Rebuilding once more
Oct. 16 — Standing on the banks of the Neuse River this week, watching water creep ever-closer to the bottom of the King Street Bridge, crowds of people continually compared what was happening to what Hurricane Floyd wrought here 17 years ago.
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Golf course plan opposed
Aug. 17 — David Brassard hopes the screened-in porch that's under construction behind his home will be finished by this fall so he and his wife, Amy, can enjoy the cooler temperatures and their view of Echo Farms Golf Course's eighth fairway.
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Syringe exchange launches
Aug. 8 — Crouched on the edge of Market Street, Mike Page is paying no attention to the cars zooming past over his left shoulder.
His eyes are locked on the face of the too-skinny woman in the camisole slumped against a telephone pole. |
School becomes
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Overwhelmingly white
May 29 — Anna Lee was not surprised when she walked into a meeting for Forest Hills Elementary School's Spanish Immersion Program and found the room filled with white faces.
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Up in the air
May 10 — City officials are debating whether a nine-hole golf course is the best use for Inland Greens.
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The clips in this section were written while I was covering Brunswick County, one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation. Many of the people moving to this once-quiet area are transplants, a common source of tension that quickly became a focus of my coverage.
Board to decide fate of commissioner appeal
April 21 — The fate of a Brunswick County Board of Commissioners' primary could be decided as early as Tuesday.
Archaeologists work to learn moreMarch 29 — From his office near Fort Fisher Museum, it takes Billy Ray Morris about an hour to reach the newly rediscovered blockade runner wreck he remains confident is the Agnes E. Fry.
Wage growth not uniform across
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Tourism vital to Brunswick's economy
April 18 — In the offseason, Tony Ezziddine sits at the desk of Local Call Surf Shop in Oak Island, shuffling a well-worn deck of cards and playing countless games of solitaire.
County of change
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Brunswick bounces back
April 17 — Fred and Peggy Essl wanted to move from New Jersey to the vacant lot in St. James they had spent a decade searching for when both of their children moved within five minutes of home.
Will 'old' Leland be left behind?Dec. 19, 2015 — For the first time since Leland was founded in 1989, the town council lacks a representative who lives in the area known as original Leland.
State of recovery
Oct. 24 — Fred and Sylvia Liner's dining room table is still where it was Oct. 2 as they ate salmon, listening to the rain and watching the water rise.
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Jobs, pay drive workers across county linesSept. 7, 2015 — Condensation is still beaded on the car windows when Lori Burton leaves her house, and the fog rests heavy in the wetlands just off U.S. 17 in Leland.
It's 6:56 a.m. It's time for her to go to work. |
Softball inspections now part of gameSept. 6, 2015 — When a softball is hit hard enough that it flashes past Arnulfo Musgrove on the pitching mound before he can even see it, alarm bells start ringing in his head.
"I know off-hand when a bat is hot," Musgrove said. |
Navassa police chief defends officers' actionsAug. 6, 2015 — The radar on Navassa Sgt. Scott Perez's cruiser begins blipping rapidly as an oversized dump truck draws nears and quickly whooshes past on Cedar Hill Road.
Here, the speed limit is 45 mph. The truck was clocked at 60 mph. |
Shark fishing ban tough to enforce
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Tensions rise between Belville, Leland leaders
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Attack questions remain as shark fishing continuesJuly 9, 2015 — With a decapitated grouper head in tow, Bailey Schucker, 16, and friend John Porter set out to catch a shark.
It was Memorial Day weekend and their spot of choice was the Oak Island Pier, which allows shark fishing at the off-shore end. |
Brunswick development corporation expenses questioned
July 2, 2015 — Since 2009, the Brunswick County Economic Development Corporation has spent about $82,000 on staff bonuses, director fees, gifts and its annual December meetings, according to records obtained by the StarNews.
A financial review of the corporation conducted by Ann Hardy, Brunswick County's manager, questioned the expenses, noting that they appear "excessive." |
State: No ban
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Shark bites likely won't prompt hiring of lifeguards
June 18, 2015 — Three shark attacks in the past week likely won't compel Brunswick County's beach towns to add lifeguards, local officials said Wednesday.
Emergency personnel commended other beachgoers for helping save the lives of Kiersten Yow, 12, and Hunter Treschl, 16, after Sunday's attacks happened about 90 minutes apart. |
Oak Island asks state to ban shark fishingJune 17, 2015 — In the wake of a pair of Sunday shark attacks, Oak Island has asked the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries to ban shark fishing along the town's beaches through the Fourth of July weekend.
