The Blue Banner

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Volume 53, Issue 7

News

Local ice cream parlor thrives at new location in West Asheville page 4

Arts & Features

Students revive professor’s musical project Honey Fed Worms page 12

JAMMIN’ photo by Megan Dombroski

AT THE

JUSTICE Sports

UNCA basketball players show off their skills to open the season

page 17

News

Rock the Vote encourages voter participation Page 2

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Trevor Metcalfe tometcal@unca.edu staff writer

Despite a long trend of low turnout at the polls, a Rock the Vote event at UNC Asheville recruited new young voters, according to event organizers.

“I was so happy, because I think it’s really hard to turn people out to events at UNCA,” said Katja Greeson, president of UNCA College Democrats.

College Democrats and Underdog Productions organized Rock The Vote, which brought prospective voters to the UNCA Quad Oct. 7. Attendees could register and sign cards pledging to vote in the upcoming election.

About 35 people registered to vote at the event, according to Greeson.

Several candidates and campaigns running in the election spoke to the audience about the importance of voting and asked for support in November.

“It’s encouraging to see young voters get out,” said Patricia Kaufman Young, a district court judge. “It’s encouraging to see young individuals get involved in politics. You are our future.”

Also present at the event were representatives for Rep. Heath Shuler, U.S. Senate hopeful Elaine Marshall and several other judicial candidates.

In addition to the speeches, the campaigns set up tables with information about the candidates.

“We need you, and the people here in the mountains, to help take this message out across the state,” said Susan Dodson Smith, a former UNCA adjunct professor and spokeswoman for the Marshall campaign.

An invitation to the event was extended to College Republicans, but the organization did not respond to the offer.

“By inviting the College Republicans, we were opening it up,” Greeson said.

The events featured performances from locals bands Common Foundation and Bo Diddly. The performances helped draw in a more diverse audience to the event, according to Greeson.

“The tone of the event shifted, which

See VOTE Page 9

Sally Garner/staff photographer

Beth Porter, environmental studies student, registers to vote at Rock the Vote. Organizers said 35 people registered to vote at the event. Candidates Patricia Kaufmann Young (bottom left, district court), Susan Fisher (middle, N.C. House) and Steve Cogburn (right, clerk of superior court) spoke at the event.

On the Quad

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

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What role do you think young people will play in this year’s election, and why do you think people choose not to vote?

“I think a big part is the news and the coverage we get on the election is really biased. We know that they’re being biased, so we don’t really see a point in going to vote if the initial information we’re getting is crap.”

Erin McCarn Undecided freshman

“I know it’d be a good

thing to have people get out there at elections. Mainly, I feel like my parents vote because they felt like voting made a big difference, but when you’re a kid it just seems like it isn’t.”

Elliot Mills Sociology Student

“Well, it’s rather because people are too busy, or there are those people who are indifferent to it all.”

Paul Paddock Mathematics Student

Dustin Stuart/staff photographer

Students Erin Ikelheimer and Kyle Boyette work on a claymation project in Karpen Hall during UNCA’s Super Saturday.

Program helps children enjoy school on Saturday Jessie Lovelace jlovelac@unca.edu staff writer

School on Saturday does not appeal to most students, but for children attending UNC Asheville’s Super Saturday, it is an exciting opportunity to learn about topics that are not typically covered in elementary education.

“The classes are really designed to enhance their regular academic curriculum. Super Saturday is open to all children that want to learn, but it kind of takes that special child that really likes to be in school on Saturdays and is really wanting to have that extra enrichment,” said Director of Cultural Events and Special Academic Programs Holly Beveridge.

The program is designed for children between the third and eighth grades to take either one or two classes of their choice for six consecutive weeks.

According to Beveridge, typically 350 to 400 children sign up for classes.

“They’re primarily children that are in the AIG program, which is the state designation for academically and intellectually gifted,” she said.

Students can usually choose between 25 to 30 courses.

This fall’s courses began last Saturday morning.

Students were able to choose from a variety of courses in subjects includ-

ing sculpture, cartooning, foreign language, drama, dance, photography and music.

According to Beveridge, Super Saturday has been around since the early 1980s and has been a very popular program.

“One of the things it really does is it gives them an opportunity to really go deeper into an area where they may not have the time to explore a particular interest,” she said. “It allows them to just go a little deeper and go beyond what they’re already doing.”

The children take their courses in a typical classroom setting on campus, though many of the courses are handson.

The teachers of the courses come from a variety of sources.

“There are several classes that are taught by UNCA faculty and students,” Beveridge said. “There are several that are taught by public school teachers in the various school systems, and then we have some classes that are taught by individuals who are skilled in a particular area.”

Michael Ann Cummings, parent of a fifth grader attending Super Saturday, said her son is always excited when he gets to take part in the program.

“He’s totally excited when we get the brochure in the mail and we go

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Megan Dombroski/photography editor

Ashley Garrison, above, serves ice cream to a customer at The Hop’s new West Asheville location. Garrison, along with her husband Greg, left, are the fifth owners of The Hop since it opened in 1978.

The Hop continues frozen tradition at new location Caitlin Byrd

mcbyrd@unca.edu arts and features editor

Ice cream outlined the smiles of small children and adults alike during the grand opening of The Hop’s West Asheville location on Haywood Road last Friday.

“The Hop is an institution of Asheville and people have a tie to it,” owner Greg Garrison said. “Even though we’re not in the original location, we’ve perpetuated that idea in a different kind of way.”

Garrison, along with his wife, Ashley Garrison, are The Hop’s fifth owners since the ice cream shop first opened in 1978 on Merrimon Avenue.

According to the Garrisons, the store’s original owners tried to make The Hop more than a place to get ice cream.

“The idea of a hop was that it was a social gathering where people could come together and have a good time.

It just so happened that you could also get some ice cream at the same time,” Ashley Garrison said.

Hop employee Emma Hutchens said she felt that way when she was a UNC

Asheville student.

“The Hop was like a second home.

I spent a great deal of time there with friends and Ashley and Greg went out of their way to get to know us when we came in,” she said.

According to Ashley Garrison, these kinds of connections with customers embody the bond between The Hop and the Asheville community.

“Anyone can make ice cream, but we’ve got a friendly staff and we try to remember our customers’ names, faces and orders. We try to make it personal and it’s almost so easy because everyone loves ice cream,” Ashley Garrison said.

However, before the Garrisons were owners, they were UNCA students, just like Hutchens, working as employees at The Hop trying to make some extra money.

Greg Garrison studied theoretical mathematics while his wife majored in cell and molecular biology. Both graduated in 2005, but neither said they expected to become business owners without a single business degree between them.

“In this economy, it was just so difficult to find a job, so I just kept work-

ing at The Hop. Then, the owners at the time approached us about selling the business and before we knew it, we were the new owners,” Ashley Garrison said. “It was just the right time.”

Her husband said he agreed timing had a large influence on how the pair acquired The Hop and also how they were able to expand.

“We’ve been getting the West Asheville crowd coming into our store for a while now,” Greg Garrison said.

“The Hop is definitely doing what we wanted it to do and it’s so great that we’ve spread our sphere of influence.”

Hutchens said she also sees the expansion as a positive step for the local business.

“It is such an exciting new chapter for a small local business like The Hop. It means that community connections and relationships, like those that have been growing through the North Asheville location, can begin to manifest in another part of Asheville.

It also gives us a blank slate to creatively work with our business model to learn how to operate well and fit into a completely different area of the same funky city,” she said.

For Ashley Garrison, this new area means new possibilities for edgier flavors of ice cream, like cranberry gorgonzola.

But, at the end of the day, the husband and wife team said The Hop isn’t just another local business.

“At the end of the day, we want to make people happy on a personal level and that’s always been the case for us,” Greg Garrison said.

According to Garrision, this relationship with customers and within the larger Asheville community makes The Hop different from other ice cream stores.

Whether he said they are hosting family friendly events at their store or sponsoring The Hop scholarship for rising UNCA juniors, Garrison said The Hop is nothing without Asheville.

“Asheville loves The Hop and The Hop loves Asheville. We each show each other how much that’s true with the support we give the community and with the support the community gives to us,” he said.

The West Asheville location of The Hop is located at 721 Haywood road in the former location of Two Spoons Ice Cream.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

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LGBTQ community seeks greater acceptance in Asheville Katherine Walker kpwalker@unca.edu

assistant news editor

Although many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals said they feel comfortable with their sexual identity in a liberal city like Asheville, they’re still fighting for basic human rights.

“Basically, I know my personal concerns are Asheville is very liberal, and the fact that I can sit down and talk about this is amazing, but I feel like a lot of people in this community get too comfortable with how accepted they are here. The fact of the matter is, you still can’t enjoy the civil rights you should be enjoying,” said Amy Orenchek, treasurer of Asheville’s LGBTQ rights group Just Us For All. Orenchek said although people in the LGBTQ community feel comfortable holding hands with their loved ones, she’s concerned people don’t realize there are greater issues involved.

“I think people aren’t informed.

They don’t realize there are teachers across the country, and here, that aren’t comfortable with coming out.

You hear about those things and think, ‘Wow, what year are we in? You can’t talk to me about your partner because you think it’s going to affect your job?

Like someone’s going to hear and you’re going to get fired?’” Orenchek said.

In response to these issues and brutal attacks on members of the LGBTQ community in Asheville, Orenchek and others organized a march last April.

After around 300 people attended the march, the group Just Us For All was formed.

Just Us For All’s mission includes gaining support for LGBTQ North Carolinians and their families.

They’ve planned a rally downtown on Nov. 7 to protest Senate and House bills that outlaw gay marriage.

