Asheville Daily Planet July 2014

Musical revue: It’s a smash hit

Bothwell: Obama enriching the 1%

— See LETTER TO EDITOR, Pg. A14

— See REVIEW, Pg. B1

The ‘not so cheap women’ of Asheville

— See CANDID CONSERVATIVE, Pg. A14

ILLE V E H AS ASHEVILLEʼS GREATEST NEWSPAPER

July 2014

Vol. 10, No. 8

An Independent Newspaper Serving Greater Asheville www.ashevilledailyplanet.com

Moffitt vs.

Turner: the fight is on From Staff Reports Democrat Brian Turner’s campaign has countered a recent charge by the Buncombe County Republican Party that 80 percent of Turner’s campaign donations are coming from outside the state House district he wants to represent.

The situation is not that clearcut, Turner’s campaign has said, claiming that nearly all of the funding of his opponent (incumbent Rep. Tim Moffitt, R-Arden) is from outside the district.

The two candidates will face off in the fall general election.

The BCGOP stated in a June 18 press release that “A Biltmore Forest resident looking to unseat Rep. Tim Moffitt draws the overwhelming majority of his support from outside Buncombe County’s 116th House district.

“According to his most recent campaign finance report, over 80 percent of Brian Turner’s financial contributions come from outside the district he is hoping to represent — with the vast majority of those coming from residents of downtown Asheville. Many come from other states.... It’s interesting to note that every Asheville City Council member has donated to Turner’s campaign.... This map clearly shows who is funding Turner: downtown progressives,” BCGOP Communications Director Nathan West stated in the press release.

See FIGHT, Page A11

‘We’re having a party....’

The Raleigh band American Aquarium (above) opens the Downtown After Five street fest on June 20. The featured band was Drivin’ N’ Cryin’.

While major thunderstorms with rain afflicted various communities in Western North Carolina that evening, Asheville was mostly spared and the bands played on. At right, several members of the audience got an early front-row look at the band and enjoyed some local craft brews.

Honeybee: Canary in coal mine?

By JOHN NORTH

john@AshevilleDailyPlanet.com

One of the the nation’s top “bee luminaries,” Jeff Pettis, was featured at a program geared for the general public — “Give Bees a Chance: The Pollination Puzzle” — on June 18 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville.

In a more specialized address, Pettis, lead researcher of the USDA Bee Lab in Beltsville, Md., spoke on “Challenges for Jeff Pettis Today’s Beekeepers” on June 17 at the Mountain Horticulture Crops Research and Extension Center in Mills River. (A separate story — on his presentation to area beekeepers and the question-and-answer session that followed — appears on Page A8.)

Pettis was the featured speaker throughout Western North Carolina’s National Pollinator Week (June 16-22) activities. The Pollination Celebration, sponsored by Asheville’s Bee City USA program, also included honey-tastings, a silent auction, reception, exhibit and conversations with Pettis.

The June 18 program in Asheville, which drew more than 100 people, was billed as being “designed to provoke questions, conversation and possible answers.” During the hourlong reception that preceded the program, a popular feature was a tasting

FREE

of honeys from invasive plants, including kudzu and Japanese knotweed.

During the reception, the Daily Planet asked Pettis if he viewed the honeybee as the proverbial “canary in the coal mine” and, if so, does the pollinator’s current massive die-off signify that humanity may be facing cataclysm, too?

Pettis replied that because the honeybee is not native to the United States, the “canary in the coal mine” analogy does not hold up.

“For us (in the U.S.) the comparable analogy would be: ‘It’s just general pollinator decline, (serving) as a real indicator that we’re doing something wrong.’” (The stock of most of the honeybees populating the U.S. today originated in Europe, Pettis noted.)

He added, “The answer (to the bee die-off) really begins in our own backyards.... If you’re trying to maintain the perfect lawn,” then the lawn-owner is contributing to the decline of what he termed “the invaluable pollinators.” (By some estimates, a third of America’s food supply depends on pollinators — and honeybees are, by far, provide most of that service.

As an alternative to grass, Pettis said, “You can plant local (pollen-producing) plants and shrubs.”

Pettis further asserted that lawn-owners should consider keeping their landscapes “not just for show,” but to make sure their yards are laden with “high nectar and good pollen” plants and shrubs.

See HONEYBEE, Page A8

Daily Planet Staff Photos

The Advice Goddess

Amy Alkon

Carbon dating?

Q: I am a single 58-year-old woman with a oneyear subscription to eHarmony. In the six months I’ve been on, only two men have contacted me. Of the dozen men I’ve reached out to, only one responded, and nothing came of it. I’m stumped as to why I’m getting such a sparse response. I am attractive, am very fit, have a career, and own a home. Is my online dating experience typical for women my age?

Sad to think I’ll face the next 20 to 25 years without a partner. And I am NOT just sitting at home waiting for a man to fall into my lap. I’m in a cycling club, a wine group, a music lovers group, and a craft beer group. Yet none of it has produced a boyfriend.

— Cobwebs

Want to know the answer?

See ADVICE GODDESS, Page A10

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Asheville Daily Planet — July 2014 - A3

7899.

$

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City, county unveil plans with no tax boosts

From Staff Reports

ENKA — An overview of the annual fiscal 2014-15 then-proposed spending plans — with no tax increases — for the City of Asheville and Buncombe County were presented by the respective localities’ officials to the Council of Independent Business Owners on June 6.

Each presentation, including brief question-and-answer periods, lasted about 20 minutes. Each of the budgets later in the month was approved and went into effect July 1. CIBO is billed as the area’s smallbusiness chamber of commerce.

On a third matter, Buncombe Elections Director Trena Parker gave a 10-minute update on the status of the three write-in hopefuls seeking to be on the ballot in November’s elections. Two of the three attended the meeting and were permitted to give two-minute pitches.

Since it was the 70th anniversary of DDay (the invasion of Europe by the Allies), CIBO leaders asked all military veterans in attendance to stand up. Those standing then received an ovation from the roughly 75 people who turned out for the breakfast meeting at A-B Tech’s Haynes Auditorium.

Special guests publicly recognized by CIBO included Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer, City Manager Gary Jackson, city Councilman Gordon Smith, county commissioners’ Chairman David Gantt, county commissioners David King and Joe Belcher, Woodfin Mayor Jerry VeHaun, and county school board members Paul J. “Dusty” Pless and Lisa Baldwin.

Also recognized were two write-in hopefuls for local district attorney — retired district court judge Rebecca Knight and Ben Scales. Not present was Nancy Waldrop, a third write-in hopeful, who is seeking to be on the ballot to challenge Republican Miranda DeBruhl for a seat on the county Board of Commissioners. (Later in the month, both Scales and Waldrop turned in enough names on petitions to be included on the ballot for the respective jobs they are seeking.)

DeBruhl ran far to the right of incumbent David King for a victory in the primary and faces no opposition from the Democrats in November. Waldrop, King’s wife, has said she plans to offer a more centrist conservative position.

Speaking first, Manheimer, Asheville’s mayor, caused some to laugh and others to squirm (if not cringe), when she smiled as she looked out into the audience and quipped, “CIBO’s actually looking a little younger...

Good work, CIBO. Not everyone here (looks as if they) actually experienced D-Day.” Noting that Jackson, the city manager, was standing near her and could answer any technical questions, Manheimer said she was at the CIBO meeting to give an overview of the proposed city budget for fiscal 2014-15. A public hearing on the budget proposal was to be held June 10 with scheduled adoption of the spending plan on June 24.

The budget addresses such issues as taxes, the capital improvement program fund, employee compensation and more, Manheimer asserted. The plan finances $24.5 million in new construction and equipment purchases, the first big payment on a fiveyear plan that would result in more than $129 million in capital improvements.

“This is what we call a continuation budget,” she said. “It does not include a tax increase... Let me repeat ... it does not include a tax increase.”

The budget also includes a 3 percent pay raise for city employees.

Manheimer added, “Recently, the chamber did a survey of businesses — and the

Esther Manheimer

David Gantt

No. 1 issue was transportation for employees.”

The mayor noted, “We’re starting to see some recovery in the general fund balance.

Thus, she said transit improvements are a priority in the new budget, and that “limited” Sunday served service “will be added in January 2014.”

She also said officials are working on “a re-engineering of (bus) Route C.” Manheimer also noted the city is tackling a “graffiti initiative... the big cleanup is going to start soon.” She noted that the initiative was adopted in April — and it includes a 90-day graffiti removal initiative. “We set aside $300,000. It’s not clear we’ll need all that... but we’ve budgeted that.”

She added, “The privilege license tax will be in place this fiscal year. Next year, it’s gone” — at least “right now, legislatively.” For Asheville, the mayor said “it’s a $1.4 million hit, so it’s not insignificant. It is a tax in need of reform. Some businesses pay a lot, and some don’t... Needless to say cities are mad” at the loss of the revenue.

She also mentioned the River Arts District Transportation Improvement Project, which will include multimodel transportation, which will cost $2.2 million.

“We get a lot of bang for your buck,” the mayor said. “We’ve got New Belgium (Brewery) moving in there (in the RAD).

We’re looking at RAD Lofts coming in....

You get a really rate of return” on the city’s investments in the area.

In a brief question-and-answer period after the city’s budget presentation, a CIBO member said, “I noticed you had a drop in funding for 2015 — does that mean we have enough growth — or you’re just look-

Published monthly by Star Fleet Communications Inc. JOHN NORTH Publisher Phone: (828) 252-6565 • Fax: (828) 252-6567 Mailing address: P.O. Box 8490, Asheville, N.C. 28814-8490 Website: www.ashevilledailyplanet.com E-mail the following departments:

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ing for areas to trim?”

Jackson, the city manager, replied, “It’s all economic development. .. It’s infrastructure... It’s somewhat arbitrary the way you group things. For over a five-year period, it’s $50 million alone for the (river) arts district.”

Manheimer added, “I can’t cheerlead enough for the RADTIP plan... That’s a multi-level effort.”

Jackson asked, rhetorically, “What’s our return on investment? What are we getting for our money? We are going to be doing — on a quarterly basis — an economic impact analysis. We’ll be able to show you....

We want to show you” the excellent return on investment.

Restaurateur Dwight Butner told the city officials, “First, thanks for all you’re doing for the community.” Then, he asked, “What percentage of parking enterprise funds are being used for transit? Are you putting back reserves?”

“There’s some debt on Aloft parking deck,” Manheimer replied. “Otherwise, it’s used for transit. It’s common for cities to have to subsidize transit. It’s not a moneymaker....”

Jackson added, “The short answer is we don’t charge people very high parking rates.” Asheville’s parking rates are “some of the lowest in the state... Over time, as you pay off the debt” on parking garages. “We’re not putting money in the savings account, but we’re paying off the mortgage.”

Butner then asked, “Tell me the relationship between parking meter money” and parking deck payoff funds.

“It all goes into transit, except for some debt on Aloft (Hotel) — all our other parking decks are paid off, Manheimer said.

Speaking for the county, Gantt, the commissioners’ chairman, spoke mostly in general terms about the new spending plan, leaving the explanation of the details to County Budget Diane Price.

With much pride, Gantt noted that the county has “a triple-A bond rating” and “we’re not going to increase taxes.”

He added that “these things do not happen by happenstance.”

Gantt also lamented that of Buncombe’s projected $367 million budget, “98 percent of that is spoken for before we even get our hands on it.”

See PLANS, Page A9

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Fabric Fabricby by bythe the the pound pound Fabric pound Fabric by the pound Fabric by the pound Fabric by the pound                                                              

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A6 — July 2014 — Asheville Daily Planet

Montreat College selects its 8th president

MONTREAT – Montreat College announced June 23 the selection of Paul Maurer, Ph.D., as its eighth president.

The school’s Board of Trustees voted to select Maurer, 52, to lead Montreat College, beginning July 21.

Following his appointment, Maurer said that, after nearly a year of questions and controversy over a proposed merger, it will take the entire community to move the college forward.

“I can’t do this turnaround, but we can do this turnaround as a community,” Maurer said. “I have a long history of work in Christian education, and I deterPaul J. Maurer mined a very long time ago that was the space I was supposed to be in.”

He succeeds Dan Struble, who left the school last January. Since then, Joe Kirkland has been serving as interim president.

The appointment of Maurer comes nearly a year after Montreat announced plans to pursue a merger with Point University.

Those plans prompted questions and fears the Montreat residential campus could close.

After the merger plans fell through earlier this year, The college renewed its search for a new president. Montreat also launched a

News Briefs

major fund-raising campaign as part of its “All In” initiative.

Maurer is moving to Montreat from Gordon College (north of Boston), where he served as senior vice president of external relations.

Maurer worked previously at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif., and at Trinity International University in Chicago.

For about four years, Maurer was president of Sterling College in Kansas. Maurer said he was bought in to “get things on the right track” at Sterling, but he “parted ways” with the college in 2012.

Maurer earned a doctorate in political science from Claremont Graduate University.

He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Cincinnati and master of divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

City councilman charged with driving while impaired

Asheville City Councilman Cecil Bothwell — pulled over by a state trooper on Interstate 240 on the night of June 19 — was later charged with driving while impaired.

Bothwell’s blood-alcohol content was 0.10 percent, according to a citation filed at the Buncombe County Magistrate’s Office.

The legal limit for driving in North Carolina

is 0.08 percent.

“I made a regrettable choice, and I’ll live with the consequences,” Bothwell told the news media the next day. “I was in the wrong and I know it.”

N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper S.K. Scharf pulled over Bothwell on I-240 westbound at 10:45 p.m. The 2009 Toyota station wagon he was driving did not have a license plate, the citation stated.

Bothwell said he was driving a friend’s car that lacked a tag because it was recently purchased from an individual. The friend was in the car with him when he was stopped, he said.

He was traveling at 55 mph, the trooper said on the ticket.

“I was returning from a friend’s celebration in Black Mountain,” Bothwell said.

“There was no accident. There was no speeding.” He said his last driving infraction was a speeding ticket about 30 years ago. He declined further comment.

Highway Patrol Sgt. C.G. Harris, a supervisor in the Asheville office, said he reviewed the trooper’s notes and watched the video of Bothwell’s arrest and described the councilman as “polite and cooperative.”

He complied with all of the trooper’s requests and thanked the trooper for doing his job,” Harris said. “The trooper had really no idea who he was until (Bothwell) divulged that at the end of the incident. He didn’t try to use anything to get out of it.”

Once at the Buncombe County Detention

Facility, Bothwell mentioned to the trooper that he was on council, Harris said, but “that’s the only time he explained who he was.”

Bothwell was released on a written promise to appear in court. His court date was set for Aug. 4.

