Pot farming in Wilkes one day may be a withered part of our jaded heritage - much like moonshining. It’s not because Wilkes has lost its taste for weed. Working the marijuana fields just isn’t as profitable as it once was. An influx of pre-manufactured, prepackaged marijuana has flooded the market here, says Wilkes Sheriff Dane Mastin. Growing the illegal plant is becoming less profitable than simply selling what’s already been grown, dried and bagged elsewhere. That elsewhere is a long ways away, Mastin said. “There’s still a good amount of pot manufactured, packaged and sold here, but the higher quality stuff comes from Mexico,” he said. It’s not just marijuana that comes from south of the border. Most of the cocaine Wilkes law enforcement officers have seized in recent years also comes from Mexico. “We’ve seen a lot of this stuff being transported here by Hispanics,” Mastin said. “As they come into the U.S. they bring the cocaine and pot in through Texas and Florida.” Most Hispanics who have immigrated to Wilkes are honest, hard working, legal residents, Mastin said, adding, “The vast majority bringing the drugs here are illegal aliens.” A large quantity of the marijuana that makes it to Wilkes is grown in Mexico, some in other Latin American nations. Most of the cocaine that comes here and to the rest of the U.S. is still produced in Columbia. According to reports, Columbia supplies 75 percent of America’s cocaine. It’s an estimated $16 billion per year export business for that country. Although marijuana and cocaine are the most prevalent drugs found here, there are others. Methamphetamine (crank) and LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide or acid) are found more and more. Prescription drug abuse also occurs. Fads among teenagers and men and women in their early 20s have spawned abuse of the “rave” drug ecstasy. There is also abuse of steroids among local body builders. Cocaine and marijuana are often transported through Texas and Florida before it gets here, Mastin said. Some drugs come into North Carolina through various seaports, such as Wilmington.

       Most of the methamphetamine seized here was manufactured in California. Other drugs, including ecstasy, makes it way to Wilkes from cities like Winston-Salem, Greensboro and Charlotte. North Wilkesboro Police Chief David Pendry said there has also been evidence of cocaine coming from northern states into North Carolina. More and more undercover drug operations find that Hispanics are transporting illegal substances here, said Wilkes Sheriff’s Det. Chris Shew. “It’s getting worse as more Hispanics come,” he said. Like Mastin and Pendry, Shew says he recognizes the seriousness of the Mexico connection. This type of smuggling is hard to detect and even harder to stop, officers agree. “There’s 2,000 miles of border (between the U.S. and Mexico) and there’s tunnels and a network of trails,” Shew said. “A lot of times they just carry it through in a backpack.” Quoting U.S. Border Patrol reports, Shew said that around 38,000 illegal aliens were stopped before entering America during the first week in May. “That’s just the ones they caught,” he said.

       Once here, suspected drug transporters can use language and cultural barriers as a way to evade the law. “They move around a lot and a lot of them have phony I.D.s,” Pendry said. “That’s what make the drug business so hard to get a handle on.” U.S. laws aren’t as strict as those in Mexico and other Latin American countries. For smugglers, “it’s worth the risk,” Mastin said. But Americans and Wilkes Countians want drugs. “If there wasn’t a demand, it wouldn’t be here,” he said.

