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Ice Cube - It Was A Good Day (HD)

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 18:33:00 +0000

Type your summary hereType rest of the post here

Mix and Match Garden Ready Plants

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 03:21:00 +0000

http://www.burpee.com/mixmatch/?cid=EM_2011_03_05_MixMatchPlants-Non&

Suspicious death of 15-month-old prompts SBI to seize Swain DSS computers

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 19:26:00 +0000

The State Bureau of Investigation raided Swain County Department of Social Services Tuesday, hauling off computers and records in an investigation allegedly tied to the death of Aubrey Littlejohn, a 15-month-old baby who died Jan. 10.

Littlejohn was brought to a hospital emergency room at 3:30 a.m. that day, according to an affidavit filed to establish probable cause by the Swain County Sheriff’s Department. The 15-month-old’s left arm was fractured, and she had a bruise on her forehead. Interviews of people staying at the residence, a singlewide trailer at 187 Kenneth Cooper Road off U.S. 19 between Cherokee and Bryson City, revealed the baby had been left strapped in a car seat for about 12 hours.

“During that time period, Aubrey was not removed from the car seat, given food or drink except for some bites from a hotdog and sips of a soda around 5 p.m. that evening. Aubrey’s diaper was not changed during this time period,” the affidavit stated.

When the baby was admitted to the hospital, she was dressed only in a t-shirt and a urine-soaked, feces-filled diaper.

“Infant was limp and very cold to the touch, skin color dusky blue,” according to the affidavit, which noted law enforcement interviews indicated “abuse and neglect” contributed to the baby’s death.

DSS workers had repeatedly been called to the home where the baby lived over the past year, but failed to remove her, The Smoky Mountain News was told.

That’s what angers David Wijewikrama, an attorney in Waynesville.

“The Departments of Social Services across the state have had needless deaths occur multiple times a year because officials involved fail to follow up and do their jobs in the necessary manner,” Wijewickrama said.

The child had been living with her great-aunt, Ladybird Powell, because the child’s mother, Jasmine Littlejohn, was in jail on unrelated drug charges, he said. While they are members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Aubrey Littlejohn lived off the reservation in Swain County. That’s why Swain County DSS was the agency tasked with investigating claims of abuse.

According to Veronica Callahan, next door neighbor of Ladybird Powell, there were often lots of cars and trucks at Powell’s trailer at all hours of the night. Callahan said that children were outside the home as late as 2 a.m., and just this past fall several children were sleeping in a tent in the trailer’s backyard. Callahan said Powell would lock the children out of the house and not allow them back in.

She said sheriff’s deputies and DSS workers were at the house repeatedly responding to complaints.

“It’s horrifying,” said Callahan. “A baby has no voice. I really hope this doesn’t get washed away.”

Tuesday, Michell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, declined to comment directly on the investigation, but did say: “we remain committed to following through to ensure justice is served in this case.”

Additionally, Hicks said the tribe had hired a private investigator to help provide “a more comprehensive level of information in this case.”

Swain County Sheriff Curtis Cochran said his department is investigating the child’s death, but has not yet determined what if any charges might be filed against her caregivers. District Attorney Mike Bonfoey also confirmed the existence of an investigation, but declined to comment further. State and local DSS officials failed to return phone calls requesting comment before press time.

Wijewickrama has been retained by the child’s mother, who, he said, is devastated by her baby’s death while in the care of a relative. She retained him in a civil capacity to look into possible negligence by DSS.

“She’s sad. She is devastated. She wants to see if there is a law that can be passed that forces DSS to immediately remove children if there are visible signs of abuse,” Wijewickrama said. “What makes me angry is that DSS went to the house of Ladybird (Powell) and removed other children. They knew she was abusive but failed to remove 15-month-old Aubrey and provide her a safe placement.”

Staff writer Quintin Ellison contributed to this report.

http://www.smokymountainnews.com/news/item/3276-fbi-investigates-infant-death-in-swain

NC Democratic Party picks Parker as next leader

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 22:56:00 +0000

RALEIGH — North Carolina Democrats have picked Democratic National Committee member David Parker as the next leader of their state party.

Outgoing Chairman David Young says executive committee members Saturday elected the Statesville attorney to a two-year term during a meeting in Raleigh.

Parker defeated current state Rep. Bill Faison of Orange County and former state party First Vice Chair Dannie Montgomery of Anson County. Young did not seek a second term.

The candidates have had critical words about the party in 2010, saying it lacked a unified message. Parker has said he would immediately create an association of county chairmen and hold "breakout sessions" for members to talk about issues such as new media, community organization and small business.

http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20110129/NEWS/110129022

UN Special Rapporteur visits Cherokee

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 18:34:00 +0000

The U.S. Department of Justice reports that 1 out of every 3 American Indian women will be raped in their lifetime and 75 percent will be physically assaulted. Rashica Manjoo, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, visited Cherokee on Friday, Jan. 28 to gather information on the problem in Indian Country.

Rest of the post here: http://www.nc-cherokee.com/theonefeather/2011/01/28/un-special-rapporteur-visits-cherokee/

Count of Asheville homeless continues today

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 14:29:00 +0000

ASHEVILLE — Staff from homeless agencies and volunteers will continue to tally the city’s homeless population today.

The annual Point in Time Count, which started Wednesday, will include individuals and families staying outside, in shelters and in other housing programs.

The annual event is part of a nationwide effort to track homelessness and spot trends to better serve that community. Collected information includes demographics, causes of homelessness, where people are sleeping, and information about chronic homelessness, veteran status, and other data.

The local results will be released later this year.

For more information, e-mail Homeless Initiative coordinator Amy Sawyer at asawyer@ashevillenc.gov or visit www.ashevillenc.gov/homeless.

Ex-jailer arrested again

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:46:00 +0000

SYLVA — The former Swain County jailer charged with helping a murder suspect escape and fleeing with him to California was arrested again – this time in connection with the burglary of a home where detectives said they found counterfeit money.

Anita Kaye Vestal, 34, of Cooper's Creek, Bryson City, is charged with felony conspiracy and felony possession of stolen property in connection with a Saturday break-in at a home in Barker's Creek.

She was released on bond.

Also arrested were:

• Dylan Keith Wahnetah, 24, of Tom McCoy Road, Cherokee, charged with one count of felony breaking and entering, one count of felony larceny and one count of felony possession of stolen property.

• Zachary Gale Rattler, 26, of Catolster Johnson Road, Cherokee, charged with one count of felony breaking and entering, one count of felony larceny and one count of felony possession of stolen property.

Both men were in jail in lieu of $5,000 bail each.

Vestal is suspected of helping Jeffery Czechonna Miles escape from the Swain County jail where she worked in March 2009. He was awaiting trial for the murders of two men.

A police SWAT team Vallejo, Calif., arrested Miles and Vestal a month later.

Miles on Dec. 28 pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the 2008 shooting deaths of Heath Compton, 34, and 33-year-old Scott Wiggins inside Wiggins' home in Swain County. He got life in prison.

He was among a group of six people who went to the house to rob the men, according to court testimony. One of his codefendants also pleaded guilty during the December court session.

Vestal is charged in that case with helping Miles escape, obstructing justice, conveying messages to prisoners, and providing drugs to an inmate.

The inmate was Rattler, and she was arrested with him on Saturday, according to court papers filed in Swain County.

She's also charged with felony accessory after the fact in the Wiggins and Compton killings.

Vestal has an administrative court date set for Feb. 7 in the escape and homicide-related cases. A trial date could be set during the hearing.

