HMS teacher is N.C.'s nominee for national award

Henderson County News

Hendersonville Chorale presents spring concert Sunday

Hendersonville Chorale will present its Spring Concert, JAZZ!, at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 29, at First United Methodist Church. The program features a mix of mostly jazz music—from old favorites like “When the Saints Go Marching In,” to the sometimes jazzy, sometimes funky, but never irreverent Nadoros Jazz Mass by Chilcott. Director Michael S. Brannon promises this concert will “put a smile on your face and a little ‘tap’ in your foot.” The Chorale’s piano accompanist, Rebecca Brake, will be joined by guest musicians Jason DeCristofaro (drum) and Matthew Waid (string bass).Now in its 44th concert season, the Hendersonville Chorale is the oldest continually performing choral group in Henderson County. Approximately 70 non-auditioned singers with a wide range in age and skill levels currently lend their voices to the Chorale, and all share the love of singing. In addition to its own annual fall and spring concerts, the Chorale frequently performs at the invitation of other area organizations. In recent years, their community involvement has included appearances at Biltmore Estate, Asheville Tourist games, the Henderson County Heritage Museum’s Veterans Hall for Memorial Day, and the Apple Festival. Last May, Chorale members joined the Asheville Symphony Chorus and the Asheville Choral Society in a musical venture that took them to Prague and Brno in the Czech Republic, and on to Vienna and Salzburg, Austria. Concert tickets are available at the Henderson County Visitor’s Center, at the door, and online at HendersonvilleCh  orale.com. Cost is $22. For more information about the concert or about how to become a Chorale member, visit www.hendersonvillechorale.com.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

64-year-old charged with sexual abuse over 22-year span

Henderson County sheriff’s deputies charged a 64-year-old Willow Street man with four felony sexual abuse charges against a minor over a 22-year period after an investigation. Violent Crime Unit detectives charged Larry Freeman Coggins, of 1406 Willow St., with two felony counts of indecent liberties with a child and two felony counts of statutory sex act for offenses that authorities say occurred between 1984 and 2016. Coggins was jailed under  a $440,000 bond. He had a first appearance in Henderson County District Court on Friday.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Schalow faces third trial and 20 felonies

A 50-year-old Hendersonville man whose attempted second-degree murder conviction was thrown on appeal is back in jail and facing 20 felony charges of assault and child abuse.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Dct. 4 candidates oppose parkway, Saluda firing range

Rebecca McCall recalled that in 1974 “a 17-year-old high school was invited to be part of a planning committee to develop what we now know as Jackson Park.” The new park was named for three-term Henderson County Commissioner Clyde Jackson, McCall’s grandfather, a primary supporter of the park. “That girl was me. It was that year that I set a goal for myself to one day hold the office of county commissioner,” she said during a candidate forum. “That was very forward thinking as no woman had ever held that office.”   Read Story »

