3 arrested in oil spill at Halifax bird sanctuary

Deputies said David Alston, Anthony Daye and Billy Ray Dickens were trying to get scrap metal from oil tankers at a nearby lumber mill when the leak happened.

Posted 9:47 p.m. May 14, 2008 — Updated 1:58 a.m. May 15, 2008

SCOTLAND NECK, N.C. — Three people have been charged in connection with an oil spill near a bird sanctuary in Scotland Neck.

David Earl Alston, Anthony Young Lamont Daye and Billy Ray Dickens were each charged Wednesday with one count of dumping a toxic substance and felony littering, Sgt. Doug Pilgreen, with the Halifax County Sheriff's Office, said.

Each man was in the Halifax County Jail Wednesday afternoon under a $20,000 bond.

Pilgreen said the investigation is ongoing and more charges are possible.

The three men were trying to get scrap metal from two abandoned tractor-trailers at a nearby lumber mill and allegedly poured oil out of them, Pilgreen said.

That oil spilled into a creek in wetlands on property at the Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park. Several animals were covered in oil, but none of the animals being held at the sanctuary were harmed.

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