March 2012 ADP

Cash-short Montreat College trims classes, staff — Pg. 6 LLE I V HE AS ASHEVILLEʼS GREATEST NEWSPAPER

March 2012

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City water changes draw heavy flak at hearing Moffitt holds firm despite opposition

By JOHN NORTH In a situation similar to Gen. George A. Custer’s at the Battle of Little Bighorn, Rep. Tim Moffitt, R-Buncombe County, stood his ground against a panel and a crowd that — at least from the sounds of it — appeared to be overwhelmingly opposed to his legislative study that could result in the Asheville water system being turned over to an independent authority.

However, unlike Custer, it was not Moffitt’s Last Stand. Indeed, the firstterm legislator responded to every question — and emerged to fight another day.

Moffitt, who is chairman of the legislative committee looking at the Asheville system, faced a crowd of about 225 people attending the free multimedia forum focusing on the current Asheville water issue Feb. 20 at Jubilee! Community in downtown Asheville. The event was hosted by Mountain Voices Alliance.

Moffitt began by saying that he feels that he has been misunderstood — but he took the blame for failing to communi-

Daily Planet Staff Photos

Rep. Tim Moffitt (left), R-Buncombe County, converses with activist-panelist Barry Summers during a Feb. 20 water hearing at Jubilee! Community Church on Wall Street in downtown Asheville. cate well with the public.

He also noted that “I just want folks to get a sense of who I am ... You don’t know me. I’m a fourth-generation resident of this area ... I used to live downtown in the mid-’80s at the beginning of

the renaissance” there.

Despite repeated accusations and innuendo to the contrary, Moffitt said he definitely is not interested in privatizing the Asheville water system.

See WATER, Page 16

From Staff Reports FLETCHER — A proposal that could lead to the state taking the Asheville Water System away from the city and placing it in the hands of an independent regional authority drew about 80 speakers — the overwhelmingly majority of which opposed the plan — during a public hearing Feb. 23 at the WNC Agricultural Center.

Many of the speakers — from Buncombe and Henderson counties — asked that the $1.3 billion system not be taken away from Asheville. The system serves 125,000 customers inside and outside the city.

Among the supporters were Buncombe officials, which surprised some observers, given that they had battled with city officials over the water system.

Those who backed the city keeping the system contended that it is working well and that any decision on regionalizing the water system needs to be made by local and regional — not state — leaders.

However, Henderson Commissioner Michael Edney was among those critical of the city’s operation of the water system.

The House Metropolitan Sewerage/Water System Committee is scheduled in April to recommend to the General Assembly whether to put it in the hands of a new independent authority, place it with the already-operating sewerage authority, or leave it with Asheville.

Rep. Tim Moffitt, R-Buncombe, chair of the committee, has said he believes the city should be compensated if it is stripped of the system, but said he had doubts about how much of it Asheville owns.

Asheville postal processing center axed From Staff Reports The U.S. Postal Service announced Feb. 23 that it will close the Asheville mail processing center on Brevard Road sometime after mid-May, resulting in the loss of more than 200 local jobs and likely slower mail delivery.

The center’s employees were informed of the measure on the night of Feb. 22 and the morning of Feb. 23.

A USPS study last fall proposed shutting down 252 processing centers — including the one in Asheville — and 3,700 post offices across the nation.

The city’s processing center, which began operations in 1979, employs 205 workers, of which 183 jobs will be shifted to a processing facilty in Greenville, S.C. The remaining 22 jobs will be eliminated.

The consolidation of Asheville and Greenville operations is expected to save $3.3 million per year, USPS officials said.

Average workers compensation at the Asheville plant, including benefits, is $72,000 annually.

First-class mail volume reportedly has dropped 25 percent over the past five years.

Don’t cut post offices, jobs, protesters plead From Staff Reports A protest to show support for saving post offices and postal jobswas staged Feb. 20 at Pack Square Park in downtown Asheville.

Following the rally, some protesters marched to the Vance Monument and then adjourned to socialize at Pack’s Tavern.

Many protesters hold pro-postal worker signs.

“It’s always slash and burn on the hard-working people of America,” Joanne Guess, president of the Asheville chapter of the American Postal Workers Union, told the crowd of about 60 people.

The crowd included a mix of postal workers, protesters, politicians and candidates.

Guess urged the gathering to press for change in the oversight laws of the U.S. Postal Service, reducing its debt burden and overturning burdensome parts of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006.

One specific need change he cited the portion of the act requiring the Postal Service to prefund retirement benefits for the next 75 years within a 10-year window at a cost of $5.5 billion annually.

Guess said it is crucial to keep six-day delievery and prevent closure of post offices.

As several speakers reiterated, the Postal Service is projected to lose a record $14.1 billion this year.

See POSTAL, Page 16 Chris Berg portrays Ben Franklin.

2 —March 2012 - Asheville Daily Planet

Asheville Daily Planet — March 2012 — 3

4 - March 2012 - Asheville Daily Planet

2 city officials defend Asheville’s ownership of water system

By JOHN NORTH Asheville Vice Mayor Esther Manheimer and City Councilman Jan Davis vigorously defended Asheville’s ownership of the regional water system during a Feb. 3 breakfast and issues meeting of the Council of Independence Business Owners in Asheville.

The state legislature may make a decision as early as April on whether the system remains in the city’s hands or operates under an independent authority, Manheimer told the CIBO members.

The vice mayor reviewed the city’s viewpoint on why it should retain ownership and control of the water system, while City Attorney Bob Long discussed the legal history of the water system. (Long’s address appears on Page 5).

Davis, who was in the audience, said the city should not re-enter the legal battle over the water system. Instead, he proposed that council resolve to keep the system.

“We need to look where we are today,” Davis said. “The system is better today.”

Manheimer and Davis are the city’s two elected representatives on the task force.

Also addressing the group was state Rep. Patsy Keever, D-Buncombe County, a candidate for the 10th District. She explained why she is running and how she will represent her constituents in Washington, D.C. (See story on Page 4 for Keever’s remarks).

About 75 people — including a number of local elected officials and candidates — attended the early-morning session in the food court at Biltmore Square Mall.

Manheimer, a Democrat, began her talk by noting that the legislature introduced a study bill in 2011 to address the history and current operation aspects of the water system. (The bill was initiated by Rep. Tim Moffit, R-Buncombe County.)

City officials, alarmed at the prospect of possibly losing ownership and control of the water system, sought representation on the task force. “We reached out to Rep.

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Asheville City Councilman Jan Davis Moffitt, who very graciously responded and met with us. We’re kind of giving you a recap of that meeting,” where both Manheimer and Davis were in attendance.

Manheimer emphasized repeatedly that the city wants to retain ownership of the water system. She also reviewed a report — from the study committee investigating the Asheville water system. — of a Jan. 23 hearing held in Raleigh.

She said the study commission felt it had three options on the water system ownership issue, including “leave the system as it is,” spin off the water system as a separate independent authority, or merge the water system with the Metropolitan Sewerage District of Buncombe County.

“I personally have the opinion that these are extremely well-run systems today,” Manheimer said, in reference to both the city water system and the MSD. However, she added, “I say — it’s always good to

City Vice Mayor Esther Manheimer study more.”

Compared to other water systems run by cities around the state, “Asheville is strikingly unique because we have about one-third of the county’s population within the city and the remaining two-thirds out of the city. That is strikingly lopsided compared to other large North Carolina cities.

Most have more population in the city than in the county.”

Despite the situation, Manheimer said that the city tax rate “has remained level.”

Moreover, Asheville’s property tax rate is “middle to lower,” when compared to other cities in the state.

Since 2005, she said Asheville has borrowed $45 million to make repairs and updates to the water lines.

Following the passage of Sullivan Acts 2 and 3, “legislatively, we can’t charge different rates” to water system customers, which makes the Asheville water system

City Attorney Bob Long unusual in the state, Manheimer said. That requirement also poses a financial challenge, she noted.

“Under North Carolina law, most cities can charge different rates for city and county,” Manheimer said. Nonetheless, Asheville is allowed to charge different commercial and residential water rates, although all customers in either category must be charged the same rates.

At present, she said “the ‘outside’ rates are subsidizing the ‘inside’ rates.” According to a report, the water system’s residential rates are higher, while the commercial rates — and those for multifamily homes — are lower. “So our rates” are out of line.

She said the two largest water system users are Mission Hospital, followed by the Buncombe County Schools.

“We are very appreciative of Rep. Moffitt for (allowing) our participation in the discussion,” Manheimer reiterated.

Asheville Daily Planet — March 2012 - 5

Keever touts education, ‘people first’ in election bid From Staff Reports Rep. Patsy Keever, D-Buncombe County, fired several verbal jabs at state Republicans during her address to the Council of Independence Business Owners at a Feb. 3 breakfast and issues meeting in Asheville.

“You always have such good programs,” she told CIBO, noting that she always has every intention of attending, “but I don’t — I stay in bed” because they start so early in the morning. The crowd laughed.

“This morning, I’m here because I’m running for the 10th District” congressional seat. “One reason I’m running is my Republican friends have drawn me out of my (11th) district” via recent redistricting.

Keever said that running for office “is something I enjoy doing because I believe” in the job of representing her constituents in the state General Assembly.

The Charlotte native, who holds a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and a master’s in education from Western Carolina University, noted that she taught

in public schools for more than 25 years and served three consecutive terms on the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners.

She was elected to the House in 2010 with the campaign slogan “putting the Rep. Patsy Keever people first.” She defeated incumbent D. Bruce Goforth to win the job.

Keever then reviewed the “four things” she believes in, terming them the “four E’s.” These include education, economics, environment and equality.

First, she asserted that education is “the backbone of our economy ... Public education is for everyone ... It’s the birthright of every child in North Carolina.”

Keever also said that economics is intertwined with education, as those who are better educated tend to do better financially — thereby fueling the economy.

Regarding the environment, she said succinctly, “We need to keep it clean.”

As for equality, she asserted, “I believe every single person deserves” to be treated equally under the laws of the land.

“I truly believe in the system,” Keever said. “I think that it’s great that we have two ways of thinking about things,” apparently alluding to the Democratic and Republican parties, or liberal and conservative idealogies.

She concluded by noting, “We need to keep in mind — put people first.”

During a question-and-answer session, an unidentified male CIBO member asked, “Everybody’s for education. Nobody’s not for education ... How do you recommend controlling the costs of education?”

Keever replied that the state cannot cut the costs of education with the same ap-

proach as private businesses. She added that there are “more children and more things (requirements) put on schools” each year, necessitating increased spending.

Citing recently released statistics, a female CIBO member asked, “Buncombe County had a net gain of 100 jobs” in 2011 — and “that’s not very good. What will you need to do” to improve the environment for job creation?

“A couple of things,” Keever answered.

“We need to support the businesses that are already here.”

She added, “I don’t think we’re all about government creating jobs ... What we need are customers.”

However, Keever also said, “We can’t have the (state) layoffs like we did in education,” which she blamed on the first Republican-controlled General Assembly in Raleigh in more than a century.

“It’s all of us together. We’re all in this boat together. We need to lift the boat together,” Keever said.

Area water system’s legal history termed ‘unique,’ with versions differing From Staff Reports Asheville City Attorney Bob Long, who addressed the legal history of the Asheville Water System, told the Council of Independence Business Ownerson on Feb. 3 that many people have formed strong opinions on who should own the Asheville water system, depending on which version of “history” they have heard.