“There are still a lot of issues going on out here where people don’t have equal rights. It’s not just marriage. You should be able to be what you are without having to look over your shoulder and worry about being attacked,” said Steve Bledsoe, co-chairman of Blue Ridge Pride.

According to Michael Jozefowicz, co-chairman of UNC Asheville’s Alliance, the queer bashings that have occurred in Asheville in the past year have been a wake-up call and made people realize Asheville isn’t as safe

Image courtesy UNCA Alliance.

as they might have thought.

“In the past 20 years, Asheville has become a mecca almost for different types of people, and the queer community falls into that, but we’re starting to realize that maybe we’ve been taking too much for granted. Maybe there’s more to be built than we thought,” Jozefowicz said.

According to Jozefowicz, he doesn’t see the beatings as a setback, but rather a tool for the LGBTQ community to use.

“They’re something that we’ve been using. We’ve had a couple marches, and we continue to plan events to rally up people and unite people. It’s something we’ve been using as a way to move ourselves forward and something to stand on and shout from,” he said.

Jozefowicz said bullying because of his sexual identity is something he felt he left behind in middle school, and hearing about the beatings brings up a lot of emotions.

“In the place where I was raised, there wasn’t really any issue with my identity or sexual identity. I know so many of my peers have had issues with their families and friends growing up.

Maybe this is normal for other people, but I came here expecting it to be the way it had always been in my life, and that is quite accepting,” Jozefowicz

said.

According to research Campus Pride conducted on college campuses around the country, gay, lesbian, bisexual and questioning individuals were twice as likely to experience harassment compared to their heterosexual peers.

They were seven times more likely to report the harassment was because of their sexual orientation.

Individuals who identified as queer were even more likely to experience harassment.

“I would be hard-pressed to find of the people I know, especially people my age, who would say, ‘I’ve never been harassed.’ I, myself, experienced a physical attack in ’89. I’d say almost everyone I know has had some incident when they’ve been verbally or physically abused as a result of being a homosexual,” Bledsoe said.

Orenchek said responsibility rests on school officials to make sure this type of bullying comes to an end within school systems.

“Talking about high schools and middle schools is one thing because there are so many strict rules, but, for example, the recent suicide of the man in college who was outed by his roommate and broadcasted over the Internet really obscenely, what can be done about that? The school doesn’t really have control over that. It’s hard to dic-

tate what bullying is in that instant and where the line needs to be drawn to stop this bullying,” Jozefowicz said.

Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old Rutgers University freshman, jumped off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate broadcast live images of him having a sexual encounter with another man.

More recently, Raymond Chase of Johnson and Wales University, an openly gay 19-year-old, hanged himself in his dorm room.

His reasoning has yet to be determined.

According to Jozefowicz, the number of youth suicides in the past months isn’t abnormal. He said the media has decided to make these incidents more public than many that happened in the past.

“I just think the point needs to be made, and is being made right now, that it is a huge issue. Whether or not an adult thinks it’s OK to be queer, it’s not OK to be mean. I think that that’s the issue, and people just need to see that bullying is not OK. Even if you agree with the bully, it’s still not OK or the right way to do it,” Jozefowicz said.

To learn more and to become active with the groups mentioned, visit blueridgepride.com, justusforall.com or search for Alliance on Facebook.

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

RENCI works to make information accessible to citizens Center focuses to inform community of severe weather in their area

Teresa Linn

tclinn@unca.edu staff writer

UNC Asheville’s Renaissance Computing Institute showed its exciting and interactive technology to the public at its open house, according to Marinus Tahu, UNC Asheville student and RENCI intern.

“Putting that data out there is exciting,” Tahu said. “It’s not just numbers that someone’s going to see. It’s presented in a way that somebody can make sense of it and use it and answer the questions that they had.”

RENCI is part of the National Environmental Modeling Analysis Center at UNCA. They work to inform the community in many different ways, including the open house at the Grove Arcade last Friday, according to NEMAC employee and Project Manager Susan Weatherford.

“Our whole purpose for being is data to decision,” she said. “We take data and we tell the story about it in a way that the common person on the street can understand. Then, everybody is on the same page by the time they all want to make a decision off what is often very intricate and difficult and complex data.”

According to NEMAC Community Engagement Coordinator Nina Hall, the RENCI open houses keep the public informed and aware of the institute.

“It gives the public information that we’re here, this is what we have, this is what we’re working on,” Hall said.

“We sometimes get anywhere from 50 to 60 people come through in the hour and a half.”

RENCI’s open house displayed data in a variety of different ways, including touch screens, posters, a VisWall, which is a scalable high-resolution display, and an immersive learning projection system called a GeoDome.

“The GeoDome and the VisWall generate the most interest just because they’re striking,” Hall said. “Those are kind of the showpieces. You can use the tools to see the different relationships of the data. People understand it a lot better when you can use those tools to see it and to make it appealing.”

Weatherford said NEMAC hires students to help with the work that REN-

Dustin Stuart/staff photographer

ERC System Administrator Bruce Dillard, right, looks at the WNC report card, which shows maps, graphs and texts evaluating sustainability in WNC at the RENCI open house held last Friday.

“We take data and we tell the story about it in a way that the common person on the street can understand.”

– Susan Weatherford, NEMAC employee and project manager CI does, including the technology and data they showed at the open house.

“Students have been involved in creating a lot of those visualizations,” Weatherford said. “Currently, we have 15 students working with us this semester. All of our grants have dollars in them for undergraduate research, so we hire students to help us on each of our projects, and RENCI is just one of our projects.”

According to Weatherford, RENCI’s

interactive tools draw a lot of public interest.

“We have our Buncombe County multi-hazard risk tool, which people can go to where they live, and it shows them on the map, and then they can pull up the layers of all those risks and see if their parcel that they live on is at risk for either flooding or steep slopes or wildfires or other hazards like that,” Weatherford said.

Hall said RENCI also works with the

community on some of its projects, including two movies that were shown in the GeoDome, to help keep the information local and relatable.

“The movies that we did were all done with local artists,” she said.

“They’re about 7-minute movies, and it talks about things like impervious surfaces, how they affect flood levels and what we can do about it. We worked with local videographers and animators. The dome itself was manufactured here in Asheville by a UNC Asheville graduate.”

Tahu said he enjoys working as a tech intern with RENCI because he appreciates the approach the institute takes to the information.

“It’s a great position and it’s a great opportunity,” he said. “I like the focus on putting the information in the people’s hands and making it useful rather than just a bunch of numbers that somebody files away or reads through and gets bored halfway through. You can actually interact with it.”

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Black Mountain College’s legacy lives on at UNCA Jeremiah Reed jjreed@unca.edu staff writer

Black Mountain College officially closed its doors in 1957, but the lasting legacy of the institution is still celebrated today.

For the second year in a row, UNC Asheville co-sponsored the Re-Viewing of Black Mountain College Conference from Oct. 8 to Oct. 10.

BMC was an experimental institution and one of the first colleges to center its curriculum around liberal arts education.

The school, which was founded in 1933 by John Rice, was highly influential in shaping the minds of its students.

Brian Butler, UNCA chair and associate professor of philosophy, serves as vice chair for the Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center’s board of directors. Butler said he was happy with the conference and the interest it created.

“Overall, I thought it was great. All the people that arrived here because of the tradition of BMC is the part that I think was most successful,” Butler said.

The conference was a three-day event hosted in Highsmith Student Union that began with a screening of Fully Awake: Black Mountain College, a film by Cathryn Zommer and Neeley House. Fully Awake documents the evolution of BMC, the lives of the students who studied there and the lasting impact it left.

Zommer said even though more than 50 years have passed since students attended BMC, alumni she interviewed still displayed the same spirit and passion the school embodied.

“The most exciting part for me was meeting students who attended the college,” Zommer said. “I’d never met 80- and 90-year-olds who were still active in the community and remaining in exploration, just like they had at Black Mountain.”

Passion about the arts was imperative for any student who attended BMC. There were no formal grades and no degrees offered. A student’s education was their own to foster.

Kenneth Snelson, world-renowned sculptor and photographer, was a student at BMC during the summers of 1948 and 1949. Snelson said it was exactly this type of escape from traditional education that appealed to him

Kate Santos/staff photographer

Glenn Shults, a board member for Black Mountain College, and Alice Sebrell, program director, both attended the Re-Viewing of Black Mountain College Conference Oct. 8. Below, in the Highsmith Art Gallery artwork from Black Mountain College was displayed. Black Mountain College opened in 1933 and was one of the first colleges to center its education around a liberal arts curriculum.

and so many others.

“There was an underground telling about this place that seemed like one of the best ways of offering a more progressive education. There was a feeling of freedom and openness, that the world was ours,” Snelson said.

BMC was also famous for the many innovative minds who came to teach at the school such as Josef Albers, Buckminster Fuller and John Cage. Snelson said having such a strong and dynamic faculty was a big reason he attended BMC. “Josef Albers was the main attraction for me and for many other students who came to study at Black Mountain during that time,” Snelson said.

Although passion was high at BMC, the same could not be said of funding.

The college ran on a shoestring budget and implemented student work programs to survive financially.

Butler said he sees a similar conflict today, especially during a time when graduating and getting a job are more important than the value of liberal arts education itself. His panel presentation, “Education in a time of crisis,”

discussed these ideas.

“Liberal arts education is better at training citizens,” Butler said. “If we believe in democracy, we need an education more than just for a job. We need an education that makes people think as a citizen, and that’s where liberal arts works.”

Mary Emma Harris, scholar and chair of the Black Mountain College Project, said even in tough economic times, a student needs more education than simply what can get them a job.

