Welcome to DKos Asheville. This space appears each weekend to share links to news and opinion from Asheville and Western North Carolina. The floor is open for comment and discussion. Wishing all a good day from this beautiful part of the world.
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A student coalition is staging a "soft encampment" on UNC Asheville's campus over the war in Gaza, joining hundreds of students nationwide who are demanding universities divest, or cut financial ties with Israel and Israeli companies.
About 30 students sat in a circle on chairs May 3, or cross-legged on the lawn of "the Quad" in front of the Ramsey Library. Scrawled in chalk on the paved sidewalk nearby are names and ages of Palestinian children killed in the Israel-Hamas conflict. A drawing of university mascot Rocky the Bulldog with blood on its paws is seen in front of the library.
Alex Severa, a senior at UNCA, said the group is asking for transparency from the university, a divestment on any funds that may be going directly or indirectly to Israel, to cut ties with Israeli universities, and to establish support for Gaza universities to restart at the end of the conflict.
"BearWise" is a national program that teaches people how to respectfully live with bears, and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission participates in it.
NC Wildlife Resource Commission Special Projects Biologist Ashley Hobbs said that their BearWise program is unique to North Carolina, and they set their own standards for that program.
"The main goal here is we want to find groups that are willing to go above and beyond to coexist with bears," she said.
The program shares ways to prevent conflicts with black bears, provides resources to resolve problems with them, and encourages initiatives to keep bears wild. Hobbs said that it's about finding people who really want to make an effort to change their behavior.
On April 16 in Asheville, a very unfortunate event occurred by the hands of humans that irreversibly altered the lives of a family of bears.
As reported in the news nationwide, these people took it upon themselves to remove two bear cubs from a tree. One cub was dropped and injured; the other fled and has not been found. The latest report is that the injured cub is in poor condition, and the one that fled may be on its own, unable to survive without its mother.
As humans, it is our responsibility to protect wildlife, report when there is mistreatment and uphold consequences for mistreatment, as it is unlawful to interfere. Unfortunately, in this incident, the people have not been held accountable. No charges have been filed, and their identity has been protected.
Please sign this petition [avl.mx/dnb] to not only uphold the law against interfering with wildlife but also to send a message that anytime someone interferes with wild animals, there will be consequences. Be the voice!
— Renee Ripp Asheville
Mountain Express Editor’s note: On April 23, Fox Carolina News reported that the injured bear cub was was doing “just fine” in a rehabilitation center. If it is eligible for release, it would likely be released as an independent bear in eight-nine months.
Flower lovers looking for something to do this weekend are in luck, as an immersive floral experience opens Saturday at the North Carolina Arboretum!
Event-goers may have to dodge the rain, but the Bloom with a View experience opens Saturday, May 4, as an immersive floral installation throughout the arboretum's gardens. There will be thousands of blooms to see.
SMELLY AND RARE 'DEVIL'S TONGUE' PLANT IN BLOOM AT NC ARBORETUM, ONLY FOR A FEW DAYS
"There's about 1,000 hydrangeas that are throughout the property, several kinds of lilies and several ferns, supplemented by a variety of other regionally sourced plants," said Ben Asbury, N.C. Arboretum special events curator.
The entry cost is $30 per vehicle, and the event runs through May 19.
"No Mow May" is about more than just not mowing your lawn for a month. The idea behind the movement is to make space for valuable pollinators and small creatures.
Bee City USA, an organization devoted to preserving native pollinators, spoke to the value of No Mow May on its website. The group said that lawns cover 2% of land in the US—40 million acres in total—making them the largest irrigated crop grown in the nation.
With chemical treatments, fertilizers, weeding, mowing and more, Bee City says lawns provide little benefit to wildlife and can often be actively harmful.
So, should you abstain from mowing for a month? Here are the answers to all your No Mow questions.
Oscar Wong’s activities in 1994 are the stuff of Asheville legend.
