Henderson County News
The crime rate dropped in Hendersonville in every category except larceny from 2012 to 2013, the Police Department said. Read Story »
Henderson County News
Advocates of the proposed Hendersonville-to-Brevard rail trail have launched a campaign to educate the public about the project, using a new video that highlights the project's economic benefits.
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Hendersonville News
Jill Tahmooressi on Sunday thanked a roomful of residents for their support for her son, a Marine jailed in Mexico for the past 5½ months.
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Henderson County News
Democratic candidate Rick Wood is kicking off his fall general election campaign for the state Senate with a Public Education Rally on Saturday, Sept. 13, in the auditorium of West Henderson High School.
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Hendersonville News
The 99-year-old Grey Hosiery Mill may not make it to its 100th birthday but the ground under it could be the site of loft apartments.
The Hendersonville City Council is expected to take up the status of the historic stocking factory on Thursday. Two council members said they're ready to give Hendersonville developer Jim Hall a shot at an apartment development he first pitched in 2010 and resurrected last year."I think it's going to go to Jim Hall's group," Councilman Jeff Miller said.Hall's proposal for loft apartments and a brewery, code named Bravo 4, were the remaining prospects for the property. The brewery, however, needed more property and was being recruited as well by Tennessee and Charlotte."They were supposed to give us an answer," said Councilman Steve Caraker. "From what I gather they have basically moved on."Hall and Hendersonville native Austin Fazio partnered with the White Challis Redevelopment Co. of Daytona Beach, Fla., to propose 30 loft apartments for the historic mill. Hall said he did not want to comment about the plans before the City Council acts. The financial outlook for redevelopment of historic properties has dimmed because the state Legislature repealed tax credits that made old-mill projects feasible."The last time I talked to Hall he said it was still doable," Caraker said.The city published a legal notice two weeks ago announcing the intent to redevelop the mill property as a brownfield site — a state regulatory requirement for property that could have pollution from past industrial use. The notice said a project could include "residential, retail, offices, entertainment, brewery or food production facility, and other commercial uses."Hall "has said he wants the best thing for Hendersonville all the way through this process," Caraker said. "So if something else came up that would have more economic value than his project, he'd be willing to step aside and let them have it."The council members both said a newly discovered water leak has added urgency to the mill property decision."If this goes on much longer we'll be spending $10,000 to 15,000 a year to keep it dry," Caraker said. "I think something needs to happen before the building crumbles."A city-commissioned appraisal assessed the property at $600,000 with the structure and $750,000 without it. Demolition could cost $200,000. Council members have said they're open to giving the property to a developer who commits to a project. The question of who pays for demolition, should there be one, has not been resolved.If raw land makes more sense than using the historic structure, Miller said that's OK with him."This ol' boy is for taking the bulldozer to it," he said. "I'm tired of it. The thing's leaking, we're spending a lot of money and it's making us look stupid."
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Henderson County News
Don't miss this week's issue of Hendersonville Lightning, chockful of news coverage and scoops and North Carolina Apple Festival photos.
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Henderson County News
HonorAir announced today that Jill Tahmooressi, mother of imprisoned Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, will visit Hendersonville this weekend.
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Henderson County News
The NC Department of Transportation on Monday will close Howard Gap Road from Brookside Camp Road to Naples Road in Fletcher. The two-week closure is necessary to lower the existing grade of a section of Howard Gap Road that is approximately one-fifth mile north of Brookside Camp Road between the two intersections of Whispering Hills Drive. Read Story »
Henderson County News
When Thomas Brass moved to Haywood Knolls, he figured the high wooded ridge was home to lots of interesting critters. Brass and his wife relocated to the area about three years ago from Minnesota and moved to the neighborhood off N.C. 191 a year ago.He knows a lot about wild animals and their habits from his days growing up when he trapped with his dad. Although he lost his taste for trapping game, he still loved animals. He has shot wildlife and nature photography.His cul de sac high up in Haywood Knolls is surprisingly remote. "Between the homes and a ridge, there's two acres of woods and then it runs into hundreds of acres of unhoused area," he said. He cleared brush and raked out a trail for the wildlife."The animals love it when you make a trail," he said. "An animal will always take the path of least resistance."He bought a Browning BTC 3 Trail Spec Ops Camera — the kind hunters often use.Brass, who runs a Christian counseling service out of his home, is not interested in shooting prey. He just delights in seeing it.He's seen red fox and gray fox. His trail cam recently filmed a hairless fox called a Samson fox. Some research said a fox with mange could be mistaken for a hairless fox. Brass had heard that, too, but said his hairless fox is the real thing."I showed it to my vet," he said. "Mange looks a lot different. It's patches all over the place and they don't live long when they get it."The veterinarian's verdict was that the grayish fox was indeed a hairless fox."The hairless fox, they do have hair, they just don't have the guard hairs, which is the long hair," Brass said.The fox in his video sniffs around and eats something off the ground.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiqCOzX7vWwBrass uses an attractant — it smells like a skunk — and gets meat scraps from his butcher as bait for the animals.He's uploaded videos on YouTube of a white squirrel cavorting with a gray squirrel, a bobcat at night and a coyote hunting by a creek.He recently got film of a mother deer with two fawn."They were late births," he said. "They just showed up last week. We've got grey fox and red fox, and even a fisher. They call them fisher cats in the South. They look just like a big mink." Read Story »
