Free Daily Headlines

News

Set your text size: A A A

News

Sandburg site has new superintendent

Hendersonville News

Top DOT engineer seeks a path to save projects

When they got their first look earlier this month at plans for the widening of N.C. 191, many homeowners reacted with anger, bewilderment and a blood vow to do everything in their power to stop the project.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Transportation planners open survey on road projects

The French Broad River MPO has opened a survey on transportation projects that are currently being considered for funding through the State of North Carolina’s Prioritization Process.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Mud Creek ‘firmly in support’
 of treatment center, pastor says

Mud Creek Baptist Church “starts in Jerusalem” when it comes to mission work, says Greg Mathis, the church’s senior minister. He means that church members start close to home, as Jesus instructed, then branch out as time and resources allow. On Mud Creek’s grounds are a Christian school, Hope Academy for special needs adults and Clearwater Counseling. The faith-based services have existed in harmony with the surrounding residential neighborhoods. But when Mud Creek announced a partnership with First Contact Addiction Ministries to build a treatment center on Erkwood Drive, neighbors sprang into action to block it. Even before First Contact filed a rezoning application, residents of Dunroy, Estate Drive and other neighborhoods are studying the county land-use code and drafting talking points to use if there is a zoning hearing. Earlier this month, 70 people gathered at the public library to hear Don Huneycutt, a resident of Dunroy, and Hilton Swing, who lives on Chanteloup Drive, sketch out the argument against the proposed treatment center.“It’s my opinion that a 15,000-square-foot facility of any kind is not in keeping with the residential character of all the neighborhoods that are around this area,” said Swing, a real estate broker. “What we’re talking about is zoning integrity and zoning compatibility and those are the things that affect our property values.”The comments stung Mathis and other church leaders, who say a residential treatment is a desperately needed service in response to a crisis that claims lives and devastates families.“This is a such a crisis,” said Mathis, who has led Mud Creek for 38 years. “This is an epidemic, this is an emergency and it’s not a time to fuss over should we do it here. Somebody needs to start and set the example that would be done in multiple places.”Seven years ago, Craig Halford came to Mathis with the idea of partnering on a ministry that would counsel and treat drug addicts. Mathis had seen the scourge of prescription pill addiction in his congregation. He said he’s preached plenty of funerals of parishioners or their family members who died of overdoses.“I do it all the time, and it breaks my heart,” he said. “We try to help them but we have found unless they can go somewhere for six or seven months, 30 days is not going to do it.”“When Craig came to me many years ago with the idea of this, I helped him start this ministry right here in this office,” Mathis said. “Then this whole crisis blew up. It’s just unbelievable at the people that are crying for help. I am unapologetic in trying to do something to help in what has become a crisis of desperation that’s affecting every family, every community, every neighborhood, including right here in this neighborhood.”Mathis and other church leaders who spoke to the Hendersonville Lightning last week put the First Contact ministry in the context of the church’s many other missions that try to help people close to home with faith-based solutions.“That’s who we are. I don’t apologize for Mud Creek doing ministry because we’ll have to give an account to God if we don’t do ministry,” he said. “But we want to move forward in the right spirit and we are 100 percent in support of First Contact Ministries.” ‘If not us, who? If not now, when?’ After forming First Contact, Mathis, Halford and others visited the Life Enhancement Center in Leesburg, Florida, a church-affiliated residential treatment center that claims a success rate of 52 percent, well above the national average.“God impressed on my heart to lead this congregation to consider this,” Mathis said. “My question is this. I said to the congregation and I’ll even say to the people in Henderson County: If not us, then who? If not here, then where? And if not now, then when? At some point, we have to quit, as someone said, cursing the darkness of the opioid crisis and begin to show a light.”Church leaders objected to the characterization of Mud Creek’s ministries as commercialization of the Erkwood-Rutledge intersection.“We’re not trying to commercialize anything here. The idea that we’re trying to build some kind of a commercial empire is inaccurate. The Bible never uses a Christian ministry as building an empire. What the Bible does say is that Christians follow the Lord Jesus helping to build his kingdom. That’s what we are about here.”Mathis’s son, Jared, the church’s connections pastor, said the ministries are Bible-based.“To view it as commercial empire is misleading and false because commercial by definition would mean an act of commerce, would mean for profit, and that’s not what’s happening here at all,” he said. “We unapologetically want to advance the kingdom of God and the reason we do what we do is out of the love for our neighbors as ourselves.”Greg Mathis recalled that earlier that day, his son said after reading opponents’ criticism that, “At least Mud Creek is having the courage to step forward and try to present a solution.”“I agree with what they said in the article that this won’t hardly put a dent in it,” the elder Mathis said. “But somebody’s gotta start. Somebody has to try. It’ll at least make a difference if it’s 42 beds for that many people, where we have no beds right now that I’m aware of.” Community focuses on opioid crisis   The debate over a potential rezoning case for a treatment center comes as community leaders are training the spotlight on the opioid crisis in big way. When Henderson County administrators organized a leadership forum on the topic for Wednesday, so many people signed up that the event was moved from the Historic Courthouse to BRCC. Sam Quinones, author of Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic, speaks Thursday night at a sold-out event at BRCC. And middle and high school students plan a We Are hope vigil Friday against substance abuse.According to IRS filings, First Contact had $29,271 cash on hand at the end of 2016. Halford, president and executive director of First Contact, received no salary from the nonprofit, according to the tax form. On Friday night, 250 people packed the lower floor of the Hendersonville Country Club for First Contact’s Take the Mask Off Addiction Masquerade Ball, the agency’s first big fundraiser. The event had 60 sponsors and raised $109,000, Halford said.While First Contact might look at another site off the church campus, the nonprofit would then lose the proximity to the church sanctuary, a counseling center and a corps of volunteers from Mud Creek, Halford said.“It’s like we said in the meeting. We would consider it,” Halford said when asked about a property offer. “Doesn’t mean we would accept it. The value of this church to that ministry is invaluable. What they’re going to give us is not just the support but teaching and facilities.”Halford said First Contact leaders are close to making a decision on whether to file a zoning application for the Erkwood Drive property. If they do, Mud Creek will steadfastly support them, Mathis said.“We stand firmly in support of taking this to the county commissioners and seeking their approval,” he said. “I’m praying for them. God can open the door or God can close the door. It’s a political process that I respect. … I hope we can enter into a healthy dialogue and present our side and a solution.” -30-       Read Story »

