ShareAt the cusp of a new year, most of us pause to reflect on the 12 months just past, in a spirit of celebration or regret, with an eye to improvement or, at least, making different mistakes as we roll on. In the pages that follow, Xpress has collected both the high points and the low from our 51 weekly editions in 2002 -- from stories that won't go away to others that barely made the public radar.
And from all of us at Xpress, Happy New Year!
-- The Editors
"Kudos to Mayor Worley and City Council members Ellis, Jones and Peterson for rejecting Joe Dunn's jingoistic call to ban noncitizens from serving on Asheville's administrative boards. Kudos also to the city attorney, who told Council the truth about the doubtful legality of Dunn's proposal.
"According to the [Asheville Citizens-Times] report of the March 12 meeting, Dunn declared that American soldiers who died on D-Day "didn't get their heads blown off so someone who doesn't belong in this country could be making decisions for them."
"Does he not understand that America is a nation of immigrants?"
- John D. Johnston Jr., Letters, April 4
"I found this statement from the book A Plague of Angels, by Sheri Tepper, to be very apropos for our present state in this country as well as the planet.
"'Often the most terrible struggles take place quietly, behind a screen of normal activity and civility, behind a curtain of diplomacy. In secrecy, in silence, a whole race may be destroyed without notice. Whole cultures and species have been destroyed while men smiled and spoke of economics, of employment, of progress, of the welfare of mankind. Is a threat less deadly because it does not scream and rage and threaten force of arms?'"
-- Maureen Lashlee, Letters, April 10
"We are on the path of separating politics from the people. ...We are failing as a society because we're creating an elitist government" -- Former Asheville mayor Leni Sitnick on campaign finance reform.
-- "The Money Game" by Margaret Williams, April 17
"Our mental-health system is totally ineffective. ... The mentally ill need a chance to be stabilized in the hospital, treated adequately and then referred to community services. To find that the only prescription our state has for the mentally ill is to be thrown out into the street is not only a revelation but an abomination.
"Can our state not do better than this? I am a broken-hearted mother, but you are a city who worries about its homeless people on the street creating an unattractive nuisance. Most of these people are those for whom treatment is available. Can we not provide it?
- Kathy Wallace, Letters, April 17
"David Cohen's cartoon [March 6] depicting Palestinians as rather stupid animals who cannot avoid speeding cars is not funny, just mean. A Palestinian teenager whose future is so bleak that she blows herself up, along with some of the Europeans who have stolen her homeland, should cause some reflection from political commentators, not racist jokes.
Will you drop him if he goes after Jews or African-Americans?"
--Charlie Thomas, Letters, April 24
"Please inform Peter Loewer that his article 'Welcome to Cupcake City!' [Commentary, Jan. 9] was a magnificent summary of issues facing the Asheville area. Although he couched his observations in sarcasm and humor, his points were certainly well taken."
-- Michael R. Harrison, Letters, April 24
"Sometimes people want to hear music just for the fact that they like it. You don't have to dissect it or do any research to find out where it comes from. You just know what you like."
-- Patty Loveless, "Mountain Girl," April 24
"As a man, I was moved and challenged by the 'Men's Pledge to End Sexual Violence.' I appreciate the sensitive and inclusive format of the pledge. Our Voice models that we can create a culture in which men (and of course women) will not tolerate sexual violence.
"I would offer that in addition to pledging to end sexual violence, that as men we can dedicate ourselves to redefine what it is to 'be a man.' We can create a culture where sensitivity, respect, nurturance and the use of nonviolence is as 'manly' as John Wayne was in yesteryear.
"We can also use some of our proclivities more proactively. As an example, we can hone our observational skills to both notice and respect women's boundaries. It is an honor to live amongst the communities of Western North Carolina. We are blessed to have fine organizations like Our Voice and Helpmate that dedicate themselves to ending violence in our community. We have the resources and insight to affirm that there is nothing as strong as gentleness, and nothing as gentle as real strength."
-- David Miller, Letters, April 24
"Lay Vicar Brian Cole believes that every aspect of creation is sacred, to the point of saying that 'to separate who I am as a person of faith from the natural world is to do a dance that's not sustainable.' Water, he says, is a key element in his ministry at the Church of the Advocate (a congregation for the homeless in downtown Asheville), a way of 'honoring the goodness and holiness of creation.'
