UPDATE: Two charged after crash that shuts down main TC intersection

UPDATE: 8 a.m.
    Drunk driving and hit-and-run charges were filed against a Longs man Tabor City police saw caused an early morning crash that left a large part of the Tabor City area in the dark early Friday, a much smaller section expected to remain without power for much of the day, Capt. Russell Conway said.
    Students from seven classrooms at nearby Tabor City Elementary School were shifted to areas on campus where the power was on Friday morning, Principal Terry Brown said.
    Jamel Tylee Raynor, 31, of Foxtrail Road in Longs was charged with driving while impaired, careless and reckless driving, and hit and run, Conway said.
    Accused of fleeing the scene following the 3:30 a.m. crash, Raynor was apparently headed towards the March Avenue home of his brother, James Manley Raynor, 26, Conway said.
    James Raynor was at the crash scene when police arrived, but would not tell police anything, including his name. He was charged with resisting police by failing to provide information during an investigation.
    Both brothers were booked at the Columbus County Detention Center in Whiteville, Jamal Raynor held under a $1,500 bond, James Raynor on $500 bail.
    Look for more on this story in next Wednesdays Tabor-Loris Tribune in print and online.

6 a.m. post
    A car that clipped a power pole at East 5th Street, Stake and Pireway roads early Friday will shut down one of Tabor City’s busiest intersections for most of the day, fire and Duke Energy officials said.
    One man was taken to jail following the crash that occurred about 3:30 a.m., Tabor City Fire Chief Jerry Hodges said.
    Left dangling in the air were remnants of the power pole on the southwest corner of the busy intersection, near the Carolina Tire parking lot, and street lights. Contractors were on the way to Tabor City before 6 a.m. to replace the pole, a Duke Energy representative on the scene said. State Department of Transportation crews will have to follow to get the stoplights working again.
    Barricades were in place about a block away from the intersection before daylight. Tabor City Elementary School, Inman Funeral Home, and the state Visitor Center are all located at the intersection.
    Power was out for large sections of the Tabor City area during the early morning. Power crews redirected current at switches leaving only about 30 customers in the dark until the pole can be replaced, the Duke spokesman said.