been drinking. He has been arrested for underage drinking and for public drunkenness.

Boy Attacked in Ronda Park, Hospitalized
An 18-year old Elkin boy has potentially life-threatening injuries, after witnesses say he was jumped by four men and two women in Ronda Park last night. His father says the Ryan Sizemore had gone to the park to meet his ex-girlfriend, to retrieve some things he’d given her. His father went to the park a short time later to check on the boy, and says he saw a green Explorer speeding out of the park and Ryan struggling to get up from the parking lot. As he was calling 9-1-1 on his cell phone, an older woman that had been waling on the nearby track described the attack. The father, Robert Bodenhamer, loaded his stepson into the pickup and took him to Hugh Chatham Hospital. Doctors treated his head and facial injures, and transferred him to Baptist. Deputies have a name of a possible suspect, but have so far made no arrests in the case.

WRMC Fate to Be Decided September 5
North Wilkesboro Town Board members are scheduled to decide the future of Wilkes Regional Medical Center at their Tuesday night meeting. Three offers are on the table for a 30-year lease. The current operating board offers 350-thousand dollars a year, plus one-half percent of revenues over 70 million dollars a year, along with a partnership with two of North Carolina’s five teaching hospitals. Community Health Systems has offered a 51-million dollar up-front payment, and Novant Health Care has offered one million dollars a year to North Wilkesboro. Four recent public hearings were held on the leases; one by each of the entities, and one as a listening session where local residents could tell North Wilkesboro town board members their thoughts on the subject.

The meeting Tuesday starts at 7pm in the North Wilkesboro Town Hall.

Regional News

Ernesto to Hit N.C. as Tropical Depression
Tropical Storm Ernesto surprised forecasters by not strengthening into a hurricane as it moved into Florida, bringing lots of rain but not a lot of wind, and state climate experts hoped for the same outcome in North Carolina.

``We're going to be able to take the water that may or may not come with Ernesto,'' said state climatologist Ryan Boyles. ``The flip side of the coin with these storms is the wind, which can cause a lot of problems, but right now it's looking to be more of a beneficial event rather than a detrimental one.''

The path predicted by the National Hurricane Center showed the storm passing northward through central North Carolina early Friday. But the range of possible paths forecast by the center could take the storm as far east as the Outer Banks and as far west as the Charlotte area.

It was expected to exit the state by Friday evening.

Number 1 Storm Killer: Lightning
The coroner lists lightning as the cause of death for a York county man who died Tuesday. 36-year old Mitchell Dixon was getting his mail after he got home from work when the lightning struck. He was rushed to Piedmont Medical Center in Rock Hill, where he died about an hour later.

Hurt Firefighters Home from Hospital
The five firefighters injured Tuesday afternoon in a Matthews house blaze have been released from the hospital. The five were hurt while battling a blaze at a house that had been sold and was scheduled for a real estate closing this afternoon. Two firefighters were hurt when a part of the roof collapsed when they were inside the house. The other three were treated and released after complaining of heat-related problems.

Company Says Proposed Fines Aren't Legal
An agricultural company accused of 369 pesticide-related violations has asked a judge to dismiss most of the charges and to reduce its fine to $500 from more than $184,000.

Lawyers for Ag-Mart, a multinational tomato grower, argued that the nearly three-quarters of the alleged violations were based on misinterpreted records.

After an investigation, North Carolina's Agriculture Department levied a $184,500 fine the largest in state history against the Florida-based company. The agency said Ag-Mart endangered workers by exposing them to harmful pesticides and that the company often harvested tomatoes too soon after spraying.

Shots Fired at Hillsborough's Orange High School, Two Hurt
A drive-by shooting in a high school parking lot in Hillsborough this afternoon has resulted in injures for two students. Raleigh media are reporting police have arrested one suspect, and that the injuries consist of a gunshot wound to one student’s shoulder and another student being hit by breaking glass.

He Was There, But He Has No Idea What Happened
Sheriff Deputies are looking for suspects after a man showed up at Wilkes Regional Medical Center over the weekend with several bumps, cuts and bruises. Someone dropped the man off at the hospital about 2 Sunday afternoon, and he told deputies he had been swimming with several other people on Saturday afternoon when he received the injuries. According to the victim, he was walking through the water near Reddies River when someone knocked him unconscious. He says he doesn’t remember anything until he woke up at someone’s house early Sunday morning. It was still another nearly 12 hours before he was taken to the hospital. A CAT scan showed nothing abnormal, and he was treated and released. The investigation is ongoing.

