Asheville Daily Planet for September 2018

Forensic audit?

Caution urged

Dirty Dancing gala? Truly hot

New dorms: Fire concerns

See STORY, Pg. A6

— See REVIEW, Pg. B1

— See STORY Pg. A2

LLE I V HE AS ASHEVILLEʼS GREATEST NEWSPAPER

September 2018 Vol. 14, No. 10

An Independent Newspaper Serving Greater Asheville www.ashevilledailyplanet.com FREE

Newman reviews priorities, audit/probe

Tryon to host World Equestrian Games

By JOHN NORTH

john@AshevilleDailyPlanet.com

An update on Buncombe County’s strategic priorities, as well as an assessment of the federal investigation of an alleged kickback scheme and other legal issues stemming from Wanda Greene and other former county officals, were addressed by Brownie Newman, chairman of the county Board of Commissioners at an early-morning breakfast meeting of the Council of Independent Business Owners on a rainy Aug. 3.

He began his address by noting that, earlier this year, the commissioners adopted six strategic priorities, including, among others, increasing affordable housing, expanding childhood education and addressing the opioid epidemic.

“Before going into these initiatives, I’d like to say a few words about the investigation of former County Manager Wanda Greene,” Newman said. “It’s sort of the elephant in the room. It is overshadowing much good work that is being done by the county.

“Just about 12 months ago, an internal audit flagged several county purchases, as the county manager was retiring. I referred this to the county attorney, who referred it to the SBI (State Bureau of Investigation).

“That investigation has led to multiple allegations against Wanda Greene and her son Michael.

“This is really an unprecedented situation.

“We usually can work under the assumption that county employees are people of integrity. Unfortunately, in this case, that was not the case.”

In the aftermath, Newman said, “The commission has capped bonuses for all county employees to $1,000.

“The suit has been successful in bringing back to Buncombe County (the sum of) $2 million.

What’s more, Newman said, “Michael Greene has pleaded guilty against charges against him” in court.

See EDWARDS, Page A12

Photos from TRYON INTERNATIONAL CENTER website

Above is the Tryon International Equestrian Center, located in Mill Spring, which was built recently at a cost of about $100 million. It will play host to the 14day FEI World Equestrian Games, which will be held Sept. 11-23. A projected 300,000 to 400,000 people are projected to attend the event, which is known as the “Olympics” for horses. To the right is a rider and horse practicing for the upcoming competition.

See story on Page B1

It’s a matter of too mush information The Advice Goddess Amy Alkon

Q: My friend was dying to tell her new boyfriend she loves him but waited till he said it first. She, in fact, makes that a rule. Now I have a new boyfriend. Should I just shamelessly own my feelings -- that is, tell him I love him? Or should I follow my friend’s lead?

— Hating Waiting Want to know the answer? See ADVICE GODDESS, Page A14

Embrace ‘racial equity’ as way forward, 2 speakers urge The final Leadership Asheville Buzz Breakfast of the summer featured two speakers addressing the theme of “Racial Equity: How Do We Embrace It?” at Crowne Plaza Resort’s Expo Center on Aug. 22.

The first to speak was Darin Waters, an associate professor of history and executive director for community engagement at UNC Asheville. He teaches courses in American, North Carolina, Appalachian, African-American and Brazilian history, specializing in the history of race relations in the U.S. and Latin America.

He also is the co-host of “The Waters and Harvey Show,” broadcast weekly on Asheville-based Blue Ridge Public Radio.

The other speaker was Kimberlee Archie, the City of Asheville’s equity and inclusion manager. She was appointed a year ago as the city’s first-ever equity and inclusion manager. Her prior posts included family support director for the Unity Way of King County in Seattle, Wash., and deputy director of the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.

The Buzz Breakfast series, presented each summer by Leadership Asheville, highlights what it calls important issues, new initiatives and new leaders making an impact on the region.

Leadership Asheville, a program of UNCA, bills itself as engaging “participants in collaborative community leadership

projects, providing personal leadership development and community education and orientation. Many of Asheville’s civic and business leaders are Leadership Asheville alumni.”

The program began with a three-minute video that made the point that “we all have to do our work so that we can be free together.”

Waters began by noting, “I want to begin as a historian with these words that you see on the screen.” He quoted from the Declaration of the 13 United States of America: “‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness....’”

See ‘Racial Equity,’ Page A2

A2 - September 2018 - Asheville Daily Planet

‘Racial equity’

The architectal rendering above shows The Woods, UNCA’s new dormitories.

Safety concerns trigger order to close new dorms at UNCA; agreement reached for reopening

From Staff Reports An agreement was reached between UNC Asheville and the North Carolina Department of Insurance, allowing The Woods, five newly constructed UNCA dorms that were deemed by the agency as uninhabitable on late Aug. 16, to reopen late night Aug. 17.

The agreement includes parking for NCDOI’s own designated fire truck and dorm room for four firefighters to bunk with students free of charge.

UNC Asheville Chancellor Nancy J. Cable announced in a news release sent around 10:30 p.m. Aug. 17 that UNCA had reached an agreement with the NCDOI after

the latter’s suddenly ordered closure of the dorms just as students were moving in on Aug. 16, citing safety concerns.

The NCDOI detailed concerns that included potentially blocked stairwells that would be needed in the case of a fire, wood construction as part of firewalls and attic space lacking sprinklers.

About 300 upperclassmen were signed up to live in the new facility before classes began Aug. 20. Dozens of students already had arrived on campus or moved into the dorms by the time the NCDOI released its ruling, Cable said, and many spent the night in hotels as officials worked to resolve the issue.

O T K BACHOOL SC CIAL SPE

Continued from Page A1 Waters said all of his talk “was based on this (The Declaration’s ideas) and how well have we gotten to it.”

“Over my years as a historian and as a professor in a classroom, I have fallen in love with original documents. “(Thomas) Jefferson, who was very optimistic about the future of the country, wrote in a letter: ‘Having sucked in the principles of liberty as if it was his mother’s milk, it is to the rising generation, not to the one in power.

A change is already perceptible. In 1782, his optimism was interesting.”

However, Waters noted, “In 1820, in a letter to another friend” Jefferson wrote that “I regret that when I am now to die, the belief” in America’s founding principles “is not held by the unworthy sons” of the nation’s founders.

Next, Waters said, “I want to read briefly from President Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address, ‘“Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.”

Waters explained that “Lincoln had grown tired of this war (Civil War) … Somehow he knew that slavery was the reason for the war,” stating that “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

Then Waters referred to a document in 1866 — just after the Civil War ended — from freed slave Bailey Wyatt, regarding what he thought of the war.

“We now as a people desire to be elevated, and we desires to do all we can to be educated, and we hope our friends will aid us all they can,” Wyatt wrote. “I may state to all our friends and to all our enemies that we has a right to the stand where we are located. Why? I’ll tell you. Our wives, our children, our husbands has been sold over and over again to

purchase the lands we now locates upon. For that reason, we have a divine right to the land.”

Waters asserted that “Wyatt didn’t need to read John Locke… He called it the divine right— the labor theory of value. In Bailey Wyatt we have a lot of what happened with Reconstruction.”

At that point, Waters asserted, “I’ll end by quoting rocker Bruce Springstein: ‘The past is never the past. It is always present. And you better reckon with it in your life and in your daily experience, or it will get you. It will get you really bad.’”

The second speaker, Archie, began with the oft-quoted observation: “The truth will set you free… but first it will piss you off!”

She then noted that her “brief bio” in the Leadership Asheville promo “did not really” portray who she is.

“I am a black woman who grew up in a multiculture environment in the South — the south end of Seattle, Washington.

“From high school, I was bused across town to north Seattle, which was and still is, predominately white.

“I was on a cheerleading squad that was equally mixed.

“I grew up with friends who were white and other cultures.

“I grew up as many rock songs as R&B (rhythm-and-blues) songs.

“My childhood prepared me to be a world citizen who respected a variety of global cultures,” Archie said.

“But I didn’t learn about living in an inequitable culture till my adulthood.

“I didn’t realize that I was living where I was was the result of red-lining.

“I didn’t understand the importance of James Brown… ‘Say it loud, I’m black and I’m proud,’” until reaching adulthood.

“Once I learned about racial inequities, I was pissed,” Archie asserted.

See ‘RACIAL EQUITY,’ Page A12

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A4 - September 2018 - Asheville Daily Planet

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Asheville Daily Planet — September 2018 - A5

Asheville’s Curate listed among 40 most important U.S. eateries

Curate is a Spanish tapas restaurant

From Staff Reports Curate, a Spanish tapas restaurant located at 13 Biltmore Avenue in Asheville, recently won the distinction of being included on the Food & Wine magazine list of the “40 Most Important Restaurants of the Past 40 Years,” which was released in mid-August .

The coveted listing puts Curate, which opened seven years ago, in a class that is considered by to be a veritable who’s who of the U.S. culinary landscape.

Top restaurant names included on the list are Alinea, Canlis, Momofuku Noodle Bar and the iconic Commander’s Palace.

“Critics laud the restaurant’s smart tapas list, which borrows heavily from Spanish tradition and infuses it

with Appalachian ingredients,” the Asheville Citizen Times reported. “The beverage program and service are virtually unparalleled in Asheville. None of that has gone unnoticed.”

In a Facebook posting, chef and co-owner Katie Button wrote that, for her and her family, “It is surreal for us to be included in this list surrounded by those we admire so much.” Button recently welcomed a second child.

“Our teams work so hard and have so much passion,” she said, adding, “it feels great to see them recognized.”

She also noted the gratitude she shares with her husband Felix Meana, who is co-owner and service and beverage director, for the local support of the vision that they have made manifest in Cúrate and Nightbell, located at 32 S. Lexington Ave.

Curate’s chef Katie Button

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A6 — September 2018 - Asheville Daily Planet

Forensic audit push meets resistance from officials From Staff Reports

The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners on Aug. 21 was cautioned by its chair, Brownie Newman, against formulating policies with language too restrictive because, he said, nobody would have imagined some of the things coming out of the current federal investigation involving former county officials.

At the regularly scheduled meeting, Larry Harris, a CPA and chair of the county’s Audit Committee, commented on Commissioner Jasmine Beach-Ferrara’s push for a forensic audit.

To that end, he recommended waiting until the two audits currently underway were completed. Forensic audits are very expensive, and they can continue for years, Harris said, adding that it would be up to the commissioners to define the depth and breadth of the endeavor.

While reiterating that beginning a third audit at this time, was not recommended, Harris said the federal investigators are still likely to uncover more crimes, and Commissioner Al Whitesides explained that the investigators were pursuing crimes, but new discoveries could open up additional areas of interest to the commissioners that fell short of prosecutable offenses.

The problem with starting before the annual audit was complete was that the third audit might introduce more delays, Harris noted. Every time the federal investigators discover an “event,” the county is having to adjust its internal controls, which the annual auditors are assessing, to protect against the newly discovered risks, he said.

The county already was almost assured of missing the Oct. 31 deadline for the annual audit, and it may not meet the Dec. 31 extension deadline. If that happens, the Securities Exchange Commission and Local Government Commission would step in and see if the county can continue selling bonds and receiving grants.

Commissioner Mike Fryar, a Republican, claimed the push for an audit is purely political. He advised waiting until a more appropriate time.

While Beach-Ferrara, a Democrat, had called for the audit, many in the audience — and those who spoke about the matter were Republicans — accused her of using the ongoing investigation as a cause célèbre.