"'Within the Christian tradition," notes Cole, "the most common of all things we have in the world -- water -- can also be the most sacred. The sacrament of baptism demonstrates in concrete form that the spiritual and the ecological foundations of life are one.' For him, in the profoundly simple act of offering a cup of cold water to someone in need, the water itself becomes "an agent of service, an agent of compassion."
-- "Pristine Water, Turbid Politics" by Mickey Mahaffey, April 24
"If [Ryan Adams'] Gold is on fire, then [Caitlin] Cary's record smolders like a cigarette dropped on an antique sofa."
-- "Silver Lining" by Melanie McGee, April 24
"New resident Julie Furdyna mentions that her friends couldn't understand why she wanted to move to West Asheville.
'There's going to be a renaissance,' Furdyna recalls telling them. 'And now it's happening,' she emphasizes."
-- "Grassroots Revival" by Tracy Rose, April 24
"Many people are dissatisfied with rigid religion. ... Spirituality should not teach by the means of anxiety. We believe, ultimately, everyone will be 'saved' -- everyone will come to the same conclusion."
-- Prithu Das, Hare Krishna teacher, "Pioneering Faith," May 1
"I'd like to express my deep sympathy for the family of Michele Curran, the young woman killed in a high-speed police chase on April 14. I'd also like to share my own experience with a high-speed chase by the Asheville City Police.
"One evening last November, my 9-year-old daughter and I stepped into our car, which was parked beside our street. Within seconds, we heard sirens and then screeching brakes. Our car was slammed and crushed by a car being chased by six or more police cars. Miraculously, we were unhurt ...
"The police told me they had to pursue the driver of the car because she was driving recklessly and endangering lives. She was driving recklessly and endangering lives because they continued to chase her! I pleaded with them then to look at the crushed side of my car and realize how close my daughter came to being killed that night. Now someone else doesn't have that luxury. Her daughter has been killed.
"Forty percent of all police chases end in car crashes, which kill almost 300 people each year. Most of those people are innocent bystanders. Many communities have adopted vehicle-intercept programs as alternatives to these deadly chases. It is time for this community to let the Asheville Police Department and the State Highway Patrol know our concern about this matter."
-- Kathy Sheldon, Letters, May 1
"Holding the right hand corner of the WILPF banner, I looked to my right to a line of seven Arab men walking behind a leader who was reciting a rather long chant to which they responded with another long chant. I tapped the shoulder of the man next to me and asked him what he was saying. He paused, then decided on the short translation for international understanding: 'God is good.'
"The estimates were that we were between 75,000 and 100,000 people that Saturday in April in Washington, expressing our hopes for peace, our outrage against the killing.
"We were only a tiny percentage of the American people, but surely there are many more who know in their hearts that killing one another by any means is not 'SMART.' Perhaps soon all the people will carry their testimony out of the churches and temples and mosques and into the streets. Perhaps the next march will stop on Constitution Avenue as the Moslems roll out their prayer rugs, face Mecca and pray.
"Perhaps we will all join them."
-- "From the Front Lines" by Elizabeth Eames Roebling, May 1
"Do we pass laws in anticipation of a public-safety concern or because there really is one? Passing yet another petty ordinance or invoking police powers against the dreaded menace of panhandlers surely signals a kind of moral bankruptcy in terms of concern for these people's welfare, as well as a general lack of compassion for all living beings"
-- Milton Ready, Letters, May 8
"It's hard to call yourself an environmentalist if you're driving an automobile."
-- Author Jane Holtz, "It's in the Air,", May 8
"This past winter, it seemed that nearly everyone in Asheville -- from Sadie Funderburk in West Asheville to Police Chief Will Annarino to City Council member Joe Dunn -- was suddenly discovering a plethora of panhandlers. Chief Annarino maintained that 'these people' -- that is, panhandlers -- were responsible for backing up traffic and stopping cars 'at our busiest intersections.' His concern, he said, centered on public safety. 'We don't want to come to you after someone gets hurt,' he lectured City Council, 'asking you to adopt' an ordinance prohibiting the solicitation of 'money, employment, business or a ride from ... motorists within the city limits.'