Golf Clubs Used in Assault
A rural Wilkesboro man was beaten with a golf club last (Monday) night, after three men broke into his home. Pau Bowman tells deputies the men kicked in his front door just before 11:30 last (Monday) night. When he tried to ward them off, one hit him in the head with a golf club, causing a cut to his right eye. He refused medical treatment.

The men then proceeded to kick holes in doors and break glass panes and windows, causing about 1-thousand dollars damage. Bowman was able to give deputies two of the three men’s names, but they have been unable to locate the third man so far.

Cocaine the Focus of Weekend Drug Busts
Deputies report three arrests over the weekend for cocaine use and trafficking.

Friday night, they arrested 40-year old Billy Ray McGuire for possession of 16 grams of cocaine, after going to his home to serve a search warrant. McGuire told deputies the cocaine was his, and admitted that a sum of cash found in his home was from selling the drug.

A traffic stop led to another drug arrest Sunday afternoon. Deputies pulled over a car after seeing the driver turn onto an exit ramp without signaling first, then noticing the car had a broken headlight. Two men in the car looked to deputies like they were trying to hide things in the car as they pulled over. Deputies found a gun and drugs, and while they were trying to interview the men, one of them bolted. He didn’t get far, though, because he was handcuffed and a deputy quickly pepper sprayed him. He was able to run because he was so large the deputy had to cuff him in front instead of in back.

Mario Demond Carlton was arrested on weapons, possession and trafficking charges. Eric Carlton, the other occupant of the car, was released after both men confirmed he did not know about either the gun or the drugs.

The third arrest came during a license check lane at the Yadkinville Firehouse. Deputies chased down a man after he drove through the check lane without stopping. 35-year old Scottie Jay Holloway was arrested after deputies found four rocks of crack cocaine in the car.

Leave It Out and It May Disappear
Three times in the past few days, a Wilkes resident has had property stolen from an unlocked or open vehicle.

On Sunday, the same man is suspected of stealing nearly 900-dollars worth of tools, electronics, CD’s and a dome tent, along with causing 300-dollars damage to the trunk of a car trying to break in and steal more stuff. The car was unlocked; the tools were stolen from the back of a small pickup truck. Both were parked outside a home in Ferguson. Deputies are looking for a 36-year old man, who is not a resident of Wilkes County.

A broken lock on the driver’s door is how someone was able to get into a car parked outside a home on McNeil Road. The 20-year old woman who reports the theft says she spent the night Friday at her boyfriend’s house. During her stay, another man asked to borrow ten dollars. When she went out to her car Saturday afternoon, her wallet was missing. Deputies have interviewed the boyfriend, who denies knowing anything about it. They have the name of the other man believed to be involved.

Regional News

Tropical Storm Ernesto Headed Our Way
One thing seems certain: Rain will fall late this week in North Carolina, whether it's from tropical weather, a cold front or a combination of the two.

Depending on its track, Tropical Storm Ernesto could run into a cold front and dump several inches of rain on the state, said Mike Strickler, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Raleigh.

Strickler said two inches of rain are possible in the mountains, while up to 10 inches could fall along the Outer Banks. Parts of the state could get 1 to 2 inches just from the front. Ernesto could reach the Carolina coast as early as tomorrow.

In addition to possible storm damage, there's also the possibility of economic damage. North Carolina tourism officials fear just the possibility of a storm hitting on Labor Day weekend will severely hurt their industry for the season's final holiday, especially at the coast. About 150,000 tourists typically visit the Outer Banks on Labor Day weekend.

US 321 Widening Delayed
Construction work on the US 321 widening project between Lenoir and Blowing Rock is behind schedule. Unstable rock in two areas is causing a delay in the 63-million dollar project to widen 321 to four lanes, according to contractor W.C. English Company. Twenty months into the project, it’s 35-percent complete, which is a bit behind schedule. Enough so, in fact, that the scheduled completion date two years from now probably not going to happen The NCDOT Regional Engineer says he’s confident the road will be open by the end of 2008. Wide Load traffic from 321 is using Highway 421 as a detour.

