Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

January 4, 2007 issue

Year in Review – May 2006

• HAPPY BIRTHDAY: High Country News turned one year old on May 4.

• KUDOS: Farmer, educator and volunteer Robert Shipley was inducted into the Western North Carolina Agricultural Hall of Fame on May 17, one month before his 94th birthday.

• KUDOS: Makoto’s named the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business of the Year.

• KUDOS: Blowing Rock Elementary fourth-grade teacher Marsha Anderson named Watauga County’s Teacher of the Year.

• KUDOS: High school science teacher Roger Wise named Avery County’s Teacher of the Year.

• FLYING: Inaugural Tater Hill Paragliding Open held May 7 to 13.

• ASU: Construction began on ASU’s skywalk spanning Rivers Street.

• ASU: The university reported a 7 percent increase in applications for the 2006 fall semester compared to fall semester 2005.

• ASU: The university demolished the 51-year-old Broome-Kirk Gym to make way for a new dining hall.

• ART: Artist Ben Long began sketching children at the Crossnore School to be included in his new fresco at the school’s chapel.

• ‘BOARDING: Four members of the Appalachian Skatepark Council took out a $60,000 loan to pay a portion of the purchase price of prefabricated skatepark components for the new skatepark. Watauga commissioners awarded a $20,000 match grant to the ASC. The ASC announced a partnership with WAMY for nonprofit fundraising purposes and ordered the skatepark components.

• WINNERS: The Collaborative Biodiesel Project won one of six top honors at a competition in Washington, D.C., receiving $75,000 to conduct further research and add to the team’s closed loop biodiesel processor.

• HONORS: The Avery County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution requesting that a portion of Highway 184 be named in honor of Grover C. Robbins, Jr.

• KICKOFF: Mountain View Corrections Institution kicked off the New Leash on Life program in which inmates are assigned shelter dogs to train.

• GENESIS: Developer Jack Stout announced plans to build Elk Creek Junction, a new town near the Ginn Resorts Laurelmor development.

• DEVELOPMENT: Ginn Resorts announceD plans for Laurelmor: 1,500 single-family lots on 6,200 acres, 425 multifamily units and amenities including golf, swimming, fishing, tennis, horseback riding and more.

• ELECTION 2006: The May 2 primary winnowed the field of candidates, knocking out commissioner candidate Doug McGuinn, school board candidate Phil Smalling, sheriff candidate Joe Moody, state senate candidate John Garwood, state house candidate Dan Hense and U.S. Congress candidates Syndi Holmes, Roer Kirkman and Mark Glen.

• DEVELOPMENT: Red Tail Mountain Golf Course—formerly named Roan Valley—opened after winter renovations under the new ownership of New Horizons Properties. The S.C. development company purchased 8,600 acres with plans to develop an upscale residential community.

• GREENING: Blue Ridge Energy League proposed a plan for the High Country business community to go greener with four levels of participation involvING steps from purchasing alternative energy power to installing alternative energy systems. 

• TAXES: Avery County Board of Commissioners announced the 2006 revenue-neutral tax rate of 37.4 cents.

• FIRE: Fire destroyed the Best Cellar restaurant in Blowing Rock.

• HONORS: The Avery County commissioners approved a request to name a portion of Highway 194 in the Three Mile section of the county in honor of Lulu Belle and Scotty Wiseman.

•TRADITION: Tweetsie Railroad opened for its 50th season on May 5.

• NEW YORK: Members of the Appalachian Coalition for Just and Sustainable Communities, including several High Country residents, attended the 14th session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development as part of the first Coalfields Delegation.

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