In other news…
The Ashvegas Drug Commission put out some new posters on Tuesday. Their slogan is “Find a Better Way.”… There were snowflurries in Charleston… People from the mountains who are part of the Missionary Supply Network have been going down to Gulf states to help rebuild homes damaged by Katrina… Don Matney is an inspiration – film at 11… Erwin students ran in a “turkey trot” race….
Those damn sex offenders
WLOSers said there are changes coming to North Carolina’s sex offender online registry and to the way we track sex offenders.
First, the state’s web site has improved. Instead of only being able to search by zip code, now you can search for sex offenders geographically, to see if one lives within a 1, 3 or 5-mile radius. Some sex offenders will have to wear an ankle bracelet that will allow people to track them by satellite. In some cases, you can get an e-mail alert if a sex offender moves near you. And there will be some new rules in the state governing where sex offenders can and cannot live.
One woman at a playground said all the new rules gave a false sense of security because in many cases, sexual predators are family members or people you know. But Grier Weeks, a “child advocate” said whatever you can do to crackk down on the bastards is a good thing.
Three killed in Robbinsville
A 45-year-old man shot and killed his wife, mother-in-law and brother-in-law out in Robbinsville in Graham County Monday about 6 p.m.
The sheriff out there told WLOSers that the couple was breaking up and the wife had come back to the home for something, and that’s when the guy shot everybody. There was a 2-year-old and 4-year-old in the house that had just left, the cops said. The community was struggling to understand what happened.
Breaking news: There’s a new sheriff in town
*Carolyn “Little Red” Ryan said that Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department deputies stood in line on Tuesday to get their “letters” to see if they would be hired by incoming Sheriff Van Duncan, who thumped Bobby Medford in this month’s elections.
Ryan said Duncan fired 23 of 358 employees. She said it was a “nerve-wracking day” for employees. Looking much more professional Tuesday night than she did Monday, when she sported a mesh-top, too-tight sweater, Ryan quoted detective Pat Hefner as saying he didn’t reapply for a job under Duncan. That’s because Hefner is a jerk who has already made it clear that he was loyal to Medford and would run against Duncan in four years.
WLOSers also noted that the new Henderson County sheriff fired six employees. And they quoted the guy who lost to the new sheriff in the primary as saying the firings were politically motivated. Well no shit.
Fire at the VFW
WLOSers said there was a fire at the VFW post in downtown Waynesville on Tuesday. They said about a dozen people escaped unharmed. Looks like the fire started in a storage room, a fireman said. The VFW is about 200 yards from a chemical company, WLOSers said, so it coulda been worse. WLOS should just name their news “Worst Case Scenario.”
No word on how many bingo cards and bottles of liquor were lost.
Cracking down on Internet predators
We’re not sure how much Grier Weeks is paying WLOSers to put him on television every day, but damn. He’s been all over the news, griping about how people aren’t doing enough to stop child predators on the Internet.
Kassandra “Special K” Pride said Weeks went to city council to urge them to do something. Mayor Terry Bellamy said she would. Playing the parent car, Bellamy said she’s worried, because she’s got two little children at home… “to think my children could be considered preys…” Yeah, she said “preys.”
Saving the views
Pat “Simple” Simon did a feel-good story about how Buncombe County commissioners just approved spending $2 million to tax money to buy development rights – called conservation easements – on several hundred acres of land to preserve it. Simon went out to Sandy Mush and said it was, indeed, beautiful.
Commissioners also apporved a $25 million loan to help the town of Woodfin build a new town center and some other stuff.
Breaking news: Traffic backs up
Traffic was thickening up as people started getting out of town Tuesday night.
In other news…
A 77-year-old blind man named Don Matney plays the piano in a Haywood hospital and makes people feel better. Matney is a radio broadcasting legend, according to Larry “Gloryhole” Blunt, who told us the syrupy story about how Matney “can see what the eyes can’t…” The state Court of Appeals heard arguments in a Mitchell County jail fire case from several years ago. Eight inmates died in that fire, and family members are fighting to hold the state responsible. The appeals court will decide if the cases move forward… Marco’s Pizza is helping raise money to build a park in honor of Avery King, the little girl from Ashvegas run down in a McDonald’s parking lot in Georgia this past summer. Marco’s will donate 25 percent of its proceeds Saturday to a park fund… Some people protested the Staples sign on Tuesday. John “Punnyman” Le said somebody dressed up in a chicken costume is now a new symbol of protest in Ashvegas. That’s because the city said a guy in a chicken suit was an illegal sign and had to stop jumping up and down outside Picnics restaurant on Merrimon. The protesters Tuesday had a chicken guy…. The Roberson High School marching band will perform in the McDonald’s Thanksgiving Day parade… And the Christmas tree harvest in Western North Carolina is in full swing.
In still other news…
Mothers Against Drunk Driving wants people not to drink and drive over the holidays… In a first for North Carolina, a pet ferret in Ashvegas was found with rabies. The ferret owner said he played with the pet in his yard and it got away for 24 hours. It came back injured and with rabies. Public health officials want people to get all pets vaccinated against rabies… A woman’s SUV was hit by a train after she got too close to the tracks then couldn’t back up because the gate came down behind her… And O.J.’s book got cancelled and Kramer goes nuts on a heckler and starts using the n-word all over the place.