News

Our next chapter looms as another great mission

By Bill Moss, Published: July 30, 2025

When people hear the news that Elizabeth and I now have three grandchildren under 2 (for two more days, as I write this), they’re unsurprised to learn that we’re moving to Boise, Idaho, where they all live.

Read Elizabeth's retirement announcement here.

The three-under-2 family census came about on July 8, when Melissa gave birth to our first granddaughter, Elliott. Willson Moss and his wife, Cindy, have the boys, Jamie, who turns 2 this week, and Sawyer, who turns 1 two weeks later.

So the question arises, what becomes of the Lightning?

We will cover the news in Hendersonville, even if I’m 3,000 miles away, and I will still be able to do some of it.

How? The same way I produce a fair amount of the news content now from home in Flat Rock. This would have been impossible 30 years ago, before the internet and cell phones, and implausible 5½ years ago, before Covid-19 forced every town and county to live-stream their meetings (and usually make them available to watch later on video).

Plus, the team we have in place is more than capable of carrying on: Jan Chapin, officer manager-news designer-legal advertising czarina; Matt Mannine, advertising director; Matt Matteson, who keeps his finger on the business, political and cultural pulse of the town — and answers readers' question via the AskMatt column; and Amy McCraw, associate editor.

Amy Beddingfield McCraw, I should say. You can’t throw an acorn in Green River, Bob’s Creek, Zirconia or Big Hungry without beaning a first, second or third cousin of Amy or her husband, Corey. Amy has as much institutional memory as I do — and a much longer personal connection to the county. I inherited Amy as police reporter when I joined the Times-News as editor back in 1998 — and was lucky to reunite a few years ago and bring her on for Lightning reporting.

What about longer term?

Anyone who can read an actuarial table might surmise that I can’t go on forever, even in semi-retired mode, covering city council meetings, chasing down news tips, birddogging new restaurants.

My hope is we’ll find a buyer for the Lightning that can sustain the commitment to local news we’ve carried out since go-live of the website on April 24, 2012. In that span, we’ve posted 15,297 stories on hendersonvillelightning.com, produced the weekly print product 687 times and won more than 100 state and national press awards.

It’s been the honor of my life to create, nurture and sustain the Hendersonville Lightning, and I have as much passion for the mission today as I did 13 years ago. Yes, I will need some time off when I’m serving as co-headmaster of GPA — Grammy-PawBill Academy.

When there’s a big story on the ground, like the grand opening of the Ecusta Trail, or an event we need to photograph, like the swearing-in of a new elected official, or a natural disaster, Amy and other reporters will  cover.

All I ask is that everyone stay with the Lightning, keep reading, keep renewing. Keep the faith, brothers and sisters. So many of you have told me that the Lightning is the only newspaper that delivers local news; it’s true we have taken the local news franchise from the legacy dailies and become Henderson County’s paper of record. I believe you’ll find the quality of the local news report going forward is undiminished.

So, here’s to the next chapter.

Thank you for reading.

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Contact editor Bill Moss at billmoss@hendersonvillelightning.com.