57 minute read
Local Flavor
LOCAL FLAVOR Try This at Home
The COVID-19 shutdown forces restaurateur Bruce Moffett to pass dishes from his five-restaurant food empire from curb, window, and doorway
BY TAYLOR BOWLER
AT THE START OF 2020, Bruce Mo ett looked forward to celebrating the 20th anniversary of Barrington’s, his rst restaurant in Charlotte. “For the rst time in several years, I wasn’t hemorrhaging money on a new restaurant,” he says with a laugh. Over the last two decades, he’s added Stagioni, Good Food on Montford, NC Red, and Bao + Broth to his portfolio. Business was good. Then COVID-19 came to Charlotte, and Governor Roy Cooper ordered all restaurants and bars to halt dine-in service. In late March, Mo ett laid o 50 of his 70 employees.
The longtime chef had to pivot—fast. Like many Charlotte restaurant owners, he switched to takeout and curbside pick-up. His remaining sta , all of whom agreed to a “massive” pay cut, rallied. They took phone orders, wore rubber gloves, packed meals in boxes, and used extra sanitary measures at every turn. “I made a decision to cut down on our menus and o er less prep-intensive items,” Mo ett says. “A lot of people are looking for comfort food right now, so we’re adapting our menus to be more family-style. Barrington’s chicken, which has been on the menu since it opened, is still a go-to item.”
Diners who once came to Mo ett’s restaurants for the atmosphere and distinctive table experience now line up in their cars to grab their dinner to go. The Nashville hot chicken from NC Red is still hot, and the steamed buns from Good Food are still delectable. But a huge piece of the Mo ett experience is lost in the age of COVID-19. A 24-ounce Narragansett will always taste better on a patio with friends gathered around a table covered in bowls of empty clam shells.
Mo ett, whose agship restaurant withstood dips in business a er 9/11 and the 2008 nancial crisis, says this one has hit him harder. “In this instance, the governor gets on TV and says you’re no longer allowed to support the 70 people that work for you—that’s tough,” he says. “Is this it for independent restaurants? That’s the scary part.”
In 2015, Mo ett took his sta to Aruba to celebrate the 15th year of Barrington’s. He’d hoped to do something similar for the 20th. “A really nice 20th anniversary would just be getting back to working with my people,” he says. “Seeing everyone gainfully employed, doing the stu we know how to do—that’s what I want.”
As Charlotte continues to participate in “The Great American Takeout,” Mo ett hopes diners no longer take restaurants for granted. “We operate on small margins, and we’re in it because we love it,” he says. “We have a vital place in this community, and when this is over, I think restaurants will be the rst place a lot of people go.”
With the right tools, you can turn your backyard into a mini-obstacle course.
From a frolic in Freedom Park to a zoom down a Whitewater Center zip line, Charlotte is typically an active summer city. (Remember when “zoom” had only one meaning as a verb?) Not this year. COVID-19 has changed our reality in 2020, and this season—normally a fun-filled break for families—wasn’t spared. But the staff of Charlotte magazine still believes lively and dynamic dog days are possible even when you have to spend most of your time indoors, and we’ve got the list to prove it. In these pages, you’ll find a call to (tan) arms for Charlotte’s dejected denizens. Welcome to a Stay-at-Home Summer. Grab a frosty beverage and some tanning lotion. Both are still necessary
BY Taylor Bowler, Virginia Brown, Greg Lacour, and Andy Smith
Toast to Captain Jack.
On a hot summer day, crack open a cold CAPTAIN JACK, a year-round staple of Olde Mecklenburg Brewery, and honor Charlotte’s version of Paul Revere. This popular pilsner at the city’s oldest brewery is named for James Jack, a young Colonial-era tavern owner who, outraged by the news of a British massacre of colonists at the Battles of Lexington and Concord, volunteered to deliver the Mecklenburg County declaration of freedom on horseback to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Captain Jack has become a favorite local brew, of course, but he symbolizes much more: the freedom of a people tired of tyrannical rule. (Liberation is something all of us have been longing for these past few months.) A statue, The Spirit of Mecklenburg, also honors him at Little also honors him at Little Sugar Creek Greenway park at 4th Sugar Creek Greenway park at 4th Street and Kings Drive near uptown. Street and Kings Drive near uptown. At press time, the beer was sold at local At press time, the beer was sold at local grocery stores and at the brewery via grocery stores and at the brewery via
drive-thru. OLDE MECKLENBURG BREWERY, 4150 YANCEY RD. —Virginia Brown
UP YOUR GARDENING GAME.
Outdoors, socially distant—what a wonderful activity gardening is during the spread of an airborne virus! Early summer, through mid-July or so, is a perfect time to plant a host of vegetables, like eggplant, summer squash, cucumbers, peppers—and tomatoes, which thrive in the abundant sunlight of June and early July. Once the calendar toes, which thrive in the abundant sunlight of June and early July. Once the calendar closes in on August, get your fall garden ready: lettuce, spinach, kale, cabcloses in on August, get your fall garden ready: lettuce, spinach, kale, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts, which require you to plant deeper in drier bage, and Brussels sprouts, which require you to plant deeper in drier soil. Plant rows a week or so apart to avoid a wasteful surplus, and soil. Plant rows a week or so apart to avoid a wasteful surplus, and revel in the fact that you needn’t visit the supermarket to enjoy fresh revel in the fact that you needn’t visit the supermarket to enjoy fresh produce. —Greg Lacourproduce.
Find your favorite fl avor of ice cream.
Shops still closed? No problem. Get these treats to go.
For the no-frills so -serve fan: Family-owned in Charlotte since 1967, MR. K’s in South End serves up good, old-fashioned so -serve in three avors—chocolate, vanilla, and a twist of the two. Order it “blitz”style with your choice of toppings, which include gummy bears, pecans, sprinkles, Butter nger, M&Ms, and more. Mr. K’s serves sundaes, malts, shakes, and other sweet treats, too. 2107 SOUTH BLVD.
For the adventure-seeker: TWO SCOOPS CREAMERY is known for homemade, “secret” family concoctions like Cookies by the Sea, Krazy Kake, Nana Delight, and Boom. The Plaza Midwood mainstay, owned by three Charlotte friends, serves unique, fun, funky avors. Take your ice cream to go or have a pint delivered.
913 CENTRAL AVE.
For the lover of locally sourced ingredients: Not only is everything made fresh on-site at THE LOCAL SCOOP in Ballantyne, but the ice creams (with rotating avors like Vanilla Bean, Sea Salted Caramel, and Nutella Tru e) and gelato are made with locally sourced milk from Jackson Farms and Homeland Creamery.
5355 BALLANTYNE COMMONS PKWY. —V.B.
STAY COOL.
As of press time, we could only hope that the state will have li ed the stay-at-home order by summer, because if summer 2020 is anything like 2019 … Oy. Experts suggest basic steps to keep your home as cool as possible: Close windows, blinds, drapes, and doors to unused rooms. Set ceiling fans to rotate counter-clockwise to draw warm air up and circulate cooler air. Change your HVAC lter regularly, and make sure your unit has been serviced recently. Grill outside when you can to prevent the stove or oven from adding to house heat. Keep your thermostat no lower than 75 degrees when you’re not home to avoid taxing the unit and to keep power bills within Earth orbit, anyway. —G.L. (Top to bottom) Two Scoops Creamery’s Krazy Kake and Berry Sorbet; Mr. K’s vanilla swirl cone with sprinkles; and The Local Scoop’s Sea Salted Caramel.
