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Drug suspect drove toward officer before being shot, SBI agent says

Henderson County News

Don't miss this week's Hendersonville Lightning (157)

Don't miss this week's issue of Hendersonville Lightning.    Read Story »

Henderson County News

Rain closes iceless skating rink Wednesday

Dampening the holiday spirit a little, steady rain on Wednesday closed the Iceless Skating Rink downtown. The Visitor Center said officials will decide later today whether the rink can open for night skating. Santa will be on the Visitor Center stage today from 2 to 6 p.m. visiting with children. Make sure to bring your camera, to capture the moment. Both events are located at the Visitor Center, 201 S. Main St. For more information visit the Visit Hendersonville Facebook page. The National Weather Service forecast a 100 percent chance of rain today and 80 percent tonight, tailing off to 20 percent Thursday. Rain is likley again Saturday and Sunday. Christmas Day should be mostly sunny and cold with a high near 40.     Read Story »

Mills River News

'Oh my God. My husband's trying to shoot me,' estranged wife tells 911

“Oh my God, my husband’s trying to shoot me,” a woman being chased on N.C. 280 on Friday said to an emergency dispatcher. “I’m on Airport Road, he’s rammed my car, he’s following my car. Please. Oh God, oh my God.”Dispatcher: “Is he following you?”Woman: “He’s chasing me.” The Henderson County sheriff's office on Monday released the 911 tapes containing the pleas from a terrified driver trying to get away from her estranged husband, who she and witnesses said had rammed her car and fired multiple shots at her. At least five other witnesses called 911 and reported the incident that resulted in the arrest early Saturday of 59-year-old Paul Bryan Killian after a standoff with law officers. Killian, of 765 Glenn Bridge Road in Arden, is charged with felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and firing into an occupied vehicle. Killian was released from the Henderson County jail Monday after posting a $200,000 secured bond. The first call came in at 2:27 p.m. Friday from a person who told a dispatcher: “Our client is being chased by her husband who’s shooting at her and they’re heading down towards the airport. He’s chasing her in the vehicle. … She was in here doing business and once she left, he pulled up right behind her. He shot at her five times.”Several other witnesses also described Killian's black 1995 Nissan pickup ramming the silver Mercedes SLS, a sporty high-performance model.“He jumped out and fired about three shots at her,” said a motorist who called at 2:28 p.m. “He’s headed toward the airport. He just went through the red light and is going around the corner toward the Ag Center.” Asked if he got a tag number, the caller said, “He got away from me. He’s driving real fast.” The estranged wife continued to drive west on N.C. 280 with Killian on her tail.“He shot at me. He’s been ramming my car with his truck.”The dispatcher warns her to keep driving: “If you stop, you’re in danger. I need you to keep moving" and avoid taking I-26. "It will be easier for me to get somebody to you if you just stay on Airport Road. But don’t stop.”She and Killian separated Nov. 20, the woman told the dispatcher. When the pickup was out of sight, the dispatcher directed her to pull into the McDonald’s parking lot to wait for law officers. “I don’t know where he is. Oh my God,” she says, distraught.“All right," the dispatcher says. "We’re getting somebody to you. Just take a deep breath."A moment later, she says she sees Killian again. “He’s on that road going towards Cracker Barrel. Where’s the police officer?”“They’re coming,” the dispatcher said.     Read Story »

Henderson County News

Police investigating Green Meadows shooting

Police are investigating a shooting at Green Meadows on Sunday that sent victims to two hospitals for treatment. Hendersonville police officers responded to a citizen’s call reporting a fight in progress that involved gunfire in the area of Woodcock Drive in the Green Meadows community about noon. When officers arrived in the area to investigate they did not locate a disturbance and none of the citizens present identified any individuals involved in the disturbance, city police said in a news release. A short time later officers responded to Pardee and Park Ridge hospitals in regards to people arriving with what were reported to be gunshot wounds. When officers got to the hospitals, they learned that the two individuals were the people involved in the disturbance, police said. Detectives responded to the site of the initial disturbance as well as both hospitals and began to collect evidence and interview people who had knowledge of the incident. Currently the incident is under investigation and the police department is asking anyone with information to contact the Hendersonville Police Department at (828)-697-3025 or Henderson County CrimeStoppers at (828)-697-STOP.     Read Story »

Henderson County News

Hearing on U.S. 64 development is postponed again

The eagerly awaited and oft-delayed public hearing and decision on a broadly opposed high-density development on U.S. 64 in Laurel Park has been delayed again. The town of Laurel Park announced on Friday that it had cancelled its December meeting on Tuesday, when the council had been scheduled to hear a developer's request for permission for the first phase of a development of 199 dwellings in duplexes and cottages on U.S. 64 (2710 Brevard Road) across from Hunters Crossing. Developer WXZ/SG Acquisition is seeking a conditional use permit for the first phase consisting of 56 residential units in 28 duplexes. The NCDOT notified Laurel Park town officials Friday that it had not yet received all the information it needed to finish conducting an analysis of the developer's traffic impact analysis, said Town Manager Alison Alexander. The state agency asked for more information on sight distance at the driveway leading to the Cottages at Arcadia Views, she said. The Town Council tabled the application on  Nov. 29 at the developer's request. The developer's senior development manager, Mark Kopcienski, said then that WXZ needed clarification of the NCDOT's feedback on its traffic impact analysis. Residents of Hunters Crossing, Hawthorn Hills and other subdivisions in the area have mounted a strong opposition movement to the rezoning, saying the two-lane U.S. 64 cannot handle the increased traffic a 200-unit development would generate. Town officials expect the application to be heard at the Jan. 16 council meeting. The next scheduled meeting is a council work session at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 11.     Read Story »

