North Carolina mandates school systems to check its buses every 30 days, said Cecil Davis, director of transportation for Catawba County Schools and head of the bus garage for all three school systems. Davis oversees the 271 buses for Newton-Conover City Schools, Hickory Public Schools and Catawba County Schools.
"We're required to thoroughly check the buses. That includes checking the brakes, steering, air tanks, tires, tread depths, walking arms, the belts, lubricant levels, the engine, if there's any body damage, seat damage and replace them if need be and see if there's any shimmy in road tests," Davis said.
Before school starts, staff wash and clean every bus. In some buses, this may mean having to scrub out black mold that can develop over the summer from being closed up.
"It varies from bus to bus," Davis said. "We may go through six buses with none, and then we'll have three in a row with it. They sometimes just get it with the heat and humidity."
To get rid of the mold, He said they use Tilex on the troublesome spots.
The bus garage also repainted 22 buses. Davis said a coat of paint on a bus lasts about 10 years. The life expectancy of the yellow buses used to transport students to and from school is about 20 years or 200,000 miles, according to the state. Davis decides when the buses will get a new coat of paint, saying that the buses are a reflection of the school system, and he wants them to look good.
In addition to painting several buses over the summer, the bus garage has also been outfitting the 22 new buses it got.
"We have cameras in 99.9 percent of the buses for all three school systems," Davis said. "We had to take the cameras out of the buses we sold and put them into the new buses."
Those cameras are in the front and rear of the bus, and are used to reduce the amount of vandalism done to the bus while students are on it and after hours. The cameras can record both video and audio, and can digitally record and store up to 30 days at a time.
Those cameras can also be used to tell what the bus driver is doing.
"We can tell when they use their breaks, the stop arm, the amber lights, several things," Davis said. "It's connected to the bus' electrical system."
Catawba County Schools is looking to expand the cameras used on buses.
"We're now installing a camera head on the outside of the bus. It gets pictures of the driver and the tag number," Davis said. "As soon as we can, we want to put them on every bus. We only have them on two buses now, and we plan for 10 more."
The decision for cameras on the outside of the bus was based in part because of the controversy surrounding a Newton officer accused of passing a stopped school bus in April. However, Davis said there are also many complaints each year of cars passing stopped buses, and he wants to ensure children are safe when getting on and off a bus.
The last step to ensuring student safety on a bus is driver training. Each year there is a meeting for every driver and substitute to attend for the year, even if they've driven buses for the three systems in the past.
"We cover operations, logistics, safety and following your routes," Davis said. "We had a trainer there from the state, who also talked about not speeding. There were only three chargeable acci-dents that happened in the 2.4 million miles that were driven last year."
]]>AT A GLANCE
Name: D.R. Lutz
Age: 84
Profession: Funeral director, Jenkins Funeral Home, Newton
Background: A Hickory native, Lutz entered the funeral services industry at Hickory Funeral Home in 1941 while still a student at Hickory High School. The U.S. Navy veteran has worked for Drum Funeral Home in Conover, Bass-Smith Funeral Home in Hickory (where he and his father were early stockholders), Catawba Funeral Home in Hickory and Heritage Funeral Home in Valdese.
Family: One son, Leslie Lutz; one daughter, Carolyn Holsclaw; three grandchildren. First wife, Helen Swatzel Lutz, a nurse, died in 1979. Second wife, Laura Hall Lutz, died in 2004.
Church: Viewmont Baptist
Memberships: American Legion for 51 years
Interests: Loves gospel music, which he played during a Sunday afternoon program he hosted on WHKY; gardening; model trains
Traits he values in himself: Compassion and a sense of humor.
On retirement: "I'll work until I can't. I've worked hard all my life, and retirement is not in my book. I'd go nuts."
A pickup truck driven by Christopher Archie Greene crossed the center line and struck another truck head-on, said Morgan Rodriguez, with the N.C. Highway Patrol.
The accident happened just north of Settlemyre Bridge Road.
Jimmy Parker was driving to his mother's house off Settlemyre Bridge Road when he arrived at the scene.
"I saw smoke, two vehicles and a boat," he said, adding that the overturned boat had been towed behind the white pickup truck. "One truck was all burned up and one man was in (a white truck) with his leg crushed. A woman was laying across his lap. It didn't look like she was breathing."