Louis Daniel, the director of the state agency, said Tuesday that Tim Holloman, Oak Island's town manager, made the request during a Monday conversation. |
Visitors wary after shark attacksJune 15, 2015 — A pink-tinged sunset fell over the Ocean Crest Pier on Sunday, the thrumming of a helicopter's blades passing overhead the only thing breaking the sounds of the tide.
Walking down the pier, it was common to overhear snippets of conversation, often light-hearted, about sharks among the onlookers and fishers lining the sides. |
After shark attack, calm
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The below clips are from my work as a night-side public safety reporter at the StarNews during 2014. Some of the more noteworthy stories are the police-involved slaying of a mentally ill 18-year-old teenager to a major spike in heroin use to a bizarre possible murder to the death of a former local sheriff in the county jail. I also got to chip in on coverage of my first hurricane and cover a U.S. Senate debate. Click any image on this page to see a full clip.
Gay marriage is legalized in N.C.
October 11, 2014 — Ryan Burris tossed a well-creased sign protesting Amendment One to the ground Friday night.
"We don't need this anymore, guys," he said to applause. Burris, president of Cape Fear Equality, was right. Late Friday afternoon in Asheville, U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn struck down North Carolina's gay marriage ban, which was passed in May 2012. The ruling opened the way for the first same-sex weddings in the state to begin immediately. |
Senate showdown: Hagen, Tillis pull no punches in Wilmington debateOctober 10, 2014 — During a Thursday debate at WECT studios in Wilmington, Republican challenger Thom Tillis attacked incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan for not showing up to work while Hagan threw barbs at Tillis for what he'd done when he showed up to his own job.
Hagan contended that Tillis' nearly four years as speaker of the N.C. House have been a net loss for the state and that the Republican is more interested in discussing her candidacy than his own. |
Diverse forces: Area agencies mostly reflective of population
October 5, 2014 — Southeastern North Carolina's largest law enforcement agencies closely match the racial demographics of the populations they cover, according to data provided by the agencies and from 2013 U.S. Census estimates.
In Wilmington, for example, 76.7 percent of the population is white and 18.4 percent of the population is black. Of the Wilmington Police Department’s 315 employees, 80.3 percent are white and 15.7 percent are black. NOTE: This story ran with a story about law enforcement wearing body cameras. |
Man gunned down at 9th and Dock
Oct. 1, 2014 — A 26-year-old man was shot to death Tuesday afternoon in Wilmington, according to a Wilmington Police Department news release.
The man, identified late Tuesday by police as Martineze Vaughn, was shot multiple times, police said. He was found lying on the steps of 122 S. Ninth Street, between Dock and Orange streets, according to the release. The shooting was called in about 4:15 p.m. Police are treating the death as a homicide. |
'It's a Band-Aid,' not a cure
September 23, 2014 — Cheryl Groves hears the stories of heroin addition everywhere she goes and knows at least two people who have died of overdoses and two more who have, in recent months, lived through them.
Now Groves, dissatisfied with officials' response, is taking action against what she calls the "epidemic" of heroin use in Southeastern North Carolina by distributing kits containing the overdose-reversal drug naloxone through the N.C. Harm Reduction Coalition |
10 years on the beat
August 17, 2014 — Starting with the interview 10 years ago, some city officials knew Wilmington Police Chief Ralph Evangelous was the right man for the job.
Spence Broadhurst, then-mayor who now lives in Greensboro, said he was immediately struck by Evangelous' honesty, transparency and candor. “He kind of took our breath away,” Broadhurst said. “He was clearly, rock solid, the person we wanted.” |
No charges in Hewett death
August 2, 2014 — Former Brunswick County sheriff Ron Hewett likely died of a heart condition exacerbated by chronic alcohol use and stress from a fight with New Hanover County jail deputies, officials said Friday.
No charges will be filed against New Hanover County Sheriff's Office personnel in the jailhouse death of Hewett, District Attorney Ben David announced Friday. |
Hewett dies in NHC jail
July 13, 2014 — Ronald Hewett, the former sheriff of Brunswick County, died Saturday while in custody at the New Hanover County jail, according to a U.S. Marshals Service spokesman.
Few details were immediately available about Hewett's death, which the Marshals Service spokesman said is being investigated by the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation. |
WPD has tools to monitor phonesJune 20, 2014 — New Hanover County's chief public defender is worried about the Wilmington Police Department's access to certain electronic surveillance equipment.
Chief Public Defender Jennifer Harjo recently wrote a letter to several local attorneys asking whether they knew anything about WPD's use of surveillance equipment that mimics cellphone towers to collect information. |
A murder accusation, but no bodyJune 15, 2014 — "James Bradley is accused of murdering a Wilmington woman whose body police have not found and, experts say, could be convicted even if Shannon Rippy Vannewkirk is never located.
