Off the Cuff has come to an end. Since April 2008, the blog has been a big part of my life and I thank you - all of you even the wisecrackers - for reading and commenting.

Jacksonville Police Chief Mike Yaniero and I sat down Thursday to iron out a few things and talk about good times past.

Simular to the hiccup I had with NCIS in early 2008, there have been a few minor points of contention between JPD and myself that I feel we worked out during our hour-long meeting.
Deputy Chiefs Tim […]

When I wrote about a Richlands volunteer firefighter charged with having sex with his 14-year-old girlfriend at the fire station last month, I was just uncovering the tip of the iceberg.
After a little digging I find that the accused firefighter’s father pulled hard time in prison for rape and incest and was a Richlands firefighter before and […]

A killer whale involved in two other human deaths has claimed a third victim.

Read news here.
Best comment on the article at jdnews.com:

“The guests were evacuated and the park closed? The entire park? I mean, it’s not like the whale was going to climb out of the tank and go all velociraptor on everyone…
And is anyone […]

N.C. State Sen. Charlie Albertson is going out with a bang.

The long-time law-maker - who announced last month he wasn’t running again - is crooning about Willie Nelson’s band being busted for weed and moonshine before a concert, that didn’t happen, in Kenansville a few weeks back.
Check it out:

I wonder whether Dewey Hudson is writing a […]

My journey as crime reporter for the The Daily News is coming to the end of the road…

Don’t celebrate yet. I’ll still be around.
I will be assuming the government beat Monday. And while a final decision about my replacement has not been made by my bosses, one of the possible choices is someone I have worked with for a […]

The Associated Press is reporting that Ric Flair’s new wife has been charged with assaulting the pro-wrestler in their Charlotte home.

Flair, the 60-year-old platinum blond grappler nicknamed “The Nature Boy,” told police that his wife attacked him after they went out for dinner. He had minor injuries, but refused treatment from paramedics.
Jacqueline Beems, 41, was charged with simple assault.
On a similar note, […]

A stay-at-home Maple Hill mother is in jail accused of breaking her months-old child’s leg and shaking him cause real damage to the child’s brain.
Read news here.
These cases just keep stacking up…
The jury is still out (actually not even seated) in this case, but for convicted child abusers, there is a special place reserved for them in the […]

Since talking to the appearant owners of a group of unleashed dogs running amok in my otherwise quiet neighborhood hasn’t helped and calling the dog catcher and 911 has proved fruitless, I thought I’d post some photos on here and see what shakes loose.
Here are the three large dogs running loose - despite the countywide leash law - […]

- After 17 years on military death row, Wade Walker has been given life in prison after an appeal won him a new trial. He was found guilty again last month of joining in the 1992 racial slaying of a white man, but was given life instead of death on Friday afternoon. The triggerman in […]

Read the news here.
The wife and her son from her MySpace page:

Let the complaints role in as to why I said he was a former Marine…

Nielson has asked my wife to keep track of what shows we watch on TV.
So when you read about TV ratings every week, you will know that I had a hand in it. Not that I think I will make any difference; most of the shows I watch are nowhere near the top of the ratings chart […]

The Onslow County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the stabbing of a woman and a small child late Wednesday night.
A military female was found with a stab wound in the chest and a small child with a cut on the leg. I will find out more Thursday morning…

- I’m sure there will be more on this Monday. I learned late Sunday night that former Onslow County Commissioner and current Board of Education member Fred Holt passed away this weekend.

I only spoke to Dr. Holt on a few occasions, but he was highly intelligent and very articulate each time. He cared tremendously about […]

A news brief will be in print tomorrow, but I got this from Ernie Lee at 10 p.m. so I figured I’d post it here.

PRESS RELEASE
February 12, 2010
On February 12, 2010, I traveled to Raleigh to the State Board of Elections and filed for election for the office of District Attorney for the Fourth Prosecutorial […]

A story I feel is just not getting enough attention in the news media is the recent re-conviction of a former Camp Lejeune Marine who set out with five others to commit a racial murder - and did so. If you have a mental image in your head of skin-headed white Marines in off-duty attire that […]

The Daily News will feature an article in Friday’s edition, and online, about the legal issues surrounding the 2008 death of an Onslow County deputy sheriff.
I will link the story here when it is made available.

Read the news article about Laurean’s response to the Lauterbachs’ wrongful death lawsuit. 
I am anticipating some big news in the Cesar Laurean case Friday. Can’t say what just yet, but I will post it here and jdnews.com as soon as possible.