The federal investigation has rounded up former county leadership. According to a tally in the Asheville Citizen Times, former county manager Wanda Greene faces 105

Wanda Greene Michael Greene Mandy Stone Jon Creighton counts of fraud, three counts of money laundering, six agers and Wiseman. It is already suing Greene and her son. counts of misstatements on a tax return, and one count of To date, the county has recovered $2 million from the insurreceiving bribes and kickbacks. ance company that, having been misled by the former county What’s more, both former assistant managers, Mandy manager, cooperated in the insurance scam. Greene reportedly Stone and Jon Creighton, have been accused of 31 counts had obtained commissioner approval for purchasing the life of fraud and one count of receiving bribes and kickbacks, insurance policies by misrepresenting the appropriation as each. With what has been exposed to date, each could face going toward a wrongful imprisonment settlement. up to 580 years in prison.

The county is also seeking $950,000 from Greene In the latest indictment, the three managers were accused herself for inappropriate purchases with taxpayer dollars. of taking junkets hosted by contractor Joseph Wiseman Jr. Greene’s son Michael is cooperating with investigators. in exchange for $15 million in work for the county. While The county is also taking action to wash its hands of any visiting exotic places and enjoying expensive events and contracts with Wiseman — $8,000 in payments due have dining, the three allegedly billed the county for work and been frozen, an existing contract has been terminated with saved annual leave to cash it out. cause, and negotiations underway for work at the county Wiseman has not yet been charged with any crimes. landfill have been severed.

The three managers recently were released on a The county will no longer do business with any of the $100,000 secured bond. They cannot travel outside the three companies with which Wiseman was affiliated, CDM federal court district, their passports have been revoked, Smith, Petra Engineering, and Environmental Infrastructhey cannot consume alcohol, and they may not speak with ture Consulting, LLC. county employees, past or present.

Interim County Manager George Wood said at the meeting Exceptions were granted to allow Stone and Creighton that, as far as he can tell, Wiseman had fulfilled all his responto speak with relatives who used to work for the county. sibilities under contract with the county, but more investigaGreene is allowed to speak with her son, Michael, who is tion was needed before a determination could be made about a former county employee also under indictment, but she whether or not, for example, costs had been inflated. cannot speak with her sisters who still work for the county.

Meanwhile, the county has decided to sue the three man-

City to pay $650,000 settlement to pedestrian who was beaten

From Staff Reports The City of Asheville reached a settlement on Aug. 3 in the beating case of unarmed black pedestrian Johnnie Rush.

Specifically, Asheville will pay a total of $650,000 to Rush and his attorneys, according to the settlement and release statement.

Of that sum, Rush will receive $342,500, which will be distributed to him in periodic payments.

The remainder, $307,500, will be paid to his attorneys, Ferguson, Chambers & Sumter, P.A. In a highly publicized encounter with Asheville police, Johnnie Rush Rush was beaten, shocked and choked in an incident that occurred nearly a year ago.

Officer body camera video of the beating became news across the United States.

In the Asheville area, the beating raised tensions between black residents and police and wreaked havocl in city government, resulting in the ouster of its city manager, Gary Jackson, on March 20.

Rush’s attorney, prominent civil rights lawyer James Ferguson, told the Asheville Citizen Times in an email on Aug. 3 that he was pleased the parties were able to resolve the case without “a costly, contentious trial that would have the potential of further

dividing a community that is already too racially divided.”

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Asheville Daily Planet — September 2018 - A7

A8 — September 2018 - Asheville Daily Planet

The Daily Planet’s Opinion

UNCA dorm fire hazards?

N.C. agency drops the ball

W

hat in the world was the State Construction Office thinking when it ignored months of documented warnings about the fire hazards in The Woods, a new development of apartmentstyle housing for about 300 students at UNC Asheville?

Despite the issues that had been raised, the state office issued a certificate of occupancy for the complex of five five-story wooden buildings.

In turn, the office of state Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey, who also serves as state fire marshal, intervened by barring the buildings from being occupied on the move-in weekend, just before fall classes.

A day later (Aug. 17), the chaos was resolved by allowing the buildings to be occupied, pending repairs, as long as four off-duty Asheville firefighters are allowed to bunk there for free, as well as some other conditions.

In the aftermath, UNCA officials are insisting they did nothing wrong.

They forcefully stated that the buildings complied with state code and that the university was in constant communications with its construction team.

Conversely, state Insurance Department spokesman Barry Smith told the Asheville Citizen Times, “These were not last-minute concerns.

We’ve been in contact with the university and the State Construction Office since May. We just got jurisdiction in the form of a certificate of occupancy to intervene on Wednesday (Aug. 15), which was issued by the State Construction Office.”

Also registering a conflicting viewpoint, the State Construction Office questioned whether the Insurance Department has the authority to inspect the buildings or to deny occupancy.

All in all, we tend to agree with the assessment of Asheville Fire Chief Scott Burnette, who said, “What’s at stake are people’s lives.” Apparently, his unit first alerted the Insurance Department of the fire-safety problems.

An explanation for the State Construction Office’s actions surely is in order.

Winston-Salem and Nigeria in the 1950s CHAPEL HILL — Was there a connection between the 1950s Nigerian movement for independence and the civil rights movement in Winston-Salem?

Elaine Neil Orr’s new novel, “Swimming Between Worlds,” is based on this premise.

The N.C. State professor grew up as a child of American missionaries in Nigeria. Her experiences gave a beautiful and true spirit to her first novel, “A Different Sun,” about pre-Civil War Southern missionaries going to Black Africa to save souls.

Instead of slaveholding Southerners preaching to Nigerian blacks, the new book contrasts the cultural segregation of 1950s Winston-Salem with that in Nigeria.

Although Nigerians were coming to a successful end of their struggle for independence from Great Britain, they were still mired in the vestiges of colonial oppression.

Set in these circumstances is a coming-ofage story and a love story. These themes are complicated, and enriched, by the overlay of the Nigerian struggle and the civil rights protests in Winston-Salem.

The main male character, Tacker Hart, had been a star high school football player who then earned an architectural degree at N.C. State. He was selected for a plum assignment to work in Nigeria on prototype designs for new schools.

Working in Nigeria, this typical southern white male became so captivated by Nigerian culture, religion, and ambience that his white supervisors fired him and sent him home. Back in Winston-Salem the discouraged and depressed Tacker takes a job in his father’s grocery.

The female lead character, Kate Monroe, is the daughter of a Wake Forest history professor. Her parents are dead. After graduating from Agnes Scott College, she left Atlanta and her longtime boyfriend, James,

D.G. Martin to return to Winston-Salem and live in the family home where she grew up.

How Tacker wins Kate from James is the love story that forms the spine of this book.

But there are complications created by a young African-American college student who is taking time off to help with family in Winston-Salem. Tacker and Kate first meet Gaines on the same day. After Gaines buys a bottle of milk at the Hart grocery store, white thugs attack him for being in the wrong place (a white neighborhood) at the wrong time. Later on the same day, Kate spots an African-American man holding a bottle of milk, walking by her home in an upper class white neighborhood. She thinks he probably stole the milk. She is terrified, and immediately locks her doors and windows. She shakes with worry about the danger of this young black man walking through her neighborhood. The young man is, of course, Gaines.

It turns out that Gaines is the nephew of Tacker’s beloved family maid. Tacker and his father hire Gaines to work in the grocery store and he becomes a model employee.

But Gaines has a secret agenda. He is working with the group of outsiders to organize protest movements at lunch counters in downtown retail stores.

Gaines sets out to entice Tacker to help with the protests, first, only to allow the store to be used at night for a meeting place.

See MARTIN, Page A10

Letters to the Editor

Voters need to use elections to replace commissioners

T

he Buncombe County Board of Commissioners has a sacred trust to be accountable, transparent, exercise fiscal restraint, and to respect the hard-earned tax money of the residents it represents.

The Buncombe Commissioners are getting paid the highest salary in North Carolina to miss conspiracy, wire fraud, bribes, kickbacks and embezzlement by a growing list of county officials! (Remember – they produce nothing. They “take” your money.)

To underscore the lack of respect for Buncombe citizens — on Aug. 1, 2018 in a letter to the NC State Board of Electors — Chairman Brownie Newman took it upon himself to commit county resources for an extra early voting site (another $40,000 of your hard-earned money).

He does not have the authority to commit county resources without an open vote by all of the commissioners.

Buncombe, YOU deserve better than this. You need to get to the polls in November and start replacing them. You can start with Glenda Weinert for District 2!

JANE BILELLO Chair, Asheville Tea Party and ATPAC Hendersonville

Zoning out of homeless shelters? It’s unconstitutional The zoning out of homeless shelters is a crime against humanity and a crime against property, and is unconstitutional per the Euclid decision of 1926.

It is an abomination according to every consistent ideology on the planet.

Only by pragmatically taking the worst of both worlds, elite capitalism and socialist collectivism to produce a hybrid elite, capitalist collectivism can such a monstrosity be produced (Hence the “liberal elite”).

Fascism might come close, but I doubt fascism is a logically consistent ideology.

Anyway, shelter and charity supporters totally dominated the meeting in attendance, speakers, and attitude, which is not at all clear in the video, only guessable by the number of boos right at the end of the last NIMBY speaker. http://my40.tv/news/local/ community-meeting-about-west-ashevillehomeless-camp-gets-heated Alan Ditmore Leicester

Trump’s fate may be sealed ‘Deep in the Heart of Taxes’

What an exciting year this has been for President Trump.

Fighting to get that Wall built, meeting with (and cozying up to) tyrants Kim JongUn and Vladimir Putin, the Russian meddling investigation, battling sexual assault charges, former campaign members going on trial including his former lawyer, all of which must put a strain on our beleaguered president.

To his credit, the economy is strong and getting stronger with unemployment at a record low and his administration arranged for the remains of soldiers who fought in the Korean war be returned to the United States so families could have some sense of closure.

Through all this, I await with great anticipation, the release of President Trump’s tax records that should have been released as soon as he was sworn in back in January 2017.

It could signal the end of his term, but the idea that it is taking so long makes me believe he has had ample time to “cook” the books.

His disastrous policies of hate, fear and mistrust (and he’s very good at it) have made me come to this conclusion.

How much longer must we wait as the IRS, DOJ and the FBI continue to dig “Deep In The Heart Of Taxes” to expose our fake president?

Herb Stark Mooresville See LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, Page A10

The Candid Conservative

The left’s worn out race card

“I was raised to believe that excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism.”

— Oprah Winfrey

The Problem

A

llow me a declarative moment – The minute you ask someone to treat you as an equal, you cease to be an equal.

In that sentence lies the failure foundation for the left’s idea of social justice.

Watching this movement is much like a rerun of “Blade Runner.” The “skin-jobs” were similarly doomed because self-destruction was built into their DNA. Be it economic, gender or racial equality, the left’s negative narrative and DNA-like indifference to Reality 101 is a deal-breaker. That’s a partial reason this posse is fast dissolving into a convoluted collusion of angry hacktivistic special interest groups.

Nowhere is this disappointing pattern more evident than with the issue of race – especially when the mission has drifted from advancing racial progress to preventing it.

Allow me to expand.

Racing backwards

Maxine Waters has figured something out. When you’re angry, entitled, vulgar and not very creative, you’d better find a trump card.

