AGR editor charged with resisting arrest

By Robert Brown

Feb. 28-- On February 8, at about 1:30am, Eamon Martin, an editor of Asheville Global Report, was arrested and charged with resisting arrest by Asheville police officers.

The arrest occurred shortly after Martin and his friend Greg White left Broadway’s tavern on North Lexington Ave. The two noticed some friends who had been detained by Asheville police. Concerned for their friends, they decided to observe the process from a distance of about fifteen feet.

Immediately one of the arresting officers marched up to the two and ordered them to “keep moving.” Martin and his friend replied that they knew the detained people, and wanted to know what was going on. The officer replied, “Do you want to be arrested: yes or no?”

When White tried to reiterate his concern, the officer grabbed him, handcuffed him and threw him in a squad car, not informing him of a charge. As this was happening, the other officer on duty informed Martin that he would have to go to the court house, sign his friend out, and that would be the last of it. Seconds later the arresting officer returned, asking Martin, “So, you still want to go to jail?”

“No,” Martin replied, “but I’d like to know why you just arrested my friend.”

Ignoring the question, the officer repeated his own. To this, a baffled Martin responded, “well, if it takes having to go to jail to find out what’s happening to my friend, then arrest me.”

The officer arrested him.

Martin says, “We were completely peaceful and non-confrontational. By contrast, the officer’s behavior was nothing but hostile. We were only concerned about our friends. What if we were members of their immediate family? And since when is peacefully observing a police procedure a punishable offense? Am I wrong in thinking that this is a civil rights violation?”

After processing at the station, Martin was released. The magistrate’s release form read that Martin was charged with “resisting an officer.” However, White was released only after appearing shackled at the feet and hips before the judge the next afternoon. White was let go with time served.

Appearing before the court on Feb. 26, the judge informed Martin that he was now facing the charge of “resisting arrest,” and facing a penalty of up to 60 days in jail. Martin agreed to a public defender and now awaits trial.

Commenting on his experience, Martin said, “This is nothing less than fascist harassment acted out with the arrogance of impunity. This is ridiculous. I’m facing 60 days in the slammer for watching a police officer issue a ticket. It’s no wonder they want that new jail. There were 600 of us being processed the other day [before the Court]. And that group was overwhelmingly working class and poor. It seemed that blacks and Latinos - about half that number - were grossly over-represented given the social makeup of our city, I might add.”

Asheville Free School classes to begin soon

By Wendy Hounsel

Feb. 27-- After months of planning, the Asheville Free School will begin holding classes in March. The group is dedicated to facilitating free classes and workshops for the community. The Free School operates with the philosophy that knowledge should not be bought and sold, but rather that it should be shared freely so that it is accessible to all. The group has so far not been able to locate a central facility from which to operate, but classes will be held in parks and homes in the interim. The Free School will offer the following classes:

Chi Gung with Cicada, Saturdays, 8:30am in Aston Park (corner of South French Broad and Hilliard).

Black and White Drawing with Thomas, Thursdays, 7:00pm at 320 Montford Ave.

Primitive Living Skills with Matt, Tuesdays, 7:00pm at 37 E. Chestnut, apt. #3.

International Traditional Folk Songs with Ian, Wednesdays, 6:00 pm at 26 1/2 Bearden Ave.

Calendars are posted throughout Asheville together with course descriptions and contact numbers for individual teachers. Call 232-0321 or 236-3218 for more information.

Concert will benefit new outdoor school

By Beth Trigg

Asheville, Feb. 27— On Sunday, March 11, area bands will come together to support the new School of the Traveler, and to raise funds for scholarships and operating expenses for the school. The School of the Traveler offers an organized forum for learning through the experience of living outdoors and traveling on foot with only the minimal essentials necessary for survival.

According to Mickey Mahaffey, the school’s mission is “to strip away all of the conveniences and distractions of the modern world, and expose the path of simplicity, which can lead to self-discovery.” The school will sponsor trips to local wilderness areas, to other locations in the United States, and to the Sierra Madre mountains of Mexico. The intent of these excursions, said Mahaffey, is to provide “an opportunity for people to break out of this culture we’re in and experience the wilderness — as close to nature as possible.”

