Letters to the editor

Control your own energy

I attended the county commissioners’ [Jan. 16] “public hearing” — or what was set up to look like one — concerning leasing over 70 acres at the old landfill site in Woodfin to Progress Energy to build a peak-use oil-burning power plant. This land is owned by the public. Why [should] this for-profit corporation get to lease this land for $1 a year?

Several of us had been informed by a commissioner through e-mail prior to the meeting that most of the commissioners had already made up their minds to vote for this lease. All but [two or three] of the speakers who spoke during the two-and-a-half hours [of hearing] were opposed to this lease. Not one commissioner was swayed. They voted unanimously for the lease! So what is the purpose of a public hearing?

When I sent an e-mail weeks ago voicing my extreme concerns about high-density development moving here and all over WNC, only David Gantt responded, informing me: “One of the main reasons I ran for public office is to have a chance to protect the natural beauty we have here.” Gantt also recently spoke at the [N.C.] Land and Water Conservation Commission’s hearing here, imploring them to do whatever they could to help us protect this area. Well, Mr. Gantt has failed to walk his talk.

The two-and-a-half hours of passionate pleas to the commissioners fell on deaf ears. People offered statistics as to the environmental price we pay since we have some of the worst air quality in the country, resulting in health issues and their costs to the county. Viable alternatives were put forward. The owner of Sundance Solar Energy even offered to pay the county $100 a year to lease the land and build a solar-power plant in collaboration with “Progress” Energy. This serious offer was met with chuckles from the Board. Instead, the commissioners supported burning more fossil fuels.

It is obvious to anyone paying attention that things are changing rapidly on a global level. We cannot be building more oil-burning power plants, knowing they are contributing to our global climate crisis and to our people dying — fighting for our access to oil in Iraq.

I have lost all faith that the commissioners are acting in the best interest of the public and our quality of life. So folks, I implore every one of you to buy some compact fluorescent light bulbs and get an insulation cover for your hot water heater and put a timer on it. I have cut my electric bill in half by doing this and replacing my old refrigerator with a new, smaller one that will pay for itself in 18 months. Also, please write the N.C. Utilities Commission and tell them we don’t want an oil-burning power plant here. Our air quality is seriously bad enough. We want cleaner, sustainable options! Contact them at: North Carolina Utilities Commission, 4325 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-4325.

– Troy Amastar

Alexander

Just say no to peak power

I was disappointed with our county commissioners on Jan. 16 when they chose to subsidize a new diesel-powered electric plant for Progress Energy by leasing land to them for $1/year. They made this decision in spite of vocal opposition by the constituents they are supposed to represent.

I listened for hours as over 40 county residents asked the commissioners not to approve this lease, citing concerns about air quality, global warming, peak oil production and loss of tourist dollars due to deteriorating visibility in the mountains. Only three residents promoted the plant.

We asked the commissioners to at least delay their decision and allow time to study possible alternatives including energy conservation and renewable energy production. While Progress Energy claims to have considered these possibilities, many doubt that a thorough study was completed, and local conservation experts contended that such strategies would make the new plant unnecessary — at a fraction of the cost.

Many residents also questioned the decision to subsidize the plant by leasing the 76 acres so cheaply. While the property is next to the landfill in Woodfin, no trash has been buried there and the site is suitable for many other uses.

In all fairness to Progress Energy and the commissioners, they would not be building this plant if we would not use the power that it will produce. While it is unfortunate that the Board of Commissioners would not perform its duty, listen to its constituents and work toward sustainable solutions to this problem, this does not negate our responsibility to find these solutions ourselves. I hope that we can use this event to catalyze a conservation movement beginning in our own homes and businesses that will prove this plant and others unnecessary.

– Paul Feather

Asheville

Do you hear what I hear?

Did anyone notice that the day after the Buncombe County commissioners OK’d the lease to Progress Energy for their oil-burning power plant, the atomic scientists, including Stephen Hawking, announced that they were moving the hands of the Doomsday Clock ahead as nuclear threats and climate change now pushed the planet closer to catastrophe. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

That piece of chaotic synchronicity represents the fact that we are now tipping the big scales in Woodfin. The oil burner will be one of the top single-source polluters in the county and add greenhouse gases from its 75-foot high smokestacks that will waft on down the valley and slam up against Reynolds and Town Mountain where they will be scraping the NOx off the windows. They’re lucky the mercury balls up and will just roll off, so they won’t have to touch it.

