Darius Rucker, Lovin’ Spoonful concerts prove mesmerizing The Lovin’ Spoonful
— See Reviews/Interview, Pgs. 11-12, 17 an 24
New Belgium official unveils plans for its Asheville brewery — See Story, Pg. 8
Darius Rucker
ILLE V E H AS ASHEVILLEʼS GREATEST NEWSPAPER
April 2013
Vol. 9, No. 5
An Independent Newspaper Serving Greater Asheville
‘League of Women ... Vipers?’
www.ashevilledailyplanet.com
FREE
Drug targeting kids opposed
BCGOP official’s tweet trips trigger
From Staff Reports
A tweet from an official in the Buncombe County Republican Party that — he said — was intended as a joke has upset the head of the League of Women Voters in Asheville. BCGOP spokesman Nathan West said that the tweet, sent to the party’s nearly 800 Twitter followers referring to a Wednesday meeting of the aforementioned group as the League of Women Vipers, was intended to be humorous and just a “silly comment.” However, he also said the League of Women Voters has never been friendly with Republicans. Meanwhile, Karen Oeschlaeger, president of the Asheville-Buncombe League chapter. told local news media outlets that it is unfortunate one of the two major political parties would antagonize the group. She noted that the league organizes forums on public policy issues and encourages participation in voting and government. Also, Oeschlaeger said she had reached out to West and BCGOP Chairman Henry Mitchell in the past and, therefore, is disappointed that they view her organization as unfriendly to Republicans.
Walter Ziffer speaks at UNCA
Daily Planet Staff Photo
Protest co-organizer Carl Mumpower (far left) with his loyal bird dog Pepper (in background) was among those protesting the sale of Bizarro on March 9 in Asheville.
Protesters aim to end Bizarro sales From Staff Reports About 25 people — many of them concerned parents — showed up midday March 9 along Asheville’s South Tunnel Road near the Up in Smoke store at Innsbrook Mall for a one-hour protest of the shop’s sale of Bizarro. The substance, which has been on the market for about a year (replacing R-2), is legal and marketed as “incense,” but the protesters claimed it is highly addictive and damaging to the young people who buy and consume it to “get high.” The protest was planned at the M&J Food Stores, but it was moved because “M&J got busted on Thursday (March 7) for il-
legal video games” and “are closed until further notice,” Dr. Carl Mumpower, protest co-organizer, noted in an email. “Good,” he added. “The protest group will include a dozen concerned partents seeking to tunr the lights on these community bad guys” who sell Bizarro, Mumpower stated. The protestors began with a prayer circle after which Taylor Personius, 19, of Asheville, who recently was released from a rehabilitation center after getting addicted to Bizarro, told them, “Thank you, everyone, for being here.” See BIZARRO, Page 24
Holocaust survivor recounts horrific experiences, lasting scars ... and luck
By JOHN NORTH
john@ashevilledailyplanet.com
Walter Ziffer gave a first-hand account of his ordeal in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II and life before and after being freed during a March 20 talk at UNC Asheville’s Highsmith University Union. Before a standing-room-only turnout of 225 people, including many students, area resident Ziffer presented a keynote address titled “How the Holocaust Shaped My Life.” His talk was in conjunction to a Holocaust art exhibit for March titled “Parallel
Journeys: WWII and the Holocaust.” The program began with local young people reading poems written by the children who lived in a WWII concentration camp. A native of Cieszyn, Czech Republic, Ziffer was deported at the age of 14 and imprisoned in different Nazi concentration camps, performing slave labor in a variety of weapons factories. He was liberated in 1945. Rick Chess, head of center for Jewish Studies at UNCA, gave a brief introduction of Ziffer. “We’re extraordinarily lucky that Walter Ziffer has been living among
us these many years… Walter is a brilliant scholar and an extraordinary teacher… Above all, I see Walter as a man who is courageous and wise.” Following a song played on a fiddle, Ziffer began by saying, “Good evening my friends. Overflow crowd. I’m deeply touched. He expressed his special thanks to Debbie Miles, head of UNCA’s Center for Diversity Education, and Rick Chess, head of UNCA’s Center for Jewish Studies. “Both have made enormous contributions to our town and, I think, far beyond,” See SURVIVOR, Page 10