       For some users of crack cocaine, no depths are too low to go. When the money is gone, anything could be brought to the drug bargaining table. For female users, it’s often sex; for males it could be any other form of degradation. There’s plenty of true nightmare tales spun in the underbelly of Wilkes culture, says Sheriff Dane Mastin. Many come from the strong desire of drug users to get more crack cocaine. One thing spurs this practice of wholesale grief. “The money,” Mastin said. “Selling drugs is easy money.” And the money is good. A kilo (2.2 pounds) of cocaine sells for $20,000 to $30,000 depending on purity. It can be resold for $80 to $100 per gram. There are 1,000 grams in a kilogram. That represents a $70,000 potential profit off one brick of the drug. Cooking the cocaine down into rocks of “crack” can produce still higher profits. These rocks are sold for $20 to $30 each, Mastin said. That’s the most common type of cocaine found here, like most areas in North Carolina. And, there seems to be a high demand for the white-yellowish chunks. Last year Mastin’s deputies seized 5,400 grams (12 pounds) of cocaine along with two pounds of processed marijuana and five pounds of hashish (a cooked down derivative of marijuana). Officers also confiscated nine vehicles, two jet skis and $20,000 cash from suspected drug dealers. But cocaine is the worst scourge here, Mastin said. “It’s what causes the most pain and grief for everyone.” Cocaine comes in both powder, which is snorted and rocks, called crack, which is smoked. Crack is considered the most addictive. According to users of the drug, the high hits a few seconds after a rock is smoked. That high ends after a few minutes. Most often, users want to repeat the “euphoric” feeling immediately.

       One Friday night, after cashing her paycheck, a Wilkes County woman told of spending $200, buying one rock of crack after another. The woman had $10 left the next morning and had to ask relatives and friends for money to buy food. “I knew all my money was gone, but I didn’t care,” she said. The dealer had likely cleared at least $100 from the woman’s purchase. Trading sex for the drug comes after all the money is gone, the woman said. The profit margin is high enough that a dealer can take occasional losses. There seems to be an endless supply of drug customers, Mastin said. “A big dealer can make a million dollars or more a year and not ever touch the stuff.” In Wilkes a street level dealer can “easily” make $700 to $800 per day, says Wilkes Sheriff’s Det. Chris Shew. In a county with an average annual salary of about $23,000, that’s a lot of money. Users come from every economic and social background. “There’s more people in this county using coke than you’d know of,” Mastin said. “Some are people in high regard. They just have a trusted source who they buy it from.”

       Most users are between the ages of 18 and 40, Shew said. “But there’s older people than that strung out on it.” They’re also younger. Mastin says Wilkes teens as young as 13 and 14 years old use cocaine. Despite the expense of the drug, these youngsters find a way to pay for their high. “They usually steal from family members,” Mastin said. “Then they may branch off into shoplifting.” Although drug money is exchanged in the shadows of the subculture, it all makes its way into the legitimate economy, Mastin says. The economical impact is strong enough to turn society’s head in many cases, Mastin said. Drug dealers buy clothes and cars just like everyone else. Perhaps the biggest financial impact the illegal drug trade has relates to the jobs that it creates in law enforcement and the courts. Of the 6,366 criminal warrants and orders of arrest issued by Mastin’s department made last year, he estimates that 90 percent of those were somehow drug related. Larcenies and other property crimes along with assaults, rapes and murders are often linked to drugs, he said. “In making one felony arrest look at how many people are involved and are doing jobs,” Mastin said. “You have the officer making the arrest, the magistrate, the jail staff, sometimes a bondsman, a lawyer, then you have the judge, the (court) clerks and the district attorney.”

       He added, “If they are convicted you have the people at the Department of Corrections, then probation and parole upon their release and sometimes community service. If a victim is involved, then there are victims’ advocate services. Sometimes there are substance abuse or rehabilitation counselors assigned to the case. If there’s kids involved, sometimes the Department of Social Services and the Health Department get involved.” Law enforcement officers are the “spoons that feed the system,” Mastin said. “I think even Mr. Roosevelt would be proud of this makeshift program.” Social acceptance and even dependence on the drug trade make it impossible for law enforcement to eradicate the problem, Mastin said. “The illegal narcotics industry funds too many big-time campaigns and legal business ventures that it would make it financially burdensome to close the borders and stop it from coming into the U.S.,” Mastin said. “We can stop it only when we are ready to accept the financial consequences.”