But the really disturbing part of the commissioners’ act was their lack of listening. There was no public hearing. Maybe some public venting so they could claim a hearing, but they weren’t listening a twit. CIBO got up to support the oil burner on the grounds that it would be healthy for the economy. I think they were lobbying for the asthma doctors. Someone else said a brownout would hurt tourism. I guess the candlelit dinner is no longer a draw. Most people who spoke were against the plant and asked for a 30-day to 6-month delay to at least be able to present the case, but [postponement] never was even considered at the vote. The 95 percent opposed had reasons why to at least delay and look at the alternatives, and many had researched peak shaving, renewable generation and negawatts, or energy conservation. These alternatives would all stimulate the growing economy that is staged to address energy in a sustainable way and would create better-paying jobs than lighting candles.

So who wants to run for county commissioner? Any listeners out there?

– Boone Guyton

Asheville

Ignoring the obvious

Russ Bowen, a local newsreader on Channel 13, reported that “dozens” attended the [Jan. 25] 26th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Prayer Breakfast. “Dozens?” The video clip of the filled-to-capacity grand ballroom of the Grove Park Inn gave the lie to Bowen’s words. I was there. As hundreds and hundreds of people streamed out, I was told by Ed Schell (on the planning committee for around two dozen years), “It was the largest ever.”

There were well over 1,000 people present. That newsreader would have been more accurate if he had reported “a hundred dozen” in attendance. Just whose agenda does it serve to purposely minimize the numbers at this important community gathering?

Congressman Heath Shuler received a standing ovation, though not on the merits of anything of substance he had to say about urgent issues. He chose to confine his remarks to lauding Nancy Pelosi: “It has taken 230 years for a woman to become speaker of the House.” Great. Deservedly an accomplishment to applaud. But why no mention of the war in Iraq? For God’s sake, we [were] celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who courageously did not play it safe when he called for an end to the Vietnam war.

This occasion called for an unequivocal statement on the war in Iraq from this newly elected representative. Will Mr. Shuler vote to deny funding of this illegal war? Will he stand with the people of the United States and help us reclaim our democracy? Will he use his new power to bring these soldiers home now?

Keynote speaker Dr. Joy DeGruy-Leary brought the audience to laughter and tears with her challenging and insightful words about “Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome” and the ongoing traumas of inequality, racism and oppression suffered by people of color. The healing of post-traumatic stress requires social justice, she said.

“America’s pathology is our denial,” Dr. Leary continued. “The Jews honor their holocaust,” but how many know the number of Africans who died in the so-called “Middle Passage?”

Denial. It’s an underlying pathology for all manner of injustice. And it was glaringly present at that special gathering of some of Asheville’s most active and concerned citizens. There was no mention from any of the speakers of the deadly, illegal and murderous war in Iraq.

“It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment,” Dr. King warned in his 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech, speaking of the horrors of racism. “Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy,” he said.

It is past time to rise up against this war … speak out against further funding and escalation … reclaim our democracy from the criminals in high office. Mr. Shuler says he opposes this war. [Let him] tell us he will not fund the escalation. Heed the words of Dr. King, whose life he came to honor: “Now it should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war.”

– Clare Hanrahan

Asheville

Grab your yerba, mateys

I was disturbed by Ms. Bianchi’s divineMAGees “review” in Jan. 17’s “Smart Bets.” I am a fan of the divineMAGees, and they are my dear friends. I could tell by Ms. Bianchi’s comments she doesn’t know them. She seems to take aim and slam away. Ironically, she makes the divineMAGees seem like an act to miss — not catch — this weekend. Ms. Bianchi doesn’t write much about Free Planet Radio (Chris Rosser, River Guerguerian and Eliot Wadopian) playing with the divineMAGees. Their show is definitely a smart bet, and the Grey Eagle is an excellent place to enjoy it.