“With the current education system that steers students toward a career or job, it’s important to understand that we need the enriching influences of a very broad education,” Harris said.

Harris also said liberal arts education is a fundamental part of society that must be protected, and that the values and beliefs that were pillars of BMC can still be applied today.

“We’ll be a very deficient culture if we don’t have a strong liberal arts foundation in our education systems,” she said. “There’s a lot to be learned from BMC, and we can continue to learn from it.”

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Photo corner

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

SDS holds student walkout to protest government spending

Megan Dombroski/photography editor

Students for a Democratic Society held a class walkout Oct. 7 on the Quad to protest government spending on the Afghanistan war. Protesters held signs that showed how the billions of dollars spent on the war could be given to schools, allow teachers to keep their jobs and allow the government to give Pell Grants to college students. SDS also marched around campus, chanting slogans such as, “Education is a right, not a privilege,” and, “Fund education, not occupation.”

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Saturday

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Continued

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over all the classes. He loves it,” Cummings said. “He loves being on a college campus, and I think that encourages him to start really thinking about college in his future.”

Priscilla Hendrix has a son in the fourth grade who is attending Super Saturday for the first time. She also said that coming to Super Saturday opens up a conversation about higher education.

“Seeing the college has been a great experience for him,” Hendrix said. “It helps us to talk about going to college in the future. Hopefully, he’ll continue learning and never stop.”

Cummings’ son chose a course in cartooning this fall and has been attending Super Saturday for a few years.

“He thinks it’s awesome that he’s here where grown-ups go to school,” she said. “He likes being with other kids that have the same skill set and are as interested in other things like he is, because sometimes that’s hard at his regular school.”

Parents of students who attend Super Saturday said the children enjoy challenging themselves to go beyond their everyday classroom routine and learn in a new environment.

Dustin Stuart/staff photographer “I think that my son likes it because Lin Barber works with students on a pottery project during UNCA’s Super Saturday on Oct. 16. it assumes you have a certain maturity level to take a class on a college cam- Saturday is $69 per course, with some gram. campus organizations and departments pus, and not everybody gets to go to scholarships available for children who “We have funding from Asheville fund some scholarships, really in an Super Saturday,” Cummings said. “He could not normally afford to attend.

City Schools Foundation, which funds attempt to make sure that everybody likes that part of it too.”

Beveridge said that around 30 stu- some scholarships,” Beveridge said. has access to the program that wants The cost for a child to attend Super dents are on scholarships for the pro- “We fund a few scholarships, some to attend.”

Vote I think was fine, because we had more people that were registering, or at least hearing when early voting was,” Greeson said.

A general pattern of apathy in UNCA voters underscored the event’s success, according to Greeson.

“People just seem to have a lot of opinions about things, but they don’t actually take the time to take action and go vote, which is probably one of the simplest things you can do to make changes happen,” Greeson said. “It’s disappointing and frustrating sometimes to have to work with that.”

According to The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, a nonpartisan

Continued

research group, voter turnout for ages 18 to 29 in the 2006 midterm election increased by 3 percentage points since 2002, with about one in four eligible voters participating.

However, turnout was much lower than the high-water mark of about 55 percent set in 1972, the first year 18-year-olds could vote in a presidential election. Historically, the young voter tunout greatly declines in nonpresidential elections, according to CIRCLE. “Young people vote less, and at a lower turnout rate, than any other age group,” said William Sabo, UNCA political science professor.

Young voters almost always turn out

in the lowest numbers, while older age groups such as 45 to 65 and older tend to vote in the greatest amount, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Sabo said politicians usually do not try to attract young voters because of the pattern of low turnout.

“When they do, there are circumstances, like in the Obama campaign, that worked very hard to get young voters enthused and to get them to turn out,” Sabo said.

About 66 percent of young voters cast their ballots for Obama, the largest showing ever for a single candidate in the age category. However, Sabo said he doubts the strong showing from young voters will continue.

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“It’s very likely that it will turn to previous patterns,” he said.

Sabo said politicians use their resources to motivate likely voters and usually do not target young voters unless they have extra resources or see a hidden advantage in them.

“This is not routine, and I don’t see it happening much in the near future,” Sabo said.

Greeson, who studies political science, said her organization was attempting to organize shuttles to early voting locations for UNCA students.

Early voting in North Carolina occurs from Oct. 16 through Nov. 16 at multiple locations throughout Buncombe County.

Arts & Features

Stories of ghosts and murders continue to haunt Asheville Page 10

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Hali Ledford

hdledfor@unca.edu assistant arts and features editor

Joshua P. Warren walked down Eagle Street Friday night retelling the story of Asheville’s largest mass murder, in graphic detail, pointing out the exact spots where six people were randomly shot and killed

by Will Harris in 1906.

Warren, an Asheville native, along with his other tour guides, operates Haunted Asheville, giving tours around the city based off Asheville’s ghost stories that Warren helped popularize with his book Haunted Asheville.

“When I look at ghostly phenomena I take two angles,” Warren said. “One is that ghost stories are a very interesting way of passing along history that otherwise would be forgotten, and secondly, I have seen for myself that there is sometimes an external anomaly that can be measured objectively at places where these stories generate.”

Warren’s passion for spooky stories began at a young age, and he published his first book of fictional ghost stories at 14.

After his first publication, Warren began writing columns for The Asheville Citizen-Times about scary happenings around town for Halloween, which eventually led him to publish Haunted Asheville.

“I found there was a craving for these kinds of stories to be documented,” Warren said. “I got tons of mail from people all the time saying, ‘Man, if you’re investigating this stuff, please come spend a night at my house and see what’s going on.’ So I started following up on this, and once I saw how much was available and how fun it was for me, and knowing that so much of this had never been recorded, the next natural step was to write Haunted Asheville.”

Warren spent two years performing paranormal investigations and documenting research for Haunted Asheville while enrolled as a student at UNC Asheville.

“I didn’t graduate. I spent about two and a half years there, and I was bored silly,” Warren said. “I got to a point where I was doing all this stuff that I wanted to do and I had all these opportunities coming my way, and I had to balance that with trying to stay awake in the morning after being up all night. I talked myself into taking a little break and I never went back, but honestly, for me, it was the best decision I probably have ever made, because I believe that if I had limited myself at that point in time, I might not have ever been able to gain the momentum that I have been able to use to keep this going, which is what I enjoy a lot more than what most people get out of a degree. I’m not saying it’s for everybody,

Katie Saylors/assistant photography editor

The former Battery Park Hotel is the site of one of Asheville’s most greusome murders and numerous suicides. People still experience paranormal activity inside of the building. They have reported incidents such as elevators going up and down on their own and hearing voices and see shadows in the hallways. but it worked for me.”

The Pink Lady Not everybody who stays at The Grove Park Inn Resort and Spa leaves. One guest still walks up and down the halls of the famous inn built by E.W. Grove, wearing a pink gown, according to Warren.

Nobody knows who the woman was that fell from the balcony and died at the Grove Park. It is unkown if she committed suicide or if she was pushed to her death by someone else, but she is now known as the Pink Lady, according to Chris Sorrells, Haunted Asheville tour guide and UNCA industrial and engineering management student.

The Grove Park invited Warren to be the first person to perform a paranormal investigation of the Pink Lady around the time he was working on Haunted Asheville in the ‘90s. He spent months interviewing people who had encountered the ghost of the Pink Lady.

“For a guy who is 18, who is just starry eyed and amazed by all this stuff, to be

given the keys to the Grove Park Inn to wander and spend the night in whatever room I wanted to and talk to people who worked there 80 years ago was huge,” Warren said.

Murder at the Battery Park Hotel On July 17, 1936, a beautiful young woman named Helen Clevenger was found brutally murdered in room 224 of the Battery Park Hotel, another property built by Grove.

Clevenger had been beaten, her face mutilated and she had been shot. Police officers arrested Martin Moore, an employee of the hotel, for the murder and executed him using the gas chamber, Warren said.

The Battery Park Hotel has also been the site of numerous suicides, in which people have gone to the top of the 13-story building and jumped to their death, according to Warren.

“Grove’s properties are often connected with weird stuff,” Warren said.

The hotel now stands as a home for the assisted living, but plenty of paranormal

activity still takes place, making it one of the creepiest buildings in Asheville, according to Sorrells.

“I had the privilege of running into one of the residents. He said that weird things happen in this building all the time,” Sorrells said. “Apparently, when people first move in, they are stricken with insomnia and they cannot sleep. That goes on for about six months. He said the elevators like to work on their own accord, and people hear voices and see shadows going down the hallways late at night as well.”

Helen’s Bridge and Zealandia The story of Helen’s Bridge and Zealandia Castle at the top of Beaucatcher Mountain is one of the most well-known ghost stories of Asheville’s history, according to Warren, who refers to it as his favorite story.

According to Warren, in the late 1900s a young woman hanged herself from the bridge after her daughter was burned alive

See GHOSTS Page 9

Band formed by professor in college still plays Wednesday, October 20, 2010

{The Blue Banner}

Page 11

The Honey Fed Worms thrive with original band members and UNCA students

Tiffany Narron

Tiffany Narron/staff writer The Honey Fed Worms,left, a college band formed by UNCA professor Kevin Moorhead when he was in college, thrives with a mix of original members and current college students. The group performed together last week with Collin Suttles on drums, Moorhead on guitar, William “Fish” Skipper on vocals, Seth Weatherman on mandolin and Brian Grasso on bass.

tfnarron@unca.edu staff writer

Environmental studies professor Kevin Moorhead gets funky with students outside of class.

Moorhead and longtime friend William “Fish” Skipper share the groove from their college-rooted band Honey Fed Worms with four UNCA students.

