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Youth Council adds eight members

Henderson County News

Kanuga offers 'Dirty Dancing' package

Kanuga Conference Center is offering a "Dirty Dancing" package in August to celebrate the filming of the made-for-TV remake of the 1987 hit. The remake, airing at 8 p.m. on May 24 on ABC, was filmed at the historic Kanuga property and at other locations in the North Carolina mountains in the spring of 2016. Kanuga’s secluded setting and rustic surroundings provided a lush backdrop for the storyline set in the 1960s. Several iconic scenes were filmed there, including the conga line from the beginning of the movie and Baby’s famous watermelon scene. Johnny’s cabin scenes were filmed at the Fox Pavilion at Camp Kanuga, while the Fox Cottage on the main campus was repurposed as the Kellerman’s cabin. “We hope the movie provides a chance for viewers to fall in love again with Western North Carolina’s beauty,” Kanuga president Michael R. Sullivan said in a news release. “While the movie is a fictional story, Kanuga is a place where people can truly experience a vacation filled with old-fashioned fun and relaxation.” To celebrate the re-imagining, Kanuga is offering a limited-time Dirty Dancing package. Available Aug. 18-20, the package coincides with the Dirty Dancing Festival in nearby Lake Lure. Lake Lure served as the backdrop for several memorial scenes in the original movie. The package includes accommodations at Kanuga and breakfast for up to two guests; call 828-692-9136 to make reservations. Other getaway options are also available during the summer, fall, Thanksgiving, and Christmas seasons. Designed to serve as a respite from the hectic pace of daily life, stays at Kanuga include meals, lodging at the inn or guest cottages, and activities. More information about Kanuga’s guest periods and seasonal conferences and retreats can be found online at kanuga.org. The three-hour filmed musical event features the story from the beloved 1987 romantic drama and instant movie classic told from a fresh perspective. Dirty Dancing stars Abigail Breslin (“Little Miss Sunshine”) as Baby, Debra Messing (“Will & Grace”) as Marjorie Houseman, Bruce Greenwood (“American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson”) as Dr. Jake Houseman, Nicole Scherzinger (“Dancing with the Stars”) as Penny, Colt Prattes (“Rock of Ages,” Pink’s music video “Try”) as Johnny, Sarah Hyland (“Modern Family”) as Lisa Houseman, Tony Roberts (“Annie Hall”) as Max Kellerman, Trevor Einhorn (“Mad Men”) as Neil, Shane Harper (“The Passion”) as Robbie Gould, J. Quinton Johnson (“Everybody Wants Some”) as Marco, Beau “Casper” Smart (“Perfect Match”) as Billy, Katey Sagal (“Sons of Anarchy”) as Vivian Pressman and Billy Dee Williams (“Star Wars”) as Tito. Dirty Dancing, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, is produced by Lionsgate Television in association with Allison Shearmur Productions. Spending the summer at a Catskills resort with her family, Frances “Baby” Houseman falls in love with the camp’s dance instructor, Johnny Castle, and nothing is ever the same for anyone in the Houseman family. Modernized, updated versions of the memorable, favorite songs from the original film, including “Time of My Life,” “Love Man,” “Do You Love Me,” “Hungry Eyes,” “She’s Like the Wind,” teamed with well-known songs that are new to Dirty Dancing, such as “Fever” and “They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” are woven into the storytelling and performed by the talented and versatile cast.     Read Story »

