Shoplifter Cusses Out Deputy
Once a shoplifter was confronted by deputies, she started dropping all the stuff she’d stolen. When that didn’t work, she tried dropping something else – names.

22-year old Heather Renee Brooks was arrested early yesterday for shoplifting at the Run In on Oakwoods Boulevard, and at Walgreens. Deputies responding to the 9-1-1 call from Run In arrived just as she was trying to leave the store. Brooks tried to duck back in the store and started dumping the stuff she’d hidden – pies, beanie-wienies, and other food items. They’d been stuffed in her purse and her pants.

A deputy cuffed Brooks and put her in his patrol car, then searched her car, where he found about 70-dollars worth of makeup and no receipt. Turns out that had been stolen from Walgreens.

On the way to jail, Brooks cussed out the deputy repeatedly, threatening him with his job because her grandma grew up with Sheriff Dane Mastin. She claimed he had no right to cuff her or take her to jail. The verbal abuse continued when she got to jail, as she went on a tirade against the intake personnel. So far, no charges have been filed relating to the verbal abuse, only in regards to the shoplifting.

Two Mailboxes Damaged
Two Wilkes homeowners say vandals stuck their mailboxes recently – and one of the cases has an interesting twist.

Brenda Pruitt reported waking up Monday and finding damage to a mailbox outside one of her rental properties. Deputies say someone used a blunt object to hit the box. There are no leads or suspects in the case.

The report on the second case was released yesterday, a few days after it happened. A man who lives in the 21-hundred block of Arbor Grove Church Road told deputies sometime Thursday night or Friday morning, somebody knocked down his mailbox using a large pumpkin. The crime report says the mailbox post was broken…but there’s no word on what might have happened to the pumpkin. No suspects in this case, either.

Absentee Voting Underway
One-stop absentee voting starts today for the November 7th General Election. The location for one-stop will be the County Commissioners’ Room first floor of the Wilkes County Office Building in Wilkesboro. The hours for one-stop absentee voting will be from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday beginning October 19th and ending November 3rd and Saturday, November 4th beginning at 8:30 am and ending at 1:00 pm. Please note that November 4th is the only Saturday one-stop voting will be available.

Surry County Girl Dies from Wreck Injuries
A Surry County high school student has died from injuries suffered in an automobile accident.

Jessica Michelle Sykes, 17, of Mount Airy, died at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, according to a statement released Wednesday by Surry County Schools.

She was a student at North Surry High School.

Wilkesboro Crash Hurts Two
A two-car crash Tuesday resulted in injuries to both drivers. Police say 23-year old Carolyn Layell was eastbound on Winkler Mill Road about 12:30 Tuesday afternoon, and was on the way through the intersection at Winkle Street. The driver of the other car, 32-year old Jeffery Triplett, says he did not see Layell, so he pulled into the intersection. He pulled in front of Layell, and her Nissan hit his Kia in the passenger door.

Witnesses told police Layell appeared to be speeding. Both drivers were taken to Wilkes Regional Medical Center by Wilkes County paramedics. So far, there have been no citations issued in relation to the wreck.

Radiators Stolen
A Wilkes auto shop owner says a thief took some time to commit a crime at his shop. The Hays shop owner reported the theft Tuesday evening. He said the last time he’d been in the shop was on Saturday afternoon.

The radiators were removed from seven cars, both inside and outside Mr. Wiles’ shop. He tells sheriff deputies someone stole about 30 junk radiators from outside his shop in mid-summer. While he doesn’t have any idea who might have done this, he says the thief not only had to take a decent amount of time during the burglary, but had to have tools and know how to take out a radiator. However, the shop was unlocked, according to the crime report.

Attorney General: No Duke Power Rate Hike
State officials are lining up to fight the electric rate increase proposal by Duke Energy we told you about last week on 3WC News.

Duke wants to increase rates now, before it builds several nuclear power plants. In its request to the Public Utiliteis Commission, Duke said it needs to pay more than 125-million dollars in licensing and development costs for the plants htrough next year.

