Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Animal shelter fire
WLOSers said firefighters responded to a fire call at 7 p.m. Friday night at the animal shelter on Lee’s Creek Road in West Ashvegas.
There was a small fire in a dryer that was causing a lot of smoke. No animals were injured.
No water for trailer park
Carolyn “Little Red” Ryan went out to Northview Mobile Home Park to tell us about 150 people who were doing without water because a pump for a well had broken.
Residents have been going without water for several days and they’re pissed because without running water, they look and smell like trailer park people now more than ever. Carolyn talked to the park manager, who said the pump “just quit” and the owner spent $10,000 on a new pump, but that one didn’t work either.
It’s still kinda cold, so here are some tips
WLOSers, never afraid to make a “news” report out of the obvious, sent Julie Blunder out to talk to mechanics and auto parts store workers about winterizing our cars. That’s because temps got down in teens the past couple of nights. And the wind chill makes everything feel worse, Blunder reminded us.
So Blunder, sporting a cute winter headband, got some video of these guys saying things like: make sure your antifreeze is good in your car; make sure your windshield wiper fluid won’t freeze up; check tire tread and tire pressure. O, and warm up your car for a few minutes before taking off.
In a little follow-up, WLOSers also went to the local hospital to quote a doctor telling us to wear warm clothes to protect from frostbite and hypothermia.
With a number of schools cancelled on Friday, WLOSers got some video of teens at the mall. Lame.
Mind you, this was a top story.
In other news…
Members of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians are getting their checks from gambling proceeds. The amount is up 12 percent, but WLOSers didn’t give us any idea of what an average payment might be… Public ice skating has started at the Ashvegas Civic Center. Go and bust your ass… John “Punnyman” Le had a useless report about a babpiper who plays popular tunes, like Elvis and the Beatles. Le said things like “oxygetn fuels the fire in his music” and “He’ll continue to experiment by developing his airbag.”… Some people like snow, according to WLOSers, who followed some hikers up to Max Patch out in Madison County. Terrie “PastyFace” Foster brought us that useless report.
Frozen water pipe
A Skyland Cleaners manager on Hendersonville Road was pissed that his water pipes were frozen Friday morning. They were frozen because a city street crew working on lines earlier in the week had dug up the line and left it exposed as temperatures dipped to about 15 degrees. The workers used blow torches to unfreeze the pipe
Murder plea
Jeremy Butterfield was down in Rutherford County to cover the murder plea of a young woman. Butterfield didn’t do a good job of telling us this story. But apparently earlier in the year, one dude was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to death in the slaying of an elderly woman who was strangled with an extension cord. The girl who pleaded out on Friday was the dude’s girlfriend as was four months pregnant at the time of the murder. WLOSers say three other people also faces charges in this case.
Butterfield played us some inaudible video/audio from inside the courtroom, where apparently the girl who pleaded guilty and family members of the victim exchanged words. Outside the courtroom, Jeremy talked to the girl’s mom, who said her daughter was manipulated by the boyfriend – he stuck her in an oven or something and threatened her, she said.
Then Jeremy talked to the brother and son of the dead old lady who said that 25 years for the girl would mean she’d lose her youth, but it still didn’t make up for the death of their loved one.
More details in murder-for-hire plot
Holly Headache said that search warrants revealed new details about the murder-for-hire plot in Mack-Dowell County. A man was hired earlier this week and charged with soliciting murder. It turned out that the hitman he was talking to was a Buncombe County undercover deputy. The deputy, who shaved and cut his hair and hid his tats for the interview said he has a desk job now.
Holly said the suspect was plotting to kill his ex-wife’s parents. He had considered tampering with their car’s brakes, setting their house on fire and even making the poison ricin to kill ’em. He’d been meeting with the undercover cop for four months and had amassed cash, a dozen assault weapons and a pile of ammo.
In still other news…
A former N.C. Highway Patrolman named George C. Penn now has a bridge named after him. The bridge is the overpass at I-40 and Highway 74-A. Penn was gunned down nearly 70 years after trying to catch escaped convicts. That’s a long time to wait for a bridge naming…. Steve Troxler, the North Carolina agricultural commissioner, was in Haywood County to pimp biofuel. More farmers should use biofuels in their tractors, Troxler said… A-B Tech had its annual children’s holiday party, where they give Big Wheels and helmets to kids and let them have fun… The holiday light show is up at Lake Julian. Lots of people like to load up cars and drive through the light show… There was a fund-raising event in Black Mountain for a farm for wolf-dogs… Weavervill had some luminaries lined up on Main Street to encourage shoppers to come out… And Ashvegas police are looking for a dude who steals checks out of mailboxes, “washes” them to remove the ink and then make the checks out to himself.
"Penn was gunned down nearly 70 years after trying to catch escaped convicts. That’s a long time to wait for a bridge naming…"
It’s an even longer time to wait to be gunned down. You would think they would have given up trying to shoot him after nearly 70 years 😉