       Two shotgun blasts in the back killed a Hays man Sunday evening after a feud escalated into a roadside shooting on N.C. 18 North. Mickey H. Brown, 28, of 471 Dehart Church Road, was pronounced dead at Wilkes Regional Medical Center at 7:04 p.m., said Wilkes Coroner Howard Laney. Richard “Ritchie” Nathan Ward, 21, of 210 Mulberry Pine Lane, North Wilkesboro was charged with murder, said Det. Ken Coles of the Wilkes County Sheriff Department. As of Tuesday morning, Ward remained detained at Wilkes County Detention Center with a secured bond set at $750,000, according to jail officials. The killing, Wilkes’ third murder this year, brought an end to an ongoing feud between Brown and Ward, officials say. It’s unclear what prompted the shooting, Cole told The Record during a Monday morning interview. At about 6 p.m. the two men apparently passed each other on the road. Norman Jean Parsons, 34, the driver of the Pontiac Grand Am in which Brown was riding, reportedly cut in front of the car Ward was in.

       The two vehicles came to a stop near Northwood Hills Drive. Laney, who spoke with Ward at the scene, said, “He (Ward) said the other boy tried to run him off the road and wreck him.” Cole, quoting reports from witnesses, said that Brown walked toward Ward’s vehicle armed with a pistol. “All of the sudden he turned around. He had a change of heart.” As Brown walked away, Ward produced a 12-gauge automatic shotgun and fired three blasts, witnesses say. Two blasts of No. 6 shot hit Brown in the back. “He pretty well got the whole dose of both of them,” Laney said. The autopsy showed that Brown had been shot from 25-30 feet away. Ward was arrested at the scene of the shooting a short time later. Emergency personnel worked on Brown in the ambulances, then at the hospital. “He was barely alive when he got there,” Laney said. “They said that for all practical purposes he was dead at the scene.”

       At the hospital, Laney said medical attendants found a 9-mm pistol shoved in the belt line of Brown’s pants. Laney he said that he felt something had happened between Ward and Brown before they met on the road. “I’m not sure what might have happened,” he said. According to reports the men had recently filed charges against each other. Cole ran criminal record checks on both men. He found nothing on Ward except the murder charge. Brown had been charged with several crimes including DWI, communicating threats and assault with a deadly weapon. Along with the shotgun, deputies at the scene seized a .22-caliber pistol, a half-ounce of marijuana and rolling papers. Cole wasn’t sure from whom the other items were taken. Laney said that Ward is his neighbor and that he watched him grow up. “He’s helped me stack firewood before,” he said. “He’d always throw his hand up when he passed the house. I really don’t have anything I can say against him.”

       But Laney said he didn’t expect to find that his neighbor was a murder suspect when he arrived at the scene. “Then again,” he said, “not too much surprises me anymore.” Brown’s was the third murder to occur in Wilkes this year, Laney said. In January Lenna Harris Lewis, 72, and her sister, Rhoda Rousseau, 86, were shot to death. James Lewis Millsaps, 41, of North Wilkesboro, was charged in connection with those murders.

       The once glorious Wilkes Courthouse, built in 1902, is in sad shape. The overpowering scent of mold hangs heavy in the air and is visible on many chairs. Desks and desk drawers are topsy-turvy in many offices; ceiling and wall materials hang loosely or scatter the floor as a result of unattended leaks and too many heavy rains. There is nothing that does not need cleaning, repairing, or replacing. Thank goodness Joan (pronounced: Jo-Ann) Baity is in charge. Anyone else would surely shrink from such a task. But the executive director of Old Wilkes Historic Association has been through restoration projects before. Fortunately, when anyone else would get hysterical, Ms. Baity just gets historical. She was only a volunteer when the old jail was restored in the early 1970’s, and by 1980 she had been hired as curator. Her responsibilities then included answering the telephone, cleaning the building, and directing guided tours.