Parker stopped to help anyone he could in the wreck. He tried to open the door of the white pickup truck to get the man and woman out, but was unable to do so, he said. He told the driver to wait for the fire department to come with the Jaws of Life to cut him free.
Another motorist stopped to help, as well. The driver called 911, but wasn't sure where he was, so Parker said he took the phone to tell the police.
"The man in the white truck was in shock," Parker said. "He had blood all over him."
The woman in that truck was unconscious.
"I didn't seen anyone in the (dark colored) truck," Parker said. "It was smoking. I was afraid it would blow up."
He said one person had been thrown from the dark truck and was lying near the side of the road. Another person was in the field.
"It's horrible, but my first thought was if I was 30 seconds faster, I'd have been dead," Parker said. "I've got two children and a wife. I couldn't sleep when I got home. This couldn't not affect you."
Greene, 27, of Newton, died, Rodriguez said. He was not wearing his seatbelt.
Brian Odell Lail, 30, who was in the bed of Greene's pickup truck, also died, Rodriguez said.
Further details about the wreck, including the speed of the two vehicles and whether alcohol was involved, were not available.
Parker said he is praying for those who survived as well as for those who did not.
]]>A pickup truck driven by Christopher Archie Greene crossed the center line and struck another truck head-on, said Morgan Rodriguez, with the N.C. Highway Patrol.
The accident happened at 1:45 a.m. on Startown Road just north of Settlemyre Bridge Road.
Greene, 27, of Newton, died, Rodriguez said. He was not wearing his seatbelt.
Brian Odell Lail, 30, who was in the bed of Greene's pickup truck, also died, he said.
Further details about the wreck, including the speed of the two vehicles and whether alcohol was involved, were not available.
]]>Thursday marks the 90th anniversary of the 19th Amendment that gave women the right to vote in America. A dropin soiree at the Women's Resource Center will offer a chance to learn more about the history of the women's rights movement, as well as an opportunity to record your own message.
The resource center's new Journal of Joy will give women a place to leave encouraging and inspirational stories or messages.
"We're making it available due to the significance of Women's Equality Day," said Cindy Rose, the executive director for the center. "Women feel strongly about that, and we felt like one good way to recognize it is to allow them to express themselves."
Every woman the center serves is going through a life-changing event, whether divorce, separation, job or other shifts. There, they get help and referrals for basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing.
"I felt like this Journal of Joy would be a way for women to leave messages some of our clients could review and draw strength from," Rose said.
Local members of the League of Women Voters also will be at the Women's Resource Center to register voters, male and female. The deadline to register to vote in the November election is next month.
The league will have members dressed as suffragettes, the women who fought for the right to vote in the early 20th century, as well as trivia and historical displays.
"Lots of people have no idea what women went through to get the right to vote," said Linda Osbon, who serves at the league's local president.
"We can't let the day go by without it being noted and celebrated."
]]>That's an expected 2,000 homes in Catawba, Burke, Caldwell and Alexander counties, said Sherry Long, the community development director for the Western Piedmont Council of Governments.
And it is a 17 percent jump from 2009.
The numbers are in sync with the state and national picture. North Carolina is on track to have a record 70,000 foreclosure filings by the end the year, a 10 percent increase from 2009.
Across the U.S. by the end of 2010, Realty Trac estimates 3.8 million people will get foreclosure notices. That is an increase of a million people since 2009, or about a 36-percent jump.
Realty Trac is an online marketplace of foreclosed property.
Hope on the horizon
The local and national counts come from homes for which lenders have filed papers to start foreclosure proceedings. Long says some of the homes and properties have likely been counted twice.
Most borrowers could still work out arrangements to stop the process. A foreclosure filing doesn't necessarily mean an owner will definitely lose the home.
More help also is on the way.
A stimulus-plan program set to roll out in October will help people pay mortgages for up to 36 months while they look for employment, Long said. The Home Protection Program, which promises millions of dollars to North Carolina, is designed for people who have undergone a sudden change in earnings.
Some climbing out, but slowly
That won't help all of the people who come to the council of governments for foreclosure prevention assistance.
Many have lost jobs in the last two years and have taken lower-paying positions, if they've found any work at all, Long said. Statistics from the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina back her up. They show the average private-industry worker was making only about $130 more per week at the end of 2009 than in 1999.
While people are out of work — and we've averaged around 6,000 unemployed people every month this year — late fees and penalties build up for mortgage payments, typically the biggest bills people have. That makes it even harder to catch up.