Charlotte-Area Firefighters Hurt in Big Blaze
Two firefighters were hurt while battling a major blaze yesterday afternoon near Independence Boulevard and Interstate 485 in Matthews.

At one time, flames leaped from the roof of the house. Butler High School is nearby, but school officials said all the students had left for the day and were in no danger.

SAT Scores Drop; Not So Much in NC
The high school class of 2006 recorded the sharpest drop in SAT scores in 31 years, a decline that the exam's owner, the College Board, said was partly due to some students taking the newly lengthened test only once instead of twice.

In North Carolina, the average combined scores for the critical reading and math sections dropped two points, but moved eight points closer to the national average for the two traditional sections of the test.

Fatigue wasn't to blame, the College Board insisted, even though this year's class was the first to take a new version of the exam which added an essay. It now takes an average of three hours and 45 minutes to complete the test, not counting breaks.

The results come several months after numerous colleges reported surprisingly low SAT scores for this year's incoming college freshmen. The nonprofit College Board, which had said scores would be down this year, released figures Tuesday showing combined critical reading and math skills fell seven points on average to 1021.

In North Carolina, the average combined score dropped from 1010 to 1008.

Coal Power: The Fight is On
Duke Energy's first new Carolinas coal-fired power plants in three decades, to be built 55 miles west of Charlotte, promise cheap energy. And a debate: What are such plants doing to the environment?

Duke meets its public today in Charlotte, with a hearing on the plants before the N.C. Utilities Commission.

An abundant fuel, coal generates more than half the state's electricity. Duke says coal is a key to supplying "least cost" power for the 50,000 new Carolinas customers it adds each year.

Coal is also a leading source of the pollutants that form ozone, the irritating gas that's tormented Charlotte for years. Coal emissions help shroud skies in haze and warm the planet.

Duke plans to retire four 1940s-era power units and build two new ones at its Cliffside plant in Rutherford and Cleveland counties. The plant dumped 3.9 million tons of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere last year.

Retired Wilkes Central Coach Dies
Friends and family members of the popular retired Wilkes Central High School football coach, Jerry Minton, raised 27-hundred dollars in his memory at Friday night’s Wilkes Central – West Wilkes football game.

Coach Minton died on Friday at Wilkes Regional Medical Center. His family will receive visitors tonight from 6 until 8 at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church’s new Reach Center. His funeral service is tomorrow at 2 at the same location.

Mr. Minton was head coach of the Wilkes Central football program from 1994 to 1999, and assistant coach at Wilkes Central for two years before that. He also served as assistant coach for West Wilkes from 1999 to 2003.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorials be made to the Humane Society of Wilkes, Samaritans Kitchen of Wilkes or Hospice of Wilkes.

Stolen Stereo Equipment Recovered, Thief Arrested
Sheriff Deputies have recovered the three-thousand dollars worth of stolen stereo equipment we told you about earlier on 3WC News. They arrested one man and have issued a warrant for another in connection with the case.

Friday night, deputies received a tip about possible drug activity and stolen property at the Lowes Motel. They found a vehicle matching the description that was given them by Lindsay Knight, the Wilkesboro woman the stereo equipment was stolen from. They saw what looked like the speakers inside. Larry McCurdy, the vehicle owner, was arrested after admitting he knew the equipment was stolen when another man brought it to him at his motel room. Deputies also found two rocks of crack cocaine in a pill bottle in the car.

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of the other man, Daniel Richter. The stereo equipment has been returned to Ms. Knight.

Convenience Store Break-Ins
Deputies are investigating two convenience store break-ins in the past several days, and they have a video tape of one of the crimes.

The first break-in was reported early Thursday at Linnie’s Gas Station on Statesville Road. A surveillance video shows a white man breaking in the front door of the convenience store, jumping the counter, and grabbing several packs of cigarettes. He then jumped the counter again and ran from the store. Deputies give the following description of the thief from the video: white male, about 5-8 or 5-9, average weight and build with short brown or black hair. He was wearing a black shirt and blue jeans. So far, they have not made any arrests

Sunday morning, Ralph Johnson reported his Citgo station on West Highway 421 was broken into. This thief broke out a side window and grabbed 80 cartons of cigarettes, five rolls of chewing tobacco, a case containing 25 knives, and 800 dollars in coins. Total value of the loss is over 41-hundred dollars. There are no suspects.

