In the spirit of open publishing, the Asheville Indymedia collective has updated its editorial policy to add more transparency to editorial decisions. The new editorial policy is published below, and you can always look up the latest policy by clicking the "editorial policy" link to the left. The editorial policy spells out what sort of content we would like posted to our website, and when editors are empowered to hide or featurize user-submitted content. We have also added (though we're still working out the kinks) a "compost bin", which can be accessed by clicking on its link to the left. Articles and comments that the collective decide to hide don't get erased from the website entirely, they just get moved to the compost bin.

Asheville Indymedia Editorial Policy

The Asheville IMC newswire works on the principle of open publishing: anyone is allowed to post to the site. Articles go straight to the newswire and are not passed through an editorial board or approval process. Once articles and media are on the site, however, they may be hidden (according to the guidelines below) to maintain the newswire's efficacy as a media resource. The content of posts is never edited though sometimes formatting is corrected (html errors, for example). AIMC is committed to remaining as transparent as possible regarding its decision making. In this spirit, we are working to create a page to collect hidden posts so that visitors to the site can view articles that the editorial group has decided to hide.

Ever wanted to get involved with Asheville Food Not Bombs? For years, the group has been serving free vegetarian meals to anyone who needs food. Currently, we host picnics and informal activist networking every Saturday starting around 3:45pm at Pritchard Park.

Our most recent kitchen space in downtown Asheville is no longer available because the folks who lived in the house where we cooked have moved. A plethora of local community centers and churches have been contacted but nothing has become available for our use. We would like to stay cooking in downtown Asheville because of the convenience and variety of people that help cook and clean; however, as of right now, until another cooking space is found, Asheville Food Not Bombs will return to Warren Wilson College campus to cook and clean.

Aunt Pam, Little Sam, and Crazy Tam

FROM THE NEWSWIRE: In the early hours of the afternoon on November 23rd, life erupted with creativity as people gathered to commence Asheville's Buy Nothing Day. The holiday, which occurs annually on one of the biggest shopping days of the year, the day after Thanksgiving, encourages people to abstain from consumer spending for one 24-hour period and contemplate the costs of over-consumption and living in a society that bases happiness and wealth on the amount of goods a person can accumulate.

The Buy Nothing Day celebration in Asheville was three-fold. To start off with, three merry characters named Aunt Pam, Little Sam, and Crazy Tam made an appearance at Asheville's Wal-Mart in an attempt to bring greater consumer awareness and joy to shoppers. Armed with shopping carts and big smiles, the three paraded in conga-line fashion throughout the store talking cheerily about the happiness that comes with making gifts for people from everyday household items. Passing through all sections of the store, Aunt Pam, Little Sam, and Crazy Tam read books in the toy department, contemplated gardens and packaging in the grocery area, and became lost in the paint section, all without putting anything in their carts to buy. Aunt Pam held the back of the conga line up with her sunny disposition and grand ideas for a revolution of the heart. From front to back of the non-shopping brigade, the backs of the three character's shirts read "Love More", "Live More", and "Buy Less." Many smiles were exchanged between passersby and the three clowns, and it must be noted that employees wore the biggest smiles of all.

FROM THE NEWSWIRE: 11/17/07 - A two year long undercover FBI investigation of monetary-reform activists focused on Asheville came to a head last Wednesday when federal agents raided properties in Indiana and Idaho. The raid targeted Liberty Services, a company which markets and distributes Liberty Dollars, a private currency consisting of gold, silver and redeemable certificates. Government officials seized nearly 2 tons of Liberty Dollars and over $1 million in gold and silver warehoused by the company to back its paper certificates. The FBI is referring all inquiries to the US Attorney's WNC branch which has, thus far, declined to comment on the raids.

Liberty Dollars, accepted by some 85 Asheville-area businesses, are not "legal tender" but have generally been assumed to constitute a legal barter medium by users and authorities. The currency had been previously reviewed by the Treasury Department and a spokeswoman stated that there was "nothing illegal about this". Local activist Kevin Innes, a target of the FBI investigation, told the Mountain Xpress that he had approached the Asheville Police Department about his distribution of the dollars and had been given a green light. "They said we were within our rights."

Two students arrested

Two people got arrested this morning in Charlotte protesting the new Cliffside coal-fired power plant that Duke Energy is building. Both arrestees are safely out of jail. More money is still needed for further fees, fines, and travel expenses.

