The local news can sometimes reveal a lot about a place, in relatively few words.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Headline in the Citizen-Times: “Asheville Cops: Woman Illegally Practiced Massage.” The story begins: “A [local] woman is facing charges in Asheville including practicing massage therapy without a license.”\u00a0 At this point, you might think, what a shame that she didn’t finish massage school and get her license first.\u00a0 Don’t the cops have better things to do than go door-to-door checking licenses?\u00a0 The story goes on: “She\u2019s accused of falsely reporting to police that a man broke into her motel room and attempted to rape her, according to warrants.\u00a0 [She] also was served with two outstanding warrants for possession of drug paraphernalia.”\u00a0 Oh.\u00a0 I think this is known in journalism school as burying the lead<\/em>.\u00a0 Good thing the cops don’t go around checking writing licenses.<\/p>\n \u2022 Item in the Asheville Area Community Calendar: “Concealed Carry Handgun Class, Feb.\u00a010-11, 6-10 p.m.\u00a0 $60 military personnel, $80 civilians.”\u00a0 Lesson Number One: remember to remove your concealed handgun prior to your massage.<\/p>\n \u2022 A Citizen-Times article titled, “Park Spent $8,300 on Smokies Rescue,” goes into lengthy detail how “Great Smoky Mountains National Park spent more than $8,000 in overtime and supplies to rescue three hikers stranded in the park last month.”\u00a0 But that’s not the end of it, the article takes pains to point out.\u00a0 “The total cost of the rescue effort is unclear.\u00a0 A helicopter from the N.C. Helicopter and Aquatic Rescue team was used to airlift the men.\u00a0 The N.C. Department of Public Safety says the N.C. National Guard provided the helicopter for the rescue.\u00a0 Officials from the National Guard could not be reached Friday.”\u00a0 [Perhaps they were attending concealed carry class.]\u00a0 To drive the point home, the reporter tells us that “the park spent more than $250,000 on more than 100 incidents” in 2012.\u00a0 Wow.\u00a0 Now, what do you think readers had to say about this?\u00a0 There were four comments.<\/p>\n Its time that those rescued start being charged something for their mere stupidity.<\/em><\/p>\n What lunacy! The way is littered with the ghosts of idiots.<\/em><\/p>\n I wonder if these three unprepared men have medical insurance. Or did they feel that they were “invinsible’?<\/em><\/p>\n I agree they should be charged a hefty service fee for having their lives saved.<\/em><\/p>\n The way is littered indeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The local news can sometimes reveal a lot about a place, in relatively few words. \u2022 Headline in the Citizen-Times: “Asheville Cops: Woman Illegally Practiced Massage.” The story begins: “A [local] woman is facing charges in Asheville including practicing massage … Continue reading