Veterans thanked for 'the forgotten victory'

Henderson County News

Village drops idea of
 relocating playground

FLAT ROCK — Among the ideas for noise reduction at the Park at Flat Rock are sound barriers, plugging a tunnel or moving the playground farther away from a neighborhood.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Don't miss this week's Hendersonville Lightning (97)

You won't want to miss this week’s Hendersonville Lightning.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Commissioners shoot down waste-control ordinance

The Henderson County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday killed a proposal that would have required that waste collected in the county stay in the county, a measure the county manager and solid waste officials had proposed to shore up the money-losing landfill.Commissioners Charlie Messer, Grady Hawkins and Bill Lapsley all said that the flow control wasn’t needed or that other solutions were less disruptive to the market. Commissioner Michael Edney said the ordinance would penalize Laurel Park, which contracts with a private hauler to pick up garbage.“I believe that the cost of operating the recycling center should be borne by all the taxpayers and the tipping fee should be reduced to where our neighbors are at, and I think if we did those two things we wouldn’t have to worry about the tonnage going outside the county,” said Lapsley, who supports instead an annual fee that all taxpayers would pay to balance the solid waste budget.Hawkins said his check of the county budget so far this fiscal year shows that the net revenue is $800,000 over expenses.“That in itself I guess based on good work of the solid waste folks in my mind doesn’t necessitate any kind of additional ordinance at this time,” he said. “In addition to that, we have had a huge tax increase in this county. If we need to increase spending because of the federal or state, we certainly have the funds for that.”The ordinance, which has been in the works for a year and a half, would have required licensed haulers who serve any part of unincorporated Henderson County to dump the waste at the county landfill, which has a higher tipping fee than neighboring counties. The ordinance would not have applied to city of Hendersonville, which has its own sanitation department, but would have increased garbage collection cost in Laurel Park, which contracts with a commercial hauler to pick up waste in the city. The ordinance was needed, county officials said, to balance the landfill budget, which is set up to run on a pay-as-you-go basis. That cost includes not only the cost of hauling the waste to its ultimate destination — a landfill in South Carolina — but also the free disposal of household recycling and the future liability of landfill even after it’s closed.“You are dealing with federal and state mandates that say you will monitor the landfill for the rest of time and when they find that, for example, groundwater shows signs of having solid waste deposits, you will have to deal with that,” County Attorney Russ Burrell said. An array of recycling, from appliances to household hazardous waste, are all controlled by government regulations, he added. “There are lots and lots of things that cannot be landfilled,” he said, and must be dealt with in a more expensive way.County Commissioner Charlie Messer opposed the ordinance, saying he could only support it if the county lowered the tipping fee to match Buncombe County’s, which is $10 less per ton. Commissioners defeated the so-called flow control ordinance after three speakers expressed strong oppostion. "The monopolilzation of the transfer station seems a desperate attempt to continue operation of an inefficient facility," said William Vine, a resident. "The transfer station faces about a 10 percent deficit in spit of charging 25 percent more than adjacent counties. The proposal is a classic example of government overreach, making a bad situation worse by failure to understand how enterprise works." The flow control ordinance gave an opportunity for Vine to further castigate the commissioners for enacting a 5-cent tax increase, for the "sudden appearance of new spending not adequately vetted or prioritized" and for supporting a quarter-cent local option sales tax. "To add insult to injury, the commissioners usurped the power of the School Board to plan and execute the renovation of the high school," instead choosing a plan that is "more expensive than the more popular designs," Vine added.     Read Story »

Henderson County News

Weather Channel to feature Hendersonville in fall celebration

Hendersonville is among four cities across the U.S. that will be featured when the Weather Channel celebrates the first day of fall on Thursday.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Gas shortage triggers conservation order

