This week, however, was not one of those weeks. Monday morning all the way through Friday night, I was busy -- and I offer apologies for not keeping the blog updated a little more often.
For me, the week started out on a somewhat disturbing note -- a Jacksonville pediatrician was arrested and accused of sexually abusing two children. The ordeal began when the police got a call from Social Services on Friday, saying that they'd heard from the parents of one of the alleged victims. The police conducted a quick investigation, and by Friday night, Dr. Gustavo Rios was under arrest. By Monday, he'd lost his job at the Jacksonville Children's Clinic and his privileges had been revoked at Onslow Memorial Hospital.
Thankfully, Tuesday brought brighter news. I was able to tell y'all about the multi-million dollar improvements that the Carteret County School system is making at 15 of its 17 schools. I get the impression that Carteret County administrators are very serious about giving kids here a great environment in which to learn. That's good news, as Eastern North Carolina often gets a bad rap for the quality of its education system.
Wednesday brought more sad news -- Camp Lejeune told us late in the day that a Marine died from injuries sustained in a training exercise. They wouldn't tell us much more than that, until Friday when we learned the identity of the Marine. The base still won't tell us what type of training exercise was going on when PFC Joshua A. Bailey died. His family says he was killed when a vehicle rolled over him as he was sleeping. Makes me wonder exactly what was going on -- and leads me to encourage Camp Lejeune to go ahead and come forward with the details.
Thursday came early, as I awoken by a call from our Newsroom that the public information officer from Carteret County Schools had told us classes at Broad Creek Middle School had been called off for the day due to vandalism. As I bolted out the door, I called the PIO, and tried to get more information. At that point, she wasn't sure of the extent of the damage. Thankfully, there wasn't a great deal. Someone broke a few windows on a couple of buses, bashed in a big window on the front of the school and made a mess in the halls. The school's principal, Cathy Tomon, was shocked that someone would vandalize a place of learning -- but maintained a great attitude throughout the day and made it very easy for me to bring you as much information as possible about the situation. At last check, the Carteret County Sheriff's office hasn't made an arrest in the case -- but I hope to bring you an update on Monday.
Just down the road in Morehead City, police say that in an unrelated event, a 15-year-old student at the Bridges Alternative School called in a bomb threat to the building that houses that school and the Cape Lookout Charter High School. That 15-year-old was charged with a felony and taken to a juvenile detention center in Wilmington.
Friday began early as well, with another call from the Newsroom. Earlier that morning, Storm Team 9 meteorologist Gannon Medwick (who does a phenomenal job, if you ask me) spotted an odd sight on our Vipir radar over Carteret County. With no rain in sight, Gannon speculated that the reflection off the radar could be smoke. I called the North Carolina Forest Service, and they told me that there indeed was a fire on Piney Island -- a Cherry Point MCAS bombing range. Between 300-500 acres were on fire, but Cherry Point and the Forest Service said the blaze was under control. Even from Onslow County, I could see smoke this morning. A couple of other wildfires popped up late in the day in Carteret County, but they were very quickly put out.I've spent the day today trying to catch my breath from such a crazy week -- but I'm very thankful for it -- and I hope next week will be just as busy.
And I hope you have a great rest-of-the-weekend, too!
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