On May 16, New Hanover County District Court Judge Sandra Ray Criner ruled there was probable cause to hold Bradley, of Wilmington, on first-degree murder charges in Vannewkirk's presumed slaying. Bradley is being held without bail in the New Hanover County jail." |
Berger arrested again
June 11, 2014 — New Hanover County Commissioner Brian Berger is in trouble with the law again, only this time it's in the northwestern part of North Carolina.
Berger was arrested Tuesday in Avery County and charged with a probation violation, said Avery County Sheriff Kevin Frye. NOTE: Four stories broke this day, starting at 4 p.m. Three of those stories are in the attached PDF. We got a tip about the Berger story at 9 p.m. and had it first. |
Crime puts a neighborhood on edgeJune 8, 2014 — "Sprinkled among the almost-daily postings of lost-and-found items and notices of yard sales on the Carolina Place-Ardmore Neighborhood Association's Facebook page is a strain of something more disconcerting.
There are photos of blue lights at a shooting scene from April 27. “Not sure what happened. I heard about 9 gun shots and this is outside my house,” the post says." |
Program to prevent crime still stumblingMay 27, 2014 — "More of the 30 people the Wilmington Police Department called in during violence intervention efforts in March 2011 and December 2012 have been charged with attempted murder than tried to take advantage of the helping hand offered as part of the program.
Call-ins are targeted intervention efforts executed by law enforcement agencies across the state offering persistent offenders an opportunity to turn their lives around while simultaneously promising harsh penalties if they don't change." |
Judge orders Bradley heldMay 17, 2014 — "James Bradley will remain in the New Hanover County jail without bail for the foreseeable future after a judge ruled Friday there is enough evidence to prove probable cause in the murder of Shannon Rippy Vannewkirk.
'I think based on the rulings from our appellate courts that there's more than enough probable cause ... at this juncture,' New Hanover County District Court Judge Sandra Ray said." NOTE: This PDF features two more stories from that day in court. |
No love lost in Democratic sheriff raceApril 27, 2014 — "Ed McMahon and Sid Causey – candidates for the Democratic nomination for New Hanover County sheriff in the May 6 primary – were supposed to answer the question with one word apiece.
'This used to be obviously a close relationship, professionally, personally. It clearly is not anymore. Whoever doesn't win, can you endorse the other candidate?' Kevin Wuzzardo, WWAY NewsChannel 3's political editor, said at the end of Tuesday's televised debate." |
Law enforcement going after dealers, not usersMarch 18, 2014 — " The reality of the number of people tied to heroin trafficking – and, more generally, the drug trade – led the criminal justice system to shift its emphasis away from users.
“We’re not fighting a war on drugs. That was lost years ago,” said Ben David, New Hanover County's district attorney. “We’re fighting a war against drug dealers.” As part of that effort, the district attorney’s offices in Brunswick and New Hanover counties are willing to try cases in federal court, where there are stiff penalties and no probation, and to try dealers for trafficking, which, depending on the amount of drugs seized, carries minimum sentences of from five years and 10 months to 23 years and six months on a state level. |
After prescription drug crackdown, cheap and plentiful heroin fills a voidMarch 16, 2014 — "In September 2012, the then-captain of the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office's Vice and Narcotics Unit predicted that efforts to curb prescription drug use could be a “double-edged sword” causing users to seek out heroin instead.
Now, 18 months later, that prognosis looks spot-on as the streets of Wilmington and highways of Brunswick County are awash with heroin, a drug Ben and Jon David, the district attorneys for New Hanover and Brunswick counties, respectively, both call “suicide on the installment plan.” |
Answers slow to come in teen's shooting deathJanuary 7, 2014 — "Long before Keith Vidal carried a screwdriver, before he was shot and killed and before there was an SBI investigation into his death, he stood in front of a mirror and took a selfie.
Monday, that picture hung from a wall in the lobby outside Brunswick County District Attorney Jon David's office, earrings in both of Vidal's ear lobes, his hair perfectly coiffed, the word "why" scrawled in capital letters with a black Sharpie in the white space next to his head." |
The below clips are from the second half of 2013, during which I was transitioning to a night cops job. At the time, Wilmington was seeing a steady increase in gang violence that culminated in the killing of a teenager at the entrance to one of the city's ritzier neighborhoods and the shooting of a police officer in one of the city's traditional hot spots. Please note that there is a database associated with the speeding ticket story.
Gangs may be targeting copsNovember 8, 2013 — "Members of one Wilmington gang are "committed to engage in shootings," possibly focusing on law enforcement, after the shooting death of Brandon Devone Smith, according to an FBI memo sent to the state's police chiefs.