“I think it’s funny. We have songs older than these guys. It doesn’t bother us one bit,” said vocalist Skipper. “If it doesn’t bother these young guys playing with a bunch of old farts, it sure doesn’t bother us. Hell, I figure if Bob Dylan can do it, so can we.”

The young bucks don’t seem to mind at all.

Adding to the cast of the original two members of Honey Fed Worms, the band touts a five-piece ensemble, and each member brings a different flavor to the folk-rock sound.

With Seth Weatherman on mandolin, Collin Suttles on drums, Brian Grasso on bass and graduate UNCA student Casey “Swayze” Saulpough on the pedal steel guitar, their sound is an eclectic mix of old and new, folk and funk.

“I’ve played with people of all ages.

There was a woman in my last band who is 50 and we called her Silver Fox. She was a badass on the drums. So, age really doesn’t matter to me,” said bassist and environmental studies student Grasso.

Moorhead and Fish met while attending Warren Wilson College back in 1976. After graduation, they moved to Florida, attended graduate school and started the now 34-year-old Honey Fed Worms.

They began like many college bands playing house parties and bar gigs.

While Moorhead perfected his guitar riffs, Fish invented witty song lyrics to

Ghosts

in a fire at the castle up the hill.

“When we have done our investigations there, some really freaky stuff has happened,” Warren said. “We have captured the strangest luminous forms zipping around those hallways. We have had a group of people down in the basement and all of our equipment go bonkers at once. I have seen enough in that castle up there, personally, and documented enough that I would have to say it’s pretty creepy. The idea of spending the night alone in that castle even sends chills down my spine.”

Legend has it that Helen still walks the property late at night, looking for

Brian Grasso, below, plays bass for The Honey Fed Worms. The band’s next gig will be Friday at the Root Bar in East Asheville at 9:30 p.m. with a $2 cover charge at the door.

match.

“Yeah, Fish writes some interesting lyrics,” Moorhead said “They’re usually lampooning something or making a joke out of it. We haven’t played for five or six years, though, because our bass player moved.

So I’m real excited about this band and the sound coming out of the configuration of a mandolin, rhythm guitar, bass, drums and slide guitar. It’s a neat sound.”

The reinvented Honey Fed Worms played their first gig a month ago at the Root Bar in East Asheville.

Both students and faculty came out to show their support for their favorite Bulldog rock star, packing the place with more business than it has seen all year.

“It’s a lot of fun. I enjoy it because we all have such different musical backgrounds.

It’s nice to change these songs up a little bit,” Grasso said. “I’m sure we’ve changed the sound a lot from what Kevin and Fish

initially thought it would sound like.”

The band will perform Friday at the Root

Bar in East Asheville. The show starts at 9:30 p.m. and there is a $2 cover charge.

Continued

her daughter. Those brave enough to try it drive up the mountain, park under the bridge and call out three times ‘Helen, come forth.’ Some people, like Warren, have experienced car trouble after doing so.

“Some of these things are not mere coincidence,” Warren said.

After Warren published stories such as these in Haunted Asheville, he started getting phone calls from readers asking how they could find the places referenced in his book.

“It was almost like a travel guide. I started gradually arranging the tours, and over

the years they have continued picking up as I have expanded them into other areas that I find interesting,” Warren said.

Warren offers many different tours that take thrill seekers all over Asheville to places he deems haunted, including Church Street, the site of the ghostly nun, Zambra, the only building in Asheville to have an exorcism performed inside it, and the Jackson Building, where many men committed suicide during the Great Depression by jumping from the roof. Warren takes groups inside the old jailhouse and gallows, where he said people experience a sick feeling upon entering the building

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because of its dark history.

“It’s a personal degree of original information that makes what I do important because I don’t just regurgitate what somebody else has done. This is my home, and the things I do here I’m going to have to live with the rest of my life,” Warren said.

“I’ve been self-employed since I was 18, writing books, doing TV and radio and tours and events. I’m very fortunate that, so far, I have been able to continue doing what I enjoy and what other people seem to find rewarding.”

Visit HauntedAsheville.com for tours and more information.

Page 12

{THE BLUE BANNER}

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

{THE BLUE BANNER}

Page 13

Asheville Zombie Walk thrills downtown people attended the walk, according to estimates from NEWS EDITOR police and spectators.

Burrello, who dressed as ith a choreographed a zombie clown, said there routine to Michael is a deeper purpose for the Jackson’s “Thriller” walk. calling the dead to rise, “It’s a statement on our the Asheville Zombie Walk own mortality and not being was underway. afraid of it,” he said.

“I’ve always wanted to The first walk took place see it,” said Dan Burrelin 2006, and the only publo, event producer and cre- licity for the event came ator. “I never wanted to through MySpace. be a zombie so much, but I “It started with just a sure wanted to be in a cof- flash mob and one bulletin fee shop and watch them come on MySpace, and with that up the streets.” first year, we had 250 peoHundreds of zombies took ple and it’s grown since to the streets of downtown then,” Burrello said.

Asheville on Oct. 10, enBurrello said the event tertaining and surprising gained widespread attention onlookers. in 2008 when the walk ocBetween 1,700 and 1,900 curred the same day as SarAshleigh Joyner AMJOYNER@UNCA.EDU

W

Photography by Assistant Photography Editor Katie Saylors

ah Palin’s campaign stop in Asheville. Since then, the event has grown every year, Burrello said.

The walk, which began and ended at the Coxe Avenue Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company, lasted for about 45 minutes and encouraged participants to bring canned food items for local food banks.

“The food that was donated went to MANNA FoodBank and about 170 pounds of food was collected,” Burrello said.

The event’s increasing size presented some issues, according to Burrello. “(The city) is making it more and more difficult to gather despite our right to assemble,” Burrello said.

“They’ve been pretty cool with me so far, though.”

This year, organizers had to go through a process with the city to host the event, Burrello said.

“We had to file for a permit, buy insurance, which for a lot of people is expensive, and hire police officers,” he said.

Above all, the event is meant to be fun for adults and children, Burrello said.

“Adults don’t really have a chance to dress up for Halloween,” Burrello said.

“Children have always been allowed to come and they don’t get scared. Unless parents instill fear in their children, they know it’s just fun.”

Page 14

{The Blue Banner}

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

r

2

Photo courtesy of Erin Scholze

The Asheville-based band Mad Tea Party began as a solo project of vocalist Ami Worthen. Since the band’s formation, the duo has toured across the country.

Mad Tea Party releases new ghoulish album Anne Louise Bouchard alboucha@unca.edu staff writer

t

Photo courtesy of Scott McCormick

Ami Worthen and Jason Krekel form the band Mad Tea Party.

Worthen writes songs for the two-person band, but the two learned to play and perform music together. Last week, the band released its second album, Rock ‘n’ Roll Ghoul, at Stella Blue. The album is available on vinyl and also online as downloadable tracks.

Mad Tea Party, a musical duo from Asheville, got its name from the children’s book “Alice in Wonderland.”

“I was thinking about being Alice in Wonderland. Becoming a musician is a lot like jumping down the rabbit hole. It’s a leap of faith and a new world. It’s sort of surreal. You are really big and then small, really confident then insecure,” said Ami Worthen, singer and ukulele player for Mad Tea Party.

Worthen said Mad Tea Party’s name is whimsical and fun.

“Ultimately, it’s about having fun,” she said.

Mad Tea Party got its start when Worthen began learning to play music. She then met Jason Krekel, who she described as an accomplished instrumentalist. They learned to play music and perform together.

“We played a couple of shows over the years, but as I got better, he got more interested in doing shows,” Worthen said.

She also said Mad Tea Party is now both of their primary bands.

Worthen, who writes the songs for the duo, said she has to be alone to do her best writing.

“I don’t want anyone else in the house,”

she said.

To start the process, she said she has to be feeling a strong emotion such as happiness, sadness or excitement.

“I can’t just be hanging out. I have to have an extreme emotion,” she said.

She said she comes up with a melody then starts playing around with the instruments.

“It has to happen all at once. I can’t come back to it later,” she said.

The songs on the band’s new album Rock ‘n’ Roll Ghoul are all Halloween-related.

“It’s our second Halloween release. The first was The Zombie Boogie. We love Halloween. It’s fun to play with that theme,” she said.

The idea for their album came from Krekel.

“Jason had this image in his mind of someone in the business who metaphorically eats the flesh of the artist,” Worthen said.

The new album’s artwork features the Rock ‘n’ Roll Ghoul devouring a human arm.

Worthen said their music as a mix of garage rock, rockabilly, and ’50s and ’60s rock.

“Southern Cultures on the Skids are really similar to us,” she said.

She also said that to an extent they are like The White Stripes. King Khan & BBQ

See RELEASE Page 15

Human pink ribbon celebrates those affected by breast cancer Wednesday, October 20, 2010

{The Blue Banner}

Sarah Hinson

sbhinson@unca.edu staff writer

Some people show their support for breast cancer awareness by sporting pink ribbons on their shirts and cars, while others, like the hundreds of supporters who gathered downtown Oct. 7 for Paint the Town Pink, form a giant human ribbon instead.

“This will definitely be the biggest one in Western North Carolina,” said Melissa Sweeterman, a graphic designer for the Asheville Citizen-Times, one of the event’s sponsors.

Attendees not only united their bodies to form a ribbon for support, but they also tied together their unique stories for a common cause.

“I think it would be hard to find someone here who hasn’t been affected by breast cancer one way or another,” Sweeterman said. “A good friend of mine is 27 years old, and she actually just had to have a mastectomy. It’s an epidemic for sure.”

Tricia Edwards, marketing manager for the Citizen-Times and one of the main organizers of the event, honored her friend Vicki Harrison.

