Ashvegas hot shots: Firefighter shoots bicyclist; Bob Barker watch; and more crazy crime

Some of what’s making the rounds:

– Asheville firefighter shoots at bicyclist: Everyone on the interwebs is picking up the crazy story about Asheville firefighter Charles Diez, who shot at a bicyclist riding down Tunnel Road with his wife and little kid on Sunday. Even BoingBoing picked it up. Wild. Diez, who’s bullet passed through the bicyclist helmet but didn’t hit him, has been charged with attempted murder. Meantime, details are missing: how many local firefighters carry concealed weapons? do local firefighters carry guns on the job? do local firefighters have to take, and pass, a personality test to be sure they won’t snap on somebody and try to shoot them?

– Asheville home values: John Yenne has a good blogpost up at the Iwanna blog showing that homes in the North Asheville zip code have experienced the biggest decline in value over the past year or so. Check it out – he shows you how to use the Zillow tool he used to examine the data.

– Bob Barker watch: Why was WLOS staking out Bob Barker at the Asheville Regional Airport on Monday? Why? Because it was a slow news day. But damn. Guess we’ll get treated to more celebrity-watch today as Barker meets with Michell Hicks, chief of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, today to talk about bears.

– Asheville’s cool: The CMT blog has a bit about Asheville and this past weekend’s Bele Chere festival.

Without a doubt, Asheville is my top travel destination in the Southeast. If you looked at me, you’d never know I was a hippie at heart but it’s refreshing to be in a city that embraces offbeat characters. Or as Dar Williams sang in “As Cool as I Am”: “Then I go outside and join the others/I am the others.” Yes indeed. And the boisterous Old 97s’ song, “Murder (or a Heart Attack),” has been lodged in my head since Saturday night.

– In other crime news: The Citizen-Times is reporting that four people were stabbed outside the Happy Days restaurant – at least I think it’s a restaurant – Monday night on Patton Avenue. That location has hosted a number of bars and nightclubs of dubious distinction over the years, but back in my day, it was the best damn Western Sizzlin’ in town. 

 Then there was the guy who flashed a gun Sunday at Asheville Pizza & Brewing. Another crazy gun incident. What is going on around here?

– More festivals: The Village Art and Craft Fair will be held Saturday. The Mountain Dance and Folk Festival starts Thursday. Don’t forget Shindig on the Green and Canton’s Materfest.

– More from WLOSers: Local Wiccans say a little tree has been planted too close to the 100-year-old magnolia tree that was the center of so much attention last year next to Pack Square Park. The Wiccans want a study; road work on I-26 and I-40 will be getting started soon, so expect days, especially south in Henderson County; there’s a new city manager in Brevard; Mission Hospitals is closing the St. Joseph’s emergency room and expanding the Mission ER, but staff is staying and guess what, the quality of health care will remain the same; a woman saw Moses in a rock while she was hiking up Pisgah Mountain, tripped and fell.