The new head of the state agency charged with busting illegal video poker took a $500 campaign contribution from a man who has backed legalizing the gambling games.

John Ledford was sworn in as director of state Alcohol Law Enforcement Wednesday in Madison County, where he has severed as sheriff the last 10 years.

In raising funds for his most recent reelection campaign in 2006, Ledford accepted a $500 contribution from Howard Cole of Weaverville, owner of Cole Vending Co.

Cole has been a leader in the video poker industry's political efforts to win legalization and has been a frequent contributor to the campaigns of Democrats such as former House Speaker Jim Black and fomer Gov. Mike Easley, as well as committees seeking to elect Republican candidates.

Dome was unable to review finance reports from Ledford's earlier campaigns because the offices of the Madison County Board of Elections were flooded by Hurricane Francis in 2004, destroying those records, according to the county's elections director.

Ledford, who worked as an ALE agent for five years in the 1990s before resigning to become sheriff, could not be reached for comment Thursday. He replaces Bill Chandler, who retired suddenly last month following reports in The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer about ALE's handling of firearms, including two missing assault rifles.

Update: Ledford said Thursday afternoon he was aware Cole had ties to video poker when he accepted the donation. Weaverville is in Buncombe County, which borders Madison County.

"I know who he is," Ledford said. "It's a small community. Everybody kind of knows everybody, or at least if you run a business. That's basically the way I know the man."

Ledford said the contribution would in no way affect how he does his job. 

"I'll do what I've always done as a law enforcement officer — I'm going to carry out the duties of my office fairly and impartially," he said.

Drivers under 21 could soon get vertical licenses.

Under a bill being considered by state legislators, drivers who aren't old enough to buy alcohol would have licenses that are turned on their side to make it easier for store clerks to spot them.

Twenty-one other states have used the approach, and the N.C. Child Fatality Task Force is pushing the idea.

State driver's clienses are now color-coded in a red-yellow-green system that signals clerks when buyers are old enough to buy tobacco (over 18) and alcohol (over 21). Store clerks also have calendars, notices and cash register gadgets to help them.

But state Alcohol Law Enforcement survyes have shown that more than half the clerks who check IDs from underage buyers still sell them alcohol.

The statistics indicate "a problem with those vendors accurately reading the IDs," said Selena Childs, the task force's executive director. (N&O)

Mixed martial arts could come to North Carolina.

The Senate unanimously passed a bill today that allows mixed martial arts matches, once the Alcohol Law Enforcement division of the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety come up with regulations for them.

The sport uses techniques from different traditions of martial arts, boxing and wrestling. Its godfather is Bruce Lee, who came up with a system called Jeet Kune Do in the 1960s.

Sen. Katie Dorsett, a Greensboro Democrat, said that the matches are "a new sport" popular in the military that "provides not only fun but fitness as well."

One colleague said the bill made him nervous.

"I'm kind of reluctant to even question this bill," joked Sen. William Purcell, "having seen this guy at the Finance committee the other day who could probably take care of five or six of us at one time."

The bill heads back to the House for concurrence.

Correction: An earlier post had an incorrect home town for Dorsett.