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County opts out of Obamacare sex change mandate

Henderson County News

Don't miss this week's Hendersonville Lightning (101)

Don’t this miss this week’s Hendersonville Lightning. You'll find all the nuts and bolts about the early one-stop voting and the Nov. 8 election, candidate interviews and coverage of forums and information on all state and national races on the ballot.Here’s where you can pick up a Lightning Hendersonville• Hendersonville Lightning Office, 1111 Asheville Hwy• Pop's Diner, 5 Points, North Main Street• Triangle Stop, 701 North Main Street• The 500 block of North Main Street(First Citizens Bank / Mast Gen. Store)• Black Bear Coffee Co., Main Street• The 300 block of North Main Street(McFarland's Bakery / Mike's on Main). Pardee Hospital in the lobby. Flat Rock Playhouse, downtown(100 block of South Main Street) Southside Hendersonville(Spartanburg Highway)• Hairstyles by Charlene, Joel Wright Drive• McDonald's, Spartanburg Highway• Norm's Minit Mart, Spartanburg Highway• Hendersonville Co-op• Burger King/BP, Spartanburg HighwayIngles Supermarket Southside Hendersonville(Greenville Highway)Carolina Ace HardwareWhitley Drug Store Flat Rock/East Flat Rock• Flat Rock Post Office• Flat Rock Bakery• Zirconia Post Office• East Flat Rock Post Office• Orr's Family Restaurant, Spartanburg Hwy• Energy Mart Exxon, Upward Road & I-26• Triangle Stop, 754 Upward Road & I-26Village Café and PubPage 2 Hendersonville(Kanuga Road)• Hot Dog World, Kanuga Road• Mr. Pete's Market, Kanuga Road• Norm's Minit Mart, Kanuga Road Hendersonville(Fifth Avenue)Hendersonville Post officeFifth Aenue Shell Laurel Park• YMCA H'ville, Sixth Ave & Oak Str• Laurel Park Village, Rite-Aid.• Energy Mart Exxon, Brevard Road at Daniel DriveDixie Diner, Brevard Road Highway 64(Brevard Road)• Horse Shoe Post Office• Mr. Pete's Market, Etowah, Hwy 64-W• Blue Ridge Pizza, Etowah, Hwy 64-W• Etowah Shopping Center, Etowah Highway 191(Haywood Road)• Joey's New York Bagels, Hwy 191• One-Stop Store #8, Haywood Road (Hwy 191)• Dollar General, Hwy 191 & Mountain Road Mills River• Triangle Stop, 4197 Haywood Road, Mills River• Mills River Family Restaurant. Food LionIngles Page 3 Eastside Hendersonville and Four Seasons Boulevard• Norm's Minit Mart, Dana Road• Fatz Cafe, Dana Road & Four Seasons Blvd• Grocery Outlet, off Four Seasons Boulevard• McDonald's, Four Seasons Boulevard• Energy Mart Exxon, Four Seasons BoulevardMustang Cafe Highway 64 East(Chimney Rock Highway)• Triangle Stop, 2545 Chimney Rock Road, Hwy 64-E• Mr. Pete's Market, East, Hwy 64-E • Griffin's Store, Edneyville, Hwy 64-E• Edneyville Post Office. Griffins Store, EdneyvilleShell station, 64 East and Sugarloaf RoadIngles, Howard Gap RoadMoose Cafe Highway 25 North(Asheville Highway)• The Ugly Mug Coffee Shop, Hwy 25-N• Triangle Stop, Hwy 25-N, Balfour• Mountain Home Post Office• Fletcher Post OfficeInglesNaples Post OfficeTravel Plaza, US 25 and I-26 Southern & Eastern Henderson County, Polk County• Dana Post Office• Rosco's Grocery, Green River• Saluda Post Office• Triangle Stop, 1487 Ozone Road, SaludaAll Henderson County Ingles StoresAll Henderson County Post Offices   Read Story »