Another purpose of the trips is to facilitate respectful cross-cultural learning — particularly to allow US students to witness the rapidly vanishing culture of the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico. Mahaffey notes that “like the last Cherokees who refused to follow the Trail of Tears, the Tarahumara have consciously resisted modernization for centuries. Theirs is one of the last remaining indigenous cultures in the Americas.”

The school’s trips to Mexico will involve hiking through the canyons of the Sierra Madres, “from sea level to 7,000 feet or more, with winter conditions at the top and steamy tropics at the bottom, carrying minimal gear, cooking meals over a fire, sleeping outside, and walking over 100 miles,” said Mahaffey. “We will travel with the utmost respect for the land and for the Tarahumara people.”

The benefit show will feature the Gulf Shrimp Po Boys (an incarnation of local favorites Scrappy Hamilton), Brian Marshall (formerly of White Heat and more recently playing with the Payday Nights), Jeffrey Thompson, Peruvio of the Mystical Mist, and Flute John. Tickets are $5 at the door, and proceeds benefit the School of the Traveler. Doors open at 7pm.

Asheville to host “roadshow” on globalization and activism

Statement of Turning Point Roadshow organizers

Feb. 23— As the call loudly sounds across the Americas for believers of social justice and defenders of the environment to unite in Quebec this April to protest the Summit of the Americas, where the Free Trade of the Americas Agreement (FTAA) will be discussed, a caravan is touring the southeast discussing the issues included and embodied by the FTAA. The Turning Point Roadshow (TPR) educates about corporate power, its discontents, and alternative visions while helping to organize a regional progressive network of activists.

Asheville is hosting the Turing Point Roadshow on March 1 to instigate dialogue about corporate globalization and the worldwide resistance to it.

“The public deserves to know how corporate globalization is impacting our region in regards to job loss, environmental damage — even the contamination of our food supply,” said John Johnson, a TPR organizer. “There is a call for fundamental change in the way trade decisions are made. A plethora of citizens’ organizations all over the world have formulated viable alternatives to corporate globalization, and they should be heard.”

At 6:30 pm at the Fellowship Hall of Warren Wilson College Chapel, Turning Point will be a two-hour multi-media presentation with acoustic music, a slide show, and a script that is both entertaining and informative. Four seasoned activists and organizers of this movement will offer an opportunity for education and networking.

“The North American Free Trade Agreement has allowed corporations to abandon loyal workers here in the southeast, putting thousands of people out of jobs. The corporations go to Mexico to take advantage of weaker environmental standards and labor laws,” said Soliman Lawrence of TPR. “Then workers in the US lose jobs and Mexicans are leveraged against each other for who will be willing to accept the least pay and worst working conditions. The FTAA would leverage those same workers against workers in Haiti and Guatemala. With the FTAA, only corporations will benefit. Not to mention what will happen to our forests! It’s intolerable,”he said.

“We believe in a future where people’s welfare and the survival of the planet are more important than corporate profits. We are focused on envisioning and striving towards a society respectful of basic human rights and environmental wisdom,” said Leigh Scherberger, a Turning Point Roadshow organizer.

For more information: 617-747-4460

DOT plans to widen I-26 to Hendersonville

By Lisa Thurman

Hendersonville, Feb. 21-- On February 20, the Department of Transportation (DOT) held a “workshop” in Hendersonville to inform citizens of a proposed widening of interstate 26 from the Asheville Regional Airport to south of Hendersonville. This project is new and different from the I-26 Connector project in which Asheville transportation activists have been involved.

Opponents of this new DOT project say that the plan was a hasty decision intended to keep the $54 million allotted for the Clear Creek Connector project in Henderson County, after citizens were able to halt that project.

A spokeswoman for Citizens for Transportation, Eva Ritchie, said that “the funds could be used for much better purposes including public transportation between Hendersonville and Asheville, bike lanes, and repairing pot holes.”

In a correspondence to Ritchie, Philan Medford, an Asheville transportation activist, stated that the money should also be spent on “car-pool projects, transit, and pedestrian and bike lanes” in Asheville.

The DOT workshop was held from 4 pm to 7 pm in the cafeteria of Hendersonville High School. Over one hundred people attended and DOT representatives were there to answer questions. Large lengthwise maps of I-26 were laid out on the cafeteria tables. Concerned citizens whose properties backed up against the highway asked questions about the construction process. One middle-aged man said that “my property is right next to the highway” and he was worried about how that would impact him. He said “there was a road widening project where I lived before and everybody got taxed heavily for it. I’m against this.”

