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Henderson County News

RESERVE DEPUTY FIRED, CHARGED FOR FIRING AT FLEEING PICKUP

The reserve deputy who fired a shotgun at a suspected drunk driver fleeing from law officers has been fired and charged with a felony, Henderson County Sheriff Charlie McDonald announced today.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

LOCAL BRIEFS: History winners, shooting star, Sunday Savings Club

Mantilla, Belk win history honors Juan Pablo Mantilla, a 2015 Immaculata graduate, and Kimber Belk, a rising seventh-grader at Immaculata, received recognition and awards at the recent National History Day held at the University of Maryland.National History Day begins with over 600,000 students participating at local levels. The top 2 projects in each category from each state and American schools across the world meet at the University of Maryland to compete for national awards. This year 2,971 students at junior and senior levels competed. Mantilla competed in the junior division in the Individual Website category and Kimber Belk competed in the junior division in the Individual Performance category. Belk finished seventh out of almost 90 entries in the nation and took the outstanding entry from North Carolina in the Junior Division. Good shot! Hannah Worrell and the NC 4-H Rifle Team placed fourth in silhouettes, third in Civilian Marksmanship Program and fourth overall at the National Shooting Sports Invitational in Grand Island, Neb., June 21-26. Program explores ‘Mysteries of Cuba’ Hendersonville Sister Cities will present a timely program on “The Mysteries of Cuba” at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 9, at the Henderson County Public Library auditorium.John and Pam Gaitskill will share information from the cultural-exchange trip they took to Cuba through People to People in 2012. Through photos and personal stories, they will tell about musicians and artists of today’s Cuba and the farms and homes they visited.“We enjoyed Havana, Cuba’s colorful capital, and its well-preserved Spanish colonial architecture,” Pam Gaitskill said. “And of course we loved the music and dance that is so much a part of the culture. Salsa emanates from the dance clubs and cabaret shows are performed at the famed Tropicana. We saw a broad scope of life in Cuba and learned about its history.”A nonprofit organization formed in 2007 to foster international cooperation and understanding, Hendersonville Sister Cities regularly hosts educational and cultural programs and international dinners. Grace youth headed to gathering in Detroit Grace Lutheran Church is sending 26 high school youth and 10 adult guides to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Youth Gathering in Detroit July 13-20.The Youth Gatherings take place every three years in a different location around the country for faith formation, worship, study, fellowship, service and play. It is an opportunity for Grace youth to engage with more than 35,000 peers from across the United States and the world who share a common commitment and faith in Christ. Arts Council sets grant workshop The Arts Council of Henderson County is accepting applications for North Carolina Arts Council Regional Artist Project Grants through Aug. 21. The grants are intended for individual artists in Henderson, Polk and Transylvania counties at any phase of their professional development. Grants may cover equipment purchases, professional development training, marketing and other areas between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2016.The Arts Council will host a grant-writing workshop on Thursday, July 16, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at the council office at 401 N. Main St., 3rd floor. Applications and instructions will be available at the workshop; the Arts Council recommends that all new applicants attend. Please RSVP by calling the Arts Council at 828-693-8504, or email , www.acofhc.org. Grace hosts singing family The community is invited to Grace Lutheran Church on Sunday, July 12, for either the 9:45 or 11:15 a.m. services to welcome Pastor Julio Melara, a leader for Iglesia Luterana de Costa Rica, his wife, Gerti, and their two teenage children, who will offer special music. Grace Lutheran has sent its members on mission trips to Costa Rica in past years, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), of which Grace is a member congregation, has sent Lutheran Missionaries to establish Iglesia Luterana Costarricense for more than 25 years.The Melaras are gifted recording artists who share their talents both inside and outside the church in Costa Rica. Julio Melara, who is Salvadorian, and Gerti Weichselgartner Melara, an Austrian, have