Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Bele Chere cranks up
Ashvegas is getting ready to rock with the big Bele Chere festival this weekend, and Julie Blunder said things will be a little different this year because of all the construction happening around City-County Plaza.
The changes Blunder mentioned were the return of a main stage at the corner of Lexington and Walnut; and the return of the children’s area to the Buncombe County health department’s parking lot. The effect is that the festival will be a little bit more spread out.
Remember – downtown Ashvegas streets will be closed starting Thursday night. An area in front of the county courthouse and city hall have already been shut down.
Baby hot foot
Russ “Beefcake” Bowen brought us a tale of a little toddler who burned her feet at a day care in Haywood County. What happened was that the child walked barefoot on some black rubber mats that a slide and other play equipment sit on at St. John’s Center, a day care run by the Southwestern Child Development Commission. You can imagine how hot black rubber might get in the direct summer sun.
It was unclear exactly when this happened – last week? Russ showed pictures mom and dad had taken of the child’s blistered foot. It appeared that her feet were healing – it looked like she’s wearing gauze now.
The day care people said there was apparently no inappropriate action by an employee, but they didn’t apear on camera for an interview. Back at the anchor desk, Diva Darcel asked the obvious question – why wasn’t the child wearing shoes? Russ said the child must have taken her shoes off, but the day care people insist she had proper supervision.
Robberies related?
Michelle Boudin told us that police think four recent robberies are related. Two happened at Smokers & Players stores, so isn’t that kind of obvious? O, and all the stores had video poker machines.
Michelle acted like this was new information, but not really. But she did have a good interview with a clerk in another store who said she fought the robber. She said she karate-chopped him in the neck.
Robbinsville alderman walks
Terrie Foster said everyone in Robbinsville is upset that a grand jury didn’t indict a Robbinsville alderman charged with second degree murder in the shooting death of another man.
The shooting went down in a shopping strip parking lot, with a number of witnesses all around. Yet the grand jury didn’t find enough evidence to indict and have the case go to trial. The cops and a witness expressed dismay, and the district attorney said he would bring the case before the next grand jury.
In other news…
Some people were lost in Transylvania County, then were found… A Henderson County teen died in a car wreck when his truck hit a utility pole on Upward Road early Wednesday… A Yancey County man is wanted for breaking his wife’s face (literally) and for beating his dog… And Frog Level in Haywood County has its own vistor’s center.
