City Council member Carl Mumpower issued a report this morning on drug activity he did and didn’t witness in Asheville last night.
In an e-mail, Mumpower thanked Asheville police and Civic Center staffers for helping to keep drug use in check at the Widespread Panic concert.
“With limited exception, it was clear from the smell and behavior during the concert that staff, security, and police were actively enforcing house rules and city drug ordinances,” Mumpower wrote. “Those wishing to support a drug culture in Asheville were not in control of the facility.”
The full text of Mumpower’s post-concert drug report is below; in it, he also notes drug activity he says he witnessed during visits to four public-housing complexes last night.
— Jon Elliston, news editor
_____________________________________________________
From: DrMumpower@aol.com
Date: April 14, 2007 8:25:59 AM EDT
To: gjackson@ashevillenc.gov, MayorBellamy@ashevillenc.gov
Cc: councilmail@ashevillenc.gov, lbradley@ashevillenc.gov, jrichardson@ashevillenc.gov, mburleson@ashevillenc.gov, boast@ashevillenc.gov, deptdir@ashevillenc.gov, WHogan@ashevillenc.gov, GJackson@ashevillenc.gov, PoliceCommandStaff@ashevillenc.gov, wwood@ashevillenc.gov, drutledge@ashevillenc.gov, cyoung@ashevillenc.gov, jrhodes@ashevillenc.gov, klipe@ashevillenc.gov
Subject: Widespread Panic
Mr. Jackson,
A note of thanks is due for the efforts by our police and civic center staff to hold the line on drug activity at the Civic Center last night. From observations, the band, spectators, staff, and police all did their job to make it a good evening. The message last night was clear – have fun – do it without drugs.
Carl Mumpower
Asheville City Council
Friday night observations-
1) It is my understanding that most of the officers on duty at the concert were giving up their personal time to be there. I regret and value that effort.
2) With limited exception, it was clear from the smell and behavior during the concert that staff, security, and police were actively enforcing house rules and city drug ordinances. Those wishing to support a drug culture in Asheville were not in control of the facility.
3) During the evening I visited 4 public housing developments. Their was active drug trafficking at Pisgah View, Deaverview, Lee Walker Heights, and Livingston. At one of the developments, Pisgah View, there was an officer (I was unable to see his car number) who was making a strong effort to hold the line on drug activity. It was apparent that he was outnumbered – as soon as he left an area of the development, the dealers would filter back and open shop. Nonetheless, his effort to protect that community was persistent and impressive.
mountain xpress does npt support freedom of speech!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for a great weekend Asheville! We had a blast at a great concert, the cops were holding it down but I didn’t see any of them acting out of line or anything to that effect. All around a great job by the security and police keeping things under control but not being too uptight about it. Can’t wait for next year!
I was at the show and it did not smell like Good clean fun to me,and most rules were not being enforced.most people were Chain Smoking Cigarettes,Polluting the air,it was very Offensive,Very!!!!!! i went to some cops to see what they could do ,and they acted like they were not even going to do a thing(Pathetic),but then i started raising my voice in protest told them I was gonna go to “news13” and voice my opinions,They then quickly moved into action after that remark! but really did not Accomplish a thing! (Pathetic)…….cigarettes kill they are the biggest killers of all,but yet they are excepted as if its the NORM and literd everywhere – cigarettes seem to be o.k even to drug crusader MR,MUMMBLES..The show was Great but the air in side the civic center was HEAVILY polluted with cigarette smoke (very,very Un-enjoyable,not to mention very HYPOCRITICAL) there was a large haze of Cigarette smoke with in the civic center,i actually took in hits of cigarette smoke from other peoples cigarettes continuously through out the entirety of the concert some of the people i seen smoking Cigarettes looked UNDERAGE to be using tobacco products,IS THAT NOT ILLEGAL – Mr MUMPOWER, so why was that not being Enforced,not to mention the civic center is a NON-SMOKING Facility ~ again why was that NOT being Enforced !….Mr mumpower i suggest you EDUCATE yourself on the differences of hard drugs and soft drugs not to mention the dangers of LEGAL pharmaceutical drugs – THE REAL KILLERS next to ALCOHOL and TOBACCO !!! .you wasted a lot of tax payers money at that concert.all for crimes that harm no-one,but yet the cigarette chain smoking,continued and i had to breath in second hand smoke for the whole show !!!!!!!!!!!!!! your MISSION FAILED !!! I for one was still HARMED by tobacco smoke BEING FORCED TO BREATH IT IN WHETHER I WANTED TO OR NOT, THAT IS IF I WANTED TO SEE THE CONCERT – at a supposed non-smoking facility. – http://www.leap.cc . http://www.norml.com http://www.drugsense.org … get educated.