Attorney General Roy Cooper has joined the Public Staff, the commission's consumer advocacy arm, in opposing the plan. The request is also opposed by private environmental and consumer groups.

"Such a ruling would seem to create an open-ended, preapproved nuclear development expense account," Cooper's office wrote in a filing responding to the request.

Under North Carolina law, utilities can't recover upfront investment in power plants that aren't built, Public Staff director Robert Gruber has said.

Duke Energy says it will take its appeal to the General Assembly and seek a change in the law if the rate request is rejected by the Utilities Commission.

There’s no knowing how much the proposal might affect your electric rate, because Duke has yet to ask for a specific rate increase – only for authority to file an increase request later.

Woman Dies, Drugs Found
Sheriff deputies are investigating the death of a 30-year old Wilkes woman yesterday. Lisa Shelton was found by a friend late Tuesday, passed out on her porch. The friend tells deputies he helped her inside and put her to bed. Later he heard her snoring loudly, and became concerned she had overdosed. He called 9-1-1 when he found her unresponsive.

Paramedics pronounced Shelton dead at the scene, and an autopsy is scheduled. Deputies recovered several items related to illegal drugs. The death remains under investigation.

Forsyth Quake: More to Come?
The “micro” earthquake which rumbled through Winston-Salem early Tuesday morning was the fourth tremor to rock the Carolinas in recent months.

Officials said the epicenter of Tuesday’s earthquake was just north of the Forsyth County city and measured 2.6 on the Richter scale. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

Winston-Salem police said they received more than 150 phone calls from anxious residents shortly after the 4:56 a.m. tremors.

Scientists said they were not certain if the tremors have any connection to other recent earthquakes in the region.

Two tremors were felt near the Upstate South Carolina town of Blemins in September. An earthquake shook Bryson City, N.C. in June. A minor quake also rumbled through Burnsville, about 100 miles northwest of Charlotte, in December 2005.

None of the recent earthquakes registered above 4.0 on the Richter scale, but scientists said the tremors show the Carolinas are vulnerable to seismic activity.

Dr. Andy Bobyarchick said the area, including Wilkes County, is close to several active fault lines which are monitored closely by researchers. He said “within 30 to 50 years, we're likely to have a large earthquake on the east coast, somewhere between Charleston and New York City, that would probably be between 7 and 8 in magnitude and that will be an extensive earthquake.”

A tremor measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale leveled much of Charleston in 1886. Damage from the earthquake was reported in Charlotte. Bobyarchick said earthquakes are difficult to predict in the Carolinas, although he does not believe the recent rumblings are an indication of more severe tremors in the near future.

Winston-Salem Guard Unit Returns from Iraq
Soldiers of an Army National Guard unit headquartered in Winston-Salem are returning to North Carolina from duty in Iraq today.
The nearly 170 Soldiers were mobilized Aug. 2005 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Battery B, from Winston-Salem deployed to Balad, located some 80 kilometers north of Baghdad, in November 2005. The Soldiers completed force protection missions and combat escort recovery patrols in support of forces operating at Logistics Support Area Anaconda.

Fake Bens Circulating
Wilkes merchants are being asked to keep an eye out for counterfeit money. Northwestern Bank reported Friday they had received a fake 100-dollar bill from one of their business customers. It wasn’t clear at the time of the report which business had taken the fake bill, so sheriff deputies are cautioning businesses to be extra-cautious when they take large bills. No one has been arrested in the case.

DUI Arrest
Sheriff Deputies arrested a Wilkesboro man this weekend, after watching him cross the center line and nearly hit another car. Deputies were originally called to Boone Trail for a disturbance, but dispatchers told them to be on the lookout for a car being driven by one of the people in the fight. One of the deputies saw the man, and turned around to stop him in the 19-hundred block of Boone Trail. 30-year old Jamie Lynn Wyatt was arrested for D-U-I, after he blew a .18 and a .17 on successive breath tests. After the stop, Wyatt refused to obey deputies’ commands, so they also charged him with resisting arrest.

