Foxx: No property tax hike for streetcar
Democratic mayoral candidate Anthony Foxx said Thursday he wouldn't raise property taxes to pay for a streetcar, despite his vote to move ahead with the project and suggestions from city staff that a hike may be needed.
"We aren't proposing or considering any increase in property taxes, and now would be a terrible time to think of that," he told the Observer. "I will not raise property taxes for the streetcar."
The streetcar and property tax issues came up when Foxx and Republican John Lassiter spoke to a luncheon of the Charlotte Regional Mortgage Lenders Association at the Myers Park Country Club.
Lassiter has also opposed property tax increases.
The rivals, both at-large city council members, were on opposite sides last month when council Democrats overrode Mayor Pat McCrory's veto of $4.5 million to start design work on the line.
The project, which would run from Johnson C. Smith University through uptown to Eastland Mall, would cost over $450 million. It's unclear where the money would come from.
"I could not promise to build something I didn't know how to pay for," Lassiter told the mortgage group.
Foxx defended his vote. He said the line would bring economic development to neighborhoods that need it. One study showed new development could generate $112million in new property taxes over 20 years.
"The future of our city is dependent on making every part ... a great place to live in," he told the group.
On Monday the city staff outlined ways to pay for the line to the council's Transportation Committee, which Foxx chairs. One option called for creating a special taxing district along the line and enacting a 4-cent tax hike for every $100 of taxable value. Another called for a citywide tax increase of 2 cents.
The city's current tax rate is 45.86cents.
"By supporting the streetcar, I'm not committing myself to a property tax increase," Foxx said later.
During the meeting, he defended his vote for a 2006 city budget that raised property taxes 9 percent - the first increase in at least a decade. Lassiter voted against the budget.
Foxx said the tax hike helped pay for the 70 new officers the police chief requested, more than in the no-new-tax budget supported by Lassiter and McCrory. It also brought in money for new roads and neighborhood improvements.
He suggested that without the tax hike, Charlotte's crime rate might not have gone down. Police say it's down 20percent from a year ago.
"You can't out a price on (a) family's sense of safety, put a value on the life saved because we had the additional police officers," he told the group.
Lassiter has criticized "unnecessary and unmanaged government spending" that he says had nothing to do with police, roads or neighborhoods.
Thursday he alluded to this year's General Assembly actions that raised the state sales tax by a penny and enacted surcharges of 2 percent or 3percent on some taxpayers. He told the mortgage lenders that he'll keep taxes down.
"We're in a high-taxed city in a high-taxed state," he said. "We've got to right the ship."
Forbes List Of America's Most Dangerous Cities...Charlotte Is No. 14!
To determine our list, we used violent crime statistics from the FBI's latest uniform crime report, issued in 2008. The violent crime category is composed of four offenses: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault. We evaluated U.S. metropolitan statistical areas--geographic entities defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for use by federal agencies in collecting, tabulating and publishing federal statistics--with more than 500,000 residents.
No. 14 Charlotte, N.C.
(Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, N.C.-S.C. metropolitan statistical area)
Population: 1,635,133
Violent Crimes per 100,000: 721
Charlotte Catholic High student arrested for gun threat
A Charlotte Catholic High School student will make his first court appearance this afternoon, after police say he threatened to bring an AK-47 to school.
School officials and police say they believe the student, senior Brett Lally, was playing a prank on fellow students.
But when a parent learned about the alleged exchange of e-mails between Lally and other students and called Charlotte Catholic officials, police took it seriously.
Lally, 18, of Charlotte, was arrested Sunday and charged with three misdemeanor counts of cyberstalking. He was released on $10,000 bond. His first court appearance is scheduled for 1 p.m. today.
Police say that in the student's e-mails, he threatened to bring an AK-47 to school and shoot students.
Charlotte Catholic Principal Jerry Healy sent a letter home to parents Monday, informing them of the student's arrest and thanking parents and staff who acted quickly when they learned of the e-mails.
Healy said he realizes students play pranks and sometimes say things they regret, but he added, "There are limits to what anyone can say."
Here's the text of the letter sent to parents by Charlotte Catholic High Principal Jerry Healy:
Dear Parents:
I want to let you know of an incident that took place over the weekend involving one of our students and, potentially, our school.
