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Recommended county budget includes no tax increase

Henderson County News

Firing range, Balfour opponents pack courthouse

Hundreds of people jammed into the assembly room of the Board of Commissioners to express their opposition the biggest nimby projects since the Duke Energy transmission line, filling every seat and overflowing into a community room next door.The Board of Commissioners has a Balfour Parkway workshop on its agenda, the issue for dozens of county residents, and opponents of a firing range in Saluda are signing up to speak against that proposed project on Macedonia Road. Dozens of people lined up before the doors opened, stretching from the front door of the couthouse to the street and down the sidewalk. Signup for comment started at 8:30 and didn't end until 9:07. Sara Bell, owner of the Gorge Zipline and Green River Adventures, said Wednesday morning that after hearing from firing range opponents on Monday night the Polk County Board of Commissioners had agreed to send a letter to Henderson County opposing the project, which the county wants to build on 99 acres on Macedonia Road. Chair Michael Edney opened the meeting at 9:10 with one question: "Has everyone who wants to speak signed up?" After an invocation by County Manager Steve Wyatt and Pledge of Allegiance led by County Commissioner and Air Force veteran Grady Hawkins, the board opened a public hearing on a zoning case. Edney said nothing about the order of agenda items. THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY. FOR MORE RETURN TO THE HENDERSONVILLE LIGHTNING. THE LIGHTNING WILL UPDATE THE STORY WITH COMMENTS FROM COMMISSIONERS WHEN THE MEETING GETS UNDER WAY.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Saluda residents plot battle plan against firing range

