News Briefs: Erskine Bowles to speak at ASU graduation on Saturday

Erskine Bowles, incoming president of the University of North Carolina system, will deliver commencement remarks to Appalachian State University graduates at 6 p.m. on Dec. 10 in the Holmes Convocation Center on campus.

Bowles will fill in for previously announced commencement speaker N.C. Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, who is unable to attend the event because of a scheduling conflict. University officials had originally scheduled the ceremony for 1 p.m. but, due to the ASU Mountaineers post-season football game, the event was pushed up to 6 p.m.

Bowles was elected president of the 16-campus UNC system in October. He takes office Jan. 1, 2006.

The native North Carolinian served in President Clinton’s administration as director of the Small Business Administration from 1993-94, as deputy White House chief of staff from 1994-95 and White House chief of staff from 1996-98.

Bowles helped launch the investment banking firm of Bowles Hollowell Conner.He also has served as a general partner of Forstmann Little, a New York-based private equity firm.He ran for U.S. Senate in 2002 and 2004.

Bowles also helped found Dogwood Equity, chaired the Rural Prosperity Task Force, and served as a trustee of the Golden LEAF Foundation—three entities designed to bring economic development to rural North Carolina.Earlier this year, he was appointed United Nations deputy special envoy to 13 tsunami-affected countries in Southeast Asia.

Bowles is a graduate of the University North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. He holds eight honorary doctorates from universities and colleges throughout America.

—Jane Nicholson, ASU News Services

Watauga Sheriff Reports:

Nov. 23

• A Sugar Grove man reported a stolen check. He wasn’t sure where he was when it was stolen.

•A retired Vilas woman returned home to find her back door mysteriously ajar.

Nov. 24

• A sheriff’s deputy stopped a motorist on N.C. 105 S, near Highland Commons, and reported finding a metal pipe, two packs of rolling papers, and a quantity of Xanax described as “suspicious.”

• Nora Louise Chapman, 58, of 2402 Hardin Rd., Deep Gap, was served with an arrest warrant alleging misdemeanor assault on a government official. Chapman was already an inmate at the Watauga County Jail at the time of service. The magistrate attached a $1,500 secured bond to the charge and set a hearing for Dec. 19.

Nov. 25

• The windshield of a burgundy 1991 Toyota Celica was smashed and its paint job mussed as it sat parked late on Monarch Lane near Green Acres Drive.

• John Francis Salvo, 47, of 142 Clyde Townsend Rd., was arrested and charged with assault on a female and communicating threats. He was ordered held for 48 hours without bail and scheduled to appear in District Court Dec. 19.

• A 27-year-old Dobson woman was struck in the face by her boyfriend.

Nov. 26

• Somebody stole a 27-inch flat screen TV from the basement of an apartment building on the 2000 block of N.C. 421 N.

• A white 1996 Buick Regal was stolen from the driveway of a home on the 3600 block of NC 194 S, in Vilas.

• A 30-year-old Boone woman told a deputy she’d been choked and pushed to the ground at a residence on Bloomfield Drive in Blowing Rock. No injuries were reported.

Nov. 27

• A 35-year-old Phillips Branch Road woman reported her boyfriend had pushed her down and hit her with a stick. She had minor injuries.

•A 39-year-old Church Hollow Road woman received minor injuries when her boyfriend struck her, pushed her and pinned her to the ground.

• A 38-year-old Meadowhill Drive woman told the deputy someone was stalking her.

• A Rip Van Road man reported the theft of a rifle sometime after Nov. 10.

• Sometime after Nov. 23, a stack of firewood valued at $100 was stolen from the side of McGuire Mountain Road.

Nov. 28

• A burglar pried open the door of a storage trailer in the parking lot of New Laurel Springs Church and stole an air compressor.

—Jerry Sena, staff writer