A student wrote in an e-mail that he was in possession of an AK-47 assault rifle and that he intended to bring it to school to use on students at CCHS. Fortunately a parent who was alerted about the contents of the e-mail contacted school personnel who then contacted the authorities.
The student has been arrested for communicating a threat via e-mail. Because of the arrest and the ongoing public concern about the safety of all schools, you may hear about the situation via the news media.
While I regret the fear and concern that this incident might create, I am grateful to the parents and staff members who took immediate steps to address the potential danger inherent in the threatening e-mail.
The police have indicated that the student involved in this matter thought he was playing a prank. As parents we all have experience with children doing regrettable things. It is part of growing up. But there are limits to what anyone can say. I have spent time today talking with CCHS students about using unacceptable language and threats when they communicate with their fellow students. Hopefully we will all learn something from this incident.
Finally, I ask for your prayers for the student who was arrested, for his family and for the CCHS students, faculty, and staff. With vigilance and the grace of God we will continue to provide a safe place where our children can learn.
Jerry Healy
Principal
Man accused in woman's murder cries on witness stand
The man accused of killing a UNC-Charlotte volleyball player in 2005 took the witness stand in his own defense today.
Seyi Odueso is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Christy Galvin, who was his girlfriend.
Odueso broke down in tears several times during his testimony. He testified that Galvin came at him with a knife, so he grabbed her and put her in a headlock in an effort to calm her.
Odueso said Galvin was face-down on the bed and he was on top of her when she was in the headlock.
Odueso's defense attorneys say he acted in self-defense.
On Monday, prosecutors called their last witness in the trial. Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner James Sullivan testified that Galvin was strangled.
"There were lots of hemorrhages externally that were evidence of strangulation," Sullivan said.
Sullivan testified that Galvin also suffered from other significant and possibly life-threatening injuries, including a cut to her left wrist.
"It extended to about 1/2-inch in depth," he said.
Prosecutors say Odueso strangled Galvin because she wanted to break up with him.
Gun found on 9th-grader at Independence High
A ninth-grader at Independence High School is in custody after a police officer found a loaded handgun near the student this morning, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials say.
Cynthia Robbins, a spokeswoman for CMS, said the school resource officer at Independence had called the student into his office to question him about possible marijuana possession.
During the interview, Robbins said, the police officer spotted a gun under the chair where the student was sitting, in the office. CMS officials believe the student brought the gun into the office, then put it under the chair where he was sitting.
Robbins said the student was arrested and will be charged as a juvenile.
She said the student did not show the gun to anyone and did not threaten anyone. However, he faces legal charges and will be disciplined by the school system.
Independence High Principal Mark Bosco has sent a Connect-Ed message -- an automated telephone message -- to families of all students at the school.
Woman confronts burglar in home
A woman in northeast Charlotte awakened to find a burglar in her residence early this morning, police say.
The burglar escaped with some of the woman's belongings, but the victim was not injured.
It happened about 12:20 a.m. at a residence in the 3200 block of Erskine Drive, off Shamrock Drive. Police say the woman awakened, apparently after hearing a noise. She discovered a man, his face covered with a cloth, standing in her residence.
The man smashed a rear window in her residence and ran off, police say ... but not before he took two of the woman's purses and other belongings.
Police called in their K-9 dog search unit and looked for the burglar for several hours, but no arrests were made.
Police have not released a full description of the burglar.
Illegal nightclubs may be on the rise in Charlotte, police say
Illegal night spots in Charlotte, like the scene of this weekend's mass shooting, may be on the rise, police say.
Investigators were still searching late Monday for two men they say were involved in the shooting injured seven people early Sunday after a party at warehouse on Old Pineville Road.
Such night spots are cropping up as party promoters try to avoid costly permit and licensing requirements, police say. And without oversight, they are more likely to attract drugs, gambling and violence.
"It's happening a lot, a whole lot," said Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Captain Demetria Faulkner-Welch, who has supervised the department's alcohol unit.
Police couldn't provide statistics on how many unlicensed night spots have been busted, or the crimes spawned. But they see a pattern.