For those who’d like to know who the divineMAGees really are, I’d like to set the record straight. Ms. Bianchi, didn’t anyone ever tell you a person’s (or band’s) name is important to them? Try finding out more about names before disrespecting them. Using a word with a negative connotation like “infiltrated” could make two peace-loving young women sound like terrorists. I’m not sure what “well-connected” means either — unless that means they’re friendly with practically everyone and work extra jobs to make ends meet. Do you really know whether they’re a happy couple or not? Cregan and Danielle aren’t New Englanders; they were raised in Virginia. Asheville is culturally richer by welcoming musicians from other places. Their only obvious comparison to the Indigo Girls is two women harmonizing. They drink yerba mate, and would think long and hard before being included on any Starbucks compilation. You’re showing us your CD case, Ms. Bianchi. Aren’t you aware that Starbucks is a dirty word for many in Asheville?

I will give you credit, though, for saying a few nice things about some awesome music. It’s too bad it’s so hard to dig through your dirt to find them.

– M.C. Edmunds

Asheville

Melanie McGee Bianchi responds: I’d like to clarify that the divineMAGgees piece wasn’t a band review, but rather a show preview, elevated above the rest of last week’s Bets via prominent placement (and thus hardly presented as an “act to miss”). Despite their name, which still strikes me as awkward, this talented duo obviously deserves the level of loyalty expressed by the letter writer, who claims to be both a fan and dear friend of the band. But not personally knowing the band’s members (as charged) is irrelevant in my position — I heard what I heard, and if divineMAGgees object to their name being in the same write-up as the Devil Starbucks, at least they’ve got some hot company in hell (Aimee Mann, featured on a recent Starbucks Christmas compilation, comes to mind). I love the vision of yerba mate-drinking terrorists, by the way: Thanks for unintentionally providing this awesome image.

The midnight ride of Carl Mumpower

Carl Mumpower is in scold mode again, this time chastising the Asheville Police Department for not doing enough to combat drug dealing. (He recently scolded all of us for not doing more to save McCormick Heights housing development.) According to the Xpress, Mumpower wrote in an e-mail, “APD is not matching the creativity, enthusiasm and persistency of those dealing drugs on our streets.” To which one might reasonably reply, “No duh!” And simple economics explains why this is so. There is too much money in illegal drugs for there to be a reasonable expectation that any police activity will have a significant impact on it over time. During my 33-year career in substance abuse and addiction programs, I came to understand that it will only be by legalizing those drugs that are now illegal that we will have an impact on illegal drug dealing.

There is an enormous vested interest in keeping the system as it is, due to the enormous sums of money that governments — local, state and federal — spend to arrest, adjudicate and imprison tens of thousands of people (predominantly young black males) while ensuring that a significant proportion of those charged with implementing this system — street cops, prosecutors, judges, prison employees — will be corrupted by it. Alcohol Prohibition provided the environment for “organized crime” to develop and flourish, a legacy with us today. By continuing a prohibitionist policy towards other mood-altering drugs, we perpetuate and foster another culture of crime. All the problems related to alcohol were not eliminated by ending prohibition, but it did significantly reduce crime related to the manufacture and distribution of beverage alcohol. Legalizing other drugs will not eliminate all problems related to their availability, but it would significantly reduce crime related to the manufacture and distribution of those drugs.

Until prohibition is ended, Carl Mumpower can ride around with the APD all he wants, buy crack cocaine in housing developments to show how easy it is, scold all of us because we are insufficiently committed to the cause, and it will not alter the realities on the street. It is because of the huge sums of money that can be made due to the economics of the black market that no police department or criminal-justice system will ever be able to match “the creativity, enthusiasm and persistence of those dealing drugs on our streets.”

– Robert F. Wilson

Asheville

Send Mumpower back to school?

As someone who, as founding chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California (La Jolla), established and supervised the first multimodality drug-treatment program (with over 1,500 patients and treatments ranging from methadone maintenance to hospital detoxification) in California, I wish to add my comments to the current and past dust-up evoked by night-time peripatetic Carl Mumpower and involving the Asheville Police Department and the members of the Asheville City Council.

