CITIZE ASHEVILLENTIMES -...
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ASHEVILLE
CITIZEN-TIMESVOICE OF THE MOUNTAINS • CITIZEN-TIMES.com
Friday75 cents February 11, 2011
FLAT ROCK EX-PANDS: Theplayhouse’s suc-cess with shows inthe courthousehas led to apermanent homein Hendersonville.Page B4
UNC V. DUKE:UNC was on thelosing end ofWednesday’srivalry game, butthere is reason forhope in Tar Heelcountry. KeithJarrett, Page C1
MORE SNOWWOE: Most areasonly saw about aninch of snow, butthat was enoughto cancel classesat schools acrossthe region.Page B1
A GANNETT NEWSPAPER | VOL. 142 |NO. 42 | 42 pages | © 2011
QUESTIONS ABOUT CIRCULATION?Call (800) 672-2472
Partly sunnyHigh 42, Low 23
Weather, C10
ForecastCLASSIFIEDS C6-9
COMICS B6-7
LIVING B4-8
LOTTERIES B1
MOUNTAINS B1-3
NATION/WORLD A2
OBITUARIES B2-3
OPINION A10-11
PUZZLES C7
SPORTS C1-5, 10
STOCKS A8
Index
ASHEVILLE — BuncombeCounty commissioners saidThursday they will consider lo-wering their compensation fortravel and other expenses, amove made after taking publiccriticism.Commissioners have asked
CountyManagerWanda Greenefor figures comparing their payand allowances for travel and
technology with that paid tocommissioners in other coun-ties.The requests and criticism
follow a Citizen-Times reportSunday finding that Buncombecommissioners are the state’sbest paid when taking into ac-count salary and compensation.Commissioners get $650 ev-
ery two weeks for travel regard-lessof actualcosts.They also aregiven a “technology allowance”
of $175 every other week despitealready having county-issuediPads and mobile phones.“I’ve heard loud and clear and
am in total agreement that this isnot in line with where othercounties are in North Carolinaand it doesn’t seem to be appro-priate and I agree,” Commis-sioner Holly Jones said.Greene said she expects to re-
port to commissioners at theirnextmeeting, which is Tuesday.Commissioners’ chairman
DavidGantt also said compensa-tion should be cut, andCommis-
sioner Bill Stanley said he isopen to the idea.“I don’t think we can ask
(county) departments to cut 3, 5and 10 percent ifwe’re not doingour part,” Gantt said.As chairman, Gantt makes a
salary of $26,019.The vice chair-man is paid $21,762 and the re-maining three commissioners$17,505 each.Those salaries are among the
highest in the state, according tofigures from theUNC School ofGovernment. But the travel andtechnology compensation really
sets them apart.Those payments bring com-
missioners’ average compensa-tion to $41,509 a year.That’s 37 percent more than
the total for commissioners inMecklenburg County, the state’slargest. Buncombe isNorthCar-olina’s seventh-largest countyby population.Jones said she had asked
Greene “to bring us an analysissowe can address this and get itin line.”
Commissioners may cut own payBuncombe leaders respond to criticismBy Mark [email protected]
Please see CUT on A6
LOS ANGELES — It’s far fromdefinitive proof, but new re-search raises concern about dietsoda, finding higher risks forstrokeand heartattackamongpeoplewho drink it every day versusthose who drink no soda at all.Thebeverage findings should
be “a wakeup call to pay atten-tion to diet sodas,” said Dr. Ste-ven Greenberg, a HarvardMed-ical School neurologist and vicechairman of the InternationalStrokeConference inCalifornia,where the researchwas present-ed.Doctors have no chemical or
biological explanation for whydiet soda may be risky, thoughthere has been concern over ar-tificial sweeteners, such as as-partame. “I’mdefinitely not sur-prised that the study is findingthese links,” saidElizabeth Pavka, aholistic nutrition-ist in Ashevillewho has practicedas a registered di-etitian for morethan 20 years.“Aspartame is
made of two ami-no acids, both ofwhich disrupt brain function,”Pavka said. “So, itmakes perfectsense that if you have those neu-rotoxins in play, that could con-tribute to stroke especially.”It could also be that people
who drink lots of diet sodas failto exercise, weigh more, drinkmore alcohol or have other riskfactors like high blood pressureand smoking.However, the researchers
Dietsodastied tostrokeReasons for riskare not clearFROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Please see SODA on A9
ElizabethPavka
‘Leave, leave, leave’
EMILIO MORENATTI/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Anti-government protesters react as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak makes a televised statement to his nation in Tahrir Square in downtownCairo on Thursday. Mubarak refused to step down or leave the country and instead handed his powers to his vice president, remaining president andensuring regime control over the reform process. Stunned protesters in central Cairo who demand his ouster waved their shoes in contempt andshouted, “Leave, leave, leave.” Reports on Page A3.
ASHEVILLE—Aman imprison-ed in a shooting death when hewas 13 has avoided an attemptedmurder charge in another re-cent shooting.Danquon Brown, 20, ofMills
Gap Road, pleaded guilty to as-
sault with a dead-ly weapon inflict-ing serious injury.He was sen-
tenced to 2-2 1/2years in prisonwith credit givenformore than 300days alreadyserved in theBun-combe County Detention Facil-ity.Police had charged Brown
with first-degree attempted
murder after he accidentallywounded a bystander in anApril 6 shootout at ErskineStreet Apartments, a publichousing complex south ofdowntown.Itwas the second timeBrown
was taken into custody for gun-related violence. Police say heshot 18-year-old Odell Dixon Jr.in the head at Lee WalkerHeights public housing com-plex in 2003.Brown spent five years in the
state juvenile justice system be-fore returning to Asheville. Ju-venile offenders’ records thatwould disclose details of hiscase are closed to the public.In the latest shooting, prose-
cutors agreed to the plea dealTuesday because it wasn’t clearwhetherBrown shot first orwasacting in self-defense, his attor-ney, David Budd, said.“There were conflicting
Brown avoids attempted murder chargeMan involved withslaying as a teenBy Joel [email protected]
DanquonBrown
Please see BROWN on A6
Product: ASH_Broad PubDate: 02-11-2011 Zone: Main Edition: First Page: frontpage User: CSwaney Time: 02-10-2011 21:21 Color: CMYK