City of Asheville

Uncategorized

A Curfew Comes To The Mountains

June 2, 2020 by 7 Comments

The City of Asheville (NC) declared a city-wide state of emergency and an 8pm to 6am curfew beginning tonight.

Requires individual to remain at home with the exception of medical emergencies and acquiring goods or services that are necessary to sustain the well-being of themselves or their families;

Does not apply to medical professionals, public safety workers, medical or healthcare workers, military personnel, public transportation personnel, public utilities personnel, and media;

Restricts travel within the city limits of Asheville;

Violators will be charged with a Class 2 misdemeanor.

This comes after two evenings of protests that went from peaceful to not-peaceful.

From the Citizen-Times:

The first night of demonstrations in Asheville May 31 caused the shutdown of interstate traffic, but were less violent and destructive than many other protests happening around the nation that have included the shooting of officers and at least one death.

On Monday night, Asheville protesters did not march but the intensity ramped up with guns brandished and fired and more property damage near the city center….

But after hours of peaceful protest, the night ended in a series of tear gas canisters and eventually gunfire. 

You can see things start to deteriorate in this video from local TV station WLOS. We were watching parts of it live last night and I thought reporter Caitlyn Penter was going to suffer whiplash the way her head was swiveling back and forth.

You can see some of the damage to downtown Asheville in the next video taken a couple of hours ago. As the reporter notes, much of the damage was sustained by home-grown businesses just starting to get back on their feet after the stay-at-home orders were eased.

All I can say is that I’m glad I live miles away from downtown Asheville and live outside the city limits. And as always, we keep our doors locked as a matter of course.

Uncategorized

GRNC On Gun Shows In Asheville

January 4, 2013 by

Grass Roots North Carolina has noticed Asheville City Councilman Cecil Bothwell’s attempt to shut down gun shows in Asheville. They released the alert below last night.

If you happen to be going to the Asheville Gun Show this weekend, I’ll be there on Saturday morning volunteering at the GRNC table. Stop by and say hello.


Councilman fails to understand the law in the latest attempt to ban guns…

In one of the most ridiculous knee-jerk political reactions to recent shootings which have drawn national attention, Asheville City Councilman Cecil Bothwell led an attempt this week to use an Asheville city ordinance that bans guns from city-owned property to block gun shows in the city. Bothwell seems to think that distorting this ordinance should be just the ticket to capitalize on national grief over the Newtown shootings in order to change gun laws, but there are a couple of major issues he failed to recognize before stepping into the limelight with his scheme.

State-wide uniformity of local regulations

One such issue Councilman Bothwell failed to take into consideration is that North Carolina General Statute §14409.40, “Statewide uniformity of local regulation,” states, in part:

“(d) No county or municipality, by zoning or other ordinance, shall regulate in any manner firearms shows with regulations more stringent than those applying to shows of other types of items.”

What this means is that gun shows may not be regulated any differently than any other type of show that is allowed to use the same facilities. In other words, if they wanted to ban gun shows, they would have to ban virtually any other kind of show from the property. State law prevents any county or municipality from treating gun shows any differently than an antique show or an agricultural event.

City or State owned?

One other issue that Councilman Bothwell and other city council members failed to understand is that the facility in question, the WNC Agricultural Center, is not owned by the city of Asheville! That’s right, the WNC Agricultural center is state-owned property, operated by the state. In their blind zeal to remove your rights as gun owners through any scheme they can cook up, the Asheville City Council is trying to enforce a city ordinance which bans guns on city property in a building which is actually owned by the State of North Carolina! What’s more, the WNC Agricultural Center isn’t even located inside Asheville city limits!

GRNC President responds

In a letter sent by GRNC President Paul Valone to Asheville City Attorney Bob Oast, Valone stated that these kinds of actions are clearly irresponsible and a direct violation of state law:

To: Robert W. Oast, Jr., Asheville City Attorney
From: F. Paul Valone, President, Grass Roots North Carolina
Re: Proposal to restrict gun shows at Western North Carolina Agricultural Center
Cc: Mayor

“Dear Mr. Oast:

According to the Asheville Citizen-Times, the Asheville City Council is contemplating enforcing an ordinance in such a way as to restrict gun shows from the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center. Accordingly, please allow me to point out §14409.40, “Statewide uniformity of local regulation,” which says in relevant part:

“(d) No county or municipality, by zoning or other ordinance, shall regulate in any manner firearms shows with regulations more stringent than those applying to shows of other types of items.”

Our Director of Legal Affairs advises me that the only way Asheville could ban gun shows at the facility would be to ban all shows at the facility. If that is your intent, please let us know.

Otherwise, please be advised that any attempt to limit gun shows in violation of §14409.40(d) will be met not only political opposition targeting the City Council, but also legal action similar to what we filing this week against the city of Winston-Salem.

As one pundit recently pointed out, the similar case of Nordyke v. King kept Alameda County in court for thirteen years before they finally lost. I’m sure we wouldn’t want to tie up the Asheville City Council for such an extended period; it might distract them from the fine work they do.”

Show your solidarity!

You can do your part to stop this attempt to block your rights as gun owners. While the Asheville City Council attempts to use city laws to override state law, you can show your resolve by attending the gun show scheduled for the weekend of January 5th & 6th at the WNC Agricultural Center. Volunteers are needed to help at the GRNC table. If you would like to volunteer a few hours at the GRNC table, please contact Cliff Odom via email at inhisstepscliff@gmail.com .