Police Chases
Police chases seemed almost the order of the day this weekend, as two criminals tried to get away from officers or deputies.

The first chase happened Friday morning. It started in Alexander County, after a 2001 Buick LeSabre was reported stolen. The driver led Alexander county deputies on a chase, and as the car approached Wilkes County, local deputies joined in. The woman ran a Wilkes sheriff detective off the side of Treadway Road, damaging his county car. She kept on trying to get away, and the remaining deputy pursued her to Moore Mountain Road, where she ran into the ditch and stopped.

But it wasn’t over.

The woman threw the car into reverse and rammed the deputy’s crusier, then took off again. This time, an Alexander county deputy led the pursuit, with the Wilkes county deputy right behind. Again, the woman pulled over and the deputies stopped. Again, she rammed the Wilkes patrol car. For good measure, she tried to run again, but found she was boxed in by the deputies. So she slammed into the Wilkes patrol car a third time. Deputies were finally able to pull her from the car and subdue her.

The 30-year old woman, who was not identified by Wilkes county authorities, is charged locally with assault using a deadly weapon and damage to county property. She’s charged in Alexander County with the original car theft, fleeing to avoid arrest, and assault on law officers. Damage to the Wilkes County patrol car is valued at 600-dollars. All the woman ever hit was the pusher bumper on the front of the cruiser.

The second chase was much shorter, only a couple of miles. It happened first thing yesterday morning. Wilkesboro police received a report of a stolen 1988 GMC Jimmy. John Eller Junior said a man approached him at the Citgo station at Highway 421 and 16, asking for a ride up 16. Eller refused, and went inside, leaving the Jimmy running outside. The man followed him inside, asked again, and when he was refused again, he went outside, climbed in the running S-U-V, and sped off.

A short time later, sheriff deputies saw the S-U-V and gave chase. A deputy clocked the driver at 65 miles an hour in a 35 zone, as the driver sped up Highway 16 North. The deputy also says the driver swerved across the center line several times during the chase.

It came to an end at Canterbury Estates, where the driver was arrested without incident. Police officers arrested 19-year old Anthony Wayne Sheppard of Moravian Falls and charged him with stealing the Jimmy, along with damage to personal property. That’s because he drover the Jimmy so hard that when Eller was taken to pick it up, it wouldn’t start because the engine was seized.

Jail Jumpsuit for Halloween?
From the stupid criminals file: it was bad enough that a jail inmate chose to take a couple of jumpsuits when he was released. Then he had to go and wear them out to the Fast Track in Miller’s Creek Saturday morning, where he walked up to a deputy. The story goes downhill from there.

The quick-thinking thief admitted where he’d gotten the jumpsuit pants when the deputy asked. When questioned further, Adam Nichols told the deputy the jail had lost the clothes staff members had taken when Nichols was arrested for another crime, so they told him he could keep the jumpsuits until Monday.

After being arrested for stealing the jumpsuit, Nichol’s story changed. He admitted taking the jumpsuit because he planned to wear it trick-or-treating on Halloween. Best guess is, he won’t be doing much trick-or-treating this year.

Identity Theft
As we reported yesterday on 3WC News, identity theft is one of the fastest-growing areas of crime in Wilkes. A local woman filed an identity theft report Friday, so her bank would reimburse her the 35-hundred dollars she lost. She says the thief got her account information, and used it to write themselves a check via her online bill-pay service. The suspect is in Seattle, Washington.

Excavator Wiring Harness Cut Out
A North Wilkesboro business found out the hard way this weekend that it’s a good idea to make sure equipment on a job site is secure. Sheriff Deputies say someone cut the wiring harness out of an excavator belonging to Holly Mountain Hauling, which was on a job site in rural Wilkes County. The site is in a wooded area, far enough from the road that the equipment can’t be seen by passing traffic. The incident, which happened sometime Thursday night or early Friday, will set Holly Mountain back about two thousand dollars, much of the expense due to the fact that someone has to come to the job site to make the repair.

