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On 10/27/2011, a Worcester County Sheriff’s Deputy arrested Anitwon Maurice Peoples, B/M, (DOB 09/21/1982), of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania on a Circuit Court Bench Warrant for Violation of Probation. Peoples was later held on $35,000 bond at the Worcester County Jail.
On 10/27/2011, a Worcester County Sheriff’s Deputy arrested Alfred Ray Ward, W/M, (DOB 09/10/1970), of Middleton, Pennsylvania on a Circuit Court Bench Warrant for Failure to Appear. Ward was later held on $2,500 bond at the Worcester County Jail.
On October 21, 2011 members of the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Enforcement Team were conducting a controlled dangerous substance investigation in the Pocomoke, Maryland area. During this investigation, members of the Criminal Enforcement Team conducted a traffic stop of a vehicle in the vicinity of U.S. Route 13 and Rout 756. As a result of this traffic stop a subsequent vehicle search was conducted at which time a passenger in this vehicle, identified as Dana Lamar Collick, Age 22 of Pocomoke, Maryland, was found to be in possession of approximately 3.5 grams of crack cocaine. A second passenger in the vehicle, identified as Terrence Richard Justice, Age 28, of Temperenceville, Virginia, was found to be wanted on an outstanding Bench Warrant from Wicomico County, for Failure To Appear in court. Both Dana Collick and Terrence Justice were placed under arrest and transported to the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office for processing. Dana Collick was subsequently charged with possession of crack cocaine and taken before a district court commissioner for initial appearance. Disposition was unavailable at the time this was authored. Terrence Justice was committed to the Worcester County Jail on a $15,000.00 bond regarding to the outstanding Bench Warrant for his arrest.
Performance of a Gang of Free Lovers on Chicoteague Island
There is a gang of free lovers on Chincoteague Island that has greatly demoralized the people and caused no end of trouble. One man, Thomas Bowden, has recently been killed, and more trouble is expected. Joe Lynch is the leader of the gang, and many of the ignorant people have become his followers. It is said that Lynch obtained permission from the authorities of Accomac county to perform marriage and other ceremonies usually pertaining to a minister of the gospel, and in a short time he promulgated doctrines that have led to more trouble.
One of these doctrines- and the one productive of the most trouble- is that each member of the band is to select a "watchman" the man to choose a woman, and vice versa. The couples meet alone together to study Scripture and "meditate." As these meditations frequently last nearly all night, and the "two's" seldom being man and wife, there is considerable objection to the "meditating," especially when a sanctified wife of an "unsanctified" man meditates until 2 or 3a.m. with one of the brethren. Nor do the unsanctified wives feel a sufficient confidence in their "sanctified" husbands to sit contently at home knowing that they are meditating and talking scripture with another woman who is perhaps younger and prettier. Lynch has given it out that all persons who are married according to legal form or by an "unsanctified" minister are in the eyes of God guilty of breaking the seventh commandment and that the children of such unions are illegitimate. These are a few of the teachings of this fanatic, all of them being on a par with the instances given.
The lamentable feature of the case is that Lynch's followers believe him and are energetic in making proselytes. A branch "church" was started at Williamsville, Del., and quite a number have embraced the "sanctified" idea. A few believers also live in Box Iron in the county, a small hamlet near the Sinepuxent Bay and near Chincoteague. An astonishing feature about these people is the readiness with which they quote Scripture and point out how sinful everyone except the "sanctified" are. To do this they display much skill in taking scraps of the truth and severing them from the context to excuse the excesses committed by themselves. The citizens of Chincoteague have got a white elephant on their hands that they would like very much to be rid of, and the desire has only been strengthened by the killing of Bowden. -Richmond State
Footnote: Published reports in September, 1896 placed Joe Lynch, a modern Noah, along a small river in eastern North Carolina with about 120 members of his "sanctified band," with four arks prepared awaiting the "second flood" due December 25th.
January, 1975
Around town, 1975.
