Mumpower on Civic Center concert: Drugs bad, Ratdog good

As he pledged to do in an e-mail dispatch last Friday, Asheville City Council member Carl Mumpower made an appearance at the Ratdog/Bob Weir concert at the Civic Center’s Thomas Wolfe Auditorium that evening.

After a relatively brief visit to the venue, Mumpower promptly e-mailed City Manager Gary Jackson to report on the purported drug activity he witnessed in and around the concert. Below, the full text of that e-mail, in which the Council member observed that the auditorium “smelled like an Amsterdam hash bar.”

In addition to noting various apparent instances of drug use, Mumpower also offered his opinion that “the music ‘Ratdog’ was good.”

— Jon Elliston, news editor

______________________________
From: drmumpower@aol.com
To: gjackson@ashevillenc.gov
Sent: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 10:45 PM
Subject: Civic Center Drug Activity

Gary,

I went to the civic center this evening and spent about 15 minutes inside with the intention of observing the reported drug activity that occurs at some concert events. I wanted to share my brief observations-

1) Thomas Wolfe auditorium smelled like an Amsterdam hash bar.
2) In the bathroom I observed a gentleman purchase pills and ingest same from another gentleman with a T-Shirt that said something like “I play for mushrooms”.
3) I observed one person in the back balcony smoking a joint and a group of people sharing a joint on the left side of the auditorium.
4) The music “Ratdog” was good.
5) When I arrived at the civic center there were 6-8 officers standing in the front of the building. Most were in uniform.

I would appreciate the opportunity to sit down with to discuss drug enforcement policies for civic center events.

Thank you,

Carl Mumpower

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About Jon Elliston
Former Mountain Xpress managing editor Jon Elliston is the senior editor at WNC magazine.

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11 thoughts on “Mumpower on Civic Center concert: Drugs bad, Ratdog good

  1. jimi fishstix

    Thanks for the big eye-opener, Carl. Crack in the projects and a few people partying at a watered down ghost of a Dead show…impressive.

    I went to Ratdog, enjoyed the show and saw very little overt drug use actually. I saw fairly obvious police presence, too.

    Wasn’t your goal really to just point out that you do not exclusively haunt the projects and finger African-Americans in your messianic Skirmish on Drugs? So now we all know that white folks like to burn one down,too. Wow.

    Hey, Carl, how DO you know what an Amsterdam hash house smells like? Is it because you went into one? That would be fine, as it would have been LEGAL and all. Keep on truckin’, big guy!

  2. jimi fishstix

    clever retort. Actually it makes far more “sense” than your constant ravings. How do you find the time?

  3. I’ve decided I like Mumpower. Good for him being the lone voice. Also, Brian Freeborn lives in my neighborhood. I hope his house gets toilet papered.

  4. I think it is great that our City Council members are so worldly as to admit that they have been to an Amsterdam hash bar, and to compare our little mountain city to such multi-cultural grandeur.

    Now we can add to the list:
    “Paris of the South”
    “Aspen of the East”
    “Little Amsterdam”

  5. Andrew

    This guy Mumpower really has nothing better to do, apparently. Nevermind, that as a general rule, pot smokers don’t hurt anyone. Nevermind that 85+ percent of the general public has absolutely no problem with marijuana. Speaking of which, when is that 85% going to do away with these officials who are not even working for the people?

    Sure, hippies can be dumb and indiscreet, but they are also harmless. Mumpower is just either jealous or completely out of touch with reality or both. I mean, look at the guy…he’s got to have a boring life.

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