Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Heat wave continues
And as it does, it’s fun to watch WLOSers try to come up with another angle on the story. First it was football players and band camp kids dealing with the heat. Yesterday, it was Jeremy Butterfield telling us that old people can be at risk of “heat illnesses.” How do old people beat the heat? Butterfield investigated and found out – they stay inside air conditioned senior centers and play cards!
Wednesday’s high was 92 degrees, but it wasn’t a record.
Oil leak under Harrah’s Cherokee Casino
Terrie Foster reported this story, barely, so what we could piece together was that somebody pierced an underground pipe and that caused an oil leak that actually started in February. The oil has been moving underground and started leaking into beautiful Soco Creek last week. But it’s being cleaned up and a slick casino spokesman says nobody has anything to be worried about.
Also in Cherokee…
Construction work to build a new elementary, middle and high school on the reservation is kicking into high gear. It should all be finished in 2009. The current schools are over-crowded.
And in more school news…
Buncombe County school board members cooked hamburgers and hot dogs for the county’s 250 new teachers. The teachers go back to work next week when school starts.
Heather Rayburn doesn’t like the development
That was the gist of the story by Charu Khumaria on a development being drawn up for the old Deal Motors site on Merrimon Avenue, right there at the corner of Chestnut Street.
Rayburn, a neighborhood activist, says Asheville City Council needs to stand up for the neighborhood because what’s planned doesn’t fit in. The development includes two 10-story buildings and a mix of office, retail and residential space. Steve Arnsdorff, the developer, said he’s working hard to be sure the new development fits in and he’ll keep meeting with residents.
In other news…
Sheraldo said all is well after that plant explosion in Henderson County. Nobody was hurt and hexane was the cause, he said…. Black Mountain wants to fix up its public pool… The building moratorium on steep slopes in Jackson County is over now that the county has new, stricter rules for building on mountainsides… Holly Headrick talked to kids who liked baseball and asked them what they thought about Barry Bonds breaking Hank Aaron’s home run record. The kids mostly thoughtly it was cool and that Barry would never cheat…. Carolyn Ryan stood outside the federal courthouse building and said that new court documents show that the mastermind behind an illegal gambling operation said he had two sheriffs in Western North Carolina on his payroll. No names were mentioned… The old S&W Cafeteria has offically been sold. It will reopen as a restaurant and piano bar, with residential units up top.
The Moses in the melon
Finally, John Le ripped off a Hendersonville Times-News story and drove down there to talk to a woman who told the newspaper that she saw Moses in the rind of her watermelon. The rind did sorta look like a man’s face, but Moses? Naaahhh.
I lived in Fayetteville from 1982 to 1984 and liked it. I found the folks to be very accepting of outsiders. I traveled down Ramsey Street last week and it’s like visiting an old friend. Lived in Ashvegas from 1984 to 1988 and at the time didn’t find it as accepting of outsiders…just my opinion. Don’t anyone get all pissed off…
A to the P,
FYI, Fayetteville (the correct spelling, see your previous post), is the way it is due to the transient military nature of the area. The military that protects YOUR freedom and mine. Fayetteville has actually done a very good job in cleaning the area up over the past 10 years. Every city has it’s problems. Be careful who you bash.
Whoa, nelly! You are correct, sir. I know, I know, there’s a first time for everything. Indeed, we did reach the record. Once. All week. You get a cookie. So what about all those other days with the overblown and endless chatter about the heat of summer? Is WLOS shocked about this strange warming phenomenon in August? One record in all this hype? Spare me…
As for all of WLOS’ coverage – which, incidentally, I watch quite often seeing as how they’re the competition but don’t let that get in the way of a good assumption on your part – the only time I saw a story on keeping healthy in the heat was their thing tonight about not leaving your dogs in thet car. If they snuck in a heat stroke piece, they must’ve done it between the celebrity news and the national-feed report about the trapped miners.
Now about Fayetteville. You won’t get any arguments from me about how craptacular it is. I spent all my formative years there. Hell, my parents still live there which forces me to make the occassional drive home. It’s easy to find, really. Just pass the row of pawn shops and hang a left at the third strip club. So, calling it the "rectum of the south" isn’t some great revelation.
And triply incidentally, how bored are you to get into a tit-for-tat with me? Since I’m apparently riding the short bus, would you mind not kicking the back of my seat? My stop is coming up.
And if you can’t understand how comparing temperatures from one town to another town that’s nothing like it, then wow…enjoy the short bus.
Jamunca…you don’t watch the news do you?
There have been about 3 or 4 "how to recognize and treat/prevent heat stroke" stories.
So do you just come to a blog to complain about news coverage you don’t even watch in the first place?
Jesus, how bored are you?
