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Henderson County News

School system launches app to 'Report it, Don't Ignore It'

Henderson County students in the upcoming school year will be able to report safety threats and behavior that concerns by using a new smart phone app and online tool developed by the school system's tech department. Available for Apple and Android and added to the district and school websites this week, the “Report It, Don’t Ignore It” app gathers information from users and sends alerts directly to school administrators, who can immediately alert law enforcement if necessary. Users indicate the school they’re reporting about, and are prompted to provide a brief description of the incident/threat under the following categories: Bullying, Drugs, Fighting, Personal Crisis, Vandalism, Weapons, and Other.Users can choose to provide additional witness information, names of people involved, and whether to provide their own name. If desired, users can remain anonymous. The app and online tool allows users to upload up to three pictures or screenshots of physical or social media threats, in a field for “Optional Supporting Evidence." “Report It, Don’t Ignore It” also provides additional help resources, including school contact information, phone numbers for the Suicide Prevention Hotline, the Henderson County Department of Social Services, and non-emergency numbers for the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office and Hendersonville Police Department. “Report It, Don’t Ignore It” was developed by the district’s Technology Department to approach school safety proactively, and to improve two-way communication between students and administrators. The tool was also a result of Superintendent Bo Caldwell’s ongoing meetings with parents, students, law enforcement agencies, and other stakeholders to evaluate and determine best practices for school safety protocols and procedures.“We know that school safety is a community effort,” Caldwell said. “Administrators and law enforcement can only respond to concerns in schools – and parents can only respond to them at home – when we’re made aware of them. Our students and staff are our best eyes and ears.”“We hope this tool will empower students to take ownership of their campus’ safety, keep each other accountable, and know their administration is here for them,” Caldwell added. “We’re here, and we’re listening.”The “Report It, Don’t Ignore It” online tool appears on the school system website and school homepages with an eyeball icon, and is available in multiple languages. The app is available for download from the App Store and Google Play Store.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Don't miss this week's Hendersonville Lightning (179)

You won't want to miss this week’s Hendersonville Lightning — on the street a day early. You'll read about the history of the Hendersonville Street Dance, find out what happened in a zoning hearing in Laurel Park over a fence and learn what the Board of Commissioners did in closed door sessions. You've got to get a copy because it's only in print and it's only in your Hendersonville Lightning.
 Here's where you can pick up a Lightning: Downtown Hendersonville• Hendersonville Lightning Office, 1111 Asheville Hwy.• Pop’s Diner, 5 Points, North Main Street• Triangle Stop, 701 North Main Street• The 500 block of North Main Street(First Citizens Bank / Mast General Store)• Black Bear Coffee Co., Main Street• The 300 block of North Main Street(McFarland’s Bakery / Mike’s on Main )• 100 block of South Main(Flat Rock Playhouse)   Southside Hendersonville(Spartanburg Highway)• Ingles, Spartanburg Hwy.• Hairstyles by Charlene, Joel Wright Drive• McDonald’s, Spartanburg Hwy.• Norm’s Minit Mart, Spartanburg Hwy.• Hendersonville Co-op• Burger King/ BP, Spartanburg Hwy.   Flat Rock/East Flat Rock• Flat Rock Post Office• Flat Rock Bakery• Zirconia Post Office• East Flat Rock Post Office• Whitley Drug, Greenville Hwy.• Energy Mart Exxon, Upward Road & I-26• Triangle Stop, 754 Upward Road & I-26   Along Kanuga Road• Hot Dog World, Kanuga Road• Mr Pete’s Market, Kanuga Road• Norm’s Minit Mart, Kanuga Road   Laurel Park Area• Economy Drug on Fifth Ave. West• Fifth Avenue Shell• YMCA Hendersonville, Sixth Ave & Oak St• Laurel Park Village, RiteAid• Energy Mart Exxon, Laurel Park• Dixie DIner, Brevard Road   West on Highway 64 (Brevard Road)• Horse Shoe Post Office• Mr Pete’s Market, Etowah, Hwy. 64-W• Blue Ridge Pizza, Etowah, Hwy. 64-W• Etowah Shopping Center, Etowah• Ingles, Brevard Road• Bandana’s Restaurant, Brevard Road   North on Highway 191 (Haywood Road)• Joey’s New York Bagels, Hwy. 191• One Stop Store # 8, Haywood Road (Hwy. 191)• Dollar General, Hwy. 191 & Mountain Road• Triangle Stop, 4197 Haywood Road, Mills River• Ingle’s, Mills River, Hwy. 280   Eastside Hendersonville (Four Seasons Blvd.)• Norm’s Minit Mart, Dana Road• Fatz Cafe, Dana Road & Four Seasons Blvd.• Grocery Outlet, off Four Seasons Blvd.• Energy Mart Exxon, Four Seasons Blvd.• McDonald’s, Four Seasons Boulevard• Mustang Cafe, Dana Road   East on Highway 64 (Chimney Rock Highway)• Triangle Stop, 2545 Chimney Rock Road, Hwy. 64-E• Mr Pete’s Market, East, Hwy. 64-E• Griffin’s Store Edneyville, Hwy. 64-E• Edneyville Post Office• Edneyville General Store• Walmart Shopping Center   North on Highway 25(Asheville Highway)• The Ugly Mug Coffee Shop, Hwy. 25-N• Alykat, US 25-N• Triangle Stop, Hwy 25-N, Balfour• Mountain Home Post Office• Fletcher Post Office• Ingles, FletcherSouthern & Eastern Henderson County   • Dana Post Office• Rosco’s Grocery, Green River• Saluda Post Office   The Hendersonville Lightning is available at mostHenderson County post offices and Ingles supermarkets   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Megan Edney, with a new heart, is coming home