two children, Sarah Celeste and Jonas Benjamin.Grace Lutheran Church is at the corner of Sixth Avenue West and Blythe Street in Hendersonville. For further information call 828-693-4890. Arts Council calls for artists The Arts Council of Henderson County is seeking artists who are interested in demonstrating and selling their art or craft at the 56th annual Art on Main Festival Oct. 3 and 4.Artists are required to exhibit both days of the festival. The Arts Council is looking for candidates in media such as plein air painting, carving, woodturning, blacksmithing, spinning, jewelry, weaving, lampwork and other forms.Artists interested in being chosen in the juried event should submit three images (CD or prints) of finished pieces. The requirements for the booth is included in the artist application. The booth fee is $50. The application is available on the Arts Council’s website, www.acofhc.org, or by emailing the Arts Council at acofhc@bellsouth.net.Deadline for consideration is Aug. 7. Applications may be dropped off at the Arts Council office at 401 North Main Street, Suite 302, or mailed to Arts Council at P.O. Box 767, Hendersonville, N.C., 28793.For more information contact the Arts Council at 828.693.8504 or acofhc@bellsouth.net. You may also contact Gail McClelland at 831-428-8555 or mcheminwayg@yahoo.com. Thrift shop launches Sunday Savings Club The Blue Ridge Humane Society Thrift Store is now open on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and offering the Sunday Savings Club. Shoppers can participate in the Sunday Savings Club by spending $10 or more on two consecutive Sundays. Get a receipt each time, bring in the receipts the next Sunday you shop, and you’ll receive a $5 Rewards Card that can be used in the Thrift Store.The Thrift Store, at 1214 Greenville Highway, and is open Monday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Trinity preschool seeks donations for yard sale Trinity Presbyterian Church’s preschool is seeking yard sale items including kitchenware, linens, appliances, holiday decorations, jewelry, collectibles, tools, toys, small furniture items — anything you no longer need that might be of interest and value to someone else.Please call Linda or Glenn Walker at 891-2486 or 674-1273 to schedule pick-up. Thompson to emcee Shrine Club fundraiser Tommy Thompson, chairman of the Henderson County Board of Commissioners, will be the emcee and auctioneer for the Hendersonville Shrine Club’s “Auction for Love” to benefit Shriners Hospital for Children on Thursday, July 16, at the Grande Ole Hall at Highland Lake Inn and Resort in Flat Rock.A silent auction and tea cup drawings will also be included. The Tom Brown-One Man Band will perform.Tickets are available from Shrine Club members until July 8, at ASAP Promotionals, 779B Church St., or by calling (828) 699-5697. Attire is dressy casual.Items available so far for the silent and live auctions and the tea cup drawings are listed on the Club’s web site, www.HendersonvilleShriners.org.Sponsors include Windsor Built Homes, William Moore, DDS; Hannah Flanagan’s, Etowah Valley Equipment, Etowah Shopping Center, Highland Lake Inn, Horizon Heating & Air Conditioning, Hendersonville Shrine Club Board of Directors, WTZQ AM 1600, the Hendersonville Lightning and the Times-News.Proceeds benefit the Shriners Hospitals for Children providing life-changing medical care to children, for pediatric orthopedic conditions, severe burns, spinal cord injuries and cleft lip and cleft palate. For more information, call (828)329-5210. Covenant Presbyterian sets Vacation Bible School Covenant Presbyterian Church, at 2101 Kanuga Road, is hosting its annual Vacation Bible School Aug. 3-7 from 9 a.m. to noon. This years’s theme is “The Scottish Sleuths and the Case of The Puzzling Parables.” It is a study of 12 of Jesus’s “Kingdom” parables. Early online registration is open at www.covpca.org.   Symphony League hosts wine tasting The Hendersonville Symphony League is sponsoring a Summer Wine event featuring fine wine tasting and hors d’oeuvres at Just Vino on Tuesday, July 14, from 7 to 9 p.m.Tracy Bridges and Justin Morrow, co-owners of Just Vino, will have a wine vendor available that evening with delightful wines to taste. Just Vino will also provide tasty hors d’oeuvres.The event will be held in restaurant attached to the Just Vino Wine Shop in Flat Rock. Please use the restaurant entrance on the left side of Just Vino’s shop.The cost of the wine tasting is $30 per person. For tickets contact event chair Lynne Stafford at (828) 243-5006 or call the Hendersonville Symphony Office at (828) 697-5884.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Acclaimed musicians kick off Songcatchers in forest

