Mountain Xpress 04.29.20

OUR 26TH YEAR OF WEEKLY INDEPENDENT NEWS, ARTS & EVENTS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA VOL. 26 NO. 40 APRIL 29 - MAY 5, 2020

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FEATURES

NEWS WELLNESS FEATURES

8 THE FUTURE IS NOW Local archivists urge residents to help document COVID-19

11 A $22 MILLION GAP Buncombe County begins trimming 2021 budget

13 ‘STORM OF PROTEST’ Asheville Archives examines how residents resisted the city’s 1919 influenza safety measures

PAGE 20 PARADISE LOST After Asheville and Buncombe County closed their parks because of COVID-19, outdoor enthusiasts still had access to the national forests and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

But as of mid-April, directives have constricted those choices as well — prompting frustration among some hikers and business owners.

COVER PHOTO Getty Images COVER DESIGN Scott Southwick 5 LETTERS 5 CARTOON: MOLTON 6 CARTOON: IRENE OLDS 7 CARTOON: BRENT BROWN 8 NEWS 10 BIZ BRIEFS

18 SPECIAL DELIVERY For expectant parents, COVID-19 brings changes, uncertainty

11 BUNCOMBE BEAT 13 ASHEVILLE ARCHIVES 14 COVID CONVERSATIONS 16 COMMUNITY CALENDAR

FOOD

18 WELLNESS 24 CAROLINA BEER GUY Breweries help community during pandemic

20 GREEN SCENE 22 FOOD 24 CAROLINA BEER GUY 25 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 28 MOVIES

A&E

Asheville Holistic Realty Black Bear BBQ Blue Ridge Community College (BRCC) Bottle Riot / formerly District Wine Bar Calypso - Esther F. Joseph Chinese Acupuncture & Herbology Clinic City of Asheville Employment Community Action Opportunities Dogwood Health Trust Franny’s Farm Half Moon Market Ingles Markets Inc. Itto Ramen Bar John McClung Roofing Lancaster Law Firm Margaret & Maxwell, Big Black Cat LLC Mellow Mushroom Metro Wines Mission Health Mostly Automotive Inc. Mountain Area Pregnancy Services (MAPS) Nature’s Vitamins and Herbs Organic Mechanic Pack’s Tavern Pisgah Brewing Co Range Urgent Care River Arts District Association Ruth’s Chris Biltmore Village - Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse Smoky Park Supper Club Southern Atlantic Hemp Co, Inc. - SAHAE The Matt and Molly Team (Keller Williams) Town and Mountain Realty Tunnel Vision West Village Market / Sunflower Diner Wicked Weed Brewing WNC Herb Marketing Association Working Wheels - Wheels 4 Hope

C O NT E NT S

NEWS

A special thank you to all our advertisers, who make Xpress possible.

25 SCRIPT FLIPPERS Jon Stickley Trio proceeds with album release despite COVID-19 obstacles

29 COVIDTOWN CRIER 30 FREEWILL ASTROLOGY 30 CLASSIFIEDS 31 NY TIMES CROSSWORD

STAFF PUBLISHER: Jeff Fobes ASSISTANT TO THE PUBLISHER: Susan Hutchinson MANAGING EDITOR: Virginia Daffron OPINION EDITOR: Tracy Rose GREEN SCENE EDITOR: Daniel Walton STAFF REPORTERS: Able Allen, Edwin Arnaudin, Thomas Calder, Laura Hackett, Daniel Walton COMMUNITY CALENDAR & CLUBLAND: Lauren Andrews, Laura Hackett, Susan Hutchinson MOVIE SECTION HOSTS: Edwin Arnaudin, Bruce Steele CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Peter Gregutt, Rob Mikulak REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Mark Barrett, Leslie Boyd, Cindy Kunst, Gina Smith, Luke Van Hine, Kay West ADVERTISING, ART & DESIGN MANAGER: Susan Hutchinson LEAD DESIGNER: Scott Southwick MEMBERSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR: Laura Hackett MARKETING ASSOCIATES: Sara Brecht, Brian Palmieri, Tiffany Wagner OPERATIONS MANAGER: Able Allen INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES & WEB: Bowman Kelley

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OPINION

Send your letters to the editor to letters@mountainx.com.

CARTO ON BY R A ND Y MOL T O N

The political cost of trail closures It seems as if almost hourly that the National Forest Service or county or city of Asheville deems it necessary to close down yet another walkway or trail to further enforce state and local stay-at-home directives. The latest round involves some very minor or previously little-used trails in our area.

Has any thought been given to the potential political cost of these closures?

Our Asheville zeitgeist seems to be dominated by comfortable retirees safely ensconced in some version of spacious Town Mountain sanctuaries, a group rather well known for New Age risk aversion. The younger demographic, sharing living spaces and paying high rents with low service-industry wages, are not quite so comfortable. Overnight, many of them lost jobs. With the best weather of the year upon us, they at least had the option of enjoying open spaces safely.

The latest trail closings seem a bit excessive. Perhaps those who don’t get out much envision hikers and bikers swarming into group hugs or the like? I was in the Bent Creek area a week ago, and all the folks there were social distancing. No problem.

As this extreme level of constraint continues, week after week, a backlash is brewing. Witness the demonstrations in Lansing, Mich., and Columbus, Ohio.

Those who are politically hard-of-hearing apparently are not picking up on the dog whistles emanating from the hopefully temporary occupant of the White House.

The message: “Young swing voters, I got

your back. I’m trying to open things up for you. If the Snowflakes keep it shut, at least know I tried and remember, come November, I’m your guy.” Scary.

We often hear, especially in hypochondriac Asheville, that, “You can’t be too careful.” Well, maybe you can?

— Larry Abbott Candler

Fix city’s economy or say goodbye to Asheville’s ‘character’ After reading this article [“From AVL Watchdog: A Post-pandemic Asheville Faces a Daunting Return,” April 20, Xpress], I felt that I had to respond because, even though I have grown cynical about city politics, I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Also shame on Brian Turner for using the COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity to scold county residents for being rightfully angry about the impacts of overtourism.

There’s a famous saying that’s attributed to Albert Einstein: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.” And I kept thinking that as I read this article. COVID-19 has made the argument of service workers and city residents clear. Basing a significant portion of a city’s economy on tourism alone makes Asheville unnecessarily vulnerable to economic downturns. Simply returning to the way things were before will only cause us to repeat our mistakes.

It’s hard to adapt to catastrophe when your city’s income inequality is so bad it

resembles a Charles Dickens novel, and narcissistic politicians perpetuate it in order to further their careers.

At the end of this article, I was struck by what Byron Greiner said about Asheville.

“We’ve always been a tourism-driven town from the turn-of-the-century on and we’ve always been a playground for the wealthy.” And he’s right: We are a playground for the wealthy. But that playground is built on the exploitation of our marginalized populations. And the virus has put this fact into stark relief.

We either move to a more diversified economic base and true workplace democracy or Asheville’s “character” will be no more. Can this city really call itself “progressive” when hotels aren’t used to house the homeless, or the TDA won’t pay unemployed service workers? I don’t think so, and history won’t be kind to Asheville if the powerful continue to make the choices they’re making.

— Justin Reid Asheville

How is provisional voting handled in Buncombe?

My wife and I went to vote [March 3], and as usual, we showed up at our polling place before the doors opened. We like to be first in line, but this morning we were fourth and fifth. Once voting started, we noticed that a young gentleman in front of us seemed to be having some trouble. When I went up to give my name and address, I was standing next to him.

I was not trying to eavesdrop, but I could not help but overhear the conversation.

He was being told that he had already voted, and he was saying that he had not.

The poll worker then called a help desk to see how to handle the situation. I voted and, on the way out, heard a poll worker telling the young man that he would have to fill out a provisional ballot. The last thing I heard was the young man asking, “Is this going to happen every time?”

My wife and I left the polling place and began to discuss what we had both just seen. We had no problem ourselves, but out of this discussion arose a troubling question. If there had indeed been a ballot cast in this young man’s name, which ballot would be counted? Would they count the original, the provisional, both or neither? I am not alleging any sort of wrongdoing. I certainly have no

idea why the man was listed as having already voted.

I am sure that there are a pretty good number of election volunteers and officials that read Mountain Xpress. I would just like to know how often this sort of thing happens and how is it handled when it does happen.

— David Greene Arden Editor’s note: Xpress contacted Buncombe County Elections Director Corinne M. Duncan with a summary of the letter writer’s points, and she provided the following response: “Provisional voting is designed for cases just like this. It is fail-safe voting, reserved for situations where there is a question about a voter’s eligibility. Though a small percentage, only about 1% of total votes cast, all provisionals are thoroughly researched. This research is one of Election Services’ most time-intensive duties and an important one. Fair elections are integral to strong community. Multiple audits are conducted each election throughout the voting period to ensure integrity. Audits and the research into provisional votes are careful investigations aimed to ensure each person casts their vote and their vote only.”

Additionally, Duncan included these statistics on the percentage of provisional votes cast in recent elections: “2020 Primary: 587 provisionals cast; 82,455 total votes; 0.71%. 2016 Primary: 1,096 provisionals cast; 69,071 total votes; 1.59%. 2012 Primary: 771 provisionals cast; 70,446 total votes; 1.09%. 2008 Primary: 836 provisionals cast; 63,014 total votes; 1.33%.”

Bill left during heart procedure spikes blood pressure I’m writing this because I was a patient at Mission Health for four days in February. I saw the news story on WLOS about patients filing complaints with state Attorney General Josh Stein.

My care from the doctors and nurses was excellent, despite their staff shortages.

My complaint concerns their manner of billing. I was having a cardiac catheterization done to see if I had a blockage in an artery. When I came back to my room, on my nightstand was my patient financial responsibility statement. This is

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OPINION

Send your letters to the editor to letters@mountainx.com.

a fancy word for my bill! The nurse took my blood pressure, and it was off the charts. I’m having a serious procedure done, and they leave my bill.

I was appalled by the crassness and lack of empathy this shows. I want to point out the specific actions of … the financial counselor for [their] appalling behavior. Shame on you. This is not good patient care and needs to stop. Patients have rights.

— Mindy Brennan Asheville Editor’s note: Xpress contacted Mission Health with a summary of the letter writer’s points, but a spokeswoman did not provide a response.

Would you fight for equal pay for women?

If you knew it will take another 40 years for men and women to reach parity in wages, would you be outraged enough to fight for equal pay? According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, if the pace of change in the annual earnings ratio continues at the same rate, it will be 2059 before that happens. And this is considered a moderate estimate of gender pay inequality.

If you knew that women of color fare most poorly in pay equity, would you fight to change that in your workplace?

In 2018, all women earned 82% of what white men earn; white women earned 79%; black women earned 62%; Hispanic or Latinx women earned 55%; Asian women earned 90%. Clearly, women of color fare much worse and are critical to the fight for equal pay.

If you knew that women in health care were paid less than their male counterparts, yet still risk their lives and their families’ lives, especially during this coronavirus pandemic, would you push for their equal pay? Across the board, women physicians in the U.S. make substantially (25%-33%) less than their male counterparts (2019 Medscape Physician Compensation, Harvard Business Review). According to the registered nurses website (registerednursing. org), salaries for nurses highlight a $6,000 increase in pay for male nurses (who are 12% of the overall profession). Local data has been unattainable.

If you knew one-third of female workers are single mothers whose incomes support the entire household, and in 2017, 1.7 million female health care workers and their children in the U.S. lived below the poverty line, would you find ways to support those women in these tough times? In Asheville, 16.2% of all women live in poverty, compared to 13.9% of men. Twenty percent of children under the age of 6 live in poverty, 6

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29.3% of Hispanic/Latinx and 25% of African Americans (welfareinfo.org).

So many people have lost their jobs, it’s hard to figure out what to focus on.

But we need to recognize those who are most impacted by wage inequity, whether they are now unemployed or now risking their lives. Think of child care workers, hospitality workers, self-employed service workers, store clerks. Those with no real ability to save up for an emergency are being hit the hardest.

And if we just focus on health care workers, there is this conclusion from the American Journal of Public Health, (February 2019): Discrimination in pay is a persistent feature of employment in health care systems — not simply because they are women, but also because they are not white. Without local data on wage disparity in Asheville or Buncombe County, it’s hard to know where to focus, but we have national data, and we can demand that local government and businesses examine their pay disparities and remedy an often desperate situation for women and their families.

Economic stability in the household is recognized as one of the cornerstones of good health. Legal remedies supported by the Equal Pay Act or under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act do not offer consistent or clear-cut remedies. The health care system must focus within and initiate protocols and the use of metrics that eliminate race and gender as explicit or implicit variables that continue to disparately impose poverty on female employees of color, their children and their families. Every industry needs to do the same.

— Ann Von Brock Asheville

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Rebuilding our primary care and public health infrastructure A recent survey of 295 primary care practices in the state conducted by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services found that 34 practices already have closed (11.5%) and 121 practices (41%) have reduced hours due to the decline in patient visits caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This crisis has raised several painful questions for our region, the state and the nation as a whole. Yet the most important question we face is this: How long will we wait to fix what is broken so we’re better prepared the next time?

This crisis has exposed gaping cracks in our nation’s health care infrastructure. ... Nowhere are these problems more evident — and more dangerous — than in primary care. Local primary care is the foundation of any successful health care system, yet our country has long neglected it. ...

This is especially true for primary care practices that, like other small businesses, are suffering the economic effects of the pandemic. ...

The situation in Western North Carolina is no different. Potential closures here would mean 13 additional counties with family medicine shortages in our region alone and 50 more statewide. A recent survey of family physicians and pediatricians in the state reported more than 80% were experiencing “significant” or “extreme” financial losses because of COVID-19.

That means the nurses, administrators, janitors and others who work at those practices will suffer financial losses as well. And because many independent

C AR T O O N B Y I R E N E O L DS

and rural practices are already on the edge of the economic cliff, more are likely to consider selling or closing their practices altogether.

As a family physician in solo-independent practice, I have unfortunately seen the effects of this crisis on the health of my patients and the health of my practice. I have already had to reduce hours and salaries of employees. I struggle daily to make sure my office has enough personal protective equipment. Most of my local primary care colleagues are in the same position or worse. Many have already furloughed or eliminated staff positions.

The cruel irony is that those who are most able to treat the chronic diseases that put people at the greatest risk of COVID-19 are at the greatest risk themselves. Primary care physicians on the front lines of the battle against COVID19 are poorly outfitted with insufficient COVID-19 tests, a lack of personal protective equipment and insufficient capital to weather this storm. Should practices close, the public health risk runs deep. People will still get sick; patients with chronic disease will still need ongoing care; children will still need immunizations; and even more people will seek mental health counseling as a result of isolation, job loss and financial insecurity.

We need a Marshall Plan for primary care. The Marshall Plan, enacted by the U.S. after World War II, provided billions to help rebuild heavily damaged cities, industries and infrastructure in Europe. What would a primary care Marshall Plan look like? Here are some ideas for state and federal leaders: • Change primary care payment from fee-for-service to a system rewarding prevention and care management.

