Before we get to the news, here’s a little pronunciation helper for “Tallahasee” Tammy Watford, who can’t handle fancy words to save her life. Tammy told us about Pamela Anderson’s upcoming nuptials, and pronounced the wedding location – “Saint Tropezz.” Wrongo, Marylu. Yeah, we live in the mountains, and we’re in the South, but you don’t have to sound like a redneck.
You’re supposed to pronounce it so it sounds like “San Tropae.” Got it? Good. Now on to the news:
Conserve energy
The mercury shows little mercy, according to WLOSers, who talked to power companies who are feeling the strain of providing power. John “Punnyman” Le talked to a woman who Sharpied her eyebrows on and said it was hot for her and her dog. He also talked to a Duke Power spokeswoman, who urged people to conserve engery. Set the thermostat at 78 degrees; close curtains; use appliances at night; turn off lights at work; etc.
But Le confused the story by telling us that Progress Energy said demand was down overall. So what’s the deal?
Bad air tomorrow
No open burning allowed tomorrow. And it will be a high ozone day.
Not your average day at the doctor’s office
That’s what Susan Mundy said in giving us her infotainment report that led off the 5 – a Jeep rammed through a wall and into the waiting room of Asheville Diabetes and Endochrine in the business park behind the Biltmore Square Mall this morning.
Nobody was injured.
But nobody wanted to hear about that. Mundy talked to everyone about how awful it could have been. Yessiree, said the fireman at the scene. First thing in the morning. People at the office. Could have been bad.
Luckily there was only one person in the waiting room at the time of the crash. Wanna bet the driver was over 60? Yup – we think Mundy said the driver was 68 or something. The cops told Mundy that the driver suffers from a disease that causes her to black out at times. What? Then how in the hell is the woman even allowed to drive? Of course, that little tidbit was dropped in at the end of the report, and they moved on.
Dogwoods trimmed
Some businessman in Franklin is pissed that the town trimmed some dogwood trees. He thinks the trees might die. Everyone else says the trees needed to be cut because you couldn’t see around them on the road.
Watch Larry barf
During the happy talk between Larry “Gloryhole” Blunt and Tammy, they got to talking about a dude who ate like 28 Krystal burgers in two minutes. Larry said that weren’t nuthin. He said he regularly puts down six or eight. Tammy took that as a challenge, and urged Krystal to call. “Well line up 28 Krystal burgers in front of you and see if you can do it.” No, no Larry said. “You’ll see larry barf.” Yum.
What will traffic look like?
There was a meeting Wednesday afteroon to talk about what traffic on local interstates will look like in a few years. That was the extent of the WLOSer report at 5.
Abandoned trailers need to be cleaned up
If you know anything about living in beautiful Western North Carolina, you know people like to eff it up by dumping garbage all over the place. They also don’t properly dispose of their trailers. Now state lawmakers may do something about it, says Jay Seltzerwater.
Some 40,000 trailers have been discarded across the state. Seltzerwater showed us a couple of abandoned trailers in Edneyville and quoted someone as saying that not only are they ugly, but old trailers can be home to rats, mice, mosquitoes and even drug users.
The solution, according to Jay, is a tax included in the purchase price that would go to the disposal and recycling of the trailers. State lawmakers are forming a commission to study it all.
More on mosquito bites
A 9-year-old girl in Buncombe County has come down with LaCrosse encephalitis after being bitten by a mosquito. The disease can be deadly. Cherub Charu brought us the story from the Buncombe County Health Department. We need to take ourselves off the “mosquito menu,” a public health official said.
So what do you do? Get rid of all standing water – clean your gutters and such. And watch for symptoms in children – headache, fever, nausea and vomitting.
In Transylvania County, they’re capturing and testing bugs for the disease because a child died from encephalitis back in 2001 and there were six or seven cases last year.
In other news…
That Polk County coach accused of choking a student was found not guilty of assault… Blue Ridge Community College broke ground on a new technology building… Pam Anderson and Kid Rock are getting married… A Buncombe County man, 55, is charged with molesting a neighbor girl under the age of 12… Gail Gash, charged with murdering her husband in 2004, wants her trial moved out of Henderson County because of pre-trial publicity. Don Gash’s body parts were found strewn along the Blue Ridge Parkway.