PISGAH FOREST — Acclaimed musicians Laura Boosinger and Josh Goforth will open the annual Songcatchers Music Series Cradle of Forestry in America’s at 4 p.m. on Sunday.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Ministers set Awake WNC revival July 17-19

The public is invited to join area pastors, ministry leaders and intercessors July 17-19 at Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in Asheville in seeking spiritual awakening in Western North Carolina.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

TDA support boosts trail momentum

Friends of Ecusta Trail board member Chris Burns thanked the Henderson County Tourism Development Authority last week for its decision to allocate a half-cent of the county’s 5-cent occupancy tax, which will total roughly $70,000, to support the proposed Ecusta Trail.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

County, towns show off for Bloom round 2

Don’t let the name fool you.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Atkinson hires new principal

Mark Page has been named principal Atkinson Elementary School, succeeding Matthew Johnson.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

‘Developer’s dream’ on the market

FLETCHER — The Johnston family’s roots in dairy farming go back a century and a half to the day when George Washington Vanderbilt first traveled to Asheville looking for land. Among the thousands of acres he bought for his vast Biltmore estate was the dairy farm of C.W. Johnston.Johnston took the money from the wealthy New Yorker, bought more cows and kept on milking.Johnston passed the dairy operation down to his son, Samuel Ervin Johnston, who passed it down to Samuel E. Johnston Jr. After outgrowing a farm in Fairview, the family moved to the Tap Root dairy in Fletcher in 1979.“My father went by S.E.,” says Mary Louise Corn, the fourth generation of the dairy family. “They called them different names so they could keep them apart.”Samuel Ervin Johnstons have kept on going. Samuel E. Johnston V is known as Quint. But even if the youngest S.E. Johnston has the most durable family name he’s probably not going to be in the family business. In fact, the generation of Corn and her brothers may be the last to operate Tap Root dairy. It could be developed for homes, shopping, industry or something else.It’s not the first time the Johnstons have had the 320-acre farm on the market. But for the first time, they’ve listed the property with an agent.Eight years ago, the Johnstons had a tentative deal with a Charlotte company to sell the land for a development that included a shopping mall with a Bass Pro Shop, a Western Carolina University branch and a medical clinic. The proposal came after the real estate had crested — in fact just before its steep plunge. This time, the Johnstons are ramping up the marketing effort just as the real estate market is climbing.“You can look at us and tell we’re not getting any young,” Corn says.“And the job don’t get any easier,” adds her brother, Billy Johnston. “It gets harder.”Billy runs the day-to-day farming operation with two brothers, Bradley and Timmy. A fourth brother, Samuel E. “Sammy” Johnston III, owns Fletcher Lawn and Garden.“To sign with a Realtor, we’ve never done that before,” Corn says. “This is just one more step in our efforts to be sure there’s a wide net.” Technology advances The connection to the land and the dairy herd kept the Johnstons going through four generations. The fifth and sixth are not interested in taking on the seven-day-a-week work of milking cows and growing crops.“It takes almost 200 cows per family to make a living,” Billy Johnston says.At one time, he says, Tap Root was the biggest dairy in seven states, milking 1,500 cows and raising all its own feed. Now the Johnston boys are milking 515 Holsteins. When they look down the family tree there are no more Johnstons on the way up to farm.From a second floor office, Billy looks down at the milking barn and points to the cows.“Each one has a collar around her neck that has a computer chip in it,” he says. “When she comes in to be milked her milking station already identifies her. How many pounds she produces and how long it takes her to produce it is recorded in the computer.”The farmers can also use the computer system to segregate cows and to open and shut gates.“Bradley can put in a list of cows before he goes home and the next morning they’re all standing in the pen ready to do whatever,” Billy says. “It’s a huge labor saving device.” And yet by 2015 standards “this is already obsolete. The big thing is robotics. … We came over (to Tap Root) and started milking in ’76. It was a state-of-the-art barn but before we ever milked the first cow, it was obsolete. It moves so fast.” Interstate and river frontage The Johnstons don’t know how much longer they’ll be milking cows.They’ve put the farm on the market for $26.5 million and they don’t sound eager to take less. The words of their father stuck.“In 1979,” Billy recalls, “we had a family meeting and he said, ‘Y’all can do whatever you want to. But always price it so you can all retire.’”