• Accelerate the use of telemedicine in primary care, rather than only incentivizing it during crises.

• Embrace new epidemiological strategies, like digital pandemic tracking, to detect global health threats sooner.

• Stockpile essential items like personal protective equipment and plan for efficient distribution.

• Expand the number of family physicians, pediatricians and public health workers by forgiving medical school tuition for graduates who choose primary care.

• Adopt strategies encouraging better geographic distribution of these professionals, including incentives for choosing underserved communities.

This pandemic is an unprecedented crisis, but it also provides an unprecedented opportunity for us to come together and fix our health care system and strengthen its foundation: primary care. If we don’t, then practices will fail, patients and communities will suffer, and

C AR T O O N B Y B R E N T B R O W N we will have changed nothing. We will have let the virus win this war.

— S. Mark McNeill, M.D. Board member, N.C. Academy of Family Physicians Immediate past president, Western Carolina Medical Society Trillium Family Medicine Asheville Editor’s note: A longer version of this letter will appear online at mountainx.com.

No fan of ‘pregnancy services’ ad Did you always take ads from Mountain Area Pregnancy Services? I had to look them up to see how frightening they are.

I know times are tough and you reached out to your readers for a donation, but I’ll pay you extra to not put ads for their “pregnancy services” in the paper.

I love the Mountain Xpress, just ask Jeff Fobes. As I’ve grown here in Asheville with you, I’ve come to really depend on the news that you print; the ads are always good; and I love the letters. I get to laugh out loud (with others), and I even know to read the movie reviews, though I’m a certified recluse. …

I know they have a right to advertise their very questionable, Bible-based

services, but I’m afraid some young, impressionable frightened woman will turn to them and get the stuff scared out of her. She’ll back out, and she’ll regret it for the rest of her life. Not just her life, but her kid’s life, too.

How about a disclaimer above and below it? How about a disclaimer right in the middle of it?

— Kate Mulderig Oteen Editor’s response: Xpress is a grassroots, eclectic community newspaper.

Our mission is to build community and strengthen democracy by serving an active, thoughtful readership at the local level. We do this by promoting dialogue, which entails publishing all sorts of perspectives and ideas — including those we might disagree with. That includes advertising, as well. Without a respectful, empathetic — though sometimes contentious — dialogue, we can’t build and maintain our community. We hope that our readers will support this process, even when they encounter content they consider anathema.

Cigarette ad draws fire Did I really open up the [April 15] issue of the Xpress to find a two-page centerfold advertisement for cigarettes in the middle of a deadly pandemic, where the

virus attacks the lungs and smokers are among the most vulnerable???

What are your values, Mountain Xpress?

— Chuck Brodsky Fairview Editor’s response: Thank you for expressing your concern about this issue. We understand the objection to running ads for smoking, which is known to cause various ailments, birth defects and death, and is habit forming. For many years, we had a policy of not running tobacco ads, but the newspaper industry has changed, and we have had to adapt to these changes. Xpress is, for the most part, supported by advertising income. As ad sales declined over the past eight or so years, we have turned to other ways to support our mission, which is to build community and strengthen democracy by serving an active, thoughtful readership at the local level. Asking readers to support Xpress financially has been a piece of the solution. Allowing tobacco ads is another. We typically accept ads for businesses that are legal, and tobacco products are among those that are legal. In the case of both tobacco and vaping products, we don’t run ads that appear to appeal to minors. And on a general note, advertising content does not represent the opinions or views of Mountain Xpress.

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NEWS

THE FUTURE IS NOW

BY THOMAS CALDER tcalder@mountainx.com As the lead archivist at the Western Regional Archives in Asheville, Heather South used to spend the majority of her workday immersed in the past. But lately, she’s shifted a portion of her focus to present-day events. Recognizing the historic moment that is COVID-19, South and her colleagues are in the early stages of devising an awareness campaign that will encourage local residents to write down, record and photograph their daily experiences.

Newspaper accounts and governmental documents will provide future historians with relevant statistics such as unemployment rates and the number of coronavirus cases and deaths, says South. But too often, she stresses, the personal details and incidents that breathe life into past events get lost or misremembered. “Like a fisherman’s

Local archivists urge residents to help document COVID-19

story, things can get a little bigger over time,” the archivist jokes.

For those less inclined to use paper and pen, South cites email and audio recordings as viable ways to keep records. She also emphasizes that chronicling your experiences doesn’t have to be a book-length project. “It can just be a few thoughts written down every day,” she explains.

Moments of humor, distress, frustration and hope are all relevant and valuable information, South maintains. “We want a diversity of stories from people in different professions and backgrounds, because that’s how we build a better account of the history. And we want the raw emotional side of things too. No sugarcoating — we want history, warts and all.”

The Western Regional Archives will begin collecting these accounts as soon as social distancing bans are lifted and the health crisis is resolved. South and her colleagues also intend to launch an oral history project for residents who are currently unable to self-doc-

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LIVING IN THE PRESENT: “Normally we’re stuck in the past,” says Heather South, lead archivist at the Western Regional Archives. But these days, she and her colleagues are encouraging local residents to record details of their daily lives during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Photo courtesy of the Western Regional Archives ument. Looking to avoid the trappings of a fisherman’s story, however, South says these interviews will hopefully take place within the next few months rather than over a period of years.

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South and other local archivists also view Buncombe County’s current stay home, stay safe mandate as an ideal time to organize existing family collections — whether for the benefit of future kin or to prepare for donating those materials to one of the area’s multiple archival repositories.

Whatever the objective, the process increases the chances that your files will prove useful to later generations.

Otherwise, things may get far messier. According to Katherine Cutshall, manager of the North Carolina Room at Pack Memorial Library, several of the collections archivists have processed over the years were discovered during dumpster dives. “A lot of our materials come from the trash,” she reveals.

But it’s not necessarily a question of surviving family members’ negligence, stresses Cutshall. On the contrary,

such artifacts — everything from pictures to letters to journal entries — tend to end up getting tossed when the deceased person leaves behind unidentified items for others to deal with. “If you are the next of kin to somebody and you open up a closet door and you realize that everything in there needs to be organized, there’s a good chance you’ll get overwhelmed and just say, ‘Forget it,’ and throw it away,” Cutshall explains.

And while losing an entire family history leaves a hole in a community’s self-knowledge, archivists also stress the importance of thinning out nonessential items within family sets.

“Just like you weed a garden, we weed collections,” says South. “Instead of keeping every photo from Christmas 1982, you keep your top 10 pictures that show the most people and the most decorations.”

Documents such as bank statements, checks and utility bills are rarely preserved in bulk by special collections.

If anything, a single statement, check or bill will suffice. The same approach applies to managing private family collections. “If it’s not telling you anything significant, and if it doesn’t have

“We want a diversity of stories ... no sugarcoating — we want history, warts and all.”

— Heather South, lead archivist, Western Regional Archives

TIME TO GET ORGANIZED: With Buncombe County residents still under a stay home, stay safe mandate, local archivists say now is the perfect time to sort through your family’s historical materials. Photo by Thomas Calder Thomas Jefferson’s signature on it, then throw it away,” says Cutshall.

THE BIGGER PICTURE Archivists understand that trying to organize a trove of documents spanning decades can seem daunting. “But almost all large collections are actually a bunch of smaller collections,” says Gene Hyde, head of special collections at UNC Asheville’s Ramsey Library.

If you find yourself staring at a random assortment of accumulated items, start by spreading the materials out on a table and sorting them into categories such as photos,

financial documents, letters, health records and journal entries. Once that’s been done, the next step is putting each of these subgroupings into chronological order.

The process doesn’t have to be tedious, either, notes South. “You can get the kids involved if you want to make it a family affair,” she suggests.

“Everyone can look over the items and reminisce.”

While reviewing photos, continues South, be sure to record the names of the people featured, along with the location and date. However, South adds, try to avoid writing directly on the originals. “Ink can bleed through,” she warns. “If you must, use a light

pencil and be careful about how hard you bear down.” The best approach, she explains, would be to list pertinent information on a separate sheet of paper — the kind that’s used in photocopiers — and store it with the images.

Once you’ve introduced as much order as possible, says Cutshall, it’s time to consider where you’d like your materials to end up: with family or in an archive. In many cases, it can be both. Traditionally, special collections preferred original documents, but it’s becoming more common for these depositories to accept digital copies.

Some archives, including the three whose staff spoke with Xpress, are also willing to scan small portions of the original collection to send as a digital file to the donor.

Ultimately, notes Hyde, all special collections want the same thing: individual accounts to help fill in the blanks; the experiences and feelings that are sometimes obscured by historic events. “Everyone’s story is going to be different,” he points out.

“It’s part of the bigger picture, and that’s what all archivists around here are about — collecting those pieces of the bigger picture. X

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How to properly store family documents Here are some do’s and don’ts for preserving historical documents and photographs, courtesy of Heather South: • Keep items in a climate controlled environment • Store documents in an acid-free folder or box (and label your boxes) • Keep records away from sunlight and other light sources • Remove paper clips, rubber bands, staples and other wrappings from original items • Handle and unfold all documents with care • Avoid writing directly on original materials • Do not laminate original items • Keep newspapers, photographs and written documents in separate folders For additional information, visit the National Archives website at avl.mx/72d or the Northeast Document Conservation Center at avl.mx/72e. X

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TDA COULD EARMARK $5 MILLION FOR LOCAL TOURISM BUSINESSES Sen. Chuck Edwards, R-Henderson, announced he will introduce legislation to the N.C. General Assembly to allow the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority to make grants to local tourism businesses hit hard by coronavirus closures.

Grants of up to $50,000 would go to businesses that provide a direct experience for visitors, such as restaurants, retail stores, galleries, entertainment venues and others. The money would help the businesses restart operations once restrictions have been lifted. Expenses such as payroll, inventory and other costs incurred in reopening could be covered by the grants.

Lodging businesses such as hotels would not be eligible.

The emergency funding would come from the TDA’s Tourism Product Development fund, which receives a quarter of the revenue from the county’s 6% occupancy tax on lodging. According to a press release, “Preference will be given to small businesses that are local and independently owned.”

A-B TECH LAUNCHES STARTUP ASHEVILLE A new digital resource for entrepreneurs aims to connect those starting businesses with resources, training, peer connections and inspiration. A project of the Small Business Center at A-B Tech, Startup Asheville is one of 10 similar initiatives getting underway this year under the direction of Western North Carolina community colleges and their presidents through the N.C. Rural Community College Alliance.

More information is available at startupavl.com.

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BOREDOM BUSTER: Well Played Board Game Café will give away 86 games — plus mystery surprises (which might even include toilet paper!) — on Wednesday, April 29, beginning at 4 p.m. Photo courtesy of Well Played ASHEVILLE CHAMBER ANNOUNCES SALUTE TO SMALL BUSINESS WEEK In place of in-person celebrations of Small Business Week, the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce announced virtual events the week of Monday, May 4, to Friday, May 8.

A three-part web-based workshop presented by Meridith Elliott Powell, Turning Uncertainty to Opportunity, begins Monday, May 4, at 10 a.m.

A training event focused on SEO strategies for small business, led by Travis Cole of Integritive, takes place Thursday, May 7, at 10 a.m.

And for those who miss business networking, a virtual networking event Thursday, May 7, 4-5 p.m. can help scratch that itch.

A chamber press release promises, “The chamber is offering a FUN, interactive, socially inspiring opportunity for you to engage with other businesses in our area and just enjoy being together!”

More information is available at ashevillechamber.org.

GOOD TO KNOW • G ame giveaway: Well Played Board Game Café will host a quarantine-friendly game giveaway on Wednesday, April 29, beginning at 4 p.m. until supplies are gone. To participate, drive or walk up to 58 Wall St., where a gloved and masked helper will hand over a mystery bag containing one of 86 available board games plus surprises. According to a press release, “Toilet paper may be included.”

• Free legal advice: Asheville law firm Fisher Stark P.A. is offering a free living will to all essential workers in response to the COVID19 pandemic. The advance directive form allows those workers to establish their preferences for end-of-life choices such as feeding tubes and artificial hydration.

• T akeout encyclopedia: The Asheville Independent Restaurant Associa-

tion launched a new online portal, FoodInAsheville. com, with updated listings of area eateries offering takeout or delivery service. Businesses looking to be added to the list should email Jane Anderson at execdir@airasheville.org.

• Survey says: The Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce has released its second survey to measure the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on local businesses. In its introduction to the online questionnaire, the chamber explains that the results will “allow us to advocate with our elected officials on your behalf to help get the relief and support businesses in our community need.” Take the survey at avl.mx/73h.

• There’s an app for that: A network of local business executives joined forces to develop and release COVIDMobilize, an app that matches those with urgent needs related to the coronavirus pandemic with resources.

The platform is free, and more information is available at covidmobilize.com.

• C lean machine: Area Autobell Car Wash locations are offering a free interior disinfecting treatment to first responders and government workers with a government-issued ID. A fogging product fills the vehicle’s interior, followed by a one-minute activation period.

• T hanks a lot: Over the next two months, employees of Republic Services, which provides industrial and commercial waste collection in WNC, will receive a weekly meal, a weekly dinner for employees and their families and biweekly $100 gift cards ($400 per employee) to be spent locally. According to a press release, “In the Asheville area, Republic Services is providing meals for 185 employees per week. To date, $37,000 has been spent with local restaurants including Bellagio Bistro, The Fireplace Restaurant and Haywood Smokehouse.” X

BUNCOMBE BEAT

Buncombe County begins trimming 2021 budget As the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to unfold, families across Buncombe County are having kitchen-table discussions about how to make their household budgets work with less money coming in. A similar process took place at the Board of Commissioners pre-meeting on April 21 for the county government’s fiscal year 2021 budget, which according to April 7 first-pass projections faced a more than $22 million gap between revenues and expenditures.

Budget Director Jennifer Barnette walked the commissioners through a series of items that county staff members now hoped to omit from next year’s spending plan. “The upcoming fiscal year presents us with unique challenges, which is not new to any of us, and around a significant reduction to the available revenues rather than revenue growth,” she said.

During an April 7 work session, she estimated that county sales taxes alone would come in nearly $3.5 million less for fiscal 2021 than for the current year, with most other sources of revenue also expected to decline.

The spending reductions Barnette presented totaled about $1.5 million — less than 7% of the estimated budget gap — in areas ranging from the Buncombe County Detention Center to information technology. The single biggest item to come out of the budget was nearly $458,000 for the design of the Woodfin Greenway and Blueway’s Riverside Drive portion; in January, commissioners allocated $500,000 toward that project to cover part of what Josh O’Conner, the county’s director of recreation services, called “cost escalation due to project engagement delays.”

Barnette said that the remaining tab for the greenway design might be picked up by the French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization, which will likely decide whether to fund the project in May. If the MPO does not provide the money, commission Chair Brownie Newman said he’d lean on the town of Woodfin to chip in “so it’s not 100% on our shoulders.”