Hendersonville News

Local student wins Morehead-Cain scholarship

Bob Keener is profoundly interested in nature — human nature and the outdoors kind. He’s done academic research as an intern at both UNC and Duke. At the School of Science and Math in Durham he leads an effort to make sure that as little waste as possible goes from the campus to a landfill. He’s captain of his school’s soccer team, likes to take photographs, plays clarinet and banjo and enjoys cyclocross racing and mountain biking. UNC at Chapel Hill rewarded Keener for his academic and athletic record as well as his volunteer work outside the classroom by awarding him a Morehead-Cain scholarship, one of the most prestigious full rides in America. A native of Hendersonville, Keener spent the first years of his schooling here, at Atkinson elementary and Hendersonville middle and high schools. Bob  — full name Robert Franklin Keener IV — is the son of Rob Keener, a real estate agent, and Mandi Morgan Keener, a health coach with a private practive in Hendersonville. He has a sister, Lillie, who is in eighth grade at Hendersonville Middle School.The Morehead-Cain scholarship pays for tuition, room and board, books, a laptop, supplies, “discovery funds” for other educational opportunities and a four-year summer enrichment program. Keener, 18, says he's undecided on a major at Carolina but is thinking of English or history.“There’s a very good chance,” he said when asked whether that means graduate school is on the horizon. The 79 recipients in the Morehead-Cain class of 2022 include 43 scholars from North Carolina, 36 scholars from outside North Carolina, including 29 from fifteen different states and Washington, D.C., three from the United Kingdom, two from Canada and one each from Armenia, Italy, Jamaica, Peru, Swaziland. Here’s the Lightning’s Q&A with Henderson County’s first Morehead winner since 2012 — when Andrew Wells of HHS and Catherine Swift of West Henderson High School were selected. What kind of study habits did you develop to do so well in academics? “I think that changed a great deal when I came to the School of Science and Math. I did not have to study an exceptional amount while at Hendersonville. I think I learned as much from stuff I did outside, like working jobs and things. I’ve been able to spend more time focusing on schoolwork. I certainly did study beforehand but I look at the way I have to work now to keep up with classes.” Where else have you been admitted? “I was also admitted to Pomona (in Claremont, California), Williams, Duke and Yale.” Can you tell about the Morehead process and the challenges and rewards? “The first step is just a written application. I liked that early on because I felt like it was comprehensive. I think a lot of times college admissions have a tendency to reduce you to statistics, test scores or GPA. It felt that the Morehead process was interested in getting to know who I was as a person. The second round consisted of a panel interview, which was me and several interviewers, and then there was a group scenario where I and several others were asked to think through and talk through problems in a roundtable and then present that to the Morehead-Cain staff. They made observations on the way we churned that out. In the interviews at the semifinalist level and the finalist level, they took interest in the things I was passionate about and they wanted to know what I thought about the experiences and what motivated me to care about them.”   Often the Morehead gives weight to service outside school. What was yours? “It’s difficult for me to say if there is a particular achievement. Before coming to the school of Science and Math I was active in my church youth group (Grace Lutheran). All throughout the School for Science and Math I worked in a couple of different nonprofits organization, which I would say fulfilled my service component the most. I’m active in a student-led nonprofit that I served as vice president of, the Student Environmental Education Coalition. It was founded here a couple of years ago and has been passed down. That was really great process to me because I was active in leadership.” The Morehead also gives weight to athletics and physical fitness. Do you have a sport? “I play soccer and was captain of our soccer team (center back) and also captain of our Ultimate Frisbee club team and I also compete at a high level in cyclocross and mountain biking. I started doing that (mountain biking) with my dad when I was probably in elementary school. I do a little bit of road cycling with the Duke University cycling team.” What other extracurricular activities do you do? “I pretty often have a lot of creative outlets going on. The visual arts. Photography is something I also pursue frequently. I played clarinet in the band at Hendersonville ... I’m also what’s called an SPL, Sustainability Project Leader. It’s a large commitment I make that I really enjoy. It’s a leadership position where we think about and try to facilitate recycling on our campus. For example, all of our package material is composted so we take out grant funding for that and make sure all the kinks are out of the system.” You talked about learning from jobs. What were they? “I started refereeing youth soccer when I was 12, 13, 14, around there. After that I worked one summer on a small organic farm, it was (Hal) Oliver organics. I worked at Crank Coffee, which is right at the entrance of Pisgah Forest. Those were jobs that helped support paying for college and paying for club soccer. I played for Highland Football Club.” Who were your positive influences in school in Hendersonville? “At Hendersonville Middle School, Mark Buzzell was one person who I think always took a personal interest in me holding myself to a really high level in the classroom. Mr. Walter Cottingham at Hendersonville, I had him my freshman year for world history. He was another professor who I think really pushed his students to excel. Apart from that I think I gain a lot from every experience I’ve had with different professors. I think there’s a shared obligation by the professor and the student to make a positive experience so it’s always an interesting challenge to meet a new professor.” You’ve certainly had a successful high school career. What would you tell an incoming freshman about how they should approach high school? “I think it’s imperative in high school to find yourself and figure out the things that you as an individual are passionate about. That is a very difficult thing to do at that time in one’s life because we are so concerned with what everyone around us thinks about us. I think one has to separate themselves from that outer pressure and look at the things that they are truly passionate about, whether that’s athletics or academics. It’s really good to explore things but also make yourself uncomfortable. I think experiencing that discomfort and that sense of self is a real reconciliation of one’s passion and I think that’s how you locate what you really feel.”     Read Story »

