Woman dies
from injuries
in crash here

• Chadbourn woman becomes first fatality of 2008 after early Monday wreck on Thompson Town Road just south of Whiteville.

By BOB HIGH
Staff Writer

Shelby Jean Cribb Norris, 56, of Cartrette Road, Chadbourn, became the first highway fatality of 2008 when she died Tuesday from head injuries she suffered in a single-vehicle wreck at 2:30 a.m. Monday just south of Whiteville.

Norris was the only occupant of the car that she was driving north on the section of Thompson Town Road – just north of Slippery Log Road less than a mile west of the Whiteville city limits – that has a 90-degree turn to the east.

Instead of turning right at the former home and farm of the late Eugene Thompson, Norris drove straight ahead onto a short dead-end dirt road and drove off to the right, according to Highway Patrol Trooper Melvin Campbell.

The trooper’s report showed Norris’ car struck a ditch and driveway culvert at an estimated 50 mph, and then continued until it hit a tree. The vehicle traveled a total of 272 feet from the time it left the roadway.

Campbell said it was not clear if Norris was wearing a seat belt. She was found slumped over on the front seat by members of the Whiteville Rescue Unit.

Norris, a native of Horry County, S.C., was treated at Columbus Regional Healthcare, then transferred to New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington where she died Tuesday night.

The first rural-road fatality in 2007 took place on March 7, a fact that led to an unusually low total of just 11 fatalities for the entire year. The first rural fatal crash in 2006 took place on Jan. 13 of that year. (See Obituary page)