Get inventive in (and out) of the kitchen like Charlotte’s chefs.
When summer temperatures hit their peak, turning on the stove or cranking up the oven is unbearable. That’s why we asked a few Charlotte-area chefs to share recipes that will make us look like bosses with spatulas:
GRILLED BARBECUE JOYCE FARMS CHICKEN
FROM CHEF JIM NOBLE
1 whole Joyce Farm free range chicken ¼ teaspoon sea salt and fresh ground pepper Olive oil ½ cup Noble Smoke “Lex” Barbecue Sauce
Light grill. “I use a Green Egg, so I will use a mix of natural lump charcoal and some wood chunks,” Noble says. “I suggest Carolina Cookwood chunks and coal from here in North Carolina.”
Wash and dry the chicken. At the cavity at the bottom of the chicken (near the legs), get a chef’s knife and split the “H” bone from the femur on both sides of the backbone, all the way up to the neck. Then, ip the chicken and nish removing the chick back bone.
Turn over and split into two halves. Brine pork for 12 hours. Roast on grill over low heat for approximately two hours, applying plenty of wet rub every 35 to 45 minutes. Remove and rest for two minutes, then fan-slice pork and spoon peaches over top.
Lightly coat chicken with olive oil and season skin side liberally with salt and pepper.
Add to the grill, skin side up. Keep temperature around 350-400˚F. Turn over a er 30-40 minutes, skin-side down, and coat with barbecue sauce.
Cook another 10 minutes and turn over once again. Sauce skin side.
When cooked through, remove from grill and let rest 10 minutes, basting with Lex sauce again to taste.
Cut into pieces and serve with a little sauce on the side. —V.B.
GRILLED PEACHES
FROM ROB CLEMENT Executive Chef, The Porter’s House
Start with clean grates and a hot grill.
Cut your peaches in half, remove the pit and cut the two sides in half again. Each piece should have two at surfaces.
Sear each at surface for two to three minutes, then rotate to the other at surface for the same amount of time.
Transfer grilled peaches to a rack, brush lightly with sorghum syrup, and sprinkle with coarse salt or, if you have it, the chili-lime salt Tajin.
“We ran grilled peaches and burrata all last summer, and it was a hit. South Carolina actually produces more peaches than Georgia, so you can get great local peaches as early as June. These peaches are a great snack on their own or will upgrade a salad.”
PORK WITH PEACHES
FROM SCOTT WALKER
of the Grinning Mule (formerly of Heist Brewery) “Pork loin and peaches are easy to get and cheap around June in our area. The pepper and mint combined with the caramelized spice and sugars are a great combo to pair with any beer or cocktail.”
FOR THE BRINE: 1 pork loin, cut in half 1/2 cup pineapple juice 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 1/4 cup salt 1/4 cup sugar 4 cup water
FOR THE WET RUB: 1 12-oz. pilsner beer 1/2 cup honey 1/4 cup pineapple juice 2 cups brown sugar 1/4 cup whole grain mustard 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/4 teaspoon red pepper akes 2 tablespoons melted butter Melt butter and mix all wet rub ingredients in a bowl. (Spoon rub on loin if you don’t have a brush.)
PEACH MARINADE: 6 peeled and cored peach halves 2 tablespoons brown sugar 1 tablespoon fresh mint julienne (or cilantro) 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice 1 red onion julienne cut 1 red Fresno pepper Salt
Mix ingredients together and refrigerate until use. When pork is pulled to rest, remove peach halves and grill. Once peaches are caramelized, quarter the cooked halves and add back to the marinade. Spoon when ready to serve.
ALTERNATE: Add lettuce cups to make tacos around the grill or pool.
Celebrate the crape myrtle.
One of Charlotte’s signature flowering trees makes its big debut in June. The eye-catching hot coral pink crape myrtle blooms line streets and parks. We spoke to chief city arborist Tim Porter about one of the Queen City’s ubiquitous summer trees:
CM:What should we know
about the crape myrtle—or is it crepe?
TP: I see both, but I tend to go with “crape.” Crape myrtles are one of the most common in Charlotte, accounting for 16 percent of the city’s street tree population. Roughly 25,000 crape myrtle street trees grow within city limits, according to the city’s street tree inventory. Second on the list is willow oak, followed by red maples and Bradford pears.
CM:Other than their bright
colors, what makes them so popular?
TP: Crape myrtles are extremely resilient and hardy, and they tolerate urban environments better than most other trees. When there’s a di cult planting location with less than ideal growing conditions, crape myrtles are o en a great choice. They can be overused in the landscape, though, and their hardiness can detract from e orts to increase species diversity.
CM: What’s a fun fact about the
crape myrtle?
TP: They bloom at times most other trees don’t bloom, and blooms typically last much longer than other owering trees in the South, such as dogwoods and redbuds.
CM:We talk about banding our
oaks and growing concern for the age of our oak canopy. Are we caring for our crapes well enough?
TP: Don’t top crape myrtles! [Ed.: “Topping” is the practice of removing the tops of trees.] Crape myrtle root systems can live on long a er the tree above ground dies or is removed. The tree will o en sprout from stumps and roots for years a er removal or death. I’ve seen new trees grow back in the same location from the same root system that a previous tree was removed from. —V.B.
Feed baby birds with Carolina Waterfowl Rescue.
From blue jays and robins to chickadees and cardinals, CAROLINA WATERFOWL RESCUE takes in more than a thousand orphaned and injured songbirds every year. They also welcome domestic and exotic ducks for placement, do nuisance referrals, and o er bird, duck, and goose rescue assistance. Each year, CWR provides housing, food, and medical care for more than 50 types of baby birds. That means they can use some help. Volunteers dedicate three hours a week to one of four shi s daily—seven days a week to make sure these u y little ones get the nutrition they need. For information on volunteer opportunities, email songbird@cwrescue.org or visit cwrescue.org/baby. 5403
Liberate Your Palate delivers cocktail kits to homes, and founder Tamu Curtis teaches her virtual cocktail class on Zoom.
REFRESH WITH A SUMMER COCKTAIL.
Bars and restaurants may have halted dine-in service, but this doesn’t mean you can’t have your favorite cocktails at home. Pick up a cocktail kit curbside at BARDO in South End (1508 S MINT ST.), and make Amanda Britton’s raspberry mojitos in your kitchen, or swing by FIN & FINO
(135 LEVINE AVENUE OF THE ARTS #100) for a box of the bitters, tinctures, and garnishes you need to recreate Brittany Kellum’s tiki-inspired libations. If your bartending skills need some re ning, book a virtual cocktail class with Tamu Curtis at LIBERATE YOUR PALATE. She’ll deliver a cocktail kit to your doorstep with a Zoom link to the class. For a cocktail demonstration and good company, check out Stefan Huebner’s virtual happy hour at DOT DOT DOT and learn how to make variations of his favorite daiquiris. Cheers! —Taylor Bowler
DONATE.
