News for a Friday

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Dogs, dogs, dogs
WLOSer Pat “Simple” Simon stayed on the dog story Friday. Earlier in the week, cops raided a Candler home and seized 56 Australian terriers that they said were not being properly cared for. The couple, Hugh and Sue Cole, deny that and say the cops were harrassing them.

Friday, Simon interviewed Sue Cole, who said she wasn’t going to ask for the dogs back. On Thursday, Hugh Cole said the same thing. An Asheville Humane Society spokeswoman said its hard to deal with all the extra animals, but they can’t put them up for adoption until the sheriff’s department gives them the go-ahead.

Mediacom v. Sinclair
Sheraldo talked to a consultant who has worked with local government on cable issues, and the expert told him that cable prices could go up as a result of the Mediacom/Sinclair battle. Sinclair wants Mediacom to pay for its programming, something cable companies haven’t traditionally done.

The consultant said both sides are losing. Mediacom loses to satellite companies, who do carry local stations. And Sinclair loses advertising dollars.

Sheraldo said there’s no sign the two sides will come back to the table to re-start talks.

Food at Dickson
An author and chef named Ann Cooper cooked up food and served it to parents at Dickson Elementary School on Friday (a teacher work day). She was pushing her book Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children. The book is basically a nutrition manual that offers good solutions and simple recipes.

Shuler on stem cells
WLOSer Cherub Charu followed up after the station’s lame reporting Thursday on U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler’s vote against federal funding for stem cell research. Shuler broke with his Democratic Party to vote against the bill. The legislation passed, but without the votes needed to overcome a presidential veto.

Charu said it was no surprise that Shuler voted the way he did. She didn’t explain that. She quoted Shuler as saying he didn’t want “to put an embryo’s life at stake.” What? He also repeated something he’s said before: “I vote as if (people in his district) are standing beside me.” What the hell does that mean, Heath? If we were standing beside you, we would have kicked you in the ass.

Charu quoted a woman whose son has juvenile diabetes. She said her son has struggled with the disease, and she thinks the stem cells that are just thrown away now hold promise. She said that if one of Shuler’s kids – Island or Navy or Peninsula – had a terrible disease, he’d be the first one pushing stem cell research. Walk in my shoes a day, she told him.

WLOSers said Shuler supports alternatives, such as using stem cells from amniotic fluid.

Forgery charge
WLOSers said that Elizabeth Slagle, who worked as the assistant register of deeds in Madison County, has been charged with forgery. Slagle resigned a few days ago.

Sheriff John Ledford told WLOSers that Slagle forged her name to a property deed that just had her husband’s name on it so she could have collateral to take out loans and get credit cards. Ledford said banks are out $150,000-plus.

In other Shuler news…
Shuler was named a “deputy at-large whip” for the Democrats. WLOSers touted this like a big leadership position. But is it? How many deputy at-large whips are there? Tell us.

Brevard book lady
WLOSers said Brevard resident Marla Cilley is on the New York Times best-seller list with a new book she co-authored called Body Clutter: Love your body, love yourself. It’s apparently a weight loss, self-improvement book. Cilley is known as the “Flylady” and has a whole Internet support network. She’s huge. Who knew?

Doc saved my life
WLOSer John “Punnyman” Le went up to Spruce Pine to tell us about how a guy said his dog Doc may have saved his life.

The guy said he was walking when he felt chest pains, blacked out and rolled down a hill. Doc jumped on his chest and barked and licked him in the face and woke him up. The boxer mix was a “good doggie,” Le said. A “paramedic pooch,” Le said. Doc was obedience trained by prisoners at Marion Correctional Center in McDowell County.

In other news…
Forest City hired an assistant police chief… People are still trying to raise money to build a park to honor Avery King, a little girl who got run over in a McDonald’s parking lot in Atlanta by a madman… Kassandra “Special K” Pride says you can get your tax refund now by filing a “pay stub loan,” or basically an advance on your expected tax refund. But you pay hefty fees, so it’s not worth it… The Ashvegas Police Department promoted several officers in the last round of promotions for awhile, according to Chief Bill Hogan. The promotions put the department’s new leadership in place, Hogan said… Jeremy Butterfield said Rutherford County cops have solved a string of storage facility break-ins… A truck carrying glass table tops tipped over on I-240 in the curve near Jackson Trading Post in West Ashvegas… And Monday is MLK Day, but a lot of people still have to work, WLOSers said.