Today the nearby small town of Sylva had a lockdown. It was occasioned by the police chasing a car that had been stolen in Asheville. It had an OnStar system, so it was very easy to find.
The cops assumed -- without evidence -- that the thief was armed, and further assumed -- again without evidence -- that he might have driven the hour from Asheville to Jackson County to shoot up a school. So they locked down all the schools even though they knew exactly where he was at all times because of the OnStar system.
All day long I've been hearing rumors going around that he was a felon, with body armor, and long rifles, who planned to shoot up the school system. Apparently a local news and weather service even pushed out the claim about the body armor. Naturally the major effect of the lockdown was to send a wave of terror through the public (with the minor effect of destroying lunch traffic).
None of it proved to be true. He was unarmed, apparently intended only grand theft auto, and was wearing a tank top.
He is still at large, though, because once he abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot he easily eluded law enforcement.
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Even among the professional staff who should know better, I found that unfounded rumors persisted for ages about the murderers and attempted murderers we treated, but twice as bad about the sex offenders or suspected sex offenders. Some things just seem to set off the imaginations and folks stop thinking.
The claim that the police are there to protect the suspects from the public is not just an irony. And sometimes they are worse than the public themselves.
"The claim that the police are there to protect the suspects from the public is not just an irony."
This is a community in which it is not unusual to see men wearing pistols on their hip at the store. You'd be wise to pick another town for almost any sort of wrongdoing, although theft and drug issues are very common there.
Was it the Sylva town police on the chase, or the Sheriff's department? Usually, the town cops are people who couldn't make it in the Sheriff's department.
If it was the sheriff's department, then Chip Hall has let the department slide. Maybe that's why Jimmy Ashe is running again, as well as all the others that come out of the woodwork at election time.
Ashe is out now; he lost the primary election. The candidates are down to Rick Buchanan and Doug Farmer. I recently heard each of the candidates speak, and they all seemed to have a low opinion of Hall and the job he's done. I can't say that I'm dissatisfied, though. All I wanted was for them to stay in Sylva and not come up here, and largely that's what they've done.
I hear that the suspect was eventually caught because Lowes' employees identified him and followed him around until the deputies could be summoned. He was not armed.
It may be a tall tale, but there's a story about a man who ran for Sheriff way back when. Supposedly he went up into Little Canada and told the folks that he was running for sheriff and that this was the first time he had been up there and if he was elected, it would be the last time. He was elected and then over time, broke his promise and he "disappeared", never to be seen again.
Like I said, probably a tall tale, but with that area up there, you never know.
I’d have voted for him, if he’d kept that promise.
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