Alcohol report details what parts of N.C. like which spirits
WILMINGTON — A detailed report shows exactly what kind of alcohol is most popular across North Carolina.
The StarNews of Wilmington obtained the 422-page report from the National Alcoholic Beverage Control Association. It tracks how many cases of alcohol are sold in 99 North Carolina counties. Graham County remains the state’s lone dry county.
North Carolina’s ABC alcohol boards sold $869 million in 2014, nearly twice the amount from a decade ago.
Rum is popular in coastal counties like Dare, Currituck and Onslow.
The report says Tennessee whiskey sells better in the mountains, while areas like Wake, Durham and Orange counties have seen an increase in rye whisky sales.
Gin is more popular in rural counties like Bertie, Greene and Hertford.
Two kayakers rescued after 9 hours in sound near Outer Banks
NAGS HEAD — The Coast Guard says two men have been rescued in the Pamlico Sound nearly nine hours after their kayaks sank off the Outer Banks.
Authorities say the men were wearing life jackets, which likely saved their lives.
Coast Guard officials said one of the men called for help around 4:30 p.m. Saturday, giving rescuers their position.
A helicopter and boats started searching, finally finding them around 1:15 a.m. Sunday. Paramedics began treating both men. Their conditions and names were not immediately released. Authorities say they are in their 20s.
The Coast Guard says the men drifted about 9 miles southwest of where their ordeal started, near the Oregon Inlet.
Prosecutor refuses imprisoned killer’s fast trial request
GASTONIA — A convicted killer says he only has four months to live and wants to be tried in a Gaston County murder case before he dies.
But a prosecutor told The Gaston Gazette that 58-year-old Jerry Case is already serving a 30-year sentence in an unrelated kidnapping case, and he sees no reason to waste taxpayer money.
Case wrote the newspaper a letter recently saying he has lung cancer and will die in months. He is awaiting trial in the 1985 killing of 17-year-old Chris Farmer. He was charged after writing a letter confessing.
But Case says he will only plead guilty if he can get the death penalty.
Gaston County District Attorney Locke Bell says that isn’t possible and Case is just playing games with the legal system.
Asheville tourism bureau doesn’t report how it spends money
ASHEVILLE — The agency that promotes tourism in Asheville has a $9 million budget of public money, but doesn’t have to reveal how it spends a lot of that money.
Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Stephanie Brown told the Asheville Citizen-Times reports that the salaries and bonuses of agency employees are not public record.
Brown says the bureau employees are workers on contract from the private nonprofit Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, so even though they handle public money, they aren’t considered public employees like the city manager, police officers or firefighters.
North Carolina Press Association attorney Amanda Martin says it is appalling that so much money can be spent without reporting, itemizing or accountability.
Neighbors fight massive single-family houses on Outer Banks
COROLLA — Neighbors say a 20,000-square-foot home in the northern Outer Banks with 24 bedrooms shouldn’t fit the definition of a single-family home.
Marie Long told The Virginian-Pilot that the designation is dangerous. She says the nearest fire department is 7 miles away and the home doesn’t have to have sprinklers because it is a single-family residence.
The house can cost up $30,000 a week to rent. Many times it hosts families for weddings.
Long is fighting a court ruling that upheld a 2013 local board decision that the home is a single-family dwelling. Earlier this year, legislators passed a law preventing local governments from limiting the number of bedrooms in a home.
Currituck County lists 247 homes of 5,000 or more square feet built since 2005. Most are rentals.
The Associated Press
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