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Henderson County News

Blue Ridge Honor Flight invites veterans on free trip

Blue Ridge Honor Flight is inviting veterans to join the organization on its next trip to Washington, D.C., to visit memorials and other sights on Saturday, May 13. Invited to fly to the nation’s capital on the free one-day trip are:• World War II veterans who have not had the chance to visit the National World War II Memorial.• Korean War veterans who served in Korea between 1950 and 1953 and has not visited the Korean War Memorial on an HonorAir flight.• Any veteran of the Vietnam War or any other war or conflict and who has a life-limiting condition.To download an application visit blueridgehonorflight.com. For questions or for help call registration coordinator JoAnn Naeger at 828-776-0650.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Haus Heidelberg offering 1994 prices this weekend

Haus Heidelberg German restaurant, which first opened its doors in 1994, is celebrating its 23rd anniversary with a throwback menu and throwback prices.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Ask Matt ... who's got milk

Q. What are they doing with that land on N.C. 191 next to the Mills River Town Hall? And what are those round structures in the middle of the fields? That land is being prepared for Henderson County’s newest dairy and those round structures are for irrigating what will soon be grass. The 35-acre dairy is operated by Bradley Johnston, a third-generation dairy farmer who owns the Mills River Creamery just up the road. His dairy products will be sold through the family business.To get the dairy started, Johnston bought 30 Jersey dairy cattle from Biltmore Farms. He will eventually double that herd. Cattle don’t come cheap and Jerseys start at around $1,300 and go up from there depending on age, pedigree and milk production. Johnston’s cows now produce 175 gallons of milk per day and they will rotate among three outdoor paddocks (enclosed grazing areas). Johnston has an underground irrigation system for the grass drawing water from the Mills River but the cattle will drink well water.Johnston has done a good bit of research on milk before embarking upon this venture. Gee, how much science can there be in the dairy business you might ask? Well, for starters, one in four Americans suffers from lactose intolerance and for some time consumers in New Zealand and Australia have been drinking a brand of milk called “A2” with good results. You see, most of what we have been buying is A1 milk that carries a protein less easily digested than that produced by A2 cows. Holstein cows for example, produce A1 milk which is the milk of choice of dairy farmers because the cows produce a lot of it. To put an A2 label on a quart of milk, Johnston has to have his cattle DNA tested plus jump through legal hoops. The Creamery’s milk products are pasteurized and also labeled “RBGH Free” which means the cows are not injected with a genetically engineered artificial hormone to increase milk production.What is significant about Bradley Johnston’s dairy is that the dairy industry had almost left the county after the 200-plus acre Taproot Dairy on Butler Bridge Road recently closed. Taproot, which Bradley ran with brothers Billy and Timmy and sister Mary Louise Corn, has been considered for many years as a prime industrial site. Now the oldest dairy is Small Acres Dairy on Jeffress Road in Mills River, which has a connection to the Johnston family. It’s operated by Mike Corn, Mary Louise Corn’s husband. Mark Williams, who heads the county’s agribusiness development office, said that there were once some 200 dairies in the county. “I remember back in 1987 the number was down to just sixteen dairies,” said Williams. “We were just down to one so it’s good to keep dairies in the county.” On the agritourism side, Williams was upbeat. “Johnston’s dairy will be open to the public and the milking parlor will employ glass tubes where one can follow the flow of milk from the cow’s udders into the containment jars. This will be a great experience for school kids and adults alike.”Dairy farming is hanging on in Henderson County. Got milk? * * * * * Send questions to askmattm@gmail.com.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Supervisor responds to complaint about 'out of control' referee at HMS game

