Henderson County News
Hendersonville native Heather Bell Adams will appear on UNC-TV’s North Carolina Bookwatch at 11 a.m. Sunday, April 22, and 5 p.m. Thursday, April 26, to talk about her award-winning novel.
Host D.G. Martin will interview Adams about Maranatha Road, her debut novel based in a small mountain town like Hendersonville called Garnet. The book has won the James Still Fiction Prize, the Carrie McCray Literary Award and the Independent Book Publishers Gold award as the best novel in the Southeast. Southern Literary Review called Maranatha Road “an exquisite story with characters so real they could step off the pages into your living room.”
The daughter of Doley Bell, Adams is a graduate of Hendersonville High School. She earned undergraduate and law degrees from Duke University and is senior counsel for First Citizens Bank.
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Henderson County News
Polk County leaders said Thursday they will not support locating a law enforcement training center in the county, an idea that Henderson County Manager Steve Wyatt and county commissioners had said they would pursue instead of a site in Saluda.
The preemptive decision by Polk County was yet another twist in the apparent collapse of the fourth try by Henderson County Sheriff Charlie McDonald, county administrators and the Board of Commissioners to site a law enforcement training center and shooting range in the county. After three previous attempts to find a location for the project — including two with an outdoor range — commissioners voted unanimously on April 2 to authorize administrators to offer $655,000 for 99 acres on Macedonia Road in rural Saluda. Meetings on Saturday in Hendersonville and Monday in Saluda drew 150-200 people and neighbors geared up for a political and legal war to defeat the firing range. The town of Saluda and Polk County commissioners notified Henderson County that they opposed the shooting range.
Wyatt told the Henderson County commissioners on Wednesday morning that he had received the letter and spoken with Polk County Manager Marche Pittman about partnering on a shooting range. In light of the "apparent decision Wednesday by Henderson County commissioners to abandon" the Saluda site, Polk County issued a statement that unequivocally rejected a site in their county.
"We are pleased that Henderson County appears to have chosen a different solution for their public safety training facility location," the letter said. "We look forward to working with them in helping choose a site that won't negatively affect Polk County citizens, tourism, or economic development. We are very aware of the fact that the location of a new facility would be a challenge for any citizen, so a new training facility being placed in Polk County would not be something we would be interested in." Read Story »
Henderson County News
You won't want to miss this week’s Hendersonville Lightning.
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Henderson County News
The Saluda shooting range may not be dead yet but it's on life support.
Two Henderson County commissioners on Wednesday came out against siting an outdoor shooting range and law enforcement training center on 99 acres on Macedonia Road off U.S. 176 in rural Saluda and two others appeared to be leaning against.
"The consensus is we're going to work with Polk and Saluda to try to come up with an alternative site," Chair Michael Edney said. "We're going to honor the commitments we have as far as the due diligence. That doesn't mean we're not abandoning it. We're just leaving all our cards on the table for the time being."
A homeowner asked, Does this mean formal stance that there won't be a shotng range on that property?
"No," Edney said. "Our goal is to walk away but we're not saying we are today."
County Manager Steve Wyatt started the update on the shooting range by suggesting that Henderson and Polk counties could partner on building and possibly operating a shooting range and training facility. The Polk County Board of Commissioners sent a letter to Henderson County opposing the Macedonia Road site and suggesting that the two counties could cooperate on a solution.
