EMS transports woman after pickup hits GOP building

Emily Denza Zacatenco, 20, of Statesville Road was a passenger in an eastbound 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 pickup that went off the right side of Main Street, struck a parked Honda mini-van and then the Wilkes County Republican Party headquarters building. The mini-van received significant damage.

A Wilkesboro Police Department spokesman said Zacatenco didn’t appear to be seriously injured.

The pickup hit and stopped against the northwest corner of the two-story, wood frame Wilkes GOP headquarters building.

The driver of the pickup, Logan Ray Cardwell, 20, of Shamrock Road, Moravian Falls, was charged with underage driving while impaired and driving without an operator’s license. He wasn’t injured.

The Honda mini-van received about $5,000 in damage. It is listed as belonging to Gretchen Griffin of Wilkesboro.

In addition to Wilkes EMS and Wilkesboro police, the Wilkesboro Fire Department responded.

A Sunday morning worship service at the nearby Wilkesboro Presbyterian Chapel ended soon after the wreck occurred and people exiting the church encountered the scene.

Aside from the visibly splintered corner of the Wilkes Republican headquarters facility, the extent of damage the building received wasn’t clear.

James Hubbard constructed the building in the late 1940s and his family owned it and the adjacent house for many years. Harvey Chambers later owned the building and for many years operated his upholstery shop there. It is considered a contributing part of the Downtown Wilkesboro Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places designation.