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Henderson County News

Carly, local actresses and Macy set to open ‘Annie’

Jia Hind (left) and Cate Boyette (right) play the orphan Kate in “Annie,” starring Carly Gendell. Actress Lara Hayhurst is also the dog handler for Macy, who plays Sandy. MOSS PHOTOS   Jia Hind and Cate Boyette are seated on either side of Carly Gendell, a professional actress from New York who plays Annie in the beloved musical opening Friday at the Flat Rock Playhouse. Jia, 12, and Cate, 11, alternate playing Kate, one of the orphans with a speaking role in the show. They also perform in the ensemble, which keeps them moving on the dance floor.Playing alongside Carly has given the young local actresses a taste of the big time. When they’re asked if they aspire to become a professional actor like 12-year-old star from Broadway they quickly say “Yes.”Jia, Cate and eight other young actors will do their best to sing and dance their way into patrons’ hearts when the show opens Friday night. Jia has been taking dance at the Asheville Ballet Conservatory since age 5 and played the lead in the Studio 52 production of “A Thousand Cranes.” Cate has performed in Studio 52’s “Wizard of Oz” and “Alice in Wonderland” and as Bet in “Oliver” on the Hendersonville Community Theatre stage.“Annie” may be the biggest hit the two local girls have ever been associated with — thanks to Carly and her thousand-watt smile and singing chops. A precocious 12-year-old, Carly has been acting since age 6, when she played the smaller “Annie” role of Molly in her hometown of Beverly, Mass. She made her professional debut at age 10 as Marcy in “Andrew Lloyd Webber’s School of Rock: The Musical.” In the playbill notes, Carly thanks her mom and dad, who is staying with her in Flat Rock for the run of the show, and big sister Haley, who is studying arts and entertainment management at Pace University in New York.Carly won the role in an intense competition.“The casting director got hundreds of submissions,” said Dane Whitlock, the Playhouse marketing director. “We pared it down to 25 and then five.”Would-be Annies had to sing “Tomorrow” and read lines from a scene with Daddy Warbucks.This is the second time Carly has played Annie. The first was at the Portsmouth Theatre in New Hampshire. She thinks she’s able to bring more depth to the character now that she’s older.“I hadn’t really developed by emotions on stage,” she said.Given her winning personality, poise and talent, Carly is sure to light up the stage. The only risk of upstaging might come from Macy, a 9-year-old rescue who plays Sandy. Macy greets a visitor who is interviewing Carly, which turns out to be something of a no-no. Macy can only interact with Carly and her trainer, lest she decide to go off script and seek a pet from the wrong orphan.“We thought originally we were going to train our own and then we decided that was a really horrible idea,” Whitlock said.During casting Playhouse managers noticed that an actress who auditioned was a certified dog handler. That led to the renowned dog trainer Bill Berloni, who has trained hundreds of animals for theater, film, television and commercials. Once the decision to hire a Berloni dog was made, the decision about where everyone would stand and move was locked in — no questions asked.“The blocking for Bill Berloni’s dog has to be the same,” Carly said. “They’re not training her. They’re training me.”Adopted from a rescue shelter in Oklahoma City at age 18 months, Macy first performed as Sandy in the summer of 2010 and has appeared in more than two dozen “Annie” productions coast to coast since then.Macy’s trainer is Lara Hayhurst, who plays the small role of Star to Be and performs in the musical ensemble. Hayhurst stands just off-stage, maintaining eye contact and using hand motions to show Macy went to lie down, when to lie still and when to walk.One another dog, a guest rescue from show sponsor Blue Ridge Humane Society, will be featured in each performance. SHIRTTAIL “Annie” opens Friday and runs through July 8 on the Mainstage of the Flat Rock Playhouse. Performances are 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. For tickets call 828-693-0731 or visit www.flatrockplayhouse.org.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Blue Ridge Parkway superintendent to retire

