Wilmjax News

The civil rights group fears police will engage in racial profiling.

Greensboro, NC — The NAACP is taking aim at Greensboro’s new gang task force.

Members of the civil rights group fear police officers will focus more on putting minority youth in jail.

They would rather see a gang prevention plan.

The NAACP wants to deal with causes of gang activity such as poverty and the drop out rate.

NAACP member Deena Hayes said, “One thing, I think we need an analysis here. What happened here in Guilford County? How have we gone from gangs in the single digits to gangs in the double digits? What’s happened around economic development? We’ve had major employment losses in this county for some time.”

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Greensboro, NC — Greensboro police are preparing to charge a former school Rabbi for having sex with a student.

According to Lt. Brian James of the Greensboro Police Department David Alan Stein, a former director with the American Hebrew Academy, is accused of having sex with a now 16-year-old male.

The alleged sex acts happened during the 2006/2007 school year on the AHA’s campus.

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GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) – Reaction to racial tension and injustice in a small central Louisiana town has spread across the nation.

At the beginning of the school year, a black student at Jena High School asked to sit under a tree on campus unofficially known for being for “whites only.”  He was reportedly told by a school administrator he could sit anywhere he wanted.

The next day, three nooses were hung in the tree.  The white students involved with putting the nooses in the tree were briefly suspended.

Then on December 4, 2006, six black students are accused of beating a white classmate at Jena High School.  The victim of the beating, Justin Barker, was treated at a hospital for injuries.  The motive for the attack was never established.

Five of the black teenagers were originally charged with attempted murder.  The sixth student was charged in juvenile court. 

The protests of racism and unequal justice followed after the six were charged with attempted murder by LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters. 

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Greensboro, NC — The Guilford County district attorney has asked state investigators to look into whether N.C. A and T State University inappropriately moved $380,000 from a campus vending contract to a former chancellor’s discretionary fund.

The state auditor issued a report last month that said that money from the contract was moved inappropriately to the Chancellor’s Discretionary Fund that the N.C. A and T Foundation maintains. The transfer occurred while former Chancellor James Renick was in office.

District Attorney Doug Henderson asked the State Bureau of Investigation to also look into possible misuse of a grant from the Office of Naval Research.

“There were sufficient serious questions raised in the audit to justify an investigation of a criminal nature,” Henderson said Monday. “Whether they merit prosecution is another issue that will be addressed somewhere down the road.”

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GREENSBORO — The Guilford County district attorney has requested a criminal investigation into state audit findings that N.C. A&T inappropriately moved $380,000 from a campus vending contract to the discretionary fund of former Chancellor James Renick.

The district attorney, Doug Henderson, has also asked the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation for a criminal investigation into alleged misuse of a grant from the Office of Naval Research.

“There were sufficient serious questions raised in the audit to justify an investigation of a criminal nature,” Henderson said Monday. “Whether they merit prosecution is another issue that will be addressed somewhere down the road.”

An audit report issued last month by the N.C. Office of the State Auditor found that money from a beverage vending contract was inappropriately moved to the Chancellor’s Discretionary Fund maintained by the N.C. A&T Foundation.

The money was used for items prohibited by UNC System policy, including commissioned art work, travel for Renick’s wife to accompany him on university-related travel and $150,000 for an annuity for a faculty member, according to the report.

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GREENSBORO — Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes wants to deport the illegal immigrants he arrests in crimes. But even if U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement grants him the authority to begin deportation proceedings, he doesn’t have the jail space to hold people facing deportation.

Barnes met Friday with other sheriffs in the same situation — and one who might be able to help.

The group, which included Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page, Randolph’s Maynard B. Reid, Alamance’s Terry Johnson and Caswell’s Michael Welch, discussed addressing illegal immigration as a region rather than individual counties.

The five sheriffs met with Sen. Elizabeth Dole on Friday to discuss immigration and law enforcement issues in the area.

“I’ve been meeting with sheriffs because we want to look at the criminal element among these illegal immigrants,” Dole said.

She has used the Senate’s August recess to hold such meetings across the state.

Dole agreed with the sheriffs that illegal immigration is a “huge problem” in North Carolina and offered what help she could.

“I hope to be able to facilitate where there is red tape that needs to be cut,” she said.

