Rotelli Pizza and Pasta Closes

Rotelli, a favorite with south Charlotte families on the run has closed their doors. Sources tell CP that a long running disagreement between partners and a break down in lease negotiations over the last several months caused the sudden shut down.

Cedar's Take: The resturant biz is though, food and insurance costs have eroded profit margins. Sales taxes, minimum wage requirements, fees and permits take their toll. The last thing a small business needs is a money grab from one partner.

If rumors floating around the food service world are correct, one partner wanted either out or just to cash in and felt that a money grab via not paying the rent was the way to proceed. This caused the landlord to apparently balk at renewing the lease unless the past due rents were paid in full.

The notice posted on the restaurant's door gives the unsuual spin that leaves promise of a fast return. But when a restauranteur moves a thriving business the results are often disastrous, even with the best planned and promoted effort.  A move of even a few blocks often is the death blow to thriving businesses. 

The property manager of the Carmel Village Shopping Center will have a hard time leasing the somewhat cramped corner office space. The area is littered with retail vacancies, and despite a recent refit of Carmel Commons many vacant store fronts linger.  

The back story is still coming into focus. But one partner seems noticeably absent fron the notice.

On the upside the food was great and Cedar will be first in line should they reopen.

USAirway Passenger Arrested For Talking On Her Cell Phone

A woman on board a U.S. Airways flight bound for Charlotte has been charged after deputies say she refused to comply with the orders of the flight crew. Local media has identified the woman as Lindsay Capri Bien-Amie

Lindsay Capri Bien-Amie

 

According to the Broward Sheriff's Office, the pilot wanted Bien-Amie, who was with her 2-year-old son at the time, escorted off of the plane. Three deputies came in to take her off the plane, but deputies said she became physical with them. There were reports that she had bit one of the deputies.

The woman has been charged with battery on a law enforcement officer. Her name hasn't been released by authorities at this time.

TSA said they may charge the woman federally due to her disrupting the flight.

CMPD Chief Monroe Explains UC Drug Buy Gone To Dirt

Monday Odds and Ends - Murder and Mayhem Edition

East Charlotte Shooting All Too Normal - According to the Charlotte Observer "A 19-year-old Charlotte man was killed in an eastside shooting Sunday afternoon, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg police shut down an apartment complex for four hours as the SWAT team tried unsuccessfully to make contact with a suspect in an apartment.

Police eventually determined that no one was in the apartment.

Police said a man they identified as Danny Barrino was involved in an altercation with another man before the shooting that left him dead. Investigators had not released the name or a description of the suspect by late Sunday.

After the shooting, investigators believed at least one suspect was holed up inside a home in The Preserve at Lake Forest, a large apartment complex near where East W.T. Harris Boulevard meets Albemarle Road.

Trudy Allen said her son, whom she identified as Danny Barrino Allen, was killed. She said she was in church when police called her to tell her about the shooting.

“No matter what he did or what he’s done, now my baby’s gone,” she said, sobbing while being consoled by another woman. “I don’t know the reason, but he’s gone for something stupid.”

She also said, “Whoever did this, they need to come to justice.”

Chauncey Sterling was sentenced to "life w/o parole" in the murder of hospital executive Robert Barber, who was killed by Sterling two years ago while walking home from Caribou Coffee on Fairview Road, in South Charlotte.

 

The morning he was killed, Barber had driven to Caribou with his wife, Debbie.

When she left to go to work, he decided to walk the 3 miles home.

But just a few blocks from the coffee shop, he was confronted by a Sterling holding a gun.

Police said Barber struggled with Sterling and in the process Sterling fired the gun twice. Barber died at the scene.

Sterling's legal defense did a good job, albeit over the top. When Sterling appeared in court he was dressed in a plaid shirt and tie complete with glasses reminiscent of television's Steve Urkel from the sitcom "Family Matters".

The defense centered on the fine line between murder and murder in the process of committing armed robbery.

The fine line being intent, claiming that at the last second Sterling changed his mind about robbing Barber. The jury didn't buy the argument and convicted Urkle of First Degree Murder allowing for the Life without possibility of Parole.

Kindergarten Graduation Fight - Further evidence Charlotte has gone total WalMart - Charlotte-Mecklenburg police were called to a southwest Charlotte elementary school after a fight broke out during a kindergarten graduation Thursday morning.

Police were called to River Gate Elementary off of Smith Road after a fight broke out between two adults around 10 a.m.

A Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools official said the altercation occurred during a reception for kindergartens in the media center of the school.

Both men involved were arrested. Yani Arnautovic, 34, and Darrell Dotson, 38, are charged with misdemeanors for disorderly conduct.

In Case You Missed It - High Line Repair Trucks In Charlotte

Duke Energy would rather you not know the extent that they had to go to restore power after Thursday's storms. 

But this is just a very small portion of the hundred or so trucks brought into help overwhelmed Duke Energy Crews restore power.

Crews from Florida were brought in early Friday to help repair damaged power lines throughout the Charlotte area. 

The 48 hour effort wrapped up just after 8 p.m. Saturday with crews staging at South Charlotte's Calvary Church before they convoyed down I-485 en route to I-77 and eventually I-95 to head back to Florida.

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In 1992 then Duke Power decided to contract with a single "High Line" contractor Floyd S. Pike. The result was the bankruptcy of a dozen other High Line operations throughout the Carolinas.

Pike went on the control the majority of high line work in the Southeast. The company went public in 2005 and is now traded on the NYSE.

But the good ole boy relationship with Duke Energy is still strong, which might explain why Duke Energy is firmly opposed to the relocation of power lines in Charlotte from overhead to underground. 

The massive costs of Thursday's storm will be passed along to Duke Customers in the form of overtime and natural disaster pricing by outside contractors simply because Pike doesn't have the manpower to deal with even the smallest storms. 

Imagine if Hurricane Hugo happened today, could Duke Energy handle the job of rebuilding our electrical grid? Doubtful, shockingly doubtful.  

Wednesday Change Up - Sound Garden Black Hole Sun

 

Hat tip to NPR for using The Section Quartet's version of the now two decade old hit as interlude for their story on a comet's encounter with the sun. Yes it is true Sound Garden's hit was released in 1994!