Henderson County News
Milton Butterworth, chief development officer of Blue Ridge Health, is moving across town to become manager of community health at Pardee Hospital, Pardee UNC Health Care announced Thursday.
In this new position, Butterworth will represent Pardee as a member of the Henderson County Partnership for Health and will manage a $450,000 Healthy People, Healthy Carolinas grant the Duke Endowment awarded the Pardee in January. The Henderson County Partnership for Health, a diverse group of community organizations working collaboratively to improve community health, is now one of 15 coalitions in the Duke Endowment’s Healthy People, Healthy Carolinas initiative.
“Over the years, Milton has worked tirelessly to develop the collaborative culture we pride ourselves on today,” said Dr. Richard Hudspeth, chief executive officer and chief medical officer at Blue Ridge Health. “While he will be missed, we couldn’t be happier about the opportunity to continue working with him to improve population health in this collaborative way.”
Pardee and BRH have been longstanding community partners and are strategically aligned to address medical care access in Western North Carolina through the medical residency program and clinic access.
“Like both Pardee and Blue Ridge Health, Milton believes everyone deserves the opportunity to be healthy,” said Johnna Reed, chief administrative officer for Pardee UNC Health Care. “We are pleased that he will lead our initiatives to improve health for Henderson County residents.”
Butterworth starts the new job on July 1.
Read Story »
Henderson County News
The driver in a crash that resulted in the death of a 17-year-old East Henderson High School senior in December was arrested on a charge of second-degree murder Tuesday and jailed under no bond.
Matthew Joseph Schmieder, 36, of Hendersonville, was arrested one day after a grand jury issued an indictment on the second-degree murder charge in the high-speed crash that killed Derek Lane Miller on Kanuga Road three days before Christmas. Schmieder is expected to ask Judge Athena Brooks to set a bond when during a first appearance in Henderson County District Court on Thursday morning.
The State Highway Patrol report said Schmieder was driving 60 mph when he attempted to pass a vehicle on a double-yellow line and collided head-on with a 1991 Chevrolet pickup driven by Miller, who died as a result of the crash. Schmieder was airlifted to Mission hospital in Asheville and hospitalized for four weeks with multiple injuries.
"All of those issues are going to be included in the second-degree murder case," he said. "When I first took the initial call it occured to me and to the state trooper that there may be a criminal case, it may be more than a traffic case going bad with an unfortunate fatality. I asked the SBI. they were the actually the ones that did the investigation along with the State Patrol."
Schmieder was not charged with driving under the influence or driving with a suspended license.
There are "a number of different components to the evidence," Newman said. "We charge what we can support. This is a criminal case and we're going to treat it that way."
Schmieder had numerous speeding tickets and other traffic violations since age 17, according to a search of public records by the Hendersonville Lightning last January. The search turned up a total of 15 traffic violations or cases resulting from moving violations such as failure to appear in court or failure to pay fines from 1998 to last November.He was stopped for driving 80 mph in a 50 mph zone and failing to stop for a siren and flashing lights in Henderson County January 1980. He received eight more speeding tickets from that time until 2013, according to court and Division of Motor Vehicles records. He was also caught driving 84 mph in a 65 mph zone in 2013 in Rutherford County. In 2005, a Laurel Park police officer charged him with possessing a half-ounce of marijuana after a traffic stop, records show.
Troopers investigating the crash said they suspect Schmieder was under the influence of alcohol or drugs in the crash, which occurred at 8 o’clock at night on Kanuga Road just a few hundred yards from Schmieder's apartment on Maxine Lane.
Read Story »
Henderson County News
One year removed from budget deliberations dominated by rancorous debates over school construction and a 5-cent tax increase, the Henderson County Board of Commissioners took up a steady-as-she-goes budget recommendation and mostly endorsed the spending outline.
