Asheville Citizen-Times from Asheville, North Carolina • Page A3

WWW.CITIZEN-TIMES.COM 3,2015 PAGE 3A 1. A-B Tech to eliminate jobs, cut budget WHAT READING ONLINE 2. 3 charged in Asheville prostitution bust 3 Dough in Asheville now permanently closed 4. Answer Man: How long can roadside memorials stay? 5. 22 free summer things to do in Asheville My rate went up 35 ercent in 2015.

I now where they get this 13 ercent increase for 2015. Guess her rate will go up 50 percent or so for 2 016 since they project 26 ayne Easton Hunter 2 rates were affordable, rates are not affordable, but we are making it happen. I it goes up that much though for 2016, we will have to drop Jessica Marsh NC should be required to post the salaries, benefits and bonuses of all staff mak- i ng more than $100K from all sources. This is a case of hiding greed under the complaint that afford to pay laims. Henry Albert Smith Blue Cross and Blue Shield wants to raise rates by an average of almost 26 percent on broadly subs idized policies sold to individuals, nearly double this increase.

READERS RESPOND: HEALTH RATES TO RISE POLL: Do you support tenure protections for teachers? Vote online at EXTEND PATRIOT ACT SURVEILLANCE? POLL Voters (43) said: not every day a forest grows in the middle of a city. To celebrate that rare occurrence, and to intro- uce the community to this forest and ur- an oasis, the Oshun Mountain Sanctu- a ry, also known as the OM Sanctuary, will host an open house and conservation celebration 11a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. The event includes a guided hike hrough a recently protected urban forest above the French Broad River. The ublic is invited for free lectures, class demonstrations, and a auction centered on the theme Health and Connection with Founded in 2012, OM Sanctuary is a nonprofit holistic education and natures ensitive retreat center that offers overnight stays, classes, lectures, trainings a nd other programs.

is integral to our well-being separate people from their said Shelli Stanback, OM anctuary founder and president. The conservation easement recently as placed with the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, an Asheville-based land trust, on 42 acres of for- ested area of the 54-acre property. The asement restricts certain kinds of uilding and ensures the property will forever be protected as conservation land. The property is near Buncombe Richmond Hill Park and the tate-designated Richmond Hill Forest atural Area, overlooking the French Broad River, Interstate 26, and Riverside Drive. Conservation of the tract also helps protect tributary streams of the rench Broad River Watershed from sources of sedimentation and other ypes of pollution.

The easement protects a bluff containing cove forest, oak forest, and low montane pine forest with mixed hardwoods, and also contains pools in the river floodplain that provide likely habitat or wildlife like salamanders, amphibians and reptiles. he appraised value of the property was $713,000, Stanback said. She and her husband, Brad Stanback, were paid $400,000, which included a $27,500 grant rom Buncombe County and $5,000 from the Community Foundation of Western orth Carolina. The Stanbacks donated the rest of the easement. The property is considered valuable because it is a rare, large tract of forest i the middle of the city, said Carl Silv erstein, the Southern Appalachian Highlands executive director.

earnestly thank the OM Sanctu- a ry for permanently protecting its rare rban forest now for future genera- ions to Silverstein said. The Richmond grand Victorian mansion was built in 1889 by congressman Richmond Pearson and his ife, Gabrielle. Over the next century, the building fell into disrepair. The reservation Society saved the house from demolition in 1984, and after a $3 million restoration, the society sold the property to Dr. Jake Michel and his wife, Marge Michel.

They opened the upscale Richmond Hill Inn in 1989 and ventually sold to other owners. The Inn was destroyed by arsonin 2 009 and was eventually returned to ownership by the Michels. Stanback bought the land in 2011. The nonprofit OM Sanctuary operates out of other uildings on the property and will eventually build a Enhancement on the site of the burned inn. For more information, visit http://www.omsanctuary.org.

SPECIAL TO THE CITIZEN-TIMES Visitors to OM (Oshun Mountain) Sanctuary in the Richmond Hill section of Asheville walk down a nature path. The sanctuary will celebrate the permanent conservation of 42 acres of forest on the property with an open house on Saturday. OM Sanctuary invites public to open house BY KAREN LOTTERIES Sat. Powerball 8-9-25-56-57 PB 22 NORTH CAROLINA Tue.Day Pick 3 3-4-5 on.Eve.Pick 3 1-7-4 Tue.Day Pick 4 4-8-5-8 Tue.Eve.Pick 4 1-8-2-3 Mon.Cash 5 6 -10-27-28-35 OUTH CAROLINA SCEDUCATIONLOTTERY.COM Tue.Day Pick 3 2-4-2 Tue.Eve.Pick 3 9-6-2 Tue.Day Pick 4 7-6-3-6 ue.Eve.Pick 4 4-3-0-1 ue.Palmetto Cash 5 12-17-18-25-33 TENNESSEE WWW.TNLOTTERY.COM Tue.Day Cash 3 1-3-1 ue.Eve.Cash 3 2-5-6 ue.Day Cash 4 7-0-7-4 Tue.Eve.Cash 4 2-7-2-5 Mon.Pick 5 10-19-25-27-29 FLORIDA FLALOTTERY.COM Lotto 6-7-14-29-30-37 MEGA MILLIONS MEGAMILLIONS.COM Fri. 20-27-38-49-66 (2) Numbers for lotto games and Powerball are listed in numerical order.

Details at Delays in cleaning up the CTS of A sheville Superfund site are the fault of community and the federal agency that has accommodated them, a ccording to a newly launched website CTS, which describes the commitment to the polluted area as eth- i cal and efficient. he website is the first time CTS has spoken publicly about its defunct Ashe- ille property of its own volition, and local activists are critical of the text, saying it is filled with half-truths or mis- ruths. Adescription at www.millsgapreal- facts.com says the website provides accurate, unbiased information, and seeks dispel rumors and innuendo. A underground plume of the chemical degreaser trichloroethylene, also nown as TCE, has spread underground, ontaminating 119 acres from the old plant site, at 235 Mills Gap Road, accord- i ng to the Environmental Protection A gency. Cleanup of the site has been slow in art because of safeguards, according to the website, but also because of local residents who have delayed the process.

There have been significant delays prompted by various community factions who unfortunately have delayed progress through time-consuming acc ess delays and endless critiquing of tandard, scientifically valid and effective work plans prepared by he site reads. has sought to acc ommodate all of these interests, which has led to If CTS was sincere, why would they reate a site with the wrong name? The name of the Superfund site is CTS of A sheville said Tate McQueen, a resident of the Mills Gap area and longtime proponent of cleanup. CTS launches website in response to criticism BY TONYA MAXWELL.