“The history is unique,” compared to that of other water systems in the state, he asserted.

“Whoever (originally surveyed and) went over to the north fork of the Swannanoa River in Black Mountain was laying off 16,000 to 20,000 acres” for the water system. “It was quite a job.”

Long said the Asheville water system is comprised of the Burnette Reservoir, the Bee Tree Reservoir and the Mills River Water Treatment Facility, the latter of which is

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located near the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers.

In speaking of the purpose of an easement, he said, “You’ve got a dedicated piece of property that’s going to stay the way it is.” From his research, Long said it appears that “the water customers paid for the system.”

He said Sullivan Acts II and III, enacted by the state legislature in 2005, required that Asheville as well as Buncombe and Henderson counties’ water rates must be the same systemwide — and that the money made in the water system had to be kept in the system, except that which was needed to pay off indebtedness. The acts were justified by the legislators, based on the contention that Asheville had not paid for the water lines outside the city limits.

He said the water systems around Asheville had “floated their own bonds ... Most of those systems are now within

the City of Asheville water system.”

As for Candler, Long said, “The first round of the legislation in 1955” focused “on whether it was constitutional for the legislature to require rates to be equal.”

“The city only served to pump water into the system, read the meters and bill the customers,” he noted. “The court concluded that these same factual underpinnings continued to exist in 2005 — except that at an even greater” rate differential.

“I’m not here to advocate what’s to be done with the system.” However, he said after the passage of the Sullivan Acts, “this is like a restart — all of the customers are paying for it equally ... The people outside of the city have actually paid for their portion of the sytem and the question is — should they have higher rates,” Long concluded.

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6 —March 2012 - Asheville Daily Planet

Montreat College makes cuts to balance budget From Staff Reports MONTREAT — Four academic programs and 29 employees will be cut in an effort to make ends meet at Montreat College, school President Dan Struble announced Feb. 1.

“The current economic conditions have affected tuition, gift and endowment income for most colleges and universities; Montreat College is no exception,” the college stated in a press release.

“Montreat College leaders have announced decisions to enable a healthy, sustainable future for the institution.”

Fifteen workers were laid off immedi-

ately, while the other 14 will lose their jobs at the end of the spring semester. Some financial aid will be offered to faculty and staff who are laid off, school officials

said. The private Christian college has 171 employees.

The bachelor’s level programs axed will include elementary education, music and worship arts. The fourth program, the master’s in education, will close at the end of the semester. Prior to the cuts, the college had 24 academic programs.

“The college will assure that students enrolled in the discontinued programs are able to complete their degrees. Transition assistance is being provided for the faculty and staff affected by the changes,” the college press release noted. Of the school’s 755 students, 15 will be affected by the

UNCA, WCU students to pay 9.9% tuition increase From Staff Reports CHAPEL HILL — The University of North Carolina Board of Governors voted Feb. 11 to raised tuition by 9.9 percent at both UNC Asheville and Western Carolina University.

The average tuition boost was about 9 percent across the 16 university campuses in the system. The action occurred despite loud demonstrations by crowds of students protesting the increases.

“UNC Asheville recognizes the difficult decision faced by the UNC Board of Governors and (UNC System President Tom Ross), who are trying to balance university needs with affordability for all North Carolina students,” UNCA Provost Jane Fernandes noted in a statement. “Increasing tuition is something no one wants, but we must protect the high-quality educational experience we offer students.”

UNCA actually sought a higher tuition

increase than was approved by the board.

The school’s trustees recommended a $500 tuition increase for both full-time in-state and out-of-state students. However, the UNC board ended up increasing tuition by $310 for in-state undergraduate students. It did, though, approve the trustees’ suggested $500 tuition jump for out-of-state and graduate students.

WCU in-state undergraduate students will face a tuition increase of $399.

Eichenbaum drops out of congressional race, citing policy similarities, financial concerns From Staff Reports Dr. Dan Eichenbaum announced recently that he is dropping out of the 11th District congressional race.

Eichenbaum, who was endorsed by the Asheville Tea Party, among other groups, did not endorse any other candidate. He is an ophthalmologist from Murphy.

“With the filing deadline upon us, having spent many of the past days in prayer and discussions with family and friends. I have Dr. Dan decided that I will Eichenbaum not file for U.S. Congress for North Carolina’s 11th District,” he stated in an e-mail.

He cited policies and money as the chief

reasons for canceling his campaign.

“Over the past several months of the campaign, listening to the other candidates for Congress in N.C. 11, I find increasingly little difference, on paper or in words, between the positions I have consistently held and theirs. More importantly, I am unable to self-fund sufficiently to compete against those who can. As such, I see no clear path to victory in the primary.”

Eichenbaum thanked his family and supporters for their backing.

“For those candidates seeking the support of grassroots groups, especially those affiliated with the iCaucus, I urge you to submit to its vetting process. Evaluation

and approval of your platform by independent groups gives citizens of this district the ability to hold you accountable for your actions in Washington, D.C.” He added, “Be assured, I will continue to champion private-property rights, constitutionally limited government, personal responsibility, fiscal restraint, individual liberty and a free market economy based on the principles of sound monetary policy.

“As patriots, we must resist — with vigor — the elitists in the current administration and their fellow travelers in both parties who seek to seal our birthright of freedom and replace it with the tyranny of soclialism,” Eichenbaum concluded.

Way beyond hip and trendy Asheville Daily Planet

cuts.

“Rather than raise tuition to balance the budget, Montreat College will keep tuition flat for the 2012-13 academic year.”

What’s more, the salaries of Struble and the college’s cabinet members will be reduced. No specifics were available on those cuts. No other college employees will suffer cuts, the school said.

The college has offered what it bills as “transformative, Christ-centered education for over 95 years. It will continue its efforts to build enrollment and to seek financial support to enable it to grow and to thrive for years to come,” a press release stated.

Asheville Daily Planet — March 2012 - 7

Greenpeace’s action prompts local activists to plan next step From Staff Reports Two days after the arrests of 16 members of the environmental group Greenpeace on Feb. 13 at Progress Energy’s Skyland plant, about 150 people met to discuss the next steps at Pasana Café in downtown Asheville.

In the Greenpeace incident, five protesters from the group scaled a 300-foot inactive smokestack and unfurled a banner that stated: “Duke Energy ...

The climate needs ... Real Progress.” Greenpeace leaders later announced from Washington, D.C., that Duke — once it acquires Progress in a pending merger — will be the nation’s largest utility, making it Hartwell Carson a key player in energy policy.

As noted in the local media, the Greenpeace action also highlighted holes in the plant’s security.

The 16 Greenpeace members entered the plant’s secured perimeter shortly before dawn, using ladders to scramble over a fence, after which five members scaled the smokestack to hang the banner.

All 16 members were arrested on misdemeanor trespassing charges. Several members also were charged with misdemeanor breaking and entering. The group was released from the Buncombe County Detention Facility on the night of Feb. 13, after posting a $1,000 bond each. A Greenpeace representative who posted bail for the group paid the entire amount in cash.

Those arrested have a March 6 court date.

Greenpeace is asking Duke to halt its mountaintop removal of coal. It also is asking the utility to set a goal of generating at least a third its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

What’s more, the group wants Duke to quit using coal altogether by 2030, citing harm to environmental and human health.

On Feb. 15, Greenpeace activists still in Asheville followed up with a community meeting to discuss strategies for opposing the use of coal to fuel the Skyland plant.

The Posana Café meeting, which was open to the public, included representatives

from area environmental groups, including Appalachian Voice. Also attending and speaking was Hartwell Carson, the French Broad riverkeeper.

At the meeting, several speakers stressed that coal ash is a major issue and urged those present to get actively oppose it.

“Coal ash is a huge priority for us,” Ula Reeves of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy said. “As someone pointed out, we just need to go after coal ... We just need to get rid of coal.”

In the Southeast alone, she said, there are about 175 coal ash ponds, “like the one on the French Broad River” at Skyland.

Carson, the riverkeeper, noted that utilities tend to say that they are meeting all federal and state laws at their coal-burning plants — “and it sounds good. But there basically are no laws!”

He added, We need better laws and the laws on the books need to be enforced.”

The riverkeeper also said that fly ash “used to shoot out of the top of the smokestacks,” but “now, scrubbers magically capture the stuff.” However, he noted, “It doesn’t go away — they put it in the (coal ash) ponds.”

Further, Carson asserted, “Some people say coal ash composition is the same as dirt. It is, but not in these radical amounts,” noting that there were much higher-thannormal concentrations of certain chemicals.

He said Progress has two coal ash ponds behind its Skyland plant, near the section of the French Broad River that runs along I-26 between Asheville and Hendersonville — “and it’s not a safe way to store coal ash ... All of this nasty stuff is sinking into the (area’s) groundwater” and the future consequences will be grim.

“A neighborhood is about 50 feet away from the two coal ash ponds ... The ponds need to be lined” to make them safer.

“There is at least one person on a well near the ponds ... There is sediment pollution (going) into the river.”

Worse, Carson said, “They’re trucking this stuff (coal ash) across (I-26) to the airport to use as structural fill ... Without a doubt, the groundwater is migrating to the French Broad River, with a lot of heavy metals in the sediment ... The good thing is, there’s a solution — you can burn less coal.

You can line ponds.”

The riverkeeper urged those in the audience to challenge the state to stiffen the requirements in its permits that allow utilities to dump their coal ash.

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Asheville businessman, developer of Pack’s Tavern, dies at age 63

The controversial develFrom Staff Reports CHARLESTON, S.C. — opment was stalled, and Asheville businessman and Coleman instead redeveloped developer Stewart Coleman, the Hayes and Hopson site whose properties include the into Pack’s Tavern, which has popular Pack’s Tavern, died become a popular downtown Jan. 29 after a short illness. gathering spot.

Coleman, 63, died at He was president of S.B. Medical University HospiColeman Construction Co. tal in Charleston, S.C. He He and his family developed was a lifelong resident of the Asheville Mall in 1972.

Asheville.

In 2010, Coleman opened An estimated 600 people Pack’s Tavern, a restauattended Coleman’s funeral rant and taproom just off service on Feb. 3 at TrinStewart Coleman Pack Square in downtown ity Episcopal Church in Asheville.

Asheville.

Coleman had originally intended a nineBorn in Asheville to Betty Bryan Colestory business development and condos man and to the late Richard L. (Pokey) on a slice of land adjoining Pack Square Coleman, Sr., Stewart graduated from Lee Park, and on the site of the old Hayes and Edwards High School in 1966 and from Hopson building, which was once home to N.C. State University in 1972. the old Bill Stanley’s barbecue.

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The Occupy Asheville campers take down their encampment on Feb. 17.

Occupy protesters break camp, vow to stay course

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An OA protester kneels as she holds a pole with an American flag. them (council) at the (Feb. 14) meeting is to provide a safe” alternative shelter for the homeless members of OA. “There are not sufficient shelters to house them,” Spitzberg asserted. “The ones (shelters) that are here demand that they be treated as children, with a curfew and sermon” they have to endure. “Some churches demand a price tag” from the homeless.

“There should be no price tag for being homeless.”

Meanwhile, APD officials said no arrests had been made at the encampment through the afternoon and early into the evening.

(See story on Page 9 for details on OA arrests in front of City Hall later that night.)

