The Fentvic billboard campaign running in Winston-Salem will come to an end on June 26th. The billboards have been captured in a time lapse format and the portions for other advertisers has been removed leaving just the victims featured on each one. See the billboard content on the YouTube videos below.
Author: fentvic Admin
Winston-Salem mother searches for answers after son dies from fentanyl overdose
For six long months, Andrea Scales didn’t know for sure how her only son died.
It took that long for a toxicology screen run by the state medical examiner’s office to come back with a ruling: fentanyl poisoning.
Someone slipped her son what he surely thought was a Percocet pill. Instead, the pill contained fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid similar to morphine, and it took his life.
Jeremiah “J5” Scales, an accomplished athlete at Parkland High School, was 19 years old.
“I knew nothing about fentanyl … one Percocet doesn’t kill you,” Scales said. “It was the last thing I ever expected.”
Now, a little over a year since she buried Jeremiah, she’s decided to see if she could save another mother from feeling the same crushing pain.
She allowed a photo of her son to be included on a month-long billboard campaign to educate and raise awareness about an epidemic that has killed thousands of North Carolinians.
“It just hurts … extremely painful to live without your only child,” Scales said. “Yes, I’m all for educating other people about it and doing whatever I can do.”
Read the full article on the Winston-Salem Journal website (subscription may be required).
Victims’ families fight illicit fentanyl in North Carolina, speak during local event
WATAUGA — The Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina and Forgotten Victims of North Carolina hosted an invitation-only event at App Ski Mtn. on Saturday, June 3, to provide victims’ loved ones the opportunity to share their story and honor their children, siblings and parents lost to illicit fentanyl poisoning.
The Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina Executive Director Barb Walsh lost her 24 year-old daughter Sophia in 2021 to fentanyl poisoning. Sophia, an App State graduate and successful business woman, was visiting someone in Banner Elk and is thought to have unknowingly consumed a drink laced with illicit fentanyl. While the case closed with no charges pursued, Walsh is committed to bringing awareness to the dangers of fentanyl poisoning and advocate for justice for victims and their families.
Loved ones of illicit fentanyl victims Timothy Daniel Cothron, Alex Bradford, Heaven Nelson, Michiko Duff Marshall Abbott and Brianna Culpepper spoke about their experiences. NC Department of Justice Community Partnership and Outreach Coordinator Holly Jones, NC District 93 Rep. Ray Pickett and Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page discussed progress and intended actions related to fighting illicit fentanyl.
Local mom wants to spread awareness of the dangers of fentanyl
By Tessa Bradshaw at the Kernersville News June 1, 2023.
On Monday, 18 billboards went up around the Triad with faces of those the community has lost due tofentanyl poisoning. One of those faces was Walker town local Christian Wilson who died from fentanyl poisoning in 2019. The billboard reads, ‘join us and fight illicit fentanyl.Christian, Forever 19.
Christian’s mother, Crystal Wilson, of Walkertown, has made it her mission to help others who are going through this and to also help bring awareness to the rising issue of fentanyl in the county, state and country.
She explained that the 18 “angels” on the billboards, including her son, are only a fraction of the people that North Carolina has lost to fentanyl poisoning.
We say poisoning, not overdose. It is a poisoning because they don’t know what they’re taking.
An overdose is taking too much of a known substance.They don’tknow that this is there, so it’s considered a poisoning.
Crystal Wilson
This article is not available online, to read the full story from the Kernersville News, download the PDF scan of the article.
Burdened after Death: What you should know about North Carolina’s autopsy crisis
A severe autopsy backlog in North Carolina has added to the financial and emotional burdens of grieving families, a Charlotte Observer and News & Observer investigation revealed.
Here are three takeaways from Burdened after Death:
When people in North Carolina die unexpectedly, required medical investigations usually take more than 20 weeks. In nearly 1,400 cases since 2020, they took more than a year.
That crisis heaps more burdens on grieving family members during one of the worst periods of their lives. Some can’t touch funds they are entitled to inherit, leaving their biggest bills unpaid. Many must wait months for the answer to a burning question: Why did their loved one die?
The system is bogged down chiefly because there are too many bodies and too few pathologists and toxicologists to handle the load.
Read the full article on the Raleigh News and Observer web site.
NC’s major autopsy delays impact families, law enforcement
When someone dies unexpectedly in North Carolina, it can take months, or even more than a year, before a required autopsy is completed. The state’s huge delays leave families wondering and in limbo, unable to move on and do crucial things like claim insurance money. That’s according to an investigation by the The Charlotte Observer and News and Observer of Raleigh, which found the delays have grown significantly worse over the past decade.
Joining us now to talk more about it is The Charlotte Observer’s Ames Alexander, one of the reporters who wrote the story.
Read the full article or listen to the interview on the WFAE website.
WCSO arrests woman for death by distribution, first charge of it’s kind in Watauga
Other man to face similar charges once released from jail on unrelated case
- By Moss Brennan moss.brennan@wataugademocrat.com
- Jun 6, 2023 Updated Jun 6, 2023
WATAUGA — The Watauga County Sheriff’s Office has charged a woman with death by distribution in what is the first charge of its kind in the county.