Beginning in 1970, I modeled our program after the one that was highly researched and carefully organized (and repeatedly reorganized) by the University of Chicago. Before beginning our program, I spent several months embedded in the university’s program on the South Side of Chicago, getting a feeling for the complexity and delicate relations between medical treatment, social psychological intervention, intimate involvement of law enforcement, the development of indigenous community teams of ex-addict, paraprofessional psychotherapists and workers in the community, job- and career-rehabilitation programs and sophisticated oversight by Cook County, the city of Chicago and the National Institutes of Health in both consultation and funding. Continuous evaluation of the efficacy of the various elements of intervention was always ongoing.

First off, let me say that I’ve been in town since the mid-1990s and have been impressed by the relative lack of drug-related violence, the realistic handling of the issue by Bill Hogan and the APD, the geographical isolation and non-expansion of Asheville’s drug marketplace, the lack of general community harm by this currently invariant aspect of urban-American culture and the sophisticated comments of Terry Bellamy, Gary Jackson and most of the City Council members relative to the complexity of the social, economic and psychological causal elements known to be at work in drug use, abuse and its amelioration.

Mumpower’s monotonic, unsophisticated law-enforcement story, with its potential for personal political valence for the righteous, is, alas, also an invariant of many urban settings. The obvious lack of appreciation for the complexities of the issue is, thank goodness, not shared by the Asheville law-enforcement community or a majority of Asheville’s City Council. If Mumpower continues to make his unproductive and potentially harmful noise, I think the Council should vote him a fellowship to spend time not in safe (please note) and unknowing walkabouts in Deaverview, Pisgah View or Lee Walker Heights, but in the sophisticated and at least partially effective university programs in New York, Chicago, San Francisco or San Diego, where his righteous rage might be replaced with knowledge and personal motivation to work on the real conditions underlying drug use and abuse in American cities such as Asheville.

It is my opinion that Asheville has been able to achieve a community equilibrium in this difficult area, and a lot of thought ought to be expended before new and potentially perturbing action is taken.

– Arnold J. Mandell, M.D.

Research Professor, Emory University School of Medicine

Professor Emeritus, UCSD School of Medicine

Asheville

Voice your moratorium support

Thank you for shining a light on this shameful part of the United States judicial system [“Back from the Dead?“, Jan. 10].

In the wake of Saddam Hussein’s execution and the botched hanging of his half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, during which Tikriti’s head was accidentally ripped off his body by the noose that hanged him, Italy has asked the European Union for support in its campaign to abolish the death penalty worldwide, using its position as one of 15 U.N. Security Council members. Shortly after the executions, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he backed Italy’s bid to put a stop to capital punishment. The death penalty is banned in the EU, but continues to be permitted in 68 other countries. The USA finds itself in company of Afghanistan, China, Iran, Libya, Rwanda and the United Arab Emirates in retaining the death penalty.

North Carolina has the opportunity to help pave the way for the USA to re-examine its position on the death penalty by imposing a temporary moratorium in order to take a serious look at the disparities and flaws inherent in this form of punishment.

Instead, the state of North Carolina will execute three death-row inmates in the coming weeks: James Edward Thomas, 51, who was sentenced to death in 1987 for killing Teresa Ann West, will be executed Feb. 2. James Adolph Campbell, 45, will be executed a week later on Feb. 9. Campbell was sentenced to death for murdering Katherine Price in 1993. Both deaths will follow the Jan. 26 execution of Marcus Reymond Robinson, who was convicted in the June 1991 murder of Erik Tornblom.

If you support a two-year moratorium on executions in order to study death penalty issues in North Carolina, please contact your lawmakers at www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/counties/counties.pl?County=Buncombe.

Meanwhile, please extend your thoughts to Marcus Robinson, James Thomas and James Campbell, their families and friends who love them, as well as the families of Erik Tornblom, Teresa West, Katherine Price and all victims of violence.

People of Faith Against the Death Penalty will hold vigils at the Vance Monument at 5 p.m. on the Thursdays (Jan. 25, Feb. 1, Feb. 8) before the executions.

