Celebrate equality For more than 200 years, American women shared half the load of building a nation, without having the right to vote (or, for that matter, any direct voice in running the nation). But that changed with the passage of the Suffrage Act for Women in 1920 — a milestone in the fight for […]
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Letters to the editor
Concentrating as fast as I can Have a little sympathy for your politician trying to figure out what you’re thinking after he just got done telling you what you’re thinking. “If the election were held tomorrow, who would you vote for, Gore or Bush?” asks the eager young man with the clipboard (or the microphone […]
Buncombe County Commission
In the horse-and-buggy era, Asheville was a famous destination for urban tuberculosis sufferers who hoped to heal their soot-scarred lungs in pure mountain air. But today, in the automobile age, the area is on the verge of being designated a “dirty-air community” by the federal government. Ironically, the very same growth in traffic congestion that […]
Asheville City Council
“The intrusion stops here,” declared Asheville Vice Mayor Ed Hay, at the end of a four-hour-long July 27 public hearing about the proposed expansion of the Asheville Mall. At issue were what requirements City Council would impose on the property owners — CBL and Associates of Chattanooga, Tenn. — to buffer Kenilworth Forest from noise, […]
New winds aloft
WNC Regional Air Pollution Control Agency Director Jim Cody usurped the power of his board of directors last month, just days after he informed them of his intention to resign, effective Sept. 1, from the troubled agency. On June 17, when agency staff discovered a mobile asphalt plant operating in Buncombe County without a permit, […]
Letters to the editor
Viewing pleasure In response to the anti-Honda-Hoot letter: Personally, all the tourists that come here each summer bother me. Lines in many shops are longer, and the traffic problems are worse downtown. That said, I find that many of the motorcyclists are fun to watch and talk to. Any city in America with anything going […]
Notepad
The more things change … Back in 1971, North Carolina’s public-university system faced a record surge in enrollments as the Baby Boom generation came of age, leading state legislators to add 10 campuses to the existing six-school system. Now, those Boomers’ kids are starting to hit college age, and they’re expected to flood the state’s […]
Turning the world inside out
As much as any painting of its time, sculptor John Chamberlain’s “Jim 1962” — forged from the twisted planes and crumpled contours of fenders, bumpers and other wrecked-car parts that gleam crookedly in eerily cheerful, carnivalesque colors — reflects the abstract expressionist movement that rose to the forefront of the American art world around midcentury, […]
Down home at the Appalachian Summer Festival
Boone’s Appalachian Summer Festival, now in its 15th year, has definitely changed with the times, though not in the way you might think: Instead of starting with a local audience and gradually gaining wider popularity, this month-long cultural mecca began by attracting mainly tourists, reveals Denise Ringler, the public-relations director at Appalachian State University. Today, […]
Letters to the editor
Aah, for an all-terrain airboat There are many of us who, unlike Mr. Sternberg, have frequented the banks and waters of the French Broad River over the years, to fish and paddle and picnic with family and friends — and, in some cases, to live and raise children nearby. Many of us purchase annual fishing […]
Gearle power
It’s more than appropriate that Stacey Earle’s first commercial singing venture was on a record called The Hard Way. Sure, big brother Steve — who enlisted Stacey to sing harmony on the cut “Promise You Anything” — wields his fair share of power in the Nashville music world (albeit of the renegade type). But Stacey […]
Jiffy pop, bears and radioactive minerals
I knew I was in for a blast from the past when I saw the radioactive-minerals display at the Museum of North Carolina Minerals. A geiger counter crackled and buzzed as a many-spoked wheel — with a different mineral perched at the end of each spoke — spun round and round inside a glass case. […]
Dining out(side)
Why spend gorgeous summer days and nights taking your meals within the stuffy confines of the indoors, when our area enjoys such a vast array of glorious outdoor-dining venues? Here’s just a sampling of the patios, terraces and sidewalk spots that await you: • Bistro 1896, 7 Pack Square, Asheville; 251-1300 (seafood, steaks, pasta, sandwiches, […]
An embarrassment of riches
Every winter, I hatch ambitious plans for all the home-improvement projects I’ll do, come summer. But those balmy days bring with them an explosion of creative and cultural activities, here in these mountains. The following sampler of summer arts happenings is by no means a complete list — but it’s enough to get you started […]
Notepad
Young, beautiful and gifted Talent is a precious commodity, and it can use all the acknowledgment, attention and nurturing it can get. To that end, the Arts Alliance — a local nonprofit that knows a thing or two about recognizing talent — recently awarded fine-arts scholarships to three Asheville-area graduating seniors. Ben Betsalel and Michelle […]
Notepad
Is ignorance really bliss? Knowledge, as they say, is power; on occasion, it can also help you breathe a little easier. As a case in point, consider the Environmental Defense Fund’s new Web site (www.scorecard.org), where previously unpublished government information about local levels of toxic air pollution is now available to anyone with a computer […]
Letters to the editor
Airboats & other opportunities The possibility of airboats in commercial operation on the French Broad River opens up horizons of opportunity previously undreamed of. We could have smaller airboats traveling the Swannanoa River, all the way to Black Mountain — perhaps a riverboat anchored in Lake Julian for gambling. No, wait: Better make that Jet […]
Asheville City Council
Say you’re sorry (in a nice way, of course), bring lots of supporters to argue your case, and maybe, just maybe, Asheville City Council will give you a break. On May 25, Council members gave “good” landlords until Oct. 1 to correct housing-code violations, provided that they get their properties inspected before the July 1 […]
Quick facts
“Breathe a bit of fresh life into [this] part of the community,” West Asheville resident Richard Nantelle urged Asheville City Council members during their May 25 formal session. He asked them to support and adopt a proposed Haywood Road Corridor Plan — a planning guide that addresses land use, vehicle/pedestrian traffic, land- and street-scaping, building […]
Letters to the editor
Deal with poverty, not parks [A few] days ago, the voters of the city went to the polls to decide the fate of the $18 million parks-and-recreation bond issue. The next day, I opened the newspaper and saw that my fondest wishes (regarding this issue) had been fulfilled. The rich and the beautiful people were […]
Money on The Block
Get more eyes on The Block, and the winos and drug dealers will disappear. That’s the operating theory behind a cooperative effort to get the new South Pack Square Community Center up and running. “No one’s going to invest down here until we clean things up,” says Doug Beatty, co-owner of Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria, […]