“Truly a developer’s dream,” the listing says, the Tap Root farm is bordered by I-26, the French Broad River, Cane Creek and the Broadmoor golf course. It’s level and features a half-mile of I-26 frontage and almost three-quarters of a mile along the French Broad. “Rarely does an assemblage of this magnitude become available,” the real estate agent, Curtis Burge of CoveStar Investment Realty Advisors, wrote in the MLS listing.The availability of the land would seem to dovetail with efforts by the Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development to preserve large parcels of land for manufacturing plants that bring jobs.“We’ve always marketed the property as an available site,” says Andrew Tate, president of the partnership. “We’ve always partnered with the landowners. The property’s now listed with a broker and we’ll continue to work with the broker and the owner to present the property.”As for buying it, “The price prevent us from really engaging,” he adds.The Johnstons say county officials have eyed the land for industrial use since the late 1970s.“The Henderson County commissioners came to our father in 1979 with a plan for a future industrial site,” Billy Johnston says. “They worked out all the details and the commissioners backed out on it. Then in the ‘80s the commission changed and they came back again. They had a plan for it, all the roads laid out, and then they backed out.”Whether it’s done by Henderson County or a regional economic development agency, preserving the parcel for a job creating plant would be best, the dairymen say.“It is crazy that they don’t tie this thing up because this is the last one in Buncombe, Henderson and Transylvania county that’s situated like this, with interstate access and virtually no grading,” Billy Johnston says. “It’s flat. There’s a Duke Power substation. We’ve already got sewer, gas, water. Airport’s across the creek. It’s ideal. If somebody comes along and wants to put in a mall or a golf course it’s gone and it’ll be gone forever. Commissioners will just be out. This region will be out.”The Johnstons know the property has liabilities when it comes to access.“If this road was widened and three-laned from here to 25 — just that one thing would make a tremendous difference for any industry to come in,” Bradley Johnston says. “To me, the biggest thing that hurts this land is the mentality of the politicians in these tri-counties — the near-sightedness that they’re going to screw around and let this only good tract of land for major industry get gone.”Tate agrees with the Johnstons’ assessment of both the assets and the liabilities.“We’ve put the property through Duke Energy’s site readiness program,” he says. “We’ve done some preliminary engineering work to determine utilities and extensions and cost to extend. We worked with DOT on the process to extend wastewater from the other side of the interstate at Meritor. So we’ve done a good bit of analysis on the property to make sure we understand it and that we can mitigate risk for a client.”The developer would have to be big enough to pay for major work, or the number of jobs so great that the state would step in to build an interchange and improve Butler Bridge Road.“It’s a narrow road, it winds, it’s got heavy residential development already on it,” Tate says. “There’s a small narrow bridge going across the interstate. So one hurdle for the property to sell is someone’s going to have to take on responsibility to develop and make improvements there.” Regulations and the public’s intolerance for the dust, noise and smells of farming don’t make life any easier for the dairymen. The EPA in May fined Billy Johnston $80,000 for a spill of cow waste into the French Broad River. He and Bradley call the violation a “dead issue” that has nothing to do with their listing the property. They’ve been willing to sell since 1980, they point out.It’s just time, they say, to get out.A shutdown of the dairy operation would be closely monitored by environmental agencies.“Cows would have to be sold,” Billy Johnston says. “Once all the animals are off the property the lagoons have to be cleaned out, certified clean and then it’s clean water. The new owner can tear ‘em out, leave them for fishing ponds, whatever they want to do. You get a soil and water plan, then you clean them out, down to the dirt.”Tate has brought industrial prospects to look at the property as recently as three weeks ago, Corn says.“We’ve had all kinds of conversations,” she says. “Originally, we said it’s got to be at least a hundred (acres) and we compromised some more.” Now, the owners have told the Partnership they’d sell parcels as small as 50 acres.Although it wasn’t industrial, the development proposed in 2007 by Collett and Associates of Charlotte would have brought regionwide benefits.“They were the perfect kind of developer because they were willing to put together the entire property,” Corn says. “They had the vision of commercial retail but also things that would be beneficial like a hotel-convention center.”For now, this “developer’s dream” is still home to the classic black-and-white Holsteins, dutifully hoofing their way to the milking barn and providing millions of gallons of milk per year for Ingles supermarkets.“We’ve been told that it’s the most desirable piece of land between Charlotte and Knoxville,” Corn says, “but we’ve been told that for 40 years.”   Read Story »

