News from Monday

Jason Sandford

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

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Where’s the snow?
WLOS weather-guessers were talking about snow, but so far we haven’t seen it. Guess it could be tonight and/or tomorrow. Who knows? National weather service was also issuing high wind warnings and flood watches, but none of that seemed to amount to much, either. At least not yet.

Graham County shooting
In what WLOSers described as a murder-suicide, a Graham County man shot another man, then shot himself out in Robbinsville on Sunday night. Terrie “Pasty-face” Foster went out to the boonies to deliver the report.

Foster veered into some dicey speculation, quoting “friends” and “neighbors” who said that police were investigating child abuse allegations against the apparent murder victim. Foster did talk to a couple on camera who said they knew both men and felt sorry for the situation. Everybody lived in a trailer.

Downtown parking deck
Pat “Simple” Simon told us about Buncombe County plans to build a new $12 million parking deck in downtown, across the street from the courthouse building.

The deck would hold 650 cars and would be mainly used for employee parking. Simon quoted assistant county manager Jon Creighton, who said the project will go out to bid in April and should take a year to build. The county also wants to build a deck next to the Department of Social Services building on Coxe Avenue. City Councilman Carl Mumpower gave good doggies to the county for actually doing something. He said council has talked about a deck for a decade and not done a damn thing. City Council will look at the county parking deck plan at its meeting Tuesday.

Mitchell County manager controversy
Residents in Mitchell County want their county manager back. The guy who had been in was fired last month, according to WLOSers. Residents got up a petition to get the guy back on the job and they presented it to commissioners on Monday night.

Jobs added, jobs cut
Smiths Aerospace is adding about 100 manufacturing jobs and cutting about 20 administrative jobs, WLOSers said.

Collins & Aikman plant for sale
WLOSers said the company, which makes carpets for cars, is trying to sell all or part of it’s plant in Old Fort. The plant there employs 675 workers. WLOSers said the company declared bankruptcy awhile back and is trying to work through that.

Hotel getting bigger
A new hotel planned for Biltmore Village is getting a little bigger. The hotel will build on the spot now occupied by the Exxon gas station. And it has also purchased the old Pedro’s Porch restaurant location and will build an “annex” of more rooms on that spot right across the street.

‘Life without WLOS’
That’s what WLOSers called their follow-up on the Mediacom-Sinclair dispute. WLOSer Jeremy Butterfield went out to the Nebo community in McDowell County and talked to some old people, who said they liked their noon news. Another good ol boy said he was “born and raised on WLOS” and needed it, so he’s getting a satellite dish. Butterfield also quoted the county manager, who said people rely on WLOS for information.

Scary thought.

Old people get married
WLOSer John “Punnyman” Le did a sweet story on a 94-year-old man and a 92-year-old woman who met at Deerfield getting married. The woman’s advice to the lovelorn: “Just relax and let it happen.

Name that stadium
School officials are going to set up an Internet “election” to let people vote to name the new football stadium at Owen High School. School officials will narrow choices down to six or seven, then allow people to vote online.

Laurel Park woman still missing
Sheraldo went down to Henderson County to tell us that a 65-year-old Laurel Park woman who liked to walk her Wesh terrier dogs around the neighborhood is still missing. Family is organizing its own search party to try and find her. Police have no clues, Sheraldo said.

In other news…
The Haywood County tourism development authority wants the state to raise the county room tax from 3 percent to six percent.