Monday, November 30, 2009

This week at NBHS

Tuesday

4 pm - Girls' junior varsity basketball vs. Mountain Heritage High School
5 pm - Boys' junior varsity basketball vs. Mountain Heritage High School
6:30 pm - Girls' varsity basketball vs. Mountain Heritage High School
8 pm - Boys' varsity basketball vs. Mountain Heritage High School

Wednesday
4 pm - Girls' junior varsity basketball vs. Tuscola High School
5 pm - Boys' junior varsity basketball vs. Tuscola High School
6:30 pm - Girls' varsity basketball vs. Tuscola High School
8 pm - Boys' varsity basketball vs. Tuscola High School

Friday
TBA - Varsity wrestling - Falcon Frenzy @ West Henderson
4:00 pm - Girls' junior varsity basketball @ Madison High School
4:40 pm - Coed varsity swimming @ Hendersonville High School
5 pm - Boys' junior varsity basketball @ Madison High School
6:30 pm - Girls' varsity basketball @ Madison High School
8 pm - Boys' varsity basketball @ Madison High School

Saturday
TBA - Varsity Wrestling - Falcon Frenzy @ West Henderson

Getting water to Woodfin's new land

The owners of the 138 acres that were voluntary annexed into Woodfin last week said they currently have no plans to develop the property, in part due to the economy. But should fortunes change and the property be developed in the near or even not-so-near future, will it interfere with the current morotorium the Woodfin Water District has in place?

The water district put the morotorium in effect in 2008 to control the amount of new customers accepted into the system. Conservation was cited as a concern as was the district's ability to adequately serve a growing community. The morotorium has not been strictly adhered to as several developers (one proposal is for two properties, the other a multi-family housing community) have been granted tenative approval for water service in the vicinity of the newly annexed area in the recent months.

The two new members on the board as well as holdover Keith Snyder may well decide in the future that the morotorium has outlived its usefulness, making the whole notion a largely moot point anyway. But if the board maintains a hard line on new development, it may pose an interesting discussion somewhere down the road.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Fall sports banquet

The North Buncombe High School fall sports banquet will be held at 7 pm tonight in the school's audiotorium. Here's a look at this week's abbreviated sports schedule as basketball season gets under way.

Tuesday
4 pm - Girls' junior varsity basketball @ Mountain Heritage High School
5 pm - Boys' junior varsity basketball @ Mountain Heritage High School
5:30 pm - Varsity wrestling @ West Henderson High School
6:30 pm - Girls' varsity basketball @ Mountain Heritage High School
8 pm - Boys' varsity basketball @ Mountain Heritage High School

Saturday
4 pm - Girls' junior varsity basketball @ Tuscola High School
5 pm - Boys' junior varsity basketball @ Tuscola High School
6:30 pm - Girls' varsity basketball @ Tuscola High School
8 pm - Boys' varsity basketball @ Tuscola High School

AIDS Memorial Quilt

The Western North Carolina AIDS Project (WNCAP) announced that sections of the AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on exhibit as part of planned World AIDS Day activities beginning today and continuing through Dec. 2.

This year WNCAP reached out to the WNC community, providing an opportunity for residents to request specific panels of the quilt. The response was overwhelming – mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, partners and friends sent in requests for quilt panels that memorialize their loved ones. Many of those will be included in the display.

Several new panels created for local residents will also be inducted as part of this year’s activities.
The AIDS Memorial Quilt, a “National Treasure,” is now made up of more than 44,000 panels. The Asheville exhibit is entitled “A Tapestry of Lives” and will be comprised of 160 panels. The exhibit will be at Pack Place in downtown Asheville, open to the public Monday - Saturday from 10:00-7:00, and from 10:00-5:00 on Sundays (closed for Thanksgiving). There is no charge for admission.

For more information and a complete schedule of events associated with the Quilt exhibit, go to www.WNCAP.org or call 828-252-7489.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Darfur fundraiser in Mars Hill

As the academic year began, author Daoud Hari challenged the students of Mars Hill College to make a difference for the suffering people of Darfur. Now, students have taken up that challenge -- but they need your help.


Hari visited the campus as the speaker for Opening Convocation to discuss his memoir, “The Translator.” The book, chosen by faculty as the summer reading selection, gives a first person account of the horrors of widespread genocide against the tribal people of Hari’s native Sudan. Since 2003, hundreds of thousands of African Sudanese have been killed in Darfur, largely by the Sudanese government. Another 2.2 million people -- mostly women and children -- are crowded into camps surrounded by a barren landscape.

In response to Hari’s call to action, Mars Hill’s Student Government Association has organized a campus-wide project to sell Berkeley Darfur Stoves. These high-efficiency stoves make it easier and safer for families to prepare food as they live in the refugee camps of Darfur.

