Charlotte, North Carolina News
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More Senior Citizens Hauling Drugs
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South Carolina's Unemployment Rate Up Slightly In AprilSouth Carolina's jobless rate edged up to 5.9 percent in April, and state officials predict rising gas prices could mean for a rocky summer employment picture.
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Newspaper: Duke Cutting Off Service More Often This Year
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Tennessee GOP mocks 'proud' remark
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NC State Fair to open a day early 8:07 AM
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Uptown sewer line repaired; streets reopen 7:25 AM
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N.C. panel: Keep e-mails longer
A panel reviewing state government e-mail storage policies recommended Thursday that qualifying messages be stored for at least five years and that state employees be better trained about how to comply with the public records law.But the committee -- created by Gov. Mike Easley following allegations his press office ordered the systematic deletion of government e-mails -- didn't propose changing a policy that gives workers discretion on whether an e-mail constitutes a public record and therefore must be saved.The Charlotte Observer and several other media outlets sued Easley last month in part over that 2002 policy, arguing it violates the public records law. An attorney helping the committee defended the policy as following the law, and the Easley administration has said no such e-mail purges occurred.The panel's recommendations, which also include performing random record audits of state agencies, will make workers more inclined to follow the law, said Franklin Freeman, the committee chairman."We trust state employees to spend millions of dollars" and carry out programs, said Freeman, who is also Easley's top lobbyist.E-mails sent and received by state employees are public records if they contain information related to carrying out public business. State law orders the Department of Cultural Resources to set guidelines on when e-mails must be kept and for how long.The media organizations argued the guidelines are unlawful because they let an employee delete a public record when the worker determines the message has short-term or no value to the sender or receiver.Panelists, who included state officials, attorneys and former journalists, endorsed expanding the length of time in which e-mails from Executive Branch agencies backed up daily on computer servers are stored from the current 30 days to a minimum of five years.Information technology workers can search the tapes if a citizen or media outlet makes a records request and certain messages can't be found on a worker's computer.Members of the E-mail Records Review Panel rejected a proposal to expand the backup to at least 10 years. Some said it was too costly and would store too many things that were of little importance and discourage workers from using e-mail."It will make the situation in terms of transparency much worse," said Ned Cline, a former managing editor of the News & Record of Greensboro and panel member."Ten years is unreasonable, impracticable."Storing five years of e-mail will cost about $375,000, plus any expenses related to searching the tapes. Going above five years could cost at least twice the amount.The panel also endorsed the development of a searchable archive system in which employees store e-mail messages about state business that are of lasting or permanent value.The recommendations are commendable and will help employees comply with the law, said Beth Grace, executive director of the N.C. Press Association.But she said they still don't prevent an employee with questionable intentions from trashing e-mails that are never stored by clearing their "delete" file daily, she said.Many changes don't appear to require changes to state law and can be carried out by the Easley administration, although the Legislature could be asked for additional dollars.Cline told fellow members that the panel, which first met in late March, has raised awareness about preserving public records."If there had been abuses, there are far fewer of them in the last 30 days than before," Cline said.
Charlotte.com – May 16, 2008 11:23 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
A panel reviewing state government e-mail storage policies recommended Thursday that qualifying messages be stored for at least five years and that state employees be better trained about how to comply with the public records law.But the committee -- created by Gov. Mike Easley following allegations his press office ordered the systematic deletion of government e-mails -- didn't propose changing a policy that gives workers discretion on whether an e-mail constitutes a public record and therefore must be saved.The Charlotte Observer and several other media outlets sued Easley last month in part over that 2002 policy, arguing it violates the public records law. An attorney helping the committee defended the policy as following the law, and the Easley administration has said no such e-mail purges occurred.The panel's recommendations, which also include performing random record audits of state agencies, will make workers more inclined to follow the law, said Franklin Freeman, the committee chairman."We trust state employees to spend millions of dollars" and carry out programs, said Freeman, who is also Easley's top lobbyist.E-mails sent and received by state employees are public records if they contain information related to carrying out public business. State law orders the Department of Cultural Resources to set guidelines on when e-mails must be kept and for how long.The media organizations argued the guidelines are unlawful because they let an employee delete a public record when the worker determines the message has short-term or no value to the sender or receiver.Panelists, who included state officials, attorneys and former journalists, endorsed expanding the length of time in which e-mails from Executive Branch agencies backed up daily on computer servers are stored from the current 30 days to a minimum of five years.Information technology workers can search the tapes if a citizen or media outlet makes a records request and certain messages can't be found on a worker's computer.Members of the E-mail Records Review Panel rejected a proposal to expand the backup to at least 10 years. Some said it was too costly and would store too many things that were of little importance and discourage workers from using e-mail."It will make the situation in terms of transparency much worse," said Ned Cline, a former managing editor of the News & Record of Greensboro and panel member."Ten years is unreasonable, impracticable."Storing five years of e-mail will cost about $375,000, plus any expenses related to searching the tapes. Going above five years could cost at least twice the amount.The panel also endorsed the development of a searchable archive system in which employees store e-mail messages about state business that are of lasting or permanent value.The recommendations are commendable and will help employees comply with the law, said Beth Grace, executive director of the N.C. Press Association.But she said they still don't prevent an employee with questionable intentions from trashing e-mails that are never stored by clearing their "delete" file daily, she said.Many changes don't appear to require changes to state law and can be carried out by the Easley administration, although the Legislature could be asked for additional dollars.Cline told fellow members that the panel, which first met in late March, has raised awareness about preserving public records."If there had been abuses, there are far fewer of them in the last 30 days than before," Cline said.
