In North Carolina, a town turns haven for recovery and hope [More drain on medicaid]

Today, Asheville, [NC] is one of a handful of boroughs from St. Paul, Minn., to Manhattan that top the destination lists of ex-addicts wary of returning to the siren calls of their former haunts. These cities tend to be gritty, but artsy, places where the harsher realities of city life are on display alongside art openings and late-night cafes. Here in Asheville, there's also a strong religious backbone, a growing number of available service jobs, and a broad community of recovery support groups and counselors. What's more, the cost of living is relatively low, with lots of free things to do - from fairs to hikes in the Pisgah Forest.

The Christian Science Monitor charges $40 to reprint an article for one month on another internet site. This article is almost worth it,but we've got three kids to feed, so all you get to have is this excerpt and a promise of a worthwhile read if you click the link to the full text.

If you've ever tried to figure out Asheville, this article reveals one of its best kept secrets.

If you've ever wondered why the medicaid/medicare rolls are growing at a faster rate than the population in NC, don't just blame the Mexican influx, read this article.

Odd town, Asheville. Not unpleasantly odd -- I sorta like it -- but very different. Always has been.

The mountains of North Carolina are a world unto their own, anyway, but even within that context, Asheville marches to its own drummer. It has a long history as a "spa" -- for people recovering from or seeking refuge from disorders ranging from tuberculosis to alcoholism. And of course it saw its biggest growth as a resort center -- a summer resort mostly, in the days before air conditioning. There was some big money in Asheville, including the country's largest private residence, the Biltmore Estate (built and owned by one of the Vanderbilts, and now open to the public as a tourist attraction).

Resorts and retirement areas, being the outgrowth of discretionary spending, were more susceptible to economic downturns than "working cities." Hence, the Florida Crash, which predated the Great Depression by a year or more. Less well known was the collapse of the economy in Asheville (it should be noted that many wealthy families owned winter homes in Florida and summer homes in the NC mountains). Asheville literally went bankrupt. Bankrupt as a city: unable to pay its bills and the wages of its municipal workers, it turned in its charter and de-incorporated.

Florida recovered economically; Asheville did not, at least for decades. Air conditioning arrived, meaning that warmer resorts could serve their purpose year-round. Not many families could afford two second homes, so most opted for a warmer site.

It is no coincidence that the two cities said to have the finest collection of Art Deco buildings are Miami Beach and Asheville. For a while, there was no economic incentive to tear down the old buildings and replace them with "better" ones. And by the time the economies in those two resort centers had recovered, the preservationist movement had gained strength.

Asheville's economy ultimately did recover, of course. But, in large part due to a localized depression of almost half a century by some measures, it acquired a Bohemian, "artsy" flavor which sets it apart from the rest of the state.

How can one have two second homes?

Curses. Caught by the Old Prof.

Ummm, let's see... I have a second home in the mountains, and my other second home at the beach (I wish). "Third home," you see, sounds too greedy, too successful, too Republican. John Edwards has three "second homes," and John Kerry has at least four.

You're not buying this, are you?

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