In this time of virus, cash donations are especially important, as they allow large nonpro ts—like FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS’ and UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL CAROLINAS’ COVID-19 Response Fund and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ COVID-19 Relief Fund—to direct resources as the situation on the ground changes. The nonpro t connector organization SHARE CHARLOTTE maintains a list of coronavirus-speci c needs among the more than 400 organizations it represents, from letter writing to check-ins for the elderly to bookkeeping from home. For information, go to sharecharlotte.org and click on the top banner, then follow the links. —G.L.
Have your own Queen’s Feast at home.
MEET THE BIRDS ALONG THE RAPTOR TRAIL AT CAROLINA RAPTOR CENTER.
At press time, CHARLOTTE RESTAURANT WEEK was slated for July 17-26, with participating restaurants still joining the lineup. In the spirit of #thegreatamericantakeout, grab your Queen’s Feast to go and add some pizzazz to your at-home dining routine. Enjoy gnocchi Bolognese, grilled octopus, beef tartare, or chocolate hazelnut pie, and support the local chefs and restaurant owners who’ve been hit so hard by the COVID-19 restaurant closures. For event information, pricing, and a list of participating restaurants, visit charlotterestaurantweek.iheart.com. —T.B.
Rough-legged hawk Aletta (rhymes with cheetah) is just one of dozens of birds who, a er surviving serious injury in the wild, now call the CAROLINA RAPTOR CENTER in Huntersville home. Aletta is just one of 81 residents of 37 di erent species—they include eagles, falcons, owls, and vultures—at the Center, one of the most well-respected of its kind in the nation. Until it reopens, tune into Facebook at 11 a.m. on weekdays for an Avian Home Adventure. 6000 SAMPLE RD.,
HUNTERSVILLE. —V.B. SPEND Opened in 1948 in honor of Charlotte’s World War II soldiers, 98-acre FREEDOM PARK in
SOME Dilworth is known for the gorgeous cherry trees at its entrance. Tons of room for picnics and readTIME IN FREEDOM PARK. ing make this popular “central” park one of the city’s most beloved. During a typical summer, you could walk, run, or bike the paved trail that meanders around a 7-acre lake or play on the basketball courts, soccer elds, and tennis courts. Usually, the park hosts a variety of events like Festival in the Park in fall and during summer: concerts, including jazz, draw crowds to the covered amphitheater. But as of press time, the county had closed parking lot gates, which le the park open only to foot tra c. So walkers, runners, and cyclists: Keep it moving! One more warning: Watch out for the park’s infamous goose poop, which is still congregating in the park. —V.B.
GET YOUR WIGGLES OUT.
If months of home con nement have your little ones itching to get up and move, sign them up for virtual lessons at ARTS+. The faculty at Arts+ (formerly Community School of The Arts) has worked since the onset of the pandemic to make art and music lessons available online. SingPlayMove lessons are for children ages 3 through 6 and their families, and they teach kid-friendly songs, moves, and tips for making music on your own at home. Visit artsplus.org/programs for more information. —T.B.
Take in a concert from your couch. Chill out with a cold brew or iced coffee.
Summer is typically the season for outdoor concerts at PNC Music Pavilion or Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre. In lieu of shows packed with disease vectors, several local music venues will host virtual concerts instead of in-person performances. THE EVENING MUSE and THE MILESTONE have pivoted to video. In April, The Milestone held a “digital bene t” with performances from Mike Watt of The Minutemen and fIREHOSE, J. Robbins of Jawbox, and local acts like Dollar Signs, Late Bloomer, and Dylan Gilbert of Hectorina. —Andy Smith
GET ORGANIZED.
Think of summer organization as the new spring cleaning. Take this time to tackle the heaps of junk under your bed or purge your kids’ closets of outgrown clothes and shoes. If you need someone to walk you through the process, contact an organizational pro to help you decide what stays and what goes. Julie Bertram, owner of THE ORGANIZING PRO, declutters pantries, garages, playrooms, attics, and more. A er a monthslong stay-at-home order, it’s time to put everything back in its place and get our houses ready to host friends again. —T.B.
Learn a new skill.
The Charlotte-born company SKILL POP, known for classes in a variety of elds, has switched to a virtual format over the past few months. This summer, take a class like “Instagram Workshop,” “Makeup Made Easy,” “Home Decorating Basics,” “How to Care for Houseplants,” or any of the season-speci c ones available at skillpop.com. —A.S.
You may not be able to have meet-ups or work remotely at Charlotte’s coffee shops right now, but you can still enjoy warmweather pick-me-ups. Below, see how to get cold brew, iced coffee, and more on the go, with spots located across town:
Drive through CUPLUX at 3115 FREEDOM DRIVE and score any number of cold go-to pick-meups, from iced lattes in avors like hazelnut and matcha to signature selections like Iced Honey and Oates. On really hot days, opt for the Cold Brew Slushee, made with local milk, cold brew, and vanilla bean syrup. (You can also get these delivered through Postmates for a fee.)
Made with Joe Van Gogh beans and roasted in Hillsborough, the refreshing cold brew options at CENTRAL COFFEE come with or without ice or even bottled. Brick-and-mortar locations include South End (1700 CAMDEN RD. #101) and its original spot in Plaza Midwood (719 LOUISE AVE.), but with the stay-at-home order, the shop has also become mobile: You can email info@ centralco eeco.com and get your order delivered if you’re within 5 miles of one of those shops.
THE HOBBYIST, which Bryson and Julie Woodside own in the Villa Heights neighborhood, sells drinks for curbside pickup and delivery. Signature options include lavender-vanilla lattes or an iced at white, made with oat milk, cinnamon, and honey. Teas are also available and include green, white, oolong, and herbal options. To order, call 704-526-0073 or download the Cloosiv app, which supports local co ee shops and bakeries. 2100 N DAVIDSON ST.—V.B.
READ BOOKS WRITTEN BY YOUR NEIGHBORS.
Lounging on the beach with a good book is quintessentially summer. This season, you can still do the “good book” part, at least. Here are three books by Charlotte authors released since last summer that’ll provide an escape from your porch:
The Life & A erlife Of Harry Houdini (Simon & Schuster) by Joe Posnanski
The celebrated sports journalist dives into the mysterious life of the famous magician—and why he continues to captivate us. A Conspiracy of Bones (Scribner) by Kathy Reichs
The adventures of the author’s famous forensic anthropologist, Temperance Brennan, continue with a new story that takes place here in Charlotte.
Kindness and Wonder: Why Mister Rogers Matters Now More Than Ever (Dey Street) by Gavin Edwards
We could all use more kindness right now. Edwards looks at the legacy of Fred Rogers in his most recent book. —A.S.
THROW A VIRTUAL DINNER PARTY.
Under social distancing, event planners and others who gather people into groups for a living have fallen back on connection-by-video. Helen Apple Edwards and Carrie Spicher from SPARK BY DESIGN o er custom online “party packs” with handmade posters, postcards, scented candles, playlists, and customized digital backgrounds. Spark By Design also o ers four types of packs: happy hour, brunch, Southern supper, and Charlotte-themed night in, with caricature artists, magicians, and comedians as popular add-ons.