Hendersonville News

Holiday skating returns this week for second year

Holiday skating returns to downtown Hendersonville on Tuesday and continues through New Year’s Day.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Blue Ridge Honor Flight hosts book signing

Blue Ridge Honor Flight will host a book signing with author Jill Tahmooressi, the mother of U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, who was jailed in Mexico for 214 days. In her book, When Light Prevails, Jill shares the actions and emotions she went through to secure her son’s release. For Jill, the book serves to recognize and extend gratitude towards the many, big and small alike who reached out to support and help during the tremendously scary and painful ordeal. For those who followed Andrew’s fight for freedom back in 2014 on television, radio &/ media outlets or for those just hearing about it now for the first time, the book is intensely riveting and revealing. Her account includes the effort locally led by HonorAir cofounder Jeff Miller to raise awareness of Sgt. Tahmooressi's plight and raise money to hire lawyers. “I am sincerely grateful to the Western Carolina folks who stepped up mightily to help secure Andrew’s freedom with Jeff Miller championing the collective effort," she said. "The letters the community sent Andrew, as well as the enormous financial support garnered of $20,000 to help with the legal bills will forever be remembered and cherished." The book signing will take place at the Henderson County Historic Courthouse on Main Street from 4-7pm on Thursday, Dec. 21. Blue Ridge Honor Flight is honored to now be flying WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam War veterans to their memorials in Washington, DC. The organization is now accepting applications for a April 28 flight from the Greenville Spartanburg Airport in partnership with Honor Flight Upstate. Applications are available at blueridgehonorflight.com. For more information about how to get involved in Blue Ridge Honor Flight, make a donation, or to get a veteran signed up for a flight, please visit the Blue Ridge Honor Flight website at blueridgehonorflight.com.   ###   Read Story »

Hendersonville News

Four Seasons wins $750,000 grant for major expansion

Four Seasons Compassion for Life was recently awarded $750,000 from the Duke Endowment to help expand hospice and  palliative in rural areas across North Carolina. Entitled “Project ECHO to Expand Palliative Care Access Across the Carolinas,” the program is a collaboration of Duke University Medical Center, Delta Care Rx and the ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) Institute. Four Seasons will use the Project ECHO model to train and mentor providers in rural communities across the Carolinas in how to deliver high quality palliative care services. “We are grateful to be recipients of this grant as it furthers our vision of innovating healthcare so that we can influence humanity through trusted care," Four Seasons Chief Executive Officer Millicent Burke-Sinclair said. "Positively impacting the life of every individual we care for through our continuum of care is imperative to us and through this grant we will be able to expand opportunities for our care team to provide excellent co-created care wherever our patients call home.” Palliative care addresses the needs of people living with a serious illness through symptom management, psychosocial, spiritual care, advance care planning and coordination with community-based resources to improve quality of life for both the patient and family. However, geographic barriers and the shortage of palliative care providers results in people not having access to palliative care, and providers struggling to provide care to people, especially in rural areas. Having access to palliative care will allow people living in rural areas to be cared for in their community, without having to travel to an academic or urban area. Using telehealth, project ECHO links expert specialists with providers through virtual clinics, where the specialists mentor and train the providers to manage a condition that was previously outside their expertise. Started at the University of New Mexico in 2003, Project ECHO began by developing an educational model to train clinicians in rural/underserved areas of New Mexico to care for patients with hepatitis C in their community. For this grant, Four Seasons will use the ECHO model to train providers in rural/underserved areas in the Carolinas to provide palliative care services. “We are grateful to The Duke Endowment for giving us the opportunity to work towards expanding crucial Palliative Care services to underserved areas in the Carolinas," Four Seasons Grant Project Manager Dr. Elizabeth Burpee said. "Palliative Care is a rapidly growing medical field whose approach is team based and is focused on alleviating suffering. I believe that a Four Seasons-Project ECHO collaboration will not only allow providers in the Carolinas to enter and engage in an exciting global learning community, but will also allow us to provide world class care to our local patients and families.”The goals of the grant are 1) To increase the number of providers in the Carolinas with training and mentorship in palliative care. 2) Improve provider knowledge and skills so that they can deliver high quality palliative care. 3) Increase patient access to end-of life-care that will improve patient/caregiver quality of life, lessen symptom burden and improve patient/family satisfaction. 4) To increase hospice utilization in rural communities. “Workforce shortage issues will continue to impede the delivery of community-based palliative care for patients with serious illnesses," said Janet Bull, the chief medical officer at Four Seasons. "Using the ECHO model, we can reach providers in rural areas who need primary palliative skills along with enhancing skills of those advanced practitioners who lack the support of physicians in their service area. My hope is that demonstration of the value of the ECHO model regionally will allow national expansion, and that persons with serious illness in rural settings will have access to high quality palliative care.”   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Holiday concert benefits The Free Clinics

The Free Clinics will be the beneficiary of donations the audience makes at a holiday concert presented by the Blue Ridge Ringers at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17, at Hendersonville Presbyterian Church, 699 Grove Street. The concert will feature familiar secular and season music, including pieces with flute and piano. A recommended donation of $10 may be offered at the door. All donations benefit The Free Clinics and its programs and services for low-income, uninsured residents of Henderson and Polk Counties. No reservations are needed. The Blue Ridge Ringers, an intergenerational, co-ed community handbell group, has been performing since 1995 in Henderson, Transylvania, Polk and Buncombe counties. The ensemble has appeared with the Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra, Hendersonville Community Band, and the Brevard Chamber Orchestra. For more information about Blue Ridge Ringers call 828.551.0761   Read Story »

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