       It grew from there,” Ms. Baity said. Around 1986, Old Wilkes purchased and restored the log home of Captain Robert Cleveland. Ms. Baity studied restoration with the National Trust out of Washington, D.C., and went to school in history interpretation with the National Park Service. She followed those studies with Duke University’s program in nonprofit management. “I learned to ask questions,” she said with a smile. “If I didn’t know the answer to a question [in restoration] I knew where to go to. I got to where I could argue over a grade of lumber!” she said with a smile. After rearing five children (she is now the grandmother of eight) she enrolled in Wilkes Community College. In 1994, she completed an associate of arts degree with a 3.8 grade point average. “Community college helped me as much as anybody ever helped me,” Ms. Baity said earnestly. “I had an English paper with Pete Mann and he wrote, ‘Good work, keep it up.’ I got an ‘A’ when I was expecting a ‘C.’ I fell in love with opera following a music appreciation course. When I came here [to Old Wilkes] it was just a job, but then I fell in love with history.”

       Restoring historic buildings is “something that grows on you,” Ms. Baity said. “That’s where my heart is. It’s not the buildings as much as it is the people. They become a real person. Captain Robert Cleveland became a real person to me. Then you can restore their house. It became my house because I knew his descendants.” Ms. Baity then took a photo album down from a shelf and turned the pages to an official-looking “Certificate of Adoption.” The Cleveland family made her an “honorary Cleveland” following that restoration project, she said with a big grin. Sometimes the historical figures become a little too real. Ms. Baity readily acknowledges that she “talks” to a portrait of the late General Gordon in her office, and to the late Annie Winkler, and that they “talk” back. “I’ve not yet learned to talk with Tom Dula,” Ms. Baity said with a slight smile, and her tongue was only halfway in her cheek. Hmmmm.

       Certainly the contemporary, living figures make every day on the job a different and exciting one. Last week, Ms. Baity received a letter from New Zealand requesting information on Tom Dula. Another letter came from an Italian World War II veteran, writing in French. He was studying American culture. In the last five years, Ms. Baity has guided tours for visitors from literally every continent and country in the world. Among her many favorites was a vanload of visitors from Denmark. No one spoke English save for one interpreter. When she showed them General Gordon’s piano, they asked to play it. She permitted them to do so, and the group sang, “Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dula.” She was stunned and pleased. In one amazing coincidence, she received a telephone call from a 90-year-old man in Florida, looking for information on his grandfather. The family knew that he had spent time as a young boy in Wilkes County, but they didn’t know when, or more importantly, why. Ms. Baity explained politely that her many duties and responsibilities afforded her little time for individual research requests, but she would get in touch with the family if the name should come up.

       The next day in the Wilkes Community College library, the name appeared before her on the microfiche. The grandfather, as a 12-year-old boy, had come to Wilkes to study tannery. She contacted the Florida gentleman and left a message on his answering machine. He phoned her back on Christmas Eve. “I love you, I love you, I love you!” he said. “I’ve been looking for him all of my life! Do you know what my family business is? We own a tannery! Now I know why!” “It was meant to be,” Ms. Baity said. The gentleman telephoned Ms. Baity every Sunday, and even contributed toward her college education. He has since passed away, and Ms. Baity misses her friend. Her love of history and restoration will guide her well through the mammoth task she now faces. “I’ve wanted that courthouse for 10 years,” she said with unmistakable determination in her voice. “I can see a Visitors’ Center, I can see historical displays up and down the halls. A museum. A cultural arts center upstairs.”

       A $10,000 grant from the John Wesley and Anna Hodgin Hanes Foundation will help finance the work, which is expected to cost in the neighborhood of $1.5 million. Volunteer work would help reduce that figure, and more grants have been sought. One fundraising project is the Veterans Walk of Honor, a brick walkway to the Courthouse that will honor veterans. For a $100 contribution, three lines will be engraved on the honoree’s brick. (The honoree doesn’t necessarily have to be a war veteran, and doesn’t have to be from Wilkes County.) In 2002, the courthouse will be a century old. Ms. Baity hopes that at least the exterior work will be completed at that time. But only General Gordon and Annie Winkler know for sure.

