The city gaveth, and the city must taketh away. I have been on a crusade of sorts for the last year and a half. At issue is the city's inept, ineffective and dangerous attempt at traffic calming in north Asheville, on Charlotte Street and on Macon and Kimberly avenues. In the spring of 2008, City […]

By 1936, the Great Depression had savaged the nation and the world, and Asheville and Buncombe County were left in dire financial circumstances. Schoolteachers were being paid in scrip (IOUs from the county that some local merchants reluctantly accepted, at deep discounts, so that teachers could buy the bare necessities of life). Land was still […]

I suffer from the same senior malady as most of my peers in that I can’t remember what I had for breakfast or where I left my cell phone, but I am blessed with an uncanny recall of things that happened when I was a very small child. Given the present economic situation, I thought […]

I’ve been taken to the woodshed by some animal-rights folks after describing my experience buying a lot of old horses and mules at the Asheville stockyard to be processed in my father’s rendering plant (see “The Gospel According to Jerry,” Nov. 26, 2008 Xpress). There was no truck available to haul these animals. My father […]

When I grew up in small-town Asheville, Christmas was magical. True, it was a secular holiday for my family and me. But who could ignore the excitement of the Christmas parade, the lights and decorations, the music and the spirit of giving and caring that pervaded the community during that time of year? “White Christmas” […]

Let me tell you about one of the longest days of my life. As I’ve mentioned in earlier columns, my father operated a rendering plant on Riverside Drive just south of Broadway. We bought product from many different sources, one of which was the Asheville Livestock Yard, located near where the Day’s warehouses are now. […]

As I watched the final night of the Democratic convention, I reflected on how I was brought up segregated in Asheville. It was made clear that I shouldn’t drink from the black water fountain at Sears, or use the black men’s room on Pack Square, or sit in the back of the bus or in […]

We have a free front seat at one of the great melodramas, replete with Roman tragedy, Greek pathos, bathos and raw comedy. The opening scene takes place in City/County Plaza in the ancient village of Asheville. Many worshippers and mystical witches are dancing around a beautiful magnolia tree that they have imbued with a special […]

First of all, I want to announce that I am not a hysterical revisionist. In my Feb. 6 column, I mentioned that the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred on Dec. 7, 1942; the correct year is 1941. Both my editor and I missed it: my bad, he badder. This mistake did have one positive effect, […]

My most exciting memories of life along the French Broad River in my very early teens were of my surreptitious forays to the Asheville stockyard, which was then on Riverside Drive near Day’s Tobacco Warehouse. I would wait till my dad left for his regular Friday buying trip and then jump off the back rail […]

This is not a fairy tale. Once upon a time, coal was king and the French Broad River was queen. Smoking, fire-breathing dragons hauled long lines of huge wagons loaded with coal and other supplies destined for the kingdom. The railroad also delivered finished products, bringing much treasure to the realm. An abundance of willing […]

The shocking irony of the Asheville City Council’s recent actions wasn’t lost on me—or, I am sure, on many other residents of our fair city. First they passed an ordinance prohibiting gated communities. This was ostensibly an effort to bring our community together by fostering a climate of inclusiveness. Then, in the next breath, they […]

The pathetic news story of Mary Winkler of Lebanon, Tenn., who was recently convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of her preacher husband, makes me wonder what kind of hell it must be living daily with the fear that your spouse or significant other is going to verbally, physically or sexually harass or abuse […]

Asheville City Council members have finally found a real visceral issue that they can add to their long and impressive list of accomplishments. So far, the list consists of installing more roundabouts, putting up fancy (and expensive) new streetlights, getting a trellis put up at Staples, changing the loading dock at Green Life, and their […]

The cause of people opposed to building a new power plant in Woodfin was hardly dignified by two punk kids who illegally climbed a billboard and vandalized private property. I certainly understand that many of us are very frustrated with our national energy policy, which does not promote conservation or reduce the use of fossil […]