Photo by Rkky Emmons - Photography Editor
The French Broad River is one of the waterways that runs
through Asheville and neighboring Tennessee.
Coal ash disposal
threatens WNC
environmental health
Emily Kendrick
ekendric@unca.edu - Staff Writer
Sandra Diaz grew up in a
large family and had a difficult
time making her voice heard.
Now she works with Appala
chian Voices, helping others
find their voice when it comes
to environmental issues like
coal ash disposal.
As the North Carolina cam
paign coordinator for Appala
chian Voices, Diaz focuses on
protecting the Appalachian re
gion’s air, land and water. The
nonprofit group specifically
centers on reducing the nega
tive effects of coal combustion,
a large source of energy in the
Appalachian region.
“We believe that when you
look at the whole lifecycle of
coal from mining to waste dis
posal, it is the single largest
environmental issue facing the
region,” Diaz said. “Eventually
we’d like to see us not relying
so much on coal for electric
ity.”
A coal ash holding dam at the
Tennessee Valley Authority’s
Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane
County, Tenn., broke on Dec.
22, 2008, causing one of the
worst industrial waste spills in
U.S. history and bringing this
issue to national attention, ac
cording to Diaz.
“When the TVA spill hap
pened (the EPA) kind of reas
sessed the situation with coal
ash and the regulations around
that. It hasn’t really changed
much in over 20 years,” Diaz
said. “The EPA set out to do a
rule-making, which they com
mitted to finalizing at the end of
2010, and we are here in 2013
without those new rules.”
Coal ash, a product of burn
ing coal to fuel power plants,
see WATER on page 5
NEWS
Reps seek to end local topless rallies
Joanna Woodson
jwoodson@unca.edu - Staff Writer
N.C. represetatives filed a
statewide bill in late Janu
ary, that if passed, outlaws
the annual topless rallies held
in downtown Asheville. Tim
Moffit, a Buncombe County
representative, and Raye
Brown of Davidson County
agreed to co-host the bill.
“I requested that we seek
legislation in order to help ad
dress the issue. It’s a state law,
it’s not a local ordinance and
municipalities cannot preempt
states,” Asheville Mayor Ter
ry Bellamy said. “It wasn’t an
Asheville-based issue. I have
not had one person who lives in
our city limits say, ‘Hey mayor,
I want you to work with me on
supporting this effort.’ The law
was on the books that women
could walk around like that.”
Bellamy said the problem is
not Asheville-based because
organizer Jeff Johnson, of
Alabama, brings the protest to
Asheville.
“(He said) he can get away
with it here,” Bellamy said.
Johnson manages a pediatric
practice for his wife, and works
as a children’s clown when he
is not organizing topless ral
lies.
Although Bellamy said she
does not have the authority to
make these changes herself,
several N.C. cities already
have ordinances in place ban
ning topless women who are
not breastfeeding. Trying to
ban toplessness in a highly lib
eral city when something is le
gal statewide could potentially
have unwanted repercussions
such as law suits, according to
city officials.
“There are city ordinances all
over the state prohibiting this
kind of sexual performance in
a public space. That’s all we
needed here. We’ve got what
I view as a group of moral
cowards on our city council
who don’t have the courage
and conviction to take action,”
said Carl Mumpower, a for
mer city councilman and vice
mayor.
There have been no problems
"We've got what I view as a group of
cowards on our city council who don't
have the courage and conviction to
take action."
Carl Mumpower
former city councilman and vice mayor
with the ordinances being in
place in the other N.C. cities,
but no other city in N.C. hosts
a topless rally, let alone one
with so much local support.
Mumpower said he thinks the
city government does not want
to lose political favor by taking
action, and is being let off the
hook by passing the problem
up to state government.
Bellamy said there was no
point to the rally because the
women argued for something
that was already in place.
“Can’t say there were a lot of
points being made that day. It
wasn’t illegal, so what was the
point? There was not a point
to the rally because they were
protesting a law that was cur
rently on the books,” she said.
According to Mumpower,
the rallies just blurred the line
between what he called “stupid
stuff,” which he said is peace
fully walking around topless in
support of normalizing breasts,
and “illegal stuff.”
“Illegal stuff is when you’re
grabbing breasts, fondling,
nursing, dancing provocatively.
That’s sexual performance,” he
said. “All they needed was to
cite them with a misdemeanor
and nobody’s going to jail. All
they needed was to pay atten
tion.”
He said a lot of underage chil
dren watched the rallies, and
underage women participated.
According to N.C. state law,
this is not much of a problem
unless the adults present them
selves in a provocative man
ner around a person under the
age of 16, which, according to
Mumpower, seemed to happen.
However, rather than a simple
misdemeanor as he suggested.
a public sexual performance
like this could land a protestor
with a felony.
According to Sarah Both-
ma, a senior interdisciplin
ary studies student at UNC
Asheville, the nudity is a com
pletely natural phenomenon,
but in America, women’s bod
ies are politicized and sexual-
ized.
“As much as I support this
movement and I support the
idea behind it, I think that the
onlookers don’t understand the
empowerment of being able to
go topless and saying, ‘I care
about my body, and I stand
against rape.’ The onlookers
don’t get it, so what it does is
further objectifies the female
form. It’s this catch-22,” she
said.
According to Bothma, how
ever, women as well as men
in America can be immature
about rallies such as this, be
cause there has always been a
stigma—.
“Unfortunately a lot of
people slutted it up, and that
is the problem. That’s where
my problem with the rally be
comes, is that they take this
wonderful idea, but when you
have women making a spec
tacle, then it corrupts the mes
sage you’re trying to send,” she
said.
Although Bothma does not
necessarily agree with the ral
lies, she said she definitely
does not support the proposed
legislation. Mumpower, pro
claiming himself a proud Re
publican, said he does not
agree with Moffitt’s bill either,
but for a different reason. He
see TOPLESS on page 5