itorials
Asheville Water Woes Show Need For Caution
For opponents of a proposal that the town of Weaverville lift
long-standing moratorium on the extension of any new
outside the town limits, the city of Asheville's re
t water woes couldn't have come at a better time. For
officials, who have suggested that opening up the
's water system to new customers outside the corporate
ts could create additional revenues to help finance an in
water system for the town, Asheville's problems
to underline the need to proceed with caution.
The Weaverville Town Council last month agreed to spend
on an engineering study designed to determine
the town's water distribution system can supply
ter to hundreds of potential customers located outside of
Weaverville town limits. Since 1974, the town of Weaver
has been unable to provide water service to anyone out
the town limits, thanks to problems the town has had sup
a sufficient amount of water to residents who do pay
Two consecutive years of summertime drought
worsened the problem and have forced the town to imple
temporary water conservation steps.
The recently approved study comes on the heels of last
agreement with the Asheville-Buncombe Water
, which town officials say will provide Weaverville
all the water it can use until the town can develop a new
source of water.
Mayor Reese Lasher has been the most vocal
of lifting the water tap moratorium as a means of
revenue to fund improvements to the Weaverville
system - improvements that would include the tapping
new water source, perhaps the Ivy River. New customers
outside Weaverville's town limits would be charged a
than municipal residents, and that would mean ex
money that can be set aside for future improvements,
has said. Without the additional revenue from non
municipal customers, Weaverville residents would probably
have have to pay the cost of those improvements - either
through higher water rates (and rates increased 27 percent
last year) or higher property taxes.
Opponents of Lasher's plan to lift the water tap moratorium
will undoubtedly point to Asheville's recent water problems.
Some 1,000 residents of Asheville were without water for more
than a week because of the problems. How can the Asheviile
Buncombe Water Authority supply Weaverville and northern
Buncombe County when it can't even supply the city of
Asheville, those opponents will say.
The prot'em in Asheville, however, was not a problem of
supply. It was a problem of distribution. The city had all the
water it needed, but a faulty valve at one of its reservoirs
resulted in a draining of the supply. The water was there, but
water authority officials simply couldn't get it to those af
fected by the interruption of service.
Asheville-Buncombe Water Authority officials have said
they have enough water to supply three Weavervilles. The
question that remains unanswered is this: Is Weaverville's
water distribution system up to the task of funneling that
water to customers both inside and outside tht town? That is
exactly the question that Weaverville officials want to have
answered by the recently approved study.
When that study is complete, the mayor and council must
examine the results carefully and then determine whether
they should lift the 14-year-old water tap moratorium. Last
week's events in Asheville should serve as proof of the impor
tance of an up-to-date water distribution system. The
Asheville-Buncombe Water Authority may have enough water
to serve three Weavervilles, but it won't do the north end of the
county any good if the town of Weaverville is unable to get that
water from reservoirs to homes.
M Workfare Can't Work Without Services
I Almost since the inception of the welfare system, people
pave looked for ways to make it work better. Clearly, reform
of our welfare system in Madison County must be a top priori
m of our county officials and Social Service administrators.
^Conservatives and liberals alike would agree that real
fare reform has been frustratingly slow in coming. The
?agreement remains in how we go about that reform. Many
conservatives say that welfare provides disincentive to work
and should be completely abolished while liberals contend that
i disincentives to work are the result of an unrealistically
i minimum wage, a restrictive Medicaid program, ina de
ft te child care and deficiencies in other social support pro
Some would have the minimum wage raised and
id benefits extended to working mothers to ensure a
d of living that is currently unavailable to either
j recipients or minimum-wage workers and to ensure
care for working mothers and their children.
,, The concept of "workfare" has emerged as a compromise
plan that is acceptable to both liberals and conservatives. In
workfare is a better idea than the current welfare
? in that it allows people to receive the assistance they
. while offering the opportunity to be productive, con
uting members of the community. But workfare in theory
I workfare in practice in Madison County are two different
workfare program works under some major assump
The writers of the program assumed that the other
support programs necessary to make workfare work
already in place and functionally properly. In Madison
y, they are not. Our county day care system is inade
? and poorly administered. Our countywide transporta
system is anything but countywide. The county day care
centers are closed 12 days each year.
i Worse than the inadequacies of the child care and transpor
tation system is the attitudes held by county and Social Ser
vice officials. The remark was made by one county official
that "Workfare is already working." Working, because one
recipient of welfare, when presented the workfare proposal,
remarked that she might as well get her own job. When asked
if this recipient had minor children or transportation, the of
ficial didn't know and hadn't bothered to ask.
If this is an example of how workfare works, it doesn't work
at all. Social support programs were instituted to enable those
in desperate circumstances to have a better quality of life.
