Monday’s smattering of news, much of it involving policemen and parking lots

Teen injured in ‘horseplay accident’
A 17-year-old Asheville High School student is in critical condition with a serious head injury after what WLOSer Cherub Charu Kuhumaria called a “horseplay accident” in the school parking lot last Wednesday.

Reporting live from the parking lot, Charu said a kid was driving slowly out of the parking lot when Katie Miller stood in front of the car messing around. Charu said a school official said Miller was making a funny gesture, like “O, don’t hit me,” and fell down, hitting her head. The school official said the driver of the car was unclear about whether he actually ran over the girl.

The families of the kids involved wouldn’t talk to Charu, but in a statement, Miller’s parents thanked everyone for their prayers.

Rutherford County trial
Jury selection in the trial of Stevie Palmer started Monday. He’s accused of stabbing his wife to death in January of 2006 in a Rutherford County parking lot as the two were meeting to pass their children from one to another.

The county does not have a system in place for estranged parents to exchange children safely. The Rutherford County sheriff suggested people use the Sheriff’s Department parking lot to do the swaps.

Your weather
A snow advisory was issued for Madison, Avery, Yancey and Mitchell counties Monday night.

The zoning debate
Buncombe County commissioners on Monday night held the first of several meetings with the public to talk about a proposed county zoning plan. Seven years ago, commissioners put the issue to a referendum and residents voted against any zoning. Commissioners say now that development has reached a pace that some basic zoning rules are needed.

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In other news…
The Macon County sheriff wants lawmakers to pass a bill that requires secured bond for anyone charged with a violent crime. Right now, a lot is left at a magistrate’s discretion. The issue came to a head recently when a local magistrate let several suspected gang members get out on unsecured bonds – basically, they just signed a promise to appear in court – after being charged with assault… WLOSers said the Henderson County sheriff is concerned about security after somebody rammed the front door of the department over the weekend. WLOSers didn’t have the story over the weekend, and on Monday they didn’t say when the incident actually happened… The North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police is meeting in Ashvegas this week. The top cops are looking at bullet proof vests and handcuffs and stuff and going to seminars, WLOSers said… In the Mediacom v. Sinclair battle, Mediacom said it would gladly take the same deal that Sinclair just agreed to with Time Warner. The details of that deal were not released.

In still other news…
WLOSer Holly Headache went to the grocery story to tell us that prices for oranges and other citrus fruits may be on the way up, but they’re not up yet. Nasty weather in California has devastated that state’s citrus crop. The folks at Ingles said they’ll just get some more fruit from Florida… Julie Blunder said somebody has marked Jan. 22 as Blue Monday, so she went around and talked to people with pets and new babies, who all said they were quite happy… Jay Seltzer went to Burnsville to show us the expanded Spruce Pine Community Hospital’s fitness center. We still haven’t figured out why it has “Spruce Pine” in the name when it’s in Burnsville… A dog named Luke gave blood for the last time at an Arden vet clinic. The dog has been donating blood that gets used in vets offices around town for 10 years now. Who knew there was such a need? Luke’s owner, Terry Thomas, said he’s got some younger dogs trained to donate blood now.

In still more other news…
Appalachian Energy Company says it is building solar panels and will supply the old Steelcase building in Fletcher with energy. The company wants to put solar panels atop other building and parking lot tops… Applications to get in on Bele Chere are due Friday… The Madison County health department is still moving offices… Firefighters and policemen are holding a blood drive this week in Henderson County… And John “Punnyman” Le says that Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith, the head coaches for the Super Bowl-bound Indanapolis Colts and Chicago Bears are an inspiration to other minority coaches.