“She is one of my main cohorts in putting this event together,” Edwards said. “It makes me cry to think that Vicki might not be here, and I’m so fortunate that she is, and being treated.”

Another supporter at the event, RoseMarie Vieira, dealt with her own cancer, and lost a sister and friend to breast cancer.

“Cancer is something I’ve been around since I was very young,” Vieira

Release

Show has also had a big influence on the band, Worthen said.

Worthen said they want people to have a good time when they listen to their music.

“We want to give people a sense of abandonment, a sense of joyfulness and passion,” she said.

She said their live shows are really high energy.

“Our music is really driving. It’s a lot about rocking out,” she said.

Worthen said the audience affects their live shows. “It’s a partnership between band and audience,” she said.

“An engaged audience is going to make us play better,” she said. Worthen also said a good sound system really makes the show. “If the sound is bad, we have trouble connecting with the audience.”

Worthen said she believes their duo provides a unique experience that listeners may not expect.

“Our society as a whole doesn’t place

“One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. Every five minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer, and once a month five women in Buncombe County will die of breast cancer.”

– Tricia Edwards, marketing manager for the Asheville Citizen-Times said. “I’ve had my own cancer scare, and ended up having to have a hysterectomy 12 and a half years ago. I’m here to support everybody.”

Ever since Vieira lost her sister to breast cancer, she decided to give blood regularly in order to give back to the people who helped her sister through blood donations during chemotherapy.

Vieira also participates in Zumba, and her group held a breast cancer Zumbathon Sept. 30 to raise money and awareness for the cause.

“Whenever I hear about breast cancer events, I’m there,” Vieira said.

According to Edwards, Paint the Town Pink was designed to help everyone in

Asheville and Buncombe County become aware of the likelihood someone they know will suffer from breast cancer, and it can be survivable if caught soon enough.

“One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime.

Every five minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer, and once a month five women in Buncombe County will die of breast cancer,” Edwards said.

She added the likelihood of being diagnosed with breast cancer in Buncombe County is higher than in North Carolina, and the likelihood of being diagnosed with breast cancer in North Carolina is higher than the national average.

Page 15

“There’s something wrong here,” Edwards said. “Women are not being treated early enough, they’re not aware of it. There’s poverty and some don’t have access to mammograms or proper health care. These are issues that Paint the Town Pink is addressing.”

Paint the Town Pink included a proclamation by Mayor Terry Bellamy to mark the special day.

The event featured live music by Kat Williams, and speakers like cancer survivors Carol King, the former Pack Square Conservancy chairwoman, and Mary Young, the Citizen-Times advertising director. Mission Health System also sponsored the event.

Vieira said she hopes the event will raise awareness and that someday someone will discover a cure or prevention for breast cancer.

“I know there’s a lot of causes and diseases and everyone feels very strong about theirs, but it’s really a matter of how it’s affected you personally,” Vieira said. “Everyone who came here is here because it affected them personally, in some way, and as long as you’re aware of that and you support it, it’s going to happen.”

Edwards said she believes awareness saves lives, so events like Paint the Town Pink are crucial. Pink ribbons, no matter what or whom they are woven with, can inform, inspire and enact change.

“If this event makes every young woman think, ‘Well, I need to be more aware of my body, then every woman who’s putting off that mammogram for the next month or next month is going to go get one,” Edwards said. “Pink is the power to change your life.”

Continued

as much value on live performance or on handmade art. We have a homogenized tendency. We shop at the same store, eat at the same place, listen to the same radio. In any given town in the U.S., you can eat and shop at the same place as the other town,” Worthen said.

She said things that are different are looked at with skepticism.

“There is a barrier to being an independent,” she said.

Caitlin Bradley, a junior at UNC Asheville, said she thinks one of the greatest appeals of Mad Tea Party is their originality.

Bradley, an Asheville native, has known about the band for a couple of years now.

“I think with each album, they are improving and I think it’s great.”

Bradley said she likes that the band uses more different instruments than most.

“You know, not many bands use an electric ukulele paired with a fiddle,” she said.

Bradley downloaded Rock ‘n’ Roll Ghoul

off the band’s website and played it for her roommate.

Junior Annelise DeJong said she enjoyed the album. “I had never heard of them before until Caitlin played one of their songs for me,” she said.

“I love Halloween, so I like to hear bands that incorporate that into their music. I’m very interested to hear some of their other music,” the sociology student said.

Worthen said what makes them different is their instrumentation. “Jason is a oneman band. He plays the drums with his feet and his guitar,” she said. Worthen herself plays the electric ukulele.

Worthen said their band is not for everyone and appeals to a niche of people. “We are for a person who is an independent thinker and wants to discover something off the beaten path,” she said.

Worthen said she thinks it is important to be authentic. “At the end of the day, looking back, what’s the most important?

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You had a million fans and you were not making the music you believe, or you had a thousand fans and you made the music you wanted to?” she said. “Authenticity is the most satisfying.”

Page 16

Campus Spotlight

{The Blue Banner}

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

UNCA student works 9 jobs in 12-year span Alyssa Spencer afspence@unca.edu managing editor

When senior UNC Asheville student LaQuinta Whiteside graduates in December, she will have been working for 12 nonstop years.

As a result, the psychology student has completely paid her way through college.

“When I turned 12, I got my first job as a dishwasher, and I’ve had a job or multiple jobs since then,” Whiteside said. “I have worked to pay myself through college completely on my own. I have had assistance when I really needed it, but I usually had to pay back partial or all that I borrowed.”

Her list of jobs is as varied as it is lengthy.

Throughout her college career, she has worked at an ice cream shop, UNCA Campus Recreation, Kohl’s department store, Journey’s shoe store, Tripp’s restaurant and as an Avon consultant, for which she was her own boss.

Whiteside said working full time while pursuing a degree is more than challenging, it is frequently frustrating.

“It’s extremely hard, and I let my grades slip because I needed money to pay my car payments, insurance, phone service, food, gas and everything I needed or wanted,” Whiteside said. “I did dedicate a lot of my time in the library once I took on two jobs because I didn’t want to be kicked out of school for having a low GPA. If I hadn’t spent that time in the library, I would have never done any of my work for class.”

According to LaQuinta Whiteside Whiteside, her junior year was the most stressful, and her meager spare time was spent sleeping and eating.

“I was doing a full-time schedule at school, working part time at Campus Recreation and working nearly full time at Kohl’s,” she said. “It was a struggle because I would get up at 5 a.m. to be at work at Kohl’s at 6. After working there for about six hours, I would go to my classes, have dinner, do homework, then go to the gym to work from 8 to 11 p.m. This cycle was just about every day.”

Whiteside said she typically devotes her weekends to work and studying. While t dshe acknowledged she has little free time cfor herself and that juggling everyday oblisgations often proves difficult, she said she is proud of all that she has accomplished and enjoys being completely independent.

Whiteside’s job history

June 1999- November 1999 Worked as a dishwasher at Logan’s Restaurant May 2004-August 2009 Worked at an ice cream shop called the Rocking Leprechaun May 2005-July 2005 Worked at Westwood Play and Learn Daycare March 2006-January 2008 Worked at a convenience store called Valley Market January 2008-May 2010 Worked for UNC Asheville Campus Recreation September 2008-December 2008 Worked at Kohl’s department store May 2010 Started selling Avon cosmetics products July 2010-September 2010 Worked at Journey’s shoe store July 2010-present Works as a hostess at Tripp’s Restaurant She credits her mother for instilling a good work ethic in her.

“I grew up in a single-parent home,” she said. “My mom was the only provider, and I saw her struggles trying to raise my sister and me. She has a good work ethic. She encouraged me that I could do everything, even during times I would be in tears and ready to give up.”

In order to fit in all of the requirements for her last semester at UNCA, Whiteside said she had to let go of two of her three jobs.

When the fall semester began, she

worked as a waitress, a shoe salesperson and also an Avon cosmetics consultant. She kept her waitressing job and said she has been focusing on graduating and planning to pursue a second degree.

“After college, I plan to work more,” she said. “I plan to move and continue my education. I want to start a family, and the day I find out that I’m with child, I am starting a trust fund to keep my children from going through the struggle I’ve been through. My struggle made me appreciate life more, but I just want some things to be easy for them, like college education.”

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Sports

Bulldogs celebrate last Jammin’ at the Justice Wednesday, October 20, 2010

{The Blue Banner}

Page 17

Amari Clements aclement@unca.edu

staff writer

UNC Asheville’s basketball teams said goodbye to the Justice Center in style at the last ever Jammin’ at the Justice.

“There are a lot of great memories for a lot of great players and coaches, and I will come back and sit and think about great things that happened, but we need that new building,” said men’s basketball Head Coach Eddie Biedenbach.

Although the Bulldogs will see out this year’s season at the Justice Center, next year’s games will kick off in the North Carolina Center for Health and Wellness.

“There’s a lot of tradition here. We won a championship on this floor in this building in 2007. There is a lot of great memories for me, but you know, we’re excited about the new arena and making of our new home,” said women’s basketball Head Coach Betsy Blose.

Friday night, fans came out to see the Bulldogs for the first time this season.

There was a scrimmage, 3-point contest, Hot Shot contest, slam-dunk contest and a children’s game.

There was also a chance for a lucky fan to shoot to win $10,000.

“I like the Jammin’s because it gives us a chance to have fun before the season starts, and it’s an opportunity to give our fans something to look forward to,” said women’s basketball player Kelli Riles.

To start off the evening, there was an introduction of both Bulldog teams, and then they played their scrimmage games.

Afterward, there was a 3-point contest to see which team had the best 3-point shooters. Lindsey Thompson went up against Matt Dickey, and J.P. Primm faced off against senior Dana Wagner.

