By now, this story of locals living in flimsy tents post-Helene has taken on a life of its own.
Especially once the frigid temperatures hit last week, the idea of people living in tents in Swannanoa and Fairview, among the hardest hit areas in Buncombe County, really fueled some outrage, both online and among some national media outlets and professional provocateurs.
Buncombe County and FEMA say the stories are inaccurate and overblown, that they have checked on everyone in need and no one is living in a tent who hasn’t chosen to do so.
So where does the truth lie? Are we edging into urban myth territory, or are our neighbors toughing out the coldest temperatures of the year in lightweight tents?
In my opinion, a few people undoubtedly do remain in tents, but they are very few and apparently it’s by choice. And I do feel some in the media or on social media are trying to score political points by bashing FEMA, the federal government, and local leaders.
Last Wednesday I went out to Old U.S. 70 with photographer Starr Sariego, and it didn’t take long to find tents set up on adjoining pieces of property owned by Dara Cody and Joe Bryant. They remain neighbors after the storm, although they’re living in a hotel and a camper right now, respectively, instead of in their homes on the Swannanoa River.
Those homes are gone, swept away by floodwaters.
We found a compound of campers and recreational vehicles, as well as two tents people are living in, and another tent that’s used as a supply tent. Twenty to 30 people are staying on the property at any given time, the property owners and organizers said.
Cody said people definitely were living in tents after Helene, but that’s not the case now.
“We all have either a camper or tiny home, except (one) couple, Lewis and Samantha,” Cody said.
Dara Cody said people definitely were living in tents after Helene, but that’s not the case now. // Watchdog photo by Starr Sariego
Lewis Arthur and his wife, Samantha Ricks, have taken on a leadership role in organizing the compound, bringing in supplies, and ensuring folks are taken care of. They live in a heated, more heavyweight tent.
“We live by choice — our ministry, and my wife and I — we do that by choice,” Arthur told me. “We’re just nomads, OK? We’re OK living in tents.”
Some are not, and Arthur said people who aren’t used to tent living were indeed forgotten in the immediate weeks after the storm.
Arthur and his wife have been volunteering in Chimney Rock and Burnsville, and they’ve spoken with FEMA contractors and representatives in both places. He feels like other places have gotten federal assistance more quickly, while Swannanoa has been overlooked.
While Arthur maintains that “every single thing” that’s come into the Swannanoa camp has come from Christian organizations, he also understands what FEMA’s main role is.
Lewis Arthur and his wife, Samantha Ricks, have taken on a leadership role in organizing the compound, bringing in supplies, and ensuring folks are taken care of. They live in a heated, more heavyweight tent. // Watchdog photo by Starr Sariego
“They just put the money (out),” Arthur said. “That’s all they are. That’s what I explain to people — FEMA is not gonna come down here with tractors and help clean you up.”
His concern is, “That money isn’t showing — that money is being delayed.”
He says many people have brought in a steady stream of supplies, ranging from fuel and generators to food and gravel.
“That is what FEMA should be doing,” Arthur said, touching on one theme that’s gained traction online — “That you can write checks all you want for all these other countries and wars and other borders, but these people are going to be freezing this winter if we don’t get them in more suitable conditions.”
FEMA and Buncombe County dispute the notion that they’re not doing anything, which I’ll get to in a minute.
Cody said FEMA has been onsite with an inspector.
“And then they sent someone to come out after that, to make sure everyone had spoken to someone from FEMA,” Cody said, noting that she’s been staying in a hotel paid for by FEMA but will move into an RV onsite. “But if you mean come out helping us with anything, no.”
Cody said she’s been in a hotel room for three weeks but has been told she’ll have to be out by Dec. 11. But FEMA announced last week it is extending these hotel stays through the holidays.
I asked Bryant, who also lost his home, vehicle, and possessions in the Sept. 27 flooding, if he’d seen anyone from FEMA.
“What do they look like?” Bryant cracked.
He explained that he has talked to FEMA on multiple occasions at the FEMA Center in Buncombe County, and they did offer him a hotel room. Cody added, “They’ve given that option to almost everybody.”
But Bryant’s offer came with a catch, he says.
“What I was offered was toward Pigeon Forge, and I work every day,” Bryant said. “I’d like to vacation there, but I ain’t got time for that either.”
