The Appalachian
TheAppalachianOnline.com
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Vol. 86 No. 18
Governor Perdue announces Solar Homestead Day by KELLI STRAKA Senior News Reporter
Governor Beverly Perdue attended a reception at the Appalachian House Friday, signing a proclamation declaring Oct. 28 as Appalachian State University Solar Homestead Day in North Carolina. “I was amazed and proud back in July when I saw what our ASU students were working on,” Perdue said during the reception. “So it didn’t come as a surprise to me when you beat both American and international universities as the People’s Choice in the Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon, or that your Solar
Homestead was a top contender, winning second place in the communications contest and third for architecture.” Dave Lee, Appalachian graduate and Solar Homestead communications coordinator, attended the ceremony as well. “I gave her a big hug,” Lee said. “This was the second time I met her. I got to show her around the headquarters and give her a tour when she first came to visit but yeah, I was nervous. It was a big deal.” Perdue met with the Solar Homestead team twice before the ceremony, once at Hardin Park Elementary School and once at the Solar Decathlon Headquarters. It was
her experience at the headquarters that really attracted her attention to the team, Lee said. “I think from her being there firsthand and seeing what we were doing and seeing how it really relates to the state’s goals – I think that made her realize the importance of it,” Lee said. For the Solar Homestead team and Perdue, it wasn’t the awards that made the project worth it. Rather, they appreciated the university’s opportunity to compete and represent sustainability at Appalachian. “I’m not just proud of what you’ve accomplished – designing and constructing this project – I’m also proud of how you
demonstrated the incredible spirit of North Carolina,” Perdue said. “You made the project come together on your own. You partnered with the private sector to raise funds, while other projects depended on government sponsorship.” Lee said he hopes Solar Homestead Day’s celebration will preserve the project’s mission in the future. “Hopefully, by everybody coming out and seeing the solar homestead wherever it is, bringing attention back to the house and making sure its original mission, which is to educate and inform the public, is still going on,” he said.
F.A.R.M. Café to debut in place of Boone Drug lunch counter by ANNE BUIE
Senior News Reporter
by MEGHAN FRICK Associate Editor, Editorial Content
A
fter 92 years on King Street, the Boone Drug lunch counter will close in December, making room for the Feeding All Regardless of Means (F.A.R.M.)
Café. The café is part of One World Everybody Eats, a national organization designed to relieve hunger at the local level. Under the nonprofit’s business model, diners can pay for their meal via donations or volunteer time at the restaurant, or they can choose not to pay for their meal. “Essentially it’s called a community kitchen, which is not a soup kitchen,” board member Linda Coutant said. “A soup kitchen might just be where you hand out free food to indigent people. But a community kitchen, on the other hand, is where everybody eats together.” Staffing and support for the café will be mostly volunteerbased, according to a press release. The organization will seek student support at an interest meeting in Plemmons Student Union’s McCrae Peak Room, to be held Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 5:30 p.m. “It’s easily accessible for students and it’s a good cause because it gives people who can’t pay for food the opportunity to give back by volunteering,” said Molly Thompson, senior public relations major and F.A.R.M. Café media relations liaison. “It’s a great way for students to help relieve hunger in Boone.” Although the closing of the lunch counter marks a new beginning for the community, it’s also an ending for its employees – including two Appalachian State University students. Junior appropriate technology major Ethan Hardin and senior history major Adam Frazier have worked at the historic drugstore’s lunch counter for over a year. Both said working at Boone Drug was a less-than-typical college work experience. “It has helped me get to know what people outside the college campus are like and see the locals and get to know them,” Hardin said. “It’s good experience to not just know the college crowd. There are a lot of opportunities to plug into the Appalachian community, but not a lot of chances to plug into the Boone community. So that’s been cool.” Although Frazier is disappointed about losing his job, he said he’s more upset for the women who have “devoted their lives” to the restaurant. “I like working with these women,” he said. “It’s a different perspective than just working with college students.” Hardin said that although the lunch counter has been consistently understaffed, it has helped him draw closer to his coworkers. “I don’t think I’ve had a work family that works as well as we do,” he said. “I’m going to miss the place, that’s for sure. I’m mostly going to miss the people I work with.”
