The Tuesday news: Who killed Staples plants, counterfeit goods taken off the streets and when will Charles Taylor make a decision

Staples plants poisoned
Charu Khumaria led off the news saying that Staples was accusing the Coalition of Asheville Neighborhoods with poisoning all its plants a month or so ago, but her story didn’t really back that up.

Charu said all the flowers and trees that make up the Staples landscaping were killed a month or so ago. Staples had the plants tested and discovered they were poisoned. Charu got a statement from a Staples honcho, which just said that they’ve been dealing with the neighborhood group that can’t be pleased, no matter what. Staples said it has worked with city staff and made concessions.

Charu talked to a CAN guy who said while the group hates the giant Staples building, its sign and its proximity to Merrimon Avenue, the group would never advocate property destruction. The group just wants the city to enforce its zoning rules.

Then Charu talked to Asheville City Councilman Brownie Newman, who said mistakes were made by the city in terms of approving the Staples sign and building. But now, there’s not much that can be done, he said.

Charu hooked all this on the fact that the Staples issue was to be discussed at City Council’s meeting tonight. Also on the agenda – Greenlife deliveries using Maxwell Street. People on that street have been complaining for more than a year about big noisy trucks using that street.

In WLOSer crime news…
WLOSers said a counterfeit ring was busted, but never explained how any of the five people arrested over the weekend were connected. More than $300,000 worth of goods – everything from baby food to extension cords to clothing and purses – was seized in the busts at the Goombay festival and other locations, including a kiosk at the Biltmore Square Mall… A con artist is on the run and police in Buncombe and Henderson counties want him. The guy says he’s from Decorative Stamped Concrete, sells people a job and takes their money, then runs. He’s stolen $70,000, the cops say… A 54-year-old man was arrested and charged with hit-and-run and felony DWI after he hit an Asheville police officer on Broadway, then crashed into a parked car… Two juveniles who escaped last week from the Swannanoa Valley Youth Detention Center were caught in Duplin County down east.

Soldier w/ ties to mountains killed in Iraq
A young soldier named Joshua Morely was killed in Iraq on Sunday. He was born in Hendersonville, then moved away. His father was a career soldier, and his grandad and an aunt still live in Hooterville. Sheraldo interviewed them.

When will Charles Taylor make a decision?
Pat “Simple” Simon went out and did a story on local Republicans and their reactions to the fact that former U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor has yet to announce whether he’ll run again against the guy who beat him last year, former pro footballer Heath Shuler of Haywood County.

Some Republicans are sitting back and waiting to see. Others want Taylor to stay out of it. Simon interviewed a GOP official in Henderson County. He also interviewed Zora Reece Hays, a local builder and Republican activist who says she supported Taylor, but now she wants new blood to come out.

Simon said he called Taylor, but Taylor never called him back.

In other news…
John Le did a story on an Arden guy who is competing for a national dart throwing championship… AB-Tech held a manufacturing job fair on Tuesday to hook people up with some 300 open jobs in five area counties… There was a conference at the Biltmore Estate for people to talk about battling the woolly adelgid, the little bug that’s killing all our hemlock trees. WLOSers noted that the bug came from China, an interesting detail to include what with all the attention on the other bad Chinese imports we’ve been dealing with… And some area school districts saw SAT scores go up, while others saw them go down. WLOSers blew the story off.