SALUDA — Although they love peace and quiet, Saluda folks are making a collective roar against Henderson County’s latest effort to site a shooting range. Nearly 250 people turned out Monday night to hear about the range, which Henderson County Sheriff Charlie McDonald wants to build on a 99-acre parcel of steep woodland on Macedonia Road in rural Saluda. The information session followed what turned into a rally of more than 150 people outside the Grove Street Courthouse on Saturday, when county officials held an information session inside with nearby landowners but barred the public otherwise.At the meeting on Saturday, neighbors said they were stunned to hear McDonald say that he had not walked the property, nor had any commissioners, despite their unanimous vote on April 2 to buy the property for $655,000, conditioned on due diligence. Since then, commissioners Charlie Messer and Tommy Thompson have visited the property and met with concerned neighbors, and sheriff’s deputies fired shots on the land Friday to test the noise level.McDonald said he needs a facility to provide “realistic training for deputies responding to crisis events.”“Recent incidents across our nation have only served to underscore the necessity of such training,” he said two weeks ago. “We ask these men and women to respond to incredibly complex emergencies, exercising flawless critical problem-solving skills, when in many instances we have failed to properly prepare them.”Monday night’s meeting featured Brian Goldman, the attorney who helped Green River homeowners defeat the county’s first effort to site a training center and firing range, at a former summer camp. Goldman represents a small group of landowners, including Susan and Tom McHugh, who live near the site.“We live within spitting distance,” said McHugh, a retired land developer. “I can look right into it. I was never asked. I was never consulted.” ‘Behind the 8-ball’ A Henderson County planner before he went to law school, Goldman laid out numerous factors that opponents can make against the Macedonia Road site. He urged the crowd to attend Wednesday’s meeting of the Board of Commissioners and admonished them to behave.“We’re dignified,” he said. “We’re not out there hootin’ and hollerin’ when someone makes a good point. We need to be respectful.” Lots of speakers is OK, he added. “But for everyone just to get up there and say the same thing, after a little while may fall on deaf ears. So we’re developing some talking points” to make sure separate major points are covered. Among the points:• Incompatibility. As the applicant for a special-use permit, the county would have to show “site appropriateness, compatibility with surrounding uses and protection of public health, safety and welfare,” according to the land-use code. The Zoning Board of Adjustment would hear the case. Opponents have brought up erosion, groundwater contamination, water pollution, traffic and gunshots as factors they say threaten public health, safety and welfare. On Monday night the neighbors scoffed at the prospect that the county could prove that a shooting range is compatible with surrounding uses.• Lead pollution. A nearby example commissioners will hear about is lead pollution at an abandoned range at Southwestern Community College, which is currently in a remedial cleanup phase. A stream through the Saluda land empties into the Green River, which feeds Lake Adger, “a lot of y’all’s backup water supply,” Goldman said. “I don’t know in 20 years, that’s still too close.• Environmental assessment. Engineers told residents Saturday they have not yet investigated whether there are endangered plants or animals. Neighbors say there’s an eagle’s nest on the property.• Other options. The opponents point out that there are indoor or outdoor ranges at the WNC Justice Academy in Edneyville, in Shelby, at Cliffside in Rutherford County, in Buncombe County and in Greenville County, S.C. “He’s not making the effort to train his deputies as much as he could, even though that’s his primary motivation — to get better trained deputies, and we all want better trained police officers,” said James Hrynyshyn, a Saluda Planning Board member and a leader of the campaign against the range. “Even if all these other things weren’t true, even if we weren’t worried about the future of Saluda, this thing is not necessary and I think we’ve proved the sheriff has not taken advantage of existing resources to train his officers. Nobody needs to suffer through this. This should be the last time the sheriff tries to put one of these things through.” Goldman held up a map with 1,000-foot circles showing what land would be off-limits because of the land-use code’s buffer from homes. The 1,000-foot radii put 80 percent of the land off-limits, he said. “They’re already starting behind the 8-ball knowing that there’s very little property that they can use,” he said. “They may end up being good stewards of your money and not spend those funds to buy that piece of property. … It may make it very easy for commissioners to save face and say not here, not now.” Issue attract candidates   Two candidates showed up Monday night who could team up to reverse the county’s decision if elected — sheriff’s candidate Lowell Griffin and Don Ward, who is running for his old District 4 seat.“We need something that’s multi-dimensional,” serving fire, EMS and law officers, said Griffin, who faces McDonald in the May 8 Republican primary. “I understand the need for realistic and relevant ongoing training. … There are so many options out there. We need to slow down, let’s research all the options and let’s do it right.”Retired Superior Court Judge Zoro Guice, who has deep roots in the area, has also joined the opposition. The Guice homestead “belonged to my great-great-grandfather,” he said. “I’ve hunted all over that property, I’ve fished all over it and I still own 30 acres at the top of the mountain overlooking where the shooting range would be.”And he’s lobbying commissioners to kill it.“I have talked to Charlie Messer,” he said. “I have a meeting with Mike Edney in the morning. I’m going to try to talk to my cousin Tommy Thompson sometime before the Wednesday meeting.”Candidates for office have adopted the shooting range resistance as major planks of their campaigns. Besides Ward and Griffin, those include Democrats who face uphill battles in reliably Republican precincts. State House candidate Sam Edney and state Senate candidate Norm Bossert both attended the events Saturday and Monday. “Personally I don’t think it’s going to work for the sheriff,” Bossert said. “These people are p---ed off. To me if the people didn’t care, I’d say OK. They care, this is their neighborhood, where their homes are, where their kids play. I would bet that there are just as many Republicans here as Democrats. This is not a partisan issue.”
Flat Rock resident Pat Sheley, a Democrat running for the Board of Commissioners, stood up Monday night and announced her opposition to the project.Longshot they may be, but there’s firing range opponents will win the Raven Rock precinct. Rally on the courthouse steps Saturday’s rally produced a cinematic picture when around 150 residents stood on the steps of the Grove Street courthouse, cheering speakers who denounced the shooting range proposal.“How many resource officers could we put in the schools for $6 million?” asked Steve Rhodes, provoking a spirited cheer. “The issue on the front burner right now is children’s safety. How many school shootings are we going to witness and this clown wants to put $6 million on a training facility. When we already have one that could be utilized. Bullet-proof doors. Metal detectors, something, $6 million to protect our children, not for some guy that’s going to go shootin’ out in the woods.”Hrynyshyn, the Saluda Planning Board member, said McDonald dismissed the idea of using other facilities for training.“He really wants to have his own,” said Hrynyshyn, the Saluda Planning Board member. “He doesn’t really care what else is nearby.”Engineers told residents that the due diligence period ends around May 23.“Six weeks or less, they have all these studies to show whether or not this thing is going to make sense,” Hrynyshyn said. “I’m not sure it’s possible to do the kind of deliberate due diligence in five or six weeks.”“But isn’t that convenient,” a landowner said, “because that’s after the May election.”         Read Story »

