UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA ASHEVILLE
iii.
'ferv
The Blue Banner
Thursday, September 25, 2008
u u w.ttiehluchanner.iiet
Gas shortage stalls Asheville
m
PHOTOS BY JONATHAN WALC7.AK- NEWS EDITOR
Top, cars wait to fill up on gas at the Merrimon Avenue
Shell station Monday morning.
Bottom left, long lines stretch down Merrimon Avenue at
a BP station Monday afternoon.
Bottom right, Mimi Haynie, 18, waits as gas slowly flows
into her pickup truck at the Shell station.
Campus police drive to Weaverville in search of gas as supplies run low in Asheville
Jonathan Waiczak
News Editor
JMWALCZAK@UNCA.EDU
Tempers flared Monday at
one area gas station as cus
tomers waited as many as
two hours to fill their tanks
with scarce $4.19 per gallon
unleaded gas.
“It will be about a week
longer before things are back
to normal for most of us,”
said Lisa McKinney, general
manager for the Asheville of
fice of the auto services com
pany AAA.
None of the more than 30
gas stations surveyed by The
Blue Banner Sunday night
had gas. By Monday morn
ing, lines grew at the few sta
tions that received shipments
overnight.
At the Merrimon Avenue
Shell station, manager Mar
sha Messer helped direct
more than 35 cars with an
employee and two police of
ficers assisting.
“There were three wrecks
this morning, three fights
over the last two days and
we had to call the cops three
times to help direct traffic,”
Messer said. “This is chaos.”
Retired legal secretary
Natalie Nachman waited
more than an hour with two
friends for one gallon of gas.
“They brought me here so
they could fill up and I could
get a gallon of gas for my car
so I can go looking for more
gas,” Nachman said. “It’s ei
ther that or I’d have to call
AAA to come rescue me.”
According to McKinney,
panic and the lingering ef
fects of Hurricanes Gustav
and Ike caused the local
shortage.
“What stations that receive
fuel, people immediately fig
ure it out,’’ McKinney said.
“The stations may have gas
this morning and not this af
ternoon.”
Campus police are taking
measures to reduce gas con
sumption following supply
interruptions, according to
Investigator B.J. Bayne.
“We’ve actually had to go
to Weaverville to get gas,”
Bayne said. “We now have
more foot patrols and are
doubling up two guys per
vehicle. The guys know not
to leave their cars idling and
running.”
The average price of gas
in Asheville on Monday was
$4.15 per gallon, according
to McKinney.
“We have not had any
confirmed reports of price
gouging, but if people feel
like there is price gouging
going on, they can report it
to the state attorney general,”
she said.
One woman in a blue se
dan began shouting towards
a car blocking her way at the
Shell stations, yelling “Move
bitch, don’t get up in my
face.”
Art gallery owner Berna
dette Bender, 51, expressed
shock at the rude behavior.
“You think in Asheville,
people would be a little more
laid back,” she said. “This
isn’t New York City.”
Shoe store manager
Dean Peterson, 52, traveled
back home to Asheville late
Sunday from South Caro
lina, where he said he had no
problem finding gas.
“I woke up this morning
with an eighth of a tank, not
knowing it was this bad,” Pe
terson said. “I came back at
lunch and I’ve been waiting
50 minutes now. I think it’s
real sad.”
According to McKin
ney, the Colonial Pipeline,
which supplies gas to much
of North Carolina, is not run
ning at full-capacity more
than a week after Hurricane
Ike hit Texas.
“Even when it is at full-
capacity, it only runs four
miles per hour, so it’s very
slow,” McKinney said.
See GAS Pagf- 2 |
\’ol. 19, Issue 1
Students
drop
meat to
go green
Cassidy Culbertson
Staff Writer
CJCULBER@UNCA.EDU
Switching from an om
nivorous lo vegetarian
or vegan diet helps the
environment more than
switching from an SUV to
a Toyota Prius, according
to Amy Lanou, assistant
health and wellness pro
fessor.
"In the past two years,
dietary habits have gotten
high on the lists of ways
for people to fight global
warming,” Lanou said.
Last week, the United
Nations Intergovern
mental Panel on Climate
Change urged people to
eat meat-free one day a
week to help tackle global
warming.
Some UNC Asheville
students heeded the calls
by the U.N. and other
groups to cut back on meat
intake to help the environ
ment.
"I’ve been telling peo
ple this for a while,” said
freshman student Leigha
Houghland. "It’s one small
Si'i; MEAT Pa(;1' 2 |
Students,
faculty
speak with
hands
Jennifer Saylor
Staff Writer
JENNIFER.FREELANCE@GMAIL.COM
In 1984, a University
of Iowa graduate student
set out to convince a skep
tical comparative litera
ture faculty that American
Sign Language and deaf
culture were worth writ
ing about.
Not only were her ad
visers skeptical about the
dissertation topic, they
had serious doubts about
whether or not ASL was
even a language.
“They doubted it had a
culture or a literature,” she
said. “But in spite of their
doubts they encouraged
me to explore, becau.se as
faculty they arc committed
to truth and knowledge.”
After more than three
years of travel and video
documentation, the stu
dent discovered deaf sto
ries migrated around the
state and passed down be
tween generations of deaf
lowans. She collected
deaf-centric jokes, poems
and ABC and number sto
ries where clever tellers
combined hand-shapes
for letters and numbers,
in sequential order to tell
a tale.
See sign Page 2 |
News
Study abroad
Page 3
Arts and
Features
Modo plays
local club
Page 8
Weather
THURSDAY
! FRIDAY
72
73
53
52
]
' SAIURDAY
SUNDAY
70
74
53
53