Some business locations around Pocomoke City from some 36 years ago (from a newspaper ad indicating where The Salisbuy Daily and Sunday Times was available for sale):
Nock's Atlantic Station, Route 13 North
Riverview Market, just across the bridge
George Reid's, Market Street
Mac Littleton's, Clarke Avenue
Sam Roth's, Clarke Avenue
Paige Webb's, 2nd & 4th Streets
Larry's Market, Market Street
B&B Sub Shop, Market Street
Twin Towers, Route 13 South
Bank's Market, Market Street
Worth's Store, Dividing Creek Road
September, 1881
(The Denton Journal)
Water Ten Cents A Gallon.- Owing to the extremely dry weather of the past month the stock of water on hand in Crisfield has been entirely consumed. The demand is now supplied from the Princess Anne wells . It is brought down by the Eastern Shore Railroad Company and dealt out to the eager purchasers at ten cents per gallon.- Crisfield Leader.
ACROSS THE USA
April, 1904
(The New York Times)
Times Square Is The Name Of City's New Center
Mayor McClellan yesterday signed the resolution adopted by the Board Of Aldermen on Tuesday last changing the name of Long Acre Square to that of Times Square. This follows out the recommendations of the Rapid Transit Commission and the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, which is to operate the subway; and it is intended by the Rapid Transit Commission at its next meeting to call the subway station at Broadway and Forty-second Street Times Station.
Times Square takes in the triangle on which the new building of The New York Times is situated, and the name applies to the entire section between Forty-second and Forty-seventh Streets, Broadway, and Seventh Avenue.
Do you have a local memory to share with PPE readers.. such as a big snow storm, a favorite school teacher, a local happening, something of interest your parents or grandparents told you about? It can be just a line or two or more if you wish. Your name won't be used unless you ask that it be. Send totkforppe@yahoo.comand watch for it on a future TIME MACHINE posting!
Worcester County Sheriff's Office Community Policing Division in it's continuing efforts to protect area children and promote "Safe Kids" will conduct a free "Candy Checkpoint" as a added means of protecting our area youth.
The checkpoint will open promptly at 6 pm for trick or treaters that wish to have their candy "x-rayed." Children should be accompanied by adults and this is not intended to replace the careful screening of the child's candy by a responsible adult.
I really need to go home because I know my family is missing me very much and are very worried about me.
Please help me find my way back home..........
I live in the Clam, Virginia area (behind Parksley) on St. Thomas Road."
Call/text - 757-303-0232
Please keep an eye and an ear out for Peter. The night is very cold and rainy. If you hear a dog bark or crying in your area please call out to it.... it may be Peter and you may help save his little life. He's been gone from home a very long time. He could have wandered anywhere or could be somewhere trying to keep himself warm....... Thanks.
It's 1895 and citizens of Chincoteague are troubled by the actions of an outsider who, in the name of religion, is recruiting followers to "a gang of free lovers."
It's this Sunday on The Pocomoke Public Eye!
Do you have a local memory to share with PPE readers.. such as a big snow storm, a favorite school teacher, a local happening, something of interest your parents or grandparents told you about? It can be just a line or two or more if you wish. Your name won't be used unless you ask that it be. Send to tkforppe@yahoo.com and watch for it on a future TIME MACHINE posting!
By Virginia State Police RICHMOND – As Virginians celebrate Halloween this year, state police is reminding everyone to keep the party off the road and not to drink and drive. Troopers will be conducting saturation patrols looking for impaired drivers and participating in DUI sobriety checkpoints during the Halloween holiday.
“It won’t be the costumes or pranks that will be scary but someone who makes the reckless decision of driving drunk this Halloween,” says Colonel W. Steven Flaherty, Virginia State Police Superintendent. “Impaired drivers put lives at risk. Be smart this Halloween and don’t be one of the statistics. If you plan to drink then make sure you designate a driver.”
