Big fat news post

Body on roof
Something just wasn’t smelling right around the Auto Advantage store Biltmore Avenue. Like, really not right. Finally, it got so bad that an employee went up on the roof to look around and lo and behold, discovered a dead body.

Cherub Charu brought us this news Wednesday night. She said the police said the body had been cooking on the black tar roof and it was so badly decomposed that they didn’t know if it was a man or woman, age, nothing. The cops said they’re starting at square one, looking over missing reports, etc.

U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor and Flight 93 memorial fight
U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor has been blocking funding for a proposed memorial to the victims who died aboard Flight 93. That’s the plane hijacked on Sept. 11 that was headed for the White House before passengers tried to overpower the terrorists. The jetliner crashed into a Pennsylvania field.

Taylor, who oversees the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds the Interior Dept., said he’s opposed on principal to the government buying more land. He said he’s also worried about spending millions of taxpayers’ dollars on the memorial. The Holly Headache report had no specifics on exactly how much money they’re talking about, and at the 5 p.m. show, the report also lacked audio during the aired video clip of Taylor.

In a later segment, WLOSers showed Pennsylvania lawmakers in Washington holding a press conference to press for the Shanksville, Pa., memorial. The big guns came out – Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum and U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster.

This is all fine and good. Want to know why this isn’t a story? First, because by the end of the week, a deal will be worked out to save Taylor face and get the memorial funded. And second, because Taylor will win re-election this year. End of story.

Dy-no-mite in Waynesville
Russ “Beefcake” Bowen, always on the job, was reporting breaking news out of Waynesville Wednesday night. On the phone, live with Diva Darcel, Russ succinctly gave us the facts – there was a report of a car-jacking; cops responded, and arrested a suspect; after obtaining a search warrant to search the suspect’s car, they discovered what looked to be four sticks of dynamite; cops evacuated the shopping center on Russ Avenue where the car was parked, a center with stores including Belk’s, Ingles and Goody’s; with the SBI and the ATF also on scene, a crew blew up the explosives.

All the commotion basically ground life around the shopping center to a halt. Dozens of people who had cars parked at the center had to wait for the police work to be finished. No further word on if anyone was injured.

Stormy weather
Carolyn “Little Red” Ryan told us about a giant tree that fell in all the recent rains in the Royal Pines neighborhood of Arden. The tree gasp split a house in half! Ryan said the home owner was too upset to “talk to our cameras.” WLOSers also said two local men were hit by lightning, but weren’t seriously injured.

In business news…
The Walgreens on Merrimon Avenue will build a small building close to the road and the big building back off the road. We don’t understand why – they had wanted to build a park close to the road.

Also, Bonnie’s Little Corner, which has been on the corner of Pack Square for 15 years, is being forced out, WLOSers said. No reason given – just that Bonnie said her lease isn’t being renewed. Bonnie said she’ll just move the business, not go down all together. That’s too bad – we’ve enjoyed watching that carver work on the wooden Indian out front every Saturday.

Duckett case
Michelle Boudin told us that a state report on how the local DSS handed the case of a 20-month-old killed a couple of years ago show that DSS should have done more. Gabriel Duckett died despite lots of evidence that the child was in a horrible home. The child’s mother is in prison now after a conviction on felony child abuse charges, while the boy’s father is in prison for a conviction on a second-degree murder conviction.

School recommendations
Leigh Young was shown in a brief video clip about the Asheville School System hearing some suggestions from a task force on how to cut the achievement gap in schools.

Zoning political play
Nathan Ramsey, chairman of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, made a political play Tuesday night and lost, all over his main issue – zoning.

For Ramsey, it’s the lack of zoning in Buncombe County that he wants to maintain. So he made a motion that a non-binding referendum on zoning be held this November, just as it was held seven years ago. Back then, county voters said they didn’t want zoning. Ramsey apparently wanted to show that that same sentiment remains.

But Ramsey got no support, mainly because the rest of the commissioners stand ready to adopt a very basic form of zoning when they approve their updated “land use” plan this summer. Good try, Nathan.

Dead dog
WLOSers told us that a dog locked in a car on the campus at A-B Tech went into seizures, then died, apparently because it was cooped up in a hot car. Darcel said the owner may be charged with animal cruelty, and she urged everyone not to leave animals in cars this summer.