Carl Mumpower Hers is to claim everyone who disagrees with anything she believes is a “racist.”

Per Ms. Water’s constipated view, white people have little else to do than sit around thinking how much we hate non-white people.

We wake up with color on our mind and go to bed seething at God’s request we share the planet with people who aren’t like us. Everything we think and do is filtered through a color spectrometer that flashes red whenever we bump into anyone who isn’t at least semi-white.

With all that racial OCD in the way, how do we get anything done? I’m probably subconsciously thinking distracting racial hate thoughts right now.

I thought it was just writer’s block.

Takes one to know one?

The truth is racism is alive and well in America and everywhere else in the world – and the people tossing that “racist” line about are frequently some of the worst.

See CANDID CONSERVATIVE, Page A10

Asheville Daily Planet — September 2018 - A9

Commentary

Trump presidency ripped; Dems need to step up

I

f Professor Harold Hill (“The Music Man”) were here today, we’d hear: “Ya got trouble here in America – Corruption with a capital ‘C,’ that rhymes with ‘T,’ that stands for ‘Trump!’”

But then here comes Bob the Builder on PBS Kids: “Can we fix it? Yes we can!”

And who’s that with Bob? It’s our Democratic Congress next January! They’re putting on hard hats and singing: “C-O-R-R-U-P-T! That’s the word for G.O.P.!”

Democrats have a reform plan (read on below), and they’re ready to go.

It’s 2007 over again, when Democrats cleaned up after Tom DeLay’s pay-to-play “K Street Project” and Jack Abramoff’s scams and bribes. The new Democratic majority passed the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act. But DeLay and Abramoff were pipsqueaks compared to Donald Trump and his Forty Thieves.

In fact, nothing in our history comes close to the Travesties of Trump.

Teapot Dome, a 1920s scandal that made my sixty-grade history book, was nothing more than a Secretary of the Interior who gave an oil lease in exchange for millions. He covered all his tracks except the bribe itself!

Richard Nixon couldn’t bring himself to destroy the tapes.

Amateurs, these guys were amateurs at scandal.

Trump’s presidency is his cash cow. He kept his business interests and added a D.C. hotel. And fees for members at Mar-a-Lago doubled to $200,000. And he doesn’t cover it up. He’s being who he is.

So when he chose his Cabinet, he did indeed wanted yes-people. But he also wanted people comfortable to him – like Nixon picked Spiro Agnew as his vice-president.

Inauguration Day in 2017, Obama folk, straight arrows for eight years, turned over their crispy clean offices to snorting pigs who headed straight for the public trough to get their share.

Scott Pruitt, our man at Environment Protection, used a private email account to keep in touch with industry cronies, lived in D.C. for $50 a month in a lobbyist’s condo, the junket to Morocco with an entourage – and incidental time in Paris.

Health Services Tom Price chartered aircraft for trips when commercial flights were available.

Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin took his wife and an entourage on a

Lee Ballard nine-day frolic in Europe that included free Wimbledon tickets. And doctored emails were involved, too.

It’s like a corruption contagion. The boss himself practices greed in the open, and his underlings, already inclined that way, catch the virus.

To all this, add the grassroots corruption that came from the Republican National Committee, not Donald Trump – the blatant gerrymandering and voter suppression that took place in states where Republicans had state legislature control and Republican governors.

In late June, Maryland Congressman John Sarbanes and 163 other Democrats filed House Resolution 975, the “By-thePeople Resolution” that would do the following (from Sarbanes’ website): • Expanding access to the ballot box; • Promoting national automatic voter registration; • Ending partisan redistricting by establishing state-based, independent commissions; • Restoring the integrity of the Voting Rights Act; • Protecting the integrity of the election system; • Ending the revolving door of special interests into and out of government; • Expanding ethics laws to apply to the president and to promote greater accountability of the chief executive; • Reforming the Office of Government Ethics; • Updating the Lobbying Disclosure Act and prohibiting bundled campaign contributions from lobbyists; • Strengthening bribery laws to guard against public officials profiting from public service; • Empowering small donors and diminishing the influence of big-money campaign

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donors; • Disclosing “secret money” and promoting transparency of political spending; • Amending the Constitution to reassert Congress’ authority to regulate political spending and overturn the Citizens United ruling; • Preventing foreign interference in our elections; • Restoring function to the Federal Election Commission; and • Strengthening coordination law to prevent candidate-affiliated Super PACs.

If Democrats take the House in November, they will pass these reforms.

Then, it’s up to Us, the People, to shame a Republican Senate to do the right thing and go along.

And failing there, we take the Senate in 2020, when a whole bunch of Senate Republicans are up for re-election, and many will retire.

• Lee Ballard lives in Mars Hill. For more “stuff Ballard wrote,” visit mountainsnail.com.

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A10

September 2018 - Asheville Daily Planet

Candid Conservative

Continued from Page A8 Judging people by simplistic filters like pigmentation is a temptation small minds struggle to resist.

Maxine gives in to the temptation with enthusiasm. Spoiler alert Maxine – if one routinely runs through their building shouting “fire,” the impact will be limited to stirring commotion, scaring people and distracting them from meaningful work.

Someone needs to make Maxine and company aware that good change isn’t that easy. And that there is irony in a political movement that pretends color blindness as they actively work against people of color.

What did he just say?

Did you know that 61 percent of all black deaths are from abortion? That’s marching into genocide territory – and its happening at the hand of those believing the 60 million intercepted lives since Roe v. Wade is a measure of progress.

Do you remember the black president who all those white Americans helped elect? Are you aware that under his watch and that of the Democrat Party the economic standing of black Americans went down – way down – and that the white guy in office today has sent black American prosperity measures dramatically in the opposite direction?

Ponder the parade of liberally run cities across America where black on black crime is killing almost as many young people as abortion clinics.

Is it confusing that under the left’s flag of racial justice, economically pinched black mothers and fathers are compelled to keep their children in failing public schools because Democrat dominated teachers’ unions don’t want to turn loose of their

cash cow?

Theirs is a clear choice to resist allowing funding to follow the best interests of the child versus the best interests of school bureaucracies.

Speaking of black fathers – statistically most of them are AWOL per liberal social welfare policies that have decimated black families since the 1960s. No, it’s not coincidental that this was when the left’s misbegotten “War on Poverty” began.

Remember when kids of all colors got a summer job to learn a good work ethic and find their bridge to school, a better job and a hopeful future? The left’s open border dedications have allowed us to discard our unneeded youth – of all colors – and thus blown up that bridge. For too many of today’s black teenagers Plan B involves drugs, crime, violence and other taxis to nowhere.

In short, the left’s policies on race are aimed in the wrong direction and the proof is in the pudding. Though white racism has dropped dramatically since the sixties, black Americans have – by way too many measures – lost ground.

See Oprah quote on A8 for additional clarity.

Picking the right ‘C’ words

Maxine, Hillary and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez have a demonstrated fondness for tossing the ‘racist’ label at anyone standing in their way. May I suggest people who play this card should be shamed as surely as those who use the “N” word? Both are sources of division.

Thank goodness a majority view color judgment as nonsensically offensive and prefer to measure people by their character, choices and culture.

Most of what is routinely attributed to

Letters to the editor Continued from Page A8

Death penalty advocated for pot-smoking Americans

I support the continued criminalization of marijuana and I would make it a capital crime punishable by the death penalty to use pot!!!

And here’s why!

The nonficition work, “A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State,” by John A. Whitehead, provides irrefutable and incontestable proof that today’s America is in the final stages of transformation from a libery democracy and free and open democractic society and constitutional republic, into a Big Brother police and serveillance state.

And Americans have a patriotic duty to their country to become American Revolutionaries, and to wage an American Revolution to overthrow tyranny and to restore liberty.

And because using pot would turn Americans into passive and content citizens, and would prevent Americans from being American Revolutionaries, and waging an American Revolution to overthrow Big Brother, and to restore our freedoms, I would consider Americans who smoke weed to be traitors to their country! And they deserve the death of a traitor!!!

In “Brave New World,” the police state supplies its controlled citizens with soma, a marijuana-like drug that produces relaxation and sedation.

I contend most with living in a police state a high, and euphoria, in order to keep its citizens’ passive and under total control.

The same thing is happening here!

Our Big Brother government in Washington is going to legalize marijuana and let the effects of pot on the brain and body of Americans prevent Americans from rising

up and becoming American Revolutionaries!!

American pot heads will be content to live in a total control state.

Americans will soon be a nation of pot heads!

And the sedation, and the relaxation, and the tranquilization and the contentment with life as it is, and the high, and the euphoria will make slaves out of Americans’ descended from American Revolutionaries of 1776.

Which is why pot-smoking Americans are traitors to this country, deserving of death as a traitor to their country.

RICHARD D. POPE Hendersonville

Martin

Continued from Page A8 Then, over time, Tacker is led to participate in the sit-ins.

In Nigeria, Tacker had found his black colleagues and friends to be just as smart, interesting, and as talented as he was. He found them to be his equals.

Back in Winston-Salem, he had at first slipped back into a comfort level with the segregated and oppressive culture in which he grew up. His protest activities with Gaines put his relationships with his family, with Kate, and his possible employment at an architectural firm at risk.

Tacker’s effort to accommodate his growing participation in the civil rights movement with his heritage of segregation, leads to the book’s dramatic, tragic, and totally surprising ending.

• D.G. Martin hosts “North Carolina Bookwatch,” which airs at noon Sundays and at 5 p.m. Thursdays on UNC-TV.

racism actually falls on these three words.

It’s just easier to mislabel it as a color thing.

Discernment of our fellowman on the basis of character, choices and cultural dedications is perfectly sane and ethical.

Those are things one can control and thus are fair measures. Color filters? Just the opposite.

Racial solutions?

Start by registering to vote as a Republican. While the left’s idea of ‘big tent’ politics is an increasingly angry mob of antagonistic special interest groups, the Republican Party is rejecting our extremists and joining hands in the interest of plain old normalcy.

Normalcy is a behavioral construct that has no connection to color, age, gender or socio-economic standing. Today’s Republican Party welcomes anyone who rejects the left’s crazy anti-normal notions. We don’t believe poking out the eye is the way to cure blurry vision.

Yes, I know liberals like to say there’s no such thing as normal, God or a 65-year-old Christian conservative Republican white guy who doesn’t hate anybody. Try living with a temperature on either side of 98.6 for a quick validation on the existence of normal.

Regardless of one’s skin color, it’s prudent to double down on choices, character and cultural dedications and skip the idea that equality rests in somebody else’s hands.

I’m also going to say it out loud – today’s black culture is a mess and long

past-due for an internal reset. Read up on some Malcom-X – especially toward the end – for a model of how to do it.

Whoops, the left would tell you that my whiteness has found me out in daring to suggest the black culture is unhealthy. In their view all cultures are special.

For revelation on that madness consider the Southern racist culture of the first half of the last century. Anxious to bring that one back?

A final revelation

There’s a simple reason the left is constantly complaining about everything; running down America; tossing nasty tags out like confetti; and perfecting the art of angry antagonism as a life model. If you can convince the patient he’s ill, maybe he’ll be more willing to accept you as his doctor.

The liberal-progressive-socialist movement’s prime directive is thus demonstrated as power, not improvement. They want control – not to make us better, but to make us mind.

If you’re a black American, you might want to rethink who’s writing your script and the important difference in someone having your back and someone standing on it.