Other savings included about $350,000 in delayed IT projects, such as $82,000 for a new internal audit management tool, $55,000 to replace security cameras and $30,000 for better management of public records requests. Several upgrades to county parks, such as $125,000 for the

Owen Park Playground and $40,000 for an accessible boat launch at Lake Julian, would also be put on hold.

Even as the commissioners considered these cuts, however, they also discussed supporting nearly $300,000 out of $3.5 million in discretionary projects that had not been included in the first-pass budget. Among those expenses were a $104,000 subsidy for Asheville paratransit services, $75,000 to allow in-person visitation at the county jail, $65,000 for playgrounds at intermediate and elementary schools and $50,000 to issue debt that would fund solar energy installations on county buildings.

Although the commissioners were generally in favor of each of those expenses, Newman emphasized that the budget would remain a work in progress well through June.

According to state law, the county must pass a balanced budget before the start of the next fiscal year on Wednesday, July 1.

THE MONEY TRAIL: Buncombe County is no longer budgeting to spend nearly $458,000 on design services for the Woodfin Greenway and Blueway, in gold on this map, in the next fiscal year. Graphic courtesy of the Friends of the Woodfin Greenway and Blueway “This is likely a process of, unfortunately, paring down,” Newman said regarding the discretionary spending. “I don’t hear anyone making a

strong case that it gets the axe today, but it doesn’t mean that anything’s getting approved yet either.”

MOUNTAINX.COM

— Daniel Walton X

APRIL 29 - MAY 5, 2020

11

NEWS BRIEFS

by News staff | news@mountainx.com COOPER EXTENDS STAY-AT-HOME ORDER

Esther Francis Joseph

Local Author & Naturopathic Doctor

PUBLISHED BOOKS • The Disciples Way • Not A Secret Just Forgotten • Memories of Hell, Visions of Heaven: A Story of Survival, Transformation and Hope Order on Biblio.com (nonprofit org.) or on Amazon.com

A new, exciting project from Esther coming soon!

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2020 X AWARDS

Voting

EXTENDED Through May 20th!

VOTE NOW! mountainx.com/ bestofwnc 12

APRIL 29 - MAY 5, 2020

N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper extended the state’s stay-athome order through Friday, May 8, more than a week beyond its previous expiration of Wednesday, April 29.

“It’s important to get our economy moving forward. We’re helping with unemployment payments, stimulus money and the businesses that continue to be open,” Cooper said in making the announcement at an April 23 press conference. “But I won’t risk the health of our people or our hospitals. And easing these restrictions now would do that.”

Cooper and Dr. Mandy Cohen, the state’s secretary of health and human services, outlined a detailed plan for how North Carolina might reopen once May 8 had passed. Restrictions would be progressively lifted over three phases, each lasting multiple weeks, dependent on a scorecard of COVID-19 trends.

Cohen explained that North Carolina’s percentage of emergency room visits with COVID-19 symptoms, number of cases, hospitalization rate and percentage of disease tests that come back positive would all have to be declining or holding steady for at least 14 days for the state to enter the first phase of eased restrictions. Testing would also have to be sustained at a level of 5,000 to 7,000 tests per day, and the number of public health employees tracing the contacts of known cases would have to double from 250 to 500.

BUNCOMBE TO ROLL OUT COVID-19 SYMPTOM CHECKER Buncombe County announced it would soon launch an online symptom checker for county residents.

Users will be able to report their symptoms to

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programs and student social-emotional health.

GOOD TO KNOW

TRENDSETTER: Gov. Roy Cooper announced a plan for rolling back restrictions on public life, with the timing determined by the state’s progress on a scorecard of disease trends. Photo courtesy of the N.C. Department of Public Safety be analyzed for the likelihood of COVID-19 infection.

The tool would then recommend next steps, including whether to self-isolate and contact a health provider, and direct a county public health nurse to follow up with the user about how symptoms improve or worsen over time.

The checker will also gather user demographic and ZIP code information to help Buncombe officials gain a better picture of the disease’s prevalence in the community.

The tool will be available in English, Spanish and Russian through Buncombe’s COVID-19 portal at avl.mx/73c. Residents without internet access can call 828-419-0095 to be guided through the symptom checker by phone.

N.C. SCHOOLS TO CONTINUE REMOTELY THROUGH END OF ACADEMIC YEAR While instruction will continue remotely, K-12 public school buildings in North Carolina will remain closed to students through the end of the 2019-2020 school year, Cooper announced at

an April 24 press briefing.

The governor had previously closed school buildings through Friday, May 15, as part of executive orders designed to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Looking forward to the next academic year, Cooper said he had “every confidence” that state education leaders would find a way for schools to open safely, although he acknowledged that their operations could look very different.

Students might be spaced further apart in classrooms to allow social distancing, classes might be staggered to reduce the number of people in school buildings at any one time, and gatherings for sports or recreation in common areas may be suspended.

The governor’s proposed budget for spending roughly $1.4 billion in federal money from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act includes substantial allocations to support the K-12 educational system. School nutrition efforts would receive $78 million, while the schools themselves would get $243 million for use on remote learning, summer bridge

• F ree help for mental health: Asheville-based Vaya Health is supporting the statewide Hope4NC crisis counseling hotline.

Those in need can call 855-587-3463 at any time to be connected with no-cost support.

• AVL gets federal funds: The Asheville Regional Airport announced that it would receive a bailout of more than $14.4 million as part of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. According to a press release, the money will be used for operational expenses such as salaries and to support the continuation of “critical capital projects already underway.”

• C ity’s workforce among most impacted: A new study by ecommerce company Volusion found Asheville to be among the top 10 midsize U.S. metropolitan areas in workforce vulnerability to the coronavirus. The report noted that 28.4% of the area’s workers — 56,400 — are employed in the retail, leisure and hospitality industries, well above the national average of 21.3%.

• Paving underway on the BRP: Through September, road resurfacing on the section of the Blue Ridge Parkway that passes through Asheville will result in daytime single-lane closures and overnight road closures. Drivers can check the real-time map at avl.mx/prua for updated work zone information.

• Sidewalk, stormwater and road surface work continue: Elsewhere in Asheville, street construction projects are in progress in the area around downtown’s Haywood Street and North Charlotte Street. Work will also begin on State Street and Kenilworth Road. X

FEA T U RE S

ASHEVILLE ARCHIVES

by Thomas Calder | tcalder@mountainx.com

‘Storm of protest’

Residents resist the city’s 1919 influenza safety measures

R NEVE A COVER CH A R GE!

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20 S. Spruce St. • 225.6944 packStavern.com NO MORE CROWDS: In January 1919, Buncombe County reported 141 new cases of the influenza over a 72-hour period. In response, Dr. Carl V. Reynolds, the city health officer, announced a new ban on social and fraternal gatherings. This photo, circa 1917, is thought to be a gathering for the departure of local World War I soldiers. Photo courtesy of the North Carolina Collection, Pack Memorial Library, Asheville In late November 1918, in the midst of the great influenza pandemic, Asheville’s health officer, Dr. Carl V. Reynolds, lifted a nearly two-monthlong ban on social gatherings. Yet, by mid-January 1919, with 141 new cases reported in Buncombe County within a 72-hour window, a new partial ban was reinstated. Unlike the previous shutdown, churches, schools and theaters — now deemed essential — would remain open. Social and fraternal gatherings, on the other hand, were once more prohibited.

According to Reynolds’ new measures (published in the Jan. 16, 1919, edition of The Asheville Citizen), theaters were required to place placards in prominent view, declaring it illegal to sell tickets to anyone with a cold or cough. Meanwhile, schoolteachers were advised to start each day by questioning their students about the collective health of their families. Instructors were also asked to take the temperature of “each suspicious child.”

The latest measures were met with resistance. In an official statement published in The Asheville Citizen on Jan. 18, 1919, J.D. Lindsey, president of the Central Labor Union, ques-

tioned why the new rules allowed teachers to play doctor, while union leaders were denied similar privileges. He also asked why churches could hold services, but “twenty printers [were] forbidden to meet for a brief session in the middle of the afternoon at a place in which air circulates and sun shines[.]”

“To say that a meeting of laborers organized for mutual protection is unessential and that a crowded store is necessary because the wheels of business must be kept turning, in my opinion, is strange reasoning,” Lindsey wrote. “If meetings are dangerous, let us stop all meetings. If they are harmless, let us hold them as often as we like.”

The following day, The Sunday Citizen reported on Reynolds’ updated plan to shut down theaters and limit church services.

In an editorial featured in the same day’s paper, The Sunday Citizen lambasted Reynolds’ latest series of announcements. “This paper cannot follow Dr. Reynolds when he moves in circles, and by a series of strange inconsistencies virtually invites the ‘flare-up’ of influenza which he now reports,” the

editorial declared. “It is not surprising therefore that Asheville’s citizenship grows hourly more indignant, and that already there is a veritable storm of protest against the continuance of policies which get nowhere, when others that might prove effective if adopted are ignored.”

Instead of closing businesses, the paper argued, the city should establish strict quarantine laws for residents afflicted with the virus, confining them to a designated hospital.

Despite these public outcries, Reynolds kept the ban in place for nearly a month, lifting it on Feb. 12, 1919, once the number of new influenza cases neared zero. In his announcement, the health officer continued encouraging residents to use caution while in crowds; he also reminded the community that it remained illegal for anyone with a cold or cough to enter a theater.

Editor’s note: This is an ongoing series that examines the 1918 influenza. Previous articles can be read at the following links: avl.mx/73d, avl.mx/73e and avl.mx/73f.

Spelling and punctuation are preserved from the original documents. X

MOUNTAINX.COM

APRIL 29 - MAY 5, 2020

13

COVID CONVERSATIONS

FEA T U RE S

Sheltering at home, it’s hard to envision what other members of our community are experiencing during this strange time. Even if we could imagine the struggle of a parent trying to care for children while working from home, or the isolation of a single older person or the anxieties swirling in the mind of a small business owner, hearing directly from our neighbors is always more interesting and powerful than anything we could invent.

And so we bring you COVID Conversations, a series of short features based on interviews with members of our community during the coronavirus pandemic in Western North Carolina. If you or someone you know has a unique story you think should be featured in a future issue of Xpress, please let us know at news@mountainx.com.

Split ends Local hairstylist discusses life without her salon “Hair is a pretty recession-proof career,” says Laura Anderson, owner of Notch Collective, a salon in West Asheville. In hard times, such as the 2008 recession, clients may have stretched out their visits, but appointments continued despite economic hardship, she notes.

With COVID-19, Anderson continues, everything has changed. As a business owner, Anderson voluntarily closed her salon on March 16, a week and a half before Buncombe County’s stay home, stay safe mandate went into effect.

“We’d always been really good about washing our hands between clients and making sure that things were clean, but it’s a whole other level when it comes to needing to wipe everything down with Barbicide or alcohol,” she explains.

“You become hyperaware of anyone with a cough.”

Today, Anderson remains in isolation with her fiancé and their dog, Heidi, inside their Marshall home. Though previously accustomed to seeing up to 10 clients a day, Anderson says she has adjusted well. “I’m a pretty extroverted introvert,” she explains. “I have very limited interactions with others when I’m not working.”

Still, she hasn’t completely cut herself off from clients. Many, she reveals, still text her. Some have inquired about home visits, a service Anderson cannot and will not provide. As a state certified cosmologist, she explains, “It would cost me my license and livelihood if I were to be caught doing that.”

Others have reached out to inquire about her well-being, asking if they could pay for an appointment in advance or purchase a gift card. And on a handful of occasions, Anderson adds with a laugh, “I’ve had to talk a few [clients] off of a ledge to keep them from purchasing box color.”

Without knowing when her business might reopen, Anderson spends part of

14

APRIL 29 - MAY 5, 2020

NEW REALITY: Laura Anderson has been cutting hair in Asheville since 2008. In 2018, she opened her salon, Notch Collective, which is temporarily closed during the current COVID-19 county mandate. Photo by Tracy Calderon-Colon her days researching loans and other financial assistance programs. “I don’t want to take on any more debt and I’m willing to do what I can to make it work without doing so, but I also have to safeguard the business because we have seven people whose livelihoods depend on us reopening our doors.”

Otherwise, the stylist and business owner says she is adapting to the new reality in a number of ways. She and her fiancé have become more conscious about food waste. They’re also trying to stay informed while reducing their stress.

“I definitely try to limit how much time I spend on social media,” Anderson says. “I want to find that balance of being fully aware and not being so weighed down by it all that you feel like there’s no hope.”

MOUNTAINX.COM

— Thomas Calder X

Fear and hope Living through COVID-19 at the Battery Park Senior Apartments A poet, Barbara Gravelle says she is used to self-imposed isolation. These are typically creative periods. But during COVID-19 she’s been unable to focus on her writing.

At 81, Gravelle is no stranger to life-threatening events. In 1962, she lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis while in Miami. By 1967, she and her husband moved to Detroit, experiencing firsthand the riots that turned parts of the city into ash. Soon thereafter, she relocated to San Francisco, where she mourned the deaths of many close friends who perished during the AIDS crisis.

But none of her past experiences have prepared her for the current pandemic. “I will admit to terror,” she says.

“Terrible, terrible terror.”

For the last two decades, Gravelle has called the Battery Park Senior Apartments in downtown Asheville her home. Like many right now, she is anxious, spending much of her time alone inside her one-bedroom apartment on the building’s 11th floor.

The property’s management team, Gravelle says, has provided residents with hand sanitizer and imposed restrictions on social gatherings, as well as elevator use.

But Gravelle still has concerns about sanitary conditions within the building, as well as community buy-in. “We’re older, and not everybody is on the internet 24/7 like me,” she explains.

Despite state and county mandates, some residents initially struggled to grasp the importance of social distancing, Gravelle says. “We have a lady here who loves to hug everybody, and she was determined to do so.”

As a founding member of The Residents Council — an ad hoc group formed last year — Gravelle was asked by neighbors to confront those who were noncompliant. For a while she did, requesting that they adhere to the required safety measures. But as the crisis continues, she has become more cautious about interacting with others. Her fear is that if the local hospitals become overwhelmed with coronavirus patients, her advanced age might impede her chances for receiving lifesaving medical attention. “In many cases, the elderly are expendable,” she says.

MASK AND GLOVES: “I’m not going out unless I’m armored to the teeth,” says Battery Park Senior Apartments resident Barbara Gravelle. These days, she notes, much of her time is spent in isolation inside her 11th-floor apartment. Photo by Thomas Calder Despite her growing concerns, Gravelle says she does appreciate the calm that has settled over much of downtown. “And it’s nice to know I can park anywhere I want to,” she adds with a laugh. “That is a plus.”

Still, she looks forward to the days when she can return to seeing her physical therapist on a more regular basis and when she and her neighbors can reconvene on the building’s rooftop garden to enjoy a sunset together.

In her current isolation, Gravelle says, “I get bored and depressed. …

I don’t always have somebody to talk to … somebody to share thoughts and fears with.”

If there is any solace, she continues, it’s in knowing that her situation is ubiquitous — especially among her neighbors and friends inside the Battery Park Senior Apartments.