A middle school basketball referee's behavior after a hotly contested girls game last week resulted in a fan's complaint and a response by the referee's supervisor. The behavior in question came after Waynesville Middle School's girls defeated Hendersonville Middle School 39-30 in a second-round playoff game on Wednesday. A fan at the game complained in an email to state high school athletics officials about the referee, who he said "was completely out of control" when a student approached him after the game. ""The teams, coaches and fans conducted themselves very well," said the email from C.P. Massey. "However one referee stepped out of line and made three flagrant ethics violations. After the girls game he was approached by a young man who asked if he needed water. The referee screamed at the young man, 'You touched me! Get out of the gym right now!' The young man stepped back with his hands up and repeated, 'Sir would you like some water?' The referee then spoke to the uniformed Waynesville police officer, 'He touched me! Get him out!'" HMS principal Luke Manuel said the young man who approached the game official is a Hendersonville High School student who volunteers at the middle school games and helps with scorekeeping and the scoreboard and in the concession stand. "The officials were leaving the court and he came over and tapped the official and then says, 'Would you like some water?'" Manuel said. The official may have thought the tap was from an angry hometown fan after a heated game. "I think the official turned around and thought somebody was trying to maybe harm him," Manuel said. Manuel said he did not see the incident but spoke to the game official about it. He told the official the HHS student would not have done anything confrontational. No one escorted the student out and he was not asked to leave the game, Manuel said. Massey perceived the episode as more serious. "This referee was completely out of control," he said. "He needs to be immediately reprimanded and reminded that, 'I will shape my character and conduct so as to be a worthy example to the boys and girls who play under my jurisdiction." Massey cited several examples from an ethics manual officials are supposed to adhere to and demanded that the referee be punished. "He needs to be immediately reprimanded and the young man involved deserves nothing less than a face to face apology," he said. Responding to Massey's complaint, Rick Smart, the supervisor of middle school referees in the area, said he had acted immediately to look into the situation. "On Jan 26, I received your email at 11:52 p.m. in reference to the verbal assault allegations," Smart wrote to Massey. (Emails were shared with other athletics officials and the press. "After reading your email I contacted the administration at Henderson Middle School at approximately 2:44pm on January 26th and had a detailed conversation with Mr. Manuel. At 3:28pm on January 26th I contacted the official who was involved in this incident. From the time I received your email and the time I contacted the official was less than 4 hours. Administrative action was taken at the time of my conversation with the official which Mr Manuel and I both feel is more than adequate. ... My position as the supervisor of the middle school officials is to always up hold the officials code of ethics as demonstrated in the NCHSAA Handbook. Rest assured this matter has been addressed." Manuel said he assumed Smart had followed through. "As far as i know it has been," he said. "I know he said he was going to take care of it. I trust that he addressed it and it's going to be taken care of." Efforts to get a further explanation from Smart and Massey were unsuccessful.     Read Story »

Hendersonville News

Activists to protest at Sen. Tillis's office here

A group of Hendersonville activists plan to hold a rally at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in front of Sen. Thom Tillis' office at the Historic Courthouse to send a message to Sen. Tillis' about the cabinet nominees and President Trump's immigration ban. The group, called POW (Progressive Organized Women), was founded two weeks ago in a living room in Hendersonville with nine people in attendance. It now has more than 250 members on its Facebook page, organizer Jayne Jennings said. "We are collaborating with Moveon.org and Indivisible.com to voice our concerns to Sen. Tillis," she said. "Last week we had over 90 people join us. We have twice asked the Senator's Charlotte office to send someone to meet with us and they have not responded." Participants plan to record individual messages to send to the senator, whose Western North Carolina office is in the Historic Courthouse.     Read Story »

Hendersonville News

Ask Matt ... where the sidewalk (clearing) ends

Q. What is the City’s policy on snow removal for downtown sidewalks? After a snowstorm, the city crews scrape the sidewalks in the downtown business district and also in the Historic Seventh Avenue District. That’s as far as they go. No other sidewalks in the City get this attention nor is sand or ice melt applied on other sidewalks. The downtown and 7th Avenue areas are singled out because district property owners pay additional taxes that are used to provide the extra service. Hendersonville has an ordinance that requires businesses and homeowners to clean the sidewalks in front of their property but according to City officials, that policy is not presently enforced.OK, if you don’t hang around downtown Hendersonville after a major snow event, here’s what typically happens. City public works crews, using both a John Deere tractor with a front-mounted blade and a Kubota tractor with a front bucket, start moving snow. The Kubota is small enough to maneuver around the benches, trees, planters and, yes, the mountain fountain too. The larger John Deere clears the parking lots and side streets. For a major snow event, the City brings in even larger equipment to remove the snow that was pushed up in the parking spaces and haul it off to a vacant lot. After that, it just melts, but you knew that. Q. I read where some abandoned North Carolina landfills are being used as solar farms. Has our County looked into putting solar panels on the Stoney Mountain landfill? Yes, the County has considered it but has not pursued it. Here’s why. North Carolina law requires that after a solid waste landfill is closed, it must be capped with a protective layer of soil and grass. This cap actually requires a good deal of maintenance, particularly for our Stoney Mountain site which is about 20 years old – relatively young for a closed landfill.Henderson County Engineer Marcus Jones explained that there is still “seepage” from decomposing trash in the ground. This liquid, also known as leachate, must be drained and the way to do that is to bore holes down into the decomposing trash itself. So mounting solar panels in close proximity to one another on the side of the landfill could hinder draining the leachate and complicate landfill maintenance.For the record, North Carolina has 675 closed landfills and the one that Charlotte is leasing to a solar farm company is 30 years older than ours. So perhaps one day when there is no risk of seepage we may have solar panels on the mountain side but for now it’s wait and see. * * * * * Send questions to Askmattm@gmail.com.   Read Story »