Charlotte.com – May 16, 2008 11:23 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
UNC-Charlotte Offers Reward For Slain Student Case
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Gold coins from Charlotte mint found in shipwreck
Coins minted in Charlotte when the Queen City was among the country's main suppliers of gold have been found amid the wreckage of a steamship that sank in 1846 in the Gulf of Mexico.Last year, four Louisiana residents salvaged hundreds of gold coins and thousands of silver ones from the wreckage of the SS New York, said David Bowers, co-chairman of New York-based Stack's Rare Coins."Some of these are in uncirculated or mint condition," said Bowers, who predicted the best could bring $50,000 to $100,000 apiece at auction.Of particular interest to coin experts are gold pieces known as quarter eagles and half eagles, which carried face values of $2.50 and $5 in the days before the U.S. printed paper currency.Those coins were struck at Mints in Charlotte, New Orleans and Dahlonega, Ga. These Mints, authorized by President Jackson in 1835, followed the rapid growth of the South resulting from the discovery of gold in Charlotte and Dahlonega. The Mints were closed in 1861.That these Mints were in existence for such a short period makes their coins even more prized by collectors.The Charlotte Mint produced 1.2 million gold coins, and the Mint in Dahlonega produced about 1.38 million.Across the country, tens of millions of gold coins were minted before the federal government confiscated those held by individuals, banks and the U.S. Treasury in 1933 and melted them into gold bars as the country abandoned the gold standard.The treasure also includes $10 gold pieces, known as eagles, that were minted in Philadelphia and New Orleans, said Douglas Mudd, curator of the American Numismatic Association's Money Museum in Denver.The New York was a 165-foot sidewheel steamer built in its namesake city in 1837. By 1846, it was making regular commercial runs between Galveston, Texas, and New Orleans. Seventeen of the 53 people aboard were killed when the ship sank in the Gulf; the others were rescued.Four hobbyists who enjoyed looking for sunken vessels discovered what was left of the SS New York around 1990. After making several trips and bringing up a handful of coins at a time from mud that nearly covered the ship, they invested in a full-scale salvage operation in 2007."What we've found is varied, a little of everything," said Craig DeRouen, who is on a leave from his job as a mechanical engineer in the oil industry. "There are different denominations from different years, silver and gold."DeRouen, along with fellow New Iberia, La., residents Avery Munson, and Gary and Renee Hebert, have ownership of the coins after obtaining title to the wreck from a federal court.Mudd said that although the coins are worth much more today because of current gold prices around $900 an ounce, that's only part of their value."The collector value may be three, five, eight thousand dollars more, depending upon their condition," he said. "It depends upon the individual piece and its individual rarity."John Albanese, a rare-coin dealer in Far Hills, N.J., since 1978, appraised about 200 of the gold coins. "This is the most impressive Southern-minted gold I've seen in my lifetime," he said.Mudd said $100,000 might be possible for an exceptional coin, and that $8,000 to $16,000 wouldn't be unusual for a coin in high-grade condition."Historically, they are interesting. These are the first coins produced by gold from the United States," he said. "The California gold rush didn't occur until about 1850."Gold resists saltwater corrosion, and mud that had collected on the coins was removed with a chemical compound that does not affect the metal, Bowers said. The silver coins are etched by the seawater, giving them a "shipwreck effect" that is popular with collectors, he said.Doorstop started rushIn 1799, 12-year-old Conrad Reed found a shiny rock in Cabarrus County. His family used it as a doorstop until its true nature was discovered and it was fluxed into a gold bar then worth $3,600. The find stands as the first authenticated gold discovery in the U.S. Reed Gold Mine is now a historical site.Over the next decades, gold was found in creeks and shallow pits surrounding Charlotte. By the 1820s, the rush was on.The Charlotte branch of the U.S. Mint started production in 1837 on West Trade Street, where the federal building now stands. Coinage -- including gold half eagles and quarter eagles -- valued at $10,164,660 was produced at the Mint, which closed in 1861.