He says he has not received any money yet from FEMA.
Cody also pointed out that they still don’t have any water or electricity on her property or Bryant’s, other than generators and bottled water.
My takeaway on FEMA is this: Representatives have been to Swannanoa and reached out to people, but those people are frustrated by the bureaucracy and paperwork, and sometimes the lack of a timely response.
A tent for storage stands in front of Dara Cody’s RV. // Watchdog photo by Starr Sariego
What FEMA and Buncombe County say
FEMA’s North Carolina Newsdesk answered multiple questions I sent. FEMA said it’s been working closely with Buncombe County and the state to get disaster recovery information to Helene survivors.
“That includes individuals who are sheltering in tents,” FEMA said. “Last week the county and state led targeted outreach to Barnardsville and Swannanoa areas to make sure those still sheltering in tents were aware of and connected with the various forms of assistance — either through FEMA or other organizations.”
FEMA disaster assistance specialists were available to register anyone who had not already applied for assistance.
“Some said they did not want to register or said they had received assistance and wanted to remain where they were,” FEMA said.
As of Dec. 4, FEMA said 1,520 families from Buncombe County are in the FEMA program that pays for hotel rooms. I had asked specifically about a guy in Swannanoa who was flooded out and staying in a FEMA-paid hotel room and who was told he’d have to be out this week.
Good news on that front.
“At the request of the state of North Carolina, FEMA will be extending the Transitional Sheltering Assistance program past the holiday season,” the FEMA news desk stated. “This extension will continue providing free hotel and motel rooms to more than 5,200 Helene families already checked into area hotels.”
As of Dec. 4, FEMA offered these stats on post-Helene assistance it’s disbursed in North Carolina:
$263 million approved to 138,000-plus households and individuals beginning their recovery
$274 million in Public Assistance funding approved to support community recovery
Travel trailers or manufactured housing units provided by FEMA Direct to 45 households
FEMA continues to operate a Disaster Recovery Center at Asheville Mall. The agency says the quickest way to apply for assistance is at DisasterAssistance.gov or through the FEMA app. You can also call the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362. The deadline to apply is Jan. 7.
Ryan Cole, deputy director for emergency management services, addressed concerns about tents at the Buncombe County Helen briefing Thursday.
A supply tent along with a kitchen tent serve the people of the temporary compound in Swannanoa. // Watchdog photo by Starr Sariego
“Directly after the storm, we did have a lot of people utilizing lightweight tents, and that’s one of the things that we did a canvassing effort for,” Cole said.
“Buncombe County Emergency Services, as well as FEMA staff, have conducted multiple field assessments in several areas to assess the living conditions of displaced residents following Hurricane Helene,” Cole said.
Canvassing focused on Swannanoa, Garren Creek, Fairview, and Barnardsville, and “confirmed that there were no lightweight tents that were being used,” though some canvas tents that have heat are being used in some of the areas.
I asked Cole if there’s anyone in the county staying in a tent now that doesn’t want to be in that tent.
“Absolutely not,” he said.
“They have said that some of those people that are in the lightweight tents, they do not want any assistance,” Cole said. “They were living in lightweight tents before the storm, and they’re continuing to live in those lightweight tents afterwards, because that’s their choice.”
In Swannanoa, Cole said, they found several tents but those are “heavier-weight tents with a heating source.
“But we also found a need for three additional tents — the canvas tents, with a heating source and generator that were supplied in conjunction with the Red Cross to these residents,” Cole said.
In Garren Creek, they identified one person who had been living in a tent but subsequently was provided with a camper. They then used the tent for storage.
“Also, a couple other tents were being utilized to store equipment for people that were utilizing that while they were doing work on their homes,” Cole said. “They were not staying in the tents. A lot of that is what we were seeing in Swannanoa and other areas — where the tents had previously been put up that they may have been using for housing, but were now using for storage.”
The county did not find anyone in Fairview in tents. Some residents in Barnardsville were found in heavyweight tents with heat. The county worked with the Barnardsville Community Center and confirmed that all the residents that needed heated tents had been assisted.
“The one thing that’s important to understand is, even though we may see many things that go across social media, that does not mean that it’s factual, it’s accurate, or it’s true,” Cole said.
He said if you see anyone in a lightweight tent that wants help, you should call the One Buncombe hotline number for assistance at 828-250-6100.
