Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Soldier funeral
The funeral for Kenny Hess of Asheville will be held today at Trinity Baptist Church, but WLOSer Cherub Charu brought us the sad story from Tuesday night’s visitation.
Hess was killed in a suicide bomber’s attack while on patrol in Iraq. Hess was a Reynolds High School graduate who joined the Army a few years ago served with the 4th Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, based out of Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
Tuesday night, Charu talked with Hess’s parents, as well as friends. All said he was doing what he wanted to do, that he’ll be sorely missed, that he was a hero.
No more dungeon for you
Master Rick and Dungeon Dan have gotten the boot (actually, they might like that) from their landlord, according to WLOSers. The company that Rick Sciara and his buddies were renting a house from has started eviction proceedings. They’ve received a letter, and they’re going to have to go to a court hearing.
You remember – these are the guys charged with castration without malice (or a medical license).
So what’s going to happen to these guys? How are they going to find a place to live, now? It’s not like a dungeon is a common amenity you’ll find on the Waynesville housing market. And we’re betting these guys won’t just settle for any dungeon.
‘Election time is always rumor time’
Indeed, it is. That quote came from someone WLOS quoted in a story about allegations of voter fraud being investigated in Mitchell County, where there’s a red-hot race for sheriff playing out. Lest we forget, this is an election year and the May primary is right around the corner.
So, if we followed this right, sheriff’s candidate Vic Hollifield says that another candidate for sheriff may have mishandled some absentee ballots, ballots that are filled out by someone at home and then mailed in. It’s against election law for a non-family member to handle an absentee ballot, and that’s the question here. So the local elections board director has asked the state elections board to investigate.
Sheraldo brought us the story, which was pretty convoluted. But we all know that plenty of election hijinks happens, especially with absentee ballots. Stay tuned for more. There are lots of hot election races to follow all around the mountains.
Right to life, right to protest?
A student right-to-life group at UNCA invited an outfit to come and display giant posters of dead fetuses on the campus quad, and some other students didn’t like that. The gory pictures of aborted babies stood for all to see, so another group of UNCA students grabbed some markers and poster board and held their own mini-protest in answer. That was about it.
Scan scam
Carolyn “Little Red” Ryan brought us a story about how you can get scammed in the scanning line. She picked up the idea out of the Hendersonville newspaper, which had it last week because a store got busted for having a bunch of scanning errors.
Carolyn tells us that the state Department of Agriculture’s Standards Division has inspectors who go around checking. That’s about it. If you have a complaint, call these guys.
12 Bones shout out
Our favorite new restaurant in town, the 12 Bones barbecue shop down on river road, got an award for bringing people down to the riverside. The area already has eclectic artists’ studios, but it’s in sore need of some real life, which is exactly what 12 Bones has attracted. If the policemen and firefighters are regulars, you know the place has some tasty food.
Congratulations! Keep serving up the “Good, Cheap Butt” y’all.