Henderson County News

Henderson, Polk Habitat agencies merge

Habitat for Humanity agencies serving Henderson County and Polk County and Landrum, S.C., announced the merger of their organizations on Wednesday. he Habitat affiliates, each with a long history of helping families in their communities, are uniting to create an organization that will increase their ability to serve families in need of decent, affordable housing. Both affiliates say the merger will enable them to more efficiently leverage donor funds and ultimately increase the number of affordable homes built and families served through their Homeownership and Neighborhood Preservation Programs. Over 28 years ago, the two affiliates were founded independently out of local grassroots efforts to face mounting shortages of affordable housing. As the housing challenges in the area have grown more urgent over the years, the need for a united approach to those challenges has become more compelling.“We are very excited about working together to achieve greater impact in our neighboring communities," Henderson County Habitat for Humanity President Ron Laughter said in a news release. "By pooling our resources, combining our staff and board expertise, we will become more efficient and accomplish more than we would have as two separate organizations. Joining two neighboring counties will expand our capacity to acquire more land, build and renovate more homes, partner with more families, and engage more supporters." Henderson County Habitat board Chair Glenn Richardson said: "Our two affiliates collectively have created homeownership opportunities for more than 250 families throughout our service areas and together as one Habitat affiliate we will be even more effective in our role as advocates for successful homeownership opportunities for low-income families." Each affiliate will continue to represent the unique character of its community, and will continue to do business as Thermal Belt Habitat for Humanity in Polk County and Landrum and Henderson County Habitat for Humanity in Henderson County. They will continue to use local resources, depend on local supporters, and serve local families. Most of the changes resulting from the merger will not be noticeable to the community. “Our back-end systems will be streamlined to eliminate redundancies and preserve financial resources. Our united homeowner programs will retain best practices from each organization and, as a result of the merger, will expand and grow stronger” said Ron. Office headquarters will be at 1111 Keith St., Hendersonville where Henderson County Habitat for Humanity has been since 1992.About Henderson County Habitat for HumanityHenderson County Habitat for Humanity, a Christian organization, builds quality affordable homes, creates strong communities, and changes lives by partnering with committed volunteers, professional staff, and eligible families living in inadequate housing. For more information about Henderson County Habitat for Humanity, please visit www.habitat-hvl.org, find us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter @habitatie. Angie Hunter   Read Story »

Hendersonville News

Residents eager for answers on Mud Creek dump

Green Meadows residents left an information meeting Tuesday night saying they’re eager to get more information on whether an abandoned dump near their homes poses a health threat.The city and its environmental consulting firm hosted a drop-in information meeting to give residents a chance to ask questions about the so-called Mud Creek dumps, which operated without environmental regulations before the early 1970s. Tests so far have turned up no hazardous materials or vapors. The residents had plenty of questions but the city won't have complete and final answers until July, when a contractor is expected to complete a report on the extent of the long-abandoned dump and whether what's buried there poses any health or environmental threat. Once that's done, the city and state will determine the next steps. An information sheet issued joinly by the city’s contractor, Hart & Hickman, the N.C. DEQ and the city, described the process of identifying the landfill and assessing the health threat.“The city knew of the old landfill but based upon its location in a primarily uninhabited area of along Mud Creek no environmental assessment had been conducted,” the statement said. “This is very common for old, closed municipal waste landfills in North Carolina.”The state DEQ first identified the site in 2007 but didn’t require any mediation because the state program addresses “sites with the highest public health risk first.”In the summer of 2016, Hart & Hickman reported that on the southern part of the old dump buried waste is limited to the William H. King Memorial Park and does not extend to private properties. In testing this spring, the consultants confirmed that buried waste extends “beneath a limited number of private properties” on Martin Circle and Lincoln Circle. Landfill gas probes showed no significant levels of landfill gasses underground. The consultant also expects to test groundwater quality and test for vapor intrusion into existing structures. It will evaluate remediation where any risks to health and the environment are identified, the information sheet said.Green Meadows residents who came to the information meeting said they hoped to learn more about the threat and see the city and state react if anything harmful is found.“I hope if the land is contaminated they will fix it,” said Melody Rudisill. “I hope they’ll be honest about what’s going on and I hope they will tell us any repercussions that people might have that have lived down there for years. As a neighborhood I feel like we have a right to know.”“When urban renewal came through there they tore all of that down," she said. "They had to have known about it.” Housing Authority officials did know about the dump in the early 1970s. As the Hendersonville Lightning reported last week, Housing Authority officials sought help from a federal agency in 1972 to clean up the old dump but nothing was done. The Rev. Billy Waters, minister of Union Grove Baptist Church, the Green Meadows neighborhood church, said he has seen discolored water seep from the ground in heavy rains.“It’s got orange in it,” said the Rev. Billy Waters. “You can see something bubbling. Then when you walk on the trail when it has rained, the muck coming out of Mud Creek, you talk about something slick. Everybody uses the walking trail, not just the Green Meadows community. We’re just waiting to hear what the report says as to contamination and how it’s going to affect residents of Green Meadows.” The Mud Creek dump comes under the Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program, a part of the state’s waste management division in the Department of Environmental Equality. The program aims to identify, assess and clean up old city landfills and dumps established before 1983, when most state waste disposal regulations were enacted. The state has identified 675 eligible dumps.The Hart & Hickman report will determine “the extent of contamination making its way from waste at the Mud Creek dump into water, soil and air,” the DEQ and city said. “If officials determine that waste contamination is causing an imminent health threat, the state would act quickly to mitigate the risks.”Councilman Jerry Smith said he is confident that the city has done everything it can so far to assess the problem.“I learned a lot, I’ll say that,” he said of his conversation with a state DEQ official. “She was very open and answered all my questions. What I learned from her is that we as a city from what she said have been very pro-active in trying to remedy this situation.“She said that they’re in the midst of doing a lot of testing. Before they can do remediation they have to come back and determine what kind of problems exist if any." The only thing the city could do to speed up the process, the state official told Smith, would be to hire more consultants to do more testing faster. "Basically, what I got out of her was … she thought our timeline was actually really good," said Smith, who was the only council member to attend the drop-in event. “An interesting thing I learned as well is the goal the state has is not to dig things up," he said. "It is to find out if there is a danger. If we’re talking about refuse, the goal is to do some type of remediation on the surface that would prevent any of that stuff from rising to the top. She said anytime you’re looking at something like this you’re looking at a lot of square yards of dirt. The biggest concern is the areas that are right on the back of people’s properties. She said they had a site in Fairview in 2009 and it’s only two acres and they’re still not finished with it. I really pressed her hard on what the city could do and apparently we’ve done everything we could have done. "If there's something we can do to speed this process up I will definitely be in favor of doing that. She said we are in the order of projects to get done. She said there are some more dangerous than ours, for lack of a better term. She said thus far all the preliminary tests have found that there are no toxicity issues around any of these. They have to do the in-depth testing.”City Manager John Connet said he hoped residents came away from the information meeting with the understanding that “the city and the state are being pro-active to make sure there’s no health issues.”   Read Story »

