The Chatham News

Robbers attempt theft of ATM machine

By Cara Rotondaro

The Chatham County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the attempted larceny of a free-standing ATM machine on US 64 East and Mt. Gilead Church Road.

The attempt occurred around 3 a.m. on Sunday morning, according to Sheriff Richard Webster.

Authorities were alerted to the scene when a security alarm installed on the machine located outside of Top’s gas station was activated.

Luckily, Webster said, a deputy was in Wilsonville at the time and able to arrive quickly at the scene.

Those involved in the crime got away, but just barely, Webster said.

“I don’t think they were counting on the quick response that we had,” Webster said. “We were fortunate to have a deputy as close as we did.”

According to law enforcement authorities, the suspects had at least one truck and a Bobcat which they used as tools to try to remove the machine, which was damaged in the attempt.

The perpetrators unloaded the trailer of the truck and used the Bobcat to try to move the machine, Webster said.

However, when the deputy responded, the perpetrators abandoned their vehicles and Bobcat near the scene, and fled on foot.

Webster, in an interview Tuesday, said investigators have “excellent leads,” and hope to make an arrest soon.

The attempted larceny of an ATM machine is unusual, said Webster, but not unprecedented.

“Similar things have happened before,” he said.

Police seek leads on missing man

By Melissa Ledgerwood

With no new leads in the suspicious disappearance of a 73-year-old Siler City man August 30, the Siler City Police Department continues to ask for information from the public.

James David Fikes, who was staying with family at 1005 North Hampton Street, was reported missing by his daughter, Rayetta Fikes Fox, August 30 at 9:50 p.m.

Fikes is described as an African-American male approximately five-foot four inches tall weighing 130 pounds with graying hair and brown eyes.

Family members say he has a scar under his right eye and a bullet wound scar on his right side.

Fikes is considered to be an endangered missing person due to emphysema, bronchial breathing problems and recent signs of dementia and Alzheimer’s, according to Siler City Police Major Bill Harman.

Police are unable to describe any clothing Fikes might have been wearing because no one seems to have seen the man since the night before his disappearance.

“We were behind the eight ball to begin with,” the major stated. “Stories have changed.”

Harman said the department has received secondhand information from family members who have received leads from people in the community.

However, no one other than the family has come forth with any details, Harman continued.

Since Fikes’ disappearance, tracking dogs have searched the area surrounding the family’s home including the riverbank just behind Loves Creek trailer park.

Family members told police Fikes frequently accepted rides from people in the community and he may have done so on the day of his disappearance.

Although one dog followed a trail from the residence to Alston Bridge Road, where police say Fikes might have accepted a ride from someone, the searches have left police empty-handed.

more- See Thursday, September 14 paper: Vol 84, No.42

Melissa Ledgerwood photo

Young observer . . .

Festival-goers both young and old, such as the little cowboy above, enjoyed the seventh annual Flatwoods Festival in Bennett over the weekend.

County Board restores original fire district

By Randall Rigsbee

The fire district boundary line for the Mt. Vernon Springs community, which was inexplicably altered more than a decade ago and recently discovered, has been restored to its original configuration.

“Somehow, the line got changed in 1990,” Chatham County fire marshal Tom Bender told the Chatham County Board of Commissioners last week.

Bender, who has researched the matter and been unable to determine who made the change in the fire district map, or why, advised county commissioners reaffirm the boundary lines for the district which had been in place prior to 1990.

Confusion over the boundary lines was first noticed by emergency dispatchers.

Neither members of the Bonlee Fire Department or the Siler City Fire Department had been notified in the early Nineties of any changes in the district boundary.

Residents in the area in question – located around Old US 421 south of Joe Roberson Road – had been paying fire tax to the South Chatham Fire District, though the Bonlee Fire Department is much close and can respond to the area quicker. The area is approximately five miles from the Siler City Fire Department and two miles from the Bonlee Fire Department.

more- See Thursday, September 14 paper: Vol 84, No.42

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