Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Residents still worried about CTS site
Frank Frabonehead stood outside the Skyland Fire Department Wednesday night and told us that residents are still worried that toxins are contaminating groundwater around the old CTS site of Mills Gap Road.
The plant did electroplating more than 20 years ago. The plant has been closed, bad water was found and some clean-up was done. But residents not enough. Frabonehead said a new round of groundwater tests were recently performed and everybody is waiting for results. State Rep. Charles Thomas told Frabonehead that it’s high time the site was cleaned up.
New information in Wal-Mart explosion
Police on Wednesday released several photos of either witnesses or “people of interest” to their investigation into an explosion last week that injured four or five people in the sporting goods section of the Sylva Wal-Mart.
Police said the explosion, first thought to be caused by a small propane tank, was actually caused by materials brought into the store. WLOSers actually interviewed one victim of the blast, a woman who gave really a really great description. She said she was having a key made when she heard what sounded like the crack of static electricity, then a big boom. She saw a plastic cooler shoot into the air, then a mushroom plume of smoke with a red fireball in the center. She said she felt a prickly feeling on her skin, “like if you took okra and touched it to your skin.” She was a good interview.
McDowell kid charged with sex offenses
WLOSers said an 18-year-old McDowell County High School senior has been charged with eight sex offenses involving two boys, ages 5 and 7. The suspect was being held in jail on a $200,000 bond.
Abortion protesters back
Anti-abortion protesters from the same group that was arrested on Tuesday on the campus of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College went back to campus on Wednesday for more protest. Nobody was arrested.
Carolina Stompers to be investigated
The state Democratic Party was a local Republican group investigated. The Dems say the Repubs need to register as a political committee, but the Repubs and group spokesman Chad Nesbitt say no, they don’t, because the group doesn’t raise money for candidates.
The Stompers have been making lots of news lately for a planned protest of this weekend’s Vance-Aycock gathering of Dems from across the state. The event is named after former state governors, including one who was a known racist. The Stompers called off the protest after the Dems said they’d change the name of the event.
In other news…
The DOT is getting ready to start widening Hwy. 19 out in Yancey County. They’re sending out letters to businesses along the road to close down. Work will start in February… The Pack Square Conservancy Group heard from a developer who plans to build condos practically next door to City Hall. Some people say the project is way too big… There was a job fair in Ashvegas on Wednesday for ex-cons. It was organized by the U.S. Probation Office… And Western Carolina University students painted their faces gray to raise awareness of what can happen if you abuse alcohol. It was Alcohol Awareness Week on campus.
