Cecil Bothwell

Councilman asks for city
to build park’s restrooms

I request that the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority rescind its grant to the Pack Square Conservancy, made for the purpose of constructing a visitor center and restroom facility, and grant the money to the City of Asheville for the same purpose.

The City of Asheville has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to complete construction projects in a timely manner and frequently under estimate.

The Pack Square Conservancy has repeatedly demonstrated an astonishing inability to complete projects on time or within anything like original estimates.

The further delay of the long promised restroom facilities, apparently in response to the requests of a small segment of special interests in our community is beyond laughable. I am completely fed up with the Conservancy’s ineptitude and delays.

It is long past time for a thorough and professional audit of the Conservancy books over its entire life, with an accounting to the people of  this community for all moneys spent for any purpose and it is also long past time for the City and County to reclaim the park that has been held hostage by a confederacy of dunces for far too long.
The people of Asheville and Buncombe County deserve better.

Thanks for your attention.

Cecil Bothwell
Member, Asheville City Council
Asheville

Jane Bilello

Silent citizenry urged
to voice views to officials

For too long, good citizens have remained silent and permitted their elected officials to enact laws, pass budgets and decide policy.

That silence has been interpreted as agreement, solidarity, approval, and trust.  Thus, our public servants have become emboldened and have audaciously assumed their judgment superior over those who elected them.

It is in this climate that both the Buncombe County School Board and Buncombe County (Board of) Commissioners have adopted an egregious policy that makes it impossible for the ordinary citizen to make useful or positive suggestions, or present constructive ideas or observations that could influence votes on issues BEFORE issues are voted upon.

In so doing, they have extinguished debate, sacked alternative solutions and suppressed citizen participation.
If you are reading this and you are a citizen of Buncombe County, please sign the petitions your neighbors are circulating that urge the members of the Buncombe County Board of Education and Buncombe County Commissioners to change their regular agenda for open meetings by providing for public comments on issues BEFORE they are voted upon.

WE THE PEOPLE will no longer sit mute and be denied legitimate voice in the government we created.

Jane Bilello
Chair, Asheville Tea Party
Hendersonville

Is Mumpower the ‘Smoky
Mountain Limbaugh?’

I read the May (Daily) Planet in my wife’s hospital room. I was humming along in the letters when I came to Carl Mumpower’s “Mother Nature is a conservative.”

I said to my wife, “Baby, I think we’ve got a Smoky Mountain Limbaugh.” Here’s the paragraph that stopped me:
 “There are no rights in nature, only responsibilities. Nature provides boundless opportunities, but offers no assurances on outcomes.”

“No rights in nature.” Sound familiar?  Sure it does — high school biology.  It’s called natural selection. All organisms have the same chance, but individuals that are more “fit” have better potential for survival.

Mumpower is drawing an analogy between nature and American society as he would like it to be. Survival of the fittest.  And we all know who the “fit” ones are in our society. Not poor kids with ambition who believe they can do great things but need an education. Not the single mom crying in frustration over a sick child.  Not the small farmer who depends on Cooperative Extension services.

When Mumpower talks about “no assurances on outcomes,” he’s not talking about the privileged people in our society. They do have assured outcomes. They will be educated and live well. They will never need food stamps or Medicaid. Their children will never need Smart Start. Down through history, privilege has always tilted toward those who already have privilege.

But America is different.  America’s greatness is seen not only in the few people who claw their way to success, through hard work, luck and advanced degrees (even if they’re quickie online Ph.D.s).  No, the greatness of America lies in equality.  America was born with this promise and she blossomed in the 20th century. Ordinary people go to college today because of government help. Labor gained a voice through fair labor laws. We no longer fear poverty and ill health in old age because of Social Security and Medicare.

Mumpower writes, “Conservatives — real ones — recognize the important difference between harvesting and pillaging.”  This scary-liberal straw man is a Limbaugh leftover of course. But it’s really the way these “real conservatives” think. It’s not hyperbole or metaphor. In their world, everything since Franklin Roosevelt is “pillaging.”
But ordinary Americans — whether they’re ordinary conservatives, ordinary liberals or ordinary in-betweens — don’t see things that way.  They appreciate the safety net that “real conservatives” despise.  Living life with a measure of security, in our definition, is not “pillaging.”

