Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Here’s some of what WLOSers had at 10 Tuesday night:
Kassandra Pride stood under some cover as it poured the rain and told us that Asheville City Council approved the hiring of two new Asheville police officers to fight gangs. This is the beginning of a new police gang unit that will track and anaylze gang activity, Special K said. Its creation was prompted by recent gang activity, including the shooting of a 12-year-old by a 14-year-old now in jail. Chief Bill Hogan said the new officers will engage the community and the gangs.
The city also approved added security at the city’s 11 recreational centers. One of those rec centers, Stephens-Lee Recreatinal Center, was the site of a triple shooting.
Kassandra said all this will cost taxpayers about $210,000.
Then Holly Headrick told us that there are six active gangs in Asheville with about 100 members who were responsible for about 400 crimes this past year. She also gave us a run-down of the unsolved gang shootings.
In other news…
A car hit an ambulance near the intersection of Hendersonville Road and Sweeten Creek Road.
In other assorted news…
Neighbors of the old CTS plant on Mills Gap Road are still fighting to get the federal government to clean up the site. Groundwater is contaminated and they want something more done. They’ll meet with a lawyer today and they plan to form a nonprofit group to help fight the pollution… Some N.C. firefighters are headed out West to help battle the huge California blazes… An Asheville Red Cross worker is headed to California to help out, too. That person will leave today… And Asheville Police caution drivers to watch out for wet leaves on the roads. They’re slippery.
Dispute over grave stone
WLOSers had a convoluted story about a guy they said was arrested months ago for removing a head stone from a grave in Shook Cemetery in the Upper Laurel community of Madison County.
The marker was a Union marker issued by the federal government and placed on the grave in 1920, according to a family member in Madison County. The guy who was arrested, who is from Gaston County and also claims to be a distant relative, removed the old stone and put a Confederate marker up.
The Madison County family says the dead man fought on both sides, but died a Union soldier.
Alcohol sales referendums
Sheraldo went out to Madison County to tell us that the town of Marshall will have a referendum on the ballot about whether to allow alcohol sales. Mills River and Highlands have similar referendums, he said.
In Marshall, Sheraldo talked to a local pastor who says alcohol is evil. He knows because his daughter-in-law was killed in a drunk-driving accident just a couple weeks ago, Sheraldo said.
But businesses owners say the town is losing all kinds of tax money and revenue by not selling.
Back at the church, a church member says alcohol is a disease in a bottle an we need to eliminate the disease by eliminating the bottle.
In drought news…
Now some people in the South are literally praying for rain.
