Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
What would WLOSers do if they didn’t have the weather to report on? They must take up half their newscast with fake “news” about the weather – it might snow, it snowed a little, it’s going to warm up, it might snow again, etc. It’s getting old. How about doing a little work and actually reporting some stories, people?
Sheraldo on the snow beat
Is is just us, or is Sheraldo spending a lot less time in Henderson County now that nobody down there gets WLOS on their local cable station. Somebody should start measuring the amount of time WLOSers spend on reporting stories in the places where nobody can see ’em.
Anyway, Sheraldo went back up to Madison County on Thursday to tell us that Madison County schools closed early because of a few flakes that certainly did not pile up anywhere. The school system is just trying to get it’s snow days in so it doesn’t lose its state waiver to change the start date of school.
Sheraldo showed us DOT workers justifying their existence by roaring up and down mountain roads with the scraper down on wet pavement. Sheraldo talked to one woman who said the DOT did a good job.
The funny green light
WLOSers said a number of people contacted them Wednesday night to report seeing a green light in the sky. And of course they put John “Punnyman” Le on it.
Le took out his construction paper and Crayolas and, being rather dense, asked people to draw for him what they saw. One woman drew and omelet. Le event went to one of his cameramen, who drew a bunch of green lines with a Magic Marker.
Was it a helicopter? An aurora? The weather? In another fantastic sourcing move, Le turned to his weatherman, Mike “Cuervo” Cuevas, who said it wasn’t lightning because it was green!
Finally, Le found a real source – the head of the Ashvegas Astronomy Club, who told Le that it was a meteor burning up in the atmosphere. It’s sometimes called a “bolide,” the guy said. A fireball.
Bellamy challenged to debate
WLOSer Pat “Simple” Simon told us that a Biltmore Lake resident took out an ad in the newspaper challenging Ashvegas Mayor Terry Bellamy to an annexation debate. That was about all that Simon told us. We’ll give you the context:
City Council is preparing to annex a part of Biltmore Lake into the city, and resident Mike Thompson doesn’t like it. Thompson the blow hard – active in Florida Republican politics before moving here – used what Councilman Jan Davis called offensive language in comparing his anti-annexation crusade to the civil rights movement.
WLOS also didn’t tell viewers that Thompson doesnt’ even live in the area to be annexed. Thompson, who started the group Stop The Asheville Takeover! said he’s still going to be a blowhard.
Simon said he couldn’t talk to Bellamy because she was in Washington meeting with the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Simon didn’t try talking to anyone else from the city.
Hey, Simple Simon – the next time you take on a real news story, try REPORTING the issue. Damn.
Homeless seek shelter
Holly Headache at 6 looked cold but cute as she told us that when it gets really cold, the homeless people go hang out inside Pack Memorial Library downtown. This, by the way, is not news. This has been happening years.
It’s a difficult situation – the library has put up with it because it’s a public space. They’ve put rules in place like no drinking games and no sleeping – “You read or you leave,” library director Ed Sheary told Holly.
But somebody from the WNC Rescue Mission said they’re working to get some funding from the city to come up for a place for homeless people to hang out. This sounded like the real news, but Holly didn’t report it out.
We love Pack Memorial Library. It has a wonderful space. Do something to keep it clean.
Greathouse has great recovery
Kyle Greathouse, the Westsern Carolina University senior who is a point guard for the basketball team, left the hospital Wednesday night after what WLOSers called an amazing recovery.
Greathouse was a passenger in a car that crashed into the Tuckaseegee River the other night. The female driver was charged with DUI. Greathouse suffered a concussion and lacerations.
Doctor criticizes Mountain Mobility
WLOSer Cherub Charu showed us a letter that Dr. Paul Change wrote criticizing the Mountain Mobility transportation system for leaving a 69-year-old woman out in the cold. Mountain Mobility is a taxpayer-funded transportation system for elderly and disabled people.
According to Chang, the van dropped the woman in front of his office 30 minutes before it opened. She had several health issues and when she finally got inside, she was shivering uncontrollably and could have died outside Sulpher Springs Health Center, Chang said. In his letter, Change said Mountain Mobility drivers often don’t run on time and don’t seem to pay attention to such issues.
Charu took the case to Mamie Scott, who runs Mountain Mobility. Scott said “It’s not our practice to leave customers out in the cold.” She said she’ll talk to the driver and figure out what happened.
In news WLOSers missed from the day before
WLOSers told us on Thursday that four members of the Blue Ridge Community College Board resigned. They actually resigned on Tuesday, but WLOSers didn’t bother covering the full story.
In other news…
There was a water line break in Biltmore Village. Lots of people didn’t have water Thursday afternoon… Blue Ridge Paper is paying $60,000 a year for five years to work with scientists and students to grow fish to stock the Pigeon River. The river has rebounded after years of paper plant pollution… Stevie Palmer, the guy charged with stabbing his wife to death in Rutherford County, was found guilty of first-degree murder on Thurssday. The jury deliberated for about an hour. He was sentenced to life without parole.
In still others news…
The 1451st Transportation Company based in Boone will stay in Iraq up to four months longer than its one-year deploymnet under President Bush’s plan to increase the number of troops there… Some students at Isaac Dickson Elementary School are going to Washington. That’s because the students, who knit stuff for other kids as part of the Caps to the Capital program, wrote some neat letters to congressmen about it.
Earlier this month, I did a story about a potential plan for the City of Asheville to annex three areas including the area of Biltmore Lake. I spent a long period of time explaining the city’s position (including why the city pulled the plan from the agenda of one of its meetings), and that there would be many follow-up reports.
My latest story about an advertisement in your newspaper from the group STAT challenging Mayor Bellamy to a debate included an important, and possibly precedent setting court case from Union County which could directly impact future areas slated for annexation in Asheville (including Biltmore Lake). The Nolan case was upheld by the state Supreme Court January 27, 2006.
After numerous phone calls, the only city official that could speak from a legal standpoint on this matter called me back well after the story aired. He told me he finally got an email of my request and finally called back.
Also, Mr. Thompson (resident of Biltmore Lake) says once development is finished around his home, the city will try to annex his property as well.
But he says that issue is irrelevant since he is being pro-active by taking court action now.
If you would have watched our new My 40 newscast at 6:30, you would have also picked up on nunerous other details of this story.
I plan to do many follow-up reports on this important issue, so stay tuned.
In the meantime, please tell my friend John Boyle at the newspaper I said hello.
Pat Simon
fox Carolian showed a "picture" of the light…which turned out to have been swiped off a BBC page about a story that happened in Wales months ago, lol.
I hate when people move in from Florida (or anywhere else) and try to take over Asheville and make it what they want it to be. If where they came from is so great, and they think Asheville isn’t, maybe they should just GO BACK where they came from!
I really don’t have an opinion on the annexation issue, but I’d think more of the story if the anti-annexation people were ones who were lifelong Asheville residents.
Green lightning only happens after I’m a few days into a bender. Not a pretty sight.
=WL=