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

Bmmmb bog mnglM ASHEVILLE High 53, Low 33 WEATHER, C8 Saturday November 10, 2007 VOICE OF THE MOUNTAINS IN TODAY'S PAPER Cand Wjr to SHOPPING FOR WINE: Choosing a wine can be a daunting task. With some help from local wine dealers you can hit a home run with your selection. Page Dl Hensley cleared of murder charges, demoted for insubordination LfW; By Ned Parker planted weapons materi- was convicted on two would stay in Iraq or William, mis- f'r'" LOS ANGELES TIMES als. counts of insubordination return home. AIRPORT DISPUTE: The Asheville Regional Airport Authority on Friday approved a lease deal for a second "fixed-base operator" at the airport, sionaries to Macedonia, had returned to Asheville following the allegations Michael A.

Hensley for walking away from and cursing an officer. Hensley told his mother, Jannette Hensley, by phone Friday that he had been sentenced to time served and demoted to sergeant rank, she said. Hensley told her he would remain on active duty but didn't know whether he BAGHDAD A Candler soldier has been cleared of murder charges in the shooting deaths of three Iraqi men earlier this year. The case drew attention to allegations of a classified military program that allowed American sharpshooters to shoot people who had gone to pick up The court-martial panel cleared Staff Sgt. Michael A.

Hensley of three counts of murder and also of charges that he made false statements to investigators. However, he was found guilty of placing an AK-47 assault rifle on a man killed May by a fellow soldier. Hensley also Hensley grew up in Candler and graduated from Enka High School in 1998. "We just got our Thanksgiving and Christmas presents all at once. We have a lot to be thankful for this year," Jannette Hensley said.

Hensley's mother and father, a move that has left the current FBO feeling shortchanged and promising legal action. PageA2 LOOKING FOR APPROVAL: Mission Hospitals wants state permission to build a $53 million outpatient cancer center next to its main campus. Page A2 involving their soa Hensley's older brother, David, had been with him during the trial, Jannette Hensley said. Please see SOLDIER on A5 Ail ":r.y Jj EXCAVATOR UNVEILED: With a fog machine and flashing lights, Volvo Construction Equipment celebrated a new production line for excavators Friday at its plant in Skyland. The facility is expected to add 250 to 300 jobs.

Page Bl mh off 653 fpKgMffi i 1 1 wcu ASU 19-year comparison Jgr' 1 Number of wins from 1989-2006. ASU' is 7-2 this season, tfe' 'f WCUisl-8. J' I Western Carolina hmOm Appalachian State I National champions 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 vjj OUTSIDE: Asheville-based Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project merged with the Alabama group Wild South this week. Meet the group's conservation director, Ben Prater. Page A2 and Page Bl Ben Prater NOT SO HOT HELICOPTERS: The Army is spending $2.6 billion on hundreds of European-designed helicopters for homeland security and disaster relief that turn out to have a crucial flaw: They aren't safe to fly on hot days.

Page B8 Search for couple leads to body By Adam Behsudi BREVARD Searchers Friday found a body in Pisgah National Forest, but investigators have not said whether it is one of two elderly hikers missing for nearly three weeks. The body found on federal land near Yellow Gap Road was not identified. It was sent to the state medical examiner's office in Chapel Hill, Transylvania County Sheriff David Mahoney said. An SUV belonging to John Bryant, 79, and his wife Irene, 84, also was found parked to the side of Yellow Gap Road earlier this week near the Cradle of Forestry in Transylvania county. Dozens of searchers have been combing through woods in that area this week.

Investigators determined that one of the Bryants attempted to call 911 from a cell phone about 4 p.m. Oct. 21, but the signal was lost. Mahoney said a cause of death had not been determined, and investigators were unable to physically confirm the person's identity at the scene. "Any time you have a death investigation, you always work that investigation as a homicide until the evidence points you otherwise," Mahoney said.

Transylvania County investigators are being assisted by the State Bureau of Investigation, FBI, U.S. Forest Service and Henderson County Sheriff's Office. The couple's son, Bob Bryant, found his parents' SUV on Yellow Gap Road Tuesday afternoon. Family became worried when they could not get in contact with the Horse Shoe couple by e-mail or telephone over two weeks. PHOTO: STEVE R.