That’s Dr. Mummbles, Dankster.
i think what dr mumpower is doing is great. i hope he continues sniffing past the dealers and doers in the concerts and projects, and goes traight to the source. ie where are these drugs coming from and how do they get here?
in adition, i expect the intelligent dr mumpower will begin to question why drugs proliferate in areas like the specific projects he mentioned. namely, a very low employment rate for the individuals living in these areas.
It’s so funny that there is so much coke and coke derived products (crack) in an area that does not grow any coca.
eventually, dr mumpower may find that, gasp, certain government organizations based in the US (Washington DC) are one of the main links to bringing in such drugs into the US
so, again, i applaud dr mumpowers efforts to stem the tide of these destructive chemicles in our communities. and i hope he able to see the problem in a broader spectrum than the petty individuals on the bottom of the drug-pyramid.
oh, and i strongly agree with what dankster is saying in regards to cigarettes. if you cant smoke in them in the civic center, then it is an illegal activity and should grant the same attention as any other drugs. either enforce all laws or none.
Mumpower is praising himself. I have attend every Widespread Panic concert illegal drug-free – and I have been doing so several times a year for several years. I drink, but VERY responsibly. Nonetheless, I am completely aware of my surroundings.
This was BY FAR the easiest venue security measure upon entrance I’ve ever seen. Most check pockets, do quick pat-downs, check bags, and/or even use metal detectors. They did no such thing. In fact, police officers didn’t even enter the venue until everyone was inside – once inside, they remained in the hallway and rareley entered the main auditorium. I guess the 20 plain-clothes officers inside were busy busting 4 out of the 6,000 people inside.
The fans acted NO DIFFERENTLY at this show compared to any other I’ve seen. Drugs aside… I find it hard to believe that of 6,000 people in the presence of ALCOHOL and heroin “drug traffickers”, only 4 people should have been arrested. But, if they were trafficking… Doesn’t that mean there should have been plenty of others USING?… That’s illegal too I thought? What about other drugs? With heroin around, common sense would have led myself (if I were a cop) to look for other drugs. Maybe drugs that cause smoke to rise out of the crowd or suspicious “sniffs from the bathroom stall.” Sure, heroin is disgusting and these junkies deserve due punishment. According to the law, traffickers and users should be arrested. That’s neither here nor there. The point is…
Valuable tax dollars were used for hiring and relocating excessive (and arguably not doing their jobs) police forces, prosecuting, and detaining FOUR out-of-state TEENS who are already killing themselves (and would have been out of town over night anyways):
Mumpower states:
“3) During the evening I visited 4 public housing developments…at one of the events, there was an officer…who was making a strong effort to hold the line on drug activity. It was apparent that he was outnumbered – as soon as he left an area of the development, the dealers would filter back and open shop. Nonetheless, his effort to protect that community was persistent and impressive.”
This is suspiciously agenda-driven propaganda. Here’s why…
He first preached of his intentions on the front page of local papers before the fact – thus immediately passing unfair judgement upon, quite possibly the majority of, individuals like myself. In effect, implied to the public I am a drug user – or at least I hang out with them. This is fine for some low-life, hack blogger who has a vendetta against us personally. But, this is unacceptable for a public official.
His flashy approach (announcing he was going to “suspected” concerts to observe drug activity) – this left him the convenient opportunity to get his name on the front page again, with a follow up article & radio appearance! His reports seem positive, except…
Somehow the police officer he reported about (above) in the public housing was outnumbered!? Was it because his backup was busy “Jammin’ with Panic”? Because they certainly weren’t “making a strong effort to hold the line on drug activity.”
If Mumpower PERSONALLY saw this cop was outnumbered, I imagine he apologized for putting him in danger for the sake of the “hippie cartel” that plagued the beautiful city of Asheville with cultural and monetary wealth. Now I’m not a resident of Asheville (very close though) so I’m sure I missed Mumpower’s apology for the whole waste of tax monies thing too.
Thank Mumpower for the fact that “the dealers would filter back and open shop”, meanwhile all the cops are arresting 4 out of town junkies to tie up MORE tax dollars and court time. And this helps the People of Asheville how? Well, I guess there is one with gains to be had (if you don’t count the drug dealers who are STILL on the streets in YOUR town).