Henderson County News

AVL wins $18M grant

The Greater Asheville Regional Airport Authority has been awarded an $18.2 million discretionary grant by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Federal Aviation Administration will allocate the funds, which will be used to complete the airport’s new runway project. “Maintaining a modernized hub of transportation is critical for our region and business community, so I’m excited to hear of this new development,” U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows said in a news release. “I’m confident that these additional grant funds will go a long way in allowing our local transportation officials to serve our region to the best of their ability. I want to particularly recognize and thank my friend and A.A.E. executive director, Lew Bleiweis, for his tireless efforts on behalf of the Asheville Airport.” The rehabilitation project for the airport’s runway has been a priority of the FAA to improve the airport’s infrastructure and ensure that the runway system meets construction standards. The grant is another step toward the completion of the project. “We are pleased that our elected officials understand the infrastructure needs at Asheville Regional Airport, and that they have advocated for the discretionary grant funding,” said Lew Bleiweis, executive director. “I would like to extend recognition to Senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, as well as Congressmen Mark Meadows and Patrick McHenry for their leadership. The airfield project is the most significant construction project our airport has undertaken since the airport opened in 1961, and will ensure our ability to serve the aviation needs of Western North Carolina for decades to come.”   Read Story »

Hendersonville News

One for the thumb for HMS Lady Bearcats

The Hendersonville Middle School Lady Bearcats soccer team continued its dominance in the Blue Ridge Conference, beating Apple Valley Middle School to finish the season undefeated and claim the conference title for the fifth year in a row.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Teachers of the year honored at Education Foundation event

