Wilmjax News

The Association of Mexicans in North Carolina is holding a leadership summit today and Friday, aimed at informing and strengthening the state’s Latino community.

Juvencio Rocha Peralta, president of the association, said the goals of the summit are to promote leadership, culture, education and health as well as helping the community understand more about these areas.

“We feel like it is time for Latinos to organize around the issues that affect us,” Peralta said. “It needs to be a collaboration between the community in general.”

The two-day event features guest speakers, including Angela Sanbrano, president of the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities, and Juan Andrade Jr., president of the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute.

Also, the agenda for Friday’s event includes two panel discussions focused on African Americans and Latinos uniting for social justice in North Carolina and the economic benefits of building Latino leadership and partnerships.

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The North Carolina Senate is prepared to move forward on legislation that would toughen penalties against gang members who commit crimes.

The Senate is expected to debate two gang-related bills Wednesday. Lawmakers have talked for three years about how best to respond to expanding gang membership.

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On May 14, 2008, just after 8 p.m., New Bern police were called to a home at 2011 Waters St., in reference to possible drug activity. 

When officers arrived, they smelled the odor of marijuana coming from behind the residence, and saw a black male suspect who appeared to be packaging marijuana for distribution. When the officer called out to the suspect, the man ran into the home. New Bern police followed the suspect inside the residence and after a brief struggle took him into custody.

While officers were in the home, they saw additional evidence of narcotic activity. Police obtained a search warrant and recovered more than three pounds of marijuana, crack cocaine, ecstasy pills and large sums of cash.

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Pat McCrory is running for governor of North Carolina. He knows the problems had with gangs and immigration, and plans to address them.

RALEIGH — North Carolina’s community college system said Tuesday it will no longer admit illegal immigrants into degree programs, following the advice of the state Attorney General’s Office. 

Last year, the system said it would enroll illegal immigrants who are 18 years old and high school graduates at all of its 58 campuses. While the change was supported by Gov. Mike Easley, it provoked heavy criticism - especially from the leading candidates running to replace the outgoing governor.

 The system later asked North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper for guidance on whether the admissions policy was legal under federal law.

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SHELBY, N.C. — It was supposed to be a routine checkpoint, designed to catch traffic violators on Wyke Road in Shelby, but instead police say they caught Alisha McEntyre with a marijuana cigar in the ash tray, a lot more drugs packaged to sell and her 18-month-old daughter in the back seat.

According to the police report, McEntyre was pulled over because she didn’t have her seatbelt fastened, but when the officer got there, he noticed a strong smell of marijuana.

The officer writes that when he questioned her about the smell and she told him, “I smoked a blunt earlier and that one was in the ashtray.”

Capt. Jeff Ledford said officers soon learned there was more than just a smoked cigar.

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DURHAM, N.C.—The Durham Sheriff’s Department has named Tory Jarel Nelson as the person believed to have killed Deacon Charles Forest Davis, 89.
 
Davis was found brutally murdered in his home along 2913 Nellowood Street on September 26. 
 
According to Sheriff Hill, there have been very few leads in the case. They are hoping to find and speak with Nelson.

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A warrant filed in Wake County shows that an investigator looking into an allegation of loan fraud against a state representative searched a Durham nonprofit’s financial records.

State Bureau of Investigation Agent Rufus Williams searched the North Carolina Minority Support Center. He searched for financial records and other documents under the control of Representative Thomas Wright and a foundation that the Democrat from New Hanover County helped create.

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A Nash County grand jury on Tuesday indicted a man accused of stabbing two women inside a Rocky Mount church a month ago.

Tommy Lee Holiday, 30, a homeless man, was indicted on charges of first-degree murder, attempted murder and two counts of armed robbery.

Holiday is accused of attacking Debbie Kornegay, 58, and Eve Beasley, 60, on Oct. 18 while the two were preparing food inside Lakeside Baptist Church for the Meals on Wheels program. Kornegay died from her injuries, and Beasley still is recovering at Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville.

“She’s doing great,” said Billy Beasley, Eve Beasley’s son. “She had her last surgery Monday, and she’s got family with her.

“She can talk, and they get her up every day so she can sit in a chair.”

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SAMPSON COUNTY –  Sampson County Deputies seized more than $140,000 in cash after pulling over a Mount Olive man in a traffic stop.

Deputies say 25-year-old Rigoberto Rivera was pulled over Thursday afternoon for a window tint violation.

Rivera attemped to run away when officers stopped his car but he didn’t get very far.

The cash that was seized is believed to be drug money.

Rivera is being held on a $3,000 bond.

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Officers arrested a man in connection with a common law robbery and assault incident that occurred in May.

After several months of investigation, Greenville Police Department detectives served an arrest warrant Friday for Mark Eldridge Joyner, 36, of 105 Toby Circle, Apt. 5.

Joyner was charged with common law robbery and assault for the May 14 incident in the parking lot of the BB&T bank, 543 S. Evans St, according to a police news release.

Detectives believe Joyner approached the victim, a 29-year-old female employee of the nearby McDonald’s restaurant, before she entered the bank with a deposit bag and punched her in the face.

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 [Ed. note - Read the comments on this story, seems this guy is also a murderer.]

Jacksonville police are looking for a suspect in a shooting on Maypatch Road at around 3 a.m. this morning.

A Jacksonville man, who asked not to be identified, was shot in the left elbow by an unknown gunman while sitting in his car in front of Tarheel Taxi, said police Capt. Tim Akers.

“(The driver) was talking on his cell phone when he saw a black male wearing a dark hoodie walking up to his car with a semi-automatic handgun,” Akers said. “(The driver) drove off, but the suspect shot him in the arm.”

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The Fort Sill National Bank on Yadkin Road was robbed at gunpoint about 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

Three armed men entered the bank at 6243 Yadkin Road and displayed their handguns, according to Jamie Smith, spokeswoman for the Fayetteville Police Department.

The robbers left on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash, she said.

Witnesses described the robbers as three black men between the ages of 18 and 25.

Anyone with information is asked to contact detectives at 433-1856 or Crime Stoppers at 483-8477.

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DUNN — The search continues for Joaquin Rangel Ramirez.

The only sign of the 31-year-old accused of shooting his estranged wife in a hospital parking lot here Saturday night is the 2002 Cadillac Escalade he was driving.

It was found Tuesday at the home of his brother on Rod Street in Fayetteville. The area is off Wilmington Highway near East Mountain Drive.

The vehicle was towed back to Dunn and searched, Police Chief B.P. Jones said.

“We did find some spent cartridges in the vehicle,” Jones said. “That pretty well confirms the shooting took place from the vehicle.”

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