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Four Seasons Politics

GOP leaders make pick for Henson seat

Henderson County Four Seasons Politics

Democrat announces bid for McGrady seat

Danae Jones Aicher, a former journalist and campaign aide who now works for an Asheville private school, has announced her candidacy for North Carolina House District 117.   Read Story »

Henderson County Four Seasons Politics

Republican chair declares North Carolina key to Trump re-election

Declaring North Carolina a key battleground state for President Trump’s re-election, new state Republican Party Chair Michael Whatley exhorted the party faithful to be ready to volunteer on the phones and on the ground in 2020.   Read Story »

Henderson County Four Seasons Politics

State GOP demands quick action on Henson replacement

PISGAH FOREST — State and local Republican Party leaders fast-tracked the filling of the vacant state House District 113 seat because the seat is critical to the state Republican Party's effort to override Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of a Republican-drawn budget, state GOP Chairman Michael Whatley told party members who jammed into a barbecue restaurant on Saturday morning.   Read Story »

Flat Rock Four Seasons Politics

Road widening opponents file lawsuit over Flat Rock sign ordinance

FLAT ROCK — A Flat Rock couple active in the fight against the Highland Lake Road widening project has filed a federal lawsuit against the village, saying that its sign ordinance unconstitutionally abridges their free neutral speech rights.   Read Story »

Henderson County Four Seasons Politics

Cooper appoints new county Elections Board chair

Charles “Charlie” Medd, a retired Henderson County schoolteacher who served in the U.S. Navy and Reserves for 40 years, has been appointed chair of the Henderson County Board of Elections. Medd, 77, taught for two years at Immaculata Catholic School, 21 at Dana Elementary School and nine at Hendersonville Middle School, where he taught social studies and math.Born in Miami 1941 to Sophie and Charles Baker Medd, young Charlie didn’t stay in South Florida for long.“My mother didn’t like the heat,” he said. She was from Winnipeg, Canada, and his father, a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Coast Guard, was born in the port city of Southampton, England. “She asked, ‘Where do you go to get out of this heat?’” The Blue Ridge Mountains, they told her.She packed up little Charlie and his two older sister and set out, slowed by gas rationing and worn rubber tires. “She’d only do about 35 miles an hour,” he said. “It took her two full days to get here. We stopped overnight in Jacksonville, I understand.”Sophie had a knack for entrepreneurship. She raised one of the largest flocks of laying hens and broilers in North Carolina and also started an RV park, which Medd still runs, just east of Sugarloaf Elementary School.After graduating from the Blue Ridge School for Boys, which was where the Blue Ridge Mall now stands. “We had to go to night study hall from 7 to 9, two hours,” Medd told historian Jennie Jones Giles for an article on the school in Giles’s Henderson Heritage website. “We couldn’t talk. We had to study and stay busy. That’s where I learned how to study and become a better student.”His scholastic habits didn’t immediately stick. Medd said he attended the University of Georgia until the university invited him not to. His parents gave him a choice of coming home and paying rent, moving out and getting a job or joining the service. He enlisted in the Navy, following his father’s sea-based career, and served on active duty until 1964.After he got out, he joined the Reserves and served until he reached the mandatory retirement age of 60 in 2001. “I retired on Sept. 9, two days before Sept. 11,” he said. “I called them up and said, ‘Would you let me come back? I haven’t forgotten anything in 48 hours.’ They asked me how old I was and they said, ‘Thanks for calling.’”When he came home from the Navy, he enrolled in the old Asheville Biltmore College, which was about to become UNC Asheville. On campus he met his future wife, Suzanne, a Canton native who was in UNCA’s first graduating class. While he was teaching in Henderson County, Medd went on to earn a master’s degree from Western Carolina University. He and Suzanne have two daughters, Heather and Catherine, and three grandchildren with another on the way. The baby’s due around November, when the grandfather will be busy overseeing an election for the first time.The first decision he makes could also be the most important decision of his tenure. The Elections Board is interviewing finalists for the job as elections director, replacing the widely respected and assiduously non-partisan Beverly Cunningham. The goal is “to find a director like Beverly Cunningham,” he said. “As far as I know, there’s never been an ounce of fraud or anything in her administration. I can say as a poll worker, she insisted that everybody be treated the same, equal. If there was some kind of hoo-rah, we allowed them to vote a provisional ballot and let the board decide.”Medd heard about the chairmanship from his friend Bob Livingston, from St. James Episcopal Church. State law required Livingston to resign when his son-in-law, Carey O’Cain, filed for re-election as Laurel Park mayor.Asked how he got the appointment, which was made by Gov. Roy Cooper, Medd said, “I applied for it.” The rest of the process was simple as far as he knows. “He signed a piece of paper.”After a protracted court battle between Cooper and the Republican leadership in the General Assembly, all counties have a five-member Board of Elections with a 3-2 Democratic majority and a chair that Cooper appoints.         Read Story »

Henderson County Four Seasons Politics

One day after guilty plea in cyberstalking, Henson resigns

State Rep. Cody Henson announced his resignation from the state House on Wednesday, one day after entering a guilty plea  to one count of cyberstalking in Transylvania County District Court. Henson accepted an agreement with the North Carolina Department of Justice for deferred prosecution and 18 months of probation.   Read Story »

North Carolina Four Seasons Politics

McGrady's bill to reform 'antiquated, inefficient' liquor laws advances

Following a major victory last week with the passage of Senate Bill 290, state Rep. Chuck McGrady pushes on today in  his efforts to modernize North Carolina’s Alcoholic Beverage Control system. The House ABC Committee, which he co-chairs, will hear his bill (House Bill 971).   Read Story »

North Carolina Four Seasons Politics

Candidate for House District 113 to speak

Jake Johnson, the only announced Republican candidate for State House District 113 seat, will be the guest speaker at the Henderson County Republican Men’s Club breakfast meeting at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 24, at the Dixie Diner in Laurel Park.   Read Story »

North Carolina Four Seasons Politics

'Redistricting: What Happens Now?' is topic for panel

The League of Women Voters of Henderson County will host a panel titled "Redistricting — What Happens Now?" at 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10 in the Kaplan Auditorium in the Henderson County Library. The panelists will be state Rep. Chuck McGrady, Sen. Terry Van Duyn and Blake Esselstyn, an expert on the use of GIS for drawing maps. After comments by each panelist, the speakers will respond to questions submitted by the audience. Co-sponsors for the event are the League of Women Voters of Asheville-Buncombe, Carolina Jews for Justice, DemocracyNC, Fair DistrictsWNC, NAACP, AAUW, Down Home NC, and Unity of the Blue Ridge. The event is free and open to the public.   Read Story »

Four Seasons Politics Archive