"They find the smaller places that are hard up for the money" to host events in, "and places that they think police won't check," Faulkner-Welch said.
The property involved in Sunday's shooting is owned by Donald Butler Jr. It's in an industrial area, flanked by empty warehouses and other businesses. Butler told the Observer he rented his building out in April for $1,000 a month to two men who wanted to open a bar.
Butler said he doesn't know if the building has been used as a night spot, and didn't know about any plans for Sunday's party.
"They hadn't been open as far as I know," said Butler. "Of course, I'm not up there at 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning."
Butler's tenants couldn't be reached Monday, and he says he plans to terminate their lease.
Mario Young, 26, who said he helped plan Sunday's party, said the building wasn't being used as a club, but as a venue to celebrate a birthday and an album release.
No one was charging for drinks or admission, Young said. And the building has been used previously for private parties, he said.
The tenants hoped to turn the building into a licensed club eventually, but were hindered by expensive repairs needed to bring it into compliance with fire codes, according to Young.
Police say the night spot has run into trouble before.
Police spokesman Robert Fey said CMPD contacted the tenants about two months ago and told them they needed legal permits to serve alcohol. It was unclear Monday what prompted the initial police contact or whether anybody was cited at the time.
But the tenants applied for permits and were denied by the city agencies involved, Fey said. Police are still deciding whether to press charges against those hosting Sunday's party.
Getting permits to open a nightclub or host a one-time event with alcohol can be an expensive and complicated process.
Applicants must pass criminal background checks and receive favorable opinions from local zoning, fire and police officials before the N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission will issue a permit. Other licenses can add to the cost: A dancehall permit alone is $3,500 in Charlotte, authorities said.
Police would not release names or descriptions of the men they are seeking in Sunday's shooting, saying they don't want to tip the suspects off that they've been charged. Police also would not release the charges included in arrest warrants for the men.
Six people were taken to area hospitals with gunshot wounds, and a seventh refused treatment, police said. On Monday, one remained hospitalized and was listed in fair condition.
The shooting happened shortly before 3 a.m. Sunday, when a fight erupted outside the building, police said. A man involved in the fight was denied re-entry into the party, police said, so he came back with a semi-automatic rifle and began firing.
Young said he broke up the brawl and witnessed the shooting. He said the gunman fired multiple times through the front door. Then, as people fled out the back door, Young said, the shooter walked around to the back of the building and sprayed bullets randomly at people in the gravel parking lot.
"He kept saying 'Open the door,'" said Young, who hid along the side of the building. "I was praying he didn't come around my way."
Car theft suspect arrested in air duct
Police arrested a car theft suspect who cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet last week after tracking him to his girlfriend's house today.
Officers from Charlotte-Mecklenburg's Violent Criminal Apprehension Team found Phillipe Anthony, 21, hiding in the air ducts of his girlfriend's west Charlotte house.
His girlfriend, 26-year-old Octavia Sullivan, was also arrested and charged as an accessory after the fact for hiding Anthony.
Anthony was wanted for car theft, and has an arrest history for auto theft, robbery, drug-related crimes and assault.
He was only about two tenths of a mile from where police say he cut off the court-ordered monitoring bracelet on Remount Road, near Wilkinson Boulevard and W. Morehead Street.
Failed by system, dead at 15
Tiffany Wright stood alone in the dark, waiting for her school bus.
It was just before 6 a.m., and her foster grandmother had walked back home to get Tiffany's water bottle.
Tiffany, 15, was eight months pregnant but determined to stay on track in school. She wanted to be a lawyer. And after just a few weeks at Hawthorne High, she had impressed teachers as smart and ambitious, despite a difficult childhood.
At 5:51, Tiffany sent a text.
"Wheres the bus?"
One stop away, replied her friend, already on the bus.
At 5:55, as the bus lumbered toward Tiffany's stop, people began calling police to report gunshots.
A school bus dispatcher radioed Tiffany's bus driver: Change course - something's happening ahead.
Tiffany lay dead in the road, shot in the head, that morning, Monday, Sept. 14. Her baby girl was delivered at the hospital and lived a week, but died Sunday.
