Two Die in Motorcycle/Truck Wreck This Morning

Two people have died due to a wreck between a motorcycle and a logging truck this morning near State Road. Highway Patrol troopers have not completed their investigation of the wreck, which happened on Highway 21 about a mile and a half north of Traphill Road shortly after 10 this morning. We have been able to learn that one person was airlifted from the scene to Baptist Medical Center, but he died shortly after arrival at the hospital. The other person died at the scene. Both people were riders on the motorcycle -- the logging truck driver was not injured. The wreck closed down Highway 21 for much of the midday and afternoon. Because it is still under investigation and notification of family has not been completed, troopers are not releasing details of the wreck or the names of the victims yet.

Man Tasered After Taking A Swing At A Cop

A local homeless man became combative as he was being taken into custody by police this week, eventually earning himself a stun from a sheriff deputy's Taser. The deputy was passing by where a Wilkesboro officer had stopped 43-year old Perry Thornley on River Street late Wednesday night, and saw him struggling with the officer. The deputy stopped and helped the officer take Thornley into custody, and the deputy took him to the booking area because the police cruiser did not have a protective cage. Thornley calmed down a little, but when he was actually being brought into the jail, he took a swing at the officer when he was released to complete the booking paperwork. The officer and a detention deputy took Thornley down, and the deputy pulled his Taser and used it to drive-stun Thornley. That's where the Taser is placed directly against a person and activated. The resulting shock incapacitated Thornley long enough to be restrained once again and placed in a holding cell. The Wilkesboro officer has filed charges of assault on a cop against Thornley.

Foxx: Plain Language is A Good Thing

Fifth district Representative Virginia Foxx says she supports a bill that would make the language of federal law less cumbersome for the average American. The Plain Language in Government Communications Act passed out of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee yesterday The legislation requires federal government agencies to use “plain language” in all public documents.

Foxx said in a news release, “this legislation is a common-sense step towards making the federal government more responsive and open to average Americans. It lets the sunshine into notoriously dense government reports and documents.”

Section two of the ‘Plain Language Act’ states that the bill is intended to “improve the Federal Government's effectiveness and accountability to the public by promoting clear communication that the public can understand and use.” The legislation also requires federal agencies to report to Congress annually on steps that they are taking to make government documents readable.

Foxx also proposed an amendment to the Plain Language Act that would preserve and enhance the role of the English language in government documents. While it seeks to protect the use of English in federal documents, the amendment does not restrict the use of other languages. The Committee approved the amendment by a unanimous vote.

The bill now heads to the House floor for consideration.

Wilkes Man Sentenced in Canadian Case

A Wilkes man has to pay Canadian authorities a fine for trespassing on private property while he was hunting deer. 38-year old Christopher Dancy of Wilkesboro and a friend, 24-year old Brandon Jones of Piney Creek, were each fined 500-dollars for the offense, which violated Canada's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act. They forfeited the remains of the deer to authorities.
Back on Oct. 27, Dancy and Jones went onto private property that was clearly marked with “no hunting” signs. They shot a deer and removed it-even when a neighbor confronted them and told them they weren’t allowed to hunt there. A Ministry of Natural Resources conservation officer talked with the men, who said they thought the property that was under power lines was public and open to legal hunting.

Governor Easley Urges Continued Conservation

Gov. Mike Easley yesterday asked citizens throughout North Carolina to continue their water conservation efforts since the latest federal drought map shows that 97 of the state’s 100 counties are still in some form of drought. “We had some good rain the last few weeks, but that does not mean that we now have plenty of water,” said Easley. “The rain helps but spring is coming, which means water use goes up and evaporation loss increases. We are still looking at some tough months as we go forward, so people need to continue to conserve.”
The federal drought map released yesterday shows no counties still in exceptional drought, down from 39 counties that were in the worst of the four-category system last week.
Despite the improvements, people need to remain vigilant in their efforts to conserve water. Statewide, 5.56 million people, or 82 percent of the people who receive water from systems tracked by the state, are subject to voluntary or mandatory water use restrictions.