Anyone can remain in the park between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., according to APD Interim Chief Wade Wood. However, after that time, protesters would be arrested and likely be charged with trespassing. By late afternoon, only four tents remained.

Spitzberg told the Planet he would try to get his fellow veterans to return at 10 p.m.

“I believe that the City Council acted against the needs of its most marginalized and vulnerable people in our community,” he said. “All we were asking for was give us sanctuary” for the homeless.

Spitzberg added that, at 10 that night, “I think they (the APD) will swoop down” and make massive arrests.

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From Staff Reports The news media and some spectators converged on the Occupy Asheville encampment in front of City Hall at noon Feb. 17 to see if the group would move — as required by the city — after nearly three months in that location.

John Spitzberg, head of the local Veterans for Peace, told reporters that he and a dozen other veterans were on hand to “act as a barrier” to ensure that there would be no violence between the police and OA. Intead of erupting into melée as occurred in some other cities, most of the roughly 60 protesters peacefully broke camp, while vowing to continue demonstrating around the city against wealth disparity, homelessness and other social issues.

As campers folded up tents and raked and cleaned the area, some chanted slogans, beat on drums and otherwise showed that their spirits remained high.

During the camp breakdown, the John Spitzberg Asheville Police Department kept a low profile, with only park officer Keith Whittington observing activities from a distance. “They’re fine on the property,” he told the Daily Planet. “We can see that progress is being made.”

Spitzberg, who also is secretary-treasurer for the Asheville Homeless Network, lamented that “there’s a real disconnect” between Asheville City Council and the Occupiers, based on council’s action on Feb. 14 that required the protesters to leave the park.

Council voted 6-1 to include the small piece of land the OA protesters were camped on as part of the adjacent Pack Square Park, thereby making park curfews applicable to the camp. Casting the negative vote was Councilman Gordon Smith.

In addition, council voted 5-2 to ban overnight camping on city property, with both ordinances becoming effective at noon Feb. 17. Casting the negative votes were Smith and Councilman Cecil Bothwell.

Spitzberg also noted that “15 to 20 percent of the homeless nationally are truly, chronically homeless.” At the OA encampment, he added, “They (the homeless) were able to find nurturing and housing. The bottom line is, they’re criminalized again at 12 noon today.”

Further, he asserted, “All I asked from

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3 Occupiers arrested in final hurrah

By JOHN NORTH At the 10 p.m. curfew on Feb. 17, three tents remained at the Occupy Asheville encampment area — or in front of City Hall — with several dozen protesters hanging out in the area that had been declared part of Pack Square Park.

Several musicians played guitars and banged on drums.

John Spitzberg and three or four other members of the local chapter of Veterans for Peace returned after taking a break from their afternoon presence to — as he put it — provide a barrier between the Asheville Police Department and the OA protesters.

(For details on the decampment at noon Feb. 17, see story on Page 8.)

At 10:25 p.m., several officers showed up and stood nearby. Eventually, about 15 officers appeared.

The OA protesters were warned to take down the tents, but all three of them peaceably refused to comply, despite three separate requests by police.

Each of the three was charged late that night with violation of a city ordinance with the wording “tents on city property.”

Arrested were Perry Thompson Graham, 23, of Eugene, Ore.; Matthew Ryan Dannevik, 26, of Scribener, Neb.; and John Rhodes Perry, 60, of Asheville. Graham and Dannevik were each released on a $100 bond. Perry was released on a written promise to appear in court.

Asheville City Council on Feb. 14 voted to include the slice of land on which the OA protesters were camping as part of the adjoining Pack Square Park. As a result, the park’s 10 p.m. curfew applied to the camp.

Council also voted to ban overnight camping on the city property. The two ordinances went into effect on Feb. 17.

During the confrontations between the APD and the protesters, an OA member told the police that they are “part of the 99 percent” and “you should be arresting the 1 percent. You should be arresting Bank of America and Wells Fargo — Bank of America is foreclosing on people’s homes.”

Just before the police showed up, Penley, an OA member and one of the arrestees, told the Daily Planet — in an interview —of his challenging circumstances that brought him to his camping spot.

The Vietnam-era U.S. military veteran said he was born and grew up in Asheville.

He noted that he was a co-captain of the Asheville High football team, on which he played linebacker.

He said he was among the original Occupy Wall Street protesters who camped out in Zuccotti Park in New York City.

Penley later moved on the Freedom Park in Washington, D.C., where he got arrested.

Penley said he once was a photo-journalist, but has been unemployed in Asheville for eight months. He lamented that he recently applied for a dishwasher’s job — and was rejected.

“I wanted to be part of the Asheville protest,” he said. For the 10 p.m. curfew, Penley said, “I moved my tent in front of City Hall ... This area now has been designated (by Penley) as the free speech movement.”

He likened the Occupy movement to “Paul Revere riding in and warning” everyone of problems in America’s economy and society. Penley said many problems could be solved by a “redistribution of income.”

Penley added that “it’s in the interest of the (rich) 1 pecent to keep” the poorer 99 percent from staging a revolution.

He asked, “Where are the jobs? We’ve moved industry overseas. I’d like to see work (jobs) rather than” a revolution. “I’d

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.

Thursday, March 1

CONTRA DANCE, 8 p.m., Bryson Gym, Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa. A contra dance is held weekly, preceded by beginner’s lessons at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $6.

Friday, March 2 Daily Planet Staff Photos

John Penley, who was among the three protesters arrested, holds a sign expressing his contention that “free speech is not a zone.”

APD officers form a semicircle around tents as fellow officers remove them. like to see them (the wealthy elite) restart the Civilian Conservation Corps.”

What’s more, Penley said, “I’m not a genius, but I think anybody able to work ... ought to be able to join the CCC,” if no other jobs are available.

Penley said “the beds are full” at the area’s homeless shelters.

“There are a lot of homeless people who live out in the woods” just outside of downtown,” he noted.

Despite his criticisms of the system, Pen-

ley contended that “I’m on friendly terms with the APD.” He also said, “I’m seeing veterans in all of these (Occupy) camps ... I think the homeless rate (in the camps) is about 30 percent of newly arrived veterans.”

Regarding his plans for responding to police when they arrived later that night, Penley said, “I talked to a civil liberties lawyer, who said this is a First Amendment right” for him to camp in front of City Hall.

“Time’s on our side.”

MODEL TRAIN SHOW, noon-7 p.m., WNC Agricultural Center, 1301 Fanning Bridge Rd., Fletcher. The WNC Model Railroaders 20th Annual Model Train Show will be held. It will continue on March 3 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The show will feature four working layouts and more than 100 vendor tables,door prizes and a raffle.

Park is free and admission is $5 for adults and free for children children under 13 accompanied by an adult.

AUTHOR’S TALK, 7 p.m. Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café, 55 Haywood St., downtown Asheville.

Jim Neugass will discuss his book, “War Is Beautiful.”

AUTHOR’S TALK, 7 p.m., City Lights Bookstore, 3 E. Jackson St., Sylva. Bob Plott will present his new book, “Colorful Characters of the Great Smoky Mountains.”

DIANA ROSS CONCERT, 7:30 p.m., Harrah’s Cherokee Casino, Cherokee. Diana Ross, an American singer, record producer and actress, will perform. Ross was the lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s.

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

CONCERT, 8 p.m., Altamont Theatre, 18 Church St., downtown Asheville. The California Guitar Trio will perform. For tickets, which are $15 in advance, visit www.myaltamont.com.

Tickets are $18 at the door.

CONCERT, 8 pm., Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place, Asheville.

The Alexander String Quartet will perform.

See CALENDAR, Page 10 Tell our advertisers — who enable us to bring you this newspaper — that you saw their ad in the Daily Planet!

10 - March 2012 - Asheville Daily Planet

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Saturday, March 3 PREPPERS CONFERENCE, 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Christian Life Church, 2700 Bush River Rd., Columbia, S.C. The all-day conference will address the many challenges of preparing for short- and long-term emergencies, no matter where one lives — even those with no well, no septic tank and no large garden or livestock. Besides a number of speakers on various subjects, vendors of survival supplies will be exhibiting and selling their goods. Lunch will be available for $7, along with snacks and drinks throughout the day. The admission fee is $12 via Pay Pal, or $15 at the door. For more information, e-mail solarchef1@hotmail.com.

CONGRESSIONAL FORUM, 10:30 a.m., Ferguson Auditorium, A-B Tech, Asheville. The Buncombe County Republican Party will hold a congressional forum feature 1th District congressional candidates from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

A 10th District congressional forum will be held from 1:30 to 3 p.m. A straw poll will be held during the last 20 minutes of each forum. Refreshments and concessions will be available from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Doors open at 9 a.m.

AUTHOR’S READING, 2 p.m., City Lights Bookstore, 3 E. Jackson St., Sylva. Trey Garland will read from his book, “A Seeker’s Guide to Inner Peace.”

AUTHOR’S TALK, 3 p.m., Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café, 55 Haywood St., downtown Asheville.

Rita Golden Gelman will discuss her book, “Tales of a Female Nomad.”

READING/TALK, 7 p.m., Lipinsky Auditorium, UNC Asheville. Sandra Cisneros will present a reading and a talk. The novelist and poet is the author of the critically acclaimed “The House on Mango Street.” The program is free and open to the public.

AUTHOR’S READING, 7 p.m., Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café, 55 Haywood St., downtown Asheville. Suzzy Roche, musician and novelist, will read from her book, “Wayward Saints.”

CONCERT, 8 p.m., Altamont Theatre, 18 Church St., downtown Asheville. The Black Lillies will perform. For tickets, which are $20 in advance, visit www.myaltamont.com.

CONCERT, 8 p.m., Diana Wortham Theatre, Pack Square, downtown Asheville. Christopher O’Reilly, a pianist, will perform. For tickets, visit www.dwtheatre.com.

Sunday, March 4

CONCERT, 3 p.m., St. Matthias Episcopal Church, 1 Dundee St., Asheville. The Asheville Cello Choir will perform. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted for the upkeep of the historic church.

CONCERT, 3 p.m., First Congregational Church, Fifth Avenue, Hendersonville. The Fire Pink Trio, featuring harp, viola and flute, will perform.

Admissions is $17.

Monday, March 5

CONCERT, 12:30 p.m., Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, 22 Fisher Rd., Brevard. The Blair String Quartet will perform.

FILM/DISCUSSION, 7-9 p.m., Black Mountain Library, 185 Dougherty St., Black Mountain. The documentary film “Occupation 101” will explain the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with commentaries from leading Middle East scholars, journalists, peace activists and religious leaders in the first of three film and discussion programs in Black Mountain. They will be facilitated by Tony Bing, retired professor of peace studies at Earlham College and past president of the Peace and Justice Studies Association. The other programs will be held on March 12 with the documentary “The Lemon Tree” and March 19 with “The Israeli Lobby.” Admission is free.

WEST COAST SWING CLASSES, 7:30 and 8 p.m., The Hangar, Clarion Hotel, Fletcher. Free beginners’ lessons for West Coast Swing will be held at 7:30, followed by intermediate lessons at 8 every Monday. The lessons are free. After the lessons, an open dance will be held.

CONTRA DANCE, 8 p.m.,Grey Eagle. 185 Clingman Ave., Asheville. A contra dance is held weekly. Admission is $6.

Tuesday, March 6 TANGO LESSON/DANCE, 6 p.m., Eleven on

Grove, Grove House Entertainment Complex, 11 Grove St., downtown Asheville. Tango lessons will precede a dance.