Smith was shot to death Oct. 13 by two New Hanover County Sheriff's Office deputies and an ATF agent three days after allegedly firing on Michael Spencer, a member of the FBI Safe Streets Task Force and sheriff's office detective, in Creekwood." |
Gang Wars: What's driving the violence?October 20, 2013 — "Yellow crime scene tape, flashing blue lights and police combing the sidewalks for shell casings while unsettled residents look on are becoming as routine as children playing in the front yards of some neighborhoods.
Local police are chalking up much of the violence to another chapter in the nationwide gang battle between Bloods and Crips, but the reality is less clear. Much of the murkiness stems from the fact that while the violence has mostly been targeted, it's more often a side effect of perceived slights than organized criminal enterprise." |
Suspect in detective's shooting killedOctober 13, 2013 — "The man accused of shooting and wounding a New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office detective was killed Sunday afternoon by law enforcement officers, according to New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David.
Brandon Devone Smith, 30, was shot following a car chase and a foot pursuit that ended in a wooded Wrightsboro area." |
Little change in violenceSeptember 27, 2013 — "A cease-fire called by local faith leaders couldn't keep gunfire from happening at the same rate as before, according to statistics from the Wilmington Police Department.
Statistics for the 90-day period between June 24 and Sept. 22 – about a third of the year, five days before the cease-fire began until Sunday – show 108 of the city's 323 shots fired calls have happened during the period." |
Spotting speedersSeptember 1, 2013 — "If you’ve got a lead foot, you might want to ease up on Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and Rogersville Road, or steer clear of them entirely.
In 2012, the Wilmington Police Department issued more speeding tickets on those roads than anywhere else." Wilmington police handed out 282 tickets in the area of 2300 Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, the most common location for them to pull drivers over for speeding, followed closely by the 200 block of Rogersville Road, where 261 stops were made. |
Not enough bucks for the bangsAugust 25, 2013 — "Eli Gutierrez went to the Grace Methodist Church on Saturday morning with the intention of turning a .38-caliber pistol a neighbor gave him over to police to be destroyed as part of the Demetrius Greene-Josh Proutey Gun Buyback.
“I have kids in the house and I have another gun for protection,” Gutierrez said, adding that he didn't know the history of the pistol." |
These clips are from when I was working as a transportation reporter, covering the ins and outs of how people moved around Southeastern North Carolina. This included covering planning agencies, as well as public transportation and the N.C. Ports Authority.
'It Defies Human Reality': Ports Authority official says static salary an inadequate incentiveApril 22, 2013 — "Jeff Miles, the interim executive director of the N.C. Ports Authority, might be one of the few people in the state who's underpaid at $146,000 a year.
At the similar-sized Port of Miami, Executive Director Bill Johnson earns $262,350. Directors at Jacksonville and Palm Beach, Fla., and South Carolina also earn more than Miles." |
Geared Up: Upgrade should keep rare Hopkins frame structure intact for decadesApril 6, 2013 — "The Wrightsville Beach drawbridge doesn't show its age until you're standing underneath it, listening to the noisy conversation of tires jolting over the span and the punctuating silences that indicate a red light at either end of the bridge.
There, after climbing down two ladders and slinking past a thick steel chain, you can see the engine – spotted with dirt and grime – and the well-oiled series of gears that has powered each of the bridge's roughly 350,000 lifts since the structure was built in 1956. |
If you use GPS on your phone or in your car, you are in the loopMarch 3, 2013 — Evelyn Thomas despises her daily commute from her house just off Village Road in Leland to Wrightsville Avenue by Empie Park.
“People get up in the morning dreading going to work because of their job,” said Thomas, an account manager at George Chadwick Insurance. “I love the job. I dread the traffic. What would take 10 to 15 minutes on a good traffic day normally takes 30 to 45 minutes.” |
Ports chief fired: Board Chairman McComas was not consultedJanuary 29, 2013 — Tom Bradshaw is out as executive director of the N.C. State Ports Authority, an official confirmed on Monday.
Ports authority spokeswoman Laura Blair said Bradshaw no longer works for the N.C. Department of Transportation, but provided no other information. |
Digging out of bridge traffic?December 29, 2012 — "A new crossing of the Cape Fear River could see motorists driving below the water rather than high above its surface.
If N.C. Department of Transportation officials decide the high price tag of a tunnel is worth the hassle, the Cape Fear region could become the site of North Carolina’s first underwater tunnel." |
'Skyway' becomes a dirty word as planners look for cheaper alternativesNovember 18, 2012 — As the Cape Fear Skyway poject continues to gather dust, planners and local officials – not to mention motorists – are increasingly eager to find a solution to the growing traffic overload between Leland and Wilmington.
Decision makers hope that a Nov. 26 workshop at Wilmington City Hall will kick the decision-making process into gear. |