The citizens committee that is reviewing the 1995 beating of a clerk at the Silk Plant Forest store wants a representative from the Forsyth County District Attorney's Office at its next meeting.
Committee members want to discuss whether someone in the district attorney's office has been involved in a relationship with the lead detective who originally investigated the case.
The detective, Don Williams, is now retired. Williams has refused to answer the committee's questions about his work on the case.
The committee has, for the past eight months, been reviewing evidence in the assault, which left the clerk, Jill Marker, in a coma. The man convicted in the case, Kalvin Michael Smith, has spent the last 13 years in prison. Smith has maintained his innocence.
The committee's chairman, Guy Blynn, said after its meeting Monday that some members had received phone calls from a person who suggested that Williams had an inappropriate relationship with someone in the district attorney's office. Blynn would not say what the nature of that relationship might be.
The committee's next meeting is scheduled for April 27.
District Attorney Tom Keith could not be reached yesterday for comment.
Airport will use federal money for fire station and firetruck, Coble says
WASHINGTON -- Piedmont Triad International Airport will use federal money to build a fire station and buy a firetruck, U.S. Rep. Howard Coble announced yesterday.
The Federal Aviation Administration will soon send a check of $5.59 million to the airport that will be used to pay for the construction and the firetruck, Coble said in a statement.
Airport officials want to begin building the fire station by June, said Ted Johnson, the airport's executive director. It will be adjacent to the FedEx Corp.'s hub that is being built at the airport.
The fire station should be completed in 18 months. Airport officials will use $4.74 million to pay for the fire station. The firetruck will cost about $850,000.
$1.3 million contract awarded to replace bridge in Davidson County
LEXINGTON -- The state has awarded a $1.3 million contract for a bridge-replacement project in Davidson County, N.C. Transportation Secretary Gene Conti announced yesterday.
The contract was awarded to Davie Grading Inc. of Mocksville to replace the bridge over North Potts Creek on Salisbury Road south of Lexington.
The new two-lane bridge will be built next to the existing one-lane bridge that was built in 1921. The bridge's layout no longer meets current design standards and is considered functionally obsolete, transportation officials said.
The contract calls for work to start after July 1 and be finished by Dec. 31, 2010. Traffic will be routed to a temporary bridge during construction.
Vulcan Materials says it will recall 30 employees, but lay off 4 others
Vulcan Materials Co. Mideast Division said yesterday that it will recall 30 of the 38 employees it laid off in November from its Central Services, but will lay off four additional employees at its North Quarry, both in Winston-Salem.
This brings the total job cuts for the division to 12, the company said.
"This is this worst construction climate I've seen in my 35 plus years in the industry," said Gray Kimel, the president of the Mideast Division.
4.8-mile section of Interstate 85 renamed as Bob Timberlake Freeway
LEXINGTON -- The N.C. Department of Transportation has dedicated a 4.8-mile section of Interstate 85 from U.S. 64 to N.C. 8 as the Bob Timberlake Freeway.
Transportation Secretary Gene Conti named the highway at a ceremony yesterday morning at Bob Timberlake Gallery in Lexington.
Timberlake is the chairman of Bob Timberlake Inc., the licensing company that acts as manager and agent of the Bob Timberlake brand, according to a news release.
Lottery commission approves plans to print some materials in Spanish
RALEIGH -- The N.C. Lottery will start printing some game information in Spanish but take steps at the same time to avoid marketing specifically to Hispanic customers.
The lottery commission approved guidelines yesterday. The guidelines say that the lottery will translate from English in-store materials about new games and brochures on how to play. They will also translate ads to recruit new retailers.
The policy was crafted carefully to comply with a provision in the 2005 lottery law that bars advertising that would "intentionally target specific groups." The lottery won't create TV and radio ads in Spanish for that reason.
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