Henderson County teachers, administrators and education supporters honored 23 teachers of the year on Thursday during the 15th annual Education Foundation Hall of Fame dinner at the Boone Building at the WNC Ag Center. The honorees were: Holly Kolarova, Apple Valley Middle School Suzanne Burnette, Atkinson Elementary School Anthony Johnson, Balfour Education Center Theresa Parks, Bruce Drysdale Elementary School Grace Quick, Clear Creek Elementary School Aramis Mugica, Dana Elementary School Carly Allman, East Henderson High School Melissa Duncan, Edneyville Elementary School Margaret Melonie Watts, Etowah Elementary School Tony McMinn, Flat Rock Middle School Amy Youngblood, Fletcher Elementary School Andrea Smith, Clenn C. Marlow Elementary School Tom Savage, Henderson County Early College Tara Anderson, Hendersonville Elementary School Walt Cottingham, Hendersonville High School Katherine Gash, Hendersonville Middle School Cody Merriman, Hillandale Elementary School Holly Bader, Mills River Elementary School Lucy Joyce, North Henderson High School Ashley Wellman, Rugby Middle School Ryan Mitchell, Sugarloaf Elementary School Diane Norgan, Upward Elementary School Jason Livingston, West Henderson High School.       Read Story »

Henderson County News

Ed Foundation honors Hall of Fame inductees

The Henderson County Education Foundation celebrated teachers who have devoted their lives to teaching and guiding children, demonstrating a dawn to dusk work ethic, fueling students' enthusiasm and keeping their colleagues inspired with their energy and dedication. About 270 people, one of the largest crowds ever, turned out for the 15th annual event at theBoone Building at the WNC Ag Center. Presented by Pardee UNC Health Care, the dinner also honored county schools principal of the year Bobby Wilkins of Hendersonville and teachers of the year from all 23 county schools. This year's program was trimmed down substantially from the three-hour ceremonies of the past. After a 6 p.m. dinner, the program got under way at 6:45 p.m. and concluded about 8:20 p.m. Since 2003, 119 individuals have been honored with induction into HCEF Hall of Fame. This year’s inductees include: June Barnwell, Henderson County native, worked for 34 years as a Chemistry teacher and Math teacher with the Henderson County Public Schools. Mrs. Barnwell’s service included a stint at Flat Rock High School (1958 – 1962) and then she began at East Henderson High School where she taught until her retirement in 1986. Mrs. Barnwell was a sponsor of many school activities and received several awards during her career, including Henderson County Teacher of the Year in 1986. Lynn Carter began her teaching career in Henderson County in 1979 after several years in the Wake & Swain County School Systems. She taught English and Social Studies at Rugby Middle School (formerly Rugby Junior High) from 1979 until her retirement in 2005. In 1990 Mrs. Carter received Teacher of the Year at Rugby Middle and in 1995 she received her National Board Certification - Early Adolescence/Language and was the first teacher in Henderson County to receive this very prestigious honor. Robert Joubert had an exemplary 35 year career with the Henderson County Public Schools. He started in June 1970 as a Special Education teacher at Edneyville High school where he worked until the school closed in 1992. Mr. Joubert worked briefly at North Henderson High School until he became Assistant Principal at Flat Rock Middle in 1993 where he worked until his retirement in 2005. Mr. Joubert was known for his leadership and his heart for all students. Accepting for Joubert, who died in August 2015 at age 66, was his wife Rosemary. Michael Pressley began his career in Henderson County Public Schools in 1973 as a Mathematics teacher at Rugby Junior High School. Mr. Pressley became Assistant Principal at Rugby from 1985 to 1988 before becoming Principal at Fletcher Elementary School (1988 – 1991), Balfour Elementary School (1991 – 2002) and Clear Creek Elementary from 2002 until his retirement in 2009 after 35 years of service. Mr. Pressley was recognized as a leader among his peers and received Henderson Couny Principal of the Year two times in his tenure, 1992 and 1995. Beverly Wood, a native of Western North Carolina, was a physical education teacher for 41 years, 19 of those years in Henderson County Public Schools. She began at Edneyville Elementary in 1988 before becoming the first physical educator for the new Glen C. Marlow Elementary School in 1999 until her retirement in 2007. During her career she received number awards including 1995-1996 Edneyville Elementary Teacher of the Year and 2002 recipient of the Kiwanis Club Lou Ann Morgan Leadership Award.     Read Story »