Angelina G. Miller, 30, was arrested by the Alexander County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday, June 3, after WCSO notified Alexander County that she was likely in the area.
The secured bond for the death by distribution charge was set at $500,000 by Alexander County Magistrate’s Office. She received a court date for June 28, at 9 a.m. in Watauga County District Court.
According to the Watauga County warrant, Miller allegedly “unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously did sell narcotics, Fentanyl, which” killed someone due to an overdose of the Fentanyl. The warrant notes that the “offender did not act with malice.”
Look out for these new billboards raising awareness about North Carolina fentanyl deaths
Jeremiah Scales and 18 other faces are in rotation on two Winston-Salem billboards along Business 40.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Illicit fentanyl is a deadly drug.
According to the state Department of Health and Human Services, there was a 22% increase in Fentanyl deaths in North Carolina in 2021.
Families of 19 of those lives taken too soon were brave enough to put their loved one’s faces on display here in the Triad.
A roadside tribute to Jeremiah Scales warmed the hearts of his grandmother and mother Andrea Scales.
“To see his face on the screen with other angels who have lost their lives to such a deadly poison,” Scales said. “His beautiful face is still alive in his home city it means so much.”
Jeremiah and 18 other faces are in rotation on two Winston-Salem billboards along Business 40.
Read the full story on the WFMY website.
FENTVIC.ORG NC BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN
May 29-June 26, 2023, 24/7, digital and illuminated.
Winston-Salem, Forsyth County NC, 2 locations
Purpose is to raise awareness of the 13,376 NC victims of illicit fentanyl poisonings and to generate public safety conversations within communities and families about the dangers of illicit fentanyl, particularly counterfeit pills. Illicit fentanyl killed over 523 Forsyth County residents in the past 9 years, 2013-August 2022. (source: North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics, Vital Statistics Death Certificate Data)
These are the first billboards of the FENTVIC.ORG Campaign. They feature 19 NC illicit fentanyl poisoning victims with permission of their families. The campaign will run in other cities throughout NC exclusively featuring NC illicit fentanyl poisoning victims. Future campaign locations and dates TBD.
FENTVIC.ORG NC BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN
Administered by Fentanyl Victims Network of NC (fentvic), www.fentvic.org,
Barb Walsh, Executive Director, 919-614-3830, barb@fentvic.org. Fentvic is a charitable nonprofit located in Cary NC. EIN #88-3921380. Fentvic fights illicit fentanyl in NC. Fentvic advocates for public safety for all and justice for NC families permanently damaged by illicit fentanyl poisonings.
In partnership with Forgotten Victims of NC, Patricia Drewes, Founder, 252-204-9611, patriciadrewes@yahoo.com, link to FB page: http://forgottenvictimsofnc.org/
Campaign Locations & Artwork developed Adams Outdoor Advertising, Julie Belnap, Account Executive,336-926-3850 (cell), jbelnap@adamsoutdoor.com
FENTVIC.ORG NC BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN: 2 locations in Winston Salem, Forsyth County
- Digital Group One features NC fentanyl victims Alexandra, Christian, Gabriella, Heaven, Hunter, Jared, Jeremiah, Robert, Sophia, and Zack: Billboard location: sign 305-4. B40 .12 miles East of Stratford Road N, Exit 3C N/side of highway Facing west. You can park off Miller Street (near Publix) behind the Mayberry’s Restaurant to view this digital (parking lot area there for viewing) Google Maps.
- Digital Group Two features NC fentanyl victims Abigail, Ashley, Carissa, Chase, Marshall, Martin, Michiko, Mikey, Sophia, and Vincent. Billboard Location: sign 602-4. B40 .37 miles West of Old Greensboro Rd/ Linville Road (Exit 10)NS Facing west. Take Exit 10 to Linville Road, and head towards Smokin’ Harley Davidson dealer. Go past the dealer toward Pepsi plant (turn around and you can park on side of service road for viewing) Google Maps.
NC law that punishes drug dealers not widely used despite increase in overdose deaths
For three years, Logan Overcash and his family waited for answers and waited for justice.
“We’ve got closure, but it’s not the closure that we want,” Overcash said.
Overcash’s brother-in-law Cory Moore went missing in September 2020; five months later police found his body in a wooded area in Sanford.
Overcash remembers Moore as a great guy who was full of funny stories.
“You could pretty much put him in any social environment and he would adapt. You know what I mean? Like, he could he can talk to anyone,” Overcash remembered.
While Overcash said Moore battled some demons throughout his life, he was on the right path before his death.
“It was just kind of one of the things that, you know, we tried to protect him from it as much as we could, and I guess it just found its way back to him,” Overcash said.
An investigation later uncovered that Moore died from an overdose. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office went on to arrest the individual who they believed sold him the drugs with a charge called ‘ death by distribution.
Read the full article on the ABC11 website.