In a rented, 12,000-square-foot basement space below Barley’s Taproom & Pizzeria in downtown Asheville, the retired engineer launched Highland Brewing Co. with head brewer John McDermott, producing craft beer on a system primarily made from retrofitted dairy equipment. There, they created such beverages as Celtic Ale (later Gaelic Ale), St. Terese’s Pale Ale and Oatmeal Porter, which were served upstairs at Barley’s and bottled by hand for local distribution.
But what was his daughter, current Highland President/CEO Leah Wong Ashburn, up to back then?
“I was two years out of college, working at a print shop in Charlotte as a graphic design typesetter,” she says, sitting next to her father in a conference room at the Highland offices. “And I liked it — I always liked design. And I remember I was sort of the social chair for the staff at this little print shop because there were probably six of us that were around the same age, so we started doing a lot of fun stuff together.”
Wong replies, “It did — and it took eight years to break even,” cracking one of his iconic smiles. “Your mother did think I was a pretty smart guy when I was an engineer. But I lost credibility when I got into this.”
As the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration works to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, the manager of an Asheville CBD dispensary talks about the potential impacts of any change.
This shift comes after President Joe Biden requested that the Department of Health and Human Services and the Attorney General, who oversees the DEA, review how marijuana should be classified.
On Thursday, May 2, News 13 spoke with Stonewall Harrison, the general manager at Mary Jane's CBD Dispensary on Hendersonville Road in Asheville.
Harrison has spent nearly 14 years studying hemp and says that there are setbacks to lowering marijuana as a lower-risk drug.
"If we were to convert to a marijuana dispensary, we wouldn't be able to sell tobacco products such as like cigar wraps," he said. "We would still be able to sell raw paper and hemp wraps, but you can't sell tobacco and cannabis in the same location like you can with hemp and tobacco."
On the other hand, Harrison believes this reclassification could also play a major role in medicine moving forward.
"I've seen a lot of people go from opioid to just cannabis. They've had excellent results as far as being noticeably more cognitive and able to go out and enjoy life. It seems it give people a higher quality of life," he said.
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The longest-running Native American juried art show and competition in Oklahoma announced its top honors during a special reception on April 5 at the gallery in Cherokee Springs Plaza.
The 53rd annual Trail of Tears Art Show opened to the public April 6 and will run through May 11 and features a variety of authentic Native art, including 173 works from 105 artists, representing 21 tribal nations. Four Cherokee National Treasures were showcased in this year’s show including Harry Oosahwee, Kathy Van Buskirk, Lena Stick, and Troy Jackson.
John Henry Gloyne, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), was recognized as this year’s Best of Show for his piece, “Burial Ceremony: The Four Souls of the Cherokee Being.” The acrylic and gouache painting depicts Cherokee burial rituals and the interconnections of the four souls of the Cherokee being: the liver, heart, brain and bones.
In addition to Gloyne, several other EBCI tribal members received awards at the show including:
- Jacob Long, first place, Photography/Digital Art, “Sun Eater” and winner of the Jennie Ross Cobb Photography Award for “Waymaker”
- Joshua West, second place, Emerging Artists category, “Uktena’s Guard”
- Tara McCoy, second place, Pottery, “Stomp”
The opening reception was hosted by Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Shella Bowlin, with awards distributed by Cherokee National Historical Society Board Chair Christy Neuhoff and Miss Cherokee Keeleigh Sanders.
“Each year the Trail of Tears Art Show is a reminder to us all of the importance of Native artwork and the role it plays in cultural promotion and preservation,” said Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. “These artists are storytellers and culture keepers. Their work shares the stories of the tribulations and triumphs that have impacted Native nations throughout history and often are a beacon of light into the thriving nations we have become today.”
Thanks so much for the visit, I hope you enjoyed the news. Wishing all a nice weekend, it’s looking pretty wet around here.
”Be safe out there.” Lamont Cranston