Henderson County News
Three full days of events are on tap at Hendersonville’s cideries and wineries during the inaugural Cider, Wine & Dine Weekend April 20-22.
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Henderson County News
Sheriff Charlie McDonald issued a statement on Wednesday thanking the Henderson County Board of Commissioners for its decision Monday night to move forward on a law enforcement training center McDonald has sought for three years.
"It has always been my intention to have an outdoor facility that would allow more training opportunities as well as an indoor force options building that would allow ongoing and realistic training for deputies responding to crisis events," he said. "Recent incidents across our nation have only served to underscore the necessity of such training. 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. As your Sheriff I have, and always will, make every effort to provide the best possible training for all my personnel and I will do so with an eye toward the future as well as the present.
"I promised the Board of Commissioners over a year ago, that if they would table the indoor project at Blue Ridge Community College for the time being, I believed we could find a better and more cost-efficient way to meet our growing training needs. I kept my promise to them, and I appreciate their commitment to both law enforcement and the citizens of Henderson County. Theirs is a difficult job."
On his campaign website, McDonald also published "Facts about the Training Center," a timeline of his efforts to get county approval of the facility.
After he took office in 2012, he identified an outdoor firing range and advanced tactical training as high priority needs. The Board of Commissioners agreed, and McDonald began looking for land. The first site he identified was a 125-acre wooded former summer camp in Green River. County commissioners unanimously rejected the site after Green River residents packed the assembly room in opposition. A second site on Pinnacle Mountain was also rejected when commissioners heard that neighboring property owners plan to oppose that purchase.
"Prior to the final budget meeting in 2016, Sheriff McDonald was told that the Commission had decided that they would not be able to locate suitable land in Henderson County to create an outdoor range and they had decided to set aside tax monies to build an indoor range area meeting all specifications of the outdoor facility," the timeline went on. "This facility would be located on, and jointly used by Blue Ridge Community College. While not his first choice, Sheriff McDonald supported their proposal as the only option available to get the necessary training his deputies needed."
In the timeline, McDonald reveals publicly for the first time that he met privately with commissioners one on one and asked them to table the BRCC location while he looked for "better options."
"When the (BRCC) proposal was made public, the sheriff was tasked with selling the idea to the public," the sheriff's account says. "There was a great deal of opposition to locating a law enforcement training facility on the grounds of Blue Ridge Community College, mainly for safety and cost concerns. The Sheriff did his best to explain the safety protocols in place and the success of numerous other facilities of this kind located on community college campuses across North Carolina. The cost issue was discussed, with the Sheriff emphasizing that it wasn’t his first choice, but that the need for realistic training for his employees outweighed his misgivings as to cost.
"In fact, Sheriff McDonald took it upon himself to meet with the Commissioners individually and ask that the $20 million-dollar law enforcement training center be placed on hold while he looked for better options. He felt, based on his years as a weapons & tactics instructor, that an outdoor facility designed properly, would be better able to meet current and future training needs, at a greatly reduced cost with minimal impact on others."
For the full account, click here.
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Henderson County News
You won't want to miss this week’s Hendersonville Lightning.
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Henderson County News
Don Ward, a candidate for the District 4 seat on the Henderson County Board of Commissioners, has come out against the Balfour Parkway, the proposed $160 million bypass that has triggered broad opposition from homeowners in its path.
“The Balfour Parkway, a proposed four-lane expressway connecting N.C. Highway 191 and U.S. Route 64, would impact hundreds of homeowners and disrupt entire communities,” Ward said in a statement on Tuesday. “The homes of hundreds of county residents would be destroyed should this project be approved and homeowners are justified in their concerns of adequate compensation as well as negative impact on property values close to the project but not directly in its path. There are also legitimate concerns of possible effects to the local economy as well as the county tax base. Many feel they have not been adequately informed of the proposed project and many feel it is not needed.”
He said “stands firmly against the Balfour Parkway project (and) supports county residents and homeowners 100 percent in their opposition to this project and pledges to stand with them in protecting their homes and property.”