Charlotte.com – May 16, 2008 10:44 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
Coins minted in Charlotte when the Queen City was among the country's main suppliers of gold have been found amid the wreckage of a steamship that sank in 1846 in the Gulf of Mexico.Last year, four Louisiana residents salvaged hundreds of gold coins and thousands of silver ones from the wreckage of the SS New York, said David Bowers, co-chairman of New York-based Stack's Rare Coins."Some of these are in uncirculated or mint condition," said Bowers, who predicted the best could bring $50,000 to $100,000 apiece at auction.Of particular interest to coin experts are gold pieces known as quarter eagles and half eagles, which carried face values of $2.50 and $5 in the days before the U.S. printed paper currency.Those coins were struck at Mints in Charlotte, New Orleans and Dahlonega, Ga. These Mints, authorized by President Jackson in 1835, followed the rapid growth of the South resulting from the discovery of gold in Charlotte and Dahlonega. The Mints were closed in 1861.That these Mints were in existence for such a short period makes their coins even more prized by collectors.The Charlotte Mint produced 1.2 million gold coins, and the Mint in Dahlonega produced about 1.38 million.Across the country, tens of millions of gold coins were minted before the federal government confiscated those held by individuals, banks and the U.S. Treasury in 1933 and melted them into gold bars as the country abandoned the gold standard.The treasure also includes $10 gold pieces, known as eagles, that were minted in Philadelphia and New Orleans, said Douglas Mudd, curator of the American Numismatic Association's Money Museum in Denver.The New York was a 165-foot sidewheel steamer built in its namesake city in 1837. By 1846, it was making regular commercial runs between Galveston, Texas, and New Orleans. Seventeen of the 53 people aboard were killed when the ship sank in the Gulf; the others were rescued.Four hobbyists who enjoyed looking for sunken vessels discovered what was left of the SS New York around 1990. After making several trips and bringing up a handful of coins at a time from mud that nearly covered the ship, they invested in a full-scale salvage operation in 2007."What we've found is varied, a little of everything," said Craig DeRouen, who is on a leave from his job as a mechanical engineer in the oil industry. "There are different denominations from different years, silver and gold."DeRouen, along with fellow New Iberia, La., residents Avery Munson, and Gary and Renee Hebert, have ownership of the coins after obtaining title to the wreck from a federal court.Mudd said that although the coins are worth much more today because of current gold prices around $900 an ounce, that's only part of their value."The collector value may be three, five, eight thousand dollars more, depending upon their condition," he said. "It depends upon the individual piece and its individual rarity."John Albanese, a rare-coin dealer in Far Hills, N.J., since 1978, appraised about 200 of the gold coins. "This is the most impressive Southern-minted gold I've seen in my lifetime," he said.Mudd said $100,000 might be possible for an exceptional coin, and that $8,000 to $16,000 wouldn't be unusual for a coin in high-grade condition."Historically, they are interesting. These are the first coins produced by gold from the United States," he said. "The California gold rush didn't occur until about 1850."Gold resists saltwater corrosion, and mud that had collected on the coins was removed with a chemical compound that does not affect the metal, Bowers said. The silver coins are etched by the seawater, giving them a "shipwreck effect" that is popular with collectors, he said.Doorstop started rushIn 1799, 12-year-old Conrad Reed found a shiny rock in Cabarrus County. His family used it as a doorstop until its true nature was discovered and it was fluxed into a gold bar then worth $3,600. The find stands as the first authenticated gold discovery in the U.S. Reed Gold Mine is now a historical site.Over the next decades, gold was found in creeks and shallow pits surrounding Charlotte. By the 1820s, the rush was on.The Charlotte branch of the U.S. Mint started production in 1837 on West Trade Street, where the federal building now stands. Coinage -- including gold half eagles and quarter eagles -- valued at $10,164,660 was produced at the Mint, which closed in 1861.
