News update for the end of your week

Jason Sandford

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

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Merrimon Avenue zoning
The hot lead story at 11 Thursday night was Carolyn “Little Red” Ryan standing in front of Staples and telling us that residents and city planners have talked about zoning along Merrimon Avenue.

The comprehensive study of zoning along the busy road, as well as some sort of survey of residents, is finished, Ryan said. People like Mike Lewis, who always seems to speak for the high-minded North Ashvegas liberals (o, and Edgy Mama, too, but she usually doesn’t go to city council meetings), said people want more sidewalks, they want utility poles moved and they want more buildings like the Atlanta Bread Company, of all places. They want a type of zoning called “neighborhood corridor.”

Ryan quoted city planning chief Scott Shuford, who said the report presented to the city planning and zoning board on Thursday is just a start. There will be a public hearing in July to get more input, then P&Z will make a recommendation to city council regarding any zoning changes on Merrimon

Woman kidnapped, raped
At 11, WLOSers really kind of blew of the big story of the day – the fact that police arrested a kidnapper and rapist.

A Mission Hospitals employee who was leaving work Wednesday afternoon was confronted in a hospital parking lot by a dude with a knife. He forced her into a car, drove her to an ATM to get money, then went to a public housing complex to buy crack. Then he drove around some more, ended up off of Airport Road, where he raped the woman in the woods, then drove her to another public housing complex (police wouldn’t name these complexes.)

The woman got free and got herself back to the hospital for treatment early Thursday morning. She gave police detailed descriptions, and they tracked down the dude and arrested him. He’s in jail, charged with kidnapping and rape and armed robbery.

The cops say this guy is not connected to the still unsolved Biltmore Park rape of a couple of weeks ago, when a woman headed into the YMCA was attacked.

Another meltdown
Even though WLOSer Jenny Dunn is headed off to work at an Orlando television station, she’s still filing some air time here. So she did sports last night. Guess Stan’s been working too hard (not).

Anyway, she showed us another manager meltdown. This time it wasn’t Tourists Manager Joe Mikulik, but rather the manager of whatever team was playing the Tourists over at McCormick Field last night. Think they said the guy’s name was Brandon Hyde. All he did was throw his hat and glasses. There was some dispute over whether or not he bumped the umpire. Either way, he got thrown out of the game. And his little blow up didn’t come close to Mikulik’s tired from Sunday.

Get your cancers right
Larry “Gloryhole” Blunt got it wrong when he gave us an update about the funeral of Patsy Ramsey, mother of murdered little beauty queen Jon Benet Ramsey. Blunt said Patsy died after a long battle with breast cancer. Wrong-o, Mary Lu. She had ovarian cancer.

Tim…..ber!
Earlier in the day, Cherub Charu stood up on the Blue Ridge Parkway and told us that there’s a proposed timber sale on national forestland, but the cutting wouldn’t affect the pretty view from where she was standing.

The government is thinking about chopping 2,800 acres worth of trees in Transylvania County along Case Camp Ridge, near Looking Glass Rock. Hikers say the sawing will ruin a trail up to the popular rock. Those in favor of the timber sale say cutting down the trees and growing new ones will give little forest critters “new habitat,” and that’s a good thing.

In other news…
There was an arts-in-school fundraiser. A bunch of hippies were drumming for the Lake Eden Arts Festival in schools and streets program, whatever that is… Black Mountain residents celebrated the Fourth of July, and it’s still June. They shot off fireworks at the Black Mountain Center and had food, music and games. This was the first time in four years they could afford firecrackers. The Town of Black Mountain will still do its fireworks on the right day, July 4… The big Operatioin Blood Drive that WLOSers hammered home during the noon broadcast and all day was a flop. It was unclear whether they met their goal for donated blood… Health Headlines: are fat people lying about how much they eat? See file footage of fatties… Blunt and Diva Darcel joked about new Charlotte Bobcat Adam Morrison’s shaggy hair, suggesting he get it cut. This is coming from Larry, who has fake hair? And Darcel, don’t joke about a 1970s haircut when your wearing an 1870s do – you look like frickin’ Prince Valiant with that weave.