She has a Feb. 1 court date on the burglary-related charges.

Investigators believe the three stole tools and electronics from the home.

Detectives handling the burglary case discovered counterfeit money in the house and arrested a man who lived there, according to Major Steve Lillard of the Jackson County Sheriff's Office.

They charged 37-year-old Danny William Ratliff with felony forgery of an instrument, five counts of felony possession of counterfeit money, one count of felony possession with intent to sell methamphetamine, and other drug-related charges.

He is in jail in lieu of $2,500 bail.

http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20110126/NEWS/301260030

25 in Asheville area face sex-crime charges

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 15:36:00 +0000

ASHEVILLE — A multiagency investigation into the “dark shadows of the Internet” led to the arrest of 25 Western North Carolina people on child pornography and other sex-crime charges.

Between June and October, Western North Carolina sheriffs, along with municipal, state and federal agencies, investigated potential child pornography cases and unregistered convicted sex offenders.

Search warrants were served this month in Buncombe, Cherokee, Haywood, Henderson, Macon and Polk counties. Several of the individuals are accused of using the Internet to view child pornography or solicit sex with a minor.

“This used to be an invisible crime, and there are still some in our society who think (viewing) child pornography is a victimless crime,” said Grier Weeks, the director of the National Association to Protect Children. One-third of those who view child pornography have committed sex crimes against children, Weeks said.

Buncombe County Sheriff's Lt. Randy Sorrels said the individuals arrested were identified through a variety of techniques, but many were identified through cyber-investigations. In some instances, law enforcement officials built the cases based on suspects' visits to particular websites or the use of peer-to-peer networks to view child pornography.

The investigation “reached into the dark shadows of the Internet,” Jackson County Sheriff Jimmy Ashe said.

While the local agencies had to depend on federal agencies for some of the investigations, Sorrels said local agencies are starting to develop the expertise to conduct cyber-investigations.

Cherokee County Sheriff Keith Lovin said the new investigative techniques allow law enforcement to trace child pornography on the Internet back to the source of the crime. Law enforcement officials can follow videos as they are passed from one computer to the next. “This is another war,” Lovin said. “You hear about the war against terrorism. This is a war against our children.”

Rep. Heath Shuler, D-Waynesville, helped pass the Protect Our Children Act, which allocated federal resources to combat Internet child pornography. Shuler said he was proud of the work that local law enforcement officers did by arresting the individuals.

“They were able to take this money and utilize it to stop the assault on our children,” Shuler said.

The operation is ongoing, and more arrests are possible in the future.

Leaf expert says expect colorful fall in mountains

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:41:00 +0000

Leaf expert says expect colorful fall in mountains
October 04, 2010 08:33 EDT
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A college professor who predicts how vivid the fall foliage will be in the mountains says this year's colors should be better than average.

Associate Professor Kathy Gould Mathews of Western North Carolina University told The Knoxville News Sentinel the hot and slightly dry summer have set the stage for a colorful autumn in the mountains of East Tennessee and western North Carolina.

Mathews specializes in plant systematics and says trees and shrubs that were well established weren't harmed by the heat and dry weather and should produce more vibrant colors because of the conditions.

Assistant Tourism Commissioner Phyllis Qualls-Brooks says the autumn color season is a major source of tourism revenue in the mountain region.

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Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel, http://www.knoxnews.com

UNC student's killer gets federal life sentence

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 20:12:00 +0000

UNC student's killer gets federal life sentence

UNC student's killer gets federal life sentence
September 23, 2010 11:18 EDT
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) -- The man who admitted killing the student body president at the University of North Carolina has been sentenced to life in prison plus 10 years for his crimes.

Demario Atwater learned his sentence Thursday in federal court in Winston-Salem.

U.S. attorney spokeswoman Lynne Klauer said Atwater got a life sentence for charges including kidnapping and carjacking resulting in death. The extra 10 years comes because he used a sawed-off shotgun.

Atwater pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other charges in state court in May. His guilty pleas to both state and federal charges avoided a possible death penalty.

Atwater admitted to shooting Athens, Ga., native Eve Carson in March 2008. Her body was found about a mile from campus in Chapel Hill.

Will Sandy Mush get nuclear waste?

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 18:27:00 +0000

The rumors have been circulating since early spring: is the Department of Energy once again considering a nuclear waste repository in Sandy Mush?

Those who lived here in the 1980s remember well the groundswell of opposition that arose when the federal government seriously considered burying much of the nation’s nuclear waste about 14 miles from downtown Marshall.

The governor, house representatives and even the late Sen. Jesse Helms railed against the plan. Local residents met with Vice President George Bush to argue against putting the dump here.

On April 4, 1986, a public hearing regarding the proposed nuclear waste dump lasted nine hours, so many people in Sandy Mush and across the region opposed the dump.

The proposal involved a 105-square-mile swath of land overlapping parts of Madison, Buncombe and Haywood counties and completely blanketing the community of Sandy Mush. It was one of 12 sites in the eastern half of the nation under consideration for the storage of radioactive refuse left over from nuclear power plants.

According to reports from the time, the Department of Energy thought a 10,000-foot thick layer of granite beneath Sandy Mush might be just what was needed for the long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel. But opponents argued that the rock was broken and faulty, and that ground water could cause the metal cases holding the waste to corrode.

In May of 1986, the Department of Energy announced the 12 proposed sites in the Eastern half of the United States were “postponed indefinitely,” according to reports of the time.

The federal government decided to build a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada in 1987.

Fast forward to 2009. Mary Olson, a WNC resident and environmentalist who has studied nuclear power, wrote an opinion piece in the Mountain Xpress last year suggesting that the proposal to bury nuclear waste in Sandy Mush could be returning to the federal government’s drawing board.

“That proposal was only shelved, not canceled when the Nevada Yucca site was selected,” Olson wrote in a Dec. 8, 2008, letter to the Asheville Citizen-Times . “An Eastern repository is due for reconsideration by Congress in 2010.”

Then three months ago, the president asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to “withdraw the license application for a high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.”

Yucca Mountain is close to Las Vegas, and according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “Energy Secretary Steven Chu has said Yucca Mountain is not a workable option for waste disposal because of such factors as the difficulty of securing permanent water rights in the face of Nevada's opposition and the prospect for storing the waste above ground in dry casks for more than 100 years.”

In a statement posted on the Department of Energy website, general counsel Scott Blake Harris wrote: "President Obama is fully committed to ensuring that the nation meets our long-term storage obligations for nuclear waste. In light of the decision not to proceed with the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, the president directed Secretary Chu to establish the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future to conduct a comprehensive review of policies for managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle and to provide recommendations for developing a safe, long-term solution to managing the nation's used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste."

Olson said the Blue Ribbon Commission will write the policies on the disposal of nuclear waste, among other things.

“The Obama administration is pursuing the idea of sending the waste that would have gone to Yucca to South Carolina for processing,” Olson said. “If they do that, then Sandy Mush is one of two sites closest to the Department of Energy site where the ‘recycling’ of the waste would be done.”

But that’s just conjecture. In a meeting earlier this year, the Blue Ribbon Commission hadn’t yet come up with policies by which to choose sites, much less chosen any sites for the nuclear waste. Nonetheless, finding a place to bury nuclear waste is front and center on the list.