Henderson County News

City Council, residents optimistic about downtown hotel prospects

If the size of the crowd signified the degree of interest, Hendersonville is very interested in the prospect of a hotel on the site of the historic Grey Hosiery Mill.Eighty people filled most of the seats at the City Operations Center Tuesday night to hear public-private development experts issue an opinion that a downtown hotel is economically feasible — as long as the city participates to some degree in the project. The city’s main contribution would likely be to finance the sale of the mill property at a low rate and to invest money in streetscape improvements that makes for an appealing pedestrian link to Main Street.The consulting group, Development Finance Initiative, was formed at the School of Government at UNC at Chapel Hill to “respond to development finance challenges (and) bridge that gap between public and private investors for these type of transformational projects,” said Rory Dowling, the project manager for DFI.After the City Council approved the agreement a year ago, DFI set out to research Hendersonville’s demographics, analyze the demand for lodging and study the potential for growth, said Sarah Odio, a graduate student who was part of the DFI team. The analysis found that while there is no demand for more of the city’s existing inventory of rooms — bed-and-breakfast inns and highway motels — there is a demand for a downtown hotel.“There is limited high-quality full service products with event space and a restaurant,” Odio said. “Just looking at the model, this is an awesome place and people want to come here.”The hope of the City Council is that those visitors want to stay downtown and that associations, betrothed couples or anniversary celebrants would  book a convention, wedding or party in the 100-year-old mill on Grove Street at Fourth Avenue East. Plans now envision saving the historic 1915 mill for use as a restaurant and meeting space while clearing the rest for new construction.The consultants looked at four comparable resort towns — Beaufort, S.C., Staunton, Va., Blowing Rock and New Bern. All have a downtown hotel “in the style you’re looking at as well an event or conference space,” Odio said. “Downtown hotels can demand higher occupancy rates and higher room rates." In response to a concern that lodging is a zero-sum game — a room night downtown cancels a room night on I-26 — Odio said that’s not the case.“All the products including highway hotels and bed & breakfasts benefit,” she said, because the downtown hotel brings more visitors overall. Interviews with hoteliers in the four towns DFI studied showed that “across the board they felt the downtown hotel benefited them as a whole.”The public-private partnership model, in which the city sells the mill property at an attractive rate, would generate more tax revenue and tourism, the consultants said.“We found that with the public-private partnership there’s actually a net positive return to the city,” Dowling said.Council members reacted enthusiastically to the presentation. The next step would be to authorize the consultants to draft a request for proposals in an effort to attract responses from boutique hotel developers. The proposal on the table now called for a five-story hotel with 130 rooms, a restaurant and convention space for 200.“I think it’s the best shot to do something great for downtown and also save an old building,” City Councilman Jeff Miller said.Mayor pro tem Steve Caraker said he favors authorizing the next step in an effort to recruit a developer.“They’ve done projects similar to this all over the state so they already have a list of prospects,” he said of the Chapel Hill consultants. “Dealing with an old building is not your normal from-the-ground-up construction. It presents its own list of challenges and surprises.”Carson Calton, the owner of City Tire and chair of the Historic Seventh Avenue advisory committee, liked what he saw.“From the perspective of the Seventh Avenue group, we’ve been talking about something like this forever," he said. "This makes perfect sense not only for all of downtown but for our whole district. To have an anchor like this is great. It’s bound to have a spillover effect. Downtown is vibrant and full and they’re going to go to the next commercial area and that’s us.”   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Three Chopt holding pancake breakfast for flood relief

Three Chopt sandwich shop at 103 Third Avenue East is hosting a pancake breakfast from 9 a.m. to noon Sunday to raise money for Hurricane Matthew flood victims in Eastern North Carolina.“One-hundred percent is going to North Carolina disaster relief fund,” Matthew Rogers. “We’ll have a table with a big basket. We’ll just collect money. They can give whatever they want for the breakfast. We won’t take anything for the food. If I have to spend $1,000 on food so be it.”The menu will include pancakes, Three Chopt’s famous cheddar fries, bacon, fresh fruit and orange juice and coffee.“If you’ve seen the situation in Eastern North Caroline you know they’re in bad shape,” Rogers said. “We’re blessed. This is our 35th year in business. My parents were great people and I’ve lost them both now. My dad would say, ‘If you have a problem, do something about it. Don’t watch.’”   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Police probe rash of smash-and-grabs

Hendersonville police are investigating a series of smash-and-grab burglaries of cars parked around Hendersonville High School at the Friday night football game.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Newman defends comments an appeals court called prejudicial

District Attorney Greg Newman says his comments that a North Carolina appeals court ruled were prejudicial toward a murder defendant were accurate and appropriate.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Reduce water use, city says