Henderson County News

LIVE COVERAGE: Sheriff's debate

Opening remarks: Griffin goes first, opens with his standard minibio that he's served the public for 35 years (fire and rescue), the last 26 in law enforcement, too. He would redeploy some of the brass to the streets and have them involved in the communities they cover.   McDonald touts his record of reform andreducing crime, reforming the department after Sheriff Rick Davis resigned amid a scandal. First question: What's the status of the $20 million range. Why not use Edneyville training center. "That's not a done deal," McDonald said of the training center and firing range proposed for Saluda. "Here's what the problem. We're asking our men and women to do more and more and be trained to a high level of efficiency ... They may not respond the way they need to respond." Griffin said he's trained across the U.S. In Alabama, he saw an idea of a "bare bones" training center that mocks a village, with a post office, houses. We can employ different weapon system besides the live fire," he said. "If we do this this right we  can create a village that becomes a multipurpose training center," use for fire and EMS, too. "If we decide we've got to have transparent studies that shows the real effect on the quality of life of ev that might be around or affected by that. ... There are a lot of options we really need to slow down and discuss and choose what's right." Rebuttal: "It's not necessarily a done deal. We've had offers from citizens in the community to help us find an area," McDonald said. The training needs continue. Griffin: "We have to have ongoing training. It's got to be realistic, it's got to be dynamic." SECOND QUESTION: What plans to you have for school safety? McDonald: Started the adopt a school program, where deputies dropped in on schools, ate lunch, checked in. In 2016 deputies made 3,747 random visits. After Parkland, he stepped up the drop-in visits and also paid off-duty officers to increase those. "We're wearing our men and women on their off days to be able to cover these schools," he said. He said he had received confirmation that County Manager Steve Wyatt's recommended budget would put deputies in all schools — without a tax increase. Griffin: It has to be a priority. "There is no bankful of gold anywhere in the world that's worth more than one child is." Deputies in schools was a topic four years ago, he said. He recommends practicing lockdowns, he's for SROs in schools, protecting children and serving as a role model. "We've got to get back to looking at school safety realistically" and harden each school against attacks. McDonald: Safety starts with a mindset. "It doesn't matter how much money yu spend or how many people you put in there if the people don't buy into and use the system consistently." QUESTION 3: Arming teachers. McDonald: No. 1, it's not legal in North Carolina. He's heard from teachers who oppose it and those with conceal-carry permits who are silling to.  "I think there's a place for that. I think we ought to be able to give them that opportunity." Griffin: "It's one thing to carry a gun and it's one thing to have the mindset to use that gun in deadly force." It would have to be a collaborative effort of all parties, for training, vetting. "I do agree that there are those that are capable of doing that." And that was allowed, he would have no problem with them defending classrooms. Question 4 Why doesn't sheriff provide animal enforcement inside cities. "Because it's illegal," McDonald said. A citizen claimed sheriff's deputies were "kidnapping animals." Commissioners were willing to pass an ordinance but the cities passed on the cost of picking up the cost. When he came into office, he asked the cities again. "I think the county and the municipalities would be better off if we did it all." He doesn't have the money, he said. "The bottom line is this has nothing to do with my stance. It really rests on the Board of Commissioners and I support why they took the position that they did." Griffin: He would work out an agreement "to where we could enforce these animal enforcement laws" inside city. The cities add a significant amount of money to the tax base. "They're already contributing a significant amount to the county budget overall." Question: How well does the sheriff's office work with Latino community? McDonald: "My commitment to anybody who lives in this county. what, i don;t ask abut that, my deputies don't ask about that when we do our job." Griffin: "There are industries that would fold without that community. I would actually like to establish a liaison for the Latino community. We have to earn trust in this communities. ... so they can help us  point out the bad actors in their community." Question 7: What's your position on 287g, the program in which local law officers work with ICE. Griffin: He would need to study it more. He wants to catch "bad actors." "I don't want to use it as a tactic that's going to intimidate the Latino community that this county relies so heavily on." McDonald: "Obviously Mr. Griffin doesn't understand. It has nothing do with the roundup this weekdn. That was federal officers taking care of federal laws and federal warants." The sheriff's uses it in the jail to run records of people already arrested to identify immigrants that have a record. After the question about 287g, a program widely mistrusted by immigration activists, the Latino protesters in the back of the room made a little noise, held up signs and walked out. QUESTION: How much have you raised? Neither knows what the exact number is. What's your position on body cameras: McDonald: He does not support it for the sheriff's office. "They take us down a slippery slope without thinking about the ramifications." Body cameras can cause officers to second-guess. The camera can't hear what the officer can hear. Studies show that officers in some cases were a lot less pro-active. "If the state were to mandate it I would have to. If my deputies came to me and asked for it I would do that." He trusts officers without use of body cameras. Griffin: "Transparency for the public, safety for the officers. I have spoken to many officers that used body cams and the vast majority are pro-camera. We've already got cameras in the car. ... I have one case right now where we're going to use body cam footage in a homicide trial. We want to prosecute these domestic violence cases ... It's often difficult to be able to portray to the court such an emotionally charged situation. Many times this footage will allow us to prosecute those very cases. It's basically a fundamental technology that we need to employ here." McDonald: "We were making cases and getting them to hold up in court long before body cameras came along." At times body cams make the officer look like he's done something wrong. The footage can be misleading. The sheriff's forum is wrapping up with little fireworks. Both came across as experienced lawmen, who are not that far apart on the basics. They differ on body cams — McDonald against, Griffin for — and the law enforcement training center. McDonald again touted his reforms; Griffin said he would make sure the command staff and rank and file did not have to put put loyalty above performance. McDonald said in his closing statement that many of those who support Griffin "worked to subvert" reforms the sheriff's office needed to make. Griffin promised "community involvement officers" who would know the people and police effectively. Joint enforcement teams have fallen away, he said. We have to have this partnership for more efficient law enforcement. He promised less turnover and more job security, again pledged to use body cameras.     LIVE COVERAGE. RETURN TO THE LIGHTNING FOR MORE     Read Story »

