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Leslie McGuirk claims she was out for a walk when a car came barreling down Seagrape Drive in Oceanaire Heights at negligent speeds. As the acclaimed children’s book author and astrologist rushed to get out of the way, she tripped on a crumbling piece of pavement and fell, according to court documents.
The March 2017 incident left McGuirk seriously injured and unable to work, her lawyers say. The driver who almost hit her was uninsured. So, she enlisted the help of Tuttle Law and sued the county. The municipality failed to maintain the roadway and left no warnings that conditions might be dangerous or hazardous, attorney Douglas Tuttle wrote in the October 2017 lawsuit. The lawyer, who filed the complaint in the 19th Judicial Circuit Civil Court, claimed an excess of $15,000 in damages, but the suit against the county was dropped this month after McGuirk received a $5,000 settlement. Read more here. Indian River County voters will have the opportunity to choose new judicial officials in August as they consider candidates to replace retiring county and circuit court judges.
Six candidates are vying for two spots – the Hon. Robert Pegg’s seat on the circuit court bench, where serious felony cases are decided, and the Hon. Joe Wild’s seat in county court, which rules on traffic tickets, landlord/tenant disputes and other less serious matters. Read more here. Vero Beach’s private island school filed a lawsuit against the mother of a fifth-grader in circuit court last month alleging a breach in the student’s enrollment contract.
The courtroom maneuver, intended to recoup some $19,000 in lost tuition, legal damages and fees, is a familiar financial strategy for Saint Edward’s School, which has filed at least eight similar lawsuits in the last decade. A 2012 New York Times article detailed the emerging trend of private schools suing for past due tuition. Parents face large bills even when their children never attended classes, it says. Contracts are written with very specific deadlines which parents are held to regardless of personal circumstance. Read more here. Come year’s end, the Indian River County courthouse will lose three of its six sitting judges to retirement. The men, who serve on both the 19th Judicial Circuit and the County Court bench, collectively have spent more than 70 years making decisions that shaped the county’s growth and development and helped protect the safety and wellbeing of the residents who call it home.
They’ve put murderers behind bars, tried to ensure fair development, kept the courthouse running smoothly, made tough decisions and held lawyers accountable. Sometimes, their decisions are challenged. Other times, they are celebrated. At all times, however, their work has lasting impact. “Overall, I think we are losing three very good judges,” Bruce Colton, State Attorney for the 19th Judicial Circuit said of the impending departure of Judges Robert Pegg, Joe Wild and Paul Kanarek. Read more here. A group of Polish Americans won a major battle in a long-running legal dispute Monday when an Indian River County judge ruled that a 2015 takeover of the old Polish-American Social Club was unauthorized. The Hon. Paul Kanarek found that action by an insurgent board of directors that dissolved the old club and transferred its assets to a new Vero Beach Social Club violated the original club’s 2012 bylaws.
“The articles are clear: the dissolution of this corporation required the vote of the general membership and approval of the general membership,” he said. “If they didn’t have authority to dissolve the corporation, they didn’t have authority to distribute the property.” Kanarek’s order comes two-and-a-half-years into the legal battle over the clubhouse on U.S. 1 near 39th Avenue and an estimated $1.25 million in assets once set aside to promote the culture and heritage of the Eastern European nation. Read more here. Brother Wolf takes on care for 120 rabbits, many found sickly and malnourishedLEICESTER - Dozens of rabbits discovered living in what a local animal welfare center says was an inhumane environment have been rescued.
Brother Wolf Animal Rescue recently took care of more 120 rabbits after it got notification from a neighbor of a hoarding situation in Leicester. Read more here. Buncombe hosts Mia Birdsong, national speaker on inequality, race, gender and communityASHEVILLE - Mia Birdsong travels the U.S. to challenge assumptions people have about poverty and family. She will speak at the Diana Wortham Theatre at 6 p.m. April 25. The public is invited.
Buncombe County Health and Human Services and the Buncombe County Family Justice Center are hosting the event titled, "The Ripple Effect with Mia Birdsong." Read more here. Girl shares eggs and remembers the message of Jesus during Easter funMILLS RIVER - Whether it was a school house or a church, the brick building nestled inside the neighborhood on Presbyterian Church Road has served Western North Carolina's children for more than 100 years.