The final showdown was between Dickey and Wagner. Dickey won with 18 shots against Wagner’s 10.

The hot shot contest, in which two teams had a minute to score as many points as possible, was up next, with Riles and senior Joe May beating the field.

“The enthusiasm is the best part about the Jammin’. I thought our players did a real good job. You can get up there and try to be entertaining, but I wanted them to make a defensive effort to show the folks that we can be a pretty good team, and I thought we did that,” Biedenbach said.

Children got the chance to play a basketball game of their own with the help of some of UNCA’s players.

“It was so much fun to watch. Kids are

Megan Dombroski/ photography editor

Members of the UNCA basketball teams play hard against future ballers at Jammin’ at the Justice. so cute,” said freshman track and field runner Milan Ristic. “I am glad I came.

The dunk contest was awesome, and I can’t wait for the season to start because

sports teams always need support.”

The $10,000 shot contest was open to anyone who was interested. They drew 10 names, and one lucky person was picked

out of the drawing. In order to win, they had to make five 3-point shots around the

See BULLDOG Page 18

Page 18

{The Blue Banner}

Volleyball Digs Pink in aid Bulldog of breast cancer awareness Justin Stewart jastewar@unca.edu staff writer

The UNC Asheville volleyball team hosted its annual Dig Pink match, which promoted breast cancer awareness and raised money for cancer research.

The Bulldogs sported pink uniforms and accessories in their match against the topranked Liberty flames, and fans were encouraged to wear pink attire for a pink-out at the Justice Center.

“The Dig Pink event is similar to what women’s basketball puts on yearly for cancer research through the Kay Yow Foundation,” said UNCA Associate Athletics DirecMike Gore tor for External Affairs Mike Gore. “Traditionally, it’s generated a lot of support.”

In conjunction with the Side-Out Foundation, a nonprofit organization supporting breast cancer awareness, the event aimed to collect donations and provide information to those at the match. According to Gore, UNCA volleyball has hosted the charity fundraiser match since 2006.

“This is the fifth year we’ve had the Dig Pink match,” Gore said. “We want people to wear pink and donate at the game, or give money to the Side-Out Foundation online.”

The Side-Out Foundation has raised millions of dollars for breast cancer research since its conception in 2004, mainly through events such as volleyball tournaments, clinics and rallies.

According to the organization, funds are allocated for advanced therapies, and fractions of the proceeds benefit cancer support organizations on local and national levels.

“Last year’s Dig Pink match collected over $1000 for the Side-Out Foundation, and we’re hoping for far more than that this year,” Gore said.

Although Saturday’s match successfully endorsed breast cancer awareness in the stands, the Bulldogs failed to endorse their position in the Big South Conference standings on the court.

Despite holding their own against league-leading Liberty, UNCA, sporting pink shorts and socks in honor of the event, fell just short in four sets, 23-25, 36-24, 25-30, 25-19.

Holly Shelton, a sophomore middle hitter, recorded 10 kills in the match and con-

tinued her strong play. The former Brevard High School standout had 18 combined blocks through three road contests last week, earning her Big South Conference Defensive Player of the Week.

Outside hitter Kelsey Benorden also had an outstanding performance against Liberty and a productive stretch of matches in the last fortnight. The senior logged 15 kills and 12 digs in the loss Saturday, and in UNCA’s three previous competitions, she amassed a stat line that included 56 kills and 44 digs.

“Kelsey had a good match, and Holly Shelton was sensational,” UNCA Head Coach Julie Torbett said.

Additionally, outside hitter Cindi Miller continued her impressive junior campaign as she posted a game-high 21 kills. Miller’s contributions also warranted accolades from her coach.

“Miller was terrific again, like she has been all year,” Torbett said.

Prior to the weekend’s rivalry with Liberty, the Bulldogs won two of three matches away from home and now hold sole possession of third place in the BSC standings.

UNCA ousted Presbyterian College 3-1 in Clinton, S.C., on Oct. 5, and then traveled to Charleston Southern University three days later for a thrilling victory in five sets at the CSU Field House.

However, Torbett’s squad could not complete their South Carolina sweep, as they suffered a heartbreaking four-set loss to the Winthrop Eagles in Rock Hill on Oct. 9.

Winthrop is now 6-2 in BSC competition and stands between UNCA and the two schools currently tied for first, Liberty and High Point University. Both the Flames and the Panthers have just one conference loss on the season.

The Bulldogs (12-9, 5-3) will face a harsh test at Coastal Carolina (11-11, 4-4) on Saturday. While UNCA beat the Chanticleers in five sets last month at home, despite their .500 record, Coastal is 9-1 at home in Conway, S.C. Freshman defensive specialist Rachel Wells, who chipped in a team-high 20 digs versus Winthrop, said the Bulldogs hope to bounce back from the tough loss to Liberty.

“We’ll have more hard work at practice again this week, and we’ll have to regroup and come together as a team,” Wells said.

UNCA volleyball returns home on Oct. 26 for a non-conference bout with Mercer, who they shut out 3-0 in a meeting last month.

That match will kick off a lengthy sixgame home stand for the Bulldogs, which also includes BSC rivals Winthrop and High Point.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Continued

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Megan Dombroski/ photography editor

John Williams soars over teammate J.P. Primm in the dunk contest.

arch in 25 seconds. No one won the money, but the contestants all received participation prizes.

The highlight of the evening for most was the dunk contest.

Dickey, Stephenson, Jaron Lane and last year’s winner John Williams were this year’s participants.

“My favorite part was the dunk contest.

It’s a chance for the guys to show off their talent,” Riles said.

Williams had the crowd on their feet after he jumped over 7-foot-2-inch Sean Hobbs and 6-foot-1-inch Primm to become the dunk contest champion to beat.

The second annual Sawbone versus Jaw-

bones game was the last event of the night.

The Jawbones, lawyers, played against the Sawbones, doctors, for a fundraiser to help raise money for Buncombe County Medical Society and Pigsah Legal Services.

Blose coached the Jawbones, and Biedenbach coached the Sawbones.

“Really, a lot of them played college ball, played high school ball, and they’re really good players and great fellows,” Biedenbach said. “I get to know them personally out here and it’s a great social event.”

After a close game that lead to overtime, Blose’s Jawbones clinched the victory 2321 and walked away with the championship trophy.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

{The Blue Banner}

Page 19

Photo Courtesy of UNCA Athletics

Nathan White focuses at Wofford University, where he and teammate Nicolai Nonnenbroich defeated Furman University and Appalachian State.

Bulldog tennis teams put big swing on fall tournaments

Justin Greenwood jsgreenw@unca.edu staff writer

Dusting off off-season rust, the men’s and women’s tennis teams started fullswing into their fall campaign of tournament action.

“From my point of view, I’m pleased on how they played,” said Head Coach Lise Gregory. “We still are a little rusty. A lot of the players worked over the summer and didn’t have much time to compete.”

Gregory is assuming the head coaching position for the men’s and women’s tennis teams for the fourth year. Gregory was named Big South Conference Coach of the Year in 2009 after leading the women’s team to a 12-9 record.

“I try to adjust how I coach every year.

“There is a saying that goes, ‘Attitude is everything.

Pick a good one.’”

- Nicole Schon,

women’s tennis player

Just like the players are constantly learning, I am constantly learning as a coach,” Gregory said. “It all depends on the group of people.”

Gregory will try to coach the women’s team to another successful season after

posting a 14-8 record last season, the second best in school history.

“I just love coaching in general,” Gregory said. “After four years of coaching, you form relationships and bonds with the players. I still keep in touch with some of

them.”

Gregory was not able to watch the women’s team compete because she traveled with the men’s team to Wofford University. Even without the head coach there, the players have ways of remaining calm if things aren’t going as well as they could.

“The main thing is they have to stay calm,” Gregory said. “A lot of it is self talk.

We say a lot of things to ourselves that may not be positive, so we have to find a way to refrain from that.”

The women traveled to Elon University to compete in the Elon Women’s Invitational, which took place between Oct.8 and Oct. 12. Even though it was only their second competition of the year, they had some strong showings.

See TENNIS Page 20

Page 20

Bulldog Scorecard Men’s soccer Wednesday vs. Coastal Carolina 0-1 (L) Saturday vs. High Point 0-3 (L)

Women’s soccer

Saturday vs. Charleston Southern 0-8 (L) Monday vs. Coastal Carolina 1-4 (L)

Volleyball Oct. 9 vs. Winthrop 1-3 (L) Saturday vs. Liberty 1-3 (L)

Holly Shelton

Sophomore middle blocker Holly Shelton won Big South Conference Defensive Player of the Week for her play in the last few conference bouts.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

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UNCA Athletics Day kicked off quietly Natalie Pearson ngpearso@unca.edu sports editor

UNC Asheville kicked off its first UNCA Athletics Days at Buffalo Wild Wings with food, music and athletes, but not many fans.

Aiming to increase funds for each of the 14 varsity sports, different teams will host the UNCA Athletics Days at intervals throughout the school year.

The women’s volleyball squad organized the first event last Thursday.

“The money we make goes into volleyball’s enhancement squad, and each sport gets to do one every year,” said women’s volleyball Head Coach Julie Torbett.

Buffalo Wild Wings on Tunnel Road hosted the all-day event. They promised to donate 10 percent of all pre-taxed food sales for fans that either brought a special coupon or told their server they were there to support UNCA. After collecting the donations, each athletic program gets to decide exactly how they are going to spend their money.

“The money is going to go toward the miscellaneous expenses that go into running a volleyball program,” said Assistant Coach Kellen Petrone.