“Everybody is on edge here and everybody is grumpy a little bit,” she says. “But then again we’re all of us in this together. We will do the best we can. I’ll be sweet even though I don’t feel sweet.”

— Thomas Calder X

Preach it The Rev. L.C. Ray adjusts to online sermons during COVID-19 In 49 years as a pastor, the Rev. L.C. Ray has preached to congregations large and small. But spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, the WNC Baptist Fellowship Church leader experienced a first on Sunday, April 26: addressing a computer amid empty pews while 50 or so of his congregants watched online from home.

His initial service was a tad shaky. “I just didn’t do my best,” the 81-year-old says. “It’s tough, but I’m getting more comfortable as the weeks go on.”

But as Ray’s beloved Scriptures say, there is a time to every purpose under heaven. “Doing these COVID services is causing me to get closer to the idea that you don’t have to be in the church for God to hear you,” he explains.

“He’s everywhere.”

Along with religious guidance, Ray promotes safety measures implemented by state and local officials. As a senior citizen, the reverend knows he is among the most vulnerable. Meanwhile, based on available national statistics, he notes that African Americans account for roughly 34% of confirmed COVID-19 cases, despite representing only 13% of the population.

Still, the reverend says he understands the concerns raised by those arguing to reopen the economy. “When you’ve lost your job because of this, when you’ve been laid off and no income is coming in, it’s challenging, it’s hard, it’s beyond what other people could think,” he says. “But looking at both sides of it, we have to take the side of life. We don’t want anyone else to lose their life because of this.”

ONLINE SERMON: The Rev. L.C. Ray preaches before his church’s empty pews, while his congregants watch from home through Facebook Live.

Photo by Thomas Calder Not surprisingly, Ray finds solace during these trying times through religion. But his faith hasn’t mitigated all of his concerns and anxieties. Over his lifetime, the reverend says, “I’ve discovered that it doesn’t matter what you know and how much you think you know — some things can make you afraid. And I’ve seen a lot of scared folk.

I’ve been in that group as well. Even with faith, you have that fear. I guess that is the reason that we pray for God to give us more faith — but not to give us faith to take chances, but to give us faith to do the right thing. … You have to be concerned about others.”

— Thomas Calder X

Spring 2020

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COMMUNITY CALENDAR APRIL 29 - MAY 7, 2020

CALENDAR GUIDELINES For a full list of community calendar guidelines, please visit mountainx.com/calendar. For questions about free listings, call 828-251-1333, ext.

137. For questions about paid calendar listings, please call 828-251-1333, ext. 320.

SATURDAY, MAY 2

MUSIC A CAPELLA SINGING (PD.) WANNA SING? ashevillebarbershop.com WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29 • LEAF Global Arts: West African Drumming & Dance for Kids, 9:00AM, Online, avl.mx/71v • Wicked Weed: Pickin’ In Place, 6:00PM, Online, avl.mx/733 • MOOG Synthesize Live w/ Lisa Bella Donna, 4:00PM Online, avl.mx/72c THURSDAY, APRIL 30 • The One Stop at Asheville Music Hall & Disclaimer Stand-Up Lounge host First Annual Virtual Deadly Pandemic Comedy Short Competition, (vote for submitted entries on Facebook

by April 29 at midnight, winners announced April 30 at 5:00PM), Online, avl.mx/72j • Flood Gallery Virtual Open Mic, 6:00PM, Online, avl.mx/72g FRIDAY, MAY 1 • Formal Friday, A Fancy Online Comedy Show hosted by Modelface Comedy, 8:00PM, Online, avl.mx/73a

• LaZoom: What’s Up Your Asheville?, 5:00PM, Online, avl.mx/71s • The Black Mountain Experimental Film and Music Festival, 6:00PM, Online, avl.mx/72g SUNDAY, MAY 3 • MOOG Synthesize Live w/ Nick Sanborn (Slyvan Esso, Made of Oak), 4:00PM Online, avl.mx/72c TUESDAY, MAY 5 • LEAF Global Arts: Percussion Class using Household Objects w/ Agustin Frederic, 9:30AM WEDNESDAY, MAY 6 • Wicked Weed: Pickin’ In Place, 6:00PM, Online, avl. mx/733 THURSDAY, MAY 7 • Asheville Symphony & Asheville Art Museum host Coloring & Cocktails: Curated Animal Themed Music by the Symphony & Interview w/ illustrator, Adonna Khare.To register e-mail kboddy@ ashevilleart.org

HALF MOON MARKET Order online for delivery or curbside pickup. Free delivery for seniors 65+ & orders over $150 with code FD150. Order by 3pm for same-day delivery. Fresh organic produce, local organic meats, vegan options, snacks, bulk items & more.

5% off first order w/ code STAYWELL

Open Everyday 10am-6pm halfmoonnaturalfoods.com/shop

ART THURSDAY, APRIL 30 • LEAF Global Arts: Easel Rider Live, 3:00PM, Online, avl.mx/71v • WCU Fine Art Museum Webinar: Presentation w/ Q&A; Time and Again: Glass Works by Kit Paulson and SaraBeth Post, 12:00PM, Online, avl.mx/72k

THEATER ONGOING • Asheville Community Theatre Daily Happy Hour Stream, 5:00PM, (submit videos for #ACTHappyHour every weekday at avl.mx/710 and watch from 5:00-6:00PM) TUESDAY, MAY 5 • Ekphrastic Poetry Workshop w/ Alli Marshall, 6:00PM, Online, avl.mx/pru8

FILM SATURDAY, MAY 2 • The Black Mountain Experimental Film and Music Festival, 6:00PM, Online, avl.mx/72g FRIDAY, MAY 1 • Friday Night Movies w/ Equality NC!, 8:00PM, Online, avl.mx/736 FRIDAY, MAY 8 • Friday Night Movies w/ Equality NC!, 8:00PM, Online, avl.mx/736

CLASSES, MEETINGS & EVENTS Empyrean Arts Online Live Classes (PD.) The physical studio is closed for now but we are offering some of our regular class offerings online - Go to our website at EMPYREANARTS. ORG, create a new student

account, then purchase and sign up for classes.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29 • Online Virtual Shamanic Journey Circle, 6:30PM, Online, dreamtimejourneys. net THURSDAY, APRIL 30 • Facebook Live: History Mystery hosted by Vance Birthplace, 2:00PM, Online, avl.mx/71d FRIDAY, MAY 1 • Ask a Scientist w/ AMOS, 2:30PM, Online, facebook. com/Asheville.Science/ • World Cinema w/ Flood Gallery, 6:00PM, Online, avl.mx/72g SATURDAY, MAY 2 • Stress Relief & Immune Support w/ Prama Wellness, 10:00AM, Online, prama.org • Making It In Asheville: How to Start a Podcast in 10 Easy Steps, 11:00AM, Online, avl.mx/pru9 • AngelPets Expo Online, (presentations, vendors, specials). Online, 10:00AM, avl.mx/73n MONDAY, MAY 4 • AVL Small Business Week w/ AVL Chamber: Turning Uncertainty to Opportunity, Part 1, Strategies to SUSTAIN Your Business, 10:00AM, Online, avl.mx/737 • Swannanoa Valley Museum Hosts Spring Wildflowers Webinar: Ecology, Botany, & Identification, 6:30PM, Online, avl.mx/73o TUESDAY, MAY 5 • AVL Small Business Week w/ AVL Chamber: Turning Uncertainty to Opportunity, Part 2, Strategies to GROW Your Business, 10:00AM, Online, avl.mx/737 • Queer Yoga w/ Equality NC, 6 pm, Online, facebook.com/ events/2729861260473358/ • Wild Abundance Facebook Live Stream: Homesteading, Herbalism, Gardening & more Q&A, 7:00PM, Online, facebook. com/WildAbundance.net/

FIERCE FEMME FILM FESTIVAL: Asheville-based regional environmental conservation nonprofit MountainTrue had planned to host a tour stop of the No Man’s Land Film Festival in Boone this spring, but with COVID-19 precautions preventing large public gatherings, the event is going digital. On Tuesday, May 5, 6-11 p.m., the 90-minute collection of short films about women and woman-identified athletes and adventurers will be viewable online, made possible with the support of Liquidlogic Kayaks, Blue Ridge Energy Systems and Appalachian Mountain Brewery. “Even though we can’t get out and enjoy our mountains right now, we hope that No Man’s Land Film Festival will keep us dreaming of the next big adventure until we are able to,” says Julie Mayfield, co-director of MountainTrue.

Registration is required to receive the link to access the films. Access is free, but donations are encouraged for those who are able to contribute. mountaintrue.org/nmlff2020. Photo still from “Time to Reconnect” courtesy of No Man’s Land Film Festival WEDNESDAY, MAY 6 • AVL Small Business Week w/ AVL Chamber: Turning Uncertainty to Opportunity, Part 3, Strategies to PREPARE Your Business for What’s Ahead, 10:00AM, Online, avl.mx/737 • Online Virtual Shamanic Journey Circle, 6:30PM, Online, dreamtimejourneys. net THURSDAY, MAY 7 • AVL Small Business Week w/ AVL Chamber: SEO Strategies for Small Business, 10:00AM, Online, avl.mx/738 • Navigating the Maze of Alzheimer's, 2:00PM, Online, avl.mx/732 • Trans & GNC Virtual Discussion Group: Equality North Carolina, 7:00PM, Online, avl.mx/735 FRIDAY, MAY 8 • Ask a Scientist w/ AMOS, 2:30PM, Online, facebook. com/Asheville.Science/

ECO TUESDAY, MAY 5 • WNC for the Planet: Tree Protection & Risk Management Online Workshop, 6:00PM, Online, avl.mx/6z6

FARM & GARDEN FRIDAY, MAY 1 • Lake Junaluska Annual Plant Sale w/ Curbside Pickup (preorders encouraged by 4/29/20 call 828-6461865 to order and schedule pickup), 9:00AM, Lake Junaluska Greenhouse,

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MOUNTAINX.COM

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Science/ • Get Outside! w/ the Girl Scouts, SATURDAYS, 11:00AM, Online, avl.mx/72h WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29 • LEAF Global Arts: West African Drumming & Dance for Kids, 9:00AM, Online, avl.mx/71v TUESDAY, MAY 5 • LEAF Global Arts: Percussion Class using Household Objects w/ Agustin Frederic, 9:30AM, Online, avl.mx/71v

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WELLNESS

SPECIAL DELIVERY

BY LESLIE BOYD leslie.boyd@gmail.com Brittany Lackey’s joy over finding out she was pregnant — and then discovering she was having triplet girls — was overshadowed quickly as the new coronavirus began to spread.

“We’ve always imagined our parents and friends being there to hold the babies, meet them and share our joy,” she says. “But that’s not going to happen now.”

Bryan Lackey will be in the delivery room when his daughters are born, most likely in early July, but no one else — no grandmother, aunt or even doula will be allowed, and no one knows what the rules will be in the neonatal intensive care unit, where the babies likely will spend at their first few weeks, by July.

“We don’t even know whether it will be safe for friends and family to come help us when the babies come home,” says Brittany Lackey, who lives in Black Mountain.

The virus, which causes the illness known as COVID-19, reached pandemic levels more than a month ago.

Hospitals are trying to cope with the illness, about which much remains unknown, by limiting exposure.

To anyone expecting a baby, that means just one person can be pres-

ent to support a woman in labor at Mission Health.

Some hospitals are allowing only the woman in labor and hospital staff to be there, although most are allowing one other person, says Dr. Arthur Ollendorff, an obstetrician practicing at Mountain Area Health Education Center Ob/Gyn Specialists.

“It’s scary,” Ollendorff says.

“There’s so much we don’t know. We know very little at all, actually. … We don’t want to overreact. We don’t want to be delivering babies in hazmat suits unless it’s proven necessary.”

MANY UNKNOWNS

Doctors don’t know yet whether there are any long-term effects on a developing embryo because the disease hasn’t been around long enough. “We need to be nine months out before we know for certain whether there are effects,” he says.

Ollendorff was a resident during the early days of HIV and he says this reminds him of those days. “It wasn’t airborne like the coronavirus, so the analogy is limited, but our lack of experience with it is the same,” he says. “We’re only beginning to learn what we’re dealing with.”

So far, the CDC says pregnant women face no more risk than others for getting the virus. However,

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APRIL 29 - MAY 5, 2020

For expectant parents, COVID-19 brings changes, uncertainty

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GOOD THINGS COME IN THREES: Brittany and Bryan Lackey celebrate soon after learning they’re having triplets. Photo by Miranda Brendell pregnant women have had a higher risk of severe illness when infected with viruses from the same family as COVID-19 and other viral respiratory infections, such as influenza.

Among the unknowns are whether having the virus conveys immunity and if so for how long; whether someone who tests positive with no symptoms will get sick; or why some people don’t get sick and if they do, why some have mild symptoms and others die.

So care providers are taking measures to limit exposure to the virus.

PLUS ONE At Mission, maternity patients should arrive at the Labor and Delivery entrance (Entrance 9 at Mission, located on Rose Chapman Drive off Biltmore Avenue). All maternity rooms are private, so

patients’ exposure is limited, and only one support person is allowed.

That means no doula, or birth coach, for mothers who want their partners present.

But doulas are finding ways to offer virtual support, using computer tablets to offer encouragement and advice, says Cindy McMillan, a doula practicing with Sistas Caring 4 Sistas at MAHEC. “It’s not the same, we know that,” McMillan says. “We know it’s not easy for a woman in labor to use technology while trying to concentrate on breathing, but it’s better than not having a doula, and we have to cope with what we can do for women during this.”

Support people must stay with the mother until she’s discharged, which means at least 24 hours after birth, so most doulas are working via technology.

McMillan has helped one mother through labor online, and all went well, but it would have been easier if she had been physically present, she

“I want to be with my moms, walking with them, comforting them, encouraging them. It’s different to have to do it on an iPad.” – Cindy McMillan, doula with Sistas Caring 4 Sistas says: “I want to be with my moms, walking with them, comforting them, encouraging them. It’s different to have to do it on an iPad.” Mission’s website for maternity patients states, “We ask patients and their named visitor to be particularly vigilant with respect to social distancing in the 14 days prior to admission. No children or additional visitors will be permitted.” In addition, if a support person is in isolation because of exposure to the virus or shows symptoms, that person will not be allowed to accompany the patient.

VIRTUAL VISITS MAHEC also has implemented changes for women who are pregnant. Expectant moms are asked to come to their appointments alone.

If they have other children and no child care options, exceptions can be made, but the children will have to go through the same screening procedure as adults — checking for fever and respiratory symptoms and questions probing whether the person has had close contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus.

All waiting and other common areas are closed. Patients wait in exam rooms or in their cars until they are seen.

MAHEC also is seeing women via computer for some appointments, says Dolly Byrd, a certified nurse midwife. “We started preparing in January to be doing more appointments by telehealth,” she says. “We know it isn’t as thorough as seeing someone in person but we can get a good idea how a mom is doing.”