Henderson County News

Sheriff's candidates diverge on training center, animal control, body cams

Sheriff Charlie McDonald and challenger Lowell Griffin squared off during a campaign forum last week at Blue Ridge Community College, fielding questions on the proposed law enforcement training center, responsiveness to the Latino community, arming teachers, animal control, sheriff’s personnel turnover and the use of body cameras. McDonald and Griffin meet in the May 8 primary, with the winner going on to serve as sheriff for the next four years barring an unprecedented write-in campaign. No Democrat filed to run.Among Griffin’s priorities are plans to reassign supervisors to patrol duties so they get to know the community better, develop joint law enforcement task forces “to multiply our manpower without adding a burden to the taxpayer,” develop “a process where we have job security and lower the turnover rate at the sheriff’s office” and add body cameras.“Imagine having a community where you knew who was in charge of your community” in police protection, he said in closing remarks. “We need these officers back out here in your community, responsive to you, able to identify problems areas, able to make a difference … We need to revisit our relationships (with neighboring agencies). I want to bring job security to the sheriff’s office. We talked about the turnover, the money associated with the turnover.”McDonald touted reforms that he said has transformed the sheriff’s office into a “premier law enforcement agency” from the one he took over amid turmoil in 2012 following the resignation the previous November of Sheriff Rick Davis.“We have buried once and for all the good ol’ body system that inevitably leads to inefficiency and corruption,” McDonald said. Strategic policing has “enabled us to exceed our crime reduction goals five years in a row.”“We are leading the charge to improve school safety for our most precious resources — our children and our grandchildren,” he said. “Despite what’s being said by those with axes to grind, I would submit that we can’t afford to turn back,” he said in closing. “We’ve shown Henderson County what can be accomplished when an agency comes together as a team to accept necessary change, embrace best practices and organizational management. Morale is high, our staff is well-trained.”Here is the candidate Q&A:   What’s your position on the law enforcement training center? McDonald: “The $20 million training center was never my idea, was never anything I asked for. I asked for an outdoor training facility and outdoor range area multiple times actually. The commissioners in trying to help facilitate our ability to train sought the services of architects that came up with a proposal that would cost $22 million. I talked to commissioners a year ago, one or two at a time, and asked them to table the current proposal at Blue Ridge Community College while we tried to find some land to do something outside. We’re asking our men and women to do more and more and to be trained to a higher level of efficiency. I think everybody understands law enforcement needs to have the ability to train realistically in rapidly evolving situations so they can practice critical decision skills and combat tactics. The only way they can do that is to have a full-service training center where we can have force-on-force options and the ability for officers to train in more than one direction at a time.” Griffin: He became aware of a training facility in Alabama with “different concrete structures, bare bones, very cheap. They’ve created a village (that has) a mock post office, a convenience store, residential structures. With this village, we can employ different weapon systems besides the live fire. We can use that for static targets as well as force-on-force training. If we do this right, we can create a village that becomes a total emergency services training area. … If we decide to go with an outdoor training center, we’ve got to have transparent studies that show the effect on the quality of life of everyone that may be around or affected by that. There are a lot of options. I think we really need to slow down and discuss and choose what’s right.” What are your plans for school safety? McDonald: Shortly after the Sandy Hook shootings, “We put together the adopt-a-school program. Deputies, detectives would go to schools during unannounced times of the day. As we had this last incident in Parkland, quickly we changed the rules about getting folks to be at the schools. We also got permission to pay our off-duty guys to go into these schools that don’t have a standing SRO. In the meantime, Henderson County is going to release money to hire the school resources deputies that we need (next school year).” Griffin: “There’s no bankful of gold anywhere in the world that is worth more than one child is. This was a topic of debate four years ago in this Republican primary. And I agree there has to be a collaborative effort between law enforcement, the school administration and the Board of Education. I know there needs to be some training inside these facilities. We need to practice lockdowns. These officers can have role model in the schools, somebody that can actually spot problems that these children have, even outside the schools.” What is your position on arming teachers? McDonald: “No. 1, it’s not legal in North Carolina. I’ve talked to teachers who don’t want to carry guns and don’t think they should have to. I’ve talk to other teachers who have conceal-carry and would like to be able to and feel like they would be that last line of defense if an active shooter comes into their classroom. I think there’s a place for that. The most responsive law enforcement can get there within three minutes. The SRO may be halfway across the campus. I think armed teachers, properly trained and properly vetted, should be allowed.” Griffin: “It’s one thing to carry