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Owner offers to sell Lake Osceola to county for $3M

Henderson County News

Local woman charged with trafficking in meth

Sheriff's deputies charged a 31-year-old Hendersonville woman with felony possession of methamphetamine after a vehicle stop on Aug. 1 and upon further investigation by detectives charged three weeks later with trafficking. Dawn Marie Barton, of Timberlane Drive, was also charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia after the vehicle stop and the indication from a drug-sniffing K9 led to the meth, the sheriff's office said. Barton was released the following day after posting a $6,000 bond. After further investigation by detectives, Barton was arrested again on Aug. 25 for felony trafficking of methamphetamine and felony maintaining a vehicle for the purpose of sale and delivery of a controlled substance. Barton was released from the Henderson County Jail after posting a $28,000 bond.   Read Story »

Etowah News

Zoning board OKs apartments, RVs in Etowah development

The Henderson County Zoning Board of Adjustment on Wednesday granted a developer’s request to include apartment buildings and an RV park in a 299-unit development in Etowah that has drawn strong opposition from neighboring homeowners. More than 30 residents who live near the 232-acre site on McKinney Road raised numerous objections during a public hearing that lasted more than 90 minutes. Developer John Turchin, who has built residential communities in Miami and Banner Elk, is seeking the county’s approval for a 299-unit development, including 173 single-family homes, 70 duplexes, 56 apartments, 16 guest rooms and 24 RV spaces on what is now a cow pasture between McKinney Road and the French Broad River.“I believe there’s a niche in the market to downsize out of our houses and move into a rental community in a rural situation and move on to a farm,” Turchin said. The project is geared toward healthy living, fitness, an active lifestyle with outdoors amenities and wellness programs.“It’s geared toward year-round rentals, long-term rentals, not transient rentals. ... We’re trying to create an active lifestyle community for baby boomers,” he said.The single-family units would be built in clusters of eight to 16 cottages. Rent in the community would range from $1,000 to $2,500 a month, he said, and residents would be required to sign leases of at least six months.“We could put a lot more units on this property. That’s not what our intention is. Our intention is to build a prototype of a community that’s geared toward the future, that the country is moving toward," Turchin said.The Zoning Board of Adjustment was authorized under the county land-use code to take up two components of the development that require a special-use permit — seven two-story eight-unit apartment buildings and the 24-space RV park.Neighbors objected to the apartments and the RV spaces but also raised concerns about the prospect of adding 299 units in all.“I understand the need for the Hammonds to sell off their property but this is not the solution,” said Mary Kathleen Riddle. “You can’t just drop a little settlement into the middle of a farm and continue to call it a farm. It’s not honest. .. this will ruin the quality of some people’s lives. The reality is it’s going to be absolutely devastating.”Homeowners said the development would overburden roads and the Etowah Sewer Co., which would serve the community and would destroy habitat of birds and animals.Turchin has other hurdles to clear before he could break ground. The Henderson County Planning Board, which has the authority to approve or reject the development, tabled consideration of the master plan for the development.The Planning Board has 90 days to make a decision on the master plan. Even if Turchin wins approval for the master plan, he still must come back to the Planning Board for final approval of a development plan, which spells out specifics like erosion control, water and sewer service, stormwater management and traffic.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

After opening day, Apple Festival weather looks good

Blame Hurricane Harvey if we have a damp opening day of the North Carolina Apple Festival. After that, the forecast improves dramatically — with near perfect conditions the last two days.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

