Union County votes to remove fluoride from water
The Union County Board of Commissioners (UCBoC) voted 3-2 Monday to move forward with removing fluoride from a portion of the county’s drinking water. Public water fluoridation, which helps keep residents’ teeth clean while preventing tooth decay, is one of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most heralded developments of the 20th century.
Pediatric dentists and a faculty member from the East Carolina University School of Dentistry argued at the meeting that removing fluoride from the water would impact poorer families in the area, as they are more likely to lack dental insurance.
“It’s going to have astronomical financial results for the taxpayers,” said one dentist, referring to the impact on families relying on Medicaid.
However, UCBoC vice-chairman Brian Helms argued that it was about government control.
“Fluoride has been in our water for over 50 years. I don’t believe that makes it right,” Helms said at Monday’s meeting. “The decision before us is not whether fluoride is good or bad. The decision is whether the Union County Board has the power to forcibly medicate a resident without their consent.”
The removal of fluoride would take place at the newly constructed Yadkin River Water Treatment Plant; in Monroe, which receives water from Lake Tillery at Norwood in Stanly County.
If implemented, the action would currently affect only one-third of county residents, as the rest use water from the Catawba River Water Project, which is outside of Union County’s control.
Since the vote was not unanimous, there will be a second reading for a decision at the Feb. 19 board meeting. The ordinance amendment will take effect if there is another “Yes” majority, meaning the county will not add fluoride to its water during treatment at the Yadkin facility.
Commissioner Richard Helms and board president JR Rowell opposed the proposal at Monday’s meeting.
Police shoot man in Beatties Ford Rd
An officer shot a man while trying to break up a drug deal in front of a convenience store on Beatties Ford Road Thursday morning.
According to CMPD, officers “observed what they believed to be a drug transaction” between two individuals — one of whom clearly had a gun, they claimed — in the parking lot of Fast Mart #5 at the corner of Beatties Ford Road and Catherine Simmons Avenue .
When officers approached the gunman, later identified as 33-year-old Tim Moore, he allegedly tried to run away, then removed the gun from his waistband and “pulled the gun away from his body.” An officer “perceived an imminent and deadly threat” and fired at Moore, striking him.
The medic took Moore to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Later Thursday night, CMPD reported that Moore was in custody and charged with possession of a firearm by a felon. I resist, I delay, I hinder. and carrying a concealed weapon.
Robert Dawkins with the SAFE Coalition said Moore was known to be bullied by others in the area for his mental health struggles and speculated that those experiences may have played a role in his carrying a gun. He acknowledged that because of the reported involvement of a gun, CMPD was right not to call in the CARES team, which consists of licensed social workers who go to what would normally be a low-risk 911, often involving mental health crises.
Local activist Kass Ottley expressed her disappointment that police did not do more to de-escalate the situation before the shooting began, especially since many community organizers in the area are familiar with Moore and his circumstances.
“Police always fear for their lives when a black man is involved and resort first to violence and lethal force,” Ottley told Queen City Nerve. “We see it over and over again in black and brown communities across the country. We also see white shooters shooting at police, resisting arrest and assaulting police and never getting shot and affording to live to see another day.
“So it’s not the action or the gun or the crime police, it’s the skin/race/color that they’re really afraid of,” he continued. “How do we fix it?”
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation will investigate Thursday’s incident.
Democrats respond to WFAE’s school voucher report
NC Democrats are responding Ann Doss Helms reports for WFAEpublished this week, shows how North Carolina taxpayers have sent nearly $483,000 to a private school that is impossible to trace and may not even exist in the Charlotte area.
Six months after investigating Teaching Students Achieving Academy, which receives scholarship money under the voucher program, and failing to locate the physical school, Helms tried again to find the institution and learn more about the education offered at the school.
She visited two addresses listed at the school with no response and made several phone calls to school officials that were hung up or went unanswered.
“This report demonstrates how unresponsive the Republican private school voucher program is – North Carolina taxpayers sent a fictional private school over $480,000 while our public schools struggle to stay afloat,” said Tommy Mattocks, representative of the North Carolina Democratic Party (NCDP). . “Republicans are taking money away from public schools to pour billions into the dangerous private school voucher program as part of their plan to dismantle public education in North Carolina.”
The state House Education Committee approved a bill in April 2023 that allows all NC families to receive public money for private school tuition through a model called “backpack funding.” That plan offers larger subsidies for lower-income families, but it raised the question of why higher-income families, sometimes making millions a year, were still eligible for this funding.
The most recent NCGA budget will expand the voucher program by $250 million over the next two years, for a total of $4 billion over the next 10 years. Some school districts will lose up to 8 percent of their revenue to private schools, while several rural schools may be forced to combine with other schools or close due to lack of funding, the NCDP noted.
Cherryville police shoot and kill a man during the fight
Police in Cherryville shot and killed a man during a standoff Sunday afternoon. According to the Cherryville Police Department, police responded to a disturbance on West 2nd Street shortly after 1 p.m. and found one of the people involved, 35-year-old Thomas Rivera, walking in the street when they arrived.
After two officers confronted Rivera, they began fighting, and after the man allegedly picked up a pipe, an officer fired a shot, striking Rivera. An ambulance took Rivera to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
There was no allegation that Rivera was armed with anything other than the pipe he allegedly took during the fight, nor has there been any word from the department on whether the incident was caught on body or dash cameras. The State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the incident.
Local business owner murdered
Shortly after 11:30 p.m. Sunday night, police responded to a call of shots fired on Odum Avenue in Charlotte’s northwest Oakview Terrace neighborhood, where they found 48-year-old Rudolph Acolatse dead from a gunshot wound.
Community members directed responding officers to the suspect, who was taken into custody without incident. The suspect, a 45-year-old man, is charged with murder.
Acolatse was the founder and CEO of Tropix Bar & Grill on North Tryon Street. He was known in the community for his giving spirit and big heart. His family has started a GoFundMe campaign to help with funeral expenses.
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