High Country Press

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

April 2007

• RELOCATION: Watauga commissioners announced plans to move the Hartley Family cemetery that was found at the Watauga High School site.
• UPWARD TREND: High Country United Way exceeded its 2006-07 campaign goal, raising $524,037.
• PROTEST: Attorney General Jerry Wilson voiced his opposition to Senator Joe Sam Queen’s bill to divide the 24th Judicial District.
• WEATHER: A devastating freeze hit over the Easter weekend, breaking low-temperature records at Grandfather Mountain and bringing 2 to 6 inches of snow across the High Country. Local farmers lost all their fruit blossoms and early season crops, and the freeze also affected farmers statewide. The initial estimate of crop losses was $112 million, and Governor Mike Easley requested federal disaster assistance.
• DENIAL: Officials of the U.S. Postal Service in Greensboro said they had no plans to close the downtown Boone Post Office, but were simply determining what repairs the building needed.
• PLANNING: Watauga commissioners approved a $29,700 contract with Martin McGill for phase one of developing a new county comprehensive plan.
• STILL OPEN: Tweetsie Railroad announces the renewal of its lease for four years.
• ANNIVERSARY: The Children’s Council of Watauga County celebrated 30th years of service.
• GAS: Regular gas in the High Country reached an average of $2.86 per gallon, posting a 50-cent increase in two weeks.
•APPLAUSE: River Dog Coffeehouse in Linville won first prize in the Avery-Banner Elk Snowman Contest.
• WAR: Two soldiers assigned to the 1451st Transportation Company were killed in Iraq.
• GENESIS: A small group of residents met with Rick Dove of the Waterkeeper Alliance to discuss establishing a Riverkeeper program in the High Country.
• GENESIS: Rob Holton presented a Green Business Plan proposal to the Tourism Development Authority, calling for a market-driven approach to environmental stewardship.

May 2007

• HAPPY BIRTHDAY: High Country News turned two years old on May 5.
• HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust celebrated ten years of service.
• HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Buckeye Recreation Center celebrates first anniversary.
• HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Tweetsie Railroad celebrated 50 years of family fun.
• HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Leola Street Community Garden began its second year.
• HAPPY BIRTHDAY: The first leg of the 84th Blowing Rock Charity Horse Show began with the American Saddlebred Show.
• WAR: The soldiers of the 1451st returned to Boone from Iraq.
• BON VOYAGE: Boone residents Donald Dover, Austin Hall and Elizabeth Schale were among the 12 crewmembers who took off aboard the 28-foot shallop retracing Captain John Smith’s epic mapping voyage around the Chesapeake Bay.
• ASU: Students from ASU’s Department of Technology won the EPA's prestigious 3rd Annual P3 (People, Prosperity and the Planet) Award—a national student design contest for sustainability.
• DENIED: The Boone Board of Adjustment denied Phil Templeton’s application for a special use permit to develop a former church on State Farm Road into a medical clinic. Templeton filed suit over a procedural error.
• GLOBAL WARMING: The temperature reached 76 degrees on May 1, setting a new daily high temperature record at Grandfather Mountain.
• BIG TIME: Woodlands BBQ provides the food for the dedication of the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, serving presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
• PRO: Watauga commissioners and Boone Town Council unanimously passed resolutions supporting a bill that would levy a ten-cent deposit on beverage containers.
• GENESIS: The High Country chapter of the National Audubon Society formed.
• GAS: The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in Watauga County was $2.94.
• PROTEST: A citizens group in Avery County opposed a 161-acre rock quarry proposed for Burleson Bald Mountain.
• UPWARD TREND: The price of a first-class stamp increased from 39 cents to 41 cents.
• MOVING ON: Errol Flynn Shook, the last original employee of Boone Mall, retired.
• WIND: Officials at the State Climate Office inspected and certified the new anemometer at Grandfather Mountain that broke in high winds two weeks after it was installed in February.
• ART: The Avery Arts Council and the Watauga Arts Council announced the launch of Quilt Trails in both counties.
• HEALTH: Watauga commissioners approved a grant request for $5,620 that allowed the Community Care Clinic to remain open.
• CHANGES: The Fire Marshal notified addiction recovery center Serenity Farm of the requirement to install smoke alarms and fireproofing. Because of the $20,000 cost, the supervisors said the facility might have to close.
• MOVING ALONG: Preliminary drawings for the planned incubator space inside the Appalachian Enterprise Center, located in the Human Services Center off Poplar Grove Connector in Boone, arrived from the architects.
• DEVELOPMENT: Avery Commissioners enacted a 90-day moratorium on high-impact development.
• MONEY: The Avery County YMCA kicked off its community capital campaign.
• APPLAUSE: Readers of Southern Living Magazine voted Blowing Rock the third best mountain destination.
• COOPERATION: Elected officials from the towns of Boone, Blowing Rock and Seven Devils, along with the Watauga County Board of Commissioners, Chancellor Ken Peacock and Chief of Staff Lorin Baumhover from Appalachian State University and staff members from the towns and the county met at Chetola Resort for an intergovernmental retreat to discuss issues of common concern and make a plan for addressing them.

June 2007

• GENESIS: The Banner House Museum officially opened June 30.
• AFFILIATION: Blowing Rock Hospital joined the Appalachian Regional Healthcare System.
• TRADITION: Horn in the West opened for its 56th season.
• RELOCATION: Watauga commissioners unanimously voted to move the graves from the Hartley Family cemetery to Mount Lawn Memorial Park.
• UPWARD TREND: Watauga commissioners approved an $866,500 bid for grading the two soccer fields at Brookshire Park.
• ASU: The members of AnyGivenSaturday.com named the Mountaineers football team No. 1 in its preseason poll.
• MONEY: Blowing Rock received a $500,000 grant from the N.C. Parks & Recreation Trust Fund to renovate the Robbins Swimming Pool.
• DROUGHT: Drought conditions affected more than 75 percent of the state, and Grandfather Mountain reported the driest May ever.
• CONFLICT: The Seven Devils Community Association proposed buying the old Hawksnest golf course or taking it by eminent domain; owners Leonard and Lenny Cottom did not want to sell.
• SELLOUT: More than 1,150 riders registered for the Red Cross’s 9th Blood, Sweat and Gears bicycle ride fundraiser.
• FIRE: Lightning started two fires in the Linville Gorge area of the Pisgah National Forest.
• HAPPY BIRTHDAY: High Country Conservancy celebrated its 10th anniversary.
• RECORD BREAKER: Moses Cone: The Denim King was the most successful show in ticket sales and attendance since the Stage Company moved to the Hayes Performing Arts Center in August 2006.
• MONEY: The DBDA received a $6,000 grant to create a public art gateway.
• CHANGES: D.H. Griffin Wrecking Company demolished the old sheriff’s office/jailhouse on Queen Street.
• ASU: The need for mold abatement delays renovations at University Hall.