Henderson County News

East Flat Rock man charged with drug, weapons felonies

Deputies with the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office charged a 36-year-old East Flat Rock man with multiple drug and weapons charges after going to his Cagle Road residence to serve arrest warrants on Saturday. While trying to serve the warrants on Eddie Carol Ellenburg, deputies observed suspected controlled substance in plain view inside the residence. They obtained a search warrant which resulted in locating a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, methamphetamine, marijuana, Schedule II prescription pills, Schedule III Suboxone, and 21 individually wrapped packages of white powder which tested positive for cocaine. Deputies caught Ellenburg after he fled the house. Ellenburg was charged with:Felony Possession of a Firearm by FelonFelony Possession with Intent to Sell/Deliver CocaineFelony Possession of MethamphetamineMisdemeanor Possession of MarijuanaMisdemeanor Possession of Schedule II Controlled SubstancesMisdemeanor Possession of Schedule III Controlled SubstancesMisdemeanor Possession of Drug Paraphernalia Ellenburg was served with the following outstanding warrants from Henderson County:Felony Breaking and/or EnteringFelony Larceny After Breaking and/or Entering Ellenburg remains in the Henderson County Jail under a $47,250 bond. He is also being held on outstanding warrants from Buncombe County for the following charges:Felony Larceny of a FirearmFelony Breaking and Entering a Motor Vehicle2 counts of Felony Second Degree Kidnapping   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Latino community on edge over ICE busts, protesters say

The Latino community in Henderson County was plunged into fear and apprehension by ICE officers’ detention of several people over the past three days, demonstrators outside ICE’s Hendersonville office said.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Ward blasts board over county manager bonuses