I’m not trying to be an apologist for FEMA or the county. Especially early on after the disaster, help was slow in some cases.
But it’s also clear the county and FEMA have made extensive efforts to reach out to people and provide help.
Some of the frustration is because of the bureaucracy, which can be hard for folks to navigate. For instance, Cody said she was told she was getting a FEMA trailer but then a different worker said no, after a long hold on the phone.
A mistake on her registration and paperwork threw a wrench in her FEMA trailer, but she does have an RV on site she can live in.
Another frustrating experience with FEMA
Plenty of those who endured Helene’s floodwaters remain frustrated with the response. That includes Ben Larrabee, who was living in a single-wide rental trailer next to the river in Swannanoa on Sept. 27.
The water breached his home and toppled several of its cinder-block foundation pillars, but just as he was preparing to swim for it, the waters started receding. Two people in the trailer next door drowned.
Immediately after Helene, Ben Larrabee, shown in front of the remains of his trailer, stayed at the WNC Agricultural Center emergency shelter for about 10 days. FEMA then started paying for Larrabee to stay in a hotel for several weeks. “I was in Hickory for like a week and a half or something, until finally the voucher came through for the hotel, then I was able to try to look for hotels,” Larrabee said. “But that took forever.” // Watchdog photo by Starr Sariego
Larrabee moved to Asheville from Hickory early this year to work for a landscaping business. That did not work out, and he’s now working in the life insurance field.
Immediately after Helene, Larrabee stayed at the emergency shelter at the WNC Agricultural Center for about 10 days. FEMA then started paying for Larrabee to stay in a hotel for several weeks.
“I was in Hickory for like a week and a half or something, until finally the voucher came through for the hotel, then I was able to try to look for hotels,” Larrabee said. “But that took forever. It took several days or a week before I could even find a hotel that would take me.”
Early last week he was worried about that stay running out, but then two days before he was supposed to leave he found out about the FEMA extension that will allow him to stay at least into early January.
Larrabee says he’s received about $8,000 from FEMA, which he does appreciate. But he’s also had to buy a car to replace his Dodge Charger that got swept away, and he’s spending more than usual on food because he has to eat out a lot.
Add in searching for an apartment in a market where even a one-bedroom can go for $1,400 or more, and Larrabee, 42, has been in what he calls a “constant state of wondering and anxiety.”
He’d like to see better communications out of FEMA, and a lot less bureaucracy to access the funds.
More than two months after Helene devastated our area, we still have so much rebuilding to do, and so many people remain in need. People at the makeshift camp in Swannanoa need fuel, generators and heaters, and obviously, restored running water and grid electricity. Larrabee needs an affordable place to live.
Reach out to me if you’d like to help, and I’ll connect you with these folks.
In the meantime, let’s remember that we still have a long, hard road ahead of us, and all of us — whether in government or private citizens — need to keep looking out for one another.
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. John Boyle has been covering Asheville and surrounding communities since the 20th century. You can reach him at (828) 337-0941, or via email at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s local reporting during this crisis is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.
by Lucas Thomae, Carolina Public Press April 26, 2025
A decade after a federal judge ordered North Carolina to adopt a plan to give juvenile offenders serving life sentences a “meaningful opportunity” for parole, a lawsuit making its way through the court system says the state has failed to follow through.
Earlier this month a judge denied the state’s motion to dismiss the suit, which was filed in 2023, noting “concerning” accounts of omitted and false information in plaintiff Brett Abrams’ parole file.
Abrams, 56, is serving a life sentence for murder at the minimum security prison in Hillsborough. He leaves prison five days a week to work a full-time job at a meat packing plant. In his 40 years of incarceration, he’s accrued 11 infractions, the last being in 2005.
On paper, he seems like a great candidate for parole. But the four-person commission that has sole discretion over parole decisions in North Carolina has denied him every time since he first became eligible in 1993.
Abrams has undergone two parole reviews since the state implemented its new process for juvenile offenders — colloquially known as the “Hayden Plan” for the case Hayden v. Keller that spurred its creation.
However, he continues to be denied his freedom.
A brutal killing
In 1983, Abrams stabbed and killed his 20-year old neighbor at her parents’ home after she confronted him for secretly watching her sunbathe. Abrams was 14 at the time of the slaying, and at 15 he was charged as an adult and sentenced to life imprisonment after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.