Medicaid provides blood pressure cuffs so women can keep track of their own blood pressure. MAHEC is also seeking funding for scales so women can keep track of their weight, since rapid, unexpected weight gain is an indication of excess fluid being retained, one sign of preeclampsia, which can be dangerous to both mother and baby.

“Telehealth appointments are a good time for answering questions and planning,” Byrd says. Women come in at 12 to 13 weeks into their

pregnancies for an intake appointment then are seen face to face about once every six weeks, with a telehealth appointment between in-person visits.

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EXPLORING BIRTH OPTIONS Another trend Byrd is seeing is women coming from areas with higher levels of infection to second homes in Western North Carolina, hoping to have their babies in a safer place. But they’re coming midpregnancy, some with complications.

Although some women want to opt for a home birth with all these restrictions on who can accompany a mother into labor and delivery, that option isn’t open to most women in North Carolina, say Byrd and Ollendorff. State law requires a person doing home delivery to be supervised by a physician who has admitting privileges at a hospital, and few midwives have that arrangement in the state.

“There was one in Asheville, but they’re not there anymore,” Ollendorff says.

Since no one knows how long these restrictions will last or what might change in the weeks and months to come, practitioners and hospitals can’t predict when restrictions will loosen or whether they may have to be tightened even more.

In addition, Byrd worries that some women who don’t have computers, or enough data on their smartphone service to do telehealth, could fall through the cracks and not get the care they need during pregnancy.

“Our key is to figure out sustainable ways to function through this,” Byrd says. “How can we provide care better? How can we address inequities, perhaps even better than we did before? Can it possibly be that we find ways to provide better, more effective care than we did before this pandemic? Now is the time to work on this. Maybe we can develop strategies; maybe we can be innovative.”

“We’re fixing the plane as we fly it,” Ollendorff says. “We just won’t know more until we have experience.” X

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MOUNTAINX.COM

APRIL 29 - MAY 5, 2020

19

GREEN SCENE

NO TRESPASSING

National closures curb outdoor recreation in WNC

BY DANIEL WALTON

Those who violate the closures in either federal area could be charged with a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 and up to six months in jail, pursuant to the Code of Federal Regulations Title 36.

Brandon and Dowd say their agencies hope visitors will voluntarily comply with the restrictions.

dwalton@mountainx.com In the face of a viral pandemic, not much is considered essential. The executive order enacted by Gov. Roy Cooper on March 27 to slow transmission of COVID-19 lists just nine reasons for which North Carolinians may leave their homes. Included are the basic human requirements of food, health and caring for others — as well as outdoor recreation.

Western North Carolina, dominated by the Blue Ridge Mountains and shot through with the French Broad River, is normally a haven for that particular essential activity. But local government responses to the coronavirus have cut down on places for people to get outdoors. Buncombe County closed all parks and fields on March 17, while Asheville city parks followed suit on March 27. Most of the area’s state parks, including the Chimney Rock, Gorges, Grandfather Mountain and Mount Mitchell parks, are also shuttered.

For a time, the vast public lands managed by national agencies in WNC remained a retreat for area residents.

Although Pisgah and Nantahala national forests, both overseen by the U.S. Forest Service, and the National Park Service’s Blue Ridge Parkway had closed many campgrounds and visitor facilities by the end of March, most of their roads and trails stayed open through the first two weeks of April.

That changed on April 13. Citing governmental guidance on social distancing and public health, the Forest Service released a lengthy list of shutdowns throughout Pisgah, including popular trails such as Graveyard Fields and Rainbow Falls. The Blue Ridge Parkway issued its own directive on April 15, banning vehicular traffic from over 118 miles of the scenic road throughout WNC. Among the closures was the entire 76-mile stretch from the French Broad River overlook in Arden to the parkway’s southern terminus in Cherokee.

“My whole world seems to be closing,” says Danny Bernstein, an Ashevillebased outdoors writer who regularly leads hikes for the Carolina Mountain Club and Friends of the Smokies.

Referencing state guidelines for social distancing, she continues, “Staying 6 feet apart is easy on the trail. But how can we have outdoor activity if almost every piece of public land is closed?”

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APRIL 29 - MAY 5, 2020

BOOTS ON THE GROUND

LONESOME TRAIL: Outdoors writer and avid hiker Danny Bernstein finds herself returning frequently to the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, pictured here east of Asheville, as COVID-19 restrictions close other public lands. Photo by Danny Bernstein TOO MUCH LOVE Leesa Brandon, a spokesperson for the Blue Ridge Parkway, sympathizes with Bernstein’s complaint. “We love these places as much as the visitors love these places and we want them to be available to folks,” Brandon says.

“But we know right now we have to proceed with an abundance of caution and make decisions in the interest of everybody’s safety.”

The parkway’s latest closures in WNC, Brandon continues, were largely driven by heavy visitation that she says made it impossible for crowds to practice social distancing. Less traveled parts of the road, including much of its length in Virginia, have remained open, even though Virginia and North Carolina have similar statewide stay-athome orders.

The U.S. Forest Service also cites a sudden spike in visitors as the main reason for the Pisgah shutdowns.

Spokesperson Cathy Dowd confirms that closures were assessed on a site-

MOUNTAINX.COM

by-site basis to limit congregations of people; however, she did not provide specific visitation data or trigger points at which given sites are considered unsafe.

“We’re following the lead of local government and emergency management agencies to reduce high-risk activities that may put emergency responders at additional risk when conducting search and rescue operations,” Dowd says.

“Our local partners have asked us to help reduce the number of visitors coming to Western North Carolina to reduce demand on supplies, services and risk of exposure.”

Enforcement of the parkway closures will be handled by its 30 law enforcement rangers, a number Brandon says is in line with usual staffing. She added that camping violations are also holding steady compared with those in previous years. Dowd said the Forest Service had put up locked gates and barricades in some closed areas but declined to share any information about ranger patrols.

Yet according to Debby Jones, president of the Carolina Mountain Club, many visitors continue to create challenges for federal lands in both their numbers and behavior. On a recent trip to Rattlesnake Lodge, a trail off the Blue Ridge Parkway to the northeast of Asheville, Jones recalls having seen 20 cars parked along a narrow strip near the trailhead and 15 people socializing around the historic lodge site itself.

Many garbage cans along the parkway are overflowing, Jones continues, and levels of trash on the trails are higher than she’s ever seen. She theorizes that parks have been overwhelmed by an influx of new visitors, driven there by the shutdown of all other recreation opportunities, who don’t share the “Leave No Trace” ethics of most outdoors enthusiasts.

“They had a total disregard for those guidelines, and that left [national land managers] no choice but to shut down everything,” Jones says. “They don’t have the support services to deal with all this. They don’t have the funding. They just don’t have the personnel to do it.”

Will Harlan, lead organizer for the I Heart Pisgah alliance of WNC conservation groups, supports the closures but notes that resources presented a major challenge to national lands well before COVID-19 hit. From 2010-18, despite increasing visitation, the Forest Service’s recreation management budget decreased by 16%. And although funding for the National Park Service went up 12% over the same period, that rise didn’t keep up with the simultaneous 18% bump in visitors.

“Ideally, maybe public lands agencies could have instituted and enforced quotas for popular trailheads and access points, just as many grocery stores have done,” Harlan says. “However, the Forest Service is woefully understaffed and underfunded, and there hasn’t been leadership at the federal level to implement these kinds of policies. Instead, the federal government has prioritized rolling back environmental regulations and

INTO THE WOODS: Cars line the Blue Ridge Parkway about 1.5 miles south of Brevard Road in the Bent Creek area on April 11. This section of the parkway is now closed. Photo by Mark Barrett pushing ahead with oil and gas leases on public lands during this pandemic.”

But Brandon pushes back when asked if more resources would have changed how the parkway is dealing with the COVID-19 crisis. Even if the park could have hired more staff to enact capacity limits at parking areas or ensure social distancing along trails, she points out, those employees would still be coming into contact with potential viral carriers.

“It’s all very hypothetical because that’s not something we have in place typically or normally anyway,” Brandon says. “I don’t know that, necessarily, additional money or additional staffing would equate to our ability to keep things open right now, because it wouldn’t be considered safe to bring additional people into the area or have those staff be exposed in ways that required servicing the public in a potentially unsafe way.”

RECREATION AT REST For some WNC residents, national public lands represent not only a place of respite but also a source of livelihood. Some outfitters and outdoors equipment shops, while recognizing the need for restrictions to preserve public health, say they’re feeling a major squeeze on their revenues due to the closures.

Kevin Howell owns Pisgah Forestbased Davidson River Outfitters, which runs many of its fishing expeditions in the national forest. His business has been shut since March 30, and he says his customers depend on access to public lands when looking to book their trips.

Nonetheless, Howell says, the closures are necessary to protect many of the rural WNC counties that contain national lands. “Most counties have limited medical staff and facilities, and an outbreak of COVID-19 would be devastating to these communities,” he says. “Hopefully, everyone will comply with the stay-at-home orders, and we can get this pandemic behind us and get the forest opened back up sooner than expected.”

That necessity doesn’t make the closures any easier, says Nathan Johnson, who manages The Hub and Pisgah Tavern bike shop in Pisgah Forest. April is usually the store’s busiest month, he says, with much of his revenue coming from out-of-state visitors. Some orders have come in online, he says, but the lack of in-person customers has “definitely devastated” the store’s beer sales, equipment rentals and apparel business.

Johnson adds that, although sales have been down, the store was recently “inundated with calls about what was going on and what was still legal to hike and bike.” Requests for clarification to the Forest Service ranger station, he says, have sometimes yielded conflicting information about how the closures impact bike riders versus vehicle traffic.

“It was rolled out in a very confusing manner, which was difficult for us to manage,” Johnson says. “We appreciated the Forest Service’s attempt to leave a few trailheads open for us locals that desperately need to get out. It unfortunately made those areas packed at times, which was a bit counterintuitive.”

THE PATH BACK The question now on everyone’s mind is when these public lands will

reopen. The Forest Service’s order set a tentative end date of Thursday, Aug. 13, but Dowd says the hope is for restrictions to be lifted sooner. Meanwhile, Brandon confirms that the Blue Ridge Parkway’s closures are all in effect until further notice.

“We’ve been monitoring and will continue to reevaluate what’s happening at the local level to inform our decisions moving forward,” Brandon says. “I don’t know what those dates are going to be, so we couldn’t obviously indicate a date in any of our closure decisions.”

At an April 23 press conference, Gov. Cooper suggested that he could direct parks to open as early as Saturday, May 9, during the first phase of a gradual rollback of stay-at-home restrictions.

That move would only occur if the state had made two weeks of continual progress on a number of COVID-19 disease trends and improved its capacity for testing and contact tracing.

Jones with the Carolina Mountain Club, who says she’s in weekly contact with public agencies, expects hiking to return on a longer timeline, more like several months than several weeks.

And even when the threat of COVID-19 begins to subside, she points out that the trails will need extensive work to deal

with a backlog of erosion damage and fallen trees.

Those itching to get on the trails before the general public has access, Jones adds, can join the CMC’s maintenance crews, which will work every day of the week once given the go-ahead by land managers. She encourages anyone with a love of the outdoors, regardless of experience, to contact Ron Navik at TrailsMtc@CarolinaMountainClub.org for more information.

Until then, fellow CMC member Bernstein says she and others are still meeting up informally for hikes at places that are still open, although they no longer carpool and rigorously practice social distancing while on the trail. Among her regular haunts is the Mountains-to-Sea Trail; repeatedly hiking the same stretch of ground, she says, has given her more appreciation of how wildflowers emerge through the season than in any previous spring.

“As a group, CMC members may be old, but we’re healthy, without a compromised immune system,” Bernstein says. “We can’t afford to sit around waiting for the pandemic to pass. We need to stay active or we’ll never get back on the trail.” X

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21

FOOD

TABLE FOR NONE

Local restaurants struggle to ride out the mandated closure of dining rooms

BY KAY WEST kwest@mountainx.com “I’m living the dream,” says Michel Baudouin with a wry laugh. These days, asking a restaurant owner how he or she is doing is a rhetorical question, so the Bouchon and RendezVous chef and owner clarifies: “You have to keep a sense of humor and positive attitude or you’ll jump off a bridge.” Instead of taking that leap, Baudouin has focused on keeping the RendezVous kitchen running, offering pickup and delivery five days a week.

Aimee and Hector Diaz own Salsa’s, Modesto and Bomba restaurants in downtown Asheville. Before the March 17 shutdown, Aimee spent most of her time running the business side, while chef Hector oversaw the kitchens. But since furloughing nearly 50 employees, both have been at Modesto, cooking and expediting takeout while Aimee also navigates negotiations with landlords and vendors and wades through Paycheck Protection Program loan applications, banking relationships and government red tape.

“I’ve never worked harder in my life,” says the mother of four boys.

“It’s a full-time job working with agencies and trying to understand and work within the legalities and conditions of these programs.”

In the nearly six weeks since in-house dining was banned in North Carolina and across the nation, the restaurant industry has not only suffered historic financial losses and record unemployment, but owners have also had to school themselves on the terms and conditions of government aid as they try to salvage their businesses. ’PANIC MODE’ “It’s been pretty much panic mode since we had to close,” says Stephanie Barcelona, who opened Bonfire Barbecue in West Asheville with her husband, Jeff Barcelona, five years ago. “‘Save the business!’ is all we’ve thought about every day.”

The Barcelonas’ passionate letter describing their plight was published

by Mountain Xpress on April 14 and generated tens of thousands of views and an immediate surge in the takeout service they’re maintaining.

Joe Scully and Kevin Westmoreland, co-owners of Corner Kitchen in 22

APRIL 29 - MAY 5, 2020

DRESSED FOR BATTLE: Hector and Aimee Diaz, owners of Modesto, Bomba and Salsa’s, expedite takeout from Modesto while also navigating complicated applications for federal assistance. Photo by Thomas Calder Biltmore Village and Chestnut on Biltmore Avenue downtown, were among many local restaurateurs who made the decision to shut down all operations. On March 16, they furloughed all but one employee, their bookkeeper.

“We looked at takeout, but we’re not really known as takeout places, so we decided to focus on other things,” says Westmoreland. “We have somewhere around $75,000 a month in fixed costs, which doesn’t include salaries.” He notes that he and Scully spent most of their time during the first couple of weeks of the shutdown calling vendors to make arrangements.

“Nearly all of our employees have made it through the system to get unemployment,” he adds. “And we applied for the PPP, but as it is written now, it is too narrowly focused and ties our hands. Every single restaurant owner I’ve talked to feels the same concerns.”

That includes not just restaurants in Asheville but those across the nation. The Independent Restaurant Coalition, formed by chefs and independent restaurant owners in an urgent response to the crisis, began lobbying Congress in mid-March to get help for the nation’s 500,000 independent restaurants and their 11 million employees.

MOUNTAINX.COM

Initially seen as a lifesaver, the PPP — a 100% guaranteed loan via the Small Business Administration — has instead become a lead weight around the necks of many independent restaurants due to terms that are onerous to this particular industry.

