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Therapy dog competes for Hero Dog Award

Henderson County News

Humane Society makes tails wag one adoption at a time

Blue Ridge Humane Society provides second chances for homeless animals in Henderson County every day.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Don't miss this week's Hendersonville Lightning (80)

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

Henderson County News

BOARD CHOOSES NEW HHS OVER RENOVATION

Hendersonville High School students in the future will attend a new school, not the historic HHS building that has turned out graduates for the past 90 years. The Henderson County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on Wednesday to authorize new construction on  and further decided to preserve the 1926 core building for another public use.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

East Flat Rock lands plant with 50 jobs

EAST FLAT ROCK —Two years from now, any new BMA or Tesla on the road in America will be sporting an emblem on its hood, trunk lid and wheel hub made in East Flat Rock.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Legislators swat down $12 admission fee at DuPont

Henderson County legislators have successfully stalled — and may have killed — a proposal by state Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler to impose admission fees at DuPont State Forest as high as $12 a car.   Read Story »

Hendersonville News

Allison Development Group wins advertising awards

Allison Development Group, a Flat Rock-based marketing agency, won eight 2016 Hermes Creative Awards for advertising and other marketing work.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

WHHS continues run of yearbook honors

West Henderson High School’s 2015 Westwind yearbook, “This Is What We Do,” won the Pacemaker Award from the National Scholastic Press Association, which honored 42 yearbooks nationwide this month.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Ask Matt ... where Skyland begins

Q. Where does Skyland begin and Arden end? I can never tell them apart. Nor can we. If you run a Google map search for Arden, the pinpoint takes you to Fat Cat’s Billiards at the intersection of Glen Bridge Road and U.S. 25. The pinpoint for Skyland hits Dunkin’ Donuts less than two miles further north on U.S. 25. Hey, Google knows stuff. Arden has its own ZIP code, which encompasses Skyland. Arden has Glen Arden Elementary School. Skyland has its own Fire Department near Lake Julian where Duke Energy has its Skyland Power Plant. But don’t look for Skyland Auto because it’s way out in West Asheville. Confused?Driving on Interstate 26 you will pass a monster green directional sign at Exit 37 that says “Skyland” but as you drive down Long Shoals Road there are no further clues — no “Welcome to Skyland” sign. That may be because most of Skyland and half of Arden is inside Asheville’s city limits. There is a narrow strip of Asheville that follows Hendersonville Road (U.S. 25) and runs from downtown Asheville to the airport. That little strip also takes in Biltmore Park Town Center. Yup, Asheville city police patrol Biltmore Park and can write you a ticket in front of the Regal Cinemas 10 miles from City Hall.With the help of Brandy Bourne, a crack student researcher at UNC-A, we uncovered some history. It seems that a community named Shufordsville was settled in 1840 but was renamed Arden for the Forest of Arden in Shakespeare’s play “As You Like it.” Some records show that it once was an incorporated town founded by Otis A. Miller in 1888 as a resort. President and Mrs. Woodrow Wilson honeymooned nearby.So what’s the future look like for the communities of Skyland and Arden? The unincorporated parts will likely stay that way. A law passed in 2011 made it all but impossible for North Carolina cities to annex without consent of the residents. That same law shields our own urban communities of Mountain Home and East Flat Rock. Q. I got behind a BMW i8 sports car the other day here in town. The car looks like the Batmobile. Do they sell many of those?My sources at BMW of Asheville proudly report that they actually have an i8 on display in their Fletcher showroom and yes, they have sold a few. The sticker price for the BMW i8 plug-in hybrid model is $149,995. Pricy, yes, but the car gets 76 MPG. * * * * * Send questions to askmattm@gmail.com.   Read Story »

Flat Rock News

LIGHTNING EDITORIAL: Rail tankers not subject to zoning

Watco, the shortline freight hauler that operates here as Blue Ridge Southern Railroad, is just doing what a smart business does. Other railroad companies suddenly found themselves with tankers sidelined by a glut of crude oil and natural gas. Blue Ridge has rail tracks it’s not using. Supply and demand strikes again. As the Hendersonville Lightning reported last week, the ominous-looking black tankers showed up on the rail line between Highland Lake Road in Flat Rock and Mine Gap Road last month. Residents of Highland Lake Village, an upscale mostly retirement neighborhood in Flat Rock, don’t like looking at the cars. The LP gas warning labels make them nervous.Ginger Brown is a resident Highland Lake Village and a Flat Rock Village Council member. Her neighbors assumed she could do something about the rail cars. Not so much. First, that section of tracks is not within the village boundaries. Brown contacted the railroad company’s local marketing director.“I called her twice last week and kind of complained a little bit,” Brown said. “She called me Friday and said some of those tankers had been called back into service. She said she couldn’t promise that they wouldn’t come back and bring friends. But they’re still there. She said they will be leaving this week. She said they might go this weekend.”Brown said she was appreciative that Blue Ridge Railroad pulled the tankers from the Highland Park Road area this week.In an interview last week, Blue Ridge Railroad’s marketing director, Brigid Rich, described the tankers as “empty residue cars” that contain no volatile chemicals or gas.“It could be an in-and-out kind of thing,” she said of the duration. The railroad company can use the tracks for this purpose, she said, even though the line has been out of service since 2002.Councilwoman Brown also mentioned plans to contact Henderson County to see what elected officials could do. Little to nothing. Turns out the tankers in storage are yet another example of a disruptive land-use beyond the reach of local zoning regulations, like the proposed Duke Energy transmission line last summer and the current natural gas line construction.“That’s their property,” County Manager Steve Wyatt said when the Lightning asked about the stored tankers. “It’s a railroad. It’s commerce.”It’s encouraging that Watco’s local managers, by all evidence, are open about what the business is doing and responsive to neighbors’ concerns. Watco is, after all, the company that has to come to the table if the Ecusta Trail is ever going to happen. Plenty of people would gladly accept a few months of storage on the Saluda-bound line in exchange for negotiations on the Hendersonville-to-Brevard line.Residents who have researched the current state of the oil and gas industry learned that surplus tankers are increasingly common as drilling and fracking has slowed. The oil market is like the weather in our mountains. If you don’t like it, wait a little a while and it will change.   Read Story »

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