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!

IMMEDIATELY CONTACT THE ASHEVILLE CITY COUNCIL: Use the contact information provided and deliver the message below

PLAN TO ATTEND THE ASHEVILLE GUN SHOW: You can make a difference by attending the Ashville gun show to show your resolve against these incredible schemes

Support GRNC!: GRNC needs your support to help combat the efforts against your rights as gun owners. Join or renew your membership! http://www.grnc.org/join-grnc/join-grnc-online

COURTESY COPY AND PASTE LIST

Note: Some Email programs automatically hyperlink addresses. Click Here to get a version you may copy.

mayorbellamy@avlcouncil.com, emanheimer@vwlawfirm.com, cecil@braveulysses.com, jandavis@avlcouncil.com, marchunt@avlcouncil.com, chrispelly@avlcouncil.com, gordonsmith@avlcouncil.com

DELIVER THIS MESSAGE

Suggested Subject: “Hands Off Gun Shows”

Asheville City Council Members:

I urge you to respect the rights of North Carolina gun owners. Councilman Bothwell’s poorly considered attack on gun shows is both misdirected and illegal. North Carolina’s preemption statute (§14409.40) clearly does not allow you this latitude. Also there facts that the WNC facilities are state-owned and OUTSIDE of the Asheville city limits.

Any attempts to violate my rights as a gun owner will be remembered at the polls. I will be following your actions through the alerts of Grass Roots North Carolina.

Respectfully,

A Concerned North Carolina Voter

CONTACT INFORMATION

Mayor Terry Bellamy Contact Information:
Mail: P.O. Box 7148, Asheville, NC 28802
Phone: (828) 259-5600
Fax: (828) 259-5499
E-mail: mayorbellamy@avlcouncil.com
Personal Web site: www.terrymbellamy.com

Vice-Mayor Esther Manheimer contact information:
Mail: 11 North Market Street, Asheville, NC 28801
P.O. Box 7376, Asheville, NC 28802-7376
Phone: (828) 258-2991
E-mail: emanheimer@vwlawfirm.com

Councilman Cecil Bothwell contact information:
Mail: 54 Fulton Street, Asheville, NC 28801
Phone: (828) 713-8840
E-mail: cecil@braveulysses.com

Councilman Jan Davis contact information:
Mail: 209 Patton Ave., Asheville, NC 28801
Phone: (828) 253-5634
Fax: (828) 253-8029
E-mail: jandavis@avlcouncil.com
Personal Web site: www.jandavistire.com

Councilman Marc Hunt contact information:
Mail: 55 Cambridge Road, Asheville, NC 28804
Phone: (828) 273-2172
Email: marchunt@avlcouncil.com

Councilman Chris Pelly contact information:
Mail: 95 Cisco Road, Asheville, NC 28805
Phone: (828) 231-3704
Email: chrispelly@avlcouncil.com

Councilman Gordon Smith contact information:
Mail: 49 Euclid Blvd., Asheville, NC 28806
Phone: (828) 279-2551
E-mail: gordonsmith@avlcouncil.com

Uncategorized

You Don’t Want To Go There, Mr. Bothwell

January 2, 2013 by 4 Comments

Cecil Bothwell is a City Councilman in Asheville, North Carolina. He also ran for Congress in the 11th District but was trounced in the Democratic primary. He is proudly the left-most member of the Asheville City Council.

Today Bothwell called for banning gun shows on city-owned property. He wants to use a city ordinance that prohibits the possession of firearms in parks and other city-owned property (other than concealed carry holders in parks.)

From a report in the Asheville Citizen-Times:

City Council member Cecil Bothwell today called for the City of Asheville to ban gun shows from City-owned properties, including the WNC Agricultural Center.

“Our municipal code specifically prohibits the carrying of weapons on City-owned properties. I don’t understand why that law is not being enforced,” Bothwell said.

The City of Asheville’s Civic Center and WNC Agricultural Center have both been rented to gun show promoters in recent years, despite this long-standing ban.

“Many citizens have contacted Council members asking for action in the wake of the Newtown school murders, but the City has very little ability to regulate guns, permitting or background checks under North Carolina and United States law,” Bothwell said. “However, we do have the power to enforce the laws that are on the books.

“Gun shows not only promote the ownership and use of weapons, including the glamorization of the assault-type, semi-automatic killing machines used in too many mass murders, but sellers at shows are not required to perform background checks on buyers. That means that guns intended for rapid fire killing may easily fall into the hands of persons who are mentally unstable or who have criminal intent.”

“This is one place we can easily draw the line,” Bothwell added. “The law is already on the books.”

 The ignorance in Bothwell’s statement astounds.

First, as a councilman, Bothwell ought to know what properties the city owns or doesn’t own. The WNC Agricultural Center is owned by the State of North Carolina and operated by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Second, his statement about background checks and “rapid fire killing” is so ludicrous that I’ll just pass on it other than to say that FFLs are required to make NICS checks regardless of where the sale takes place.

Third, and on this I might excuse Bothwell, given Nordyke v. King was in the 9th Circuit. Despite being in another circuit, Asheville would be on very shaky legal ground to try and ban gun shows on city property. I don’t think the City of Asheville wants to be in Federal court for 13 years like Alameda County. Precedent is against them. More on Nordyke can be found here.