Henderson County Commission candidate Don Ward is questioning the action by the Board of Commissioners granting large bonuses to the county manager, saying the amounts appear to be excessive and should have been approved in an open session. A campaign supporter made a public record request and received a spreadsheet showing County Manager Steve Wyatt’s salary, cost of living increases and bonuses dating back to March 2012. The records show that Wyatt has received $226,700 in bonuses since March of 2016, including a $75,000 lump sum bonus and $14,342 retention bonus effective April 6. His regular salary is $191,227.Ward is running in the May 8 Republican primary against Rebecca McCall for the District 4 seat held by two-term incumbent Tommy Thompson, who is retiring. At a Republican Party-sponsored debate with McCall last week, Ward and his supporters submitted a question about Wyatt’s salary and bonuses, using an old trick he learned from Ab Jackson, the Henderson County sheriff in the 1980s and ’90s. “We’re going to tear the top left corner off each one of the questions,” he told a supporter, so they could see which ones made it to the moderator. Only one did, he said. Wyatt’s pay is a legitimate issue, Ward said, because of the amount but also because of what he describes as a lack of openness.“They’ve been doing this in closed session. In my opinion this should be open session,” he said. “That’s the way we always did. To me this is hidden dollars. They’ve taken the liberty in closed session doing things I think should be in public session. If you look realistically at $75,000 and $90,000, that would pay for almost two school resource officers in our school system. … What is he doing that deserves a $75,000 bonus?”A lot, two county commissioners said when asked to respond to Ward’s criticism.Board chair Michael Edney and Commissioner Tommy Thompson strongly defended the pay increases and bonuses.“In that bonus I would say we did our research for all the counties in North Carolina and found that the amount we were paying Steve via retention or straight-out bonuses or standard salary was in line with the rest of them. “Should we have come out in an open session? I don’t know. I don’t know what the appropriate protocol would be.”“I have no problems with what I voted on. I’d back it up 100 percent. Steve has done an absolutely wonderful job for us and deserves the bonus. Between him and the finance office, they have saved in past 7½ years since I’ve been there millions and millions and millions of dollars — selling stuff at a premium and buying stuff where we could do it (at lower prices). I got no problem saying I voted for that.”The Board of Commissioners sets the salary for the county manager, county attorney, sheriff and register of deeds. (The salary of a third constitutional officer, the clerk of court, is set by the state.)“It was an enthusiastic unanimous endorsement of the fact that he has earned that,” Thompson said of the board's discussion and vote in closed session. “This county has no idea the job that he has. If you look at the hospital, corporations, the head of other institutions around here he’s not making any more money than any of them are. His overall salary is nowhere near what a lot of these CEOs and what of a lot of these corporate heads make. We’re still conservative for the amount (of pay) for what he produces.”Retention bonuses are part of the county’s pay policy and apply to all employees, Thompson said.“Each individual who works in the county has the opportunity to receive a retention bonus depending on what they’re supervisor feels is appropriate for them,” Thompson said. “I’ve always said since I came into the county commission I was never going to balance the budget on the backs of the employees.” Edney said that he had “absolutely” voted for the bonuses. He ticked off numerous reasons why.“He’s the best manager in state, or one of the best,” he said. “Thirty years of service, not all of them here but a number of years here. He has saved the county 10-fold every penny he makes. Good management, leadership. Getting the most out of employees. He’s been a godsend to Henderson County.”Both Thompson and Edney said it’s Wyatt’s fiscal management that has helped the county pile up a fund balance approaching $50 million, a hefty reserve account that keeps taxes low. “He deserves a great deal of credit for that,” Edney said. “He’s doing the day in day out stuff, from the lowest employee all the way to the top. It’s a culture that he creates. … He could be in Wake, Mecklenburg, any of those places if he wanted to making three times the money.”As for approving the bonuses in closed session, Edney said there’s no motive for secrecy.“We release those minutes,” he said. “They do become open. They are open, maybe not immediately.”He declined to offer an opinion on whether the county manager’s pay ought to be a issue in the District 4 campaign.“I made it policy not to get involved in Republican primaries,” he said.Thompson was not so reticent.“If Ward is wanting to make an issue on this thing, those votes were unanimous,” Thompson said. “That was not a 3-2 or 4-1. That was unanimous as to (Wyatt’s) productivity, his ability and his success in doing his job. He can take whatever issue he wants but it’s got nothing to do with running against her. That’s just trying to get his name in front of the people in some form for free advertising.”   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Hendersonville native's debut novel wins acclaim