– Monika Wengler

Weaverville

Tracking rail service

A recent letter to MX asked about rail service from Asheville to Wilmington [“Let’s Railroad This Thing,” Jan. 3]. I suggest that person check NCDOT’s rail Web site at www.bytrain.org/future. In summary: It is planned, but there is no money.

From following the changing Web page, I can tell you they first planned to have Asheville to Raleigh in 2005, then 2008, then “future.” The plan was that the Asheville train [would] meet the Charlotte train [that goes] to/from Raleigh. Wilmington service has always been “future.” Amtrak would run the train with the state paying, a la the Piedmont between Raleigh and Charlotte. Note the Carolinian is subsidized partially as it goes to NYC.

The stations have been refurbished with your tax money (and I heard elsewhere the engine has been purchased), but don’t hold your breath waiting for service. Must be that “Republican” in the governor’s mansion and the “Republicans” who control the legislature who are holding it up — HA!

As a frequent rail traveler, I would love to see that service.

– John Pezzano

Hendersonville

Ridin’ the rails

Regarding the letter [“Let’s Railroad This Thing,” Jan. 3] asking about rail service, I chair the Western North Carolina Rail Corridor Committee, which represents nine locations from Salisbury to Asheville that are designated as stops for our future passenger-rail service: Salisbury, Statesville, Hickory, Morganton, Valdese, Marion, Old Fort, Black Mountain and Asheville.

The committee has been in existence since 1998. Our focus is to continue to make progress in preparation for the service. In 2005, Marion, Morganton and Old Fort completed excellent restoration of their existing stations. If you haven’t seen them, I encourage you to do so. Sites have been identified and/or acquired for Asheville, Black Mountain and Valdese depots. Salisbury, Statesville and Hickory sites are currently in use. Salisbury’s incredible structure is multi-use, [functioning] as a community center and an Amtrak station serving the Piedmont, the Carolinian and Amtrak’s Crescent services. Statesville’s restored facility is multi-use as well, and Hickory’s station has housed a restaurant right in the center of town. Please see www.bytrain.org/istation for more information about the station-improvement program and existing and future routes.

Our local Rep. Ray Rapp has been very involved as co-chair of the House Select Committee on Expanding Rail Service (freight and passenger). That committee has now been expanded to include the Senate, [and] will be co-chaired by Rep. Rapp and Sen. Martin Nesbitt. We look forward to working with them.

The need for this service is more than just nostalgia or a great opportunity to take the train. It’s common sense that we can’t keep building roads, due to cost and space. Passenger rail is an economic-development engine that will contribute to growth, job creation and enhancement of our communities. The three new stations have already seen revitalization of the depot areas. In Morganton, a developer has turned some old factories into condos and shops; in Marion, the depot is being used for community activities and also houses the city’s economic development group, while buildings nearby have been purchased for development. Old Fort’s [station] houses that city’s museum and also serves as a community center. Some stations will be multi-modal: Asheville’s station will also house a bus terminal.

Passenger-rail service will be a tremendous benefit to tourism in Western North Carolina and will improve the balance for a comprehensive transportation system in light of homeland-security concerns. Passenger trains will also help protect our environment, providing an infrastructure for mass transit and helping relieve traffic congestion on our interstates. Rail linkages between communities and regions of the state will strengthen social and cultural bonds and promote the idea of “One North Carolina,” as we complete the service all the way to the coast.

There’s lots going on and lots still to develop. Issues surrounding the service include finding funding opportunities and sources for necessary improvements, i.e. tracks, signals, platforms, sidings and grade crossings, to upgrade the route from Salisbury to Asheville. We will also work to ensure the service will not interfere with existing or future freight service. We still face many challenges, but it can be done.

The Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2007 is being introduced in the U.S. Senate to authorize $1.2 billion in federal matching grants to states for development of new passenger-rail services. Last year, the Senate approved such a measure by a 96-3 vote; hopefully the current initiative can proceed quickly to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, where newly elected Congressman Heath Schuler is a member. We encourage all readers to call or write our legislators to support this and our future service.

Hopefully this will offer the reader some insight into “what we need to do to get the rail service.”