My good friend Scott Lawson is at it again. This guy is gangbusters when it comes to busting child-porn pervs. And I am 100 percent behind that.
Pornography is free speech. Child porn is evil.
Lawson’s press release about sexting in Pender County Schools:

The Pender County Sheriff’s Office is currently investigating several incidents involving the manufacturing and […]

A Carteret County woman said her $30,000 pregnant retired racehorse was killed by someone with a personal vindetta.
Read the news here.
Below is a photo of the dead horse provided by the Carteret County Sheriff’s Department:

Anyone with information please call the authorities.

Straight from the press release:

Onslow County Sheriff’s Office investigators are investigating a shooting that occurred at approximately 2:30 am Sunday in Sneads Ferry.
Deputies responded to a residence in reference to a shooting that occurred during a domestic situation between a husband and wife.  The husband and wife had been arguing during the night.  The husband […]

Photo from a FaceBook page dedicated to Lucian Gravitt. I nearly lost it when I looked at the baby photos on the site. Such a beautiful little baby. As a father of five, I just had to close my eyes for a few minutes and take a few deep breaths.
Like I always tell detectives who […]

Read the Doe Network file on the “Bear Creek Skeleton.”   
Check out the very detailed NamUs web site with excellent details.
Still waiting for DNA comparison with a Florida woman….
Read the news article here about Onslow County Sheriff’s detectives spending the week in Florida interviewing folks in the case of a female skeleton found in the Bear Creek […]

- It only took like 30 minutes for the false rumor that a stabbing occurred at Swansboro High School to spread Tuesday. In truth a 20-year-old hurt himself while washing the dishes.It never ceases to amaze me how fast parents can spread wild stories about their kids’ schools, but when something really happens I don’t hear about it. Weird. […]

Take this to mean what you will. Mike McHugh found this tidbit in The Tideland News, which was deleivered to his doorstep tonight.

Onslow County Sheriff Reports……
 
…Jan 26: Reported by James Robert Powers of Hubert, the theft of $50 worth of prescription drugs from 201 Smallwood Road, Trailer 8. Deputy L.C.Darden.

I was in Sheriff Brown’s office on […]

- The most recent Marine sergeant accused of molesting teenage girls has an extensive MySpace account. Here is a few photos from the page. To see the rest go to http://www.myspace.com/raueshunting.
      
- Seems like a story I did on the mayor of Cedar Point recieving a harassing note in the mail generated a lot of interest (though commenters […]

Three murder defendants pleaded “not guilty” in seperate cases in court Thursday.
Read the news.
Photos-
Chief ADA Ernie Lee and defense attorney Wally Paramore talk before court:

Prosecutors Kelly Neal and J.B. Askins:

Sirree Scales:

Soyer Moll entering the courtroom:

Paramore and Moll:

D.A. Dewey Hudson was a more than a little disappointed the Willie Nelson concert was cancelled.
Read the news.
There to enjoy the show, Hudson found out like everyone else that A.L.E. agents from Wilmington crashed the party.
Guess the boys from the Port City didn’t like Willie’s band toking up before the show. As if there isn’t enough alcohol […]

- Nelson Smallwood has been named as administrator of his brother’s estate, according to paperwork on file at the Onslow County Courthouse. John D. Smallwood’s biological mother in Kinston and a man who claims to be John D’s illegitimate son may not agree…
I WANT TO APOLOGIZE TO JOHN D’s MOTHER. THE ABOVE COMMENT MAKES IT LOOK […]

Matricide: murder of one’s mother.
Two young men were in court Tuesday accused in the deaths of their mothers in unrelated cases.
Justin Smith pleaded not guilty during his arraignment.
Julius Thomas will have too wait for another psych exam to see whether he will stand trial.
And now the incredible John Althouse photos –
Julius Thomas listens to his […]

- The sad death of a teenage girl while riding a four-wheeler this weekend is just one in a line of sad stories coming out of Duplin County recently. A few days ago an elderly Warsaw woman was killed in an apparent random attack by an alleged crazy man. And a beautiful 21-year-old Marine wife killed herself last week.
- While we […]

The Onslow County Sheriff’s Department is investigating an apparent accidental shooting.

Authorities are investigating the apparent accidental shooting death of an Onslow County man Sunday at a home on Richlands Highway.
A pair of friends in their early 50s were shooting targets behind a house at 3421 Richlands Highway on Sunday afternoon when one of them had […]

- The final resting place of John D. Smallwood:

Authorities are still investigating his death. If you know anything that might help, give them a call at 910-455-3113 or drop a dime to Crime Stoppers at 910-938-3273.
- As I have been alluding to for a couple of weeks, the Cesar Laurean trial is expected to be held […]

Mike McHugh stopped by the funeral home Wednesday where family was receiving friends of John D. Smallwood. In his own words:
I drove by the Jones Funeral Home in Swansboro on Wednesday evening at 6:10 p.m. where family was receiving friends to remember John D. Smallwood. I parked my vehicle on a side street from the […]

