It is time for us to stop looking at the federal government to reform health care (they are gridlocked and will forever be), and to focus on state-supported reforms. When you consider that many of our states are bigger than most countries that have national health care, one would think that we could make progress […]

Recently, I heard a report concerning carbon emissions that confirmed an idea I had, which is that compared to jet airplanes, international shipping upon the oceans creates more carbon [emissions]. Obviously, this also means that the shipping of raw materials and goods internationally uses up a lot of petroleum. I heard this report on The […]

I am crestfallen, nay, dismayed, to see the long-independent Mountain Xpress pander to the machinations of Asheville’s civic powers. I am referring, of course, to the travesty of truth published in the lead sentence of Hal Millard’s article, “Boom and Bust” [July 18], wherein he claims the translation of “Bele Chere”—our town’s annual three-day tourist […]

Concerning the article on CTS [“Fail-safe? Hazardous-waste Site Falls Through Regulatory Cracks,” July 11], I want to express my deep gratitude to Dave Ogren, who called the Department of Environment and Natural Resources back in 1990; Barry Durand, who did his research and brought the situation to the attention of the Mountain X; Rebecca Bowe, […]

“According to local historians, Asheville was a black freeman’s town: no plantations, no cotton, comparatively little slavery.” (Italics my emphasis.) Nothing personal, Ms. Hammond [“The Asheville Niceness Factor,” Commentary, July 11], but I am inspired to do a take-off on your observations. I call it “comparatively blood-soaked.” In Asheville, there is comparatively little consideration of […]

Thank you for printing at least the civil portion of my letter regarding Rose Hill Plantation (aka Bulldozed Hill Abomination) [“Mourning the Mountain,” July 11]. It was thoughtful and kind of the editor to remove the rabid insults that I fired at the developers. Unfortunately, I feel that in the cleanup, the main intention was […]

While we all wait for the Board of Elections to validate signatures, I think we should all reflect on what was achieved in the Let Asheville Vote petition drive. There was no one person that we couldn’t do without. Rather, there were dozens of people whose absence would have derailed our campaign. There were the […]

I am writing to inform Brownie Newman (whom I once had sincere admiration for, thanks in part to his strong stance on curbing air pollution in North Carolina) and his three partisan-election-pushing cronies (whom I also voted for) that there are more than two letters in the alphabet. I’m all for simplifying one’s political affiliation […]

Regarding partisan/nonpartisan elections—so, what do you do when Republicans run as independents? Where I came from, Republicans wouldn’t run under the Republican flag. They called themselves independents, hoping to attract more votes. — Dan Stitt Black Mountain

Reading the article in Mountain Xpress promoting Coon Dog Day in Saluda [“Free Barking: You Won’t Get Hounded by a Lot of Rules at Coon Dog Day,” July 5], I found myself drawn back in time to a haunting childhood memory, forever etched in my psyche, [of] when my father took me along on a […]

I would like our community to know about a wonderful thing Doc Chey’s did for me recently. Following a back surgery that turned unlucky when I contracted a rare infection from surgery, I was out of work for several months. Doc Chey’s organized a day where they would donate 5 percent of their sales to […]

When did the word development come to mean destruction? Did I lose a piece of understanding somewhere? I thought development meant to continue developing that which already exists. Yet instead, here in Asheville, it is showing up as meaning to destroy—destroy our natural beauty, our mountainsides, our hills, our scenic long views. In our own […]

I ask that you consider the metaphor of Asheville as a beautiful, wealthy, innocent young woman being courted relentlessly by men of all ages, some of whom are rapacious rogues. They desire her only for her wealth—her beauty a secondary consideration, at best. The rogues appear presentable to her parents, who want a good marriage […]

In response to “Mourning the Mountain” submitted by Eva Scruggs of Leicester [Letters, July 11], I respectfully disagree with the statement that Rose Hill Plantation’s “developers are really just destroyers.” On behalf of the Rose Hill Plantation development: We understand and sympathize with individuals who are concerned about good land management in Western North Carolina. […]