Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Child drowns
WLOSers led the 6 with a story about a 6-year-old girl who died Sunday in a Johnson City, Tenn., hospital after being found “unresponsive” in a popular Spruce Pine pool.
The child was at an overnight party at Mitchell County’s Pine Bridge recreation center on Friday. The child’s step-grandfather said the girl didn’t haver permission to swim and didn’t have a bathing suit. But the center’s spokeswoman, Claudia Pittman, said the child was in the pool with some 18 other kids, with six adults watching over them.
Cherub Charu reported the story and had Pittman saying the child was in water shallow enough for her to stand in. She said another kid looked at the girl and said something like “She sure can hold her breath a long time.” Finally one of the parent volunteers pulled the girl out of the water and started performing CPR.
A weird Woodfin case
Holly Headache told us about a 48-year-old man charged with breaking and entering and kidnapping after running into a trailer in Woodfin and locking himself in the bathroom with a 2-year-old girl.
This was a weird story that Holly didn’t report very well. She said the mother was home at the time, so it’s unclear how the dude got in. Holly said he may have been a “former friend of the family,” whatever that means, but he hadn’t been around for awhile. Just weird.
Mumpower vs. the police
City Councilman Carl Mumpower has been complaining about Ashvegas police not going hard enough after drug dealers in town and apparently some folks are thinking the issue could come to a head at city council’s meeting Tuesday night.
Police Chief Bill Hogan will be giving a presentation about police work. Mumpower has complained publicly about what he sees as the failings of the police. Mumpower said he went to open air drug markets across Ashvegas on his own, and saw firsthand the drug dealing go down. He wants something done.
County zoning coming our way
WLOSer Pat “Simple” Simon told us what we all know – Buncombe County commissioners are planning on installing a form of zoning in the unincorporated parts of the county. The county sent 150,000 letters to property owners telling them about a series of upcoming meetings to talk about it.
Simon then went out and talked to a guy who said he wants the proposed zoning designation for his neighborhood changed. Was this the same Philip Gibson who used to be the French Broad riverkeeper, Simon? You never told us who the guy was.
Powerball ticket sales picking up
That’s because the jackpot is up to $180 million. Buy early and often. The next drawing is Wednesday night.
Health alert
In more useless news, Jay Seltzerwater says to drink alcohol in moderation.
More crazy weather
Over in the accu-hunch weather center, the weather-guessers say we could get a little rain-snow mix Tuesday morning and it’s going to get a lot colder than it has been.
In other news…
Haywood County offices moved today because the county is renovating its old courthouse… Sheraldo says the feds are cracking down on farmers who hire illegal immigrants to work for them. That makes some local farmers nervous, Sheraldo said, because there are a fair number of undocumented workers working for them. Sheraldo talked to one apple farmer, who said farmers don’t want to be “in the regulatory business.” Sheraldo said it takes a lot of work to be sure workers have proper driver’s licenses and Social Security numbers… In other apple news, apple farmers said the recent warm temperatures haven’t threatened this year’s crop. The real threat is a late February or early March warm up, followed by a hard freeze. That ruins the buds that become the fruit… John Le covered the peace walk in Ashvegas to honor civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. He would have been 78 today… Smiths Aerospace, which makes jet engines in Ashvegas, was bought by GE… And hair salons and spas raised money Monday for the Women at Risk program to keep women out of jail.
Hey Ash heap. You missed it again. Simon reported on the return of zoning a few weeks ago during the holiday break. Your brains must have been on vacation back then.
At least get your facts straight.