If you’re a white American, skip the color chart and go for the “C” words that matter.

If you’re Maxine, consider medication and an anger management class….

• Carl Mumpower, a psychologist and former elected official, is chairman of the Buncombe County Republican Party. He can be reached at drmumpower@aol.com.

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Asheville Daily Planet — September 2018 - A11 morality and validity of our dominion over the animal kingdom,” a UUCA promotion noted. After the screening, a discussion will be held. All are welcome and admission is free.

Faith Notes

Tuesday, Sept. 25

Send us your faith notes

Please submit items to the Faith Notes by noon on the third Wednesday of each month, via email, at spirituality@ashevilledailyplanet.com, or fax to 252-6567, or mail c/o The Daily Planet, P.O. Box 8490, Asheville, N.C. 28814-8490. Submissions will be accepted and printed at the discretion of the editor, space permitting. To place an ad for a faith event, call 252-6565.

Sunday, Sept. 2

Red Cross BLOOD DRIVE, noon, Fellowship Hall, First Christian Church of Asheville, 470 Enka Lake Road, Candler. The church said all are welcome to donate blood to this humanitarian organization that helps people in need all over the world.

MANIFESTING/HEALING WORKSHOP, 1-4:30 p.m., Unity of The Blue Ridge, 2041 Old Fanning Bridge Road, Mills River. Dr. Garland Landrith will lead “Living Your Dreams by Unlocking Your Subconscious A Manifesting & Healing Workshop on Sept. 2. The workshop also will be held from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Sept. 3. Regarding the workshop, Unity noted, “Many of you know about Dr. Landrith from the movie ‘What the Bleep?’ as well as from Deepak Chopra and Neil Donald Walsch.

At this seminar you will learn energy techniques including tapping/EFT and the Quantum Love Flow to help demonstrate how these energy techniques will manifest abundance in your life. These techniques are totally unique because they clear out your subconscious blocks to abundance as well as also enhance your psychic ability. Remember If we have doubts and fears in our subconscious then these doubts and fears are also being manifested.

These techniques can actually create an entirely new brain matrix reflecting love, abundance, and confidence.” This seminar is billed as “unique because it is oriented around using EFT/Tapping for positive purposes...including how to increase the ‘feel good’ chemicals in your brain to get a job, or be ‘in the zone!’” The course fee is $49 for both days or $39 for one day. Registration/ tickets are available www.brownpapertickets.com/ event/3577694.

Friday, Sept. 7

DINNER/Pat Cardwell & Friends CONCERT, 7 p.m., Unity of The Blue Ridge, 2041 Old Fanning Bridge Road, Mills River. The 2018 Summer Dinner & Concert Series will feature musical entertainment by Asheville-based musician Pat

Dr. Garland Landrith

Asheville-based musician Pat Cardwell

Cardwell & Friends. The Atlanta native and his musical cohorts will play some original Americana, blues, folk and rock, reflecting “his interest and passion for the mystical realms within each of us and the practice of bringing this to the surface with simple songs, lyrics, grooves, and melodies,” Unity noted. “Inspiring music for young and old.”

Attendees are urged to bring a self-contained meal and beverage (no alcohol) around 6 p.m., and enjoy dinner with friends before the concert. Tables will be set up inside. However, weather permitting, the 7 p.m. concert will be held outside. Therefore, attendees also urged to bring blankets. For tickets, which are $12, visit https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3569985.

Saturday, Sept. 9

BLESSING OF THE PETS, 10 a.m., church grounds, Mills River Presbyterian Church, 10 Presbyterian Road, Mills River. The church will hold its 10th annual Blessing of the Pets. The service will include all types of pets — dogs, cats, rabbits and even guinea pigs. All area residents are invited to attend and to bring their pets. A half-hour service will celebrate the life of both current and former pets. The service will include tributes to pets lost during the past year, adopted animals and rescued pets. Dogs sould be on leashes and cats in crates. “Whether you have a pet that is brand new to your family or has come to the pet blessing in the past, everyone is invited to participate,” the Rev. Randall Boggs, pastor at MRBC, noted. “Pets play such a vital role in our lives. They’re comforters, companions and friends. This special time together pays tribute to them and all the joy they bring us on a daily basis.” A free will offering called the “Dog Bowl Donation: will be collected during the service to benefit the New Hope program at Blue Ridge Humane Society. The New Hope fund sup-

ports the transition and assistance of dogs with special needs from the Henderson County Animal Services facility in Hendersonville to Blue Ridge Humane Society for adoption.

Friday, Sept. 14

SOCIAL JUSTICE MOVIE NIGHT, 7-9 p.m., Sandburg Hall, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place, Asheville. The UUCA will screen “Dominion,” its monthly Social Justice Movie Night offering. “Exposing the dark underbelly of modern animal agriculture through drones, hidden and handheld cameras, this Australian feature-length film explores the

ANNUAL Unity KCC Retreat WELCOME, 7:30-9:30 p.m., Dining Hall, Kanuga Conference Center, 130 Kanuga Chapel Dr., Hendersonville.

The Annual Unity Ministers of the Mid-Atlantic States Retreat will be held Sept. 25-28 at Kanuga Conference Center, with the opening night highlight featuring a welcome by the Rev. Christy Snow and the Spirit I Am Band, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Earlier, from 2 to 6 p.m., registration will be held in the lobby. Dinner will followed from 6 to 7 p.m. in the Dining Hall. Following the “welcome” ceremony, the evening will close with vespers about 9:40 p.m. The conference’s keynote speaker will be the Rev. Margaret Hiller, pastor of Unity of Myrtle Beach, S.C. Hiller’s keynote speech, titled “Rise Up: Welcome to the Evolution, Part 1,” will be given from 9 to 11 a.m.

Sept. 26. The second part of her keynote speech, “Part will be given 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Sept. 26.

The keynote musician will be the Rev. Christy Snow, returning for a second year.

TO REPORT AN ERROR

The Asheville Daily Planet strives to be ac curate in all articles published. Contact the News Department at news@ashevilledaily planet.com, (828) 252-6565, or P.O. Box 8490, Asheville, N.C. 28814-8490.

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Cut Cutto toSize Size

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

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AUTOMOBILE AUTOMOBILE AUTOMOBILE AUTOMOBILE AUTOMOBILE AUTOMOBILE              

                         3049 HENDERSONVILLE HIGHWAY      

   

I-26 Exit 44, North miles I-26 I-26 Exit Exit 13, 13,then then thenNorth North North miles 3 miles I-26 Exit 13, then 3333 miles I-26 Exit 13, then North miles

I-26 I-26 Exit Exit 13, 13, then then North North 33 miles miles

684-0801 684-0801 684-0801

A12 — September 2018 - Asheville Daily Planet

Edwards

Continued from Page A1 Newman then noted, “in recruitment of a new county manager, the commissioners unanimously agreed to hire as interim county manager, George Wood.

“When I was here two months ago, Jim Holland, our assistant county manager, gave a very detailed review of our county budget.

“At the most recent MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization) meeting, it agreed to approve the third stage of the transportation planning project, so all three parts of the I-26 project has committed funding. That is a big deal.

“A couple of other projects that the MPO approved funding … upgrades to I-40 from Asheville all the way to Canton ... I-26 widening from Asheville to Hendersonville is fully funded... Liberty Road exchange in Canton and Blue Ridge Road exchange in Black Mountain were approved.”

In a Q&A afterward, CIBO member Mac Swicegood said, “Brownie, I appreciate you being here. The general public, when they look at the ongoing soap opera with Wanda Greene — it makes you wonder who was in charge.

Where was the oversight? … Somebody needs to clean this up from the leadership role. Good employees have been tainted. How are you going to address this?”

“Wanda Greene worked for Buncombe County for more than 20 years,” Newman replied. “Many of you probably knew her. She came to CIBO many times to speak. Many of us saw Wanda Greene as very competent and very experienced.

“As I reflect back on this, the commissioners take responsibility for this. We’ve put many policies in place…. But the things Wanda Greene did, they were criminal activities…

So I believe Wanda Greene will absolutely be held accountable for the things she did.

“All we can do is address the things” that need correcting now, Newman said.

Swicegood then noted, “I’m also talking about the good employees who worked for the county for years, who have been tainted by working for Buncombe County.

“I think the majority of people working for Buncombe County are great people — and we want to stand by them,” Newman said. “I think the county has been tainted.”

Commissioners’ Vice Chairman Mike Fryar then said, “I think Brownie is right. Wanda got through all of us. … We still have got a ways to go to get it back to where it belongs. We’re all to blame. There’s three (commissioners) who are new, so I can’t blame them much. I take blame. I know Brownie takes blame.”

An unidentified man then told Newman, “I’d like to thank you for putting money in the county for county strategic” planning.

Earlier, state Sen. Chuck Edwards, R-

CIBO member Mac Swicegood

N.C. Sen. Chuck Edwards

Hendersonville, spoke on “A Report from the N.C. General Assembly.” He began the rainy morning on a light note as he quipped, “What a pleasure to be in Buncombe County on such a bright, sunshiny day.” The crowd laughed.

“I’ll start my comments by noting that I’m relatively new to this job to go back and forth from Raleigh ... Often, when I’m speaking,” he find his comments are distorted “from the other side “I brought pictures. I usually speak from the glass is half-full, while the other is half-empty.

“Since we’re in Asheville, I thought this graphic (of a glass of beer) was not appropriate...” (His reference was to Asheville’s claim to be “Beer City.”)

“I was told this group is CIBO, so the headline is — if you’re a business-owner — you should be pleased with what’s happening with the General Assembly.

“From this perspective, the North Carolina General Assembly has given you a balanced budget. We’ve got reserves like we’ve never had before. … Unemployment has fallen to record levels. Buncombe County (unemployment) is 2.2 percent — the lowest in the state.

“A five-county group in Western North Carolina has the lowest of any unemployment in the area,” Edwards said.

As for tax cuts, he noted that “99 percent of North Carolinians will see their taxes reduced. Nobody will pay taxes on the first $20,000 they earn.

“Contrary to all the rhetoric you will hear out there, North Carolina teachers received a raise for the fifth year in a row. True, we had a long way to make up. The average teacher pay in North Carolina will be about $56,300....

“We now have $3 billion in reserves in the unemployment fund in North Carolina, as opposed to a deficit when GOP took over” from the Democrat-dominated legislature,” he said.

“In Buncombe County, we’ve had a great deal of success” in some areas, such as passing “the $2 billion bond two years ago, where

‘Racial equity’

Continued from Page A2 “Since I learned about advancing racial equity, I’ve been working toward it,” Archie asserted.

“Since I learned about racial… it pisses me off.

“Once you understand how we got to this place with racial disparities, it will piss you off, too.

“What I will do is share a few on-ramps to the journey of embracing racial equity.

“Embracing racial equity is similar to sweat equity. It takes work. it takes some skin in the game. it takes action.

“Whether you’re new to the game, or have done it before, let’s get revved up.

She cited the following as the “three on-ramps to embracing racial equity:” • Learn the truth • Expand your worldview • Use your advantage, privilege and power for good.

“Regarding learn the truth,” Archie said, “many people after attending workshop on equity say they didn’t realize that the founding principles of the country gave advantage to one group over others.... to the G.I. Bill, Social Security and even tipping...

It is the impetus for the debate on immigration rights”

Darin Waters

N.C. Rep. Brian Turner

UNCA was the beneficiary for funds to remodel two buildings.

