75 daily $1.
25 SUNDAY
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2016
FOOTBALL THURSDAY
Scores of area high school games moved
up due to Hurricane Matthew. B1
HURRICANE MATTHEW GOVERNOR STOPS IN KINSTON
Not taking any chances
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory toured the North Carolina Emergency Management Eastern Branch Office in Kinston Thursday before giving an update on
Hurricane Matthew and the states preparations for the storm. Photo by Zach Frailey / The Free Press
McCrory visits Kinston emergency center ahead of storm
By Dustin George
Staff Writer
When it comes to preparing
for Hurricane Matthew along
the North Carolina coast, there
is a less than 100-mile window
for error.
Even though the hurricane
is still scheduled to take a right
turn to the east above Charles-
ton, we realize thats only 80-100
miles away from the NC border,
Gov. Pat McCrory said from Kin-
ston on Thursday. If theres any
change in that, that could cause
us some major, major issues.
McCrory came to Kinston Tues-
day afternoon to visit the North
Carolina Emergency Manage-
ment Eastern Branch office.
While at the office, the governor
met with local and state officials
and got a look at the regions plans
should the Matthew not follow its
projected course.
Emergency service teams are
set to be deployed to Williamston,
New Bern and Elizabeth City.
Of particular concern for the
governor was the Windsor area,
which experienced flooding last
week, and is now expected to get
more than five inches of rain.
In addition to prepping his own
state, McCrory said he has of-
fered helicopters and swift water
rescue teams to South Carolina,
to help with emergency efforts as
the state prepares to be hit by the
hurricane.
During his visit, McCrory also
spoke by phone to President Ba-
rack Obama about hurricane
preparations.
It shows how busy these last
two weeks was, McCrory said. I
talked to the President last week
during the Charlotte incidents
and had a very good conversa-
tion with him there. Who would
have known Id be talking to him
a week later during this potential
hurricane. I think hes doing his
job in contacting all the gover-
nors of each state. He just wanted
reassurance that his people are
See MCCRORY A4
Breezy, RAIN
77/71
Forecast, A4
y o u r
The first outer bands of rain from Hurricane Matthew pass over downtown Orlando, Fla., Thursday evening. Photo
by The Associated Press
Storm bears down on Fla.
By Mike Schneider
and Kelli Kennedy
Associated Press
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. |
Leaving more than 100 dead in
its wake across the Caribbean,
Hurricane Matthew steamed
toward Florida with potentially
catastrophic winds of 140 mph
Thursday, and 2 million peo-
ple across the Southeast were
warned to flee inland.
It was the most powerful storm
to threaten the U.S. Atlantic
coast in more than a decade.
The storm has already killed
people. We should expect the
same impact in Florida, Gov.
Rick Scott said as the skies be-
gan darkening from Matthews
outer bands of rain.
As it moved north in the eve-
ning, Matthew stayed about 100
miles or more off South Florida,
Business............ A8
Classified........... B6 Obits................ A2
Comics.............. B5
n e w s s o u r c e
HOUSE FIRE
Fire destroys unoccupied house
in Jones County. A7
sparing the 4.4 million people in
the Miami and Fort Lauderdale
areas from the strongest winds.
We were lucky this time, Mi-
ami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gime-
nez said.
Matthew was expected to blow
ashore or come dangerously
close to doing so early Friday
north of West Palm Beach, which
has about 1.1 million residents,
and then slowly push north for
the next 12 hours along the Inter-
state 95 corridor, through Cape
Canaveral and Jacksonville, ac-
cording to the Miami-based Na-
tional Hurricane Center.
Forecasters said it would then
probably hug the coast of Geor-
gia and South Carolina over the
weekend before veering out to
sea perhaps even looping back
toward Florida in the middle of
next week as a tropical storm.
Community........ A3 Lottery............... A3
Sports................ B1
Entertainment....... B4 Opinion............ A6
S i n c e 1 8 8 2
Millions of people in Florida,
Georgia and South Carolina were
told to evacuate their homes, and
interstate highways were turned
into one-way routes to speed the
exodus. Florida alone accounted
for roughly 1.5 million of those
people.
Many boarded up their homes
and businesses and left them to
the mercy of the storm.
Were not going to take any
chances on this one, said Dan-
iel Myras, who struggled to find
enough plywood to protect his
restaurant, the Cruisin Cafe, two
blocks from the Daytona Beach
boardwalk.
He added: A lot of people
here, they laugh, and say theyve
been through storms before and
theyre not worried. But I think
See STORM A4
kinston, NC
CRIME
Two men
jailed in
stabbing
By Dustin George
Staff Writer
Two men were arrested on
Wednesday following a stabbing
in Kinston.
Officers with
the Kinston Po-
lice Department
responded to an
assault call at
M itchel l Wo o -
ten Apartments
at around 9 a.m. Cannon
Wednesday.
At the apart-
ments, officers
found a 33-year-
old black male
with a stab wound
in his lower abdo-
men. He was taken Mason
to Vidant Medical
Center for treatment.
At around 2:30 p.m. that same
day, Devon Trenon Cannon, 25,
was arrested by the Kinston Po-
lice Department and charged as an
accessory to assault with a deadly
weapon inflicting serious injury.
Cannon was placed in the county
jail under a $7,500 secured bond.
At around 8 p.m. Wednesday, Le-
noir County Sheriffs arrested An-
thony Lamont Mason, 21, in Grifton
and charged him with assault with
a deadly weapon inflicting serious
injury. He was placed in the W.E.
Bill Smith Detention Center un-
der a $50,000 secured bond.
Dustin George can be reached
at 252-559-1077 or Dustin.
George@Kinston.com. Follow him
on Twitter @DustinGeorgeKFP.
N.C. CAMPAIGN 2016
Governors
race nears
$20 million
in TV ads
By Gary D. Robertson
Associated Press
RALEIGH | The North Carolina
governors race is one of the na-
tions most competitive and also
most expensive as broadcast TV
ad spending nears $20 million, ac-
cording to an independent analysis
released Thursday.
Tens of thousands of ads have
aired in North Carolina broadcast
markets from Republican Gov. Pat
McCrory, Democratic challenger
Roy Cooper and their allies since
the two major party candidates
won their March 15 primaries.
Combined ad spending in the gen-
eral election through last week to-
taled an estimated $18.6 million,
data from the Center for Public
Integrity show.
With primary campaign spend-
ing included, North Carolinas
$19.4 million ranks second only
to Missouri, where an estimated
$27.2 million has been spent on
broadcast television ads in the gu-
bernatorial race, the center said.
Ranked ninth by population
with several TV markets, North
Carolina is an expensive state for
campaign advertising, and a presi-
dential battleground. Several polls
have shown the race statistically
See GOVERNOR A2
Vol. CXXXIV No. 190