Each party pack comes with ingredients, digital instructions, and tips for success (like making sure you’re front-lit). “You still want to dress up, wear your lipstick and your makeup,” Edwards says. “It’s such a private party experience, you really do feel like a VIP,” Spicher says. “It’s almost more personal this way.”
Looking to host your own? Just support local businesses whenever possible. “If you were going to host an event on your own,” for example, Edwards says, “like an ‘uptown night,’ you could each get takeout from a restaurant uptown.” —V.B.
Turn your backyard into a sports venue.
When the parks are closed and you long for the great outdoors, it’s time for some DIY adventure. Here are three ways to transform your backyard into a sports complex while also shopping local:
ROPES COURSE If your yard has two or more trees, tie ropes to them, attach anchors, and hone your balancing skills. The U.S. National Whitewater Center’s Outfitters store ordinarily carries brands like Sterling and Black Diamond—but at press time, the store remained closed under the state Stay-at-Home Order. (You can always purchase equipment directly from the companies.) You can also purchase adventure gear and accessories from GREAT OUTDOOR PROVISION CO. (4275 PARK RD.), a small chain of adventure equipment stores in North Carolina and Virginia. Whatever gear you buy, we recommend you keep your makeshi course safely near the ground.
SOCCER ARENA Major League Soccer is coming to Charlotte, and it’s only adding to the sport’s popularity in the QC. PLAY IT AGAIN
SPORTS (8500 PINEVILLE-MATTHEWS RD.) has a local location, but you can also purchase anything you need online. Find balls, cleats, goals for your yard, and even shorts in both used and new condition.
CORNHOLE OK. So this one’s not as high-impact as the previous o erings. But some of us need a game that doesn’t require putting down our beer. If you invest in your own cornhole set, it’s important to note that some of our most prominent sports teams (outside of the great sport of cornhole) have their own sets: The CAROLINA PANTHERS have one in the NFL Shop, the CHARLOTTE KNIGHTS licensed a set through Victory Tailgate, and the CHARLOTTE HORNETS sell a set in the NBA Store. —A.S.
Maybe the experts weren’t optimistic enough, and the pandemic subsides as you’re reading this issue. Whether it’s this year or next, these activities represent a typical, glorious summer in Charlotte
Spring at the Duke Mansion’s gardens.
The Jailhouse bar and cigar lounge is located in Belmont’s former jail.
Race go-karts at GoPro Motorplex.
GOPRO MOTORPLEX brings a little bit of Italy to Mooresville. The 0.7-mile, 11-turn track, based on the famous Kartdromo Parma circuit, allows speeds up to 55 mph. Pull on that helmet (out tted with its namesake’s fast-action camera) and hop in your kart for 10 minutes of whips, twists, and turns.
130 MOTORPLEX DR., MOORESVILLE. —V.B.
Relax in the Duke Mansion’s gardens.
Hidden o Hermitage Road, which meanders through the lush trees of posh Myers Park, THE DUKE MANSION is the former home of James Buchanan Duke of Duke Energy and Duke University fame. Built in 1915 and located on the National Register of Historic Places, visitors love it as a charming bed-and-breakfast. But this storied home has a secret: Locals love the Mary DBT Semans gardens out back. Bright pops of purple, pink, and white irt with shrubs and owering trees in the four-and-a-half acre garden and grounds. Grab a cocktail or the dog’s leash and take your lunch break in the middle of Myers Park—the garden is free and open for visiting during daylight hours most days. Call 704-714-4400 to check the events schedule before you go. 400 HERMITAGE RD. —V.B.
EXPLORE THE ’BURBS.
Charlotte’s booming suburbs hold food, drink, shopping, and other options that rival the quality of what you’ll nd in the city. WAXHAW o ers quality dining options, popular bars like DreamChasers Brewery, walkable streets with antique shops—and historic sites like the one-time home of Andrew Jackson and the Museum of the Waxhaws. MATTHEWS has a top-notch farmers’ market, wine bars in Black Chicken Wine Cellar and Seaboard Taproom & Wine Bar, and ne dining at the Euro-in uenced Santé. In BELMONT, sip a cocktail at The Jailhouse, a bar and cigar lounge within the cells of downtown Belmont’s former jail. CORNELIUS o ers lakeside dining at Hello, Sailor, plus a unique co ee shop/bar/live music venue, Old Town Public House. —V.B.
Explore the trails at the Whitewater Center.
We all know this spot for its thrilling, high-octane zip lines and whitewater rapids, and even its popular River Jam music gatherings. But the U.S. NATIONAL WHITEWATER CENTER, which covers 1,300 beautifully wooded acres, boasts more than 50 miles of meandering trails great for hiking, mountain biking, dog walking, and trail running—and it’s shaded from the hot days of summer. The center grades trails from green to blue to black in order of di culty, as on ski slopes. The center is open 365 days a year, and the trail network is always open (weather permitting), even when programming is shut down. Note: you still have to pay the $5 parking fee. 5000 WHITEWATER CENTER PKWY. —V.B.
Gear up for football season at Panthers Fan Fest.
Get hyped with Sir Purr and lively performances by the TopCat dancers and PurrCussion drumline as our beloved CAROLINA PANTHERS make their rst appearance of the 2020-21 season at Bank of America Stadium. The new season marks the debut of new head coach Matt Rhule (previously of Temple and Baylor universities). Watch the team practice on the eld and end the night with a reworks display and laser show at this anticipated annual family event. Tickets are $5. For more information, visit panthers.com/schedule/ fan-fest. —V.B.
Backside Trail reaches the summit at Crowders Mountain State Park.
TAKE A HIKE.
Break away from the heat for a nice day drive and hike at one of several nearby hiking areas. CROWDERS MOUNTAIN STATE PARK is the closest, at just about a 30-minute drive west, near Kings Mountain. The Pinnacle and Crowders Mountain paths o er challenging hikes, boulders, cli s, and 25-mile views all the way to the Charlotte skyline. The park’s 11 trails range from leisurely to strenuous and include the Ridgeline Trail, which links to Kings Mountain State Park and Kings Mountain National Military Park in South Carolina. South Mountains State Park is a bit farther (about 60 miles) but packed with rugged terrain up to 3,000 feet, an 80-foot waterfall highlight, refreshing streams, and more than 40 miles of gorgeous nature trails. Horses and mountain bikes are welcome. Other options include PILOT MOUNTAIN STATE PARK, north of Winston-Salem near the Virginia state line, and the UWHARRIE NATIONAL FOREST/BADIN LAKE RECREATION CENTER, east near Albemarle. —V.B.
Whether you’re in your own backyard, a state park, or a glamping site like LAKE LURE’S EMBERGLOW, camping is a great way to reset and enjoy summer’s evening air. The MCDOWELL CAMPGROUND at McDowell Nature Center and Preserve o ers 56 reservable campsites that range from primitive sites for serious outdoors folks to RV pads with full hookups. For an elevated experience, head to COPPERHEAD ISLAND campground or spend a night or two under the stars at TREEHOUSE VINEYARDS in Monroe. —V.B.
Spend a day on the lake.