– Judith Ray, Chair

WNC Rail Corridor Committee

Asheville

There’s even more to Barnardsville

I was pleased to see the article in the Jan. 10 edition of the Mountain Xpress by Nelda Holder, “Barnardsville’s Buzzing.”

I just wanted to point out something that was missing from the report. There is a thriving Thrift Store on the [Barnardsville Resource Center] campus that serves the community well. The store sells all kinds of stuff at well below average thrift-store prices; it relieves folks of their unwanted stuff; and it brought in almost $10,000 last year to help fund the many wonderful projects of the Resource Center that were mentioned.

The Thrift Store is open every Tuesday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. It is staffed entirely by volunteers who sort and sell the donations. Last year, more than 900 hours of volunteer time went into this endeavor, and the results have been amazing. If you haven’t been there yet, plan a trip to find some real bargains and see what else Barnardsville has to offer.

– Susan Carlyle

Barnardsville

Building faith by challenging culture

A few weeks back, the Xpress published a letter entitled “Against Jesus, or Just Anti-Christ?” [Dec. 27]. I read the piece with admiration for the courage of the writer to speak his mind and heart over the disconnection between the teachings of Jesus and the practices of those who claim to be Jesus’ followers. While some of [the] critiques were theological misunderstandings on the part of the author, many were accurate indictments against a people who claim to follow Jesus but do not seem to take what he said very seriously.

For many years, I have struggled to reconcile the difference between what I would read about Jesus in the New Testament — how he lived so radically and what he taught his followers — and the reality that the Church looks very unlike God’s vision for her. Often, I would find that the more judgmental, wasteful, selfish, stubborn and self-righteously arrogant a person was, the more likely he was to regularly attend a “Christian” worship gathering.

At this crossroads, I considered taking the author’s approach of giving up on Christianity and simply following Jesus. The problem here is that it is arrogant and prideful (attitudes Jesus attacks) to assume that I am somehow, in isolation, more capable of keeping in step with Jesus, when he taught that it is in the midst of a loving, encouraging community of believers that we learn of him and fulfill our created purpose. I found that segregation from such a community only aggravated the problem, rather than [providing] a creative solution.

And so, after much reflection and prayer and discussion within the community, I have decided to begin living out said teachings in the context of the Christian faith and am in the midst of planting Missio Dei Church in West Asheville. We are a community seeking to join God in the transformation of culture by challenging the failures of culture like crime, poverty, violence and sexual disorientation, while celebrating the triumphs of culture like ecological protection, beauty in the arts etc. Perhaps the author would like to join us on mission.

– Kurt J. Hannah

Lead Pastor, Missio Dei Church

Asheville

My vote was to fix the mess

I am very upset with the fact that Democrats are professing to have a mandate from the American people to start bringing troops home from Iraq. I voted Democratic in the recent election, but I don’t remember there being any multiple choice for ideas on what to do in Iraq.

Yes, I am extremely unhappy with our current administration’s handling of the war and, more importantly, [with] its decision to go to war in the first place. I protested rushing into war and tried to make my voice heard over three years ago. How many of our elected Democrats in Congress did that? Our country stood by and allowed our leadership to take us into an unjust war, and I believe we now have a responsibility to try our best not to have the end result be a complete catastrophe.

I support doing whatever it takes to give Iraqis at least a glimmer of a chance at this reconstruction, even if it means a surge of troops for one more year. Lord knows, we haven’t been well prepared from the get-go, [nor] doing the job right. More troops alone won’t fix this situation, but with better leadership and strategy (information, intelligence, political compromises, diplomacy) there might still be a chance of improving [both] the situation in Iraq and our country’s deplorable reputation. Yes, there will be more American casualties, but our loss is only a fraction of the innocent Iraqi casualty count. I’m saddened by the loss of life on both sides of this war that has been clearly waged for ulterior motives.

I’m not a military general, but I think I know that pulling out of Iraq now is only going to hurt us in the long run. I believe we have a responsibility to try harder to fix our mess; we could always try some of the suggestions of the Iraq Study Group such as diplomacy with Syria and Iran. Hmmm, diplomatic negotiations — now I think that is one reason I voted for Democrats.

– Brady Preyss

Asheville