A presentation to the commission by the Congressional Research Service reintroduced a 1986 map of the 12 possible waste sites – including Sandy Mush – that was labeled “proposed potentially acceptable sites and candidate areas for second repository.” The CRS wasn’t saying Sandy Mush was a target in 2010 – in fact, it noted that it “does not advocate policy.” But it did resurrect the map saying the WNC site had once been considered “acceptable” for storing nuclear waste, as part of a slideshow demonstrating the history of the Department of Energy’s 40-year struggle to find a place to store nuclear waste.

“It looks as though the commission should recommend that the nation begin a search for another repository,” said Greg R. White, who spoke at the May 25 meeting on behalf of National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. “Whether the commission recommends reprocessing or continued long-term storage at existing sites, we recognize that the time necessary to go through this process is going to be extensive,” White said.

“If a new repository search is to begin, the whole criteria and procedure, even the question of what organization should conduct it, should be examined,” he said.

But White himself questioned how the DOE could find a suitable place to store nuclear waste. “If a seemingly attractive site such as Yucca Mountain, often referred to as ‘the most studied piece of real estate on Earth,’ cannot be developed for a repository, does that mean it will be as difficult or even more difficult in another site in another state?”

Dorothy Lee, who lives in Little Sandy Mush just inside the Madison County line, said she first heard rumors that Sandy Mush was back on the proposed list for a waste site from a neighbor. But when she was working at the Sandy Mush precinct during the May primary election, she says many people came in asking about the rumored nuclear waste dump.

Lee, who draws the weekly editorial cartoons for the News-Record & Sentinel , said she and many of her neighbors fear that plans to widen Leicester Highway are actually just one step toward the area being chosen as the site for a nuclear waste dump.

Land-of-Sky Regional Council transportation planner Carrie Runser-Turner sounded surprised of such rumors when asked about it a few days before the monthly meeting of the Land-of-Sky Transportation Advisory Committee. (The Land-of-Sky offices are, ironically, located on Leicester Highway.)

Runser-Turner said the proposal to widen Leicester Highway has long been on the North Carolina public improvement plan. She said the idea is to widen the highway between the intersection of Gilbert Road and Newfound Road.

The ‘disposal subcommittee’ of the federal Blue Ribbon Nuclear Commission was set to meet in Washington on July 7 to address this question: “How can the U.S. go about establishing one or more disposal sites for high-level nuclear wastes in a manner that is technically, politically and socially acceptable?”

And for Sandy Mush residents, that final question is the key. For them, it can never be ‘socially acceptable.’

To learn more about the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, go to http://brc.gov

Woman pleads guilty stealing from NC charity

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 12:23:00 +0000

June 29, 2010 07:42 EDT
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- The former head of a North Carolina charity that provided gifts to needy children is free while awaiting sentencing after she pleaded guilty to embezzling.

The Charlotte Observer reported that Cindy Brady pleaded guilty Monday to three counts of embezzlement for taking money from the Giving Tree program from 2007 to 2009. Prosecutors say it's unclear how much the 50-year-old Brady must repay.

She retired in August after more than 20 years as a county social worker. She also has served as director of the Giving Tree program run by the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services to give Christmas and other gifts to needy children.

Brady was released on a $25,000 unsecured bond until sentencing. Each of the three embezzlement charges carries a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

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Information from: The Charlotte Observer, http://www.charlotteobserver.com

Marriott eyes expansion of Fresh Market project

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 17:12:00 +0000

RUTHERFORDTON — The prodigious growth of the Foothills Connect farm program has inspired talk of making the effort a regional or even a national model for helping rebuild the nation’s food system.

Read more: The Digital Courier - Marriott eyes expansion of Fresh Market project

On Friday, representatives from Marriott were in town to hear a presentation from Foothills Connect Director Tim Will on the possibility of making the current Farmers Fresh Market initiative, which began by selling produce to the Marriott in Charlotte, a regional endeavor.

Foothills Connect Business & Technology Center set up an Internet-based marketing program that has allowed Rutherford County farmers to sell their produce to Charlotte restaurants and individuals. The effort is a source of revenue for farmers and a source of farm-fresh produce for upscale metropolitan eateries.

Among those attending the meeting was Bob Mallak, area director of operations-Americas, for Marriott International, of Bethesda, Md.

As area director, he said he has responsibility for 72 hotels that run from Philadelphia into the Carolinas, West Virginia and Tennessee.

Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, of Rutherfordton, attended the meeting at Foothills Connect to hear an update on the Foothills effort and to talk about how the program might help Marriott.

He noted, for example, that the use of local, fresh produce in other Marriott restaurants could be marketed as being “from America’s farms to you.”

The lieutenant governor told the Marriott officials, “Tim (Will) has been a great promoter of what is going on here.”

He noted that former North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt was impressed with Will’s presentation at the Institute for Emerging Issues forum in February.

“This is a success story that you can market in many ways,” Dalton said. He said the subliminal message could be, “Come to Marriott and save America.” Dalton told the Marriott executives it is a message that would resonate with people.

Marriott’s Mallak commented that Jean-Pierre Marechal, executive chef at Charlotte Marriott City Center, who helped launch the Charlotte initiative, has seen the program “grow by leaps and bounds” over the last four years.

Also on hand at the meeting to support the continued growth of the Marriott connection was Paul McIntosh, Rutherford County commissioner.

He said that Foothills Connect was conceived seven years ago as a traditional business incubator. He added that the successful farm to market program that developed “has created many small businesses.”

He said he is hopeful that the program can be launched nationally.

Will explained the birth and early growth of the Foothills Connect initiative and talked about expanding vistas in the near future.

Foothills Connect is a proponent of intensive cultivation of small acreages using sustainable practices.

Will commented Friday that when he first started looking at launching a farm program, he found out that the average return per acre on farmland in Rutherford County was $102. And the reason for that, he said, is because farmers were growing hay, which is not a high-value product.

Will realized that the huge market for produce in Charlotte, only 74 miles away, was untapped. That is when he launched the Internet farmers market to link Rutherford County farmers and Charlotte restaurateurs.

And he commented on the R-S Central High School farm program, where scrubland was converted into productive acres using goats, pigs and chickens to clear the land.

The Marriott executives later visited R-S Central and Earthperks, an organic supply source for farms, gardens and homes.

As an example of what to expect in the future at Foothills Connect, Will noted that Foothills Connect has been made a regional training center for Growing Power Inc., a large-scale urban version of the farming program here.

Marechal, of Marriott, said, “Success is a relationship.” People have forgotten the real taste of food, he noted, so when they taste fresh vegetables they realize the big difference, and are happy. That makes farmers and restaurants happy, he said, adding that working with fresh food is even a boost for the people working in the kitchen, since it makes them more creative. “It generates interest at all levels,” he said.

Marechal said chefs are pleased because they are “not buying from the cooler; they are buying from the field.”

And Mallak noted that the food system “landscape is being reset.”

That resetting of food priorities, Foothills Connect hopes, will cause the Farmers Fresh Market approach to have regional, and even national, significance.

Contact Dale via e-mail at ldale@thedigitalcourier.com

Read more: The Digital Courier - Marriott eyes expansion of Fresh Market project
http://thedigitalcourier.com/view/full_story/7805765/article-Marriott-eyes-expansion-of-Fresh-Market-project-?instance=main_article

Graham sheriff, board bicker over office space

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Fri, 28 May 2010 13:14:00 +0000

ROBBINSVILLE — The crowd at the Graham County commissioners meeting grumbled as the board voted to rent a vacant building near the courthouse and designate it the temporary Sheriff's Office.

Some in the audience started to speak, but Chairwoman Sandra Smith stopped them.

“The public has no say whatsoever with what we do about county buildings,” she said.