I love how red faced angry people are getting about a law being enforced.
I don’t agree with the drug laws in this country at all, but you have two options:
a) enforce all of the laws all of the time.
or
b) enforce none of the laws none of the time.
I doubt that they are going to do one of those.
Here is a Quote from a respected old school Conservative Republican:
“The amount of money and of legal energy being given to prosecute hundreds of thousands of Americans who are caught with a few ounces of marijuana in their jeans simply makes no sense – the kindest way to put it. A sterner way to put it is that it is an outrage, an imposition on basic civil liberties and on the reasonable expenditure of social energy.”
– William F. Buckley
Further more, as of this past week, Former Rep.Bob Barr (R-Ga.) Who was a major buzz kill when he was in Congress. Termed “the worst drug
warrior” on Capitol Hill by the Libertarian Party, he led the charge among conservative Republicans against the drug legalization movement.
Has just signed a contract to be a Lobbyist, for the MPP (MarijuanaPolicyProject).
Advocates for medical marijuana once blocked the door to his Congressional office in protest, and when
he lost a primary race in 2001, the executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project called it “glorious news.”
http://www.mpp.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=glKZLeMQIsG&b=1847069&ct=3708483
Why are we still wasting time and money on a Plant that hurts no one?, much less the Vast majority of those who Use this plant, who are NON-Violent offenders!!??
Dude, you are like a spam bot for pot. Does that make you a spam pot? Or a pot bot?
well, jason, does heckling instead of giving relevant info make you better? i’d rather reads someones opinion that is relevant to this string rather than your accross-the-board- anti-hippy heckles.
the reality is, nothing is as simple as your silly either or senereo. Laws are enforced SELECTIVELY so as to harrass the individuals without current political power.
i found danksters last post quite relevant to the discussion, whereas yours was just name-calling. the “war on drugs” is a joke to anyone who has a third grade education, and dr mumpowers attempts at grandstanding with said topic is, at best, laughable misguided and an example of how out of touch he is. At worst, it shows that he is trying to cling to his political power in a rapidly changing demographic that finds him more and more irrelevant.
think you can respond to that? or maybe just call me a stoner or something? i suggest leaving the cahtrooms and getting an actual job.
Where did I say that I supported the war on drugs? Point that out for me, please, because I don’t recall saying that at all. I merely suggested that the laws (which I have said were unfair time and time again) were being enforced.
I’m not going to call you a stoner, I’m going to call you stupid and simpleminded for getting mad and making baseless assumptions because I don’t agree with you 100%. You are far worse than any Baptist I’ve ever met.
I also have a job, work 40 hours a week, write freelance for three papers (including the Xpress), so please, call me an idiot.
Also, for someone who hates “cahtrooms” you certainly have picked up the vocabulary and grammar that one would find in there.
In closing, I came up with the ideas for Star Wars, and your mom’s got one toe and one knee, so they call her Tony.
My name is Julie Brown and I spoke before our city council on behalf of the families @ McCormick Heights and the proposed relocation funding. He refers to the 41 families that live here as “drug dealers holding the city hostage”. He was the single councilmember that voted against helping the families that they have refused to protect. My meaning here is that there have been multiple requests in for video surveillance in the four locations listed in his email along with the McCormick Heights location but he has decilned it every time. So, what IS he doing trolling here at night. I know who comes here then and why. I think Councilman Mumpower is a liar. Yes, I said it. If, he was so concerned about the officers doing their job and keeping us safe then he would provide the officers with the tools they need to do their jobs. And by the way, Councilman Mumpower does not seem to care that the Housing Authority of the city of Asheville led by one Mr. Gene Bell (also opposed to spending the money to set up video surveillance in the highest crime areas of the city) if Mumpower is worried about us then why hasn’t he stepped in to help the residents of McCormick Heights? We have not recieved our mail service in OVER TWO WEEKS. There is also a huge community of homeless that havce set up campsites right up against our apts in the woods. The grass is waist high and filled with needles and glass. But, these families do not matter to him. We are smart enough to know not to interrupt an officer in the performence of their duty such as a traffic stop. Yet he is so much better than us the people who elected him and pay his salary. Much less that we are the ones who serve his food, wash his clothes, and wait on him. Way to go – if you are cruising the projects in the middle of the night you are looking for drugs, sex, or violence. So, I ask you Mumpower, which one are YOU looking for?
Julie H Brown Asheville