The amount of the loan is determined by prior average monthly payroll costs times 2.5, intended to cover eight weeks of payroll. Seventy-five percent of the total amount must be used to fund payroll costs and just 25% can be used for overhead, including rent, mortgage and utilities. ’A GIANT MESS’ The deal-breaker, says the IRC and Asheville restaurant owners, is the time frame. The clock on the loan starts the day the money is received and requires recipients to hire staff back at 100% preshutdown levels — even if the business is not open — and expires in eight weeks. In order for the loan to be fully forgiven, those criteria must be met; any part not forgiven must be repaid within two years.

“We applied for PPP, but if you have to rehire everyone the day you receive the money, then what?” asks Baudouin. “If we are closed, we are paying people not to work. Then at the end of eight weeks, if we are still not open, we have to furlough every-

one again, and they all file for unemployment again. The government is telling us they want us to be the unemployment office.”

“Simplistically, the clock should start when restaurants can reopen and allow a longer period of time to spend that money,” says Westmoreland. “When restaurants do reopen, no one is going to be at full staff for some time.”

The IRC is asking for two urgent changes to the PPP: that the origination date of the loan be pegged to the first day restaurants can legally open and that the time frame of the loan be changed from two months to three.

Aimee Diaz and others also say the 75-25 ratio should be changed to take into account ongoing fixed costs and what restaurants will have to spend in order to restock inventory before reopening. “I am counting on people responsible for the PPP as it applies to our industry to do some very simple math, extrapolate the data and come to a sensible resolution,” she says.

Unfortunately, as of April 16, the cupboards were bare, with all of the $349 billion in funds allocated and applications closed. On that same day, the James Beard Foundation and the IRC released the grim results of a survey of over 1,400 restaurant owners: Nearly 80% said the PPP as written will not allow restaurants to survive until normal operations resume, and that only 1-in-5 may reopen. Baudouin guesses 30%-50% of Asheville restaurants — or even more — may not come back.

“It’s a giant mess,” says Jane Anderson, executive director of the Asheville Independent Restaurants Association. “I’m aware of only a couple of our members who have been approved for PPP, but it’s not helpful as it stands now.”

“The only thing keeping any of us from making it until next year is money,” says Westmoreland. “All we need is to be able to pay our fixed costs, have some money to reopen, buy food and get along for a few months. We’ve got great restaurants here and great owners who work together, but the hard fact is, without some tweaking to this program and more funds, it could all go away.”

On April 24, President Donald Trump signed legislation providing $320 billion to revive the depleted loan program.

To support action to help, go to saverestaurants.com/take-action. X

Diners club

Dining Out for Life fundraiser tweaks model in response to restaurant closures

LUNCH • DINNER CARRY-OUT • CATERING 828-298-1035

West Village Market

blackbearbbqavl.com

We need your help more than ever

Hang in there Asheville.

PACKED TO GO: RendezVous and Bouchon are among the DOFL 2020 restaurants WNCAP suggests supporting through this year’s revised effort. Photo courtesy of WNCAP. For 18 years, the Western North Carolina Aids Project has counted on the generosity of local, independent restaurants to fuel its annual fundraiser.

With those restaurants struggling to stay afloat, WNCAP is hoping to return their kindness with a COVID-19 twist on Dining Out for Life.

“Typically, the event model is based on participating restaurants donating 20% of gross sales on DOFL day, the last Thursday in April,” says Michael Poandl, development coordinator.

“Over the lifetime of the event, over $1 million has been raised for HIV prevention and care.”

DOFL 2020 was originally scheduled for April 30, with 103 restaurants signed on. After the state ended in-house dining March 17, WNCAP canceled the event and then brainstormed what to do. “We feel a part of the restaurant community and wanted to find a way to support them,” he explains. “Rather than dining out, we’re inviting people to dine in with takeout from those restaurants offering it or purchase a gift card for future use.”

WNCAP has created a spreadsheet of its partner restaurants for those who would like to support them. “Obviously we are not asking restaurants to donate, but we do invite people to go to WNCAP. org/donate and make a donation, using the pull-down box to indicate DIFL. Some restaurants will also include donation envelopes in carry-out bags.”

People who order takeout from a partner restaurant are encouraged to snap a selfie while dining at home and post it to social media with the hashtags #DineInEndHIV and #TakeoutForLife and tag the restaurants as well. “We’re doing what we can to keep the issue out there — both issues, AIDS awareness and independent restaurants. They have always been there for us, and we want to be there for them,” says Poandl. Everyone who posts a selfie or donates will be entered in a raffle for a $500 cash card from Mosaic Realty.

Details, including a list of Dining Out for Life partner restaurants, can be found at diningoutforlife.com/city/asheville.

— Kay West X

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APRIL 29 - MAY 5, 2020

23

CAROLINA BEER GUY

Spring 2020

Nonprofit Breweries help community during pandemic issue

by Tony Kiss | avlbeerguy@gmail.com

Coming May 20!

Contact us today! advertise@mountainx.com

With business closures stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic crushing the community, Asheville’s breweries are finding ways to help those in need. Some are raising funds for charitable organizations and the unemployed, while others are distributing meals to the hungry.

There’s also been a local one-off collaborative beer for coronavirus relief. The Stay Home/Stay Asheville IPA project was organized by Brent Manning, co-founder of Riverbend Malt House. He pulled together a team that includes Archetype Brewing, Bhramari Brewing Co., DSSOLVR, New Belgium Brewing Co., Twin Leaf Brewery and White Labs Asheville. The beer was released on April 25, in four-packs of 16-ounce cans at Archetype’s West Asheville location and at Bhramari — the entire supply was sold out by the following afternoon.

All of the proceeds will go to New Belgium’s Bar and Restaurant Relief

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APRIL 29 - MAY 5, 2020

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GOOD NEIGHBORS: The new Stay Home/Stay Asheville IPA was released on April 25 to raise money for coronavirus relief. Image courtesy Riverbend Malt House Fund, which is raising money for furloughed food and beverage workers in Asheville and Fort Collins, Colo., home to New Belgium’s original brewery. According to Manning, all of the funds from the collaborative beer sales will stay in Asheville.

In creating the relief fund, New Belgium community and communications ambassador Michael Craft says, the brewery wanted to “take care of the people who were serving our beers” before restaurants, taprooms and music venues were shut down by the pandemic.

New Belgium seeded the fund with $50,000 and has committed to match donations up to an additional $50,000.

Thanks to contributions primarily from individual donors, the fund currently stands at more than $227,000.

Donations can be made online or by texting NBBGives to 44321.

The Bar and Restaurant Relief Fund has already distributed $350 checks to 240 people. “And because of Brent’s idea [for the collaborative beer], it looks like we’ll be able to do another round of checks,” Craft says.

Another big contribution to relief efforts is coming from Wicked Weed Brewing, which is donating $50,000 — split three ways — to the One Buncombe fund, the N.C. Restaurant Workers Relief Fund and the YMCA of WNC Emergency Response Fund.

Wicked Weed is also preparing and distributing hundreds of meals each week to people in need. The meals are being distributed through

the YMCA of WNC, and the project loops in US Foods, Hickory Nut Gap Meats and Apple Brandy Farms. The program has grown tremendously in a short time from 900 weekly meals to 1,500, and again to 3,000, thanks in large part to an anonymous donor’s $225,000 gift.

“Wicked Weed has always been community-focused,” says Rachel Dudasik, the brewery’s philanthropy coordinator. “So when [the COVID-19 pandemic] happened, it was a no-brainer that we wanted to help out. It was just figuring out the best way to help out — and that meant food, beer and taking care of the community.”

Elsewhere, Highland Brewing Co. is donating 10% of its curbside brewery beer sales to the One Buncombe fund and continuing its food drive for MANNA Food Bank at its curbside. Asheville’s oldest brewery has also instituted a medical professionals membership program that allows local medical care providers to receive 15% off all beer-to-go purchases at the brewery through the end of 2020.

The brewery’s to-go beer sales have been strong, says company president Leah Wong Ashburn. “We felt like we could take a piece of that and give it back to what is mostly the hospitality industry,” she says.

“Those are the people who have been buying, selling and serving Highland beers, perhaps for decades.” X

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

SCRIPT FLIPPERS

Jon Stickley Trio proceeds with album release despite COVID-19 obstacles

BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN earnaudin@mountainx.com The Jon Stickley Trio had huge plans for its latest album, Scripting the Flip. The eclectic, Asheville-based instrumental band’s first record in three years was set to be feted with DJ Marley Carroll during an April 4 release show at Salvage Station, followed by a national tour featuring what its eponymous guitarist calls “a lot of new festivals we’ve always wanted to play.”

But as the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily closed music venues, delaying or canceling performance dates, the intended celebrations evaporated — and the album’s April 3 launch nearly did, too.

“We did go back and forth on [delaying the release] quite a bit. Our booking agent wanted to move it because it really is beneficial to tour behind a record, and he was concerned about not having that momentum when things pick back up,” Stickley says.

“However, our label [Organic Records] was of the opinion that, given the vacuum of live music, people’s attention will be drawn to the new album, and we’ll be able to get more streaming momentum. Ultimately, I’m glad we went ahead with the release so that our fans could have something to listen to in lieu of live shows.”

Over the course of the three years since Maybe Believe, Stickley and bandmate Lyndsay Pruett (violin) amicably parted ways with Patrick Armitage, a “killer drummer” who Stickley says “really brought a distinct groove to the band.” With Armitage focusing on his real estate career and other musical endeavors, including the Steely Dan tribute project Dirty Logic, Stickley sought a percussionist with broad musical style who could bring new rhythmic influences and improvisational elements to the trio’s music.

“My ears on the ground in Knoxville led me to Hunter [Deacon],” he says.

“We found his personality to be the perfect fit, and he was just the musician we were looking for. His rhythmic creativity, killer chops and great energy have completely changed our sound, and we couldn’t be happier about it. His playing really shines on the new album.”

The addition of Deacon indeed helps propel Scripting the Flip’s experimental

THE NEW GUY: Scripting the Flip marks the Jon Stickley Trio’s first album with Knoxville-based drummer Hunter Deacon, left. “His rhythmic creativity, killer chops and great energy have completely changed our sound, and [violinist Lyndsay Pruett (pictured right) and I] couldn’t be happier about it,” says Stickley, center. Photo

by Sandlin Gaither leanings, and Stickley feels that the 11-song collection pushed the ensemble to go “even further out rhythmically” than ever before while focusing on hitting an array of grooves.

“We play a lot of late-night dance sets, so a lot of the new music was made with that in mind,” Stickley says.

“The compositions embrace a lot of the elements of electronic music, ska and bluegrass, but sonically we wanted to get back to our roots and capture the acoustic tone of our instruments more than we have on previous recordings.”

Along with their group’s new album, Stickley and Pruett also appear on the recent Jim Lauderdale record, When Carolina Comes Home Again, which was tracked at Echo Mountain Recording Studios. Stickley fondly recalls hanging out in Las Vegas after a music festival, feeling what he calls the “Sin City Swirl,” when he got an unexpected call from the legendary singer-songwriter.

“He’s such a hilarious guy, and listening to him talk so slowly while surrounded by all the slot machines and bustle really cracked me up,” Stickley says. “I became one of his Asheville point people who helped him find other musicians from the area to play on the album. The session was very different from most that I’ve been involved with.

Jim was still writing [“I’m Here To Remind You”] even after we had started recording it. He kept making fake

phone calls as a joke and just had us cracking up the whole time.”

While witnessing Scripting The Flip’s rollout from home, Stickley has embraced his inner Bob Vila, putting in new kitchen floors and tackling other projects that he admits he “always dread[s] getting into between tours.”

Though he calls the change of plans “a completely surreal experience and a pretty difficult adjustment,” he’s also started to appreciate the time off after being on the road so much over the past few years and is thinking about some adjustments to make as the music industry recovers.

“This time away has given me a lot of clarity, as well as a real sense of gratefulness for what we have accomplished.

I’ve picked up some online students, which have been as much of a social blessing as a financial one. I’m taking my time but hope to have another new album written by the time this is all over,” he says.

“I’ve also been able to spend a lot of time with my instrument, practicing new ideas and focusing with microscopic detail on my technique. It’s definitely a new type of stress to learn to deal with, and the news sure doesn’t help. Just taking it a day at a time and trying to see the bright side of things.” jonstickley.com X MOUNTAINX.COM

APRIL 29 - MAY 5, 2020

25

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A &E

by Bill Kopp

bill@musoscribe.com

New name, new focus Videographer Ben Phantom combines music with modern dance

5 All Souls Crescent, Asheville NC 28803 (Off-street parking in rear of building) (828) 552-3905 • ashevillewinesalon.com

FEAR IS STILL THE TEACHER: Ben Phantom faces his fears head-on by expanding his creative palette, making self-produced music videos his new preferred method of artistic expression. Still from the “I’ll Meet You There” video courtesy of the artist Some artists’ strengths are expressed as consistency: Listeners know what to expect, and they appreciate that familiarity. Other artists, however, chart a circuitous path, with each project quite different from the last. It’s that latter approach that has come to define the work of Asheville guitarist/singer/songwriter Ben Phantom, formerly known as Ben Phan.

“I just got tired of people misspelling and mispronouncing my name,” jokes Phantom, noting that in his father’s home country of Vietnam, Phan is a common surname. But then he provides a more thoughtful reply. “I’m trying to get outside myself, challenge myself and do things creatively,” he explains. “Having a moniker gives me the freedom to push my limits.”

Phantom’s earliest work has strong hints of Afrobeat and bluegrass. His more pop-leaning 2016 album, Dreams in Modern Folk, features introspective lyrics written during a trek along the Pacific Crest Trail. And the title of his 2017 album emphasized Phantom’s adventurous spirit: Fear Is the Teacher is more of a singer-songwriter album, but the finely crafted release is immersed in the subtlety that cello, fiddle and upright bass can provide.

But along with changing his name, Phantom is steering away from the album paradigm. “Right now, I’m focused on putting out singles with 26

APRIL 29 - MAY 5, 2020

MOUNTAINX.COM

music videos that tell stories,” he says.

The first fruit of Phantom’s new multimedia approach is “I’ll Meet You There.” The video features Phantom working as part of a four-person modern dance ensemble.

The dancers provide a visceral, visual expression of the emotionally resonant song. “I see myself as a budding videographer almost as much as I do a musician or a producer,” Phantom says. His videos are less promotional tools than they are well-rounded artistic statements. “My goal with music videos is to make compelling artistic pieces in themselves,” he says. Indeed, he’s already seen success in that department with “I’ll Meet You There” screening at film festivals in Florence, Italy, and London.

Phantom’s current project — scheduled for release on Friday, May 1 — is his most ambitious yet. The multimedia work draws from hours of video footage shot during a trip he and his father made to Vietnam. “It was my first time there, and his first visit in 42 years,” Phantom says. “The video is the story of him returning to Vietnam after all these years.”

