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Kids' events, Apple Drop highlight New Year's Eve celebration

Edneyville News

Detectives seize drugs, make arrest in Edneyville

EDNEYVILLE — Detectives with the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office seized 22 ounces of marijuana, 10.5 grams of cocaine, 60 Percocet tablets, 19 doses of 10mg Oxycodone, cash, a rifle and four handguns, including one with an altered serial number, when they executed a search warrant at a Gilliam Mountain Road home on Thursday. Detectives arrested Lashonda Lorraine Clayton, 30, of 1178 Gilliam Mountain Road, on the following eleven charges: Trafficking Opiates, Conspiracy to Traffic Opiates, PWISD Marijuana, Conspire to sell/deliver Marijuana, PWISD Cocaine, Conspire to sell/deliver Cocaine, PWISD Sch II (Opiates), Conspire to sell Sch II (Opiates), Maintaining a Dwelling for Controlled Substance, Alter/Remove Gun Serial Number and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. She is currently being held in the Henderson County jail under a $50,500 secured bond. Detectives are attempting to locate Mackell Charvarius Williams, 29, also of Gilliam Mountain Road on similar charges. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Mackell Williams is asked to contact the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office at (828) 697-4911.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

LOCAL BRIEFS: DAR Good Citizen, Kiwanis surprise, Frostbite race

DAR Good Citizen The Abraham Kuykendall Chapter, NSDAR, of Flat Rock, honored the 2016 DAR Good Citizen Winner Hana Barazi , a senior from Veritas Christian Academy, on Dec. 8. Shown, from left, are Veritas Christian Academy guidance counselor Margo Prechter, Barazi and Nedra Moles, chair of the DAR Good Citizens Committee. The award winner was nominated by her guidance counselor for her leadership, dependability, service and patriotism. Her essay was on the topic of “Our American Heritage and our Responsibility to Preserve It.” She presented her essay at our chapter meeting and received $100 and her certificate. The DAR Good Citizen Award was also presented to Addie Elizabeth Lynch, of Polk County High School, and Michael Scott Woolard, of East Henderson High School.   Library launches program to encourage early reading The Henderson County Public Library is partnering with Smart Start of Henderson County to launch its 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program in January. The program is geared toward increasing the early literacy skills of preschool children in Henderson County. 1,000 Books before Kindergarten is the result of numerous studies that demonstrate the connection between reading and early stimulation in improving brain development. The program helps guide parents to “grow a reader” by making reading a regular part of the day. All babies, toddlers and preschoolers are encouraged to participate and invited to the program kickoff from 10:30 a.m. until noon Jan. 3 at the Main Library and at the Etowah branch. Every attendee will get their first reading log and a bright balloon. If parents read just one book a day with their child, they’ll reach the 1,000 book goal in less than 3 years. For more information, please contact Kathy Kirchoefer at 828-697-4725 x. 2313. Thrive director speaks at Democratic breakfast The Henderson County Democratic Party will hold its monthly breakfast from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 7, at Democratic headquarters, 905 Greenville Hwy. Guest speaker is Kristen Martin, executive director of Thrive, a local mental health agency. All-you-can-eat buffet is $9 for adults $4.50 for children under 10. First time attendees eat for free. Frostbite race set for Sunday, Feb. 19 Henderson County’s annual 25th annual Frostbite Races will take place on Sunday, Feb. 19, at 2 p.m. at the Leila Patterson Fitness & Aquatics Center, 1111 Howard Gap Road, Fletcher. Presented by Trace and Company, the Frostbite event is oldest and largest footrace in Henderson County. The distance events provide views of Hutch Mountain and are on hilly to challenging terrain, with some steep inclines on both the 10k and 5k courses. A flat and fast 1-mile course makes this premier racing event an opportunity for all running levels and ages.Registration is now open at https://racesonline.com/events/frostbiteraces. Those who register three or more family members online (at one time) get 15 percent off you’re the entry fee.A portion of event proceeds will be used for the benefit of Big Brothers, Big Sisters and their mentor programs for underprivileged kids in our area.For more information, or to volunteer to help out, contact events@idaph.net or visit http://idaph.net/events/frostbite-races/. Kiwanis Club gets Christmas surprise   The Kiwanis Club of Hendersonville received an unexpected Christmas gift at its weekly meeting last week it announced the winner of its first “Drawing for Kids” raffle. On Dec. 8, the club drew the winning name for the $5,000 prize. The winner was Worthy Association Management LLC, which manages the Wolfpen subdivision on Chimney Rock Road.Kiwanis member Dick Lepak, a resident of Wolfpen, had sold the winning ticket to Worthy Association Management’s manager, Marion Bachand. Lepak was present at the drawing and called Bachand to let her know her company had won the ticket.When Kiwanis President Elizabeth Moss presented Bachand the $5,000 check, she accepted it, then told the club she had something she would like to present. Bachand handed over $5,000 check from Worthy Management to Moss. Her generous act brought the Kiwanians to their feet in a raucous ovation.Thanks to Worthy Management and Bachand, the Kiwanis Club raised more than $10,600, doubling the funds raised for Kiwanis programs that help local children such as Terrific Kids, the Shoes and Socks program and need-based scholarships for graduating high school seniors. Credit Union raises $1,385 to ‘pay forward’ United Federal Credit Union donated $1,385 to local families and organizations across North Carolina during the 2016 Pay It Forward initiative. As part of the Pay It Forward program, UFCU provides $15 to every employee to give to a needy individual, family, or organization of their choice. Many times departments and branches combine funds to create a more substantial donation.Employees in Fletcher, Hendersonville, Asheville and Statesville raised money to benefit local families—some dealing with medical or financial difficulties—as well as a variety of institutions that help local children like Hall Fletcher Elementary School in Asheville and the Blessings in a Box program held in Hendersonville.In 2016 through the Pay It Forward initiative, UFCU collectively donated more than $11,500 to 34 different individuals and community organizations across the six states where branches are located.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Baker Barber photos going on display

