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Village drops idea of
 relocating playground

Henderson County News

School Board 
stands by plan that maintains
 Stillwell core

In a letter it sent to the Board of Commissioners last week seeking clarification of commissioners’ direction on use of the Hendersonville High School, the Henderson County School Board expressed support for a full renovation of the core classroom building and opposition to joint use of the facility by school administration and students.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Don't miss this week's Hendersonville Lightning (97)

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

Henderson County News

Commissioners shoot down waste-control ordinance

The Henderson County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday killed a proposal that would have required that waste collected in the county stay in the county, a measure the county manager and solid waste officials had proposed to shore up the money-losing landfill.Commissioners Charlie Messer, Grady Hawkins and Bill Lapsley all said that the flow control wasn’t needed or that other solutions were less disruptive to the market. Commissioner Michael Edney said the ordinance would penalize Laurel Park, which contracts with a private hauler to pick up garbage.“I believe that the cost of operating the recycling center should be borne by all the taxpayers and the tipping fee should be reduced to where our neighbors are at, and I think if we did those two things we wouldn’t have to worry about the tonnage going outside the county,” said Lapsley, who supports instead an annual fee that all taxpayers would pay to balance the solid waste budget.Hawkins said his check of the county budget so far this fiscal year shows that the net revenue is $800,000 over expenses.“That in itself I guess based on good work of the solid waste folks in my mind doesn’t necessitate any kind of additional ordinance at this time,” he said. “In addition to that, we have had a huge tax increase in this county. If we need to increase spending because of the federal or state, we certainly have the funds for that.”The ordinance, which has been in the works for a year and a half, would have required licensed haulers who serve any part of unincorporated Henderson County to dump the waste at the county landfill, which has a higher tipping fee than neighboring counties. The ordinance would not have applied to city of Hendersonville, which has its own sanitation department, but would have increased garbage collection cost in Laurel Park, which contracts with a commercial hauler to pick up waste in the city. The ordinance was needed, county officials said, to balance the landfill budget, which is set up to run on a pay-as-you-go basis. That cost includes not only the cost of hauling the waste to its ultimate destination — a landfill in South Carolina — but also the free disposal of household recycling and the future liability of landfill even after it’s closed.“You are dealing with federal and state mandates that say you will monitor the landfill for the rest of time and when they find that, for example, groundwater shows signs of having solid waste deposits, you will have to deal with that,” County Attorney Russ Burrell said. An array of recycling, from appliances to household hazardous waste, are all controlled by government regulations, he added. “There are lots and lots of things that cannot be landfilled,” he said, and must be dealt with in a more expensive way.County Commissioner Charlie Messer opposed the ordinance, saying he could only support it if the county lowered the tipping fee to match Buncombe County’s, which is $10 less per ton. Commissioners defeated the so-called flow control ordinance after three speakers expressed strong oppostion. "The monopolilzation of the transfer station seems a desperate attempt to continue operation of an inefficient facility," said William Vine, a resident. "The transfer station faces about a 10 percent deficit in spit of charging 25 percent more than adjacent counties. The proposal is a classic example of government overreach, making a bad situation worse by failure to understand how enterprise works." The flow control ordinance gave an opportunity for Vine to further castigate the commissioners for enacting a 5-cent tax increase, for the "sudden appearance of new spending not adequately vetted or prioritized" and for supporting a quarter-cent local option sales tax. "To add insult to injury, the commissioners usurped the power of the School Board to plan and execute the renovation of the high school," instead choosing a plan that is "more expensive than the more popular designs," Vine added.     Read Story »

Henderson County News

Weather Channel to feature Hendersonville in fall celebration

Hendersonville is among four cities across the U.S. that will be featured when the Weather Channel celebrates the first day of fall on Thursday.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Sanctuary to host Bow Wow Film Festival

Bow Wow Film Festival, in coordination with Sanctuary Brewing Company and Brother Wolf Animal Rescue, is coming to the Sanctuary taproom in downtown Hendersonville on Oct. 17.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Gas shortage triggers conservation order