“We were able to get an extra $2.8 million for this university, with cost over-runs.

“We were able to get more money for MAHEC (Mountain Area Health Education Center). That’s very important for Western North Carolina, where we have a shortage of physicians.

“WCU, we got $15 million for the steam plant,” he noted.

What’s more, Edwards told the CIBO crowd, “We’ve been able to reduce regulations on businesses. That’s why we have a reputation in North Carolina of being a businessfriendly state.

“We were able to give state employees significant raises — especially for state troopers.

Starting pay (for state troopers) was $36,000.

We were able to raise that to a beginning $44,000 — and maxing out at $60,000-plus.”

Edwards finished his speech by mentioning in one brief sentence his most controversial piece of legislation affecting Asehville. To that end, he merely said, “Finally, we were able to get the Asheville districts in place” for future districtwide elections of most City Council seats.

During a Q&A period that followed Edwards’ roughly 15-minute speech,Tom Leavesly said, “Thanks you for getting the ‘council by district ‘ (legislation) through” the General Assembly.

John Miall then said, “We need your help,,,, with better pay for law enforcement.”

Edwards replied, “One of the things we can hold out for is a decent retirement” for law enforcement.

“One of the things we have to have is a good retirement center. I don’t think it’s too much to ask, as John said, to make sure people get a cost-of-living increase.

“At the same time, let’s recognize where we’re at. Just a short time ago, North Carolina’s retirement system was as high as 80 percent unfunded. So we were really working

Kimberlee Archie

“You could participate in workshops, read books, watch shows, invest time…, “As for expanding your world view, be open to seeing whiteness, she said. “Be open to seeing how whiteness receives advantage and oppresses people of color.” She warned that one could fall into the trap with “the inability to see whiteness because it is considered the norm…. It is to see that non-white is not a deviation from the norm.

“As a consumer of news on the local, national and global

Chairman Brownie Newman

from a position of weakness, where we began” from the previous Democratic-dominated legislature. “We probably passed nine different bills in this last session to address the unfunded liabilities. … So job one is to keep the promises that we’ve made.

The next speaker, state Rep. Brian Turner, began by noting, “I’m glad Mayor (Esther) Manheimer is not here. I’m sure anything to do with water would make her want to be here,” referring to Edwards’ visual that he left up on display.

“On your table, I placed a handout, which is the same one I gave out at the Town Hall I held last night at Avery’s Creek community. It let’s people know what’s going on in Raleigh.

“On this first bill here, that was Sen. Edwards and myself and the whole Buncombe County delegation (uniting efforts) to create the violence prevention task force. When it comes to this community, we stand together and work together.

“The levels of childhood trauma coming through the doors (of schools) are higher than they’ve ever been.

Regarding statewide initiatives, Turner said, referenced the Hometown Strong Initiative, noting that the governor (Roy Cooper) was in Marshall recently, talking about this.

This is where the state realigns agencies to especially help rural areas.

Concerning Department of Transportation projects, Turner said, “we have …. bridges that are deficient. That doesn’t mean they are unsafe. We’ve got Sweeten Creek Road widening, I-26 widening….

“Lastly, Sen. Edwards was talking about the districting for the City of Asheville... One of the consequences, by moving to even-year elections, that will increase Asheville costs significally. “In the aftermath,” Turner said, “Woodfin and Biltmore Forest — and others — are looking to shift to even-year elections.”

There were no questions following Turner’s address.

world stage, you should ask more questions about what you’re being fed. … Look for the non-Anglo perspective. Break down your world view and be open to others’ view.

“Third, use your advantage, privilege and power… for good.

Embrace change willingly and enthusiastically.

“Be that change you want to see in the world,” Archie urged.

“In order to embrace racial equity, change needs to happen.

Support people-of-color businesses. Hire people-of-color consultants. Remove barriers to participation. Compensate people for their knowledge and experience.

“Vote for candidates to those who support racial equity.

“And finally, support music, movies, TV and books by people of color. These are the ones who promote racial equity.

“Until people in power decide to share their power, racial equity will continue,” she said.

“Just as white men with power decided to share that power with white women in 1920, so it is important for people in power today to share their power and privilege.

“As you learn more of the truth, and it pisses you off, act to dismantle institutional racism to use your advantage, privilege and power… for the good of racial equity,” Archie concluded.

By John North, Asheville Daily Planet

Asheville Daily Planet — September 2018 - A13

REVIEW: The Sock Hops prove dazzling vocally, visually

By JOHN NORTH

john@AshevilleDailyPlanet.com

F

RANKLIN— The Sock Hops, a Marietta, Ga.-based doo-wop and oldies male vocal quartet specializing in four-part harmony, brought back the hits of yesteryear during a July 27 concert at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts.

The group, which has opened concert for the Temptations, Frankie Avalon, The Rascals and other top artists, performed for the sixth time at the SMCPA — and was greeted (as usual) by a crowd that filled the 1,500-seat auditorium.

The group’s website billed the Sock Hops as “Atlanta’s premier oldies entertainment group since 1989! Music from the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, with a smattering of ‘80s thrown in for good measure.”

Arguably, the most popular vocal rendition of the night at the SMCPA was The Tokens’ 1967 hit, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” featuring Sock Hops’ vocal powerhouse Scott Cruce, who happens to be blind but makes tasteful — and funny — gags about his visual impairment with his fellow vocalists throughout the show. Cruce, by far the youngest group member, also was obviously a crowd favorite.

Above is the album cover featuring the Swingin’ Medallions’ 1966 mega-hit, “Double Shot (of My Baby’s Love).”

Swingin’ Medallions

to be headliner at Hendersonville’s end of summer gala

From Staff Reports

H

ENDERSONVILLE— City Council here on Aug. 2 voted to approve a big party that organizers hope will attract tourists from the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games.

The WEQ will run Sept. 10-23 at Tryon International Equestrian Center.

The outdoor party, from 6 to 10 p.m. Sept.

15, will feature the Swingin’ Medallions, a popular beach and oldies music band from Greenwood, S.C. The gala also will include a yet-to-beannounced opening band and — if the Henderson County Board of Commissioners give approval — a fireworks show visible from Main Street. Alcohol will not be served because there was not enough time to secure all the ABC permits needed to do so.

The city’s Downtown Advisory Committee and Special Events Committee recommended approval of the event, to be held on South Main Street, which will be closed to vehicular traffic between Allen and Barnwell streets for the gala.

The event is being organized by Darlene Das, a Hendersonville resident of 23 years. She created the event after realizing that Henderson County’s hotels will be filled with tourists, with little for them to do locally.

“We have the heads in beds,” Das told the Hendersonville Times-News. “What are we going to do with them? Let’s entertain them.”

The Sock Hops’ lead vocals rotate between group founder Courney Oliver (second from left) and Scott Cruce (fourth from left). The other two group members are Jim Mitchell and Ward Hiss.

The other lead singer, Courtney Oliver, who organized the group 29 years ago, noted that Cruce joined the group about 21 years ago. “When we met him, he was in diapers,” Oliver

quipped about Cruce. “Now, I am.” The crowd roared with laughter, as Cruce nodded and smiled.

Besides showing terrific vocal talent, especially on the semi-operatic Jay & the Americans’ hit “Cara Mia,” Oliver served as a stellar emcee of the show, keeping the crowd and the group engaged.

The other two singers are Jim Mitchell and Ward Hiss.

The Sock Hops concluded the two-hour, two-set show on a patriotic note with Lee Greenwood’s “I’m Proud to Be an American,” during which the crowd arose and hands were placed on hearts. Afterward, the group received a sustained and thundering ovation from its appreciative fans.

The Sock Hops’ four-part harmonies were truly dazzling — and the choreography proved to be a visual delight, often with an accent on humor.

Besides the aforementioned standout “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” among the most memorable first-set songs were renditions of Del Shannon’s “My Little Runaway,” Roy Orbison’s “Only the Lonely,” the Eagles’ “Best of My Love,” Keith’s “98.6” and the BeeGees “How Deep Is Your Love?”

Second-set highlights included Ringo Starr’s “You’re 16 (You’re Beautiful, You’re Mine),” the Temptations’ “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” and “My Girl,” the Drifters’ “Under the Boardwalk,” Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman” and the Little River Band’s “Time for a Cool Change.”

A14 - September 2018 - Asheville Daily Planet

Advice Goddess

Continued from Page A1 A: We have this notion that it’s really romantic for a couple to say “I love you” pronto: “The moment he/she sat down at the bus stop next to me, I just knew!” In reality, “love at first sight” tends to come with some issues, such as the failure to weed out any insta-beloveds who kiss like big-lipped fish.

Your desire to go all blurtypants on the guy likewise seems romantic — until you consider the psychological mechanics behind it. Chances are, you’re in a state of psychological tension — all fired up with suspense at how the guy will respond — and only by telling him will you finally get relief. (It’s basically the emotional version of really, really needing to pee.)

Research on sex differences in “parental investment” by evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers suggests that it’s probably a bad idea for you, as a woman, to go first with the ILY. Trivers explains that in species like ours, in which females get stuck with the burden of parental care (should sex lead to the creation of toddlers), they evolved to vet males for ability and willingness to invest — more than that initial teaspoonful of sperm, that is. Men coevolved to expect this — to expect to have to prove themselves to women to get sex. In short, men chase; women choose.

Sure, there are couples out there in which the woman chased and things ended up just fine. But those evolved differences in male and female psychology are still driving us — even now, in our world of smartphones, facial recognition software, and, before long, family vacations in flying minivans.

In other words, you’re taking a risk by tossing out the ILY first — possibly causing the guy to want you less than if you let him take the lead in ILY blurtations. And hi, feminists!

I can hear the flicking of your lighters as you ready your pitchforks and hay. But the way I see it, what should be feminist is acknowledging what seems to be the optimal approach for women per research on human psychology.

Despite the risks, you may decide to be that rebel gazelle that chases the lion. If so, why not go all the way? Pull out your man’s chair for him in restaurants. Put your jacket over his shoulders on a cold night. And be the one who goes downstairs with the baseball bat when there’s a weird noise at 3 a.m. As he cowers in bed, reassure him: “Baby, you just stay there in your nightie...I got this.”

The benefits of exorcise

My fiancee dumped me three months ago. I was devastated, but I’ve come to realize that we shouldn’t be together. Now she keeps pressing for us to meet, saying there’s stuff she needs to “process.” I was finally

starting to get over her, but should I just go?

— Torn Getting together with your ex-fiancee after you’ve finally started to move on is like being just out of rehab and reconnecting with a friend: “What could be the harm? A nice pastrami on rye with my old heroin dealer!”

Your brain, like an air-conditioned Miami mansion, is “expensive” to run, so it tries to go on autopilot (basically nonthink mode) whenever possible. When you repeatedly take a certain action — like turning to a certain person for love, attention, and comforting -that action becomes more and more automatic.

On a neural level, this plays out with a bunch of individual brain cells (neurons) that “wire together,” as neuroscientist Carla Shatz puts it.

This happens after individual neurons each fire off a chemical messenger — a neurotransmitter — that another neuron catches and absorbs. The more a person repeats the same action — and the more a group of neurons does the same fire-off-and-catch sequence — the faster they get at it. Eventually, these neurons become what I like to describe as a “thinkpack” — conserving mental energy through bypassing the conscious thought department and robotically defaulting to whatever action worked for the person in the past.

