Bob Dylan’s two-hour concert in Asheville? It was mixed bag — See Bob Dylan Review, Pg. 11
Bob Dylan
‘British Invasion’ band takes no prisoners in Franklin, N.C. Peter Noone
— See Herman’s Hermits Review, Pg. 17
ILLE V E H AS ASHEVILLEʼS GREATEST NEWSPAPER
June 2013
Vol. 9, No. 7
An Independent Newspaper Serving Greater Asheville
www.ashevilledailyplanet.com
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Water system transfer put on 2-mo. hold
From Staff Reports
A judge’s ruling blocking the transfer of the Asheville water system to a regional authority will put the matter on hold for two months or more, Asheville City Attorney Bob Oast recetntly told media outlets. The judge’s action blocks a new state law that would end city control of the system. The attorneys involved in the case, and a Wake County Superior Court judge, agreed to the delay on May 20. Next, a judge will decide whether to prevent enactment of the law — transferring the system to the Metropolitan Sewerage District — until the lawsuit is settled. On May 14, the city’s request for a temporary restraining order barring a transfer was granted by a Raleigh judge and was to expire May 20. However, the latest action provides a delay for at least two more months, according to Oast. In its filing, the city contended it would suffer irreperable harm if the transfer occurred. Asheville’s complaint asked that the law be struck down as a violation of the state and federal constitutions and a state law designed to protect holders of bonds issued by local governments, such as the city. The law “is devoid of any rational basis for the transfer” and calls for “an uncompensated taking of the water system assets by the state,” the suit states.
Daily Planet Staff Photos
Downtown rocks
The monthly Downtown After Five street party resumed May 17 with performances by The Empire Strikes Brass (above) and Big Funky Nation (left) at North Lexington Avenue in Asheville. Hundreds attended (below).
‘Scariest man in America’ addresses fears Overdue solar flare or an EMP? Could send world back to Dark Ages
By JOHN NORTH
john@ashevilledailyplanet.com
WAYNESVILLE — For a second consecutive year, keynote speaker William Forstchen was introduced as “the scariest man in America” — and lived up to that billing with urgent apocalyptic warnings — at the Heritage Life Skills II conference on May 18 at the Haywood County Fairgrounds. The event drew about 225 people, which organizers Bill and Jan Sterrett of Carolina Readiness Supply Inc. said, rated as a success and about the same turnout as last year. A number of vendors had tables at which they could display and sell their products and services. The event revolved around classes that taught a number of survival skills that have been lost in modern American culture,
including butchering, candle-making and fire-starting.” Forstchen, a Montreat College history professor, is the author of “One Second After,” a New York Times bestseller about the effects to the area around Black Mountain, including Asheville, in a scenario where an electro-magnetic pulse has been detonated above the United States, shutting down the electrical grid and frying the insides of all things digital, rendering them useless. “You cannot call yourself a prepper if you’ve never read the book, “One Second After,’” the emcee, who asked that his name not be used, told the crowd. “I introduced him one time as ‘the scariest man in Amerca’ — and I meant it from the bottom of my heart. He’s what I consider the godfather of prepping — wha-a!!
— kind of like (late soul-singer) James Brown!” The crowd laughted heartily at the emcee’s buildup for Forstchen. “I think a lot of the author and I think a lot of the book…. Without further ado, Dr. William Forstchen William Forstchen!” Nonplussed at the revved-up introduction, Forstchen greeted the audience and told how he got into the subject of his book — EMPs — after someone had noted the paralyzing threat they pose, but that there is little public interest in them, that “there is no constituency” for them.
Forstchen said he had driven to his Black Mountain home late one night several years ago after learning about EMPS and “I got in late and peeked in at my daughter,” who was 12 at the time, and began bawling after seeing her sleeping so peacefully. “Thus started a series of interviews and the book evolved,” he said. “So I wrote the book. It’s been out about four years. The joy for me is seeing this (gathering). Other people have picked up the ball and gone further. My book was like an undergraduate primer, laying out the basics. After seeing recent responses to catastrophes, “I have totally given up on the federal government — from the top down — doing anything (efficiently) on any emergency,” Forstchen said. See ‘SCARIEST,’ Page 7