Stolen Car
Sheriff Deputies are on the lookout for a stolen car. Late last (Sunday) night, a Moravina Falls man told deputies he came home to find his car missing. It’s a white, 1996 Nissan Altima, 4-dour, with North Carolina tag T-Z-K 7399. A neighbor identified a possible suspect, but no arrests have been made yet, and the car is still missing.

TV Theft Solved
The Sheriff’s department today released the report of a theft of items worth 500-dollars last Wednesday from a home on Poplar Grove Road. They arrested Rondell Lee Sweet Junior for the theft, after he admitted breaking into the home and taking two of the three items. He told them the TV’s had been pawned at two local pawn shops. The victim said a VCR was also stolen; Sweet denied that was so. Deputies are searching for another man in connection with the crime.

Deputies Roughed Up, Man Arrested
Two deputies were roughed up early Friday, and ended up having to use pepper spray to bring a man under control. It happened at a home in Millers Creek about 4:15 Friday morning. The deputies were there to calm a domestic disturbance that had been reported to 9-1-1. As they arrived, a man ran out the back of the house, and a woman approached the officers, saying she had been assaulted. When deputies found the man hiding behind an outbuilding, the man shoved one deputy and took a swing at the other. He was sprayed with pepper spray after continuing to refuse to do what he was told.

Randall Lynn Hines was arrested and taken to WRMC for treatment of a broken wrist he said he had sustained in another fight. He faces charges for the assault on his wife, as well as battery of a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest.

Regional News

Yadkinville Historic House Burned
The historic preservation debate rages on in Yadkinville, even after the latest fire to burn down an historic property has been put out. The 126-year old Mackie-Dobbins house was set on fire Saturday as practice for about 45 area firefighters.

The six-hour exercise drew a large crowd, some who came to lament the loss of another sliver of Yadkinville's past for the sake of more open space downtown – others just wanted to see what all the fuss was about - a belated attempt made by Preservation Yadkin County Inc. to keep the building intact in hopes of converting it into a heritage center.

The Jackson Street house, owned by Yadkin County, had been used for storage in recent years. Preservationists said the house was important because it fit into the county's historical landscape. Its fate was sealed Monday when the county commissioners voted 3-2 to permit the burning.

Hickory Murder Case Dropped
A murder case that looked like it was open-and-shut has been dropped, and a man is free because of mistakes by the Catawba county Sheriff Department and the state crime lab. That’s what District Attorney Jay Gaither says about a four-year old case that was dismissed last week.

As the case in Hickory has progressed, a judge has thrown out the core evidence – first saying a jury could not hear the most important statements made by Francisco Laboy the day he was arrested for killing of his wife Kimberly. Then the judge threw out blood evidence after the state crime lab lost or destroyed enough of it in testing that defense attorneys could not do their own testing.

Laboy was convicted of assaulting his Kimberly in 1997. She filed for divorce just two days before her death. Laboy’s attorney says he believes the real killer has not been found. Police say the case is still open.

Too Many Hospices? Some Say Yes
Established hospice providers say at least 17 new hospices in North Carolina were built late last year even though they weren’t needed. During the last half of 2005, there were 130 new hospices opened across the state, in spite of projections showing they would not fill up. A new law that went into effect January first requires non-profit agencies and for-profit companies to get a certificate of need from the state before they open new branches. The established providers say the state made a mistake when it didn’t require the certificate for 17 new branches.

Beef Packing Plant Planned for Lenoir
Soon, you’ll be able to buy beef packed just down the road from Wilkes County. Officials in Lenoir say Hickory-based Alex Lee will open a meat cutting and processing center in Lenoir by late May. The plant is expected to bring over 200 jobs to Caldwell county. It will be operated by a Canadian company, Vantage Foods. The facility will become the major supplier of fresh meat for Lowes Foods, the food service customers of Institution Food House, and the independent retailers of Merchants Distributors.

Surry County Death Investigation
Preliminary autopsy results have not brought Surry county investigators any closer to understanding how a Pilot Mountain woman died last week. 36-year old Dawn Thompson, a caregiver, was found dead Thursday morning in the apartment she shared with the people she assisted. Investigators say there were signs Thompson was assaulted before she died, and are calling the death suspicious. But one of the other people who live in the apartment says he found her next to several empty prescription bottles. Results of drug screens typically take two to three weeks.