Mark Woods, superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway, has announced that he will retire on July 3, 2017, after a 37-year career with the National Park Service. Over the course of his career, Mark has worked as a park interpretive ranger, resource management ranger, law enforcement ranger, Chief Ranger, and Superintendent of several park areas. His assignments have included work at Ninety Six National Historic Site, Kings Mountain National Military Park, Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, Cumberland Island National Seashore, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, Virgin Islands National Park Group, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, Natchez Trace, as well as assignments at the Southeast Regional Office as Associate Regional Director and Deputy Regional Director. “It has been such a privilege to have a career in the National Park Service,” Woods said. “The National Park Service serves to protect and tell the stories of some of our country’s most amazing places from presidential homes and sacred battlefields, to natural resource treasures like we have along the Parkway. National Park Service sites truly represent the best America has to offer.” Mark has served the Parkway since September of 2013, bringing leadership and focus to key priorities such as restoration of services in previously closed facilities, ensuring high quality visitor service and building strong working relationships with Parkway communities in 29 counties in North Carolina and Virginia. In reflecting on his career Mark said, “Knowing you’ve been a part of a team of professionals who make decisions that will make a difference for generations, for people who haven’t been born yet, is tremendous. It’s important to stop and reflect on the difference our work makes, I am humbled to have been able to play some role in the protection of park resources for generations to come.” In retirement, Mark is looking forward to spending time fishing with his granddaughters, visiting extended family, and enjoying all the Blue Ridge Mountain region offers. The search for an interim superintendent of the Parkway has begun and a selection is expected soon.   Read Story »

Hendersonville News

The Last Kraus: One family, 10 HHS grads over 22 years

On a Tuesday afternoon in late May, Meredith Kraus walks into Walt Cottingham’s human geography class in a corner room on the third floor of Hendersonville High School.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Pisgah named a 'Treasured Landscape'

The National Forest Foundation has recently designated the Nantahala-Pisgah national forests as a Treasured Landscape, making it eligible for grants from Treasured Landscapes, Unforgettable Experiences conservation program.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Legislature flips off Cooper's call for special session

RALEIGH — Legislative Republicans wasted little time Thursday dispatching Gov. Roy Cooper’s call for an extra session to draw new legislative districts. As the clerk was reading Cooper’s proclamation calling for the 14-day session, House Rules Committee Chairman David Lewis, R-Harnett, raised a constitutional objection to the governor's order. Lewis cited Article III, Section 5, Part 7: “The Governor may, on extraordinary occasions, by and with the advice of the Council of State, convene the General Assembly in extra session by his proclamation, stating therein the purpose or purposes for which they are thus convened.” Lewis argued no extraordinary occasion existed, a federal court order required new districts to be drawn during a regular General Assembly session, and the governor did not meaningfully consult with the Council of State. House Minority Leader Darren Jackson, D-Wake, objected to Lewis’s objection. The House voted down his objection, 44-71. House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, then removed the extra session from the legislative calendar. The Senate convened at noon and went through a similar process, this time led by Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell. This time, Sens. Floyd McKissick, D-Durham, and Wanda Bryant, D-Halifax, repeatedly objected to the methods used by Republicans. Rules Committee Chairman Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, approved Hise’s objection, and the Senate likewise canceled the special session. “Despite all his talk about separation of powers, it’s clear Roy Cooper wants to be North Carolina’s governor, legislature, and with this latest stunt, its judiciary too,” said Hise in a statement after the Senate canceled the extra session. Ford Porter, Cooper’s spokesman, issued a statement slamming the General Assembly. “Now the Republican legislature is thumbing its nose at the North Carolina Constitution as well as the U.S. Supreme Court,” Porter said. “It’s troubling that they prefer to fight about the process rather than draw the new map that North Carolina voters deserve to level the playing field of our democracy. The U.S. Supreme Court was unanimous in its decision and there is no reason to delay the drawing of new maps.”   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Charged with threat, Absher files complaint against EHHS teacher

