Bars And Restaurants May Open This Weekend

North Carolina could allow restaurants and bars to open this weekend after being

closed due to the coronavirus for more than two months.  The North Carolina

Restaurant and Lodging Association has emailed their members with the

Governor’s plans to open restaurants and bars.  The regulations include dining

room service at 50 percent capacity with social distancing required.  Tables with

people should be at least six feet apart and a limit of six or fewer people per

table.  The regulations are contingent on North Carolina going into phase 2 of

reopening on May 22^nd.

COVID-19 Update

Burke County has recorded its 2 hundred and 11^th coronavirus case.  The Burke

County Health Department made the announcement Tuesday.  All positive cases

in Burke County have been isolated.  A third patient has died from complications

of the coronavirus in Catawba County.  The individual was a patient at Brian

Center in Viewmont.  Catawba’s coronavirus total rose by ten on Wednesday to

121.  6 cases are hospitalized.  And Caldwell County saw no new cases on

Tuesday.  There are 86 cases in the county with 36 of those cases recovered.

Grab and Go Revision

Due to the Memorial Day Holiday on Monday, May 25^th, Burke County Public

Schools will not distribute grab and go meals on Tuesday, May 26^th.  The meals

will resume on Wednesday, May 27^th at the six school site locations and 88 bus

stops.  Friday, May 29^th will be the final day of the bus stop grab and go meal

distribution and the final day of Liberty Middle School being a feeding site.  The

summer feeding program starts Tuesday, June 2^nd at the five schools:  Table Rock

Middle School, East Burke Middle School, Mountain View Elementary, Valdese

Elementary and George Hildebrand Elementary.

Multiple Drug Arrests

A joint investigation between the Burke County Sheriff’s Office, and the Caldwell

County Sheriff’s Office yielded three arrests for drug offenses at a Hartland Forest

Drive residence in Burke County.  39 year old Michael Wayne Walker and his 24

year old girlfriend Brittany Taylor Cowick were arrested after a search warrant

was executed and over 1.5 pounds of methamphetamine and sixteen thousand

dollars in US currency was seized.  The street value of the drugs was fifty

thousand dollars.  Also arrested was 34 year old Kyle Richard Bristol of Howard

Road , Lenoir on possession of meth.  All three subjects were taken to the Burke

County Jail.  Walker and Cowick were placed under one hundred thousand dollar

secured bonds with court dates of June 8^th.  Bristol received a one thousand dollar

secured bond.

Foothills Conservancy Adds McDowell Land

The Foothills Conservancy has purchased 38 acres of land along the North Fork

Catawba River in McDowell County for future public use.  The property will

eventually be transferred to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission

for public use as part of its Wildlife Conservation Area program.  The land will also

provide an opportunity to build a planned segment of the Fonta Flora State Trail

that will connect Lake James to the City of Marion.  The purchase was funded

though a one hundred thousand dollar grant from Duke Energy’s Catawba-

Wateree Habitat Enhancement Program along with contributions.