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Why is so much plastic hung up in trees and shrubs, and when will it get cleaned up? Will Asheville Muni close at the end of March? • Asheville Watchdog

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avlwatchdog.org – JOHN BOYLE – 2025-02-04 06:00:00

Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers:

Question: Why is there so much plastic hung up in trees and shrubs from Helene? Where did it all come from? Will anyone clean it up? When?

My answer: This is undoubtedly the worst Christo exhibit ever. I just don’t get his vision on this one.

Real answer: It is hard to miss all of the debris still hanging from trees and brush along our river and stream banks. Naturally, Tropical Storm Helene is to blame.

The 1,000-year rains swelled rivers to upward of 30 feet deep in some places. That’s high enough to get into the tree line, and that’s where a lot of debris landed.

The debris remains highly noticeable, said Anna Alsobrook, the French Broad watershed science and policy manager at MountainTrue, an Asheville environmental nonprofit.

“While it’s gotten better with the help of volunteers picking it up in places, the amount of plastic hanging from trees looks apocalyptic,” Alsobrook told me via email. “Take a minute and think about how hard it is for us as individual consumers to buy anything that’s not wrapped in or packaged in plastic. The same is true for retailers, manufacturers, and industries, but the amount and volume is much greater for them.”

Whatever was next to our rivers and streams went into the water, including plastic.

“So, when a building was flooded, anything inside of it came out, including all the packaging, plastic waste, etc., that may have been inside,” Alsobrook said. “On top of that, plastic is a major part of building material — whether as insulation or under roofing.”

We do have some good news to report.

“MountainTrue is working to clean up where and how we can with the help of some really rockstar volunteers,” Alsobrook said. “I’m telling you, they have braved some subpar conditions lately! That being said, we are staying out of the way of the debris contractors hired to remove the bigger debris, like cars, tankers etc.”

Hartwell Carson, the French Broad riverkeeper with MountainTrue, provided details on river cleanup progress.

“Between our Green Riverkeeper, French Broad Riverkeeper and Watauga Riverkeeper programs, we have hauled out over 2.8 million pounds of garbage from our rivers since the storm,” Carson said. “We have hired a full-time cleanup coordinator, acquired a new vehicle and purchased a dump trailer. We are also employing over a dozen raft guides in Madison County to clean up the whitewater section of the French Broad River and are hoping to ramp up our cleanup team to include 25 to 50 staff.”

Debris is a common sight along the French Broad River. // Watchdog photo by Starr Sariego

Additionally, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Feb. 1 that the Corps, “in coordination with federal, state, and local partners, has officially launched a waterway debris removal mission in North Carolina to support recovery efforts following Hurricane Helene.

“The mission focuses on clearing storm-related debris from navigable waterways, ensuring public safety, protecting critical infrastructure, and preserving the environment,” the Corps said in the news release.

Col. Brad Morgan, Wilmington District Commander for the Corps, noted that Helene “left significant debris in key waterways, posing risks to recreation and ecosystems. 

The Corps said the recovery work will be done “in close coordination with local agencies and stakeholders.”

Carson said they’ve learned that the Army Corps’s cleanup efforts, “for now, will only cover major tributaries and only big debris that threatens critical infrastructure.

“Think cars, shipping containers, etc.,” Carson said. “That means there will be a huge amount of trash left after the cleanup effort and MountainTrue is stepping up to make sure this trash is cleaned up, so we can get back on our rivers and outfitters reopen.”

Plastic material stuck in trees is “a good example of the kind of trash that the Army Corps won’t be removing,” Carson said.

Stacey Reese, a spokesperson for the Corps, said via email they are tasked with removing these types of debris: vegetative, construction and demolition, titled property (boats, cars, etc.), white goods, and hazardous materials.”

“We will work on points given to us by the county and FEMA, and (we’ll be) working in areas FEMA deems eligible,” Reese said. “The waterway debris removal began in Buncombe County, Azalea Park area on Saturday.”

Alsobrook said once the Corps’ teams have completed the heavy machinery work, “we plan to come back in and tackle the hand-pickable items.”

If you’re interested in volunteering, check MountainTrue’s events calendar at  mountaintrue.org/events.

Question: I just heard that the Asheville Muni Golf Course may close in March. If true, that is not fair to those who paid for a season’s pass. The first three months of the year there is limited play due to winter weather. Can you get details?

My answer: I recently played the back nine of the Muni twice consecutively, as only the back nine is open now. I was thinking that playing the same nine twice, I naturally would smoke the course and shoot my best score ever. Funny how that didn’t work out.

Real answer: Closure is highly unlikely.

The Muni’s front nine, the part closest to Swannanoa River Road and the river itself, was heavily damaged, but the back nine reopened in October, after the city cleared multiple downed trees.

“The front nine will clearly be some time before we are able to reopen,” said Chris Corl, the city of Asheville’s director of community and regional entertainment facilities.

