Poopie hands part two, parkway cleanup and Polk County politics

Jason Sandford

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

1

Hepatitis A shots
Cherub Charu told us that the Buncombe County health department gave out a bunch of globulin shots to people trying not to get hepatitis A. The health department offered the shots after a worker at Trevi restaurant in Biltmore Village tested positive for the virus that can yellow your skin, cause nauseau and generally eff up your liver.

Charu really didn’t have any new information. She said the health department will be giving out more shots today (Wednesday) and she talked to the Trevi restaurant owner, who said yeah, business was down.

Rock slide cleanup continues
Terrie Foster said work to clean up a rock slide on the Blue Ridge Parkway continues. She tried to add drama to the story by wondering aloud if the road might open for Labor Day weekend, then she turned around and said work will take a week, maybe two, to finish up. So where’s the drama?

Drag racing danger
Jay Seltzerwater walked around Lee’s Creek Road in the Erwin Hills community to look at rubber on the road and talk to people about drag racers. A couple of people told Jay that on Friday or Saturday nights, cars line up to race an eighth of a mile stretch along the road, and they’re worried somebody will get killed.

Polk County politics?
Michelle Boudin, the resident sex crime reporter at WLOS, went down to Polk County to follow up on a hot story – statutory rape charges being filed against the police chief of Columbus, who also happens to be running for sheriff.

Boudin – who only filmed the hands of the victim and changed the victim’s voice to sound like a man – talked to the alleged victim, who said she was 11 when Chris Abril raped her. Boudin said the victim said the State Bureau of Investigation came to her with questions, and she thought the timing was odd, but people should know what kind of man this is.

Boudin quoted political supports of Abril questioning why these charges are coming up now, since the guy has been police chief now for a while. And Boudin went to the police chief’s political opponent, the Polk County sheriff, who said he had nothing to do with the investigation into Abril.

In other news…
Lots of people remembered the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina… And state troopers want people to slow down on the road this Labor Day weekend.