"Job loss sets up an economic domino effect," Long said.
The results show up among low-wage earners, members of the middle class and wealthier borrowers.
Among the foreclosed homes listed in Catawba County, asking prices range from around $10,000 to more than $650,000, according to Robbin Osborne, a Realtor and broker with Coldwell Banker, Boyd and Hassell.
The real-world scenario
Osborne said she hasn't seen an increase in the number of foreclosed real estate listed throughout the area, a possible sign that many people are stopping the foreclosure process before losing their homes.
Wednesday, a search of homes in the region showed 2,491 for sale. A little more than 200 of them, or around 8 percent were foreclosures.
"Percentage-wise, it's probably not more than it has been in the last couple of years," Osborne said.
The last couple of years, of course, have brought their own record highs.
"Five, six years ago we'd have two foreclosures a year," said Fran Redden also is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker, Boyd and Hassell.
"And we'd take care of them," she said. Now foreclosures make up a third of the company's business.
On the bright side
Foreclosed homes aren't bad news for everyone.
In Lenoir, 25-year-old teacher Lance Bumgarner bought a lender-owned house.
He wasn't specifically shopping for foreclosures, but he looked at a lot of them and settled on one.
"It was at the top of our price range, but it was a lot more house than anything else we'd seen," he said.
Bumgarner isn't sure he could have bought the house had it not been a foreclosure. He also thinks the bank was easy to work with, eager for someone else to own the home.
What's next?
Experts agree high unemployment is driving high foreclosure rates. It's a particular problem in the greater Hickory area, where loss of manufacturing already had created a sluggish economy before the nation sank into recession.
That means it is even harder to bounce back now.
Long hopes October's stimulus money will help lower foreclosure rates, but no one has an economic crystal ball.
"We're reaching the crest," she said. "We don't know how long we're going to ride the wave."
Record correspondent Al Stout contributed to this report.
]]>Hickory police got a call at about 2:40 a.m. reporting that two women had been stabbed at the Williamsburg apartment complex on Fifth Avenue S.W. When they arrived, they found a 19-year-old and a 21-year-old, each of whom had multiple stab wounds in the chest, neck and stomach. The women were transported to Frye Regional Medical Center, according to Lt. Scott Hildebrand of the Hickory Police Department.
Officers learned that the 19-year-old and her boyfriend had broken up two days prior to the attack. She had been staying at an apartment, and he had come to confront her.
"He apparently came to find her and a brief argument ensued. He stabbed (them) in the process," Hildebrand said. "(The 21-year-old woman) tried to stave off the attack, and he stabbed her, too."
Witnesses said Cameron Caleb Seagle, 21, of Hickory was the man who stabbed the women.
He left the area after the attack and warrants were issued for his arrest. He was already wanted on four outstanding warants for trespassing.
Investigators combed Hickory and Long View looking for Seagle and interviewed his known associates Saturday morning. Eventually, he called police to tell them he wanted to turn himself in.
He and his mother got in a car and headed toward the police station. Officers met them on the way, took Seagle into custody and brought him to the police station where investigators interviewed him.
Seagle was charged with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. He was given no bond on the pair of charges related to the attack on his ex-girlfriend and a $755,000 secured bond on the remaining charges.
Seagle was silent and ignored questions from the media as he was lead to the patrol car that took him to the county jail.
His first court appearance is scheduled for Monday.
Seagle was already facing several charges when he was arrested Saturday. He was scheduled to appear in district court Tuesday on two counts of assault on a female, breaking and entering and injury to real property. He's scheduled to appear Wednesday on an unrelated assault charge.
Frye Regional Medical Center refused to comment on the women's conditions or to confirm that the women were treated there.
]]>The grant was awarded Aug. 18 and both agencies have already decided what they'll buy with the money.
The Hickory Police Department will use the money to purchase:
--Digital cameras for patrol officers to use for evidence collection;
--Replacement camera for crime scene investigators;
--Replacement laptop computers for patrol vehicles;
--Activity sensor seat for polygraph examinations;
--Crime zone software for crime scene investigators;
--Protective earmuffs for use at the firing range;
--Light detection and ranging equipment for traffic enforcement;
--Universal forensic extraction device for evidence retrieval from cell phones;
--Replacement treadmills for physical training.