State troopers will step up DUI patrols during the Halloween weekend to help make Virginia’s highways and neighborhoods even safer. In addition, State Police recommends these simple tips:
Plan a safe way home before the festivities begin;
Before drinking, please designate a sober driver and give that person your keys;
If you’re impaired, use a taxi, call a sober friend or family member, or use public transportation so you are sure to get home safely;
If you happen to see a drunk driver on the road, don’t hesitate to contact Virginia State Police by dialing #77 on your cell phone. For more information, please visit www.StopImpairedDriving.org.
In addition, with inclement weather forecasted in parts of the Commonwealth, motorists are reminded to be extra careful if they have to travel tonight through Saturday, Oct. 29. Those needing to travel are advised to:
Add extra time to reach travel destination
Slow speed for road conditions
Increase driving distances between vehicles
Buckle up and don’t drive distracted
Call 511 for road conditions – not 911 or #77, as these are for emergency calls only
The Ocean City Police Narcotics Unit in partnership with the Assateague Coastal Trust, Berlin Police Department, Worcester County Sheriff’s Office and Worcester County Health Department will be participating in "OPERATION MEDICINE DROP," a one-day medication take-back effort to be held on Saturday, October 29, from 10 a.m.to 2 p.m. "Operation Medicine Drop" is a bi-annual Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) federal program in conjunction with state and local law enforcement to encourage citizens to properly dispose of their prescription drugs. The objective is to get unwanted, unused and expired prescription medication out of people’s cabinets and off of the streets. Citizens are urged to not flush their medication or throw them away. Disposing of medication properly prevents the medication from entering our waterways and landfills. There will be six drop off locations in Worcester County. Berlin Police Department, 10 Williams St. Worcester County Health Dept., Public Landing Road, Snow Hill Ocean City Public Safety Building, 6501 Coastal Hwy, OC/MD Pocomoke Health Center, 400-A Walnut Street Food Lion, Manklin Creek Rd, Ocean Pines Food Lion, Rt 611, West Ocean City The Maryland Executive Board Members of the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators (NADDI) have hailed this effort as a success in keeping unwanted and unused prescription drugs out of the hands of persons who shouldn’t have them as well as out ofMarylandcoastal bays and waterways. This program was considered a success last April, yielding over 130 pounds of prescription medication in Worcester County.
The program is free and confidential.
If you have any questions, please contact the OCPD Public Affairs Office at: 410-723-6665 or 410-529-5395.
HANOVER COUNTY, VA (WTVR) - Robert Wood Jr. has been found alive following a six-day search in the woods north of Richmond, Vir., confirmed Batt. Chief Willie Jones with the Hanover County Fire Department.
Robert was found at approximately 2 p.m. in a creek bed at the Martin Marietta quarry, under a mile from where he was last seen. The eight-year-old boy is said to be in good condition and has been helicopter lifted to the Medical College of Virginia.
Robert is in the emergency room being evaluated and treated.
"He was in serious but good shape," said Lt. Col. David Hines, who said that Robert was found by a citizen volunteer.
Robert was reportedly found in the fetal position and with all his clothes still on, said Hines.
He could be treated for anything from malnutrition to hypothermia in this situation said a doctor. Temperatures dropped very low several nights, and the forecast called for falling temperatures, sleet and light snow ahead for the weekend.
Staff and parents are at MCV waiting to get information to piece together how Robert wound up in that location, Hanover Sheriff's Captain Mike Trice said.
"I knew something was happening that was powerful and was fortunate to be part of the team when he was found," said Trice, who also said the helicopter "just couldn't get there fast enough, land fast enough."
It is possible that Robert crossed Verdon Road and wound up in the quarry, and that would explain why search crews found little evidence of the boy in the search grids.
Robert has autism and does not speak, a factor which had complicated the search. There was concern that search crews would startle him and make him run.
Officials have said that Robert had a fascination with the water. The North Anna Nuclear Plant helped aid in the search effort by lowering the water.
