What’s in the news: It rained some, there’s a little crime news and John Le on the Kissmobile

In drought news…
It rained today, and the water fro the sky is good news for “water-strapped” towns, say WLOSers. But a new state report says some 17 water systems could run out of water in 100 days, including the town of Woodfin. Woodfin officials say things aren’t that bad. WLOSers also went out to Mars Hill to see what they’re doing to conserve water. Mars Hill College has turned its fountain off. That’s about it.

Chief weather-guesser Mike Cuevas says we have a “surplus” of rain for the month, whatever that means. We’ve gotten more than 2 inches of rain at the Ashvegas airport the past couple of days, he says.

In wildfire news…
People are worried about friends and loved ones who live in California near the wildfires there, and the local Red Cross is sending two relief workers out West to help out.

In crime news…
*Two Madison County 16-year-old girls charged have been charged with breaking into the Mars Hill Police Department and taking some stuff from a display… And Transylvania deputies have closed their investigation into the death of a 3-month-old back in April. There are no arrests, mainly because an autopsy couldn’t determine cause of death.

MRSA’s back
The MRSA staph infection has been discovered in McDowell County. One student at McDowell High School got sick from the bacteria but went to the doctor and is recovering, WLOSers said.

Tax bills in Woodfin
Some 500 Woodfin residents recently annexed into the town recently received property tax bills saying they had until January to pay up, but those bills are wrong. People actually have until January 2009 to pay.

Simon and the Habitat story
Pat Simon has been reporting from New Orleans all week about Ashvegas residents who are volunteering to building houses down in the Big Easy. Nothing new in Simon’s reporting today.

Le and the Kissmobile
John Le killed us with his puns and such on his story about the Hersey’s Kissmobile. We heard something about “one sweet ride” and changed the channel.

Macon County school referendum controversy
Terrie Foster went out to Macon County to follow up on a story about the state Board of Elections investigating the Macon school board for how it has conducted a school bond referendum campaign.

The bottom line is that the school board needed to set up a seperate committee to raise money and conduct the advertising campaign, something it didn’t do initially but has done now. Foster said the superintendent said it was an honest mistake. But the Macon County News and Shopping Guide editor who filed the complaint said he’s not totally satisfied because his complaint wasn’t addressed quickly enough. Foster notes that the newspaper guy has a brother who resigned from the Macon School board back in February after a possible conflict of interest, but the newspaper guy says that incident had nothing to do with him filing the referendum complaint.