The Catawba County Sheriff's Office will use funds to purchase:
--Forensic Digital Video/Image Clarification Solution;
--Laptop-driven system with hardware attachments to pull video from phones, surveillance, or security systems;
--Forensic Audio Filter Software;
--Media storage for forensic evidence.
A noise complaint called in at about 6 p.m. Thursday led police to an orange car with a black stripe stretching from the hood to the trunk.
The car matched the description of a vehicle described by witnesses to Tuesday's robbery.
Three men were spotted getting out of the car and walking toward the restaurant at about 9:45 p.m. Tuesday. A short time later, three men kicked and punched their 28-year-old victim before stealing his wallet and running away, according to the police report.
Two days later police got a complaint about a loud radio near South Center Street. When they arrived, they spotted the car and a man matching one of the descriptions the witnesses had provided.
Additional investigation led officers to a second suspect and both men were arrested.
Joshua Tremaine Miles, 20, of Vale, and Calvin O'Bryan Fuller, 22, of Hickory were charged with common law robbery. Miles was jailed on a $25,000 secured bond. Fuller's bond was set at $2,500 secured.
]]>Tuesday night a black bear got a craving for some sunflower seeds and ambled over to a local backyard. The bear spotted a few pole-mounted seed-packed birdfeeders and had a snack. Thursday night, he came back.
That's Jim Bradshaw's theory on why his mother woke to find all of her steel birdfeeder poles bent to the ground with empty feeders dangling from the ends.
Bradshaw said he didn't see a bear do the deed, but he lives next door to his mother and did spot a bear in his backyard about three months ago. He said it appeared healthy and looked like it weighed about 250 pounds.
The Bradshaws' property adjoins Hickory's Glenn C. Hilton, Jr. Memorial Park and they're pretty sure their bear is the one that's been spotted several times this summer – once on July 11, a couple times late last month and plenty of times since then.
"This guy is really getting around," Bradshaw said. "There have been sightings all over this area."
He said he suspects the bear spends his days holed up near the river and roams the neighborhoods looking for food after the sun goes down.
In the four years his mother has lived in her home on 14th Avenue Dr. NE, she's never had bear trouble before Tuesday when she found one of her three birdfeeders bent to the ground. Two days later, she found all three of her birdfeeders battered and empty.
"I wanted to feed the birds, but I didn't want to feed the bears," Mary Bradshaw said. "I don't want to see the bear – I can't run."
She's decided the birds accustomed to eating sunflower seeds from her birdfeeders will have to go elsewhere for their meals – she's taking out the feeders.
"We're not going to invite them back anymore," Bradshaw said as he began pulling the poles out of the ground. "It's not like I'm going to put a plate of honey out here for him."
Bradshaw said he called Hickory animal control to report the bear activity and was advised to call the state department of wildlife.
Lt. Reed Baer of the Hickory Police Department confirmed that Hickory's animal control officers are not equipped to handle bears, but officers will lend a hand if it's an emergency.
"Our animal control is for domestic animals," he said. "Anything, whether it's a bear or a camel – if it's a public danger – we will dispatch an officer because we're here to protect the public."
Bradshaw said he's contacted the North Carolina department of wildlife about his unwelcome guest but hasn't gotten a response. What bothers him most is that he's pretty sure the bear lives somewhere in the park behind his home.
"I'm very concerned. There are hundreds of kids and families in this area," he said. "We've got coyotes, a bobcat, a bear – I mean, it's unbelievable."
]]>Jay Gaither, district attorney for those three counties, said he has confidence in the work the SBI lab does.
"There have been changes in the last eight years that led me to believe they're providing accurate data and have never been given any reason to believe I'm getting inaccurate data from the SBI lab," he said. "I have confidence in the SBI lab. There is judicial scrutiny, and they have a higher standard with new levels of professionalism."
Why the review was conducted
The review of the lab practices was done at the request of N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper, after the exoneration of Gregory Taylor of Raleigh, who was convicted in 1993 of first-degree murder for killing a woman and sentenced to life in prison. Two former federal law enforcement officials conducted the review.
Taylor spent 17 years in jail, proclaiming his innocence. In 2007, the N.C. Innocence Inquiry Commission began reviewing his case. This year, he was exonerated, in part because of new information that surfaced from forensic tests that had been conducted by the SBI years ago.
