Wilkesboro Assault
Two North Wilkesboro men were arrested, after police say they assaulted a man in a local parking lot while his children watched. LUis Castillo and Jose Onteveros were arrested Saturday night in the Goody's parking lot, and jailed on a 1-thousand dollar bond.

Police were called to the parking lot about 11 Saturday night. Boomer resident William Don Harris told officers he had been asked for a cigarette by one of the men, who had walked up to his car. He told him he didn't have one. After a verbal confrontaion that included the man sticking an arm inside the car, the man left. A short time later, he and the second man walked up to the car, and the second man, after being told by the first to beat up Harris, proceeded to try to do so. But Harris started the car and sped off.

He came back to the Goody's parking lot a while later to pick up his wife. The two men got in a pickup and chased him around the parking lot, making two full circles before giving up. Harris found a sheriff deputy nearby and reported the crime. The deputy called police on the radio, and they went to the Goody parking lot and arrested the two men.

Tools Stolen
A Purlear man says someone stole about 2-thousand ollars worth of proeprty form him. Dennis
Tyson tells sheirff deputies he believes he knows who took the items from his house Friday evening. Tyson says he and his family went to Boone Friday evening and returned home to find a Rigid Air Compressor, a Dewalt Miter Saw, a Dewalt Table saw, and a laser guide missing. He tells deputies the suspect has taken items from him before. So far, there have been no arrests.

Credit Card Fraud
A retired Wilkesboro woman says someone used her social security number to get a credit card, then spent over 12-hundred dollars. Gladys Castle says she lost her social security card in WalMart a couple of months ago, but never reported it to anyone. She didn't think much of it until she started getting calls forma credit card compan last week. They were demanding payment of a bill totaling 12-hundred-38 dollars. The company told her the purchase had been made at one time, in WalMart on October 9th. Castle filed a police report on the credit card fraud, and is working with the card company to resolve the matter. So far, police have not identified a suspect in the case.

Injury Crash
A Christmas Eve accident resulted in one person being taken to Wilkes Regional Medical Center by ambulance. Wilkesboro Police say Ricky Lee Faw fell asleep driving back from Boone Sunday afternoon, and went off the righ-hand side of Highway 421 near Congo Road. He slid through the right ditch, narrowly missing a guard rail, and plowed into a fire hydrant, where he came to rest. Faw was the only person in the car at the time, and he was teaken to the hospital to be checked for minor injuries. Police issued him a ticket for unsafe movement.

Soda Machine Stolen
Thieves have hit another Wilkes soda machine -- and this time, rather than simply breaking in, they loaded up the entire amchine and hauled it off. The crime was reported Christmas Eve morning at the Roaring River Fire Station. One of the firefighters drove up to the station to find the front of the building damaged and the Pepsi machine missing. Deputies believe the thieves hit the machine with a vehicle to break it off its mounting bolts. They pushed the machine into the fire station, damaging some siding and a window frame. Then the thieves loaded up the machine and hauled it off. The firefighter reporting the teft had three possible suspect names for deputies, and a location where he thought the machine could have been dumped. So far, deputies have not located the machine, valued at 4-thousand dollars, and have not made any arrests. The case remains under investigation.

Officer Used as Human Shield
A Wilkesboro police officer responding to a domestic disturbance at Lowes motel recently found himself being used as a human shield. Ronda Meadows called 9-1-1 Firday evening, reporting that her boyfriend Alfred Vannoy was beating her up. When the officer arrived, she ducked behind him, screaming for help. The officer says she showed obvious signs of having been assaulted, including multiple bruises around her eyes and face. Meadows told the officer Vannoy had started beating her out of jealousy, because he thought she was cheating on him. Police say Vannoy has had a history of this type of activity. He is being held without bond in the county jail.

Injury Crash Tuesday
A two-car crash Tuesday resulted in one driver being hurt, but refuding medical treatment. Karen Joy Draper of Kill Devil Hills was northbound on highway 421 near NC 268, and was passing a semi on the right. The semi driver changed lanes and did not see Draper's car, whcih was in his blind spot. She was forced into a guard rail, where her car spun around once and ended up facing south in the northbound lane. The semi driver was ticketed for an unsafe lane change. He was not injured.