Almost as soon as the words left her mouth the lone uniformed deputy walked out.

And with that, Graham became North Carolina's only county with two Sheriff's Offices — one the commissioners want and the other occupied by Sheriff Russell Moody.

It's been nearly two weeks since an arsonist burned the Sheriff's Office on South Main Street in this county of about 8,000 people near the Tennessee line.

Authorities have arrested a man they say set the fire in the middle of the night to destroy drug evidence in a case against him. No one was injured.

The fire has gotten statewide attention. Gov. Bev Perdue personally called Moody to offer assistance.

The N.C. Sheriff's Association has offered to pay Moody's rent for three months at a former bank building on U.S. 129 where he has set up temporary headquarters.

Moody, who is running for re-election, said he has pledges from other sheriffs and the community to make rent through December, when new county leaders are sworn in.

Commissioners last week indicated they didn't want the bank because with a $1,200 a month it would cost twice as much as the Millsaps building next to the courthouse and jail.

County leaders also balked at terms of the bank lease. The county would have to leave all installed equipment, including telephones, inside the building at the end of the term and pay insurance and property taxes while the sheriff was using it, according to the document.

The disagreement between the county commissioners and the sheriff has nearly overshadowed the crime, which marks the first time an arsonist has destroyed a Sheriff's Office in North Carolina.

The board voted 4-1 for the Millsaps building. The building has been closed for about two years and has developed a musty smell, county officials have said.

Moody said there's no parking for his patrol cars and nowhere to secure evidence. The bank is new, has plenty of parking and has a vault for evidence storage.

Commissioner Bruce Snyder was the lone no vote. He said he voted against the Millsaps building because prolonged tension between the board and the sheriff would only cause problems.

Graham County resident Tim Ditmore was one of several residents who walked out of the meeting Thursday.

Outside the meeting hall, Ditmore said the board's decision to pay $600 a month for a building the sheriff has refused to use was appalling. He said the county's voters would make changes.

“The decisions they are making are ridiculous,” he said.

http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20100528/NEWS/305280043

Marion Walmart evacuated after chem exposure

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Wed, 19 May 2010 15:41:00 +0000

MARION — The Wal-Mart store in Marion was evacuated and a dozen people were taken to the hospital after exposure to chemicals in the air, authorities said.

The patients suffered respiratory and eye irritation, but Marion Fire Chief Jim Neal said he doesn’t believe anyone was seriously injured.

Neal said a store employee cleaning bathrooms apparently mixed bleach with an absorbent and a chemical used in recreational vehicle septic tanks.

“It could have been a reaction between what she mixed together that caused the problem,” he said. “We do know that some kind of strong irritant resulted from it.”

McDowell County Emergency Medical Services Director William Kehler said personnel responded to the store on U.S. 70 around 6 p.m. Tuesday following a report of someone having difficulty breathing in the rear of the building.

The store was immediately evacuated and 12 people with respiratory and eye irritations were taken to the emergency department at McDowell County Hospital, he said. Twelve others were taken evaluated at the scene but refused transport.

Neal said the store was ventilated and reopened later that night.

NC man who killed 4 in 1988 will be released

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Sun, 16 May 2010 11:35:00 +0000

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) -- A North Carolina judge has ordered the release of a man who has spent 20 years in a mental institution after being found not guilty by reason of insanity of killing four people and wounding five others in 1988.

The Winston-Salem Journal reported that Michael Hayes will be released after a case manager determines Hayes can meet conditions set Friday by Judge Steve Balog. It is unclear how long that will take.

Hayes has been held at Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh since he was found not guilty in 1989.

During a two-day hearing last week, seven psychologists and psychiatrists testified Hayes is not dangerous and no longer suffers from a personality disorder.

Family members of Hayes' victims say they think he should remain in custody.

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Information from: Winston-Salem Journal, http://www.journalnow.com

As summer nears, expect gas prices to go ... down?

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Wed, 12 May 2010 13:51:00 +0000

Gas prices are poised to fall as Memorial Day approaches, a welcome change for motorists who have gotten used to seeing increases cut into their summer vacation money.

Experts who had been predicting a national average of more than $3 per gallon by Memorial Day now say prices have likely peaked just beneath that threshold. Rising supplies and concerns about the global economy have helped send wholesale gasoline prices plummeting by 25 cents a gallon since last week.

"Gasoline supplies are about as good as they've ever been going into the summer driving season," says oil analyst Phil Flynn of PFGBest in Chicago.

The decline in prices is starting to filter down to motorists, but it will take several weeks for the full effects to be reflected in pump prices, which average $2.91 nationwide.

By summer, the nationwide average could be below last summer's peak of around $2.70 a gallon, says Tom Kloza of Oil Price Information Service. In July 2008, the retail price of regular gasoline peaked at $4.11.

Economists say the coming drop in energy costs will not have a significant impact on overall consumer spending or economic growth. But motorists will feel better having a little more money to save or spend on clothes, dinner or a summer vacation.

Chrystal Harned, who paid $3.01 a gallon the other day, says she will be more likely to take a road trip this summer if prices fall.

"It's good to go see people and get out of the town and spread your wings a little bit," says the 36-year-old waitress and bartender, who lives just outside Rochester, N.Y. She says business is picking up these days, but "you don't want to put it all in the gas tank."

Since May 3, oil prices have declined by 12 percent to $76.20 a barrel. Wholesale gasoline prices have declined by 10 percent to $2.19 a gallon.

Analysts were forecasting a nationwide retail average well above $3 a gallon just a few months ago. So what changed?

— The European debt crisis escalated. This undermined confidence in the strength of the global economic recovery and prompted analysts to lower their energy demand forecasts. The crisis also sent institutional investors flocking to the dollar, a relative safe haven. And, these days, when the dollar goes up, the price of oil goes down.

— Supplies of gasoline have risen steadily. As of April 30, the U.S. had 225 million barrels of gasoline in storage — about 5 percent more than a year ago. Output from refineries has been growing at a faster pace than demand.

— Political unrest in oil-producing nations has been muted. This is a wild card that could change quickly. But lately, violence in Nigeria and tensions in the Middle East have been relatively minor, traders say.

The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has had no impact on fuel prices because it's had only minimal impact on petroleum production, analysts say.

Predictions of $3-a-gallon gas have come true in 10 states, including California, Hawaii, Illinois, New York and Nevada. Distance from the nation's refining hub along the Gulf Coast or high taxes are contributing factors.

If pump prices fall by 25 cents per gallon — in line with the decline at the wholesale level — that will knock about $12.50 off the fuel bill of a typical motorist burning 50 gallons a month.

Economist Ken Mayland of ClearView Economics suspects most drivers will view the lower prices as temporary and that they'll pocket the savings.

The federal government's Energy Information Administration has been forecasting a nationwide average of $3 a gallon for at least a part of the driving season. It's not ready to concede that gasoline prices have reached their high point.

EIA's Tancred Lidderdale said a resolution to the debt crisis in Europe, a decline in the dollar and fresh signs of global economic growth could send oil prices back up.

"The market is volatile," he says.

http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20100512/NEWS/100512011

More voters choose ‘no party' in Buncombe Co.

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Sun, 02 May 2010 18:00:00 +0000

For Hope Brainard, being politically engaged doesn't necessarily mean engaging in party politics.

Like a growing number of voters in Buncombe County, the UNC Asheville student doesn't think she fits neatly into the mold of a Democrat or Republican. So when she registered to vote, she chose “unaffiliated.”

