Day: November 28, 2007
Asheville City Council
With Thanksgiving looming, a short agenda for the Asheville City Council’s Nov. 20 meeting seemed par for the course. But a last-minute surprise did slide onto the evening’s agenda—a proposal to convert the city’s bus fleet to hybrid vehicles. Fair and square: The Pack Plaza renovation project got the funding it needs for completion — … Read more
Buncombe County Commissioners
In a short meeting just before the Thanksgiving holiday, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved tougher storm-water rules. Monkey on his back: During public comment, Eric Gorney appeared with a stuffed animal — which he named “Buncombe County Taxes, Regulations and Red Tape Bureaucracy.” Commissioner David Young was compelled to comment that “that’s … Read more
One more silver dollar
In a Nov. 14 raid in Evansville, Ind., FBI agents seized gold, silver, platinum and other materials used to manufacture the Liberty Dollar, a private currency produced by Liberty Services and marketed through a series of regional offices. But it was an extensive investigation of the Asheville office by undercover federal agents that resulted in … Read more
Planting the seeds
Glancing out a picture window in his office at The North Carolina Arboretum, George Briggs notices how the clouds rolling over the mountain landscape create a constantly shifting tapestry of colors. “I believe that the environment a person is in has an influence on the decisions that are made,” he remarks. High hopes: Cheryl McMurry … Read more
The Green Scene
Tracking N.C.‘s carbon footprint A new online database called Carbon Monitoring for Action could prove to be a powerful tool for activists who are pushing companies and policy-makers to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Available at no cost to users, the easy-to-navigate database displays information about how much carbon dioxide individual power plants, utilities and geographic regions … Read more
Asheville “punk houses” gone, but immortalized
“I never hung out at any squat really, though Sonic Youth did play at one or two on our first European tours,” remembers Sonic Youth front man Thurston Moore in Punk House: Interiors in Anarchy (Abrams Image, 2007). Moore edited the book, which was just released. “My experience with that scene is that it was … Read more
Council write-ins: What were you people thinking?
In political elections that allow voters to choose a write-in candidate, the inner wag in all of us is apt to awaken. The idea is to allow voters the opportunity to eschew the conventional, balloted candidates and exercise their rights as Americans to, by God, pick whomever they damn well please. The people have spoken: … Read more
