Asheville Citizen-Times from Asheville, North Carolina • Page 1

fl BOB KNIGHT QUITS, STUNS TEXAS TECH ASHEVILLE CITIZEN-TIMES Tuesday February 5, 2008 50 cents V' i. TOP PICKS mm Hiker found 2 hours from where Wife Was Slain Bryant's remains recovered State medical examiners Monday identified skeletal remains found in the Nantahala National Forest as those of missing hiker John Bryant. Convicted killer Gary Michael Hilton is a suspect in the slaying of Bryant and his wife, Irene, in the Pisgah National Forest. Hilton was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for the murder of Georgia hiker Meredith Emerson. it is WEB EXTRAS Visit for audio and video clips of the sheriffs of Transylvania and Macon counties, and what they have to say.

Chattanooga, Tenn. Bryants bank card used In Duektown, Tj) Tenn. body's discovery will allow the case to move ahead. "It allows us to move forward into a different side of the case, the prosecutorial side of it," he said. Mahoney said officers are still investigating how the body got to Macon County.

Last month, he- identified Georgia drifter Gary Michael Hilton as the suspect in the'Bryant case. Hilton, 61, pleaded guilty to the murder of hiker Meredith Emerson last week in Georgia and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of Please see HIKER on A6 By Jon Ostendorff and Josh Boatwright JB0ATWRIGANNETT.COM FRANKLIN Authorities in two counties confirmed Monday that skeletal remains found in Nantahala National Forest are those of missing hiker John Bryant but declined to say how the 8o-year-old Horse Shoe man might have been killed. Sheriff Robert Holland in Macon County, where the body was found Saturday, said investigators consider the death a homicide. He said he could not provide more details because the case is under investigation. Sheriff David Mahoney in Transylvania County, where Bryant disap Ql Bryant found ITHNj ''f In Pink Beds i I 11 BlairsvilleJ Clayton.if Ml Ga.

Ga. area R. BradleyC ITIZEN -Tl peared in October John Bryant while on a hiking trip with his wife, said the Crossing over to warm weather Budget sets up record deficit 'www J. I i' GREENE DAY: Longtime owner of Wick Greene Fine Jewelers in Asheville gets day named in his honor. Page Bl MAKING A WISH: Buncombe County parks plan envisions a $25 million aquatics center.

Page Bl LIGHTEN UP 4 LIFE: Meet the Sugar Babes of Asheville Endocrinology Consultants. Page Bl IRAQ ERROR: The deaths of nine civilians, including a child, in a U.S. airstrike south of Baghdad have raised fresh concerns about a Sunni backlash. PageA2 SNOW WOES: China's worst blizzards and ice storms in five decades caused havoc during the nation's busiest travel period, the Chinese New Year. PageA2 YAHOO WILL IT BE? Microsoft $41 billion takeover bid appears to have left Yahoo Inc.

with unpleasant choices. Page D6 VIEW FROM THE TOP: Louis E. Buck, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Western Carolina University, wants to boost entrepreneurship in WNC. Page 06 STAR WATCH: Britney Spears doesn't want her father in charge of her welfare. Page C4 Today's forecast I if "k- 4ml it I rr i-- TPJ Bulk of budget to domestic programs President Bush proposed spend -ing $3.1 trillion in 2009 with the bulk going to Health and Human Services and Social Security.

Top recipients of budget, fiscal year, by agency, in billions Health and Human Serv. Social Security i it 1 n5 1 r. 694.7 By Andrew Taylor THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON The record $3.1 trillion budget proposed by President Bush on Monday would produce eyepopping federal deficits, despite his attempts to impose politically wrenching curbs on Medicare and eliminate scores of popular domestic programs. The Pentagon would receive a $36 billion, 8 percent boost for the 2009 budget year beginning Oct. 1, even as programs aimed at the poor would be cut back or eliminated.

Half of domestic Cabinet departments would see their budgets cut outright. Slumping revenues and the cost of an economic rescue package will combine to produce a huge jump in the deficit to $410 billion this year and $407 billion in Defense 588.3 a. I ftAM wPSfi. i Treasury 550 1 -v Jd3 J''- 1 jr 1 -r 'i 3 Agnculture 97 Only includes $70 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. SOURCE: Office of Management AP and Budget 2009, the White House says, just shy of the record $413 billion set four years ago.