“I feel that both parties actually restrain the process of democracy,” she said. “To be affiliated with one or the other, you are putting yourself in a polarized position.”

Buoyed in part by young voters like Brainard, the ranks of the unaffiliated have grown by 7 percent over the past six years in Buncombe, outpacing a similar trend nationwide and across North Carolina.

But predicting how this swing will affect primary contests Tuesday and the November general election will be no easy task as Democrats try to keep ground gained with President Barack Obama's election and Republicans bank on worry over the economy.

“The unaffiliated voter is very hard to peg down,” Mars Hill College political science department chairman Barry Sharpe said. “It's a group that doesn't really exist in any form.”

People registering as unaffiliated rose from 21 percent in 2004 to 28 percent now, the same number as registered Republicans. Democrats account for 44 percent of registered voters.

Nonparty voters make up 23 percent of registered voters in North Carolina, with the figure nationwide at about 25 percent.

Why no party

Voters give a variety of reasons for skipping party affiliation. Those range from anti-partisan feelings to wanting more options — since an unaffiliated voter in North Carolina can choose to vote in either a Democratic or Republican primary.

For some, it's simply that they don't see themselves as political animals, though they want to vote.

“I think I just had to make a quick decision, and I don't really follow politics,” said Amber Goodman, 26, of Swannanoa.

On the other hand, James Morgan, who lives just north of Asheville in Beaverdam Valley, said he is politically minded, but he doesn't feel either party completely captures his political philosophy.

“I guess if somebody were to pin me down, I would say I'm fiscally conservative and socially liberal,” the 69-year-old “semi-retired” real estate agent said.

It's hard to track unaffiliated voters because by definition they don't belong to a group. But some things are known.

They are younger than people registered with parties, according to county voter data analyzed by the Citizen-Times. Thirty-seven percent are 26-40 in age. Among Democrats, 23 percent are age 26-40 years and 22 percent of Republicans fall in that age range.

Unaffiliated voters look to be evenly split among men and women at 50 percent apiece. In the parties, women outnumber men, most greatly among Democrats where they make up 58 percent.

Unaffiliated voters' racial diversity is somewhere between the parties, with 90 percent calling themselves white, compared to 85 percent of Democrats who say they are white and 97 percent of Republicans.

Young, different Asheville

In general, it makes sense that unaffiliated voters tend to be younger, said Sharpe. That is because younger voters usually participate politically in different ways than their parents and grandparents.

They are motivated more out of interest in certain political ideas and less out of duty, the political science professor said.

“They have a different understanding of what it means to be engaged,” he said. “It might be social justice issues, or single political issues.”

As for why Buncombe County is outpacing the state and country, Sharpe said without more data, he is left to guess that it has to do with the type of people attracted to the Asheville area.

Anecdotally, he said, those people seem to be young and have different ideas than other U.S. residents about politics and belonging to groups.

“Again, it might be single issues that motivate them, such as sustainable farming,” he said.

Effect on elections

County party leaders each said the rise of the unaffiliated voter bodes well for their groups.

Leaders from both parties acknowledged that Democrats have suffered less, dropping 2 percentage points since 2004 compared to a 4 percent decline among the GOP's share of registered voters.

That was not far off changes in the state where Democrats dropped from 47 percent of total voters to 45 percent and Republicans from 35 to 32 percent.

“If you look at the raw numbers, the story is better for Democrats as we have gained over 7,000 new voters while the Republicans have lost over 1,000 voters,” county Democratic Chairman Charles Carter said.

Buncombe GOP Chairman Chad Nesbitt said that might be so, but it is largely because of a recent influx of more liberal Democrats to the county. More moderate and conservative Democrats have stayed with the party largely out of habit, Nesbitt said.

“If these particular Democrats would just take the time to look at the principles of the Republican Party … then they would see that the Republican Party fits their American values,” he said.

In the U.S. as a whole, the Democratic Party has been the victim, said Rhodes Cook, a national political analyst and author of The Rhodes Cook Letter website out of Annandale, Va.

In 2008 — the latest year of available national figures — Democrats made up 43 percent of the electorate to Republicans 32 percent in states that register voters by party.

But over the last two decades, “the aggregate number of registered Democrats in these states has declined from about 50 percent (and) the number of Republicans has stayed around one third,” Cook said.

It's thought that it was the unaffiliated voters that helped tip the scale for Obama in 2008, but where that group will land in this year's congressional elections is unknown.

Some, such as Nesbitt, say many unaffiliated voters have fallen in with the tea party movement, but analysis by The Associated Press and others shows that movement populated heavily with Republicans.

Besides the unaffiliated voters' political leanings, a key issue is whether they will show up to vote, Sharpe said. And information on one of the biggest predictors of that is currently missing, he said.

“It's level of education — year-in and year-out, that's the best indicator,” he said.

Additional Facts
Vote TuesdayAnatomy of an unaffiliated voterComing Monday
Polls will open
6:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Contact your county elections board or visit www.sboe.state.nc.us to check on your voter registration and view a sample ballot.
According to information from Buncombe County Election Services, an unaffiliated voter:

• Is young. A larger proportion, 37 percent, falls in the 26-40 age range than Democrats or Republicans.

• Has a 50 percent chance of being a man, where women outnumber men in the parties.

• Has a 90 percent chance of being white, compared to 97 percent among Republicans and 85 percent among Democrats

• A list of candidates in Tuesday primary contests.

• A recap of where candidates stand on the issues in the U.S. Congressional District 11 race and the state House District 115 contest.

http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20100502/NEWS/305020042

Cherokee Walmart plans scuttled

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Sat, 01 May 2010 12:47:00 +0000

CHEROKEE — Talks between the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Walmart over a new Supercenter are off, a company spokesman said Friday.

Tribal Council approved a lease agreement last year to bring the retailer to the Cherokee Indian Reservation and negotiations had been in the works since at least 2007.

Walmart spokesman Bill Wertz said the Bentonville, Ark.-based company decided Cherokee wasn't the right place for a new store.

The company has stores in nearby Sylva and Waynesville.

“Nothing really happened other than our determination that it wasn't the right thing for us to do at this time,” he said. “There is nothing negative in that decision toward any community. Projects rise and fall on our priority list for a variety of reasons.”

He said the company might consider the location again one day.

The tribe had worked to attract Walmart to provide more shopping choices for people who live on the reservation and increase sales tax revenues. Cherokee doesn't have a big-box retailer.

The store would have created about 200 jobs and added about $5 million to the tribe's annual sales tax levy, Principal Chief Michell Hicks said last year when Tribal Council approved the lease agreement.

He said a Walmart would attract other companies to Cherokee.

“We need a box retailer to prove our market so we can do further recruitment of other retailers,” he said at the time.

Hicks did not immediately return a message on Friday.

Some business owners in Cherokee weren't surprised by the company's decision.

“They would be crazy if they did open,” said Terry Holt, who owns Marion's Big Cove Grocery on Big Cove Road. “They would have more employees in the wintertime than customers.”

Holt said he wasn't too concerned about his store losing business to Walmart because his customers would have had to drive about the same distance.

He was worried about other merchants in Cherokee.

“It would have killed downtown,” he said. “Who can compete with Walmart?”

The tribe's government had planned to build a 150,000-square-foot store on Hospital Road off U.S. 19 near downtown and lease it to Walmart.

Hicks said last year that lease payments and increased sales taxes will cover the construction costs but wouldn't say how much the facility would cost to build.

http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20100501/NEWS/305010029

Key candidates missing at Swain forum

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 21:27:00 +0000

Swain County citizens might have been more thrilled about a candidate forum that was held Thursday, April 22, than the people actually running.

