Area article about local preservation efforts

Here's a link to an article from December in the Carolina Public Press about some of the local historical societies, including ones in Big Ivy and Ox Creek. Interesting notes about how these groups are preserving scrapbooks.

New council format

The Weaverville Town Council unveiled a new format to its meetings Monday (Feb. 20). The council is now allowing comments before certain topics. Mayor Al Root said the format is a trial-run, and the council will be evaluating its effectiveness over the next few months.

Several residents have asked council recently about allowing comments before a particular vote is taken. The previous format allowed for comments only in the beginning. The new format allowed for public comment following the council's discussion on each of the four primary agenda items in Monday's meeting. Public comments are still limited to three minutes, and those wishing to speak on topics outside of the agenda may still speak at the beginning of the meeting.

Town's website gets a makeover

Weaverville's website http://www.weavervillenc.org/ has undergone a makeover. The redesign has been in the works since last summer. Some of the new features include a slideshow of area pictures, a "Frequently Asked Questions" section and a "Forms and Documents" section that pertains to daily life in Weaverville.

Sidewalk dicussion continued

The Weaverville Zoning Board of Adjustment continued Wednesday's (Feb. 15) meeting until April 18 while the board decides how to rule on the lack of sidewalk beginning near Zaxby's at Weaver Village and continuing south to Ingles. There is a roughly 100-foot chasm between Weaver Village and Ingles that makes constructing a sidewalk problematic and costly. Weaverville Town Manager Michael Boaz said a preliminary deal has been drafted for a 285-foot sidewalk to be built that would complete a sidewalk from downtown Weaverville to Ingles. Some residents have complained they have to walk into the street to get past the area. The deal would need the support of Weaver Village developers, as well as encroachment and easement agreements from the N.C. Department of Transportation and Ingles.

Bus driver appreciation week

Approximately 790,000 children ride more than 13,000 school buses each school day in North Carolina.  To recognize the excellence of our state’s school bus drivers and their accomplishments, Gov. Beverly Perdue has proclaimed February 13-17, 2012, as “School Bus Driver Appreciation Week.”

School bus drivers in Buncombe County travel 15,100 miles, transporting 16,600 students in 290 school buses each day on the way to and from schools in the City of Asheville and throughout the 660 square miles of Buncombe County.  

A downtown ATM

Weaverville now has an ATM machine in downtown. Weaverville Drug Company installed one recently. Since HomeTrust Bank moved last January, downtown has been without an ATM for residents and shoppers to the district.

Zoning Board of Adjustments meeting

The Weaverville Zoning Board of Adjustments is meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday (Feb. 15) to discuss the sidewalk issue in between Zaxby's and Ingles on Weaver Boulevard. Area residents have complained that walkers have to cross into the road near Weaver Village. The 100-foot chasm that exists between the two properties makes constructing a sidewalk problematic, so the Zoning Board of Adjustments is reviewing where the liability might lay. Councilman Doug Dearth has suggested the town, the N.C. Department of Transportation and Weaver Village developers should work out an agreement to complete the sidewalk.

Local semi-finalist in contest

A Marshall woman did not ultimately win a nationwide contest for a social online television program.

Rebecca Morris was one of 18 semi-finalists for the Ultimate Online Audition Contest for a show called “Beckinfield,” created by Theatrics.

Michael Town of Venice, Calif., won the contest, judged by Jonathan Frakes of “Star Trek: Next Generation” fame. The contest winner was announced Friday (Jan. 27).

Theatrics’ Mass Participation TV series “Beckinfield” is the only social TV experience where anyone can create a character and play a part in a professional plot driven show. “Beckinfield” is an online science-fiction mystery set in a fictional small town. Subscribers create and play a character by submitting video blogs relating to the ongoing story.

"MPTV is the new wave of online television. It combines the best of innovative technology, online talent and social media collaboration," said co-founder Biff Van Cleve. 

To enter, contestants had to create a character and then audition for a role in the in-world play.