SWING LESSON/DANCE, 6:30 p.m., Club Eleven, Grove House Entertainment Complex, 11 Grove St., downtown Asheville. A lesson will be followed by a dance, with live music.

COIN CLUB MEETING, 7 p.m., American Legion Post, downtown Hendersonville. The Hendersonville Coin Club will hold its monthly meeting.

SHAG DANCE, 7-11 p.m., The Hangar, Clarion Inn Airport, 550 Airport Road, Fletcher. The Mountain Shag Club’s weekly dance will feature a DJ. At 6:30 p.m., free lessons will be offered by Paul and Debbie Peterson. Admission is $5.

Wednesday, March 7 TEA TIME SOCIAL, 6 p.m., Apollo Flame, 1025 Brevard Rd., Asheville. The Asheville Tea Party will hold its weekly Tea Time Social. All interested are invited to attend.

FILM/DISCUSSION, 7-9 p.m., Brooks-Howell House, 366 Merrimon Ave., Asheville. The documentary film “Occupation 101” will explain the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with commentaries from leading Middle East scholars, journalists, peace activists and religious leaders in the first of three film and discussion programs at B-H House. They will be facilitated by Tony Bing, retired professor of peace studies at Earlham College and past president of the Peace and Justice Studies Association. The other programs will be held on March 14 with the documentary “The Lemon Tree” and March 21 with “The Israeli Lobby.” Admission is free.

Thursday, March 8 FILM/DISCUSSION, 7-9 p.m., Firestorm Café, 48 Commerce St., downtown Asheville. The documentary film “Occupation 101” will explain the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with commentaries from leading Middle East scholars, journalists, peace activists and religious leaders in the first of three film and discussion programs at Firestorm Café. They will be facilitated by Tony Bing, retired professor of peace studies at Earlham College and past president of the Peace and Justice Studies Association. The other programs will be held on March 15 with the documentary

Diana Ross, perhaps best known as the lead singer of the female soul group The Supremes, will perform at 7:30 p.m. March 2 at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino in Cherokee.

“The Lemon Tree” and March 22 with “The Israeli Lobby.” Admission is free.

GREAT QUOTES PROGRAM, 7-9 p.m., Smoky Mountain Theatre, Lake Pointe Landing, Hendersonville. The Great Quotes program will feature Dr. Katharine R. Meacham, professor of philosophy at Mars Hill College. She will address a quote by Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860): “Death is the true inspiring genius, or the muse of philosophy ... Indeed, without death, people could scarcely philosophise.” A question-and-answer period and general discussion will follow the presentation.

CONTRA DANCE, 8 p.m., Bryson Gym, Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa. A contra dance is held weekly, preceded by beginner’s lessons at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $6.

Monday, March 12 COIN CLUB MEETING, 7 p.m., basement,

Arthur Schopenhauer (above), a German philosopher known for his pessimism and philosophical clarity, will be the focus of a Great Quotes program from 7 to 9 p.m.

March 8 in Smoky Mountain Theatre at Lake Pointe Landing in Hendersonville.

Grove Arcade, downtown Asheville. The Buncombe County Coin Club will hold its monthly meeting.

WEST COAST SWING CLASSES, 7:30 and 8 p.m., The Hangar, Clarion Hotel, Fletcher. Free beginners’ lessons for West Coast Swing will be held at 7:30, followed by intermediate lessons at 8 every Monday. The lessons are free. After the lessons, an open dance will be held.

CONTRA DANCE, 8 p.m.,Grey Eagle. 185 Clingman Ave., Asheville. A contra dance is held weekly. Admission is $6.

Tuesday, March 13 BILTMORE FOREST MEETING, 4:30 p.m., Town Hall, Biltmore Forest, Asheville. The Biltmore Forest Town Commission will meet.

See CALENDAR, Page 11

Asheville Daily Planet — March 20112 — 11

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Tuesday, March 13

TANGO LESSON/DANCE, 6 p.m., Eleven on Grove, Grove House Entertainment Complex, 11 Grove St., downtown Asheville. Tango lessons will precede a dance.

WORKSHOP, 6-8 p.m., Skyland Fire Department, 9 Miller Rd., Skyland. The Civitas Institute will present “Free-Market Academy Asheville: Economics in One Lesson.” The workshop is inspired

by Henry Hazlitt’s classic book, “Economics in One Lesson,” which was once described by fellow economist F.A. Hayek as “a brilliant performance.”

Civitas is billing the book as exploring “several overlooked economic truths missing from today’s economic debates” and “essential for newcomers to economics and also serves as a great refresher for those already familiar with the sbuject.” Admission is free.

SWING LESSON/DANCE, 6:30 p.m., Club Eleven, Grove House Entertainment Complex, 11 Grove St., downtown Asheville. A lesson will be followed by a dance, with live music.

SHAG DANCE, 7-11 p.m., The Hangar, Clarion Inn Airport, 550 Airport Road, Fletcher. The Mountain Shag Club’s weekly dance will feature a DJ. At 6:30 p.m., free lessons will be offered by Paul and Debbie Peterson. Admission is $5.

Wednesday, March 14

TEA TIME SOCIAL, 6 p.m., Apollo Flame, 1025 Brevard Rd., Asheville. The Asheville Tea Party will hold its weekly Tea Time Social. All interested are invited to attend.

Thursday, March 15 CONTRA DANCE, 8 p.m., Bryson Gym, Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa. A contra dance is held weekly, preceded by beginner’s lessons at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $6.

Saturday, March 17 LINCOLN-REAGAN DINNER, 7 p.m., The Crowne Plaza, West Asheville. The 2012 Lincoln-Reagan Dinner will be presented by the Buncombe County Republican Party and the Buncombe County Republican clubs. The keynote speaker will be Cherie Berry, the state commissioner of labor. Featured speakers will include state Sen. Pat McCroy, a gubernatorial candidate; state Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson County; and Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-Cherryville. The dinner will be preceded by a reception that begins at 5:30 p.m.

Sunday, March 18 STAMP CLUB MEETING, 2 p.m., Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community Center, 1617 Hendersonville Rd., Asheville. The Asheville Stamp Club will hold its monthly meeting.

PANEL PRESENTATION/DISCUSSION, 2-3:30 p.m., Ray Auditorium, YMI Cultural Center, downtown Asheville. “Occupy Asheville – The Inside Story” will be presented by a panel of four speakers at the monthly meeting of the Ethical Society of Asheville. The panel consists of four Occupy Asheville insiders: Lindsey Miliquez, a philosophy student at Asheville-Buncombe Technical College and member of OA’s social justice working group; Naomi Archer, a trained legal observer and member of OA’s legal defense working group; Kasha Baxter, an addictions counselor (with a master’s degree in psychology) and member of OA’s correspondence working group; and James Latimore, a retired college teacher, member of Veterans for Peace and member of OA’s committee of correspondence working group. The ESA invited attendees “to find out the purpose and goals of our local group and get answers to your questions about this grassroots movement.” A discussion period will follow the presentation. Following the meeting, there will be time for informal conversation.

Monday, March 19 WEST COAST SWING CLASSES, 7:30 and 8 p.m., The Hangar, Clarion Hotel, Fletcher. Free beginners’ lessons for West Coast Swing will be held at 7:30, followed by intermediate lessons at 8 every Monday. The lessons are free. After the lessons, an open dance will be held.

The Moody Blues — a British rock band known for its innovations, including a fusion of rock with classical music, most notably in its 1967 album “Days of Future Passed” — will perform at 9 p.m. March 30 at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino in Cherokee.

Mavis Staples, a gospel and rhythm-andblues legend, will perform at 8 p.m. March 31 at UNC Asheville’s Lipinsky Auditorium.

CONTRA DANCE, 8 p.m.,Grey Eagle. 185 Clingman Ave., Asheville. A contra dance is held weekly. Admission is $6.

Friday, March 24

Wednesday, March 28

GUN/KNIFE SHOW, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., WNC Agricultural Center, 1301 Fanning Bridge Rd., Fletcher. The Land of the Sky Gun and Knife Show will be held. The show will conclude from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. March. 25. Admission is $7.

TEA TIME SOCIAL, 6 p.m., Apollo Flame, 1025 Brevard Rd., Asheville. The Asheville Tea Party will hold its weekly Tea Time Social. All interested are invited to attend.

Tuesday, March 20

TANGO LESSON/DANCE, 6 p.m., Eleven on Grove, Grove House Entertainment Complex, 11 Grove St., downtown Asheville. Tango lessons will precede a dance.

SWING LESSON/DANCE, 6:30 p.m., Club Eleven, Grove House Entertainment Complex, 11 Grove St., downtown Asheville. A lesson will be followed by a dance, with live music.

SHAG DANCE, 7-11 p.m., The Hangar, Clarion Inn Airport, 550 Airport Road, Fletcher. The Mountain Shag Club’s weekly dance will feature a DJ. At 6:30 p.m., free lessons will be offered by Paul and Debbie Peterson. Admission is $5.

Wednesday, March 21 TEA TIME SOCIAL, 6 p.m., Apollo Flame, 1025 Brevard Rd., Asheville. The Asheville Tea Party will hold its weekly Tea Time Social. All interested are invited to attend.

Thursday, March 22

PLAY, 7:30 p.m., Carol Belk Theatre, UNC Asheville. UNCA Theatre will present the play “Tartuffe” by Moliere. “Tartuffe” is the story of a family turned upside down by the arrival of a con man pretending to be a religious figure. It is billed as “a lively and hilarious look at hypocrisy and greed hiding behind a mask of piety.” Show dates for the 7:30 p.m. performances include March 22, 23, 24, 29, 30 and 31. See March 25 listing for the one matinee performance. Tickets are $5 for students, $8 for UNCA faculty/staff and $10 for general admission. Tickets are available at the box office 60 minutes before curtain, online at http://drama.unca.edu/ and by calling the Theatre UNCA box office at 232-2291.

CONTRA DANCE, 8 p.m., Bryson Gym, Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa. A contra dance is held weekly, preceded by beginner’s lessons at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $6.

Sunday, March 25

CELEBRATION FOR THE TROOPS, 1-5 p.m., St. John’s in the Wilderness Church, Flat Rock.

The 10th annual celebration will be held for a program that knits and crochets items for deployed United States troops.

PLAY, 2 p.m., Carol Belk Theatre, UNC Asheville. UNCA Theatre will present its only matinee of the play “Tartuffe” by Moliere. For details of its nightly schedule, see March 22 listing.

Monday, March 26 WEST COAST SWING CLASSES, 7:30 and 8 p.m., The Hangar, Clarion Hotel, Fletcher. Free beginners’ lessons for West Coast Swing will be held at 7:30, followed by intermediate lessons at 8 every Monday. The lessons are free. After the lessons, an open dance will be held.

CONTRA DANCE, 8 p.m.,Grey Eagle. 185 Clingman Ave., Asheville. A contra dance is held weekly. Admission is $6.

Tuesday, March 27

TANGO LESSON/DANCE, 6 p.m., Eleven on Grove, Grove House Entertainment Complex, 11 Grove St., downtown Asheville. Tango lessons will precede a dance.

SWING LESSON/DANCE, 6:30 p.m., Club Eleven, Grove House Entertainment Complex, 11 Grove St., downtown Asheville. A lesson will be followed by a dance, with live music.