You may not know it, but many Thursday afternoons there’s detective work going on in the public library. Twice a month, volunteers gather in the Kaplan Auditorium while their leader, Ron Partin, assembles a batch of 20-30 digital images to display on the giant screen before them.   Read Story »

Hendersonville News

THE TOP 10: No. 1 and No. 2

2. A taxing year The Henderson County Board of Commissioners, self-styled fiscal conservatives, raised the property tax rate by 5 cents per $100 valuation and charted a course for more than $100 million worth of capital projects in the coming years. The work includes the new Innovative High School on the BRCC campus, Hendersonville High School construction, a new emergency management headquarters, Edneyville Elementary School construction and the law enforcement training center. Early in 2016 commissioners expressed support for a quarter-cent local option sales tax that they said would reduce the need to rely on the property tax. But when commissioners Bill Lapsley and Grady Hawkins failed to win a commitment from the full board to tie a property tax rollback to voter approval of the sales tax, the referendum became an orphan with no support. No one mounted a campaign in in favor of the tax. Voters defeated it by 34 percentage points. Mills River taxpayers saw an even bigger tax increase. A year-long dispute with the Board of Commissioners over the cost of police coverage by the sheriff’s office ended when the Mills River Town Council acquiesced to a new contract. The town looked at providing garbage service, at a cost of $712,000 to $950,000, but a survey found that three out of five town residents favored police coverage instead. To pay for the service, which rises to $775,000 in the third year of the agreement, the Town Council raised property taxes by 6.76 cents per $100 valuation. In December the council received a report from Sheriff McDonald that deputies had investigated 6,338 crime reports through Dec. 1, compared to 4,273 for all of 2015 and 3,586 in 2014. 1. Hendersonville High School It was clear a year ago that a major construction plan for Hendersonville High School would be a big topic in 2016. The Board of Commissioners signaled early in the year that it considered the high school a high priority. The project suddenly got fast-tracked during commissioners’ budget drafting in the spring and soon it turned into the hottest political story of the year. The controversy lasted all year and shows no sign of letting up in the new year. Led by Carey O’Cain, a retired construction project estimator and manager, and current president Bill Orr, the HHS Alumni Association pushed for a combination renovation-new construction plan that O’Cain said would preserve the historic Stillwell building for classroom use, cost less and provide more parking. Despite their efforts, commissioners voted for the new “state of the art” high school on the old Boyd car dealership property and twice more ratified the decision. After a five-hour meeting on Aug. 17 commissioners voted to stick with their original plan. After a Sept. 12 meeting, the School Board sent a letter to the Board of Commissioners making a new Edneyville Elementary School the top priority and reiterating support for the renovation option for HHS. After a joint meeting with School Board on Nov. 16, commissioners again endorsed the new construction option. On Dec. 5, commissioners demanded that the newly elected School Board conduct an up-or-down vote on HHS. A no vote, commissioners said, would mean that the county would shelve the project. On Dec. 12, the School Board voted 4-2 to endorse all-new construction. The issue goes next to the Hendersonville Planning Board and City Council.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