On sunny days, the water sparkles on LAKE NORMAN to the north of Charlotte and LAKE WYLIE to the southwest, both of which o er outdoor activities to cool things o . Rent a motorboat and oat with friends on the open water or go organic and kayak, canoe, or paddleboard. Call 704-987-3300 or email visitorcenter@lakenorman.org for more information about lake activities. —V.B.
SLEEP UNDER THE STARS.
Go for a ride at Carowinds.
A er the day is done, the lasting memory won’t be those sweaty waits in line to zip around one of the 407-acre amusement park’s signature rides. You’ll remember the thrill of the Fury 325, the tallest giga coaster in the world and the quickest non-launched coaster, or the newest one of the bunch: Copperhead Strike, the 50-mph ride that happens to be the park’s rst double-launched coaster.
The price of admission includes access to Carolina Harbor, the 27-acre water park with its own attractions. If you’re going to sweat, you should at least have a chance to rinse o . 300
CAROWINDS BLVD. —A.S.
Copperhead Strike offers a 50-mph roller coaster ride.
Brakeman’s Coffee & Supply Co. offers outdoor seating in the front and back of the cafe.
Plan a day on the water at Lake Norman, and end it with a beautiful sunset.
Charlotte Knights’ lovable mascot, Homer the Dragon.
SPEND A DAY PATIO-HOPPING.
In the MORNING, Brakeman’s Co ee & Supply Co. (225 N. TRADE ST., MATTHEWS) in Matthews o ers an ideal outdoor nook to post up and start the day. Whether you work, catch up with a friend, or simply—and slowly—enjoy the day, as the Brakeman’s slogan suggests, it’s not too hot yet, and the shade from the tree-covered back patio (and broad table umbrellas) keep things cool in this secret garden. A er that, it’s LUNCHTIME. While the signature bangers and mash or shepherd’s pie options at English pub-style Sir Edmond Halley’s (4151 PARK RD., STE. A) may be too hot for a summer day, opt for a more appetizing blackened salmon wrap or salad, sit back, and enjoy the shade at this longstanding Park Road Shopping Center joint. To ROUND OUT THE DAY, hit happy hour at RuRu’s Tacos & Tequila (715 PROVIDENCE RD.). Tucked behind an old Myers Park estate, RuRu’s patio never disappoints when you’re in search of specialty tacos and margaritas. Keep it in the “Friend Zone” (RuRu’s simple house margarita) or opt for something a little spicier, like the “Pineapple Express” (made with jalapeño-infused tequila and tamarind spice). —V.B.
Take in a Knights game at BB&T Ballpark.
At 7:04 p.m. (a nod to Charlotte’s area code) on summer evenings on their home eld, the Charlotte Knights throw the rst pitch to begin their popular uptown games. Homer the Dragon bounces around BB&T Ballpark to take photos with kids and high ve fans. The smell of popcorn and peanuts lls the stands. Supporting our own Triple-A baseball team (an a liate of the Chicago White Sox) with a stadium dog and refreshing local brew is just good, old American summer fun. —V.B.
Last year, Charlotte registered its most homicides in 26 years and a dramatic surge in gun violence. The district attorney, the rst person of color to hold the position, has adjusted to combat the spike—and called on North Carolina to recognize that criminal justice in our growing cities can’t be done the old way anymore
BY GREG LACOUR
WE TAKE THE ELEVATOR to the basement. “Now, these are closed les,” says Spencer Merriweather. “The open les are spread throughout the o ce.” We disembark, and Merriweather opens the door to the archives, what you might call the Hall of Shelves and Boxes. You can’t see the end of it.
“I mean, this is what we’re dealing with,” he tells me, as we step between cli faces of cardboard boxes jammed with paper. We pass some of the greatest hits of the Charlotte district attorney’s o ce—here’s the 16-box collection from the trial of serial killer Henry Louis Wallace, the “Taco Bell Strangler,” in the 1990s; and here’s the Rae Carruth case, 19 boxes that have lled space on the shelves since the ex-Carolina Panther’s murder-conspiracy conviction in 2001. Carruth nished his sentence in 2018, but the paperwork remains in prison down here—where, on a drizzly February morning, an industrial dehumidi er runs in one corner to o set a leak from the ceiling.
“Now what happens is, we’ll send some of these and put them on micro che or send them someplace,” says Merriweather, the district attorney in Mecklenburg County since 2017. “But we’re all based on paper here. For most court systems, this is highly unusual. If you go to any of our ADAs’ desks, they’ve got les and les of this stu . You go to California, everybody’s walking around with iPads.”
Merriweather is not saying he wants new gadgets for himself and his sta because that would be nice, although it would. He’s not saying the monoliths of stacked boxes in the basement are a nuisance, although they are. He’s saying that Charlotte is the 17th-largest city in the United States and that more than a million people live in his jurisdiction—North Carolina’s 26th Prosecutorial District, i.e., Mecklenburg County—in the ninth-most-populous state. He’s saying that the state’s cities—Charlotte, of course, but also Raleigh, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Durham—are bursting with people who have moved here from around the country, and that means more people in the criminal justice system, and that system is running more or less the same way it has since the days when North Carolina was home mainly to textile factories and hog and tobacco farms. He’s saying that system no longer works.
Merriweather said so in late January during a news conference he called to announce his o ce’s response to a surge in gun-related violence and the 2019 homicide total: 107, the highest in Charlotte in 26 years. He announced his plan to bring 20 homicide cases to trial in 2020, up from 13 in 2019, and to emphasize prosecution of gun crimes a er an investigation by The Charlotte Observer revealed that more than half of Charlotte’s murder suspects in 2019 had been charged before with weapons crimes, and that most of those were dismissed. The larger issue, he said, is the General Assembly’s failure to respond to the speci c, and swelling, needs of North Carolina’s cities. Prosecutors’ o ces are underfunded, he says—a common complaint from district attorneys everywhere but warranted in Mecklenburg County, where local governments pay for more than a quarter of the o ce’s 85 technically state-employed prosecutors.
But criminal justice in urban areas, Merriweather said, requires more than just additional money for prosecutors, public defenders, and court clerks. Reform-minded prosecutors around the country recognize the need to stretch into spaces beyond the courthouse—for example, to establish community courts in neighborhoods; employ sta members who speak languages other than English; and adopt technology, like iPads, that allows for the quick transfer and review of criminal records. In Charlotte and other North Carolina cities, reliance on paper records and a hodgepodge of antediluvian computer programs wastes valuable time and, Merriweather insists, undermines the pursuit of justice. Lawyers and judges su er, but so do defendants, witnesses, and, most important, victims.
During the news conference, Merriweather said his and others’ suggested reforms shouldn’t be thought of as luxuries for prosecutors or sops to criminal defendants. “This is not just about hugging it out,” he said. “We are seeing something happening in all of North Carolina’s urban centers, and it’s time for government to re ect the system we have. What is equal is not equitable. We call on the state to wholly reconsider the way large urban centers are sta ed and resourced in the administration of justice.”
