Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Wanna win an Uzi?
The North Buncombe Youth Athletic Association was raffling off an Uzi as a fund-raiser until a parent complained and stopped the raffle, according to WLOSers, who led with this story at 6 and 11.
Holly Headache was on the job at 11, talking to “supporters of the raffle” who said they “didn’t see any harm” in selling tickets for a chance to win a semi-automatic weapon to raise money for their football league for 6-to-13-year-olds.
The idea was printed in a newsletter, and tickets were only being sold to people 21 and over, the supporters said. One woman said the raffle would have raised $2,000 to $6,000. And another woman said that “if you’re an avid hunter, you should be responsible. I can’t say I’d be against it.”
Who hunts with an Uzi???
Michelle Boudin, on the job at 6, said just yesterday parents were selling tickets from a concession stand. But the league president cancelled the raffle after a parent’s complaint.
Land mine found
In another story that made us shake our heads, WLOSers reported that two boys found an armed land mine off Bull Gap Road in Riceville. It was found about 5:30 and police detonated it without any harm to anyone.
But there are land mines out there? What the hell? We’ve heard of some pot growers booby-trapping their growing areas – could this be that? Pretty extreme, if so. Anyway, we want more info on this one.
No ballfields at Richmond Hill park
The city of Ashvegas got in trouble for not having the proper erosion controls in place for land clearing at the new Richmond Hill park, and Tuesday night City Council paid for it.
WLOSers said council agreed to allocate another $50,000 to the project to get the project in compliance. The money will be used for hydro-seeding and such.
The council also agreed not to build some baseball fields at the site, where there will be a park and a disc golf course. Neighbors, who have been against construction of the park since the beginning, were happy about council killing the ball fields.
Massive mud slide
In yet another sign that developers are being reckless in trying to throw up as many houses as possible on our beautiful mountains, WLOSers said Haywood County experienced its biggest mud slide ever on Aug. 31, and a developer was to blame.
Nobody was hurt, but a wall of water, mud and debris 900 feet wide crashed down a mountainside after an area in Maggie Valley saw 6 inches of rain in a 24-hour period. The slide happened where developers are building the ironically named Cascades Development. The developer is building 200 homes on the mountainside.
A number of local governments, including Haywood and Buncombe, are considering steep slope ordinances to try and control this development. Somebody needs to do something.
In other news…
Kurt Mann quit URTV, saying he couldn’t get along with the powers that be over there… Some folks on an archeological dig in a secret location in the Pisgah National Foresst have found tools, bones and spears dating back 1,500 to 10,000 years ago… UNCA students had their freshman service day yesterday… Two years after the 2004 floods, they’re just now tearing down some houses along Hominy Creek that the government bought out. The project is costing about $5.5 million, and the land can never have a house on it again… John Le showed us a unique animal shelter in Transylvania County that serves “special needs” pets, like one-eyed dogs and such, called Friends for Live Forever in Lake Toxaway… Some neighbors in Arden are banding together to fight a planned development that would change the 9-hole Brookwood Golf Course development dramatically by adding another 156-single family homes. Pat Simon got to golf during the story… And Bruce Goforth, Wilma Sherill and Charles Taylor, politicians all, said they’re working on getting money to build a nursing home for veterans in Black Mountain…
Looks like there’s a master plan at work: News Record & Sentinel prints a story that creates a buzz, then AC-T does a story about the buzz. Love the synergy of the soon-to-be-all-Gannett WNC print media. And people complain about Sinclair and WLOS!
Yeah, both Web sites pretty much suck — the "original" newsrecordandsentinel.com and the new "information railroad" version through the AC-T site. Get a copy — it’s worth it. Looks like Paul has finally fully embraced the previous editor’s vision for the front page.
spackle, i agree. sounds like a clash of personalities.
EM, very good question. see the latest news update.
marc, i think Little Red is about par for the course. and i’ll check out the madison county newspaper. their website sucks.
Am I the only one who thinks Little Red Ryan is out of her league? WLOS doesn’t have the greatest list of reporters but she’s in an even lower category.
Hey, Ash – check out this week’s edition of the Madison Co. News Record & Sentinel. They’ve got a cover story that I just can’t believe the rest of the local media is covering up.
That’s a wide range: 1,500 to 10,000 years ago?
Are Uzis even legal?
Sucks that Kurt Mann is leaving URTV. He was my old boss over at ironwood media group. Great guy, loves his work and does it very well. I hope he lands on his feet and gets a job that would make more use of his considerable talent.