Counterfeit Bens
Another counterfeit 100-dollar bill has turned up in a Wilkesboro business's bank deposit. A teller at Northwestern Bank made the discovery yesterday, as she counted the deposit made by a local grocery store. It's the second time recently that Wilkesboro Police have been notified of counterfeit bills showing up in bank deposits. As in the first case, the original bill has been turned over to the Secret Service. Because the bills aren't being detected until they reach the bank, there are currently no suspects in the case.

Gas Theft
Sheriff deputies arrested a Boomer man late Friday after it was reported he'd stolen a knife from a friend's kitchen and used it to cut the gas lines on an RV and siphon out the gas. 33-year old Brian Keith Hamby was found at the Wilkesboro Food LIon driving a van sith a stolen tag on it as well.

Friday evening, Jim Myers called deputies to report the gasoline theft. He'd been called by a woman, who told deputies Hamby had taken a steak knife out of a drawer in her kitchen and left. He returned later and tried to burn some clothing that had gotten gas splashed on it during the theft. He was not successful in burning the clothes, though, and deputies recovered them as evidence in the case. Deputies arrested Hamby without incident and charged him with stealing 200-dollars worth of gas from the RV, along with the 200-dollars worth of damage to the cut gas lines.

Fatal Christmas Fire in Lenoir
Two people died Christmas morning in a house fire on Lenoir. It happened about 8:15 am at a house in the 12-hundred block of Meadowlark Lane. The house was engulfed when firefighters arrived on the scene, said Lenoir Fire Department Lieutenant and Public Information Officer Sam Smith.

Firefighters found 58-year old Corene Myer and 52-year old Gary Moody dead in the house. Investigators believe the couple tried to get out a kitchen door. An autopsy will confirm the cause of death. Myers’ son, Alan Holsclaw, also was living at the home. Smith says he kicked out a window to escape the burning home. Holsclaw suffered some smoke inhalation and was treated at the scene. The house and contents were destroyed. Firefighters were on the scene for nearly six hours.

An official origin and cause hasn't been released, but investigators say they think the fire started from a wood stove. Because two people died, city police and state investigators are looking through the rubble along with fire investigators.

Booze It and Lose It
North Carolina state troopers are in the middle of a campaign aimed at keeping drunk drivers off the highways this holiday season.

The increased holiday patrols of the "Booze It Lose It" campaign run through New Year's Day. Troopers also planned to watch for reckless and aggressive drivers. "We try to be visible and available," said Sergeant Kelly Sturgill with the North Carolina Highway Patrol, "and try to saturate the highways as much as we can."

Troopers planned to conduct several DWI checkpoints on several nights through New Year's Day.

More Severe Weather Warnings in 2006
If it seemed like this year brought more severe weather warnings than usual, you're right. National Weather Service forecasters say they have issued more severe weather warnings in 2006 than any year since records have been kept in North Carolina. A Raleigh forecaster says that's not necessarily a sign the weather was any worse this year. In fact, it's been an average year.

But technology advances have led to better communication with spotters, resulting in warnings being issued today that would not have been issued 10 or 15 years ago, because they were simply unable to be seen on radar.

The Weather Service also says technology is allowing them to better localize warnings, which may result in a series of warnings being issued for parts of a county as large as Wilkes as a storm moves across, rather than the entire county being warned for a storm that only affects part of it.

Bragg Soldiers Going to Iraq
More North Carolina soldiers will be on the way to Iraq right after the New Year. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has signed orders that will send the 82nd Airborne Division's 2nd Brigade to Kuwait, before moving on to Iraq. The 82nd Airborne unit which would include as many as 3,300 soldiers will replace the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which had served as the reserve force based in Kuwait but has been deployed into Iraq.

Saw Stolen
A local laborer is without one of the key tools of his trade, after a thief stole a 13-hundred dollar block saw from him recently. Jason Lovette says the saw was in the bed of his pickup the last time he saw it, and when he went ot use it on a job, it had disappeared. He doesn't know who may have taken it. However, the Stihl block saw has two distinguishing marks -- an orange dot of pain on the breather cover and a number written in red sharpie on the case. Those identifying marks have been passed on to local pawn shop owners, in case the saw turns up at any of them.

Copper Wire Stolen
The high cost of copper, and its use in illegal activities, has led to another theft of a roll of copper wire in Wilkes County. Sam Hawkins tells sheriff deputies someone took a roll of wire from the bed of his work truck recently. He says the roll weighed between 30 and 60 pounds,a nd was worth about 80-dollars. Hawkins says his son noticed the wire was missing after the two visted an area convenience store to take a break from a job.