Wholesale reform would take years and millions of dollars, and the COVID-19 outbreak in March forced the DA’s o ce to shut down most of its operations and wait it out like everyone else—which corralled Merriweather’s plans to more aggressively prosecute homicides and weapons cases. When we speak again in early April, he estimates that his o ce will have to reschedule at least two and as many as ve murder trials because of an April 2 order by state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley that postpones court proceedings until June 1. Courthouses statewide remain open, but under limited hours and with skeletal sta ing; Merriweather says he maintains a minimal sta in the o ce and tries to conduct as much business by videoconference as he can. “Just because the (Supreme) Court says court sessions are down, it doesn’t mean that we’re not getting new rapes and new murders and new burglaries,” he tells me. “They’re still coming in the door, and those cases need to be reviewed.”
The virus will eventually subside. Barring changes, the structural issues in the court system won’t. When we meet in February, I ask Merriweather
what he meant during the January news conference when he said, “What is equal is not equitable.”
“It is the craziest thing in the world that you would try to treat every single county in North Carolina the same, proportionally, when all of us face so many di erent, unique challenges,” he replies. “That’s the issue.”
EVEN BEFORE THE VIRUS, the courts weren’t as active as they could have been. It takes about ve minutes to walk the long block from the DA’s o ce, in the old Mecklenburg County courthouse at East Trade and South Alexander streets, to the new courthouse at East Fourth and South McDowell, which opened in 2007. On the day we meet in February, Merriweather and I walk up Fourth Street in the rain. “I can talk about this all day,” he says. “But until I’m able to walk people around and explain what sort of constraints we have here in our justice system, it’s hard for them to understand it. The court system is one of those things where, as a citizen, you kind of want to know that it’s there. But you’d rather not fool with it if you don’t have to.” We enter through the back and ascend to the h oor, reserved for Superior Court judges to preside over felony cases.
When they can, that is. The state constitution requires Superior Court judges to rotate among judicial districts—usually groupings of two or three counties—within their administrative divisions. Until 2019, the state was divided into eight of those. A law that legislators passed over Governor Roy Cooper’s veto in 2018 cut the number to ve. (Cooper, a Democrat, asserted that Republicans, who have controlled both legislative houses since 2010, were gerrymandering to secure partisan advantage.) The new, larger divisions force judges to travel farther to preside over court when the N.C. Administrative O ce of the Courts, the agency that oversees the court system throughout North Carolina, assigns them to the far reaches of their territories. The seven Superior Court judges based in Mecklenburg County, who before 2019 had to travel no farther than Lenoir in Caldwell County—roughly a 90-minute drive from Charlotte— now nd themselves at the eastern tip of a division that stretches to Murphy in Cherokee County, North Carolina’s westernmost, a four-hour drive away.
The change means, among other things, empty courtrooms in North Carolina’s largest city on a Monday morning. Merriweather and I walk around the corridor that frames the h oor of the wedge-shaped courthouse. A cacophony of voices oats up from the rst oor, the domain of initial appearances in criminal cases, but up here, even with trials in two of the oor’s seven courtrooms, it’s silent. Merriweather pulls at the door of Courtroom 5130. “Locked,” he says. “Which means we weren’t able to get a judge in a courtroom. In Charlotte. With 107 homicides.” Next to 5130 is 5150: also locked.
“This is supposed to be a week when we are proceeding on habitual felony cases, but you haven’t heard me say the rst thing about a habitual felony trial, have you? Because we’re not able to start one,” he says, voice rising. He li s his arms and drops them to his side in exasperation. “So that means we’re not trying habitual felons this month. We’re going to have to wait until next month before we can do it. That system is crazy. That’s something that may not impact you as much if you live in
N.C. Superior Court Divisions
Until 2019, North Carolina was divided into eight Superior Court divisions. A new law redrew the lines in 2019 to create ve divisions—which forces judges to travel farther to preside over court and can waste time and resources.
Eighth Fifth
Sixth
Seventh
2015-2018
Third
First
Fourth Second
2019
Alexander County. But if you’re in Charlotte, and you have people who are in custody and who are waiting for their trial dates, or if you’re in the community and you’re like, ‘This guy got arrested nine months ago. What is happening?’ This is happening.
“Let’s say we start a drug or habitual felon case on a Monday, and it takes Monday to pick a jury, two days to put on evidence. Verdict comes back late Wednesday or early Thursday, and your judge says, ‘Well, I’m only assigned for this week, so unless the AOC actually gives me an approval, I’m not going to be able to start another case.’ That means we lost two full days of court time. That’s intensely frustrating. If they knew about it, most taxpayers would blow a gasket. It’s an absolute disaster—and not every place functions like that.”
Slowly, on some fronts, the state is making progress. The AOC last year signed an $85 million contract with Texas-based Tyler Technologies, the nation’s largest provider of so ware and technology for the public sector, to implement a statewide system of electronic ling and public access to court records—what’s called an integrated case management system, or ICMS. The system will replace more than 200 unconnected so ware programs—many, including Mecklenburg’s, that run on MS-DOS operating systems, obsolete since the mid-’90s. The ICMS was one of the key recommendations of a commission formed in 2015 by then-Chief Justice Mark Martin and assigned to the rst comprehensive review of North Carolina’s judicial system in two decades. A uniform, statewide management system would save employee hours, reduce errors, and allow judges, lawyers, and the public to quickly access records, the commission concluded in its report to Martin in 2017. The AOC expects to have the system in place at some point next year, says Charleston Carter, the agency’s trial court administrator for the 26th District.
The new case management system will help, Superior Court Judge W. Robert Bell tells me when I meet with him and Carter in March. But there’s a lot more to do, and additional judges or prosecutors alone won’t solve the problem; court systems, which rely on clerks, defense attorneys, and support sta , move only as quickly as their slowest parts. “I do believe that urban areas have a di erent need than rural areas,” Bell says. “I think that’s always been one of the tensions in the legislature with funding. We’re still by and large a rural state, and most of the legislators come from those places. I don’t think they have a real appreciation of the di erences between a smaller city or town and a place like Charlotte.”
Bell, 66, was appointed to the Superior Court bench in 1997 and has successfully run three times for reelection; he’s been Mecklenburg County’s chief resident judge since 2015. He says travel to and from places like Sylva and Waynesville, which requires him to stay in hotels when he’s assigned there, doesn’t a ect his work but “can wear you down.” To him, the strain on the system is largely a matter of lack of resources, although the outmoded ways they’re applied hinder the courts, too.
“One of the things I’ve learned, as chief resident in particular, is that so much of what we do, we do because it’s the way it’s always been done,” Bell says. “It was probably the right thing to do 25, 30 years ago, but we have grown and changed so much in those 25 to 30 years that it’s no longer the right thing to do. But inertia is a very di cult force to overcome— and change is something that people will kick and scream to not have to endure.”
MERRIWEATHER’S UPBRINGING sharpened his sense of how cruel or incompetent institutions can hurt people who have to tangle with them. He was born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, the son of parents who lived through the civil rights movement in the Deep South. As a teenager in 1994, Merriweather was attending a summer program for gi ed students in Philadelphia when, on foot, he accidentally collided with a police o cer, who kicked him in the ribs. Merriweather, who would later graduate from Princeton and the law school at UNC Chapel Hill, says the incident taught him a lesson about how the unjust exercise of authority can stick with people for life.