In the aftermath, John Boyle wrote in a June 22 column in the Asheville CitizenTimes (headlined “Should Cecil Bothwell resign?”) that the councilman’s “adamant opponents will call for his head, which they already have, but, then again, they’re not the ones who voted for the guy.

“So if Bothwell, 63, keeps a low profile and works hard, it’ll probably blow over before he’s up for re-election again in 2017, if he runs. If he tries again for a regional office at the state or congressional level, his opponent will pound him with the DWI charge, but I suspect Bothwell knows that.

“With no accident and no one hurt in this case, and no history of drunk driving, I’d say Bothwell will get a second chance on this one.

“At least until his next big news-making event,” Boyle concluded.

On a different tack, Asheville radio talk show host Pete Kaliner (WWNC-AM 570) and his listeners discussed — at length — the charge against the councilman, especially at what Kaliner sees as the irony that Bothwell faces such a charge while serving as the chairman of City Council’s Public Safety Committee.

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A8 — July 2014 - Asheville Daily Planet

Overcome challenges, bee expert urges

By JOHN NORTH

john@AshevilleDailyPlanet.com

MILLS RIVER — A talk on “Challenges for Today’s Beekeepers” was presented to area beekeepers by internationally known bee expert Jeff Pettis on June 17 at Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center.

The meeting room, with a standing-room-only crowd of 172 people, was sweltering because the air conditioning had been turned off and could only be turned back on remotely.

During the last half of the meeting, the temperature cooled down a bit, after an off-duty MHCR official was contacted and able to turn on the air conditioner from his home.

Following a 45-minute presentation, there was a 20-minute break and then a question-and-answer session.

“We have a full house, so we’ll try to cool it down,” Phyllis Stiles, Asheville’s Bee City USA chief, told the crowd at the opening. She especially thanked the Henderson County Beekeepers Association for its efforts in organizing the program.

Looking over the excited crowd, Stiles said, “Beekeepers don’t need alcohol or marijuana, we get buzzed on bees.”

From asking attendees for a show of hands, Stiles determined that about one-third to a half were from Henderson County, about a third from Buncombe County and the remainder from Madison County, Haywood County, Yancey County, McDowell County, Transylvania County and Polk Colk County. Also, a few were from Pickens County, S.C., and one was from Macon County, Ga. As part of Pollination Celebration Week, Stiles urged the beekeepers to attend a talk by Pettis the following night on “Give Bees a Chance” — geared to the general public — in Asheville Pettis, research leader at the USDA Beltsville (Md.) Bee Lab, was introduced as someone with a background “in hog production, down in Georgia. So he’s a Southern boy. He got his BS and MS at University of Georgia. and Ph.D. at Texas A&M.” Greeting the beekeepers, Pettis said, “It is a pleasure to be here. I did come from a pig- farming background, but I got smart and got into bees.... I did grow up in Georgia, but I’m

Honeybee

Continued from Page A1 Pettis also mentioned that golf courses, which encompass increasingly large expanses of land are contributing to problems for pollinators that include honeybees.

So what would be his advice to golf course managers?

“Use less water and less herbicide” to have less impact on the environment and minimize harm to pollinators, Pettis told the Daily Planet. “Let your ‘rough’ area be more rough.”

As for small farmers, he said, “Find a way to plant hedgerows for all wildlife — pollinator-friendly.”

Regarding grassy strips along state roadways, he said they could be planted with more pollinator-friendly vegetation.

Phyllis Stiles, head of Asheville’s Bee City USA initiative, opened the program by noting that “the reason we started the Bee City USA program is we were worried about the bees...

“Every time I eat an apple, I think about a pollinator. That’s selfish of me. I’m speaking with my stomach. ... They’re here to pollinate 85 percent of the earth’s flowering plants... If we didn’t have these pollinating” honeybees, a lot less food would be available.

With a note of pride, Stiles prompted applause from the audience when she noted that Asheville “is the first Bee City USA. And that’s in no small measure” to having “a forward-thinking City Council and city staff.”

Speaking on behalf of the city, Councilman Cecil Bothwell told the audience, “Thanks to Bee City USA and City Council, Asheville is moving ahead... We’ve required developers to plant trees and bushes on the properties for years. But now we encourage certain ones” that are good for pollinators.

Bothwell received applause, when he added, “We’re also evaluating the use of

going to use my mid-Atlantic voice.”

In the first half of his presentation, Pettis gave an overview of activities at the bee lab in Beltsville. In the second, “I’m going to tell about what could be going on with queen health and what’s going on with failing queens.”

He said the Beltsville bee lab “deals with pests and diseases,” while a few other labs around the U.S. handle other bee issues.

“We started out with American foulbrood. Each state tried to combat that. I’d love to go back to the days of only having to deal with foulbrood....

“Jay Evans, research entomologist, and I are the two most senior researchers in the lab. He’s been here (to Western North Carolina) before. He’s probably the most premier person in the lab.”

Pettis noted that “a lot of work being done in Varroa/ virus interactions... Another researcher is doing stuff on queen health and nutrition work.... Another guy focuses on how the worker bees respond to chemical exposure.”

He added, “I do a lot of field work with commercial beekeepers ... mite work ... resistance management, which I think is very valuable.

“Sometimes we can tell you (what killed your bees) — with our free diagnostic service — and we can at least tell you some of the things that didn’t kill them. Mail in your dead bees or combs.”

Regarding the question of what should we do about Nosema, Pettis said, “The honest truth is, I just don’t know. The older Nosema was very predictable. The newer” is not.

“We manage about 300 hives” at the lab. “For Varroa control, we use almost exclusively Formic acid. We never treat for Nosema. We never use antiobiotics, generally. We run about 15 apiaries.”

As for colony losses in the U.S., we’ve been averaging about 30 percent colony losses in the winter across the U.S., Pettis said. “Summer loss? It easily reaches over 50 percent.”

About 2.5 million honeybee colonies are managed in the U.S., he said. “For comparison, on the same land mass in Europe, they have 16 million colonies. We used to have 5

Roundup” weed killer.

Bothwell also triggered applause when he said, “We’ve got a lot of flat roofs in the city — and we’re trying to get (propertyowners to install) solar panels up there and, in the shade, allow for (the legal placement of) beehives” on the rooftops of Asheville.

Next, a 15-minute video of a TED talk by bee expert Marla Spivak was shown with the intention of giving the audience a quick and general briefing on bees and their plight before Pettis spoke.

In the video, Spivak noted that “bees are the most important pollinators of our crops.

Bees are not out there pollinating our food intentionally. They are flower-feeders. As they move from flower to flower, they end up providing this valuable pollination service.”

She added, “Hand pollination (with a paintbrush) is practiced in some parts of the world, where natural pollinators are not available.”

However, Spivak noted that hand pollination is labor-intensive and, therefore, especially expensive in the U.S. Spivak also said that “tomato growers now put bumblebee colonies in greenhouses” because they tremendously benefit the tomatoes.

“There are over 20,000 species of bees in the world. Very few of these species have evolved into social insects living in complex societies” as has the honeybee, she said.

“A honeybee colony can be considered a super-organism. All of their collective social behaviors are mind-blowing. Bees have social health care... We studied (bee) hygiene. Bees are able to weed out sick individuals from the colony to keep it safe... We found that the bees use propolis as a natural disinfectant. It bolsters the colony health. Humans have known about the power of propolis since bibilical times.

“So honeybees have these remarkable defenses that have kept them healthy and

million managed colonies (in 1945 the U.S.) .... We need 1.5 million to 1.7 million commercial colonies — alone — to go into almonds. The demand is such for almond pollination that they’re going into the East Coast and pulling bees.”

Pettis noted that, “on a large scale, we don’t have much of a buffer in the U.S... We are trying to make sure we have adequate bees for commercial pollination.” California has, by far, the biggest demand for pollination, so there is a “huge migration (of bee colonies) out to California” each year.

Speaking more generally of the bee die-off problem, Pettis said, “A lot of what I think is going on in bee health in general... is pesticides... There’s an interaction between nutrition and pesticide exposure.”

Successful beekeepers, he said, are doing “two things” to keep their bees alive: • Foregoing some pollination contracts and taking them out to wild land to get them built up nutritionally.

• Feeding their bees supplemental protein.

Speaking historically, Pettis said, “Humans have had a long association with bees.... I like to imagine the early beekeeper in that tribe... Everyone had a job... We were the simple-minded (individuals) — the ‘different’ group in the clan that were willing to do that (harvest honey while getting stung by bees).

The wax and honey were a valuable resource.”

Pettis also spoke at length about “colony performance and failing queens.... Why are queens failing?”

For instance, he said there are “upstream effects: poor mating weather/healthy drones, nutrition during cell building, stock selection/hive disease conditions/pesticide levels in hives/ poor supersedure /transportation.

“We measured live and dead sperm from queens from commercial colonies (failing and healthy)... Drone-laying queens...

She mates in the first two weeks of life.... What we found on drone-layers is that they had some dead sperm. You need 3 to 8 million sperm to last a lifetime” for a successful queen, he said.

• EDITOR’S NOTE: The is the first of two stories covering Pettis’ talk to local beekeepers. The second one will appear in August’s edition of the Daily Planet.

thriving for 50 million years. So seven year ago, we saw bees dying from multiple and interacting causes.”

Bees dying reflect a flowerless landscape and an overuse of pesticides, Spivak said.

There were about 4.5 million managed bee colonies in the U.S. in 1945, but today there are only about 2 million.

Spivak also lamented that, after World War II, “We (in the U.S.) stopped planting clover and alfalfa, which are highly nutritious herb plants for bees. Instead, we’ve been using herbicides. And we had larger and larger monocultures. The very farms that used to support bees now are food deserts. These monocultures extend even to crops that are good for bees — like almonds. Now the scale of almond monoculture requres about 1.5 million hives of bees to be trucked in. After bloom, they must be trucked out.”

Further, she said, “There has been a 300 percent increase in crop production that requires bee pollination,” while the number of bee colonies has dropped precipitously.

“Then there’s pesticides... Recently, researchers from Penn State University have been looking at the residue in pollen... They found every batch of pollen has parts of every pesticide, some of which can be more lethal than in original form....

“Added to everything else, bees have their own diseases and parasites... What if I lived in a food desert and I had to travel a long distance to get to a grocery store and I consumed enough of a neurovirus that I couldn’t find my way home?” Spivak said that is often the plight faced by today’s honeybees.

“It’s not just the honeybees. We need bumblebees. We need all of our bees. What are we going to do about this big bee ‘bummer?’”

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Honeybee

Asheville Daily Planet — July 2014 - A9

Continued from Page A8 At that point, Spivak said in the video that the future, in her view, is “hopeful” for honeybees and other pollinators.

To that end, she advised, “Plant beefriendly flowers and don’t plant these flowers with pesticides.... Campaign to have them (pollinator-friendly flowers) planted in public gardens, community spaces and set-aside farmland. We need roadsides seeded in flowers not only for our bees, but also for butterflies and migrating birds — from spring till fall.

“We need to diversify our farms to disrupt our agricultural food desert. When bees have access to good nutrition, they’re better able to help our nutrition.

“The beauty is every one of us needs to act more like a member of a bee society, where small acts (of planting flowers and keeping them free from pesticides) result in grand results,” Spivak concluded.

Finally, nearly an hour into the program, Pettis was introduced as the leader of “the Beltsville (Md.) Bee Lab and (as someone who) is a pretty brilliant scientist.”

When Colony Collapse Disorder began decimating honeybee colonies in 2006-07, even attracting the attention of television’s “60 Minutes,” Pettis got the call to coordinate the worldwide research. He was introduced as having “since traveled the world —and

his life has turned upside down.” Pettis has a wife and three children.

“He sits with the Capital Hill guys (and) he deals with the commercial beekeepers....

Pettis told the audience, “I just want to say it’s a pleasure to be here and pleasure to be part of Bee City USA... What we did last night.... it sounded like a beekeeper event., but what we were doing was hot yoga.” (The crowd laughed at his reference.) The air conditioner went out and we had more than 100 people there,” so the room heated up.

Regarding a question of if big agriculture is ever going to change, Pettis said, “I like the ‘dysfunctional’ word, in a way. We’ve gone so far in terms of inputs, in keeping high crop yields. We’ve gone to prophylactically treating crops that may not even need treating.

We’ve gotten lazy in agriculture. We’ve gotten stuck in a cycle. We have a lot of incentive to rotate crops. I think it’s going to have to change. We’re going to have to diversify to more fruit and vegetable production....

Pettis added, “How all of us can drive that change is at the grocery store... You can vote with your fork... You can change the way we produce food in this country. In the United States, we are so animal-protein-centered that a slight change in that mentality could make a big difference.”

As for his views on the use of ethanol as a fuel, Pettis said, “That was one of the most misguided ‘ag’ things. It maybe sounded good on paper — corn and ethnol. The economics were never there. They (through using corn to produce ethanol fuel) just drove

the price of corn up. .. It really is bad. “ He said scientists and government officials are realizing it (now). They’re moving more toward cellulose-based products.”

A man asked, “What are the top three or five that, if we changed the way we grow them, it would make the biggest differrence for pollinator health?”

“Corn and soybeans are the two biggest crops driving the problem,” Pettis said. “You have Roundup-ready soybeans. We’re trying to provide flower strips” and other options to counter the planting of crops “from fencerow to fencerow,” a practice that leaves nothing for pollinators to visit.

“The other big thing with corn and soybeans... We used to rotate (crops). We need to get back to that. It’s certainly more sustainable.”

Someone then asked Pettis for his view on almonds and migratory beekeeping.

“We only manage about 2 million colonies of honeybees in the United States and move about 1.2 million to pollinate almonds... We pull bees out of people’s backyards” because the need is so great.

“Almonds are almost 100 percentdependent on bee pollination. That’s really changed the beekeeping industry — that migratory need from the beekeeping industry. Almonds are such a high-value crop.”

However, Pettis lamented that the situation is “not going to change overnight.”

Addressing Pettis, a man said, “Last night (at a talk directed at beekeepers) you said two-thirds of the problem (with

bee die-offs) is pesticides that are used by backyard homeowners... In Asheville, we’re embracing the food movement... But almost all of the homeowners are essentially poisoning our local bee population.” He asked Pettis to address the aforementioned dilemma.

“We were talking about big ag — and big ag gets blamed for a lot because they have a big footprint,” Pettis replied. “In California, you have to report every pesticide that’s used in that county.

“So big ag is about one-third of that” problem” and “the other two-thirds is homeowners, golf courses, etc. So all of us need to look at what we’re doing.”