Henderson County News

Community leaders gather to address opioid crisis

By Nancy WaclawekAssociate Editor For the 90 community leaders gathered at Blue Ridge Community College on Wednesday afternoon, Henderson County’s opioid crisis wasn’t news. In their positions in law enforcement, emergency management, government, medicine and nonprofit agencies, they live daily with the challenge of helping individuals and their families with substance abuse problems. What was new was having all of them in one room brainstorming for four hours about how they can strategically get together to deal with the crisis and pledging to do so. At least two concrete efforts had been put in place by the time the gathering broke up. Henderson County Manager Steve Wyatt said that, at the next county commission meeting, he plans to ask commissioners how they will address the issue that cost the sheriff’s department $2.5 million between January 2015 and August 2017. Megan Powell, who works in Wyatt’s office and coordinated the forum, said she would be updating the county’s website Thursday morning with resources offering help with substance abuse. That information, Powell said, would be available at www.hendersoncountync.org under “Opioid Crisis.” It would include all the agencies in the HopeRx Resource Guide, she said. “This crisis has affected everyone in this room in one way or another,” Wyatt said in his opening remarks. “Lives have been lost.” Nationally, the opioid epidemic kills 60,000 to 70,000 people per year, said Dr. Craig Martin, chief medical officer of Vaya Health. “Broken hearts, lost lives, people incarcerated, families divided, children in foster care, the stigma, lack of funding for treatment and not enough treatment programs and clinicians,” Martin said. “They are all part of the tragic story of addiction to narcotic pain medicines that were over-prescribed by physicians since the 1990s,” he said. At that time, hospitals were instructed to measure patients’ pain and alleviate it, he said. Pain was measured with smiley faces from 1 (little) to 10 (intense). Dr. David Ellis, chief medical officer of Pardee Hospital, said that was the problem – trying to eliminate pain rather than control it. “The vast majority of narcotics (prescriptions) are written by primary care physicians … They were written for people with chronic pain. We need a system where we can take all these people and they can be treated for their chronic pain in other ways… We should not be getting people pain free. We should have been treating pain to (allow) function. It’s nobody’s job to make people pain free.” Kevin Marino, social work program administrator for Henderson County’s Department of Social Services, said the issue goes to “the problem of the heart. We need something to deal with the problems of the family. Families struggle with keeping their jobs, with keeping their insurance, with keeping their children, with trying to get to services … and still get their kids to school and day care. With all these life competing issues, we’ve got to deal with the family system.” Mike Barnett, EMS manager for the county, said mental health issues are essential to address. “The frequent fliers, the frequent users, those who call on us 20 or 30 times a year … a lot is relating back to mental health. The recovery piece (from overdoses) is important but having better access to mental health would also help.” The conversation about the opioid epidemic in Henderson County continues Thursday with listening and learning events with Sam Quinones, author of “Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic.” Quinones speaks at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Blue Ridge Community College. On Friday night a Hope Candlelight Vigil takes place at 7 p.m. at the Historic Courthouse in downtown Hendersonville. On Saturday, April 7, Nik’s Hope Run, a 5K race to raise awareness about addiction, starts at 9 a.m. in Patton Park.     Read Story »