With all live dates on hold during the pandemic, Phantom is focusing on completing the video and creating more exclusive content for his fan subscription-based Patreon page. patreon.com/benphantom X

by Edwin Arnaudin

earnaudin@mountainx.com

Mountain personalities James Brooks wins Xpress Poetry Contest

For the 2020 Xpress Poetry Contest, in celebration of April as National Poetry Month, area writers were asked to craft a work about a famous or noteworthy person/personality in Western North Carolina. Entries included verse on moonshiner Popcorn Sutton, film star Kelly McGillis (Top Gun; Witness), potter Burlon Craig and singer Roberta Flack.

Local poet Lockie Hunter — curator of the Juniper Reading Series and co-producer of the 103.3 FM poetry and prose radio program, Wordplay — served as this year’s judge and selected James Brooks’ tribute to Ernst Laursen as the top entry, calling it “an emotionally honest poem, close to the earth, rooted in place and history.”

“The first-person point of view draws the reader into the world of the farm immediately and adds intimacy and warmth, while the iambic pentameter feels organic to the poem, as if the poem grew in those lines rather than being forced into form,” Hunter says. “The form allows the language to expand and breathe. Brooks’ imagery is evocative and guides the reader gently from concrete to abstract. Though we are planted in hills and meadows, we travel farther afield and back again.

Well done!” X

FAMOUS INSPIRATION: Writer James Brooks won this year’s Xpress Poetry Contest with his entry, “For Ernst Laursen.” The contest asked poets to to craft a work about a famous or noteworthy person/personality in Western North Carolina. Photo courtesy of Brooks

For Ernst Laursen

WARREN WILSON COLLEGE FARM DIRECTOR, 1956-1996

by James Brooks I The work

II The retirement

I’ve spent the half-day on a line of fence That runs around my nearest, smallest, field— No outer force had pressed its competence, Nor had it shown a secret mind to yield, And as fields go, there wasn’t much to see, Unless you count the marble tenancies, Whose presence gave no task to any greed, Or human urge, or human urgencies.

Yet still, no gauge as clear as getting through For love, instead of for necessity, And different from my list of things to do, For this, I hold it to its own degree— To give and give and let go unperceived: The soul, the task, in strict complicity.

Forget that I once also would about These yellow hills, around the river bend, That I would also hear the mornings shout Her light across and watch her evenings end.

Forget that I have also looked upon This very meadow and climbed that fence, That hers is not the only heart was won, For there was mine, and there were others since.

For there, within the river strides the sea, In laurel root, a dark eternity, And on this field in dust and memory, The only home its ancient lovers keep, So do not ask of where it is we go, Forget you now, for soon enough you know.

MOUNTAINX.COM

APRIL 29 - MAY 5, 2020

27

MOVIE REVIEWS

Hosted by the Asheville Movie Guys EDWIN ARNAUDIN earnaudin@mountainx.com

BRUCE STEELE bcsteele@gmail.com

Pahokee HHHHS DIRECTORS: Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan PLAYERS: Na’Kerria Nelson, Jocabed Martinez, Junior Walker, BJ Crawford DOCUMENTARY NOT RATED The strong 2020 slate of documentaries is further fortified by Pahokee, directors Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan’s observational look at the titular downtrodden Florida community through a year in the life of a diverse group of four high school seniors.

Reminiscent of Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s brilliant Detropia (2012) and the works of the filmmakers’ cited influences, Frederick Wiseman and the Maysles Brothers, Pahokee succeeds early and often through its crisp, colorful cinematography and flyon-the-wall approach.

By following the quartet — cheerleader and hopeful Miss PHS, Na’Kerria; scholar and Mexican immigrant daughter Jacobed; drumline leader and teen father Junior; and football star BJ — Pahokee depicts the community more authentically than clichéd documentary components could likely achieve.

The directorial team’s commitment to letting the four youths speak for themselves is also less obtrusive and forced than traditional docs that rely on talkinghead interviews and overly scripted voiceover narration to make their points.

The rare instances when the teens directly address the camera are brief iPhone confessional moments, recorded by the subjects themselves, which add private, personal reflections that the film28

APRIL 29 - MAY 5, 2020

makers’ cameras likely wouldn’t have captured — even with the trust they’ve so clearly built with the youths.

The film’s rich sense of place fosters a deep connection to its inhabitants across multiple individual and connected storylines, resulting in surprisingly dramatic arcs and several well-earned gutpunch moments.

Pahokee also sagely avoids the exploitative “poverty porn” tone of recent critically lauded docs like Hale County This Morning, This Evening and Minding the Gap. Rather than letting their subjects’ poor decisions drive the narrative or turning the squalor in which they live into a sensationalized character itself, Lucas and Bresnan maintain a soulful objectivity that gradually elevates their film to greatness.

REVIEWED BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN EARNAUDIN@MOUNTAINX.COM

Balloon HHHHS DIRECTOR: Michael Herbig PLAYERS: Friedrich Mücke, Karoline Schuch, David Kross FOREIGN FILM/THRILLER NOT RATED Not every true story merits two fullscale movie productions, but the 1979 escape retold in the new film Balloon is the rare exception. As the title suggests, it’s about two East German families who attempted to flee to West Germany in a homemade hot air balloon. Their saga was previously made into a Disney adventure film titled Night Crossing (1982), but

MOUNTAINX.COM

the real-life subjects, the Strelzyk and Wetzel families, never really liked that Americanized telling. So they were happy to cooperate with this new Germanlanguage production — even if the director, Michael “Bully” Herbig, was a standup comedian who had never helmed such a demanding drama.

Herbig does a phenomenal job. Even knowing how this is all going to end, Balloon is intensely suspenseful, beginning with a first, failed escape attempt and ending with a nail-biting second try as the Stasi (secret police) close in. Some touches strike a melodramatic note, but much of the nicely detailed subplot about the Stasi investigation is based on once-secret files not available to the Disney team.

The German cast is uniformly excellent, entirely believable in part because American viewers are unlikely to have seen any of the actors before. Some German critics dismissed Balloon because it glosses over the problems of the country’s 1990 reunification, but such concerns seem misplaced in a movie that’s intended as an inspirational thriller. It’s just an amazing, true tale, well told, consistently entertaining and evidently adhering largely to the facts, right down to the exact look of the balloon itself — which was reconstructed at full scale. Call Balloon “escapism” in the best sense.

REVIEWED BY BRUCE STEELE BCSTEELE@GMAIL.COM

Eating Up Easter HHHS

DIRECTOR: Sergio M. Rapu PLAYERS: Mahani Teave, Enrique Icke, Mama Piru DOCUMENTARY NOT RATED Though noble in its mission and thoroughly educational, the advocacy documentary Eating Up Easter is so narrow in its approach that its reach proves sorely limited.

Basically one big multimedia letter from Rapa Nui (aka Easter Island) native Sergio M. Rapu to his infant son, the film aims to chronicle the history of the young boy’s ancestors, the island’s current issues and its standout conservationists — all in an effort to encourage a future connection between the child and his family home, 2,200 miles west of Chile.

Clocking in at barely over an hour, Eating Up Easter struggles to fill its brief run time with cohesive arguments as Rapu chases the narratives of people he admires, sprinkling in key anecdotes from the past seemingly at random that

AVAILABLE VIA FINEARTSTHEATRE.COM (FA) GRAILMOVIEHOUSE.COM (GM) PISGAHFILM.ORG (PF) Balloon (NR) HHHHS (GM) Beanpole (R) HHHS(FA) The Bellmen (NR) A bell captain at a popular resort must navigate crazy guests, allies and rivals to save the hotel and woo the woman of his dreams.

Available starting May 1 (GM) Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint (NR) HHHS (FA, GM) Best of CatVideoFest (NR) HHHS(GM) The Booksellers (NR) HHHS(FA, GM) Deerskin (NR) A dark comedy about a French divorcee (Jean Dujardin, The Artist) who becomes obsessed with a vintage fringed deerskin jacket.

Available starting May 1 (GM) Eating Up Easter (NR) HHHS(GM) The Etruscan Smile (R) HHS (GM) Extra Ordinary (R) HHHS(FA) Fantastic Fungi (NR) HHHH (FA, GM, PF) The Hottest August (NR) A documentary about life during a particularly warm New York City summer. Available starting May 1 (GM) Leonardo: The Works (NR) HHHH (FA) Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band (R) HHHH (PF) Pahokee (NR) HHHHS (Pick of the Week) (FA) The Roads Not Taken (R) HHHS (FA) Slay the Dragon (PG-13) HHHH (FA, PF) Someone, Somewhere (NR) HHHH (FA) Sorry We Missed You (NR) HHHHS(FA) Straight Up (NR) HHHH (GM) The Times of Bill Cunningham (NR) HHHHS (FA, GM) Vitalina Varela (NR) HHHHS (FA) The Wild Goose Lake (NR) HHHHS (PF) The Woman Who Loves Giraffes (NR) HHHHH (FA)

only occasionally connect with present crises and achievements.

Among these engaging individuals are humorously salty ecologist Mama Piru, who combats the waste that tourists bring to the island and the trash that daily washes up on its beaches; noted pianist Mahani Teave and her singer-songwriter husband, Enrique Icke, who seek to build a music school; and Rapu’s own father, whose embrace of modernism puts him at odds with certain neighbors.

Flawed and disjointed though it may be, Eating Up Easter spreads the word about a special place in a precarious situation, and, like many other cities and countries with economies dependent on tourism — Asheville most definitely included — the film gets viewers critically thinking about the long-term viability of such reliance and how quickly it can all come crashing down.

The mindfulness that the film instills in receptive audience members could very well be its greatest achievement

and makes one wonder how the citizens of Rapa Nui are doing while COVID-19 temporarily prevents visitors from traveling to its beautiful shores.

REVIEWED BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN EARNAUDIN@MOUNTAINX.COM

The Etruscan Smile

Vitalina Varela HHHHS

DIRECTOR: Pedro Costa PLAYERS: Vitalina Varela, Ventura, Manuel Tavares Almeida FOREIGN FILM/DRAMA NOT RATED

It’s great to see Brian Cox, the heartless mogul at the center of HBO’s “Succession,” cast as an average Joe who’s irascible but kind at heart. In The Etruscan Smile, Cox plays Rory MacNeil, an aging Scottish widower who travels to San Francisco to seek medical care, necessitating a reunion with his estranged son Ian (JJ Feild, Ford v Ferrari), an aspiring chef. Ian is married to Emily (Thora Birch, American Beauty), a hospital administrator and daughter of a Trump-like mogul named Frank (Treat Williams). Rory quickly bonds with Ian’s infant son Jamie, manages to woo a museum curator named Claudia (Rosanna Arquette) and assists a San Francisco University professor (Peter Coyote) in a Gaelic language study — all while battling what turns out to be (surprise, surprise) a terminal illness.

There’s a lot going on in The Etruscan Smile, loosely based on the 1985 Spanish novel by José Luis Sampedro, and the film simply hasn’t the time or talent necessary to deal credibly with most of its subplots. With a rote screenplay (credited to five people), Israeli co-directors Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis (whose 2015 short film Aya was nominated for an Oscar) rely instead on their star-studded cast, allowing the combination of familiarity and acting talent to serve as shorthand when the writing can’t quite capture a scene or a character.

That’s especially true of Cox, who brings Rory fully to life and thereby enlivens the movie around him. The clichéd gambit of the crusty old person softened by the innocence of a child is the crux of The Etruscan Smile, and Cox sells it joyfully in every scene with the infant. Fans of the actor will enjoy him here, and the surrounding brigade of formerly-more-famous stars makes for a kind of comfort viewing for those who remember, say, the man with the jingling keys in E.T. or that other girl in Desperately Seeking Susan.

You don’t have to be an art history expert to see the beautiful influence of renaissance portraiture in Pedro Costas’ Vitalina Varela. Along with cinematographer Leonardo Simões, Costa has staged his film as a series of “still lifes,” bathed in baroque browns and deep shadows. Harsh lighting and heavy vignetting keep focus on what’s in front of us, but the film begs viewers to wonder what’s outside our clear field of vision.

Based on the real-life experiences of its lead actress and namesake, Vitalina Varela is a haunting tale of a widow’s search for the truth about her estranged husband and a stunning, if enigmatic, look at regret and poverty.

Taking a cue from Japanese directing giant Yasujiro Ozu, Costa’s camera seldom moves, and much of the action comes courtesy of background imagery being obscured by the simple motion of characters naturally moving about the scene. Carrying this style forward, Costa locks us into tiny, cramped visual boxes as we navigate the mazelike corridors of a Portuguese slum. It’s impossible to see the size and scope of this community in its entirety, but if the long and twisting alleyways and the constant din of unseen residents is any indication, it must be sizable and vibrant.

The film begins with a slow, shuffling funeral procession through a dimly lit, yet somehow brightly photogenic backstreet. Marchers emerge from the darkness of the screen’s periphery and into the bright light, only to be swallowed up by the unknown once again. The mourners have an air of barely glimpsed ghosts, a motif that carries throughout the film, both formally and thematically.

As the truth emerges about Vitalina’s husband’s life and revelations are made about her own, the film breaks out of the darkness and into the light, fostering new life chapters and new beginnings. The plot unfolds slowly (perhaps too slowly for some) but its rewards are enriching and empowering. It’s an ode to the working poor, the ones who are left behind and those who persevere no matter the circumstance. Ultimately, Vitalina Varela is a dark film only in the literal sense. Hidden in its bleak and elegant recesses are the brushstrokes of life at its fullest.

REVIEWED BY BRUCE STEELE BCSTEELE@GMAIL.COM

REVIEWED BY JAMES ROSARIO JAMESROSARIO1977@GMAIL.COM

HHS

DIRECTORS: Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis PLAYERS: Brian Cox, Thora Birch DRAMA RATED R

“Why are they publishing this Crier rubbish?” you may be asking. We certainly are. The rest of this edition of Mountain Xpress can’t help but show the tough times WNC is facing. Here’s one little spot in the paper where we offer a bit of levity, to possibly brighten someone’s day, poking a bit of fun at the outrageousness of it all.

MAKE A WISH Since receiving broad emergency powers by Asheville City Council on March 24, Mayor Esther Manheimer has been using her newfound authority solely for good.

Thanks to advice from the Jedi Council, Wizengamot, United Federation of Planets and Minas Tirith, she’s implemented numerous beneficial activities deemed “reasonably necessary to maintain order and protect lives or property” during the COVID-19 state of emergency. A few of her contributions to the city are listed below, complete with mayoral commentary: • Accelerate production of Highland Brewing Co.’s Cold Mountain Winter Ale (“Priorities, people!”)

• Bring back the Asheville Smoke hockey team (“In SEGA Genesis form — for now”).

• Turn City Council meetings into episodes of “The Gong Show” (“For increased efficiency … and entertainment”).

• Get Davaion “Spaceman Jones” Bristol into NASA (“Long time coming, frankly”).

• Put a copy of the classic early ’90s board game Dream Phone in every Asheville teen and tween girl’s home (“So Dan can be your man, too!”).

• Acquire rare first edition NordicTrack, autographed by legendary spokesman Tony Horton (“These arms aren’t going to tone themselves”).

