Whew. What a week it’s been. From kitten killers to creeps to cops blasting anyone who gets in their way, this has been one newsy week. And there’s more. Read on… (Hey Joe, this one’s for you.)
Bolt outta the blue
Only TV news people use “bolt” to describing a lightning strike. Over and over again, WLOSers used “bolt” in telling us about four people injured at the Biltmore Estate after lightning struck the tree they were standing beneath Friday afternoon. Funny how, in regular conversation, you never hear anyone say, “Hey, didya hear about that family struck by a bolt of lightning?” Nope. Usually, people are just struck by lightning.
That didn’t stop Carolyn “Little Red” Ryan from breathlessly telling us at 11 that “an entire family was struck by a bolt of lightning.” Her story meshed video with the audio from a tense 911 call. Ryan said a storm moved in about 3:30 p.m. and the family from Tennessee took cover.
Ryan said the family of three adults and one child was lucky. A couple of people had some minor burns. Ryan quoted a Biltmore security guard saying that the estate alerts people to storms, but in this case they just didn’t have a warning. Then she quoted a firefighter, who gave the best advice:
Don’t take shelter under a tree, because that’s a tall object that will attract lightning.
Dissecting a lightning strike
It was interesting how WLOS weather people worked this story, but never once mentioned their failure to warn watchers about impending severe weather. Hmmmm.
Julie Blunder, the weather girl, was first on the scene outside the Biltmore Estate to report the news. All she did was repeat a couple of basic facts over and over and over again. Then, after each report, they’d cut to Mike “Cuervo” Cuevas in the weather center, who tried to explain how nobody knows how much lightning it takes to have a “severe” storm, because really, that’s not part of the definition. It’s hail and high wind that makes for a “severe” thunderstorm, Cuervo said. O, and he gave us this nugget of wisdom: lightning can strike pretty much anywhere, he said.
West Asheville fire
There was a fire about 9:30 p.m. in West Asheville on Moore Avenue off State Street. The house was engulfed in flames, and firefighters were hampered by a narrow gravel drive and a live electrical wire, WLOSers said.
More on the shootings by deputies
WLOSers followed up on the two shootings by Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department deputies Thursday night by interviewing family members of the two dead men.
In the Leicester case, in which deputies blasted a 17-year-old, the teen’s mother said she wished she had never called police. She told the teevee people that she wrestled her boy to the ground and got the shotgun out of his hand, but that deputies fired anyway.
In the Weaverville case, the family said there was a fight over allowing a cousin to light a cigar inside the trailer. The cousin pulled out a gun and made a threat, so the family took out a warrant. When deputies came to serve the warrant, they felt threatened and fired.
In both cases, Sheriff Bobby Medford said he felt his officers’ lives were threatened. The SBI is investigating, as is standard procedure.
Greenlife woes
A delivery truck got stuck Friday in the loading dock area behind Greenlife Grocery, which really tied up traffic for a couple of hours. The loading dock has been a bone of contention since Greenlife opened, because it’s turned a residential street into a roaring thoroughfare.
Lottery scam
Hendersonville police say that to beware of lottery scams. If someone tells you you won the European lottery, but they need your bank account number to deposit the money, don’t give it to ’em! Sheesh.
Gas prices suck
In news from their backyard, WLOSers said drivers lined up at the Ingle’s on Long Shoals Road Friday to suck up $2.69-a-gallon gasoline. Most other stations were charging $2.80 a gallon, they said.