Right now, the last thing you need is to stall your recovery process — the weakening over time of those entrenched neural pathways — by getting the band (Ramon and The Neurons) back together. If you feel bad about saying no to seeing her, consider how she’s prioritizing her need to “process” over your continued recovery. Aww...how loving! (“It’s not you; it’s me — and how my crappy new insurance no longer covers therapy.”)

Having it small

I met somebody online, and we have a real connection, but he is agoraphobic and hasn’t really left his bedroom for 10 years.

I have a job and a life, so it’s hard to keep up with his barrage of messages. However, it seems unfair to bail on dating him just because he has this condition. What causes agoraphobia? Is it treatable?

— Wondering It can be really romantic to spend the entire weekend in bed with a man — but only when you don’t have to spend every other day of the month there, too.

The term “agoraphobia” starts with “agora,” the word for the ancient Greek version of a ginormous open-air shopping mall and outdoor auditorium. However, agoraphobia is not simply a fear of big open spaces. Agoraphobics also fear (and avoid) unfamiliar environments and situations that leave them feeling their safety is beyond their control — like being in

a crowd of strangers with little room to move.

(To an agoraphobic, a free pass to Coachella is like a coupon for a free hour of electric shocks at a CIA black site.)

Additionally, the “my duvet is my continent!” lifestyle (in severe cases of agoraphobia) can develop out of a fear of having these dreaded situations trigger a panic attack. Evolutionary psychologist and psychiatrist Randolph Nesse explains that panic, a form of fear, appears to be an “adaptive” reaction — meaning one that evolved to protect us -- driving us to flee from “life-threatening danger.” It does this by kicking off a “coordinated pattern” of changes in the body, emotions, and behavior.

In the body, panic causes your adrenaline to surge, ramping up your energy. Your lung capacity increases, and your blood flow gets redirected — away from your brain and to your arms and legs, so you can kickbox somebody into submission or (if you got a D in ninja school) run for your life.

Mentally, panic turns you “Aaah! Lemme outta here!”-centric. As Nesse explains it, “the mind becomes focused on finding escape routes. If none are obvious, anxiety rises quickly,” and there’s an “overwhelming” motivation to seek shelter in protective places and be near protective people (like “trusted relatives”).

If you’re staring down a lion or an angry mob, this response will help you survive. And Nesse notes that “mild ‘normal’ agoraphobia seems” to be a reaction akin to “fear of leaving the home range in territorial animals, a situation fraught with danger in the wild.” However, Nesse explains that extreme agoraphobia — like that experienced by your friend — seems to be an over-functioning of a survival mechanism, an excessive response leading to the avoidance of not just meaningful danger but the stuff of normal day-to-day life.

But there is hope for agoraphobics — from research on anxiety disorders. Clinical psychologist Michelle Craske reports that the mind and body can often be successfully retrained through a form of cognitive behav-

ioral therapy. It’s called exposure therapy, and it involves a therapist gradually and repeatedly exposing a patient to something they’re irrationally afraid of (like spiders, social rejection, or leaving their bedroom).

These experiences can eventually lead the patient to see that their fear is unfounded and — in time — to react more rationally, both consciously and in their subconscious physical reactions. So, for example, going to the grocery store would eventually give rise to the bodily reactions of any other tedious to-do list item — as opposed to the adrenalized reactions that go with being chased down the cereal aisle by a guy with a bloody ax.

The thing is, this is a long process — often rife with setbacks — and you aren’t this guy’s doctor. As for your notion that it’s unfair to nix a relationship with him because of his condition, you seem to be conflating sticking by a person you love -- that “in sickness and in health” marriage vows thing -- with doing it for a person you hope to love.

You may also be falling prey to the “sunk cost fallacy.” This is a cognitive bias — an error in reasoning — that leads us to irrationally decide to continue an endeavor based on how much we’ve already invested (in, say, time and energy). But that prior investment is gone. The rational way to assess whether to continue is to see what we’d get out of any future investment.

In other words, you should only consider this guy a viable prospect for a boyfriend if you’re willing to sign on for the day-to-day reality -- a relationship that takes place entirely in his bedroom, save for the occasional exotic vacation to the living room: “Uh, when you get a chance, two more pina coladas...Mom.” • (c.) 2018, Amy Alkon, all rights reserved.

Got a problem? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave, #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405, or email AdviceAmy@aol.com (advicegoddess. com). Weekly radio show: blogtalkradio. com/amyalkon

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A16 — September 2018 - Asheville Daily Planet

Entertainment & Calendar of Events

Special Section PULLOUT

B1

Asheville Daily Planet — September 2018

World Equestrian Games? 300K-400K might attend

From Staff Reports

T

RYON — One of the largest sporting events ever held in North Carolina is expected to draw 300,000 to 400,000 people to the area Sept. 11-23.

The Tryon International Equestrian Center will serve as the host for the 14-day FEI World Equestrian Games Tryon 2018.

It is regarded as the “Olympics” for horses. The WEG is held every four years, halfway between the Summer Olympic Games cycle. It will mark the second time that the event — featuring the top riders and horss in the world — will be held in the United States. Eight hundred horses from 71 countries will take part.

The Games are administered by the Fédération Equestre Internationale, the

worldwide governing body of equestrian sport. It is the major international championship event for the eight core equestrian disciplines of show jumping, dressage and para-equestrian dressage, eventing, driving, endurance, vaulting and reining.

The recently opened Tryon International Equestrian Center has tackled ambitious building plans for 2018 to create a premier world-class venue.

Dirty Dancing gala sizzles (literally)

In addition to the Games, the World Equine Expo will include demonstrations, seminars, clinics, panel discussions, equine art and a film festival and more, with a focus on global equestrianism.

The WEQx Games is billed as bringing spectator-friendly versions of equine competitions highlighting the accessibility, diversity, athleticism and passion for horse sport.

For details or tickets, visit tryon2018.com.

N.C. Apple Festival expected to draw turnout above 250K

H

The Asheville Ballet performs a dance sequence from the film “Dirty Dancing” on a stage at Lake Lure on Aug. 25.

‘80s nostalgia runs wild at homage to ‘87 movie

By JOHN NORTH

L

john@AshevilleDailyPlanet.com

AKE LURE — Despite blazing heat, the 9th Annual Lake Lure Dirty Dancing Festival, held Aug. 24-25, drew crowds that approximated last year’s all-time record attendance of 3,400 people.

The 2017 turnout was attributed by event organizers to the gala’s 30th anniversary celebration of the 1987 film classic “Dirty Dancing” that was shot — in part — at Lake Lure.

Given that this year’s festival held no particular distinction with the film or its top star, the late Patrick Swayze, event spokespeople expressed delight that the attendance nearly matched the all-time record.

Event spokesman Kevin Cooley, who is Lake Lure’s mayor, told the Daily Planet that the unofficial attendance for the two-day celebration was only off by 100 or 200 from last year’s gala, and that the

The Winston-Salem-based party band Silk Groove performs beach and soul music classics at the festival in withering heat at mid-afternoon Aug. 25 organizers were pleased.

The festival featured a screening of the film on a huge inflatable outdoor screen on Aug. 24 evening. It concluded on Aug. 25

with dancing to three bands, performances of the film’s dance sequences by the Asheville Ballet Co. and other activities.

See DIRTY DANCING FESTIVAL, Page B7

From Staff Reports ENDERSONVILLE — The 9th Annual North Carolina Apple Festival, to be held Aug. 31Sept. 3 in Hendersonville, is expected to draw more than 250,000 people.

Historic downtown Hendersonville is the official home of the festival, a four-day celebration in honor of the huge local apple crop.

North Carolina is the 7th largest appleproducing state in the nation and Henderson County is the largest apple-producing county in North Carolina — with 20-plus varieties. “There will be plenty of apples to buy at the festival!” the organizers noted.

The gala will feature a street fair along Main Street, including continuous live musical entertainment, arts and crafts, apple products, special exhibits, food and the King Apple Parade.

The street fair will cover eight blocks of Main Street with more than 200 vendors, including many apple farms. Street fair hours on Friday to Sunday are 10 a.m.-8 p.m. (includes apple-tasting booth).

Other features will include pancake breakfasts, car shows, gem and mineral show, 8K and fun run, bike tour, apple orchard tours, apple recipe contest, sidewalk sales and an arts and crafts show.

Live music will continue until 10 p.m. on the nights of Aug. 31 and Sept. 2, and until 11 p.m. Sept. 1, in front of the Historic Courthouse.

The 2018 live music headliners are as follows: • Aug. 31: Buddy K Big Band, 7-10 p.m.

• Sept. 1: International favorites Mighty Kicks High Energy Show Band, for dancing, 7-11 p.m.

• Sept. 2: Atlanta Pleasure Band plays “downtown to Motown,” 7-10 p.m.

Just 2.5 miles from downtown, the WNC Air Museum (1340 Gilbert St., Hendersonville) will offer a special open house with antique airplanes — all all free tours four days. Aircraft rides are available Sept. 1-3in a variety of new and classic airplanes for $30-$60/seat for 15-minute scenic ride above town — no reservations needed. The rides are offered 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

On Sept. 3, which is Labor Day, a scaleddown street fair will run from 10 a.m. until the end of The King Apple Parade, which will be held at 2:30 p.m.

The popular parade will feature professional floats, bands, youth groups, antique cars, fire trucks and many others.

The festival is free to attend. No pets will be allowed.

B2 - September 2018 - Asheville Daily Planet

Special photo from x YouTube photo

The Mighty Kicks, launched in 1986 by a group of friends in Orangeburg, S.C., will perform from 7 to 11 p.m. Sept. 1 on the stage in front of the Historic Henderson County Courthouse on Main Street in Hendersonville during the North Carolina Apple Festival.

Calendar

of

Events

Send us your calendar items

Please submit items to the Calendar of Events by noon on the third Wednesday of each month, via e-mail, at calendar@ashevilledailyplanet. com, or fax to 252-6567, or mail c/o The Daily Planet, P.O. Box 8490, Asheville, N.C. 288148490. Submissions will be accepted and printed at the discretion of the editor, space permitting.

To place an ad for an event, call 252-6565.

Friday, Aug. 31

N.C. APPLE FESTIVAL OPENING CEREMONY, 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Historic Courthouse, Main Street, downtown Hendersonville. The 72nd Annual North Carolina Apple Festival will be held Aug. 31-Sept.

3. Features include live entertainment, festival food, vendors and apples. The festival will conclude at 2:30 p.m. Sept. 3 with the King Apple Parade, rain or shine. Admission is free.

BUDDY K BIG BAND CONCERT, 7-10 p.m., outside stage, Historic Courthouse, Main Street, downtown Hendersonville. The Buddy K Big Band will perform for listening and dancing as the night’s headliner band at the North Carolina Apple Festival.

Admission is free.

Saturday, Sept. 1

“ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID” STAGE SHOW, 2 and 8 p.m., mainstage, Flat Rock Playhouse, Flat Rock. “Always a Bridesmaid” will be performed through Sept. 9. Showtimes vary. For tickets, which are $17-$55, call the box office at 6930731 or visit www.flatrockplayhouse.org.

