Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
We’re trying to catch up with the news:
Man arrested in Spruce Pine fires
Polie arrested a 44-year-old Spruce Pine man and arrested the local resident and charged him with setting fires that burned down two big buildings in the small town.
Holly Headache said people said the guy liked to walk his dog and keep to himself. Investigators said a local cop and a State Highway Patrol trooper helped identify the suspect, David McCall. WLOSers also noted that they had interviewed the suspect back in February, when he told them that he had had a seizure or something and his dog saved his life.
In other news…
Federal magistrate Dennis Howell says his son was beaten up on Bele Chere weekend in front of the health department and he’s offering a reward to help find the people who did it… A construction crew hit a gas line in West Asheville at the intersection of Brevard Road and Rex Road, but it was fixed… A jury is deliberating the fate of the suspect found guilty for setting fire to a Comfort Inn in Greenville in 2004 that killed six people…. Landslide surveys around Western North Carolina are helping protect property… It’s hot and humid. There was a record high of 94 degrees at the Asheville Regional Airport on Thursday. The old record was 93 degrees, set in 1983. WLOSers did a story about how Progress Energy wants people to conserve energy…. Sheraldo says forest service workers are fighting the wooly adelgid, a little but that’s killing hemlocks… The motorcylce museum Wheels Through Time had its 250,000 visitor. They’ve been open now for five years over in, is it Macon County?… And John Le talked to some Elvis impersonators.
Deed debate
WLOSers also said that a 1901 deed spells out that George Pack said back in the day that Pack Square should remain public space, and that old deed was raising questions about the recent sale of land to a developer.
County commissioners sold the slice of land to Stewart Coleman, who plans to build condos just a stone’s throw away from Asheville City Hall. It’s unclear whether the old deed with have any bearing on the recent sale.