SHAG DANCE, 7-11 p.m., The Hangar, Clarion Inn Airport, 550 Airport Road, Fletcher. The Mountain Shag Club’s weekly dance will feature a DJ. At 6:30 p.m., free lessons will be offered by Paul and Debbie Peterson. Admission is $5.

Lunch Buffet Mon.-Fri. 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

503 New Leicester Hwy. Asheville, N.C. 28806

Thursday, March 29

CONTRA DANCE, 8 p.m., Bryson Gym, Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa. A contra dance is held weekly, preceded by beginner’s lessons at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $6.

Friday, March 30

MOODY BLUES CONCERT, 9 p.m., Harrah’s Cherokee Casino, Cherokee. The Moody Blues.

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

Saturday, March 31 MAVIS STAPLES CONCERT, 8 p.m., Lipinsky Auditorium, UNC Asheville. Mavis Staples, billed as a gospel and rhythm and blues legend, will perform in concert. She began her on-stage career in the 1950s as a member of her family’s group, The Staple Singers. In the 1970s, the group reached the top of the Billboard charts with “I’ll Take You There” and “Respect Yourself.” Mavis Staples began her solo career in the late 1960s with a voice that some say captures the strength and spirit of R&B, sould and gospel.

She was named one of the 100 greatest singers of all time by Rolling Stone and one of the 100 greatest women of rock and roll by VH1. Staples is a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Winner (2005), and in 2011 she won the Grammy for Best Americana Album with “You Are Not Alone.

Admission, is $5 for UNCA students, $7 for all area students, $20 for UNCA faculty, staff, alumni, NCCCR and Western Caroluna University faculty and staff, and $35 for the general public.

For tickets, visit uncatickets.com.

Lunch Buffet

$5.99 Tel. (828) 225-4209 Fax (828) 225-4208

12 - March 2012 - Asheville Daily Planet

Daily Planet’s Opinion

It’s time to rev up area’s job growth Times have been tough for the past several years — and they remain tough — in this place that some playfully (and others, seriously) call the People’s Republic of Asheville.

No doubt, many deep sighs of disappointment were heaved when, in early February, the state Employment Security Division announced that the Asheville metro area gained only 100 net new jobs in 2011.

Indeed, the report shows — at best — marginal job gains resulting in 0.1 percent growth for last year.

With the local economy sputtering, Buncombe County’s unemployment rate increased to 7.6 percent in De-

cember, up from 7.3 percent in November.

The prolonged economic slump has many communities reeling in distress in the United States and around the world, so Asheville’s slight gain in jobs could be interpreted as relatively positive.

However, we think this metro area can do much better.

To spur job creation in the private sector, we encourage local officials — where possible — to cut taxes and fees on entrepreneurs. Such a tack would encourage them to grow their businesses, thereby necessitating the hiring that this area so badly needs.

On the left: Preoccupied Last August the Republican Party dragged the national conversation into very strange territory. They decided to make hay with the fairly routine matter of raising the federal debt ceiling. The debt ceiling had been raised seven times under G.W. Bush, and 18 times under that icon of conservatism, Ronald Reagan. The result of the Republican stonewalling and bellyaching about the debt ceiling was a downgrade of America’s credit rating. Nice move, GOP! (Of course, given that the Republican’s overarching goal is to make Barack Obama a one-term president, the downgrade may have been the goal all along. Keeping unemployment high, dampening investment, stalling any program that might boost recovery ... no holds are barred in their fight for power.)

The economic theory regarding the debt ceiling is pretty abstruse, and, practically speaking, far beyond the interest or ken of most of us. But, suddenly, it was a HOT TOPIC. HOT TOPICS in the hands of politicians are much like magic wands in the hands of magicians. They work to distract voters from what’s really going on. Hence samesex marriage, abortion, gun control and other HOT TOPICS are raised during election season, despite the fact that those issues are rarely the subject of legislation, and pose no meaningful threat to the electorate. Meanwhile the wheels of power and finance are generously greased and the well being of the people is sold to the highest bidder.

Run for your lives! Obama wants to raise the debt ceiling!

Fortunately, in September, the Occupy Wall Street movement introduced sanity into the national conversation. Who is running the show? Who holds the keys to power? Why isn’t our government accountable to the people of a democratic nation? Occupy has successfully moved central issues onto the main stage of our national political debate. OWS shone a bright light on the Citizens United court decision that endorsed corporate personhood and blew away the McCain-Feingold campaign finance rules.

It also demanded real accountability from banks and investment brokers.

By focusing attention on the one percent of Americans who control 40 percent of the wealth in this country, and on the increasing wealth gap, Occupy struck a nerve.

Cecil Bothwell Knee-jerk conservatives wailed “Class war!

They’re starting a class war!” Investor Warren Buffet sagely responded, “Yes there is a class war, and the 1 percent have been winning it.”

Addressing issues raised by OWS, Buffet wrote in The New York Times: “Since 1992, the I.R.S. has compiled data from the returns of the 400 Americans reporting the largest income. In 1992, the top 400 had aggregate taxable income of $16.9 billion and paid federal taxes of 29.2 percent on that sum. In 2008, the aggregate income of the highest 400 had soared to $90.9 billion — a staggering $227.4 million on average — but the rate paid had fallen to 21.5 percent.”

Democracy cannot survive when accumulation of weath by a few creates a powerful aristocracy. Thanks to OWS, citizens are rising up to reclaim America. Local groups meet to support the Move to Amend, aimed at eliminating the idea that corporations are people. There is pressure to implement a Robin Hood Tax on financial transactions.

There is a clamor for stronger oversight of Wall Street, and a growing demand for living wage laws.

Those of us on Asheville’s City Council who urged tolerance and caution concerning Occupy Asheville were doing our best to stand aside while the fledgling movement gathered its thoughts and found its direction.

Protecting free political speech is essential to the continued health of democratic governance, and making room for new expression does little near term harm and avoids long term damage. Whether the particular form and style of the Occupy movement suits you or me it bears remembering that all but a tiny handful of Americans are on the same side of the wealth gap.

Occupy is on our side. We are the 99 percent.

• Cecil Bothwell, a member of Asheville City Council, is a candidate for Congress in North Carolina’s 11th District.

Letters to the Editor Contraceptive use not being forced on anyone

If the Catholic Church were right that contraception is immoral, then everyone would be honor-bound to oppose contraception.

However, proof that contraception is immoral requires more than a declaration by the church. If we had a state church, the problem would disappear. The church would tell us what to believe. Absent a state church, each individual must decide for himself. Absent a state church, issues such as contraception must be resolved by political means. This doesn’t mean the state is entitled to force individuals to violate their moral beliefs.

But no one is forcing Catholics to use contraception. Nor is the government forcing the church to provide financial support to contraception programs. Obama reversed himself and even exempted institutions connected with the Catholic Church.

The church, however, appears determined to end all government support for contraception. It’s certainly legitimate for the church, as one interest group among

many, to oppose contraception.

It’s not legitimate, however, for the church to claim religious persecution if the wider society decides to support contraception efforts and to reject Catholic claims regarding what is moral and what is not.

Col. Ned Cabaniss (ret.)

Fairview

Coverage of WCQS-FM prompts reader’s praise

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following references a story in February’s Daily Planet about a group’s effort to achieve changes at Asheville public radio station WCQS-FM by filing a petition with the FCC to deny its license renewal.

• I want to take this opportunity to thank you (the Daily Planet) for the coverage of the WCQS Board Meeting and the controversy over program changes, use of the Community Advisory Board and the station’s responsiveness to its WNC community.

Fred Simms Arden See LETTERS, Page 14

The Candid Conservative

A government of teenagers

Big government advocates are like teenagers with cell phones. Any call for limits is immediately met with alarm and protestations of imminent disaster.

When your job is to consume resources, a description fitting most government enterprise, you live in a world of constant insecurity. Unlike producers, your contribution is harder to track. As a result, self-protection becomes job one for most government agencies. Reason and restraint are poorly fed by this mission.

Another trait common to teens and government is the belief that the world revolves around you know who. That naturally leads to entitlement thinking, arrogance, and narcissism.

Those traits make it easier for parents to smile when their young leave the nest.

Unfortunately, government doesn’t grow up, it grows bigger and worse. Without the strong parental hand of an educated and engaged public you get the kind of adolescent government we have today.

Louisiana wisdom .…

The Republican primary is a curious mix of entertainment, education, drama, and pretense. As a reality show, it’s almost as good as “Swamp People.”

On the minus side, it’s really tough to separate the wheat from the chaff. Everyone on that stage is a talker — including professionals whose talk doesn’t match their walk.

On the plus side, whoever wins will be a practiced debater by the time Obama steps into the ring. The Republican candidate should be able to turn a bright light on our Presidential Imposter. Until that candidate emerges, conservative thinkers should look long and deep and choose wisely.

Noah Webster once offered guidance, “In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate — look to his character.”

At some point we’ll be stuck with a lesser of evils decision. Until that time think like a Cajun gater hunter, and ignore the glitz.

Who can beat Obama?

Putting it simply — Ron Paul is the only Republican presidential candidate remotely acquainted with standing for something.

All the rest, Romney, Gingrich and Santorum have repeatedly demonstrated themselves

Carl Mumpower as political opportunists. What’s that? It’s a please and appease politician who panders to his current audience in order to support job one — being liked or being elected. That’s why there’ve been so many position changes for our candidates. Heck, Newt was for federally mandated health care before Romney or Obama.

The same Romney now speaking against abortion was once really for it. Who are these guys kidding — they’re all Washington insiders.

We don’t have to buy their nonsense, but we do have to find someone to beat Obama. That’s the real job one and that’s who should get the nomination. After that, we can decide to get back in our recliner or hold these guys to standing for something real.

Manipulators misused Clint

One of the better Super Bowl commercials relied on the sturdy skills of Clint Eastwood – this generation’s version of John Wayne.

Eastwood’s reference to “It’s Half-Time in America” had a stirring ring of authenticity.

Unfortunately, the ad was sponsored by a car company, Chrysler, that’s owned by a foreign car company, Fiat.

Worse, Chrysler and GM received a bailout of $80 billion – $25 billion of which is gone forever.

President BHO likes to tout his “Detroit Miracle” as a stellar example of his policies.

He’s right. His blend of crony socialism and crony capitalism enabled the Detroit bailout — and allowed bad managers and greedy unions to escape accountabilities at taxpayer expense.

Ford, as a real model of American ingenuity, resisted Washington meddling, made adjustments, and accepted the responsibility that comes with opportunity. Chrysler should be ashamed for misusing Clint and us.

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

Asheville Daily Planet — March 2012 — 13

D.G. Martin Generation Z: Your Social Security may depend on it

CHAPEL HILL — Gen Z, I thought to myself, what in the world is that?

Because it was the theme of the annual Emerging Issues Forum in Raleigh in early February, I knew I was behind the times.

Just so you will not be so far behind, here are some basics. Gen Z is shorthand for Generation Z, young people born during the nineties and the early part of the current century. Not everybody agrees on the exact dates, but the Emerging Issues Institute defines Gen Z as “today’s 9-to-21 year-olds.”

Why label them with the letter Z? They follow Generation Y, the group born during the 15 years or so before the nineties, sometimes called Echo Boomers because they are the children of the Baby Boomers.

Before Generation Y came Generation X, those born in the late 1960s into the 1970s. Newsweek characterized them as “the generation that dropped out without ever turning on the news or tuning in to the social issues around them.” Hence, they are sometimes called the Lost Generation. They were preceded by the post-World War II generation known as Baby Boomers.