Henderson County News

BUSINESS BRIEFS: Selee acquisition, Pardee finances, United Way adds staffers

Selee Corporation has acquired Fiber Ceramics, a Cincinnati corporation that could help the Hendersonville company speed its production. “One of the things they do well is in our process to make the same product, we take 44 hours to fire our furnace,” said Mark Morse, Selee’s president. “They can do it in four.”The potential for faster manufacturing comes as Selee is seeing marketing growth in a new product.“That’s the idea — to speed up production and find some cost reductions and hopefully put some of our own products through there,” Morse said. “We have another product that is getting quite bit of growth. We can free up that firing space for that product and we can transition other things into this new furnace.”Selee will continue to operate the business in Cincinnati until it receives permits for the move to the company’s Shepherd Street plant. Then the company will move equipment into the Hendersonville plant.A maker of reticulated ceramic foam structures for use in molten metal filtration and kiln furniture applications, Fiber Ceramics has about six employees and brings in about $1 million in annual revenue, Morse said. “It’s a competitor in an area where we have not done a lot of work,” he said. The move is not expected to add jobs at the Hendersonville plant. Pardee reports healthy finances Pardee Hospital sustained year over year growth in most of its patient services through the first eight months of the fiscal year, the Board of Directors heard last week.Two-thirds of the way through the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, the county-owned UNC Health Care affiliate reported admissions of 5,056, or 288 ahead of budget and 602 better than the eight-month period a year before. Emergency room visits were up 663 to budget and 846 ahead of 2014. Combined Hendersonville and Fletcher urgent care clinic visits were 3,026 ahead of budget and 4,360 better than the year earlier.Gross operating margin of $9 million through May beat the budget by $1.33 million and topped the 2014 number of $5.45 million.“May was a little bit down from what we have seen” so far this year, Finance Committee chair Bill Smith said. “Cost containment continues to be very strong.”Total physician visits of 67,388 fell short of the target by 6,866 but came in ahead of last year by 8,225.“We brought on a lot of physician practices,” Smith said. “Some of them came on later than expected. Some of them ramped up slower.” United Way adds two new staffers Sarah KowalakThe Henderson County United Way has announced the hiring of two new staff members.Sarah Kowalak, who served as the agency’s marketing coordinator from 2007-2013, rejoined the United Way after two years as community relations director at The Free Clinics. Originally from Massachusetts, Kowalak and her family have been in Henderson County for 10 years. As director of community impact, Sarah collaborates with United Way partners to make improvements in education, income and health in the community.Tana BlackTana Black started last week as marketing and communications coordinator. Formerly a freelance reporter and photographer for the Asheville Citizen-Times, she also worked in communications with an international adoption agency and most recently worked in the mortgage industry with two local banks. Raised in a military family, she has traveled widely and called many places home. She has lived in Western North Carolina for almost 20 years.   Read Story »

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