Just three weeks after her successful heart transplant, Megan Edney is coming home. Megan, the 14-year-old daughter of Michael and Lisa Mazzeo Edney, was rushed to Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte on May 30 when tests showed she was suffering from heart failure. Since then, Megan and her family have been through a whirlwind of tests, treatment and her successful heart transplant operation, on June 12. "I think a miracle is the best word for it," Edney said. "It's truly amazing what she’s come through and how quick everything happened." Her release to come home happened faster than anyone expected, too. "They did the catherization and biopsy yesterday and everything came out perfect," he said. "We have to come back once a week for who knows how long." After tests showed that Megan's body was accepting her new heart, physicians cleared her to go home. "They said she’s bouncing back and can do everything she needs in rehab" at home in Hendersonville. "They’ll do some physical therapy, rehab therapy at home. A physical therapist, occupational therapist and speech therapist all will be coming to see her." Having a tube down her throat for weeks affected her vocal chords. "She still whispers," her father said. "She can’t be in public," he said. "Anybody around her is going to have to wear a mask." Asked what Megan most looked forward to, he said, "Sleep, without being interrupted." Edney said he had come home slept in his own bed just three times since May 30. Lisa has never left Megan's side. Edney, an attorney and chair of the Henderson County Board of Commissioners, said fellow lawyers and courthouse officials, county commissioners and administrators had all been supportive. "We're just blessed to be in a small town where everybody gets along and helps everybody else," he said. "The bar has actually helped financially. Somehow I need to publicly express my gratitude to the bar for pitching in and helping out in so many different ways. Everybody cooperated. Judges, the district attorney's office — everybody has been behind us 100 percent." He's talked frequently with County Manager Steve Waytt and his fellow commissioners to keep up with issues. "I’m staying in touch with them and they've been extremely supportive," he said. The family also wanted to express "just our continued thanks to the whole community for their prayers and support." Megan is now featured on the Children's Organ Transplant Association website, https://cota.org/, which raises money for hundreds of patients. Her goal is listed on the website at $60,000. "We are in the midst of doing all the things we have to do to get out of here this afternoon," he said. "So we'll be home some time tonight."     Read Story »

