North Carolina
A 4-year-old boy’s simple habit of waving to his neighbors transformed his North Carolina community
CONCORD, North Carolina — Not many children crave connection more than 4-year-old Roman Butzlaff. If you pass by his house in Concord, North Carolina, he will surely greet you with a wave and a “hey.”
“He wakes up every day excited to say ‘hi’ to somebody, like, that’s the first thing he wants to do,” his mother, Anna Butzlaff, told CBS News.
And yet, she said that for the longest time, Roman’s cheeriness belied an inner loneliness. About a year ago, his parents broke up. His father moved to Florida, and his grandparents lived out of state as well.
But fortunately, all those seeds of kindness he had planted began to bloom. It started with Wade Fulgum, who lives across the street from Roman.
Fulgum went over to meet the boy who was always waving. They started doing things together. Eventually, other neighbors followed suit. They would stop and chat or even take part in activities such as drag racing down the street.
Anna Butzlaff said it was initially a bit strange because she barely knew any of these people.
“I didn’t really know how to take it,” she said. “I just saw that my son was happy.”
Which is why she went along with it when Roman then began inviting many different neighbors to his soccer games, basketball games and baseball games. Other neighbors came to his swimming lessons and even his preschool open house.
And when it came time for his birthday party, Anna Butzlaff knew the only people she needed to invite were his senior citizen neighbor friends.
“He loves having us there, and he’ll run up and hug us,” one neighbor said.
“They’ve made such an impact on him,” Anna Butzlaff said. “They are really special people to him.”
Today, the refrigerator is blanketed with pictures of all those people Roman holds so dear. His mother says his inner loneliness is gone.
And his “love thy neighbor” attitude is spreading. Roman has now brought together about a dozen neighbors who say they would have barely known each other if not for that little boy, who lived in a neighborhood but needed a village.
Said one neighbor: “Look at what this little kid has built.”
Added another: “If the world was like this child, what an awesome, awesome place it would be.”
North Carolina
North Carolina communities scramble to protect shorelines as erosion eats away at homes
Watch CBS News
Interlochen alumni details abuse after report’s release
Two former Interlochen School of the Arts students shared their experience with sexual abuse at Interlochen.
A former Interlochen Center for the Arts staffer was forced out of his current job last month at a North Carolina university following a sexual misconduct investigation.
Appalachian State University said in a news release Thursday, Aug. 6, that a recent investigation of its music school’s director of bands, John Stanley Ross, found “a sustained pattern of alleged sexual misconduct.” The investigation began in February after the university received an allegation. Appalachian State, in its release, did not provide details about that allegation.
But the university acknowledged previous complaints against Ross emerged twice. The most recent came eight years ago, when an Interlochen student told Appalachian State officials that Ross had sexually harassed the student while Ross was employed at the prestigious music and arts campus in northern Michigan.
The student “made the university aware that they had reported to Interlochen that Ross sexually harassed them during Ross’s previous employment at Interlochen,” the news release said.
“As the allegations did not include any activity taking place at App State or involving any App State students, the university’s staff at the time worked with the person to connect them with supportive resources.”
The news comes amid the release late last month of a two-year-long investigation with stunning allegations of sexual misconduct spanning decades at Interlochen, which found 70 ex-students accused nearly 50 adults in leadership roles of sexual abuse.
A phone call and texts to Ross were not returned as of late Thursday.
Interlochen confirmed Ross worked at the school from 1992 to 2000 but could not confirm whether he was investigated as a part of Interlochen’s independent probe.
In a statement to the Detroit Free Press on Thursday afternoon, Interlochen spokesperson Maureen Oleson said the school “took steps to ensure that Appalachian State University had access to information relevant to their review.”
“As previously communicated, we shared the names of individuals reported to have engaged in sexual misconduct with law enforcement,” according to the statement.
“To ensure that our actions in no way undermine the integrity of any law enforcement investigation or action, the report does not identify any of these individuals by name. We will continue to ensure that external authorities have access to information gathered in our investigation.”
Appalachian State hired Ross in 2006, after he passed the school’s criminal background check. He was an associate professor of music, teaching both graduate and undergraduate students and supervising student teachers.
