T B he

Monday, July 23, 2010

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Homicide rate in Wilmington increases

Gun violence
threatens young
people
By James Gottagun
Boy bites shark. A man living in Wilmington
Claims it was delicious. is 14 times more likely to be
Page 1D murdered than a woman is,
says the latest report of the
Centers for Disease Control
Entertainment and Prevention’s “Morbidity
and Mortality Weekly Report.”
The vast majority of these
men were under 30, they were
killed within 20 miles of the
city, and most ‘We must get these tale. “We had violence prevention programs
were killed by a gangland in schools and elsewhere.
guns, read the guns off the street’ shooting this Lending importance to the
report. - Mayor Bill Saffo year, that city’s response is a previous
“We must boosted those study, that found that the risk
get these guns off the street,” numbers. Statistics aren’t of being murdered within 30
said mayor Bill Saffo in a reality.” miles of the city was among Good swell in afternoon,
press conference at city hall David E. Rice, Health the highest in the world, a risk 4 - 6 foot
yesterday. “This is a shocking Director of the New Hanover that is directly related to the
statistic, and I have to question County Health Department, area’s population boom, says
whether the scientists who did said the city is trying to find the report.
the study really took a good an answer to this violence The problem is growing,
look at this great city.” by keeping a closer watch particularly between men aged
Ralph Evangelous, Wilmington on assaults -- whether fatal 25-30. con’t.
police chief, emphasized that or not -– supporting research See Homicide page A2
numbers don’t always tell the into violence, and starting

New film shooting this

week. Extras wanted.
Page 1C

Sports

Shipyard paralyzed by protestors Local business

Pothole causes
Local team in volleyball auto damage
By Betty Green
championship today.
Page 6B Noon traffic was halted on
Shipyard Boulevard for 20
minutes yesterday when
Business protesters carrying signs and
screaming the names of city
officials called attention to a
pothole that, locals say, had
ripped the undercarriages out
of many cars, blew out tires
and damaged rims for past six
months.
“We’ve written; we’ve gone
to council meetings; we’ve
City Council votes to ban asked our representatives,
umbrella sales on strand. and nothing, but nothing,
Page 2D has worked,” said Louie I.
Mineral, one of the protesters.
He was carrying a homemade
Environment cardboard sign that read, “Tar-
nation: Close the Hole!”
About 30 people waited for
a red light at Shipyard and
Independence Boulevard, then
trooped into the intersection,
carrying placards and blocking
traffic.
Police arrived almost
immediately.
“We have a right to peacefully
assemble!” yelled one
protester to police. “Check the
First Amendment!”
At the center of the conflict is
a pothole that measures about
4 feet in diameter and about 18
inches at its deepest.
“My entire exhaust system
was ripped out by this
monster,” said Rigel U.
Wilcommen, who lives nearby
and commutes along this route
every day. “It fills with water,
and in the rain, you can’t see it.
Someone’s going to get killed
by the thing someday.”
“We’re aware of the problem,
and that particular pothole
has been on our list to fix
since it was first reported
to us,” said Ronnie Donley,
Street Maintenance Director
for Wilmington. “We were
not aware that it had grown
so large. I’ve put it on our
emergency list, and a crew
will be out by tomorrow to
repair it.”
When told by a reporter
of Donley’s response, the
protesters quietly left the
street, and no arrests were
made.
The City of Wilmington
Streets Division maintains
361 miles of paved streets,
unpaved roads, alleys, and 240
miles of sidewalks.
Potholes are created in
a number of ways. Most
commonly, water seeps into
cracks in the road’s surface,
and combined with the
vibration of the tires over the
cracks, causes the asphalt to
fail. That is why there are more
potholes after it rains. Potholes
are also created when the
flooded with
molasses
By James Gottagun
roadway is stressed by trucks BURGAW, NC – A distillery
and buses, which can cause hidden for decades on the
the subsurface to move. Once
there is a weak spot, every car
third floor of a downtown
liquor store
that travels over it makes the ‘It smells
exploded
problem worse, and eventually like a run-
yesterday sending
a section of the material fails, away batch
more than
causing a pothole. of real bad
50,000 gallons of
cookies’
molasses flooding
- Almadeen
down staircases,
Terwinkle
ripping through
walls and caving in floors.
The hot, smelly, tar-like liquid
spilled out in the 100 block of
West Fremont Street from the
Home-Style Wine and Liquor
Store around 2 p.m. in a tide
two-feet thick. Residents
scrambled to get out of its
way, and cars were stopped
in their tracks as they became
City employee Ted Striker mired in the sticky brown
warms motorists of pothole. substance.
“It’s a miracle no one was
hurt,” said Police Chief W.D.
King. con’t.
See Molasses A2

