Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Spruce Pine plant closing
The Ethan Allen furniture manufacturing plant in Spruce Pine will close by November, throwing some 300 people out of work. The company made the announcement Wednesday, and WLOSers responded by sending Carolyn “Little Red” Ryan to Mitchell County to talk to folks
Workers said they’d heard rumors but didn’t think anything would happen, Ryan said. What world were they living in? Haven’t they seen manufacturing jobs going up in smoke around WNC the last several years?
Ryan said layoffs will start in three to four weeks. The local Employment Security Commission is gearing up to help people write resumes and look for new jobs. Ryan said on 62-year-old worker plans to go back to school. Another guy has a 13-year-old daughter to support. Eveybody Ryan talked to appeared stunned.
Breaking news
Larry “Smoka” Blunt told us that a Haywood County mail carrier was charged with stealing a beagle out of somebody’s yard. That was all.
Firebombs
WLOSers said McDowell County police think high school and college kids have been tossing molotov cocktails at buildings.
The little fire bombs hit three buildings, including an old Winn Dixie store and what will soon be Marion Christian Academy. Police think the act was part of some “game.” WLOSers showed us “the worst damage” – a brick wall that looked fine. Wasn’t even singed in fact.
Breaking news
The states Booze it or Lose It campaign works. A bunch of fugitives and stolen cars and drunk drives were caught.
Speaking of drunk drivers…
A 46-year-old Macon County man was pulled over Friday charged with drunk driving. The officer said the man had five small children in the car, including two who were unrestrained. The officer wanted to charge the dude with child abuse, but when he went to a magistrate to draw up warrants, the magistrate said no – no child abuse charges.
The officer felt the charges were appropriate, so he took his case to the district attorney, who said go for it So the guy has been charged with five counts of child abuse. Should be an interesting case to watch proceed.
If only we had a "booze is -or- lose it" campaign — we’d have every alcoholic in the country moving to NC.
Reminds me of about 16-17 years ago when I worked for one of our WNC small town radio stations. One of the highway patrol troopers (I think it was the late Calvin Taylor) came by to record the standard holiday PSAs. He kept messing up when he got to the last line, saying, "This is Trooper C.E. Taylor with the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, reminding you to drink and drive."