News

Part 2: Ask Matt looks back on 10 years of answers

By Matt Matteson, Published: July 1, 2023

Editor’s Note: Matt Matteson has had so much fun writing his Ask Matt column for the past 10 years that he volunteered to produce this special lookback. With no hesitation we said yes. Matt pulled some of the 600 stories the Lightning has published since 2013 and, where possible, offer a quick update. Welcome to Part 2 of the Ask Matt Lookback.

 

 Business

  In 2019 a motorist who frequently passed by the Valley Ag Farm & Garden store on N.C. 280 in Mills River asked about a massive dirt removal project across the highway. The owners have since acquired additional land and road frontage. They say by the end of this year the 80-foot high hill soon will be down to street level and ready for commercial development. They may also announce a “surprise” tenant.

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   No one came forward to answer a reader’s question about how much does our County’s population increase during the summer months, so I took the job on myself. I used three years of measurable commodities including water usage, solid waste tonnage, EMS calls, ABC store activity and paper towel sales. I came up with a 21.6% summer increase. Sure it was bad science but my number has never been challenged. If you have a better idea, go for it!

   

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Ten years ago a reader was peeved that the art work on Apple Festival T-shirts was always designed for granny. We agreed but just last year we found an exception. The red, white, and blue shirt was titled “Apple Spirit in 76” and it had a patriotic look well-suited for men or women. OK, you may not see another manly T-shirt for another ten years.

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   How did the outdoor dining on Main Street get started? We tracked down the answer back in 2017 about the same time there were corner hot dog stands downtown. The late Hendersonville Mayor Fred Niehoff got the sidewalk dining notion from a Hilton Head eatery. Staff soon cranked out an ordinance and City Council voted to give it a go. The Charleston Grill, now long gone, pulled the first permit. Today there are 15 downtown sidewalk dining choices — hot dog vendors not among them.

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   We did a piece in 2013 about local Realtors and posted that membership with the Hendersonville Board of Realtors in just five years had grown from 450 to 770, with many of the newer agents being from Asheville. For this update, board president Dave Noyes said the group’s membership has almost doubled to1,300 strong. Annual dues are up slightly at $600 per year. Of course, we all know where home prices have gone in the last 10 years.

  

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Whatever ever happened to Miss Makita? We ran theanswer in 2015, four years after the diva’s last gig at Louis Williams & Sons Hardware. Miss Makita Day had been a favorite on Seventh Avenue for more than 20 years with free hotdogs, popcorn, and drinks. Some contend that it was a rite of passage for a young man to get his own signed poster from the girl wearing a tank top, hot pants and stiletto heels. I just checked out the company’s website and yes, Miss Makita and her Latino companion Seniorita Makita, are still selling power tools.

 

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  Five years ago we were hit with a zinger of a question: Why does Walmart have so many shopping carts? Our best resource was a shopping cart jockey who told us they had 1,800 carts and on the Black Friday before Christmas they used every one available. We calculated that if you put all Walmart’s buggies end to end they would stretch from the Main Street Courthouse to Hendersonville High School.

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   Occasionally, our crack news team ventures out of the county, as we did in 2019 to talk to workers at the KC Mart in Simpsonville, S.C., which sold a $1.5 billion lottery ticket. We know only that the lucky ticket holder was a woman passing through. The store owner received $50,000 for selling the winning ticket but the grill cooks told us they got nothing. But here’s a twist. Two years later, the same store owner was indicted for tax evasion. And there’s more. Jason Kurland, the lucky woman’s New York attorney, was arrested for bilking her out of $70 million of her $878 million net winnings. A jury convicted the now infamous “lottery lawyer” last July. Those Manhattan courtrooms can be, well, unforgiving.

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   How did Rugby Road get its name? Here is a short version of a story we posted. In 1835, a young Swede named George Westfeldt sailed to New Orleans, got into the coffee trading business, married an Irish lady, and sailed to England to sit out the Civil War. Three of his sons were enrolled at Rugby School, a two-century-old prep school famous for inventing a brand of football. Westfeldt and family returned to the U.S. and bought a large farm in Fletcher. They built a road to connect the farm to what is now N.C. 191 and named it Rugby Road. More of the family history is chronicled by Lightning editor Bill Moss in his book “The Westfeldts of Rugby Grange.”