Friday Shooting
Gang ties are blamed for a shooting incident in Wilkes County late Friday. Julio Cabrera says three men from a New York gang shot up his house, a car and a pickup, but fortunately didn’t hit any people. One of the shots fired penetrated the walls of the mobile home, crossed a hallway, and lodged in a child’s closet wall. Another lodged in an unoccupied room. Cabrera tells sheriff deputies the men were from a New York gang, and were looking for his cousin. He told deputies the names of the men, but so far there have been no arrests.

Forsyth County Earthquake
Residents of Forsyth County woke up today to an earthquake. It was a 2-point-6 quake on the Richter scale, according to the U-S Geological Survey. That fits in the category of a “micro” quake – one weak enough that it’s unlikely to have caused any significant damage, and no injuries have been reported. Heavy sleepers might not even have noticed, as the quake happened about 5 a-m. The epicenter is calculated to be three miles east-northeast of Winston-Salem.

Egg Salad Recall
If you have a container of Ballard’s Farm egg salad, authorities say you should get rid of it or return it to where you bought it. Listeria contamination was found in a container of the egg salad tested recently at a Wal-mart in Wake county, prompting state and federal health officials to issue a recall notice. The egg salad of concern is sold at Wal-mart and other retailers, and has a “Best if used by 11/07/06” label on it.

While listeria causes flu-like symptoms in healthy adults, the bacterium can cause fatal illness in children, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems.

Operation Stop Arm
Officials with the North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety announced today a crackdown on those who don’t stop for school busses unloading children. Operation Stop Arm will be conducted across the state this week. Troopers plan extra patrols in school zones, and other troopers will follow school busses. They will use both marked and unmarked cars along with motorcycles.

The Stop Arm law was tightened just over a year ago, taking away much of the leniency judges had been showing those written tickets for stop arm violations. No longer can a judge dismiss a valid ticket.

Came Home, Found Break-In
The couple that travels together, sometimes returns home to find a break-in. That’s what happened to a Wilkes woman recently. Penny Walker of Hays came home from a business trip with her husband to find someone had broken the latch on a shed attached to her house, and stolen several items worth more than six thousand dollars. The stolen items include a variety of tools and accessories, including a Makita route and bits, an 18-volt DeWalt drill and saw combo, two chain saws, window air conditioner, and a six thousand watt generator. The list runs to nearly a full handwritten page. Sheriff Deputies say there are currently no suspects, and that it could have happened any time between September 25th and October 2nd. Mrs. Walker waited ten days to file the report.

Fuel Oil Drained
It happened sometime in the past month. That’s all a disabled Wilkesboro woman was able to tell sheriff deputies, after discovering someone had stolen 200-dollars worth of fuel oil. Mary Frances Cardwell reported the theft late last week, saying she had paid to have the tank filled around September 15th. In preparation for the cold snap that arrived late last week, Cardwell says she checked the fuel level in the tank to find it almost empty. Deputies are continuing their investigation.

President to Visit
President Bush is scheduled to visit Greensboro on Wednesday. It will be his third visit to North Carolina this year.

Children will take center stage during Bush's visit as he travels to an elementary school in Greensboro and, later, the Victory Junction Gang Camp in Randleman. He will also attend a reception and, later, a fundraiser in a private home.

Wilkes Man Honored by SGMA
A Wilkes resident now has an honor from the Southern Gospel Music Association that he’s been politely declining for a number of years. Maurice Templeton was honored at the SGMA annual meeting last week at Dollywood. According to an SGMA news release, Mr. Templeton was instrumental in the formation of the SGMA Hall of Fame. He has been nominated for the Hall of Fame multiple times, but each time, he asked to be removed from the nomination list.

This year, though, the Board of Directors voted to enshrine Mr. Templeton without his knowledge. He joins ten other inductees to the Hall this year.