Search teams placed survial kits, with blankets and food rations, throughout the forests and they were illuminated with glowsticks.
He was hiking with his father, younger brother and his father's girlfriend on one of the wooded trails along an 80-acre Civil War battlefield in Hanover County.
Adam Warman, with the Faison School for Autism, that Robert attends, said that cheers rang out through the school when the announcement was made over the loudspeaker that Robert had been found.
"They started yelling and cheering, and crying," said Warman.
Helicopters flew through the park and surrounding areas, using thermal imaging at night. The orginal search parameters, limited to the park's 80-acres, were extended to over 20 square miles.
Since the park backs up to the water, boats searched the North Anna River.
Since Tuesday, Oct. 25, thousands have shown up to volunteer for the missing boy. On Friday, Oct. 28, 600 returning volunteers showed up to search, and 600 new volunteers were deployed.
"Never been involved in a search with this many volunteers," Hines said.
Trice had said earlier in the week at a press event that Hanover had never seen an operation like this. Hundreds of citizens and agencies coordinated in the efforts and volunteered to help search for the missing boy. It was a regional effort.
Editor:
Having read the letter from Hardwire CEO George Tunis, I think we've lost an opportunity. I think residents nearby to the rifle range never had a clear picture of the opportunity he offered. I think reconsideration by all involved would be best for our community.
Yes, Worcester County has a rifle range where even machine guns are commonly used.
What I foresaw for our community with small scale engineering tests was a presence at the Worcester County Training Range that was willing to maintain the area better and, importantly, a user who would notify locals of testing times.
George Tunis said his charges were going to be smaller than charges previously detonated in Newark. He said that military testing protocols for the armor he protects troops with create a noise-dampening effect because the charges are buried. He said that instead of open-air/flat surface testing as previous AFT training had been, his would be buried and surrounded by woods. They would still go boom, but quieter.
Finding a much-needed training and testing site here is like choosing a landfill site near Denver: It's all breathtakingly beautiful but they still must have a landfill.
Much of our seacoast is indeed beautiful, too, but this isn't about further scaring of the old borrow pit nor burying of trash.
It's about single detonations.
Deer still browse near the county range despite thousands of machine-gun rounds. Ducks still use the bayfront salt ponds.
Eagles positively thrive at Aberdeen Proving Grounds where fantastically more powerful explosions take place almost daily.
Animals generally do thrive where people are absent.
Unfortunately, Aberdeen's off limits to our local manufacturer except when summoned for military testing. He has to take a truckload of money elsewhere for small-scale engineering tests.
I say this to Worcester County's residents: George Tunis is a man of his word. Let us see and hear for ourselves whether there is intolerable noise from these tests, Let local residents dispel their notions and know facts -- test the various charges. I believe Newark will benefit when they know the truth.
Give Hardwire a chance. Let ATF or the OC Bomb Squad noise-test various charges.
In all of my 30-plus years at sea, several times a week the ocean's quiet tranquility is shattered with the sonic booms of Navy jets on training maneuvers. They're clear to go supersonic outside 20 nautical miles. Hurts your ears, rattles your bones, scares the tar out of you -- the sound of freedom.
I think Worcester County can survive and endure smaller scale noise a few days a year that our soldiers might survive a direct hit in battle. What cost would we not bear that they might enjoy the benefit of coming home. Ours is only the cost of an extra rumble of thunder, a sound of freedom that rolls across our bay and farmland, soon to become as peaceful as a father's hug returned from battle.
A Pennsylvania eighth-grader who became ill after smoking synthetic marijuana and had a double lung transplant has died.
The boy's mother said that her 13-year-old son, Brandon, died Thursday morning at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh at UPMC.
The boy smoked the fake marijuana out of a plastic PEZ candy dispenser. The chemicals in the drugs caused extensive damage to his lungs.
Brandon was put on a respirator in June and had a double lung transplant in September. The boy's mother says anti-rejection drugs he'd taken since the transplants weakened his immune system and made him unable to fight a recent infection.