Christmas Day Fire Destroys Home

A Christmas Day fire has forced a rural Wilkes family out of their home, but firefighters say it was the grace of God that kept them from losing their lives. A visiting relative was asleep on the living room couch early Monday morning when she was awakened by smoke from a blaze that had started in some Christmas lights on the front porch. She was able to get the family out safely.

In spite of the work of firefighters in three departments -- Mulberry-Fairplains, Mountain View, and North WIlkesboro, the house and everything in it was lost. As they started to work on hot spots after bringing the fire under control, the Christmas Day loss moved firefighters to donate cash from their pockets to the family, identified by the Record as Jason and Pam Stamper and their 2 daughters, Chastity and Taylor.

Two firefighters left the scene and went shopping for the girls at Walgreens, still dressed in their turnout gear. Customers and employees of the store, upon learning of what had happened, opened their hearts and wallets, and by the time the Stampers had been taken back to the Mulberry fire station, the day room was filled with toys and gifts.

The Stampers are staying with relatives. They still have several needs, including clothes, towels and household items. For information on how you can help, contact the Red Cross.

Thief Takes Guns
Sheriffs Deputies are looking for someone who broke into a Wilkes home recently and stole several weapons. The homeowner has been having a considerable amount of work done on the house the last half of this year, and told deputies it was about the middle of this month that he noticed three firearms were missing. They are a .38-caliber World-War 2 Vintage Ruger semi-automatic pistol, and .41-caliber Magnum revolvers by Smith and Wesson. The homeowner doesn't know whether any of the construction crews may have stolen the guns, or if someone else came into the house, and he doesn't know when in the last six months it happened. The case is listed as under investigation.

Gas Thief Caught
A Hamptonville woman tried every excuse in the book, but Wilkesboro police weren't taking any of it, after she was caught driving off without paying for a tank of gas. 60-year old Suzanne Veta is charged with stealing about 24 and a half dollars worth of gas from a local Kangaroo station last week. A Wilkesboro officer says she was stopped by a Highway patrol trooper a short distance away, and brought back to the station. There, she told the officer her credit card hadn't worked in the pump -- but the pumps at Kangaroo aren't set up for pay-at-the-pump. Then she rolled through a number of other excused, none of which the officer found valid for driving off without paying. After she was made to pay for the gas, the officer cited her for the theft and Kangaroo banned her from the store property.

Identity Theft
A Millers Creek woman says she isn't sure how someone got her personal information, but she wasn't aware of it until bills started showing up for two credit cards she didn't apply for. The woman reported the ID theft recently, saying someone had signed up an American Express card and a J C Penney credit card in her name, and although she did not receive the cards, bills had started arriving. Both companies have voided the cards and written off the balances, so she is not out any money. Sheriffs deputies have closed the case for a lack of leads.

Purse Stolen, Checks Inside
Another Wilkes woman will have to be on the lookout for ID theft, after somoene stole her purse. It happened outside a home on South Center Church Road early last week. The woman reports she'd gone to visit, and left her purse in the car outside. Several hours later, whe returned to find it missing. During that time, neither she or any of the neighbors saw or heard anything suspicious. She reports only 11-dollars was in the purse, but the thief did get a checkbook, which of course has her bank account number, name and address on it. Deputies list the case as under investigation.

Ask First!
A Wilkes woman has reported a family member to the sheriff's office for making long-distance phone calls on her bill without permission. Naomi Bare says the man made several calls totaling over 12-dollars in early November, to a number in Fleetwood. As they investigated, deputies found the number was unlisted, but when they called a woman answered. She said she knew the suspect, but hadn't talked to him in a while -- probably about as long as it had been since the last long-distance call on the local woman's bill. Deputies continue to follow up thte case.

Heat Pump Stolen
The owner of a vacant home in Clemons says a thief stole his heat pump. Lee Laporte reports going by the home recently, and finding the heat pump missing from its concrete pad. Someone had cut the copper oil lines, backed a vehicle up to the unit, and carted it off. Since the house is vacant, it often sits unattended for long periods of time, and neighbors say they didn't see or hear anything. Deputies continue their investigation.

Mailbox Vandalism
A rural homeowner reports someone vandalized several mailboxes outside their home recently. Maria Hart of Millers Creek woke up to find during the night someone had come by and bashed five mailboxes sitting outside her house. The boxes all belong to her family, and were attached to the same post and supports. Neighbors don't report any unusual noises that night. The case is open, but deputies say they currently have no leads.

