Another wreck in McDowell County
WLOSers on Wednesday said that “as we first told you last night at 11” there was a wreck in McDowell County that killed a 2-year-old. Glad you told us at 11, but so what? Other local web sites told us at 10:30.
Anyway, a McDowell County Sheriff’s Department deputy responding to a domestic dispute call hit two other cars on Interstate 40 near the exit for Parker Padgett Road and just a few miles from where an Old Fort police officer (Josh Williams) died in a single-car wreck on Thursday while responding to a call. WLOSer Jeremy Butterfield was on the story.
The Wednesday night wreck killed 2-year-old Kennedy Frye and left the child’s mother, grandmother and 6-year-old sister were also injured. Investigators are still sorting everything out, Butterfield said.
The family was from Mitchell County, and WLOSer Holly Headache was dispatched to the Bear Creek community to tell us how the community was coping with the tragedy. Everybody was hoping for the best, Holly said.
Back to the cops and the wrecks – nobody seems to have noticed yet that the policemen in these crashes were both 20-something. What kind of driver training do these guys get before they’re allowed to slap a blue light on the car top and go racing around after bad guys? Somebody needs to check that out.
Parking deck near-miss
WLOSers did their best to pump up a story about an 81-year-old driver who crashed through a parking deck wall at Mission Hopsitals. The car’s front tires went off the edge of the deck, but the old lady, who thought she was in reverse, got out unharmed.
Larry “Gloryhole” Blunt said the car “teetered on the brink of disaster.” It was “six stories up.” The car “plunged through” the wall. The woman was “lucky to be alive.” This was “the second time in four months” that a vehicle had crashed through a parking deck wall.
Wow. Working hard for sweeps, aren’t you?
Former Woodfin police chief found guilty
Pete Bradley, the former Woodfin police chief who was embroiled in controversy a few years ago (can you say diaper parties?) was found guilty Wednesday of assaulting his wife in a very odd case.
The alleged assault happened in August 2005, just one month before Patsy Bradley was found dead in the couple’s Biltmore Forest home of what police said was a self-inflicted gunshot wound. At the time of the assault, Patsy said Pete hit her in the head with a Mag light.
Testimony in court showed that the couple was having marital difficulties in part because of Pete’s imbroglio – he was suspended as police chief after word leaked about an SBI investigation involving him and the local Division of Motor Vehicles. It’s a very long story, and maybe we’ll rehash it all again.
In the end, Bradley sued the town of Woodfin for improperly suspending him and the two sides settled out of court, with some whispering that the town paid Bradley a cool $1 million to end it all.
But the prosecution of Bradley on the assualt charge of his now-dead wife sounds like somebody’s got a grudge against him. Bradley’s attorney said they’ll appeal. It’s hard to defend yourself against testimony from somebody who’s dead and you can’t cross-examine.
Russ, flame on!
In the first WLOS “special report” for sweeps, Russ “Beefcake” Bowen went “Into the Fire” to show us what training new firemen recruits get. This story has been done so many times, it’s not even funny. It was a lame sweeps report, Russ. Sorry dude.
Russ dressed up like a fireman and even fought a fake fire. Then he talked to a bunch of Skyland Fire Department recruits. The Skyland FD is expanding because of all the big development happening in south Ashvegas. Then Russ had his production people do a bunch of fancy video edits and they had their sweeps report. No news. No investigation.
Racetrack coming to Ashvegas?
Lots of people around town still haven’t gotten over the shutting down of the old Asheville Speedway. Once again, there’s now talk to building a new speedway. Ashvegas City Councilman Jan Davis is the latest to pick up this torch and run with it.
Davis, a tire store owner by the way, has been pushing for a monument to be put up at the old speedway and will meet with a couple of other city councilmen on Friday to see if they should move forward with studying a new track. Pat “Simple” Simon got behind the wheel of a race car to tell us this story. He said some people are “revved up” about the topic, and that it’s “picking up speed.” The new track is proposed for the Fletcher area, somewhere near the Asheville Regional Airport.
If Davis thinks there’s enough interest, he’ll order a feasibility study and “shift the discussion into a new gear,” Simon said.
