‘Ball of fire’: Flames destroy historic home of Watauga County storyteller Dave Faherty
A major fire destroyed a historic home early Tuesday morning west of Boone. Another home and several cars were also lost during the fire in Watauga County.
County and ATF investigators spent hours trying to determine what started the blaze where Ray Hicks once lived.
Breaking Watauga- just confirmed that the home that caught fire at one time belonged to renowned Appalachian story teller, Ray Hicks. The latest on the investigation and his legacy tonight on eyewitness news starting at five. pic.twitter.com/K3qe1JTauE Dave Faherty (@FahertyWSOC9) May 25, 2021
NEWLAND â The Avery County Health Department and the Baker Clinic at Cannon Memorial Hospital have announced that first dose COVID-19 vaccines are now available for anyone ages 16 and up.
Appointments can be made by calling the health department at (828) 733-8273 or the Baker Center at (828) 737-7711. The health department is located at 545 Schultz Circle in Newland and will be offering vaccines Monday to Friday. The Baker Center is located at 436 Hospital Drive, Suite 230 in Linville and will offer vaccines from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Saturdays.
COVID-19 testing is now available at the Avery County Health Department on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. No appointments are needed for a test.
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The legend of Tom Dula (pronounced and often spelled Dooley ) is a myth. The convicted murderer of Laura Foster in 1866 becomes, for romantics, the tragic lover who went down singing on the way to the scaffold.
Despite strong circumstantial evidence and Dula s confession, diehard sympathizers believe that Dula had been innocent. He d professed his innocence in a one-hour speech before hanging.
A new, original musical about Dula s life, scheduled to open at Parkway Playhouse in Burnsville in August (2010), goes even further, pinning the killing on someone else. Legends are the point of the play, titled, The Ballad of Tom Dooley. It begins with 1930s musicians picking up the story lines through ballads.
The Mecklenburg County jail is seen in a 2020 file photo.
An inmate at the Mecklenburg County jail was found unconscious and declared dead Saturday, authorities said.
Jail medical staff performed CPR on John Davin Haley, 41, who was found in his cell Saturday morning, according to Sheriff Garry McFadden.
He was declared dead 15 minutes later, The Charlotte Observer reported.
Haley is the second inmate to die after being found unresponsive at the jail in the city s Uptown neighborhood in about a week. Karon Golightly, 20, was found unresponsive May 14 and declared dead at a nearby hospital a short time later.
The State Bureau of Investigation will investigate Haley s death, and the Mecklenburg County medical examiner will determine the cause, McFadden said.
The Dispatch
The Flame of Hope, which is the symbol of Special Olympics, was back in Davidson County and like almost everything affected by the pandemic, it was different this time.
After missing the annual North Carolina Special Olympics Law Enforcement Torch Run last year, organizers in Davidson County decided to move the event into the evening and make it a glow run, with participants wearing glow stick necklaces.
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Detective Jeremy Parks with the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office coordinates the local torch run each year. He suggested holding the event in the evening as a “glow run” to bring more awareness.