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Opinion

Craft beer boom boosts our burg

Henderson County Opinion

LIGHTNING EDITORIAL: Council misses an opportunity on post office

The Hendersonville City Council inexplicably stepped back from the batter’s box when it had the opportunity to take a couple of swings at an important development decision.   Read Story »

Henderson County Opinion

LIGHTNING EDITORIAL: Houston, we've got a problem

We eagerly await the list of budget cuts Henderson County School Board members Josh Houston and Colby Coren will be recommending in support of their public condemnation of the 5-cent tax increase the Board of Commissioners approved on June 6.   Read Story »

Henderson County Opinion

LIGHTNING EDITORIAL: Suddenly they're big spenders

Charlie Messer, who will be sworn into a fifth term as a Henderson County commissioner in December, declared on Monday that this year’s budget drafting was the toughest one he had endured. That was surprising, given that Messer is a battle-scarred veteran of the slash-and-burn budgets engineered by Tea Party crusader Bill O’Connor in 2010 and 2011.   Read Story »

Hendersonville Opinion

LIGHTNING EDITORIAL: Spanish program es grande exito

It’s hard to move the needle at a diverse, lower performing school with high poverty.   Read Story »

Flat Rock Opinion

Nelly Belle, retired racer, succumbs

Nelly Belle Moss, a black greyhound who raced in Florida before relocating to North Carolina, died on Monday, April 18, in Hendersonville, where she had retired. She was 12.   Read Story »

Flat Rock Opinion

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 »

Henderson County Opinion

LIGHTNING EDITORIAL: Edwards is the best choice for Senate seat

One of the most significant retirements in recent years is Tom Apodaca’s departure from the state Senate, where he has virtually rewritten the playbook as an attentive, powerful and effective representative of Hendersonville and Henderson County.   Read Story »

Henderson County Opinion

LIGHTNING EDITORIAL: Greenway IS jobs creator

We’re glad to see that the Ecusta Trail has become an issue that distinguishes candidates in two legislative races in the Henderson County area. It should.   Read Story »

Henderson County Opinion

EDITORIAL: Environmentalists won't take yes for an answer

When Duke Energy does its work efficiently, it’s not just a manager down the line or the investors above who get rewarded. The ratepayers do, too. In other words, all of us.   Read Story »

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