The Asheville Municipal Golf Course suffered extensive damage from Helene and will require extensive repairs. While the back nine has reopened, the front line remains closed, and it’s unclear when that section will reopen. // Credit: Provided photo

Corl noted that City Council in December approved an amendment to the licensing and management agreement contract with Commonwealth Golf Partners to operate the course that adjusted the profit-and-loss share structure between the city and Commonwealth. It placed 100 percent of profits and loss with the city, paying Commonwealth a small monthly management fee to operate the course on the city’s behalf, Corl said.

“Included was a provision that beginning April 1, 2025, the agreement would revert back to the original profit-and-loss share structure, which is roughly a 50/50 split between the city and Commonwealth,” Corl said.

The amendment covering Oct. 1, 2024 through March 31, 2025 is designed to give the city time to work out a longer-term, temporary agreement with Commonwealth. Corl said the city is in conversation with Commonwealth to determine “what a contract structure can look like,  assuming that the course remains a nine-hole course for up to two years, as we work through the process to rebuild while following the necessary steps and timelines associated with potential FEMA reimbursement.”

Regarding the 2025 annual passes, the city purposely formulated them with quarterly payments to allow for the potential shakeup in the operating structure starting April 1.

“I understand that this January we’ve had an abnormally high number of days with the course closed due to weather, but that is always a possibility in the winter and affects annual passholders and non-passholders every year,” Corl said.

The bottom line, Corl said, “is that the course will not close in March.

“However, I should be clear that we have an existing approved agreement through March 31,” Corl said. “April 1 and after, we are still working through, and all options are on the table, as reverting to the original contract structure pre-storm is not feasible for us and Commonwealth.”

“We’re certainly doing everything in our power to work on a result and a financial model that continues course operations, but to be prudent stewards of our current financial situation, we need to look at all potential options,” Corl continued.

Michael Bennett, a partner in Commonwealth Golf Partners, said Corl’s assessment is correct. He also noted that the annual passes are paid only through the end of March.

Closure is doubtful, Bennett said.

“I just don’t see it,” Bennett said. “Chris has been very good to work with.”

Bennett noted that the course was in great shape before Helene, with the restoration nearly complete.

“We really just finished everything except for those two bunkers on 18 — that was the only thing we had left to do,” Bennett said. “We stopped in June because we didn’t want to disturb them ahead of the Skyview Tournament.”

Business was good before the storm, Bennett said, and he noted that the course, a Donald Ross design dating to the 1920s, still has fantastic potential.

“So to close it would be pretty tragic,” Bennett said. “I don’t think anybody really thinks that that’s going to happen. It’s just more mechanical — like, ‘OK, how do we continue to fund this while it’s just a nine-hole golf course?’ Because it’s nearly impossible to make any money operating a nine-hole golf course, because the expenses aren’t half of what you might think they are.”

Corl said before Helene the city was about  95 percent done with the renovation project. As of  September 2024, the city had spent $3,018,468 on it.

The city received funds towards the project from the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority’s Tourism Product Development Fund, the Donald Ross Society Foundation, hole sponsorships, private donations made through the Friends of Asheville Municipal, and the city.

For now, Bennett said, the idea is to keep maintaining the course, and find a way to keep it open and at least not losing money.

Bennett said the “worst-case scenario” for the front nine to remain closed is probably about two years, although he emphasized nothing has been determined on the rebuilding schedule.

He did note that Commonwealth and the city submitted a detailed damage assessment to FEMA about two weeks ago, so he’s optimistic that will help to get the process rolling.

“Because we were one of the first ones in, we all believe that we’ll be one of the early ones to get reviewed,” Bennett said.


Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941. His Answer Man columns appear each Tuesday and Friday. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.

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Pancreatic cancer diagnosed in Black patients during advanced stages

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www.youtube.com – ABC11 – 2025-02-14 19:50:54


SUMMARY: Paula Roland, a 53-year-old diagnosed with stage three pancreatic cancer, experienced sudden severe abdominal pain, fatigue, and loss of appetite. After ignoring symptoms for months, she was rushed to Duke’s emergency room in 2022, where she learned about her condition, known as a “silent killer.” Pancreatic cancer is prevalent in African-Americans, but research on health outcomes in this community is limited. Paula underwent Whipple surgery at Duke, boasting a high success rate. Though she’s currently battling liver cancer, her positive attitude and participation in clinical trials reflect her resilience. Her sister supports her through chemotherapy.

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According to Johns Hopkins Pathology, pancreatic cancer is more common in African Americans and often diagnosed in advanced stages.

