After the May 31 stabbing  in the back with a hypodermic needle of a South Carolina tourist — visiting downtown Asheville with his family — by a homeless man who, reportedly, found the needle on the ground, a number of concerned citizens have said the horrific incident — especially to have occurred in a place called “The Paris of the South” — spells doom for the city’s tourism-dependent economy.

Indeed, some citizens have said on social media and elsewhere that well-founded public safety concerns by potential tourists will easily sway them to visit elsewhere, meaning that it is “over” for Asheville, with Western North Carolina’s largest-population city facing a downfall similar to San Francisco or Portland, Ore., with similarly lax court systems and police shortages.

For a review and analysis of the incident from a public safety and law enforcement perspective, the Daily Planet on June 29 interviewed Rondell Lance, Asheville’s FOP president and a Buncombe County native, who began by noting that “I do not think it’s ‘over’ for Asheville.” 

As for Asheville’s FOP lodge, over which Lance is the president, a North Carolina FOP website states the following:

“Currently, Asheville’s Harold C Enloe Lodge 1 has over 250 members. These members are made up of law enforcement officers and civilians from the Asheville Police Department, the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, HCSHP, N.C. Probation and Parole, and many others.”

So why does Lance not think it is “over” for Asheville as a tourist draw following the recent hypodermic needle stabbing downtown? the Daily Planet asked.

“Well, there always will be — and always has been  — crime, but it can be enhanced or decreased....

“The enhancement of crime is when you have a shortage of law enforcement officers — and when you have a government — in our case, (Asheville) City Council — that promotes” being lax on punishing those who are homeless who commit crimes, resulting in no fear of consequences.

“As long as I’ve been in Asheville, there has been this homeless program,” which he said always has “failed miserably. They’re doing nothing to curb — or to solve — the homeless problem in Asheville.”

Further, Lance told the Daily Planet, “You always are hearing about affordable housing, but they’re also failing miserably... They do get grants — so they (those administering the homeless programs locally) make money off the homeless population, but, for the homeless unlike the elites overseeing them, “They’re continuing to live in filth.” 

After a pause, Lance reiterated that those proposing — or leading — local homeless programs are “failing miserably.”

Regarding the homeless issue in particular, the local FOP president said that “many have mental issues — and many have addictions... If law enforcement tries to crack down on them, then you get complaints from council and/or certain citizens that the Asheville Police Department is “mean” to homeless people. 

“I mean, City Council (which now is comprised of all Democrat women) has worked on this for 20 years — and they’re not achieving anything... The liberal and progressive solutions aren’t working. They’re enabling them (homeless people) to be out there — and to be on dope. They give them tents. They give them food. They give them” everything they think the homeless need. “That’s not helping them. They (the homeless) need mental help.”

What’s more, Lance asserted, “That’s what’s frustrating me — the APD tries to enforce the rules” on the homeless, but “the courts are to blame because they often dismiss cases,” with the excuse that the homeless perpetrators are “helpless” — and do not deserve to suffer any consequences with the legal system, given that they suffer so much already.

So does Lance think that the Buncombe County court system, based in Asheville, is so Marxist-leaning — or radically leftist — to the point that lax enforcement of laws involving homeless people will become permanent in the so-called “Paris of the South?” the Daily Planet asked. 

“Very solidly, we have a court system that is liberal progressive in Buncombe County — along with a City Council and a Buncombe County Board of Commissioners” that are the same way, politically and legally,” Lance replied.

He then reiterated, “They don’t deal with the root cause of the problem.”

In referencing a point in his career with the APD years ago, before he retired, Lance noted, “When I was a downtown sergeant, we’d deal with the homeless every day. We’d tell them they had to leave and clean up everything. And then we’d get complaints that we were harrassing them. But we were helping them....”

As for his perception of the impact that the needle-stabbing case will have on Asheville’s tourism, Lance said, “I feel there is so much that goes on in this county that the public doesn’t know about” that is horrific — and that ranks right up there with the needle-stabbing incident. 

As for the incident, Lance said, pointedly, “Getting stabbed in the back with a needle — you don’t know what was on that needle. If people (prospective visitors to Asheville) hear that, they’re not going to be coming around,” especially to downtown.

He then noted that “you’ve got that whole thing with the jail,” where city and county officials aspire to keep the jail from filling up too much (so cases are dismissed), so that they can be awarded large grants of money. 

“Of course, the (local) businesses thrive off the money they make from tourism,” Lance observed. “But you need” public safety, too.

 He added, “First, to find a needle on the street is a bad sign. If you’re walking down the street and see a needle, it is a bad sign.”

Lance also asserted, “Every (APD) enforcement action we tried when I worked downtown, the council or DA’s (district attorney’s)  office” opposed on the grounds of harrassing the homeless people. (Buncombe’s DA is Todd Williams.)

Continuing, Lance said, “When you get stabbed by a needle, it’s no telling what you might get. You don’t know if you’ve got hepatitis, or whatever. That could be life-threatening. It could affect that man (the visiting South Carolina tourist) the rest of his life.”

In cautioning the public more generally, Lance then said, “If you see someone who is asking people for money, I’d cross the street to avoid them. Because you don’t know their mindset... It has become hostile before,” in such situations.

“If they ask for money, I’d say, ‘I don’t have any money, but I’ll pray for you!’ Be sympathetic toward them. B.S. them. I wouldn’t argue with them.

“As you walk away, keep your eyes open... If they come toward you, go into a store and ask the manager” to call the police immediately.

As for the area’s so-called “needle exhange” program, Lance said, “A real needle exchange is when  you bring us your old dirty needles — and we’ll give you new needles. It was designed to keep dirty needles off the street....”

To the contrary, the local FOP president said, “From what I’ve heard, you just go in there and say, “I need some needles — and they give you a bag of needles… without any exchange.”

Speaking personally following the needle-stabbing incident, Lance asserted, “I would advise my family not to go to downtown Asheville, except for — maybe — Shindig on the Green... I say (instead): ‘Go to Hendersonville or Haywood County — just don’t go to downtown Asheville.’”

After another pause, however, Lance added, “I don’t think it’s ‘over’” for Asheville as a tourist destination or a thriving city.

What’s more, he contended, “I think most people don’t think it’s over” for Asheville.

As he thought about the ramifications of being stabbed in the back with a hypodermic needle a homeless man found on the ground, Lance asserted, “I’d rather be shot than stabbed by a needle. They can pull the bullet out without disease, leaving just a bullet hole. But a dirty needle — you just don’t what disease you have for the rest of your life...

“It’s sad that it happened. I just hope the city gets away from its liberal-progressive idea — where there’s no consequences” for breaking the laws on the books. 

As for the speculation by some locals on social media sites that the suspect in the needle-stabbing incident likely will be released and back on the streets soon,” Lance said, I hope not, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all... Evidently, he needs some help. It’s like a deadly assault... I would hope there’s not a judge up there that would lower the bond ($51,000), so he could back out there on the street.

“I think it’s just an isolated incident and the tourists will continue to come” to Asheville. “It’s better for it to be in the news — and let people beware... Be very vigilant of your surroundings.”

In closing his hour-long phone interview with the Daily Planet and speaking hypothetically, Lance said in an answer to a final question as to what his response would be if someone attacked him head-on, wielding a hypodermic needle, “If it was me, I’m going to kick them in the groin — or in the knee” — to circumvent such an attack.