The HBC speaks, and other news

Jason Sandford

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

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Chasing those flyers
WLOSers stayed on top of the “racist flyers” that somebody threw all over Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in downtown Asheville.

To recap: somebody tossed out the sheets of paper with a message that said a dude and his girlfriend were jumped by 12 n-words Saturday night after leaving Bele Chere, so he’s gonna knock out 12 n-words – be warned.

At 6, Michelle Boudin explained that people in the neighborhood where the flyers were found were upset. She showed us a close-up of the flyer, with the n-word blurred out. But then she quoted a black woman, who said that she was shocked that somebody would call us n-words. So Michelle, if you blur out the word on the sheet of paper, shouldn’t you bleep out the word when it’s actually used? Be consistent.

Then at 11, Russ “Beefcake” Bowen went straight to the Head Black in Charge, Ashvegas Mayor Terry Bellamy, to get her thoughts. Russ did the story all weird, noting that the state’s youngest mayor, who was elected in a city with just an 18 percent minority population, was facing her toughest challenge yet. Weirder yet, Bellamy played along. She dropped the flyer dramatically as Russ’ photog got the video, then she went on to say that we need to move past this. “I think it’s deplorable,” she said. “I think it’s a major issue.”

Look, Russ – this isn’t the first time Bellamy has heard the n-word. Don’t act like this is something new and disturbing for her. She probably gets called the n-word every day, and experiences other subtle racism that is rampant in America today. And Bellamy, you’re doing a disservice by playing along with the news readers on this one.

Russ said somebody did make a police report saying they were jumped in the TK Tripps parking lot late Saturday or early Sunday of Bele Chere weekend. But when cops asked them about the flyer, they said they knew nothing of it. The cops said they’ve got some fingerprints from the flyers that they’ll try to identify. The cops said the couple that made the police report also gave up fingerprints.

The upshot is that cops said the worst somebody can be charged with is littering. It can’t be considered a hate crime because the threat wasn’t against one specific n-word, just all n-words in general.

Canton stinks
Some folks in Canton were complaining about a dairy farm that spread a manure paste over a hay field. The farm calls it recycling. The neighbors call it horrible. The farmers say they followed all the rules and didn’t over-do anything.

Another rape suspect and a death
The cops on Friday arrested a third suspect in the alleged rape of a 17-year-old at the Red Roof Inn in West Asheville. Two people had already been arrested.

In an unusual twist, the brother of the third rape suspect was found dead on the rocks in the I-240 open cut through Beaucatcher Mountain. Cops said they don’t think he was pushed, and they don’t think it was related to the rape case. But that’s pretty damn weird.