One of I-40 East’s lanes will be closed today until 3pm today. The closure is on the south east side of Asheville. The blockage is due to the DOP removing some trees blocking the lane.

Droves of tourists will flock to Asheville, North Carolina this summer and many business owners are worried about the Pack Square Park construction project downtown. The owners had a meeting with the organization in charge to get updated on the project’s status. They are hoping to be able to stay open despite all the construction that surrounds the area.

The owners are anxious to see what impact the project will have on their business. A six-foot fence is to be erected around the area and bother Market Street and Spruce Street will be repaved. Though the details of when have not been released. The paving could substantially reduce parking around the concerned businesses.

Adding to delays in completion is the fact that no contract for building the park’s pavilion has been obtained. And construction time for that is estimated at about 10 months.

Many Asheville Entrepreneurs owners want to work with the local chamber of commerce to work out a plan that will include marketing to boost visitors to the struggling businesses.

Asheville Show Times for “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”

Regal Hollywood Cinemas 14
1640 Hendersonville Road
Asheville
(800)326-3264
9:30 AM, 12:15 PM, 12:45 PM, 1:15 PM, 3:30 PM, 4:00 PM, 4:30 PM, 6:45 PM, 7:15 PM, 7:45 PM, 10:00 PM, 10:30 PM

Cinebarre Biltmore Square
800 Brevard Road
Asheville
(828)665-7776
12:45 PM, 3:45 PM, 7:10 PM, 10:15 PM

Carmike 10
299-1 Swannanoa River Road
Asheville
(828)298-4452
1:20 PM, 1:40 PM, 1:45 PM, 2:00 PM, 4:20 PM, 4:40 PM, 4:45 PM, 5:00 PM, 7:15 PM, 7:30 PM, 7:45 PM, 8:00 PM, 10:00 PM, 10:15 PM, 10:30 PM, 10:45 PM

EPIC Theatres
200 Thompson Street
Hendersonville
(828)693-1146
1:00 PM, 1:10 PM, 1:30 PM, 4:00 PM, 4:15 PM, 4:30 PM, 7:00 PM, 7:10 PM, 7:30 PM, 9:30 PM, 9:50 PM, 10:10 PM

Asheville’s Humane Society is hosting it’s rabies shot and microchip clinic. For ten dollars owners can get their pet micro-chipped as long as they are not older than 2 months. Shots will cost five dollars per pet. Owners wanting the three-year shot must show proof of current vaccination.

The clinic will be held at Fairview Elementary School on May 31st from 9am-to-1pm. Money earned from the clinic will go to the Humane Society and their other programs. For more info call them at 236-3885.

This video on a show called “The Traveling Vegetarian” highlights one of my favorite Asheville Restaurants, Rosetta’s Kitchen. If you haven’t tried their food it is simply marvelous and is conveniently located downtown. They also highlight another great place to eat in town, The Laughing Seed.

Since all video poker machines have been banned the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department and the Asheville Police Department have seen drastic reductions in illegal gambling throughout the area. While it remains a priority for the department investigations are not as widespread at the moment.

Macon County launched their own investigation and impounded at least 19 machines and found out about more than 100,000 dollars in non-taxed payouts.

Hundreds of machines have been seized in the last several months and many arrests have been made, including former County Sheriff Bobby Medford, who was recently convicted in Federal Court. Both Medford and another officer could get 170 years in prison when they are sentenced in a month.

Localities will continue to look into gambling operations, however complaints these days are quite rare.

Today as a part of Asheville’s Strive Not To Drive program the Transit Authority slashed 75% off it’s price for bus fare. Instead of the usual dollar fares will be 25 cents. With the escalating price for gas across the country, this will be a much welcome break for those who need to get around Asheville. A free wallet to hold bus passes will also be given out to those who ride today.

In a case that sounded more like Sopranos Episode than police activity, the Buncombe County Sheriff’s department received a black eye this week as former Sheriff Bobby Medford was convicted of using his high position in the Sheriff’s Department for purposes of extortion focused on businesses that ran illegal gambling operations. He also was found guilty of money laundering and conspiracy to start an illegal gambling operation in the Asheville area.

Mr. Medford made approximately $550,000 over the course of his tenure as Buncombe County Sheriff, as indicated by various witnesses at his trial. Witnesses also stated that he spent 162 days with out leave from his job gambling at Harrah’s in Cherokee, North Carolina. Perhaps Medford should have taken a job in Nevada where a man can gamble in peace.