“GREAT FLOOD OF 1916” FILM SCREENING, 7 p.m., New Belgium Brew House, 21 Craven St., West Asheville. The award-winning film, “Come Hell or High Water: Remembering the Great Flood of 1916” will be screened as a special benefit by its host, the Center for Cultural Preservation, a Hendersonville-based nonprofit. Proceeds will go to the center’s new film, “River of Heroes of WNC.” Acclaimed local singer-songwriter David Wiseman will perform, followed by the film.

The suggested donation is $10 and reservations are strongly recommended by visiting online at saveculture.org or calling 692-8062.

SHINDIG ON THE GREEN, 7-10 p.m., Pack Square Park, downtown Asheville. The Shindig on the Green event features bluegrass music, big circle mountain dancers, storytellers and cloggers.

MIGHTY KICKS SHOW BAND CONCERT, 7-11 p.m., outside stage, Historic Courthouse, Main Street, downtown Hendersonville. The Mighty Kicks High-Energy Show Band will perform for listening and dancing as the night’s headliner

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band at the North Carolina Apple Festival. Admission is free.

FOUR FRESHMEN CONCERT, 7:30 p.m., Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts, Franklin.

The Four Freshmen, billed as “America’s mostenduring vocal group,” will perform in concert.

“From the moment they step on stage, the Four Freshmen will get your heart pounding and your feet moving with pure energy and great songs from the past and present,” the SMCPA noted.

For tickets, which are $20 and $24, visit www. greatmountainmusic.com.

RASCAL FLATTS CONCERT, 7:30 p.m., Event Center, Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort, Cherokee.

Rascal Flatts will perform in concert. For tickets, visit ticketmaster.com.

Sunday, Sept. 2

OUTDOOR CONCERT, 2-6:45 p.m., gazebo, Antler Village, Biltmore Estate, Asheville. A yet-tobe-announced band will perform in the gazebo in the Live Music at the Bandstand concert series.

Attendees are urged to bring lawnchairs and/or blankets.

ATLANTA PLEASURE BAND CONCERT, 7-10 p.m., outside stage, Historic Courthouse, Main Street, downtown Hendersonville. The Atlanta Pleasure Band will perform “downtown to Motown” for listening and dancing as the night’s headliner band at the North Carolina Apple Festival. Admission is free.

Monday, Sept. 3

THE KING APPLE PARADE, 2:30 p.m., from Five Points to Caswell Street in downtown Hendersonville, Hendersonville. The popular King Apple Parade will conclude the North Carolina Apple Festival. The parade will feature professional floats, bands, youth groups, antique cars, fire trucks and many others.

Admission is free.

Thursday, Sept. 6

“BRITISH INVASION” TRIBUTE CONCERT, 7:30 p.m., Flat Rock Playhouse’s downtown Hendersonville venue, 125 S. Main St., downtown Hendersonville. The tribute show “‘British Invasion” will be performed through Sept. 16. Regarding the show, the FRP noted, “An estimated 4,000 Beatles’ fans were present on Feb. 7, 1964, as Pan Am Flight 101 left Heathrow Airport, thus beginning the musical revolution known as the British Invasion. Hear the sounds of the Fab Four, the Dave Clark Five, the Kinks, the Stones as well as popular British female recording artists such as Petula Clark, Lulu and Dusty Springfield.” Showtimes vary. For tickets, which begin at $35, call the box office at 693-0731 or visit www.flatrockplayhouse.org.

See CALENDAR, Page B3

Amy Barnes — 828.450.3756 Kitty Williams — 828.778.2785 Jason Barnes — 828.450-4063 291 Sweeten Creek Rd, Asheville

Call today for a complimentary shoe fitting!

Asheville Daily Planet - September 2018 - B3

Donated photos

The Atlanta Pleasure Band, billed as performing every style of music “from Motown to downtown,” will perform from 7 to 11 a.m. Sept. 2 on the stage in front of the Historic Henderson County Courthouse on Main Street in Hendersonville during the North Carolina Apple Festival.

Calendar of Events Continued from Page B2

Eight hundred horses from 71 countries will participate in the games. For details, visit www. tryon2018.com.

N.C. MOUNTAIN STATE FAIR, 9 a.m.-1 a.m., WNC Agricultural Center, Fletcher. The 25th N.C. Mountain State Fair will run Sept. 7-16.

The fair will be held from 3 to 11 p.m. MondaysThursdays; 9 a.m.-1 a.m. Fridays; 9 a.m.-midnight Saturdays, 9 a.m.-11 p.m. the first Sunday and 9 a.m.-9 p.m. the second Sunday. The third largest fair in North Carolina celebrates the Blue Ridge Mountains with arts, music, crafts, food, entertainment, livestock displays, competitions, prizes, amusement rides and games. For tickets, visit mountainfair.org. After Sept. 6, tickets only will be available at the gate.

THE JAYHAWKS CONCERT, 5-9:30 p.m., New Belgium Brewing, 21 Craven St., Asheville. The Jayhawks will perform in the finale of RiverMusic, RiverLink’s annual summer music concert series.

Also performing will be the Cris Jacobs Band and Dave Desmelik. Admission is free.

Saturday, Sept. 13

Friday, Sept. 7

Saturday, Sept. 8

DEVILS IN DUST CONCERT, 5 p.m., Lake Logan Conference Center, just south of Canton.

The inaugural “Summer Music Series” will feature music by Devils in Dust. An as-yet-to-be-named vendor will be selling food — and craft beer will be sold by Ecusta Brewing. Gates will open at 3 p.m. The event is billed as “family-friendly” and the waterfront will be open. Admission is $15 per carload, $50 for a 15-passenger van, $5 for bikes.

Camping and cabins will be available. For reservations, call 646-0095 or visit lakelong.com/events.

CONCERT/DANCE, 6-8 p.m., parking lot, Firehouse Subs, 825 Spartanburg Hwy., Hendersonville. The band Dino & the Dreamers will perform rock music hits from the past for listening or dancing. Attendees are urged to bring lawnchairs.

Admission is free.

RON WHITE CONCERT, 7:30 p.m., Event Center, Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort, Cherokee. Ron White will perform in concert. For tickets, visit ticketmaster.com.

CONCERT/DANCE, 6-8 p.m., parking lot, Firehouse Subs, 825 Spartanburg Hwy., Hendersonville. The band Sound Investment will perform rock music hits for listening or dancing. Attendees are urged to bring lawnchairs. Admission is free.

Sunday, Sept. 14

“THE FOREIGNER” STAGE SHOW , 7:30 p.m., p.m., Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts, Franklin. The show, “The Foreigner: The Hilarious Comedy,” will be performed by the local Overlook Theatre. Regarding the show, the SMCPA noted, “When an Englishman arrives at a rural Georgia fishing cabin for some much needed relaxation, the wacky occupants give him an experience like none other. This laugh-out-loud comedy of crazy characters and misunderstandings is full of Southern charm, and is guaranteed to keep the audience laughing until they cry. Without a doubt, an evening you won’t soon forget! A full two-act production.” For tickets, which are $17 for adults and $12 for students, visit www.greatmountainmusic.com.

“PADDINGTON 2” OUTDOOR FILM SCREENING , 8 p.m. or dusk, Jackson Park, Hendersonville. The Movies in the Park series will feature the family film “Paddington 2.” Attendees are urged to bring a blanket and/or a lawnchair. Concessions will be available.

Admission is free.

“CARS 3” FILM sCREENING, 8 p.m. or dusk, Roger McGuire Green, Pack Square Park, Asheville.

The film “Cars 3” will be screened as the finale for City of Asheville’s 2018 monthly Movies in the Park series. Atttendees are urged to bring a lawnchair and blanket. Children’s activities will begin at 6:30, followed by the film screening. Admission is free.

Dances at the VFW

North Main Street, Hendersonville

• Tuesdays —Shag and Swing • Wednesdays — Ballroom and Country Lesson at 6:30 p.m. • Dancing 7-9 p.m.

Requests are always welcome. $5 per person with cash bar downstairs.

Dances at the Asheville Ballroom Sweeten Creek Road, Asheville

Saturday, September 1

Lesson at 7 p.m. • Dancing 8-10:30 p.m. $10 per person. Light snacks served.

Dance Lessons Take the 1st step ...Come dance with me!

• Offering American rhythm and smooth dance styles • Teaching children to adults • No partner required

1st 30-minute lesson for

See CALENDAR, Page B6

$25

Sunday, Sept. 9

TEDxASHEVILLE EVENT, 7:30-10:30 p.m., Isis Music Hall, West Asheville. TEDxAsheville will feature nine speakers and one performance under the theme “Higher Ground.” According to organizers, the theme “is about reaching for, and sharing, thought-provolking ideas and sounds from our beautiful mountain city.” The musical performance will be by Free Planet Radio, an Asheville-based band comprised of Eliot Wadoplian, River Guerguerian and Chris Rosser. In addition to the band’s set, Rosser will speak about “Exploring the Intersections of Musical Cultures in the World.” For tickets, visit tedxasheville.com.

Thursrday, Sept. 11

WORLD EQUESTRIAN GAMES, 8 a.m.-8 p.m., Tryon International Equestrian Center, Mill Spring.

The TIEC will host the 14 day FEI World Equestrian Games Tryon 2018 from Sept. 11 to 23. It is known as the “Olympics” for horses. The event is expected to draw 300,000 to 400,000 people.

Wedding lessons and package discounts available

Call to schedule your appointment today!

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B4 — September 2018 — Asheville Daily Planet

Asheville Daily Planet — September 2018 — B5

B6 — September 2018 — Asheville Daily Planet

Calendar

Friday, Sept. 28

SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS CONCERT, 7 p.m., Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts, 1028 Georgia Road, Franklin. The Chapel Hill-based Squirrel Nut Zippers will perform what is billed as “alternative New Orleans jazz.” For tickets, visit online at www.GreatMountainMusic. com or call 524-1598.

BUSH CONCERT, 9 p.m., Event Center, Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort, Cherokee. The hard-rock group Bush will perform in concert.

Only those ages 21 and older will be admitted.

For tickets, visit ticketmaster.com.

Continued from Page B3

Saturday, Sept. 15

READING OF CONSTITUTION POLITICAL RALLY, noon-3 p.m., Bill Moore Community Park, 85 Howard Gap Road, Fletcher. A “We Read the Constitution” event will be held. Among the keynote speakers will be Rep. Mark Meadows and state Supreme Court Justic Barbara Jackson. Also in attendance will be elected officials, candidates, Republican groups, grassroots organizations, students, veterans groups and the Red Wave Tsunami Elephant. Free barbecue will be served. Admission is free and all are welcome.

CONCERT/DANCE, 6-8 p.m., parking lot, Firehouse Subs, 825 Spartanburg Hwy., Hendersonville. The band Tuxedo Junction will perform rock music hits for listening or dancing. Attendees are urged to bring lawnchairs. Admission is free.

DASHBOARD BLUE CONCERT, 7-9 p.m., Town Square Park (in front of Hickory Tavern and Brixx Pizza), Biltmore Park, South Asheville. Dashboard Blue, a five-piece band based in Asheville, will perform in the finale of the 2018 Concerts in the Park series. The group will perform a wide variety of music, including rock, rhythm and blues, 1950s, disco, funk, pop, beach, Motown, country — and what it termed “the classics.” Controling the sound and lighting will be Alan Phillips Sounds Service. Admission is free.

MÉLANGE CONCERT, 8 p.m., Diana Wortham Theatre, downtown Asheville. The group Mélange will open the Mainstage Series season with a concert. The band’s eclectic style will be on full display as it asks the crowd to select from a musical menu and determine the evening’s program.