Nobody's charged in the killings, but police call Tiffany's adoptive brother, Royce Mitchell, a "person of interest."
In the months before she died, local agencies took steps aimed at stabilizing her home life and keeping her safe. But her story exposes failures in the system that was supposed to protect her.
Among the missteps:
•In February, a Mecklenburg court clerk appointed Mitchell as Tiffany's temporary guardian - even though he was a felon who served time in federal prison. He was also tried in 2006 for murder, but found not guilty. And last year, he was accused of domestic violence, though the case was dismissed.
•In July, social workers told police that Mitchell, 36, might have committed statutory rape with Tiffany, but police didn't question him about it for seven weeks, and didn't charge him with the rape until after Tiffany was killed.
•This month, Mecklenburg social services failed to cut off communication between Tiffany, who was in foster care, and Mitchell, said a source close to the investigation.
On the day of Tiffany's killing, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police jailed Mitchell for statutory rape and indecent liberties with a child, naming Tiffany as the victim.
Police defend their work, saying they followed the industry's best practices - which takes time. Police didn't feel a need to rush, they say, because they believed Tiffany was secure, hidden in a foster home with no threat to her safety.
Police say it's hard to prove statutory rape: Of the 262 reports of statutory rape police received over three years, only 16 percent - 42 cases - were accepted by prosecutors.
Experts say statutory rape cases are complicated because they involve victims ages 13, 14 or 15 who often consider themselves voluntary participants in sex with someone at least six years older. So victims can be reluctant to help police.
But child advocates say in cases like Tiffany's, police should act more aggressively. An immediate arrest sends a signal to a suspect and can persuade them to stay away from victims.
"The cases may be difficult to win, but they're not difficult to charge," says Brett Loftis of Charlotte's Council for Children's Rights.
UNCC criminologist Paul Friday says: "Often, nothing is done in these kinds of cases because they're based on improper assumptions about the rationality of someone that age. But the minors are often unaware of disease, birth control and they can be exploited by someone."
Adopted by foster mother
Tiffany first entered the child welfare system as a toddler in Buffalo, N.Y., when her mother lost custody.
She was adopted at 4 by her foster mother, Alma Wright, an older woman with eight grown children, who was excited about raising another child.
One of Wright's grown sons was Royce Mitchell, a star quarterback in high school who'd gone on to play for a semi-pro team in Buffalo. But Mitchell also was indicted in 1999 as part of a drug trafficking ring and went to federal prison.
While he was in prison, authorities also charged Mitchell with an earlier murder, but a jury found him not guilty.
In 2004, Alma and Tiffany left Buffalo for North Carolina, settling near Kings Mountain. Tiffany made friends easily at school and church. She ran track at Bessemer City High School.
In 2007, Mitchell was released from prison and followed his mother to North Carolina.
But last fall, Alma Wright got sick. Friends at church helped out with Tiffany, inviting her for dinners and weekends. Tiffany spent time with Mitchell and his wife, too.
Alma Wright died Jan. 25, and Tiffany moved in with the Mitchells in Charlotte.
On Jan. 30, Royce Mitchell asked a Mecklenburg court to appoint him and his wife as Tiffany's guardians.
On his application, he wrote: "We are seeking guardianship because we were requested to do so by Mrs. Alma Wright before she died."
He wanted to transfer Tiffany to West Mecklenburg High School.
The court set a hearing for Feb. 5 and appointed a child advocate to study the situation and look after Tiffany's best interests in court.
There's no transcript of what happened in court, and the clerk who handled Tiffany's case declined to discuss his decision.
Frederick Benson, a Mecklenburg assistant clerk of superior court, appointed Mitchell the temporary guardian of Tiffany's welfare.
It's unclear if Benson, a lawyer, knew about Mitchell's criminal background. Court clerks are not required to perform background checks in guardianship cases, says Clerk of Superior Court Martha Curran. It's up to each clerk to decide what checks are necessary, and they often rely on court-appointed child advocates to advise them in such cases.
Tiffany's advocate, lawyer Martha Efird, declined to discuss her actions in the case.
It was in the weeks surrounding the Feb. 5 court hearing that Tiffany got pregnant, if hospital estimates are accurate.