About 75 residents came to forum to see candidates candidly answer questions submitted by fellow citizens. It was an unprecedented opportunity to get directly acquainted with candidates.

But only four of the 10 sheriff candidates showed up, and only one out of three candidates for county chairman made it to the forum. Nine out of 14 commissioner candidates came that night to speak to citizens on pressing issues.

Among those who were missing were elected officials, including Sheriff Curtis Cochran, Commissioners Steve Moon — who had already agreed to attend a Chamber of Commerce dinner that night — and Philip Carson.

Sheriff candidates John Ensley and David Franklin committed to the event but didn’t show up. Sheriff candidate Steve Ford sent his regrets, as he had to undergo an unforeseen medical procedure, though he expected to be released a few days later.

Commissioner candidate Jerry Shook openly expressed his disappointment with those who did not participate in the forum.

“Everyone has been cordially invited to this,” said Shook. “There is some who chose not to be here, chose not to share their opinions with you, chose to keep their ideals behind closed doors...We didn’t, and I will not.”

Several citizens expressed the same sentiments as Shook.

“I’m disappointed more candidates didn’t turn out,” said Valerie Harrison, a senior advocate in Swain County. “If you’re running, why weren’t you here tonight?... This, to me, is important. I would like to have seen this place packed.”

Despite less than full participation by candidates, the evening was full of healthy discussion about issues ranging from animal control to open government to Swain’s drug problems. Citizens said they were grateful for the opportunity to meet the candidates.

Bryson City resident Mary Ann Byrd said she’s usually skeptical of media coverage in general and wanted to see how the candidates answered questions, unmediated by the press.

“I want to hear it from their mouths,” said Byrd.

Bill DeHart, 62, said the night was a golden opportunity to learn more about candidates and he couldn’t imagine why any Swain County resident would miss the forum.

When asked what he looked for in his leaders, he replied, “Somebody that doesn’t bullshit.”

“I think that’s the highest priority,” said DeHart. “If you say you’re going to do it, do it. If you can’t do it, don’t say you can.”

John Howard, a 37-year-old Swain County resident, said he was concerned about the relationship between the sheriff’s department and the county commissioners.

Howard added, “I’m tired of the good ol’ boy system. People need to be held accountable.”

His wife, Leanne Howard, 44, said curbing the drug problem should be a first priority, as should making law enforcement’s response to crime more consistent. Howard said she’d once called in to inform the sheriff’s department of a suspicious car in the neighborhood. “They called the SWAT team,” said Howard. But when she informed them of an identity theft case, in which she lost $1,500, she never got a call back.

Bryson City resident Beth Zimmerman said she was concerned about unemployment in the county. She supported sheriff candidate David Thomas’s idea of hiring staff locally.

Meanwhile, Harrison said she wished candidates had paid more attention to senior citizens. Only commissioner candidate Raymond Nelson and sheriff candidate Steve Buchanan mentioned the elderly in their speeches.

Harrison said there’s a significant senior citizen population in Swain County that needs to be attention from county leaders.

“These are people who’ve been here for generations,” said Harrison.

Formulating the forum

Two Swain County citizens, Robin Hamilton and Vickie Crews put together the forum after going through an election cycle in Swain County without knowing any of the candidates.

Hamilton said she’d initially hoped other citizens would lead the effort. “I was hoping someone else would take the ball and run with it, but nobody did,” said Hamilton.

So the duo got to work contacting candidates, lining up a venue, recruiting Smoky Mountain News Publisher Scott McLeod as the moderator and publicizing the forum.

Citizens and candidates both said they were grateful for their hard work.

“This was a tremendous service,” said Harrison.

All candidates were given time for opening and closing speeches. Supplanting the usual format where all candidates answer the same questions, each Swain candidate was asked a different question.

Below are some notable comments from each candidate:

Sheriff’s race

Wayne Dover, Republican sheriff candidate: “I will give you my word — There will be an officer 24/7 dedicated to nothing but animal control and animal care.”

Steve Buchanan, Democrat sheriff candidate said being a newcomer is a positive: “I haven’t lived here my whole life... As a sheriff’s candidate, I don’t owe anyone anything, I don’t have to repay favors.”

David Thomas, Democrat sheriff candidate: “I’m going to have an open door policy with all the commissioners and citizens of Swain County.”

Chuck Clifton, Democrat sheriff candidate: “How can you be a leader of a law enforcement agency if you have no knowledge? There is no substitute for experience and education in law enforcement.”

Commissioners races

Mike Clampitt, Republican candidate for chairman: “My one and only promise is I will be accountable to you because you are the ones that put me there... This county will be a team. Public service will be our business.”

Tommy Woodard, Democrat commissioner candidate: “What we need is openness and honesty, Swain County reunited with a common vision and a common goal. This board of commissioners has the ability to start that process.”

Raymond Nelson, Democrat commissioner candidate on interest from North Shore road settlement: “We need to have an input on what you want done with it. Use it wisely, use it frugally, use it for the benefit of all and not a few.”

John Herrin, Republican commissioner candidate: “Elect me because I’m going to come hunting you down, and we’re going to run this government together.”

William (Neil) Holden, Libertarian commissioner candidate: “As a Libertarian, I owe no allegiance to party politics. That is one thing that sets me aside from all these good folks you see here today.”

Gerald (Jerry) Shook, Republican commissioner candidate: “I don’t take the backseat. I’m not afraid to face any issues... We need to stand up and stop taking the bullying, and we need to start fighting for the community.

Judy Miller, Democrat commissioner candidate, in direct response to Shook: “Fighting’s good, but consensus is better.” Miller supports public involvement in creating a long-term plan for Swain County.

David Monteith, incumbent Democrat commissioner candidate after being asked whether he supports the county manager style of government or the older style, where department heads reported to commissioners: “I would like to go to the other style of government. I think it better keeps commissioners more involved in all of the decisions. The more commissioners know, the better decisions they can make.”

Billy Woodard, Democrat commissioner candidate: “We got to capitalize on what little revenue we have, promote our beautiful mountains, our quiet lifestyle, and our small business.”

Andy Parris, Republican commissioner candidate on the budget and tax increases: “I want to see what we have, what we can do with it before we go pushing anything else on the people.”

http://www.smokymountainnews.com/issues/04_10/04_28_10/fr_swain_forum.html

Ex-deputy found guilty; will appeal

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 12:19:00 +0000

RUTHERFORDTON —Former Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Roger Steve Reynolds was found guilty of misdemeanor assault inflicting serious injury and misdemeanor obstructing justice in a District Court trial Thursday afternoon.

He had been charged over a Jan. 9, 2010, incident in which a teen-ager at an underage drinking party in Ellenboro was beaten by officers.
Robert Wayne Suttle II, 19, said excessive force was used in his arrest. He went to two hospitals as a result of the injuries he suffered in the incident.

District Attorney Brad Greenway, who prosecuted the case, took a voluntary dismissal on a charge of misdemeanor assault inflicting serious injury against former Deputy Thomas Billy Short II in the same incident. Short testified in the trial of Reynolds.

Reynolds received a suspended sentence in the case. Judge James Harrill Jr. of Winston-Salem sentenced Reynolds to 60 days in a Department of Correction facility on the assault charge and to 30 days on the obstruction count. The sentences were suspended for two years. Reynolds is to be on supervised probation for two years. A $500 fine was imposed on both counts, along with restitution to Suttle of slightly more than $9,300.