Leftover Weaverville Town Council notes

The Weaverville Town Council recognized resident and developer Lou Accornero on Monday (Jan. 23). Accornero was the town's first ABC chairman and was instrumental in getting the store to open in 2009. He stepped down from the board last year.

"It should provide some meaningful income for many years to come," Accornero said of the store.

Later in the meeting, Mayor Al Root nominated Accornero to serve on the town's inaugural Economic Development Commission.

"There is not another town I'd rather be apart of," he said.

* In other news, Michael Boaz, the town's manager, said the redesign of the town's website should go live by Feb. 1.

* The town's received a clean, unqualified opinion on its annual audit report.

* The council approved re-entering its contract with Curbside Recycling. It has the ability to opt-out in July.

90 paintings in 90 days

Alicia Araya, a Chilean artist currently living in Marshall, is working on a project of painting 90 works of art in 90 days. She, along with her husband Jim Hickey, run Marshall Arts a new, grassroots gallery space on U.S. Highway 25/70, immediately adjacent to Momma’s Kitchen. For more on her project and to help fund her, go to http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aliciaraya/mountains-rivers-woods-sea-j-m-w-turner-and-me.

Howling Moon on shelves soon

Howling Moon, a new moonshine distilled in Woodfin, will be making its way on shelves at the Woodfin ABC store by the end of the month.

Ad-hoc committee addresses chairman

An ad-hoc committee, headed up Weaverville resident Fred Flaxman, is asking the Federal Communications Commission to deny the license renewal of WCQS in Asheville, charging that the station violated requirements to form a community advisory board and conduct listener surveys. The station filed a response with the FCC saying that it is now in compliance. The station’s broadcast license, held by Western North Carolina Public Radio (WNCPR), would have been automatically renewed on Dec. 1, but the group's petition to deny triggered an FCC review.

Flaxman drafted a letter on behalf of his group, made up of roughly 30 area residents, that addresses the list of complaints to Bryan Smith, chairman of the board of directors for Western North Carolina Public Radio.

It reads:

Dear Chairman Smith:

I write with the hope and expectation that the Board of Directors of Western North Carolina Public Radio and the members of the Ad-Hoc Committee for Responsive Radio share a common goal: helping Western North Carolina  to have the best, most responsive, public radio station it can have given the financial resources available. Assuming that is the case, we think it would be far better that we work together to reach this goal rather than to engage in a battle with each other as we have been doing.

The Ad-Hoc Committee members are all pleased to have public radio service in our area. We definitely do not want to do without it. We want to improve it. We want it to be more responsive than we have found it to be in the past, as documented in our FCC petition.

So I write to you today with several suggestions that we think would greatly help to bring about this improved  responsiveness and service to the community. We sincerely hope you'll agree with all of them. We don't think they are controversial. There are other public radio stations and nonprofits in the United States that operate in a similar fashion to what we are proposing. And these suggestions, if carried out, would deprive us of any reason to challenge your license renewal and lead us to ask the FCC to withdraw our Petition to Deny. Our proposals are as follows: 

1. The Board of Directors of a public radio station, in our view, should be elected by the members of the station, rather than being self-elected and self-perpetuating. We therefore suggest that the changes to the articles of incorporation and bylaws necessary to bring this about be made as soon as possible and elections held at the next annual meeting.

2. We suggest that the station's Community Advisory Board meet quarterly, rather than twice a year, and be open to any resident of the station's coverage area who wants to join the CAB and who attends at least three meetings each year.

3. We suggest that the CAB's bylaws be changed to no longer require Board of Directors approval of CAB members, to better assure the independence of the CAB.

4. We suggest that the CAB's advice be sought prior to any program changes, and that the Board of Directors make this a station policy. In suggesting this we emphasize that management does not have to follow the advice of the CAB, only to seek it, consider it, and follow it where practical and desirable to do so.

5. We suggest that all station employees be individuals who believe strongly in the mission of the station and of public broadcasting, and who are sensitive to and responsive to the needs of the communities served by the station. We suggest that they work hard to involve the public in public broadcasting, and never forget that they are paid by the public they are hired to serve. We are sorry to report that this hasn't always been the case in the past.