Henderson County News

Our elk died on I-26

Hendersonville’s elk did not make it.The young bull who had left a Maggie Valley herd and migrated east to Henderson County was struck and killed on I-26 just east of exit 49 (U.S. 64) over the weekend.For several weeks the elk had been wandering for miles in Hendersonville, Laurel Park, Etowah, Fletcher and other areas. Outfitted with a radio collar, the elk was monitored every step of the way by wildlife biologists with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. WTZQ radio manager and morning show host Mark Warwick heard about the elk’s death early Monday morning from a listener, who sent a photo of an elk with a radio collar being loaded onto a rollback flatbed wrecker. The photo was timestamped 8:04 p.m. The first call that a van had hit the elk — calling it "a massive deer" came before dawn on Sunday, said Henderson County sheriff's Maj. Frank Stout. After sunup, a number of other calls came in describing an injured elk against the highway guard rail. Calls to North Carolina wildlife resources officials and the State Highway Patrol were not immediately returned.Reintroduced to the North Carolina mountains in the Cataloochee valley in 2000 and 2001, the elk have ranged into cities before. Mike Carraway, a wildlife biologist for Western North Carolina, expressed concern last week that the elk might cross a busy road.“I did see that he’s been close to some highways,” he said before the elk’s unfortunate attempt to cross I-26. “We’d rather him not be close to highways.”He added that it’s not uncommon for elk to lose their fear of civilization and wander in urban areas.“There’s a lot in Maggie Valley that’ll walk right down the mid of the street,” he said. “They’re just not afraid. They’ve been around people are they’re not afraid.” Residents had spotted the bull in Etowah, Laurel Park, on the Hendersonville Country Club golf course and in the Foxwood neighborhood off Stoney Mountain Road, among other locations.Although some people have been reporting seeing a pair of elks, Carraway had no information confirming that.“It’s certainly possible because we don’t have collars on all of them,” he said. “I think we’ve got a total of 12 collars. We try to put one collar on every little herd of elk because they typically hang out in little herds. We try to keep one collar on every little sub-herd just to try to keep track of them.”The reintroduced herd has grown but is still relatively small.“We estimate a total of about 160 and that includes the national park and outside the national park,” he said.Elk can roam far from their home.“We’ve had elk that showed up in WNC that came all the way from Kentucky,” he said. “We have had elk show up from other places.”A much bigger elk reintroduction in Kentucky has grown to as many as 10,000 elk, Carraway said.The elk's demise brought an outpouring of sad-faced emoticons and lamentation on Facebook.“The death of the Elk on I-26 has made me very sad,” the photographer Chuck Hill said. “Of course there are worse things going on in the world... even in the area, but this death has made me very sad.”“So sorry to hear this, Chuck!” Gwen Freeman said. “Had so hoped he’d have his walkabout and go back to Cataloochee.”Farrell Beam added: “Just consider this...he made it all the way from Cataloochee. I thought the other day about the streams and rivers he had to cross. The mountains and valleys he trekked. I'm sure he probably had to cross a road or two and until he got to I-26, he was successful. The freedom he must have felt and also the loneliness. It is sad that this magnificent animal and other animals are needlessly killed on the roads and highways.”       Read Story »

