Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Christina Maxwell featured Sunday, July 8,2012 article in the Asheville Citizen-Times
Citation preview
July 8, 2012 SUNDAY EDITION
A GANNETT NEWSPAPER | VOL. 143NO. 190 | 90 pages | © 2012
QUESTIONS ABOUT CIRCULATION?Call (800) 672-2472
900 CLUB: AshevilleTourists’ managerJoe Mikulik recentlypicked up a mile-stone win. Couldvictory No. 1,000 beon the horizon forthe longtime skip-per? Page C1
SMOKIES STORM:Cleanup continuesafter storms killedtwo and downedthousands of treesin the country’smost visited nationalpark. Page B1
WIMBLEDON:Serena Williamsclaimed her fifthWimbledon singlestitle and 14th tennismajor championshipwith a win in threesets on Saturday.Page C1
ADVICE B5
CLASSIFIEDS G1-4
IDEAS E1-6
LIVING, ARTS D1-8
LOTTERIES B1
MOUNTAINS B1-8
NATION/WORLD A2
OBITUARIES B2-3
OPINION A14-15
PUZZLES G2
REAL ESTATE F1-8
SPORTS C1-7
Index
Chance of storms
High 90°, Low 68°Weather, C8
Forecast
$2.00See Page 3 for pricing details
ASHEVILLE— In a city famousfor its drumcircle, eclectic eater-ies and a general laid-back vibe,mostwouldn’t expect to run into abar fight or seepunches thrown ina downtown parking lot.
But a record number of whatpolice call simple assaults — ev-erything fromshovingmatches toclosed-fist blows—aredrivingupviolent crime in the city center,according to statistics collectedby police and Citizen-Times.
The growth in those misde-meanor assaults helped makeJune the downtown’smost violentmonth this year, with at least 25assaults, robberies and othertypes of nonproperty crimes.That surpassedMay,which previ-ously held that record with 21 re-ports of violent crime.
Police say they found no oneclear reason for the increase in al-tercations. Inmostways, they saydowntown has become safer andpoint to a decrease since 2010 inserious assaults and harshercrimes, such as armed robberyand rape.
But with at least 12 of the as-saults happening in public areas,some worry about what thecrimes could do a downtown de-pendent on tourists andothervisi-tors, many of them families.
Fightsfuel crimeincreasedowntownSerious violence down, butsimple assaults at record levels
By Joel [email protected]
25misdemeanorassaults in June,highest in 2012
21such assaultsreported in May
12of the June assaultsin public areas
ASHEVILLE—DonSchjeldahl’s jobas a consultant gives the Mills Riverresident plenty of opportunities tosearch for flights for trips to meetwith clients.
When Southwest Airlines beganservice to Greenville-SpartanburgInternational Airport in March 2011,Asheville Regional Airport expectedlots of area travelers like Schjeldahlto drive down the mountain to SouthCarolina for cheaper fares or betterconnections.
It hasn’t worked out that way, ei-ther for Asheville Regional or forScheldahl.
Thenumberofpeople flyingout ofAsheville Regional during the 12months ending March 31 was downonly 0.6 percent over the same 12months a year ago— far less than the10percentdeclineAshevilleRegionalofficials had forecast.
Asheville Regional actually setrecords for passenger traffic duringthe summer of 2011.
That relatively small impact isgood news for people who would pre-fer to flyoutofAshevilleRegionalbe-cause it is a selling point for carriersconsidering adding service, said LewBleiweis, airport director.
“The more (passengers) use ourairports, the easier it is to get newroutes in,” he said.
Schjeldahl said he still shopsaround to find favorable fares or
-90
-60
-30
0
30
60
90
120
$150
Worth the drive?This chart shows the amount difference in cost of a roundtrip flightfrom Asheville Regional Airport versus Greenville-SpartanburgInternational Airport as of the beginning of each month sinceJanuary 2010, as measured by fares to 50 top cities. Fares are fortickets bought 21 days in advance with a three-day stay.
Negative numbers are the amount by whichAsheville was cheaper.
Positive numbers are the amount by whichAsheville was more expensive.
SOURCE: ASHEVILLE REGIONAL AIRPORT
2010 2011 2012
AVL holds its own againstSouthwest’s Greenville flightsByMark [email protected]
See FLIGHTS, Page A3
INTERACTIVEMAP: Visit CITIZEN-TIMES.com to compare flight costs totop destinations from Asheville andother regional airports.
“Violent crime
in downtown
Asheville is
definitely
down while
simple assaults
seem to have
increased and
again this
comes with
warmer
weather and
alcohol-related
incidents.”
ED EADS,
Police crime analystSee CRIME, Page A6
MAGGIE VALLEY—Themore “no vacan-cy” signs Alaska Presley sees along SocoRoad, the better.
Those redneonwordsposted at localmo-tels and hotels mean tourists are in town,and that’s good news for Presley, the ownerof Ghost Town in the Sky, one of WesternNorth Carolina’s oldest and most belovedtourist attractions. First opened in 1961, theWild West theme park rode a wave of popculture interest in cowboys at the time thatdrewtensof thousandsofvisitorseachyear.Those visitors, and steady advertising,helped put Maggie Valley on the map.
The amusement park fell on hardertimes in recent years. The park’s formerowners fell into bankruptcy in 2009, and amassive mudslide that originated on thepark’sproperty in2010damaged threenear-by homes.
Presley, a Canton native who moved toMaggie Valley in the 1950s, hated to see thepark’s decline. After all, she recalls seeingthe first miniature model of the park, andshe andher husband,Hubert, invested in itsconstruction by selling bonds.Duringbank-ruptcy proceedings, she bid $1.5 million forthe mountaintop attraction and was award-ed the property.
Erica Quick, of Fayetteville, snaps some pictures of Ghost Town in the Sky on Friday. Quick was at the partially-opened theme park with her daughter, father and stepmother. ERIN BRETHAUER/[email protected]
Ghost Town opens with big plans
BACK FROM
THE DEAD
By Jason [email protected]
Gunslingers at Ghost Town in the Sky in Maggie Valley pose witha couple of young visitors before the opening of the amusementpark’s 2008 season. /CITIZEN-TIMES FILE PHOTO See GHOST, Page A4
Product: ASHBrd PubDate: 07-08-2012 Zone: ACT Edition: 1 Page: NewsCov User: jherrmann Time: 07-07-2012 20:45 Color: CMYK