Banned book
A group of education offcials at Bethel Middle School in Haywood County have banned the book “The Sitter” by R.L. Stines from the school. WLOSer Terrie Foster said a parent complained that the book contained detailed sex scenes, used the eff word, and talked about oral sex and drugs.
Terrie talked to the grandfather of a 12-year-old who said that was inappropriate. The mother of a sixth-grader said her child shouldn’t be exposed to such nonsense.
Foster talked to the school principal, Jan Nesbitt, who said the parents were right. School officials pulled the book, even though it was on an accelerated reader list. School officials told Terrie they just don’t have time to read all the books they bring into the school.
Tree falls, man dies
WLOSer Carolyn “Little Red” Ryan went down to Polk County to tell us that a 52-year-old man died when an apple tree fell on him. He was trying to cut it down and the chainsaw got stuck in the tree, so he got another chainsaw to work it all out, and the tree fell on him.
In other news…
The Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians wants to pass a law kick off the reservation any tribe member convicted of dealing drugs. They’d be banished and would have to reapply through the federal government to be allowed back on… The military boot-maker Wellco was bought by some other investmetn company… and the Biltmore Estate made a top ten list for architecture lovers in America.
Learning how to talk
WLOSer Pat “Simple” Simon still doesn’t know how to pronounce the name of starlet Charlize Theron. For the last time, Simon – it rhymes with baron. Got it?
Also, in a WMYA promo, the voice over guy was announcing the UNC/Duke basketball game, and described them as “ark” rivals. We think he meant “arch” rivals. But whatever.
13 Comments
I agree with you,BMac. The local police officers and the sheriff’s deputies ROUTINELY drive above the speed limit without lights and siren. The Buncombe County deputies are the worst offenders.
While I understand that going "code 3" is not always warranted when answering a call. They should at least activate their lights if they are going to exceed the speed limit.
Did you notice WLOS got their new site up? It’s much more involved than the last one….
Actually, it is a VERY extreme curve….almost a right angle…
What is Brink of Disaster anyway?
And why would it being on a hospital campus be different than Russ Being at a fire fighting training center?
BMac,
It is also a problem the way they talk on cells, radios, and play with their laptops all at the same time too.
If I was a police commander, I would ban the use of non-official cell phones in cars.
But…
From the video WLOS showed after the Williams wreck I was telling my girlfriend that he had to be going really fast around that curve to end up flipping as many times as he did.
Maybe if there were stricter policies for driving without abandon in non-emergency situations, then cops wouldn’t have so many problems keeping control behind the wheel when they’re actually called.
Anywhere you look cops tend to speed whether or not they have their blue lights flashing. It seems to be a luxury of the the job. And that’s a problem.
At least the "brink of disaster" was on a hospital campus!
Damn, jb, you’re tough. If I had to watch WLOS several times a day, it’d all start to run together. But I don’t watch at all. I let Ash watch for me!
Someone’s not paying attention. Russ was only dressed up as a firefighter in the promo at 6. He was not at 11 and never referenced it. Get the facts right.
I distinctly recall someone else going through the side of that same parking deck several years ago. The WLOSers showed video of the car dangling over Biltmore Avenue.
I thought the fire story was fine, but not a "Sweeps" story, if you know what I mean. The way it was presented did not smack of anything special or noteworthy. I agree, report the fact that they’ve got the funding and extra personnel, but if you’re going to make it a special sweeps story, put some "oomph" into it.
B Smart, the way you describe the story, you’re right. maybe it was the way the story was presented – the real news was buried. but when you pitch the story as you did, it sounds great.
still, teevee people dressing up like firemen for controlled burns and training is one of the oldest stories in the book.
Ash, you’re usually spot-on with your assessments, but I have to disagree with you on the Skyland FD story done by Russ.
Skyland FD adds 9 positions and a $350,000 piece of equipment to assist with firefighting in an area with rapid growth and huge homes. That’s not news? Someone is doing something RIGHT for once. Since when does the news need only to consist of when people do the wrong thing (or nothing at all)??
Ashvegas,
In response to the McDowell County Sheriff wreck on 40 tuesday night…I agree 100 percent with your comments. What happened to both the Old Fort cop last week and the Mitchell County family tuesday night was tragic but there needs to be some reconsidering behind who exactly gets to patrol the streets. This will all get swept under the rug by the local authorities in McDowell County.