Henderson County News

Don't miss this week's Hendersonville Lightning (167)

You won't want to miss this week’s Hendersonville Lightning. You'll read the Lightning's coverage of the opioid crisis, the verdict in the trial of the driver in a crash that killed an East Henderson High School senior and our ongoing coverage of proposed highway projects and homeowners' opposition to them. You've got to get a copy because it's only in print and it's only in your Hendersonville Lightning.
Here’s where you can pick up a Lightning: Here's where you can pick up a Lightning: Downtown Hendersonville• Hendersonville Lightning Office, 1111 Asheville Hwy.• Pop’s Diner, 5 Points, North Main Street• Triangle Stop, 701 North Main Street• The 500 block of North Main Street(First Citizens Bank / Mast General Store)• Black Bear Coffee Co., Main Street• The 300 block of North Main Street(McFarland’s Bakery / Mike’s on Main )• 100 block of South Main(Flat Rock Playhouse) Southside Hendersonville(Spartanburg Highway)• Ingles, Spartanburg Hwy.• Hairstyles by Charlene, Joel Wright Drive• McDonald’s, Spartanburg Hwy.• Norm’s Minit Mart, Spartanburg Hwy.• Hendersonville Co-op• Burger King/ BP, Spartanburg Hwy. Flat Rock/East Flat Rock• Flat Rock Post Office• Flat Rock Bakery• Zirconia Post Office• East Flat Rock Post Office• Whitley Drug, Greenville Hwy.• Energy Mart Exxon, Upward Road & I-26• Triangle Stop, 754 Upward Road & I-26 Along Kanuga Road• Hot Dog World, Kanuga Road• Mr Pete’s Market, Kanuga Road• Norm’s Minit Mart, Kanuga Road Laurel Park Area• Hendersonville Post Office• Fifth Avenue Shell• YMCA Hendersonville, Sixth Ave & Oak St• Laurel Park Village, RiteAid• Energy Mart Exxon, Laurel Park• Dixie DIner, Brevard Road West on Highway 64 (Brevard Road)• Horse Shoe Post Office• Mr Pete’s Market, Etowah, Hwy. 64-W• Blue Ridge Pizza, Etowah, Hwy. 64-W• Etowah Shopping Center, Etowah• Ingles, Brevard Road• Bandana’s Restaurant, Brevard Road North on Highway 191 (Haywood Road)• Joey’s New York Bagels, Hwy. 191• One Stop Store # 8, Haywood Road (Hwy. 191)• Dollar General, Hwy. 191 & Mountain Road• Triangle Stop, 4197 Haywood Road, Mills River• Ingle’s, Mills River, Hwy. 280 Eastside Hendersonville (Four Seasons Blvd.)• Norm’s Minit Mart, Dana Road• Fatz Cafe, Dana Road & Four Seasons Blvd.• Grocery Outlet, off Four Seasons Blvd.• Energy Mart Exxon, Four Seasons Blvd.• McDonald’s, Four Seasons Boulevard• Mustang Cafe, Dana Road East on Highway 64 (Chimney Rock Highway)• Triangle Stop, 2545 Chimney Rock Road, Hwy. 64-E• Mr Pete’s Market, East, Hwy. 64-E• Griffin’s Store Edneyville, Hwy. 64-E• Edneyville Post Office• Edneyville General Store• Walmart Shopping Center North on Highway 25(Asheville Highway)• The Ugly Mug Coffee Shop, Hwy. 25-N• Alykat, US 25-N• Triangle Stop, Hwy 25-N, Balfour• Mountain Home Post Office• Fletcher Post Office• Ingles, FletcherSouthern & Eastern Henderson County • Dana Post Office• Rosco’s Grocery, Green River• Saluda Post Office The Hendersonville Lightning is available at mostHenderson County post offices and Ingles supermarkets   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Residents organize to oppose treatment center

