In defenses filed against the sexual harassment suit brought by Asheville Police Department Officer Cherie Byrd — attorneys for both the APD and Byrd’s former superior, Sgt. Eric Lauffer, admit Lauffer sent explicit text messages to Byrd that include “I must licky you” and “You have just been phone fucked!” but they deny any wrongdoing in the case.
In this legal defense, the APD and city of Asheville’s attorneys admit that APD Sgt. Eric Lauffer sent text messages to Officer Cherie Byrd that she regarded as sexual harassment and derogatory to African-Americans, but denies any wrongdoing. APDHarassResponse.pdf
In this indictment, APD Officer Cherie Byrd alleges that her supervisor, Sgt. Eric Lauffer, sexually harassed her, and that the department, along with some city officials, failed to investigate her allegations and discriminated against female employees. ByrdHarassSuit.pdf
The June 16 death of Anthony Ray Gilmore, 25, killed while running across Interstate 240 in an attempt to reach the Hillcrest Apartments, has Asheville officials considering reopening a pedestrian bridge, closed off since 1994, that spans the highway. Dangerous crossing: The closed pedestrian bridge crossing I-240. The death of a Swannanoa man crossing I-240 […]
Two local members of the American Outlaws Association motorcycle club face charges as part of a sweeping federal grand jury indictment of 27 club members nationwide. Chris Gagner, president and treasurer of the Asheville chapter, and former chapter member William Davey are among those charged with participating "in a criminal enterprise that engaged in a […]
As Asheville City Council started its June 22 meeting, Xpress reporter David Forbes provided live coverage, starting with this Tweet:
Live, from City Hall, it’s Asheville City Council!
More than four hours later (about average for the municipal body), he offered his last Tweet, snapped a photo of the sunset over downtown and signed off for the day, having covered several major actions by Council.
A discussion over the disconnection of public housing projects from the city has raised a larger issue: Is Asheville, in many ways, still segregated?
In a close race that’s attracting national attention, Elaine Marshall and Cal Cunningham are vying for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination in a run-off election today.
It’s a packed agenda for Asheville City Council Tuesday night, as it considers the fate of the Ashevillle Film Festival, new financial arrangements with the Grove Arcade and the passage of the long-debated city budget.
The Asheville Police Department arrested David Lee Penley in the stabbing of Antonio Laron Wray early this morning. Wray later died at Mission Hospital, and Penley faces a second-degree murder charge.
Asheville City Council meeting June 8, 2010 City endorses public financing for local elections Social gathering or illegal meeting? By the end of their June 8 meeting, Asheville City Council members may have grown tired of hearing the word "buffer." The city's ad hoc Watershed Committee, which had drafted a new storm-water ordinance, was divided […]
The Council of Independent Business Owners may be one of Buncombe County's best organized, most influential groups. Formed decades ago to represent local business interests (and, some say, to counterbalance the more progressive Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce), CIBO has succeeded in getting its members deeply involved in local issues — largely by running for […]
In this federal indictment, members of the Asheville chapter of the American Outlaws Association motorcycle club, including President and Treasurer Chris Gagner as well as former member William Davey, are charged with being part of a criminal organization involving extortion, drug trafficking and violence against rival bikers. Twenty-seven Outlaws, including the national president, are named […]
The Asheville Police Department is seeking information on the neglect of three pitbull puppies found in a remote area of Pisgah View Apartments.
President and Treasurer Chris Gagner and former member William Davey of the Asheville Chapter of the American Outlaws Association motorcycle club face charges as part of a sweeping federal grand jury indictment of 27 Outlaws. The indictment alleges that the Outlaws “participated in a criminal enterprise that engaged in a wide range of crimes, including attempted murder, kidnapping, assault, robbery, extortion, witness intimidation, narcotics distribution, illegal gambling, and weapons violations.”
David Matthew Sloan, 29, of Wilmington, a UNCA alumnus, collapsed and died of heat-related illness at the Bonnaroo festival on Sunday.
We owe it to ourselves to examine the gathering of four Asheville City Council members at Pack’s Tavern earlier this week — for innocent social banter, they claim — after a long meeting. Perhaps that’s so, but it sets a bad precedent.
Fire trucks at the Grove Arcade this afternoon, responding to a small structure fire caused by an air conditioning unit on the roof. The fire was quickly extinguished. Photo by Jason Sharp.
At it’s June 8 meeting, Asheville City Council:
• endorsed a state bill that would allow the option of public financing of elections and
• approved enforcement rules and penalties for its new stormwater-plan, voting to require undisturbed 30-foot stream buffers while not approving the requirement of larger buffers.
Four Council members may have violated North Carolina’s open meetings law when they met at Pack’s Tavern after the Council session. State law considers any gathering of a quorum of elected officials to be an official meeting. Council member Esther Mannheimer said that the gathering was purely social and therefore would not be a violation of that law.
Unless additional funding is received, public-access channel URTV — and the WNC Community Media Center of which it's a part — will cease operations in September, according to a May 24 memo addressed to the city of Asheville and Buncombe County. Both city and county officials say the nonprofit is receiving funding as it always […]
Rep. Heath Shuler has voted against repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military, saying he was honoring the requests of military leaders. The House approved the measure 234-194. On May 27, Shuler joined 25 other Democrats and 168 Republican representatives in voting against repeal. Meanwhile, 229 […]