 

Health & Education

   Our County School folks started putting cameras on school buses in 2014 and we wrote that those cameras have different mounting locations, such as on the driver’s side of the bus or inside the bus including aisle views and exit door views. This is particularly valuable to verify if a child rode the bus on a given day. Only nine of the school system’s 111 buses carried a camera, which then cost $2,600 each. Today, 58 yellow buses have stop arm cameras and all 154 yellow buses and activity buses have aisle cameras.

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   We broke the story four years ago about the new “Rave” Panic Button System, which allows county schoolteachers and staff to report fire, police or medical emergencies with the touch of a button using their own cell phones. When we ran the story almost 1,400 employees had downloaded the app. We now learned that the panic button system is actually used once or twice a week, mostly for medical emergencies.

   Given the upward trend in the use of digital and social media we answered the question five years ago if fewer college students were entering the journalism profession. We learned that enrollment at UNC-Asheville’s School of Mass Communications was strong and courses in podcasting and video production were popular with students. That has all changed. UNCA is experiencing a marked downward trend, not just for journalism but for enrollment in general. This seems to be an issue nationwide.

  

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We were asked ten years ago how little Mars Hill College with only 1,200 students could magically become a university. The answer: because they can! There are no laws governing minimum institution size or programs. Former nearby colleges Lenoir Rhyne, Gardner-Webb and our own Wingate “upgraded” to university status. Brevard College with only 751 students has not joined the university club.

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The Ask Matt team of crack reporters did a story about the new (in 2019) Immunotek Bio Center on Asheville Highway. This clinic is where they draw your blood for 90 minutes, separate the plasma, give you your blood back along with a check for $75. Our story added that the pharmaceuticals buy plasma for its enzymes, antibodies and proteins. We checked back and found that the Bio Center, now under the name Ked-Plasma-US, pays $100 a session.

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   We broke the story in 2016 about Pardee Hospital’s new “Elekta Infinity” linear accelerator. Here’s the update. Since it was installed, the advanced-tech machine at UNC Health Pardee’s Cancer Center has provided 1,462 patient treatments. In 2018, the center’s radiation oncology department began delivering stereotactic body radiation therapy through the linear accelerator for patients with early-stage lung cancer. This is a high-dose precision radiation procedure that removes tumors with fewer side effects and fewer patient visits. The Pardee cancer team is expanding the technology to treat cranial and prostate cancer.

Government

 

   From time to time over the last 30 years there have been attempts to franchise solid waste collection to lower collection costs for county residents. The last study was done in 2008. One option was to divide the unincorporated areas into districts and let haulers bid for collection rights. Another option was to follow Buncombe County’s lead and select a single hauler. Franchised trash service got no traction probably because there was no groundswell of public support and because the private haulers raised a ruckus. Solid waste collection, it turned out, was a headache that county commissioners could easily avoid. Today 12 different haulers are permitted for curbside pick-up in the county — more chances to drop litter along our roadsides.

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   A few years ago we posted a story about the proposed relocation of the public entrance to the Grove Street Courthouse from the northside parking lot entrance to the more majestic main entrance on Grove Street where the steps are. That called for moving the security detail up a floor plus installing an exterior elevator to meet ADA requirements. The elevator was installed but the front entrance still remains closed to the public. We were never able to get a cogent answer from the sheriff’s office or county manager why the $35,000 elevator is still there – until now. It seems that the County Commissioners agreed to keep the elevator in place “for safety reasons.” Why the security detail was never moved to the second floor remains a mystery. Maybe someone overthought that one.

 

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  We never found a proper definition of “mountain values,” a term often used in campaign slogans, although we did get opinions from two academics. A Brevard College professor said the term could be someone who is self-reliant and hard-working but it could also be someone having love of family and a person of faith. Our Montreat College professor offered that a person with mountain values might have strong ties to the land, be an outdoor type and one who holds a no-nonsense attitude. Then he went on to say that artists, writers, and those without deep roots here but with a liberal bent could have their own mountain values. We are still trying to see if any politicians are touting their “Piedmont values.”  