Pit Bull Stolen, Recovered
Just hours after a Wilkes woman reported somone had broken into her house and stolen several items, including her pit bull dog, sheriff deputies had arrested the man she suspected had done it. They say the suspect, Timmy Joe Taylor, admitted taking the dog. The crime was reported last week at a house on Byrd Ridge Road. The woman arrived home from a Christmas shooping trip to find her house broken into, the dog stolen, and a gold watch and antique pearal necklace, some gifts, and some medications stolen. She told deputies the teen had said at one time the dog would make a good one to sell to a crack dealer in exchange for the drug. Deputies recovered the dog before that happened.

NFL Donates to Wilkes Schools
The National Football League Alumni, a charitable and educational organization, recently donated $43,000 for the new student art gallery at Wilkes County Schools' central office. The donation came from the NFL Alumni/Shriners summer golf tournament at Jefferson Landing in Ashe County.

This is the fourth year that the tournament has been held at Jefferson Landing. Proceeds are divided among the Shriners Cincinnati Burn Hospital and various educational programs in Wilkes and Ashe counties.

Foxx: Media Ignores Good Economic News
38 straight months of job creation. Nearly 7 million new jobs. Lower unemployment than any time since the post-world war 2 years. Fifth-district congresswoman Virginia Foxx says those are some of the facts of the booming U-S economy. On a recent Focus on the Foothills interview with 3WC’s Angela Henley, Foxx said the economic good news – fueled by tax cuts passed by the Republican-led House and Senate – are being ignored by the national media. She predicts once Democrats are in power that will change -- and she gives it less than a month.

Unsuccessful Break-Ins
An attempted burglary caused expensive damage to a roll-up door at a local self-storage business. Airport Rd & Highway 268 Mini Storage reported the break-in attempt late last week. Someone tried to break open the hasp on one of the storage units, but was unsuccessful. Still, the attempts caused 500-dollars damage to the storage unit door. Sheriff Deputies say they have no suspects at this time.

A rural Wilkesboro woman reports someone tried to break in to her house, but they were scared off. Wanda Morrison tells deputies she saw a person pull open her back screen door and try to open the door to the house. But the intended burglar heard another car and ran off before breaking in the door. Morrison says the man appeared to have a vehicle nearby, and she gave deputies a description and a partial tag number. So far, they have not located the car.

Mailbox Vandalized
Sometime Sunday night or early Monday, another Wilkes resident was the victim of mailbox vandalism. Doris Wiles reported the incident Monday morning. She says she went outside to find the mailbox damaged, but doesn’t remember hearing anything out of place that night. Deputies are making extra patrols of the area, but neighbors don’t report hearing anything, either.

Domestic Humiliation
A case of domestic violence reported late Monday night went from verbal abuse to degrading behavior. Although the man has been charged with assaulting his wife, we’re not going to identify either person, because of the humiliating nature of the acts he’s alleged to have committed.

Deputies were called to the home shortly before midnight Monday evening. The woman was sitting on the front porch, and told them her husband was inside, drunk, and had assaulted her. A deputy found him at the other end of the house, highly intoxicated, and when he asked the man how much he’d had to drink, he was told “too many.”

Here’s what the woman says happened: the husband came home about 6:30, carrying a 12-pack and sporting an attitude. She says she laid down on the couch to try and sleep, so as not to provoke him. Through the evening, the man drank continuously, and over time poured a number of liquids on her as she laid on the couch. First it was beer. Then he spit on her, the woman says. That was followed by a two-liter of cola, a jar of pickles. At some point, the woman says she passed out from a panic attack.

She woke up to find he had dumped a bag of kitty litter on her, followed by squirting a bottle of hand cream all over her, the couch, and the living room. At that point, the crime report stops listing the degrading things the man allegedly did to his wife, summarizing it as “much more.”

The man was arrested and charged with assault on a woman.

Bar Code Switch Leads to Charges
A Wilkes man is charged with theft, after a loss prevention officer at Lowes saw him switch bar code labels from two inexpensive items to two costly tools. 23-year old Daniel Reese is charged with stealing a 369-dollar chainsaw and a 334-dollar tool kit. The loss prevention officer at Lowes says Reese loaded up the items and went through the self-checkout area, appearing to have paid for them. But his total was not the 703-dollars it should have been. Apparently, the security tape doesn’t show Reese making the bar code tag switch, but he told the loss prevention officer and the Wilkesboro police officer at the scene that’s what he’d done.

