Classic Answer Man takes on smiley face case, vinegar
What a relief to put my Answer Man suit back on for a day. Pretty sure nobody wants to send ol' Answer Man to California or France for expressing opinions.
On to your questions, my smart-aleck responses and the real deal.
Question: When reading about the salmonella outbreak, the article mentioned that the ingredients and the vinegar were being taken for testing. Why the vinegar? I had thought that vinegar was immune to bacteria and that salmonella is a bacteria. I even use vinegar as a wash for vegetables we plan to eat raw. It has turned out that vinegar was not the culprit, but could it have been?
My answer: I suggest using my technique for washing vegetables: the deep fryer.
Real answer: Gaylen Ehrlichman, health promotion program supervisor with the Buncombe County Health Department, talked to the health experts and chased the answer down on this one.
Based on U.S. Food and Drug Administration codes, potential food hazards cover a broad range of possibilities and food interactions, she said.
"From an overall food testing perspective, foods such as vinegar should not be ruled out for testing just because of a pH that wouldn't easily support bacterial growth (below 4.6 pH)," Ehrlichman said. "Although salmonella may not commonly grow in an environment with a low pH, it is wise to test it, because it may survive the lower pH levels. Also, we couldn't rule out the (possibility) that the vinegar could have been contaminated with another food product or additive that could have raised the pH above 4.6 and support bacterial growth."
Question: What's the deal with the smiley face on Sweeten Creek? It looked like they had mowed all the grass and it was gone, but there are now little flags around there ... looks like they are marking it off.
My answer: State Rep. Tim Moffitt, R-Buncombe, who's been in the news just a bit lately, owns this south Buncombe property, famous for the huge smiley face that's dominated the field facing the road since 1998. I can only suspect that he's tweaking the design so the tongue is sticking out toward Asheville.
Real answer: Moffitt has owned the property for 12 years and kept the smiley face up the whole time. The grass got really high over the spring because his large finish mower was in the shop.
He got a friend to chop down the chest-high grass, who used it as hay for cattle.
"I got it back in shape two weeks ago," Moffitt said Friday. "It's mapped out now, although I may go back and trim parts to keep it low. Then I'll go back with fertilizer to keep it green."
Question: Are there any plans to improve the intersections of Swannanoa River Road at Biltmore Avenue, and Mills Gap Road at Sweeten Creek Road and Hendersonville Road in south Asheville? All three have major backups at certain times of the day.
My answer: Man, so demanding. What's next? Limiting motorists to 10 collisions a day on the Smoky Park Bridge?
Real answer: Ed Green, division maintenance engineer with the Asheville office of the N.C. Department of Transportation, said these "are all intersections of two high-volume roadways."
"As you mention, these intersections are congested at peak periods for short durations due to the high volumes of traffic using them," Green said. "These intersections as well as other congested intersections are frequently monitored to make sure the signals are working at maximum efficiency. I will ask our signal technicians to review these intersections to ensure the signals are working properly and that delays are minimized."
Hmm ... I've got to take this to mean no major work is planned.