And incidentally, we reached the record yesterday.
And double incidentally, restless is right. Fayettville is the rectum of the south. Everything from there is hot and shitty
Actually Fayetteville topped out at 107 on Thursday. But what’s two degrees when you’re 100 plus.
Here’s my bio for restlessmama…
Jamunca was born in Chambersburg, Pa.
The army then deemed that his parents should move to Fayetteville. Thus Jamunca spent the next 17 years of his life in Fayettenam, er, uh, Fatalville, I mean, the armpit of North Carolina.
Having done his time in Fayetteville, Jamunca came to Asheville in 2000 to attend UNCA.
Jamunca currently resides in Candler and works for the Citizen-Times while referencing himself in the third person as much as humanly possible.
Jamunca now bids adieu.
Down heah in the foothills we had a temp of 104, with a wind chill of 102…yee…
Ok, it was 105 degrees in The "Ville" today, aka Fayetteville, aka restless’ former hometown. Does the Real Jamunca acutally live there or is he/she still claiming at his/her "hometown"? I always say "It’s a good place to be from." It is cultural hell there unless you drink domestic beer and like NASCAR.
A to the P: I don’t care.
Only one degree off the record? Well hell’s bells!
something, something, something… horse shoes and hand grenades… something, something, something.
Reports about the weather are fine, when it’s worth reporting. Wake me up when Asheville actually reaches said record. In my mind, we’ve had a fairly mild summer. But since this past week has been hot (MUCH hotter when compared to the rest of the season), WLOS has decided to dust off the handy go-to filler about the weather.
There’s plenty of worthy news events in our area. Almost reaching the record isn’t one of them. As for old folks kicking the bucket during this "heat wave," where were the details about how to treat exposure to heat? Or how to identify heat stroke? Or where people can find cool spots around town? Instead, we get an almost report about an almost record that almost didn’t air… But thank God it did, because I was in dire need of something to bitch about.
Speaking of being a jerk, it’s Juneau, not Juno. And your logic is so twisted, I can’t even fathom how much it must suck to be you.
See? I can be condescending and snarky too. Enjoy your hot (but not quite reocrd hot) day.
92 is fairly crazy for the MOUNTAINS.
We aren’t in Fayetteville, so why the hell should they report as if we were?
In fact, 92 was just 1 degree off the record.
Basically, if we had a blizzard, you’d say someting like "whats all the commotion about? Back when I lived in Juno Alaska…"
Besides, hot weather kills old people, and tons of old people live in asheville.
I saw the story. It looks like Russ has really stirred up the pot on this one. I can’t wait to see what happens!
Jamunca, that’s classic. thanks for all the dets!
It said the 1901 deed to Pack Square specifies it should be used as a public space or park forever.
Russ fished up the actual deed.
He showed us quotes from the deed and George Pack’s signature stating the requirement for the exchange. He also showed us a very interesting thing which is if the land doesn’t remain as a public park or is sold it reverts back to the Pack family. He took a copy of the deed to David Gantt who looked liked someone had hit him with a brick. Gantt said it was clear what he was reading in the deed and that the commissioners made a mistake. Gantt had no answer for why they didn’t know this. He just claimed the bounderies of the park are vague. Russ had other references verifying what he had found. It will be interesting to see what happens now that this is in the open..We were also told county lawyers are now looking at the 1901 deed. It’s very apparant now what George Pack wanted for the future of the Park. Poor man is probably rollin’ over in his grave. I smell a lawsuit.
1) I did see the Russ story on the Pack Square deed and it may have been the best reporting I’ve seen in a long, long time on WLOS. Essentially, the deed said Asheville can’t sell Pack Square. But the deed is also unclear on "where" Pack Square ends.
2) About the heat story… This just in, it gets hot in the summer time. Quick, stop the presses! Look, unless we’re actually setting records, who the fark cares? Oh man, 92! Unbearable! …give me a break. It hits 92 in my hometown Fayetteville by 10 a.m. Talking about how hot it is (when it’s not even getting into crazy levels yet) is just silly.
3) Their Bonds story misspelled an Asheville Tourists player’s name. It’s Andrew Kreidermacher, not Krei Dermacher like the graphic tells us. Rediculous.
4) Their anchors are woefully lacking in the research department. Prime example, Stephanie’s ID is in the running for some kind of trip to NYC for a recording deal. Only, the 530 broadcast pronounced it Stephanies I-D … like some card you’d carry around. Stay classy, Asheville.
Joe, i’m sorry i missed it. what was the upshot of the story? Russ is, by far, the best reporter at WLOS.
Did you see Russ’s story on the old Pack Square deed? Looks like commissioners really screwed up. Facinating. It was pretty in depth for WLOS who usually doesn’t know anything about depth