a gun. It’s another thing to have the mindset to actually use that gun in the use of deadly force. Not all teachers probably qualify to carry a gun and discharge it safely in the chaos when there’s a crisis going on at the school. It has to be a collaborative effort to identify a teacher who has the mindset, who has the skills to maintain the security of a weapon on the school grounds and to be able to discharge that weapon in a manner that’s not going to put anybody else in danger should a crisis occur. I do agree there are those that are capable of doing that.” Why doesn’t the sheriff’s office enforce animal control inside cities? McDonald: “Because it’s illegal.” A citizen complained that the sheriff’s office is not authorized to enforce city ordinances “and basically said we were kidnapping animals. … We don’t have the legal authority to do that” except through an agreement between the city and county. Cities chose not to pay for the service from the county. “I think the county and the municipalities would be better off if we did it all. It’s easier on the animal shelter, it’s easier on the health department and it’s easier on our deputies. The problem is we can’t do it when we don’t have the resources. The bottom line, this has nothing to do with my stance. It really rests on the Board of Commissioners and I support why they took the position that they did.” Griffin: “Folks in the municipalities, they pay county taxes, too. I would like to go back to the Board of Commissioners, work with the municipalities and work out an agreement to where we could enforce these animal enforcement laws inside the municipalities. A lot of these municipalities add a significant amount to the county tax base. I believe that I could reallocate resources, that I could work with the commissioners and work these municipalities to ensure they get the services that they’re entitled to.” Is the sheriff’s office better than four years ago? Griffin: “What we’ve seen in the sheriff’s office is a tremendous turnover rate. We’re looking at right now, a 50 percent turnover rate. There are tremendous officers that are still there. Henderson County lost a lot of talent and experience. Taxpayers invested tens of thousands in training. What should have been a county asset has been pushed aside.” School safety and animal control remain unresolved. “I can’t say it’s better off.” McDonald: There has been turnover. “I’ve said this from day one. If you don’t have character and ethics to wear the badge honorably you’re not going to stay at our office. By the same token, we are recruiting some of the brightest people we’ve ever recruited. We’re attracting from other places.” Griffin: “The mantra that I’ve heard is loyalty over skill set. The only loyalty I’m going to demand is going to be loyalty to you, the citizens of Henderson County that we serve. … We have lost over 100 personnel at the sheriff’s office. It takes $100,000 to $150,000 to replace that person. You’re looking at $10-15 million in what you the taxpayer has actually paid.” McDonald: “No. 1, anyone who runs an office or organization has the right to expect that the the folks that work for them carry out their duty. I was hired by the citizens of Henderson County to do specific things, I promised them I would and I haven’t broken a promise yet. But when I find folks within my agency who can’t buy into that mission and who would be subversive and counterproductive I don’t care how much training they have I’ll pass and I’ll go get another one.” In turnover, “22 percent resigned for higher paying jobs, moving away, starting businesses or scheduled health issues, 25 percent retired; 33 percent retired or resigned in lieu of termination and of those 55 percent (were for) unbecoming conduct, ethics or policy violation, 17 percent work performance, 8 percent criminal acts and 17 percent subverted the sheriff’s missions and goals.” How effective is the sheriff’s at working with the Latino community? McDonald: “My commitment is to anybody who lives this county, whether they’re here on a visa or not, I don’t ask about that. My deputies don’t ask about that when we do our job. Our job is to provide safety and security.” Griffin: The sheriff ought to be mindful of the economic contribution Latinos make. “There are actually industries here that would fold without these folks. We have to have a relationship. I would actually like to establish a liaison for the Latino community. We have to earn trust. … They can help us root out the bad actors in their community.” What’s your position on body cameras? McDonald: “When we start accepting things like this they take us down the slippery slope. Before we jump at something that looks good, we’ve got to think it through. Body cameras have caused officers to second guess or to hold back. Body cameras hold us to a level of visual acuity that a human being doesn’t have. A body camera can see many many times more clearly and more detail than the human eye can, particularly when a human being is under stress. The camera doesn’t have the information that the officer has. If the state were to mandate I would have to. If my deputies asked for it I would do that. If you carry yourself ethically and properly and you don’t generate a bunch of complaints that are verified and validated I trust you.” Griffin: “Contrary to popular belief, we have suspects that are right. I have spoken to many officers whose agencies employ body cameras and the vast majority are pro-camera. We’ve already got cameras in the cars. Sometimes officers are at a disadvantage because the suspects are able to produce more visual evidence than the officer during an arrest. Almost every one of you out there carries a video camera with you. I know of one case right now where we’re going to use body-cam footage in a homicide trial. It is basically a fundamental piece of technology that need to employ here.”             Read Story »