The university placed Ross on leave earlier this year and barred him from campus during the investigation.
Appalachian State’s investigation of Ross also found a group of their students reported allegations of sexual harassment against him in 2015. Those allegations were not substantiated at the time, according to the Thursday statement.
On June 26, the university issued Ross its notice of intent to fire him, according to the university’s statement. Prior to the conclusion of the 14-day notice period required by North Carolina law, on July 8, Ross notified the university of his resignation effective the next day.
For decades at Interlochen, multiple predators felt empowered to take advantage of young people isolated in the Michigan wilderness – and leaders either did not know about the misconduct, looked the other way or swept it under the rug, according to Interlochen’s investigation, published July 28. In at least one case, investigators found administrators not only helped someone accused of abuse resign, but wrote the person letters of recommendation.
Staff writer Dave Boucher contributed to this report. Contact Natalie Davies at ndavies@freepress.com.
FRANKLIN, N.C. (WLOS) — The Scots have long been known for their strong sense of independence and enduring traditions. In western North Carolina, that heritage remains deeply woven into the region’s history, culture and identity.
According to historians, North Carolina is home to one of the nation’s largest populations of people with Scottish and Scots-Irish ancestry. That connection dates back to the 1700s, when political unrest and economic hardship prompted thousands of Scots to seek new opportunities in the American colonies.
One key incentive came from North Carolina’s royal governor, himself a Scotsman, who encouraged immigration by offering generous incentives to new settlers.
TASTE OF SCOTLAND FESTIVAL BRINGS PARADES, LIVE MUSIC, VIKING REENACTMENTS TO FRANKLIN
According to Cara Pace, museum curator at The Scottish Tartans Museum and Heritage Center in Franklin, “the royal governor of North Carolina wrote to the Scots who were back at home and said, ‘If you come here and you settle, I will give you a 10-year tax exemption on any land that you buy.’”
Though many then came to North Carolina and then moved west into the Appalachians, the Scottish influence in America extends beyond the Carolinas. Several of America’s Founding Fathers, including Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, all traced their ancestry to Scotland.
The legacy is still visible across western North Carolina in communities and landmarks bearing Scottish names, including Highlands, MacRae Meadows at Grandfather Mountain, Camp Highlander in Mills River, and family names such as McDowell and Rutherford.
The Scottish Tartans Museum and Heritage Center in Franklin, N.C. (Photo: WLOS Staff)
Preserving that heritage is the mission of the Scottish Tartans Museum and Heritage Center in Franklin. The museum houses an extensive collection of tartans, the distinctive woven patterns traditionally associated with Scottish clans and families. The museum also showcases traditional Highland dress, including kilts.
Jim Akins, president of the museum’s board, said learning about his own ancestry inspired his commitment to preserving Scottish history.
“This (the Appalachian Mountains) is where I found out about my Scottish heritage, and I have been here ever since,” he said.
GRANDFATHER MOUNTAIN HIGHLAND GAMES MARK 70TH ANNIVERSARY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
He credits his interest to stories passed down by his great-grandmother.
“She was always talking about us being Scots-Irish, and she was very, very proud of that,” he added.
Today, the Scottish Tartans Museum serves as both an educational resource and a cultural center, helping visitors explore the traditions, history and contributions of Scottish immigrants in North Carolina and across America.
-
Movie Reviews10 seconds agoMovie Review: TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA
-
World12 minutes agoSatyajit Ray’s ‘Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne’ Making to be Chronicled in Srijit Mukherji’s ‘Maharaja Tomare Selam’
-
Health42 minutes agoIs BRP the Next GLP-1 Alternative? How It Quiets Food Noise Without Nausea
-
Lifestyle1 hour agoFalling in love with an octopus, a dog, and Sally Field : Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!
-
Technology1 hour agoNitecore’s latest power bank is the lightest and most compact yet
-
World1 hour agoTrump ally ‘El Tigre’ sworn in as Colombia’s new president amid continent’s rightward shift
-
Politics1 hour agoBlanche survives Republican defectors as Trumps gets his new attorney general
-
Health2 hours agoOrgan harvesting began while patients still showed ‘signs of life,’ federal investigation finds