Hero dog saves Azalea Belle oyster shell under a canopy of

faux dogwood blossoms when
Potatoes had him flat on the
floor and all 120 pounds of her
Group organizes cleanup By Betty Green ‘I slipped her leash a drunk man came up to her. was sitting on his back.
of island this weekend. WILMINGTON – A damsel in
Page 5C distress got a helping paw from off and told her to “I could smell the Jack Daniel’s With a crowd still cheering,
on his breath,” said DelGado. police arrived to take the thief
an unexpected source yesterday take care of busi- “He was drunk as a skunk, and away. McBradley has been
when an attack-trained Golden
Lifestyles Retriever rushed to the rescue ness.’ - Jimmy looking for trouble. I could see charged with assault, and is
of an Azalea Belle whose the devil in his eyes.”Walter being held on $5,000 bail.
rare necklace was snatched
Peete O. McBradley, of 6994003
S. College Road, grabbed The convention of past Azalea
from her throat during a full which had been decorated as
the topaz and opal necklace Belles is an early fundraiser
dress convention of these a huge field of azalea hedges.
DelGado was wearing, and ran for the April festival, which
past hostesses for the area’s “Danged if I didn’t see that
for the door. attracts more than 10,000
premiere flower and garden pretty missy get that necklace
people. Each year the women
festival. done tore off her neck, and it
That’s when Miz Potatoes dress in their antebellum
made my blood boil,” said
Miz Potatoes, a four-year-old Peete, who trains dogs both Miz Potatoes poses for ador- swung into action.“I slipped costumes and re-enact events
blond purebred, was at the for the film industry and as ing crowd her leash off and told her to from a more gracious period.
Coastline Convention Center security sentries. take care of business,” said Last year, the convention raised
with her master, Jimmy Peete, Azalea Belle at the festival Peete.The dog broke into a more than $20,000 which goes
Blues guitarist plays of Wilmington, when they “I didn’t know what was four years ago. She was full run, barking with teeth to preserve historic sites.
Friday on the pier. noticed a commotion about happening,” said Lorena standing beside a shell pink bared. Before McBradley had
50 feet away inside the center, DelGado, 22, who was an statue of Venus rising from an gone more than 10 feet, Miz  
See page 4A
Homicide
The area has nearly 200,000
people, and murder was the
twelfth leading cause of death
in 2009, the most recent year
for which there are statistics.
Among men of any age,
murder was the fifth leading
cause of death; among women,
it was 15th.
Guns killed more than 90% of
men under 30, and more than
65% of women under 30, says
the report.
Summer was the most
dangerous time for those aged
15-29 with July and August
racking up the most murders.
Homicide rates declined
between those in the 15-19
year age bracket, from 36.3
per 100,000 in 1999 to 31.2
per 100,000 in 2003, but rates
for those aged 25-29 increased
more than 47% – from 45 per
100,000 to 66.4 per 100,000.
The study, however, has a few
drawbacks. Death rates were
drawn from death certificates,
which often don’t detail
circumstances of the death. For
example, researchers can’t tell
the difference between a killing
in a bar fight and that of an
infirm adult being mistreated
over a long period. Also, the
certificates tell nothing about
social status or wealth, both
major factors when it comes
to violence.
Hundreds die in Chinese building collapse
By Leung Tran
WULUMUQI, China – A 20
story hotel collapsed yesterday
in the heart of this populous
city, killing hundreds staying
in the Five Star retreat,
injuring hundreds more and
sending thousands running for
their lives.
Around noon, witnesses
said they heard a “roar like
a dragon” come from the
bottom of the brick and glass
Silk Road Resort, and minutes
later the skyscraper began to
lean as people ran out the front
door, screaming, and into the
downtown street.
“It was total chaos,” said tourist
Lexington LaFrengrabe, of
Beverly Hills, Calif. “And it
totally ruined my manicure.
The girl ran out before she
could apply the ‘Red Hot Doll’
I wanted to wear tonight.”
All of the 600 rooms were
full, said Lee Dong Chen,
a spokesman for the hotel.
“More than 1,000 people
were booked into the hotel.”
Around 60 minutes after
the building started to lean,
it suddenly gave way and
fell, sending a could of dust,
debris, glass and brick into the
air, said police.
“This is the worst disaster the part, students at the university.
city has ever known,” said Lu
Chong, mayor. Wulumuqi lies about 2 and a
half hours driving time north
Wulumuqi is in northwest of Turpan, a major stop on the
China, and has a population of Silk Road trek.
more than 2.6 million people.
It is the largest city and also
the capitol of the Xinjiang
‘This is the worst
Uyghur Autonomous Region. disaster the city has
The cause of the collapse ever known’
is still being investigated,
but officials say that an
- Mayor Lu Chong
underground stream runs
directly beneath the hotel, and Right: Volunteers search for
that when it was being built survivors
two years ago, the developers Below: Crowds survey the
ignored geologists’ warnings.
damage
“If they had taken my report
and the opinions of my
colleagues seriously, many
lives would have been saved,”
said Qi Chi Bu, professor of
geology at the city’s Xinjiang
University and consultant on
the project.
The hotel was built by
the consortium of local
entrepreneurs and national
politicians, all eager to take
advantage of loosened travel
restrictions in recent years on
Westerners.
About 200 expatriates from
Europe and America live in
the city, and are, for the most