The final lab result passed to the district attorney's office said there were "chemical indications for the presence of blood" on parts of Taylor's car. However, SBI Special Agent Duane Deaver also did more sensitive tests for blood for items associated with Taylor's SUV, and the tests for blood were negative — something that was not mentioned in Deaver's final report. Deaver didn't mention this to the prosecution until the hearing for the Innocence Inquiry Commission.
The review examined 15,419 lab files and found 230 lab cases in which there were circumstances similar to Taylor's. Of those, 269 people were ultimately charged, and 80 people are still serving their sentences. Four people are on death row and three people have already been executed. Five people died in prison.
The 230 lab cases were divided into four categories:
-Cases that report positive indications of blood with language that said it was not conclusive, but failed to report a negative test result;
-Cases that reported positive indications of blood but omitted negative or inconclusive tests results;
-Cases that report positive indications for the presence of blood and said no other tests were conducted, when one or more tests were conducted with negative or inconclusive tests were done; and
-Cases in which results were overstated or incorrectly reported.
According to the review, "this report raises serious issues about laboratory reporting practices from 1987-2003 and the potential that information that was material and even favorable to the defense of criminal charges filed was withheld or misrepresented. The factors that contributed to these issues range from poorly crafted policy; lack of objectivity, the absence of clear report writing guidance; inattention to reporting methods that left to much discretion to the individual analyst: lack of transparency; and ineffective management and oversight of the Forensic Biology Section from 1987 to 2003."
Bungled cases in our region
There are two cases that fall into the first category from Catawba County, and one from Burke County.
-Roy Cook, who pled guilty to breaking-and-entering charges in Newton from an incident in December 1990. He was given a seven year sentence and released in November 1993. A negative result wasn't listed.
-Johnny Wilson Jr. pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Longview from a homicide in January 1991. He was sentenced to 25 years and was released in June 2002. A negative or inconclusive result wasn't conveyed.
-Francisco Macias pleaded guilty to second-degree murder from a homicide in Burke County in April 1991. He was sentenced to 12 years and released in May 1996. The test results didn't reflect a negative test result.
There are two cases that fall into the second category in Catawba County.
-Michael Geter pleaded guilty to second-degree murder from a homicide in May 1989 in Hickory. He was sentenced to 15 years and was released in June 1995. Rosalyn Johnson was also charged with accessory after the fact, but there was a voluntary dismissal. A negative test wasn't reflected in the report.
-Gloria Colbert pleaded guilty to second-degree murder from a homicide in Hickory in October 1992. She was given a life sentence, but was released in January 2009. Crystal Connelly pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact and was sentenced to three years. She was released in March 1995. The SBI lab did not include inconclusive test results or the fact that a test was not able to confirm the presence of blood.
There is one case from Hickory from the third category.
-Eric Howell and Bryant Moses both pleaded guilty to second-degree murder to a homicide in Hickory that happened in February 1998. Howell was sentenced to 15 years and 9 months. Moses was sentenced to 18 years and 9 months. Both are still in prison. The SBI didn't report negative test results or that the tests were even conducted.
There is one case in Caldwell County from the fourth category, which is overstating or incorrectly reporting results.
-Robert Setzer Jr. and Jimmy Shook were accused of a homicide that happened in September 1991. However, they were found not guilty. The lab tests didn't reflect a negative test result.
Area legal field still confident
"The cases the SBI has identified were all guilty pleas," Gaither said. "I've done a surface review to see if the case revolves on serology (blood) analysis. I want to take that evidence away to see if the case turned on that evidence. We're still reviewing the cases."
He said he's waiting to see if any of the defense attorneys who represented their clients in the cases want to reopen the cases and if so, the district attorney's office will be ready.
Gaither expects that people throughout the state will be interested in having their attorneys question the SBI lab's findings.
"I think anyone on the list who's incarcerated will want to exercise their legal rights," he said.
Gaither said the district attorney's office is always extra cautious any time a case involves elements such as hair, tissue or blood.
"When a case involves analysis of elements like that, we take extra effort to scrutinize the information and to find evidence of whether that person's guilty or not guilty," he said. "We prefer to rely upon eyewitnesses and confessions, which are more reliable than lab evidence."
North Carolina also implemented the N.C. Discovery Law several years ago, which requires the entire file of evidence from every state agency involved in a case to be handed over to the defense. This now includes the notes made by the SBI lab technicians, which would have shown that negative results were made in Taylor's lab tests.
Hickory Police Department Chief Tom Adkins said his department does the best they can do. All he can ask is that the SBI lab do the same.