Bill Moyer, Vice Chairman of Henderson County Commissioners, and Hendersonville Mayor Fred Niehoff were present. When asked about the absence of any kind of public transportation between Asheville and Hendersonville, Commissioner Bill Moyer replied, “I will consider public transportation when people want it. I’ve been in places where they had public transportation and nobody used it.”

The DOT director for community outreach said, “I wasn’t aware of the air pollution problems in Western North Carolina,” and she encouraged citizens to contact DOT and their state representatives with comments and concerns. A form was provided at the workshop for public comment.

In response to a citizen’s suggesting that an environmental study be done by an out side environmental organization, Ron Watson, DOT area project engineer, said “ a DOT environmental study would not be biased.” He stated that, “because DOT has claimed ‘categorical exclusions’, no comprehensive environment impact study needs to be done.”

Prior to the workshop, Eva Ritchie of Citizen’s for Transportation Planning (CTP) stated that CTP’s attorney Betty Lawrence was going to present DOT with a letter stating that CPT disagrees with DOT’s ‘categorical exclusions’ status.

When asked whether or not the widening of I-26 would make the region’s air pollution problem worse, Ritchie stated, “Of course it would make the air pollution worse. Studies have shown that when a road is built, motorists change their traffic patterns to use the road.....It will be the slippery slope to Atlanta.” DOT estimates that the traffic volume will grow from the current 48,000 cars to 85,000 cars, by 2030, on that stretch of highway.

Members of Citizens Against the Asphalt Plant(CAAP) were at the workshop. Some CAAP members believe there is a direct link between the building of a proposed asphalt plant north of Hendersonville and the I-26 project. At a previous CAAP meeting, Chairperson Janet Stewart said that, “a national study by Center of Disease Control will becoming out soon” regarding illnesses such as asthma and cancers of people who live with in several miles of an asphalt plant. She said, “if North Carolina doesn’t get their act together about the air pollution problem, the state may be denied funds for federal highways.” The proposed asphalt plant would be built within a 2.5 mile radius of 32 major residential areas, nine nursing facilities, and six schools.

To learn more about the proposed widening of I-26, contact Eva Ritchie at Citizens for Transportation Planning, 693-8190. Send letters of protest, comments or concerns to Richard Brewer, DOT Project Engineer, 1548 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C. 27699-1541.

Struggle against death penalty continues

By Brendan Conley

Feb. 27— Opponents of the death penalty continued their work to achieve a moratorium on capital punishment in North Carolina, even as the state prepared to execute a mentally retarded man and a black man convicted of murder under questionable circumstances.

The state of North Carolina has set an execution date of March 2 for Ernest McCarver. McCarver received a stay of execution on February 26, but it was overturned by the state Supreme Court the next day. McCarver is a mentally retarded man convicted of the 1987 robbery and murder of Cabarrus county restaurateur Woodrow Hartley.

Barring a commutation decision by Governor Mike Easley, McCarver is scheduled to be executed at 2am Friday morning. Death penalty opponents across the state will hold vigils and demonstrations Thursday night protesting the execution. In Asheville, citizens will gather at the First Congregational United Church of Christ at 308 Merrimon Ave. from 7pm until 2am.

The state has also set an execution date of March 9 for Willie Ervin Fisher. Fisher was represented at trial and on appeal by David Tamer, an attorney who has since been disbarred. Fisher is African-American, and was sentenced to death by a jury of eleven whites and one African-American. He was convicted of the 1992 murder of Angela Johnson, his girlfriend of seven years.

State senator Frank Ballance has introduced SB 172 to impose a moratorium on the death penalty. A parallel bill is expected to be introduced in the state House soon. The bill would impose a moratorium on executions for two years to allow the legislature to examine the way the death penalty is carried out.

Two other bills have been introduced, one banning the execution of mentally retarded people, and another intended to ensure that no one is sentenced to death based on race.

Death penalty opponents continued their drive to win passage of resolutions in support of a moratorium on the death penalty in North Carolina. On February 20, the town of Thomasville became the thirteenth local government in the state to call for a moratorium.

On January 9, Asheville city council passed a resolution in favor of a moratorium on the death penalty.

For more information: People of Faith Against the Death Penalty: 919-933-7567 or 828-684-6885.