TATTLE TALES.

• Position: Fayetteville Convention & Visitors Bureau - Brief Article

* Wet dream: Bank of America Vice President Vic Howie is trying to raise $15 million to build an Olympic-class whitewater run on a now-dry hillside overlooking an interstate in downtown Charlotte. Thousands of paddlers head to the French Broad and Nantahala rivers each summer, he says, and "they'll come to Charlotte to get the same experience."

* Cutting-edge tourism: The Fayetteville Convention & Visitors Bureau has received the Southeast Tourism Society's Shining Example Award. Among its efforts: urging downtown merchants, without much success, to remove the razor wire around their stores.

* Star-spangled blather: "Do the patriotic thing," state Rep. Larry Justus urged foes of widening Interstate 26 through Henderson County after terrorists struck New York and Washington on Sept. 11. Patriots should support the $75 million project, he says, lest people fearful of flying clog the nation's highways.

* And who hired them: The N.C. Court of Appeals says Wachovia can't wiggle out of a lawsuit by arguing that its lawyers bungled the case. Among their mistakes: not showing up for depositions that could have helped refute a Wendell woman's claim that the bank mishandled her family trust.

* Volume discount: A pimp in Newland tells a john he's the 17th customer of the evening and thus entitled to a $200 special. The lucky customer turned out to be an undercover cop, who busted the pimp and two accomplices.

* Drivers ed: Worried about 53 wrecks last year involving city-owned vehicles, Jacksonville...