Woman Charged for Having Drug Paraphernalia
A disturbance at a local convenience store leads to the arrest of a woman on drug paraphernalia charges. Wilkesboro police were called to the Brushy Mountain Run-In Monday afternoon. They say a woman was acting extremely suspicious when they arrived. As one of the officers administered a field sobriety test, the other searched Susan Pardues’ car, after Pardue gave permission for a search. That officer found three brass smoking pipes and mesh wire, both signs of crack cocaine. Pardue was arrested, and cited for possession of drug paraphernalia.

Kids and ATV's: New Safety Class Required
Any child that finds a brand new ATV under the tree on Christmas morning will also have to enroll in a mandatory half-day safety class.

A new state law went into effect in October that makes it a requirement before they ride. Doctors stress that riding an ATV is dangerous and those that fail to observe the new laws will only increase their chances of being hurt or killed.

North Carolina law also prohibits anyone under the age of 8 from riding an ATV, and there are specific engine guidelines for other ages.

Almost 90 percent of child-ATV injuries occur when the child is attempting to operate an adult-sized vehicle. In recent years, ATV manufactures have tweaked set-ups in order to provide a safer ride for younger riders.

College Park BP Burglarized
Wilkesboro police say a local convenience store was the victim of a burglary this weekend. The alarm at the College Park B-P went off early the morning of the 9th, and when officers arrived, they found the front window had been broken out of the store. After securing the store, the officers report they did nto find anyone in or near the building. They had to search for a little while to locate the manager’s phone number, but after they called him, he was able to determine the thief had stolen about 75 cartons of Marlboros, valued at two-thousand dollars. No suspects so far.

Diesel Fuel Siphoned from WCC Training Truck
Wilkes Communty College was the victim of a fuel theft recently. Wilkesboro police report sometime late on the 8th or early the 9th, somebody drained 100 gallons of diesel fuel out of the tank of the tractor-trailer rig used for student driver training. College officials say the truck was filled up on the 8th, and the morning of the 9th it had less than a quarter tank. Police say the truck was parked in a dirt lot across from Beacon Ridge. The investigation continues.

Yadkin County Chickenpox on Decline
Yadkin County health officials say the number of cases of chickenpox at Jonesville Elementary School seems to be leveling off.

Michael Reavis, Yadkin's health director, says fewer than five new cases of chickenpox were reported in the past week. Earlier this month, there were about 70 total cases reported.

The outbreak hit hardest at Jonesville Elementary School where a girl who had been sick with the chickenpox later died. Health officials have not confirmed yet whether the disease was responsible for her death.

The Yadkin County Health Department has given more than 800 chickenpox vaccinations since the outbreak began. Reavis said yesterday that there are only a limited number of doses left, and those are reserved for children ages 18 and younger who have not received their first dose.

Drunk Driver Clocked at 71 mph
Wilkesboro police have charged a 48-year old Wilkes man with driving under the influence, after an officer clocked the man speeding through town at more than 70 miles an hour. It happened Saturday afternoon on Highway 421. An officer on routine patrol spotted Robert Stewart Yow driving east on 421 at an estimated 70 miles an hour. As he turned on his blue lights, the officer hit the radar gun and confirmed it: 71 miles an hour. The limit is 50 in that vicinity. When the officer got him stopeed in a business parking lot, he noticed Yow smelled of beer. Yow admitted havng one beer before leaving home, but failed several field sobriety tests, and ended up blowing a .17 on the intoxilyzer. The officer also found a cold Miller Light stuffed under the driver’s seat. He was arrested on misdemeanor DUI and speeding charges, and is scheduled for a court appearance in February.

Um, Maybe You Shouldn't Drag Other People?
An argument between a woman and her boyfriend ended with him dragging her up their driveway and her calling the sheriff’s office. Deputies were called ot the couple’s Millers Creek home Friday night. The woman told them she and the man had been arguing most of the day. A friend came over to help her leave for a while, and the woman says her boyfriend went outside and put several dents in her friend’s car. The friend backed out, waiting for the victim at the end of the driveway. When the woman got partway down the driveway, the man came back out of the house and dragged her, up the driveway toward the house. When deputies arrived, 44-year odl Daniel Mark Absher was arrested on a charge of assault on a female.

