Here’s a quick round-up of what we caught from Saturday’s teevee box news from WLOSers:
There was a fire somewhere, maybe some apartment building? … Lyman Street is closed and repair crews fix a broken pipe and try to keep a sink hole from getting bigger. … Highway bloggers for Ron Paul stood on the Montford bridge all day, so Russ Bowen did a story on them. … They’re really “highway bannering.” … There was a Christmas parade in Black Mountain. … Police are still looking for the guy who robbed a CVS drug store in south Ashvegas. … The Smoky Mountain Toy Run was Saturday, with bikers making the run from downtown to Gene Lummus Harley Davidson in Swannanoa. … Hundreds of people lined up outside We Buy Computers Dead or Alive down in Henderson County. The biz owner is giving away 300 MacIntosh computers. … And WLOSers re-ran a sweeps “special report” by Pat Simon, who did the tried-and-true story about school fund-raisers. The school he profiled said it has a company that splits profits 50-50. The story didn’t dig nearly deep enough into an interesting issue – the lack of school funding. … It was a beautiful day Saturday.
Here’s some of the news from Friday:
The 56-year-old mentally challenged man who was beaten to death with his 81-year-old mom during a home invasion in Hendersonville was remembered in a ceremony Friday. Co-workers remembered Ricky Sparks as a special friend, Charu Khumaria said.
In other news…
Construction crews hit an unmarked water line Friday that knocked out service to Tuscola High School, so the kids got the day off… Kassandra Pride did a story on people who get jobs to earn extra cash for Christmas… Frank Fraboni did a story on a bunch of restaurants that received good health ratings from the health department… And a bullet hit a mobile home in Clyde. The guy was drinking, driving and handling a gun when it went off, but nobody was hurt.
In business news…
*The Plasti-Form plant that makes plastic clothes hangers will shut down its Mills Gap facility on Jan. 20 and do all work at its Gerber Road facility. Some 50 workers will be affected… Blue Ridge Mall in Hendersonville has a new management company that promises bigger anchors at the the crappy little mall… And some doctors group paid $8 million for a Pardee Hospital facility.
In still other news…
WLOSers said Waynesville residents will be paying an average of $100 more a month for power. Can that be right? That’s what Larry Blunt said, explaining that the town buys power from Progress Energy. … The state’s Booze It and Lose It campaign to stop drunk drivers started Friday, so be on the lookout for checkpoints… And on Dec. 1, a number of new laws went into effect. There are stiffer penalties for people who starve animals to death, and school bus drivers caught using cell phones while driving could get in big trouble.
Navy jets training at Asheville Regional Airport
Pat Simon did a soft piece on how great it is to have Navy training jets buzzing in and out of the Asheville Regional Airport. Simon did not disclose that he’s an active national guardsman who probably has some bias here.
Simon did the story up, using Top Gun music and low camera angles to make the T-45 pilots look like heroes. Simon blew off the noise issue, saying “some may not like the loud noise, but other’s believe it’s a small price to pay….” Then Simon quoted a pilot as saying, “That’s the sound of freedom.” Whatever.