A Florida man was seriously injured Saturday night after falling several stories from a ramp at Bank of America stadium in Charlotte. The incident happened just after 8 o’clock as the Atlantic Coast Conference football championship was starting between Florida State and Georgia Tech.
Police have identified the man as 22-year-old Sean Michael Powers of New Port Richey, Florida. WCNC TV reported he was walking up the ramp to find his seat when he fell onto a grassy area below. Police are investigating how the man fell.
RELATED LINKS:
Dec. 1, 2012, WCNC.om, "Man has life-threatening injuries after fall from stadium”
Dec. 1, 2012, CharlotteObserver.com, “Man has life threatening injuries after fall from BofA stadium”
FLORIDA STATE TAKES ACC TITLE
And it was ACC Championship day in uptown Charlotte Saturday. Florida State beat Georgia Tech 21-15 in the game at Bank of America Stadium. James Wilder Jr. ran for two touchdowns to help the No. 13 ranked Seminoles win their first league title since 2005. The win sends them into the Orange Bowl. (More sports results below)
SIGNS OF CHRISTMAS
As Christmas tree lots pop up all around the region, it’s starting to look a bit like Christmas. Although the spirit of the season is the same, it's a tale of two Carolinas when it comes to growing holiday trees.
North Carolina is the nation's second-largest tree producer behind Oregon and harvests more than 5 million each year. Most are Fraser firs grown in the high Appalachians. This year, one of those Fraser firs from Ashe County is gracing the Blue Room as the White House Christmas tree.
While North Carolina has about 1,600 growers, in South Carolina, Christmas trees are a cottage industry with only about 45 growers harvesting only about 30,000 trees. Most are mom-and-pop operations. South Carolina growers say they do it for a second income and for the joy of growing the trees and sharing the season with others.
N. MECK CHRISTMAS PARADE: BIGGEST EVER
The Main Streets of Cornelius and Davidson were filled with sights and sounds of the holidays Saturday for the 30th annual North Mecklenburg Christmas Parade. The parade began with a team of bell-wearing Clydesdales from Hunting Creek Farms and included school marching bands, farm tractors, antique cars, dancers, and Santa Claus. More than 2,800 marchers marched, pedaled and danced past thousands of spectators on Highway 115 through the two towns, making it the largest ever according to organizers from local fire departments.
SPORTS
In Boone, Appalachian State was knocked out of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs Saturday by Illinois State. Matt Brown threw for five touchdowns and 322 yards and Illinois State blocked the game-tying extra point kick in overtime to beat the Mountaineers 38 to 37.
Eric Breitenstein ran for three touchdowns and 247 yards as Wofford opened the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs with a 23-7 victory over New Hampshire. Wofford (9-3) will take on either North Dakota State or South Dakota State in next week's quarterfinals.
And the NFL’s Carolina Panthers will play Kansas City today at 1 o’clock at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. The game will go on despite Saturday’s tragedy Chiefs’ linebacker Jovan Belcher fatally shot his girlfriend then drove to the stadium and killed himself in front of team officials. After discussions with the NFL, team officials decided to go ahead with the game.