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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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.]

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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A Fort Bragg soldier admitted in military court this morning that he stalked neighborhoods looking for homes to break into, and raped women that he found inside.

Spc. Menkaura A. Moss pleaded guilty to two rapes, a sexual assault and other crimes that occurred in Spring Lake and Fort Benning, Ga., early this year.

Under his plea arrangement, Moss agreed to a sentence of 60 years in custody. He will be eligible for parole in 20 years.

Moss, 22, described during his court-martial this morning how he walked through neighborhoods wherever he was staying. He looked for homes he could break into — those with unlocked doors or windows. If he found women inside, he sexually assaulted them.

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CARTHAGE — A Taylortown councilman’s drug case has been continued until Dec. 11.

Lonnie Jones III appeared in Moore County Superior Court on Wednesday. His lawyer, Dusty Rhoades, said he was in discussions with prosecutors.

Jones, 38, was charged in July with 12 felonies and five misdemeanor drug charges after Moore County sheriff’s deputies raided his home.

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(11/16/07 –EDGECOMBE COUNTY) - Authorities arrested three teenagers and charged them in the murder a Edgecombe County convenience store clerk.

It happened Thursday night outside Princeville at Exum’s Grocery on Highway 33.

The sheriff says the 61-year-old store clerk was alone inside when a group of teens tried to rob him. Several shots were exchanged. The clerk tried to run after the gunman, but collapsed in the store yard.

Officers found Ahmad Nimer laying in the grass with gunshot wounds to his upper torso and hand.

He was rushed to the hospital– but died a few hours later.

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Students who are black, poor or suffer from disabilities are less likely to succeed on standardized tests, state data shows.

At the district level, all five area school districts failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress during the 2006-07 school year. A federal accountability measure, AYP measures student performance on math and reading tests among various socioeconomic subgroups.

In order for a school or a district to make AYP, students in every subgroup must reach a target goal. For example, about 77 percent of students in each subgroup needed to show proficiency on end-of-grade reading tests in order to make AYP.

While several districts reached more than 85 percent of their targets, no local district had every subgroup make AYP. The subgroups that most frequently missed the mark were black students, economically disadvantaged students and students with disabilities.

In the Camden County Schools, for example, state data shows that the school district missed AYP because black students and students with disabilities in grades 3-8 didn’t show proficiency on end-of-grade math tests.

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