400 bicyclists expected for Tour d'Apple

Now in its fifth year, the Tour d’Apple has become a popular Apple Festival weekend event for bicycle riders from the immediate area and beyond. “Things are going extremely well,” said Dick Miley, one of the race organizers. “We’ve got wonderful sponsors and incredible volunteers.”As of Saturday, “We’re at about 270 (riders). We expect another 100. Last year was 407. We’re thinking about 400 this year.”Last year, race directors adjusted the 45-mile Jonagold route by cutting out Oleta Road, a steep downhill/uphill loop. They’ve made no changes to this year’s routes, which run from a 25-miler to a grueling 100-miler with 8,500 feet of climbing.What is new is chip timing. Chips will be attached to race bibs, which riders should fasten to the front of their handlebars.“It’s really important that cyclists come back under the arch,” Miley said. Otherwise, they won’t get an officially recorded time.Sponsored by Hunter Subaru, the event starts at 8 a.m. on Labor Day at Blue Ridge Community College. Same-day registration opens at 7 a.m. on Labor Day.“We’ve never had a lost rider — yet we are always striving to make the Tour d’ Apple a safer event,” Ride Director Barry Macdonald said. “With chip timing we know exactly when each participant returns so we can let a rider’s spouse or other loved one know that ‘Yes, indeed. John made it back safely.’ Or near the end of the day, if John has not come back, we will send a SAG vehicle looking for him. We are grateful to Hunter Subaru for helping add the chip-timing safety to the Tour.”“Chip timing works only if cyclists remember to finish their ride and come back in under the finish arch,” Macdonald said. Up to 8,500 feet of climbing The fully-supported ride takes cyclists from BRCC through many of Henderson County’s apple orchards and up and down numerous mountains. Riders choose one of four routes:• Green Apple Easy — 25 miles with just 1,200 feet of ascent.• Jonagold — 46 miles with 2,300 feet of climbing.• Gala Challenge, the 65-mile metric 100 with 4,961 feet of climbing.• Honey Crisp Century, 100 miles, with 8,481 feet of ascent and three King and Queen of the Mountains climbs, for the strongest cyclists.For cue sheets visit www.tourdapple.com. Register at Active.com. Early registration discounts end on Aug. 26.As organizer of the one-day cycling route, Four Seasons Rotary Club will provide cyclists with five fully supported rest stops and a post-ride party at BRCC with food from Chick-Fil-A. Blue Ridge Amateur Radio Club and Henderson County Amateur Emergency Services support the tour with HAM operators at rest stops and in SAG Subarus. Members of Hendersonville Camera Club will photograph cyclists during the Tour.In addition to Hunter Subaru, Ingles Markets and Pardee/UNC Health Care, sponsors include Hendersonville Eye Care, Borg Warner Corp., Rent WNC, Sycamore Cycles, Trinity View, and Allison Development Group. Home Trust Bank, Hilliard-Lyons, and St. Paul Mountain Vineyards host the Tour rest stops. Asheville Bicycle Company and Sycamore Cycles provide bicycle mechanics.   Crabapple mini-tour peddles bicycle safety The Tour d’Apple includes a free bicycling event for children beginning with registration at 9:30 a.m. The Mini-Tour includes a safety clinic. Experienced adult cyclists will then assist young cyclists learn balance and bicycling skills with a slow race — the last-one-to-finish wins. Chick-Fil-A will offer games and prizes. The Mini-Tour concludes with a two-mile ride around the College Campus. Parents or a guardian must register their children and bring a bicycle and helmet for each child. Beware of bikes Organizers warned area residents that 400 bicyclists will be pedaling on roads in the following areas during the Tour d’Apple on Labor Day:From 8 a.m. to noon: Tracy Grove, Dana, Blue Ridge, East Flat Rock, Sugarloaf Mountain, Ottanola, Lamb Mountain, Spicer Cove, Bald Rock, Edneyville, Bearwallow Mountain, Hoopers Creek, Terry’s Gap and Fruitland. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Dana, Upward Road, East Flat Rock, Flat Rock, Zirconia, Tuxedo, Green River, Cabin Creek, Pinnacle Mountain, Litter River Road, Old Kanuga Road, Price Street, Kanuga Lake Road, Evans Road, Big Willow Road, Hebron Road, Laurel Park, Osceola Lake, east Hendersonville, Erkwood Road, Mud Creek Baptist Church, Shepherd Street and Airport Road.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Apple tab is on the street!