Henderson County imposed the first level of fuel conservation measures on county personnel as a pipeline leak continued to cause some gasoline shortages in the county. Numerous service stations across town ran out of gas and lines formed at those that still had fuel on Saturday as the area began to feel the effect of a major gas leak in Alabama that took a Colonial pipeline off of service. “I have asked out department heads to implement a level one conservation response,” County Manager Steve Wyatt said Tuesday. “Bottom line is they’re common sense measures. We’ve got four different levels of fuel conversation. So this is the basic level.” Level one urges personnel to skip non-essential travel and turn off the ignition when they’re out of the car. It does not restrict law enforcement or ambulance calls. “We think things will be back to normal probably middle of next week,” Wyatt said. County-imposed conservation measures don’t apply to schools. “I did get a report that their systems are basically in good shape,” he said. “You have had some sporadic instances of maybe some counties that don’t have their own storage capacity.” Colonial Pipeline announced on Monday that it was stepping up distribution to the affected states. 'As a result, following around-the-clock operations to effect this contingency plan, supplies of gasoline have been delivered and/or are in route to terminal locations in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina," Colonial said in a news release.  "Delivery times to mainline and stubline terminals in these markets vary." Gov. Pat McCrory issued an executive order that eased size, weight and registration requirements in order to encourage the flow of gas from other sources. Ingles' Gas Express on Spartanburg Highway was already out of gas on Saturday morning. Lines formed at Speedway on Spartanburg Highway at Chadwick Avenue. Norm's Mini-mart Shell had gasoline at mid-day and was out by 5 p.m. Stations on the I-26 interchanges were open and still selling gas. The shortage was caused by a break on Sept. 9 in a major gas pipeline that runs from Texas to New York and supplies gas to motorists on the East Coast. McCrory's office said Sunday that state officials got an update from Colonial Pipeline executives regarding plans for getting gasoline flowing again on a main line that supplies North Carolina and many other eastern states.   "Based on our ongoing updates from Colonial, the construction of a bypass pipeline is moving forward which will soon allow fuel supply operations to return to normal," McCrory said in a news release. "In the meantime, my executive orders remain in effect to protect motorists from excessive gas prices and minimize any interruptions in the supply of fuel."   While there are pockets of service stations that have experienced temporary shortages, many have received supplies and others have them scheduled for Monday. McCrory directed Emergency Management officials to stay in contact with local officials should they have any requests for assistance. Colonial told state officials that it expects to have a bypass of the leak in place by mid to late week. Upon completion of the bypass, it will take a day to test and get the line back in operation. The company has also been able to use another line to offset the shortage due to the line with the leak. Colonial continues trucking and re-supplying gasoline to the areas that need it.   On Thursday, McCrory issued an executive order temporarily waiving hours of service restrictions for fuel vehicles traveling in and through the state in order to prevent disruptions and backups at major fuel distribution hubs. Friday, the governor issued a second executive order that waives additional trucking restrictions and protects consumers from price gouging at the fuel pumps. Both executive orders remain in place for 30 days or until they are canceled.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

'Fast Cars, White Lightning' coming to BRCC

The Center for Cultural Preservation in partnership with Blue Ridge Community College will launch the third season of its “Keeping the Fires Burning” series with “Fast Cars and White Lightning: Moonshining and NASCAR.”   Read Story »

Henderson County News

County, Laurel Park win park grants

Henderson County won a $350,000 grant for the Bell Trail Park in Green River and Laurel Park won an $80,000 grant for improvements at Rhododendron Lake Nature Park in a new round of state parks and recreation grants.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Town dedicates mural honoring veterans

The Henderson County Fire Department hoisted a giant American flag above Andrea Martin’s mural honoring veterans on Sunday as townspeople and veterans dedicated the 90x20 foot salute. Led by Hendersonville Police Department and Patriot Guard motorcycle riders, Gold Star families rode up King Street to Fourth Avenue, where some of them could see their family members depicted in the mural.The wall depicts four military personnel who served in four branches of the armed services, including two who died in combat and one badly wounded.Terry Lee Varnadore Jr., 29, of the U.S. Army, died in Afghanistan in 2011. Jessie Cassada, 19, U.S. Marine Corps, died in Afghanistan in 2009. Todd King, U.S. Air Force, survived a suicide bomb in the Green Zone in Iraq. Local veterans Jessica Bayne, who served in the U.S. Coast Guard, and Tony Koone, a Navy veteran who teaches at Hendersonville Elementary School, are also depicted.“We want to make sure veterans know their sacrifices were not in vain,” said Martin, who worked on the mural in her free time during the past year.Martin, who has a full time job, said it took her 43 days to complete.At the dedication, the VFW presented Martin with a plaque for her service.“Vets are courageous, humble people of integrity,” she said.Martin’s father always taught her to honor veterans and now she has passed along that lesson to her son, who watched her paint the mural most days.“America sometimes has a short memory,” she said. “The best way to thank them is to honor their fallen and take care of their families.”In good weather and bad, Martin could be seen working on the mural throughout the past year.“Every family that I’ve met, I just adore them,” Martin said. “I can’t explain it. I feel a connection with them.”Tina Varnadore, mother of fallen Army veteran, Terry Varnadore, said, “We want to thank Andrea for what she has done to help honor our fallen.”Josh Smartt, president of the veterans supporter group Sheep Dog Impact Assistance, said, “I can’t think of a more fitting day.”He asked the audience to think about Sept. 12.“The day we were all Americans, one America,” he said. “We must remain vigilant. We must never forget the price paid for our freedoms.”During his high school years Jessie Cassada worked with Smartt in the summertime.“I look up there and I see Americans — men and women who made sacrifices for their country,” Smartt said. “Jessie and Terry made the ultimate sacrifice.”A former Marine himself, Smartt did not want Cassada to follow in his footsteps.“Jessie wanted to be a Marine since he was 13 years old and he died doing what he wanted to do,” said Chastity Bloomfield, a close friend of the Cassada family. “He was like a little brother to me. I took him to church when he was little.”“Most of the guys in our chapter are veterans, so it’s pretty emotional for us to be involved,” Smartt said. “At the end of the day, we are proud to have all of them on that wall and every branch of service represented.”Cameron Sproles, the best friend of fallen marine Jessie Cassada, attended the ceremony along with Cassada’s mother.“The mural represents our community as far as Hendersonville’s strong ties to supporting our veterans and fallen heroes,” Sproles said. “And especially today, on Sept. 11. It’s been a great day. And the work that has been put in to do this represents our community in a great fashion.” Henderson County Sheriff Charles McDonald served in the Navy toward the end of Vietnam.“Whatever branch, whatever role, those who have served should always be honored,” McDonald said.   Read Story »

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