Cold Snap May Have Caused Crackle, Pop
The recent cold snap may be to blame for what’s being investigated right now as a possible car break-in. A North Wilkesboro woman called sheriff deputies Friday morning to report the passenger window of her car had been broken out during the night. Deputies didn’t find anything inside or outside the car that might have been used to break a window, and nothing had been taken. They suspect the window popped due to suddenly contracting as the cold air settled in Friday morning.

Rock Creek Storage Building, Carts Burn
Fire has burned out a golf cart storage building at Rock Creek Golf Course. Fire Marshall Nich
Hamby tells 3WC News the fire was reported at the Rock Creek clubhouse about 8:25 this morning, but the storage building is actually right next to the clubhouse, which didn’t sustain any structural damage.

One of the wood stoves being used to heat the building apparently had a loose connection to the chimney. That loose connection caught fire, and before course personnel could get it doused, the fire had worked into the chimney and fully involved the storage building. Fortunately, none of the staff or firefighters suffered any injury. Hamby says the loss to the building and contents is complete, but he was unable to make a dollar value estimate yet. Three departments helped fight the blaze. In spite of the flashing lights, smoke and fire trucks, the course remained open, and Hamby said Rock Creek had other carts stored in a different building, so they will still have carts to rent.

Speed + Alcohol = Arrest
A short chase resulted in sheriff deputies arresting a North Wilkesboro woman for driving under the influence and speeding. Deputies leaving another call late Friday night spotted 19-year old Cassie Mahaffey barreling down highway 18 North at an excessive speed. They turned on their blue lights and turned around, finally stopping Mahaffey outside her home on Sparta Road. As they were questioning her, deputies say they could smell alcohol on her breath, and she tested just over the legal limit twice. Mahaffey stands charged with driving while intoxicated and excessive speed, and could face charges for underage drinking.

Convenience Store Burglarized
A burglar, or more than one, hit a Wilkes convenience store over the weekend. The break-iun was reported early Sunday at the Walker Community Store. An empployee reported during the night someone had pried open a garage door, then broken the hasp off an interior door to gain access to the store. The thief or thieves carted off 600-dollars worht of cigarettes, over 200-dollars of snuff, 24 packs of rolling papers, 100 packages of candy, plus about 250-dollars in coins, a 22-caliber rifle, several knives and a watch. The total value of the stolen items is nearly 14-hundred dollars. Deputies have no suspects at this time.

Blood Need Urgent
Red Cross officials are issuing an urgent plea for blood donors this Christmas season. They say all types are needed, but this eyar they are especially short of Type O and Type B blood. Four blood drives have been held in Wilkes aleady this month; another is scheduled for Friday afternoon at the Wilkes County Office Building.

Yadkin Chicken Pox Outbreak
An eight-year old Yadkin county child has died of chicken pox, and county officials say they’ve given out over 800 doses of the chicken pox vaccine in the past week. Starting today, health department officials in Yadkin are reserving the vaccine only for children up to the age of 18. It takes two doses to build up immunity; you can still get chicken pox after the first dose.

Blood Supply Dangerously Low
Two more blood drives are being held today, as Red Cross officials say blood supplies remain dangerously low this time of year. Both blood drives today are in the afternoon, from 2 until 6:30pm at VFW Post 11-42 and at the Speedway Ruritan Club.

Robert F. Fechner, chief executive officer of the American Red Cross Carolinas Blood Services Region, said in a recent news release, “the holidays are a traditionally challenging time for blood collection. The blood supply often dips to dangerously low levels this time of year. By making a donation during this holiday season, individuals can help avoid a blood shortage and brighten the season for hospital patients and their families.”

More than 1,600 units of blood and blood products are needed each day by patients in the 103 area hospitals served by the Carolinas Blood Services Region. Currently all blood types are in need, however individuals with blood types O and B are especially encouraged to come in and give.

Car on Side of Road Burglarized
A man on his way through town to Jefferson says his car broke down along the highway, and them someone broke into it while he was gone to get help. Antonio Carl left his car on the side of Highway 421 for nearly a week after it broke down December 3rd. He came back on the 8th to tow the car home, but found he didn’t have the right equipment to do so. In looking around the car, he noticed the passenger window had been broken. He reports a cell phone, a DVD player and several CDs and DVS were taken, with a total value of about 500-dollars. There are no suspects or leads at this time.