The majority of jobs made available to welfare recipients
under the workfare program are minimum wage jobs with lit
tle or no hope for advancement and offer little or no opportuni
ty to learn skills.
When workfare forces people out of the social support pro
grams withouth a thought as to what circumstances it forces
them into, workfare doesn't work for the people it is intended
to benefit.
Madison County officials should take another look at the
workfare program. They should make sure that the other
county services are in place and working to the advantage of
those who are dependent upon them. Workfare should im
prove, not worsen, its participants' situations.
As it now stands, workfare can't work and should be
postponed until our county officials and the Department of
Social Services give immediate attention to these other ser
vices. That way, when a workfare program is reins tituted in
Madison County, it can work for all of us. Before we ask people
to cross an abyss, we must make sure the bridge is secure.
Letters To The Editor
Dreibelbeis Asset
To Weaverville
To the Editor,
Much has been said about Coun
cilman Bob Dreibelbeis of
Weaverville. It has been sug
gested thatg he had little
knowledge of the Weaverville
Town Council and had never been
a candidate for the office.
To set the record straight, Coun
cilman Dreibelbeis has been
regularly attending the council
sessions since 1M1 when his
neighborhood was annexed by the
town. His faithfulness and interest
were duly noted. At the urging of
other prominent citizens, he ran
for office but was not elected.
Councilman Dreibelbeis' in
terest in the welfare of Weaver
ville was not diminished. He con
tinued faithfully to attend the
meetings. In 1963 he was appointed
to the Board of Adjustments. In
1985 he was elected president of the
board.
Bob Dreilbelbeis is an important
asset for the Town of Weaverville.
His serving as councilman will be
a major benefit to all the citizens
of Weaverville.
Nancy Kinder
38 Salem Acres
Weaverville
Vulcan Spoils
Motel Stay
To the Editor,
Your readers will note with in
terest how the Vulcan Materials
Co. spoiled our motel stay in
Crystal Lake, 111., some months
ago.
Upon checking into the motel,
we didn't realize that Vulcan had a
plant located approximately
three-quarters of a mile away and
that they start operations just
before daybreak. The noise level
originating from the plant made it
impossible to sleep at the motel,
some three-quarters of a mile
away - we moved after a couple of
days.
The Vulcan plant was located in
a commercial and business area.
Certainly, had there been a
residential area within three
quarters of a mile from it, it's
value would have been depressed
by the activity and sound distur
bances from the plant.
I'm sharing this experience with
Weavervilie residents because it
brought home the major impor
tance of proper zoning ordinances
to any area.
Sincerely,
Onni D. Oksanen
Weavervilie
will I require at thine hand."
Ezekiel, chapter 33; >.
The recent World War II should
teach us lessons. If a watchman or
guard saw a squadron of enemy
bombers, would you call him an
alarmist if he sounded the sirens?
What would you think of him if he
said, "All the people are peaceful
ly sleeping. I won't awaken them.
They might be alarmed."
Suppose that I walked past your
house while you were asleep and I
saw a fire in your basement, would
you call me an alarmist if I ran
with all my might to rap on your
door and batter it down to warn
you of your danger?
If I saw a car heading down the
road toward a precipice while I
rocked on my front porch, what
would you think of me if, fully
aware of the danger, I did not try
to stop it ?
What would you think of me as a
preacher who believes in the Bi
ble's emphatic declaration that
you are a sinner plunging into a
hopeless eternity, if I did not lift up
my voice and cry, "Free from the
wrath to come!" I believe God's
book. I believe that men are lost
and on the way to an eternal hell
without Christ. I believe that only
faith in Jesus Christ can save
these men and women.
Christians, have you caught the
visions? Do you believe that there
is a judgement coming? Do you
believe that the men and women
around you are lost in sin and that
they cannot be saved without the
gospel? Do you believe that? If so,
what are you doing about it? Are
you sounding the alarm?
The guardians of our country
and those who are entrusted with
the responsibility of looking out for
the enemy and to warn of impen
ding danger must be given the
equipment and support they need.
Are you, as a Christian, suppor
ting those who seek to warn sin
ners of their doom? Do you pray
for them? How long could we
sound the alarm if everyone was
as interested as you are and did
what you are doing to guarantee
that the alarm will not be silenc
ed? God help you to awaken to the
danger and get busy for Him ! !
MB. Fisher
85 Whitt Road
Weaverville
Writer ' Sounds
An Alarm '
To the Editor,
I am attempting to sound an
alarm. I would be the most
despicable man in the world if I
did not sound an alarm. God has
ordered you and me to do it and
said, "When I say unto the wicked,
O wicked man, shaJt surely die; if
thou does not speak to worn the
wicked . . that wicked man shall
die in his iniquity; but his blood
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