Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Ashvegas mother charged with killing 7-week-old baby
A 21-year-old Ashvegas woman was arrested and charged on Monday with killing her 7-week-old baby. Yeah, 7 weeks old.
Police say Andrea Whitson, who lived in Deaverview Apartments, and her boyfriend brought the baby to Mission Hospitals last Tuesday. Polie said the parents said the child was dazed, sleep and not eating, according to WLOSers. Hospital docs diagnosed severe brain trauma. The baby died Friday.
WLOSers quoted the child’s godmother and another friend/family member, who said Whitson was a loving mother. The friends told WLOSers that the baby’s parents said the child was having problems when they brought the little boy home from daycare.
WLOSers also said that at some point, DSS workers had taken the little boy out of the parents’ care because he had a broken arm, but cops didn’t find any wrongdoing and returned the baby to the parents’ custody.
Breaking the cycle of domestic violence
A Hendersonville man who shot and killed his wife at the Alpine Woods Mobile Home Park, and also shot his 15-month-old son, was arrested and charged on Monday. WLOSers looked at a couple of related issues.
First, Terrie Foster said that reps with seven domestic abuse shelters in seven WNC counties met with District Attorney Mike Bonfoey to talk about getting tougher laws passed – such as making it a felony for someone to trespass on a shelter’s property. And they talked about adding security cameras and better locks and windows at shelters. And they talked about creating a “safe room” for domestic abuse victim at every courthouse in the mountains so that victims would feel safe in confronting abusers in court.
WLOSers also took the angle of trying to get a handle on domestic abuse, especially within the Latino community. One woman in the trailer park said yeah, a lot of women are probably being abused. A domestic abuse counselor said it’s hard to work with Latinos, who sometimes are fearful of authority, whether because they’re here illegally or they’ve had bad experiences with police in their home countries. There’s the language barrier. Sometimes charges are dropped because people think it’s better for the childrent to have both parents around. And with Latino men, there’s the whole machismo aspect, this expert told WLOSers, where the man tells the woman what to do and everything. (There’s something wrong with that? Kidding!)
Speaking of alleged killers
John “Woody” Woodring, accused of gunning down his estranged wife in a domestic abuse shelter in Jackson County, remains on the run. America’s Most Wanted plans to profile the case on its show Sunday.
In other news…
A 25-year-old Ashvegas man was hit by a car and killed in Clemson on Saturday night… There was a wreck in Buncombe County, and a county-owned vehicle was sideswiped and two other cars were involved in the crash… Breaking news – you can get a vaccine to prevent hepatitis A, says John “Punnyman” Le. It will cost you about $80 at the health department… Monday was Eat Dinner with your Family Night. Judging from the WLOS story we saw, we just want to have dinner with the mommy from Your Secret Kitchen, which made and sold a bunch of pre-packaged meals to raise money for Dickson Elementary School… Jay Seltzerwater says some people want the speed limit lowered on portions of some road around Brevard… And Billy Ray Byrd, the man who admitted shooting and killing his wife a year ago, is up for re-trial. The jury deadlock on the murder charge last time around.