Henderson County News

Don't miss this week's Hendersonville Lightning (170)

You won't want to miss this week’s Hendersonville Lightning.   Read Story »

News Archive

• Meeting on fate of Highland Lake project called off     Comments
• Sheriff's office seeks owners of recovered stolen property     Comments
• Ask Matt ... about tourism and Tar Heel signs     Comments
• Laurel Park to celebrate new Rhododendron Lake park     Comments
• You can sign a Barbara Bush registry at Shepherd funeral home     Comments
• Local author Heather Bell Adams on Bookwatch Sunday     Comments
• Leaders reject training center in Polk County     Comments
• Don't miss this week's Hendersonville Lightning (169)     Comments
• County poised to kill Saluda shooting range     Comments
• Recommended county budget includes no tax increase     Comments
• Firing range, Balfour opponents pack courthouse     Comments
• Saluda residents plot battle plan against firing range     Comments
• LIVE COVERAGE: Sheriff's debate     Comments
• East Flat Rock man charged with drug, weapons felonies     Comments
• Latino community on edge over ICE busts, protesters say     Comments
• Ward blasts board over county manager bonuses     Comments
• Hendersonville native's debut novel wins acclaim     Comments
• WHKP to air sheriff's debate     Comments
• NCDOT engineers to meet with Balfour Parkway opponents     Comments
• International chef gives historic inn a makeover     Comments
• BIG CROWD PROTESTS SHOOTING RANGE     Comments
• County moves firing range meeting to Grove Street Courthouse     Comments
• Laurel Park holds work day for park     Comments
• Former BRCC president seeking NC Senate seat on coast     Comments
• Saluda residents call meeting to oppose firing range     Comments
• NCDOT sets meeting on I-26 widening     Comments
• IAM opens Working Women’s Clothing Closet     Comments
• Foes deliver 1,600 signatures against Highland Lake widening     Comments
• Crowds flocking to coffee shop/taproom/wine bar     Comments
• LIGHTNING EDITORIAL: Political salvation at undisclosed location     Comments