SECU Plaza: Asheville Council sells naming rights to State Employee’s Credit Union

Asheville City Council voted unanimously Oct. 28 to sell the naming rights of an outdoor public space in the heart of downtown to the North Carolina State Employee’s Credit Union Foundation. Council also considered problems at the Asheville Police Department, heard an update from Duke Energy, and appointed three members to the Planning and Zoning Commission.

Former Asheville police evidence manager to be sentenced

Carolina Public Press reports: Lee Smith, the Asheville Police Department’s longtime evidence manager who resigned under a cloud of suspicion in early 2011 and last year pleaded guilty to stealing drug evidence, will be sentenced Tuesday, June 17, according to the federal prosecutor’s office in Charlotte. In an interview this week with Carolina Public Press, Buncombe […]

Mail to the Chief

On July 11, Asheville City Council held “a special meeting [and] declared its support for Police Chief William Anderson, announcing that an internal investigation had found no evidence that he had engaged in a cover-up related to a March car crash involving his son, as alleged by Lt. William Wilke,” David Forbes reported. Many readers questioned the efficacy of the city administration’s oversight regarding the police chief’s behavior, and wondered what other details came to light in the closed session that preceded the announcement. (Pictured: Police Chief William Anderson. Photo by Max Cooper)

Asheville police arrest Vets after midnight in Veterans Day protest downtown (UPDATED)

Based on reports from the Asheville Police Department and from two citizens on the scene, Asheville police arrested three Veterans just minutes after midnight on Nov. 12 for violating the city’s 10 p.m. park curfew, in a vigil that began Friday night of Veterans Day before the curfew and continued until the arrests occurred. (Image from video by Matt Johnson.)