Despite being a novel idea for the athletics department, the slow trickle of fans who attended proved to be a sign of the

Tennis

Senior player Nicole Schon advanced to the finals of the B-1 singles flight after facing some very stiff competition.

“There is a saying that goes, ‘Attitude is everything. Pick a good one,’ and I couldn’t agree more with that statement,” Schon said. “I was in the semi-finals down 6-2, 5-2, and a couple of match points. I had been trying some new things, taking some risks and things to that point hadn’t really gone my way. I remember staying positive, thinking that I wasn’t ready to go home yet. I ended up coming back and winning.”

Schon was victorious against Longwood University 6-3, 6-2, Winston-Salem State University 6-0, 6-0, and Abby Richmond 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. She ended up losing to East Tennessee State University 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4.

“Preparation is nearly, if not just as important, to playing your best on the court,” Schon said. “Getting a good night sleep is so important for me to feel like I can stay out there for hours and can move the way I want out there.”

Schon is one of three seniors taking a leadership role on the team this season along with her sister Stephanie Schon and Britney Cloer.

“We were trying to be out and visible in the community. We want to be Asheville’s school and get more recognition for our athletes.”

– Julie Torbett,

head volleyball coach event’s teething problems.

“If more people come, it will be a good idea,” said junior right-side hitter Rachel Olivo.

The event ran until the restaurant closed, but the women’s volleyball team attended

from 7.30 p.m. onward, just in time to participate in the weekly karaoke.

Despite the low attendance, the team said they still enjoyed the evening’s activities.

“It’s fun to go out and talk to local Ashevillians,” Rachel Olivo said. “And it’s good team building time.”

For the few people who did attend, the event turned out to be a success.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said Asheville native and Rachel Olivo’s mother Kathy Olivo. “It’s a good way for the girls to interact with people and it’s a good fundraiser.”

According to Torbett, the event also helped the team garner more attention from prospective fans and establish UNCA as the most prominent local university.

“We were trying to be out and visible in the community,” she said. “We want to be Asheville’s school and get more recognition for our athletes.”

The volleyball program also used the day as a learning experience for their next turn at playing host.

“I think we’re going to try and do Monday Night Football next time,” Torbett said.

The date is yet to be announced for the next Athletics Day, but Torbett said she thinks the idea will gain more support.

“I think it will take a little bit, but I think it will catch on,” she said.

Continued

“The underclassmen have adjusted really well to college life,” Schon said. “Laziness, punctuality and irresponsibility, which are not uncommon for underclassmen, have not been a problem at all on our team.”

Schon competed in doubles action with the only freshman and French native, Zoe Hamel. The pair advanced to the consolation finales of the A-3 flight. They fell to Radford University 8-3 before beating Presbyterian College 8-1. They went on to lose to Appalachian State 8-6.

“Zoe is in a tougher position because she deals with all the responsibility and hard work that comes from being a student athlete as well as the language and cultural barriers,” Schon said. “I try and help her with her school work when I can, or adjusting to any new situations at tournaments.”

Hamel competed in the A-3 singles flight, where she went 1-1. She defeated ETSU 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 and then fell to Appalachian State 6-3, 6-3.

While the women’s team enjoyed a successful season last year, the men’s team struggled, finishing the year with a 6-14 record overall and a 1-6 record in Big South Conference play.

This season, the men’s side is made up

from

Page 19

of mostly juniors and sophomores, with only one freshman and senior each.

Nathan White, the lone senior, has served as a captain for two seasons and racked up many doubles victories. He finished last season with five consecutive wins, including victories against Radford and Coastal Carolina University.

White fell to Wofford University 6-3, 7-5 and Appalachian State University 6-0, 6-4, but was able to pick up a victory against Furman University 6-3, 6-3.

White also succeeded in doubles action with his partner Nicolai Nonnenbroich.

They defeated Furman University 8-4 and Appalachian State 8-3 and lost to Wofford 8-2.

“Nicolai and I, we get along well and we understand each others game,” White said. “We have been playing really good together.”

In singles action, Nonnenbroich fell to Wofford University 8-2 and picked up victory against Appalachian State 4-3, default.

The women’s team resumes action again at the Women’s Fall Regional starting tomorrow and will compete through next Monday. The men’s team competed at the Men’s Fall Regional on Monday.

Campus Voice

Death penalty defies female equality Fake news Alicia Adcox

ARADCOX@UNCA.EDU OPINION WRITER

Women have come a long way in history when it comes to gender equality, but there is still one aspect in which women are vastly unequal to men – the death penalty.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, there were 61 women on death row as of Jan. 1. These women make up less than 2 percent of inmates currently on death row. The first female execution occurred in 1632, and since then there have been only 569 documented cases. While this number seems high, it constitutes less than 3 percent of all documented cases of execution since 1608.

A few weeks ago, Theresa Lewis was executed in Virginia for the murders of her husband and stepson in 2002.

Her case caused controversy for a few reasons, especially her gender.

Throughout history, cases of women being sentenced to the death penalty have always received a lot of attention and scrutiny. But why? When it comes to murder, and the penalty for murder, why do women cause so much more controversy than men?

“We’re not used to seeing women even being guilty of these kinds of crimes.

It’s outside of what our persona is of women, so that it shocks people,” said Dolly Mullen, an associate professor of political science at UNC Asheville.

Even in modern society, some women are still fighting to obtain equal rights as men. Case in point, the National Committee on Pay Equity and the Equal Pay for an Equal Day campaign. It is unlikely, however, that people will argue for gender equality when it comes to the death penalty.

The issue of the death penalty itself has always stirred up controversy, but cases involving women seem to evoke even stronger opinions against it.

“My opinion on the death sentence put aside, this ‘favoring’ of a specific gender when it comes to the legal execution of people is a good example of gender roles expected in society and our long history of gender inequalities,” said Dylan Cipkowski, a junior environmental

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studies student.

Whether people support or oppose the death penalty, society’s view of women does not sustain the notion that a woman would be capable of murder. In looking at the individual cases of women sentenced to death, there is almost a trend.

These women were not usually executed for random homicides. In the 12 cases of women executed in the past few decades, only one-fourth were for the murders of strangers.

“There is a certain cunning and devious and, really, gifted and awful criminal activity that we don’t associate with women,” Mullen said about the Lewis case.

“That a woman would kill two men, a mother would kill two men, there is no place for that in our social imagination.”

Many cases of women committing murder and being executed for it involve the deaths of people close to them, such as a husband or child. These cases, especially those involving children, evoke more outrage in people than other murder cases.

“I think that children’s lives are protected in ways that perhaps adults’ aren’t because they’re defenseless,” Mullen said. “So the state has to step in and make the lesson out of the people who do this. All the more reason for a woman to be considered incurable who would do something like that.”

The fight for total gender equality may never be resolved. There may always be cases in which women feel men have the upper hand, but the death penalty is not one of these cases. There will probably never be an instance where someone will decide that it is unfair for so many more men to be executed than women.

This controversy, however, does raise questions about the way society views women.

Women are still seen as the weaker sex in many aspects. They have come a long way in gaining equality to men. Looking back only 50 years ago, it would have been unusual for a woman to hold a position of power. Now, however, women can be seen going so far as to run for president of the United States. Yet, the absolute evil in the ability to commit murder is not generally associated with

Page 21

takes over television Prisoners executed in U.S. 1930-2008 Megan Dombroski MKDOMBRO@UNCA.EDU

PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR/OPINION WRITER

5,000 4,952 4,000

Number of executions

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

3,000

2,000

1,000

43

Male

Female

*According to U.S. Statistical Abstract

women.

Is it likely that women in general are just incapable of such an evil act, or is it society’s idea of women that accounts for the large gap in death penalty statistics between genders? Maybe so many more men than women have been executed because less women commit crimes that lead to execution. Or, maybe, it is possible women are less likely to be sentenced to death because society just does not believe them to be capable of murder.

The phrase, “Don’t believe everything you see on TV” not only applies to cheesy special effects in movies, but also to television news. Local news stations are getting away with playing paid advertisements as unbiased journalism.

Most recently, Elizabeth Werner toured local stations around the county as a “toy expert,” sorting through popular toys.

She recommended toys based on their educational value while reporters nodded, smiled and swooned.

Unfortunately, the company that paid her $11,000 made the toys she suggested, something the station should have told its viewers.

Federal law requires news stations to disclose any paid material. Werner is a paid spokeswoman, not a consumer advocate.

Television stations that air these ads instead of legitimate news are not a recent problem, either. Sponsored visual advertisements from corporations, referred to as video news releases, are hidden among news stations across the country.

In 2006, The Center for Media Democracy released two reports that documented nearly 70 VNRs on more than 100 stations.

For example, a station in Pittsburgh ran a high-tech gift segment featuring an Internet mom as an expert in December of 2005. She labeled two toys as particularly dangerous and praised four as fun and safe.

Unbeknownst to viewers, Panasonic, Namco and Techno Source sponsored the skit. By no coincidence, their products were recommended and their competitors were condemned.

By itself, the VNR is nothing but an infomercial plugging companies’ products and trashing their competitors. However, when it is presented as journalism, consumers think they are watching independent news from an unbiased expert, which is deceitful, unethical and illegal.

Nine stations ran the VNR, and none disclosed the funding source. Three even ran the VNR without any editing and used a narrating publicist as if she were a

SEE FAKE PAGE 22

Clusters frustrate many students Page 22

As requested by the author, Student Government Association’s Executive of Public Relations Renee Bindewald, this opinion piece was reprinted as submitted for publication to The Blue Banner with no editorial or grammatical changes.