Pennsylvania's Governor signed a law outlawing such substances a few days after the boy smoked it. The ban took effect in August.
It's 1895 and what might be referred to today as a religious cult leader has been recruiting followers.. described by others as "a gang of free lovers" on Chincoteague Island.
Read more this Sunday on The Pocomoke Public Eye!
Do you have a local memory to share with PPE readers.. such as a big snow storm, a favorite school teacher, a local happening, something of interest your parents or grandparents told you about? It can be just a line or two or more if you wish. Your name won't be used unless you ask that it be. Send to tkforppe@yahoo.com and watch for it on a future TIME MACHINE posting!
"It is my duty to insure the communities of Worcester County remain safe and a great place to raise your family." ~ Sheriff Reggie Mason
SNOW HILL -- Sheriff Reggie Mason is fulfilling a campaign promise by reviving Worcester County's Neighborhood Crime Watch program.
The sheriff and his deputies, along with Worcester County State's Attorney Beau Oglesby, have met with residents of Stockton, Girdletree, Bishopville and Newark about the initiative. Next, the Sheriff's Office will meet with neighbors in Oyster Harbor, Friendship, Germantown, South Point and Whaleyville, according to Detective Dale Trotter, who heads up the crime watch under the department's Community Policing Division.
Mason said he's "tickled" the program will return under his tenure as sheriff.
"I'm very happy. I always liked this program, and I wanted to get it back," he said. "It's all about neighbor looking after neighbor. Hopefully, we'll get some of these smaller parts of the county covered before the year is out. This is one thing I wanted to get back in the communities."
He hopes Crime Watch can help build stronger relationships between the community and the deputies on patrol.
Trotter said people sometimes are afraid to call police and report unusual activity at a neighbor's home or to report a crime in progress, based on a fear of retaliation or having to go to court. It's a mindset he's trying to turn around.
"We're trying to get people to look out, keep their eyes open for suspicious activity, for anything that's out of the ordinary," he said. "Don't be afraid to call the police -- you can call and be anonymous. Breathe life into your community so you know your neighbor, and you take care of each other."
One of the problems, according to Trotter, is people sometimes believe if nothing is happening in their neighborhood, they don't think they need a Crime Watch.
"However, I think that's when you need a Crime Watch the most," he said. "Generally speaking, if nothing's going on, it's out of your mind. You don't think about it."
The concept of a neighborhood watch emerged in the late 1970s, Mason said. Worcester had an active Neighborhood Crime Watch program that was developed in the early 1990s under Sheriff Chuck Martin.
But the deputy sheriff in charge at that time retired, Trotter said, and the department shifted its manpower to other projects.
Pocomoke City, Berlin and Snow Hill already have their own version of a neighborhood watch, Trotter said. The Ocean City police have established eight individual neighborhood watch groups throughout the resort, from Boardwalk business owners downtown to the north Ocean City residents of the Caine Woods development, according to spokesman Pfc. Mike Levy.
Now that Sheriff Mason is pushing to revitalize the department's community policing efforts, there are other duties deputies will take on. Trotter said he'll personally come out to a person's home for a security evaluation, to see if a person's property is unkempt and a target for thieves.
For kids, he also dresses up as the police mascot character Safety Pup.
"That's been like a big joke, between my friends," Trotter said. "They laugh at me when I dress up like a dog. It's a cartoon character that goes out, talks to the kids, talks about safety. It's a big hit, really."
Ultimately, Trotter said the top priority of the Community Policing Division is to get the word out that "the Sheriff's Office is available for your organization, for your meeting," he said. "We'd like to come out and introduce ourselves, let people know that we put our pants on the same way you do, and we really care about the community."
So far, police efforts already have worked to address one nuisance issue in Stockton.
In meeting with residents, law enforcement found there was a residence that had been vacant for more than a year. Neighbors were reporting the lights were on, and they suspected squatters.