Depositions from Abrams’ lawsuit revealed his parole file had omitted crucial information that might have helped with his release. It also contained inaccurate information, including that he had an open homicide case against him for the 1982 death of his brother. In reality, the Iredell County Sheriffs’ Office had ruled the death an accident and closed the case.
“We saw in his profile pretty significant, very material mistakes that included misleading information, lies, things that were simply not true which we believe are so significant that it’s a sort of evidence in itself that the system is broken,” Abrams’ attorney, Jake Sussman, told Carolina Public Press.
And despite Abrams seeking psychological counseling and treatment based on the recommendation of the Parole Commission in 2018, those records were not included in his 2020 review.
“One would assume accurate and comprehensive summaries with relevant information would be essential where commissioners vote on more than 100 cases a day,” Judge Richard Myers wrote in his April 2 ruling.
The court cannot reverse the decisions made by the state’s Parole Commission, meaning the legality of Abrams’ continued incarceration is not being questioned. But Myers determined it is “within this court’s purview to review for Eighth Amendment violations,” as proven in Hayden v. Keller.
“What we’ve asked the judge to do is to find that the current system is unconstitutional as it applies to Mr. Abrams, and therefore as it would apply to all of the juvenile offenders, and develop a plan to actually have a review process that works,” Sussman said.
Juvenile offenders at mercy of the system
Decades of judicial rulings have given states plenty of discretion over how to handle the parole process.
North Carolina’s system has changed several times, and starting in 1994 the state eliminated parole altogether in favor of a different system called “structured sentencing,” which sets a minimum sentence and allows the Parole Commission to set the terms of release for felons once they reach that mark.
Those imprisoned prior to 1994 are still subject to the state’s older system, which Sussman described as a “constitutional mess,” particularly for juvenile offenders.
Two U.S. Supreme Court decisions from the 2010s — Graham v. Florida and Miller v. Alabama — resulted in monumental changes for people serving life sentences due to crimes they committed as juveniles. In those rulings, the Supreme Court severely limited states’ abilities to administer life sentences without parole to juvenile offenders, deciding that such actions constituted “cruel and unusual punishment” under the Eighth Amendment.
The logic behind that ruling is that juvenile offenders are more likely to respond to rehabilitation and reform compared to people imprisoned for crimes they committed later in life.
“Research in the area of brain development shows that the brain is not fully developed until about age 25,” explained Erin Fitzgerald, a professor at Elon University who specializes in juvenile justice. “This lack of development makes juveniles more impulsive, susceptible to peer pressure and unable to fully appreciate the consequences of their actions. However, it also makes them more malleable and capable of rehabilitation.”
Justice for juvenile offenders
The Hayden Plan at the center of Abrams’ lawsuit was born out of the precedent set by the Graham and Miller cases.
In 2010, a North Carolina inmate serving a life sentence for sexual assaults he committed as a teenager in the 1980s sued the Parole Commission for not giving him a fair chance to make his case for release.
His name was Shaun Hayden.
Every year after becoming eligible for parole, Hayden would receive the same letter from the commission saying that he had been denied parole, despite never having interacted with them in any way or being notified that he was up for review.
“He didn’t think that was fair, and he was correct,” said Ben Finholt, who was one of Hayden’s attorneys in his lawsuit against the commission. “It was a sham parole system where (the commission) never talked to anyone. They just review documents every year, and if not much changes, then you just get denied every year without them ever talking to you.”
A District Court ruled in Hayden’s favor, citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Graham v. Florida. The state lost its appeal and in 2018 was directed to implement a new plan for handling parole review for juvenile offenders.
That plan guaranteed juvenile offenders a 30-minute video conference with one of the commissioners, a specialized case analyst and, in the case of denial, a letter detailing why the inmate was denied parole and recommendations for future reviews.
New parole plan, old issues
The new plan hasn’t exactly led to substantive changes, however.
Finholt, who now serves as Abrams’ attorney for his parole review (separate from the lawsuit that Sussman is handling), has had a firsthand account of the Hayden Plan’s shortcomings.
“The parole case analyst in Brett’s case admitted under oath that she did not consider the advocacy letter that I wrote for Brett in 2020, that it was not part of the record and that she had made no changes to her process based on the fact that the person being considered for parole was a juvenile,” he said. “That is explicitly contrary to (the Hayden court’s) holding that people who were kids at the time of the crime are entitled constitutionally to a different process.”