“One of the things we’ve seen (from Polk County) is we will work with you to find a better site,” Wyatt said. “I’m more than happy to work with a small group of folks in finding a better site if there is one. Maybe there is.”He said he had spoken with Polk County’s manager on the project.“The offer has been made to work with us to find a mutually agreeable site and perhaps partner with operating it through a memorandum of understanding or some legal means,” he said.Commissioners Charlie Messer and Bill Lapsley both said they could not support a shooting range at the Macedonia Road site. Commissioners Michael Edney and Tommy Thompson were leaning against the Saluda site but supported continuing due diligence evaluation of the site. Commissioner Grady Hawkins cautioned against immediately dropping the Macedonia Road site.Messer and Thompson visited neighbors and walked the property last week.“After going there, this parcel is not where any kind of training facility needs to be in my opinion,” Messer said, provoking robust applause from the crowd. “We’ve been all over the county, north, east, south and west. In my opinion we probably need to take an outdoor shooting range off the map because we’re not going to find any property I don’t think in Henderson County. I think that should be dropped from discussion.”Lapsley said that while he appreciated Edney “trying to find middle ground” he had concluded that he could not support a rezoning or special-use permit clearing the way for a range on the Macedonia Road property.“This board has looked at this for three years of my four year term and this is the fourth site that we’ve looked at,” Laplsey said. “The zoning ordinance has clearly set out what kind of uses are permitted by right. This would require a special-use permit and it’s not a permitted use” without one. “As I look at this specific site, the site is zoned R2R … From my perspective, if this board moves forward on this specific site, it would require this board to revise the zoning of that property to allow it to happen. To me to change the zoning … flies in the face of everything we have publicly said we would allow people to do. I’m not prepared to do that. If I would not support the rezoning of the property for an outdoor shooting range, to spend additional money from my perspective is a waste of the county tax dollars.”In response, Commissioner Grady Hawkins said the county will never site an outdoor range if Lapsley opposes all special-use permits, which “There really is nowhere in the county that by right or otherwise (permits) an outdoor shooting range. If that is the intent we would never have an outdoor shooting range anywhere in this county because it would require a rezoning," Hawkins said.“I think to abandon that (site) at this point would mean if we’re unsuccessful in working with Polk County we’d have no other plan at all. I don’t think at this point you need to abandon the plan that you unanimously voted for two weeks ago.”Edney and Thompson cautioned against pulling the plug immediately because of the county’s contracts to map the property, verify the title and complete environmental studies.“We can’t just turn around to these people we’ve contracted with and tell them no, goodbye and walk way,” Thompson said. “We have a contractual agreement and that’s what we have to follow through. We’re all saying don’t do anything further by the same token we’ve got obligations and we need to fulfill them.”Edney said it’s the county’s desire to find “an alternative site that would work better. We won’t take anything off the table but that’s the way we need to go this morning.”
Asked if the project now appeared dead, across-the-road homeowner Tom McHugh said, "If not today, soon."
"The zoning change came as a surprise to us yesterday," he said.
As Lapsley pointed out, the R2R zoning bars a shooting range, even as a special use granted by the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Residents had previously thought the land was zoned R-3, a residential zone that allows a shooting range with a special-use permit.
To change the property to R-3 would be spot zoning, said James Hrynyshyn, vice chair of the Saluda Planning Board and a leader of the campaign to stop the project. The county would have to prove that the rezoning was in the best interest of the community. "There's no way this particular zone would work according to the state requirements," he said. That's why Lapsley's comments were important.
"That was a turning point for me, to have someone who understands that zoning-wise this is a no go," Hrynyshyn said.
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Henderson County News
A recommended 2018-19 Henderson County budget funds 17 new deputies in public schools without a tax increase, County Manager Steve Wyatt said Tuesday.Wyatt told the Local Government Committee for Cooperative Action, a quarterly joint meeting of leaders of the county and its municipalities, that his recommended budget keeps the tax rate level and funds the school security measure that Sheriff Charlie McDonald, the School Board and commissioners have all endorsed.
“We get calls about armed volunteers in the school," Wyatt said. "That is not something that’s in our plan. The plan is to put qualified vetted trained law enforcement officers in schools. But we don’t want to turn our schools into prisons.” In calls from the public, “the No. 1 feedback is (requesting) deputies.”Wyatt said discussions with county school officials have produced agreement on priorities that also include electronic doors, warning systems, making windows safer “and command and control for those things.”
