Playing the news catch-up

We’re a little behind, but with gonad-grabbing police chiefs and churches protesting firewater, we’ve just got to catch up on what WLOSers have been telling us…

Fletcher police chief suspended, charged
Langdon Raymond, the Fletcher police chief, was arrested and charged with two counts of simple assault on Wednesday, and WLOSers followed up on the story Thursday by saying that the state Police Benevolent Association wanted a full investigation.

Raymond was charged with assaulting two of his fellow officers. One officer said Raymond grabbed his balls. The other officer said he was pushed up against a wall and patted down in an uncivilized manner.

Sheraldo has been on the story. He said the PBA sent a letter to the Fletcher town manager laying out issues with Raymond, which included threatening language, physical assault and a refusal to investigate an employee’s grievance.

Sheraldo also talked to residents, who said they felt the police department would operate fine despite the controversy.

Case closed
Holly Headache told us that the case has been closed on the Oct. 14 death of a toddler run over in a driveway in Oteen. State troopers said they found no wrongdoing on the part of the driver, who was backing up when she hit the child and dragged the child’s body before realizing what was happening. No charges will be filed, troopers said.

Holly also told us that DSS investigated the parents of the toddler for possible negliance, but found none and closed that case.

Will the Swannanoa juvenile detention center close?
That was the question that Michelle Boudin posed in doing a story noting that the number of juvenile prisoners held out in Swannanoa has dropped from 64 to 32. The state plan all along has been to decrease the number of juveniles, then partition off part of the facility and use it for a woman’s prison. That’s still the plan, a state official told Boudin.

But that didn’t stop Boudin from quoting a shadow – someone she claimed was a juvenile detention center employee who didn’t want to be named – to insist that the center would be closing and that jobs would be lost. Boudin also quoted state Rep. Bruce Goforth, who said there’s no plan to completely close the juvenile detention center.

Breaking news
There was a traffic jam on I-26, Hendersonville Road, Brevard Road and Sardis Road. WLOSers said it was construction on I-40 that was forcing traffic onto these other roads Thursday afternoon.

Database of domestic abusers
Terrie Foster said some domestic abuse shelters want to build a database to keep track of abusers. They say it might have helped prevent the shooting that occurred several weeks back in which John “Woody” Woodring shot and killed his wife inside a shelter.

Liquor petition
Cherub Charu went up to Mitchell County on Thursday to tell us how one church was starting up a boycott to protest a local grocery store trying to get a petition to allow a liquor-by-the-drink referendum.

The Bible-thumping preacher said the Bible speaks out clearly against alcohol. “One drop’s as bad as five gallons,” the preacher told Charu.

Then Charu went over to Stamey’s Grocery, where the petition for the firewater referendum got started. The store owner sounded reasonable, saying the county needed to catch-up with the times. Then Charu took her story to the streets, where most everybody said they were against liquor but loved Stamey’s. They also said the church wasn’t being very Christian by calling for a boycott of a beloved local store.

In other news…
Henderson County officials are worried about flooding… Rain is coming… Mountain Housing Opportunities won an award for its Clingman Avenue development… The work on that crazy interchange to connect Merrimon Avenue to I-240 is just about complete. The ramp should be opened in about four weeks. Thursday, crews were installing the new stop lights there… The work on demolishing and cleaning up the old McDonald’s on Merrimon Avenue continues. The new McDonald’s should be opened by February, and will sport a brand new design for McDonald’s. It will feel a lot like Starbucks inside, with chairs and a couch and maybe even wireless Internet service…

In still other news…
Buncombe County Schools will offer a couple of*AP courses at night.* It’s a move to offer more high-level courses to county school system students looking to get an edge in the highly competitive world of kids vying to get into college…. Ingles is asking people to give a dollar between Oct. 29 and Nov. 26 to help MANNA Food Bank feed the hungry… A wastewater permit has been issued for that big development up Madison County called the Wolf Mountain Resort… John “Punnyman” Le did a heartwarming story on a Candler couple celebrating their 74th wedding anniversary. Yeah, that’s right – 74th wedding anniversary.

In still more stale news…
Don’t shake your baby… Inmates at the Buncombe County jail can get paid for tips that help Crimestoppers convict somebody… Some old people drove their truck over the side of a Mission Hospitals parking deck… The USDA is still investigaing Animal Logic in Henderson County. Officials removed four exotic animals that they said weren’t getting proper care… And Eblen Charities is offering heating assistance to people who need it to stay warm…