“Public employment, whether you like it or not … is not Joe’s Burger Shack.” — Asheville attorney John Hunter When Buncombe County Budget Director Ken Goble was fired in June 2000, the news hit with a splash. When he sued, claiming he’d been illegally dismissed, it created a few more waves — especially since the […]

A dose of hip infused the Feb. 19 Buncombe County Board of Commissioners meeting, as local folks involved in film, television and multimedia work pitched public-access TV as a tool for economic development. Loosely organized by Asheville-based digital-media consultant David McConville, the group urged commissioners to push for more money from Charter Communications in the […]

For Mike Morgan, the unsuccessful lawsuit against Buncombe County that he and business partner Peter Dawes took to court last week was all about the First Amendment. For William A. Blancato of Winston-Salem, the county’s lawyer, the issues were camera angles, free publicity and whether Dawes and Morgan have the right to direct county meetings […]

Buncombe County Sheriff Bobby Medford says he was following state law and his own departmental policy when he warned “Reclaim the Streets” protesters last month that he’d use every means — including deadly force — to keep them from entering the jail. State law says that a law-enforcement officer is justified in using deadly force […]

The continuing saga of the former Biltmore School took another twist last week. Buncombe County Manager Wanda Greene told the commissioners at their March 27 meeting that she had great news: The WNC Historical Association has secured new funding to buy the Biltmore School property from the county. The group plans to convert the former […]

A standing-room-only crowd of about 350 people packed A-B Tech’s Laurel Auditorium last week to voice their views on a topic that stirs opinions like no other in Buncombe County: zoning. The Buncombe County commissioners called the March 27 public hearing to gather opinions on enacting limited county zoning just outside the Asheville city limits […]

The county cutbacks have also hit local nonprofit agencies hard, especially since they typically operate on shoestring budgets anyway. The county manager trimmed 10 percent from the county’s allocations for human-service agencies and 25 percent from the funding for agencies that serve other needs. The county had allocated about $2 million to 56 nonprofits in […]

The Buncombe County commissioners jumped into the billboard debate last week, unanimously issuing a 60-day moratorium on new off-premise signs in the County. Approved on March 6, the moratorium took effect immediately. It is aimed at preventing a torrent of requests for new billboard permits as the commissioners consider banning billboards altogether. Commissioners agreed to […]

Shortly after Dr. Heon Cheol Lee and his family moved to Weaverville, he received an anonymous phone call that he still can’t blot from his mind. Four years later, Lee, an assistant professor of sociology at UNCA, recalled the incident with utter clarity for audience members attending a recent Asheville forum on race relations. “Unless […]

In an action-packed meeting, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners decided last week to seek public input on using limited county zoning to prevent the city of Asheville from extending its extraterritorial jurisdiction farther into the county. Illustrating the old adage that politics makes strange bedfellows, board members (who have diverse views on countywide zoning) […]

Popular public-radio station WNCW is still on the hot seat. The Federal Communications Commission is looking into whether the Spindale station violated FCC rules on underwriting announcements and maintaining its “public file,” according to a Jan. 26 letter the FCC sent to Isothermal Community College (which holds the station’s license). “It’s a first step in […]

The thorny question of where to site a satellite jail may be close to a mutually satisfactory resolution. After weeks of public wrangling over Buncombe County’s plan to put a minimum-security jail on the edge of downtown, County Manager Wanda Greene announced last week that city and county representatives had agreed that the jail should […]

The fallout from Buncombe County’s controversial plans to site a satellite jail on the edge of downtown continued to ripple through the community last week. The Asheville City Council, which unsuccessfully pleaded with the county commissioners to delay their Jan. 16 vote, responded on Jan. 23 with action of their own. (See “Just the facts,” […]

The board giveth, and the board taketh away — or at least withholdeth some. That’s essentially what the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners did at their Jan. 16 meeting, as members considered several weighty topics. The issue that generated the most controversy was the commissioners’ decision to authorize the purchase of property on South Lexington […]

If you stroll down South Lexington Avenue, you might overlook the blockish white building that’s generating a storm of controversy over Asheville’s growth. The building squats on part of a pie-shaped chunk of land bounded by South Lexington, Hilliard and Church streets, just around the corner from lively Biltmore Avenue’s downtown scene. The structure is […]

Buncombe County officials say their search for additional jail space is driven by a growing inmate population. And one of the biggest factors leading to an increasing jail population is the rising number of women offenders, notes County Planner Cynthia Barcklow. “That’s the biggest problem right now,” maintains Barcklow. Of the 356 beds currently available […]

For some, the word “retreat” might conjure up an image of a cabin tucked away in some remote wooded glen, the trills of songbirds offering a respite from the hubbub of the outside world. But for the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, this month’s edition of their annual retreat translated into a pair of structured […]

Last fall, the political action committee Citizens for Change campaigned to oust — or, in their words, “dump” — the incumbent Buncombe County commissioners. Now, with the election behind them (and only one of the group’s favored candidates, Nathan Ramsey, elected to the board), Citizens for Change has been reborn as a citizens’ action group […]

As the saying goes, the devil is in the details. That seems to be the case for neighbors organizing against a proposed apartment complex near the Woodland Hills subdivision outside Weaverville. SW of Asheville wants to build a 228-unit apartment complex on 17 wooded acres at the junction of New Stock Road, Weaverville Highway and […]