Political polls, possible hazing and other tidbits

Taylor in trouble?
WLOSers jumped all over a new Reuters/Zogby poll that shows Democratic challenger Heath Shuler with a 51-40 lead over U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor. The pollsters interviewed 500 likely voters in our 11th congressional district. It has a margin of error of 4.5 percent. No word on when the poll was conducted.

Russ “Beefcake” Bowen told us the story through a bunch of unnamed sources. He interviewed several people, but never told us their names. There were no graphics to tell us their names. One dude was a Shuler spokesman, but we don’t know who. And we recognized former Ashvegas Mayor Lou Bissett, a Republican, and former Republican Party Chairwoman Robin Wilson. We also know David Gantt, a Buncombe County commissioner and a Democrat. But again, no i.d.s in the story.

Russ said the Shuler campaign wasn’t surprised. They’ve already had polling info that showed their man ahead. But the Shuler camp also noted wisely that “the only poll that counts is the one on Election Day.”

Bissett (dude, get some Crest White Strips) said he was surprised, but he’s seen this before, where Taylor’s challenger starts strong.
“Charles always wins in the end,” he said.

Wilson (looks like she’s put on a few lbs since marrying Nathan Ramsey) said the poll is a typical Democratic tactic aimed at “demoralizing” Republicans so they won’t go vote. But they will, Wilson said.

Gantt (looking like he’s ready to run for Buncombe County chairman in ’08) said the mood in the district, and across the country, is that people are ready for change and he said he hopes the change happens.

Just a month to go till Election Day. And early voting starts Oct. 19. Here we go!

In other election news…
Rumor has it that Taylor and Shuler are working on a debate that would be aired on WLOS.

Madison County Republicans are scrambling to find a candidate to run against state Rep. Ray Rapp. The candidate who had signed up, Chris Gowan, moved to Tennessee for a new job and didn’t tell anyone.

And a Buncombe County man is being investigated for leaving nasty messages on the answering machine at Democratic Party headquarters.

‘They pick ’em, I stick ’em’
Carolyn “Little Red” Ryan went up to Burnsville on Wednesday to tell us a story about a dude who was tattooing people out of his home. He had the equipment, but he had no license. And probably didn’t steralize. So the local health department cracked down on him.

The Yancey County tattoo artist, Josh something, had some tats all over his arms and hands that didn’t look so good. His motto, apparently, was “They pick ’em and I stick ’em.” At least that’s what some parents who didn’t like their kid’s tattoo said.

The health department said anybody who got a tat from this guy should get tested for blood-borne diseases. Carolyn also talked to another local tattoo artist she called “The Rock,” who Carolyn said had trained Josh. The Rock, who we couldn’t really understand, said something to the effect that anybody who got a tattoo from Josh and doesn’t have an arm or leg rot off is lucky.

As Carolyn again urged people to get tested for HIV and hepatitis, she quoted Josh as innocently saying he “didn’t know there was that much procedure” involved in giving somebody some cool body art.

In other news…
One lane of Woodfin Street will remain closed as work crews fixed an underground power line they accidently cut a couple of days ago…. The ACLU is suing the city of Asheville for charging a local group $1,500 for security for a pro-immigration march in downtown Ashvegas this spring… Six members of the j.v. football team at Franklin High School have been kicked off the team for their involvement in an alleged hazing incident, WLOSers said. Younger boys were held down, and older boys threatened to touch them inappropriately or something. It was unclear what the hazing actually was… The Land of Sky Regional Council had a party to celebrate its 40th anniversary… And Jungle Joe over at Animal Logic wants his name cleared. Police found no evidence that he abused any animals, WLOSers said, although he was cited for not registering some exotic animals with county officials. But Jungle Joe says he’s still going to work with animals, because that’s his life, although staffing and funding for Animal Logic remain issues for him.

Your weather
WLOSers say a cold front is coming through. We could have some rain today and tomorrow, and it’s going to get colder than the 80 degrees its been. Sunday should be back to sunny, with highs in the 70s.