Henderson County News
In addition to yellow sticky notes, Sharpies and consultants from out of town, one more thing you can count on at a greenway planning drop-in is that Joe Sanders will be there.A retired electrical engineer, Sanders listens, engages and encourages people as they talk about their dreams and their concerns when it comes to public bicycle and pedestrian paths.Sanders, 65, rides almost every day, with his wife, Peggy.“Some people would call me obsessive about it,” Sanders say. Noting that one chunk of it was a long organized ride in Vermont, Sanders estimates he and Peggy rode 4,000 miles last year. His other avocation is thinking about and talking about greenways and trying to forge consensus on how to move forward. If anyone is the unofficial conductor of a disparate and sometimes out-of-tune orchestra, it’s Sanders. A past president and current vice president of the Blue Ridge Bicycle Club, Sanders serves on the steering committees for the Hendersonville, Laurel Park and Flat Rock bike-ped studies. He’s in the stakeholders group for the N.C. 280 greenway corridor study. He serves on the board of the Friends of Ecusta Trail and chairs the Friends of the Oklawaha Trail.Ken Shelton, a radiologist who has been a leading advocate of public bike paths, says Sanders is able to see how many moving parts could work together.“Joe Sanders had a vision that we all need to sit around the same table because we all have different interests but they’re similar and we need to get them all together,” Shelton says.A serious road biker since 1999, Sanders traces his love of the two-wheeler to his Newsboy Special.“I used to use a bike to deliver the Detroit News,” he says. “I was one of eight kids so if I wanted to go someplace most of the time I had to use the bike to get there.”When he speaks to crowds, “I always ask, ‘How many of you rode a bike as a kid?’ Ninety percent of the hands go up. ‘How many of you ride now?’ Ten percent of hands go up. Because they don’t feel safe. That’s the number one reason” adults don’t ride.As an experienced rider, Sanders knows he can bicycle on any number of lightly traveled routes around the county. Although he says he would definitely use new greenways, he doesn’t really need them to pursue his passion for pedaling. So why devote so much time and energy as the community’s most passionate evangelist for public greenways?“It’s a way to not only improve our community but help people see that there are other ways to improve their health, their benefit, and in the long run it helps us all,” he says. “For every dollar you spend on these types of projects you reap $3 in medical cost saving benefits, and that’s from an NCDOT study.“Peggy and I derive joy when we get people out on the greenway and get them exercising and then they get it. I know of people that were overweight, either diabetic or pre-diabetic, on six, seven, eight medications that are now off all of their medications. Bicycling is just a natural.” Read Story »
Henderson County News
In September 2016, Henderson County commissioners got their first look at a proposal to extend the Oklawaha Greenway through Jackson Park.
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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
The Henderson County Parks and Recreation department will have new leadership effective Aug. 1.
Jason Brown, chief deputy with the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department, replaces Tim Hopkin, who was reassigned last week to work with the department’s athletic programs, county manager Steve Wyatt said Tuesday. John Mitchell, business and community director, “will shepherd the transition” in the department until Brown starts next month, Wyatt said.
“I’ve had my eye on him for a while,” Wyatt said of Brown. “He will bring strong leadership and decisive management” to the department. “Nobody’s going to work harder for you.”
Wyatt said he met Brown when Brown was working on his master’s degree in public administration. “I had a chance to get to know him and I decided I’d like to have him on our management team. I approached him and he went through the thoughtful process” and decided to accept his offer, Wyatt said.
Brown received both his undergraduate degree in criminal science and his master’s degree from Western Carolina University. He worked for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Transylvania County Sheriff’s Department before being hired in 2007 by the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department.
Hopkin had worked for the county for 14 years and oversaw athletic programs for Parks and Recreation when he was promoted to the director position in 2007. Read Story »
Henderson County News
The N.C. Department of Transportation will have a public meeting July 18 regarding proposed improvements to Kanuga Road in Henderson County.
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Hendersonville News
To mark the 50th anniversary of the crash of Piedmont Flight 22, the Henderson County Heritage Museum and the Henderson County Rescue Squad will have a ceremony at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 19 in the plaza of the Historic Courthouse on Main Street. The public is invited to the free event.
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Hendersonville News
Pardee Hospital Foundation has announced that Rug & Home founder and chief executive officer Rakesh Agarwal will present the final $25,000 of a $50,000 gift to the Foundation at a ceremony on Wednesday, July 12 at Rug & Home’s Asheville store, located at 799-B Brevard Road, Asheville.
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Hendersonville News
Norman Haywood Gordon, founder of Norm’s Minit Marts, died Thursday, July 6 at Elizabeth House in Hendersonville after an extended illness, his son Ken Gordon said Saturday. Mr. Gordon was 69.
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Henderson County News
The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office Direct Enforcement Team made two drug-related arrests Thursday afternoon on Allman Cove Lane in Penrose.
According to a news release from the Sheriff’s Office, at approximately 12:40 p.m. July 6, detectives from the Direct Enforcement Team went to a residence on Allman Cove Lane regarding a drug complaint. Detectives made contact with the home owner and during the subsequent investigation and search, they located and seized over a half-pound of methamphetamine, psilocybin mushrooms, marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
Arrested were Danny William Allman, age 56 of 375 Allman Cove Lane, Penrose, and Mary Wilkie-Kathrine Moffitt, age 45 of 475 Yon Hill Road, Hendersonville, the sheriff’s office said.
Allman was charged with felony trafficking methamphetamine, felony conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine, felony possession with intent to sell and deliver methamphetamine, felony possession of schedule I controlled substance, felony maintaining a dwelling for the purpose of sell and delivery of a controlled substance, misdemeanor possession of marijuana and misdemeanor possession drug paraphernalia. Allman posted a $62,600 bond and was released.
Mary Wilkie-Katherine Moffitt was charged with felony trafficking methamphetamine, felony conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine, felony possession with intent to sell and deliver methamphetamine and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. Moffitt posted a $45,000 bond and was released. Read Story »
