Yet another agricultural spill has been added to a growing list of similar incidents across Sampson County in the last few years. This one occurred Monday morning after a tanker truck leaked what authorities believe was animal byproduct along Turkey Highway, temporarily shutting down part of the roadway and resulting in charges against the driver.
According to the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office, following an investigation, deputies located the suspected vehicle and identified the driver as Kenneth Higginbotham of Makin’ Moves Trucking Co. Inc., a company contracted by Smithfield Foods. This is the third such incident the driver and Making Moves have been involved in, according to authorities.
Ray Atkinson, senior director of external affairs with Smithfood Foods, said Makin’ Moves is a “third party contractor” with his company. He said the driver lost some of the truck’s contents near the commercial digester in Warsaw.
“The driver failed to stop and did not notify Smithfield, in violation of our protcols for contract haulers,” Atkinson said when contacted about the incident.
“We have spoken with the owner of the company and will be meeting with him today to restate our expectations that all drivers must stop and notify us immediately of any incident. We have already notified him that the driver involved in yesterday’s incident will no longer be allowed to haul for us,” Atkinson asserted.
The Turkey Volunteer Fire Department, Sampson County Emergency Management and law enforcement personnel responded to the July 13 incident after reports of an agricultural spill near the intersection of Turkey Highway and Moore Street. Firefighters blocked traffic between Hudson Road and Moore while crews assessed the situation, and a Heavy Recovery Team member worked to clean the contaminated roadway.
Turkey Fire Chief C.D. Vernon confirmed the incident involved “a byproduct spill.”
Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Marcus Smith confirmed that Higginbotham was issued criminal citations for failure to secure a load, unintentional littering involving 10 to 500 pounds of material, and failure to stop following certain spills from a vehicle.
“The penalties for these violations will be up to the court,” Smith said.
Authorities kept the affected stretch of roadway partially closed Monday while cleanup crews worked to remove the material and make the highway safe for motorists.
The incident is the latest in a string of agricultural spills that have occurred throughout Sampson County and within the city limits of Clinton, prompting repeated responses from emergency personnel and renewed concerns about properly securing loads during transport.
Sheriff’s authorities confirmed that Monday’s spill also marks the third reported incident involving Making Moves Trucking Co. Inc and Higginbotham in just over a year. The company was previously involved in an agricultural spill on U.S. Highway 24 near Bass Lake Road on Jan. 16, 2026, and another on Highway 24 at Railroad Street in Clinton on April 2, 2025. In both previous cases, the driver was charged with failing to secure the load and unintentional littering.
With multiple agricultural spills occurring across the county in recent months, local emergency responders have repeatedly been called upon to contain spills, protect motorists and oversee cleanup operations, underscoring the importance of properly securing loads before transport.
Clinton Mayor Lew Starling, who has been adamant that lawmakers need to put stronger enforcement teeth into laws dealing with agricultural waste spilled onto roadways, drafted a letter Tuesday to Makin’ Moves owners addressing the latest incident.
While the incident did not take place in the city limits, city officials assisted during the incident.
In a letter to Dillon Barnes of Makin’ Moves, located on Basstown Road, Starling pointed out his thoughts on why many of the spills are occurring.
“On April 2, 2025, a Makin’ Moves truck had an agricultural spill in Clinton. On Jan. 16, 2026, a Makin’ Moves Truck had another agriculture spill, and on July 13, 2026, a third spill occurred. Those spills occur when a truck that is not designed to transport liquid materials accelerated suddenly, which caused them to spill portions of their load onto the roadway.”
Starling emphasized in the letter that the spills, in his estimation, “are a hazard and inconvenience to the motoring public, deteriorate the quality of life in our community, and require a great deal of the city’s resources to respond.”
Starling noted in the letter that he had spoken with Austin Smith of Smithfield Foods about the incident.
“He has explained that they are working with you, as their contractor, to upfit the trailers to make them more spill proof. The expectation is that this will greatly decrease the number of spills by your trucks.”
Starling further told Barnes in the letter that Smith had said “when a driver has a spill, they are to stop and call for cleanup,” helping to lighten the load of public safety resources that are being spent on these spills.
The mayor ended his letter by offering to discuss any issues with Barnes.
In early June, the mayor and city personnel were called to what he called “the worst spill” he had witnessed along U.S. 421 within the city limits, an incident that involved whole hog carcasses that fell from a truck onto the highway.
“Something has got to be done about this,” Starling said at the time. “This has got to stop. These companies and these drivers have got to take this seriously.”
The July 13 incident remains under investigation by the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office. No injuries were reported.