The budget is underpinned by County Manager Steve Wyatt’s ability to enforce spending discipline and preserve a large fund balance even while guiding the board through one of the most ambitious capital building programs in county history. Unlike last year, most of the big decisions — including what to do with Hendersonville High School — have been made.
The county’s total debt service climbs to $168 million in fiscal year 2019, when the county will be paying off debt for completed projects like the Health Sciences Center and new projects like Edneyville Elementary School, Hendersonville High School and the emergency services headquarters. Yet the county’s fund balance — at $45 million — remains so hefty that commissioners Bill Lapsley and Grady Hawkins have consistently argued for a property tax rollback.“I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary,” Commissioner Grady Hawkins said of the budget. “It looks like pretty much a continuation of some of the major projects we’ve been undertaking. One of the things I’d like to do is take a closer look at a year or two past this budget. There’s going to be a big peak for about three years where we have a significant increase in debt service and then it starts dropping off as some of the other projects we have are getting paid off.”Specifically, total debt principal and debt service (the amount the county allocates to pay back loans) peak in FY 2019, at $168.3 million and $9.7 million, and then start to taper down — to $153.5 million and $12.7 million in 2020, $140 million and $10,7 million in 2021 — until it reaches a low in 2026 of $80 million and $8.3 million, not counting any new debt the county takes on.Hawkins said on Tuesday the county is more than likely at the high-water mark of capital debt for the foreseeable future because it’s just about completed major school and emergency services construction.“I really don’t think at this point there are any other large capital projects coming on line,” Hawkins said.Besides new schools, the county has added ambulance stations in Crab Creek and Fletcher and authorized the new $13 million emergency services headquarters. A $20 million law enforcement training center has been postponed while Sheriff Charlie McDonald responds to commissioners’ order to come up with cost cuts.“We’ve not pulled the plug on it,” Hawkins said. “We directed the staff and the sheriff to at least look around and see if we could satisfy those training requirements at a little bit lower cost. I quite frankly don’t know where they’re at.”Although Hawkins said it’s possible the location and magnitude of the project could change, he pointed out that moving off the BRCC campus would mean buying property.“It’s on hold pending our request to the sheriff to find a way to cut the cost,” Lapsley said. “He begged us for more time and we told him take what time you need. It’s not a crisis situation. If it takes another six months then we want him to do that.” Asked whether McDonald had gone back to his initial idea for an outdoor range, Lapsley said, “I think he’s looking at all options.”
Property tax rollback?
Hawkins said he’d be willing to consider a property tax rollback, as he and Lapsley tried for last year. But another way to use extra revenue would be to sock it away for 2019 and 2020 when the debt service reaches $19.7 million.“Remember also that the $45 million fund balance is a little bit of a misleading number,” Hawkins said. “You really don’t have $45 when you take out some of the restricted money. There’s about $9 million in the bank that’s already called for and then there was $7 million that we used to balance the budget this year. … We’re looking at $10 million to balance it this year. I think that’s kind of a misunderstood factor in the fund balance.”Asked whether he plans again to push for a rollback of county property tax rate of 56½ cents per $100 valuation, Lapsley said “I’m not going to answer that question.” But, as he did in the fall of 2015 and again last spring, he made the case for sending money back to taxpayers instead of keeping it in the bank.“I don’t think we should make a decision for this coming year based on what may or may not happen 2-3 years from now,” he said. “We just need to look at it year to year. I think we need to adjust the tax rate each year. It should go up and down. I don’t think we should leave the tax rate at a specific level just because we expect to need it down the road. So the question is, as I said last year, how much should we have in the rainy day? How much is enough?”