       About Joan Baity:
Favorite Book: Pillows of the Earth by Ken Follett. She has recently finished reading Chang and Eng, A Novel in which author Darin Strauss acknowledged Joan Baity as “one who made me feel at home in Wilkesboro, a town as comely today as it must have been when the twins walked its streets.”
Favorite Movie: “Anna and The King, and Shakespeare in Love. Saving Private Ryan wasn’t really my favorite movie, but everyone ought to see it.”
Best Day: “I’ve raised five kids. I’ve been divorced 13 years. I don’t know that there is a better day. They’ve all been good.”
Worst Day: “My most recent worst night was when I received a call that the county was giving us the courthouse building and no money. I woke up three times that night with nightmares. The building was caving in on me. After the last nightmare, I got up and went to work. It was a horrifying night.”
Ten Years From Now: “Just happy, I guess. I’d like to walk into the courthouse and be greeted as a visitor. I’d like someone to take me through as though I were a stranger. Whenever I get discouraged with the project, I just remember [County Commissioner] Jerry Sidden’s words to me: ‘Won’t it be a great day when we stand in front of the building and cut the ribbon?’ I just think of that ribbon cutting when we have water problems.”
The Secret Of Her Success: “To smile and laugh, because it’s just not worth a frown. You get more happiness out of a smile than a frown.”

The Wilkes County Public Library Chess Club meets every Saturday from Noon to 3:00 p.m. in the Friends of the Library’s Meeting Room. If you are interested in a good game of chess and meeting other players from this area, stop by for an hour or two. Chess boards will be provided, and the club is free and open to all levels of players. The August 19 meeting has been canceled, the club will resume Saturday, August 26.

Attention West Wilkes Class of 1975 Silver Anniversary Reunion will be Oct. 13-14. We need classmates addresses! Contact Tim Foster at 973-4150 or email: West Wilkes 1975@yahoo.com

The Crossmen Quartet will be at Faith Baptist Church in Traphill August 19 at 7 p.m. No charge, but a love offering will be taken.

Family-To-Family Support Group of Wilkes will meet at 7 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at the New River Behavioral Health Care Center, 1430 Willow Lane, North Wilkesboro (The former Brands Building). Family-to-Family is a support group offered to family members and friends of persons with mental illness. For more information Please Call NAMI OF WILKES at 973-3382 or 835-3629.

"From Ginseng to Jack-in-the-Pulpit," an illustrated talk on Homoeopathy with slides of Appalachian medicinal plants, will be given by Janice McGrady on Tuesday, August 29 at 6:30 p.m. in the Wilkes County Public Library’s Meeting Room. For more information contact the Reference Department at 838-2818.

The United Way Agency of SAFE will be sponsoring a Domestic Violence Support Group for Women on Tuesday evenings from 6:30 p.m.-8 p.m. The primary goal of the support group is to offer a safe environment to allow women to talk about what they’re going through and to find understanding and support. The group will cover topics such as: Cycle of Violence, anger, signs and types of abuse, safety plans, parenting issues, etc. For more information and location call 667-7656.

The United Way Agency of SAFE will be sponsoring a Support Group for Parents and Loved Ones whose adolescent and young adult children have been raped and sexually assaulted. It will be held on Thursday evenings from 6:30 p.m.-8 p.m. The primary goal of the support group is to offer a safe environment to allow parents and loved ones to express their fears and concerns and to explore ways to cope with stress and frustration so they can be better equipped to support their children. For more information and location call 667-7656.

The Wilkes County Public Library Book Club will discuss Waiting by Ha Jin on Tuesday, August 22, at 7 p.m. in the Friends of the Library Meeting Room. This promises to be a fascinating book dealing with everyday life in Communist China. For more information, contact the Reference Department at 336-838-2818.

Poetry Reading will be held on Tuesday, August 22 and Thursday, September 21 at 7 p.m. in the Friends of the Library Meeting Room. The July Poetry Readings brought out 15 poets and listeners. If you are a poet or someone who just likes to listen to original poetry, come to the library for an interesting and thoughtful evening of original poetry.

Wilkes Central High School Class of 1965: Anyone interested in helping organize reunion and locate class members, please contact Marcia Little at 667-6272 (office), 667-3095 (home) or email MBLITTLE99@ AOL.