Residents of Dunroy, Estate Drive, Chanteloup and other neighborhoods near the intersection of Erkwood Drive and Rutledge Drive are gearing up to fight a proposed addiction treatment center on the campus of Mud Creek Baptist Church. About 70 residents turned out earlier this month at the Henderson County public library to hear Don Huneycutt, a financial adviser, and Hilton Swing, a real estate agent, talk about the land-use code and how opponents could fight a rezoning application. Huneycutt and his wife, Julie, have been active in the fight against prescription drug abuse. They founded Anna’s Hope, named for a daughter who died of a prescription drug overdose. Julie Huneycutt directs HopeRx, an organization of health care providers, social workers and law enforcement that fights opioid abuse. She attended the neighborhood meeting but did not speak.“I don’t think I’ve heard a single person in this room or anywhere else that has said we are opposed to helping folks who struggle with this issue,” said Don Huneycutt, who lives in Dunroy. “This is not an opposition to helping people. This is one of opposition to location and a zoning integrity issue and also an incompatibility issue. We’re not focused on, ‘Let’s get it out of this area because we just don’t feel like we want to look at it.’ I think we’re kindred spirits in wanting to help and getting a treatment facility in Henderson County. We’ve been advocating that for years.”   The nonprofit ministry of Mud Creek Baptist Church announced plans to build a 45-bed treatment facility on Erkwood Drive across from the church. “We’re basically still in the process of looking. We’re pretty close to making a decision but I’m not prepared to do that today,” said Craig Halford, president of First Contact Addiction Ministries, said. “The process is still ongoing and we’ll probably be making a decision soon on which direction we’re going to go. We’re not going to do anything until we’ve got the money raised.”Formed in 2011, the ministry wants to build a residential treatment center. Mud Creek Baptist Church congregants voted Dec. 19 to allow First Contact Ministries to enter into a long-term lease for a 2.6-acre parcel of property across Erkwood Drive from the church. First Contact plans to raise $3 million before it starts work on the 15,000-square-foot treatment facility. The ministry held its first big fundraiser, the “Take the Mask Off Addiction Masquerade Ball,” last Friday. Huneycutt told the gathering he met with John Mitchell, the county’s director of Business and Community Development director, who told him that residents were welcome to come ask questions.“He said ‘bring everybody from Erkwood and Rutledge if you need to.’ He was very open to hearing from everybody,” he said. Mitchell told him: “Please don’t come and talk about how it’s going to depreciate your property value. Whether it’s true or not, we’re going to assume you’re concerned about your property values.” Instead, Huneycutt urged residents to talk about the broader issue of land use.“We’re going to focus on zoning integrity and compatibility vs. incompatibility of this going into our residential community and what makes it a neighborhood,” Huneycutt said. The area already has two treatment facilities — Hope Academy, for special-needs children, on church property on Rutledge, and a small group home behind the barbershop on Erkwood.“And we’re adding a third care center” if the treatment center opens, he said.Swing said any commercial use as large as the center First Contact has proposed would be incompatible.“It’s my opinion that a 15,000-square-foot facility of any kind is not in keeping with the residential character of all the neighborhoods that are around this area,” Swing said. “What we’re talking about is zoning integrity and zoning compatibility and those are the things that affect our property values. By his count, there are some 1,500 homes within a 1-mile radius of Mud Creek church. “Let’s stick to the facts,” Swing said. “We want to talk about zoning integrity. Does this facility maintain the residential character of the neighborhood? I posit that it doesn’t.” He recommended that opponents make “a good cohesive argument” that commissioners will hear “knowing there’s a thousand people behind it.”Swing and others also argue that the need for opioid addiction treatment is so great that the First Contact center would hardly made a dent.“At 42-odd beds, it would be occupied overnight,” he said. “We probably need 200 beds.”Clay Smith, also a Dunroy resident, has researched opioid addiction treatment.“There’s a realization that what First Contact and Mud Creek are proposing is totally inadequate,” he said.His research suggests that successful rehab models suggest rely on alternative drug treatments, intensive mental health counseling and other services that First Contact does not plan to use.“You’ve gotta have counseling of various forms including vocational counseling,” he said. “So many of these addicts are simply unprepared to go into the job market at all. … . If you don’t employ those drugs, the rate of relapse is going to be probably 80-90 percent so you go through all this effort and people are going to relapse anyway.”“Our position is it’s not compatible with the neighborhood,” he said. “It was zoned residential in the first place because it is a residential neighborhood. We see what I would call creeping commercialization on the part of Mud Creek, the church, child care, a daycare facility, the Hope Academy. They bought all this land around there. They’ve got an ungodly amount of parking lots, the whole thing in becoming a religious commercial empire over there, and we think it’s wrong. It’s not right for all this to be happening in a residential area.”The problem of opioid addiction is much bigger than First Contact can tackle on its own, Smith said.“No. 1, I don’t think the county has given the fight against drugs any consideration at all,” he said. “That is a major problem. If we’ve got 2,000 addicts in this county, it’s a burden on law enforcement, on the courts, on the jail, on the probation folks, on DSS, on EMS. It goes on and on. They’re all being impacted by this and the county’s not doing anything. I think the county has to do something about it.”He would support a treatment facility, just not one close to his home.“Their heart is in the right place,” he said. “I know they think what they’re doing is a very good thing, but it isn’t. It’s not the right thing.”As for the zoning, Halford, the First Contact president, said, “If we go to the zoning board they’ll make that determination.”“We’re not interested in getting a fight started,” he added. “We’re looking at the concerns from Dunroy. The last thing I want to do is create a greater controversy than needs to be. We will determine soon what direction we’re going in and the community will be notified when we apply for a special use permit. The best way to describe it is due diligence.”       Read Story »

