Rogue billboards cause a stir [in Asheville, NC]

Baltimore Sun (free registration required) ^ | 4/8/04 | Scott Calvert

[foreverfree]

[snip]

The billboard worker owed money he didn't have, so he found a way to erase his debt: He let his creditor cover six billboards with a biblical passage condemning homosexuality.

That deal backfired spectacularly, at least for the employee. Billboards are meant to be seen, after all. When sign company executives saw them a few weeks ago, they promptly fired the worker and papered over the unauthorized messages.

[snip]

[foreverfree]

Click on the link for the rest of the article. BTW what is the truth as to how Asheville got so unSouthern? And are there other Dixie cities like that?

foreverfree

[rsobin]

I live 12 miles from Asheville. I go to Greenville S.C.{50 miles) to avoid the freak show.The shame is that there is a sizable sector of the population that is very traditional, perhaps a majority. Asheville is the queen city of the south.

[wingman1]

I believe, if you look back in history, Asheville has always been different from other towns in NC and in the south. During the War between The States, the mountain region around Asheville had many Union sympathizers.

[wingman1]

Have you ever been to Skyland and Ianuccis?

[Savage Beast]

"People tell her there are 40,000 lesbians and she's starting to believe it."

Well I don't believe it.

There's a hell of a lot more than 40,000!

[RedWing9]

BTW what is the truth as to how Asheville got so unSouthern?

Isn't Asheville growing by leaps and bounds due to retiree's moving there?

[hedgetrimmer]

Asheville got unSouthern because a bunch of Californians have moved there in the last 10 years.

[Savage Beast]

"Asheville is the queen city of the south."

Asheville might be the First Runnerup, but I think Savannah gets the tiara.

[JohnnyZ]

Asheville is the queen city of the south.

Charlotte is the actual, honest-to-goodness "Queen City" -- we just call it the QC and avoid the extra connotations altogether.

[Riley]

I just moved out here from the Left Coast. Asheville is one of the places that I'd like to see, but haven't made it to yet. It comes highly recommended by the fact that someone (San Francisco talk radio personality for many decades) who I like and respect very much, liked the place enough to move there.

I know it's a sort of homosexual mecca. Homosexuality to me, is repugnant. The 'recruiting' of young folks is disgusting and repulsive and very destructive. The homosexual movement's marriage to moonbat politics, makes me ill.

But I as a Christian am admonished to 'love the sinner, hate the sin'. And I see people as individuals, rather than with broad-brush group characterizations. Contrary to stereotype, ALL of my Conservative friends do, as well.
So I don't hate them. They may infuriate me. They often do. But I don't hate them. I had a lesbian couple that I am acquainted with in California invite me over once or twice. They cooked a magnificent supper for me, and I did some (gratis) computer work for them. Apart from their sins and their goofy politics, they're terrific people.

Well, I have my sins, too. It is God's province to pass judgement. I will stand up for what is right, but it is equally true that I am not God's prosecuting attorney on earth. The aforementioned couple know who and what I am. In our conversations, we were all careful not to cross any lines. I see now that I missed an opportunity to witness to them using honey rather than vinegar.

I regret that. If I live long enough, and the winds carry me back to my native soil, maybe I'll be able to rectify that.

Liberalism is a mental illness. It is the product of misinterpreting the logical process. It is my sincere prayer that I am granted the gift of curing the mentally ill. To convert them to Christianity? To make consevatives of them? To mold them to my purposes? No. Let them make their own choice of free will. But let them see clearly and understand the consequences. Let them have the maturity and the freedom from the influence of others to make their own informed decision.

[Yardstick]

My Grandfather and I passed through Asheville on a road trip recently (we had been to Greenville where he grew up, then decided to eat lunch at that famous giant ritzy resort hotel on the hillside in Asheville). We circled the downtown area two or three times watching the freaks. It was quite a show. Many openly gay couples, lots of artsy bohemian types. Asheville is jarringly out-of-sync with the rest of the region. It truly seems transplanted -- like it was scooped up from California and airlifted into the Appalachians. It's like a left-wing Shangri-La.

[Moose4]

Asheville's always attracted the bohemian, artsy, freak types. It's an absolutely beautiful place, one of the prettiest settings you'll ever find, but unfortunately, much like another beautiful city (San Cramcrisco) it's packed with granola--fruits, nuts, and flakes. I don't know of any other Southern town (except maybe Chapel Hill) that even comes close...and Asheville does it without having a major university in town.

The funny thing is, it's in a very conservative area in general--that's very close to where our own Congressman Billybob is thinking about becoming a Congresscritter for real. Asheville's just this one little pocket of liberal whackjobbery in the midst of lots of good, God-fearing, hard-working North Carolinians.

Hendersonville, about 15-20 miles south along I-26, is booming as a retiree mecca, as are some of the other towns in the area and Asheville itself. And with the natural beauty of the area, it's not hard to see why.

}:-)4

[The_Media_never_lie]

Asheville is a haven for the loonies. For example:

Teacher invites student to get naked in class"

First Annual Naked Bike Ride in Asheville

Unfortunately, although the area has great natural beauty, downtown Asheville has a thriving hippie/druggie community and is a really seamy place. Hope it can be cleaned up but, it's going down.