The Philadelphia cop was white, but Merriweather downplays the racial aspect of what likely was a case of racial pro ling. Merriweather, who turns 42 in July, is the rst African-American district attorney in Mecklenburg County. His position lends him extraordinary power over young black people in the justice system and places him in a delicate spot—urban, black communities typically don’t see prosecutors as allies. He responds with a pair of black-andwhite photographs that hang near the front door of the DA’s o ce: one of Mamie Till, the mother of black civil rights icon Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy lynched in Mississippi in 1955; and Till’s uncle, Moses Wright, who identi ed his nephew’s killers during their trial in an era when he had every reason to expect he’d be killed for it. (He wasn’t, but the jury acquitted the two white men, who later publicly confessed.)
The photos are Merriweather’s way of telling those who visit his o ce that he pursues justice, not people. “Folks who have historically been disenfranchised, folks who have not been able to have a level of comfort or con dence in our judicial system,” he says as he raps a table in his o ce, “are exactly the types of folks who need to see that their government actually is working for them.”
He already understood the shortcomings of the court system in late 2017, when Cooper appointed him to ll the district attorney’s seat vacated by Andrew Murray, now U.S. attorney for the western district of North Carolina; Murray recommended Merriweather to replace him, and voters elected Merriweather to a four-year term in May 2018. He had joined the DA’s o ce in 2007, eventually leading the team that prosecuted habitual felons. But Merriweather says his insight into its structural problems deepened once he ran the o ce.
They’re hardly new. Four years ago, Murray asked the Washington, D.C.-based Association of Prosecuting Attorneys and its president and CEO, David LaBahn, to compare the number of prosecutors in the Charlotte DA’s o ce to their counterparts in cities with similar populations. LaBahn found that prosecutors’ o ces in large cities typically employ about 10 assistant district attorneys for every 100,000 residents in their jurisdictions—and Charlotte’s, with 84 ADAs in a county with a population of more than a million, lagged behind those in 10 other cities, including Memphis, Nashville, and Atlanta. Mecklenburg County’s population has since surged past 1.1 million, according to census data. As of April, the DA’s o ce had 85 prosecutors—and the state, which employs all of them, fully pays for only 59. Mecklenburg County pays for 20, the City of Charlotte for two, and the state, city, and county pay jointly for four.
“We o ered a lot of deals that I’d have preferred we not o er—but we couldn’t take everything to trial because we didn’t have the resources,” Murray, who spent seven years as DA, tells me in March. “Those are decisions that prosecutors make all the time. But, in my opinion, it’s an acute problem in Charlotte because (the DA’s o ce) doesn’t have anywhere near the resources that any other metropolitan area’s prosecution district has. So it’s di cult for Spencer to function and do his job.”
That’s why refocusing the o ce’s e orts to combat a speci c problem, as Merriweather announced during his news conference in January, is a temporary measure, not a solution, Murray adds: “When you’re doing that—what my mother used to say—you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul, right? So you’re taking somebody o habitual felonies; you’re taking somebody out of prosecuting property crimes. You can only refocus that many resources for so long without it showing up in other areas of your o ce.” ON MARCH 6, less than a week before the rst reported coronavirus cases in Mecklenburg County, six members of the county’s legislative delegation— which consists of 12 representatives and ve senators, all but one of them Democrats—met with Merriweather to discuss his and other district attorneys’ ongoing funding requests to the General Assembly. The legislators generally supported Merriweather’s suggestions, which include enough money to pay for 115 prosecutors, a total that would bring his sta into line with others in comparable cities. They o ered Merriweather no hope that he’d get them.
Among the group at the meeting was John Autry, a former Charlotte City Council member who recalls his surprise, when he reviewed his rst city budget in 2012, that it contained funding for prosecutors. “That’s not the city’s responsibility,” he says. Autry won an N.C. House seat in 2016 and, as a member of the House Appropriations Committee, has a better idea now of why that is.
(Below) Four years ago, the district attorney in Charlotte asked a Washington, D.C., prosecutors’ organization to compare the number of assistant district attorneys in Charlotte to the number of ADAs in cities of comparable size.
Prosecutor sta ng levels, 2016
Jurisdictions with populations comparable to Charlotte’s
NUMBER OF ADAs PER 100,000 RESIDENTS
8.3
84 ADAs
MECKLENBURG COUNTY, NC 9.16 9.75
100 ADAs
SALT LAKE COUNTY, UT
90 ADAs
ERIE COUNTY (BUFFALO), NY
10.04 10.17
100 ADAs
FULTON COUNTY (ATLANTA), GA
68 ADAs
DAVIDSON COUNTY (NASHVILLE), TN
10.95 11.72
110 ADAs
PIMA COUNTY (TUCSON), AZ
110 ADAs
SHELBY COUNTY (MEMPHIS), TN
11.78 12.34 12.42 13.07
118 ADAs
ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MO
120 ADAs
WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY
120 ADAs
FRESNO COUNTY, CA
125 ADAs
MILWAUKEE COUNTY, WI
Republicans have dominated the legislature since 2010, holding vetoproof supermajorities in both houses from 2012 through 2018. Democrats broke the supermajorities that year, having won the governor’s o ce in 2016. But Republicans retain control of the General Assembly, and they’ve spent a decade passing legislation on ideological rather than practical grounds—and, from gerrymandering to an attempted takeover of Charlotte Douglas International Airport to the infamous 2016 “bathroom bill,” shown a pronounced hostility toward North Carolina cities in general and Charlotte in particular.
“The only way we’re going to have some di erences there is with a different majority. The problem is that we have folks in positions of power in this state who only value tax cuts, rolling back regulations, and school vouchers,” Autry tells me. “When your prime objective is to shrink government down to the size where you can drown it in the bathtub, this is what you get. The idea is to continue to push the burden of funding these operations further and further down on the municipalities. The court system is a revenue source as far as some folks in the legislature are concerned.”
With enough money and people, Merriweather says, he’d be better equipped for initiatives that a handful of prosecutors’ o ces across the country have enacted over the last 10 to 15 years—most notably in Milwaukee, where District Attorney John Chisholm has emerged as a leader in criminal justice reform. Merriweather mentions Chisholm o en. “He’s trying to make the systems that he works in a lot better,” Merriweather says, “and I feel like that’s my responsibility as well.” Among Chisholm’s most in uential reforms—part of a package that o cials believe has contributed to a 33 percent decline in violent crime since 2015—has been a system of community-based prosecutors who set up in spaces like church fellowship halls and neighborhood recreation centers. The practice eases the burden on poor defendants, witnesses, and victims, for whom a trip to the courthouse can take more time and aggravation than they can a ord.
Merriweather believes it also would build trust among people inclined to fear the imposing, nine-story courthouse—a perception that prosecutors are part of the community, not just apparatchiks in suits who look for ways to put people in prison. That general thinking informs the traditional idea of community policing, that o cers who walk beats and come to know the neighborhoods they patrol help deter crime. “It’s clear that community-based prosecution doesn’t mean you’re prosecuting the community,” says David LaBahn of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys. “It’s the opposite: Can you get more cooperation from the people who live there?”
Authorities in Mecklenburg have already taken a few tentative steps toward reform. The DA’s o ce continues to allow adult, rst-time, nonviolent o enders a chance to have their records expunged by completing a two-year deferred prosecution program, and Merriweather in 2018 dropped a requirement that defendants make restitution payments before they enter the program. (The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department runs a similar youth diversion program for juvenile o enders.) Defendants eligible for conditional discharge under the program are o en those charged with low-level felonies, like property the and simple cocaine possession; Merriweather says it’d save time and resources to route those cases through District Court, which handles misdemeanors, instead of Superior.