"Their top priority also is the safety and security of the school children. We’re doing more here than anywhere I know of,” he said.In a brief discussion about the 2019 revaluation, Wyatt explained that the Board of Commissioners had for the last several revaluation cycles worked off of four-year spending cycles, setting a tax rate that will produce enough money for capital projects and expansion of services such as more deputies, ambulance crews or school nurses.“So I anticipate the board will want to do that next year,” he said. “Based on the preliminary numbers it’s going to be an opportunity when it comes to a lower tax rate but there are also going to be challenges.”The 2019 revaluation is expected to produce substantially higher assessments and present the question to the Board of Commissioners and other governing boards of what tax rate to set. Read Story »
Henderson County News
Hundreds of people jammed into the assembly room of the Board of Commissioners to express their opposition the biggest nimby projects since the Duke Energy transmission line, filling every seat and overflowing into a community room next door.The Board of Commissioners has a Balfour Parkway workshop on its agenda, the issue for dozens of county residents, and opponents of a firing range in Saluda are signing up to speak against that proposed project on Macedonia Road.
Dozens of people lined up before the doors opened, stretching from the front door of the couthouse to the street and down the sidewalk. Signup for comment started at 8:30 and didn't end until 9:07.
Sara Bell, owner of the Gorge Zipline and Green River Adventures, said Wednesday morning that after hearing from firing range opponents on Monday night the Polk County Board of Commissioners had agreed to send a letter to Henderson County opposing the project, which the county wants to build on 99 acres on Macedonia Road.
Chair Michael Edney opened the meeting at 9:10 with one question: "Has everyone who wants to speak signed up?"
After an invocation by County Manager Steve Wyatt and Pledge of Allegiance led by County Commissioner and Air Force veteran Grady Hawkins, the board opened a public hearing on a zoning case. Edney said nothing about the order of agenda items.
THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY. FOR MORE RETURN TO THE HENDERSONVILLE LIGHTNING. THE LIGHTNING WILL UPDATE THE STORY WITH COMMENTS FROM COMMISSIONERS WHEN THE MEETING GETS UNDER WAY. Read Story »
Henderson County News
SALUDA — Although they love peace and quiet, Saluda folks are making a collective roar against Henderson County’s latest effort to site a shooting range.
Nearly 250 people turned out Monday night to hear about the range, which Henderson County Sheriff Charlie McDonald wants to build on a 99-acre parcel of steep woodland on Macedonia Road in rural Saluda. The information session followed what turned into a rally of more than 150 people outside the Grove Street Courthouse on Saturday, when county officials held an information session inside with nearby landowners but barred the public otherwise.At the meeting on Saturday, neighbors said they were stunned to hear McDonald say that he had not walked the property, nor had any commissioners, despite their unanimous vote on April 2 to buy the property for $655,000, conditioned on due diligence. Since then, commissioners Charlie Messer and Tommy Thompson have visited the property and met with concerned neighbors, and sheriff’s deputies fired shots on the land Friday to test the noise level.McDonald said he needs a facility to provide “realistic training for deputies responding to crisis events.”“Recent incidents across our nation have only served to underscore the necessity of such training,” he said two weeks ago. “We ask these men and women to respond to incredibly complex emergencies, exercising flawless critical problem-solving skills, when in many instances we have failed to properly prepare them.”Monday night’s meeting featured Brian Goldman, the attorney who helped Green River homeowners defeat the county’s first effort to site a training center and firing range, at a former summer camp. Goldman represents a small group of landowners, including Susan and Tom McHugh, who live near the site.“We live within spitting distance,” said McHugh, a retired land developer. “I can look right into it. I was never asked. I was never consulted.”