Henderson County News

Ask Matt ... where deputies train now

Q. We have read about the need for law enforcement training facilities but where do sheriff’s deputies train now? I pitched the question to Allison Nock with the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office. Nock said that deputies go to a number of different venues to meet their certification requirements. For firearms training, the only inside range they use is the NC Justice Academy in Edneyville. Naturally Academy classes have priority and County deputies must book their range time well in advance. Tactical training such as SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) may take the deputies to an outdoor range in Rutherford County. “We do not routinely pay for the use of out-of-county training sites as long as we use our own instructors however there are some exceptions such as explosive ordnance disposal, K-9 certification, sniper certification, and specialized investigative courses,” said Nock. Our state requires that law enforcement officers must complete 24 hours of annual training. Detention officers (jailers) and telecommunication officers (911 dispatchers) must complete 16 hours. Nock said that the Sheriff’s deputies far exceed these requirements. The Sheriff’s Office has a working relationship with Camp Pinewood and Camp Blue Star and during the off-season they use their property for K-9 training. Camp Green Cove has also allowed tactical training to be conducted at their camp. Hendersonville Police Chief Herbert Blake said that his officers hold firearms training at the WNC Justice Academy and at the Bear Arms Range in Brevard, an indoor range. Fletcher police officers qualify and train at the Justice Academy. Q. With so many restaurants in Henderson County, where do the managers find their help? Most downtown restaurants use the old fashioned one-page job application. In fact, during my inquiry I was honored to be handed a few forms myself. There are some 375 food service establishments in Henderson County. The national turnover rate in the restaurants and accommodations sector is 72 percent. That aside, I’m guessing that locally there may be some 2,500 jobs each year that need filling. Brooke Comden, who manages West First Pizza, uses a paper application but she occasionally uses an online site such as Craigslist if there is a pressing need. I spoke with one Main Street restaurant employee who said snagajob.com is a good place to look for a job. A lady bartender at Hannah Flanagan’s shared that they don’t use online sites because of low restaurant turnover. A quick look turned up openings for three local food chains. Monster.com is a major employment site but a search for Hendersonville “servers, waiters, waitresses” was disappointing. The website indeed.com turned out to be the motherlode with 600 area jobs and a good balance between restaurant chains and mom & pops. Some eateries put signs in the window. One restaurant manager told me that that “help wanted” signs are politically incorrect “now hiring” signs are the norm. * * * * * Send questions to askmattm@gmail.com.       Read Story »

Flat Rock News

MossColumn: Village Council's vote made road safer

Maya Richardson did not get as much ink as other commenters on the North Highland Lake Road widening project.   Read Story »

Hendersonville News

Awaiting floodplain permit, Publix edges closer to opening

Publix is filling mailboxes with slick fliers and popping up on smart phones with the promise that it’s “coming soon.” In the mailings, smiling cashiers, welcoming butchers and produce managers and delectable-looking plates of seared steak and baked salmon tease shoppers about the offerings and service at the supermarket "where shopping is a pleasure." (“No matter where you are in the store, our associates are easy to find and ready to serve.”)Muscling into a crowd of incumbent supermarkets and drug stores within a few hundred yards, the new grocery store on Greenville Highway is getting closer to completion by the day. Signs went up on Greenville Highway and White Street. Last week, crews moved the construction trailer behind the store, to clear ground for paving. Landscapers are unloading dozens of trees and bushes, so contractor Benning Construction can comply with the city’s stringent landscape requirements. One of the biggest regulatory obstacles remaining is a permit required by state and federal agencies because of the floodplain conditions, notorious locally for pushing high water up over cars’ wheel wells.A deluge of rain in May had people wondering whether Publix had made Mud Creek flooding worse, despite the fact that the contactor installed a huge underground stormwater storage system and other flood prevention measures. Halvorsen Development, the Florida-based contractor that manages construction of new stores for Publix, is still waiting for a flood control permit from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Publix can’t receive a certificate of occupancy until it gets the signoff from FEMA and the state Floodplain Mapping Program, said Susan Frady, director of the city’s Department of Development Assistance. The developer received a conditional letter of map amendment after it tried six times and failed to win a regulatory OK called a no-rise permit, which would have certified that the development on the 6-acre site in the Mud Creek floodplain would not make flood conditions worse than they currently are. The conditional letter allowed the supermarket company to start construction. To get a certificate of occupancy, Publix’s engineers have to convince regulators to drop "conditional."“They have to get everything done with all the flood stuff,” Frady said. “That’s part of their main C.O.”She had received correspondence recently from Jason Claudio-Diaz, the Kimley-Horn engineer working on the application, “so I know he’s working on it.”“We don’t have that yet,” Halvorsen president Tom Vincent said Monday of the Letter of Map Amendment. “We’re getting there. I just know it’s on our checklist as a work in progress. There isn’t a specific opening date. In the next 30 days we’ll have a better idea” on an opening date.City Manager John Connet said the last projection he heard on an opening date was late August. Kim Reynolds, a Charlotte-based Publix spokeswoman, confirmed an opening in the third quarter, which would be by Oct. 1.“Ultimately they have to get (FEMA) to sign off” on the floodplain application, Connet said. “Plenty of people are speculating” that the fill on the site may have made flooding worse, he said. “The question I ask back is, Didn’t it flood this way before Publix was there? We have no indication it’s caused any increased flooding in that area.” More than 2 feet of rain in a three-week stretch in May caused widespread flooding across the region, including high water that closed Greenville Highway directly in front of the supermarket site.Since the May floods crews have completed a new concrete box culvert that drains water from the site via a channel called the Johnson ditch.The contractor has to get a driveway permit from the NCDOT. And still to come are a center turn lane for shoppers northbound on Greenville Highway. The NCDOT is requiring the left-turn lane into the driveway entrance at the southern end of the parking lot. Plans submitted by Halvorsen’s traffic engineers also show a 130-foot southbound right turn lane on Greenville Highway across from Copper Penny Street and a new right turn lane from White Street into the store parking lot.       Read Story »