An investigation found that while the home was still empty, and in some disrepair, the owners had left the electricity on because the basement would often flood in a rainstorm and they needed to maintain power to the sump pump. The home has since been cleaned up "and it's not an eyesore anymore to the community," Trotter said.
Reggie Hancock, 81, of Stockton attended the first meeting between neighbors and law enforcement. He said there were about eight people at the meeting, and blamed the low turnout on Hurricane Irene, which passed Delmarva that week.
WTKR James City County police have arrested a man for the August 10 bank robbery at the RBC Centura Bank on John Tyler Highway and the Sept. 19 bank robbery at the Citizen’s & Farmer’s Bank on Longhill Road.
Joel William Galindo, 25, of Richmond was charged with two counts of Robbery.
The investigation revealed that Galindo was linked to other bank robberies that occurred between May 10 and Oct. 5, 2011 from Frederick, Maryland to James City County, including a robbery at M & T Bank in Hanover County that occurred on May 19.
Galindo was arrested for the Hanover robbery on Monday, Oct. 24 by the US Marshal’s Office working in conjunction with the Hanover Sheriff’s Office.
Galindo is currently being held at the Pamunkey Regional Jail without bond.
NEWPORT NEWS -- Two people are charged and charges are pending against a third person for attacking a man and trying to take his beer.
Deandra Javal Whiting, 19, Quanetta Breana Crosby, 18, and another woman allegedly robbed the man as he was walking home from a convenience store on Jefferson Avenue on Oct. 16.
Two Accomack County deputies, at a nearby fast food restaurant, were alerted to the crime by a passerby and went to help. They found the 25-year-old victim on the ground.
He told them three people, one with a knife, demanded money and when he said he didn't have any, they grabbed his bag of beer. Then he started screaming, said police spokesman Lou Thurston.
One of the officers spotted two possible suspects and went after them. Crosby was arrested, but Whiting ran off, according to investigators.
Whiting was arrested Tuesday afternoon and faces charges of abduction, robbery and assault.
Crosby is charged with robbery and malicious wounding.
By next spring, city officials expect to be cutting the ribbon on a brand-new downtown restaurant, one built right beside the Delmarva Discovery Center and on the banks of the Pocomoke River.
Who the tenant will be, and what the menu will look like, remains to be seen.
Pocomoke is building a restaurant on spec in the hopes that an accomplished Eastern Shore chef can be lured to town and set up a business. The Market Street site has been cleared and pilings are slated to drop next week. Because the land is municipally-owned, the city effectively is the developer of the project.
"I don't know anyone else doing this kind of thing," said City Manager Russ Blake. "Our city council is very forward-thinking, and willing to be entrepreneurial, to see that improvements that need to get done can be completed. They're very pro-business here. Always have been."
Plans call for a 3,025-square-foot restaurant and bar that will seat 100 inside and 45 outside on a deck. Blake said "it's too early" to speculate as to any tenants or their style of food or decor.
The total project cost is about $750,000 and is funded almost entirely by grants, Blake said.
The building takes its shape from its unique triangular site, which has a long, narrow configuration, according to lead architect Jack E. Mumford III of Becker Morgan Group.
He said the aesthetics of the building are meant to be "a bit nautical" while complementing the Discovery Center. A tower at the north end of the site, adjacent the Market Street bridge, is an element that will be lit up at night.
Blake hopes the new establishment will complement non-profit attractions already in downtown Pocomoke City, including the Discovery Center, the historic Sturgis One Room School museum, the Mar-Va Theater and the Isaac Costen House museum.
City officials would have preferred someone in the private sector build a restaurant on the waterfront.
"Lacking that, there was still the need for a nice restaurant in the downtown area, so the city stepped in," Blake said. "The restaurant was the missing piece."
Bringing a restaurant to downtown Pocomoke has been a project more than a decade in the making, under the guidance of the Pocomoke Marketing Partnership, a committee of local residents and businesspeople.
