Woodfin makeover: Plans for a massive development project include shops and retail space, restaurants, business and medical space, municipal parking and 400 housing units. For years, Woodfin, a town of nearly 4,000 just north of Asheville, has been something of a redheaded stepchild among Buncombe County municipalities. Need a prison? Put it in Woodfin. A […]
Author: Kent Priestley
Showing 337-357 of 403 results
He knows why the caged bird sings
“I think — pardon the expression — that it’s a foul charge. … It seems like they’re … trying to cage us.” — Picnics co-owner Ron Smith photo by Kent Priestley Jason Martin first played The Chicken 10 years ago, when he was still a student at UNCA. Since then, a handful of others have […]
Outdoor Journal
He’s glad you asked: On June 1, 2007, A.J. Rowell will set out from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, on an eight-month bicycle trip that will place him squarely – 10,000 miles, three Canadian provinces, 22 national parks, 13 states, and innumerable blown tubes later – in his hometown of Cullowhee. Rowell has pledged to raise at […]
Outdoor Journal
Give a hoot: Fierce performances from sophomore Patrick Hurley and junior Kylie Krauss boosted Warren Wilson College’s mountain-biking team to finish second in Division II at the 2006 USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships, held Oct. 20 to 22 at Angel Fire Resort in New Mexico. The fighting Owls placed second behind Western State […]
Outdoor Journal
The pan fish that’s all that: The humble bluegill sunfish (or bream, as folks around here call them) may be rather more than the fish most likely to suck the bobber off a Zebco “Dora the Explorer”-model fishing pole. In test labs, the sensitive swimmers are demonstrating an ability to pass along information about their […]
Donald v. Goliath
Most voters don’t thrill to developments in the clerk of court race. They don’t pay attention to which candidate spends more. Most of them, it’s probably safe to say, don’t care a whit about who occupies the office, so long as he or she is not an Al-Qaeda affiliate. Don Yelton, the Republican challenger to […]
Outdoor Journal
Dueling memos: American Whitewater plans to appeal a federal judge’s decision to throw out a lawsuit the Cullowhee-based group brought against the U.S. Forest Service last year, which sought to open the upper Chattooga River to boating. In 1985 the USFS banned watercraft from the river’s 21-mile headwaters, making it the only river with a […]
House-to-house fighting
Walking the walk: WNCAP Educator Michael Harney, in the foreground; counter-clockwise are Women and Youth Coordinator Emmaleigh Argonauta and volunteers Mike Fann, Mark Jones, Allison Elliott and Terry Sferlazza. photo by Jonathan Welch A quarter-century ago, an unnamed disease began afflicting gay men in urban centers such as New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. […]
Outdoor Journal
Silver threads among the gold (foliage): On Friday, Oct. 20, Asheville Parks and Recreation will sponsor a Senior Treks hike on the Rattlesnake Lodge Trail, which spurs from the Blue Ridge Parkway north of Asheville. The hike is 2.6 miles with a 500-foot elevation change. Make sure you bring lunch, water, good walking shoes and […]
Buncombe County Commission
“This would be a frivolous, environmentally unsound road.” — Asheville resident Julie Brandt, protesting the proposed paving of N.C. 197 near Barnardsville Gotta hand it to ’em: Opponents of paving N.C. 197 gesticulate during the commisioners’ meeting. photo by Jonathan Welch A 4.5-mile stretch of North Fork Road, aka N.C. 197, links Buncombe and Yancey […]
Outdoor Journal
No reporter is an island: Xpress’ own Cecil Bothwell will be leading some low-impact water tours with the alliterative name “First Fridays at Four on the French Broad,” beginning Oct. 6. The family-friendly forays (sorry, Cecil) depart from the park under the Haywood Road Bridge (on Riverside Drive) and wind up at Woodfin Riverside Park. […]
Gone but not forgotten
Members of Asheville and Buncombe County’s new public-access TV station, URTV, are still smarting from the departure of its general manager, Kurt Mann, last month. Last Thursday afternoon a number of them gave the station’s board of directors a talking-to on the matter, voicing support for Mann and the job he was doing, and calling […]
The Garlic Freak
photo by Kent Priestley Tom Sherry’s Whistlepig Farm, which is situated in Hominy Valley near Candler, seems to be more or less free of vampires, a fact which has allowed him to concentrate on growing a business. “I’m a free bleeder,” Sherry says, speaking on matters circulatory. Garlic, among its other curative powers, is a […]
Outdoor Journal
A banjos and BENGAY affair: The Autism Society of North Carolina will hold its first annual 5K trail run on Saturday, Oct. 14, to raise awareness and money for the condition, which affects one in 175 school-aged children in America today. The run will take place at Deerfields, a mountain retreat 20 miles south of […]
Outdoor Journal
Hit the books, hit the trail: What if everyone in WNC took time to read the same book? That’s the premise of the Together We Read program, now in its fifth year. This year, program participants are reading Saints at the River by WNC author Ron Rash, a fictionalized account of a real drowning that […]
UR outta here
“We had 350 members. Our classes were full. The bottom line is, we were delivering the goods.” — Former URTV General Manager Kurt Mann “We’re looking for a more buttoned-down management style at this point.” — URTV Board President Mark Wilson Public-access television station URTV went on-air last month after years of sometimes heated public […]
Outdoor Journal
After-school special: Tell that sullen teenager of yours to stop nuking Hot Pockets and sign up for the slew of outdoor adventures hosted by Asheville Parks and Recreation, UNC Asheville Outdoors and the Outdoor Industry Foundation. Asheville Teens Outside starts its fall session this month, giving area teens the opportunity to try their hands and […]
Buncombe County Commission
Strong talk by the Buncombe County commissioners concerning a moratorium on new subdivisions suggested by Commissioner David Young went soft by the end of their Sept. 5 meeting. Although the chamber was packed with county residents crying foul about new, large-scale development on steep slopes, the commissioners unanimously agreed to fast-track new storm-water rules rather […]
Outdoor Journal
Hey, watch where you’re putting that arrow: Hunting/fishing guide Garrett Thompson will compete in the 2006 Field & Stream Total Outdoorsman Challenge, Sept. 8-9 in Nashville, Tenn., giving the Marion local a chance to win the first-place prize of $4,000. During the competition, would-be Total Outdoorsmen must prove their mettle at seven different outdoor skills: […]
Sea change
For years now, the sound from North Carolina industry — traditional industry, at any rate — has been more funeral dirge than fanfare. Globalization, NAFTA, outsourcing, plant closings, you name it: The news hasn’t been good. Meanwhile, a major change has quietly been taking place in the industrial sector. As textiles and furniture manufacturing have […]
Outdoor Journal
Gorge yourself: Last year’s inaugural Hickory Nut Gorge Olympiad was a big success, with more than 260 medals going out to winners and $10,000 raised for for good causes. This year’s event will run twice as long, from Sept. 7 to Sept. 10. The sports festival is styled after the Olympics, with land and water […]