Story: https://abc11.com/post/bhm-pancreatic-cancer-most-often-diagnosed-black-americans-disease-advanced-stages/15903720/
Watch: https://abc11.com/watch/live/11065013/
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6PM News on WRAL – Friday, February 14, 2025

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www.youtube.com – WRAL – 2025-02-14 18:51:00


SUMMARY: Brian Shader reports on key news stories for Valentine’s Day. The weather will be pleasant for dinner, with mostly clear skies and lows in the upper 30s to lower 40s. Saturday will be chilly, with morning showers and a high around 50°F. In response to federal budget concerns, NC State has implemented a hiring freeze, exempting student and part-time workers. Meanwhile, the head of North Carolina’s DMV, Wayne Goodwin, must reapply for his position under Governor Josh Stein, despite efforts to modernize the DMV amidst criticism. Lastly, Fort Liberty has been officially renamed Fort Bragg, honoring World War II hero Roland Bragg.

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6PM News on WRAL – Friday, February 14, 2025

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Enormous — and controversial — I-26 bridge over Patton Avenue, nixed years ago, is quietly revived in Connector plan • Asheville Watchdog

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avlwatchdog.org – JACK EVANS and JOHN BOYLE – 2025-02-14 15:42:00

As it inches toward its billion-dollar I-26 Connector project, the North Carolina Department of Transportation has trumpeted its efforts to keep costs down, including $125 million in cuts it announced this week. But until now, it has not acknowledged a key measure in the tightening of the project’s budget: the revival of a controversial plan for an eight-lane interstate overpass that would cast its shadow on Patton Avenue in West Asheville.

The return of that idea, originally debated and killed in the late 2000s, is among the most significant changes to the I-26 Connector designs that have been available to the public since late 2018. Those plans called for the highway to go under Patton, not above it.

The transportation department approved the overpass concept more than a year ago, in July 2023, it said Friday. Until asked this week by Asheville Watchdog, state and city officials had not publicly acknowledged the flyover.

Designs and a rendering showing the bridge were included in an NCDOT presentation to Asheville City Council on Tuesday. Though the overpass went unremarked upon by city and state officials, the images shocked Joe Minicozzi, a certified city planner and the principal of the Urban3 planning group in Asheville. 

Minicozzi worked with the city and the NCDOT on the project during his tenure as chairperson of the Asheville Design Center, a nonprofit that helped develop key designs for the long-gestating Connector project. He recalled the backlash when the flyover bridge was first proposed in 2008. He thought the idea was dead.

Critics of the I-26 Connector project design wanted the connector to pass under Patton Avenue on the west side of the Captain Jeff Bowen Bridge, shown in the background. // Photo by Jack Evans.

The overpass pitch, Minicozzi recalled, brought objections from numerous stakeholders. He saw the proposed structure — “an aircraft carrier of asphalt,” as he described it — as an eyesore, an impediment to development along one of the city’s crucial arteries, and a possible environmental hazard.

Minicozzi and others involved in the design process criticized the lack of transparency around the return of the plan for the bridge, which would cross near a former FedEx site at 628 Patton Ave. He said the change raises questions about whether the NCDOT has made other alterations outside the public eye and about the validity of the state’s environmental impact statement.

“I get it,” he said. “They’re throwing the highway over top of Patton Avenue because it’s easier to do. … They get to save maybe six months of construction time. Meanwhile, all the rest of us get to live with this for 100 years.”

$1.15 billion winning bid included flyover plan

Archer-Wright Joint Venture, the contractor that would ultimately win the bid for the Connector project, first proposed reviving the overpass as part of a pre-bid process in June 2023. The NCDOT signed off on the idea the following month, said Nathan Moneyham, the construction engineer for the NCDOT division that covers Buncombe and six other counties. 

Archer-Wright included the concept in the $1.15 billion bid it submitted last year. Though the bid was docked points for conflicting with the state’s plan for the highway to go under Patton, the NCDOT said, it also made the project substantially cheaper — the reason Archer-Wright won the bid last May, after two other bids came in hundreds of millions of dollars over budget.

The transportation department said it believes that its environmental impact statement — a federally required part of the process that it finished in 2020, under the old design — still applies because the bridge remains within the scope of the impact study. And without the flyover, the agency said, “the project would have not been awarded and the Department would have had to delay the project indefinitely.”

Going over Patton eliminates the need to move buried utilities, said Tim Anderson, the district engineer for the NCDOT’s division over Buncombe. It also allows the agency to lower the height of other bridges in the project. And with cost considerations, he said, the flyover plan was “the only viable option” to keep the Connector, which has been in the works since 1989, on schedule to open in 2031. It also saves taxpayer dollars, Anderson said, another key consideration.

Return to flyover bridge remained out of view

But that change stayed out of public view. The Archer-Wright proposal wasn’t a public record under state law until it won the bid last May, and even with the NCDOT touting its latest budget reduction after months of cost-cutting work, the agency hasn’t published the contractor’s plan. Instead, its website still shows the 2018 designs that have the highway cutting under Patton.