Please see BUDGET on A3 15 y-'- if I --5 rTTXrtYi if 1 1 ni BF I I -V Hrt- If 1 ilv I A. 1 I A -AS Delegate bonanza up for grabs today iiV 4 WEB EXTRA Visit tonigmror Eiection. II primary result updates. BILL Umbrella-carrying pedestrians cross College Street at Broadway In downtown Asheville Monday as more than a half Inch of rain fell In some parts of town. Today will be drier with only a 20 percent chance of rain.

The National Weather Service predicts a high surpassing the record of 67 set In 1986. Wednesday will be mild as well, with a high around 62, or 14 degrees above the normal for February. Cloudy and warn High 72, Low 50 WEATHER, D8 Unopened Lone Star called unsafe Since then, Mednansky has By Stephen Ohlemacher THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON Both political parties have relatively close delegate races heading into Super Tuesday, when voters in nearly half the states and American Samoa will vote in primaries and caucuses. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, of New York, has the overall lead in delegates to the Democratic convention, with 261, according to an Associated Press analysis of delegate totals.

Sen. Barack Obama, of Illinois, has 196. Obama has won more delegates in the primaries and caucuses held to date. But Clinton leads in endorsements from superdelegates party and elected officials who automatically attend the convention and can support whomever they choose, regardless of the outcome of the primaries. A total of 1,681 Democratic delegates in 22 states and American Samoa will be up for grabs today.

However, it will be difficult for either candidate to take a decisive lead because the Democrats award delegates propor- Index BUSINESS DM CLASSIFIED C6-10 CROSSWORD, PUZZLES C7-8 LIVING Cl-5 LOTTERIES B6 MOUNTAINS BW MOVIES C2 NATIONWORLD A2-3 OBITUARIES B4-5 OPINION M-5 SPORTS OW HOUR NEWS B3 "Tl il "v'1 INSIDE What voters want Page A2 tionally in every state. A total of 2,025 delegates are needed to secure the Democratic nomination. Sen John McCain has an even narrower lead over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the race for delegates to the Republican convention. McCain has 102 delegates, including endorsements from party leaders who automatically attend the convention.

Romney has 93 delegates and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has 43, according to the AP analysis. A total of 1,023 Republican delegates will be at stake in 21 states today. The Republicans have a better chance of crowning a front-runner because nine Super Tuesday states award all their delegates to the candidate who wins the primary or caucus. A total of 1491 delegates are needed to secure the Republican nomination.

By John Boyle ARDEN After sitting mysteriously vacant for almost a year, the Lone Star Steakhouse now has been deemed an "unsafe building." "The reason the sticker is on it currently is because during one of the last real cold snaps we had, they had turned the heat off, and the sprinkler system was still charged," said Robert Griffin, Asheville's director of building safety. "A sprinkler riser burst, and we had about 3 to 4 feet of water in there, and that did major structural damage." Located on Rockwood Road not far from the Southridge Shopping Center, the $2.6 million Lone Star building was finished last March, and company spokesman Mark Mednansky said at the time it would open not returned multiple phone calls, and no one else from Lone Star's Wichita, headquarters will respond to inquiries. Griffin said the fire department did alert the owners to the damage. Rumors have swirled around the vacant eatery's failure to launch, ranging from a lack of employees to problems with construction. Last spring, Lone Star had put a sign on the door saying "unforeseen circumstances" had prevented the opening.

Asheville and Buncombe County officials have said previously the building did not have construction problems and was permitted to open, and several other nearby restaurants have opened recently and are well-staffed. Please see UNSAFE on A6 5 JOHN The unopened Lone Star Steakhouse In Arden sustained serious water damage recently after pipes burst during cold weather. It has now been declared "unsafe." last April and employ 120 people. The 220-seat restaurant, he said, was a new prototype for Lone Star, with 20 tons of stonework, a huge fireplace outside, a marble bar and 6,000 feet of oak and mahogany trim. A GANNETT NEWSPAPER VOL 139 NO.

36 30 pages 2008 QUESTIONS ABOUT CIRCULATION? Call (800) 672-2472 1 rw-y, Airport Road East of 1-26 (828) 681-8811 MumA-: Surest,.