Continuing, Pettis said, “There’s a lot more (pesticide) use in general in our backyards than by big ag.... EPA looks at all the data. They do a risk analysis. The bottom line is the EPA looks at it and determines whether there’s reasonable risk. They are very aware of pollinator issues... I think they are working” on the problem, “but it’s not like most government agencies respond rapidly.”

The bee expert also asserted, “EPA can only regulate one chemical at a time... At some point, you realize the mixtures are the problem. You can counter that by having mixed vegetation and less integrated pest management.”

Pettis reiterated, “There’s a lot that a lot of people can do locally — in your supermarket and in your lawn.”

Continued from Page A4 He also said the new budget is $1.4 million less than that of the current year. “But statistically that doesn’t mean anything because we don’t know what the General Assembly is going to do “For instance, there’s going to be an increase in beginner teacher salary. That’s paid 90 percent by counties.... We don’t know what else they’re going to do. Right now, this budget doesn’t include a teacher (pay) increase,” Gantt said.

“We also don’t govern alone. As Mayor Manheimer, Mr. Jackson and CouncilmanSmith said.... ‘Our powers are pretty well controlled by the General Assembly.’

“So we were starting off in a not really good place.” However, Gantt asserted, the county is nonetheless able “to do it (devise a budget) because we stick to our guiding principles... We stick to our core services — primarily funding school facilities....

We also realign our resources with our need.... Our principles are we do what we do best and partner with others (on everything else) Gantt added, “We also have a long-term

view of things... If someone’s playing chess, you don’t play checkers against them.”

He then reiterated, “We’re only one of 10 counties in the state with a Triple-A rating.” All of the others with the ranking “are much bigger. It’s because we handle money so well” that Buncombe is ranked in such elite company.

“In 21 years, we’ve never had to dip into our fund balance,” Gantt said. “Ninety percent of our funds go to core services, including education... I wish the General Assembly folks were here. We have a disaster in North Carolina — software bought by Democrats and implemented by Republicans.” He said the state paid $90 million on the software.

“We had to hire 15 new people (for the county) because of the state’s crappy computer system,” Gantt lamented. “The software we have is just a disaster — $35,000 had to be spent for emergency food. Across the state, it’s $15 million.”

After a pause, he smiled and triggered laughter from the audience when he quipped, “Remember, NC FAST bad, Bun-

combe County good.”

He then said Buncombe’s financies translate into an $88,000 mortagage on a $200,000 home.. We’re doing (building) five schools right now. We’re helping our friends at A-B Tech with their bond project.”

Gantt ended his presentation by praising Commissioner Joe Belcher, who was present at the meeting, “for his efforts on the cultual and recreation commission.”

During a question-and-answer session that followed, CIBO member Mac Swicegood said, “It seems like to me we’ve had to increase” the budgeted amount – perhaps to the point of padding — for mandated services.

Price, the county budget director, replied, “It’s not padded. When the state requires us to cover mandated services,” that is what must be done.

Undeterred, Swicegood then asked about “overruns.”

“The expenditures we’re budgeting for FY ‘15 is just for this year and depends on what General Assembly is mandating,” Price answered.

On a separate matter, county Elections Director Trena Parker gave a brief report on the Board of Elections regarding “three petitions we’re working on at this point in time... for three candidates — write-ins.”

Parker noted that Ben Scales, who is seeking the Buncombe district attorney’s post, “has close to 6,000 sigs needs 7,349 — probably needs to get 8,000.”

She added, “They (the write-ins) have till June 12 to get their signatures into us. Then we have to verify them. :By June 27 noon, the candidates are supposed to get their positions down to Raleigh.”

She added that Rebecca Knight “has about 500 signatures” in her drive to get on ballot for Buncombe district attorney.

Nancy Waldrop, a retired Buncombe County schoolteacher and small-business owner, announced June 19 that she collected enough signatures on a petition to officially enter the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners race as an unaffiliated candidate against Miranda DeBruhl, the Republican primary winner, for the District 3 seat.

DeBruhl defeated incumbent Commissioner David King, who is Waldrop’s husband, in the Nancy Waldrop primary.

Noting her many years of volunteer service to the community, Waldrop said her entry into the race will provide voters “with a more moderate option” to DeBruhl, whom she described in a press release as a “conservative.”

Waldrop said she is running on a platform of what she refers to as the “4E’s: Economy,

Education, Environment, and Excellence in Buncombe County.”

To be placed on the November ballot, Waldrop needed to secure at least 2,222 signatures from registered voters living in District 3 on a petition no later than June 27, 2014. With more than a week left to collect signatures, the Buncombe County Board of Elections confirmed that 3,279 valid signatures had been submitted, she noted.

Waldrop is a western North Carolina native with a master’s degree in education from Western Carolina University and 30 years of teaching experience. She also has been co-owner of a small coffee and gift shop, and as a realtor, co-operated her own real estate office.

As a volunteer, Waldrop has protected the interests of children in difficult situations as a Guardian Ad Litem and a new member of the Children’s Welfare League, and serves as a docent for the Asheville Art Museum.

Plan

Waldrop launches campaign against DeBruhl

A10 — July 2014 - Asheville Daily Planet

Advice Goddess

Continued from Page A1 A: On dating sites, where the faceto-face embarrassment of overstepping the bounds of reality has been removed, 70-something men are hitting on 30-something women as fast as their wrinkly fingers can hit “send.”

In other words, the youngest guy to even include 58-year-old women in his search criteria will likely want to talk about Titanic — not the movie but the boat wreck he survived.

Sure, dating sites promote themselves as a bonanza-in-waiting for people of all ages, but the truth is, online dating is heavily skewed toward younger people. It works like dog years. You may be 58 on your passport and driver’s license, but in Match. com years, you’re 406 going on 407.

Also, men on dating sites care first and foremost about your four or five profile pictures (in which you’re competing with pix of women in their early 20s — typically the height of female hotitude). Musical interests? Favorite hobbies? You may as well list them in Cantonese.

But there is hope for you, and it comes from behavioral economics research by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. It turns out that we decide the value of things not out of the blue but rather by comparing them with similar alternatives.

In other words, you need an “anchor” to make yourself look more attractive to men, and no, I’m not suggesting you start accessorizing with the big iron thing from a ship.

An anchor is a reference point for comparison. For example, after hearing about this concept on my radio show, a lumber company owner started stocking an expensive ceiling tile next to the one he sells a ton of, in order to make buyers feel they were getting a really good deal.

Likewise, as a 58-year-old who takes care of herself, you’ll look far more appealing in a neighborhood filled with 58-yearold reference points than 20-something ones.

Like, for example, on a dating site specifically for singles over 50, such as OurTime. com.

The same goes for activities. The best groups for you are those where you aren’t the anchor making some 22-year-old of average attractiveness look hot.

It may also help to acknowledge and even try to laugh about how hard dating is for women your age. Seeing this simply as an annoying fact of life after 50 may help you take it less personally.

It could also lead you to a greater appreciation of later life’s small victories, like when sex ends with a man rolling over and snoring (as opposed to being zipped into a bag by the coroner).

Hooked on a felon

My best friend’s new boyfriend is a convicted sex offender who has three children from three different women. He has no job and pays no child support.

I’ve tried in vain to convince her that he’s a bad bet. They keep insisting we all go to dinner so I can “get to know” him.

How do I explain that I want nothing to do with him without ruining our friendship?

— Uncomfortable When your friend meets guys online, it shouldn’t be on MegansLaw.com.

Unfortunately, pointing this out to her is probably futile.

We’re slaves to our ego, determined to see ourselves as smart, lovable, and making wise choices, even if it takes believing the unbelievable: “Soulmate, inmate — what’s the difference?”

What you don’t have to do is accept their

offer of a ringside seat. Instead, tell her you’re happy she’s happy, but you’d prefer to spend time with her alone.

Her knowing you disapprove of him may put a gash in your friendship, but it may be a smaller gash if you stop trying to convince her. This may mean you’ll be around when she needs you most — after things go south.

Maybe you can at least keep her from immediately seeking his replacement, like by dolling herself up and lingering outside parole hearings: “Hey, handsome…didn’t I see you on ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’?”

Bridle party

I’m going to a friend’s bachelor party in Vegas, which includes a strip club visit. My girlfriend said I have to sit that out. She believes going could lead me to cheat on her. I assured her that I have no intention of cheating -- ever -- and strippers have no interest in me anyway.

Well, she’s adamant. I caved, agreeing to skip the strip club, but my friends’ teasing will be merciless. What if I just go and fib to my girlfriend to keep everyone happy?

— Restricted Unless your girlfriend’s name is Moses and she’s just come back from a mountaintop chat with God, she doesn’t get to hand down commandments: “You look at some other woman’s woohoobies and I’ll ask The Big Guy to smite you.”

Regarding your caving to her demand, you should un-cave; go to that club with your friends. Not secretly. Openly. In other words, tell her you’re doing it. Because an adult shouldn’t get to control another adult’s behavior, and being in a relationship doesn’t change that. Also, allowing her to give you orders sets a really bad precedent.

(What will she object you out of doing next? And how soon before she fits you for a leash and a bark collar?)

A bachelor party is a male friendship ritual. While women tend to share their feelings Oprah’s couch-style, men often bond through drinking, ribbing and humiliation, like forcing their soon-to-be-married buddy to get onstage on his hands and knees to be spanked by the stripper. Your girlfriend seems to have given no thought to the social repercussions of your telling the guys your governess is making you stay back in your hotel room and watch a movie. (Would “Fried Green Tomatoes” work for her or would she prefer you watch something on the Lifetime channel?)

And sure, sex for pay is easily findable in Vegas. However, a typical bachelor party visit to a Vegas strip club takes place not at some seedy, out-of-the way joint where anything goes but at a ginormous corporate warehouse of stripping where some 6’8” genetic experiment of a man makes sure no male paws wander anywhere on the dancer they aren’t supposed to. The strippers at these places can make 100K a year just dancing, and they aren’t looking to the crowd for sex or boyfriends. (Their primary job isn’t even dancing but stripping men of their money.)

You could have reassured her about all of this if you each hadn’t taken the emotionally easy way out. Instead of talking about her fears, she went all ayatollah on you, and instead of standing up for yourself, you figured you’d just lie to her. Problemavoiding — rather than laying out your feelings and problem-solving — tends to bode poorly for a relationship’s survival.

Backtrack and try a little adult conversation. You just might convince her that looking isn’t the gateway drug to cheating — much like ogling a Porsche doesn’t lead to grand theft auto and watching “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” doesn’t mean you’re just one big power tool away from dismembering people.

See ADVICE GODDESS, Page A18

Asheville Daily Planet — July 2014 — A11

Faith Notes Send us your faith notes

Please submit items to the Faith Notes by noon on the third Wednesday of each month, via email, at spirituality@ashevilledailyplanet.com, or fax to 252-6567, or mail c/o The Daily Planet, P.O. Box 8490, Asheville, N.C. 28814-8490. Submissions will be accepted and printed at the discretion of the editor, space permitting. To place an ad for a faith event, call 252-6565.

Thursday, July 3

FILM, 7 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Black Mountain, 500 Montreat Rd., Black Mountain. The film “The United States of ALEC” will be shown in a summer film series about corporate money in politics and how it impacts America’s democracy. Admission is free.

Sunday, July 13

SUMMER WORSHIP SERIES, 10:30 a.m., Anderson Auditorium, Montreat Conference Center, Montreat. The MCC Summer Worship Series will feature the Rev. Rhashell Hunter, director of Racial, Ethnic and Women’s Ministries for Presbyterian Women at Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A.) in Louisville, Ky. She will address “When Your Identity Changes,” Psalm 133 and Galatians 3:28. The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper will be celebrated. Following the service, a buffet will be available for purchase from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Assembly Inn’s Galax Dining Room. Child care for ages six months through kindergarten graduates will be available at the Updike Child Care Center on Texas Road.

Saturday, June 12

MIND-BODY-SPIRIT DAY, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., The Light Center, 2190 N.C. 9, Black Mountain.

Mind-Body-Spirit Day will feature crystal bowls, Reiki circle and toning for peace and healing.

Donations will be accepted.

Sunday, July 20

SUMMER WORSHIP SERIES, 10:30 a.m., Anderson Auditorium, Montreat Conference Center, Montreat. The MCC Summer Worship Series will feature the Rev. Tom Walker, senior pastor at Palms Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville Beach, Fla. He will address “Where Can I Go,” Genesis 28:1019, Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24, and Romans 8:12-25. Following the service, a buffet will be available for purchase from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Assembly Inn’s Galax Dining Room. Child care for ages Gospel singer Tasha Cobbs will perform in concert at 7 p.m. July 16 in Thomas Wolfe Auditorium six months through kindergarten graduates will be available at the in downtown Asheville.

Updike Child Care Center on Texas Road.

SPECIAL NEEDS SERVICE, 6 p.m., Avery’s Sunday, July 13 Creek United Methodist Church, 874 Glenn Bridge SUMMER WORSHIP SERIES, 10:30 a.m., Rd. Southeast, Arden. A fellowship dinner and Anderson Auditorium, Montreat Conference Center, service for special needs children is offered every Montreat. The MCC Summer Worship Series will third Sunday. All children are welcome, regardless feature the Rev. J. William Straughan Jr., president, of ability to participate. of the Development Foundation Board at Montreat Conference Center. He will address “Standing on the Promises,” Isaiah 43:1-3, Psalm 121, Hebrews Sunday, July 27 13:1-3, 8-9, and Revelation 21:1-5. Following the SUMMER WORSHIP SERIES, 10:30 a.m., service, a buffet will be available for purchase from Anderson Auditorium, Montreat Conference Center, 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Assembly Inn’s Galax Dining Room. Child care for ages six months through Montreat. The MCC Summer Worship Series will feature the Rev. Lillian Daniel, senior pastor at First kindergarten graduates will be available at the Updike Congregational Church, UCC, in Glen Ellyn, Ill. Child Care Center on Texas Road.

He will address “The Seven Year Itch,” Genesis PUBSING, 6-8 p.m., French Broad Brewery, 101 Fairview Rd., Asheville. Pubsing will offer a gathering to sing old-time gospel and Americana inspirational music. Attendees are asked to bring instruments, or just their voices.

Wednesday, July 16

TASHA COBBS CONCERT, 7 p.m., Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, 87 Haywood St., downtown Asheville. Singer Tasha Cobbs will perform in concert. For tickets, which are $20 in advance and $27 on the day of the show, visit www.ticketmaster.com or call (800) 745-3000.