6. We suggest that final programming decisions be made by people who are qualified by training or background to make those decisions. We also suggest that a one-paragraph biography of each station employee be posted on the staff page of the station's website, so that listeners and members can see at a glance the qualifications of those holding decision-making positions at the station.

7. We feel that the broadcast of locally-produced news, public affairs, and talk programs by local public radio stations is more important than ever. We think it is essential to their very survival, as modern technology makes it possible through satellite and internet radio to listen to stations all over the world as well as network programming from NPR without tuning in to local stations like WCQS. Therefore we strongly suggest that WCQS make local news, public affairs, and talk programming an essential part of their mission statement, and hire the right people to carry it out.

8. Nevertheless, we also suggest that the broadcast of classical music, folk music, and jazz remains an important part of the public radio mission in communities like ours where it is the only free, over-the-air source of such programming. We think that the station should continue and improve such programming by identifying and broadcasting the best such programming available. We don't feel that this has been evident in the past. Many years went by, for example, before WCQS offered "From the Top" to their listeners. "Performance Today" from American Public Media and the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts are still not available to listeners here.

9. We also feel that part of the mission of WCQS should be to encourage the production of high-quality programming for broadcast on the station by local, independent producers. Some of the best programs on public television in the U.S. come from independent producers. The same is true for public radio. We suggest that the mission statement be revised to encourage such production and acquisition, particularly from your coverage area.

10. We suggest that WCQS conduct annual surveys of its members to determine their reaction to the programs being broadcast and their suggestions for improvements. We further suggest that the results of these surveys be discussed at an annual WCQS Listeners Meeting, which would be broadcast live and permit live input from the public by telephone and electronic means.

11. We suggest that WCQS produce and broadcast a regular, half-hour, daily local public affairs program, perhaps immediately following NPR's "All Things Considered" at 6:30 PM, Monday through Friday, and using the same radio magazine format. Grants from local foundations, companies, and individuals could be sought to make this concept financially possible.

12. We suggest that, in order to be more responsive to the communities it serves, WCQS should voluntarily conduct community ascertainment of the communities' needs by interviewing community leaders each year. Also, we suggest that the station respond to and tabulate all programming comments and requests, whether they come by telephone, e-mail, via the station's website, or by letter, as is common at other public broadcasting stations. The logs of comments should be distributed weekly by e-mail to management, the Board of Directors, and the Community Advisory Board.

13. Because radio is a sound medium with no pictures, we believe that a station's sound is very important. We suggest that WCQS commit to hiring the best on-air personnel that they can find, so that the station always sounds like a professional, world-class operation, and not like a college training station. We think that the station has some excellent announcers on its staff, but we have heard many complaints from our members and others about some announcers who fall short of professional standards.

14. If low pay and benefits is the reason for the lack of a totally professional announcing staff at present, we suggest that the station establish a pay scale with benefits that is generous enough to attract first-class, professional, experienced talent.

The Ad-Hoc Committee for Responsive Public Radio feels that, if our suggestions are taken and implemented, these improvements will pay for themselves in increased listeners and increased donations of financial support. They will certainly make the station a more responsive and essential community resource.

We would like to meet with you to discuss these suggestions and to see if we might reach a written agreement and affidavit required by the FCC for us to withdraw our Petition to Deny WCQS's license renewal. We would appreciate your bringing this proposal up at your meeting on Wednesday (Jan. 18), and I look forward to your reply shortly after that.

Flaxman is a longtime public broadcaster who previously held executive positions at WTTW in Chicago, WETA-FM and TV in Arlington, Va., and KUAT-TV in Tucson, Ariz.

Local business news

* Newbridge Cafe in Woodfin has not changed names. Roof damage brought down sign that had been placed on top of the old Ilene's Cafe sign that was there on Weaverville Road from 1989-2000. Owner Lorin Knouse said new Newbridge sign should be up in a week or two.

* Food Lion in Weaverville to close soon. The closure is part of a nationwide closure of 113 Food Lion stores, including the one in Hendersonville.

