Some stuff in the news…

Jason Sandford

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

1

Terrie Foster said some dangerous dogs in Henderson County have been locked up, and their owner charged with failure to secure said dogs. We didn’t catch what breed they were – big, with square heads and white, relatively long hair. The dogs were killing other dogs and scaring people.

Parents want their three missing teens to come home after the teens just walked away from Eckerd camp in the DuPont State Forest over the weekend. The little rednecks were last seen in the Kanuga and Crabtree communities.

Testimony started in that murder trial in Henderson County. The defendant has an effed up haircut – he’s bald on top, but has some stringy hair grown down to his butt. He’ll be found guilty.

Former N.C. House Speaker Jim Black was sentenced to more than 5 years in prison for taking illegal campaign cash from chiropractors. Honk if you’ve been adjusted!

Asheville City Councilman Carl Mumpower wants Ashvegas police to crack down on illegal immigrants. He also wants the city to add a link to its web site for businesses to verify the legal status of potential employees.

Also, City Council on Tuesdday voted against holding a referendum on partisan elections. The council switched city elelctions from non-partisan to partisan. There’s a petition drive to force a referendum and they need 5,000 signatures before July 16. No way they’ll make it.

The Valley Hill Fire and Rescue department in Henderson County got a jet ski for swiftwater rescue and flooding.

There are a couple of big developments in Woodfin that have people worried about traffic on Baird Cove Road. Jason Young, the town manager, says change is inevitable.

In a rare move, WLOSers clarified a story that Cherub Charu reported the other day on developer Stewart Coleman buying some land right on the new Pack Square park. WLOSers reported that the property had an assessed value of more than $600,000, but Coleman bought it for around $300,000. Larry Blunt said that wasn’t right. He said the county had originally had the $600,000 value on the parcel, but went back and amended that value to the lower number, which Coleman paid.

So after the clarification, Charu had an interview with Coleman, who said he’s going to build a 10-story condo building right on the new Pack Square park, but he’s going to work with the park to be sure his ginormous building fits in. This building will have one and two-bedroom condos and will be within spitting distance of City Hall. He’s going to pay to move a big magnolia tree and he’ll have underground parking.

Was it a twister that hit Fletcher on Tuesday? John Le investigated, and showed us pictures from some locals who said they saw a funnel shape and spinning clouds. A climatic data center meteorologist said it was a “wet microburst,” but no tornado. Mike Cuevas, when confronted with this by Diva Darcel over in the weather center, did what he usually does and made something up. He called the storm a “scud bomb.” Those were “scud” clouds, said Cuevas. Whaaa? What? Yeah, we’ve heard of the SCUD missiles from back in the day, but what in the hell are you talking about, Cuevas?