Merriweather believes money for more prosecutors and other resources would mean greater exibility for his o ce, and those in North Carolina’s other cities, to respond to their speci c needs and the unique character of urban criminal justice. “It’s really easy to write o the guy from Charlotte, and I know that,” he says. “But I can look at what’s going on in some other jurisdictions and see that they’re su ering from some of the same issues that we are. They have some features that are a lot like what we’ve got—but they don’t have 1.1 million people, either.” MERRIWEATHER TELLS ME THIS in February. When we talk next, in the rst week of April, we’re in the early days of a new reality dominated by the threat of fatal disease and a virtual closure of society itself. No one knows how long it will last, or all of its rami cations. Trials will be delayed; public budgets are likely to shrink. Merriweather estimates that the shutdown has stalled a h of his cases, an amount that could grow. Just as troubling: Economic crises augur thicker criminal dockets. Merriweather has seen the statistics on unemployment claims in the rst weeks of the COVID-19 crisis, and he’s been around long enough to know what to expect when large numbers of people lose their jobs. Many will commit acts of violence born of their desperation, and their case les will end up on desks in his o ce.
Yet he retains hope that the new restrictions might force everyone in the judicial system to reconsider how they’ve been conducting business and, as in Judge Bell’s formulation, understand that the way things have always been isn’t necessarily the way they always have to be. How many steps in the long walk from initial appearance to plea or trial are truly necessary, and how many of them require all parties to be physically present in a courtroom on the h oor of the courthouse? Might certain hearings be more e ciently conducted by videoconference? Might prosecutors better serve justice by steering more defendants to drug or mental health treatment if addiction or mental illness underpins their crimes?
For that matter, how many defendants whose cases move through Merriweather’s o ce have to carry felony convictions for the rest of their lives? “As we begin to think about how we might restart this engine, it is forcing us to really think about what it is that we need,” he says. “If anything could ever force you to try to gure out a di erent, more e cient way of doing things, it’s this.”
SEA ISLAND: SO MANY REASONS TO VISIT THIS 5-STAR RETREAT
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Recent enhancements at The Lodge (shown above) include an oceanfront pool, pool house, 18-hole putting course, new cottages with sleeping rooms, and a 17,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Golf Performance Center. Sea Island features five miles of private beach, a Beach Club, tennis, offshore, inshore, and nearshore fishing, Shooting School, beach horseback riding, and Camp Cloister for kids. Steeped in golf tradition, Sea Island is home to championship golf courses, including Seaside and Plantation, home of the PGA TOUR’s RSM Classic, hosted by Sea Island’s own Davis Love III. Davis and his brother, Mark, of Love Golf Design, recently redesigned Plantation, which reopened in fall 2019. More touring pros live, train and/or play at Sea Island than anywhere else.
Accommodation options include The Cloister, with Mediterranean-style architecture; The Lodge, reminiscent of an English country manor; and Cottages, featuring all the privacy of a personal home. Located on St. Simons, The Inn at Sea Island offers comfortable, casual accommodations with access to many Sea Island amenities. Guests may also enjoy Broadfield, a Sea Island Sport Club and Lodge, with a variety for seasonal hunting, fishing, sporting, and organic culinary opportunities.
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COME OUT TO PLAY IN OUR 8,000-ACRE BACKYARD
The roses are beginning to bloom. And Biltmore’s gates are open wide. Summer, in all of its lush, green-grass glory, is returning once more to Biltmore.
It’s time to come out to play. Biltmore’s 8,000acre backyard offers a world of adventure for guests of all ages. Hike through pristine forestlands. Float along the French Broad River. Get lost along miles of winding, wonderful garden paths. Or simply enjoy the sweeping Blue idge ountain views. rom y fishing to bike riding, and from star-gazing to horseback riding, Biltmore Estate offers a true wealth of warmweather activities.
One of our favorite Biltmore pastimes is a picnic with a view into the past century. icture it a delicious field to-blanket selection of the Estate’s freshest ingredients, cheeses, and chef-made pastries; a chilled bottle of one of Biltmore’s own Reserve wines; and perhaps best of all, the scenery rolling hills, wild owers, and the majestic façade of America’s Largest Home® .
To plan your Biltmore summer getaway, and to learn more about the special packages available – with stays at the four-star Inn on Biltmore Estate® or the convenient Village Hotel on Biltmore Estate® – visit Biltmore.com/stay. BILTMORE® Plan your trip at biltmore.com/stay or call 800-411-3812
MONTAGE PALMETTO BLUFF
Located between Hilton Head, SC and Savannah, G , under a hour drive from Charlotte you ll find Montage Palmetto Bluff. With 20,000 acres of pristine Lowcountry terrain, Palmetto Bluff encompasses walking trails, two vibrant villages, an array of shops and eight delectable restaurants. Upon arrival, most guests surrender their cars and leisurely make their way around the property on the main mode of transportation, bicycle.
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With this bounty of activity there are also a variety of accommodations to choose from, guest rooms to cottages to Village Homes allow for varying degrees of privacy and space. Wrapped in the warmth of southern hospitality, a getaway to Montage Palmetto Bluff will leave you with a lifetime of memories. MONTAGE PALMETTO BLUFF Plan your trip at montagehotels.com/palmettobluff or call 855-264-8705
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At more than a mile above sea level, Grandfather ountain a nonprofit nature preserve in Linville, N.C. — offers visitors a unique vantage point to the natural world.
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Grandfather Mountain is open year-round, weather permitting, with the exception of Christmas and Thanksgiving. For more information, visit www.grandfather.com, or call 800-468-7325. EXPERIENCE GRANDFATHER MOUNTAIN Plan your trip at grandfather.com or call 800-468-7325
ROCK BARN COUNTRY CLUB & SPA
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Membership at the Club affords e clusive access to our fitness center, pool, tennis complex, restaurants, monthly social events, dining experiences, and group activities designed to keep our members engaged all year.
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For over 50 years, Rock Barn has been a destination for our community, our residents, and our members to play, relax, dine, and live. ROCK BARN COUNTRY CLUB & SPA Plan your trip at rockbarn.com call 828-459-1125 or email events@rockbarn.com
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GUIDETHE
WHAT TO DO AND WHERE TO EAT
Pizzeria Omaggio’s Di Parma pizza, topped with cherry tomatoes, prosciutto, arugula, and shaved parmesan.
FOOD + DRINK Pizzeria Omaggio
A tribute to carry-out pizza
“OMAGGIO” IS THE ITALIAN WORD FOR HOMAGE, and there’s never been a better time to partake in the longtime ritual of ordering pizza. Owner Daniel Siragusa uses classic Italian recipes and specializes in personal pizzas with thin, crispy crusts. Order a traditional parmigiana or calabrese pie o the menu or create your own with toppings like prosciutto, anchovies, and Italian sausage. When you can’t dine in at your neighborhood pizzeria, pick up your order curbside or have it delivered—it’s pretty delicious at home, too.