Henderson County imposed the first level of fuel conservation measures on county personnel as a pipeline leak continued to cause some gasoline shortages in the county. Numerous service stations across town ran out of gas and lines formed at those that still had fuel on Saturday as the area began to feel the effect of a major gas leak in Alabama that took a Colonial pipeline off of service. “I have asked out department heads to implement a level one conservation response,” County Manager Steve Wyatt said Tuesday. “Bottom line is they’re common sense measures. We’ve got four different levels of fuel conversation. So this is the basic level.” Level one urges personnel to skip non-essential travel and turn off the ignition when they’re out of the car. It does not restrict law enforcement or ambulance calls. “We think things will be back to normal probably middle of next week,” Wyatt said. County-imposed conservation measures don’t apply to schools. “I did get a report that their systems are basically in good shape,” he said. “You have had some sporadic instances of maybe some counties that don’t have their own storage capacity.” Colonial Pipeline announced on Monday that it was stepping up distribution to the affected states. 'As a result, following around-the-clock operations to effect this contingency plan, supplies of gasoline have been delivered and/or are in route to terminal locations in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina," Colonial said in a news release.  "Delivery times to mainline and stubline terminals in these markets vary." Gov. Pat McCrory issued an executive order that eased size, weight and registration requirements in order to encourage the flow of gas from other sources. Ingles' Gas Express on Spartanburg Highway was already out of gas on Saturday morning. Lines formed at Speedway on Spartanburg Highway at Chadwick Avenue. Norm's Mini-mart Shell had gasoline at mid-day and was out by 5 p.m. Stations on the I-26 interchanges were open and still selling gas. The shortage was caused by a break on Sept. 9 in a major gas pipeline that runs from Texas to New York and supplies gas to motorists on the East Coast. McCrory's office said Sunday that state officials got an update from Colonial Pipeline executives regarding plans for getting gasoline flowing again on a main line that supplies North Carolina and many other eastern states.   "Based on our ongoing updates from Colonial, the construction of a bypass pipeline is moving forward which will soon allow fuel supply operations to return to normal," McCrory said in a news release. "In the meantime, my executive orders remain in effect to protect motorists from excessive gas prices and minimize any interruptions in the supply of fuel."   While there are pockets of service stations that have experienced temporary shortages, many have received supplies and others have them scheduled for Monday. McCrory directed Emergency Management officials to stay in contact with local officials should they have any requests for assistance. Colonial told state officials that it expects to have a bypass of the leak in place by mid to late week. Upon completion of the bypass, it will take a day to test and get the line back in operation. The company has also been able to use another line to offset the shortage due to the line with the leak. Colonial continues trucking and re-supplying gasoline to the areas that need it.   On Thursday, McCrory issued an executive order temporarily waiving hours of service restrictions for fuel vehicles traveling in and through the state in order to prevent disruptions and backups at major fuel distribution hubs. Friday, the governor issued a second executive order that waives additional trucking restrictions and protects consumers from price gouging at the fuel pumps. Both executive orders remain in place for 30 days or until they are canceled.   Read Story »

News Archive

• 'Fast Cars, White Lightning' coming to BRCC       Comments
• County, Laurel Park win park grants       Comments
• Town dedicates mural honoring veterans       Comments
• Korean War veterans to board HonorFlight       Comments
• Ask Matt ... about sheriff's sale of unclaimed items       Comments
• LIGHTNING EDITORIAL: Take a timeout and call the right play for HHS       Comments
• Sheriff offers emergency prep classes       Comments
• WTZQ debuts Breakfast Club with Mark & Paige       Comments
• LOCAL BRIEFS: Uber, Pork Chop Hill, AT thru hike       Comments
• AlyKat opens at new location       Comments
• Agarwals repay community many times over       Comments
• DuPont Corp. gives 'donut hole' in forest to state       Comments
• Put Edneyville ahead of HHS, School Board says       Comments
• County schools rank 4th in state       Comments
• Annual Hunger Walk is Saturday       Comments
• LIGHTNING EDITORIAL: County moves toward the right call on HHS       Comments
• Edwards to take Senate oath on Tuesday       Comments
• Houston explains decision to skip Democratic forum       Comments
• Movie prop $$$ ripping people off       Comments
• LIGHTNING REVIEW: Carlacci brings 'Anne Frank' to life       Comments
• League sponsoring legislative, School Board candidate forums       Comments
• Mural dedication set for Sunday, Sept. 11       Comments
• Veterans get in free Sunday for 'Anne Frank'       Comments
• NCDOT warns of new traffic pattern at fair       Comments
• LOCAL BRIEFS: Sandburg salute, llama party, honoring first responders       Comments
• Don't miss this week's Hendersonville Lightning (95)       Comments
• Elections board extends early voting but not to Sunday       Comments
• Commissioners balk at greenway extension       Comments
• EHHS baseball coach resigns       Comments
• Growers overcome frost, hail, labor shortage to bring in apples       Comments