Budget highlights
Among the highlights of Wyatt’s recommended budget:• The $134.9 million budget is $3.5 million bigger than the current budget, or 2.7 percent more.• The budget funds this year’s debt service at $16.6 million. Outstanding debt is from the Innovative High School, now under instruction at BRCC; refinanced bond issues from 2010, 2012 and 2013, the 2010 Apple Valley-NHHS renovations, 2008 Hillandale and Mills River elementary school construction projects, the jail, ambulances and the health sciences center.• Keeps the tax rate at 56½ cent, fifth lowest rate among 27 medium- to large-sized counties in North Carolina.• Fully funds requests made by BRCC and public schools administrators. The county allocation for public schools is $26.9 million for operating costs, plus $1 million for repairing and preserving the Stillwell building plus school construction debt service of $36 million — overall a 6.3 percent increase. The BRCC allocation of $5.7 million is up 5.5 percent from the current year.• The tax base of $13.23 billion is the highest it’s been in any year since 2009.• Among the new expenses are $50,000 for spay and neuter programs.• All rural fire departments have requested the same tax rate as the current year. The Fire and Rescue Advisory Committee was scheduled to meet Tuesday to finalize the recommendation. Read Story »
Henderson County News
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is encouraging people to come on foot or by bike, carpool or bus for a brew and a conversation about the future of multi-modal connectivity across Henderson County during a Brewery or Bust event as part of Strive Not to Drive this week. The Sierra Nevada event is 5:30-8:30 p.m. today.
Options include:
BUS - Catch a bus at 5:30 p.m., provided by The Trolley Company. Meet and park at the lower parking lot of the Henderson County Courthouse on East 4th Ave., across from the old Grey Hosiery Mill. The bus will return at 8pm, and on the way will drop off any cyclists who do not wish to make the return night ride.
BIKE - Bike a roughly 12-mile route, taking backroads to the brewery. Nobody gets dropped! Meet at Bold Rock Cidery at 5 p.m. to roll out. Limited bus seats and cargo space will be available to those uncomfortable biking back by dusk, but bring a headlight and tailight and be prepared.
WALK - A roughly half-mile hike along the emerging trail system on Sierra Nevada's property will meet at 6pm in lower parking lot “6 Row," located off of Old Fanning Bridge road near the roundabout.
CARPOOL - Work out a carpool plan with a friend, or try www.ShareTheRideNC.org - putting in your home and Sierra Nevada's address (100 Sierra Nevada Way, Fletcher, NC) to find a shared ride to the event.
The Sierra Nevada brewery event is one of several promotions this week to encourage options other than driving.
On Thursday, Rhythm and Brews is offering FREE BIKE VALET PARKING. The concert, featuring the Get Right Band, is the first of the summer series. An Apple Country Public Transit bus will be on hand to teach riders how to use the bus bike rack and get answers on using the system. Friday, May 19, is National Bike to Work Day.
Click here for a full list of events.
Read Story »
Hendersonville News
The Henderson County Youth Council, an organization that initiates community service projects and advocates for youth leadership opportunities, has added eight new members and will participate in a service project on Sunday at the United Way of Henderson County.
The Youth Council program brings teens from all Henderson County high schools together to advocate for issues impacting youth. Members will have the opportunity to learn new leadership skills and act on a wide variety of topics and issues that affect young adults. The council was founded in 2011 by student leader Drue Stinnent as a way for teens to learn about local government and to have a voice in the community. Council members will help complete the installation of the new Born Learning Trail on the Oklawaha Greenway.New members are Bradley Cole, North Henderson High School; Taylor Calloway, North Henderson High School; Moriah Fender, West Henderson High School; Kinley Freeman, North Henderson High School; Michelle Gonzalez, North Henderson High School; Oliver Kompathoum, Hendersonville High School; Annie Grace Plott, North Henderson High School; and Janeissa Romero, Early College.The 2016-2017 council is made up of Emma Bentley, Balfour Education Center; Michelle Huerta Mendez, East Henderson High School; Hagen Mendrykowski, Hendersonville High School; Genesis Lagos Orsorio, Early College; Alex Ramirez, Early College; Madison Toro, Balfour Education Center; Eli Tyler, East Henderson High School.The youth council is a partnership of United Way of Henderson County and Hope Rx.