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   Being a county seat has obvious advantages but Hendersonville also attracts those who receive city services but are exempt from real property taxes. We did a study seven years ago just to get a ballpark estimate. The list included government buildings, churches, hospitals, colleges, nonprofits, public housing, and even tax-exempt Carolina Village. We reported 24.6% of the total property valuation in Hendersonville was exempt. During a presentation last month, budget managers told the City Council that the city has $309 million worth of tax-exempt property, or 14 percent of the total valuation. If taxed, the property would generate $1.5 million in revenue, the equivalent of 5.3 cents on the tax rate.

History

   Visitors to the recently updated Bullington Gardens must drive down Zeb Corn Road but who was ol’ Zeb anyway? We asked Dennis Corn, Zebulon Vance Corn’s grandson, whose ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War. Zeb was a farmer working hard to feed a family of eleven. He was also a deputy sheriff during prohibition. “He served warrants and had a reputation as being a nice guy but Zeb Corn was all business,” said the grandson. We shared his tale about when country singer Jimmie Rodgers came through Hendersonville, got drunk, and landed in jail. After Rodgers sobered up, Deputy Corn promptly brought the celebrity home to meet his family. Zeb Corn died in 1937 at the age of 47.

   Yes, we confirmed it. Bob Dylan did travel to Flat Rock to meet Carl Sandburg. Here is a recap. In February 1964, after a two-day car trip from New York, Dylan and friends made it to Flat Rock. Dylan, who had just released “The Times They Are a-Changin,” walked up to the Sandburg home and asked to speak with Mr. Sandburg. The two chatted on the front porch for 10 minutes. Dylan said he was influenced by the 89-year-old poet and left him a copy of his album. Sandburg said he had work to do and sent the young songwriter on his way. Miffed that Sandburg never heard of him, Dylan returned to his car and lit up a joint. You can still see the 82-year-old troubadour in 2023, by the way, at any of his 35 appearances in Japan and Europe.

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   It wasn’t surprising that a few years back we were asked if Leonard Henderson, for whom this county and its county seat were was named, owned slaves. Yes, he owned several. Leonard Henderson (1772-1833) was a teacher and a lawyer who became the second Chief Justice of the N.C. Supreme Court. Both Leonard and his older brother Archibald, who become a U.S.congressman, were actually opposed to slavery. In 1819, the brothers advocated for emancipation and subsequent re-colonization to Africa. Leonard Henderson is buried in Vance County — county seat Henderson — near his place of birth. The gravesite is overgrown and his tombstone is no larger than a breadbox. Although he came from a prominent family and had achieved much in his life, he was said to be a very humble man.

Roads

   In 2016 we broke down the gas tax that motorists pay at the pump. The portion that goes for state roads was then a flat 34 cents per gallon. But the very next year, due to the volatility of the price of oil, our Raleigh lawmakers changed to a gas tax annually adjusted for inflation and population increase. Today the state gas tax is 40.5 cents, up 2 cents from last year; the feds’ share is 18.4 cents. Unlike a restaurant receipt, your gas pump receipt does not show the tax paid. Electric vehicle owners pay an annual registration fee of $140. Hybrids get a pass.

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   Six years ago NCDOT swapped out a half-mile strip of plants and flowers in the median of U.S. 64 East near I-26 for rocks. The thinking was that it would be easier and safer for their crews to maintain a median of river rocks rather than plants because of the passing traffic. Plus they had received complaints about the appearance of the aging, ragged plantings. The river rocks bed cost the state $25,000. A quick look today may cause one to question the wisdom of our highway friends.

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   A reader quizzed us on moped law a few years back and we responded that mopeds cannot exceed 30 mph, cannot have an engine larger than 50ccand must be registered and tagged but not insured. Moped operators must be 16 years of age and wear a helmet. Since that story ran e-bikes have become popular. Rules for e-bikes are similar to mopeds but e-bikes need not be registered. If your e-bike exceeds 25 mph the rules change.

