What’s in the news on a Monday: A plane crash, lots of crime news and a speed trap in Woodfin?

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Plane crash
WLOSers said a mountain pilot was “lucky to be alive” after he crashed his biplane at the end of a grass runway at Johnson Field, the runway where planes from the Western Carolina Air Museum take off from.

Sheraldo said rescue workers said the pilot was lucky he didn’t hit some high tension power lines. Witness heard the plane sputter before it ended up upside down in a marsh next to the campus of Blue Ridge Community College, Sheraldo said. The dude who built the plane is an experienced flier who will fly again, buddies told Sheraldo, who added that the FAA will investigate. Another complete and solid report from Sheraldo, a veteran.

In crime news…
A former Hooterville barber who ran the Eastside Barber Shop pleaded guilty to multiple counts of child sex offenses involving two boys. The offenses occurred from 1994 to ’98. The 63-year-old man was sentenced to at least 40 years in prison… And Jackson County commissioners want to pass a local law to ban registered sex offenders from parks, campgrounds, trails and parks. Terrie Foster did the story… O, and the trial of Rutherford County man accused of killing his wife in July of last year.

Buncombe murder trial goes to jury
John Beavers, on trial for killing Dr. Brian Ling last year, should find out his fate in the next couple of days. There were closing arguments Monday and the jury started deliberating.

More voting machine mess
Pat Simon told us that congress might pass a new law that would force about 25 North Carolina counties with touch screen voting machines to spend more tax money to upgrade. The law under consideration would require that machines be able to spit out individual paper ballot back-ups. If the bill becomes law, it would go into effect in 2012. Simon said Henderson County would have to make the upgrade, but Buncombe County wouldn’t because it uses optical scan voting machines, which wouldn’t be affected.

In other news…
The oil spill that fouled Kenilworth Lake last Friday was caused by somebody digging on their property and hitting an underground tank… There was a controlled burn of an abandoned business on Hendersonville Road this afternoon… And there will be a public hearing Tuesday to discuss Duke Power’s plan to replace four old power plants at its Cliffside location with one new fancy coal-burning plant that would increase power production and decrease emissions. Concerned citizens don’t like the plan.

In still other news…
The FAA helped the Jackson County Airport get a new navigational antennae that will help pilots in the mountains… A new art school called the Fine Arts League of the Carolinas was dedicated Monday afternoon. Anne Rawson said the school will teach students to draw like the old masters… The Woodfin Police Department chief responds to claims that he’s running a speed trap on future I-26 – he’s says it’s not a speed trap… and reports are streaming in from around the country that kids wearing those ugly, plastic Crocs are getting their shoes caught in escalators, which is causing some injuries. The makers of Crocs say their shoes are safe.

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

  • 1

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