Read Story »
Henderson County News
Kanuga Conference Center is offering a "Dirty Dancing" package in August to celebrate the filming of the made-for-TV remake of the 1987 hit.
The remake, airing at 8 p.m. on May 24 on ABC, was filmed at the historic Kanuga property and at other locations in the North Carolina mountains in the spring of 2016.
Kanuga’s secluded setting and rustic surroundings provided a lush backdrop for the storyline set in the 1960s. Several iconic scenes were filmed there, including the conga line from the beginning of the movie and Baby’s famous watermelon scene. Johnny’s cabin scenes were filmed at the Fox Pavilion at Camp Kanuga, while the Fox Cottage on the main campus was repurposed as the Kellerman’s cabin.
“We hope the movie provides a chance for viewers to fall in love again with Western North Carolina’s beauty,” Kanuga president Michael R. Sullivan said in a news release. “While the movie is a fictional story, Kanuga is a place where people can truly experience a vacation filled with old-fashioned fun and relaxation.”
To celebrate the re-imagining, Kanuga is offering a limited-time Dirty Dancing package. Available Aug. 18-20, the package coincides with the Dirty Dancing Festival in nearby Lake Lure. Lake Lure served as the backdrop for several memorial scenes in the original movie. The package includes accommodations at Kanuga and breakfast for up to two guests; call 828-692-9136 to make reservations.
Other getaway options are also available during the summer, fall, Thanksgiving, and Christmas seasons. Designed to serve as a respite from the hectic pace of daily life, stays at Kanuga include meals, lodging at the inn or guest cottages, and activities. More information about Kanuga’s guest periods and seasonal conferences and retreats can be found online at kanuga.org.
The three-hour filmed musical event features the story from the beloved 1987 romantic drama and instant movie classic told from a fresh perspective. Dirty Dancing stars Abigail Breslin (“Little Miss Sunshine”) as Baby, Debra Messing (“Will & Grace”) as Marjorie Houseman, Bruce Greenwood (“American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson”) as Dr. Jake Houseman, Nicole Scherzinger (“Dancing with the Stars”) as Penny, Colt Prattes (“Rock of Ages,” Pink’s music video “Try”) as Johnny, Sarah Hyland (“Modern Family”) as Lisa Houseman, Tony Roberts (“Annie Hall”) as Max Kellerman, Trevor Einhorn (“Mad Men”) as Neil, Shane Harper (“The Passion”) as Robbie Gould, J. Quinton Johnson (“Everybody Wants Some”) as Marco, Beau “Casper” Smart (“Perfect Match”) as Billy, Katey Sagal (“Sons of Anarchy”) as Vivian Pressman and Billy Dee Williams (“Star Wars”) as Tito. Dirty Dancing, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, is produced by Lionsgate Television in association with Allison Shearmur Productions.
Spending the summer at a Catskills resort with her family, Frances “Baby” Houseman falls in love with the camp’s dance instructor, Johnny Castle, and nothing is ever the same for anyone in the Houseman family. Modernized, updated versions of the memorable, favorite songs from the original film, including “Time of My Life,” “Love Man,” “Do You Love Me,” “Hungry Eyes,” “She’s Like the Wind,” teamed with well-known songs that are new to Dirty Dancing, such as “Fever” and “They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” are woven into the storytelling and performed by the talented and versatile cast.
Read Story »
Henderson County News
Habitat for Humanity agencies serving Henderson County and Polk County and Landrum, S.C., announced the merger of their organizations on Wednesday.
he Habitat affiliates, each with a long history of helping families in their communities, are uniting to create an organization that will increase their ability to serve families in need of decent, affordable housing. Both affiliates say the merger will enable them to more efficiently leverage donor funds and ultimately increase the number of affordable homes built and families served through their Homeownership and Neighborhood Preservation Programs.