"I guess they're building it, and they think somebody will come -- like the baseball field," said Barbara Tull, the first president of the PMP and a former women's clothing store proprietor.
She said the idea for the restaurant was borne from the concept of the Discovery Center -- it was part of the original plan for the museum but did not make it into the final version. Planners decided to work toward a free-standing restaurant right next door.
"Of course, we don't want to be in the restaurant business. They hopefully will find somebody who's a wonderful restaurant operator," she added.
Editors note: I think they should build the building to mimic an old Chesapeake Bay Lighthouse maybe like the old Lighthouse that was once in the Pocomoke Sound on the southern end of Watts Island [pictured below]. Then they could name it The Lighthouse.
One man was arrested by members of the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office during a traffic stop Oct. 21 for possession of crack cocaine. Another was found to be wanted on an outstanding bench warrant for failure to appear in court.
Dana Lamar Collic, 22, of Pocomoke, was found to be in possession of about 3.5 grams of crack cocaine. Terrence Richard Justice, 28, of Temperanceville, Va., was a passenger in the car found to be wanted for failing to appear in Wicomico County court.
The traffic stop was conducted in the vicinity of Route 13 and Route 756.
DOSWELL -- A total of 940 volunteers helped authorities conduct 74 search missions so far today but 9-year-old Robert Wood Jr. still hasn’t been found.
“We are working under the assumption that he is still alive,” Hanover sheriff’s Capt. Michael Trice said at a 3:30 p.m. news briefing. “We’re looking to give him the aid that he needs.”
Trice said 940 volunteers were deployed today, and between 200 and 250 of those returned from helping Tuesday. The sheriff’s office is asking for more volunteer help on Thursday.
“We want to be prepared to cover as much ground tomorrow as we did today,” Trice said. “We want to get as many returning volunteers as possible.”
Teams searched 30 search zones from early this morning until mid-afternoon in and around the 80-acre North Anna Battlefield Park in Doswell, Trice said.
Some of the volunteers have had to be treated for minor medical issues but no one has been seriously hurt, Trice said.
Trice also disclosed that authorities placed several “survival packs” containing food, water and blankets at various locations in the woods, but none have been touched.
Several searches have produced “articles of interest,” but Trice said none of those items can be directly tied to Robert.
Noon update:
Hanover County authorities are calling for hundreds of additional volunteers to help in the search for a missing 9-year-old autistic boy.
County sheriff's Capt. Mike Trice this morning said about 700 volunteers turned up to help look for Robbie Wood Jr., who disappeared Sunday during a walk with family in the North Anna Battlefield Park.
Trice said another 500 searchers could be used today. Volunteers can report to the parking area at the Kings Dominion theme park.
(This has been a breaking news update. Stay with TimesDispatch.com for the latest developments in this story and other news events.)
11:21 a.m.
Hundreds of volunteers turned out again this morning to search in thick Hanover County woods for a lost autistic boy.
Nine-year-old Robbie Wood Jr. of Caroline County disappeared Sunday afternoon during a walk with family in the North Anna Battlefield Park in north-central Hanover.
Authorities hope to put 1,200 volunteers on the search today with 300 professional searchers from localities across the state.
“We are going to continue this until we find him,” said Hanover Sheriff’s Capt. Mike Trice.
Volunteers began showing up before daybreak, and the first team headed into the woods about 8 a.m.
“I don’t know what I can do, but I’ve got two hands and two feet,” said volunteer Garrett Grubbs, 34, of Chesterfield County.
(This has been a breaking news update. Stay with TimesDispatch.com for the latest developments in this story and other news events.)
10:24 a.m.
The search for a 9-year-old autistic boy missing in Hanover County since Sunday continued into this morning without success.
Robbie Wood Jr. vanished while on a walk with family in the 80-acre North Anna Battlefield Park on Sunday afternoon.
Hundreds of volunteers joined the search Tuesday, and authorities will again accept volunteers beginning today at 9 a.m. in the main parking lot of Kings Dominion. They must have photo identification and be capable of walking several miles in thick woods.
