The Gaston Gazette
A former Dallas businessman pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder Monday for killing two family members and injuring others by driving his Jeep through a restaurant where he and his family had been seated.
Roger Self cried out just as District Attorney Locke Bell described the deaths of Self s daughter, Gaston County Sheriff s Office Cpl. Katelyn Self, and his daughter-in-law, CaroMont Regional Medical Center nursing supervisor Amanda Self, to Superior Court Judge Athena Brooks. I didn t mean to hurt them, Self said as he stood with his forehead lying prone to the table in front of him.
By Staff reports
Gaston County government announced it plans to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed against
The Gazette, and that the county s attorney said he has been tasked with finding an alternative paper of record for the required legal notice advertising the county does with the newspaper.
County leaders threatened to shift $70,000-$100,000 annually away from
The Gazette, a move that some experts said might be unconstitutional.
Michael Grygiel, an attorney representing the newspaper, called the plede to dismiss the lawsuit a win for freedom of the press. We are pleased the county apparently recognized the First Amendment imposes a zero-tolerance limit for defamation lawsuits brought by governmental bodies based on news reports critical of their official actions, Grygiel said Friday.
A Mount Holly man accused of shooting and killing a police officer last week will remain in jail without bond.
Joshua Funk, 24, made his first public appearance Friday morning since the shooting death of Mount Holly Police Officer Tyler Herndon last week. Investigators believe Funk shot and wounded Herndon with a handgun during an early morning shooting on Dec. 11. Herndon died at the hospital later that morning.
A Gaston County grand jury indicted Funk on first-degree murder Monday morning.
Mount Holly Police Chief Don Roper, Deputy Chief Brian Reagan and seven other Mount Holly Police officers walked into the courthouse together and sat quietly in the courtroom pews ahead of Funk’s arraignment Friday morning.