Alamance County is one of three counties in the state that have been approved to enter a 287(g) agreement with ICE. Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act equips police to begin the process of deporting illegal immigrants.

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GREENSBORO — No one disputes the fact that gang activity is proliferating across North Carolina and permeating the state’s communities, neighborhoods and schools.

“Gangs have been present in our community for as long as I can remember,” said Sgt. Mike Richey, an anti-gang officer who is a 15-year veteran of the Greensboro Police Department.

“But there’s been an increase in gang activity in every entity of our community. All of us recognize it.”

Earlier this summer, however, when the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office announced it would end the long-running DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program, it left the Guilford County School System — the state’s third largest — without a widespread, law officer-administered program with any anti-gang focus, Superintendent Terry Grier said.

What remains is largely a scattershot approach, mainly through High Point police offering its GREAT (Gang Resistance Education and Training) in some schools within that city, and school resource officers throughout the system trying to offer staff training and gang education.

But Grier, hired as superintendent seven years ago after administration stints in locations such as Sacramento, Calif., and Akron, Ohio, disagreed strongly with any notion that the Guilford County Schools under his leadership have been slow to address the rising number of gang-related issues in recent years.

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GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — The Greensboro Police Department is forming a 20-member gang unit to respond to a surge in gang activity.

Police say four homicides over the summer are linked to gang activity.

The city has had one full-time gang officer, but residents and politicians say more needs to be done.

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The State Auditor’s office issued a scathing report Thursday of fraud and mismanagement at N.C. A&T State University, where interim Fayetteville State University Chancellor Vic Hackley served until June 30.

Hackley said he spent his year in Greensboro uncovering and addressing the problems at N.C. Agricultural & Technical State University, which were left behind by former Chancellor James Renick. Renick spent almost seven years at N.C. A&T. He quit to take a job in Washington.

At FSU, Hackley has been asked to deal with troubles left behind by former Chancellor T.J. Bryan. Bryan was forced out in July.

Fayetteville State’s troubles mostly stem from poor management, ineffective leadership, poor training and poor accountability, Hackley said. At N.C. A&T, there was corruption that has led to several arrests.

“I think probably the things at A&T went on a lot longer and went on a lot deeper into the organization,” he said.

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Greensboro, NC — Gangs are bringing terror to Greensboro neighborhoods.

There are mainly five communities dealing with gangs more than others.

They are Ray Warren Homes, Claremont Courts, Timber Hollow Apartments, Hunters Glen and Hidden Lakes Apartments.

At Hunters Glen, gangs spray paint the sidewalks, walls even cars.

Police have responded to more than 280 calls there.

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GREENSBORO — The number of identified gang members and the amount of gang graffiti have increased in recent months, but that’s not the only thing that keeps Greensboro police Sgt. Mike Richey’s phone ringing.

Richey, who has worked with gangs here for 10 years , organizes educational forums to teach people to identify warning signs of drug use and gang involvement.

For the past few years, Richey and Detective Ernest Cuthbertson , the city’s only dedicated gang investigator, put on two or three such forums per month.

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A Greensboro man mistakenly released from jail on Thursday now faces additional charges and a $106,300 bond.

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Office added $100,000 to Omar Syed Muhammed’s previous bond along with charges of obstructing justice, misdemeanor escaping from a local jail and probation violations.

The 21-year-old Muhammed, who also goes by Muhammad, escaped after he forged the signature of another inmate scheduled for release, according to arrest warrants.

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Greensboro, NC — Sheriff deputies at the Guilford County Jail mistakenly released a suspected gang member Thursday.

Sheriff BJ Barnes says Omar Syed Muhammad has a name similar to one of an inmate scheduled for release.

He says Muhammad is a member of the SMM Bloods and has a “SMM” tattoo on his left arm. Muhammad’s rap sheet included gun convictions. But he was in jail for possession of a malt beverage underage, failure to appear in court and possession of a stolen vehicle.

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Greensboro has a gang problem.

The neighbors know it. The police know it. The City Council knows it.

Four recent homicides and Thursday’s nightclub shooting make the reality of gang violence inescapable.

“The problem is real, and now people are more aware of it,” police Chief Tim Bellamy said.

But what should be done?

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