Let me introduce you to Patsy

Let me introduce you to Patsy Keever, candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, District 10. Patsy Keever is the candidate who “puts people first.” I will tell you why. Patsy spent most of her adult life living in the mountains. That in itself tells me she is close to nature. Most of your great […]

An informed voter (thanks to Xpress)

Hats off to Mountain Xpress for the voter guide edition [“Election 2012: Pick Your Players,” May 2 Xpress]. The guide helped me to select candidates for county commissioner and county commission chair. I was unable to find good info on where each candidate stood on the issues from the online voter guide. I think the […]

Buncombe district races move new faces toward fall election

Voters and candidates explored uncharted territory in the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners May 8 primary, as a change to district elections that was mandated last year by the N.C. General Assembly went into effect. Under the new system, the county was divided into three commissioner districts; the top two vote-getters from each party on […]

Amendment One

The controversial Amendment One, which will declare in the state constitution that “marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized" in North Carolina, won statewide by a wide margin, despite losing in Asheville and some other urban centers. Sixty-one percent of state voters approved […]

Three candidates make the cut in WNC congressio­nal races

Statehouse Rep. Patsy Keever decisively beat her main rival in the 10th District Democratic primary — Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy — garnering 58 percent of the vote to Bellamy's 27 percent. Rutherfordton resident and political newcomer Timothy Murphy received almost 16 percent of the total. In the district’s Republican primary, four-term incumbent Patrick McHenry earned […]

A sad day in North Carolina

The people of North Carolina cast a vote for hate on May 8. Their vote for Amendment One gives LGBT people second-class-citizen status. It is also a slap in the face to those citizens who are in a domestic relationship. As a native North Carolinian, I've always been proud of my state. I'm not so […]

Take heart — Amendment One won’t stand

Amendment One's passage in North Carolina and its similar enforcement in the vast majority of the United States will be on the books now. Although disappointed, I do not despair because this issue has been decided by the “X,” “Y” and “Millennial” generations. As they assume positions of power, the states will rescind these laws […]

A week later, effect of Amendment One still unclear

A week after the passage of Amendment One, declaring “that marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized” in North Carolina, its impacts on everything from domestic partner benefits to protections for unmarried couples remain unclear, with both local and state legal experts scrambling to make sense of the new rule.