‘Behind the 8-ball’
A Henderson County planner before he went to law school, Goldman laid out numerous factors that opponents can make against the Macedonia Road site. He urged the crowd to attend Wednesday’s meeting of the Board of Commissioners and admonished them to behave.“We’re dignified,” he said. “We’re not out there hootin’ and hollerin’ when someone makes a good point. We need to be respectful.” Lots of speakers is OK, he added. “But for everyone just to get up there and say the same thing, after a little while may fall on deaf ears. So we’re developing some talking points” to make sure separate major points are covered. Among the points:• Incompatibility. As the applicant for a special-use permit, the county would have to show “site appropriateness, compatibility with surrounding uses and protection of public health, safety and welfare,” according to the land-use code. The Zoning Board of Adjustment would hear the case. Opponents have brought up erosion, groundwater contamination, water pollution, traffic and gunshots as factors they say threaten public health, safety and welfare. On Monday night the neighbors scoffed at the prospect that the county could prove that a shooting range is compatible with surrounding uses.• Lead pollution. A nearby example commissioners will hear about is lead pollution at an abandoned range at Southwestern Community College, which is currently in a remedial cleanup phase. A stream through the Saluda land empties into the Green River, which feeds Lake Adger, “a lot of y’all’s backup water supply,” Goldman said. “I don’t know in 20 years, that’s still too close.• Environmental assessment. Engineers told residents Saturday they have not yet investigated whether there are endangered plants or animals. Neighbors say there’s an eagle’s nest on the property.• Other options. The opponents point out that there are indoor or outdoor ranges at the WNC Justice Academy in Edneyville, in Shelby, at Cliffside in Rutherford County, in Buncombe County and in Greenville County, S.C. “He’s not making the effort to train his deputies as much as he could, even though that’s his primary motivation — to get better trained deputies, and we all want better trained police officers,” said James Hrynyshyn, a Saluda Planning Board member and a leader of the campaign against the range. “Even if all these other things weren’t true, even if we weren’t worried about the future of Saluda, this thing is not necessary and I think we’ve proved the sheriff has not taken advantage of existing resources to train his officers. Nobody needs to suffer through this. This should be the last time the sheriff tries to put one of these things through.”
Goldman held up a map with 1,000-foot circles showing what land would be off-limits because of the land-use code’s buffer from homes. The 1,000-foot radii put 80 percent of the land off-limits, he said. “They’re already starting behind the 8-ball knowing that there’s very little property that they can use,” he said. “They may end up being good stewards of your money and not spend those funds to buy that piece of property. … It may make it very easy for commissioners to save face and say not here, not now.”
Issue attract candidates
Two candidates showed up Monday night who could team up to reverse the county’s decision if elected — sheriff’s candidate Lowell Griffin and Don Ward, who is running for his old District 4 seat.“We need something that’s multi-dimensional,” serving fire, EMS and law officers, said Griffin, who faces McDonald in the May 8 Republican primary. “I understand the need for realistic and relevant ongoing training. … There are so many options out there. We need to slow down, let’s research all the options and let’s do it right.”Retired Superior Court Judge Zoro Guice, who has deep roots in the area, has also joined the opposition. The Guice homestead “belonged to my great-great-grandfather,” he said. “I’ve hunted all over that property, I’ve fished all over it and I still own 30 acres at the top of the mountain overlooking where the shooting range would be.”And he’s lobbying commissioners to kill it.“I have talked to Charlie Messer,” he said. “I have a meeting with Mike Edney in the morning. I’m going to try to talk to my cousin Tommy Thompson sometime before the Wednesday meeting.”Candidates for office have adopted the shooting range resistance as major planks of their campaigns. Besides Ward and Griffin, those include Democrats who face uphill battles in reliably Republican precincts. State House candidate Sam Edney and state Senate candidate Norm Bossert both attended the events Saturday and Monday. “Personally I don’t think it’s going to work for the sheriff,” Bossert said. “These people are p---ed off. To me if the people didn’t care, I’d say OK. They care, this is their neighborhood, where their homes are, where their kids play. I would bet that there are just as many Republicans here as Democrats. This is not a partisan issue.”
Flat Rock resident Pat Sheley, a Democrat running for the Board of Commissioners, stood up Monday night and announced her opposition to the project.Longshot they may be, but there’s firing range opponents will win the Raven Rock precinct.
