Moore County superintendent reinstated
CAMERON (AP) — The Moore County school board has changed its mind about firing Superintendent Robert Grimesey.
Multiple media outlets reported that the board voted 4-1 Monday night to reinstate Grimesey.
The board had voted 5-3 last week to remove him from the post after less than a year on the job.
Three of the five board members who voted to fire Grimesey last week had resigned Saturday after complaints from parents and other residents on social media.
The board members who voted to fire Grimesey last week have not explained their vote.
Grimesey said Moore County was united in Monday night’s reinstatement vote.
The reinstatement vote brought loud applause and a standing ovation from the crowd of about 1,000 people at the meeting at Union Pines High School.
Feds break up cocaine ring
RALEIGH (AP) — U.S. Attorney Thomas Walker says that federal and local authorities have broken up a cocaine ring that was operating for more than four years in Hartnett and Cumberland counties
Walker announced Monday that a federal grand jury in Raleigh returned a 39-count indictment naming 19 people who have now been arrested.
The defendants are charged with various counts including conspiring to manufacture and distribute cocaine and crank in large quantities. All are North Carolina residents.
The drug charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $10 million fine.
Man sentenced for sexually abusing boy
WINSTON-SALEM (AP) — A Winston-Salem man has been convicted on charges that he sexually abused a 4-year-old boy and had pornographic pictures of the child.
The Winston-Salem Journal reports 31-year-old Scott Ray Klein entered a plea in Forsyth Superior Court Monday morning to 20 charges, including four counts of first-degree sex offense. Judge Michael Duncan sentenced Klein to a minimum of 18 years and three months in prison and a maximum sentence of 26 years and 11 months.
Assistant District Attorney Kia Chavious said that Winston-Salem police received a report Nov. 3, 2014, after the boy told his mother about the abuse.
Duncan ordered that upon release, Klein will register as a sex offender for a period of 30 years and be subject to satellite-based monitoring for 25 years.
Shale gas testing begins in Stokes County
WALNUT COVE (AP) — The search for shale gas has started ahead of schedule in Stokes County.
The Winston-Salem Journal reported that the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources begin assessing a site Monday.
A drilling crew set up machinery on publicly owned land near Walnut Cove to begin assessing the Dan River basin for the presence of shale gas.
Drilling had been expected to start Friday.
A state agency spokesman said the work in Walnut Cove started earlier because similar holes in the Cumberland-Marlboro basin were completed ahead of schedule.
Kyle Davis with the group No Fracking in Stokes says if the samples come back positive, fracking could begin in the county.
Fracking involves injecting water, sand and chemicals to break apart underground rocks so oil and gas can escape.