"Council member Dunn flashed stacks of Polaroid(tm) pictures depicting trash and makeshift campsites near Tunnel Road, allegedly the work of roadside solicitors. In our city leaders' outrage and indignation over panhandlers, however, they have succumbed to the temptation of assuming the mantle of saintliness, in whose name they have themselves panhandled the public.
"The whole deal smacks of cheap moral swagger. The recently elected City Council wasted little time in hastening to eliminate panhandling (admittedly a nuisance and an eyesore for the community) while retreating and procrastinating on much tougher decisions about zoning, city services, development, annexation and the budget -- issues that affect the very soul of Asheville and environs."
-- "Panhandling the Public" by Milton Ready, May 8
"When I was a little girl, my mother had a rose garden, with rows of decadent blossoms and enough thorns to scrape the legs of many "children.
In the summertime, every two weeks, men came to spray them. The sight of them out there with their backpacks and face masks made me hide behind my striped curtains.
"The spray left a white residue all over the roses, and they stank for days, as if a giant mechanical cat had taken a big poisonous [leak] on them.
"This rose garden wavers chemically in my mind and is the enigmatic source of my most beautiful nightmares.
-- Valorie Miller, Letters, May 8
"I no longer have to spell it out for my audience...The role of the spokesman isn't to educate, it's to congregate."
-- Singer-songwriter Michelle Shocked, "The Gospel According to Michelle Shocked" by Alli Marshall, May 15
"Did you know that Wal-Mart is planning to test-market irradiated meat in its superstores? This is a process where food is exposed to high levels of radiation in order to kill bacteria and extend its shelf life. But, see, irradiation really serves to mask corporate meat-processing practices that leave meat contaminated with fecal matter and other nasty stuff. Oh sure, it may kill the bacteria and such, but you and your family are still eating food treated with radiation.
"Furthermore, no one really knows the health impact of eating irradiated food, since most of the research dates from before 1980. What we do know is that unique radiolytic products are created by this process and that testing has never been done to determine if these products are safe for human consumption.
"We also know that foods that have been exposed to radiation have less nutritional value. Some lose up to 20 percent of vitamins A, C, E and B. Because irradiation breaks down the foods' cell walls, accelerated vitamin losses of up to 80 percent occur during storage."
-- Jeff Callahan, Letters, May 15
In the [May 8] commentary "Panhandling the Public,' Dr. Milton Ready provided us with an articulate view of the panhandling issue in Asheville. His gifts of insight and word-crafting were clearly in evidence. Unfortunately, in accusing the City Council of 'cheap moral swagger,' Dr. Ready may have lessened the credibility of his reflections.
Dr. Ready notes that the Council "wasted little time in hastening to eliminate panhandling' while "retreating and procrastinating on much tougher decisions about zoning, city services, development, annexation and the budget." I am not sure where these conclusions originated, but the view is dramatically different on this side of the table. The ordinance passed was not Council-initiated, and it served only to address the issue of predatory panhandling on city streets and roadways. Anyone who has spent a little time downtown of late will note that the dubious freedom to panhandle is alive and well."
-- Carl Mumpower, Letters, May 22
"I am the 'general public. Having moved to the mountains of Western North Carolina one year ago from Charleston, S.C., I've so enjoyed discovering WNCW. Plus, the venues here are sophisticated without snobbery and feature regional sound better than any other locale I've resided in (seven states in 25 years).
"An early riser, my favorite WNCW program was one on Saturday mornings with host Alan Tinney -- what a voice! Soon, my family and I were following other shows.
"Why on earth would the station dismiss such on-air talents as Tinney, Bill Buchinski and Linda Osbon? The direct and immediate result of an inadequate management structure [implies] to the listening base that this station doesn't care/respond to them -- that the actual infrastructure is out of touch.
"This station is obviously in serious trouble. The people deserve better than this."
-- Jann V. Welch, Letters, May 22
"Sadly, it seems that in America at the dawn of the 21st century, the love of money has prevailed. We, as a people, have forgotten that much of the mass-organized civil disobedience mounted by the American colonists 15 years before the beginning of their armed revolt against Great Britain in 1776 was directed against three multinational corporations chartered by the British crown: the Massachusetts Bay Company, which controlled the colony of Massachusetts; the Hudson Bay Company, which controlled the colony of New York; and the East India Tea Company, which controlled much of the American colonies' food distribution (and in whose honor the Boston Tea Party was held in 1773)."