As a child Heather Bell played with her sister in spooky sheds at her grandparents’ home. “My maternal grandparents lived in East Flat Rock and they had a bunch of abandoned outbuildings, farm buildings, chicken sheds, tool sheds, and my sister and I would explore them and we kind of found them fascinating and also a little scary,” she said. Another vivid memory became deeply etched at the homestead. “My sister and I were in high school when my mother passed way and we were at my grandparents’ house when we found out,” she said. Almost thirty years later, Heather Bell Adams combines the images of the shed and the heart-ache of loss in the opening scene of Maranatha Road, her acclaimed first novel that will remind readers here of Hendersonville, Green River and Lake Summit and familiar places like Shepherd Funeral Home. Heather Bell AdamsThe fictional town of Garnet feels a bit like Hendersonville but what feels truer than place is the people. Adams’ characters sound and behave like genuine small-town mountain natives, doing their best to navigate life’s challenges. The book has won the James Still Fiction Prize, the Carrie McCray Literary Award and the Independent Book Publishers Gold award as the best novel in the Southeast. Southern Literary Review called Maranatha Road “an exquisite story with characters so real they could step off the pages into your living room.” A native of Hendersonville, Adams is the daughter of Doley Bell, the retired administrator at Carolina Village, who lives in Mills River. She grew up on Kanuga Road, “the last house in the city limits.” Asked which teachers inspired her, she names philosophy teacher Lisa Vierra and English teacher Tom Orr at Hendersonville High School and Bel Smith, the Hendersonville Middle School newspaper adviser. After graduating from HHS, Adams earned undergraduate and law degrees from Duke. Although she works fulltime as senior counsel for First Citizens Bank and has a 14-year-old son, she steals time to write short stories and novels — a second one is in the editing stages. “Really I just try to fit in writing whenever I can, while waiting for a flight in an airport, waiting in the carpool line to pick up my son, just little snippets of time,” she said in an interview from her Raleigh office. “On my commute to work I’m often thinking about the story I’m working on and what will come next or what the characters will do.” Maranatha Road opens with Tinley losing both her parents. Losing her mother as a teenager gave Adams a searing memory to drew on. Adams’s lead characters, 17-year-old Tinley Greene and 60-something Sadie Caswell, unexpectedly collide. Adams guides them to place ultimately of love and forgiveness. It’s no easy road there. She tells the story from the points of view of Tinley, her lover, Mark; Sadie, and her husband, Clive. Tinley, and only Tinley, speaks in the present. “Being younger and almost a little bit more naïve Tinley lives in the present more so than Sadie,” Adams said. “That was always the way her voice came to me, whereas Sadie and the other characters are more nostalgic and looking back.” Adams finished the novel in a year. Working with a literary agent, she connected with Vandalia Press, a West Virginia University imprint, which published the book last October. “It was very exciting to see it,” she said. “I remember opening the email when they sent the cover. That was a great moment as well because I had no idea what the cover would look like.” A launch tour has taken her to bookstores and book clubs throughout the state and to Yale, where her book was honored. Invariably, readers have loved her book. Her next novel is a dual timeline story set in present day Savannah and in the Pacific in World War II. If fans ask whether we might see Tinley again, Adams says she has some interest in exploring how the young woman’s life turns out. For now, Adams is happy to be coming home, where she will see people and places that helped inspire Maranatha Road. “I’m really looking forward to the event in Hendersonville. I have so many family members in the area and friends,” she said. She hopes her paternal grandmother, 96, can be there, as well as her father, her sister, Melissa, who lives in Fletcher, cousins and in-laws. Adams will read from Maranatha Road and sign books at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 2, at the Heritage Museum in the Historic Courthouse. She will appear on UNC-TV’s North Carolina Bookwatch with D.G. Martin at 11 a.m. Sunday, April 22, and 5 p.m. Thursday, April 26.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

WHKP to air sheriff's debate

WHKP 1450 AM and 107.7 FM will air the two-hour sheriff's debate live from Blue Ridge Community College on Tuesday  beginning at 7 p.m. The station will also stream the debate on whkp.com. Incumbent Sheriff Charlie McDonald and challenger Lowell Griffin meet in the May 8 Republican primary.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

NCDOT engineers to meet with Balfour Parkway opponents

Volunteers with the effort to the stop the Balfour Parkway will be meeting with representatives from the North Carolina Department of Transportation on April 17 and 18, the organization Stop the Balfour Parkway announced. Cindy Lemon, campaign manager for the STBC, was contacted by the Balfour Parkway Project Manager Jennifer Fuller, of the NCDOT. NCDOT engineers will be in town for an April 18 work session with Henderson County commissioners. They asked to meet with the parkway opponents to present more detailed information regarding how the project works, who is involved and what their roles are. Fuller offered an opportunity for a small group of STBC volunteers to join in question and answer sessions with several of the NCDOT team and members of the French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization. The closed meetings have been arranged and questions forwarded.  The organization of homeowners said it welcomes an open exchange of ideas. "The mission of the Stop the Balfour Campaign is to unite Henderson County communities against creation of an expressway that would destroy homes, businesses, churches and impact the quality of life of residents near and within the path of the proposed Balfour Parkway," the group said. "It is committed to working together and speaking with one voice to stop the needless road from laying waste to our neighborhoods, subdivisions and community."   Read Story »

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