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Etowah News
ETOWAH — Drug squad detectives investigating a complaint of suspected drug activity at 198 Shalom Lane in Etowah seized approximately 3½ grams of methamphetamine and multiple items of drug paraphernalia after getting permission to search the home, the Henderson County sheriff’s office said.James Franklin Hensley, 61, of that address, was charged with felony counts of possession of methamphetamine and maintaining a vehicle/dwelling/place for controlled substances and a misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia. He was released from the Henderson County Jail under a $12,500 bond.Wise Tommy Cecil Wise, 57, of S. Buena Vista Drive was charged with a felony count of possessing methamphetamine and a misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia. He was released from the Henderson County jail after posting a $5,500 bond. Read Story »
Henderson County News
Thanks to Boomer the rescue lab, an abandoned bear cub was itself rescued, is under the care of wildlife biologists and should be released in the wild in about a year.
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Henderson County News
The Henderson County Board of Commissioners has identified land in "an extremely remote location" for a new law enforcement training center, eliminating an expensive indoor shooting range, moving the facility far away from Blue Ridge Community College and snuffing out a potential political in the upcoming sheriff's primary election.
Commissioners first authorized an indoor training center under an acre of roof at BRCC at a cost of $20 million. But controversy over the cost, the need and the location among high school and BRCC students led commissioners last spring to direct administrators to look at other options and cut the cost.
"Since that time, we basically surveyed the county," County Manager Steve Wyatt said of the hunt for property that he, County Engineer Marcus Jones and Sheriff Charlie McDonald undertook. "We have identified a site and we have secured the right to purchase that site. The potential is there for a tremendous cost reduction as well as a site relocation, free up the community college site for community college use."
Wyatt projected construction cost at $3.66 million for an outdoor range and indoor training facility and a total cost of $4.3 million to $5.9 million counting the land purchase. That would mean a savings overall of about $22 million compared to the cost of the facility at BRCC including interest on debt. The county plans to pay cash for the new center.
Neighbors aren't likely to notice the training center, Wyatt said.
"The real impact folks in this neighborhood would see are police officers," Wyatt said. "You may not even know it's there except you would see black and white (police) units going there."
The scaled-back facility also fits the need for training on protecting schools from violence.
"The indoor training center will be able to configure in such a way to mimic frankly buildings" that the sheriff's office protects, Wyatt said. It could mock up school classrooms and school entrances, for instance, "to give real time training" in school safety. The facility also could ultimately be used for a backup 911 center.
Commissioner Grady Hawkins said the center fulfilled a commitment the board made several years ago to construct a training center, starting with the use of $3.4 million it got for the sale of the Bent Creek property to Buncombe County. Although the county ended up spending most of that money for artificial turf at three county high schools, the county has since accumulated enough money from a 1-cent tax increase to cover this new capital cost, Hawkins said.
Commissioner Bill Lapsley, who strongly opposed the $20 million cost of the original indoor center, praised administrators and the sheriff for substantially cutting the cost.
City police departments within Henderson County would be able to use the center at no cost, Wyatt said, while agencies outside the county would pay rental or facility fees.
Lowell Griffin, a Republican running against McDonald in the May 8 primary, had called the training center a waste of money and pledged to shift that amount to school safety. After the board voted unanimously in favor of the cheaper option, Chairman Michael Edney asked McDonald whether he wanted to make any comments. The sheriff, who was seated in the back of the assembly room, declined.
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Henderson County News
Around 135 people congregated on the plaza of the Historic Courthouse Monday to protest the Balfour Parkway, waving signs and urging passing cars to honk in support. Later speakers implored the Board of Commissioners to stop the project.
Carrying signs that said "Save Our Homes" and "Stop the Balfour Parkway" and other messages, the homeowners urged passing cars to show support by honking horns. Some did, raising cheers and shouts from dozens of homeowners from Grimesdale, Stony Mountain Road, along N.C. 191 and along Howard Gap Road near a proposed new I-26 interchange.