Lee Ballard
Mars Hill

gold-bars.jpg

America’s gold and silver purchases are being subliminally valued, according to its significance in dollars. I use the term subliminally because we tell ourselves we’ll profit from gold’s worth, or endure misfortunes through its prized characteristics.

An ounce of gold’s value is positioned around the dollar remaining intact. Gold’s value will be judged differently if the dollar becomes nonexistent . Paper is not money, instead merely a promise to pay its value. People are flipping gold’s significances then granting it a paper value. The paper value of gold has spurred a buyers market. If the dollar collapses, the revenue value we currently employ will defeat the principle of owning gold and silver.

Gold’s investment purposes are perpetually entrapped by the dollar. The only way to profit from gold is by selling. If the dollar fails, then you have nothing. Gold then becomes measured by another scale. This is a no-win situation, if you’re a profiteer.

What good is gold and silver? Before our current way of buying, Americans traded. The financial relationship between producers, sellers and consumers was based on honesty and fair play within exchanging goods. Fairness is achieved by creating a clear understanding for the trade policies. One’s accountability established  their just treatment.

You traded with those who returned a better deal for your offering. Trading consisted of just about anything — furs, livestock, cotton, lumber, labor, gold and silver, and U.S. currency. Money wasn’t always involved, and a handshake formed your reputation. While silver will keep you fed, gold would get you killed. One thing that won’t change much is, the rich will mostly be the suppliers, enabling themselves more wealth.

The gold and silver we’re hoarding will negotiate trade measures. The value within precious metals will be compromised through relationship ethics. The dollar no longer sets the standards for gold and silver. The trade policy established between the producer or seller and consumer sets the trade standards for gold. Instead of the trade dollar, we’re purchasing with gold or silver while waiting for a new exchange note.

Understand, gold and silver will be only an exchange token, because the dollar’s value system no longer applies. For now, I still  posses American currency. I suggest if you have money, spend it while you can for life’s necessities. Invest  in guns, ammo, food, water, camping supplies and a Bible, because eventually this is what  we’ll be seeking out.
Precious metals retailers will say (Buy! Buy! Buy!), either prophesizing disaster or playing the market. Supplying you with any other strategy would be counterproductive for them. At the end of the day, it’s your call. If the dollar collapses, gold and silver standards will be speculative. We’re buying gold, based on the dollar weakening, then comparing gold’s worth to the weak dollar. This makes buying gold an oxymoron. Without a monetary substance, gold and silver isn’t worth anything.

What will the government’s strategy be toward gold, silver, and hoarded currency, if the Federal Reserve Note ceases to exist?

Jerry Soesbee
Asheville

Despite smears, Tea Party termed true U.S. patriots

Since there is an active attempt by so many to smear the Tea Party with hate-filled rhetoric and outright lies, I feel it necessary, as a proud member of this energetic and patriotic movement to provide you with the facts.

First of all, the Tea Party is not an actual political party, it is rather, a movement of like-minded Americans, Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike, who feel compelled, many after never having been involved in politics their entire lives, to get educated and get involved to try and save our country.

Once you find out the basic principles upon which it is founded, you might begin to realize that you too are the TEA Party.

If you believe that America is a great nation, you are the TEA Party!

If you believe in a strict adherence to our Constitution, you are the TEA Party!

If you believe that our rights are “endowed by our Creator”, you are the TEA Party!

If you believe in the 2nd Amendment as a guarantee of the individual’s right to keep and bear arms and that it has nothing to do with hunting, you are the TEA Party!

If you believe in private property rights and the sovereignty of the individual, you are the TEA Party!

If you believe in smaller, less intrusive federal, state and local government, less business-killing regulations and lower taxes, you are the TEA Party!

If you believe that government spending at all levels is out of control and that we are on a collision course with economic disaster, you are the TEA Party!

If you believe that it is a parent’s right not the government’s to raise and educate your children, you are the TEA Party!
If you believe in securing our borders, you are the TEA Party!

If you believe in personal responsibility, you are the TEA Party!

As we gear up for what will arguably prove to be the most contentious and vital election in recent history, it is imperative that you educate yourselves on the issues, the candidates and WHO YOU ARE!

Beth Walker
Bakersville, N.C.