Charlotte.com – May 16, 2008 10:44 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
Woman's death haunts couple
A wrecked car in a lonely spot by the Catawba River; a young woman's lifeless body on the ground; signs of a possible struggle nearby.Images of the mystery still float in the minds of Dennis Lovelace and his girlfriend Brenda Pierce.The Belmont couple are constantly reviewing details from the grim discovery they made around 12:50 p.m. on May 5.A body they found on the river banks in Mount Holly behind the Stowe Family YMCA was identified as 20-year-old UNCC student Irina "Ira" Yarmolenko.Police said she died of asphyxiation and are treating the case as a homicide. But they haven't revealed whether she'd been strangled or smothered. They've named no suspects and have identified no motive.Meanwhile, as Lovelace and Pierce learned more about Yarmolenko, they began to think of her almost like a family member. They've returned to the site where they found her body. What they saw there on May 5 continues to haunt them.Yarmolenko was last seen leaving a university area coffee shop about 11 a.m. Less than two hours later her body was discovered in Gaston County, about 30 miles from her school."We wish we could have helped her," said Pierce, 38. "She's become totally our friend."Pierce is a textile employee and Lovelace a truck driver. On May 5, they were both off and decided to try out their personal watercraft for the first time this season.Around 12:30 p.m. the couple packed a picnic lunch and hit the river.They headed north, zipping under the Interstate 85 bridge toward Mountain Island.Describing themselves as "river rats," Pierce and Lovelace roam up and down the Catawba whenever they find time."I've been on that river since I was a child," said Lovelace, 53. "It brings me peace of mind."They've seen an eagle dive into the Catawba and fly away with a fish; they've seen deer swimming bank to bank and a beaver that looked almost as big as a Labrador retriever.Those sights inspired peaceful thoughts. But that sort of thing didn't happen on May 5.Lovelace first spotted the blue 4-door Saturn. The sedan was lodged on the river bank at the bottom of a steep, weed-covered embankment. He motioned to Pierce to slow down and follow him over to the bank. At first, he thought it was a stolen vehicle that had been pushed over the edge of a hill.When the couple got within two feet of the bank Lovelace stood up on his water craft and saw a woman's body on the ground beside the car.Pierce noticed the woman's eyes were wide open. And she can't forget how beams of sunlight flashed on the woman's face.The car had plunged down an embankment and hit a stump just short of the water. The driver's door and the one behind it were open.Lovelace noted the steepness of the terrain, the tangles of kudzu and vines, and thick woods flanking the site.Something else caught his eye: within a 6-to-8 feet diameter around the body, tall grass had been trampled and matted. It appeared to Lovelace as the sign of a "humongous struggle.""That girl fought for her life down on the banks of that river," he said.Police have said the trampled grass didn't necessarily mean a struggle had taken place.Lovelace and Pierce were at the scene only a few minutes before they split up and went to find help. She headed south to Dale's Boat Landing in Belmont; he sped toward a construction site upriver. Neither had a cell phone.Pierce made the 911 call, but had to stay put at the boat landing in Belmont because her key to the water craft fell in the water.Lovelace estimated he was gone for about six to eight minutes. He returned to the site and stayed there in his watercraft until rescuers arrived.As information emerged about Yarmolenko's whereabouts before her body was found, Lovelace and Pierce realized the killer might have been scared away by the sound of their watercraft. It occurred to them that person might even have been hiding nearby when they arrived."The time framework put us closer and closer and then a little too close," Lovelace said. "I have an eerie feeling he (the killer) was close to us. It gives me cold chills."He's convinced whoever killed Yarmolenko knew the area."You do not go into the woods in a Saturn and run into this place," Lovelace said. "The person or persons who did this has family or friends over here and they'd been here many times."This weekend, Lovelace and Pierce planned to go back to the spot where they found Yarmolenko and put up a wreath and eight-foot wooden cross as memorials."It's our rest in peace for her and us," Pierce said. "We'll never forget her."3B | Story insideUNCC posts a $10,000 reward in Irina Yarmolenko case.More MemorialsAnother memorial for Yarmolenko will be held from 10:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday at the Chapel Hill High School Auditorium, just off Homestead Road in Chapel Hill.
