Mars Hill police lock doors
after break-in at station

MARS HILL ó The Mars Hill Police station will start locking its doors after a burglar broke in and stole several items from a display case last Wednesday.

Among the items taken were a toy handgun, a counterfeit $100 bill, about 100 morphine pills that were about six years old and a marijuana bong.

The thief apparently walked into the department, shouldered his way through an inside wood door by splintering the door jamb and cracked open the display case.

Police Chief David Lewis noted that none of the stolen items were worth much and that the thief ignored the real guns that were left in the case.

The items that were taken were all kept as a show of whatís involved in law enforcement for school groups and others, he said.

The break-in aparently took place between 3 and 3:30 a.m. when the officer on duty was out doing building checks around town.

The department had been keeping its doors unlocked because the building, which also houses a magistrateís office, is sometimes used after-hours.

However, from now on, Lewis said, the doors will be locked at night.

Area sheriffs may get help
enforcing immigration laws

Buncombe and Henderson county sheriffs will soon know whether they and 15 others in North Carolina will be getting help from federal authorities with deporting illegal immigrants who are caught breaking local laws.

The agent in charge of the program, which pairs sheriffís departments with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency,† was expected to speak with sheriffs at the† N.C. Sheriffs Association meeting at Carolina Beach. The three-day conference started last Monday.

Henderson County Sheriff Rick Davis, whose county has one of the largest Hispanic populations in Western North Carolina, applied for the federal 287(g) program last year, but that request has not yet been accepted.
The program allows for local law enforcement officers to be trained by federal agents to deport illegal immigrants who are charged with crimes here.

Such immigrants are often deported after serving sentences for their crimes.

A spokesman for the immigration agency said it is considering 70 applications from law enforcement agencies nationwide. Since the program started in 2001, 33 agencies have gone through the program.

The program has drawn criticism from some in Hispanic communities across the country. At a recent meeting in Asheville, many residents expressed fears that the program would make Hispanics less likely to cooperate with police in criminal cases.

Lt. Randy Sorrells of the Buncombe County Sheriffís Office said there are no plans to carry out immigration raids. The program, he said, focuses specifically on those who have been convicted of other crimes.

Woodfin sex-offender ban
upheld by appellate court

RALEIGH ó A state appeals court has upheld a Woodfin law prohibiting convicted sex offenders from entering public parks.

The Woodfin law, which has been copied by local governments throughout the region, does not violate the rights of registered sex offender David Strandley, the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled in a 2-1 decision on Oct. 2.
Strandley had sued the Town of Woodfin over the ordinance in Aug. 2005.

His attorney, Bruce Elmore, said he was encouraged by the dissenting opinion of Judge Martha Geer and is likely to appeal the case to the state Supreme Court.

In her dissenting opinion, Geer said the decision would contribute to a patchwork of ordinances passed by local governments that might conflict with state and federal laws, cause confusion and push sex offenders from place to place.

Asheville, Canton, Fletcher and Buncombe County have all passed similar laws since the Woodfin ban was enacted in 2005.

Woodfin banned sex offenders from its three public parks after the arrest of a sex offender who was living across the street from South Woodfin Park.

Anyone convicted of violating the ban faces a $500 fine or 30 days in jail.

Strandley previously had tried unsuccessfully to convince a Buncombe County Superior Court judge that the ban was too broad because it does not specifically target those who have been convicted of crimes against children.

He was convicted in 1987 in Florida of attempted sexual battery with a weapon. The victim was an adult.

Man to serve life in prison
for killing of 23-month-old

COVINGTON, Ga. ó A man convicted of killing a 23-month-old Weaverville, N.C., child will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Lanny Perry Barnes, 47, was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole plus four 20-year sentences after pleading guilty last Monday to one count of murder and four counts of aggravated battery.

Avery King was killed when Barnes attacked her family with his car in a McDonaldís parking lot in Covington in May 2006.

Witnesses say Barnes ran into Avery King, along with her mother, Anita King, her aunt Stephanie Casola and cousins Jacob and Isaac Casola, and then put the car in reverse and ran into them again.

Barnes waived his right to appeal.

During the trial, his mental health was called into question. His mother, Mary Barnes, testified that her son had suffered from depression for many years.

Witnesses say Barnes laughed as he ran over the family.

Anita King was pregnant at the time of the attack and gave birth to Averyís sister, Gracie, on Nov. 11.

Last month, Anita King and her husband Tony opened Averyís Little Corner, a playground in Woodfin, N.C., dedicated to the memory of their daughter.

The playground for toddlers was incorporated into the renovation of the existing Roy Pope Memorial Park, located behind Woodfin Elementary School.

Record industry drops suit
against Fletcher woman

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against a Fletcher woman over accusations that she infringed on copyrights.

Tiffany Redmond was one of thousands of people who have been sued by the Recording Industry Association of America.