Rally on the courthouse steps
Saturday’s rally produced a cinematic picture when around 150 residents stood on the steps of the Grove Street courthouse, cheering speakers who denounced the shooting range proposal.“How many resource officers could we put in the schools for $6 million?” asked Steve Rhodes, provoking a spirited cheer. “The issue on the front burner right now is children’s safety. How many school shootings are we going to witness and this clown wants to put $6 million on a training facility. When we already have one that could be utilized. Bullet-proof doors. Metal detectors, something, $6 million to protect our children, not for some guy that’s going to go shootin’ out in the woods.”Hrynyshyn, the Saluda Planning Board member, said McDonald dismissed the idea of using other facilities for training.“He really wants to have his own,” said Hrynyshyn, the Saluda Planning Board member. “He doesn’t really care what else is nearby.”Engineers told residents that the due diligence period ends around May 23.“Six weeks or less, they have all these studies to show whether or not this thing is going to make sense,” Hrynyshyn said. “I’m not sure it’s possible to do the kind of deliberate due diligence in five or six weeks.”“But isn’t that convenient,” a landowner said, “because that’s after the May election.”
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Henderson County News
Opening remarks: Griffin goes first, opens with his standard minibio that he's served the public for 35 years (fire and rescue), the last 26 in law enforcement, too. He would redeploy some of the brass to the streets and have them involved in the communities they cover.
McDonald touts his record of reform andreducing crime, reforming the department after Sheriff Rick Davis resigned amid a scandal.
First question:
What's the status of the $20 million range. Why not use Edneyville training center.
"That's not a done deal," McDonald said of the training center and firing range proposed for Saluda. "Here's what the problem. We're asking our men and women to do more and more and be trained to a high level of efficiency ... They may not respond the way they need to respond."
Griffin said he's trained across the U.S. In Alabama, he saw an idea of a "bare bones" training center that mocks a village, with a post office, houses. We can employ different weapon system besides the live fire," he said. "If we do this this right we can create a village that becomes a multipurpose training center," use for fire and EMS, too. "If we decide we've got to have transparent studies that shows the real effect on the quality of life of ev that might be around or affected by that. ... There are a lot of options we really need to slow down and discuss and choose what's right."
Rebuttal:
"It's not necessarily a done deal. We've had offers from citizens in the community to help us find an area," McDonald said. The training needs continue.
Griffin: "We have to have ongoing training. It's got to be realistic, it's got to be dynamic."
SECOND QUESTION:
What plans to you have for school safety?
McDonald: Started the adopt a school program, where deputies dropped in on schools, ate lunch, checked in. In 2016 deputies made 3,747 random visits. After Parkland, he stepped up the drop-in visits and also paid off-duty officers to increase those. "We're wearing our men and women on their off days to be able to cover these schools," he said. He said he had received confirmation that County Manager Steve Wyatt's recommended budget would put deputies in all schools — without a tax increase.
Griffin: It has to be a priority. "There is no bankful of gold anywhere in the world that's worth more than one child is." Deputies in schools was a topic four years ago, he said. He recommends practicing lockdowns, he's for SROs in schools, protecting children and serving as a role model. "We've got to get back to looking at school safety realistically" and harden each school against attacks.
McDonald: Safety starts with a mindset. "It doesn't matter how much money yu spend or how many people you put in there if the people don't buy into and use the system consistently."
QUESTION 3: Arming teachers.
McDonald: No. 1, it's not legal in North Carolina. He's heard from teachers who oppose it and those with conceal-carry permits who are silling to. "I think there's a place for that. I think we ought to be able to give them that opportunity."
Griffin: "It's one thing to carry a gun and it's one thing to have the mindset to use that gun in deadly force." It would have to be a collaborative effort of all parties, for training, vetting. "I do agree that there are those that are capable of doing that." And that was allowed, he would have no problem with them defending classrooms.
Question 4
Why doesn't sheriff provide animal enforcement inside cities.
"Because it's illegal," McDonald said. A citizen claimed sheriff's deputies were "kidnapping animals." Commissioners were willing to pass an ordinance but the cities passed on the cost of picking up the cost. When he came into office, he asked the cities again. "I think the county and the municipalities would be better off if we did it all." He doesn't have the money, he said. "The bottom line is 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: He would work out an agreement "to where we could enforce these animal enforcement laws" inside city. The cities add a significant amount of money to the tax base. "They're already contributing a significant amount to the county budget overall."