Eviction Dispute Leads to Property Damage
A dispute between a landlord and someone she’s trying to evict has led to a crime report being filed for damage to her property. Mary Eller tells sheriff deputies she believes the man she’s been working to evict from one of her rental properties is the same person who used a pickup truck to spin up large ruts in the front yard of the rental house. The deputy taking the report told Ms. Eller she should pursue the damage to property claim through the courts alongside the eviction process.

Plane Crashes Near Taylorsville
Two people died when their small plane crashed Sunday just after take-off in Alexander County. Authorities said the plane crashed behind a service station just before 3:30 p.m. near Taylorsville.

An FAA spokeswoman said the single-engine, fixed-wing plane was an experimental aircraft. It crashed on its way back to Taylorsville Airport, a small airstrip privately owned by the Taylorsville Flying Club.

The sheriff's office said 44-year-old Leon Marion Fagan Jr., the plane's owner, and 53-year-old William Kermit "Billy" Little were killed. Both were from Taylorsville.

Tool Box Broken Into
A Hays man says someone broke into his pickup tool box and stole more than 900-dollars worth of tools. Earl Byrd tells sheriff deputies he parked his truck in an open field near Traphill last Thursday afternoon and traipsed off into the woods to go hunting. When he got back after sunset, he noticed some items gone from the truck bed, but didn’t have enough light to really tell what was going on. The next morning, Byrd looked through the tool box in the back of the truck, and discovered someone had stolen tools including several cordless drills, wrenches, a miter box, a bow saw, and several other tools. Deputies have listed a suspect, but he has not been arrested so far.

Wind Storm Causes Damage
Today’s wind storm is blamed for damage along Statesville Road, along with some power outages. The gusty winds blew the roof off the outer shell of IT WAN-LAN Solutions and onto some cars in the parking lot. Damage was also reported at Harold’s Restaurant. The National Weather Service has a wind advisory in effect until midnight, as the wind will continue to gust above 50 miles an hour, causing the potential for more damage and power line problems.

Crack Dealer Busted
A pickup stuck on the side of the road led to a large crack cocaine bust in Wilkesboro this morning. An office on patrol on Industrial Boulevard saw the pickup stuck in the ditch, with a woman standing next to it on the passenger side. When the officer talked with her and with the driver, their stories didn’t match. The officer asked if he could search them, and was told he could. During the search, the officer found a packet containing 83 baggies of the kind often used for packaging illegal drugs, and when he took a look around the pickup, he found to bags a short distance away containing 58 rocks of crack cocaine. The man, Quentin Parsons, also had 342 dollars on him. On further questioning eh woman admitted she was there to buy crack from Parsons, but had not made the purchase when the officer pulled up. A search found nothing illegal on her, so she was not arrested. Parsons is charged with possession with intent to sell, and with possession of drug paraphernalia. He is jailed on a five-thousand dollar bond.

Employee Arrested for False Refunds
A Purlear man faces an allegation he stole more than one thousand dollars from his employer over the course of several months. 25-year old Troy Allen Green was arrested yesterday. Wilkesboro police learned about the theft when a manager at Penney’s stopped an officer who happened to be in the store and told him the store had discovered Green was writing cash refunds to customers who didn’t exist, and pocketing the money. According to a police report, the Green has admitted to the thefts.

Auto Thief Behind Bars
Sheriff Deputies have arrested a man for an auto theft we first told you about last night. Terry Eugene Bates was arrested yesterday, after a neighbor saw him towing off another vehicle from Jesse Carter’s shop outside Elkin. This time, the neighbor took a photo as Bates and another man, so far unidentified, loaded up a 1963 Ford Custom Cab pickup. Four other cars had been taken from Carter’s place while he was gone to Florida. Bates tells deputies he was simply getting rid of junk cars. But he said he didn’t know who owned them, and didn’t have permission tot take them. He claimed he shouldn’t have to have permission, as the cars had set there for 20 years. Carter says he’s been working on repairs to each.

Sugar in the Gas Tank
A Wilkes family’s pickup faces expensive repair, after someone poured sugar into the gas tank. Catherine Roberts tells sheriff deputies she heard a noise outside last night, and when she looked out, saw someone standing next to her husband’s pickup. When she went to the door, the man ran off. Mr. Roberts says a man matching the vandal’s description had been hanging around his outbuildings earlier yesterday, and Mr. Roberts had run him off. Neither of them know his name. Deputies estimate it’ll cost about 400-dollars to replace the gas tank.