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NC 75-year-old preparing for first ultramarathon to honor wife

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www.youtube.com – ABC11 – 2025-08-14 14:05:50


SUMMARY: Tom Carr, a 75-year-old from Hillsboro, is a dedicated runner with over 60,000 outdoor miles logged since the 1980s. Never using a treadmill or headphones, he values connecting with nature. With 24 marathons completed, Tom is now preparing for his first 100-mile ultramarathon designed for older runners. His late wife Carly, who supported his running despite not being an athlete, passed away from Alzheimer’s last year. Caring for her was challenging, and running served as his therapy. Tom hopes his race inspires others to exercise regularly, believing it’s never too late to improve health and combat Alzheimer’s.

Tom Carr from Hillsborough is also running to fight Alzheimer’s Disease.

More: https://abc11.com/post/running-addict-keeps-logging-miles-75-years-old-preparing-ultramarathon-honor-wife/17534444/
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Warren County pastor faces 10 counts related to child porn

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www.youtube.com – WRAL – 2025-08-15 18:42:22


SUMMARY: Warren County pastor Shelton Birkhard, formerly of Zion Global Methodist Church in Norina, faces 10 counts of possession of child pornography involving five images, including children in changing rooms. After his arrest by the FBI, the church immediately removed him from his duties. Church leaders expressed heartbreak and emphasized they do not support his actions. Warren County Sheriff John Branch confirmed Birkhard is in custody with a $200,000 bond and stated no local physical abuse allegations have been identified. Child advocacy group Safe Child urges parents to have body safety conversations and ensure safety protocols, like background checks, are in place in all child-related groups.

A warrant issued for 30-year-old Shelton Burkart alleged that on June 24, 2024, he “knowingly” possessed visual material of children, ages 8 to 12, naked in dressing rooms and engaging in sexual activity.

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What’s up with the trailers at Revol Church in north Asheville? Why so much wet cardboard at the Curbie recycling plant? • Asheville Watchdog

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avlwatchdog.org – JOHN BOYLE – 2025-08-15 06:00:00


Two local issues were addressed: First, unoccupied motor homes parked near Revol Church on Beaverdam Road are part of Asheville Dream Center’s hurricane relief efforts. These RVs provide temporary housing for families displaced by Tropical Storm Helene. The Dream Center, partnering with multiple churches, stores these units on church property with city permission until October 2025, aiming to quickly reassign them to families in need. Second, piles of wet cardboard at the Curbie recycling center in Woodfin are due to a broken collection truck. Despite exposure to rain, the cardboard remains recyclable unless saturated long-term. The company is managing the situation and expects repairs soon.

Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers:

Question: What are the unoccupied motor homes doing in the grassy field across from Revol Church on Beaverdam Road? This is the second batch of such motor vehicles. They seem to sit there for months. Thanks for looking into this mystery.

My answer: What are they doing there? Waiting for someone to offer $3,500 a month to rent them.

Real answer: These homes are part of the mission of the Asheville Dream Center, a nonprofit that offers a variety of services and programs to those in need, including providing temporary homes and rebuilding houses for victims of Tropical Storm Helene. The Dream Center is a separate entity from Revol Church, but the church has allowed the Dream Center to store homes there post-Helene.

“The church has been gracious to us, and we partner with about 27 churches in the city,” said Paul Benjamin, a Dream Center board member. “And we’re constantly doing things to impact the community. We find a need and try to fill it.”

After Helene, that was badly needed housing.

“Over the past ten months, the Asheville Dream Center has had the privilege of supporting 22 families with temporary housing after they lost everything in the hurricane,” the Dream Center said in a media statement. “As part of our emergency response, the Asheville Dream Center utilized RVs as a practical solution to provide shelter for displaced families in our region.”

Six recreational vehicles remained parked on the field next to the church, as of early August.