According to Mars Hill senior Kasey Boston, the Darfur Stove project was chosen by the student government association as a way to get the various campus organizations involved in one large campus-wide volunteer project. While the tribespeople of Darfur are the main beneficiaries, the SGA has made the project fun for students by encouraging a competition between organizations. The target goal for the campus is at least 50 stoves.

“The idea came from Daoud Hari's book.” Boston said. “We knew that so many students read the book and were deeply touched by it and yet the students had no outlet to do something about the terrible things they had read.” Boston said the project gives everyone who purchases a stove a tangible way to have a direct impact in the lives of Darfur’s people.

The Berkeley Darfur ultra high-efficiency cook stove uses up to 75% less fuel than a standard cooking fire or other stoves. This minimizes the time that refugees, often women and girls, have to venture outside the safety of the camps in search of fuel. These trips to search for fuel can take individuals miles from their camps and they often end in violence.

In addition to its efficiency, the Berkeley Stove can be built in Sudan by locals, enabling them to earn extra income. Other advantages of the stove are that it emits less smoke than other stoves, minimizing smoke inhalation for families in close quarters; it is suited to local high-temperature and high-wind outdoor cooking methods and helps the denuded environment recover from severe overharvesting.

According to SGA president Grace Kim, the Darfur Stove Project shows Mars Hill College students and community participants that awareness of a problem is insufficient to make a positive impact.

“Knowledge without action has no power,” Kim said. “It is part of a well-rounded education to be aware of difficult and dangerous situations throughout the world. That knowledge is important, but by adopting this project, we wanted to say that knowledge alone isn’t enough. Our SGA wanted to be an example to our fellow students and to our community that, unless you move from knowledge to action, you cannot help those who are suffering.”

When participants “buy” a stove from a student at Mars Hill College, they are actually subsidizing $20 of the stove’s $30 total production cost. To ensure that stove recipients will use and value their stove, and not merely re-sell the metal for scrap, refugee families in most cases are asked to contribute $10 themselves.

In addition to selling stoves, students at Mars Hill are selling t-shirts for $12, and profits will go toward stove purchases. Community participants will also be able to purchase stoves as Christmas gifts in honor of a loved one on Dec. 1st at a "Gifts that Give Back" sale in the Bentley Fellowship Hall.

For general information, go to thehungersite.com; and for information on purchasing a stove, contact any Mars Hill student, or contact Kasey Boston ats000141908@mhc.edu or 727-455-1023.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Getting into his new role

Al Root, the Town of Weaverville's first new mayor in 16 years, got the ball rolling early in his new role. He took an active discussion in issues and raised the question about the town's recycling service and whether it was adequately meeting the needs of the residents. Not seeing Bett Stroud with the gavel was certainly different, by Root, a veteran of the council, has proven he plans to pick up right where Stroud left off.

Woodfin predicts bad outcome for Weaverville ABC store

Woodfin Town Administrator Jason Young said the town's ABC store is seeing its sales return to normalcy after a dip following the opening of the county's new ABC store four miles to the north in Weaverville.

Young believes the Weaverville store will not be able to sustain because of debt service payments.

"I am of the opinion that Weaverville overbought in land," he said. "If debt exceeds income, you can't stay in business."

The Weaverville store is located at the Northridge Commons shopping center.

The Weaverville ABC Board is anticipating $1.8 million in sales this fiscal year. The store had $71,000 in sales in the month of October after opening Oct. 21. More can be found on the financial status of ABC stores across the state here.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Alzheimer meeting at Weaverville Town Hall

The Western Carolina Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association and the Land-of-Sky Area Agency on Aging are offering a meeting for anyone concerned with memory loss in themselves or a loved one. The meeting will be held at the Weaverville Town Hall on Thursday, November 19, from 9:30 am – 12:30 pm. The session will include:


*Sense and Nonsense About Memory Loss

* What Do We Do Now?

* Community Resources

To register for the workshop, contact Larry Reeves at (828) 254-7363, or Pat Hilgendorf at (828) 645-9189, pat@landofsky.org

Plans are in progress for on going group classes in early 2010.

Monday, November 16, 2009

This week at NBHS

Monday

6 pm - *Scrimmage* Boys' varsity bBasketball vs. Freedom High School

Tuesday
6 pm - *Scrimmage* Girls' varsity basketball vs. Pisgah High School

Wednesday
6 pm - *Scrimmage* Boys' varsity basketball @ East Henderson High School

Thursday
7:15 pm - Coed varsity swimming vs. A C Reynolds High School

Friday
4 pm - Girls' junior varsity basketball vs. Madison High School
5 pm - Boys' junior varsity basketball vs. Madison High School
6:30 pm - Girls' varsity basketball vs. Madison High School
8 pm - Boys' varsity basketball vs. Madison High School

Several Barnardsville tidbits

* Yoga classes are taught at the Barnardsville Post Office every Tuesday. Classes begin at 6 pm and cost $10 per session. Call Kate at 626-3100 for more information.