Mills River News

Mills River OKs tax breaks for herbal supplement maker

MILLS RIVER — A Brevard-based distributor of herbal supplements is hoping to expand its footprint in Henderson County, consolidating leased spaces into a new $10 million facility at Broadpointe Industrial Park that will generate up to 30 jobs over three years.Gaia Herbs, a nationally recognized producer of herbal supplements, plans to move operations from Brevard and East Flat Rock into Broadpointe and continue operations at an existing facility in Mills River. It plans to invest $10.7 million in the building and $1.5 million in furnishings and equipment for a total of $12.2 million.The Mills River Town Council on Thursday agreed to $42,700 in economic development incentives over five years in the form of property tax rebates. The promised jobs would pay an average annual wage of $39,600 plus benefits. The company currently has 260 employees, including 30 in Henderson County.The herbal supplement maker cited the location next to the Asheville Regional Airport as a positive factor. The new facility would contain a bottling operation, warehousing and order fulfillment plus offices and support staff, said Brian Traylor, vice president of operations. The company's headquarters, manufacturing operations and farm will remain in Brevard. “It’s large enough we’re able to start with a facility that meets our needs for the near future and still gives us the opportunity to expand our footprint in that area,” Traylor told the council. It’s an advantage, too, to be across the road from the N.C. State University agriculture research station on Old Fanning Bridge Road.“It really lines up well with who we are what we already doing, considering we have a large farm ourself,” he said.The Henderson County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to take up a separate tax incentives request from Gaia Herbs and the Partnership for Economic Development next month.The company would break ground in August and complete the facility by the fall of 2019 if it closes on the sale, Traylor said.Marketing manager Aimee Sprinkel described the company as a “seed to shelf” enterprise that carefully cultivates all of its plants and harvests the plants when they’re ready, not when the business side needs to fill an order.“At Gaia we actually go out and see if the plants are ready,” she said. “We work with mother nature. We don’t force mother nature.”Councilman Richmond Meadows said he had followed the company for years in Transylvania County.“Ya’ll have grown from a little bitty something to a whole lot of something,” he said.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Trail length doubles at 'no excuses park'

FLAT ROCK — The Park at Flat Rock, said Mayor Bob Staton, is one more attraction that makes the village special.   Read Story »

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