Covenant Reformed

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www.covenantreformed.net Wednesday— 7 p.m. Prayer/Bible Study Sunday— 9:30 a.m. Sunday School 11 a.m. Worship • 6 p.m. Worship

Summer Sunday Service • 10 am

Celebration Services 11 AM Sunday

Unity Church of Asheville An Informal Spiritual Center of Practical Christianity for Everyday Living.

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130 Shelburne Road West Asheville 252-5010 www.unityofasheville.com

Sunday mornings Carolina Cinemas

Hendersonville Rd., Asheville

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Fight

Continued from Page A1 Continuing, the BCGOP’s West asserted, “It’s the same crowd that wants us to pay higher taxes out in the county, so they can funnel money to their liberal activist friends in the city. But voters won’t be fooled by this — and they certainly won’t let their district be represented by an elite shill of the Asheville City Council,” in a not-so-veiled reference to Turner.

West added, “Turner has made it clear he supports the Moral Monday agenda, which would cost North Carolina anywhere between $7 to $10 billion, adding an additional $4,000 in taxes for each family of four in our state.

“For a first-tiume candidate, it is unusual to see so much financial support coming from outside the district,” West said. “It really leaves some troubling questions about who this guy will actually represent if he’s ever elected. It’s a good thing he won’t be.”

Meanwhile, Turner’s campaign said their candidate raised $90,389 from 354 people in the first quarter and has $149,585 to spend. In addition, Turner gave himself $11,559.

As for Turner’s support from all members of City Council, reporter Jon Ostendorff noted in a June 19 story in the Asheville

29:15-28, Psalm 105:1-11, and Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52. Following the service, a buffet will be available for purchase from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Assembly Inn’s Galax Dining Room. Child care for ages six months through kindergarten grads will be offered at Updike Child Care Center on Texas Road.

Sunday, Aug. 3

MOUNTAIN SPIRIT COFFEEHOUSE CONCERT, 7 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place, Asheville. Pat Donohue will perform during the monthly Mountain Spirit Coffeehouse Concert.

Thursday, Aug. 7

FILM, 7 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Black Mountain, 500 Montreat Rd., Black Mountain. The film “The Story of Citizens United vs. FEC” will be shown in a summer film series about corporate money in politics and how it impacts America’s democracy. Admission is free.

Thursday, Aug. 21

CONCERT, 8 p.m., Biltmore Estate, Asheville.

Steven Curtis Chapman and Third Day will perform in concert. For tickets, which are $55 and $60 reserved, and $65 premium, call (866) 336-1255, or visit www.biltmore.com/concerts.

Sunday, Sept. 14

MOUNTAIN SPIRIT COFFEEHOUSE CONCERT, 7 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place, Asheville. Robin Bullock will perform during the monthly Mountain Spirit Coffeehouse Concert.

Citizen-Times that “Moffitt has angered City Council with efforts to merge the city’s water system with a regional authority, legislation ending forced annexation and, more recently, supporting a law that would end the business privilege license tax, which would cost the city more than $1 million annually.”

However, Ostendorff noted in his story that, despite West’s concerns about Turner’s supporters, “Moffitt could face the same criticism as his fundraising heats up.

“He (Moffitt) raised $43,365 in the first quarter, with $31,000 coming from political action committees, according to a finance report filed April 30. He reported five individual donors. Two live in his district,” Ostendorff reported.

In May, Moffitt reported receiving $5,000 from a political campaign in Catawba, $1,000 from an asphalt industrial political action committee based in Raleigh and $5,000 from Rep. Brawley of Matthews.

Political scientist Chris Cooper, at Western Carolina University, told the CitizenTimes that, while West may have a point, any money is better than no money and candidates happily accept out-of-district donations to pay for mailers and other ads.

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A12 —July 2014 - Asheville Daily Planet

News Briefs

Continued from Page A6

City budget approved with no tax increase

Asheville City Council on June 24 gave its unanimous approval to a budget for fiscal 2014-15 that keeps the city tax rate at the same level and finances $24.5 million in new construction and equipment purchases.

The budget includes the first payment on a five-year plan that will result in more than $129 million in capital improvements, including the following: • Major sidewalk construction projects along Charlotte Street, Hendersonville Road and Leicester Highway.

• Construction of greenways in or near the River Arts District.

• A new fire station.

• Significant increase in money for paving and replacement of police cars and other city vehicles.

The funding for the improvements will be generated from a mix of tax revenue, grants and matching funds from state and federal government and borrowing.

The general fund budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 totals $99.5 million — a 3.8 percent increase over the current budget. The total budget, including city operations primarily funded by fees and similar revenue, is $147.6 million.

The budget includes a 3 percent pay raise for city employees.

Toxic air testing grows near old CTS operation

Following the voluntary evacuation earlier in June of 13 people living nearby, the Environmental protection Agency later in the month expanded its testing for toxic air near the old CTS plant on Mills Gap Road in South Asheville.

The property is now a Superfund site.

Testing performed June 24 was designed to determine if those living in the seven households near the former CTS plant have unsafe levels of trichloroethylene, a toxic industrial solvent.

The latest round of testing is designed to show how far the unsafe levels of the fumes extend from severely contaminated springs next to the old CTS plant — and whether more families shold be evacuated, according to an EPA spokeswoman.

Tanks called summa cannisters were placed inside and outside the houses by

technicians. The devices were to collect air for 24 hours before they are retrieved the next day and sent to a lab for analysis.

Once the results from the testing are known, the EPA will determine if it will recommend the evacuation of more homes.

If the levels of TCE, a human carinogen, are above the EPA action level, more air testing will be conducted at The band Young and in the Way makes waves. homes farther from the contaminated kitchen area.” springs, an EPA spokeswoman said.

She added that the LAB will not need a reinspection to reopen.

Heavy metal band spills Reportedly, brewery employees conpig’s blood, closing LAB tacted the health department after the The Lexington Avenue Brewery closed Empire Tattoo Party show, which featured — temporarily — following the splattering the bands Bask, Generation of Vipers and of pig’s blood on a stage during a June 22 Young and In the Way. heavy metal rock show.

After the show, fans of Young and in the The LAB was expect to reopen as soon Way posted photos on Instagram, which as June 26, or at the latest, by that weekshow a red liquid covering the LAB stage, end, depending on how fast the cleanup and images of themselves splattered with a happens, LAB co-owner Mike Healy said. dried brown substances.

In the aftermath, the Buncombe County One fan noted, “Great shot. Venue was Health Department said there is no public not happy. Haha.” health risk from the incident.

Healy said that, indeed, the incident “There is no concern for good safety,” was not amusing. He added that almost 50 Sue Ellen Morrison, the lead communiemployees were out of work while a mascable disease nurse with the health desive cleanup — following Young and in the partment, said. “It was nowhere near the Way — was underway.

Commentary Ghostly conversations near the Grove Park Inn On capitalism, socialism and ... architecture

A Grove Park Inn employee, who I’ll call Jasper, claims to see ghosts, famous ones.

He was making the rounds on the hotel’s outside terraces on Friday, June 13, 2014, the moon was almost full, the sky was clear and breezy, and it was at about 3:45 am., when he encountered an illustrious group of past, or rather passé, guests sitting round a table and watching the lights of the city below.

Jasper has reported hearing conversations of roughly this same eclectic group of spirits gathered several times before. He moved stealthily in closer and hid within earshot, concealed by a bush: William Jennings Bryan was speaking, unusually loudly for a ghost. “I’m telling you people, this new TEA Party’s a confounded conundrum!”

“Oh, William,” Zelda Fitzgerald said, “Why so relentless with the politics? I’m curious to know, instead, what’s that hideous dark monolithic apparition out there, in the center of the city?”

“My dear, that’s what they call ‘The BB&T.’” Thomas Wolfe said.

“Why would the living make such a ghastly thing?”

Wolfe replied, frowning, “No one I know of can adequately explain its existence, but far be it from me to disparage my home town. They’re volatile when roused.” He looked warily at some other ghosts milling about near the table.

Bryan said, “If you want to talk about trivialities, Mrs. Fitzgerald, I doubt they’re of interest to Mr. Rockefeller. Now what about my point sir, what do you make of this new TEA Party? They are common citizens, devout Christians, mostly, my people, and yet they advocate for policy

From left are William Jennings Bryan, Zelda Fitzgerald, Thomas Wolfe, J.D. Rockefeller and Alex Haiey. which manifestly benefits only the fabulously rich.”

Ben Yoke Rockefeller, ever the taciturn, seemed to hesitate, or so Zelda Fitzgerald must have thought.

She said, “Aesthetics are not a trivial matter Mr. Bryan, if you’d learned that perhaps you wouldn’t have been so bombastic in your time, been taken more seriously, and even became president. Anyway the resolution, if you all want to know, to the endless fighting people do over economic systems, lies in humans really understanding the significance and nature of creativity and synergy. But that would require too much non-linear thinking for most people, I suppose.”

It was young Alex Haley (apparently ghosts can choose their age in the afterlife) in a luminous sailor suite who spoke next, “William, the conservative appeal of this TEA Party is to an often subconscious white nativism and racial anxiety in this changing culture. The veneer of a conscious argument for a return to a mythic time of pure and successful laissez-faire

capitalism doesn’t have to be rational, if it seems to sanctify conservative emotions. . .

They all turned now to Rockefeller, who has the peculiar distinction of being the richest man in the history of the world, yet he seemed so very old. He wore a fine but dusty funerary tuxedo and top hat, and his voice was high and wheedling, barely audible. He said, “Mrs. Fitzgerald, Mr. Wolfe, I take issue with your assessment of that structure. It holds up the sky and lends at least an aura of rigor to an otherwise frivolous looking little metropolis” After a curious pause it was Wolfe who actually seemed to provide the answer for Rockefeller, though perhaps as the devil’s advocate. “Mr. Bryan and Mr. Haley, the old man must refer to the fact that a productive work ethos is not always flashy or beautiful, but it’s necessary as part of the economic picture, and I think the people of this time may no longer be so common.

Perhaps they look at history and advocate for ideas, no longer for “class struggles,” silver thrown to the herd, such as you Bryon have catered too. They’ve seen the abject failure of Marxist ideas, the limits of this “New Deal” which you helped spawn, and they listen to these new proponents of capitalism like Hayak, Friedman, Rand, and President Reagan.

“Rand and Reagan yes,” said Bryan, “and demagogues like this Limbaugh, but the effect of their policies has . . .”

“Stop! Stop it!” said Zelda, “You men don’t ever listen to me! It’s always the same. I died, trapped in fire in an asylum on that hill over there, because F. Scott would never listen, had me locked up.

Now, I know what I’m talking about!”

“Really, my dear,” said Bryan, “A ballet dancing flapper should know all about economics. Do tell us.”

“Well,” she said, ignoring his tone, “The natural law (essentially biological) reason a mixed economy is the necessary solution can be boiled down to just one sentence, which is: As a method of enhancing ‘productive work’ individual competitive creativity is intrinsically no better, or worse, than collective cooperative synergy. Don’t you see? Creativity must arise from individual brains, and to thrive relies on individual freedom, thus the roots of capitalist ideology. But synergy can only be productively facilitated when there’s a social contract agreement for equal rules, and to at least some extent equal benefits, for all; thus socialist ideology. Yet both creativity and synergy are valid methods of enhancing productive work!”

The manly ghosts sat looking at her, startled by her clarity I suppose, when Jasper reports that a gust of early morning wind came up and blew them all away. . .

• Ben Yoke, a philosopher and writer, lives with his wife and two sons in Weaverville.

Asheville Daily Planet — July 2014 - A13

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A14 - July 2014 - Asheville Daily Planet

The Daily Planet’s Opinion

Let’s put the bite on taggers

But is Asheville’s graffiti crackdown tough enough?

Asheville City Council’s campaign to eradicate the city’s burgeoning downtown graffiti problem is a step in the right direction, but if the initial effort fails, then more stringent measures will need to be taken.

We support council’s crackdown that began July 1. It includes removing grafitti as soon as possible, instituting civil penalties for vandals, in addition to criminal ones, and asking the state General Assembly to toughen criminal graffiti laws, the last of which is making progress in the House.

In the past few years, incidents involving tagging buildings and almost anything else downtown with grafitti have visibly jumped. The situation has gotten so far out of control that visitors,

residents and the business community are complaining about the city looking like a war zone.

While we respect Asheville’s flourishing artistic community and the desire of self-expression by individuals within the city, there are appropriate places for graffiti-driven self-expression.

The alternative locations allow for graffiti without damaging private or public property, which costs taxpayers and individual property-owners. In the latter case, the taggers are acting as vandals — not artists.

The city’s study of cases of successfully dealing with grafitti problems elsewhere show that mandating fast action in grafitti removal and imposing tough penalties on taggers are helpful.

We think the city is on the right track.

The Republicans’ best choice for ‘16?

CHAPEL HILL — Romney for President.

Get used to the idea.

Again.

But, you say, Mitt Romney has made it clear that he is not interested in running again. He is a two-time loser, which makes him damaged property. And the far-right wing of the party was never happy with him as a candidate. And by the time he would first become president he would be 69 years old.

However, the super-conservatives in the party learned to live with Romney in 2012.

If they think he has the best chance to beat a Democrat, they will work for him again.

And who are the competitors?

Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Bobby Jindal, Rand Paul, Rick Perry, Marco Rubio, and Paul Ryan.

Of these, only Bush and Christie have the solid mainstream images that could make them attractive to independents and Democratic crossover voters.

The others have strong conservative views that may inspire and mobilize the Republican base. However, those same views may be too far to the right to win over moderate and independent voters in the November election.

As for Bush and Christie, the pragmatic credentials and mainstream views that might make them competitive in a national election, turn off the Tea Party and other Republican conservative voters who dominate presidential primary elections in many states.

To win Republican primaries and the party nomination, Bush and Christie would have to walk the almost impossible tightrope of getting far enough to the right to win the nomination without getting so far to the right as to make it impossible to win in November.

This is the same tough challenge that Mitt Romney faced in 2012.

And he very nearly pulled it off.

Of course, he lost the election. Like every candidate, he made some bad mistakes.

Some people like NBC’s David Gregory say Romney proved himself a “flawed candidate.” But losing an election does not necessarily make him flawed.

Generally, Romney was a solid candidate, one who developed a strong fundraising effort and a national team of loyal, hardworking supporters. He came very close to

D.G. Martin defeating a well-financed, well-organized campaign of an incumbent president.

Many hard right conservatives, who opposed him in the 2012 primaries, supported him in the general election. They came to admire him and like him.

Take for instance Ann Coulter, the hardright commentator, who recently spoke of her hopes for Romney, “Well, don’t tell him, but I’m planning on giving Mitt Romney a little more time to rest — flying out, kidnapping him and depriving him of sleep, food and water until he agrees to run again.”