“These units are not in active use at this time but remain on-site as part of our extended Hurricane Helene relief operations,” the center stated. “Revol Church, owner of the property, has been in close communication with the City of Asheville, which has granted permission for these RVs to remain in place until October 2025, in alignment with the city’s extended disaster relief timeline.”

The Dream Center is currently working on three homes in the Barnardsville community, and it has helped complete four home rebuilds in western North Carolina. The nonprofit has helped “clean, clear, and muck out or landscape a dozen homes and properties,” according to its statement.

Benjamin said the organization provides the homes for free to families in need.

“They’re just used until they get housing, and the units come back to us,” Benjamin said. “So these units were already being used, and now we’re just looking for the next families that have a need.”

Benjamin and the Dream Center say they understand that neighbors may have concerns about empty homes being on or near the church site. 

“We can understand the concerns of our neighbors in the community who are seeing these RVs parked on the Revol property,” the group’s statement said. “Every effort is being made to quickly place these units with deserving families.”

Question: For the second week in a row, I’ve found piles of cardboard at the Curbie cardboard recycle center in Woodfin. All of it is saturated with rain. That means it isn’t recyclable now, right? There was a bulldozer waiting for me to finish adding my layer to the heap. I had driven around for a week with a load of cardboard hoping the two absent Dumpsters would return but found they had not by this morning. What’s up?

My answer: I’ve got to think that nonstop driving for a week with a load of cardboard probably wasn’t great for the environment, either, but I do appreciate your determination.

Real answer: This is a situation that looks worse than it is.

A reader wants to know if cardboard that has piled up at the Curbside Recycling facility in Woodfin is now ruined or still recyclable. The company president says it’s piled up because a truck used for the pickups is out of commission. // Provided photo.

“Our truck that normally empties these Dumpsters has been down and in the shop being fixed,” Abe Lawson, president of Curbside Management, the area’s primary recycling entity, told me via email. “We have a sign up for residents to drop cardboard between the Dumpsters on the ground.”

While the piled-up, soggy cardboard looks bad, it’s still usable.

“Being in the elements does not mean that the cardboard is not recyclable,” Lawson said. “In fact, we ask residents who have too much cardboard to fit into their 96 gallon cart to stack it neatly (outside) next to the cart.”

Cardboard can take a pretty decent soaking.

“The wetness only becomes an issue if it is saturated for a prolonged period of time and it starts to break down,” Lawson said Tuesday. “We are/have been collecting the cardboard multiple times a day to keep the piles contained and hope to have the truck back up and running very soon.”


Asheville Watchdog welcomes thoughtful reader comments on this story, which has been republished on our Facebook page. Please submit your comments there.


Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941. His Answer Man columns appear each Tuesday and Friday. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/

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The post What’s up with the trailers at Revol Church in north Asheville? Why so much wet cardboard at the Curbie recycling plant? • Asheville Watchdog appeared first on avlwatchdog.org



Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Centrist

The content focuses on community issues such as disaster relief and recycling without evident partisan framing or ideological language. It presents facts and responses from nonprofit organizations and local officials in a straightforward manner, aiming to inform the public on practical matters. The tone and content suggest an objective approach with no apparent lean toward either left or right political perspectives.

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California moving forward with partisan redistricting effort

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www.youtube.com – ABC11 – 2025-08-14 17:55:03


SUMMARY: California Governor Gavin Newsom is responding to Republican efforts in Texas to redraw congressional maps favoring GOP gains. Newsom announced a special statewide election on November 4 for Californians to vote on new congressional maps, aiming to counter what he calls attempts to rig districts and protect democracy. Texas Republicans, led by Governor Greg Abbott and supported by President Trump, seek to add up to five new GOP seats in the U.S. House by redrawing maps mid-decade, prompting Texas Democrats to flee the state to block the vote. This partisan redistricting battle may influence other states like New York.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is calling for a Nov. 4 special election on new U.S. House maps designed to win more Democratic seats.

https://abc11.com/post/governor-newsom-expected-announce-california-redistricting-plans-setting-standoff-republican-led-opposition/17535682/
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