Madelyn Rindal | The Appalachian
Junior appropriate technology major Ethan Hardin cleans tables at the Boone Drug lunch counter. Replacing the counter with the F.A.R.M. Café will cost Hardin and other employees their jobs when the space transitions in Dec.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE F.A.R.M. CAFE? “I’m glad that something like that with a humanitarian vision of food service is going to be coming. I hope that they do well.” - Ethan Hardin, Boone Drug employee and junior appropriate technology major
“It’ll be nice for impoverished people – or the poor college students.” - Adam Frazier, Boone Drug employee and senior history major
“The concept of F.A.R.M. Café is a good one and the benefits of that will prove to be positive. The atmosphere… will prove to be similar to Boone Drug – friendly, family-type atmosphere and a sense of community.” - Scottie Prevost, Boone Drug employee
Student political involvement encouraged at Inform Yosef debate Tuesday, university political organizations square off on issues by ANNE BUIE
Senior News Reporter
Appalachian State University’s College Democrats and College Republicans clashed on a variety of topics at the Inform Yosef debate Tuesday night. Alpha Phi Alpha hosted the event, which covered topics ranging from budget cuts to Amendment One to Occupy Wall Street. “I got some new perspectives on both sides because I’ve never really paid too much attention to politics,” said Eric Eberspeaker, freshman management major. Freshman Betsy Broussard shared Eberspeaker’s opinion. “I’m learning more about the current issues that are going on right now,” Broussard said. In fact, many students said they found the debate illuminating and that, organizers said, was the point. “Making sure people are educated – that is the key, because you can’t make a vote if you’re not educated,” said senior Glenn Stedman, moderator and president of the Pi Nu chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha. Another goal of the debate was to encourage students to vote in the local election next week. “We don’t care who you vote for, just go out and vote,” said Alex Stanley, a senior psychology major and College Democrats
Hank Shell | The Appalachian
College Democrats President Lia Poteet (L) and College Republicans member Wes Gwinn (R) speak during Tuesday night’s debate. The event covered a range of political and social topics with the purpose of informing students and inspiring political discussion.
member. The last debate between the College Democrats and College Republicans happened during the 2008 presidential election. ”We knew we had a local election coming up a month or two after we had the idea and we thought that this would be a good way to get people involved in the politics,” Stanley said. Junior Lia Poteet agreed. “That’s why we really wanted this debate to be before elections – for exactly that reason, to encourage students to actively participate,” said the junior, a political science major and president of the College Democrats.
Poteet viewed the debate as a chance to prove that Republicans and Democrats can have civil discourse. “Politics doesn’t have to be a taboo subject filled with anger. It’s something we can talk about without animosity, it’s something we can still talk about while respecting each other’s opinions and each other,” she said. Nate Wright, junior business management and marketing major and chairman of the College Republicans, agreed with Poteet. “At the end of the day, we can still collaborate on something even though we have different philosophies,” Wright said.
Boone Brewing Company gets help from PR students by CATHERINE HAITHCOCK News Reporter
Five Appalachian State University students are working to bring a microbrewery – not currently permitted within town limits – to Boone. The students, public relations majors taking a senior capstone course, are assisting Boone Brewing Company in its attempt to relocate to the town. Todd Rice and Jeff Walker started the company – the brewery behind beers like Blowing Rock High Country Ale – in 2005. Although currently located in Vilas, they have been trying to relocate to Boone as long as they’ve had the opportunity to do so, group member Robert Wallace said. Currently, zoning restrictions and other town ordinances prohibit prospective breweries from locating within town limits. “North Carolina has more microbreweries than any state in the south,” Wallace said. “Bringing one here would just continue to help tourism, accumulate more income for the town and bring more jobs.” The group – public relations major Wallace, senior public relations and journalism major Stephen Efird, senior public relations major April Barrs and senior public relations major Emily Furfaro – meet with the brewery’s owners each Thursday morning to brainstorm ideas.
“Our whole goal as PR representatives is that there is a big misconception that people have been thinking for a long time regarding the Boone Brewing Company,” Wallace said. “I think the locals began to think that this company had no intention on bringing a microbrewery to Boone and no connection with the local area but instead were trying to exploit the name – which is far from true.” The group’s main approach involves utilizing social media. “When we started working for them, they had 64 followers on Facebook,” Efird said. “Now, we have almost 180.” Rice and Walker have been working closely with the Boone Town Council to take appropriate steps to revise the Unified Development Ordinance to accommodate microbreweries and craft breweries, Wallace said. “Zoning laws are changing now, so the company can probably locate into Boone within the next year and a half to two years,” Efird said. Wallace and the group, who anticipate working with the brewery into the spring semester, said the project has brought valuable professional experience. “Working with these guys has been great,” Wallace said. “For the first time in a job setting, I feel like our opinion as a group matters and it is the respected opinion. They actually are taking in our input and utilizing our ideas.”