* Resident Melinda Stuart has a cookbook with sweet sorghum syrup recipies for $2. Proceeds will go toward the Big Ivy Historical Society and Big Ivy Community Club. Email bicc@barnardsville.com for more information.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Gem Hunter at Wick and Greene

Going on today at Wick and Greene Jewelers...

Are you concerned about the fate of our country? Would you like to be more knowledgeable and informed about those who have the potential to impact our nation? If so, come and learn from an inside source about the Afghani and Pakistani people and politics. Gary Bowersox, a world-renowned gem-hunter, author and explorer will be hosting an exhibit of his recently acquired, rare and beautiful gems of Afghanistan at Wick and Greene Jewelers on Nov. 13th from 10:00AM to 4:00PM. Individual interviews and photo opportunities are available upon request.


Bowersox, author of The Gem Hunter, True Adventures of an American in Afghanistan, has traveled to Afghanistan for 32 years to discover precious gems and to explore the Afghani culture and customs. He served as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Defense shortly after September 11, 2001, giving details of the terrain and the ins and outs of Afghanistan like few others can.

He was described as a “modern-day Indiana Jones” by Diane Sawyer on Good Morning, America. He will not only be presenting precious jewels that are native to Afghanistan, but will be available to give real-life examples of his adventures and misadventures in that mysterious land.

In response to Ms. Sawyer’s labeling of him as a “modern-day Indiana Jones” Bowersox replies, “…except ‘Indiana Jones’ never had LIVE rounds fired over his head!”

Bowersox has traveled to more than 80 countries in search of the world’s rarest gemstones and minerals. He has worked with miners not only in Afghanistan, but also in Brazil, Burma, Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Thailand. He has chaired eight symposiums on gems in Afghanistan and was presenter/consultant on “The Gem Hunter in Afghanistan 2001, a 50-minute television documentary.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Foster/adopt fair in Asheville

The Foster/Adopt Fall Festival will be held from 2 pm to 5 pm on Nov. 14. The event is free and open to the public and is intended to raise awareness for the need for foster and or adoptive homes for children in the community. It will be held at the Coleman Place on the 3rd floor of the Chamber of Commerce located at 36 Montford Ave. in Asheville. For more, email terryk@lifegains.org or call 255-8845.

Wind turbine in Hot Springs

Release from Progess Energy

The winds blowing through the mountains of North Carolina are moving more than leaves this fall, as Progress Energy unveiled a new wind turbine at Hot Springs Elementary School in Hot Springs, N.C. The demonstration wind turbine was installed as part of the Madison County Wind for Schools project, the first rural wind power education program east of the Mississippi River.


The 2-kilowatt wind turbine and a new K-12 alternative-energy curriculum are part of an effort to introduce wind power to rural communities and initiate community discussions around the benefits and challenges of alternative energy resources. Two additional demonstration wind turbines have been installed at Madison High School and the Madison County Cooperative Extension Office.

“Progress Energy is pursuing renewable energy as part of a balanced strategy for meeting the region's growing energy needs reliably, affordably and in an environmentally responsible fashion,” said John Smith, vice president of Progress Energy Carolinas’ western N.C. region. “We are committed to working with our communities to secure the region’s energy future. Today’s students are tomorrow’s decision makers and we will need their knowledge and innovation to expand the role of renewable energy in the years ahead.”

The Hot Springs wind turbine is equipped with the ability to monitor its energy production via the Internet and provides teachers and students a physical example of how wind power works and allows hands-on educational opportunities. The wind turbine inauguration event Oct. 29 also included a renewable energy fair for Hot Springs Elementary students. The fair provided information about solar, wind and other renewable energy resources.

The Madison County Wind for Schools project is one of Progress Energy’s investments in renewable and alternative energy education. The company recently announced that three Western N.C. schools are among the finalists for its SunSenseSM schools program, which will install solar photovoltaic (PV) equipment at five schools in the Carolinas through a partnership with the Carolina Hurricanes Kids 'N Community Foundation.

In addition, the Progress Energy Foundation will invest more than $600,000 in the Carolinas this year to support K-12 energy education and workforce development in public schools. For more information about Progress Energy’s renewable and alternative energy initiatives, please visit www.progress-energy.com/environment.

