Let’s get the party started – Monday’s news

Fairview smash and grab
WLOSer Cherub Charu was hot on the trail of crime news on Monday and she found a doozy – somebody stole a white ’95 Saturn and smashed it through a concrete wall at the Fairview General Store on Highway 74 in Fairview. This all happened Sunday, but it was the lead story at 6.

The bandits used the car as a battering ram, said Diva Darcel, only after wrecking an office in either Roberson or Reynolds high school – we didn’t catch which one. Charu interviewed a cop who said it was the wildest smash-n-grab he’d ever seen.

Marshall water leakage
The town of Marshall has been losing 200,000 gallons of water a day from its water system, which costs the town $6,000 a day, WLOSers said. Town officials on Monday urged residents to use less water. They don’t take baths or wash clothes or cars in Madison County anyway, do they?

Town officials said they can’t find the leak and they think it may be in a line that’s under the French Broad River or in some other hard-to-get-to spot. A special “leak detection team,” whatever that is, will arrive in town on Tuesday. If it isn’t all fixed by Thursday, town officials will consider mandatory water restrictions, which could force businesses and schools to shut.

Full detour starts Tuesday
All traffic will be detoured around the Reems Creek bridge along Highway 19/23 north starting Tuesday. Traffic will be detoured down Elk Mountain Scenic Highway. Look out for major back-ups in this area.

Jay Seltzer and the medical mystery
WLOSer Seltzer said a girl named Brooke Owens has been sneezing three weeks straight and nobody can figure out why. Doctors have tested her and everything. The poor girl has been homebound and hasn’t been eating and sleeping regularly.

Seltzer ended the report by saying that the girl stopped sneezing over the weekend. Guess she’s cured.

Is it wi-fi?
We heard WLOSer Tallahassee Tammy ask that question right before she helped out on reading a story about downtown Waynesville going wireless. Yes, Tammy. It’s pronounced liked “why-fie.”

Weather museum
WLOSer John “Punnyman” Le showed us the weather museum inside the National Climatic Data Center in the federal building in downtown Ashvegas. There were a bunch of old weather data gadgets. Le kept the puns to a minimum and back at the anchor desk, WLOSers noted that the museum is open by appointment only. What kind of frackin’ museum is that???

Robber arrested
WLOSers said the guy wanted for robbing convenience stories on Tunnel Road and Haywood Road was arrested in Tennessee after a police chase that started in Kennilworth.

Murder in Haywood
WLOSers were all over the first homicide in Haywood County – 50-year-old Johnny Rogers was arrested and charged with shooting his wife in the head. WLOSer Terrie Foster said the guy used a .22 rifle on her.

In other news…
A Haywood County woman told WLOSers her identity has been stolen. Somebody used her SSN # to get credit cards in her name and rack up $15,000 in debt… Buncombe County Sheriff Van Duncan says his deputies need more driver training. He’s starting an annual driver training requirment, especially in light of all these cop crashes we’ve been having… Fletcher Police Chief Langdon Raymond went back to work Monday after charges of assault were dropped against him. He was charged in October with grabbing the goobers of one of his officers… Long-time Buncombe County educator William D. Williams died on Monday. He was 68. W.D. Williams Elementary School is named after the former principal of Swannanoa Elementary School… Sheraldo said Henderson County residents want to know how to get DOT speed limit signs on their private roads… And workers changed the light bulbs in the Beaucather Tunnel.