Lots of news for a Monday: A gang-related shooting, a laundromat fire and somebody else wants Shuler’s job

The news week gets off to a roaring start. Here we go:

Shooting was gang-related
Cherub Charu followed up on the Montford shooting of early Sunday by telling us what police told her – that the shooting was gang-related. Yet her story did little to explore this disturbing development in Ashvegas.

A couple of 16 or 17-year-olds and a 12-year-old boy were shot leaving a birthday party on Courtland Avenue about 12:23 a.m. Sunday. The 12-year-old was shot in the head.

Look people, this is serious. A 12-year-old boy is going to die. If we don’t get a handle on this,
it’s going to get a whole lot bloodier. The local gangs have already devolved into the cycle of violence, retaliatory violence, and then more violence. There needs to be some serious exploration and discussion of this issue in our community. Now.

Back to the story – at an afternoon press conference, a couple of local pastors described praying over the 12-year-old boy at the hospital. He’s an Asheville Middle School sixth-grader. They called, nay begged, parents and kids to talk with them to get to the root of this.

An Asheville Police Department detective spoke emotionally of arriving at the scene and cradling the bleeding boy and hauling him to the ambulance, which couldn’t make it down the road because so many people were crowding the street.

Charu reminded viewers that if they’re feeling threatened, they can call and talk to the pastors, Keith Ogden at Hill Street Baptists and Alphonso McGlen at St. James AME, or call Crimestoppers.

Laundromat blast
Why is this the second story at six? Seriously? A dryer at the Carolina Coin Laundry burst into flames about 11:30 a.m. after somebody stuffed in some clothes treated with dry cleaning chemicals. Who the eff cares?

Dumb lucky teen says be careful in the curve
In another story that gets on our nerves, WLOSers talked to a teen who said he’s lucky to be alive after crashing his Honda Prelude on Parker Padgett Road in the same curve where a speeding police officer lost control, crashed and died.

WLOSers did not question how fast the teen was going or whether there would be any charges in his case. They just quoted the teen as saying he needed a sign to tell him what to do – a speed limit sign or a curve sign or any sign. Give us a break.

In other news…
WLOSers are still running Sheraldo’s HonorAir stories. A group of local World Ward II vets went up to Washington on Saturday to see all the monuments. Saturday. Story’s over, kay?… Somebody made the gruesome discovery of seven deer carcasses on South Rugby Road on Monday. The DOT picked up the bodies and WLOSers reminded us that it’s against the law to dump dead animals on the side of the road…. Deputies showed up at Madison High School to talk to football players suspended from the varsity football team for violating team rules. Nobody was arrested or anything, WLOSers stressed, while noticeably leaving out their anonymous report from last week that said the players were kicked off the team for the rest of the year for alleged drug use.

Campbell running for congress
Spence Campbell, the head of the Henderson County Republican Party for the last three years, is going to challenge Ashvegas City Councilman Carl Mumpower for the GOP nomination in the race for the 11th Congressional District U.S. House seat now held by U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler.

In other news…
Michelle Hicks was installed as principal chief of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians for a second four-year term after winning by either 13 votes or 6 votes – we’re not sure… Mission Hospitals employees signed a big beam that will be placed on a new building under construction. The Dogwood building project includes a new surgical center and six new inpatient operating rooms… And flu season is here. Be on the lookout for local flu shot clinics.

In still other news…
A tractor-trailer turned over on Hendersonville Road… Spruce Pine Hospital has been renamed Blue Ridge Regional Hospital… The Sylva Christmas parade will be held at 5 p.m. on Dec. 1, a move from a week day to a Saturday… And a B-17 bomber landed at the Asheville Regional Airport. You can take a ride for $400, Sheraldo told us.