Reynolds’ attorney, Daniel Talbert, said his client planned to appeal, so a May 17 date was set in Superior Court.

Short testified that RCSO officers were called out at about midnight on the night of Jan. 8-9 to a report of underage drinking at the Derek Holland residence in Ellenboro, a location that officers had been called to before.

He said four officers in four cars gathered at Hopewell Store in Hollis before going to the location. When the officers arrived, partygoers began dispersing.

Short said he and Reynolds went to the front door of the house, and Holland reportedly advised the officers that he was not aware of any underage drinking.

The officers received consent to search, and Short said he began administering the alcosensor, dividing the party-goers by underage drinkers and non-drinkers and those who were old enough to legally drink.

Then Short testified that Reynolds called him into a mostly dark bedroom to check the ID on a male lying on the bed. Short said he checked the man’s wallet, found out he was 19 and then tried to wake him.

Short said the youth began to resist, and in the course of the fight Reynolds twice used the Taser in “dry stun” mode on Suttle.

Short said Reynolds handed him a type of blackjack and he hit Suttle on the shoulder with it before throwing it down and taking Suttle to the floor. At that point, Short said, Reynolds used the Taser probes on Suttle and began to hit the teenager about the head with the blackjack.

Short said, “I immediately called for an ambulance. His (Suttle’s) head was bleeding.” Short added that Reynolds went outside to smoke a cigarette.

Later, after Suttle had been treated at Rutherford Hospital and transported to a holding cell at the Rutherford County Jail, he reportedly shook Short’s hand several times and said, “If I was in my right mind, I never would have resisted.”

Suttle was charged with underage drinking, resisting a public officer and assault on a government official/ employee. Thirteen were charged as a result of the party raid.

Short said when he filled out his officer’s report on the incident he was told not to say anything about Suttle being hit with any object. Short said Sgt. Reynolds looked at the report, said rewrite it, ripped it up and ordered it burned.

The next version of the report did not include that Suttle was struck with a blackjack. But Short said he later went to Sheriff Jack Conner and admitted that the blackjack was used.

Short said at the trial that he struck Suttle three times with his hand and once with the baton, but he said Reynolds hit Suttle more than five times.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Daniel Talbert, Short agreed that it was a large party of perhaps 30 people and it was “pretty chaotic.”

The State Bureau of Investigation was called in to investigate the allegations of excessive force, and Special Agent Jim Schandevel testified at the trial about the two hours of questioning of Reynolds several days after the incident.

The agent said that Reynolds first told the SBI, “I never struck that boy with anything. It’s not true.”

But Schandevel said when confronted with others’ statements to the contrary, Reynolds admitted he used the blackjack. The SBI recovered the baton from Reynolds’ truck, and it was presented at the trial. The agent described it as a spring-loaded “slapjack.”

The SBI agent said Reynolds also told them that the officers had found “long guns” at the house and as things began to get unruly he wondered if it had been a good idea to put them on the pool table.

Suttle also testified at the trial. He said he remembered little about the beating. “All I remember is being Tased two times, and I couldn’t breathe,” he said. He said he next remembered waking up in an ambulance.

He suffered an eye injury and injuries to the back of his head. When he began to have a problem with dizziness and weakness in his legs, his mother, Carol Smith, took him to Cleveland Regional Medical Center.

Smith testified that she went to the residence after the incident and saw the blood on the floor and wall. “I wanted to see where he was beaten,” she said.

Sheriff Conner testified about the RCSO’s written use of force policy. The sheriff said the blackjack used by Reynolds was not standard issue for officers.

When the state rested its case, Talbert asked for dismissal of the charges, saying the state had not made its case. The judge denied the request.

In his closing argument, Greenway said officers may use reasonable force in a situation, but not unreasonable force. He said the blows to Suttle’s head with the blackjack constitute the use of deadly force in a situation that did not require such drastic measures.

Greenway also said Reynolds obstructed justice when he lied about having used the blackjack on Suttle.

Defense attorney Talbert said the trial was a case of Monday morning quarterbacking. He said, “The standard is beyond a reasonable doubt, and that burden cannot be met.”

He said the four officers were confronted with the chaotic situation of a large party and acted as they felt they needed to. “The burden was not met in any way, shape or form,” he said.

The judge, who is the “jury” at the District Court level, disagreed. “Guilty as charged,” he ruled.

The trial took about three hours.

Contact Dale via e-mail at ldale@thedigitalcourier.com.
http://thedigitalcourier.com/view/full_story/7252067/article-Ex-deputy-found-guilty--will-appeal?instance=homefirstleft

Two face charges for vehicle break-ins

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:06:00 +0000

RUTHERFORDTON — Over the course of several weeks, Rutherford County law enforcement officers have been investigating dozens of cases involving breaking and enterings into locked motor vehicles.

Those investigative efforts resulted in the arrests of two people, Monday, who are now in the Rutherford County Detention Facility facing more than 120 charges each and are held under more than $500,000 bonds each.

Arrested Monday were April Michelle Fawbush Trainer, 29, of Wilkie Street, Forest City, and Darrell Anthony Wingo Palmer, 38, of Roy Caldwell Street, Morganton. Trainer’s bond as of 5:30 p.m. Tuesday was $591,000. Wingo Palmer’s bond was $676,000 and rising.

Trainer is charged with dozens of counts of breaking and entering into motor vehicles and numerous counts of larceny. She is also charged with possession of stolen vehicle, possession of stolen property, larceny of firearm, obtain property by false pretense, attempt to obtain property by false pretense, and a warrant for failure to appear.

Palmer is also charged with numerous counts of breaking and entering into motor vehicles and numerous counts of larceny. He is also charged with possession of stolen property, larceny of firearm, obtain property by false pretense, attempt to obtain property by false pretense.

Rutherfordton officers breathed a sigh of relief Monday after the arrests of Trainer and Palmer, but later in the evening at least 10 motor vehicles were entered Monday night and numerous items were taken. These vehicles were not locked, said Lt. Kenny Kemper of Rutherfordton Police Department.

“We’ve been working with Forest City and taking out these warrants and then this morning, and it starts all over again in Rutherfordton,” Kempster said.

“Yesterday we got a good break,” said Kempster, “and today it starts over.”

A variety of items were taken from vehicles parked on North Washington, Fernwood and Green streets. “These vehicles were not locked,” Kempster emphasized.

He also said there appears to be “no rhythm or reason” as to what items were taken.

Some expensive items may have been overlooked while less expensive items taken, he said.

“Some of the methods are alike, others are not,” Kempster said of the new rash of larcenies.

Assistant Chief Bob Ward of Forest City said there had been no further calls Monday of break-ins in vehicles, but there had been some reports of some in the county.

Late Tuesday evening, Spindale police officers arrived at the Rutherford County Detention Facility to file additional charges against the two suspects in custody for thefts in Spindale.

Contact Gordon via e-mail at jgordon@thedigitalcourier.com.

Sheriff calls for action

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 12:00:00 +0000

RUTHERFORDTON — A ruling by a Superior Court judge this week returned some video gaming machines for now in Burke County, and Rutherford County Sheriff Jack Conner, who cites the problems the machines cause, said it is time for the General Assembly to act on the issue.

Judge Beverly Beal, senior resident judge in Superior Court District 25A, which includes Burke County, ruled Monday on a complaint filed by 13 Burke businesses concerning video gaming.

Beal ruled that law enforcement officers in Burke are restrained and enjoined from seeking charges in the operation of video devices to sell long-distance phone cards, an article in the News Herald of Morganton reported on Tuesday.