Having demonstrated that he can lead a competitive presidential campaign and win the support of the hard right wing of this party, Romney brings to the Republicans assets that the other possible candidates can only envy.

After brutal scrutiny by media and opponents, all the possible downsides of his character and personal life have been publically examined. Amazingly, even those of us who disagree with his politics have to concede his personal and family life are admirable, marred only by a story of his dog riding on top of the family car and some negative side effects on others of his business operations.

What about the age factor?

Romney, born in 1947, will be 69 when the new president takes office, about the same age as Ronald Reagan when he took office.

Age might be a factor, but before Democrats make too much of it, they should remember that Hillary Clinton was also born in 1947.

Seventy is the new 50, which is how old Romney looks on a bad day.

I hope I am wrong. I hope Republicans pass him by. But if I were a Republican, I would be right there with Ann Coulter, helping with her persuasive tactics until he agrees to run again.

• D.G. Martin hosts “North Carolina Bookwatch,” which airs at 9:30 p.m. Fridays and at 5 p.m. Sundays on UNC-TV.

Letters to the Editor

Mumpower termed right, but for different reasons

I read with amusement your (June’s Daily Planet) coverage of Mr. (Carl) Mumpower’s speech at the recent Asheville Tea Party rally.

His accusation that President Obama is offering “something for nothing” is actually pretty accurate, but he somehow overlooked just who is getting the “something.”

The biggest recipients of federal giveaways during the Obama administration have been mega-banks and Wall Street investment firms.

Billions of dollars have been handed over to private corporations with no strings attached. Even the loans that have been made (and in some cases repaid) were at ridiculously low interest rates — another de facto “give away.”

Like others in his extreme corner of the American electorate, Mumpower seems unable or unwilling to grasp that Obama sits something to the right of Richard Nixon on the left-right spectrum. He is an entirely

centrist, pro-corporate president.

This shrill name-calling is part of the Koch Brothers/FOX News/Tea Party effort to continue to drag the national debate to the right while the great majority of Americans are hammered in a class war.

The wealth divide in our country hasn’t been this wide since at least the 1920s, and the fiscal policies of our state and country continue to shift wealth to the wealthy.

I know Mr. Mumpower to be a smart man and must know the facts, so I can only infer that he is a liar.

Cecil Bothwell Asheville EDITOR’S NOTE: Following is Dr. Carl Mumpower’s response to Cecil Bothwell’s aforementioned letter:

I am always grateful when this gentleman illuminates our differences in perspective, method and character.

Carl Mumpower Asheville See LETTERS, Page A17

The Candid Conservative

Not so cheap women

“We say that slavery has vanished from European civilization, but this is not true.

Slavery still exists, but now it applies only to women and its name is prostitution.”

— VICTOR HUGO, “Les Misérables”

S

everal weeks ago, the FBI and local authorities raided a thinly disguised massage parlor thriving as a house of prostitution.

Billboards highlighting this make-believe spa have long graced I-26. Informant connected police assuredly knew of this illegal hotspot within weeks of the first “exotic” service. UPS condom deliveries by the thousands might also have been a clue.

That this criminal enterprise thrived for so long tells us a lot about local enforcement enthusiasm. That it represents only the tip of the sex trade iceberg tells us much more.

In today’s Asheville, the sexual service delivery system centers on self-described “escorts.”

Escort is code for “I will do anything for money, Whistle Blower but want you, me, and everyone else to pretend I am a guileless waif struggling to do my best in a tough world.”

The world is certainly tough, but the rest is fantasy. Escorts services are to prostitution what hotdogs are to meat byproducts – fancy packaging hiding bad stuff.

Going by the numbers of these locally advertised enterprises, a lot of Asheville’s men have given up dating and chose to purchase female companionship. That the ladies embracing this window of opportunity charge the same per hour fee as another professional group – attorneys – is purely coincidental.

Some of our area prostitutes, typically drug users needing a fix, openly step out on city streets. South French Broad – yes, where our middle school is located – and Haywood Road seem to be happy hunting grounds for these mobile professionals.

That they operate openly demonstrates a lack of meaningfully challenge – and that business is good.

In 21st century Asheville, savvy chicks

Carl Mumpower

stay off the street and rely on the internet and smart phones. A quick on-line yellow pages check (yellowpages.com/ashevillenc/escort-services) reveals fourteen escort services in Asheville. There are tons of other links offering email addresses, phone numbers, text options, vital statistics, pictures, fees, and service plans (http://www. usasexguide.info/forum/archive/index. php/t-8586.html).

Like attorneys, escort services use unique terminology to veil the authentic nature of their work. In the case of escorts, the pretense is nothing harmful is going on.

Come to think of it the legal profession maintains that same posture. As regards the former, citing physical measurements, posting lingerie selfies, and then charging two or more Benjamin’s an hour for your company stretches the credibility of much proclaimed innocence. (asheville.backpage. com/FemaleEscorts/).

Consider one site’s annotation – “Read Before U Call – I am an independent Provider. You agree & understand that I will not tolerate explicit language. I will hang up on you. You understand that you are providing me with a donation based on the agreement that it is for the time and companionship I will provide to you. You agree that you are not affiliated with any law enforcement agency.” Unfortunately all that angelic purity is tarnished by the fact this young lady’s services, like those of her peers, receives on-line client references and reviews. Light-hearted banter and hand holding are not the activities cheered by her fan base (bigdoggie.net/reviews/search).

For more specifics on fees, check out the Internet address of this local escort resource (atouchofclass5star.net/rates). You can come to them or they will come to you for around $300 an hour or a bargain rate of $3,500 for 24.

See CANDID CONSERVATIVE, Page A17

Asheville Daily Planet —July 2014 — A15

Commentary

I

f there is any underlying agreement between Tea Partiers on the right and Moral Mondayers on the left, it might be the idea that governments are failing us.

Details and prescriptions for improvement vary, but the sense that our elected officials aren’t doing what we elected them to do is pretty pervasive.

I’d make the argument that local governments are doing a whole lot better than state and federal, partly because their roles and responsibilities are more narrowly defined, and partly because they are freer to experiment.

Here in Asheville, under the leadership of City Manager Gary Jackson and with the help of a creative and committed staff, you can see results up close and personal.

A major element in the changes emerging here involves the Internet and the evolution from a top-down management structure to the era of networking.

For decades after the introduction of computers to government offices, they were used as fancy typewriters and electronic filing cabinets.

In Raleigh and Washington, D.C., that very often remains the case. Bureaucracies are resistant to change, with innovation as often punished as rewarded, and keeping one’s head down the most popular form of exercise. So another element in the flexibility of cities is probably the smaller bureaucratic base.

A powerful factor in the changes we’ve seen in Asheville (and elsewhere) in recent years is the 2008 global financial collapse, which imposed unavoidable austerity measures as tax collections fell. The necessity for leaner government was beyond clear.

On the left

The smarter city Cecil Bothwell How is Asheville’s networking affecting your life?

The most immediately visible element involves the signs now installed at every bus stop in town that instruct riders to text or phone for information on the next arrival.

Buses are tracked in real time, making the system a lot more predictable and useful. A similar system is being tested for parking availability — instead of endless circling a driver will be able to drive directly to an open space. (A related improvement is the parking meter app that allows payment by phone instead of scrambling for quarters.)

A change principally visible to builders and developers is the reorganization of our Development Services Department which includes online tracking of permits. The whole permitting process has been streamlined and once you file an application you can easily follow its progress.

The Asheville App allows residents to quickly report abandoned vehicles,

deceased animals and fire hydrant leaks, enabling a much more timely response from the City. General questions are answered fairly quickly, and bright ideas about multi-modal transportation can be easily submitted.

This last element is key to the new model of local governance. Problems are being crowd-sourced. Innovative solutions are easily shared and evaluated. The most dramatic example here is the work of Code for Asheville (part of the Code for America Brigade), a group of volunteer geeks intent on improving how local governments and organizations use the web.

This year they put together Look@ Asheville, a site that offers citizens a clear and comprehensive look at the city budget over the past several years.

In a broader way, networking allows cities to quickly research how other municipal governments have solved problems. And, yes, we do care how you did it in Wilmington/Poughkeepsie/Santa Monica/Bismarck

... wherever. Replicating the best wheels is way better than re-inventing them.

In that regard the new Asheville Tree Map (created by the Asheville Tree Commission) is a great new tool, and a direct knock-off of Philadelphia’s highly successful phillytreemap.org.

Anyone can enter information about any tree in the city and others can add to or correct the info (think Wikipedia). What will emerge is a great tool for tracking the health of our municipal trees, for reporting problems, for encouraging conservation and for educating the community about the value and variety of the trees on our public and private property.

This tool will help the city arborist work more efficiently to protect and replace our public trees, particularly when the forthcoming mobile app becomes available.

All of this sharing and networking means that the city can provide the same level of service with lower per capita costs (check out Look@Asheville for the data).

Our population is growing faster than our budget. We’re building a smarter city.

• Cecil Bothwell, author of nine books, including “She Walks On Water: A novel” (Brave Ulysses Books, 2013), is a member of Asheville City Council.

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A16 - July 2014 - Asheville Daily Planet

Commentary Let’s go for a different kind of fiscal conservatism

I

n a recent fit of self-inventory, I was surprised to discover that I’m an economic — or fiscal — conservative.

My family lives within our means, below the lifestyle we possibly could afford. Our budget is balanced and we avoid debt like there still were debtors’ prisons.

And what’s more, my beliefs carry over to politics. I’m a fiscal conservative there, too, albeit on my own terms.

But then that seems to be the way it is with most fiscal conservatives.

The Constitution definitely calls for limited government.

That was the Founder’s vision. Then Jefferson wanted to buy Louisiana, and that meant debt. Then Madison had the War of 1812. Real hard-nosed fiscal conservatism doesn’t show its head again.

Ronald Reagan tried. He started in 1981 with massive tax cuts, good fiscal conservatism right out of Edmund Burke.

Unfortunately, after eight years of raising and lowering taxes, the net loss in federal revenue over that period tripled the national debt. He wanted defense spending more than he wanted a balanced budget. Beating Russia was his Louisiana.

That’s not my kind of fiscal conservatism.

Then George W. Bush, after inheriting a budget surplus, cut taxes, passed a prescription drug plan and fought two wars – and paid for none of them. Dick Cheney famously said to the treasury secretary, “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.” So, like Reagan, Bush multiplied the national debt while in office.

It seems that Republicans only get upset when tax money is being spent on Democratic programs. That’s bogus fiscal conservatism.

Today’s GOP is political abstract art. On paper, its various factions all want to reduce the size of government and government spending. But for their own ends.

The Tea Party, a diverse collection of angry anarchists, wants really small government. They have no plan for actually governing.

Lee Ballard Libertarian types (like North Carolina’s own Art Pope) want government out of the way to clear the way for 19th century whoopee capitalism.

Social conservatives (whom Libertarians scorn as wanting to restrict freedom for morality’s sake) ride the GOP wagon in order to crush abortion and homosexuality. They aren’t fiscal theoreticians.

And then there are the so-called “moderates” who actually want to govern.

While a thread of fiscal conservatism does run through them all, I wouldn’t be seen dead in that fabric.

No, my man is Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City. He says balance the budget – something Reagan and G.W. Bush didn’t do, but Bill Clinton did — is what’s important. This is best done, he believes, by improving the efficiency of government so government

spending can be cut. That’s his definition of “small government.” That’s where I am. Like my family, government should live within its means and pay as it goes.

Ideological government-cutting is naïve. If government were to be powerless, the vacuum would be filled by smart, slick, greedy…bad people. Everybody knows that.

Where I break with Republicans altogether is their willingness – no, their desire – to cut government spending at the expense of alleviating the people’s pain. Cutting Medicaid spending, school budgets, services to the mentally ill, etc., etc., is wrong, wrong, wrong.

I believe in a balanced budget, and I know government can spend its money more effectively. After all, the biggest enemy of government efficiency is the appetite that all politicians have for government slush in their districts.

I like tough-minded lawmakers who look at staff jobs, new bridges, anywhere waste might be lurking. But I want this tough-minded person to have a soft heart toward the people. They come first.

I can’t go back to the dark days of small government and unprincipled capitalists in the 19th century. I’ll balance the budget with taxes if necessary.

• Lee Ballard lives in Mars Hill.

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Candid Conservative

Continued from Page A14 Even attorneys can’t find a way to charge for the full day. According to an internet traffic analysis monitoring service, this particular site has an average of 58 new daily viewers.

Some ladies rent or own a home and provide services out of their residence.

Many use hotels. Facilities in proximity to the Asheville airport enjoy favored status.

Other sex-for-hire mavens live like gypsies, staying for days or weeks and moving on to fresh opportunities in other permissive cities.

How do our police and judicial system figure in all this? Not much. In terms of local enforcement – most especially internet prostitution – the point of action is handwringing, an occasional symbolic arrest, and minimal consequence. The brazenness of Asheville’s red light activity makes it clear the bad guys and their sponsors are liberated from serious pressure.

You know the drill – police administrators blame the judiciary, the judiciary blames politicians, and politicians blame budgetary limitations. Everyone blames everything but a lack of leadership.

To their credit the police have initiated a program to help prostitutes break out of the life. Realistically that’s social work – low hanging fruit for those we uniquely

empower with badges, guns and arrest authority. Police doing real police work is important because the first step to rehabilitating bad guys is to make sure they can’t get by with bad things.

Other municipalities impair sex-for-hire enterprise with creativity, persistency, reverse stings, public revelation of the givers and takers, and elected officials who recognize no crime is victimless and push for action.

The fast track to stopping the farce is for web posting services to bill through traceable credit cards. That’s not happening because internet prostitution would wither under the resulting scrutiny and escort listing services like Backpage would lose millions.

The world’s oldest profession holds a tight embrace to drugs, organized crime, violence, extortion, STD’s, corruption, and broken hearts, families, and children. Per those who research these things, most prostitutes hold a childhood history of being molested. Drug addiction almost always becomes a seasoning motivation. Internet girls typically have a pimp/boyfriend pulling the strings, are raped by clients multiple times each year, are currently or formerly homeless, have attempted suicide, and actively yearn for something better.

Human trafficking is one of the great un-

Continued from Page A14

Citizens urged to help advocate for CTS cleanup

Letters

State’s OK of fracking?

Shows corporate rules law

Oh, North Carolina, the short-sighted greed and lust for money that has come to roost on this beautiful state’s lawmakers will be suffered on all without lobbyists.