• Fund a VR Bele Chere experience (“The Ultimate Air Dogs, the religious protesters, the inappropriate clothing — it’s like it never left!”).

• Give the Biltmore Estate back to the people (“I might need to check my history on this one, but what the heck?”).

MR. VIRAL MANNERS The Crier is pleased to introduce an advice column for human interaction in a time of social distancing. Your questions [Editor’s note: not really] have been flowing in, along with a massive positive response to this fine subtweet of a newspaper in general [Editor’s note: absolutely false].

We called on the most judgmental member of our staff, Haywood Djaquiddit [Editor’s note: not a real person], to don the mantle of Mr. Manners and hold forth on what is and isn’t appropriate during rare social interactions these days. Send in your queries about life under Stay Home, Stay Safe orders, and he’ll get to the bottom of them right away! [Editor’s note: yeah, please don’t do that. This has already gone far enough.]

Dear Mr. Viral Manners, I recently took a trip to the hardware store for some essential grill tools and a $500 cooler. I paused to look at a display of As Seen on TV products. Just as I turned to resume my browsing, a fellow shopper came barging down my aisle in the opposite direction. Without hesitating, he brushed past me, forcing me to step back to avoid a collision. “Watch out,” he growled. I headed off to find a manager, only then noticing that I had been the one going in the wrong direction, according to the floor arrows.

I knew I had done wrong, but I felt he had, too. Who was right here?

— Putting the A-hole in Ace Dear Ace-hole, The person with the right of way is always the person with the most PPE. If the person in question was wearing a mask, gloves and safety glasses, you should have turned on a dime and backtracked. However, if you were sporting a face shield and surgical shoe booties, he should have tipped his shower cap and stepped aside.

Stay safety, Mr. Viral Manners

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FREEWILL ASTROLOGY ARIES (March 21-April 19): I always hesitate to advise Aries people to slow down, be more deliberate and pay closer attention to boring details. The Rams to whom I provide such counsel may be rebelliously annoyed with me — so much so that they move even faster and with less attention to the details. Nevertheless, I’ll risk offering you this advisory right now. Here’s my reasoning, which I hope will make the prospect more appealing: If you commit to a phase in which you temporarily invoke more prudence, discretion and watchfulness than usual, it will ultimately reward you with a specific opportunity to make rapid progress.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Is there an area of your life where you would like a do-over? A chance to cancel the past and erase lingering messiness and clear a path for who-knows-what new possibility? The coming weeks will be an excellent time to prepare — not to actually take the leap but rather make yourself ready for the leap. You will have God and fate and warm fuzzy vibes on your side as you dare to dream and scheme about a fresh start. Any mistakes you committed once upon a time could become irrelevant as you fantasize practically about a future breakthrough.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In 1855, Gemini-born Walt Whitman published his book of poetry Leaves of Grass. A literary critic named Rufus Wilmot Griswold did not approve. In a review, he derided the work that would eventually be regarded as one of America’s literary masterpieces. “It is impossible to imagine how any man’s fancy could have conceived such a mass of stupid filth,” Griswold wrote, adding that Whitman had a “degrading, beastly sensuality” driven by “the vilest imaginings.” Whitman’s crafty Gemini intelligence responded ingeniously to the criticism. In the next edition of Leaves of Grass, the author printed Griswold’s full review. It helped sell even more books!

I invite you to consider comparable twists and tricks.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): In your efforts to develop a vibrant community and foster a vital network of connections, you have an advantage. Your emotionally rich, nurturing spirit instills trust in people. They’re drawn to you because they sense you will treat them with care and sensitivity. On the other hand, these fine attributes of yours may sometimes cause problems.

Extra-needy, manipulative folks may interpret your softness as weakness. They might try to exploit your kindness to take advantage of you. So the challenge for you is to be your generous, welcoming self without allowing anyone to violate your boundaries or rip you off. Everything I just said will be helpful to meditate on in the coming weeks, as you reinvent yourself for the future time when the coronavirus crisis will have lost much of its power to disrupt our lives.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Now is an excellent time to take inventory of your integrity. You’re likely to get crucial insights if you evaluate the state of your ethics, your authenticity and your compassion.

Is it time to boost your commitment to a noble cause that transcends your narrow self-interest?

Are there ways you’ve been less than fully fair and honest in your dealings with people? Is it possible you have sometimes failed to give your best? I’m not saying that you are guilty of any of those sins.

But most of us are indeed guilty of them, at least now and then. And if you are, Leo, now is your special time to check in with yourself — and make any necessary adjustments and corrections.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): I predict that you will have more flying dreams than usual in the coming weeks — as well as more dreams in which you’re traveling around the world in the company of rebel angels and dreams in which you’re leading revolutionary uprisings of oppressed people against tyrannical overlords and dreams of enjoying eight-course gourmet feasts with sexy geniuses in the year 2022. You may also, even while not asleep, well up with outlandish fantasies and exotic desires. I don’t regard any of these likelihoods as problematical. In fact, I applaud them and encourage them. They’re healthy for you! Bonus: All the wild action transpiring in your psyche may prompt you to generate good ideas about fun adventures you could embark on once the coronavirus crisis has ebbed.

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APRIL 29 - MAY 5, 2020

MARKETPLACE

BY ROB BREZSNY

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): It’s time to work your way below the surface level of things, Libra; to dig and dive into the lower reaches where the mysteries are darker and richer; to marshal your courage as you go in quest of the rest of the story. Are you willing to suspend some of your assumptions about the way things work so as to become fully alert for hidden agendas and dormant potentials?

Here’s a piece of advice: Your fine analytical intelligence won’t be enough to guide you through this enigmatic terrain. If you hope to get face to face with the core source, you’ll have to call on your deeper intuition and nonrational hunches.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): When was the last time you researched the intricacies of what you don’t like and don’t desire and don’t want to become? Now is a favorable time to take a thorough inventory. You’ll generate good fortune for yourself by naming the following truths: 1. goals and dreams that are distractions from your primary mission; 2. attitudes and approaches that aren’t suitable for your temperament and that don’t contribute to your maximum health; 3. people and influences that are not in alignment with your highest good.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky believed that the cleverest people are those who regularly call themselves fools. In other words, they feel humble amusement as they acknowledge their failings and ignorance — thereby paving the way for creative growth. They steadily renew their commitment to avoid being know-it-alls, celebrating the curiosity that such blessed innocence enables them to nurture. They give themselves permission to ask dumb questions! Now is a favorable time for you to employ these strategies.

REAL ESTATE & RENTALS | ROOMMATES | JOBS | SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENTS | CLASSES & WORKSHOPS | MIND, BODY, SPIRIT MUSICIANS’ SERVICES | PETS | AUTOMOTIVE | XCHANGE | ADULT Want to advertise in Marketplace? 828-251-1333 landrews@mountainx.com • mountainx.com/classifieds If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Remember the Russian proverb: “Doveryai, no proveryai,” trust but verify. When answering classified ads, always err on the side of caution. Especially beware of any party asking you to give them financial or identification information. The Mountain Xpress cannot be responsible for ensuring that each advertising client is legitimate. Please report scams to ads@mountainx.com RENTALS APARTMENTS FOR RENT LOVELY 3/2 APARTMENT 1200 Sq. Ft. Duplex. NO STEPS. Near VA Hospital. $1,150. Sorry, no dogs. Available May 1st. 2997502.

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ROOMMATES ROOMMATES NEED A ROOMMATE? Roommates.com will help you find your Perfect Match™ today!

EMPLOYMENT CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): What wonderful improvements and beautiful influences would you love to be basking in by May 1, 2021? What masterpieces would you love to have as key elements of your life by then? I invite you to have fun brainstorming about these possibilities in the next two weeks. If an exciting idea bubbles up into your awareness, formulate a plan that outlines the details you’ll need to put in place so as to bring it to fruition when the time is right. I hereby authorize you to describe yourself with these terms: begetter; originator; maker; designer; founder; producer; framer; generator.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): If I asked you to hug and kiss yourself regularly, would you think I was being too cute? If I encouraged you to gaze into a mirror once a day and tell yourself how beautiful and interesting you are, would you say, “That’s too woo-woo for me.” I hope you will respond more favorably than that, Aquarius. In fact, I will be praying for you to ascend to new heights of self-love between now and May 25. I will be rooting for you to be unabashed as you treat yourself with more compassionate tenderness than you have ever dared to before. And I do mean EVER! PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In the coming weeks, I’d love to see you get excited about refining and upgrading the ways you communicate. I don’t mean to imply that you’re a poor communicator now; it’s just that you’re in a phase when you’re especially empowered to enhance the clarity and candor with which you express yourself. You’ll have an uncanny knack for knowing the right thing to say at the right moment. You’ll generate blessings for yourself as you fine-tune your listening skills. Much of this may have to happen online and over the phone, of course. But you can still accomplish a lot!

MOUNTAINX.COM

GENERAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF EBLEN CHARITIES The Board of Directors is actively seeking an Executive Director to lead Eblen Charities, an Asheville, North Carolina non-profit that has been serving our community since 1991. For details visit www. eblencharities.org TROLLEY TOUR GUIDES If you are a "people person," love Asheville, have a valid Commercial Driver's License (CDL) and clean driving record you could be a great Tour Guide. Full-time and seasonal part-time positions available.

Training provided. Contact us today! 828 251-8687.Info@ GrayLineAsheville. com www.

GrayLineAsheville.com

HUMAN SERVICES HELPMATE SEEKS COURT ADVOCACY COORDINATOR Helpmate, domestic violence agency, seeks Court Advocacy Coordinator. This full-time non-exempt position provides crisis intervention, advocacy and support to victims of domestic violence as well as systems advocacy on behalf of victims. Management experience preferred and at least two

years’ experience in domestic violence or women’s issues/ human services/advocacy/ social justice field required.

E-mail CL and resume to hiring@ helpmateonline.org by COB 4/27/2020.

SAVE BIG ON HOME INSURANCE! Compare 20 A-rated insurances companies. Get a quote within minutes. Average savings of $444/year! Call 844-712-6153! (M-F 8am-8pm Central) (AAN CAN)

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Overnight sleeping shifts. Private bedroom/bathroom.

Clinical supervision offered. Communication skills imperative. Email resume/cover letter to jessica@ emberlodge.com.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

COMPUTER

ANNOUNCEMENTS

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FINANCIAL

LEGAL NOTICES

AUTO INSURANCE STARTING AT $49/ MONTH! Call for your fee rate comparison to see how much you can save! Call: 855569-1909. (AAN CAN)

BOY SCOUT COMPENSATION FUND Anyone that was inappropriately touched by a Scout leader deserves justice and financial compensation! Victims

may be eligible for a significant cash settlement. Time to file is limited. Call Now! 844-896-8216 (AAN CAN) RECENTLY DIAGNOSED WITH LUNG CANCER AND 60+ YEARS OLD? Call now! You and your family may be entitled to a SIGNIFICANT CASH AWARD. Call 844-269-1881 today. Free Consultation. No Risk. (AAN CAN)

MIND, BODY, SPIRIT BODYWORK TRANSFORMATIONAL MASSAGE THERAPY Frank Solomon Connelly [FaceBook] So: with all this craziness [by the way, the opposite of fear is Faith/Hope] going on; I wanted to remind everyone that I do House-Calls.

I come to your nice Clean space, with my very Power-Filled, Mother Nature based Immunity System [and I will never violate anyone! If God/Goddess tells me I am infected; I will Quarantine {but not until then}!] to help you connect to that same God/ Goddess filled connection to help you overcome fear/tension and return to KNOWING God/ Goddess's Got This! And! I only charge $60 for a 1.5 to 2 hour, deeply transforming, massage :) Give me a call at (828) 7072983, and I will do what I can to Help You feel more at Peace. :) Thank You! (828) 707-2983 Creator_of_Joy@Hotmail.com, FB: shorturl.at/qxT07

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celebrating 25 Years!

T H E NEW Y O R K T IM E S C R O S S W O R D P UZ Z L E 1

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1 Tour de France, e.g.

13 Professor in a library, perhaps

5 Sonny Corleone, for one

14 New Testament epistle

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16 Second attempt, informally 17 Laura Dern, in “Little Women” 19 Prelude to a perspective

edited by Will Shortz 20 Creepy-crawly, maybe 21 Made tight 23 Actress Thompson of “Selma” 25 Swipe 26 Big name in Dadaism 27 Where R.N.s are always needed 28 Sarah Drew, on “Grey’s Anatomy” 31 Shorten the sentence, maybe?

34 Hip designs?

35 Ming-Na Wen, on “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” 39 Princess Organa 41 Avowal to a longdistance lover 45 Barbara Billingsley, on “Leave It to Beaver” 49 Santa’s helper?

50 QB blunder: Abbr.

51 Half of a centaur 52 One of the Obamas 54 To-go 56 Golf coup 58 Blind as ___

Puzzle by Laura Taylor Kinnel 59 Chinese appetizers … or a punny description of 17-, 28-, 35and 45-Across 63 Hair on the back of the neck 64 Academic’s “and others” 65 Christmas season 66 Crafts’ companion 67 Go downhill fast 68 Like quiche

DOWN

1 Engine stat 2 In the style of 3 Gets cozy 4 Watson, Willard and Woodhouse 5 Unconscious condition 6 Dr.’s org.

7 Sequel title ender 8 Prepared to respond 9 Camembert cousin 10 Leftover bit 11 Sticks (to) 12 Positive media coverage 14 Title for M.L.K. Jr.

No. 0325

15 Prepare, as oysters or corn 18 Elizabethan, for one 22 Trigonometry symbols for angles 23 Nervous habit 24 Prefix with system 25 Actress Drescher of “The Nanny” 28 ___ ears 29 Canada’s smallest prov.

30 Compensates 32 Friend for Françoise 33 Swell 36 Go in headfirst 37 Mother Bethel ___ Church (Philadelphia congregation since 1794) 38 Soviet space station 39 Energy snack marketed to women 40 Contest hopeful 42 What might give you that nice warm Christmas feeling?

43 Big name in nail polish

52 Team head: Abbr.

53 Single-handedly 55 Waze ways: Abbr.

56 Arthurian heroine 57 ___ Khan 60 Bit of land in the Seine 61 Component of a relay 62 Crafty

44 International powerhouse in women’s soccer 45 Mexican root vegetable popular in salads 46 Relaxed 47 Bursts forth 48 Related to the stars

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS NY TIMES PUZZLE

U M P E D

S O L A R

O R A T E

D A F T

A R E A

G A I N

O K R A

N E W S F L A S H

P E N A L E Y F U L T O A M E D C A R E T E S O F D O R T E F U O N S I E M T A W F R O L K E Y

I N D O

M E E T C F U A T T E A L T E H A U L E S

I N R O A D O A U L B A T N E E S X C I S H T A S T

U S E

P A N S E A R E D

A N T E L O U C M A A L

E M I T

Z I P S

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S H O D

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Take care of yourself and others 828-350-0315 SMOKYPARK.COM

oon s u o y See awn l e h t on

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