But friends say Tiffany, who started at West Mecklenburg High in February, wouldn't realize for four or five months that she was pregnant.
On Feb. 27, clerk of court Benson ordered DSS to conduct a "home study" of the Mitchell household. Officials won't release their findings.
But Mitchell didn't keep custody long, according to several of Tiffany's friends in King's Mountain.
In late March, Mitchell left Tiffany at a group home called With Friends in Gastonia, according to Marlene Jefferies and Cruceta Jeffeirs, two adult family friends who watched Tiffany grow up.
The group home wouldn't confirm that. But the friends say the home reported to social services that Tiffany was abandoned. And she was soon back in foster care.
On March 31, Jeffeirs, a Shelby pastor, wrote a letter to Benson seeking custody of Tiffany: "My desire is to see Tiffany accomplish all the goals that she has set for herself and I believe she can do that in a stable environment with lots of guidance and love."
DSS officials in Gaston and Mecklenburg won't discuss Tiffany's case or answer questions about what steps they took to protect her.
But friends and family say Tiffany was eventually placed in the care of foster parent Susan Barber, in a townhome off Mallard Creek Road in Derita.
By July, it was clear Tiffany was pregnant, friends say.
Barber tried to shield Tiffany from talking to those she believed might be bad influences, according to Tiffany's cousin Brittany Page. But a source close to the investigation said Tiffany and Mitchell continued communicating.
Despite repeated attempts, Barber could not be reached.
As the school year approached, Tiffany prepared to change schools again, this time to Hawthorne High in Charlotte, which offers a special program for pregnant students.
Delayed investigation
On July 27, social workers reported to police that Royce Mitchell might have committed statutory rape with Tiffany.
It took eight days for a detective to look at the case, and three days more for it to be officially assigned to Teresa Johnson, a detective with CMPD's youth crime and domestic violence unit.
Another 12 days passed before Johnson interviewed Tiffany.
It's unclear when detective Johnson discovered Mitchell's background, but it wasn't enough to ramp up the investigation. Investigators say they believed Tiffany was safe in a foster home and faced no threats from Mitchell.
Police say their performance in the case followed procedure and met standards.
Police interview alleged victims immediately if the crime has occurred within the previous 72 hours, so they can gather evidence that may remain. But in cases like Tiffany's - where months had elapsed since the alleged offense - police try to arrange just one interview when children and teen victims of abuse are involved.
Police acknowledge that strategy takes time but minimizes trauma and reduces the chances that young victims might be led into inaccurate testimony by repeated questioning.
Police also let such victims decide when they want to be interviewed at the county's child-victim center called Pat's Place. There, specially trained interviewers talk to victims, while social workers, psychologists, police and others watch from another room.
Tiffany chose an Aug. 19 interview. She didn't say much during the formal interview. But later that day, Johnson won her trust and obtained enough information to move forward with the investigation.
No response from Mitchell
The next day, Aug. 20, the detective made her first call to Mitchell to ask him about the charge, she says. Johnson left a message and gave him a few days to call back.
When Mitchell didn't respond, she made calls over the next two weeks to social workers and a Federal Probation Officer to ask Mitchell to come talk to police.
Police say they didn't immediately arrest him because they believed they could get better information if he talked voluntarily.
On Sept. 9, a federal probation official told Johnson that Mitchell was not coming in.
On Sept. 10, a team of social workers, police and other agencies held a standard follow-up meeting to discuss how to proceed in Tiffany's case.
On Friday, Sept. 11, detective Johnson phoned Mitchell's wife and left a message. She asked her to call back to discuss Tiffany, Johnson says, but didn't give details of the rape allegation.
That Monday, Tiffany was shot and killed.
As emergency vehicles rolled to the scene, Tiffany's school bus was diverted from its normal route. But the students could see flashing lights. Tiffany's friends on the bus, Cimone Black and Tamia Corpening, began to worry.
"I kept texting her phone...," Cimone said. Then she started calling, but all she got was voice mail.
The bus continued on to Hawthorne. For Tamia, the hourlong ride was excruciating.
Nobody said a word.
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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, Forbes, Charmeck.org, Google Maps
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