TOPS (Take off pounds sensibly), join us every Monday at 5 p.m. at St. John’s Church, located at 275 C.C. Wright School Road. For more information call 696-2442 or 696-4874.

Traphill Baptist Church invites you to their annual homecoming on August 20: 10 a.m. Cemetery Service; 11 a.m. Homecoming Service; and 12:30 p.m. Dinner in Fellowship Hall. Revival services will be held Aug. 20 through August 23 at 7:30 p.m. Guest speaker will be Tim Green. There will be special singing each evening. Weekly Wednesday night services are now held at 7 p.m. Please come join us.

Shouldn’t There Be Ghosts? gallery exhibition by Tory Casey. The show will continue until September 16 at the Foothills Art Council Gallery. Gallery Opening Friday, August 18, 5:00 until 7:00 p.m. at FAC.

Attention: West Wilkes Class of 1980 - be a part of our celebration. Our 20 year reunion will be held on Saturday, September 9 at the Merle Watson Stage Area at Wilkes Community College. If you have not received your information regarding the reunion, please call Teresa Miller at 336-838-5610. If you have received a mailing, please return it as soon as possible. Hope to see you there!

In September, the Library will be sponsoring two programs on alternative health and medicine. The first program will bring the Herb Lady, Peggy Knight Osborne, to talk about useful remedies for the coming Cold and Flu season on Tuesday, September 12, at 6:30 p.m. in the Friends of the Library Meeting Room.

The second September program will feature Midwife and Homebirth expert Karen Valcourt, who has been practicing Midwifery for over 15 years in this area. This program will be held on Tuesday, September 26, starting at 6 p.m. in the Friends and the Library Meeting Room. For more information, please contact the Reference Department at 838-2818.

Revival Services will be held August 23-25, 7 p.m. nightly at Power Outreach Ministries on Hwy 115, Balls Mill Road. The speaker will be Elder Ruben Lineberger.

Power Outreach Ministries on Hwy 115, Balls Mill Road, will host fellowship services August 20 at 3 p.m. The speaker will be Pastor Rocky Dula of Faith Tabernacle in Lenoir. Everyone is invited to attend.

There will be a homecoming at Yadkin Valley Baptist Church Sunday, August 20 following preaching. Pastor Robert Harless invites everyone. Bring a well-filled basket.

A Non-Denominational Bible Study Luncheon will be held each Thursday from 12 noon until 1 p.m. at the Mayflower Seafood Restaurant in Wilkesboro. For more information call Joe Owings at 927-2727; 903-1641 or Mike Kerhoulas at 903-0300.

It’s your last chance!! Few classes left!! ...it’s not too late to be a part of the FREE Christian Life and Witness Classes currently being offered by the Billy Graham Association. Classes 1 & 2 will be held at Greenway Baptist Church and Millers Creek Baptist on August 15 at 7 p.m. Classes 3 & 4 will be held at Greenway Baptist Church and Millers Creek Baptist Church on August 17 at 7 p.m. Classes open to the community and are required for those who wish to be counselors at the Festival. This is the last time these classes will be offered; so come take part in what is sure to be a blessing...High Country Festival 2000 with Franklin Graham. For more information call 828-265-2090.

There will be a family fellowship supper on Sunday, August 20, beginning at 5 p.m. at the Arbor Grove United Methodist Church in Purlear. The menu will consist of fried fish or fried chicken tenders, potatoes, cole slaw, hush puppies, dessert and a drink. Cost is $5 per plate. Special singing will begin at 7 p.m. by The Wishons. The public is cordially invited to attend. To make meal reservation, please call 667-6948.

Revival services will be held at Cane Creek Baptist Church in McGrady from Sunday, August 20 through Saturday, August 25 at 7:30 p.m. There will be special singing nightly. Guest speaker will be Minister Danny Miller from Lansing. Everyone is welcome.

There will be a singing at Davis Memorial Baptist Church on Sunday, August 20 at 7:30 p.m. Featured group will be The Believers. The public is invited to attend.