The RIAA filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Asheville last year, accusing Redmond of illegally distributing copyrighted music through peer-to-peer services such as LimeWire.

However, the case was dismissed because Redmond had moved and could not be served with papers, according to court records.

The RIAA, which represents the six music labels that brought the case, has filed more than 26,000 lawsuits against people accused of copying or allowing others to copy music online.

Arden man, 32, arrested
on Tenn. child rape charges

ARDEN ó A man wanted on child-rape charges in Tennessee was arrested by Buncombe County sheriffís deputies last Thursday.

Christopher Lance Barrett, 32, of Groton Way in Arden was arrested on a fugitive wrrant after fleeing a charge of child rape in Hamilton County, Tenn., authorities said. He was released after posting a $25,000 bond.

The following also were arrested last Thursday in Buncombe:

ï Jessica Annette Agren, 31, of Lynwood Circle was charged by the sheriffís office with two counts of obtaining prescription drugs by fraud. She was being held in lieu of a $1,500 bond.

ï Nancy Deloris Dietz, 43, of Pearson Bridge Road was arrested by the N.C. Department of Motor Vehicles on three counts of obtaining property by false pretense after presenting false identification to obtain a driverís license and one count of identity theft. She was being held in lieu of a $2,000 bond.

ï April Rice Takahashi, 27, of Trinity Church Road was charged with forging a check. She was released without bond.

ï Cindy Jane Cody, 34, of Mundy Cove Road in Weaverville was arrested by sheriffís deputies on a fugitive warrant from Alabama on a charge of receiving stolen property. She was being held in lieu of a $25,000 bond.

ï Michael Eugene Bumgarner, 41, of Hay Field Drive in Candler was arrested by sheriffís deputies on charges of possession with intent to manufacture, sell and deliver marijuana, maintaining a vehicle to store drugs, speeding and driving while his license was revoked. He was being held in lieu of a $2,000 bond.

Asheville man arrested
on drug-related charges

Lonnie Clyde Bugg, 51, of Deaverview Road in Asheville was arrested by Buncombe County sheriffís deputies on charges of trafficking in cocaine, maintaining a house to store drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was being held in lieu of a $55,200 bond.

The following also were arrested last Friday in Buncombe:

ï Zachary High Allen, 28, of El Pots Drive in Swannanoa was arrested by Black Mountain Police on a number of drug- and driving-related charges.

Allen was charged with obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, possession of crack cocaine, two counts of simple possession of prescription drugs, driving while his license was revoked and failure to appear on charges of driving while his license was revoked and a vehicle inspection sticker violation. He was being held in lieu of a $3,500 bond.

ï Yolanda Martika Boyd, 18, of Granada Street in Asheville was arrested on charges of communicating threats, damage to real property and failure to appear on a charge of damage to real property. She was being held in lieu of an $800 bond.

UNCA police investigating
reported theft of 2 bicycles

UNC Asheville police are investigating the reported thefts of two bicycles on campus.

The first case was reported at 12:09 p.m. Oct 2. at West Ridge Parking Deck, and the second was reported at 11:55 a.m. last Wednesday at the bike rack at Mill Hall.

N.C. panel recommends
$8,500 fine for false report

The penalty-review committee of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services last Thursday recommended an $8,500 fine against an adult home care center in Asheville.

The state can issue a fine of up to $10,000.

The panel decided the group homeís staff failed to properly supervise a man who later was found slain under the Smoky Park Bridge.

In the aftermath of a dispute over a camping spot under the bridge, James Lovin, 47, was stabbed and beaten to death on Jan. 28. Police charged two homeless men with his slaying.

Lovin, who had been homeless off and on for years, had been staying at Unit 6 of Sunrise Family Care Homes on Hornot Circle before his death.

The group homeís workers did not file a missing person report until the news media reported Lovin had been killed ó 10 days after he walked away from the home, the Buncombe County Department of Social Services stated in a report.

Lovin had not signed out of the group homeís register, but, after his death, a facility supervisor signed his name out, the DSS report noted.

The group home had a contract with Lovin to ìimmediately inform the residentís responsible party (if any), the appropriate law enforcement officials and the county department of social servicesî if his whereabouts were unknown or if there was reason to be concerned for his safety, according to the DSS report.

Lovin had been diagnosed with alcohol abuse, the DSS report stated.

A-B Tech child-care center
locked down after gunfire

A child-care center at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College was locked down for more than three hours on Oct. 9 after school security workers heard reports of gunfire in a nearby neighborhood.

About 40 children were kept inside the building with the doors and blinds shut after the head of A-B Techís security department reported that gunfire had been heard in the nearby Livingston Street area.

The center went into lock down at 2 p.m. and the children were not released until it closed at 5:30 p.m.
Earlier, police stopped a suspicious vehicle near a sports field above the Erskine Street Apartments about 1:30 p.m., but found no weapons.

No charges have been filed in the incident.