While who shot John D. Smallwood remains a mystery, one thing is for sure: the people in the community he called home love him.
Or are too intimidated to say otherwise…
Mike McHugh and I were in a Hubert bar Monday asking people to tell us about Smallwood. I knew we would be printing his prison record and wanted […]

Monday was a very hectic day for me and Tuesday was even worse.
A story that ran in Tuesday’s paper about an alleged assault in Hubert by a man with a 2 x 4 didn’t get the attention it deserved Monday and I was way too busy to follow up Tuesday, but I hope to have more […]

- Since the Onslow County Sheriff’s dive team was out at the pond next to John D. Smallwood’s home Tuesday, does that mean a murder weapon has not been recovered yet?
- A Jacksonville man pleaded guilty to murder Tuesday.
Leroy Jenkins in court Tuesday:

ADA J.B. Askins talking to the victim’s brother during the hearing:

Jenkins, on his way to prison:

- A Richlands […]

Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown says the deaths of two Hubert men who were friends and whose bodies were discovered within 24 hours of each other are unrelated.
I’m not convinced.
I am not second guessing the authorities. They approach things from an angle of solving crimes; I look at the narration of situations.
I understand that right now it […]

NCIS has an outstanding cold case unit - the first of its kind at the federal level.
They have resolved some really complicated cases. I wish that would come true in the cases of Pam Bell and Katherine McFadden.
Pam Bell:

I drove down to Wilmington last year to speak to Pam Bell’s family. Her mother reminded me so much of my […]

Read the news report about a Hubert man found dead Sunday.

————————————————————————– 
Take a look at this:

Not much to see, huh? That’s because it was very dark on the gravel road I was on at 8 p.m. Sunday.
I took some photos, like this one:

But, like I said, it was way too dark.
The Daily News is working on […]

I normally read letters to the editor, wince or chuckle at others stupidity and then move on, but I couldn’t let this one go. This letter is from a guy who claims to know a lot about the newspaper business then questions why the media uses terms like “alleged shooter.” Well, Mr. armchair media man, you […]

- I expect D.A. Dewey Hudson to announce his candidacy for N.C. State Senate today at a press conference in Kenansville.

Current State Sen. Charlie Albertson was telling people a few years ago he wouldn’t run for the Duplin/Lenoir/Sampson seat again, but now I hear he plans to give it another go.

Albertson has been in the Senate for nine […]

- A local stripper was busted for allegedly shoplifting at Wal-Mart on Wednesday. What was she stealing? Warrants say make-up and lubricating jelly.
- The alleged victim in Tuesday’s attempted murder has a long criminal record. In fact, he is so familiar with the justice system that he asked his bail bondsman to be a witness […]

As a member of Onslow County Crime Stoppers board of directors, I do not like this news and what it could mean to anonymous tipsters. Defendants have the right to face their accusers in court, but a tip that comes in from an anonymous source that leads authorities in the right direction should stay anonymous.
From […]

I asked for a comment from the mother of Christopher Oden’s 13-year-old victim while writing the news article that appears in Wednesday’s Daily News and online here.
She didn’t get back to me until after press time so her answer to my question as to whether her daughter would have testified against Oden is not included in the report.
D.A. Dewey Hudson […]

Management had an issue with this post.
Among other things, they found the combination of the word “God,” which is the generally accepted term for deity in Western culture, and the word ”damn,” which is a term of condemnation, to be offensive.
I can’t help but think the social commentary in the post was more “offensive” than the use of […]

- Because of a city / county permitting SNAFU employees cannot use their security badges to get into public-restricted doors of the Summersill court building. If they don’t straighten it out, the county will have spent a lot of cash for nothing. Um… sort of like the wheelchair ramp on the New Bridge Street side of […]

Delayed by the holidays, vacation and a very busy return to work last week, I finally present the cold cases active in Onslow County.
The news article from last Sunday is here, for your referencing convenience.
As I said before, this is meant to wrap-up some cases for future reporters and hopefully the general public. Some of these cases have […]

A 18-year-old former homecoming queen at Richlands High School was killed New Year’s Eve during a hit and run. The Highway Patrol continues to work on the case but needs help. Read the news article here.

Sgt. M.W. King with the N.C. Highway Patrol told Suzanne Ulbrich: “It appears she was in the travel lane. A […]

-  Robert Grady has decided to run for Onslow County Clerk of Court instead of seeking another term in the General Assembly. Why step down from state government into county politics? Hmmm. Let’s see… General Assembly pays around $15,000. Clerk of Court pays more than $90,000. Oh…
-  Robert Lewis - the Marine base civilian cop who is […]