ASHEVILLE

CITIZEN-TIMESVOICE OF THE MOUNTAINS • CITIZEN-TIMES.com

Friday75 cents February 11, 2011

FLAT ROCK EX-PANDS: Theplayhouse’s suc-cess with shows inthe courthousehas led to apermanent homein Hendersonville.Page B4

UNC V. DUKE:UNC was on thelosing end ofWednesday’srivalry game, butthere is reason forhope in Tar Heelcountry. KeithJarrett, Page C1

MORE SNOWWOE: Most areasonly saw about aninch of snow, butthat was enoughto cancel classesat schools acrossthe region.Page B1

A GANNETT NEWSPAPER | VOL. 142 |NO. 42 | 42 pages | © 2011

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Partly sunnyHigh 42, Low 23

Weather, C10

ForecastCLASSIFIEDS C6-9

COMICS B6-7

LIVING B4-8

LOTTERIES B1

MOUNTAINS B1-3

NATION/WORLD A2

OBITUARIES B2-3

OPINION A10-11

PUZZLES C7

SPORTS C1-5, 10

STOCKS A8

Index

ASHEVILLE — BuncombeCounty commissioners saidThursday they will consider lo-wering their compensation fortravel and other expenses, amove made after taking publiccriticism.Commissioners have asked

CountyManagerWanda Greenefor figures comparing their payand allowances for travel and

technology with that paid tocommissioners in other coun-ties.The requests and criticism

follow a Citizen-Times reportSunday finding that Buncombecommissioners are the state’sbest paid when taking into ac-count salary and compensation.Commissioners get $650 ev-

ery two weeks for travel regard-lessof actualcosts.They also aregiven a “technology allowance”

of $175 every other week despitealready having county-issuediPads and mobile phones.“I’ve heard loud and clear and

am in total agreement that this isnot in line with where othercounties are in North Carolinaand it doesn’t seem to be appro-priate and I agree,” Commis-sioner Holly Jones said.Greene said she expects to re-

port to commissioners at theirnextmeeting, which is Tuesday.Commissioners’ chairman

DavidGantt also said compensa-tion should be cut, andCommis-

sioner Bill Stanley said he isopen to the idea.“I don’t think we can ask

(county) departments to cut 3, 5and 10 percent ifwe’re not doingour part,” Gantt said.As chairman, Gantt makes a

salary of $26,019.The vice chair-man is paid $21,762 and the re-maining three commissioners$17,505 each.Those salaries are among the

highest in the state, according tofigures from theUNC School ofGovernment. But the travel andtechnology compensation really

sets them apart.Those payments bring com-

missioners’ average compensa-tion to $41,509 a year.That’s 37 percent more than

the total for commissioners inMecklenburg County, the state’slargest. Buncombe isNorthCar-olina’s seventh-largest countyby population.Jones said she had asked

Greene “to bring us an analysissowe can address this and get itin line.”

Commissioners may cut own payBuncombe leaders respond to criticismBy Mark BarrettMBARRETT@CITIZEN-TIMES.COM

Please see CUT on A6

LOS ANGELES — It’s far fromdefinitive proof, but new re-search raises concern about dietsoda, finding higher risks forstrokeand heartattackamongpeoplewho drink it every day versusthose who drink no soda at all.Thebeverage findings should

be “a wakeup call to pay atten-tion to diet sodas,” said Dr. Ste-ven Greenberg, a HarvardMed-ical School neurologist and vicechairman of the InternationalStrokeConference inCalifornia,where the researchwas present-ed.Doctors have no chemical or

biological explanation for whydiet soda may be risky, thoughthere has been concern over ar-tificial sweeteners, such as as-partame. “I’mdefinitely not sur-prised that the study is findingthese links,” saidElizabeth Pavka, aholistic nutrition-ist in Ashevillewho has practicedas a registered di-etitian for morethan 20 years.“Aspartame is

made of two ami-no acids, both ofwhich disrupt brain function,”Pavka said. “So, itmakes perfectsense that if you have those neu-rotoxins in play, that could con-tribute to stroke especially.”It could also be that people

who drink lots of diet sodas failto exercise, weigh more, drinkmore alcohol or have other riskfactors like high blood pressureand smoking.However, the researchers

Dietsodastied tostrokeReasons for riskare not clearFROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Please see SODA on A9

ElizabethPavka

‘Leave, leave, leave’

EMILIO MORENATTI/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Anti-government protesters react as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak makes a televised statement to his nation in Tahrir Square in downtownCairo on Thursday. Mubarak refused to step down or leave the country and instead handed his powers to his vice president, remaining president andensuring regime control over the reform process. Stunned protesters in central Cairo who demand his ouster waved their shoes in contempt andshouted, “Leave, leave, leave.” Reports on Page A3.

ASHEVILLE—Aman imprison-ed in a shooting death when hewas 13 has avoided an attemptedmurder charge in another re-cent shooting.Danquon Brown, 20, ofMills

Gap Road, pleaded guilty to as-

sault with a dead-ly weapon inflict-ing serious injury.He was sen-

tenced to 2-2 1/2years in prisonwith credit givenformore than 300days alreadyserved in theBun-combe County Detention Facil-ity.Police had charged Brown

with first-degree attempted

murder after he accidentallywounded a bystander in anApril 6 shootout at ErskineStreet Apartments, a publichousing complex south ofdowntown.Itwas the second timeBrown

was taken into custody for gun-related violence. Police say heshot 18-year-old Odell Dixon Jr.in the head at Lee WalkerHeights public housing com-plex in 2003.Brown spent five years in the

state juvenile justice system be-fore returning to Asheville. Ju-venile offenders’ records thatwould disclose details of hiscase are closed to the public.In the latest shooting, prose-

cutors agreed to the plea dealTuesday because it wasn’t clearwhetherBrown shot first orwasacting in self-defense, his attor-ney, David Budd, said.“There were conflicting

Brown avoids attempted murder chargeMan involved withslaying as a teenBy Joel BurgessJBURGESS@CITIZEN-TIMES.COM

DanquonBrown

Please see BROWN on A6

Product: ASH_Broad PubDate: 02-11-2011 Zone: Main Edition: First Page: frontpage User: CSwaney Time: 02-10-2011 21:21 Color: CMYK