It's here!   Read Story »

Hendersonville News

Don't miss this week's Hendersonville Lightning (142)

You won't want to miss this week’s Hendersonville Lightning. This record-tying 80-page issue contains our annual award-winning Apple Festival section, 48 pages of stories, Apple Bites briefs, FAQs, photos and news you can use about Henderson County apples and the four-day festival. Besides that, we've got the scoop on what might happen with 146 acres on the French Broad River in Pleasant Grove now that Conserving Carolina has purchased the former Seven Falls acreage. Find out where Dad's Collectibles is moving and read about where two local jurisdictions are looking at greenways. Plus we've got pages and pages of local and business briefs, community briefs as well as the weekly TV Guide and Sudoku.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 LightningHendersonville• 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 Gen. Store)• Black Bear Coffee Co., Main Street• The 300 block of North Main Street(McFarland's Bakery / Mike's on Main). Pardee Hospital in the lobby. Flat Rock Playhouse, downtown(100 block of South Main Street)Southside Hendersonville(Spartanburg Highway)• Hairstyles by Charlene, Joel Wright Drive• McDonald's, Spartanburg Highway• Norm's Minit Mart, Spartanburg Highway• Hendersonville Co-op• Burger King/BP, Spartanburg HighwayIngles SupermarketSouthside Hendersonville(Greenville Highway)Carolina Ace HardwareWhitley Drug StoreFlat Rock/East Flat Rock• Flat Rock Post Office• Zirconia Post Office• East Flat Rock Post Office• Orr's Family Restaurant, Spartanburg Hwy• Energy Mart Exxon, Upward Road & I-26• Triangle Stop, 754 Upward Road & I-26Village Café and PubPage 2Hendersonville(Kanuga Road)• Hot Dog World, Kanuga Road• Mr. Pete's Market, Kanuga Road• Norm's Minit Mart, Kanuga RoadHendersonville(Fifth Avenue)Hendersonville Post officeFifth Aenue ShellLaurel Park• YMCA H'ville, Sixth Ave & Oak Str• Laurel Park Village, Rite-Aid.• Energy Mart Exxon, Brevard Road at Daniel DriveDixie Diner, Brevard RoadHighway 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, EtowahHighway 191(Haywood Road)• Joey's New York Bagels, Hwy 191• One-Stop Store #8, Haywood Road (Hwy 191)• Dollar General, Hwy 191 & Mountain RoadMills River• Triangle Stop, 4197 Haywood Road, Mills River• Mills River Family Restaurant. Food LionInglesPage 3Eastside Hendersonville and Four Seasons Boulevard• Norm's Minit Mart, Dana Road• Fatz Cafe, Dana Road & Four Seasons Blvd• Grocery Outlet, off Four Seasons Boulevard• McDonald's, Four Seasons Boulevard• Energy Mart Exxon, Four Seasons BoulevardMustang CafeHighway 64 East(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. Griffins Store, EdneyvilleShell station, 64 East and Sugarloaf RoadIngles, Howard Gap RoadMoose CafeHighway 25 North(Asheville Highway)• The Ugly Mug Coffee Shop, Hwy 25-N• Triangle Stop, Hwy 25-N, Balfour• Mountain Home Post Office• Fletcher Post OfficeInglesNaples Post OfficeTravel Plaza, US 25 and I-26Southern & Eastern Henderson County, Polk County• Dana Post Office• Rosco's Grocery, Green River• Saluda Post Office• Triangle Stop, 1487 Ozone Road, SaludaAll Henderson County Ingles StoresAll Henderson County Post Offices   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Drug squad charges two with multiple felonies

A drug squad with the Henderson County Sheriff's Office charged two Hendersonville residents with multiple felonies after an investigation that resulted in the seizure of $13,500 in cash. Donald David Lewis, 57, of Willow Street, was arrested on August 16, for felony possession with intent to sell and deliver methamphetamine, felony possession with intent to sell and deliver heroin, felony possession with intent to sell and deliver Schedule II controlled substance (oxycodone), felony maintaining a vehicle for the purpose of sale and delivery of controlled substance and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. Lewis was released on Aug. 28 from the Henderson County Jail after posting an $8,000 bond. On Aug. 23, narcotics detectives executed a search warrant at 48 Alverson Lane in Hendersonville. Detectives arrested Isaac Muhammed Yahia, 22, on charges of felony possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana, felony maintaining a vehicle for sale and delivery of a controlled substance and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. Detectives seized approximately 1.6 pounds of marijuana, a Glock .380 caliber handgun and $13,500 in US currency. Yahia was released from the Henderson County Jail on a $6,000 bond on Aug. 24.     Read Story »

