News

Ask Matt ... whether the earth moved

By Bill Moss, Published: June 14, 2015

Matt Matteson, the Lightning's intrepid researcher, finds answers to readers' question.

Q. Does the company that purchased the railroad lines in Henderson County plan to do maintenance on the crossings? They are becoming worse, specifically on Brookside Camp Road, Highland Lake Road and Mills Gap Road.

According to state statutes, it’s the railroad’s responsibility to maintain crossings. I spoke with Darl Farris, the general manager of the Blue Ridge Southern Railroad. Blue Ridge’s parent company, Watco, purchased 94 miles of rail line in WNC from Norfolk Southern last July. Farris said that they are the new guys in town and are still trying to get things sorted out including inspecting some 300 crossings. Farris said that they have already been working with NCDOT and local municipalities to assign priorities for repair. The railroad’s responsibility generally extends on the road surface two feet each side of the track. Most crossings are asphalt and some have wooden ties but there is another style crossing which many of you have encountered without hitting the brake. This is the concrete style “heavy traffic” crossing. You can find one on Fourth Avenue East, another on Seventh Avenue and a third at the convergence of South Main, Church and King streets. These much smoother crossings are expensive and the railroad won’t put them in just anywhere. For these, costs are typically shared between the railroad and either the municipality or NCDOT.

Q. Why did the cable company drop Channel 15, the programming channel that listed all the TV shows and times?

Morris Broadband officials related that TVGN, the old programming channel, rebranded themselves as Pop (yep, that's the company name) and immediately raised their carrying charge. Pop is co-owned by CBS and Lionsgate, which own a library of some 13,000 films. Morris tried very hard to negotiate down the cost but was unsuccessful and therefore dropped the programming channel. As many people have discovered, the Hendersonville Lightning's TV guide may be the best deal for those without a cable box.

Q. Has this area experienced an earthquake recently? All my pictures are crooked and a crack has appeared in my ceiling.

I tossed this question to Dr. Jacqui Langille at UNC-Asheville. She said they don't have seismological records but referred me to a website maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey that documents all earthquakes, so if there was one it should show it. I checked and saw nothing shaking here in Hooterville. If you are interested, here is the link: www.earthquake.usgs.gov.

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UPDATE: Last March we ran a piece about WLOS reporters wearing L.L.Bean jackets on camera. WLOS is now running an early morning on-screen credit that reads “Outerwear provided by L.L.Bean.”

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Send questions to askmattm@gmail.com.