"Everyone in criminal justice plays a process in prosecuting a crime. We try to find all the facts," Adkins said. "When we send the info out, we're trusting they'll do what's necessary to examine the evidence."
In every case flagged from Hickory, the defendents pleaded guilty. Adkins said that makes his mind rest a little easier.
"By pleading guilty in the offenses, it helps our confidence level that they really are guilty," he said.
However, he hopes this won't taint future juries minds about SBI evidence.
"I hope the jury will keep an open mind and base decisions on the testimony and the prosecutors," he said.
]]>Once inside, they found a cash register with an undisclosed amount of money inside. They took that, then they made their way into a closet where they found a small safe, according to the police report.
They were able to get away with the register and the cash.
The business's owner discovered the break-in and reported it at about 5 p.m. Thursday. He told police the building had been locked up tight at 11:45 p.m. Wednesday and the thieves must have broken in sometime after that.
The Hickory Police Department is investigating the theft.
]]>An employee at Tony's Pizza on Catawba Valley Boulevard, SE, was leaving work and heading to his car at about 9:45 p.m. when three men approached him, according to the police report. They kicked and punched him before taking his wallet.
The three men left running on foot away from the restaurant. Police are unsure if the 28-year-old was targeted. He was taken to Catawba Valley Medical Center, where he was treated and released, according to the police report.
Police are looking for an orange, four-door car with a black stripe on it from the hood of the car to the trunk. Shortly before the attack, a witness saw three people get out of the car and walk toward Tony's Pizza, according to the report.
The three suspects are all black males in their mid-20s who were wearing dark clothes. Two had long dreadlocks and one had short dreadlocks. Anyone with information is asked to call the Hickory Police Department at 328-5551.
]]>Record Sports Editor Chris Hobbs, a Catawba County native, begins his 35th season of covering Greater Hickory Area high school football teams tonight. Reach him at chobbs@hickoryrecord.com.
]]>MOST PATIENT PARADE WATCHERS: Mary Ann Greenlee and her grandchildren Michael, Sarah Ann and Andrew Butterfield. They were in their seats on Main Avenue at 3:30 p.m. The first harbinger of the procession, McGruff the Crime Dog riding a Segway, finally rolled past them around 5:15 p.m.
BEST SEAT SAVERS: The folks who left their plastic lawn chairs vacant, but with signs reserving them for Butter Cup, Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw.
MOST PATRIOTIC: Year-old Londyn Jackson. Mom Shasta Coulter Jackson recycled a July 4 outfit and sequined tiara for Reunion Day. Coulter Jackson was raised in Newton, and came from Charlotte for Thursday's festivities.
MOST ENTICING SIGN: Rack-n-Roll Billiards promised air conditioning and cold beer.
HOTTEST OUTFITS: Civil War re-enactors John Hovis of Gastonia, John Seagle of Dallas and Peggy Travis of Conover. The men wore wool shell coats and wool pants. Hovis's pants were light blue, stolen, he said, from a dead Yankee. Travis, playing the part of a Confederate widow in mourning, had on 11 layers, from a chemise, corset and corset cover to her black petticoat and hoop skirt.
MOST MERCIFUL GESTURE: Organizers of the Reunion Service. They were kind enough to allow the audience to sing "America the Beautiful" and simply listen as the band played the far higher notes of "The Star-Spangled Banner."
LOUDEST APPLAUSE: For retired Command Sgt. Maj. Gary L. Littrell, a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism in Vietnam. He encouraged people to offer support to returning troops. "Walk up, shake a hand and say 'Thank you for your service,'" Littrell said.
BIGGEST LAUGHS: When Littrell quipped, "I'm not sure about our politicians. I think the majority of them got dropped on their heads …"
QUOTED: "Honoring veterans of war is an honor and an obligation of civilization," said guest speak Col. Bradley N. McRee, a Catawba County native. He was quoting from the Catawba County Historical Association's book "Looking Back, Marching Forward: 100 years of Soldiers Reunion."
]]>It was about 2 a.m. when two armed men forced their way into a Hickory home on Third Street Drive, NE, near Hickory High School.
The couple was asleep in bed when the intruders turned on the lights. The couple looked up to see two masked men wearing gloves and armed with handguns. One stood on either side of their bed.
They asked, "Where's the money," according to the police report. When no money was produced, they bound the couple's wrists and ankles with duct tape and began to ransack the house.