We, the Earth and non-millionaire humans are left without voice. Our common heritage (assets), such as clean waer in streams, rivers, lakes, clear skies, even the quiet of the woods, have been reduced to the highest bidder. Forget the castle-home notion. That was before.

Fracking bedrock to release methane is now law in North Carolina. The extracting (of) chemical liquids used (in addition to millions of gallons of fresh public water per well) are exempt from disclosure and the Clean Water Act. Nicknamed the Haliburton Loophole, the effect of this exemption means a homeowner can never claim the leaking wells damaged their land, water or health.

What a deal for the same old, same old.

The current debilitating scheme, when put in context, has one objective: exploit the present paradigm of energy sources at any cost to our Earth, common property and our future. Suppression of free energy machines and their inventors, war wthout reason, pesticide extremism, pharmacological exploitation, social intolerance, intentional splitting of the family and native people from their cultures: this is planned, folks — a conspiracy, yes; or maybe it is just that we little, simple people don’t know enough to understand. Time will tell.

By the way, if your doctor determines your sickness is from a fracking operation near your home or work she or he cannot tell you, the hospital or anyone else what chemicals are making you sick; corporate rules law.

Death by a thousand pins. If you care, become informed. Films such as “The Ethics of Fracking” or “Gaslands II” at www. topdocumentaryfilm.org will explain much.

For me, our Earth is sacred and deserves the love of our mother. Do you wonder why our media does not report on Fukushima.....? Curious that.

WILLIAM CHALK Asheville

Both of my children played in the woods and creeks near the CTS of Asheville site and subsequently were diagnosed with cancer (and fortunately survived).

Recent events have shed more light on the urgency of the CTS situation. Three households (13 people) living near the site have been relocated by the EPA due to high levels of the carcinogen trichloroethylene (TCE) in the air in the their homes. And, the EPA has switched gears into “Emergency Response” mode.

I sincerely hope that no other people are found to be in harm’s way as the EPA extends air-quality sampling to more homes this coming week. Too many area families have already suffered. TCE, while dominant, is not the only chemical plaguing the area.

Hits of cyanide, hexavalent chromium, and vinyl chloride have also been found.

The latest actions by the EPA demonstrate the immediate need for a removal effort that will address ALL threats, including contaminants in off-site streams near people’s homes, AND the dangerous source material that is unconfined and migrating, threatening the air, water and soil that we all depend upon.

As a founding member of POWER Action Group, a non-profit advocating cleanup of the CTS site, I have recently met with many lawmakers and county officials. The good news is that nearly all of them are supportive of our efforts and agree (no matter what side of the political aisle they’re on) that in the best interest of human health and the environment, NOW is the time for action.

We cannot afford to waste any more time playing the blame game. This is about people’s lives. NOW is the time for cleanup!

Help advocate for justice in South Asheville by visiting POWER’s website at: POWERactiongroup.org, or at facebook. com/CTSAsheville.

Lee Ann Smith Chair, POWER Action Group Arden

Bratt’s win over Cantor called a GOP wake-up call Death of the Tea Party and revenge of the

Asheville Daily Planet —July 2014 — A17

derreported tragedies in our culture. Thanks to passivity by the authorities, elected officials, the faith based community, and most of the rest of us, this debasing phenomenon is alive and well in Western North Carolina.

Though Asheville – a self-celebrating “cesspool of sin” – serves as a safe haven for this harm, does anybody really believe prostitution is a sustainable means to anything good? Women are not designed as rentable toys for immature little boys.

Can prostitution be eradicated? No – there are too many juvenile souls in this ever darkening world. Can it be dramatically impaired? Yes – if a community cares enough to face and challenge the harm.

Asheville is not that kind of community.

(Do you have information about something harmful in our community? Contact us in confidence at 828-252-8390 or drmumpower@aol.com. Bad things grow in the dark and we have a flashlight – do you have a whistle?)

• (Are you aware of something happening in our community meriting attention? Give us a call or an email at drmumpower@aol.com and we will confidentially expose your concerns to public scrutiny. Bad things grow in the dark — and the Daily Planet has a flashlight.)

• Carl Mumpower, a former member of Asheville City Council, may be contacted at drmumpower@aol.com

Dave Bratt

GOP?? Don’t think so!

This is what happens when liberty loving Americans are awake and rally around ONE candidate. This is a wake up call — again — for

the GOP. Dave Bratt (R) from Virginia, (despite being) outspent 20 to 1, beat GOP establishment House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Amazing moment!

Thanks to Bratt’s victory, we are not one step closer to immigration reform and amnesty.

Laura Ingram: “… most significant repudiations of establishment immigration reform ...”

However, this is not the only issue at stake. We have hideous Obamacare, the VA scandal, Benghazi, Fast and Furious, IRS scandal, and now Berghdahl because Congress has ceded their power to nameless, faceless, unelected bureaucrats.

We need free market, constitutional candidates dedicated to the principles this

EDITOR’S NOTE: If you know someone trying to break free of prostitution entanglements, On Eagles Wings and ABCCM are available to help. They have real-world success stories with recovery and specialize in providing a helping hand of shelter and support.

On Eagles Wings reports they actually reach out to these girls and call their numbers and that as many as 3 percent respond to an offer for help.

According to National Runaway Hotline — One in three teens on the street will be lured toward prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home.

(National Runaway Hotline) Based on that statistic alone, many of our readers already know children currently being lured into the escort business. This is one way to help.

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Send your opinions to Asheville Daily Planet, P.O. Box 8490, Asheville, N.C. 28814-8490 or e-mail them to letters@ AshevilleDailyPlanet.com.

country was founded upon. Bratt is that candidate. Power needs to be restored to the states. Our Founders gave us that power with the 10th Amendment. We need to exercise that right.

Take note: Chris McDaniel who stunned Thad Cochran in Miss., will probably win that runoff. Ben Sass, a strong tea party endorsed candidate, won in Nebraska. Jody Ernest won in Iowa — another Tea Partyand Senate Conservative Fund-endorsed.

Unfortunately, last month (in May), North Carolina turned away their best shot to restore our ailing Republic. Shameful!

However, we take solace in knowing Dave Brat in Virginia won.

We implore other states facing primaries not to make the same mistakes North Carolina has made and rid themselves of those candidates who are in bed with big money with deep roots in establishment ties.

Nothing will change unless WE make it happen. The TAXED ENOUGH ALREADY Party insurgency is alive and well and we are not going away! We will hold our elected accountable. Bet on it!

Jane Bilello iCaucus North Carolina State Director Chairman jane@ashevilleteaparty.org Hendersonville

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A18 — July 2014 — Asheville Daily Planet

Advice Goddess

Continued from Page A10

Destitution Wedding

A friend asked me to be a groomsman in his wedding. It’s being held hours away, and the only hotel is pricey. With tux rental, attending will cost me over $500.

I’ll also have to miss work. (I’m a waiter.)

Is it okay to decline a wedding invitation because it’s too expensive to attend?

— Not Richie Rich Instead of just sending regrets, it’s tempting to passive-aggressively express your resentment: “Unfortunately, I have a conflict — in that I have to make my car payment.”

Some couples may only have friends who are big investment bankers who light their cigars ‘90s-style, with $20 bills. But in this economy, at least a handful of a couple’s pals will probably RSVP with something like, “Dude, I really wanna be there, but I can’t find another waiter to

cover my shift.” Also, people in their 20s and 30s, prime time for marrying, can be invited to several weddings in a single summer. Costs for hotels, flights, clothes and gifts can add up, and that’s really not fair. (Being there on even your most special friend’s special day shouldn’t mean you have to take the bus for a year.)

It’s up to the couple getting married to throw the sort of wedding their friends and relatives can afford to attend (or at least not get miffy that some invitees won’t be flush enough to come). That said, being fiscally inclusive seems the warm, hospitable thing to do, like making sure your vegetarian friends have something to eat — instead of just harrumphing, Marie Antoinette-style, “Let them eat steak!”

The truth is, it’s possible to throw even a fancier wedding without bleeding the invitees. “Black tie optional” allows groomsmen and others to wear a suit instead of renting a tux. And instead of basically telling bridesmaids “Go give Vera Wang $200,” you request something like, “Please

wear fall colors.”

Regarding location, a ceremony at a nearby lake pavilion or in Granny’s garden will be no less moving than one at the Maui Four Seasons, and people will cry just the same when the couple dance their first dance whether the band is Beyonce or an MP3 mix.

Before you decline this invitation, consider your priorities. Even if your friends didn’t think to make attending their wedding affordable, they might resent you for not going into debt to come.

In my mind, these aren’t real friends and they’re confusing a wedding with a telethon, but you may have reasons for wanting to keep them in your life.

As for how to decline, you could just be honest. Times are tough all around. (When I do buy clothing, it is “previously enjoyed” and arrives crammed into a recycled envelope by the eBay seller.) Another option is making up a story for why you

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can’t attend (Family obligation! Pre-existing work thing!) and then staying off Facebook so you don’t get tagged in a lie. If you do go, you might consider starting a new wedding tradition: Other people throw rice; you sweep it up afterward (so you can have something on your plate for the next month besides the little pattern around the rim).

See ADVICE GODDESS, Page A19

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Asheville Daily Planet — July 2014 — A19

Advice Goddess

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Continued from Page A18

Ed Driftwood

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Way beyond hip and trendy Asheville Daily Planet

This great guy I’ve started dating is doting and sweet but, careerwise, lacks ambition and seems comfortable floating by with minimal effort. Unlike him, I am extremely ambitious. Is it okay to date men who are still “figuring things out”?

— Driven It sounds like your boyfriend is really going places. Mainly to the fridge and then back to the couch.

A guy who appears to model his career trajectory on driftwood is unlikely to suddenly become ambitious.

Sure, there are people who have a catastrophic accident and realize life is short and they’d better get cracking, but it isn’t like you can wait for him to get into (and then miraculously recover from) a motorcycle crash to become the man you’d respect and admire.

To avoid getting drawn into a relationship that’s ultimately wrong for you, come up with what I call “Man Minimums” — a list of essential traits a guy has to have to stay in the running to be your boyfriend.

One of yours might be “shows potential and the drive to achieve it.” A guy like this will experience setbacks along the way but then turn his wrong moves into arrows toward the right ones.

So, yes, as a person who seems to value ambition, it’s okay for you to date men who are still figuring things out — as long as what they’re figuring out isn’t that you can reach for the stars. With one hand. And then roll over and go back to sleep.

Jerk stoppage

What’s with a man who fathered three children with three different women but never married any of them? He always cheats on girlfriends and then just moves on to the next. Sadly, I was the most recent. By the time I learned how he operates, I was very much in love with him. I

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Unfortunately, “paying the piper” is just a metaphor, out of a folk tale about a town with a rat infestation and a mayor who tried to stiff the medieval cousin of the Orkin Man. As for your rat problem, the state may make this guy pay child support, but they can’t make him come back and talk about his feelings.

You say you love the guy. But you don’t.

You love who he pretended to be, like in one of those movies where Mr. Wonderful’s face finally falls off, revealing the creepy space alien underneath.

You’ve now seen the creep. Focus on that, and use it to avoid being fooled again.

Even the cleverest deceiver will have little truths that leak out — behaviors that don’t match their words.

We’re prone to focus on the good things about a person, but it’s essential to also look for the bad. It’s the bad stuff that leaves you filled with longing — for your boyfriend to be thrown in somebody’s trunk, tried for crimes against womankind, and sentenced to spend the rest of his life being belittled on national TV by Dr. Phil.

• (c.) 2014, Amy Alkon, all rights reserved. Got a problem? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave, #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405, or e-mail AdviceAmy@aol.com

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A20 —July 2014 — Asheville Daily Planet

Calendar of Events and Show Reviews

Special Section PULLOUT

B1

Asheville Daily Planet — July 2014

‘A Grand Night for Singing?’ A sparkler

‘Chicks and ducks and geese better scurry...’ (and do) in fun Rodgers & Hammerstein revue

By JOHN NORTH

john@AshevilleDailyPlanet.com

WAYNESVILLE — “A Grand Night for Singing” is a certifiable smash hit for the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre.

The cabaret-style musical features imaginative takes on — and smooth flow with light-hearted transitions between — many of the most beloved Broadway standards by lyricist Richard Rodgers and composer Oscar Hammerstein II. Arguably the best such songwriting duo in history, the pair was known for being exceptionally witty, intelligent and clever.

The June 21 music-and-dance-packed show — spanning one hour 45 minutes, with an intermission — received a well-deserved standing ovation at the end, in the nearly full 255-seat James Auditorium. The proverbial stars — the cast, the seven-piece orchestra and the set with three different looks — were in alignment, enabling this musical gem to sparkle.

Unlike the forced-fictional storyline of HART’s recently presented jukebox musical “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” (see review below), the revue of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s songs was — thankfully — conveyed in a fluid manner, with no effort to cobble together some lame-butunified story.

The late Rodgers and Hammerstein have ascended to the status of the “gods” of Broadway music. In many circles, anyone tinkering with the duo’s flawless creations is committing something akin to blasphemy.

However, while this revue adds a few twists and changes to the original arrangements, it succeeds in a manner that does these Broadway standards justice.

Singer-actor Brad Mercier, a 23year-old gradute of UNC Asheville graduate, was clearly the standout of the talented Photo courtesy of HAYWOOD ARTS REGIONAL THEATER five-person cast, full of charisma whenever he was on stage — and appearing to revel in his roles, a feeling that Brad Mercier (center) and Ricky Sanford leap into the air during a dance routine in “A Grand Night for seemed to deeply resonate with the audience.

Singing,” as they try to impress female cast members (from left) Alison Young, Carson Rose Funk and See GRAND NIGHT, Page B7 Calintha Briggs. The Rodgers & Hammerstein revue will continue through July 6 in Waynesville.

A review

‘Breaking Up Is Hard to Do’ misses mark with weak plot WAYNESVILLE — Countering an implausible book that strains to link Neil Sedaka songs in Broadway-show fashion, the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre’s production of “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” still managed to muster enough enthusiasm and effort to overcome slow going in the early stretches to finish with a bang.

Indeed, the show ended with the riproaring “Love Will Keep Us Together,” triggering a standing ovation and cheering from an impressive turnout in the 255-seat James Auditorium on June 13. The finale was a 1975 chart-topper for The Captain & Tenille and won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year.

The top performances were rendered by Brad Mercier, playing the role of Gabe Green, a somewhat meek-but-talented singer-songwriter who was Sedaka-like in his eventual and inevitable rise to the top; and the gorgeous Clara Burris, who played Lois Warner, a Marilyn Monroestyle dumb blonde, with a good singing voice, coupled with superb acting and dancing skills.