THE TOP 10: Grey Hosiery Mill, DuPont Forest

4. Grey Hosiery Mill Although the mill has been in the news for more than 10 years, 2016 might go down as the year that started the project that worked. The City Council in November authorized an invitation to developers to submit plans to build a 130-room hotel (or something else commercially viable) on the site. The council wants the developer to retain at least the original 100-year-old part of the mill. The RFP was based on a consultant’s report that recommended the city recruit a higher-end hotel with a 7,900-square-foot conference hall, 5,000-square-foot restaurant and a 3,800-square-foot retail space. “The Grey Hosiery Mill redevelopment is a unique opportunity to capitalize on the growing demand for a full-service, unique hotel and event space in downtown Hendersonville,” the RFP says. For its part of the deal, the city offers to sell the 2.1-acre site through favorable terms and invest in streetscape improvements. The City Council could choose a developer by April. Groundbreaking could take place by December 2017. 3. DuPont State Forest When the year opened, a controversy was about to erupt over a proposal to charge an admission fee of up to $12 per vehicle to fund much-needed improvements and pay for more rangers at DuPont State Forest. The forest drew 683,000 visitors in 2015 thanks to the popularity of The Hunger Games, a big hit movie, and the Blue Ghost, a tiny firefly. “We really need some infrastructure in there to handle all that,” said N.C. Forest Service spokesman Brian Haines. The admission fee was widely panned by area legislators. “I do not want my constituents to be taxed and charged fees at the same time,” state Rep. Chris Whitmire said. Within weeks, Troxler had made a request for $5 million for new personnel and capital improvements in the forest, including $1.5 million for rangers and other personnel and $3.5 million for parking, restrooms and other improvements. Rep. McGrady and Sen. Apodaca guided the funding through the $22 billion state budget and Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler got most of what he requested. A successful year for DuPont State Forest got even better as the year ended. Troxler announced this week that the DuPont company had agreed to donate the 476-acre site of its old X-ray plant to the state of North Carolina, making the so-called donut hole public land and boosting the size of the forest to almost 11,000 acres. "I’m ecstatic about the announcement," said McGrady, whose involvement with the DuPont property goes back to efforts in the late 1990s to save the land from development. "It is the culmination of lots of hard work over many years by many people. With this acquisition, management and protecting DuPont State Recreational Forest will be much easier."   Read Story »

Henderson County News

THE TOP 10: Health Sciences Center, wildfires, Apodaca

No. 7. Health Sciences Center “On time and on budget,” as Henderson County business development director likes to say, the Health Sciences Building opened for classes in August. Pardee Hospital’s Comprehensive Cancer Center opened for patient visits this month. The result of an unprecedented agreement among leaders of Wingate University, Blue Ridge Community College, the city of Hendersonville, Henderson County and Pardee, the $30 million building offers education on the second and third floors and advanced cancer treatment on the ground floor. “Our county, the city, Wingate, Blue Ridge, Pardee all came together, put their egos at the door and did what was best for our community, for our patients, for our students and for our teachers,” Pardee CEO Jay Kirby said at the center’s grand opening. No. 6. Wildfires and drought In August, it stopped raining. Although the drought mostly spared the county’s apple crop it hurt hay production, helped the spread of wildfires and forced the city of Hendersonville to urge water conservation. The Party Rock fire, which started Nov. 5, spread from Lake Lure into a northeastern corner of Henderson County. At its peak the fire covered almost 7,200 acres and tested the firefighting skill of more than 900 men and women from across the state and nation. Finally, on Nov. 29, the U.S. Forest Service declared the fire contained and turned over firefighting operations to the state. No lives or property was lost. “The U.S. Forest Service thanks all the communities of western North Carolina for their support throughout this challenging fire season,” the federal agency said. As the year ended the city of Hendersonville was set to use a new French Broad River backup pipeline for the first time. The city is still working to get state and county permits that would authorize it to pump water from the French Broad to the treatment plant on N.C. 191. “We’re still in the severe category on the drought and even with the rain we had last week the river level was heading back down to 65 cubic feet,” City Manager John Connet said. “It’s not staying significantly above 65 cubic feet (per second),” the flow that triggers voluntary conservation measures. 5. Bullmoose retires State Sen. Tom Apodaca, who rose from back-bench obscurity to become the second most powerful state senator, retired from his Senate seat after 14 years of service, blowing a big hole in the area delegation’s power. Apodaca, who plans to hang out a lobbying shingle next year, worked in Raleigh for Henderson County and Western North Carolina, including legislation to help land the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. and appropriations for his alma mater, Western Carolina University. This week the WCU Board of Trustees announced that a new $110 million science building would be named for Thomas M. Apodaca, who has joked that he never set foot in the science building while a student in Cullowhee. “I found out I could take geology to get my degree,” he quipped. By retiring before his term expired, Apodaca was able to hand his seat to a handpicked successor. Chuck Edwards, the Republican nominee, was appointed to the 48th District seat in August. He defeated Democrat Norm Bossert in the Nov. 8 election. Edwards joins state Rep. Chuck McGrady, a key budget writer in the House, and 24-year-old freshman Cody Henson of Rosman, in the Henderson County delegation.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

New York Times covers Hendersonville's view of terrorism

Hendersonville is the setting for a New York Times report on a small town's view of terrorism and how President-elect Donald J. Trump addresses residents' concerns.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

LIGHTNING EDITORIAL: Walk of Fame process could be tweaked

The inaugural class of Henderson County’s Walk of Fame is a good start that revealed both the potential value and the pitfalls of the history-preserving effort.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

THE TOP 10: Training center, Meadows, Publix

This week the Lightning is running our Top 10 newsstories of the year. We start with 10, 9 and 8.   Read Story »

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