Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Our own prisoner abuse scandal?
WLOSers got all hot and bothered leading off at 6 p.m. with a Sheraldo “News 13 investigates exclusive report,* but the story could barely stand without blowhard Barber pumping it up.
You know it’s sweeps when Sheraldo bases a report on an unnamed source. So right off the bat, we know this story skates on thin ice. So Sheraldo says the source has “alleged military photos” showing some Middle Easterners in cuffs in prison cells in Iraq or Afghanistan or somewhere. They’re setting us up for our own Lynde England type prisoner abuse case, right?
Well, not quite. Turns out the photos don’t show any apparent abuse. Just guys in handcuffs. And it also turns out that Sheraldo doesn’t know if the photos are real. The secret source says they came from a local member of a N.C. National Guard military police unit. But Sheraldo calls the dude, who refuses to go on camera but denies having anything to do with the photos.
So Sheraldo gets a National Guard spokesman to say they’re looking into the situation. It’s a military investigation, if you believe Sheraldo. But it’s not a crime to bring back photos. And Sheraldo never said whether it was against military regulations to have taken, or have, the photos.
So in the end, were left with nothing, really. Thanks for wasting our time, once again.
Santa news
Julie Blunder treated the arrival of Santa at the Ashvegas Mall as if it were news. She was standing live at the mall at 5″30 and 6. Santa’s arrival was “sponsored” by the area Kia dealership. Wonder if all those Kia car ads peppered throughout the newscasts had anything to do with the so-called coverage, during a news broadcast, of a so-called Santa. On Nov. 4, no less.
Bowen’s balls
ouch
We just had to gross you out by posting a couple of the photos from Thursday night’s report on Russ “Beefcake” Bowen’s ball surgery. (Eye ball surgery, sheeple. sheesh)
More predictions
Twenty-two inches. That’s Cabana Boy Cuevas’ prediction for this year’s snowfall total, as measured at the Ashvegas Airport, where location of the official weather station for record-keeping purposes.
I’d say that’s a bit high. I’ll have to look at the National Climatic Data Center records to see what the average snowfall total is, but seems like we haven’t gotten that much snow over the past couple of winters.
What’s your guess? And don’t worry, we’ll keep track and see how Cabana Boy does.
Johnny, we will make it so in an upcoming post. Thanks for reading – you and your friends have waaay too much time on your hands…
Dear Ash,
Since you keep up with WLOS reporters so much my friends and I would love to see you rank them from best to worst. I know the worst is most of the list though, So this will be a challenge Ash, are you up to it?