Police bodycams, walking kids to school: Citizen Times stories with impact in 2022

ASHEVILLE – Some of the most rewarding days at the Asheville Citizen Times come in the form of short email messages saying, “Thanks for the story.” Like a recent thank from a reader for settling a long-simmering debate among family and friends as to whether there is indeed a Town Mountain.

But while thank you notes are nice ― and we absolutely appreciate them ― we are focused on making an impact on people's lives. We strive for accountability and watchdog journalism, the kind that ultimately makes communities better. That is our mission and the standard by which we measure our success.

Our team of journalists, which also include reporters and photographers at our weekly newspapers The News Record & Sentinel in Madison County and the Black Mountain News, strive every day to bring our readers the stories that can have impact and the power to create change.

These can be seemingly small, such as a mother whose simple desire to walk her child to school was realized after being told by an elementary school that she could not.

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These can affect a much wider group, such as anyone who was searching fruitlessly for a way to get financial assistance from a giant hospital system and can now find it easily online.

And sometimes our work can shine a light on the often opaque world of law enforcement and municipal government by reporters going to court to compel the release of police-worn body camera footage and filing public records requests.

Through dedication, tenacity and working together with all of you, we plan to keep making changes, in steps big and small.

Throughout the USA Today Network at our sister newspapers, such impact journalism is vital to improving the communities where we live and work. In the Jan. 8 newspaper, you'll find a premium edition that showcases more than 20 stories from USA Today Network newspapers that underscore our commitment.

Following are stories that made a difference in 2022, told by journalists at the Citizen Times and sister papers:

Mother starts petition to be allowed to walk her daughter to school; district updates its policy

Kaycee Eckhardt moved to the small Buncombe County town of Black Mountain and bought a house within a mile of Black Mountain Primary School specifically so that she could walk her daughter to school when she started kindergarten.

She soon found out that was prohibited. Buncombe County Schools cited safety concerns of car riders and pedestrians “during the busy morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up” as the main reason for the policy.

More:Black Mountain Primary parent starts petition to walk her child to school

Eckhardt said the policy prevented her from spending valuable time with her daughter, was disrespectful to the environment since it encouraged lines of cars to idle while burning gas, and that it was an overreach of a school’s authority.

“It’s a very, very safe place to be,” Eckhardt said. “I think it indicates a level of fear and lack of safety that we don’t have in Black Mountain. I know the school has concerns about distracted driving, but there’s some part of me that questions the overreach of how I deliver my child into a public school.”

More:Black Mountain Primary updates walking policy

After reporter Karrigan Monk's story ran in the Black Mountain News, the school district updated its policy, including “clear parameters to keep students and parents safe in the vicinity of the school,” and Eckhardt now walks her daughter to school.

Mission Health finally posts online application for patients seeking financial assistance

Investigative reporter Andrew Jones has been covering the patient and staff concerns about care and multiple lawsuits facing the for-profit HCA Healthcare-owned Mission Health network in Western North Carolina for more than a year. One story in particular led to action.

HCA and Mission Health would not make their charity care application publicly available. Though they chose to provide charity care for patients and maintained a seven-page charity care policy posted online — in English only — they did not publicly post the application.

A couple of weeks after Jones highlighted the efforts of some organizations, including the nonprofit Dollar For and local Mountain Maladies patient advocacy group, and the state treasurer, in their prodding of HCA to be more transparent, change happened.

More:Despite patient advocate asks, HCA's Mission yet to make charity care application public

More:Patient advocate pressure on Mission, HCA leads to posting charity care application online

The company made a sample of its charity care financial assistance application public online at Mission Health’s website. “Mission may be the first of any HCA hospital system — there are more than 180 in its U.S. and United Kingdom network — to make this document immediately available to patients online,” Jones wrote.

“Thanks to Andrew Jones and his article in the ACT that helped make this happen,” the Mountain Maladies founder wrote on their social media page.

Police bodycam footage of violent police takedown of disabled Navy veteran released after reporter petitioned in court

North Carolina law says police body camera videos are not public record. But the Citizen Times obtained bodycam videos of disabled Navy veteran Geoffrey Auer's encounter with the Woodfin Police Department. Public safety reporter Ryan Oehrli first used police and court records to break the story.

