Welcome back, Margaret Writer Margaret W. Worley (1858-1923) roamed North Carolina’s mountains with a pen in one pocket and a squirrel in another. The squirrel became the star of a children’s book she wrote in 1904 called Little Mitchell: The Story of a Mountain Squirrel. The pen she used to write The Carolina Mountains, a […]

Women in the wildwood The second annual Southeast Women’s Herbal Conference will bring several hundred women together at Camp Pinnacle in Hendersonville Sept. 22-24 to learn, explore and celebrate their healing connections with the earth, with plants and with one another. Keynoting this year’s conference will be teacher/author Starhawk, who’ll speak on “Earth as Teacher, […]

Making money the new-fashioned way To eco-defenders who regard corporations with suspicion, or businesspeople who roll their eyes at environmentalists’ latest outcry, the phrase “natural capitalism” may sound like an oxymoron. Nonetheless, investors are buying it. The greening of the corporate world is “going incredibly fast,” according to David Wallace of the Asheville branch of […]

Paving the way for pets All aboard: From left to right, Patricia Paravalos, with dog Penny and grandson Danny Stinson, and Patricia Norman with Molly. photo by Rebecca Bowe Patricia Norman moved to Asheville’s Battery Park Apartments 18 months ago, accompanied by Molly, her 5-year-old Yorkshire terrier. A former resident of public-transit-savvy New York City, […]

A seat at the table Despite any differences they may have, the seven sitting members of the Buncombe County Board of Education all have one thing in common: None are students in Buncombe County Schools. 15-year-old Adam King aims to remedy that situation. Since February, he’s been stirring up local interest in adding a student […]

Taking the Civic Center debate online Taking advantage of the newest version of civic discourse, longtime Asheville Civic Center monitor David Bailey has launched a personal Web site focused on the future — in both form and function — of this heavily studied local icon. Bailey’s homegrown “Asheville’s Controversial Civic Center,” at www.civiccentercontroversy.com, entered the […]

State expert weighs in on Greenlife, Staples, Prudential … and the UDO Residents unhappy with Asheville’s housing-code enforcement claimed victory last week, after release of a study by the N.C. Institute of Government. “This report validates what we’ve been saying all along. Decisions we questioned, which were made administratively, should really have been made by […]

Hot ticket It’s unlikely that any environmental defense group takes a broader view of our region than SouthWings, a nonprofit conservation organization based in Asheville. SouthWings is the conservation movement’s eye in the sky, providing the skilled pilots (all volunteers) and aerial education needed to bolster environmental efforts across the Southeast. Since its founding, the […]

Filing period open for two county boards Two avenues for hands-on, nonpartisan governmental service at the local level are open to candidates who are ready to sign on the dotted line: the Buncombe County Soil & Water Conservation Board of Supervisors (two positions) and Board of Education (three open seats). The filing schedules for both […]

Gay marriage controversy shifts to state level While a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages has once again failed in Congress, gays and lesbians in North Carolina may want to shift their attention to the state level. Companion bills in the N.C. House and Senate now seek to accomplish what Congress could not. “Whether they will […]

How cool is that? The cove forest that surrounds Bat Cave is verdant and thick with rare plants like Carey’s saxifrage and broadleaf coreopsis. Natural vents wheeze air from the bowels of the earth, cool and moist. Deep underground, little-known creatures — spiders, crevice salamanders, millipedes, amphipods — skulk about, only too happy to be […]

Yo dawg, meet me at Yappy Hour Courtesy Asheville Humane Society A pack of drooling, hairy, crotch-sniffing customers will swarm the Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company (aka the Brew ‘n’ View) on June 1, all trying to get free daiquiris just for looking cute. And thanks to their two-legged counterparts, those dirty dogs are going […]

Primary choice Buncombe County Democrats will return to the polls Tuesday, May 30, to pick a candidate to run against Sheriff Bobby Medford. Van Duncan and Walt Robertson, the two top vote-getters out of the original field of six, will go head-to-head. In the May 2 primary, Duncan netted 37 percent of the vote, while […]

Sofas without borders For travelers whose movements are forever bound to a shoestring budget, nothing quite says “home” like a futon, a couch, or, God help them, a loveseat — however exotic the destination. Answering the need for a cheaper way of seeing the world, a loose network of travelers numbering 70,000 (and growing) was […]

Lunch with the legislators “The good news,” announced Rep. Ray Rapp (D-Madison), is the approximately $1.3 billion surplus waiting for the state legislature as its 2006 short session opens this week. “We’ve moved into a positive cash flow with the state.” Rapp was one of seven area state legislators reporting in at the 2006 Legislative […]

Finding Neverland Imagine: You’re not from here, but you’ve come in search of something. Maybe you’re a well-heeled yuppie or senior citizen from out of state who has read about our fair Asheville wants to hunt antiques. Or, perhaps you’re a bohemian who’s tired of Taos and in search of a new vortex — or […]

Will the real free market please stand up? If all goes well, jokes Nable Wallin, the Wildflower Community Fair might spark the end of capitalism. This Saturday, April 29, the Montford Complex will be transformed into a kind of egalitarian flea market. All manner of goods will be available, with everything from basement clutter to […]

Bill Porter Age: 67Residence: West AshevilleOccupation: Retired businessmanEducation: B.S. business administration, Northwestern UniversityParty: RepublicanPolitical experience: active in Republican Party several years, has run for office three times (mayor 2001, N.C. House 2002 and 2004) 1. Do you support allowing individual municipalities to enact their own campaign-finance reform ordinances? No. 2. Do you believe the state’s […]