Flailing, flooding and fire

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

1

Sportsman of the Week
That’s what Jay Leno called Asheville Tourists Manager Joe Mikulik last night. If you haven’t heard by now, Mikulik’s been all over the national news for his Sunday evening tirade at a Tourist game in Lexington, Kentucky.

Mikulik was apparently upset over the officiating, and simply went off. He pulled up second base and tossed it. He threw the rosin bag. He got in the ump’s face. He kicked up dirt and covered up, then washed, home plate. He blew a gasket.

Monday morning, Good Morning America’s Charlie Gibson noted the hissy fit, as did CNN and MSNBC. ESPN did a story. The Best Damn Sports Show guys talked about it. It was all over.

But at 11 p.m. on the WLOS infotainment cast, the national news was totally buried. Larry “Hee” Hawley barely mentioned it at 11:28 p.m. in about a 1 minute blurb. He had some video of Mikulik, back home at McCormick Field, saying he never expected the media spotlight and all the attention. He said he has gotten some feedback from some, saying that his display wasn’t the best example for children.

The Tourists are at home all week. Should be interesting to see how the home fans greet him, though the league has suspended him for seven days and fined him $1,000. Will the Colorado Rockies, the
Tourists’ affiliate, also sanction him?

House burns
WLOSers led off at 11 with a story about a house that burned down on Rustic Trail road in Avery’s Creek. The couple who owned the house didn’t want to go on camera, but told WLOSers they’d lived there 26 years and had five pets, who perished in the flames. WLOS didn’t name the homeowners. They also didn’t give a suspected cause of the fire.

Flooding
Flooding in Henderson, Polk and Rutherford counties had WLOSers running around, but despite the hype, the story seemed to be mostly over by 11. The Rocky Broad River was flooded, and people in Chimney Rock were evacuated – about 100 residents. There are ways to protect your home from flooding if you’re worried the same could happen to you. For example, learn about a sump pump here.

A WLOS photog did a story about a woman in spandex shorts trying to sweep water out of her flooded house. Why is it that people who get flooded out always walk around in spandex shorts?

Holly Headache stood in the parking lot of Biltmore Park and told us more about the flooding. She said Lake Lure was practically drained, and that the lake is now closed because it’s so low and there’s a lot of debris exposed. She said that some gas and propane tanks had floated in the lake, and that one emergency worker told her they were “floating bombs.”

She also quoted a business owner who said Chimney Rock’s riverwalk is a shambles, the lake is closed and it’s going to take a massive amount of work to get everything together for the big July Fourth holiday. Watch for WLOsers to pick up this angle and run with it for follow-ups.

Julie Blunder said there’s more rain in the forecast. She didn’t really mention that we need this rain, and that we remain in drought conditions.

Newsflash
A dude was shot in the chest in Henderson County. That was all the info WLOSers gave.

Newsflash
Henderson County animal control officers say a wolf hybrid dog that escaped from the local animal shelter did not have rabies. Did WLOSers ever tell us that it had been found? The dog had run, and a cop shot it, but we never heard that the dog’s body was found. Oh well.

Prisoner abuse?
Carolyn “Little Red” Ryan offered up a story with so many holes it could pass for Swiss cheese, but here it is anyway:

An Asheville woman says her son, a marine, said he was beaten up at the Marine base at Camp LeJeune. Here’s the deal – the kid called dad, and dad told mom. So this is totally secondhand info. Oh, and by the way, the son was a deserter missing from the Marine Corps for five years until mom recently talked him into turning himself in, which he did a few weeks ago. Now he’s in the brig and apparently not liking it.

Ryan said the mom called U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor, who told her he’s looking into it all.

Newsflash
K. Ray Bailey, the A-B Tech community college president, has been awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by Gov. Easley for all his good work.

McCants surgery
Former Tar Heel and Asheville native Rashad McCants had surgery on his knee a couple of weeks ago. The Minnesota Timberwolf is recovering, but it’s unclear when he’ll play next.