Archive - Jun 2011 - News Article
June 30th
Authorities are searching for multiple suspects that broke into the same house that was targeted in a breaking and entering incident May.
Catawba County Sheriff Coy Reid was the first responder to a breaking and entering call on Lee Cline Road in Conover on Thursday, where multiple suspects kicked in the door to a home that was previously broken into May 17.
Reid said it did not appear the suspects took anything and fled the scene in a gold SUV.
Multiple gravel and dirt roads in the area will be paved during the next year, but it is still unclear which streets will get the makeover.
Catawba County commissioners recently accepted a state transportation presentation that outlined proposed paving opportunities in the county.
The stateâs Board of Transportation will give the final approval of the plans next month.
âEvery couple of years, we do a number of surveys that determine which roads need to be paved,â said Jackie McSwain, district engineer for the N.C. Department of Transportation.
A Maiden man is facing five misdemeanor animal cruelty charges after officials found 100 dog carcasses on his property in March.
A criminal summons was issued June 22 from the District Attorney's Office for Billy Roy Hewitt, 68, of 4160 H.E. Propst Road, which stated that Hewitt "unlawfully and willfully did intentionally torment and deprive of necessary sustenance an animal." The summons said the cruelty charges reflect the health of three male dogs and two female dogs.
Newton's downtown 63-year-old water tank's logo size problem is fixed.
After the water tank had a fresh coat of paint from its rust, city officials requested a new "Newton, the heart of Catawba County" logo be painted. It was painted about two weeks ago, but was not done correctly.
Newton City Manager Todd Clark previously told The O-N-E that the red and blue graphic on the water tower was positioned wrong on both sides and was about a third of the size it was before the refurbishing project.
A Vale man is happy to be alive after falling 40 feet down an old well Thursday near the Lincoln County line in western Catawba County. Â
First responders rescued Billy Townsend, 44, of Vale, on Thursday after he stepped on what he thought was a sturdy metal well cover and plummeted 25 feet into icy cold waters. He then descended another 15 feet.
âI donât know if that well has a bottom, but I didnât want to find out,â Townsend said, adding that the frigid well water was the worst part of the entire ordeal. âThe whole time I was thinking, âLord, just help me get out of this hole.ââ
June 29th
Filing for 2011 municipal elections will start Friday for most cities and towns in Catawba County.
Those wishing to file for election or re-election can visit the Board of Elections office in the Catawba County Government Complex from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Board of Elections Director Larry Brewer said potential candidates can also file for election through the mail, but said âmost people come by the office because there are other forms to fill out, also.â
Every day, the occasional train pulls a short line of box cars along portions of the Norfolk Southern Railroad in Catawba County. After chugging through farmland and rural pastures in Maiden, the railroad enters Newton, and then Conover â passing an array of abandoned textile and furniture plants that once thrived with life.
But since the millennium, the plants that once powered the countyâs economy have lost about 34,000 jobs to other areas of the country and overseas. This caused some to say the furniture and textile industry in the Greater Hickory area was dead.
Newton firefighters spray a 2001 Chevrolet pickup truck that caught fire Wednesday in the driveway of a home at 1001 N. Davis St. in Newton.
Newton Fire Chief Kevin Yoder said the truck owner turned the vehicle on, left the air conditioning running and then returned inside his home. When the owner went back to the truck minutes later, the car was smoking and on fire.
Yoder added that his department first received a call of a garage fire and subsequently dispatched multiple fire engines to the scene. Yoder said that normally only one engine responds to a regular car fire call.
Police are searching for three individuals who broke into a Newton apartment Tuesday and strangled and choked a 73-year-old woman that was inside the home.
Authorities say Austin Chislom, 17, of Newton, was one of three suspects to enter a Newton womanâs apartment at about 7:10 p.m. Tuesday. The suspects allegedly strangled and choked the 73-year-old before stealing multiple firearms from the residence.
Lincolnton â A Newton man was arrested in connection with a 2010 shooting incident outside a Denver bar.
Chad Eugene Moten, 34, of Newton, was arrested by Lincoln County sheriff's detectives and charged with attempted murder, after police got "a break in the case" on June 18.
On Jan. 1, 2010, Jeremiah Seth Hoyle got into an altercation with the suspect inside the Neat Martini Bar at 751 N. N.C. 16, according to Lincoln County detective Kelly Paris.
