A safe at Reems Creek Valley Nursery & Landscaping was broken into and cash stolen after 9 p.m. Wednesday, April 23 and 8 a.m. Thursday, April 24. The nursery is offering a $500 reward to anyone with information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator(s).  If you have any information, contact Detective Scott Hawkins with the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department at 255-5555.  Please do not contact the nursery directly if you have information.

You may have read last week’s article in The Weaverville Tribune about how Weaverville’s crime rate is higher than Woodfin’s (I would link to it, but the Tribune doesn’t post its articles online).  That news didn’t sit well with our Police Chief.  This week’s Tribune features an article about a letter Police Chief Greg Stephens wrote taking issue with those statistics and providing the true facts as reported by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.  It’s on page 8, but the entire letter isn’t visible on the page, so with his permission, I am linking to a copy of that letter here: Chief Stephens Letter about Crime Rate (PDF, 134kb).

In his letter Stephens references a specific section of the NCSBI website, which you can view here.

Another note about crime here: Chief Stephens said there was no vandalism, damage or other criminal misbehavior reported to them or detected by their officers on Halloween. He says this is the first Halloween in a long time so uneventful, which he attributes to the Department’s high visibility patrols.