The former Sheriff has been on trail in Federal Court since April 29th. More than 24 others have already been found or pleaded guilty since the trial started. Medford could face life in Federal Prison when his sentencing date rolls around. His co-conspirator and department Volunteer Captain, Guy Penland was implicated in the scam as well.

This is not the first time Medford has been suspected of questionable activities, though it is the first time he has been convicted. When the county finance audited the sheriffs department’s evidence room. The room was missing seized money, guns and confiscated drugs. We’re not talking about a few missing items either- at least 50 percent of the contraband was simply not there. The estimated value of the missing items was about 220,000 dollars. Some of the missing evidence included 233 pistols, 114 rifles and shotguns and a large amount of drugs. To this the audited stated “poor inventory management”. I would say poor isn’t even the word for it; “corrupt inventory management” would be more accurate in my opinion.

Medford, after thinking fast came up with a foolproof alibi, “The guns were buried in concrete under the new jail addition”. At least then anyone that would want to verify his story would have to rent a jackhammer and spend millions rebuilding the addition. Medford then rebuked a local reporter when asked about the missing contraband; the ex-sheriff’s reply was simple and yet very articulate. “If I had any goddamned money I wouldn’t be living in any $350-per-month apartment.” He said. He went on to accuse the county for the missing evidence by failing to allocate funds to renovate the evidence room.

The former Sheriff has been on trail in Federal Court since April 29th. More than 24 others have already been found or pleaded guilty since the trial started. Medford could face life in Federal Prison when his sentencing date rolls around. His co-conspirator and department Volunteer Captain, Guy Penland was implicated in the scam as well. Medford was first elected Sheriff of Buncombe County in 1994.

A Blog in Asheville, North Carolina has gained attention from the British News site The Guardian. The site might also be a newspaper over there, I’m not sure as I don’t live in England. The Guardian Story questions the reviewer from the Asheville Performing Arts Review, for anonymously criticizing the UNCA-Diana Wortham Theater colaboration “The Tempest Project”. Perhaps the review was a bit harsh; though I haven’t actually seen the play so it could be right on the money. That said it was no worse than most negative movie reviews and why theater thinks they are above legitimate criticism I will never know. I believe the aspect of complete freedom of speech frightens many older institutions. I’m sure at one point critics of theater were jovial old men that wrote for a daily, drank brandy, and looked forward to to donning their smoking jacket, have fido fetch their slippers and settle in by the fire with the longwinded stultifying prose of Melville before retiring to their chambers– alas this is no more. And yet even now there are only 250 members of the American Theater Critics Association. So why does the theater expect courtesies that apply to no other institutions. Not one person has rebuked slate.com for their review of this week’s theatrical release of “Speed Racer”.

“Shapes hurtle toward you, then recede abruptly, each bearing some fragment of narrative information that has now passed you by forever. Nausea and anxiety begin to wash over you in overlapping waves.” [Read Review]

Ok, that review was not anonymous but the reviewer in Asheville is an actor, he can’t afford to anger the establishment but that doesn’t mean his opinion should not be heard. And as an actor his opinion should count for something. Here is a sample of the transatlantic controversy.

It is possible for a brilliant and insightful director to face off against a great play and a great playwright, and, by opposing, find fresh nuance and unsuspected relevance in old and familiar words. This is not what happens in Theater UNCA’s The Tempest Project. Directors Laura Facciponti and Pamella O’Connor have, instead, devised a sort of bizarro-Tempest which, aside from being bad on its own account, violates the play at just about every point, apparently wilfully, blithe in its disregard for scholarship, reading skills, and even correct pronunciation. It was as if these two women had looked the Bard in the eye, without knowing precisely who he was, and snarled “I’ll show you how it really should be done.” [Continue Reading]

There is a reason our elections are by secret ballet, and reasons why some blogs are too. Do you think that the employees of those blogs about Wal-Mart are really going to be honest if they know the execs can read their posts? They would be out of a job. Same with this anonymous actor. To see The Guardian’s story visit their website.

A new research corporation has opened an Asheville North Carolina office, hoping to bring contracts to the city and work in connection with the NCDC. The new firm could be worth millions of dollars to the city economy.

The firm is called the Scientific Research Corporation. They give information and communications to the Federal Government as well as to private companies.

The company held a press conference at the North Carolina Arboretum announcing their decision.