Why would the important Emerging Issues Forum focus on Gen Z, the demographic group that is mostly still living at home and not working, or voting, or making policy?

The forum sponsor and speakers quickly delivered a series of answers. In 2020 this new generation “will be the 18-to-30 year olds comprising the emerging core of our state’s workforce.”

Baby Boomer retirees will be dependent on the productivity and earning power of Gen Z workers to pay Social Security premiums and other taxes that will fund the Boomers’ retiree benefits.

Politicians will not have to wait. This year the early cohort of Gen Zers will go to polls and help settle the question of who runs our governments.

Gary Pearce, longtime political consultant to former Governor Jim Hunt, told me he would advise a candidate for governor to hire 20 Gen Zers to work full time sending out tweet messages to stir up interest and deliver timely messages about the candidate’s positions and proposals.

At the Emerging Issues Forum, Pearce learned that Gen Zers send an average 3,000 tweets each month. Receiving and sending message after message is their way of getting current information.

Breaking into that system of information exchange is as important in reaching Gen Zers as television has been to reach the Baby Boomers.

Although Pearce is much too old to be a Gen Zer, he says he entered the tweeting community and now gets “almost all” his current political information by following the tweets of political activists.

Some people at the forum wanted to jerk the iPhones and other devices from the hands and ears of the Gen Zers, who seem addicted to them. They feel the young people suffer too much from the loss of personal, face-to-face interaction. But others, like Pearce, are upbeat about the new fast-moving communication that the Gen Zers have mastered.

Machines like the ones the Gen Zers use to send their tweets will continue to revolutionize the work place. Factories and offices will continue to increase efficiency. The good news is that factory and office workers will be more and more productive. The bad news is that the more efficient working places will need fewer and fewer workers.

Still, good jobs directing designing, building, and directing the new equipment will be available for Gen Zers who are educated, directed, and trained.

The challenge for the rest of us is to be sure North Carolina’s systems of education and training are up to the task of preparing the Gen Zers for opportunities that will be available.

We have at least one good reason to make sure it happens: The retirement income for us older generations depends on the prosperity and success of the Gen Zers.

• D.G. Martin hosts UNC-TV’s North Carolina “Bookwatch.”

14 - March 2012 - Asheville Daily Planet

Ethan Wingfield: Letters Conservative or fraud?

Twenty-six year-old Ethan Wingfield is running for the GOP nod for the 11th District congressional seat as a conservative businessman.

Since he has not held office before, one can only judge the depth of Wingfield’s conservatism on his political activism as a young man in college. Unfortunately for Western North Carolina conservatives, Wingfield’s record is one any RINO (Republican In Name Only) or Democrat could appreciate.

During his tenure at Brown University, Wingfield was involved in the 2006 reelection campaign for liberal Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee, serving as Brown’s co-founder of “Students for Chafee.”

Chafee was best known to conservatives for his support of abortion, federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, amnesty for illegal aliens, opposition to Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito’s confirmation, as well as opposition to the 2nd Amendment.

Chafee even opposed a bipartisan effort to ban partial birth abortion, which is the procedure where abortion doctors dilate the female and then puncture the skull of the unborn child.

Such a record would normally preclude any conservative, especially one with WNC values, from supporting such a candidate.

Instead, Wingfield supported Chafee with gusto when the latter was challenged by conservative Steve Laffey in 2006.

When questioned on his support for Chafee, Wingfield was quoted that he supported “‘Rhode Island Republican values,’ as represented by Chafee, over the moral conservatism backed by Laffey and many Southern Republicans.” One might ask when did Wingfield shed these Rhode Island Republican values for WNC conservatism? (Or did he?)

Chafee went on to defeat the more conservative Laffey in the primary, but lost the general election that year. Chafee, soon after, abandoned the GOP and was elected as a liberal independent to the Governor’s

Christine Gates

Guest columnist Mansion in Rhode Island. This latest stint in elected office saw Chafee refuse to dedicate a Christmas tree, instead opting for the more benign label of holiday tree.

In addition to his prominent and vocal support of Chafee, Wingfield’s leadership skills as chairman of the Rhode Island College Republicans left much to be desired.

His tenure was notable for a letter he sent out, urging College Republicans to make sure that they moderated their words and activities when exercising free speech. His tenure was also marked by the atrophying of the organization before his resignation upon graduating.

Wingfield’s succesor as chairman, Ryan Bilodeau, stated that “(Ethan Wingfield ’07) was a chairman missing-in-action.

Ethan was an intelligent businessman … but he spread himself too thin. I think we met twice throughout his term.”

That is far from a ringing endorsement to make one feel confident in placing our trust in him as congressman.

Whether it is his lack of a record of principled conservatism, his support of a liberal Northeastern RINO, his moderate approach to issues, and his lack of political skills as chairman, Wingfield is clearly not the man to represent WNC in Congress.

I invite everyone to research Chafee, Laffey and Wingfield’s tenure at Brown University to see if they are comforted or horrified at the prospect of Wingfield standing for you in Washington.

• Christine Gates is the president of the Caldwell TEA Party and president of the Caldwell Republican Club (a federal PAC) in Lenoir.

Continued from Page 12

Pagan spell books could pave way to fix education

A recent letter (in the Asheville CitizenTimes) defending the handing out of Bibles to schoolchildren asks, “What values do spell books teach?”

Having co-written a Pagan spellbook that’s a popular textbook of magic, I’d answer that spell books’ magic teaches values absolutely critical for today’s schoolchildren to learn.

Magic imparts emotional maturity by teaching self-empowerment: To cast an effective spell, you can’t rely on money, popularity, beauty, muscles, drugs, guns — only your own intuition and will, guided by ethics and divination rather than commandment.

Intellectually, magic teaches the “art of correspondences” — how to recognize the

fundamental patterns that interconnect all things — which develops the skill of creative problem-solving by seeing whole systems rather than isolated parts.

Physically, magic perceives the world as animated with spirit — an awareness that teaches students to treat nature and their fellow human souls with compassion, wisdom and love rather than materialism, violence and exploitation.

Spiritually, magic embraces many goddesses and gods, teaching respect rather than intolerance for diversity of opinions, cultures, histories — and especially religions.

All in all, I’d argue that handing out Pagan spell books — on a constitutionally equal basis with Bibles, of course — could even be America’s secret key to education reform.

Steve Rasmussen Asheville EDITOR’S NOTE: Steve Rasmussen is the co-author with Lady Passion of “The Goodly Spellbook: Olde Spells for Modern Problems” and can be reached via http:// oldenwilde.org/.

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Asheville Daily Planet —March 2012 — 15

Guest column

With China in spotlight, it’s time for U.S. rebirth

When I read The New York Times series in January about Apple manufacturing in China, my first thought was the mantra of the “Lost Cause Movement” in the South after the Civil War: “We were not defeated, we were outnumbered.”

I heard it a thousand times when I was a boy. China’s advantages in manufacturing are overwhelming. I had to consciously bring my thinking back to “America is not a lost cause.”

The Times’ articles include this example: “One former executive described how [Apple] relied upon a Chinese factory to revamp iPhone manufacturing just weeks before the device was due on shelves.

Apple had redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the plant near midnight. A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day.”

For the manufacture of those glass screens, Apple had Corning and a Chinese company compete. The Times’ article said, “The Chinese plant’s owners were already constructing a new wing. ‘This is in case you give us the contract,’ the manager said, according to a former Apple executive.

The Chinese government had agreed to underwrite costs for numerous industries, and those subsidies had trickled down to the glass-cutting factory.” Apple gave the contract to the Chinese company.

When Apple gave the Times their rationale for going to China, they described China as more “flexible,” “diligent,” “industrially skilled.”

Uh yeah, thousands of workers living in dorms on site can help a company be flexible. And people living away from home would tend to be diligent. And then there’s government support: financially, in recruiting workers from the countryside, in directing millions of state-supported students into fields needed for their national industrial plan.

When I finished reading, I felt something like despair. Like the way starving Confederates must have felt when they overran a

Lee Ballard Yankee camp and found food aplenty, new blankets, guns and ammunition, shoes.

What chance did they have to win such an unfair fight?

I hear pundits say we’re in a post-industrial time anyway, blah-blah, let somebody else assemble our products. And indeed it is true that America’s dominance in this century will be through technology.

And it’s also true that these pundits know a whole lot more about this stuff than I do.

All I can see is people who used to have solid lives based on good wages now taking anything they can get. And I think of 1942, when we beat the Japanese air force and navy at Guadalcanal just eight months after Pearl Harbor. We had a strong industrial base, and it delivered.

We hear a lot in the presidential campaign about “bringing back jobs.”

And indeed there is a lot that government can do, with tax incentives and the like.

But there’s another scene I’d like to see happen. I believe that President Obama in his second term will bring about a rebirth of patriotism, pride in who we are as Americans.

If I squint hard, I can see a popular movement, rising out of this patriotism, that gives American corporations a message: Profit ain’t all there is. Maybe boycotts, maybe shareholder revolts, maybe pressure from the media about working conditions in other countries.

Maybe, just maybe.

• Lee Ballard lives in Mars Hill.

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16 — March 2012 - Asheville Daily Planet

Continued from Page 1 However, he also asserted that he does not think it is fair that representatives of one-third of the water-users — city residents — are dictating to the two-thirds of users — county residents.

He said the other panelists, with the exception of Rep. Chuck McGrady, RHenderson County, were guilty of “one glaring omission — and that’s (ignoring) the history of the water system” — in their fiscally motivated goal of one day charging customers differential rates for water.

Moffitt charged that it is taken as a “threat” — by Buncombe and Henderson County customers — when city officials constantly complain about the need to charge different rates to different customers.

Ultimately, though, “I have no interest in harming our community,” he said.

Moffitt then suggested that a regional agency could rectify the situation where Buncombe and Henderson residents have no say in governing the city-owned water system that serves them.

It “has been governed solely by the citizens of Asheville without any real regard to the people in the county,” he said.

Despite state law prohibiting Asheville from charging differential rates to water customers, “there is a continual threat to people who live outside Asheville” that they will be charged higher rates than their city brethren, Moffitt asserted.

Conversely, others speakers said the war is over between the city and Buncombe County and that the water system is operating well under Asheville control and, therefore, needs no change.

“The worst policies we have are when something is jammed down our throat from Raleigh or Washington,” David Gantt, chairman of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, said via videotape.

The event was billed as an opportunity

for the community and a panel of speakers to discuss an effort underway in Raleigh that could possibly remove control of the water system from the City of Asheville.

The event was triggered by a bill introduced last spring by Moffitt that could take local control of Asheville’s water system from the city and place it into the hands of an independent authority.

Moffitt later modified the bill into a study. Thus, the committee he chairs is examining the operation of the current water system to determine whether it should be surrendered to an outside agency.

“This is not a partisan issue,” meeting moderator Elaine Lite said in a press release before the meeting. “It’s not a city versus county issue. It’s a matter of our community coming together to determine what is in our own best interest. We have got to do that if we want to keep local control of the water.”

Councilman Jan Davis, a panelist, noted that “a lot of rumor and inuendo is going around.” He cited a rumor involving his participation at Moffitt’s committee meeting in Raleigh, where some people have said he was cutoff from making remarks.

