TRAFFIC STOP NETS UNDERAGE DRINKERS

By Jon Mayhew

LINCOLNTON -- A tag not attached properly to a vehicle lands two Vale women in jail for underage drinking.

Arrested Saturday around 11 p.m. were Lindsey Jewell Blalock, 20, of Hulls Grove Church Road and Laura Elizabeth Holmes, 20, Gantt Road, were stopped by Sgt. Jeremy Wilson in the parking lot of Little Market Basket on East Main Street.

According to Wilson, the license tag on Holmes' Mitsubishi Eclipse wasn't properly attached to her vehicle.

After she was taken into custody for provisional driving while impaired and having an open container, Holmes admitted she had been drinking earlier in the evening. At the scene, using the hand-held intoxilyzer, Holmes blew a .03.

Bond for Holmes was set at $300 secured. Her court date on the charges is set for January 16, 2009.

Blalock, meantime, was charged with underage drinking and having an open container. She also admitted she was drinking earlier in the evening that a beer in the vehicle was hers. Bond on her charges was set at $500 secured with her court date also being on January 16, 2009.