Let’s get you caught up on the news from the end of the week:
Plane crash, nobody hurt
Carolyn Ryan stood out in a Henderson County field all day Friday to tell us that a Cessna crashed near a couple of houses and the three passengers from Florida walked away without a scratch.
The worst part of the story was an interview with an old lady living nearby. Carolyn’s question:
“It could have hit your house!” The old lady: “That would have been awful, wouldn’t it?”
The best part of the story was Carolyn’s wonderfully crafted stand-up – she was on the downslope of a hill, with the wreckage on a truck behind and above her. There was a crane swinging a piece of wreckage over to add to the truck as she talked to us. Perfect. After all, it’s not the story that counts – it’s the video, rigtht?
MRSA, have mercy on us
There was a third confirmed case of MRSA, that nasty little staph infection, in a Buncombe County school, WLOSers said. That makes two cases at Roberson High School, one case in another Buncombe school that WLOSers didn’t mention, and the case in the Jackson County School.
This is all forcing schools to take more precautions, according to Terrie Foster, who checked out Pisgah High School and stopped by Macon County’s Franklin High as well.
Haywood schools sent out a letter to parents giving them more information about the reporting of MRSA and the importance of good hygeine. At Franklin High, they’re using liquid soap and giving athletes clean towels every day and using lots of Clorox to clean stuff.
In other health news…
Mountain health officials are helping the CDC fight lacrosse encephalitis, the mosquito-borne illness. Health officials are collecting the virus and passing it along to the CDC to study.
In even more health news..
The federal government now says you shouldn’t give cold and cough medicine to children under 6 years old.
The land transfer tax getting people to the polls
Sheraldo went down to Henderson County to tell us that a referendum on whether the county should issue a land transfer tax is driving people to the polls on the first couple days of early voting.
Sheraldo gives us good detail on the pro and con. Realtors don’t like the tax, 4 tenths of a percent, or about $1,000 on a $250,000 home. Realtors call it the “home tax” and say it’s just driving up the cost of a house in an already bad real estate market. But county officials say its a fair tax that will raise lots of money and allow them to put off a property tax increase, thus helping people on fixed incomes.
Voters that Sheraldo talked to seemed to like it.
Cute wire story…
WLOSers had the story we’ve seen around before about a couple of college girls who made T-shirts to raise money to battle breast cancer. The shirts have two baseballs strategically placed on the front (chest) of the shirt, with the saying “Save Second Base.”
The drought’s effect on firefighting
Sheraldo had another good story about how the drought is hurting rural firefighters who depend upon creeks, streams and ponds to get their water He went out to Barnardsville and showed us how low a stream was and said that’s the only source of water in areas that don’t have pressuried water systems.
Bottom line – if you live in a rural area, be careful.
In other drought news…
Ashvegas city officials have asked residents to conserve water. Do things like only wash clothes if you have a full load and turn the water off when you’re brushing your teeth.
Speaking of the drought…
It rained a good bit at the end of the week, but it did little to put a dent in the water deficit we have for the year. It’s still damn dry out there.
In other news…
Hendersonville police pulled the body of a teenager out of a pond. The body was trapped under a water pipe. There was no obvious foul play, police said. The dead teen was a West Henderson High School graduate and a student at A-B Tech…. Tim Foxx, the former Fletcher Police officer, is suing the Fletcher police chief and town leaders for his firing or something… And developers at Bartram’s Walk have been cited for not doing enough to stop erosion.
Bank robber caught
A bank robbery suspect who went on a spree Friday was caught. The 35-year-old hit Asheville Savings Bank on Tunnel Road, the Bank of America on Hendersonville Road, then the Premiere Credit Union on Charlotte Street, where he was caught.