The city of Hendersonville urged customers to reduce water consumption as it declared the first stage of conservation measures in response to worsening drought conditions on Monday. The Mills River is currently experiencing lower than normal levels because of the on-going drought conditions in Western North Carolina. If water demand reaches the point where continued or increased demand will equal or exceed the system supply and transmission capabilities, it shall be deemed a water shortage. When demand results in a condition where customers cannot be provided with a water supply adequate to protect their health and safety, the demand on the water supply and/or system must be substantially curtailed to relieve the water shortage. In accordance with the City’s Water Conservation ordinance City Manager John Connet declared a Stage I Water Shortage Condition Advisory. Stage I water conservation compliance consists of voluntary measures including, but not limited to: (1) Limit car washing to a minimum;(2) Limit lawn and garden watering to that which is necessary for plants to survive;(3) Do not wash down outside areas such as sidewalks, patios, parking lots, service bays, aprons, etc.;(4) Do not leave faucets running while shaving or rinsing dishes;(5) Water shrubbery to the minimum required, reusing household water when possible;(6) Limit use of clothes washers and dishwashers, and when used, operate fully loaded;(7) Use showers for bathing rather than bathtub and limit showers to no more than four minutes;(8) Limit flushing of toilets by multiple usage;(9) The use of disposable and biodegradable dishes is encouraged;(10) The use of flow restrictive and water saving devices;(11) Limit hours of operation of water-cooled air conditioners;(12) All residents, businesses and institutions are requested to temporarily delay new landscape work until the water shortage has ended. In 2010 the Water Conservation ordinance was reviewed by a task force of local business owners, members of the green industry, large industry, local citizens, a City Council Member, and a City staff member. The task force recommended and the approval was given by City Council to allow more flexibility to businesses and industrial operations that depend on water for their livelihood. In addition the task force developed a water conservation education program that will provide citizens with information on conserving water at home and work. The information can be found on line at hendersonvillenc.gov.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Officers treated to free coffee

Stand TALL — Thank A Local Lawman — is partnering with Joey's New York Bagels this week to give the servants in blue free coffee and soft drinks this week. Law officers from the Hendersonville and Laurel Park police departments and sheriff's office and the Volunteers in Partnership began streaming in for free coffee and soft drinks just after 8 a.m. in the first its first "Coffee for Cops" event. Fletcher police officers were expected to visit the Joey's location on U.S. 25 at I-26. Among some of the law enforcement personnel who were first to be served and thanked with free coffee by Joey's staff were Hendersonville police Lt. C.T. Letterman and officers Cameron Singleton and Mike Capps. Sheriff Charlie McDonald and his wife, Jennie, as well as V.I.P. volunteer Hale Meserow and marketing coordinator Allison Nock from the sheriff's office also visited. More police and deputies were coming in as the first arrivals were leaving. Joey's New York Bagels is the first local restaurant to offer this program which is available this week to all County law enforcement in uniform or with ID, and opened both its Hendersonville and Fletcher stores in support of the coffee for cops effort which will continue throughout the week, ending on Saturday. Stand TALL is planning on working with other area providers throughout the county to offer free "Coffee for Cops" one week every month. Stand TALL is a collaborative enterprise of the Sentinel Patriot Club of North Carolina, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. "With so much happening in cities across the nation involving law enforcement, I wanted to do something to let our men and women in "blue" know that they are respected and appreciated," organizaton founder and chairman Ron Kauffman said. "I believe it's important to say 'thank you for your service,' and to do so now, rather than wait until one of them is injured in the line of duty. There's just not a good reason to wait to say thank you to the people who protect us every day of the year."     Read Story »

Hendersonville News

New owner of Carriage Park lots to resume development (2)

Arendale Holdings, the new owner of the remaining developable land in Carriage Park, plans to develop improved lots after repairing erosion damage that resulted in a violation order from Henderson County.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Transportation history includes whatever floats your boat

Hendersonville author Terry Ruscin covers drovers and wagons, stagecoaches, ferries, historic inns, stockades and taverns alongside the Buncombe Turnpike, the railroads, depots and trains, riverboats, streetcars and trolleys, bridges, gaps, roads and highways in his new book, A History of Transportation in Western North Carolina. While other authors have covered rails or air or roads, Ruscin covers all aspects of transportation including traffic, bridges, taxis and buses, automobile dealerships and ill-fated attempts to ply the French Broad River.Terry Ruscin poses with one of the dozens of modes of transportation he covers in his new book.The cast of characters in the history includes Valentine Ripley, Solomon Jones, Sidney Vance Pickens, Joel R. Poinsett, Capt. Charles W. Pearson, Lt.-Col. Thaddeus C. Coleman, W.A. Smith and more. The book includes more than 135 images, among them rare historic photographs (some never-before published), maps and blueprints. Published by History Press of Charleston, S.C., the book includes a foreword by best-selling author and Green River native Robert Morgan.A book launch will be held at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5, at the Henderson County Heritage Museum in the Historic Courthouse.Other book signings will be held 1-5 p.m. Nov. 12 and 13 at the Western North Carolina Air Museum. A slide presentation and book signing will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, Nov. 18, in the Kaplan Auditorium of the Henderson County Public Library.   Read Story »

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