Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Jackson County shooting revisited
Russ “Beefcake” Bowen continued to follow the story of how Jackson County deputies shot and killed a suspect wanted for shooting three China Dragon restaurant workers in Cullowhee earlier this week.
Wednesday, the family of the dead suspect questioned the deputies’ actions. The said deputies needlessly shot the suspect, who as armed with a knife when they caught up with him. The family also questioned whether their loved one was involved at all in the restaurant shooting.
Bowen got copies of a search warrant, which confirmed that the restaurant workers had positively identified the dead suspect as the man who shot them. Bowen also talked to the sheriff, who confirmed that the suspect had helped deliver a fridge to the restaurant just recently.
Finally, Bowen went back to the witness he interviewed Wednesday, the guy who said deputies blasted away without giving the suspect a chance. The witness, the dead suspect’s boss as it turns out (Russ didn’t tell us that Wednesday) really toned down his story when Russ went back to him.
Seltzer’s disaster drill
Jay Seltzerwater, stopwatch in hand, bubbled with his report about putting a local family to the test with a 10-minute disaster drill.
Seltzer hooked up with a woman who also happens to be a News13 weatherspotter. She and her son live in the country, exposed to flood, fire and any of a number of other natural disasters, Seltzer said. The woman’s husband and other son weren’t home, but that’s OK, Seltzer said. We’re doing the test anyway.
With a click of his stopwatch, the woman and her son were off, with 10 minutes to grab up necessities. They snatched files. A wooden aligator. More files. The family dog. Some old baseball cards. More files. But would they get what they needed, all the materials Seltzer had on his Disaster Drill List?
Time’s up. Seltzer went through the checklist, and it soon became apparent that everything was paperwork – property records, credit card records, etc. So that’s the lesson – have your paperwork in one place and take it with you. Everything else is gravy.
Sqeal like a pig, Le
Jon “Punnyman” Le followed up Wednesday’s pork report on a lost pot-bellied pig by reporting that WLOSers had taken a number of calls from people willing to take in “Suki” the pig. Ashvegas is a town full of pet-loving suckers who’ll do more for a dog than they ever would for a human.
But I digress. Le said the Leicester pig’s real owner showed up to claim his pig. Turns out its name is “Wilbur,” and, as only a Leicester boy can do, explained that he had bought the pig for his little girl Taylor’s birthday last year. Awww. Ain’t that sweet.
So the Leicester boy gathers up the porker and takes him home to the wife and trailer for the big reunion with the little girl, and the Punnyman and his camera was right there to record it all. The pig seemed right at home in the trashy trailer. And the Punnyman couldn’t resist sweeping up Wilbur and giving him a great big squeeze.
Whatever…
Cuevas on snow
On Thursday’s weatherguessing session, Mike “Cabana Boy” Cuevas tempered his prediction for Tuesday snow by saying that it might snow, especially in the upper elevations. Well now. That’s a good guess. Snow in the mountains. When it’s 40 degrees in Ashvegas and in the teens up at 5,000 feet above sea level, it might well snow. Good one, Mikey.
