Public records
By Jack Stephens
Published in News on April 27, 2004 2:00 PM
Church fire
The old Mount Carmel Zion Church on Mills Road was heavily damaged in a fire, officials said Monday.
A new congregation was buying the building. Members were burning trash Saturday, and the fire got away from them and set the church on fire, Thoroughfare Volunteer Fire Chief Delbert Edwards said.
The building was valued at $35,000. Edwards estimated damage at about $15,000 to $20,000. Most of the contents had been removed from the building and were not damaged.
Thoroughfare, Grantham and Smith Chapel firefighters answered the 12:30 p.m. call and needed almost two hours to put out the fire, investigate the cause and finish salvage work.
10 hurt in wrecks
Ten people were injured and damages were estimated at $32,050 in six recent traffic collisions in Wayne County, the Highway Patrol reported.
*A passenger was injured and the van that he was riding in was demolished in a wreck at 8:35 p.m. Monday at N.C. 55 and Emmaus Church Road, the Highway Patrol said. Santiago Solis, 32, of Chandler, Ariz., was treated and released from Wayne Memorial Hospital. His westbound driver, Vicente Osvaldo Castillo, 14, of Robbins, was trying to turn right, and the van ran off the right side and struck a ditch. No charges were announced. Damage was put at $12,000.
*Four people were injured in a two-car collision at 9:38 a.m. Friday on Stony Creek Church Road near Crosscut Place, the Highway Patrol said. One driver, Maxine P. Parnell, 73, of Belfast Avenue, was treated, admitted and released from Wayne Memorial Hospital. The other motorist, Eddie Lewis McCullen, 43, of Athens Drive, Dudley, and his passengers, Timothy Whitfield, 24, and Nathaniel McCullen, 40, both of Jenny Lane, Dudley, were released after emergency-room treatment. Ms. Parnell was charged with a safe-movement violation after she had pulled from a driveway and her car collided with Eddie McCullen's westbound auto. Damages were fixed at $3,500.
*A driver was injured and his pickup truck was demolished in a wreck at 7:43 a.m. Friday on Pikeville-Princeton Road near Hinnant Road, the Highway Patrol said. Clifton Douglas Gurley, 66, of Pikeville-Princeton Road, Pikeville, was listed today in stable condition at Wayne Memorial Hospital, a spokeswoman said. Troopers said he had swerved to the right to avoid a stopped car and struck a tree. No charges were filed. Damages were put at $2,750.
*A driver from Smithfield was injured and charged with driving while impaired after a collision at 2:40 a.m. Friday on N.C. 581 near Buck Swamp Road, the Highway Patrol said. John Joe Hubbard, 40, was released after emergency-room treatment. The pickup ran off the right side and struck a ditch and a mailbox. Damages were set at $1,100.
*A driver from Greensboro was injured in a two-vehicle crash at 5:55 a.m. Thursday on Old Grantham Road near Woodland Church Road, the Highway Patrol said. Juan Hernandez Sanchez, 26, was released after emergency-room treatment. Sanchez and the other driver, Homer Rios Lopez, 32, of Greensboro, were charged with reckless driving. Troopers said Sanchez had started to pass Lopez in a marked no-passing zone, met an oncoming car, tried to merge back in the northbound lane and struck Lopez's auto. Both cars ran off the right side out of control, struck a ditch and a culvert and stopped next to each other. Damages were estimated at $3,700.
*Both drivers were injured and damages were set at $9,000 in a two-vehicle collision at 9:30 p.m. April 20 at U.S. 70 and Springwood Drive, the Highway Patrol said. Latoya Janiel Greenfield, 22, of South Andrews Avenue and Shane Allan Lindsey, 32, of East Second Street, Princeton, were released after emergency-room treatment. Ms. Greenfield was charged with a yield violation. Troopers said she had started across U.S. 70 and her car collided with Lindsey's westbound pickup.
Condition update
A driver from Goldsboro and his passenger have been treated and released from Wayne Memorial Hospital after a fatal head-on collision last week on U.S. 13 North.
John Waylon Pendergraft, 19, of Randall Lane was charged Wednesday with misdemeanor death by vehicle and driving left of center. His passenger was identified as Brandon Barrow, 18, of North Beston Road, LaGrange.
State Highway Patrol Trooper J.F. Davis said traffic had slowed in the northbound lane because of a vehicle turning right and Pendergraft then came upon the traffic, swerved to the left lane and met the Scotts' oncoming southbound auto.
A passenger in the southbound car, Kay L. Scott, 54, of Ayden, was killed. Her husband and driver, Billy Russell Scott, 69, of Ayden, survived. He was taken to Wayne Memorial Hospital and then transferred to Pitt County Memorial Hospital, where he was listed today in good condition.
Investigations
Wayne County law-enforcement officers are investigating these reports:
*A red Yamaha four-wheeler was stolen Monday from a shed in the 4100 block of Emmaus Church Road, sheriff's deputies said. The owner, Johnnie Dean Barwick of Emmaus Church Road, Mount Olive, put a $2,500 value on it.
*A pocketbook with a driver's license and personal papers was stolen between Friday and Monday from an unlocked car in a parking lot at 1019 Sunburst Drive, Goldsboro police said. The owner, Andrea V. Bottarro of Goldsboro, said her missing property was worth $2,042.
Reward offered
Murphy-Brown LLC is offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for robbing and shooting one of its employees.
Company employee Johnny Murphy, 27, was shot at about 7:30 a.m. on Sunday while he was working on the Harrells finishing farm at 1663 Mirie Naylor Road in the Harrells community of Sampson County. He was listed this morning in fair condition at the UNC Medical Center at Chapel Hill, according to the hospital.
The detective working the case, Lt. W.E. Jones Jr. of the Sampson County Sheriff's Office, said the investigation is continuing. Anyone with information about the robbery and shooting is asked to contact Jones at the Sampson County Sheriff's Office by calling 910-592-4141 or call the Murphy-Brown Co. at 910-293-5328.