BRADLEYCITIZEN-TIMES LOOSENING GRIP: Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's backers in Washington quietly agree with his political opponents at home that he cannot hold power for long. Page B6 As Catamounts struggle to find foothold, Mountaineers bask in football success Fall color in the mountains Share your photos of the changing leaves, post tips about where you found them and find out about scenic drives in Western North Carolina at CITIZEN- TIMES.comfallcolors. WEB EXTRA Visit to hear Western Carolina's Kent Briggs, Furman's Bobby Lamb, Appalachian State's Jerry Moore and Lonnie Galloway, and WCU official historian Steve White discuss the football programs at ASU and WCU. The Mountaineers hired an unknown coach from Texas named Jerry Moore.

The Catamounts dismissed legendary coach Bob Waters, who died two months later from Lou Gehrig's disease at age 50. Moore has won 161 games at ASU, became the Southern Conference's all-time leader in wins and led the Mountaineers to the playoffs 12 times. In that same time-span, WCU has gone through four coaches, all of whom have losing records with winning percentages less than 42 percent. The Catamounts are 79-125-1 since 1989, with no postseason appearances and just six winning records. Please see SUCCESS on A5 By Keith Jarrett ASHEVILLE With apologies to Dickens, it is the best of times for Appalachian State football and it is the worst of times for Western Carolina football.

In Boone, the football program is the two-time defending national champion in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) and opened the 2007 season with a high-profile victory at No. 5 Michigan, an upset that put ASU on the cover of Sports Illustrated. In Cullowhee, the football program has lost 17 of its last 18 games and is now saddled with a coach with a 22-41 record and two more years on his contract. The mountain rivals meet NCWSPOII at TODAY'S POLL: How much are you willing to spend on a bottle of wine? Go to and vote. We asked our readers who they thought would win the Old Mountain Jug.

As of 8 p.m. Friday, they said: today in Boone with the vast differences in their programs as disparate as their recent meetings ASU has defeated WCU in 20 of the last 22 match-ups. The spectacular rise of ASU and dramatic fall of WCU can be traced back to 1989, when each program made a coaching decision that has defined its football fortunes ever since. Catamounts run away with it 7 Catamounts by a cat hair 12.8 Mountaineers squeak by 10.7 Mountaineers in a road kill romp 69 4 Total votes 242 Investigators suspect arson in Ashley store fire Index D2 Bl-3 MOVIES fire officials to be one of Asheville's biggest, caused an estimated $4 million loss, fire officials said. Nineteen fire trucks and more than 100 firefighters spent hours defending surrounding businesses from the blaze, which attracted hundreds of onlookers.

"We actually talked to people while the store was still burning," Thompson said. "I'd like to see if there are some other folks who have information that might help us. One big thing we noticed is that tons of folks (onlookers) were using cell phone cameras, so if anyone has photographs before the fire trucks got there, that would be great." happened after the 1071 Patton Ave. store closed. The fire originated toward the front of the store, Thompson said.

He declined to say if investigators suspect someone broke into the store to set the fire. About 30 people have been interviewed so far, Thompson said. The fire, considered by By Mike McWilliams ASHEVILLE Fire investigators Friday said evidence points to arson in a blaze that destroyed Ashley Furniture HomeStore on Patton Avenue. Traces of a "petroleum-based product" detected on samples taken at the scene and witness inter CLASSIFIED CU-16 NATIONMB CROSSWORD 02 OBITUARIES LIVING Dl-8 OPINION B7 LOTTERIES 3 SPORTS Cl-t views helped lead fire officials to suspect arson. Asheville-Buncombe Arson Task Force director Buddy Thompson said there are persons of interest in the case.

"At this point, all I'll say is we have a description of a male leaving the store," Thompson said. The Monday night fire 12 YOURNEWS BJ MOUNTAINS 2007 A GANNETT NEWSPAPER VOL 138 NQ314 48pas CIRCULATION QUESTIONS? CALL (800h 672-2472 GOT A NEWS TIP? CALL (828) 232-5883 A imt i. ii mi- I WW mi mm TV 233 Airport Road (828) 681-8811 U'W-M'')'.