For almost an hour, the thieves took their time wandering through the house stealing electronics and other valuables at will.
As the home invaders searched for things to take, the victims' son woke up and came out of his room to go to the bathroom, according to the police report.
"They (the armed men) told him to get back in his room and said he'd be OK if he did," said Capt. Gary Lee of the Hickory Police Department.
He went to his room and the moment the thieves left his house, the boy called 911, found a pair of scissors and cut his parents free.
"The kid kept his cool. He did the right thing and he did it quickly," Lee said. "It was only minutes from the time they left until he made the call."
The suspects may have known their victims.
During the robbery, one of the thieves called the victim by her name and referenced a birthday party the couple had attended last week, Lee said.
The victims declined requests to speak to the media.
The Hickory Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division is investigating the robbery.
]]>The woman was loading her purchases into her car after shopping at Hickory's Walmart on Tuesday.
Her purse was in her cart when she spotted a Cadillac passing close by. She turned to put another bag in her car, and when she turned back the car was gone and so was her purse.
She went to her bank to report that her checkbook had been stolen.
"While she was at the bank, the two suspects came to cash one of the stolen checks," according to the police report. "They were driving the Cadillac the victim had seen in the Walmart parking lot."
She called the police and the suspects were arrested.
Angelica Sasha Linebarger, 22, and her sister Jamaca Evangelin Linebarger, 21, were charged with larceny and forgery. Jamaca also was charged with uttering a forged instrument and jailed on a $15,000 secured bond.
Angelica's bond was set at $10,000 secured.
The sisters' first court appearance was Wednesday. Their next court date is scheduled for Sept. 8.
]]>The school system is implementing a new type of math curriculum for kindergarten through fifth grade, known as conceptual math.
"Math is really going to look different," said Leslie Barnette, director of elementary education for Catawba County Schools. "It teaches the concepts, not just the procedures."
The new type of math will be taught in all 16 elementary schools in the district.
Two elementary schools in the system already use conceptual math — Tuttle Elementary and Murray Elementary. Tuttle piloted the program three years ago, and Murray started it last year. Both schools have seen gains in their math scores since starting the program.
DeAnna Finger, principal at Tuttle Elementary, said the school's math proficiency scores have shot up by 10 percent since the school started using conceptual math. The school was at about 85 percent proficiency. It's now at 95 percent math proficiency.
Finger said it was a little difficult for both students and teachers to make the switch at first. However, at the end of the first year, the school analyzed the results, teachers gave feedback to each other and made adjustments.
"We did back teaching, and went back to primary concepts," she said.
Finger said, after three years of the program, she can safely say students like conceptual math better than the previous method, known as procedural or computational math.
"Kids probably think it's easier," she said. "It's logical, makes sense; they can think better and understand it."
Finger said she has yet to hear any feedback from Maiden Middle School to know if the students trickling there from Tuttle Elementary have had better success than students from other elementary schools, but she hopes the math concepts are paying off.
Barnette thinks having every elementary school in Catawba County Schools being taught with conceptual math will make a difference district wide. Conceptual math is designed to make math easier for students, she said.
"Children will know what the math operation is and why. Before, they were just learning the algorithms. They need to know how the numbers really work and why," she said. "Most adults who have seen this say, 'I wish someone would have taught me this way.'"
Conceptual math will teach children how to add two numbers together, like 88 plus 77. However, instead of putting down a 5 and carrying the 1 to the other column, as most were taught, it teaches that there are several ways to solve the problem. This includes finding all the other numbers — like seven "10s" in 77, and eight "10s" in 88, and adding them together, Barnette said.
"Some of it looks really different as you break it apart, but kids are more comfortable with math," she said. "Although it looks new, it fits in with the conceptual and integrated math and testing."
She said it also works with more complex concepts, such as measurement and geometry. Rising fifth-graders will use this concept, as well, even though only select sixth grades will have conceptual math. Barnette said it was up to the school to approve the curriculum for sixth grade, although it is mandated by Catawba County Schools for kindergarten through fifth grade.
Teachers were trained with the new type of curriculum this summer, and will continue staff development during the year, Barnette said.
Catawba County Schools is starting with elementary school first, to ensure students understood the basic building blocks of math before moving on to the more complex elements, she said.
Finger said she's excited the district is making the switch.
"We love it, and think it's going to make a huge difference county-wide," she said.
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