 

Public Safety

   We did a story in 2013 about then NC Sen. Tom Apodoca’s bill to fund a new state crime lab in Edneyville. Today, the facility on the campus of the Larry T. Justus Western North Carolina Justice Academy serves 40 counties with a staff of 40. The lab tests in the areas of forensic biology, firearms, latent evidence, toxicology, and drug chemistry. Since it opened in 2017 the Edneyville lab handled 13,297 case records, about a third of all cases statewide. 

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   Right after Hurricane Matthew slammed the Carolinas in October of 2016, a reader spotted a convoy of utility trucks barreling down I-26 and wanted to know who decides where the trucks go. We said that many utility crews are dispatched by the Southeastern Electric Exchange, a partnership of two dozen utility companies. The job of the Atlanta-based exchange is to get available power line crews to where they are most needed. Duke officials reported that the last time crews left the Carolinas was in September 2022 when some 400 line technicians were sent to Florida following Hurricane Ian.

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   Six years ago we reported on how emergency response vehicles get access into unattended gated communities. When a responder approaches a gate, drivers switch to an alternate siren tone, one different from the typical sound one hears on the highway. Most of the time the gate opens but if not, units can get access codes from the 911 communications center. Our County Fire Marshal once listed as many as 30 gated communities. Today the number has fallen to 25 as some gates have been kept open or removed altogether.

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   In 2013, we asked the Hendersonville police chief if it was legal to make a U-turn on Main Street to snag a parking space. He said yes, if done in a safe manner. We just checked back and found that the law is clear about not crossing a double yellow line – so no U-turns!

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   We got a question from a reader who wanted to know if custom license plate frames like the ones with sports team names are illegal. We reported they were if they covered the words “North Carolina” or the expiration sticker on the license tag. This came from a state law passed in 2010 that carried a $100 fine. Most auto dealers and vendors offer slimmed-down license plate frames in compliance with the law.

Potpourri

   We fielded a question in 2015 asking if former pro football player and all-pro running back Sam Gash was still was coaching for the Detroit Lions. The update on the Hendersonville native and Hendersonville High School alumnus was that he coached two years for the Green Bay Packers, parting ways in 2016. His pro career, which included stints with the Patriots, Bills and Ravens, lasted a dozen years. This was remarkable since the average career for an NFL player is less than four years. Gash battled prostate cancer in 2020 and had two other cancers shortly after that. The 54-year-old spoke highly of the NFL’s medical support program. His brother Eric, a local pastor, former HHS football coach and former Bruce Drysdale Elementary School principal and, briefly, a candidate for Congress, said Sam is now cancer free. Sam’s son Isaiah, who rushed for 4,434 yards and 75 touchdowns in his high school career in Green Bay, just earned a football scholarship at the University of Michigan after three years as a walk-on.

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Researching a piece in 2019 on the origin of the new Hendersonville nickname “Hendo” we checked with our sister city Hendersonville, Tennessee, and were told that they had no similar nickname, only “The City by the Lake” which is used in publications. But we learned some residents of the city of 70,000 had amusingly nicknamed it “Swiftville” because of Taylor Swift’s local connection. To update the story we called Mayor Jamie Clary, who said “H’ville” is often used but that shorthand gets confused with two other Tennessee towns, Hartsville and Hopkinsville.

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   One of the first stories we covered was about commuters, where we reported that 1,200 more workers drove out of Henderson Countyto work than drove in for jobs. The most recent figures now show that 5,356 workers now leave their homes to work out of county, more than four times than a decade ago. Worker outflow now is slightly higher than inflow. Buncombe County commuters must love our workplaces because they make up 21 percent of our county’s labor market.

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   A Jackson Park regular asked why the old playground equipment was removed. We reported that the enclosed kiddie slides and other features flunked safety standards and ADA compliance. Now, three years later, a brand new playground is in its place. County leaders dedicated the Donnie Jones All-Inclusive Playground on May 13. The $973,000 facility was funded by county taxpayers, state and federal grants and private donations in a campaign spearheaded by Hendersonville Elks Lodge 1616.