Wilmjax News

Last September, Corporal L.G. Welch was attending a presentation at Ragsdale High School. He walked into one of the school’s bathrooms and immediately caught sight of the graffiti on the walls and in the stalls. In a simpler day and time it may have been a “Kilroy was here” drawing, but in 2006 it wasn’t Kilroy who’d been there but three gang members representing three different gangs. To the untrained eye, the symbols may have meant little more than youthful petty vandalism, but Welch’s eye is anything but untrained. He knew all too well what the symbols meant and who had spray-painted them there.

“It was the Latin Kings, the Black Gangsters Disciples and the Bloods,” he said. “Three active gangs that had marked their territory in that one boy’s bathroom.”

That one episode only confirmed what Welch already knew - has known for years - that gang activity has pervaded literally every high school in Guilford County. More alarming, it has filtered down to the middle schools and has even made inroads into some of the elementary schools. Welch has been sounding the alarm for a full decade, and has been monitoring gang activity even longer, but only in the past year or so has he been able to cut through the wall of denial.

“I’ve been preaching to them and doing gang classes for teachers, administrators, neighborhood-watch groups and churches since 1997,” he said, “showing them the identifiers, what to look for in the schools and neighborhoods. I told them it’s going to be a problem if we don’t get a handle on it and I’ve been trying to get the schools to look at the issue. They were saying back then that we don’t have gangs in our schools.”

But, with few exceptions, they’re not saying it anymore.

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WINSTON-SALEM - A convenience store clerk was shot in the back during an armed robbery, police said.

At 10:45 p.m., a man walked into the Reynolda Road BP at 3836 Reynolda Road, showed the clerk a handgun and demanded cash after placing a cigarette lighter and cough drops on the counter, Winston-Salem police said.

The clerk, Jason R. Surgnier, 21, of 226 Lola Lane, Apt. 203, in Pilot Mountain, could not get the register open and the man fired one round above his head, police said.

Surgnier turned to run to the back room and the man shot him in the back.

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The Reidsville police have charged Napoleon Sanchez Ortiz Jr., 26, listed as homeless, with attempted robbery. Police say that Tuesday at 9:52 p.m. Ortiz entered South Scales Street Market, slammed a dollar bill on the counter and demanded money. The cashier refused and told Ortiz she was calling police. Ortiz left the store. Police found Ortiz walking up to the drive-through window of the Burger King on Scales Street.

Ortiz is charged with a felony attempted common-law robbery and two probation violations. He is being held at the Rockingham County Jail on $150,000 bail.

Article here.

CARTHAGE — A Taylortown councilman and his brother who were charged with various felonies this summer now face additional charges.

Lonnie Jones III and his brother, Scott Burch Jones, were charged Tuesday as part of a three-month investigation by the Narcotics Unit with the Moore County Sheriff’s Office, according to a news release.

Three other people also were arrested as part of the investigation.

Lonnie Jones III, 38, of the 100 block of Burch Street, was charged with possession with intent to sell and deliver cocaine, selling and delivering cocaine, conspiracy to sell or deliver cocaine and two counts of maintaining a home to keep a controlled substance. He was released on a $50,000 unsecured bond.

Scott Jones, 26, also of the 100 block of Burch Street, was charged with six counts of possession with intent to sell or deliver cocaine, six counts of selling or delivering cocaine and one count of conspiracy to sell or deliver cocaine. His bail was set at $75,000.

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TARBORO – If all goes according to plan, residents and visitors will see a scene from the history books played out in the center of town.

Town officials are in the process of working on an agreement with the Edgecombe County Cultural Arts Council to allow Civil War re-enactors performing in this year’s History Days event to camp out for two nights on the Town Common.

The re-enactors have been a staple of History Days for the past two years but have camped out on the Blount-Bridgers House grounds because of liability concerns from the town.

This year, Edgecombe ARTS has taken out a $1 million insurance policy to free the town from any responsibility if actors are injured. In addition, the organization will sign a contract agreeing to take responsibility for any damage done to the common during the event.

“If there’s any damage to the common – be it from horses, camping or all of the above – somebody is responsible for it,” Noble said. “They’ve not had that previously.”

The actors will spend the nights of Sept. 28 and 29 on the grounds and leave Sept. 30. Edgecombe ARTS Director Buddy Hooks said it will allow the performers – roughly three times as many as last year – more room to spread out, and bring one of the organization’s biggest events to the traditional center of town.

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Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown released more details Tuesday about Sunday’s mobile home brawl that left five people injured - two shot, two stabbed and one beaten with a 2-by-4 board.

Sgt. Richard Baumgarner interviewed Dontuey C. Danley, one of the gunshot victims, still recovering at Pitt Memorial Hospital Monday. Danley told Baumgarner that the fray was not about child custody like Carlis Sample, one of the suspects arrested in the fight, had told police.

Danley said Carlis Sample had been pushing for a fight all weekend, beginning at a club early Saturday night.

Carlis Sample wanted to fight his ex-girlfriend, Terri Hayes, so bad that he sent a taxi cab to pick her and some friends up and bring them to his home on Swain Loop Road, Danley told Baumgarner. Danley, Hayes and other friends took the taxi to Carlis Sample’s home and beat him down, Danley told Baumgarner.

Sunday afternoon, Carlis Sample, his current girlfriend America Batten, his brother Marlyn Sample and others showed up at the Whispering Pines mobile home park to retaliate, Brown said.

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LUMBERTON — Former Robeson County Sheriff Glenn Maynor has been charged with misapplying federal money and lying to a grand jury, according to federal documents made public Wednesday.

The charismatic Maynor, who ran the Sheriff’s Office for 10 years, also was charged with authorizing deputies to work for his personal and political gain and with producing and using illegal satellite TV cards.

Maynor and his lawyers, John P. O’Hale and Douglas Parsons, could not be reached for comment.

Maynor becomes the highest-ranking law officer to be charged since a state and federal investigation known as Operation Tarnished Badge began more than four years ago.

Seventeen former Robeson County deputies have pleaded guilty in the investigation to charges including kidnapping, money laundering, racketeering, theft of federal funds and satellite TV piracy.

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A gang code name for murder was written on the handle of a gun found in a book bag seized from an E.E. Smith High School student last week, lawmen said.

“187 murder man” was written on one side of the 9 mm and “Bloods” — the name of a violent street gang — was written on the other side, said Capt. LaRue Windham of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office. “187” is the penal code section for homicide in California.

The student, Hakeem Trion Essa McKoy, 17, of the 2200 block of Nicky Avenue, was charged with bringing a gun on school property and misdemeanor altering or removing a serial number from a gun. He was released to the custody of his aunt on a $5,000 secured bond, according to court documents.

The gun was found when a teacher saw the book bag being passed among several students in the lunchroom Friday, Windham said.

The teacher notified the school resource officer, and the student was taken to the principal’s office.

“The gun wasn’t loaded, the clip didn’t have any rounds in it,” said Principal Clinton Robinson.

Lawmen found a magazine containing live rounds hidden in the crotch of McKoy’s pants, Windham said. They also found a red bandana in the waistband of McKoy’s pants, Windham said. The practice is known among gangs as “hiding the colors,” he said.

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