Henderson County News

Winery branching out to brandy in a restored barn

Alan Ward and Marvin Owings make a formidable team — a portfolio manager who’s become an innovator in wine-making, hard cider and now distilling and a retired farm agent who's one of the area’s leading experts on the science of growing apples. “I give Marvin a hard time but we kind of complement each other,” Ward says recently in the cavernous old barn he’s converted into his newest tasting room venture. “I couldn’t have done this without Marvin.”After more than two years of planning and renovation, Ward expects to open his new Appalachian Ridge tasting room, maybe as early as Labor Day weekend. When he does open, visitors will be able to sample not only hard cider but brandy and French pommeau, a blend of Calvados brandy and hard cider.The 70-year-old barn itself is an impressive adaptive reuse. Built in the late 1940s by apple farmer Walter Freeman, the structure has a towering ceiling and irregularly shaped floorboards made of different kinds of wood.“When he was getting ready to buy this property and this barn you would not believe the stuff that was in this barn,” Owings says. Workers blasted the floor clean, caulked between the floorboards and added a series of finishes.And now the barn has a long wooden table hand-crafted by Ward’s son, Brian, a pediatrician in Boone and woodworker on the side, other tables made of stable doors, a long apple-themed bar decorated with stained glass images and a two-level deck overlooking Ward’s Crest of the Blue Ridge orchard.“We could’ve torn down this barn and done it for a fraction of the price,” he says. “But we didn’t. … It is beyond solid. And that deck we put on the back — we made that as a tough as a railroad trestle. We tried to do everything we could to keep it real. Everything you see inside is the way this barn was. We tried to keep everything authentic.”Talk about authentic. Don’t get Ward started. Or do get him started. No one can stop him.When Ward and Owings get started about Normandy and their search for apple varieties that are perfect for cider, pommeau and brandy, they’re a tag team of narrators unable to conceal their enthusiasm.Back in 2004, Owings invited French apple farmers named the Huets to the Winter Apple School in Hendersonville. They got reacquainted over the last couple of years when Ward and Owings traveled to the Normandy region —a few hundred yards from Omaha Beach — to observe the French harvesting and pressing and buy native trees that go back hundreds of years.With Owings handling the growing side, the partners will receive 5,200 one-year-old trees of 14 different varieties this winter to plant on the slope behind the big barn. SUBHEDWine to cider to brandy Ward pours samples of the brandy and pommeau into 300-year-old brandy glasses he brought home from France.“Who knows who drank out of that, maybe Marie Antoinette,” he quips.After starting Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards in 2012, Ward expanded into hard cider and now is launching his distillery.“We now have a distillation license and we are going to build a distillery in that hill over there,” he says. He’s working with Blue Ridge Distillation, which makes the highly regarded Defiant single-malt whisky in Rutherford County.“There some of the most advanced people we’ve found that understand distillation,” Ward says. “These guys can really check it out scientifically where we’re getting what we want.”Local, though, is a big part of what Ward preaches and practices. What he doesn’t grow himself, he buys from local apple farmers. Ward’s grower, Wayne Barnwell, blends seven different varieties of apples to make the base for hard cider.No offense, Ward adds, but “what about craft beer is local except the water? The hops, the grain, they’re not local. This is truly a local product where we can take you out and show you where this comes from. The money that we pay out stays in North Carolina,” he adds. “Probably 90 percent of it stays in Henderson County.”Ward says the trips to Normandy, the importing of French apple trees from stock that dates back hundreds of years and the care in growing, aging and distilling is all part of a mission to produce “something that’s of value and merit, because people that buy brandy, they’re going to pay between $35 and $50 a bottle. This is taking an apple product that takes three years to age. A lot of people want to just get it out there. You can’t do that.”He hopes that the quality of brandy and hard cider will attract tasters from near and far, and he expects to add online sales, too.“We don’t want to come out with something that people buy just because it’s local,” he says. “We want people to buy the things we produce because they’re excellent, not because they’re just OK.”   Read Story »

Green River News

New diner offers Southern classics in Tuxedo

TUXEDO — Classic diner staples and country favorites with a twist make up the menu at Tuxedo Diner, the newest taste of the south serving Tuxedo.   Read Story »

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