“I was neither cutoff, nor not allowed to speak,” Davis said. “I was gathering my thoughts and missed my opportunity,” as Moffitt took his hesitation as a sign that he was finished talking and ended the meeting.

The crowd cheered when Rep. Patsy Keever, D-Buncombe, said, “The bottom line is, I’m adamantly opposed to privitization of the water system in any shape or form.”

She added, “Water is the basic element for you, whether you’re in the city or in the county.” Keever said the recent dissolution of the regional water system “was not done in the best way possible, but it was the right thing to do.”

The crowd again cheered when Keever said, “Asheville has been a good steward for the (region’s) water resources ... If a decision is to be made about our water, it should be made here — and not at the state level.”

fight — in the matters that oppress the common people.” Moreover, he ripped the prefunding law as “absolute nonsense that pays for workers who will not even be hired in 50 years.”

Other speakers were congressional candidates Cecil Bothwell, Patsy Keever and Tom Hill, all Democrats; Mark Case, president of the WNC Central Labor Council; and Blake Butler, a progressive talk-show host on 880-AM radio station in Fairview.

Butler noted that, even though the Occupy Asheville tents were gone from the encampment in front of City Hall, the spot where they stood remains hallowed ground.

“Everyone here wants transparency, accountability and big money out of politics,”

he said.

Butler lamented that “we’ve got elected officicials who vote at us — not with us ...

Folks, we’ve got the power to vote them out of office ... It matters because this collective voice is the only thing that can change things.”

Bothwell asserted, “There should be a lot more people out here.” He blamed the Republican congress for requiring the pension prepayment that is resulting in USPS’s cost-cutting. “Who wouldn’t pay even 75 cents for a first-class letter” to keep from closing the processing center? he asked.

In addition, Margaret Davison, president of the Edneyville Grange, spoke about how the area needs its post office.

Water forum heats up Water Conversely, Gene Rainey, From Staff Reports a former chairman of the A forum on the issue of Buncombe County Board of whether the City of Asheville Commissioners, said turnshould keep control of its ing the system over to an water system drew about 250 independent authority would people Feb. 13 at Grace Covresult in greater efficiency enant Presbyterian Church in and create jobs.

North Asheville.

“Rep. Moffitt’s proposal Regarding the attendance, has not been popular,” he panelist Esther Manheimer, said, as some in the crowd vice mayor of Asheville, laughed at his understatesaid, “I’m overwhelmed — ment. “I’m a Democrat, but amazed at this turnout.” She we owe him (Moffitt) a debt. noted that she was particiA debt for bringing up an pating as a member of City issue that needs to be adCouncil.

State Sen. Martin Nesbitt dressed now.”

The speakers at the forum In contrast, activist Barry clashed over control of the warned that privatization usually $1.3 billion in water works that serve about Summers begins with a company managing a public 125,000 people within the city and outside system. of it.

“A private company would take over evThe forum, hosted by the League of ery aspect, setting rates, collecting revenue, Women Voters, focused on a discussion of whatever,” Summers asserted. an ongoing study by a state House commitSummers then asked McGrady if the tee on whether to give control of the system committee could guarantee that privatizato an independent authority or to let the city tion would never occur. keep it.

“There is no discussion of privatization State Rep. Tim Moffitt, R-Buncombe, of any sort,” McGrady told Summers. proposed the idea and was invited to the foManheimer, , said, “What I want to rum, but did not attend, later citing a sched- focus on is how good it (the city-run water uling conflict. His absence drew a number system) is ... It’s not used to subsidize the of angry comments from those speaking at city’s general fund ... Basically, we’re not the forum. He is the chairman of the state running the water for the city as a cash cow committee looking into the plan.

— it’s so we have good service.”

In a written statement reader by forum However, McGrady said that Henderson organizer Nelda Holder, Moffitt sought to County would have no interest in joining in dispel the notion that his ultimate goal was with Asheville in a regional authority. to privatize Asheville’s water system.

McGrady noted that Henderson resiInstead, Moffitt said in his statement dents still harbor “hard feelings” toward that the committee would only consider Asheville over the regional water works because “the agreement was not honored. The whether to give the system to an indecity (Asheville) agreed to provide water to pendent authority, to the public body now running Buncombe’s sewer system or leave industries in northern Henderson County ...

The county (ultimately) sued to get rights it with Asheville. to the water.”

In addition, Moffitt vowed to sponsor a bill keeping the water system forever in public hands.

Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, who is also a member of the MetropoliContinued from Page 1 tan Sewerage/Water System Committee, USPS officials have presented a plan to participated in a panel discussion at the 3,700 post offices and 252 mail proforum. McGrady explained that he believed close cessing centers, including one in Asheville.

Moffitt’s intent in raising the issue was to The Postal Service has delayed that plan increase the efficiency of the man water until May. system serving the area.

Chris Berg, an actor who portrayed Some of the panel members and many of Ben Franklin, reminded the crowd — in a those addressing the panel favored the city brief appearance — that he and the other continuing to own and maintain the system. Founding Fathers included a provision (in the Constitution) for a post office because Several speakers noted that Asheville reof the importance of mail delivery. He cently began $40 million in repairs. Funds noted that Franklin was the first postmaster for the repairs were from bonds backed by general. customers who mostly are city residents, In his portrayal of Franklin, Berg praised but also include many businesses and those at the protest for “being willing to homes outside Asheville.

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Asheville Daily Planet — March 2012 — 17

Occupy girl with boyfriend issues looks for the Gaia next door I’m an Occupy girl, age 45, into ecoshamanism and planetary consciousness stuff. I’ve mostly dated engineers with a playful side who initially seemed open to my interests but quickly became resentful of them. My boyfriend of two years is different — easygoing and willing to expand his horizons. He actually reads the articles I post on Facebook and discusses them with me. We laugh effortlessly and are very giving to each other, but I can’t shake the feeling that I should look for somebody more my type (more artistically, politically and spiritually inclined).

I fantasize about meeting an artistic shamanic guy who is gorgeous and open and shares my sense of purpose, but the truth is, guys in my social milieu can be very competitive, neurotic and immature. I guess my question is: If you can IMAGINE a better partner, does that mean you should break up?

— Restless These guys you dated probably believed they were open-minded … until they were invited by their eco-shamanistic girlfriend to something like the “Embrace of the Earth” rite, in which participants spend the night in a grave they dig themselves.

As refreshing as you may find it to “tap into the earth’s restorative energies,” their first thought probably went something like “Thanks, I’ll take the night on the 800 thread count, slave-labor-made sheets.

Could you turn on my electric blanket, please, before you go?”

If a guy thinks a girl’s hot, he’ll buy into whatever her trip is for as long as he can.

My steak-loving boyfriend once dated a militant vegan. (He’d hit the Burger King drive-through on his way home.)

Obviously, it’s a problem if you go out with some engineer dude, tell him you’re an “Occupy girl,” and he says, “Wow, my company designs the water cannons the police use to spray you people.” But, your current restlessness may stem from the notion that it’s a great big drum circle out there with a lot of chakra healer-boys and past-life counselors in it.

Having a lot of choice sounds great, but research by social psychologist Dr. Sheena Iyengar suggests that most people get overwhelmed when they have more than a handful of options. Essentially, when it seems the sky’s the limit, we’re prone to keep looking skyward. We end up not choosing at all, or we choose poorly and end up dissatisfied.

A solution for this is “satisficing,” a strategy from economist Herbert Simon of committing to the “good-enough” choice — instead of marching off on a never-ending search for spiritually evolved, Burning Man-certified perfection.

Sure, you can probably find your ecoshamanistic cloneboy — a guy who’ll take the initiative in signing you both up for “soul retrieval training” when you worry that you forgot yours at Macy’s in a past life. But then maybe he’ll go all hateful on you on the way home about whether to save the whales or go to the movies.

The longer your list of must-haves in a man, the more you shrink your pool of potential partners. Your own appeal is also a factor, and it’s probably narrowed by things like not being 22 and your plumpitude, if any.

Consider whether it’s possible to have friends be your spiritual colleagues and have that be enough. You can wish for the gorgeous, artistic, shamanic perfect man — along with world peace and all the hemp bacon you can eat. But, maybe the realistic man is your sweet spiritual trainee who is fun and giving, dutifully rinses off his used foil, and smiles and pulls the Prius over

The Advice Goddess

Amy Alkon

when you tell him that your spirit animal needs to pee.

Sperm limits

I’m a 32-year-old woman who doesn’t particularly like kids. I told my last boyfriend I didn’t want kids, but three years in, he said he wanted a family and left.

He said he thought I’d eventually change my mind. How do I keep this from happening again?

— Nobody’s Mom You can’t just sit down on the first date and ask a man if his semen has a lifeplan.

But, let a kid-wanting man get attached (even second date-attached) and he’ll want to believe you’ll eventually mommy up.

So right on date one, you need to drop into conversation that you aren’t a “kid person.” Make sure a guy responds like he’s gotten the bottom-line message: His sperm, your egg, they ain’t gonna party.

Now, some guys might not have fully considered the issue of kids, so you might weave the subject in on subsequent dates for reinforcement.

If you’re 22, a major compatibility issue is “Eeuw, you like Coldplay?” At 32, you really need to know up front if one of you is musing “I wonder what we’ll name the twins” and the other’s thinking “Whatever they called them at the pound is fine by me.”

Dim and her

I’m having a whirlwind romance with a man I met online on Thanksgiving. I moved across the country to live with him on Dec. 20, and we’re now building a life together. The problem is I have a high IQ (137), and he’s very unintelligent and illogical. It’s hard to have a good conversation unless we talk about sex. It’s too late to leave now, so … any advice on how to keep our IQ difference from ripping us apart when things are less new and exciting? I really love him, as he’s pure of heart. And boy, is he sexy and great in bed! So far, I’ve held back from telling him when he’s gullible or irrational, but I worry that I’ll eventually call him something nasty — like “idiot.”

I don’t want to hurt him. I crave his company and love him for who he is, not what he knows.

— The Smarter One Is there a chance you cheated on your IQ test?

You seem to pride yourself on your intelligence, yet you spent a few weeks chitchatting on the Internet with some dull blade, dropped everything and moved across the country to live with him.

Now, you two lovebirds are “building a life together” — that is, whenever you aren’t too busy grumbling about needing your intellectual equal and not the coffee table’s.

You might “love him for who he is,” but you also despise him for who he isn’t.

Oops. Marriage researcher Dr. John Gottman found that expressions of contempt are the greatest predictor that a couple will go kaput. Of course, anybody you get involved with will have some annoying habits or flaws that challenge the relationship.

Relatively benign bad habits are things like snoring, and for that, you can get those

little strips to put on your partner’s nose.

What’s the answer here, strapping a piece of duct tape across his mouth?

Check out your completely lame excuse for staying: “It’s too late to leave now.”

Now check your feet. Bolted to the floorboards?

If not, what’s keeping you there is probably irrational thinking that economists call the “sunk cost fallacy” — deciding to keep investing in some endeavor based on what you’ve already invested (an unrecoverable cost) rather than assessing how your investment will pay off (if at all) in the future.

People are especially prone to overvalue prior investment when their ego is also invested — like when sticking around helps them continue the fiction that they’ve behaved wisely in going all-in with a guy whose intellectual “spirit animal” is probably the amoeba.

Fools rush in, but the real fools find themselves facedown in a pool of “boy, was I dumb” and get busy coming up with reasons why staying there is a wise idea.