Sunday a dozen gathered to search for colorful eggs before an Easter Sunday service at Mills River Presbyterian Church where secular and religious traditions combined this holiday. The church has added more children's activities in recent years to accommodate a growing congregation. Read more here. Girl shares eggs and remembers the message of Jesus during Easter funSWANNANOA – Vietnamese refugees Tuan Luu and Binh Nguyen can't stop saying thank you for the opportunities this country has afforded them. After decades of hardship, made only worse by the Recession, the two celebrated Tuesday as one 17 families now qualified for a home in Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity's newest subdivision in Swannanoa, the organization's first development in the eastern part of Buncombe County.
"Our story is very horrible," said Nguyen, 39. "We have so many things now to be thankful for." When Luu and Nguyen came to America from Vietnam in their early 20s, they had $100 in their pocket. They didn't understand U.S. currency. They couldn't operate the pay phone to tell their estranged family they had arrived. Because they didn't speak English yet, they couldn't ask anyone for help. Read more here. WEAVERVILLE – Last month, cosmetology student Samantha White of Weaverville thought she was going to TD Bank to do the employees' hair for a banking convention. She left with $25,000 and a plan to help our four legged friends. She had 24 hours to spend the money.
"It was probably the most epic day ever just to be able to give back and do so many good things," said White, who was chosen for the project after taking part in a survey commissioned by TD Bank where customers were asked to identify what they would do to help their community if they had $30,000 to spend in just one day. White was one of 24 customers selected across North America for the project. Read more here. ASHEVILLE — Lisa-Gaye Hall stayed away from Black Friday, and, even though the busy mom likes to shop online, she avoided Cyber Monday, too. But just because Hall isn't buying things, doesn't mean she's not writing checks. As part of a way to instill philanthropic purpose in her children's lives, the family divided up $200 Sunday night, with each member responsible for $50 of charitable giving.
On Tuesday, Hall will donate to nine area nonprofits. She is not alone. People around the country will celebrate Giving Tuesday on Dec. 2 by supporting their favorite charitable institutions in lieu of shopping. In a time of increased need, limited resources and ongoing fundraising campaigns, many area nonprofits report the value of Giving Tuesday is more than the money raised. With small fundraising goals, several agencies see the day as a time to remind the public of their value to the community. Read more here. ASHEVILLE – Winter is just around the corner and Eblen Charities wants to make sure no one gets left out in the cold. The crisis charity started administering the Federal Low Income Energy Assistance Program for Buncombe County Dec. 1.
With this fund, many who seek heating assistance through the cold winter months can get additional help, Bill Murdock, executive director of the nonprofit, said last month just before the charity started distributing utility assistance to families in crisis. LIEAP is a federally funded program that provides a one-time payment to help eligible households pay their heating bills. Income qualifying families, which have someone who is 60-years-old or older, or someone living with a disability, are eligible to receive benefits through March 31. Read more here. ASHEVILLE – Marietta Jones can't contain her excitement as she describes her new home. As she moves room to room pointing to her favorite fixtures and spaces, she lets out squeaks and squeals.
Thanks to assistance from area nonprofits and a lot of hard work and saving, in late October Jones became a first-time homeowner at the age of 62. "When I got those keys, I jumped for joy," said Jones, who made her daughter take a photograph of her with her husband on the day they signed the papers for the home in Kenilworth. "It was just a good feeling to have something of my own." Read more here. ASHEVILLE – A local group is encouraging hunters to kill more deer this season in order to help feed the hungry. Most hunters stop at one or two deer because they don't have space to refrigerate the meat, said Billy Stewart, Crossfire Chapter coordinator for Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry.
What Farmers and Hunters is trying to do is to get them to keep hunting and donate the deer to feed the less fortunate, he said. A national nonprofit, FHFH encourages hunters to donate deer to food banks and other crisis charities. FHFH raises money to cover the meat processing expenses so that the protein-rich food can be donated and distributed free of charge. Food banks and pantries are always in need of fresh protein and processing dead game is expensive, about $50 a deer, but that shouldn't keep people from helping those in need, said Stewart, of Black Mountain. Read more here. ASHEVILLE – William Murdock, executive director of Eblen Charities, one of the Buncombe County's most effective crisis ministries, was recognized internationally last week after being awarded the Mother Teresa Prize for Global Peace and Leadership.
The prize acknowledges Mother Teresa's philosophy that the highest level of leadership is found in public service. Through that service, the seeds of global peace are sown, said Jamie Minton, President of the Luminary Leadership Network, the Atlanta-based organization which distributed the award. "It means Eblen has a greater responsibility now not only to continue our work, but to reach more and more families," said Murdock of the recognition."This is a great honor for everyone that has anything to do with Eblen. The award belongs to all of us. It's for the people who are here for heating assistance today. It's for the ones that are in line for Christmas help, or in need of a coat or housing." Read more here. ASHEVILLE – When Kevin Tillery describes his vision, he says it's like looking through a drinking straw in a glass of milk. Everything is cloudy and small.