Charlotte.com – May 16, 2008 10:18 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
A wrecked car in a lonely spot by the Catawba River; a young woman's lifeless body on the ground; signs of a possible struggle nearby.Images of the mystery still float in the minds of Dennis Lovelace and his girlfriend Brenda Pierce.The Belmont couple are constantly reviewing details from the grim discovery they made around 12:50 p.m. on May 5.A body they found on the river banks in Mount Holly behind the Stowe Family YMCA was identified as 20-year-old UNCC student Irina "Ira" Yarmolenko.Police said she died of asphyxiation and are treating the case as a homicide. But they haven't revealed whether she'd been strangled or smothered. They've named no suspects and have identified no motive.Meanwhile, as Lovelace and Pierce learned more about Yarmolenko, they began to think of her almost like a family member. They've returned to the site where they found her body. What they saw there on May 5 continues to haunt them.Yarmolenko was last seen leaving a university area coffee shop about 11 a.m. Less than two hours later her body was discovered in Gaston County, about 30 miles from her school."We wish we could have helped her," said Pierce, 38. "She's become totally our friend."Pierce is a textile employee and Lovelace a truck driver. On May 5, they were both off and decided to try out their personal watercraft for the first time this season.Around 12:30 p.m. the couple packed a picnic lunch and hit the river.They headed north, zipping under the Interstate 85 bridge toward Mountain Island.Describing themselves as "river rats," Pierce and Lovelace roam up and down the Catawba whenever they find time."I've been on that river since I was a child," said Lovelace, 53. "It brings me peace of mind."They've seen an eagle dive into the Catawba and fly away with a fish; they've seen deer swimming bank to bank and a beaver that looked almost as big as a Labrador retriever.Those sights inspired peaceful thoughts. But that sort of thing didn't happen on May 5.Lovelace first spotted the blue 4-door Saturn. The sedan was lodged on the river bank at the bottom of a steep, weed-covered embankment. He motioned to Pierce to slow down and follow him over to the bank. At first, he thought it was a stolen vehicle that had been pushed over the edge of a hill.When the couple got within two feet of the bank Lovelace stood up on his water craft and saw a woman's body on the ground beside the car.Pierce noticed the woman's eyes were wide open. And she can't forget how beams of sunlight flashed on the woman's face.The car had plunged down an embankment and hit a stump just short of the water. The driver's door and the one behind it were open.Lovelace noted the steepness of the terrain, the tangles of kudzu and vines, and thick woods flanking the site.Something else caught his eye: within a 6-to-8 feet diameter around the body, tall grass had been trampled and matted. It appeared to Lovelace as the sign of a "humongous struggle.""That girl fought for her life down on the banks of that river," he said.Police have said the trampled grass didn't necessarily mean a struggle had taken place.Lovelace and Pierce were at the scene only a few minutes before they split up and went to find help. She headed south to Dale's Boat Landing in Belmont; he sped toward a construction site upriver. Neither had a cell phone.Pierce made the 911 call, but had to stay put at the boat landing in Belmont because her key to the water craft fell in the water.Lovelace estimated he was gone for about six to eight minutes. He returned to the site and stayed there in his watercraft until rescuers arrived.As information emerged about Yarmolenko's whereabouts before her body was found, Lovelace and Pierce realized the killer might have been scared away by the sound of their watercraft. It occurred to them that person might even have been hiding nearby when they arrived."The time framework put us closer and closer and then a little too close," Lovelace said. "I have an eerie feeling he (the killer) was close to us. It gives me cold chills."He's convinced whoever killed Yarmolenko knew the area."You do not go into the woods in a Saturn and run into this place," Lovelace said. "The person or persons who did this has family or friends over here and they'd been here many times."This weekend, Lovelace and Pierce planned to go back to the spot where they found Yarmolenko and put up a wreath and eight-foot wooden cross as memorials."It's our rest in peace for her and us," Pierce said. "We'll never forget her."3B | Story insideUNCC posts a $10,000 reward in Irina Yarmolenko case.More MemorialsAnother memorial for Yarmolenko will be held from 10:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday at the Chapel Hill High School Auditorium, just off Homestead Road in Chapel Hill.
Charlotte.com – May 16, 2008 10:18 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