Over 28 years ago, the two affiliates were founded independently out of local grassroots efforts to face mounting shortages of affordable housing. As the housing challenges in the area have grown more urgent over the years, the need for a united approach to those challenges has become more compelling.“We are very excited about working together to achieve greater impact in our neighboring communities," Henderson County Habitat for Humanity President Ron Laughter said in a news release. "By pooling our resources, combining our staff and board expertise, we will become more efficient and accomplish more than we would have as two separate organizations. Joining two neighboring counties will expand our capacity to acquire more land, build and renovate more homes, partner with more families, and engage more supporters."
Henderson County Habitat board Chair Glenn Richardson said: "Our two affiliates collectively have created homeownership opportunities for more than 250 families throughout our service areas and together as one Habitat affiliate we will be even more effective in our role as advocates for successful homeownership opportunities for low-income families."
Each affiliate will continue to represent the unique character of its community, and will continue to do business as Thermal Belt Habitat for Humanity in Polk County and Landrum and Henderson County Habitat for Humanity in Henderson County. They will continue to use local resources, depend on local supporters, and serve local families.
Most of the changes resulting from the merger will not be noticeable to the community. “Our back-end systems will be streamlined to eliminate redundancies and preserve financial resources. Our united homeowner programs will retain best practices from each organization and, as a result of the merger, will expand and grow stronger” said Ron. Office headquarters will be at 1111 Keith St., Hendersonville where Henderson County Habitat for Humanity has been since 1992.About Henderson County Habitat for HumanityHenderson County Habitat for Humanity, a Christian organization, builds quality affordable homes, creates strong communities, and changes lives by partnering with committed volunteers, professional staff, and eligible families living in inadequate housing. For more information about Henderson County Habitat for Humanity, please visit www.habitat-hvl.org, find us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter @habitatie.
Angie Hunter Read Story »
Hendersonville News
Green Meadows residents left an information meeting Tuesday night saying they’re eager to get more information on whether an abandoned dump near their homes poses a health threat.The city and its environmental consulting firm hosted a drop-in information meeting to give residents a chance to ask questions about the so-called Mud Creek dumps, which operated without environmental regulations before the early 1970s. Tests so far have turned up no hazardous materials or vapors. The residents had plenty of questions but the city won't have complete and final answers until July, when a contractor is expected to complete a report on the extent of the long-abandoned dump and whether what's buried there poses any health or environmental threat. Once that's done, the city and state will determine the next steps.
An information sheet issued joinly by the city’s contractor, Hart & Hickman, the N.C. DEQ and the city, described the process of identifying the landfill and assessing the health threat.“The city knew of the old landfill but based upon its location in a primarily uninhabited area of along Mud Creek no environmental assessment had been conducted,” the statement said. “This is very common for old, closed municipal waste landfills in North Carolina.”The state DEQ first identified the site in 2007 but didn’t require any mediation because the state program addresses “sites with the highest public health risk first.”In the summer of 2016, Hart & Hickman reported that on the southern part of the old dump buried waste is limited to the William H. King Memorial Park and does not extend to private properties. In testing this spring, the consultants confirmed that buried waste extends “beneath a limited number of private properties” on Martin Circle and Lincoln Circle. Landfill gas probes showed no significant levels of landfill gasses underground. The consultant also expects to test groundwater quality and test for vapor intrusion into existing structures. It will evaluate remediation where any risks to health and the environment are identified, the information sheet said.Green Meadows residents who came to the information meeting said they hoped to learn more about the threat and see the city and state react if anything harmful is found.“I hope if the land is contaminated they will fix it,” said Melody Rudisill. “I hope they’ll be honest about what’s going on and I hope they will tell us any repercussions that people might have that have lived down there for years. As a neighborhood I feel like we have a right to know.”“When urban renewal came through there they tore all of that down," she said. "They had to have known about it.”
Housing Authority officials did know about the dump in the early 1970s. As the Hendersonville Lightning reported last week, Housing Authority officials sought help from a federal agency in 1972 to clean up the old dump but nothing was done.