Tillery, who is legally blind, can only see out of the center of his right eye. He has no peripheral vision. Tillery is the human resources representative at Industries for the Blind in Asheville. Computers and gadgets fill his office. He has a program on his computer that magnifies and speaks text. His television screen blows up documents so he can read them. He also has a smaller electronic wand he can carry with him and magnify any words he might encounter. "Without these technologies, I wouldn't be able to do my job at all," said Tillery, who was diagnosed with glaucoma when he was in college and holds a master's degree in social work from Fayetteville State University. "I would not be in this role." Read more here. ASHEVILLE – Buncombe County women came together Saturday morning at the YWCA of Asheville to learn about public policies affecting equality for women and to prioritize action items.
After listening to remarks by state and local officials and representatives from area advocacy and nonprofit groups, the crowd of about 50 voted access to health care and economic self-sufficiency as its top legislative priorities. Violence against women and female civic participation were also highly ranked. Every two years before the state General Assembly's long term session, North Carolina Women United hosts the forum to set its Buncombe County Women's Agenda. Read more here. WAYNESVILLE – Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation hit a milestone last week, saving more than 1,000 dogs and cats so far this year.
Last year, Sarge’s saved more than 1,100 animals, and 2014 looks to be even better, the organization reported in a statement to the media. “While Sarge’s has been in the news helping nurture the Parkway puppies found abandoned after birth, there are still many more animals to save,” said Steve Hewitt, board president for Sarges Animal Rescue Foundation. “Sarge’s has wonderful dogs and cats available for adoption every week.” Read more here. CANDLER – An area nonprofit organization and medical facility have teamed up to increase medical and crisis service provision to people in need in the Enka/Candler area.
Last week, Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry and Mountain Area Health Education Center opened the doors to the Ferguson Charitable Center. The building, at 1914 Smoky Park Highway, houses the new MAHEC Family Health Center at Enka/Candler and ABCCM's renovated Hominy Valley Crisis Ministry. The Ferguson Charitable Center aims to meet two major areas of need, said the Rev. Scott Rogers, executive director of ABCCM, a nonprofit organization made up of a collaborative of 277 churches, which addresses poverty, hunger, homelessness, incarceration and access to health care in Buncombe County. Read more here. ASHEVILLE – Reliant on charities and public assistance most of his life, Henry Thornton always had to put his passions on hold to survive.
His mom made him join the Army when he dropped out of high school in Brooklyn at 17. He came home an alcoholic and found himself on the streets of New York. He went to prison several times on drug charges. For 20 years, he was nearly always homeless. "I'd sit on the corner and people would at look at me like I was a piece of trash," said Thornton, 51, who now lives in West Asheville. "They didn't know who I was, and I didn't have any help." Read more here. ASHEVILLE – In honor National Adoption Month, Asheville will host its first Adoption Options Expo on Saturday.
Anyone interested in adoption is invited to come to the drop-in free event and meet with representatives from a variety of public and private agencies, said Erica Jourdan, director of Adoption Options Consulting, who organized the event in coordination with Children's Home Society of North Carolina. Birth parents who are considering adoption as an option are also welcome to attend. Read more here. ASHEVILLE – On Friday the Kiwanis Club of Asheville will ring the bells and kick off Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Christmas Appeal for Buncombe County.
On Nov. 7 at noon a brass ensemble will play holiday music at the K-Mart in West Asheville, 1001 Patton Ave., to mark the beginning of the campaign. The ringing of the bells will continue every day except for Sunday until Christmas Eve. Read more here. ASHEVILLE – Paying the rent isn't the hard part for Lori Campbell, a former home health care aid left out of work when she hurt herself helping a client climb out of a bathtub.
Like hundreds of others in Western North Carolina, it's keeping the heat on during the winter that can get out of reach. Appeals for help with heating bills climbed in the mountains last winter, a problem made worse at the time by shrinking federal funds and late changes in government eligibility guidelines that left some aid money unspent. Read more here. ASHEVILLE – Operation North State needs the public’s help creating holiday themed North Carolina care packages for 1,500 of the state’s deployed troops.
The NC Cares Christmas Boxes will utilize North Carolina people, places, products and pride to bring a little holiday cheer to soldiers, said Terry Snyder, founder of Operation North State, one of the fastest growing military support service organizations in the state. Read more here. |
Beth WaltonWriter, World Traveler, Mother. These are my stories. Archives
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