CHCCS under NC House investigation | Raleigh architect sentenced for eco-vandalism | 2x4 wielding 13-year-old murder suspect shot
No. 148 — Oct. 26-Nov. 1, 2025
Raleigh “climate activist” receives 18 month sentence for National Gallery of Art vandalism
Raleigh climate activist sentenced after vandalism at National Gallery of Art - News & Observer
Raleigh architect Timothy Martin has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after an April conviction by a jury for the 2023 politically motivated vandalism of a wax sculpture display at the National Gallery of Art as part of a “direct action” campaign by Declare Emergency to “raise awareness and demand meaningful change” related to the “climate catastrophe.”
Although other similarly motivated vandalism may have resulted permanent damage to irreplaceable historic artwork, Martin and his fellow vandal Joanna Smith claimed to use washable paint and limited the damage to the sculpture’s display case. (Gallery officials estimated the cost to restore the artwork at $4,000.)
Although prosecutors asked for a five year sentence out of the ten year maximum, Martin was sentenced to only 18 months incarceration, $4,250 in restitution, two years probation, and 150 hours of community service (including 20 hours cleaning graffiti).
Declare Emergency announced last month ahead of the sentencing that it would be “concluding” their “direct actions,” which have included attacks on the Constitution and a Civil War memorial, as well as blocking roads.
Johnston Co. father charged with systematically slaughtering children
911 call includes father’s alleged confession to killing children in gruesome detail - Spectrum News
‘It’s my fault’: Zebulon dad says he killed his 4 children in newly released 911 call - WRAL
Wellington Delano Dickens III, 38, has been charged with four counts of murder after calling 911 to confess that he had killed his own children and left their bodies in the trunk of his car in the garage at their Zebulon home.
According to the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office, investigators found the bodies as described of Dickens’ children aged 6, 9, and 10, as well as his 18-year-old stepson, which had been killed in order of their age over a period of four months between May to September.
On the 911 call, Dickens claimed that the first murder was unintentional as a result of hitting his 6-year-old daughter “excessively;” Dickens also described being “on the drugs, smoking, drinking” including “mushrooms and stuff” and “[doing] coke,” but also blamed “God” for “influencing” him to commit the murders.
Dickens had been left alone to care for the victims, as well as his surviving 3-year-old son, after his wife passed away in April 2024 due to complications from a miscarriage.
Dickens’ history with the law includes an arrest for refusing to follow a judge’s order after he and his wife took their infant daughter with jaundice home from the hospital against doctors’ orders and refused to take her in for subsequent medical care or allow social workers to see her. Dickens was also charged with misdemeanor child abuse in 2015, but the case was eventually dismissed by the Wake County DA’s office with the reason listed as “VICTIM NOT PRESENT.”
According to Dickens’ great uncle, who spoke with WRAL, Dickens “had a problem ever since he came back” from his military service in the Iraq War.
Dickens is being held without bond, and will face either the death sentence or life in prison without parole if convicted of any of the first degree murder charges.
13-year-old murder suspect killed while rushing Lee Co. deputy with 2x4, sheriff says
Deputy fatally shoots 13-year-old boy wanted for grandmother’s killing in Lee County - Spectrum News
Deputy fatally shoots a 13-year-old boy wanted for grandmother’s killing in North Carolina - WRAL
Lee Co. deputy fatally shoots juvenile suspect in Hoke homicide - Sanford Herald
Teen suspect accused of killing Hoke County grandmother fatally shot by deputy during apprehension in Lee County, officials say - CBS17
On Thursday morning, 68-year-old Connie Linen was found dead in her home in Raeford, with Hoke County authorities identifying her 13-year-old grandson J.A. as the suspect in the violent murder and charging him with first degree murder.
J.A. was located with his grandmother’s stolen vehicle in the Cameron area of Lee County, where deputies from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office attempted to take him into custody.
According to the LCSO, but the approximately 5’11” and 150 lb. suspect attempted to flee on foot before picking up a piece of 2x4 lumber and charging a deputy, who reacted by fatally shooting juvenile.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation will be investigating the incident, the standard practice for officer-involved shootings.
Capitol police officer arrested for drunken firearm threats at campground
Police officer threatens to kill man, shoots gun at NC campground, deputies say - N&O
NEW INFO: State Capitol Police officer charged in Carteret County - WITN
Steven Stell, 39, of the North Carolina State Capitol Police, was arrested over the weekend for allegedly firing a gun into the ground and threatening to shoot another man while intoxicated at an RV campground in Carteret County.
Stell, a resident of Wake County, was charged with going armed to the terror of the people, communicating threats, violating a local firearm ordinance, as well as injury to real property for allegedly damaging a gate latch.
Stell was released without bond after sobering up in jail.
The State Highway Patrol, which now oversees the NCSCP, does not appear to have commented on Stell’s arrest besides confirming his employment as an officer with the agency since May 2024.
Follow-up
House Oversight Committee investigates Chapel Hill–Carrboro City Schools
Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools bucked state law. House leader demands to know why. - News & Observer
Lawmakers request hearing with Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board chair, superintendent - North State Journal
NC House Majority Leader Rep. Brenden Jones (R-Columbus, Robeson) has followed through on his threat to exercise legislative oversight on the Chapel Hill–Carrboro City Schools over their open defiance of the state’s Parents’ Bill of Rights by protecting teachers’ ability to hide a student’s “trans identity” from their parents and instructing K-4 students on sex or “gender identity.”
In letters sent to CHCCS board chair George Griffin and Superintendent Rodney Trice, the House Oversight Committee called for the subjects’ appearance at a December 3rd hearing and requested documentation on their compliance with the Parents’ Bill of Rights as well as the district’s “championing divisive ideas” by adhering to DEI principles.
Previous coverage:
Orange County school boards still defying Parents’ Bill of Rights (No. 147 — Oct. 25, 2025)