In “The Folly of Fools,” anthropologist Dr. Robert Trivers explains self-deceptions like yours, noting the difference between intelligence and consciousness: “You can be very bright but unconscious.” When you realize you’ve been unconscious, you can choose to wake up and cut your losses — before you start saying cutting things to your goodhearted sexy simpleton.

To live less sleepwalkingly in the future, reflect on what got you into this — what void you tried to fill by telling your rationality to shut up and go sit in the corner so you could congratulate yourself on the great love you found. And goody for you on what you actually found — some really great sex — but let’s call a cabana boy a cabana boy, lest you turn a story that

should be “My Hunky Winter Vacation” into a move-in special.

I’m with cupid

What’s with all the Valentine’s Day haters? Some of my single friends celebrate V-Day ironically, and I sense that they look down on my boyfriend and me for celebrating it for real, as if we’re just buying into a giant marketing campaign.

— Romantically Uncool

Occupy Wall Street is so 2011. Trendsetting inequality haters should be occupying Hallmark: “If we don’t get love, you don’t get love, either,“ and “This is what a woman without a boyfriend looks like!”

Valentine’s Day has been hijacked to sell everything short of heart-shaped rubber vomit. I even got a Valentine’s-linked press release pitching surveillance services.

Right. Nothing says “I love you” like installing a keylogger on your partner’s laptop. The louder the hyping of the day, the louder the message that somebody’s a loser if they have nobody to buy a bunch of red merch for. So, your single friends’ coolerthan-thou attitude is understandable, but there’s something better than being cool, and it’s being happy. Let them have their black-frosted cookies with the little dead cupids and their marches against romancecolored corporate greed … well, until next year, when they’re sneaking into Godiva to buy chocolates for the girl they fell in love with after they got pepper-sprayed together.

• (c) 2012, 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 (www.advicegoddess.com)

18 - March 2012 - Asheville Daily Planet

Faith Notes

Thursday, March 1 CLASS, 7-9 p.m., Center for Spiritual Living, 2 Science of Mind Way, Asheville. Michele Laub will present a class titled “Master Your Life — Harness the Energy of 2012” through March 29.

Friday, March 2 WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDY, 10 a.m.-noon, All Saints Anglican Church, 15 McDowell Rd., Mills River. A women’s Bible study titled “Believing God” will be offered on Friday mornings from March 2 through May 18. The Beth Moore study, rooted in Isaiah 43:10, explores what it means not only to believe in God, but to believe God. The cost is $14.95 for the workbook.

To register, call Christine Maddux at 808-2325, or e-mail her at aclmaddux@mac.com.

Saturday, March 3 INDOOR YARD SALE, 8 a.m.-2 p.m., Anointed Word Church, 2223, Butler Bridge Rd., Mills River (next to Glenn C. Marlow Elementary). AWC will hold a spring Indoor yard sale.

AGLOW MEETING, 10 a.m., Fletcher Feed and Seed, 3715 Hendersonville Rd., Fletcher. Pastor Margaret Vis will address the Asheville-Hendersonville Aglow Community Lighthouse. Vis was missions director for Good News Assembly in Johannesburg, South Africa, and worked for African Harvest Ministries.

Refreshments will be served at 9:30 a.m.

CELEBRATION, 10 a.m., First Baptist Church, 5 Oak St., Asheville. The Operation Christmas Child Blue Ridge volunteer team will celebrate. Jennifer Davis, Carolinas regional manager, will announce the official totals of boxes collected last season and will share images and stories about a discipleship program in Madagascar. Mela Sluder, a high school senior in Asheville and a shoe book recipient from Kazakhstan, will share her story.

Place, Asheville. The services will feature Rabbi Rob Cabelli, guest speaker, addressing, “Tyrannies and Subversions: Are We As Advanced As We Think?” The UUCA noted that “an age-old story, read critically, reveals a radical, subversive and universal message about the nexus of gender and politics, as well as tyrannized minorities. Yet for centuries the impulse has been to read the scroll of Esther as a ethnocentric fairy tale of freedom and either approve or disapprove of it on that basis alone. Regardless of how objectively modern or post-modern we might imagine ourselves to be, we receive texts through culturally conditioned eyes and ears.

We must challenge ourselves to open up to the subversive in our most sacred and venerable texts, or else humanity and its religions will remain their own worst enemies.”

COFFEEHOUSE CONCERT, 7 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place, Asheville. The Mountain Spirit Coffeehouse will feature a concert by Danielle Miraglia and Angela Easterling in concert.

Tuesday, Feb. 20 Sing-Along, 7 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place, Asheville. A sing-along, welcoming all singers and music-lovers who enjoy group singing — will be held. A wide range of well-known selections will be sung. Lyrics and music handbooks will be provided. There are no auditions or musical requirements. The group is led by musician/composer Dave Bates.

HEALING CIRCLE, 7-9 p.m., Center for Spiritual Living, 2 Science of Mind Way, Asheville. An Aramaic healing circle will be led by Dale Allen Hoffman.

Wednesday, March 21

Friday, March 9 FILM, 7 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place, Asheville. The Social Justice Film Series will screen “Casino Jack and the United States of Money.”

The film, billed as “disturbing yet fascinating,” exposes Jack Abramoff and other lobbyists for their impact on U.S. politics, while peddling influence in Washington’s corridors of power.

Admission is free.

Wednesday, March 14

QUANTUM TOUCH PROGRAM, 7 p.m., Unity Center, 2041 Old Fanning Bridge Rd., Mills River. An introduction to quantum touch program will be led by Pam Hurst. She will explain how quantum touch came about and how it works.

Admission is free, but a love offering will be taken.

Sunday, Feb. 18 TYRANNY/SUBVERSION SERVICE, 9:15 and 11:15 a.m., Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin

PROGRAM, 7-9 p.m., Center for Spiritual Living, 2 Science of Mind Way, Asheville. A program on “Embracing the Global Heart” will be presented.

Wednesday, March 28 GENEALOGY PROGRAM, 7 p.m., Unity Center, 2041 Old Fanning Bridge Rd., Mills River. A “Beginning Genealogy” program will be led by Pat Dockery. The program is aimed at helping individuals learn more about their lineage. Attendees are asked to bring any pertinent information about their family tree, such as full names, dates and birth/death places of parents, grandparents and others. A love offering will be taken.

Friday, March 30 PEACE DANCE WORKSHOP, 7-9 p.m., Jubilee! Community, 46 Wall St., downtown Asheville. A dances of universal peace workshop will be held. The workshop will continue March 31 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday, March 31 “SURVIVING 2012” PROGRAM, 2-10 p.m., Unity Center, 2041 Old Fanning Bridge Rd., Mills River. Dr. Robert Holt will llead a program titled “Surviving 2012.,” featuring a number of film screenings. A love offering will be taken.

New Books by Dr. Bob Holt, M.D. at Lulu Dot Com “Jesus in India,” etc.

An Informal Spiritual Center of Practical Christianity for Everyday Living.

Advertise your church in this space

Tuesday, Feb. 27

ADDICTIONS PROGRAM, 7 p.m., Unity Center, 2041 Old Fanning Bridge Rd., Mills River. A program on “Mood Disorders and All Addictions: The Cause and the Cure” will be presented by Dr. Suka Chapel-Horst. Specifically, she will focus on Reward Deficiency Syndrome, an inherited, genetically caused deficiency in brain chemistry. “RDS is the underlying cause of all addictions, including alcohol, drugs, medications, food, sex, gambling, shopping and extreme sports addictions,” Unity noted. “Individuals can also develop RDS due to molds, chemicals, allergies, hormonal changes and inadequate nutrition, which is the root cause of mood disorders.” Chapel-Horst will explain how the condition can be reversed. Admission is free, but a love offering will be taken.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT TALKS, 7-9 p.m., Center for Spiritual Living, 2 Science of Mind Way, Asheville. “Join Barbara, John and Christy for an uplifting Science of Mind experience,” the CfSL said, calling it “the perfect mid-week boost!”

Celebration Services 11 AM Sunday

Sunday, March 25

Tuesday, March 6

Wednesday, March 7

828-253-6578

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CONCERT, 3 p.m., St. Matthias Episcopal Church, 1 Dundee St., Asheville. The Asheville Cello Choir will perform.

CONCERT, 3 p.m., Hominy Baptist Church, 135 Candler School Rd., Candler. A shape note singing will be held, followed by a covered-dish supper at 5 p.m. and a concluding session.

TRUTH ON TAP, 6 p.m., Black Rose Public House, upstairs at 221 N. Main St., downtown Hendersonville. The Rev. Chad O’Shea of Unity in Mills River will hold a “pub chat” on matters spiritual and otherwise.

Sing-Along, 7 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place, Asheville. A sing-along, welcoming all singers and music-lovers who enjoy group singing — will be held. A wide range of well-known selections will be sung. Lyrics and music handbooks will be provided. There are no auditions or musical requirements. The group is led by musician/composer Dave Bates.

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 281 Edgewood Rd. • Asheville, N.C. 28804

LOUISE B. HAY PROGRAM, 7 p.m., Unity Center, 2041 Old Fanning Bridge Rd., Mills River. Denise Palmer will present a program titled “Learn More About the Louise L. Hay Principles.” A love offering will be taken.

BOOK-SIGNING, 3 p.m., Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café, 35 Haywood St., downtown Asheville. Judith Toy, author of “Murder as a Call to Love: A True Story of Transformation and Forgiveness,” will hold a book signing. Toy is ordained as a core member of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hahn’s monastic order, Tiep Hien, and teaches mindfulness at Cloud Cottage Community for Mindful Living at Black Mountain.

Sunday, March 4

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www.unitync.net

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Asheville Daily Planet — March 2012 — 19

11. Rentals

1. Announcements THANKS for reading the Asheville Daily Planet.

2. Merchandise 1988 HONDA GI-1500 BiKE to a good and responsible person. You can contact Mrs. Juliana Smith at michcena007@gmail.com for more information.

3. Animals Free to good home, one male and one female English bulldog babies. They are both very friendly with kids. If you are interested, contact harryp3869@gmail.com.

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such non 19 century luxuries including: central air/heat, dishwasher and even an icemaker and microwave oven. There is a lease/purchase opportunity which would allow the lessee to apply 1/2 of lease fees for up to 5 years toward purchase price.

LEASE IS $1,600/mo. Lease to OWN OPTION AVAILABLE. Call Jerry at (828) 262-0605 NORTH ASHEVILLE, between downtown and UNCA, two rooms, kitchen, bathroom, all on bottom floor, for lease. Could work as office or apartment. $850/ mo. 713-6336.

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HELP WANTED: Get paid by driving your car as usual. You will earn $200 driving your car. No other obligation than driving your car around as you normally do. The ad will be placed on your car for people to see. The ads are typically vinyl decals, also known as “auto wraps.” Contact ASAP for more info harryp3869@gmail.com

11. Rentals

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North Asheville 2/1 townhome/apt $495.00 ALL units 1 mile from downtown off of merrimon avenue on bus line. 828-252-4334 Black Mtn 2/1 apartment with heat pump and central air. Also washer dryer connection, In nice area. $545.00. 828-252-4334 WEST ASHEVILLE 3/2 mobile home, close to downtown, on the bus line, washer-drier connection, city water, city sewer, in quiet park, $625.

Accepting Section 8. 828-252-4334.

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20 — March 2012 - Asheville Daily Planet

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