The Madison County Wind for Schools project is modeled after the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind for Schools initiative. The partnership includes the Appalachian Regional Commission, Mountain Valleys Resource Conservation and Development, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Progress Energy Carolinas, French Broad EMC, the Madison County School System, the Madison County Cooperative Extension Service, Appalachian State University, Sundance Power and Southwest Wind Power. Each of the project partners is supporting the project financially or through in-kind donations

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

This week at NBHS

Tuesday
7:15 pm - *Scrimmage* Coed Varsity Swimming vs. Faculty

Wednesday - TBA - *Scrimmage* Boys Varsity Wrestling @ Charles D Owen High School

Thursday
6 pm - *Scrimmage* Girls Varsity Basketball @ East Henderson High School

Saturday
TBA - *Scrimmage* Coed Varsity Swimming @ - Relay Scrimmage

Friday, November 6, 2009

Two upcoming meetings

The Big Ivy Community Development Board will hold a community forum and an election for this year's board members during a meeting beginning at 7 pm on Monday (Nov. 9) at the Big Ivy Community Center on Dillingham Road in Barnardsville.

Dr. Alicia Hulse will discuss the wildlife habitat project during the next meeting of the Weaverville Garden Club, beginning at 10 am on Tuesday (Nov. 10) at Weaverville Town Hall.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Launch of Asheville arts Web site

This evening at 6 pm, the Buncombe County performing arts community will gather to celebrate two years of work in creating www.livewireasheville.com and to launch this new portal Web site for all the arts organizations and events in our area. Beginning tonight, the Web site will be available to consumers both in and out of town, making knowledge of and access to Asheville’s myriad of event opportunities a one-stop, convenient activity.

Monday, November 2, 2009

This week at NBHS

Fall sports are winding down at North Buncombe High School. Last week of football and the cross country and soccer teams dig into their state playoff matches.

Wednesday
TBA- Boys' varsity soccer vs. TBA opponent - NCHSAA first round playoffs

Thursday
7 pm - Junior varsity football vs. A.C. Reynolds High School

Friday
7:30 pm - Varsity football @ A.C. Reynolds High School

Saturday
TBA - Coed varsity cross country - NCHSAA State Meet @ Tanglewood Park, Winston-Salem

Jolley to be featured on PBS tonight

A release from Mars Hill College...

Dr. Harley Jolley, professor emeritus of history at Mars Hill College, will be one of the featured interviewees in a PBS documentary set to air on November 2 about the Civilian Conservation Corps. The documentary is part of a five-part series on PBS’ American Experience series, called “The 1930s.”


Jolley, who served as a Mars Hill College professor of history from 1949 until 1991, is the author of 11books and publications, including his most recent book, “The Civilian Conservation Corps: That Magnificent Army of Youth and Peace.” In addition to his scholarly research about the corps, Jolley is a veteran of the program, having served in camps in Lexington, Yellowstone National Park and Death Valley, California.

The CCC was a public work relief program for unemployed young men, and was one of the major initiatives of the New Deal under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The program existed from 1933 until 1942, and provided an estimated 3 million young men with economic relief, rehabilitation and training.

In addition to his research about the Conservation Corps, Jolley is considered one of the nation’s foremost authorities on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Jolley has long been known as a friend and historian of the Parkway and most of his books catalog the history, landscaping and details of the world’s longest and thinnest national park. One of Jolley’s classic books, “The Blue Ridge Parkway,” is a volume which continues to be a favorite among both scholars and casual readers. His dedication to the Parkway is further demonstrated by his service as a seasonal ranger from 1958 through 1984.

In addition to his service in the CCC, Jolley’s life has been marked by some of the most significant events of the 20th century. He is a survivor of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and a World War II veteran who served in both the South Pacific and the European theatres.

For his work with the Blue Ridge Parkway, Jolley last year was presented with membership in The Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest civilian honor in North Carolina.

Jolley is the honoree of a multiple-thousand-dollar endowment establishing a history scholarship to Mars Hill College; he is a past president of the Historical Society of North Carolina; and in 2001, he received the Edward H. Abbuehl Environmental Education Award. In 2008, he was presented with the Western North Carolina Association Lifetime Historical Achievement Award with his late wife, Dr. Betty Jolley.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Movie Gallery news

As MyWeaverville pointed out, Movie Gallery in Weaverville has appearently closed up shop which seems to be a theme lately for the nation's second-largest movie rental company. Empty storefronts can be seen in Leicester, Hendersonville and other Western North Carolina towns as well. Here's a link to a Bloomberg article with information about the chain's decision to continue to close stores across the nation. Movie Gallery appears to have many of the same ailments facing Blockbuster as they both had late reactions to the online/Netflix movement as well as the $1 Redbox kiosks