The Watchdog reached out to Archer-Wright for comment but did not hear back by deadline.

Moneyham said in an email that the NCDOT delayed publishing the proposal while it went through the cost-cutting process. The Archer-Wright pitch is a public record, he acknowledged, but he said the agency couldn’t provide it until after the deadline for this story.

Minicozzi, who has followed the Connector project closely for more than 15 years, has never seen Archer-Wright’s proposal, he said.

Nor has State Sen. Julie Mayfield, D-Buncombe, who before being elected to the General Assembly was involved in the project for years as an Asheville City Council member and co-director of the environmental nonprofit MountainTrue. Mayfield is now a senior policy advisor at MountainTrue. 

Mayfield said she learned of the flyover’s reemergence only during the cost-cutting effort that Archer-Wright and the NCDOT undertook after the bid selection. That process was done “outside the public eye,” she said, with some input from city officials but no open meetings. 

Sen. Julie Mayfield, D-Buncombe, said she learned of the flyover’s reemergence only during the cost-cutting effort that Archer-Wright and the NCDOT undertook after the bid selection. That process was done “outside the public eye,” she said. // Photo credit: North Carolina General Assembly

“We never talked about the flyover piece, the overpass, because that has been settled for over a decade,” Mayfield said, referring to earlier meetings last year with NCDOT. “So that was not on anybody’s radar screens — that there was even a possibility of changing.”

In response to The Watchdog’s questions, city spokesperson Kim Miller deferred to the NCDOT, saying the design change “was part of the confidential design negotiations” between the agency and Archer-Wright.

In an email Wednesday to planners and architects who fought against the original flyover proposal, Mayfield criticized the lack of transparency by the NCDOT. Those who fought the idea decades ago, she acknowledged, will see its revival as “a betrayal.”

She also pointed to some victories in the cost-cutting process, including the elimination of a 20-foot wall near the Hillcrest public housing development that would have put those residents “in a hole.” 

Mayfield later said she believes the NCDOT is correct that its environmental impact statement will remain valid with the flyover bridge change because “it doesn’t change the footprint or boundaries of the project.”

In her email, Mayfield said she viewed the flyover bridge change as a pragmatic concession.

“I look at it with a little more distance, and if this one (albeit big) regressive change was something that needed to happen for the overall project and its benefits to move forward, which is how it was presented, that didn’t seem like a fatal trade off,” she wrote.

City, county and design center originally pushed back at overpass idea

 A consultant working with the state on the project first floated the overpass idea in 2008, and the NCDOT embraced it, public records show. But the city, Buncombe County, and the Asheville Design Center pushed back, arguing that the flyover would hamper the development of Patton as a pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly gateway between downtown and West Asheville.

They won, or so it seemed at the time.

In 2009, an NCDOT representative said the agency could build the interstate under Patton at no extra cost — and that doing so may in fact save money. The next year, the Design Center announced that it had landed on a revised plan with local and state officials that meant the “previous over-Patton design is no longer considered an alternative.” A Design Center report in February 2010 pegged the savings of running the interstate under Patton rather than over it at $13 million. (Moneyham said in an email Friday that “the significant cost to relocate utilities and phase construction were significantly more than previously estimated.”)

The I-26 flyover would cross over Patton Avenue in this general area. // Watchdog photo by Jack Evans

Chris Joyell, who became the Design Center’s director in 2009, said it “went to the mat” in opposition to the flyover bridge in 2008. When the NCDOT agreed to take I-26 under Patton Avenue, the center “saw it as a huge victory,” he said. The Design Center became part of MountainTrue, where Joyell now works, in 2017.

Mayfield said that the NCDOT will eventually show the public its latest plans in a “sort of an open house type thing,” and she hopes the department will listen to how residents respond to changes.

But NCDOT spokesperson David Uchiyama said in an email that these will be strictly informational sessions, “not a reopening of the public involvement” that informed the 2018 designs and 2020 environmental study.

And in her email this week, Mayfield suggested that the NCDOT would not be dissuaded.

“We challenged them on this change and said the community would be very unhappy,” she wrote, “but there didn’t seem to be an option to go back.”

Joyell, like Mayfield, said he was pleased with some of the recent changes, particularly ones that limit the project’s effects on neighborhoods east of the river. While the picture west of the French Broad is hard to swallow, he said, the NCDOT attributing the lower budget to the flyover likely means it will stay in the design.

“If that’s the justification, it’s really hard to counter that, right?” Joyell said. “No one is going to say, ‘Oh no, delay the project further.’”


Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Jack Evans is an investigative reporter who previously worked at the Tampa Bay Times. You can reach him via email at jevans@avlwatchdog.org. John Boyle has been covering Asheville and surrounding communities since the 20th century. You can reach him at (828) 337-0941, or via email at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s local reporting during this crisis is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.

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