That was one of the reasons Myers, the judge in Abrams’ lawsuit, denied the state’s motion to dismiss the suit.
However, Myers also wrote that it is “still unclear” based on the facts of the case whether the commissioners would have changed their decision on Abrams if the information in his file had been completely accurate.
He declined to rule in favor of either party and ordered more discovery on the matter. When that is completed in June, he may issue a final ruling or set a trial date.
Sussman said that if Abrams wins this lawsuit, he would advocate for a decision-making process that is less arbitrary, such as a rubric or points-based system.
Finholt has also advocated for such a change, and he said it makes sense regardless of people’s opinions regarding parole.
“My personal feeling, based on my long professional experience, is that most of the folks who are up for parole would do just fine outside of prison,” he said. “However, even if you’re a person who disagrees with me on that front, you should still dislike the current process because it’s not informed by any evidence or any data.
“If you’re the kind of person who thinks that most folks should stay inside, you should also be horrified by the fact that these release decisions are being made essentially on people’s guts.”
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Left
The content presents a case focused on the rights of juvenile offenders, specifically in relation to parole decisions. The emphasis on rehabilitation, fairness in parole processes, and concerns over the accuracy and fairness of the system reflects a more progressive, or center-left, perspective. It advocates for juvenile offenders’ opportunity for parole based on their potential for reform, which aligns with broader left-leaning views on criminal justice reform and the belief in rehabilitation over punitive measures. The inclusion of legal cases like Graham v. Florida and Miller v. Alabama suggests an alignment with the idea of justice for juvenile offenders in line with constitutional protections. While the tone is not overtly political, the framing of the issues reflects concerns typically associated with progressive criminal justice reform.
SUMMARY: Mental health professionals express concern over potential cuts to the 988 suicide prevention hotline, particularly for LGBTQ+ youth. A leaked budget draft reveals the Trump administration’s proposal to eliminate funding for specialized services. Since its launch in July 2022, the hotline has answered over 219,000 calls, with rising demand for mental health services noted by professionals like Shawn Thomas. The North Carolina Department of Health emphasizes that federal funding is crucial for timely call responses and effective service delivery. Advocates are alarmed, warning that losing this resource would significantly impact vulnerable populations.
Mental health professionals say the 988 hotline is an invaluable resource, and any cuts would affect the strides being made in the state to meet growing demand.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-25 15:59:00
(The Center Square) – Eliminating policies in higher education that U.S. Rep. Dr. Greg Murphy believes are detrimental to the best in health care is a step in the right direction, the North Carolina Republican says.
U.S. Rep. Dr. Greg Murphy, R-N.C.
Murphy.House gov
“I applaud the Trump administration for rooting out the discriminatory and demeaning requirements of DEI in medication education,” Murphy said, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion. “These practices reward political activism and not merit. Patients deserve better.
“Liberal apologists played with patient’s lives to push a progressive discriminatory agenda. Doctors need to be selected as the brightest and hardest working, not on identity politics.”
The third graph of Section 2 reads in part, “The attorney general and the secretary of Education, in consultation with the secretary of Health and Human Services, shall investigate and take appropriate action to terminate unlawful discrimination by American medical schools or graduate medical education entities that is advanced by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education or other accreditors of graduate medical education, including unlawful ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ requirements under the guise of accreditation standards.”
Murphy, a practicing urologist, has repeatedly chastised the medical schools promoting diversity policies over merit.
Murphy opined, “Instead of learning to take care of patients, medical residents are studying this nonsense. No wonder the questions about NIH funding are being asked.”
The National Institutes of Health operates with a budget of $47 billion. For worldwide biomedical research, it is the largest public funder.
Murphy believes the American health care system “is killing the patient” with the middlemen, including the education component.
He’s also spoken out on the Association of American Medical Colleges, saying it has been “exposed for their racially divisive lies.” A significant infant-mortality study, The National Review reported, was edited to preserve racial perspective. The story says “researchers deliberately obscured a data point about white babies under the care of Black physicians because ‘it undermines the narrative.’”
“Falsifying research,” Murphy said, “is why Americans have lost trust in medical education. All those involved in this scandal need to resign.”
