Trials and elections and such

WLOSers primed us for Election Day with this news from Monday:

What you need to know at the polls
Here are some tips from Michelle Boudin:
-Polls close at 7:30 p.m.
-Ashvegas city schools are in session, and there are some polling places at schools, so be careful, expecially at pick-up in the afternoon.
-Lots of places have new voting machines. Get a sample ballot. Read it. Study it. Be prepared.
-Where do you vote? If you’ve just moved into a new precinct and you’ve been 30 days, vote at your new polling place. If you’ve been there less than 30 days, go to your old polling place. If you don’t know what the hell to do, go to the Board of Elections office on College Street.
-If you’re voting a straight ticket, don’t forget that there are some non-partisan races to vote in separately, such as school board.
-In Buncombe County, don’t forget that some races are listed on the back of the ballot. Make sure you’ve voted in every race you want to.
-If you have a vision problem, or just want to try a new machine, polling places in Buncombe will have an “Auto-Mark” machine that uses audio to guide you through the ballot. Buncombe has 100 of these machines to help people.
-The weather will be shitty, so be prepared.

Taylor and Shuler on Monday
WLOSers followed U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor and challenger Heath Shuler around to see what they were up to the day before the big day.

Terrie Foster said Shuler’s a little nervous and ready for the campaign to be over. She said he’s tired of the attack ads and that it all comes down to “trust.” Right-hand man Andrew Whalen told the TV camera he feels “really good.” Shuler will be in the district, then end the night in Ashvegas at a party at the Renaissance hotel.

Pat “Simple” Simon followed around Taylor, who had a photo opp with the visiting secretary of the Interior Department, who came to the parkway to see a new fancy “destination center” there. Taylor said he was going to hand with some Girl Scouts. Taylor said it’s all about turnout. He’ll end the night in Ashvegas at the Crowne Plaza hotel.

Gash trial
Sheraldo was posted down in Henderson County and said the Gail Gash murder trial that was supposed to start Monday was postponed before anything started. Sheraldo never told us why. Gash is charged with killing her husband, an Etowah fire chief, whose torso was found in their home and whose body parts were found scattered along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Breaking news
Boston Pizza is gone. A sign up says it’s now called the Mojo Cafe or something*

In other news…
That Marion mailman accused of stealing money from the mail will plead guilty in federal court to one count of embezzlement, WLOSers said… Henderson County election workers were preparing for the big day. Some 10,000 people have voted early there, WLOSers said.

Polk sheriff’s race
Remember that hot Polk County sheriff’s contest? Jeremy Butterfield reminded us that everyone is talking about that race, with Sheriff David Satterfield facing callenger Chris Abril. Abril was arrested and charged with sex assualts that allegedly happened in the 1980s, and lots of folks down there think the chages were politically motivated. We’ll keep an eye on this one.

In more other news…
Cherokee County will have the Vote and Vax program going, so that people who want to vote and get a flu shot can do it all in one stop in the Qualla and Whittier communities… Progress Energy has a program set up on its Web site for you to give money to help needy people pay their power bills. It’s called the Energy Neighbor Fund, and donations are tax deductible… Haywood Regional Medical Center has voice recognition technology in its radiology department that helps speed treatment, Jay Seltzerwater tells us… Somebody’s making another indepenedent film in Ashvegas. It’s called “Don’t Fade Away” and will be shooting around town until Turkey Day.

In news that didn’t make sense to us…
There’s some political fighting going back and forth between Republican Charles Thomas and Democratic Doug Jones in House District 116. Thomas was pissed about a mailer, and Jones agreed with him. Thomas filed a complaint at the board of elections… The kids in the Swannanoa Valley Youth Detention Center are some of the smartest inmates in the state, with a quarter of them reading and writing at or above grade level. WLOSers never gave any more context or said who says this… You can “Eat out for Education on November 9. Go to a restaurant, and that eatery will donate part of what you spend to the Buncombe County schools foundation…. The Baily Mountain Cloggers out in Madison County won their 13th national title in a dance-off in Maggie Valley.

Sweeps story of the day: The Hidden Epidemic
Cherub Charu gave us what sounded like the sweeps story of the day, which WLOSers teased as “The Hidden Epidemic.” It’s about women who can grow beards and have lots of acne, can’t control their weight, have irregular periods and can’t get pregnant. It’s called polycystic ovarian syndrome, or PCS.

Charu said it’s often mis-diagnosed. But with lasers and fertility drugs, everything can be OK, as a couple of women she talked to showed us.