Answer woman: City Hall scaffolding, midwife charges

Although I value your burning questions more than you know, Answer Nation, I have to say I’m most tickled by the relentless requests for dating services sent on an almost-weekly basis.

On this week’s episode, seeking a “nice older gentleman,” a reader asked that I put out the call for a “mature companion to a very mature but vibrant grandmother. Throw one at me!”

This, unfortunately, is not a service the paper allows me to provide, but I think the romantic gusto is inspiring.

Let’s get to your less-loving but more-informative burning questions, my smart aleck responses and the real deal.

Question: I drive along South Charlotte Street a few times a week. Last week was the only time I’ve seen anyone “working” on the scaffolding surrounding City Hall. At least they were moving, if not working. It’s been there for years! What’s happening there? When will whatever it is be finished so we can see our beautiful City Hall again?

My answer: What you’re seeing is the city’s innovative new approach to deter graffiti on city property. Scientists have found that tagging decreases by 400 percent when you build a gigantic cage around whatever structure is being targeted. Like magic!

Real answer: City spokesman Brian Postelle claims otherwise, but says progress is definitely being made.

“As someone who works in the building, I can assure you that work on the exterior of City Hall has been happening!” Postelle said. “The scope of the job is to remediate water infiltration due to deteriorated mortar on the building.”

The contractor has also replaced some brick, terra cotta work and windows on the upper floors, he said.

Douglas Ellington, an architect who came to Asheville in the mid-1920s, designed the eight-story building, covered in terra cotta tiles. Project administrators said when it started that the life expectancy of a mortar building like City Hall is around 75 years.

The project began in November 2012 and is expected to be complete this November.

Question: What’s happening with the city recycling bin patrol that’s supposedly awarding Ingles gift cards to people who have the stickers on their bins and are determined to be recycling correctly? Have any of the gift cards been given out? Do they just show up on random streets? Do they alternate north/south/east/west? How many cards and how often are they given? Any ways to improve your odds of winning?

My answer: On a related note, the city has asked that residents please stop leaving plates of cookies and crude photos atop their recycle bins as bribes. Get a grip, people.

Real answer: Kerby Smithson, energy analyst with the city’s sustainability program, said the program is up and running, and confirms the cards are real.

“Our prize patrol has been out and about every week since Feb. 18 to identify winners for the Recycle & Win program,” Smithson said.

They rotate through the routes based on their collection day: The first week they followed the Monday collection route, the second week they checked out bins on the Tuesday route, etc.

“For each of these routes, the program wizards at Coca-Cola have generated a random list of addresses that the prize patrol visits,” Smithson said. “The first 10 houses on the random list that have the ‘Give it Back’ sticker on their bin and have properly recycled are then sent a notification in the mail that they must respond to in order to receive their $50 Ingles gift card.”

In order to win you must have the sticker on your bin. If you misplace your sticker, you can pick up a new one at any Ingles store in Asheville.

As for winning tips, Smithson said to make sure you have recyclables — and only recyclables — in your bin. And keep an eye out for a notification in the mail — if your household is selected, you will need to return paperwork to get your gift card.

As of March 13, 16 households had returned their paperwork to receive gift cards.

Question: My sister, a registered nurse, has been looking into becoming a midwife and in her research stumbled across trainings from the Matrona school, which I remembered was the school that taught the woman, Rowan Bailey, who was facing murder charges in the death of a baby. Is this school really still sanctioned by the state? And what became of that midwife?

My answer: I think this qualifies as a big N/A on the smart-aleck response spectrum.

Real answer: The Matrona, the school which Tina “Rowan” Bailey attended, is still listed as a “current-active” nonprofit corporation by the state Secretary of State’s Office, though that doesn’t necessarily qualify as a “sanction.” It is not, and has never been, accredited by any governing body, including the U.S. Department of Education or the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council.

Police charged Bailey with murder of an unborn child last year, saying she illegally represented herself as a midwife during a mishandled delivery in July 2013 in Asheville. Hundreds of people came to her aid following the charges.

The Matrona school was founded in 2001 by Diane Bartlett, who goes by the name “Whapio” in the midwifery community. The school continues to hold classes; it will hold the same doula training Bailey went through starting next weekend. The school teaches “quantum midwifery” and methods of “undisturbed birth,” designed for “self-directed families planning an unassisted birth.”

Buncombe County sheriff’s officers arrested and jailed Bailey shortly after Christmas after a GPS tracking feature in her monitoring device revealed she had traveled to several stores on Dec. 22. She had been free before the infraction.

Bailey had no set court date yet, and according to the county detention facility’s automated phone records Bailey was still being in held at the facility under a $250,000 bond.

This is the opinion of Casey Blake. Email her at cblake@citizen-times.com or call 232-2922.