On private property, Auer recorded Officer Seikoyen Sasaki, who had fallen asleep in his police car. A higher-ranking officer came to diffuse the situation, but wound up throwing Auer to the ground moments after snatching his phone away. Auer was arrested and needed surgery after the encounter.

Investigative reporter Joel Burgess, without the aid of a lawyer, successfully petitioned two superior court judges to get access to the bodycam footage. The release of a video of the violent takedown showed questionable decision making by officers. The Woodfin Chief of Police acknowledged that improvements in training were necessary. Attorneys who viewed the footage, meanwhile, said it showed a man exercising what appeared to be constitutionally protected rights, to stand and observe police.

More:Woodfin police arrest man after he records cop sleeping on job; excessive force at issue

More:Citizen Times wins court release of police bodycam footage in man's struggle with officers

Court petition by reporter revealed school resource officer didn’t activate bodycam in violent encounter with student

In Henderson County, Burgess again petitioned the court without a lawyer, this time for the release of Sheriff Deputy Alan Brackett’s bodycam during an incident where Brackett allegedly knocked a fifth-grader out of a chair, pinned the child − who said they could not breathe − and struck the child in the face, according to an email from the then-school superintendent to the school board.

Oehrli had reported at length – through door-knocking across multiple counties and filing public records requests – on Brackett's assault on the student at Fletcher Elementary School. We uncovered that Bracket had been fired at least twice before from different law enforcement agencies.

More:SBI investigating school resource officer's use of force on Fletcher Elementary student

More:Fletcher Elementary SRO investigated by SBI: Officer fired more than once previously

More:Buncombe County Sheriff's deputy fired; says chief deputy told him he was 'too aggressive'

The court petition revealed there was no bodycam footage of the school resource officer striking the fifth-grader. That raised questions about officer bodycam policies and the decision to employ the officer, knowing he had been previously been fired. The officer was removed from his job at the school and one school board member came forward calling for his firing.

Extensive ACT coverage of former handyman cited by Superior Court judge in barring man from using courts to bully

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Burgess' exclusive reporting covered the rise of a former handyman and entrepreneur Shawn Johnson, who used his kind-hearted reputation to create an Airbnb business and bilk locals out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Johnson’s misdeeds went unpunished for years until victims ― who had learned they were not alone through the Citizen Times coverage ― came forward. Johnson was stripped of his real estate license and charged by federal agents.

Johnson has been convicted twice in federal criminal court, most recently on March 25 when he pleaded guilty to $3.5 million in loan fraud. He is on pre-trial release while awaiting sentencing and is facing a separate criminal charge in Buncombe County District Court for allegedly assaulting a man with a machete.

Johnson later was barred by a Superior Court judge from any new legal fillings in a case that cited Burgess’ coverage of how Johnson used the court system to bully and steal.

Town Mountain: What's in a name? This Answer Woman column satisfied many readers

All of our impact does not come wrapped in a serious package. In December we received a question for our popular Answer Man/Answer Woman column about a popular place:

“Is there really a mountain named ‘Town Mountain’? Or is it just a misnomer for Sunset Mountain? … Or maybe it's like Brigadoon and only reappears once in 100 years!”

More:Answer Woman: Does Town Mountain exist? Is it same as Grove Park Inn's Sunset Mountain?

City government reporter Sarah Honosky attacked the question with her usual tenacious research and meticulous reporting, scouring maps, consulting historical documents and interviewing local historians. Her account began this way:

“Answer: You might be onto something with the Brigadoon theory.”

It was a lively, interesting, information read, and netted lots of social media chatter, discussion and emails. This is one that showed the impact:

“Sarah, thank you for the fantastic, thoroughly researched article. We live at the base of the disputed area, and discuss this with regularity. Your ‘answer’ is SO much better than the Answer (Man’s) BTW.”

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This is the opinion of Karen Chávez, Interim Executive Editor for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Tips, comments, questions? Call 828-236-8980, email, KChavez@CitizenTimes.com or follow on Twitter @KarenChavezACT.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville Citizen Times stories that made an impact in 2022