Public records
By Other
Published in News on February 16, 2006 1:59 PM
Poultry house fire
A poultry house in the 3900 block of N.C. 581 North and computer equipment were heavily damaged Wednesday in a fire that started in an electrical panel box, officials said.
No birds were in the house. The house was owned by Billy Tillman of Fremont.
Nahunta Volunteer Fire Chief Jay Howell said only a little fire was showing when three departments answered the 8 a.m. call.
Twelve Nahunta volunteers responded with five trucks. Fremont assisted with five trucks, and Polly Watson brought three. Damage was estimated at $60,000 to the poultry house and $60,000 to the contents. A new house costs about $180,000, Howell said.
Parole scheduled
A man convicted in 1990 of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison will be paroled on Feb. 1, 2009, the N.C. Post-Release Supervision and Parole Commission has announced.
Johnathan Atlas Best Sr. of Neal Drive was charged with the first-degree murder of his wife, Donna Kaye McIntosh Best, 24, on Sept. 11, 1989. Best pleaded guilty Sept. 10, 1990, to second-degree murder. He was sentenced by Judge I. Beverly Lake Jr. after the defendant was determined in a competency hearing to be fit to stand trial.
Mrs. Best was stabbed six times outside of her parents' home on Grand Avenue near Pikeville. The couple had separated a few days earlier before the assault. Best turned himself into the Wayne County Sheriff's Office two hours after the murder.
Best, who is now 41, will be paroled under the mutual agreement parole program, a scholastic and vocational program that is an agreement among the parole commission, the Division of Prisons and the offender.
The state's current structured sentencing law eliminated parole for offenses committed after Sept. 30, 1994. But the commission is responsible for paroling offenders sentenced under previous guidelines.
One hurt in wreck
One driver was injured and damages were estimated at $22,100 in four recent traffic collisions in Wayne County, the Highway Patrol reported.
*A Goldsboro driver was injured and charged with driving left of center after his car sideswiped a Wayne County school bus at 3:43 p.m. Monday on U.S. 117 Alternate near Outlaw Road, the Highway Patrol said. Hugh Laister Bryant, 58, of North Alabama Avenue was treated and released from Wayne Memorial Hospital, a spokeswoman said. Neither the bus driver, Shera Evette King, 30, of Colonel Warrick Road, Dudley, nor her four passengers, was injured. Damage was set at $3,000 to the bus and $4,500 to Bryant's car.
*A car was demolished in a wreck at 12:42 p.m. Sunday on U.S. 117 near O'Berry Road, the Highway Patrol said. The report said the car had run off the right side, crossed a ditch and struck a tree. The driver fled. The 20-year-old car was registered to David Lewis of Henry Best Road, Warsaw and valued at $3,000, the report said.
*Damages were estimated at $6,300 in a two-car crash at 12:55 a.m. Sunday on N.C. 111 near River Road, the Highway Patrol said. A southbound driver, Mario Antonio Cruz Reyes, was charged with driving while impaired and driving left of center. The report said Reyes' car had sideswiped an oncoming northbound auto that was driven by Norma W. Jenkins, 53, of Colonial Drive and then had run off the left side into a field. Reyes fled but was apprehended a short distance away.
*Damages were estimated at $5,300 in a two-vehicle collision at 11:15 a.m. Saturday at U.S. 117 and O'Berry Road, the Highway Patrol said. One southbound motorist, Chad Brandon Gethers, 24, of Calabash, was charged with failure to reduce speed after the rear-end collision. The other driver was identified as Cassandra Lavonne McKeithan, 32, of Chanute Road.
Woman assaulted
A woman was assaulted early Wednesday by a man who then damaged her apartment door, her cell phone and her bed and stole her car keys, according to a Goldsboro police report.
Tiffany Cherise Ward, 20, of Edgerton Street did not need hospital treatment, a Wayne Memorial spokeswoman said.
The assailant was described as black, 21 years old, 5-feet-7 and 190 pounds with a heavy build, short black hair and brown eyes. The suspect fled after the assault.
Damage was estimated at $780. The keys were valued at $50.
Investigations
Goldsboro police are investigating these reports:
*An unknown amount of money, a gold necklace, tennis shoes and sport jerseys were stolen Wednesday from a home in the 1900 block of Stephens Court, police said. The resident, Kenneth Lofton, said the necklace was worth $2,400. He did not list the value of the other property.
*A laptop computer and a digital camera were stolen between Oct. 31 and Wednesday from a home in the 1200 block of East Mulberry Street, police said. The property, owned by Alan Novicki of Raleigh, was valued at $2,850.
Thefts
Wayne County sheriff's deputies are investigating these reports:
*A two-tone blue 1998 Dodge van was stolen between Sunday and Wednesday from a repair shop at 6905 U.S. 117 North, Fremont, sheriff's deputies said. The owner, Lewis Eugene Jones of Princeton, said he had left a key under the seat. The van was valued at $14,000.
*A 28-year-old quarter horse was stolen between Tuesday and Wednesday from a field in the 300 block of Old Mount Olive Road, deputies said. The owner, Wilbert D. Lewis of Dudley, put a $1,500 value on the horse.
Missing
A 16-year-old girl was reported missing Wednesday by relatives to the Wayne County Sheriff's Office. Alicia Eileen Stronza of 517 Johnson Branch Road was described as white, 5-feet-8 and 140 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.
The Charles B. Aycock High School student was seen last at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. No clothing description was available. Detectives said this was the third time that she had run away in recent weeks. Anyone with information on her whereabouts was asked to call the Sheriff's Office at 731-1481.
Correction
A traffic collision report in Wednesday's issue contained wrong information. Linda H. Wilson, 40, of Athens Drive, Dudley -- not Lois C. Buday, 64, of Genoa Road, Dudley -- was charged with failure to reduce speed after a rear-end crash Tuesday on Wayne Memorial Drive.