Still, industry observers say they don't see prices going back to the levels of a year ago any time soon. Gene Curtis of the Public Staff of the state Utilities Commission says he thinks prices have peaked for the year and that price reductions are next on the horizon. Utilities routinely pass along increased wholesale costs to customers, and yesterday was the deadline for requesting rate increases that would take effect in March. Several churches say they've been scammed by three Greensboro residents who Davidson County Sheriff's detectives arrested in a sting operation. Detectives posing as church deacons made the arrests Friday after a suspect posing as a landlord accepted church money.
Investigators say the suspect told the detective the money was for a needy tenant.
Barbara Mason Edmonds, Michelle Denise Ham and Truman Lee Graham are charged with defrauding at least 25 area churches. The sheriff's department accuses Edmonds of scamming churches for almost seven years and collected about a thousand dollars a week in recent months. Church leaders say the experience has led them to consider establishing a central committee to screen applicants for emergency assistance. The widow of a disabled Clay County man who died Sunday is now in jail, accused of failing to provide him with adequate care. A Clay County grand jury indicted Francis Foster on criminal counts of involuntary manslaughter and neglect of a disabled adult.