The News Herald article also said Beal told officers to adhere to a May 2009 injunction by Superior Court Judge John O. Craig in Guilford County on behalf of Hest Technologies and International Internet Technologies, which prohibits filing criminal charges against anyone using the companies’ software systems or seizing their equipment or property.

Those same two companies became the focus of a Rutherford County case last year.

Law enforcement officers raided an apparent video poker operation at Commerce Business Center, at 132 Commercial Drive in Forest City. During the raid, computers were seized by officers, and an arrest was made.

Donald Lee Hall was initially charged with two felony counts of possession of video poker equipment, but those charges were later dismissed and Hall was charged with the misdemeanor violation of operating a lottery.

In November, District Attorney Brad Greenway and Sheriff Conner were ordered to appear in Superior Court in High Point. They were to respond to a show cause order in connection with the computers seized in the raid.

But the order was later rescinded by Craig, leaving Rutherford County in possession of the disputed computers for now.

Conner, in looking at the Burke County action Wednesday, said, “I still don’t think it is law yet; the General Assembly hasn’t adopted anything into law. And I think these injunctions across the state, such as Guilford County, and now with this video thing in Burke County, maybe it will really make legislators act on this and determine a law. Businesses in Rutherford County are mad at me (over the issue of video gaming).

“We keep getting complaints from families where the husband or mother or son, or whoever, is losing their paycheck, gambling it away. We have to respond to citizens’ complaints. It is definitely a problem, and it is something I hate to see roll back in here. I know years back people were losing their homes and vehicles.

“A good, honest businessman, I can understand he wants to make money, and there is no problem with making money. But with the economy the way it is in Rutherford County right now, to me, it (video gaming) is going to add to more depression and more downhill movement for Rutherford County, so I don’t think we need them here.

“But if a law is enacted that says they are legal, it’s going to be up to the individual person as to whether they want to play them or not.”

Conner doubts the rationale of the gaming operations.

I know they say it is not gambling; they are saying phone cards for long-distance time,” the sheriff said. “I guess that’s fine. But when they are paying out money, cash money to you, if you play that machine, that’s gambling.

“And that’s the way I see we would probably have to address this, is send people in and do undercover work. We need a statute governing this. We need a law that will clarify. If you go in with $20 and walk out with $100, that’s gambling. If you walk in with $100 and walk out with nothing, that is still gambling. That’s what hurts, is when you walk in with $100 and walk out with nothing.”

Greenway on Wednesday said there is a basic difference between the Burke video gaming sites and the raided site on Commercial Drive in Forest City.

“Their operation was not four machines, like this (Beal ruling) talks about, they had 25 or so and these aren’t machines, they were computers.”

The Beal ruling said operators can have no more than four sweepstakes machines in their business.

The judge said law enforcement officers can’t take the machines from the 13 businesses that sought the injunction, and added that any machines seized from those businesses had to be returned.

Contact Dale via e-mail at ldale@thedigitalcourier.com
http://thedigitalcourier.com/view/full_story/7160048/article-Sheriff-calls-for-action?instance=homesecondleft

Retired priest facing abuse charge in Western North Carolina

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 10:40:00 +0000

MARION — Investigators have charged a retired Catholic priest with molesting a boy while on a trip to Western North Carolina more than 30 years ago.

McDowell County authorities say 76-year-old Bill Casey will face a charge of crime against nature. He was arrested Monday in Greene County, Tenn., on a fugitive warrant from McDowell County.

Capt. Victor Hollifield with the McDowell County Sheriff’s Department said Casey waived extradition.

Hollifield said Casey was charged with first-degree sexual offense. However, that charge will be dismissed during arraignment. It was not applicable in 1977 and 1978 when the offense is alleged to have occurred.

The crime against nature charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, Hollifield said.

Hollifield declined to identify the victim, but Warren A. Tucker, of Jeffersonville, Ind., says he reported abuse by the priest to McDowell County authorities in September of last year.

Tucker said the incident occurred when Casey, who was then pastor at St. Dominic Parish in Kingsport, Tenn., took him on a gem mining trip. It allegedly occurred while Casey and Tucker were staying at a McDowell County inn.

For years, Tucker said he kept the abuse hidden.

“I don’t feel alone any more,” he said Monday. “I feel vindicated, relieved … This is about so many other people in those mountains and hills … that I know were raised to keep their mouth shut. They need to hear they don’t have to do that any more.”

The bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville, Richard Stika, said last week that Casey told church officials that molestation allegations made public by Tucker are credible, The Associated Press reported. Casey was permanently suspended from Catholic ministry.

A spokesman for the diocese could not be reached Monday afternoon.

Tucker said he met with the bishop who apologized to him and his family.

The incident in McDowell County is alleged to have occurred between May 1, 1977 and Aug. 1, 1978, according to Hollifield.

Unlike Tennessee, North Carolina does not have a statute of limitations for felonies.

Tucker said the abuse began when he was 10, and he was abused multiple times in Tennessee between 1975 and 1980. He says he sought help from a support group for abuse survivors in June of 2009.

“I was self destructing. Heavy alcohol use. My marriage was failing again. Things were spiraling completely out of control,” the 44-year-old man said. “I said I can’t take this any more.”

Tucker praised the work of the McDowell County Sheriff’s Office.

“Justice delayed is still justice,” he said. “Hopefully some day this is going to be over, and I can get back to some semblance of a normal life.”

By Julie Ball --http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20100420/NEWS/304200008

Students suspended over religious T-shirt dispute

noreply@blogger.com (AmericanVoter) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 03:16:00 +0000

A dispute between factions of students led to some suspensions last week a West McDowell Junior High School.

West Principal Coy Gibson told The McDowell News on Friday that controversy arose last week over the expression of religious and irreligious sentiments on T-shirts which were regarded as offensive by some.

The ensuing T-shirt war quickly escalated to the point of disruption, Gibson stated.

"A couple of students have expressed agnostic beliefs in a way that was somewhat inappropriate and that upset some students who are Christians," he said. It began with a T-shirt that bore a message expressing "agnostic beliefs."

Gibson would not describe or quote the controversial T-shirt. Asked if the shirt's message might have been considered blasphemous or in some way ridiculing Christ, he said yes.

"That started a campaign," he continued, "of students wearing pro-Christian T-shirts that infuriated the agnostic students."

The pro-Christian faction was asking students to sign their T-shirts as a show of solidarity, he said. By that point, the controversy constituted a disruption, he determined.

"We did not approach this as a religious issue," he said. "We respect and tolerate each other and we expect our students not to antagonize any other group."
He said that ninth grade is a time of life when people begin developing and expressing a world view and he believed that fostering that kind of expression is part of the school's mission. But factions squaring off and students lining up to sign the backs of T-shirts was a clear disruption.

Faculty instructed the groups to quit the debate and stop wearing the shirts. Some refused to comply. He would not specify how many, but "several students" had to be suspended three days "for insubordination and defiance." Gibson said students from both factions were suspended.

"This is first and foremost a place to learn," he stated. "And under this roof we are Spartans. We all come from diverse backgrounds and this school is a safe and caring environment."

He said the suspended students would be expected to refrain from the dispute, or face another suspension.

He believes this was a small incident where passions became inflamed unnecessarily.
"These are kids," he concluded. "They don't understand (the impact of their actions and statements) as well as adults."

http://www2.mcdowellnews.com/content/2010/apr/18/students-suspended-over-religious-t-shirt-dispute/