Molasses
The fire department arrived
within minutes of the blast
and hosed down the molasses,
sending the smelly liquid into
storm drains and onto lawns.
The damage will run more
than $20,000, said Bill
George, fire chief.
Peter Clougherty, 34, owner
of the liquor store, was
charged with possession of
illegal distillery equipment,
a misdemeanor, and various
counts of destruction
of private property. He
was released on his own
recognizance. He refused to
comment on the situation.
Molasses has a long history in
the distilling industry, with its
most famous products usually
bearing the label of rum.
“I’d never buy no rum, no
where, no how, but I’d buy
Peter’s,” said Burgaw native
Olaf Stormstrand. “It was
better than anything I’ve ever
Salon owner charged with selling fake ID’s Man dies
By Juan Valdez
Everyone coming out of Miz
Willie’s Salon de Beaute on
Castle Street had every right
to feel like a new person.
In addition to new hairdos,
polished nails and tighter
pores, many walked out with
entirely new identities.
Wilhelmina Van der Roste,
52, was arrested yesterday,
and charged with illegally
possessing and transferring
someone else’s passport for
felonious use, according
to Ralph Evangelous,
Wilmington’s Chief of Police.
“This arrest marks the
beginning of the end of a
lucrative and illegal business
that was operating for years
in this city,” said Evangelous.
“The day of the complete
makeover at this salon is over.”
Miz Willie’s Salon de Beaute
had been under surveillance
on ICW
for over six months by a joint
task force of local police
officers and FBI agents, said
Evangelous. Owner Van der
Roste supplied customers with
fraudulent birth certificates,
Social Security cards, green
cards, passports and driver
licenses. Some of the fake
identification cards used the
names and Social Security
numbers of people living in
Puerto Rico.
While Van der Roste charged
several dollars for a haircut,
she’d pocket about $1,000 for
a fraudulent Social Security
card and a birth certificate
in the same name. A valid
U.S. passport alone would
set a customer back the same
amount.
“Her customers were mostly
undocumented immigrants,
who could use them to apply
for credit cards, buy cars or U.S. Postal Inspection Service
houses, and run up debt in and the FBI. Two federal By Chris Banks
other people’s names,” says agents even went undercover WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH
and bought -- Fishermen found the
‘The day of the complete several ID’s, body of a Connecticut
makeover at this salon is a Puerto multimillionaire yesterday,
Rican birth tied to concrete blocks in the
over’ c e r t i f i c a t e , deep water beside his 100
- Wilmington Police Chief a Social foot long yacht, After You,
Security card police said.
Ralph Evangelous and two U.S. Wrigley Byron Knightsley,
passports. Jr., 68, heir to second largest
Evangelous. “But remember Law enforcement officers shut axle grease fortune in the
how the terrorists that attacked the operation down yesterday country, was dead when two
the World Trade Center by simultaneously executing local clammers happened by
embedded themselves into search warrants at the salon and saw Knightsley’s head
this country; they all had fake and Van der Roste’s home. bobbing on the surface of the
ID’s. These ID’s could’ve Seized were 17 sets of ID’s Intracoastal Waterway just
just as easily fallen into the that were about to hit the off The Dockside restaurant,
hands of terrorists, or big-time streets. Van der Roste is being 1308 Airlie Road.
criminals.” held in the New Hanover The clammers, Abe Green,
Police uncovered the salon’s County Detention Facility in 18, and Fruity Nelson, 18,
crooked dealings in June lieu of $5 million bail. Five told police they were out
2007, and began a six-month co-defendants pleaded guilty in their skiff around 3 a.m.
joint investigation with the to similar charges. trying to get the best clams
when they saw what they