Henderson County News

McGrady pledge nudges IAM close to capital goal

Interfaith Assistance Ministry is on the last leg of its $2.6 million capital campaign for its new facility, thanks to a matching grant pledge from state Rep. Chuck McGrady.   Read Story »

Hendersonville News

Mud Creek dump may reach homes, city says

The city of Hendersonville has notified 11 private property owners that a long-abandoned landfill near Green Meadows could encroach on their land.The city will hold a drop-in meeting next week during which residents can ask questions about the old Mud Creek dump, a site of eight acres or more that was used for solid waste before the early 1970s. The meeting is from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the City Operations Center.At least two in-depth studies have attempted to define the boundaries of the old dumps and to find out exactly what’s buried in them but they’ve never been cleaned up. The area is mostly woods and thick underbrush and until recently uninhabited. Now there are lots of people around the old dump because it’s close to the popular Oklawaha Greenway.City officials have known about the old landfill since the early 1970s but there has been disagreement about whether cleaning it up was worth it. When the Hendersonville Housing Authority was building the Green Meadows neighborhood, officials considered grading and compacting the site, covering it with two feet of dirt and turning it into a park.Three years ago, when the city was running a new sewer line along Mud Creek, contractors discovered buried material beyond the previously identified boundaries of the dump, said City Manager John Connet. That triggered a fresh look at the problem, which has now stretched into a three-year grind involving an environmental consultant that is under contract with the city but gets guidance from the state Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program, a part of the Department of Environmental Quality. The state reimburses costs associated with delineating and cleaning up the Mud Creek dump through the Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program.City attorney Sam Fritschner has worked out agreements with the potentially affected property owners to allow soil boring and vapor testing to find out what, if anything, is underground. So far, no hazardous waste or harmful vapors have been identified.“As we have moved up the hill, those were the sites that were identified as potential locations of landfill matter,” Connet said. “Most of it as we understand it is in the area near the greenway. There was never an exact boundary” of the landfill. “We are once and for all trying to determine where it is, what it is, and are there any potential issues of concern from a public safety and public health issue. At this time, we have no indication that there is any public safety and public health issue. We’re trying to get to the bottom of it once and for all.”Even though the dump has been studied off and on for seven years, the city and state still don’t know the extent of it. That study is under way now, through a Charlotte-based contractor that has broad experience in hazardous waste cleanups and landfill closures. It’s not been decided yet whether to try to excavate the contents of the dump.The 39-acre site was part of the 80-acre Northeast Urban Renewal Project, which involved the demolition of dilapidated housing and clearing of land for Green Meadows in the early 1970s. Officials knew about the dump then and even tried to get help from the TVA to clean it up.“Our budget does cover the cost of clearing the sites but in no way does it cover the high cost of clearing and filling the dump areas,” Executive Director Ruth G. Last wrote on Jan. 11, 1972. She appealed for help on the grounds that the dump was a “breeding grounds for rodents” and impossible to police even with signs prohibiting dumping. Removing the dump “would make life far more livable for the project residents. … We are obligated to find some way of accomplishing the necessary clearance, compaction and grading of these dump areas as quickly and economically as possible.”But Marshall Staton, the city’s director of sanitary engineering, said at the time that removing the waste would worse than doing nothing.“This area has been used for many years and there is a large concentration of municipal solid waste that would create a major problem if it were attempted to remove it from the site,” Staton said. The most economical way to convert the land into a park or playground would be to grade it and cover it with two feet of compacted dirt, he said. “This method has been used in many areas of the state and it does provide excellent facilities for park and playground purposes.”There are no drinking water wells on the site. At least 29 structures, including duplexes, single-family homes and a daycare center, were a part of the study site. The site is bounded by thick woods and underbrush on the north and south, Mud Creek on the east and Lincoln Circle on the west.“These were in municipalities all over North Carolina,” Connet said. “Our particular city dump was on a list in this group.” The Mud Creek dump site didn’t get much attention because “they deal with the ones that are the greatest public health risk first.” * * * * * The public drop-in meeting on the Mud Creek dump is 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the City Operations Center on Williams Street.   Read Story »

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