Press release: North Carolina Students Arrested Blocking the Entrance to Duke Energy Headquarters
Photos: Charlotte Action Photos
Video: Video from Charlotte action
Fundraising plea: 2 Arrested at North Carolina Coal Plant Protest Legal Funds Needed Immediately

Other media: Charlotte Observer, It's Getting Hot in Here, Winston-Salem Journal, Asheville Citizen-Times, MyrtleBeachOnline, The News & Observer, WRAL, digitriad.com, ABC 13 [Western NC], WIS 10 [Columbia, SC], The Daily Reflector, The Herald Sun, Trading Markets

FROM THE NEWSWIRE: Local residents using the NC Constitution, form their own Citizen’s Police Oversight Review Board

Asheville, NC…………. (14 Nov 2007) A private group of citizens in Asheville announced today the formation of The Citizen’s Police Oversight Review Board. Gene Hampton, spokesman for the group, said on the steps of city hall, that this citizen’s review board was established under the North Carolina Constitution, article 1 Section 3, which says “The people of this state have the inherent, sole, and exclusive right of regulating the internal government and police thereof.” Hampton said the group was formed to (assure) “Quality Police” and to provide “independent police oversight.” He said the public is welcome to join the group which will be training in “proper observation and documentation of police conduct.” The group has been meeting since Aug 24th to establish the cop watch program locally. A former Asheville Justice Watch group disbanded last year after failing to get the City Council to work with the NC Legislature to establish a Review Board for the Asheville Police. The new group formed after Jonas Phillips a resident of West Asheville was arrested for protesting on a highway over pass, and local residents met to talk about this incident and others. (Jonas court date is Dec 5th) The new group contends that they have the authority under the NC Constitution (above) to provide oversight. Hampton said that information gathered would be dispersed all the way to the NC Attorney General and or the US Dept of Justice if necessary.

Citizen’s Awareness Asheville contact info: phone (828)-398-4817 web: policeoversight.com
written by: JimBrown@Ashvl.com

VA Tech Social Freak Brigade Tour

FROM THE NEWSWIRE: Recently, a group of radical mental health activists visited Blacksburg, VA to facilitate a community conversation about mental health on the Virginia Tech campus. The Icarus Project, The Asheville Radical Mental Health Collective, and other mutual aid societies around the globe continue to challenge people to consider what it means to be labeled "crazy" in a culture which is obviously insane.

It’s the year 2007 and I’m traveling with a couple carloads of fellow radical mental health activists that have come to Blacksburg to facilitate a discussion about mental health on the Virginia Tech campus. We’re all very excited and nervous, we’ve been talking about it for days, unsure of the situation we’re walking into. Ever since the infamous massacre on April 16th, when 23 year old English student Seung-Hui Cho murdered 32 people before killing himself in a spectacular display of mass media inspired brutality, this campus has become, among other things. a dramatic symbol to many of everything that’s wrong with college mental health services in the United States. Of course the really scary part is that what happened at Virginia Tech could have happened at any number of big universities and the odds are likely that it will happen again. There are a lot of alienated and disturbed kids out there that have fallen through the cracks in a fragmented, traumatized society, and a there are also a lot of guns.

FROM THE NEWSWIRE: RAN activists draped a 50-foot banner reading "Bank of America: Funding Coal, Killing Communities" across the street from Bank of America's downtown Charlotte, N.C., headquarters. RAN is urging the financial giant to stop funding mountaintop removal coal mining and the construction of new coal-fired power plants.

Bank of America has invested billions of dollars in companies that practice mountaintop removal in the Appalachian region, including Massey Energy, Arch Coal and Alpha Natural Resources. These companies are responsible for the loss of millions of acres of forests and mountains and the decimation of communities throughout Appalachia.

SAN FRANCISCO - Activists with Rainforest Action Network's (RAN) Global Finance Campaign draped a 50-foot banner reading "Bank of America: Funding Coal, Killing Communities" across the street from Bank of America's downtown Charlotte, N.C., headquarters this morning. The group is urging the financial giant to stop funding mountaintop removal coal mining and the construction of new coal-fired power plants.

Speakers submitting comments

FROM THE NEWSWIRE: Here is your chance to get right up in the faces of the powers that be at Duke Energy and their buddies in the Dept. of Air Quality in North Carolina with a challenge they will find hard to ignore. DAQ is the agency that was formed to protect the citizens of North Carolina, but in fact has a long history of complicity with the energy industry and has allowed actions that have sickened our people, particularly the elderly and children, and poisoned our air and water.

Duke seems to feel their proposal for a coal-fired plant at Cliffside is a done deal. We need your voice to prove they are wrong.

A Personal Account

Thursday night, Oct. 18, a citizen’s hearing was held on the A-B tech campus in Asheville. Anyone who wished to speak against the coal plant was given a chance. A video was made to be sent to the DAQ demanding a stop to the issuing of a permit for the proposed plant at Cliffside. A similar meeting was held in Charlotte where over 200 people packed the hall.

I attended the hearing In Asheville and would like to relate some of what I heard. To me, this was watching democracy in action. Educators, moms and dads, the young and our elders,performers,experts with facts and those speaking spontaneously from their hearts said , not just no to the Cliffside Plant, but no to coal.