As jukebox musicals go, “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” which ended June 14, is yet another example of a poorly conceived story that was assembled to serve as a vehicle to deliver a number of popular tunes.

Set in a Catskills resort in 1960, “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” focuses on what is billed as the “sweetly comic story of Lois and Marge, two friends from Brooklyn, in search of good times and romance over one wild Labor Day weekend.” The score showcases 19 Sedaka classics, including “Where the Boys Are,” “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen,” “Calendar Girl,” “Love Will Keep Us Together” and the chart-topping title song. (“Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” is also Sedaka’s signature song.)

The musical is full-length — roughly two onehour segments, split by an intermission. The relatively forgettable first half included the introduction of the cartoonish characters and the anguish from a breakup with a boyfriend suffered by Lois’ best friend, Marge (played by Emily Warren).

Just a few serious efforts are made at singing Sedaka’s songs, namely the title and finale songs, along with “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen” and “Where the Boys Are.” The Sedaka songs in the first half were such small footnotes in the plot that someone unfamiliar with what was supposed to be happening might not even catch that, ultimately, this was supposed to be a Sedaka song revue.

See BREAKING UP, Page B7

Photo courtesy of HAYWOOD ARTS REGIONAL THEATER,

Dominic Aquilo, as fictional up-and-coming singer Del Delmonico, breaks loose as he sings in the revue “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do.”

B2 - July 2014 - Asheville Daily Planet

Calendar

of

Events

Send us your calendar items

Please submit items to the Calendar of Events by noon on the third Wednesday of each month, via e-mail, at calendar@ashevilledailyplanet. com, or fax to 252-6567, or mail c/o The Daily Planet, P.O. Box 8490, Asheville, N.C. 288148490. Submissions will be accepted and printed at the discretion of the editor, space permitting.

To place an ad for an event, call 252-6565.

Tuesday, July 1

SHAG LESSONS/DANCING, 6:30-10 p.m., Showtime Saloon, 97 Underwood Rd., Fletcher. The Mountain Shag Club is offering shag lessons — for free — every Tuesday from 6:30 to 7 p.m. No partner is needed. Shag dancing will follow from 7 to 10 p.m., with rotating DJs and a $5 cover charge.

PERFORMANCE, 7-10 p.m., Asheville Art Museum, Pack Place, 2 South Pack Square, downtown Asheville. The Brevard Music Center will offer the first of three summer performances. Featured will be performances by young musicians of exceptional talent, as well as members of Brevard’s renowned artist faculty. For tickets, which are $6 for museum members and $10 for nonmembers, 253-3227.

STREET DANCE/LIVE MUSIC, 7-9 p.m., Courthouse Gazebo, downtown Brevard. An old-time street dance featuring live bluegrass music will be held. Admission is free.

Wednesday, July 2

FILM SCREENING, 3 p.m., Lord Auditorium, Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St., downtown Asheville. The film “Three Amigos” (1986) will be shown. The comedy stars Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short. Admission is free.

ANTI-FRACKING GATHERING, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Jackson County Public Library, Sylva. The Canary Coalition’s Annual Gathering will feature the Coalition Against Fracking in WNC. The theme is “Wake Up” songs of the movement. Attendees are urged to lend their voices and bring friends. The gala affords an opportunity to network with others who are dedicated to this cause “and sharing ideas and strengths is what will bring about a group that could possibly put a stop to this crazy fracking idea and new law that is set in place in our mountains,” a press release noted.

Thursday, July 3

FILM, 6:30 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Church Swannanoa Valley, 500 Montreat Rd. Black Mountain. “Legalize Democracy,” a film produced by Move to Amend, will provide a history of how corporations gained “personhood” and, consequently, constitutional rights. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the screening starts at 7. Admission is free.

Friday, July 4

CAR SHOW/AUCTION, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., WNC Ag Center, 1301 Fanning Bridge Rd., Fletcher. The 47th Mountaineer Car Show and collector car auction will be held July 4-5. The auction will be held at 11 a.m. July 5. For tickets, which are $5 for adults and free for children ages 11 and younger, visit www. mountaineerantiqueautoclubcom.

FREEDOM FEST, 10 a.m.-10 p.m., downtown Bryson City. An old-fashioned street festival starts at 10 a.m., with activities throughout the day and evening, capped by a fireworks display at 10 p.m.

Black Mountain/Montreat GALA, 10:30 a.m. Montreat. Montreat will host a parade at 10:30 a.m., with barbecue lunch available at noon for $10. In conjunction with Montreat, neighboring Black Mountain will host an evening of family fun and fireworks, beginning at 7 p.m. in downtown Black Mountain.

ASHEVILLE FOURTH OF JULY GALA, 2-10 p.m. (with fireworks at 9:30 p.m.), Pack Square Park, downtown Asheville. Family activities and entertainment will include the Ultimate Air Dogs jumping throughout the stage at 2, 4, 6 and 7:30 p.m. Music entertainment will start on the stage at 4 p.m. In addition to bouncy houses for children, Splashville Fountain and activities will be provided from 2 to 6 p.m. A $2 wristband will allow children to jump, bounce and race as many times as they would like.

Stage entertainment will begin at 4 p.m., with the family-friendly band Lunch Money, featuring an indie rock salute to the stuff of childhood. The next band will be local country-music up-and-comer Joe Lasher Jr. The headliner, rockabilly legend Junior

Brown, will then perform. Brown is billed as playing “something for everyone, from honkytonk to surf rock, blues to Western swing.” Also featured will be a picnic in the park, with beer and wine will be available for purchase including local brews. Food vendors will include: Avery’s Hot Dogs, D.O.G.S., Gypsy Queen Cuisine, The Hop, Kettle Corn, Lowdown Food Truck, Smash Box Mobile Kitchen, Sugar and Snow Gelato and Sunshine Sammies. No outside alcohol, pets or vending will be permitted. Parking is available in City of Asheville parking decks, on the street or in private lots. The concluding fireworks extravaganza will begin at 9:30 p.m. Admission is free.

PATRIOTIC POPS CONCERT/GALA, 2 p.m., Whittington-Pfohl auditorium, Brevard Music Center, Brevard. The Pendergrast Family Patriotic Pops concert will feature the Brevard Symphonic Winds, directed by conductor Kraig Alan Williams. Billed as “a beloved Brevard tradition, maestro Kraig Alan Williams will lead the Brevard Symphonic Winds in marches, patriotic songs and other favorites. The Brevard Community Band will join the BSW for the concert’s exciting finale — a performance of Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture,” complete with live cannons. In other holiday activty, throughout the day and into the evening, Brevard will host musical entertainment, with the Courthouse Gazebo serving as the center stage. Fireworks will be launched at 9:30 p.m.

Weaverville GALA, 5:30-10 p.m., Lake Louise, Weaverville. The Fire on the Lake Music Festival will feature food, music by David Holt and the Lightning Bolts, and a fireworks show at dusk.

Admission is free.

FOURTH OF JULY POW-WOW, 6-9 p.m., Acquoni Expo Center, 1501 Acquoni Rd., Cherokee.

The Cherokee Fourth of July Pow-Wow will feature traditional, jingle or grass categories of performances by world-champion Indian dancers. For tickets, which are $10, call (800) 438-1601, or visit www.

CherokeeNC.com.

FOURTH OF JULY CONCERT/DANCE/FIREWORKS, 7-9 p.m., parking lot next to Visitors Information Center, 201 S. Main St., downtown Hendersonville. Tom Brown/One Man Band will perform in what is billed as a “Special Fourth of July Celebration Concert” as part of the weekly Music on Main Street summer concert-dance series and the Hendersonville Fourth of July celebration. Concert attendees are urged to bring lawnchairs and blankets.

No pets, alcoholic beverages, backpacks or coolers are allowed. Fireworks, viewable from downtown, will be launched at dark. Admission is free.

TouristS’ Basebal/Fireworks, 7:05 p.m., McCormick Field, Asheville. The Asheville Tourists will host the Lexington Legends in baseball. After the game, the Tourists present their annual spectacular fireworks show. For tickets, for the game and fireworks, which are usually a sellout, visit theashevilletourists.com.

South Asheville Fireworks, 9 p.m., Lake Julian, off Long Shoals Road, Asheville. A fireworks show will start at dark, but attendees are urged to come early, bring lawnchairs and/ or blanket and a picnic meal — and find a spot along the lake from which to watch the fireworks.

The park will offer picnic tables, grills, a sand volleyball court, two horseshoe pits, boat rental and a playground. Parking will be offered at Estes Elementary School on Long Shoals Road across from the lake. From Asheville take I-26 East to Exit 37. Then turn left at the light onto Long Shoals Road. Admission is free.

LAKE LURE FIREWORKS, 9 p.m., Lake Lure.

Fireworks will be launched at nightfall at the lake.

Attendees are urged to either watch the color explode in the sky from the shores — or take a ride on a Lake Lure Tours boat for what is billed as “the best seat in the house.”

Saturday, July 5

CONCERT/DANCE, 6-8 p.m., parking lot next to Firehouse Subs, 229 Airport Rd., Arden. The 96.5 Band will play oldies music for listening or dancing. Attendees are urged to bring lawnchairs and blankets. Admission is free.

SHINDIG ON THE GREEN, 7-10 p.m., Bascom Lamar Lunsford stage, Pack Square Park, 121 College St., downtown Asheville. The 48th Shindig on the Green, featuring a stage show and informal jam sessions of old-time and bluegrass music will continue on July 5, 12 and 19, as well as Aug. 9, 16, 23 and 30. Also, dancers, singers and storytellers will perform. Attendees are urged to bring blankets and lawnchairs. Concessions will be available for purchase. No dogs, alcohol or smoking are permitted in the park. Admission is free.

See CALENDAR, Page B3

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Asheville Daily Planet — Julye 2014 — B3

Blue-eyed soul As part of An Appalachian Summer arts series, soul singer extraordinaire Michael McDonald will perform in concert at 8 p.m.

July 5 in the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts at Appalachian State University in Boone. He was formerly a member of The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan. Since going out on his own, among his many memorable hits was a duet with Carla Thomas on “When Something Is Wrong With My Baby.”

Calendar of Events Continued from Page B2

Saturday, July 5

MICHAEL MCDONALD CONCERT, 8 p.m., Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts, Appalachian State University, 733 Rivers St., Boone. Soul singer Michael McDonald, who has an unusual and quickly recognizable voice that has soared through pop, rock and rhythm and blues hits for four decades, will perform in concert as part of ASU’s An Appalachian Summer arts series. For tickets, call (800) 841-2787 or visit www.appsummer.org.

Sunday, July 6

YOGA EVENT SERIES, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Pack Square Park, College Street, downtown Asheville.

The weekly Yoga Rocks the Park event will be held on Sundays through July 27. It is an outdoor 75-minute all-levels class. A kids yoga class (for ages 3-10) will complement adult classes. Registration will be held at 9:30 a.m. each Sunday. For tickets, which are $15 in advance, $20 at the gate (and either $10 or $7 per child with families with multiple children), visit yogarocksthepark.com.

Tuesday, July 8

LIBERTARIAN MEETING, 7 p.m., Oakleaf Furniture, 130 Miller St., downtown Waynesville. The Haywood County Libertarian Party meets on the second Tuesday of the month. Open discussion and debate are encouraged with all perspectives and persuasions welcomed, regardless of political or religious affiliation.

Thursday, July 10

JAZZ CONCERT, 6 p.m., Lord Auditorium, Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St., downtown Asheville. A jazz concert, “Exploring the Jazz Standard,” will feature Michael Jefry Stevens on piano and Byron Hedgepath on vibraphone as they explore classic jazz standards from the songbooks of Gershwin, Porter, Rogers, Carmichael and more. Admission is free.

ULTIMATE ELVIS TRIBUTE PARADE OF KINGS, 6:30 p.m., casino floor, Harrah’s Cherokee Casino, Cherokee. The Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest will open with the Parade of Kings through the casino. At 7:30 p.m., the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest will be held nightly, July 10-12. A contestant showcase will be held at 1 p.m. July 11 at the Rotunda and is standing-room-only. For tickets, visit www.Ticketmaster.com or call (800) 745-3000.

MARC COHN CONCERT, 7:30 p.m., Brevard Music Center, Brevard. Marc Cohn will perform as part of the BMC’s Summer Institute & Festival. Cohn, best known for his 1990 hit “Walking in Memphis,” is a Grammy-winning singer-songwriter who has enjoyed a career distinguished by soulful original tunes and creative re-imaginings of popular hits. For tickets, visit brevardmusic.org, or call 862-2100.

Friday, July 11

RibFest, 11 a.m., WNC Ag Center, Fletcher. The Carolina West RibFest will begin at 11 a.m. July 11 and continue through 8 p.m. July 13. With a new name, new direction and new promoter, the gala is being tagged as “a different type of BBQ festival,” aiming to appeal to a wider audience. It will feature an expanded group of national barbecue teams and an eclectic mix of entertainment including three days of local, regional and national music acts on the main stage, Lucha Libre wrestling, a sideshow and saloon featuring can-can girls. Joining local musical acts like Underhill Rose and Circus Mutt will be national acts Moon Taxi and Jason McKinney. Admission is $7 for adults and free for children. For event details, visit www.CarolinaWestRibFest.com.

RIVERMUSIC CONCERT, 5-10 p.m., Sculpture and Performance Plaza, River Arts District, Riverside Drive (along the French Broad River), Asheville.

The featured act will be The Billy Sea, performing bluegrass music. The opener will be artist River Guergerian, who will appear with the Jeff Sipe Global Percussion Ensemble, Rogert Mangum and Parrish Ellis. Gates open at 5 p.m. Admission is free.

See CALENDAR, Page B4

B4 - July 2014 - Asheville Daily Planet

Asheville Daily Planet — July 2014 — B5

Beck Hanson, known by the stage name of “Beck,” will perform in concert at 8 p.m. July 12 in Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in downtown Asheville.

Calendar Events Continued from Page B3

Friday, July 11

CONCERT/DANCE, 7-9 p.m., parking lot next to Visitors Information Center, 201 S. Main St., downtown Hendersonville. The Night Crawlers band will perform during the weekly Music on Main Street summer concert-dance series. A Corvette car show will be held in conjunction with the concert. Concert attendees are urged to bring lawnchairs and blankets.

No pets, alcoholic beverages, backpacks or coolers are allowed. Admission is free.