* Ashvegas is reporting Westall Chandley Lumber in Woodfin has closed. The store has been having an inventory reduction sale since last fall. It has been in the area for more than 100 years and in Woodfin since the 1970s. This would be the second long-standing hardware store to close in Woodfin in a year. Citizen's Do It Best Hardware closed last summer after more than 70 years in North Asheville and Woodfin.

* Zaxby's in Weaverville scheduled to open next week.

What other business news is out there?

Mars Hill College graduate recipient of Rotary scholarship

Release from Mars Hill College...
 

Tina Rathburn, a 2011 graduate of Mars Hill College, was back in the area for her holiday break from the University of Peace in Costa Rica where she has been pursuing a Masters’ Degree with the help of a $25,000 scholarship which she was awarded by Rotary International.

Tina was nominated for consideration by the Rotary Club of Madison County to go through the rigorous selection process last year. With her impressive resume of community service and top academic scores, Tina was one of two students chosen from the western North Carolina District to be part of the Ambassadorial Scholar program. As part of the requirements for receiving the scholarship for studying overseas, Tina agreed to serve as an ambassador to represent the ideals of Rotary and become involved with humanitarian programs in the country where she is studying.  While there, Tina has also been making presentations to groups about Rotary and participating in Rotary events.

The overall goal of the program is to encourage scholars to dedicate their personal and professional lives to improving the quality of life for the people of their home community. While in the program, the scholars are made aware of cultural differences and learn to become leaders who can address the humanitarian needs of the world community.  The Club in Madison County is proud to have Tina represent Rotary and western North Carolina in Costa Rica.

Taking a break

The office of the Weaverville Tribune will close Christmas Eve and remain closed through Jan. 1. We will reopen at 9 am on Jan. 2. Thanks to everyone in North Buncombe for making this another great year and happy holidays to everyone.

If you need assistance while our office is closed, please send an e-mail to wteditor@weavervilletribune.com.

Group opposes public station's license renewal

A group of 30 WCQS-FM Asheville-area listeners, calling themselves the Ad-Hoc Committee for Responsive Public Radio, has filed a petition with the FCC to deny the public radio station's license renewal. The station's license expired on Dec. 1, but the FCC automatically extended it while they consider the petition to deny, the station's response to the petition, and the Ad-Hoc Committee's rebuttal, which was submitted by mail on Saturday (Dec. 17).

The committee faults the station for being unresponsive to, and uninterested in, the views of its listeners. The group cites the fact that the station violated the Public Broadcasting Act for 13 years by not having a community advisory board (CAB), while testifying each year that they were in compliance with all federal laws in order to receive funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Forced to re-establish a CAB four years ago, WCQS management did not ask their Community Advisory Board for its advice before making sweeping program changes this year. These included the elimination of all local and national half-hour public affairs programming, a popular gardening show and a one-hour Celtic music program.

The committee also complains that the station, until this year, had not conducted any listener surveys, and the recent survey took place only after the program changes were made. Other gripes include not broadcasting programs requested by many listeners, not responding to mail from listeners, not airing programs created by any local independent producers, and violating the station's own mission statement as presented on their own website. That statement says that part of their mission is to broadcast local talk programs.

"Rather than offer to meet with critics, the station is spending who knows how much listener-donated money hiring Washington communications attorneys to represent them," according to Fred Flaxman, the committee's coordinator. "This is further evidence of their non-responsiveness to the community they are licensed to serve," he added.

Flaxman has a public broadcasting background, having retired to Weaverville after serving as a top executive for five public broadcasting stations throughout the U.S.

"It truly pains me to be fighting with a public radio station," Flaxman said, "because I have devoted my career to public radio and television and believe very strongly in the benefit they are to society. I moved to this area six years ago and volunteered to serve on WCQS's Community Advisory Board. That's when I learned that they didn't have one -- and didn't want one. I helped them reinstitute one, but gave up when I saw that their manager wanted to control the CAB and didn't want it to be the independent advisory body it is supposed to be. I only wished to see WCQS become the excellent public radio station this great community deserves. I would have preferred to work with them toward that end rather than against them."

