No explanation for increased homicides

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - After years of decline, homicides in the Charlotte area have already surpassed last year's total with 67, and police have no explanation why.

There were 60 homicides last year, a seven-year low.

But if the pace continues in the remaining three months of 2005, the homicides could reach a 10-year high.

Some critics blame the increase on a prevalence of guns.

They also bemoan the lack of enough police and prosecutors.

The spike could represent an anomaly as the homicide rate continues a downward trend begun in the early 1990s. The Charlotte area recorded a record 129 slayings police investigated in 1993.

The rise could also signal the start of an increase in Mecklenburg County and elsewhere.

Funeral held to honor 21-year-old soldier

WASHINGTON, N.C. - A budding bagpipe player. One of the widest grins Beaufort County has ever seen.

Friends say these and many other traits vanished with the death of Army Cpl. Kevin McCray Jones, 21, who was remembered Saturday during a standing-room-only funeral service.

Cpl. Jones suffered fatal injuries Sept. 22 when a roadside bomb exploded beside his vehicle west of Baghdad, becoming the 37th serviceman from North Carolina killed in the Iraq war. He was serving his second tour.

Those who knew Cpl. Jones remembered his sacrificial approach to life - from fighting fires as a teenage volunteer firefighter to caring for stray cats and, later, for the children of Iraq.

Cpl. Jones suffered injuries and deafness after an April blast yet went to work treating fellow soldiers injured in that explosion.

He even cracked jokes with another wounded soldier while being evacuated after the explosion that ultimately took his life.

Cpl. Jones willingly served a second tour in Iraq because he wanted to be with his men, the Rev. Phil Hayes said at the funeral service.

The Rev. Hayes and others spoke of Cpl. Jones' love of music, his desire to conquer the bagpipe, his military family and his friendly rivalry with his Navy officer father who wanted his son to become a sailor.

"He was a happy person. I don't think I ever saw him when he wasn't smiling," the Rev. Hayes said.

Trail museum named an interpretive site

ROBBINSVILLE, N.C. - The tiny museum in Graham County dedicated to highlighting the area's unique place in Cherokee history is in the midst of renovations and creating new exhibits organizers hope will draw more visitors.

The Junaluska Memorial Site and Museum in the past year was named an interpretive site along the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, a collection of sites and thoroughfares that stretches from the East Coast to Oklahoma.

The goal isn't to compete with larger museums that focus on the Cherokee and other native people, but to highlight the unique place Graham County has in the history of the Cherokee.