Buncombe County Board of Education members agreed, at their Feb. 5 meeting, to spend up to $50,000 for a detailed study of growth in the county, before asking voters to approve a bond referendum to fund new schools. The school board had discussed future school-construction projects during a retreat in Winston-Salem the previous week. According […]
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Letters to the editor
A way to stop unsafe police driving When I see law-enforcement officers driving down the road, I pay attention to their driving etiquette. Sometimes they drive courteously and respectfully, but as many times as not, they are driving aggressively and unsafely. I have wanted to see a system installed whereby a citizen can call in […]
Missing MSD money turns up—in the bank
The mystery of the missing Buncombe County sewer money has been solved: According to officials at the Metropolitan Sewerage District, the cash was never really missing in the first place. MSD staffers had been furiously recalculating cash receipts from the past four years, trying to figure out why fiscal year 1996-97’s revenues would be down […]
Stripping for success
“Star,” a topless dancer at Xcapades — one of Asheville’s two adult-entertainment clubs — is a single mother with an 8-year-old son. Over the past four years, she’s worked as a can-can girl at Maggie Valley’s Ghost Town in the Sky, as a cashier at Wal-Mart and as a waitress. But none of those jobs […]
Notepad
Eating Disorders Awareness Week Millions of women across the U.S. start each morning on the bathroom scale; many will skip breakfast — and spend the day plagued by thoughts of food and their bodies. According to the nonprofit organization Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention, as many as 10 percent of U.S. girls and women suffer […]
Giving voice to silence
It’s an unusual start to a phone interview: For one thing, Camille Jeter, the interviewee, is not on the other end of the line. Instead, I am speaking to A Dreamer, who tells me that Jeter refuses to answer my first question. But even though it takes me a moment to adjust, the scenario is […]
True to his roots
There’s no getting around what’s growing out of Vance Gilbert’s head. It isn’t quite an Afro — they traditionally have a more definitive shape, and Gilbert’s hair seems to go every which way at once. But to say only that his considerable coiffure is “long” is to vastly diminish its sheer presence. His hair is, […]
Americana sucker punch
James McMurtry is the best damn songwriter of his generation, and if you try to tell me different, I’ll punch you in the mouth. McMurtry has released four albums of heartlands vim, vigor and vision, all hammered out of rough, sinewy guitar; a deadpan-earnest, everyman voice; and disarmingly spare language that still manages to pack […]
Strangers in a strange land
Groove rock. Jam rock. Noodle rock. If pressed, Strangefolk lead singer/songwriter Reid Grenauer will admit dissatisfaction with all of those labels, deconstructing them with so much intelligence and good grace that it’s hard to argue. And though Strangefolk and the oft-lauded, oft-reviled king of modern noodle bands, Phish, do hail from the same hometown — […]
Letters to the editor
How to forecast weather better When will the weather forecasters learn their public-relations lesson? After several magnificent busts in recent predictions (“no snow” = 16 inches, and “yes, snow” = 0), Asheville forecasters kept their faces straight and moved on. It is obvious that our local weathermen study their meteorology and learn it well, but […]
When does zoning go too far?
Where should communities draw the line between neighbors’ rights and personal freedoms? When is the local government protecting its citizens, and when is it sticking its collective nose into the private affairs of individual taxpayers? For decades, local governments have used relatively subjective zoning regulations to give themselves latitude as they steered growth and development […]
Bitter battles on Hamburg Mountain
Southern hospitality stretches just so far. Locals stand in grocery check-out lines, complaining about the way “Floridiots” drive. Families who’ve lived here for generations worry about Yankees driving real-estate prices so high that the locals can’t afford to buy homes. Talk is one thing. But what happens when people involved in local politics decide to […]
Buncombe County Commission
“Appropriately optimistic and aggressive, but totally do-able,” is how UNCA Chancellor Patsy Reed summed up the school’s 10-year growth plan to commissioners at their Feb. 3 meeting. The commissioners seemed to agree. The plan — approved by the school’s board of trustees but still seeking state funding — calls for more than 15 new building […]
Notepad
Speedsters’ salvation If you’ve recently lost your license for traveling 15 mph over a 55 mph speed limit, you might be able to get your driving privileges back, according to a recent N.C. Department of Transportation press release. The state Division of Motor Vehicles recently started a pilot Speed Rehabilitation program that lets certain offenders […]
Letters to the editor
Champion should clean up its mess A recent article in the Asheville Citizen-Times brought to light the fact that Champion International recently bought a new paper mill in Brazil. The company has extensive landholdings in the South American country and is looking to “expand” its presence there. At the same time, Champion is trying to […]
Let’s get busy!
In case you haven’t noticed, children and adults gather information about the world around them in vastly different ways. If, for example, a child wants to know how something works — say, whether Newton’s law of gravity applies equally to glasses filled with grape juice and those containing milk — he or she will investigate […]
A snapshot of the artist as a young man
“Young” is a tricky word. It can be a put-down — like “naive” or “foolish” — or, when used by those obsessed with surfaces, it can be the most superficial of compliments. There is also, however, a hopeful, forward-looking, self-exploring energy and a certain ability to move, physically and artistically — unencumbered by personal history, […]
Heart-felt entertainment
Priceless jazz Janice Price and her trio, Priceless, will perform a special Valentine’s Day concert at Pack Place’s Diana Wortham Theatre. Last summer’s Bele Chere-goers might remember Price: She thrilled audiences with her fearless, dynamic vocal range on the Pritchard Park Stage. Besides her singular style as a jazz singer, Price is known nationally as […]
ABC board opts to stay put
Bad news for people trying to sell big hunks of Asheville property, but good news for Asheville and Buncombe County taxpayers: The Asheville ABC board has decided to expand its current warehouse space, instead of buying property elsewhere and building new administration and warehouse facilities. With rising liquor sales in Asheville, the town’s Alcoholic Beverage […]
Headline missing
It’s a sunny morning in Statesboro, Ga., when Jeremiah Thompson, vocalist and guitarist for S.M.O., takes an accidental tumble — with cordless in hand — off the pond-side dock outside the farmhouse he and his bandmates call home. “Yeah, I just got back from Radio Shack with a new phone,” he says sheepishly, offering the […]
Letters to the editor
Rep. Taylor should represent us Charles Taylor seems to be the representative of the “significant opposition,” not the “broad support,” on the American Heritage River designation of the French Broad. He claims 3-to-1 opposition, but his office will not reveal specific numbers. However, they acknowledged that the opposition number was less than 1,000. Knowing that […]