DANCE THEATRE, 8 p.m., Diana Wortham Theatre, Pack Place, 2 South Pack Square, downtown Asheville. MOTION Dance Theatre will present behind-the-scenes videos and an artist questionand-answer session to bring attendees closer to the creative process. The program also will be offered on July 12. For tickets, which are $35 for the public, $30 for seniors, $25 for student with valid ID and $10 for ages 12 and younger, call 257-4530 or visit 222.dwtheatre.com.

Saturday, July 12

CONCERT/DANCE, 6-8 p.m., parking lot next to Firehouse Subs, 825 Spartanburg Hwy., Hendersonville. The band Sound Investment will play oldies music for listening or dancing. Attendees are urged to bring lawnchairs and blankets.

Admission is free.

MATTHEW MORRISON CONCERT, 8 p.m., Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts, Appalachian State University, Boone. From Broadway to “Glee,” Matthew Morrison will perform some of Broadway’s greatest hits alongside the Greensboro Symphony. Morrison is an Emmy, Tony and Golden Globe-nominated star, achieving recogni-

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The Asheville Daily Planet strives to be accurate in all articles published. Contact the News Department at news@ashevilledailyplanet.com, (828) 252-6565, or P.O. Box 8490, Asheville, N.C. 28814-8490.

Opening July 1, 2014

tion from the Satellite Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards with titles such as Best Actor in a Series and Best Performance by an Ensemble in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical. For tickets, visit appsummer.org, or call (800) 841-ARTS. BECK CONCERT, 8 p.m., Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, 87 Haywood St., downtown Asheville.

Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Beck Hanson, known by the stage name of “Beck,” will perform in concert. For tickets, which are $66.50 and $54.50, visit www.ticketmaster.com or call (800) 745-3000.

Exit 32, just off I-26

Sunday, July 13

100 Rocky Bottom Drive, Suite 7

CONCERT, 3 p.m., Flat Rock Cinema, The Singleton Center, 2700 Greenville Hwy., Flat Rock.

Terry Wetton will perform in concert. For tickets, which are $15, visit www.magnoliaconcertseries. com, or call 697-2463.

PUB SING, 6-8 p.m., French Broad Brewery, 101 Fairview Rd., Asheville. Pub sing will offer a gathering to sing old-time gospel and Americana inspirational music. Attendees are asked to bring instruments, or just their voices.

Monday, July 14

Nickel Creek CONCERT, 8 p.m., Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts, Appalachian State University, Boone. The band Nickel Creek will perform as part of An Appalachian Summer, ASU’s summer arts festival. Nickel Creek, a Grammy award-winning, multi-platinum selling, roots-music trio, is marking 25 years of musicmaking. For tickets, visit appsummer.org, or call (800) 841-ARTS.

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Wednesday, July 16

TASHA COBBS CONCERT, 7 p.m., Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, 87 Haywood St., downtown Asheville. Singer Tasha Cobbs will perform in concert. For tickets, which are $20 in advance and $27 on the day of the show, visit www.ticketmaster.com or call (800) 745-3000.

$ 79

See CALENDAR, Page B6

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B6 - July 2014 - Asheville Daily Planet

Calendar

of

Continued from Page B4

Events

Thursday, July 17

STARTING A BETTER BUSINESS SESSION, 10 a.m.-noon, RiverLink’s Warehouse Studios, 170 Lyman St. (in the heart of the River Arts District), Asheville. “Starting a Better Business” sessions will be held on July 17 and Sept. 16 at the same time and location. The sessions are part of RiverLink’s mission to stimulate the economic well-being of the French Broad River watershed through arts and crafts, recreation, and health and wellness (as outlined in the popular Wilma Dykeman RiverWay Plan). The sessions are free and open to anyone interested in starting a business, but registration is required in order to secure seating. To register, contact Valerie Bennett at 398-7950.

OUTDOOR CONCERT, 5 p.m., Azalea Parking

LETTERS The Asheville Daily Planet invites Letters to the Editor of 200 words or less. Please include your name, mailing address, daytime telephone number and e-mail address.

For more information, call (828) 252-6565.

Send mail to: Letters, Asheville Daily Planet P.O. Box 8490, Asheville, NC 28814 Send e-mail to: letters@ashevilledailyplanet.com

Lot, between 3rd and 4th Avenues along King Street, downtown Hendersonville. The annual Rhythm & Brews summer concert series will feature the band The Fritz. Admission is free.

Friday, July 18

DOWNTOWN AFTER 5 STREET FEST, 5-9 p.m., N. Lexington Ave. at the Interstate 240 overpass, downtown Asheville. The 26th annual Downtown After 5 monthly street festival will feature Hayes Carll, who has performed at such major festivals as Bonnaroo and South by Southwest, with Chatham County Line, a traditional bluegrass band, serving as the opener. Besides live music, the street concert also will feature a wide selection of local and national beers and food.

CONCERT/DANCE, 7-9 p.m., parking lot next to Visitors Information Center, 201 S. Main St., downtown Hendersonville. The band Deano and the Dreamers will perform during the weekly Music on Main Street summer concert-dance series. A Corvette car show will be held in conjunction with the concert. Concert attendees are urged to bring lawnchairs and blankets. No pets, alcoholic beverages, backpacks or coolers are allowed. Admission is free.

Saturday, July 19

Every Monday is Trivia Night

JAMEE JOHNSON CONCERT, 7:30 p.m., Niswonger Performing Arts Center, Greeneville, Tenn.

Country music artist Jamee Johnson will perform in concert. For tickets, visit www.NPACgreeneville. com or call (423) 638-1679.

Come compete for fantastic prizes

Tuesday, July 22

Starts at 9 p.m.

MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER CONCERT, 7:30 p.m., Brevard Music Center, Brevard. Mary Chapin Carpenter will perform as part of the BMC’s Summer Institute & Festival. For tickets, visit brevardmusic. org, or call 862-2100.

Tuesday night is Blues Jam

See CALENDAR, Page B7

Music and dancing starts at 10 p.m. \

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Music Schedule

Sat 7/5 Thur 7/10 Sat 7/19 Thur 7/24

Sat 7/26

Thur 7/31

One Leg Up The Asheville Aces Featuring Cary Fridley Jamboogie Band The Saturday Giant Blind Lemon Phillips Andy Ferrell & Oncoming Train

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‘Grand Night’ Continued from Page B1 He told the Daily Planet afterward that the song he most enjoyed singing during the show was “All at Once You Love Her” (from “Pipe Dream”).

Mercier’s four cast-mates also showed much promise, including the only other male, Ricky Sanford, who particularly excelled in romantic roles and ballads; Alison Young, who topped her female compatriates in dancing, acting, sex appeal and scoring a hit with her vocals; Carson Rose Funk, who

‘Breaking Up’

Asheville Daily Planet — July 2014 — B7

unleashed a strong operatic voice and stage presence; and Calintha Briggs, who also showed dynamic vocal potential.

The cast seemed to especially shine during the faster-paced songs, as opposed to the ballads, and the two males seemed to get the more fun and lively parts, compared to the slower, more serious and weepy songs for the females.

Among the top song-and-dance numbers were “The Surrey with the Fringe on Top” (from “Oklahoma!”), “I’m Gonna Wash

Continued from Page B1 Other stellar Sedaka songs, such as “Oh! Carol,” “Little Devil” and “Next Door to an Angel” and — possibly most egregious of all — the hauntingly beautiful “Solitare,” were sloughed off quickly in the show, with no serious effort to sing them. Instead, the always-strained comic possibilities took center stage and just a verse or two of the aforementioned songs and others were rendered — and even then, not in a serious effort. Sedaka and his sparkling, timeless musical gems deserved so much better than being treated as fodder between weak jokes.

To the show’s credit, the memorable “Calendar Girl” was treated as a full-length (or nearly so) song-and-dance number, complete with a huge calendar behind the lead male singer, emblazoned with the year 1960, and “Laughter in the Rain” was one of the more memorable vocal

Calendar Continued from Page B6

Thursday, July 24

SHERYL CROW CONCERT, 8 p.m., Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts, Appalachian State University, 733 Rivers St., Boone. Nine-time Grammy awardwinner Sheryl Crow will perform in concert as part of ASU’s An Appalachian Summer arts series. For tickets, which are $5 to $55, call (800) 841-2787 or visit www.appsummer.org.

COLLECTIVE SOUL CONCERT, 8 p.m., Event Center, Harrah’s Cherokee Casino, Cherokee. The group Collective Soul will perform in concert. For tickets, which are $19.50, $24.50, $34.50 and $40, visit www.

Ticketmaster.com, or call (800) 745-3000.

Friday, July 25

That Man Right Out-a My Hair” (from “South Pacific”), “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” (from “Oklahoma!”), “How Do you Solve a Problem Like Maria?” (from “The Sound of Music’), “Some Enchanted Evening” (from “South Pacific”) and “Kansas City” (from “Oklahoma!”).

The Rodgers and Hammerstein revue opened June 20 and closes July 6. (HART will make it three in a row on a summer musical note with a production of “Hello, Dolly!” from July 11 to Aug. 3.)

“A Grand Night for Singing,” which opened on Broadway in 1993, was nominated for two Tony Awards — Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical — and the

performances of the night.

The action picked up after the intermission, as the plot turned to the preparations and a performance for a representative of television’s long-running “American Bandstand,” who would be in the audience at the Catskills resort where Elvis-like singer Del Delmonico (played by Dominic Aquilo) was performing. Lois and Marge were hired as backup singers in an effort to impress the “Bandstand” representative.

In a surprise twist, the mild-mannered but down-to-earth Gabe literally took the microphone away from the superficial and posturing Delmonico.

Also featured in the show are Esther Simowitz (played

by Leslie Lang), owner of Esther’s Paradise resort; and her male friend Harvey Feldman (played by Kier Klepzig), who helps her manage the operation. Harvey

Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, which runs July 31-Aug. 2, will showcase real mountain performers, who share songs and dances that echo centuries of Scottish, English, Irish, Cherokee and African heritage. For tickets, which are $20 for the general public, $10 for ages 12 and younger, as well as three-night packages ($45 for the general public and $24 for children), call 257-4530 or visit www. dwtheatre.com.

Friday, Aug. 1

CONCERT/DANCE, 7-9 p.m., parking lot next to Visitors Information Center, 201 S. Main St., downtown Hendersonville. The band Blind Lemons Philips will perform during the weekly Music on Main Street summer concert-dance series. A car show will be held in conjunction to the show.

Concert attendees are urged to bring lawnchairs and blankets. No pets, alcoholic beverages, backpacks or coolers are allowed. Admission is free.

FILM, 7 p.m., Ferguson Auditorium, Asheville-Buncombe Technical Commu- Mary Chapin Carpenter, a country nity College, 340 Victoria Rd., Asheville. music star and winner of five GramThe film “Inequality for All” will be my Awards, will perform at 7:30 p.m. screened in the Moral Movies series.

July 22 at Brevard Music Center in Admission is free.

Brevard at part of BMC’s Summer CONCERT/DANCE, 7-9 p.m., parking lot next to Visitors Information Center, 201 S. Institute & Festival.

CONCERT/DANCE, 6-8 p.m., parking Main St., downtown Hendersonville. Sound lot next to Firehouse Subs, 229 Airport Investment will perform during the weekly Rd., Arden. The group Deano and the Music on Main Street summer concert-dance series. Concert atDreamers will play oldies music for listening or dancing. Attendees are tendees are urged to bring lawnchairs and blankets. No pets, alcoholic urged to bring lawnchairs and blankets. Admission is free. beverages, backpacks or coolers are allowed. Admission is free.

JENNIFER NETTLES CONCERT, 7:30 p.m., Event Center, Harrah’s Cherokee Casino, Cherokee. Jennifer Nettles, who became famous as leading vocalist of Sugarland, will perform on her own following her BOOK READING/SIGNING, 7 p.m., Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café, first solo release, “That Girl.” For tickets, visit www.ticketmaster. or call 55 Haywood St., downtown Asheville. Ali Abunimah, the author (800) 745-3000. of “One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli Palestinian Impasse” and co-founder and director of The Electronic Intifada, will share his new book, “The Battle for Justice in Palestine.”

Abunimah is the recipient of a 2013 Lannan Cultural Freedom CONCERT/DANCE, 7-9 p.m., parking lot next to Visitors InformaFellowship and was recently featured on “Democracy Now” with tion Center, 201 S. Main St., downtown Hendersonville. The band Amy Goodman and Juan González. Admission is free.

Dashboard Blue will perform during the weekly Music on Main Street summer concert-dance series. A Corvette car show will be held in conjunction to the show. Concert attendees are urged to bring lawnchairs and blankets. No pets, alcoholic beverages, backpacks or coolers are ZZ TOP CONCERT, 8 p.m., Biltmore Estate, Asheville. The Texas blues and hard-rock band ZZ Top will perform in concert. For tickets, allowed. Admission is free. which are $60, $70 (reserved) and $85 (adult premium), call (866) 336-1255 or www.biltmore.com/concerts.

Saturday, Aug. 2

Saturday, July 26

Friday, Aug. 8

Wednesday, July 30 Thursday, July 31

MOUNTAIN DANCE/FOLK FESTIVAL, 7 p.m., Diana Wortham Theatre, Pack Place, 2 South Pack Square, downtown Asheville. The

Saturday, Aug. 9

RIVERMUSIC CONCERT, 5-10 p.m., Sculpture and Performance Plaza, River Arts District, Riverside Drive (along the French Broad River), Asheville. Featured will be Soldier’s Heart, a Southern Appalachian folk-roots band; Ashley Heath and Plankeye Peggy.

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revue.

The gorgeous set sported three looks, including a large black backdrop with lights symbolizing stars; to stage left, a park bench, behind which was an old-style street lamp; and to stage right, a small round café table, draped with a white tablecloth and set with an open wine bottle, two wine glasses and a candle, set against a flowercovered trellis.

The terrific seven-piece orchestra, perfectly sized for this production, included Brad Martin, piano; Andrew Adams, keyboard; Alaina Seidle, flute; Michael Tanguay, clarinet and saxophone; Pat Johnston, cello; Kyle Leitch, bass; and Michael Abernathy, percussion.

often twirled his cigar and raised his eyebrows in a manner reminiscent of the great comedian Groucho Marx.

Providing solid accompaniment for the show was a fourpiece band that included Kelli Mullinix, keyboards and vocals; Sarah Fowler, piano, flute and vocals; Dave Bruce, drums and vocals; and Sandy Boone, bass and vocals.

“Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” ended June 14, but it is followed by Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “A Grand Night for Singing,” playing through July 6, and “Hello, Dolly!” from July 11 through Aug. 3.

— Reviewed by John North Daily Planet

weekend g n i v r e Now s

brunch

B8 - July 2014 - Asheville Daily Planet