Question: How well does the sheriff's office work with Latino community?
McDonald: "My commitment to anybody who lives in this county. what, i don;t ask abut that, my deputies don't ask about that when we do our job."
Griffin: "There are industries that would fold without that community. I would actually like to establish a liaison for the Latino community. We have to earn trust in this communities. ... so they can help us point out the bad actors in their community."
Question 7: What's your position on 287g, the program in which local law officers work with ICE.
Griffin: He would need to study it more. He wants to catch "bad actors." "I don't want to use it as a tactic that's going to intimidate the Latino community that this county relies so heavily on."
McDonald: "Obviously Mr. Griffin doesn't understand. It has nothing do with the roundup this weekdn. That was federal officers taking care of federal laws and federal warants." The sheriff's uses it in the jail to run records of people already arrested to identify immigrants that have a record.
After the question about 287g, a program widely mistrusted by immigration activists, the Latino protesters in the back of the room made a little noise, held up signs and walked out.
QUESTION: How much have you raised?
Neither knows what the exact number is.
What's your position on body cameras:
McDonald: He does not support it for the sheriff's office. "They take us down a slippery slope without thinking about the ramifications." Body cameras can cause officers to second-guess. The camera can't hear what the officer can hear. Studies show that officers in some cases were a lot less pro-active. "If the state were to mandate it I would have to. If my deputies came to me and asked for it I would do that." He trusts officers without use of body cameras.
Griffin: "Transparency for the public, safety for the officers. I have spoken to many officers that used body cams and the vast majority are pro-camera. We've already got cameras in the car. ... I have one case right now where we're going to use body cam footage in a homicide trial. We want to prosecute these domestic violence cases ... It's often difficult to be able to portray to the court such an emotionally charged situation. Many times this footage will allow us to prosecute those very cases. It's basically a fundamental technology that we need to employ here."
McDonald: "We were making cases and getting them to hold up in court long before body cameras came along." At times body cams make the officer look like he's done something wrong. The footage can be misleading.
The sheriff's forum is wrapping up with little fireworks. Both came across as experienced lawmen, who are not that far apart on the basics. They differ on body cams — McDonald against, Griffin for — and the law enforcement training center. McDonald again touted his reforms; Griffin said he would make sure the command staff and rank and file did not have to put put loyalty above performance.
McDonald said in his closing statement that many of those who support Griffin "worked to subvert" reforms the sheriff's office needed to make.
Griffin promised "community involvement officers" who would know the people and police effectively. Joint enforcement teams have fallen away, he said. We have to have this partnership for more efficient law enforcement. He promised less turnover and more job security, again pledged to use body cameras.
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Henderson County News
Deputies with the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office charged a 36-year-old East Flat Rock man with multiple drug and weapons charges after going to his Cagle Road residence to serve arrest warrants on Saturday.
While trying to serve the warrants on Eddie Carol Ellenburg, deputies observed suspected controlled substance in plain view inside the residence. They obtained a search warrant which resulted in locating a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, methamphetamine, marijuana, Schedule II prescription pills, Schedule III Suboxone, and 21 individually wrapped packages of white powder which tested positive for cocaine. Deputies caught Ellenburg after he fled the house.
Ellenburg was charged with:Felony Possession of a Firearm by FelonFelony Possession with Intent to Sell/Deliver CocaineFelony Possession of MethamphetamineMisdemeanor Possession of MarijuanaMisdemeanor Possession of Schedule II Controlled SubstancesMisdemeanor Possession of Schedule III Controlled SubstancesMisdemeanor Possession of Drug Paraphernalia Ellenburg was served with the following outstanding warrants from Henderson County:Felony Breaking and/or EnteringFelony Larceny After Breaking and/or Entering Ellenburg remains in the Henderson County Jail under a $47,250 bond. He is also being held on outstanding warrants from Buncombe County for the following charges:Felony Larceny of a FirearmFelony Breaking and Entering a Motor Vehicle2 counts of Felony Second Degree Kidnapping Read Story »