-- "Beyond the Big Box" by Rebecca Em Campbell, May 22
"We sold our livelihood. We trusted the government to do what was right -- it sounds funny even saying it. We spent half a million [dollars] and ... were ordered to walk away with nothing to show for it -- after 55 years of serving the community."
-- Barry Lee, WZLS-FM's former general/sales manager, recalling the loss of his family's radio station in a bidding war complicated by a federal about-face on how new frequencies are awarded, in "The 800-Pound Gorilla,", June 5.
"Eight lanes is not progressive. Eight lanes is failure."
-- Veronika Gunter, offering opposition to widening I-240 at a Transportation Advisory Committee public hearing, in "Speaking Out,", June 19
"But proponents such as Mac Swicegood, urged: 'We strongly encourage you to vote for the eight lanes, and we would encourage even more lanes." [The Transportation Advisory Committee later recommended eight lanes.]
-- Mac Swicegood, president of the Council of Independent Business Owners, addressing the same public hearing as Veronika Gunter, in "Speaking Out,", June 19.
"I'm a gal who hated civics class in high school, but now I understand enough about politics to know that if you (yes, you) don't speak up, the political machine rolls right along without you --and sometimes, over you like a Blaw-Knox PF-161 (that's the city's paving machine). You say we need jobs ... but would you want a Super Wal-Mart next door along the Swannanoa River? You say you support affordable housing ... but you don't want so much as a duplex on your street? You don't want the city or county to raise taxes ... so which program or service do you want cut so the potholes on your street are fixed and the law comes when you call?
"To citizens, governments and businesses alike: Quit guarding your turf so doggedly that you ruin things for the rest of us."
-- "Sayanora Xpress" by Margaret Williams, June 19
"I suspect, as I have been told, that the new station management had no use for the show in their aspirations to become a regional and national contender in the NPR arena. I am surely not capable of satellite uplinks or DAT recordings from my basement of records and a 40-year-old turntable. Times seem to have changed along with the music, and $20 only goes so far these days. A good 78 record needle will run you nearly a hundred dollars, if you can even find one.
"Needless to say, I saw the writing on the wall. With one demand too many and the breaking of a 13-year agreement with no discussion at all, I told WNCW that I would no longer be able to provide Country Music Classics. I would again like to thank all my listeners and tell you how sorry I am that this has happened."
-- Joe Bussard, Letters, June 19
"[Prisoners] draw on paper bags using ballpoint pens -- incredibly, finely detailed illustrations of everything from ancient Mayan culture to modern prison life. They swab the dye from M&Ms and the pages of magazines to paint vibrant scenes on 10-cent panuelos (the handkerchiefs of choice of incarcerated gang members). They stack endless toothpicks to build enormous models of ships and boats. They create fine art and craft using the coarsest materials imaginable."
-- "The Brotherhood of Invention" by Cindy Burda, June 26 (and later picked up by Utne Reader and published on the magazine's Web site)
"If an eight-lane highway is built through Asheville, history will someday make it clear that the decision was made not by the citizens, but by special interests, including an influence-peddling DOT, short-sighted business people and a few scurrilous politicians"
-- Mountain Xpress Editorial, "Duped,", June 26
"The Asheville City Council has failed a crucial litmus test of leadership and, in so doing, has dealt dishonestly with the voters.
"Whether or not you approve of the N.C. Department of Transportation's idea of building an eight-lane highway through the heart of West Asheville, the fact is that six out of seven current members of City Council ran for office with clearly stated positions opposing an eight-lane highway through town -- but when the time came to vote their position, three refused, hiding behind procedural objections and claims that their positions on the highway-widening are only personal ...
"Every member of Council has publicly stated their opposition to limiting the design phase of the project to eight lanes. Moreover, during their run for office, six of the seven positioned themselves firmly in the six-lane camp -- and in so doing, secured the votes of people who trusted them to keep their promise.
"Those voters appear to have been double-crossed."
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