MURPHY
K9 getting an Epic vest
Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office K9 Epic will receive a bullet and stab protective vest thanks to a charitable donation from the nonprofit organization Vested Interest in K9s Inc.
K9 Epic’s vest is sponsored by the 2023 Fallen K9 Hero fundraiser and will be embroidered with the sentiment “In memory of the K9s who served and sacrificed in 2023.” Delivery is expected within 10 weeks.
Vested Interest in K9s, established in 2009, is a 501(c)(3) charity whose mission is to provide bullet and stab protective vests and other assistance to dogs of law enforcement and related agencies throughout the United States. This potentially lifesaving body armor for four-legged K9 officers is U.S. made, custom fitted and NIJ certified.
Since its inception, Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. has provided over 5,514 vests to K9s in all 50 states at a value of $6.9 million, made possible by both private and corporate donations. The program is open to U.S. dogs at least 20 months old, actively employed and certified with law enforcement or related agencies.
K9s with expired vests are also eligible to participate. There are an estimated 30,000 law enforcement K9s throughout the United States.
Details: Visit vik9s.org.
BLUE RIDGE, Ga.
More seek resignation
Georgia Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon is the latest high-level party leader to call for Brian Pritchard, owner of fetchyournews.com, to resign as vice chairman of the state’s Republican Party. However, Fannin County party leaders are not joining in those demands.
Pritchard was found by an administrative law judge to have violated state election laws by voting illegally nine times.
McKoon stated on X, formerly Twitter, “I ran on two campaign commitments – electing our Republican nominee for president and ending the prosecutorial ‘witch hunt’ against our Republican presidential electors. The judicial finding that our first vice chairman registered to vote illegally and voted illegally nine times makes it harder to accomplish both of these goals.”
U.S. Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) was the first to demand Pritchard’s party resignation in a statement she issued the day after the judge’s ruling. McKoon’s demand came after the state party’s executive committee met the following week.
Fannin County Republican Party Chair Charles Fish stated in a text message to The News Observer, “We as Republicans believe in the rule of law … and we believe in due process … we also believe that Mr. Pritchard has filed for an appeal … Therefore, we will make a statement when due process is completed …”
Fish added that the party believes Pritchard has filed for an appeal, and feels the executive committee should wait until that process is complete before making any decisions. Pritchard has said repeatedly he is not guilty of the allegations against him.
SYLVA
Driver gets prison term
An intoxicated Jackson County man who drove at a high rate of speed, careened into two other cars, killing the second vehicle’s driver and seriously injuring a passenger, will serve just more than 14 years in prison, District Attorney Ashley Welch said.
A jury in Jackson County Superior Court last week found Johnnie Ray Arch, 51, of Cullowhee, culpable in the July 15, 2019, death of Hazel Jones Shultz, 78, of Bryson City.
A test revealed Arch’s blood alcohol concentration at .11, exceeding the legal limit of .08. Arch was charged and found guilty of felony death by motor vehicle, felony serious injury by motor vehicle, reckless driving to endanger, hit and run, drive left of center and no operator’s license.
N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper Rocky Deitz’s investigation showed Arch’s vehicle initially hit a Toyota SUV on South River Road, damaging the vehicle’s right-front quarter panel. Arch had ignored double yellow lines and attempted to pass.
He did not stop after hitting the SUV; instead, Arch drove to and continued along North River Road at a high rate of speed. In a sharp curve, Arch crashed his Volkswagen Beetle head on into Shultz’s Kia Sorrento. She and a passenger were airlifted to Mission Hospital, but life-saving efforts for Schultz proved unsuccessful.
RALEIGH
Rape kits are tested
Attorney General Josh Stein has announced that North Carolina has ended the backlog of untested older sexual assault kits.
“I am incredibly proud of the bipartisan and collaborative effort that produced this achievement – Republican and Democratic legislators, district attorneys and law enforcement officers all played a critical role in ending the backlog. I also want to thank the scientists at the State Crime Lab who have worked countless hours to get these kits tested,” he said in a release.
“Most importantly, I thank the victims for their bravery in submitting the evidence so we can hold their rapists accountable. … We’ve put in place measures to ensure that we never get into this situation again in North Carolina.”
Stein has prioritized ending this backlog to get justice for survivors since 2017. Working with the General Assembly and local law enforcement agencies, the Department of Justice conducted a statewide inventory and determined that more than 16,000 untested kits sat on the shelves of local law enforcement agencies in 2019. A statewide effort of stakeholders determined under the process set out by the Survivor Act that 11,858 of these kits needed to be tested.
As of April 2024, the release says 11,841 kits have been tested or are in the process of being tested.
From those kits, 5,075
samples have been entered in the CODIS DNA database, and CODIS has matched the samples to 2,702 hits. 2,024 of those samples had hits to offenders whose DNA is in the database because of previous convictions or arrests.
Law enforcement has made 114 arrests based on these hits. The remaining 17 kits are in process for testing.
Compiled by Publisher David Brown.