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Asheville mayor excoriated for snatching his ‘mic’ at Anti-Crime Summit
By JOHN NORTH
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Verbal jabs from his local critics — including certain area elected Democrats and a newspaper reporter — were returned with a verbal cross, hook and uppercut by U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-Henderson County, during a telephone interview with the Daily Planet on June 28.
Edwards recently has been the target of criticism from several local Democratic officials for his alleged exaggeration of the violent crime problem in downtown Asheville.
The Republican also ruffled some Democratic leaders’ feathers with his assertion — in a press release promoting his Anti-Crime Summit — that Asheville’s soaring violent crime trend could put it on track to be on a par with Chicago or San Francisco eventually, if something is not done to reverse the status quo.
On a separate matter, Edwards has been accused by some local elected Democratic leaders of making matters worse with his efforts to help nearby Canton, following the recent closure of its Pactiv Evergreen paper mill, which has been the town’s top employer since it opened 115 years ago..
In the Canton dust-up, the Smoky Mountain News, a newspaper based in Waynesville, ran a headline on June 14 that stated, “Edwards rejects mill help,†followed by a story by reporter Cory Vaillancourt that put forth a case that the congressman from Flat Rock politicized a June 1 town hall meeting in Canton — and that he allegedly rejected help from Buncombe legislators, while — again, allegedly — ridiculing them in the process.
To the contrary, news reporter Joel Burgess of the Asheville Citizen Times wrote a June 22 article summed up in its headline as follows: “Canton mayor disagrees with fellow Democrats’ criticism of congressman."
As for criticism he has received in and around the Anti-Crime Summit, which he organized and at which he moderated, Edwards told the Daily Planet, “I can certainly understand why the elected leaders in Asheville and Buncombe County would be concerned about me,†inasmuch as in this case, “the truth makes them look bad†— and the congressman said the truth is that there is a violent crime spike in downtown Asheville, triggering nearly nonstop concerns and complaints that he hears from his constituents
Edwards added, “There’s nothing political at all about talking about violent crime in Western North Carolina. where businesses don’t feel protected and citizens don’t feel safe.
“I see that this should be a wake-up call to all of us in Western North Carolina. If we do not respond adequately now, we could very well be responding to crime rates like we see in Chicago and San Francisco."
So was the congressman pleased with the discussion and ideas that came out of his Anti-Crime Summit in Asheville? the Daily Planet asked.
“I’m satisfied it was a good first step to hear from the leaders of the area — and get them on record to admit or deny that there is a serious violent crime problem in Western North Carolina... and to get them on record as to what the solutions would be....â€
So how does Edwards feel about Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer’s snatching of the microphone out of his hand — at one point — as he was moderating the panel discussion and asserting her viewpoint before handing it back to him? the Daily Planet queried.
“I’d say it was a disrespectful way to try to get attention on the floor,†Edwards answered, evenly. “I would have happily called on her to give her an opportunity to speak — if she (had) requested it.â€
He later added, ““I bet the mayor would not allow such an unruly behavior (microphone-snatching) in her (Asheville) City Council meetings, yet that is the manner in which she chose to behave in my meeting.â€
In returning to his evaluation of the relative value of the Anti-Crime Summit, the congressman asserted, “I would say that, at that forum, I witnessed community leaders trying to select a set of statistics to help them deny there was a problem with crime.
“The ultimate statistic is how people feel when they go to downtown Asheville — and that they’re telling me they don’t feel safe.â€
Edwards added, “I find it ironic that, one day later, after the denial of a crime problem in Asheville, there was a shooting that resulted in the cancelation of a celebration of minorities.†(Edwards was referring to a shooting that occurred at the end of the first day — June 18 — of the two-day Juneteenth celebration festival in downtown Asheville after which a 16-year-old suspect was charged in the shooting of two juveniles.)
As for his efforts to help Canton in the wake of news of the mill closure and his alleged rejection of help for the mill, his alleged turn-down of help offered by Buncombe’s Democractic legislators and allegedly ridiculing them in the process, Edwards told the Daily Planet the following:
"Buncombe County hasn’t offered me anything for me to reject. So the premise of the headline (in the Smoky Mountain News) was blatantly false.â€
Speaking of his efforts in Canton, Edwards said, “I’ve taken the situation there in Canton very personally. I mentioned a number of times I was raised for a period of time as a child wthin sight of that paper mill... So I’ve taken it very personally with the mill shutdown. Within the very first day of the news coming out, I contacted (Canton) Mayor (Zeb) Smathers (who is a Democrat) to assure him my office was available to help in any way possible.â€
What’s more, Edwards said that his efforts on behalf of Canton “most defintely have helped. First of all, we were able to get a $2.5 million grant. We applied for $7.5 million, but we were approved for $2.5 million, with the possibility of getting the remaining $5 million†later.
He added that the $2.5 million grant “was approved to help — with a great deal of flexiblity by the local workforce development boards — for skills training programs, hiring resources to counsel (those who lost their jobs), filling the void between what a millworker used to make while going (retraining) classes and, working with the town, we (the town and Edwards) put together a job fair... I was pleased to get to be a part of a greater effort†to help the town and its residents.
To some degree, the accusations of Edwards’ politicization of issues in Canton and Asheville are being fueled by ““one particular reporter with the Smoky Mountain News, who has an ax to grind with me and wants to politicize the situation, rather than to stay focused on the job at hand, which is to help Canton find jobs,†he said.
When pressed by the Daily Planet whether that reporter is Cory Vaillancourt, Edwards replied in the affirmative. “A particular reporter (Vaillancourt ) has lost my trust and I find no advantage in communicating with him (in the future) because he will not report the facts,†Edwards asserted.
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