Access to online pdf files of the Committee's "Petition to Deny," the station's "Opposition to Petition to Deny," and the Committee's "Response to Opposition to Petition to Deny" are available on request. Contact Flaxman at fflaxman@frontier.com.

Development hums along at Villages at Crest Mountain

Construction is moving along at the Villages at Crest Mountain in Woodfin. The new residential development is next to the Crest Center on Dryman Mountain Road. 

As of December, seven full-time residents now occupy homes in The Villages at Crest Mountain with three more homes nearing completion soon. Seventeen lots have been sold. Development began in 2009.


The homes and the community tout a wide range of environmentally friendly designs such as community rainwater harvesting and south-facing lots designed to optimize solar orientation.


The Villages at Crest Mountain sits on the former campus of Ben Lippen School.

Rabid animals and what to do

A fox believed to be rabid was spotted Tuesday (Dec. 13) off Clarks Chapel Road in a residential neighborhood. Residents also reported the sighting of a rabid fox Monday (Dec. 12) off Flat Creek Church Road.

A Buncombe County Department of Health official said the best thing to do when you spot an animal thought to be rabid is to call the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office - Animal Control division. They said residents inside Weaverville town limits could call Weaverville police or N.C. Wildlife Commission but she said certain agencies respond to certain animals and circumstances, so it is best to start with the BCSO. If an animal has not attacked or been confirmed to have rabies, agencies ask for anyone that comes near the animal to simply stay away.

The department recommends the following:

Rabies is easily transmitted among wild animals and unvaccinated pets, so the public has been alerted to watch for any animal that may be behaving strangely such as acting aggressively, stumbling or foaming at the mouth.

Rabies is not unusual among wildlife; however it’s important that steps be taken to prevent exposure to the disease among humans and pets. In North Carolina rabies is most common in raccoons, skunks, and foxes, but has also been found in dogs, cats, horses, cattle, bats and other animals.
The Buncombe County Department of Health makes the following recommendations to prevent the spread of rabies:

• Vaccinate your pets regularly according to North Carolina Law.
• Keep children and pets away from wild and strange animals. Don’t try to feed, touch, or play with a wild animal.
• Don’t allow pets to run at large.
• Secure garbage in containers with tight-fitting lids, and take them out in the morning of pick up, not the night before. Coyotes and other wildlife will scavenge trash.
• Feed pets indoors or remove food when your pet is finished eating outside. Wild animals are attracted to pet food left outdoors.
• Avoid contact with bats. If you find a bat during daylight hours, it is most likely unhealthy and should not be touched.
• Keep bird-feeder areas clean, and use bird feeders that keep seed off the ground. Foxes are attracted to small animals congregating on the ground. If you frequently see foxes, remove all feeders.
• Close off crawl spaces under sheds, porches, decks and homes. Some wildlife may use these spaces to rest or to build their dens.

Rabies is a disease caused by a virus that is spread through the saliva of an infected animal. When contracted by humans, rabies is fatal unless early treatment is sought. There is no cure once symptoms develop, so immediate treatment is important to prevent the disease.

If bitten by any animal, clean the wound thoroughly (for at least 10 minutes) and then contact your doctor or Buncombe County Department of Health at 250-5109.

The fox in question was killed by an area resident. Neighbors who saw the animal said it was drooling, chattering his teeth and biting the bark off of a tree.

Update on Zaxby's in Weaverville

Zaxby's, a popular fast-food chicken eatery in the Southeast, will be opening its first Weaverville location, and fourth in Buncombe County, in early 2012, according to developers. The restaurant will be the first opening at Weaver Village, the new mixed-use development on the corner of North Main Street and Weaver Boulevard. Goodwill Industries will be opening at the village a short time later.

Final Nutcracker performance

Students at North Buncombe Elementary School, which has been annually putting on "The Nutcracker" play each Christmas, will be giving the final performance of the season at 7 pm tonight at NBES.