Henderson County News

Easter services set

Jump Off Rock Henderson County Churches Uniting will host Easter Sunrise Service, with the Rev. Dr. Mark Stanley, pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church, presiding at 7 a.m., April 1, at Jump Off Rock, Laurel Park. Carpools will run from First Congregational Church parking lot at the corner of Fifth Avenue West and White Pine Drive. Arrive prior to 6:30 a.m. to join the carpools which will bring everyone back to First Congregational Church where breakfast will be served. For more information, fcchendersonville.org or 692-8630. Trinity Presbyterian Trinity Presbyterian Church, 900 Blythe St., welcomes all to share in communion and worship on Maundy Thursday, March 29, at 6:30 p.m. with special music by the Shannon Hoover Trio. Trinity will celebrate the risen Lord on Easter Sunday, April 1, with music and worship services at 8:30 and 11:00 a.m. The annual Easter morning breakfast will be served between services. In the spirit of giving, Trinity continues to collect new and clean, gently-used “Linens for Lent” for donation to IAM, the Interfaith Assistance Ministry.   Hendersonville Presbyterian The choir of Hendersonville Presbyterian Church, 699 N. Grove St., will present “And the Son Arose” by Mark Brymer and Cindy Berry at 6:30 p.m. Thursday March 29, in the sanctuary. The choir will be directed by Gayle Stepp, who also will accompany on piano along with Tarelton Brooks on drums and Rick Stewart on guitar. Actors in costume will portray the story of Holy Week as the music progresses. Rhoda Suesz will read the part of Mary Magdalene; Chip Gilbert, a disciple, Kevin LaHue, Pontius Pilate; Thomas Leonard, a Roman soldier, and Bruce Rau, Judas; as the Rev. Bob Hicks narrates the entire musical. Pastor Bill Campbell will deliver a homily and holy communion will be served.       Read Story »

Henderson County News

Tulip photo contest 
deadline is April 14

Entries in the “Tulip Extravaganza” photo contest, sponsored by Narnia Studios, are due by 5 p.m. April 14. All photos must be taken in downtown Hendersonville. The winner will be announced on April 18.The “Tulip Extravaganza” includes the week of Easter (April 1) and Passover (March 30-April 7) this year. Many of the shops will be holding their annual “spring cleaning” sidewalk sale on April 6 and 7 during the height of the spring color.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Planners rewrite food truck rules

A food truck that was out of compliance with city rules may result in a rewrite of Hendersonville’s zoning code. The Planning Board last week recommended that the City Council add mobile food vendors as a permitted use in five commercial zones in the city — highway mixed use, central mixed use, C-3 highway business, C-2 secondary business and I-1 industrial. Property owner Mark Searcy applied for a permit for a food truck to operate on his vacant lot at 2745 Chimney Rock Road. City planners then opted to create a new zoning category different from restaurants and special event food vendors. Using model food truck rules from Charlotte, city planners presented the proposed changes to the advisory board last week. Planning Board members made some minor tweaks before sending the changes on to the City Council, which takes them up on April 5.The ordinance would require food vendors to obtain a zoning compliance permit, valid for one year and renewable. There would be no limit on the number of food trucks on a parcel as long as they were 20 feet from one another and complied with setback rules. The rules prohibit operators to dump waste, grease or wastewater into the city sewer system or stormwater drains. The food trucks would have to be at least 500 feet from any restaurant and 100 feet from a house or residential zone. They could have one wall sign no larger than 32 square feet plus an A-frame sign of 8 square feet. They may not encroach on any street, sidewalk or right of way. They could operate from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.     Read Story »

News Archive