Hendersonville News

Lifelong Learning announces spring lineup

Blue Ridge Center of Lifelong Learning, a program designed for those who are still interested in learning and/or enjoying talks about various subjects, announced course offerings for the spring term. Most courses are presented, in Room 150 of the Patton Building, on the Blue Ridge Community College campus. Courses are:• Folk Tales from Around the World: Wisdom for the Ages: 1-3 p.m. Mondays, Feb. 6, 13, and 20; 1:00 - 3:00• Fly fishing: 1-3 p.m. Thursdays, Feb. 16 and 23.• Pisgah Forest: A History: 10 a.m.-noon Tuesdays, Feb. 21 and 28.• Movies with an Unexpected Ending: 1-4 p.m. Wednesdays, March 1, 8, 15, and 22.• Temperate Rainforests of the Southern Highlands: 1-3 p.m. Thursdays, March 2 and 9.• National Security, Foreign Policy and Defense Strategy: 1-3 p.m. Mondays, March 6 and 13.• American Homefront after World War II: 1-3 p.m. Tuesdays, March 7, 14, 21, and 28.• Finding Your Story Treasure Trove: 1-3 p.m. Thursdays, March 16 and 23.• Astronomy: The Sun: 10 a.m.-noon Mondays, March 20, 27, April 3, 10.• True Forensics: 1-3 p.m. Wednesdays, April 5 and 12.• The Songs We Sing: Where Do They Come From? 10 a.m.-noon Tuesday, April 11.Industry visits include:• Ingles Market: 9-11 a.m. Thursday, March 30.• Current, Powered by General Electric: 10 a.m.-noon Thursday, April 6.• Echoview Fiber Mill: 10-11:30 a.m. Thursday, April 13.Edventures, (one-day fieldtrips) include:• Taste of the South Culinary Tour: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday, March 29.• Tyron Arts & Crafts School: A Day of Creativity: 10 a.m.2 p.m.Tuesday, April 4.• Fontana Dam and Environs: 7:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Thursday, April 27. To register or for more information visit www.brcll.com or call 828-694-1740.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Sixth Avenue property sparks bidding war

A second upset bid has been submitted in the potential sale of property on Sixth Avenue owned by Henderson County.Dr. Leon Elliston in November offered $172,000 for the property, roughly half the tax value. Lemuel Oates, the owner of Manual Woodworkers and Burntshirt Vineyards and a commercial real estate investor, submitted an upset bid of $180,650 — the minimum allowed under the law. Elliston then submitted an upset bid of $225,000. A new upset bid may be submitted by 5 p.m. Feb. 6 for a minimum amount of $236,300. Bidders also must put up a deposit of 5 percent of the total new bid plus legal advertising costs.There is no limit to the number of times prospective buyers can submit upset bids. The Henderson County Board of Commissioners also is not legally obligated to accept a final offer. Commissioners voted in December to advertise the property for sale after Elliston submitted his initial offer.The property at 714 Sixth Avenue West contains a two-story 5,436-square-foot house that was home to the Sixth Avenue Clubhouse, a facility operated by Thrive, a mental health provider. The 112-year-old house is valued at $170,400 and the entire parcel has a tax value of $372,400.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Fast riders expected for Seventh Avenue races

Organizers hope for a turnout of 300 to 400 speedy bicyclists for the Historic Seventh Avenue Criterium on Sunday, Feb. 26.   Read Story »

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