"We're hoping to put a stop to the Balfour Parkway," said Cheryl Smith, a retiree who lives in Kingswood Hills off Howard Gap Road, near the I-26 interchange that would be built as part of the first of three parkway segments. "I feel there's a better way to do this. I'm concerned about my neighborhood. What I want to do is to save my home. We'd like them to stop it and go back to the drawing board."
“Where do I begin,” John Dubis, a retired tool and die maker who has lived in Grimesdale for 17 years, said when asked what’s the problem with the Balfour Parkway. “When they do this, all the homes are going to be destroyed, all the taxes that those people pay are going to be gone. It’s upsetting people’s lives. What I’d like to ask the county commissioners is, If this was your home, how would you feel? It’s just very very upsetting. Never in my life did I think at age 77 that I would be standing out here with a sign because my home might be demolished.”
Bill Burchill, a Carriage Park resident and retired engineer who has compiled a report challenging the need for the parkway, said the protest was intended to raise awareness “because many many people we talk to don’t know about this. I just came from the Y and talk to someone there. He said, ‘I didn’t even know this. I never heard of the Balfour.’ A lot of people don’t even know. So, we’ll be back. This won’t be the last time you see us.”
Zane Chait, another Carriage Park resident, said if dozens of people lose their homes, negative consequences will spread through the local economy.
“If people move out (of the county), their families won’t come here, guests won’t come, they’ll take their money out of the local bank, they won’t go out to eat, they won’t shop,” he said. “The tax base will go down.”
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Henderson County News
A 57-year-old local man was sentenced to 65 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to six felony sexual assault crimes against a 13-year-old, District Attorney Greg Newman announced.
Richard Kevin Chambers, formerly of Jackson Loop Road, appeared in Superior Court with his lawyer, Beth Stang, and entered guilty pleas to two counts of Statutory Sex Offense with a Child Under the Age of 15, 2 counts of Crime Against Nature, and two counts of Taking Indecent Liberties with a Child. Assistant District Attorney Doug Mundy presented the facts supporting the charges to Superior Court Judge Julia Lynn Gullett of Iredell County.
Last August a local single mother of three noticed that the defendant showed an unhealthy interest in her 13-year-old daughter. The defendant had been allowed to stay with the family and had helped watch the children when the mother worked or ran errands. The mother took her daughter to the Children’s Advocacy Center where she disclosed numerous incidents of sexual contact by the defendant. The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office was contacted and began a criminal investigation into the matter.
Allegations made by the juvenile included two incidents where the defendant made sexual penetration with her at the home when the mother was away. The child did not make an immediate disclosure to her mother, or to anyone else because Chambers threatened to hurt her family and her if anyone found out about what he was doing to her. The child only reluctantly talked when the mother noticed a change in her behavior and the heightened interest in the girl by the defendant.
Chambers initially denied any wrongdoing in response to questions from deputy sheriffs in the Criminal Investigations Division. Upon further questioning, however, the defendant confessed to the crimes and was arrested and charged at the conclusion of the interview. He remained in the custody of the Henderson County Jail until his appearance in Superior Court. He has been transferred to the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction. Judge Gullett consolidated the six charges into the two most serious charges, statutory sex offense, and sentenced the defendant to two prison terms totaling 392 months, or 65 years. He will be eligible for parole after serving a minimum of 46 years.
“The result achieved in this case shows the value in the partnership between law enforcement and our local advocacy center for abused children,” Newman said. “We are so fortunate that this mother felt comfortable enough to take her daughter to the advocacy center for an interview. This led to law enforcement intervention, which resulted in a confession from the suspect.
"Services to support the child and her family moving forward from this appalling experience are in place and will be important in helping this child feel further supported by our community. This young lady showed tremendous courage to speak about these abominable crimes to strangers. She also agreed to testify in court if required to do so. We are naturally pleased with the outcome of the case and wish only the best for this young lady in the future. I commend her mother and appreciate her full cooperation with our prosecution of the case."
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