Renee Bindewald RMBINDEWA@UNCA.EDU OPINION WRITER

At first glance, clusters seem to either confuse or restrict students.

They are a part of what makes the UNC Asheville’s curriculum a true liberal arts education, but can still be daunting.

Liberal arts education a system of learning created to help students expand their knowledge beyond one defined course of study. It is set up so that students will expand their understanding of the world outside of just their major. At UNCA, students have ample opportunity to step outside of their major through required intensives and humanities, but they must also complete a cluster.

Topical clusters are sets of classes with a common theme that are then broken down into natural science, social science and arts sections.

Within the clusters students must pick three classes; one from each section within the cluster. They are meant to give students perspective on different disciplines outside of their major.

Even with 14 topical clusters being offered it still seems constricting to try and fit cluster courses in on top of all of the other requirements.

Sophomore, Amy Moore, is an art history major who said she feels like clusters are a waste of her time since they do not relate to her major at all. She said typically she would like to branch out and take classes from outside of her major if they were something she was interested in.

“I’d love to take something like photography or something in political science but I can’t because I won’t have the time,” Moore said. “I feel like clusters restrict my ability to do things like study abroad because I’d feel like I could only go if classes in my major were being offered since I have no many other requirements as it is.”

Moore said she understands that clusters go along with UNCA’s tradition of liberal arts education but does not like the way they are set up.

“It is just frustrating because we have so many other requirements

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with lab science and social science already,” Moore said. “Instead of having a standard liberal arts cluster thrown at me I’d like to make my liberal arts cluster with classes that I want to take outside of my major.

Like Moore, other students also find their schedules being restricted with requirements. Keith Brannum, sophomore, History and International Studies double major said, he was very surprised when he found out there was a cluster requirement and that his initial reaction was that he was just having yet another requirement thrown at him.

“Later on I found out more about it and it just sounded really annoying because it could keep me from graduating in a timeless manner,” Brannum said. “It wasn’t explained to me very well so I had trouble understanding what was involved with the clusters and what I could do.”

After looking into the cluster requirements and talking to his professors he was able to find a cluster that laid somewhere between each of his majors.

“I am in cluster one, globalization and the environment. I chose this cluster because it had a lot of crossover with international studies,” Brannum said.

When Brannum goes to choose which classes he will take from within his cluster he said, “I will go look at the course description and if it is something that interests me then I will put it into the queue and see what happens when I go to sign up for it.”

Even though Brannum was able to find a cluster that worked with his majors he said it still felt like just another requirement and may have kept him from being able to explore classes in other majors he would have taken otherwise.

For the most parts students have accepted clusters and will work them into their schedules, no questions asked, but freshman Ben Judge would like to work with administration to open up the topic of clusters for debate.

Judge is a newly elected freshman senator on the student government association. He sits on the academic affairs committee and is eager to work with faculty in order to make changes to the clusters.

“I believe they are a little bit unfair because of the prerequisites that

students have to take in order to take a cluster class, for example there are some 300 and 400 level classes in some clusters that students who do not have to take that class for a major could potential struggle in,” Judge said.

This does not mean Judge is against clusters. He simply feels like they need some work in order to be more beneficial to students.

“They have the potential to be a wonderful thing but they could use some changes in order to become more then what some students think is just an inconvenience,” Judge said.

Being a part of SGA is not the only way students can be a part of the cluster conversation or any other academic matter.

On Thursday at noon in Mountain Suites of Highsmith there will opportunity for all students to participate in an open dialogue about enhancing learning at UNCA. The program will go over the results from the Quality Enhancement Plan survey given out at the beginning of the year.

This is an opportunity for students to talk about all aspects of their learning at UNCA. It will be a chance for students to give helpful feedback in person.

It is not often that schools open the door to students to give their opinions about their curriculum so it’s important that UNCA students appreciate that our school is willing to listen to them and what they have to say.

The survey given out by QEP only had 36 percent of student participation, which is higher than in past years, but low considering that every student has strong opinions on requirements for their classes.

If students have something that they want to see changed or enhanced than they should be constructive and take opportunities like this to see them through.

Students come to college for an education so it would make sense that they would want to have input on what they get from that education.

“I think the QEP has an opportunity to change the cluster system and improve them and increase the types of classes students can take,” Judge said. “It opens up discussion for students to voice their concerns and gives a chance to change a part of the ILS that in my opinion needs to be changed.”

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Fake,

continued from from page 21

reporter.

In three other instances, TV stations had local anchors and reporters read directly from a script a broadcast PR firm prepared, along with airing entire VNRs without disclosure.

Government agencies are supposed to protect the public from media dishonesty. After the reports, the Federal Communications Commission proposed $4,000 fines to stations caught airing the VNRs, but little has been done.

The FCC recently said stations failing to disclose the sponsored material can be fined up to $37,000 per violation, but they are not enforcing the penalty adequately enough. The trend is only increasing.

Fake news is yet another reason to pass on traditional TV news sources. Local news is a brief, sensationalized and desperate act for ratings.

Luckily, there is hope. Americans are turning to alternate sources. After Walter Cronkite died, Time Magazine conducted a poll to see which newscaster America trusted the most for television news.

The sarcastic political satirist Jon Stewart beat out Charlie Gibson, Brian Williams and Katie Couric. Americans trust a comedian on Comedy Central more than journalists from CBS, ABC and NBC. Something is up, and Americans are catching on. Thankfully, they do not believe what they see on traditional TV news.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

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Page 23

The Blue Banner’s View

Fast food giant targets children with toys

The golden arches are under fire once again as consumers throw hefty blows at both the quality of McDonald’s fast food and its marketing campaign toward children.

Ronald McDonald and the gang have laid low to avoid scrutiny from the mass media since the anti-McDonald’s documentary Supersize Me in 2004.

Every once in a while, however, an angry customer points a heavy finger of blame at the fast food giant, hoping to bring them to their knees. Recently, British photographer Sally Davies challenged the chain by holding a Happy Meal hostage for six months in her Manhattan apartment.

She told the Daily Mail that she bought the meal on April 10 and intended to use it as a personal experiment. Davies kept the meal for six months, taking pictures of the burger and fries daily. As with any meal left out overnight, she expected deterioration after a few days.

To her surprise, she saw no decay other than a slight shriveling after a few weeks. The appearance of the food maintained its greasy glow after several months. Now, six months later,

“McDonald’s is the stranger in the playground handing out candy to children.”

Stephen Gardner, Center for Science in the Public Interest litigation director the food has hardened significantly, but no signs of molding are present.

The Daily Mail asked McDonald’s officials about the quality of their food and whether it is, in fact, biodegradable.

McDonald’s spokeswoman Danya Proud said the recent spotlight on such a ridiculous claim is just that and deserves no further attention.

Aside from dealing with the effects of this highly publicized science project, McDonald’s also faces scrutiny from officials in California for those shiny little toxic prizes in the Happy Meals.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is currently working on legislation that will force McDonald’s to put the prizes away until the nutritional content of its food is up to par for children.

Similarly, officials in Santa Clara, Calif., passed the no-toy ban just six months ago.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a national watchdog group, is also gathering the anti-arches masses to sue McDonald’s if they continue to use toys to promote their food to children.

“McDonald’s is the stranger in the

The Blue Banner Editorial Board Karpen Hall 019

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www.thebluebanner.net

Erin McWhorter, Editor-in-Chief

Anna Kiser, Design Editor, Business Manager

Alyssa Spencer, Managing Editor

Nicolas Robinson, Web Editor

Ashleigh Joyner, News Editor

Kendall Brooks, Investigative Reporter

emmcwhor@unca.edu afspence@unca.edu

amjoyner@unca.edu

Caitlin Byrd, Arts & Features Editor mcbyrd@unca.edu

Natalie Pearson, Sports Editor ngpearso@unca.edu

Jacob Yancey, Campus Voice Editor jayancey@unca.edu

Megan Dombroski, Photography Editor mkdombro@unca.edu

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aekiser@unca.edu

Jessica Yee, Copy Desk Chief Katherine Walker, Assistant News Editor Hali Ledford, Assistant Arts & Features Editor Katie Saylors, Assistant Photography Editor Jordan Paris, Assistant Web Editor Tiffany Narron, The Blue Banner’s View Michael Gouge, Faculty Adviser

playground handing out candy to children,” said CSPI litigation director Stephen Gardner. “McDonald’s use of toys undercuts parental authority and exploits young children’s developmental immaturity, all to induce children to prefer food that may harm their health. It’s a creepy and predatory practice that warrants an injunction.”

A 30 percent national obesity rate lies at the fast food industry’s feet. The release of these statistics spurred on the new wrap and salad craze added to the grease-filled menu.

Now, besides the 30 grams of fat and 540 calories in a Big Mac, consumers can choose the delightful yet fattier Angus Bacon & Cheese Wrap with 39 grams of fat and 750 calories.

So, as children drink from a cadmium-tainted but oh-so-cute Shrek glass, and parents scarf down the nonbiodegradable, genetically modified beef wrap, maybe the ultimate realization will hit home.

McDonald’s is not concerned with anyone’s health. The consumers of their products are simply market shares in a tainted food economy.

Have a news tip?

send to emmcwhor@unca.edu The Blue Banner is UNC Asheville’s student newspaper.

We publish each Wednesday except during summer sessions, finals week and holiday breaks.

Our office is located in Karpen Hall 019.

The Blue Banner is a designated forum for free speech and welcomes letters to the editor, considering them on basis of interest, space and timeliness.

Letters and articles should be e-mailed to the editor-in-chief or the appropriate section editor.

Letters should include the writer’s name, year in school, and major or other relationship to UNCA. Include a telephone number to aid in verification. All articles are subject to editing.

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