Henderson County School Board member Michael Absher, who is already awaiting trial on a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor resident of the group home he operates, faces a new charge of threatening an East Henderson High School teaching assistant. Tony Carswell, a teacher assistant in the In-School Suspension class, swore out a warrant on Tuesday charging Absher with communicating threats. One day later, Absher filed a complaint of his own, accusing Carswell of repeatedly being "verbally aggressive" toward him and saying that the teaching assistant had yelled at him as soon as he walked into the high school Tuesday morning. School officials say they always cooperate with any kind of investigation of criminal activity on school property but could not say more about the conflict because it is a personnel matter. In his handwritten account of the encounter, Carswell, 65, said he was on duty at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday when Absher walked into the front office.“I stopped him and informed him that our rule is to sign in before going onto the school campus,” Carswell wrote. “He refused and told me he was a member of the HCPS School Board and he did not have to sign in. I contacted my principal Mr. Taylor on the radio and I was told to have Michael Absher sign in.“Michael signed in and told me, ‘Carswell, I’m glad you’re retiring and I won’t have to put up with your mouth anymore.’ I told him he would have to listen to me out on the street. Michael walked past me and said, ‘I will whip your ass.’”Carswell called the school resource officer and told him that Absheer had threatened him. The deputy kept Absher in the administrative office until principal Carl Taylor came and talked with him.Carswell confirmed his account when reached by the Hendersonville Lightning.“I was doing my job and he threatened me,” he said. “Let’s just leave it at this.” Absher turned himself in at the sheriff’s office and was released on a $1,000 bond at 10 p.m. Tuesday. Condtions of his release bar him from returning to East Henderson High School, which is his alma mater, and from having contact with Carswell. On Wednesday, Absher went to the Henderson County Courthouse to swear out a complaint for a temporary no-contact order to prevent Carswell from harassing me. In the hand-written complaint, Absher said that Carswell had been verbally aggressive toward him last fall when he was on campus. At the time, Absher was working as a substitute schoolbus driver. He resigned from that job after he was elected to the School Board. Carswell's hehavior was bad enough, Absher said, to require the school administration to "express (to Carswell) to leave me alone, including standing up saying I work here and had a right to be there." On Tuesday morning, Absher said in the complaint, he came to East High "to give a kid his meds," as he had been doing since late April with the school administration's blessing. "As soon as I walked in (Carswell) was at his desk and starting yelling at me," he said. "My nerves and stress has been super high. I multiple times told him to leave me alone and he has no power over me. I have been so emotional all day and night." District Court Judge Emily Cowan ordered Absher and Carswell to appear in court at 9 a.m. Tuesday for a hearing on whether the temporary no-contact order should be made permanent. School Board Chair Amy Lynn Holt said Thursday afternoon she was saddened by the situation because of how it reflects on the school system. She said she knows of no exemption from sign-in rules for School Board members.“As a School Board member I always check in and sign in at the office and to my knowledge so does every other School Board member,” she said.She said she does not know what more the School Board can do about what is now the second misdemeanor charge against Absher, who was elected to the board last November on his fourth try.“We received a letter asking for a leave of absence from the School Board," Holt said. "He’s not an active member … What the law states is that district attorney has to be the one to remove an elected official. To be honest I don’t know much about it. I haven’t had a chance to even talk to School Board members.”A discussion of Absher's status is not on the School Board agenda for its regular meeting Monday night. If something were to be done, Holt said, it would be with the guidance of the School Board’s attorney.“I don’t know if that’s something we could discuss in closed session. I have no clue,” she said. “I’m just sad. Henderson County public school system doesn’t need negative publicity.” She said she hoped to “speak with our attorney Monday night and find out legally what is in our best interest to do.” Schools Superintendent Bo Caldwell said administrators would cooperate in any investigation that might arise from the encounter. "To be honest, when something like this happens we work very closely with the investigation with law enforcement," he said. Like Holt, he said any School Board discussion would be under the guidance of School Board attorney Chris Campbell. "Right now it is not on the agenda," he said. "We’ll just have to take that up with our School Board attorney because right now (Absher) is under a leave of absence." Absher, 27, was charged on May 24 with knowingly permitting a 15-year-old male resident of the Only Hope group home off Upward Road to drink alcohol, according to a warrant served after a sheriff’s office investigation. The alleged offense occurred between Nov. 1 and Jan. 1, the warrant said.“We are confident once a court discovers all the evidence Mr. Absher will be cleared of any wrongful conduct,” Pearson, his defense attorney, said in a statement then.One day later the Board of Directors of Only Hope WNC issued a statement supporting Absher.“As a Board, we want to reassure our many supporters and the Henderson County Community that we do everything in our power to provide a safe environment for the youth in our care,” the board said. “We are confident Michael Absher, our President and CEO, will be cleared of the charge against him, and that these allegations are false.”     Read Story »

Henderson County News

Black choppers are overhead today at DuPont State Forest

North Carolina Emergency Management, the North Carolina National Guard, Henderson County emergency response services, local law enforcement and state and federal public safety agencies are conducting a domestic and homeland security exercise today in the Guion Farm area of Dupont State Forest. The public may see multiple National Guard helicopter flyovers and other types of helicopter operations during daylight hours. The exercise will conclude no later than 8 p.m. and is designed to test and improve the integration of multiple local, state and federal partners during natural or man-made disasters. Questions or concerns should be directed to the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office PIO, Major Frank Stout at (828) 450-6791. For questions regarding NC Guard’s participation in the exercise contact Lt. Col. Matt DeVivo at (919) 612-9712.   Read Story »

Mills River News

German manufacturer praises city water

MILLS RIVER — The quality of Mills River water was a big factor when a German company chose a 15-acre field on School House Road for its first American manufacturing plant, the company’s president said.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

2015 HHS graduate announces candidacy for City Council

The first candidate to publicly announce plans to run for the Hendersonville City Council this year would bring diversity and youth to the elected body.   Read Story »

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