(This has been a breaking news update. Stay with TimesDispatch.com for the latest developments in this story and other news events.)
6:06 a.m.
Nearly 900 volunteers walked through the Hanover County woods side-by-side Tuesday, methodically looking for a lost autistic boy.
They stepped over downed trees, pushed back briars and poked piles of brush with sticks in hopes they'd find 9-year-old Robbie Wood Jr.
"It's everybody's worst nightmare," said Waverly Bamman, 35, whose son attends the Faison School for Autism school with Robbie.
But on Tuesday, as the search entered its third day, the volunteers and more than 300 trained professionals didn't come up with anything.
"Right now, we're determined to do it until we find Robbie," Hanover Sheriff David Hines said during an afternoon news briefing on the search.
The Caroline County boy disappeared while on a walk with family in the 80-acre North Anna Battlefield Park on Sunday afternoon. His father, Robert Wood, his brother and a female friend of Wood's had stopped to take a break when the severely autistic boy wandered off.
Hundreds of volunteers turned out Tuesday morning at Kings Dominion, where a line snaked through the parking lot. Some had to be turned away because they couldn't stay all afternoon, while others simply left after standing in line for hours, waiting to be processed.
Hines said 889 volunteers were registered, trained and deployed to join the search that was expanded to more than 2,000 acres in and around the park.
"Like everyone here today, our hearts are burdened with the reality that a 9-year-old boy has been left alone in the woods for the last 48 hours," Hines said.
Taken to the site on buses, the volunteer searchers walked the approximately 1½ miles from Verdon Road to the North Anna River. Coordinators had mapped out grids for volunteers to walk to cover the entire 3-square-mile area around the park.
As the volunteers stood in line, many realized they had something in common. A number of them were connected to someone else autistic — a son, a nephew, a neighbor, a child at school.
"I have two autistic kids at home, so this hit really close to home for me," said Tammy Rogers of Powhatan, who was on the first bus of volunteers sent into the woods to look for Robbie. "As a mother, you ache."
Rogers, whose sons are both non-verbal like Robbie, said she was so upset by Robbie's disappearance that she spent much of Monday crying.
"This is the best medicine, just to get out here," she said as she prepared to board the bus.
But later in the afternoon, as she got on the bus to go back to her car after spending all day in the woods, she was disappointed that they hadn't been able to locate Robbie.
"You feel like you're walking out empty handed," she said.
She said traversing the "thick, thick terrain" was difficult, and her fellow searchers had cuts in their hands and holes in their clothes to prove it, she said, adding that she is convinced a little child could not have covered the same ground.
Jeremy Lawhorn of Mechanicsville said it was his first time participating in a rescue mission, and he was surprised at the density of the forest vegetation. Lawhorn has two sons, one of whom is the same age as Robbie.
"I just figured the more people we have, the better chance we'll find him quicker," he said, stepping over tree branches and brush as he walked through the woods surrounded by other volunteers in blaze orange vests.
The possibility that they might find Robbie dead hung in the air, but most preferred to hold out hope that the boy could survive the cold nighttime conditions without food. "I hope we find him. I hope he's OK," said Chris Southall, 24, of New Kent County.
Hines said authorities will again accept volunteers beginning today at 9 a.m. in the main parking lot of Kings Dominion. They must have photo identification and be capable of walking several miles in thick woods.
"I hope most (of Tuesday's volunteers) will show back up, because they've already been through the training and we can deploy them quicker," he said.
The volunteer search is to resume today after personnel from Virginia Department of Emergency Management conducted ground searches Tuesday night, Hines said.
Battalion Chief William E. Jones with Hanover Fire and EMS said he appreciated the outpouring of support from the community, adding that volunteers came from as far away as Myrtle Beach, S.C.
"It is an opportunity for a regular person to come out here and do something," he said. "It's worth every minute of it," he said.