Author sets fire to library books

tasted. Cheap too.”
According to the police
report, the tank holding
the molasses was brand
new, but was apparently
overloaded and wasn’t
strong enough to hold the
amount of liquid poured into
it. An unexpectedly sunny
day, and a fast rise in the
outside temperature made
the fermentation temperature
soar, and along with the
inadequate tank, contributed
to the explosion.
The clean-up was completed
around 8 p.m., but the
streetlights illuminated the
wreckage.
“I ain’t never seen so many
stinky brown streets in all
my life,” said Almadeen
Terkwinkle, who lives in a
house near the flood site. “It
smells like a runaway batch
of real bad cookies.”
Downtown Burgaw
flooded with molasses
By Horace Greely, VI
The always steamy world of
romance novels heated up
even further yesterday when
librarians caught a writer
setting fire to the books of her
arch rival.
The author of such mega-
bestsellers as “The Love Drug
of Tango” and “Besa Me
Mucho Right Now” was found
on the first floor of the Main
Library downtown, sitting on
the floor in the back of the
room with a pack of matches in
one hand, throwing the novels
of her competitor onto a heap
that had started to smolder.
The librarian who smelled
the smoke and discovered
the crime immediately called
police and the fire department.
Nicoletta DiTregumbo,
millionaire author and
Wilmington resident, was
arrested for destruction of
property, said police.
“We’re looking into other
charges, as well,” said District
Attorney Ben David.
Without waiting for
firefighters, Twombley
dumped a bucket of water on
thought was something that
had dropped off of the yacht.
They pulled up beside the
After You, realized they had
the pile of smoldering books, for number one best-seller Death found a body and started
and on DiTregumbo herself. honors on the national lists. A gun was tied to yelling for help.
“She done jumped to her feet Bentwhistle-Carston is best Knightsley’s right hand, and Their cries woke up Eva-
and hopped all around the know for her books “Love there were two bullet holes in Marie Knightsley, the dead
Child Bingo” and the back of Knightsley’s neck. man’s wife, and the captain
‘Burning books! I never “Love Goats.”
Among the When asked if foul play was of the boat, John “Handsome
suspected, Carey said he Jack” Feloni, said police.
heard of such an outrage! Her motive for burning would not comment. The 22-year-old woman and
-Hortense Twombley, the books wasn’t clear,
but as DiTregumbo
The police chief did confirm the 25-year-old captain ran
that Knightsley was left- to the back of the boat, then
librarian was being led away in handed. called police.
handcuffs, onlookers Mrs. Knightsley is the dead A two page, hand written
reported that she yelled man’s second wife. Court letter was found on Mr.
room,” said Twombley. “I the “plagiarizing thief should records state that before Knightsley’s office desk,
made sure that water was nice die screaming.” Knightsley was married to said police. They refused to
and icy cold before I let her Damage to the library floor his current wife, his children show the letter to reporters,
have it. Burning books! I never was minimal, and officials asked a judge to declare their but said it indicated he was
heard of such an outrage! And said a good cleaning should father incompetent to manage despondent.
in the public libabry!” take care of everything. his affairs, and to declare Divers pulled the body out
With DiTregumbo leaping Bentwhistle-Carston was them legal guardians of their of the water around 5 a.m.,
around the room, evading contacted by phone, and father’s $300 million estate. according to police
several other librarians and said she would replace all of The elderly Knightley, In an afternoon press
patrons who tried to catch the books DiTregumbo had however, married the former conference that day,
her, Twombley pulled the damaged. The author said she Eva-Marie Stingblatz before Wrightsville Beach Police
wet books off of the pile didn’t know DiTregumbo, and the judge could rule. Chief John Carey summarized
DiTregumbo had made on the had no idea why she would The body has been sent to what the divers had found.
floor. be a target of such a deranged Raleigh for autopsy, and the Knightsley’s feet were tied
She recovered nine books, woman. results will be available in the with nylon rope to two
all of which were written by DiTregumbo was released on next few days, Carey said. cement blocks, each weighing
Wilmington romance author $100,000 bail. Her next court more than 50 pounds.
Cecilia Bentwhistle-Carston, appearance is in January. con’t. Death, adjacent
who often battled DiTregumbo