Theater System Stolen from Show Home

Wilkesboro police are investigating the theft of a home theater system from a mobile home being displayed at Clayton Homes. It was done in a fashion that left little to go on. there were no signs of forced entry -- in fact the salesman that reported the crime had a hard time getting into the house Tuesday until another employee realized the sliding glass door was unlocked. Other than a scuff mark in front of that door, the thieves left almost no sign in the house they'd been there. There was no evidence the big-screen TV had been dragged across the carpet, and the speakers were unwired neatly, the wires left hanging on the wall brackets. The boxes for the TV and DVD player, which came as part of the home package form the factory, were still in the nearby bedroom. There was no evidence of how the thieves got onto the property, as the cables and padlocks on the gates had not been messed with, and there was no sign in the parking lot that the system had been dragged somewhere and boosted over the fence. The salesperson told police he remembers the system being in place on Saturday afternoon. There are currently no suspects, but the case remains under investigation.

Another Shoplifting Charge Against Emily Church

A Wilkes woman suspected of shoplifting at numerous stores in North Carolina and Tennessee has now been charged with an additional case in Wilkesboro. Emily Church had remained unidentified until this week, when Lowes security officials provided a security tape to Wilkesboro police from the incident which happened in late February. In the original report, police were told a woman had picked up power tools in the store, walked past the registers without paying, and right through the sensors at the exit, which went off because the tools had not been scanned. She continued into the parking lot, according to an employee, and got into a green Jeep with a broken rear window. The employee says a white male was at the wheel, and they sped off. He got a tag number, but that tag was registered to a Honda, not a Jeep, and the car had not been reported stolen. After obtaining the video from Lowes security, Wilkesboro Police identified Church as the woman shows stealing the power saw, a DeWalt model sold for 499-dollars. She was charged with the crime Monday and picked up by a deputy. When officers tired to interview her about the theft, she would not say anything about it.

More Burglaries Reported

Deputies continue to release reports from a rash of burglaries that happened early this week. Two burglaries Monday netted the thieves about 4-thousand dollars worth of tools and appliances. Joey Trivette told deputies Monday about the burglary of his home on Old 421 sometime over the weekend. He tells deputies he was in the process of moving in. Someone had kicked in the front door of the mobile home and stolen a washer and dryer, along with a number of tools he was using to fix up the place. The thief had cut the hoses on the washer in their hurry to get it and the dryer out of the house. Trivette says he has no suspect information.

Michael Ashley reported a break-in at his home on Elledge Mill Road Monday. He said a thief had taken tools form his storage building sometime earlier in the day or late Sunday. He is the only one with a key to the storage building, but there were no signs of forced entry and the lock was intact. Deputies say the investigation continues.

Deputy Locates Stolen Car

A deputy on routine patrol yesterday morning located a stolen vehicle. The car, a burgundy 1993 Buck Regal, was parked on the side of Lackey's Market on Highway 18, a place the deputy figured it didn't belong just after midnight. He stopped and ran the tag, and it came back as having been reported stolen in Lenoir. Police there confirmed the theft, and told the deputy he could call the owner directly to arrange pickup on the car, as they did not need it for their investigation. The deputy phoned the owner, Holly Williams, who lives in Moravian Falls, and she came and picked up the car. According to the incident report, there was no sign of damage to the car.

Flu Cases Down Last Week

The number of North Carolinians with flu or flu-like illness may be beginning to drop. That’s according to the state’s latest flu surveillance report, which was released yesterday. “We’re encouraged by these numbers, but it is too early to know if this is the beginning of a trend,” cautioned State Epidemiologist Dr. Jeff Engel. “We’ll have to wait for another week or two to see if flu cases continue to drop. Right now, flu remains widespread in North Carolina.”

The state monitors influenza-like illness during the flu season. Influenza-like illness is a temperature of 100 degrees or greater and cough or sore throat. Seventy-six health care providers statewide report the number of people they are seeing with these symptoms weekly. Based on those reports, public health experts determine how the flu is progressing across the state. The latest report is for the week ending March 1. Health care providers reported 4.95 percent of patients seen had influenza-like illness, down from 5.83 percent in the previous week.