The Rev. Billy Waters, minister of Union Grove Baptist Church, the Green Meadows neighborhood church, said he has seen discolored water seep from the ground in heavy rains.“It’s got orange in it,” said the Rev. Billy Waters. “You can see something bubbling. Then when you walk on the trail when it has rained, the muck coming out of Mud Creek, you talk about something slick. Everybody uses the walking trail, not just the Green Meadows community. We’re just waiting to hear what the report says as to contamination and how it’s going to affect residents of Green Meadows.”
The Mud Creek dump comes under the Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program, a part of the state’s waste management division in the Department of Environmental Equality. The program aims to identify, assess and clean up old city landfills and dumps established before 1983, when most state waste disposal regulations were enacted. The state has identified 675 eligible dumps.The Hart & Hickman report will determine “the extent of contamination making its way from waste at the Mud Creek dump into water, soil and air,” the DEQ and city said. “If officials determine that waste contamination is causing an imminent health threat, the state would act quickly to mitigate the risks.”Councilman Jerry Smith said he is confident that the city has done everything it can so far to assess the problem.“I learned a lot, I’ll say that,” he said of his conversation with a state DEQ official. “She was very open and answered all my questions. What I learned from her is that we as a city from what she said have been very pro-active in trying to remedy this situation.“She said that they’re in the midst of doing a lot of testing. Before they can do remediation they have to come back and determine what kind of problems exist if any."
The only thing the city could do to speed up the process, the state official told Smith, would be to hire more consultants to do more testing faster.
"Basically, what I got out of her was … she thought our timeline was actually really good," said Smith, who was the only council member to attend the drop-in event.
“An interesting thing I learned as well is the goal the state has is not to dig things up," he said. "It is to find out if there is a danger. If we’re talking about refuse, the goal is to do some type of remediation on the surface that would prevent any of that stuff from rising to the top. She said anytime you’re looking at something like this you’re looking at a lot of square yards of dirt. The biggest concern is the areas that are right on the back of people’s properties. She said they had a site in Fairview in 2009 and it’s only two acres and they’re still not finished with it. I really pressed her hard on what the city could do and apparently we’ve done everything we could have done.
"If there's something we can do to speed this process up I will definitely be in favor of doing that. She said we are in the order of projects to get done. She said there are some more dangerous than ours, for lack of a better term. She said thus far all the preliminary tests have found that there are no toxicity issues around any of these. They have to do the in-depth testing.”City Manager John Connet said he hoped residents came away from the information meeting with the understanding that “the city and the state are being pro-active to make sure there’s no health issues.” Read Story »
Henderson County News
The Greater Asheville Regional Airport Authority has been awarded an $18.2 million discretionary grant by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The Federal Aviation Administration will allocate the funds, which will be used to complete the airport’s new runway project.
“Maintaining a modernized hub of transportation is critical for our region and business community, so I’m excited to hear of this new development,” U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows said in a news release. “I’m confident that these additional grant funds will go a long way in allowing our local transportation officials to serve our region to the best of their ability. I want to particularly recognize and thank my friend and A.A.E. executive director, Lew Bleiweis, for his tireless efforts on behalf of the Asheville Airport.”
The rehabilitation project for the airport’s runway has been a priority of the FAA to improve the airport’s infrastructure and ensure that the runway system meets construction standards. The grant is another step toward the completion of the project.
“We are pleased that our elected officials understand the infrastructure needs at Asheville Regional Airport, and that they have advocated for the discretionary grant funding,” said Lew Bleiweis, executive director. “I would like to extend recognition to Senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, as well as Congressmen Mark Meadows and Patrick McHenry for their leadership. The airfield project is the most significant construction project our airport has undertaken since the airport opened in 1961, and will ensure our ability to serve the aviation needs of Western North Carolina for decades to come.” Read Story »