ASO MASTERWORKS CONCERT, 8 p.m., Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, downtown Asheville.

The Asheville Symphony Orchestra will open its 2018-19 Masterworks series with “Liszt,” featuring Darko Butorac (newly appointed as ASO’s conductor), with George Li on piano. The program will include Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde,” Prelude and “Liebestod;” Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1; and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5.

Monday, Sept. 17

DAVID BROOKS SPEECH, 7 p.m., Event Center, Asheville Crowne Plaza Resort, West Asheville. David Brooks, a columnist for The New York Times, will give the keynote address at the Institute for Emerging Issues forum, Reconnect to Community: Solving Problems Together for a More Prosperous Future.”

Other speakers will include Gov. Roy Cooper; Darin Waters, executive director of community engagement for UNC Asheville; N.C. State Provost Warwick Arden and “leaders from some of the most innovative civic engagement initiatives in North Carolina,” event organizers David Brooks noted. Brooks, an op-ed columnist for the Times since 2003, serves as executive director of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan leadership forum. He also is a commentator on “PBS Newshour,” NPR’s “All Things Considered” and NBC’s “Meet the Press.” In addition, Brooks is the author of a number of books, teaches at Yale University and is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

“David Brooks has become one of the most passionate and articulate speakers in the country about the decline of civility and civic engagement in the U.S. and its consequences for us,” Leslie Boney, director of the Institute for Emerging Issues, said. For tickets and to register for the forum, visit emergingissues.org.

Wednesday, Sept. 19

“DAR HE” STAGE SHOW, 7:30 p.m., N.C. Stage Co., Asheville. Mike Wiley’s “Dar He: The Story of Emmett Till” will be performed through Sept. 30.

Showtimes vary. For tickets, visit ncstage.org or call 239-0263.

Thursday, Sept. 20

LOS COLOGNES CONCERT, 5-9 p.m., South Main Street (between Caswell and Allen streets), downtown Hendersonville. The group Los Colognes will headline the finale of the 2018 Rhythm & Brews concert series about 7 p.m. The openers

Sunday, Sept. 30

Pinterest photo

Actress Molly Ringwald (above) plays Andie Walsh, a young working-class woman, who is arm in arm with Phil “Duckie” Dale (Jon Cryer), a fellow workingclass kid in thrift-store finery, in a scene (above) from the 1986 film “Pretty in Pink.” Ringgwald will lead discussions at film screenings at 3 and 7:30 p.m. Sept.

23 at The Orange Peel nightclub in downtown Asheville. include Hustle Souls and singer-songwriter Laura Laughter and Tim Levene. Admission is free.

Friday, Sept. 21

DOWNTOWN AFTER 5 CONCERT, 5-9 p.m., North Lexington Avenue near the I-240 overpass, downtown Asheville. The 2018 Downtown After 5 concert series will conclude with the headliner band The Pharcyde, which plays West Coast hip-hop; and, as the opener, Free With Optimus, billed as a “local hip-hop.” Admission is free.

“CAT ON A TIN ROOF” PRODUCTION, 7:30 p.m., Hendersonville Community Theatre, 229 S. Washington St., downtown Hendersonville. The Pulitzer Prize-winnin drama “Cat on a Tin Roof” will be performed through Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m.

Fridays and Saturdays and at 2 p.m. Sundays.

Regarding the show, the HCT noted, “A plantation family celebrates Big Daddy’s 65th birthday, but the mood is somber because a number of evils poison the gaity.” For tickets, which are $26 for adults, $20 for students ages 18 and up, and $15 for students under age 18, visit hendersonvilletheatre.org, or call 692-1082.

ALISON KRAUSS CONCERT, 9 p.m., Event Center, Cherokee Resort Casino, Cherokee.

Grammy Award-winner Alison Krauss will perform in concert. In total, she has won 27 Grammy Awards (tied for the second most of all time) and 42 nominations. For tickets, visit ticketmaster.com.

Saturday, Sept. 22

CONCERT/DANCE, 6-8 p.m., parking lot, Firehouse Subs, 825 Spartanburg Hwy., Hendersonville. The band Fine Line will perform play rock music hits for listening or dancing. Attendees are urged to bring lawnchairs. Admission is free.

VAN MORRISON TRIBUTE SHOW, 8 p.m., Flat Rock Playhouse downtown venue, 125 S. Main

St., downtown Hendersonville. Daniel Sage will perform in a the tribute show “Moonlight Dancin’: A Night of Van Morrison.” For tickets, which are $29, call the FRP box office at 693-0731 or visit www.flatrockplayhouse.org.

Sunday, Sept. 23

MOLLY RINGWALD FILM SCREENING/DISCUSSION, 3 and 7:30 p.m., Orange Peel, downtown Asheville. Actress and songstress Molly Ringwald will be featured in what is being billed as “a very rare screening and a discussion session that will feature two shows. The first show, at 3 p.m., will include the screening and discussion of the film “Pretty in Pink,” and the second show will start about 7:30 p.m. Attendees are urged to message questions they would like to have considered for Ringwald to answer on the Facebook page of The Artisan of Flat Rock. The discussion will be focused on Ringwald, and will be moderated by Artisan Entertainment founder Mike Ellis. Tickets to this fully seated show are $50 and may be purchased at www.theorangepeel.net.

BAND OF OZ CONCERT, 2-5 p.m., GlenLaurel Preserve, 263 Cherryfield Creek Road, Brevard.

The Band of Oz will perform in concert. Founded in the mid-1960s in eastern North Carolina with high school students, The Band of Oz has persevered with personnel changes through the years to establish itself as an iconic Carolina beach music show band. Its show that will be held “rain or shine.” Doors open at 1 p.m. Smoked barbecue sandwiches, beer, wine, soft drinks and water will be sold by vendors. Attendees are urged to bring lawnchairs. No coolers will be allowed. The show is a benefit for the Brevard Philharmonic.

For tickets, visit www.brevardphilharmonic.org or call 884-4221.

Thursday, Oct. 4

“DISCO” TRIBUTE CONCERT, 7:30 p.m., Flat Rock Playhouse’s downtown Hendersonville venue, 125 S. Main St., downtown Hendersonville. The tribute show “‘Disco” will be performed through Oct. 14. Regarding the show, the FRP noted, “Boogie on down to the Playhouse Downtown and dance the night away to the hits of The Bee Gees, Kool & the Gang, the Village People, KC and the Sunshine Band, Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor and more.” Showtimes vary. For tickets, which begin at $35, call the box office at 693-0731 or visit www.flatrockplayhouse.org.

Wednesday, Sept. 26

“THE GLASS MANAGERIE,” STAGE SHOW, 2 and 7:30 p.m., mainstage, Flat Rock Playhouse, Flat Rock. “Always a Bridesmaid” will be performed through Sept. 9. Showtimes vary. For tickets, which are $17-$55, call the box office at 693-0731 or visit www.flatrockplayhouse.org.

Thursday, Sept. 27

DARLINGSIDE CONCERT, 8 p.m., Diana Wortham Theatre, downtown Asheville. Darlingside, a harmony-heavy, Indie-folk group, will perform in concert. Also performing will be the group Charismatic, billed as a mix of modern jazz, rhythm and blues, soul and Gullah sound.

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Her three favorite Swayze films are (from first to third) “Dirty Dancing,” Three Wishes” and “One Last Dance.”

Meanwhile, besides live dance bands and Asheville Ballet performances of dance scenes from the film, the Aug. 25 (final day) activities included dance lessons, a lake lift competition, watermelon races and a crafts exhibition The bands that performed Aug. 25 included Randy & Cindy Floyd featuring Gene Pharr, the Flashback Party Band and the Silk Groove Band.

During it’s mid-afternoon set, the 11-piece show group, Silk Groove Band, played a number of beach and soul music hits, including a memorable and crowd-pleasing 10-minute version of the Temptations’ classic “My Girl,” taking it into an extended vocal jam, and then ended it as a mini-medley with Eddie Floyd’s ethereal 1968 hit “I Never Found a Girl.”

Daily Planet Staff Photos

Members of the Asheville Ballet perform a dance sequence from the film “Dirty Dancing.”

Dirty Dancing

Continued from Page B1 The event’s shag dance contest involved a number of competing couples, but Allen Roney and Cindy Foust of Burlington eventually prevailed to win the crown.

The first night’s screening of the film was preceded by a performance by the Lake Lure Cloggers, a shag social hosted by DJ Jeff Foster, a performance by the Hickorybased Extraordinaires Band and an 18-minute speech by author and special guest Sue Tabashnik.

In an interview with the Daily Planet on Aug. 25, Tabashnik, author of “Patrick Swayze: The Dreamer” (published in August 20178) as well as two other books on the actor, said, “I had the honor to meet him (Swayze) four times... Writing’s my passion.”

However, she noted that writing is a job she does in her spare time, as she her day job is as an ER psychiatric social worker.

“I was an avid movie-goer,” when she first saw Swayze in the 1987 film “Dirty Dancing... Then, in 1988, Barbara Walters interview Patrick Swayze” and she was struck by how he came across as “so sensitive, down-to-earth, a good guy” in the television interview.

“Then, I just started following his career. Then, I found his fan club.”

Tabashnik, who is from the Detroit, Mich., area, said Swayze appeared for two fundraiser benefits in Detroit for a ballet company that Sue Tabashnik worked with inner city youngsters. At each, she was able to meet — and briefly chat with — Swayze. She said she was charmed by him.

The other two times she met Swayze were at film festivals in Houston, Texas, and, around 2003, Nashville, Tenn.

At the Nashville event, “he talked to me personally.”

Tabashnik said Swayze’s wife Lisa gave her a worn blue cap that the author modeled briefly at the Lake Lure festival during a photo shoot by the Daily Planet.

Tabashnik said she was on a bus with a number of other fans of the actor after the Nashville event, when, the morning after the film festival, he climbed aboard and spoke with— and fielded questions from — his fan club for 45 minutes. “Whe else does this?” the author asked.

What’s more, she said, Swayze “gave me a big bear hug. So now I’m not going to take a shower for a week,” Tabashnik said with a laugh. “My question (for him) was about dreams.” From that brief conversation, she realized that an aspect of Swayze that she especially appreciated was that he was a dreamer.

Swayze was a “very down-to-earth, sensitive, spiritual guy who wanted to make the world a better place,” Tabashnik said. “He was much more than just an actor... Patrick was a life-changer for me...

“He wasn’t into the whole Hollywood scene. He was caring... He wasn’t just Johnny from ‘Dirty Dancing.’”

Asheville Daily Planet - September 2018 - B7 At one point, the Lexington, N.C.-group’s emcee noted that it would be performing a song “in appreciation of lasting relationships, as it launched into Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ “If You Don’t Know Me By Now.” The showstopping, slow waltz melody filled up the dance floor.

Later in the show, the Silk Groove Band announced, “This next song is No. 5 on the beach music charts — because of you!” To the crowd’s obvious delight, the band then played its most current hit, “I’m Lookin’ for Love.”

The band’s last song of the afternoon was a very soulful and slightly slower-than-the-original version of the 1988 song “Time of My Life” from the film “Dirty Dancing.”

The Asheville Ballet later gave its final and climactic performance of the show, performing — in dance — “Time of My Life.” — prompting an enthused and loud ovation from the crowd.

B8 - September 2018 - Asheville Daily Planet