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Vance High School Principal Phillip Cauthen has been suspended with pay, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials.
CMS has not said why it took the action against Cauthen, but the school system said the principal will remain out of work while it conducts an investigation. A check of criminal records shows no legal charges pending against Cauthen.
WCNC-TV, the Observer's news partner, reports that police said school employees reported scuffle-like sounds coming from Cauthen's office while he was holding a closed-door meeting with a student. WCNC says neither Cauthen nor the student pressed charges.
Cauthen has been principal at Vance since 2006 and was assistant principal at the school for three years before that. -- Steve Lyttle
Meck briefs
Charlotte
More than 3,000 school librarians and other guests are in Charlotte through Saturday for the 14th American Association of School Librarians Conference.
Organizers say the event, scheduled for the Charlotte Convention Center on South College Street, is the biggest annual gathering of school media specialists.
The keynote speaker Thursday was best-selling author James Patterson, who wrote "Maximum Ride," "Women's Murder Club," and the "Alex Cross" series of books. Other noted authors are scheduled to speak at the event. -- Staff reports
Pfeiffer University announced Thursday that it will begin offering a new master's degree in special education at its Charlotte and Misenheimer campuses.
The program begins in January, the university says.
The Special Education master's program will be part of the School of Education; classes will begin Jan. 13. Pfeiffer officials say the need for special education teachers is expected to grow 15 percent over the next six years, according to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Labor.
More information is available at www.pfeiffer.edu/info. -- Steve Lyttle
Regional briefs
Cabarrus County
Kannapolis
The Cabarrus Health Alliance will offer H1N1 vaccinations from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday at its 1307 S. Cannon Blvd. location in Kannapolis.
The Alliance has 3,500 doses of vaccine for its first communitywide vaccination clinic. The vaccine will be offered to high-risk groups, including pregnant women, caregivers of children under 6 months, anyone from 6 months to 24 years old, adults younger than 64 who have underlying medical conditions, and health-care workers or emergency medical responders.
Details: 704-920-1213 or www.cabarrushealth.org. -- Karen Garloch
North Carolina
Asheville
More blasting was scheduled Thursday at the site of the huge rockslide that has blocked Interstate 40 in Western North Carolina.
The N.C. Department of Transportation says two-man crews drilled holes Wednesday on the face of the mountain slope where the slide took place Oct. 25, preparing for blasting.
DOT officials say the blasting will continue for several weeks, as crews continue the process of turning large boulders into piles of small rocks that can be hauled away. Blasting is taking place on the side of the mountain, where some boulders are lodged, and on the ground. Engineers say crews are working until 6 p.m. each day, using every available minute of daylight.
The DOT has estimated it will be late January or early February before I-40 is reopened.
The slide took place a few miles east of the Tennessee border and has blocked traffic in both directions. -- Steve Lyttle
South Carolina
Myrtle Beach
The family of one of two women killed while parasailing Aug. 28 off Ocean Isle Beach has asked the U.S. District Court in Wilmington for permission to file a state lawsuit against the parasailing company.
The victim's family made its request in an answer to a company motion filed Tuesday, said Joel Rhine, who is representing the estate of Cynthia Woodcock, formerly of Kernersville.
Woodcock, 60, and her friend Lorrie Shoup, 54, formerly of Granby, Colo., were killed when they were parasailing together and the pressure from winds preceding a storm front broke the tow rope that connected them to the parasail boat called the Tied High. With the chute inflated from the storm wind, the two women were dragged upside down through waves churned by the wind.
Wednesday's filing said Ocean Isle Watersports and its agents failed, among other things, to heed hazardous weather forecasts or bulletins broadcast by the National Weather Service that day. -- (Myrtle Beach) Sun News
Police digest
North Carolina
Raleigh
Police on Monday released 911 recordings with the sounds of a gunshot and a relative pleading for ambulances to get to the Fayetteville home of a man who authorities say killed his wife and two children, then committed suicide.
In the first call, a voice is heard quietly moaning before the sound of a shot. A 911 operator tries in vain to get someone to speak.
On the second call, apparently made about 80 minutes later at 8 p.m., a man who identifies himself as John Fox describes the scene Monday night at a home in a quiet, upscale section of the city. A woman is heard in the background saying, "I knew it. I knew it."
"We've been trying to contact our daughter, and it appears they are in the kitchen," Fox said. "And we can't get in the house but we can see through the door."
When the operator asks if the people have wounds, Fox says: "Yeah, there's blood all over the place."
Police say businessman William Maxwell, 47, shot and killed his wife, Kathryn, 43, and their children, 17-year-old Connor and 15-year-old Cameron, before killing himself. Connor Maxwell was found in an upstairs bedroom, the other three bodies were in the kitchen.
The family obituaries identify John Fox as Kathryn Maxwell's father.
Police spokeswoman Theresa Chance said in an e-mail that police "followed our abandoned 911 protocol" after the first call was disconnected. She did not immediately respond to a request for details about that protocol. -- Associated Press
Durham
N.C. and national Muslim leaders want police to investigate if continuing vandalism to a Durham mosque is a possible hate crime.
The (Raleigh) News & Observer reported that Durham's Ar-Rahman mosque was attacked this weekend, when windows and doors were smashed and computers stolen.
Someone smashed some of the same windows and doors this summer. Last spring, two men opened the doors during a prayer service and began throwing rocks while shouting obscenities. -- Associated Press
