January 10 , 2008 issue
July 2007
• HAPPY BIRTHDAY: The Grandfather Mountain Highland Games celebrated its 52nd year.
• HAPPY BIRTHDAY: MusicFest ‘n Sugar Grove celebrated its 10th year.
• DROUGHT: Grandfather Mountain reported receiving above-average rainfall in June, but not enough to end drought conditions. The rainfall total of 6.52 inches for the month was just 3 percent above the 51-year average rainfall total for June of 6.31 inches.
• ART: Artist Brenda Councill began her Quest for Knowledge mural at ASU’s Belk Library.
• MONEY: The Blowing Rock Art and History Museum announced the beginning of the public phase of its capital campaign.
• ENTREPRENEURSHIP: Watauga commissioners passed a resolution committing complying with t requirements to become a Certified Entrepreneurial Community.
• FIRE: Firefighters had the three Linville Gorge Fires involving 5,400 acres 95 percent contained.
• MONEY: In its first 11 months, Watauga County’s Tourism Development Authority collected $635,115.46, more than double the revenue initially projected.
• ASU: The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution honoring the Appalachian State University football team’s second consecutive national championship win.
• FREE RIDE: AppalCART reported a new ridership record for the fiscal year completed June 30, with 889,979 passenger trips in 605,263 miles of service.
• NEW LOOK: Green Valley Community Park opened its brand new playground, featuring equipment constructed of recycled milk jugs.
• RATINGS: CNN and Money ranked Boone as a top place for singles.
• UPGRADE: Seeking a bond rating upgrade, the Watauga commissioners approved $55,000 to cover fees for visits from representatives of Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s.
• POLITICS: Hillary Clinton holds a fundraiser at Westglow.
August 2008
• REQUIEM: Ray and Rhonda Russell’s son-in-law John Edds, age 24, was killed in Iraq.
• REQUIEM: Mariam Cannon Hayes died at age 91.
• EXTENSION: Avery commissioners extended the high-impact development moratorium for 90 days.
• GOOGLE: The N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law filed a lawsuit challenging the state incentives offered to Google and alleging that the tax credits and grants violate the state’s Constitution.
• NASCAR: Junior Johnson signed bottles of his new triple-distilled Carolina moonshine, Midnight Moon, at the Boone ABC Store.
• POLITICS: North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Bev Perdue made two appearances in Boone on August 6, strongly hinting that she would run for governor in 2008.
• ART: The DBDA unveiled two sculptures next to Town Hall—the first installations of the public art program.
• ASU: The university welcomed a freshman class of 2,775 students selected from more than 12,900 applications.
• DROUGHT: The drought extended to all 100 North Carolina counties, and Boone officially called for Stage 1 water conservation measures.
• GLOBAL WARMING: Ten daily high temperature records were broken at Grandfather Mountain.
• DENIED: The Seven Devils Board of Adjustment denied Hawksnest a conditional use permit that would have allowed the relocation of the tubing run, addition of a parking lot and expansion of the beginner slope.
• DISMISSED: Federal court dismisses Patricia Shook suit against former Sheriff Mark Shook.
• DISMISSED: The North Carolina Utilities Commission dismissed the application for a proposed wind farm in Creston, maintaining the application was incomplete and not supported by competent testimony.
• ASU: Belk Library unveiled Brenda Councill’s Quest For Knowledge mural.
• KICKOFF: High Country United Way kicked off its 2007-08 campaign with a fundraising goal of $600,000.
• CLOSED: Serenity Farm— the halfway house for male addicts in recovery—closed, unable to raise the money to pay for fire safety improvements.
• KUDOS: Norman Cheek, owner of Toyota of Boone, received the Toyota President’s Award for the third year in a row and was featured in a Toyota ad in Time magazine.
• WRAPUP: TransCal Graphics wrapped an AppalCART bus in a Mountaineer football motif.
• UPWARD TREND: The low bid of $525,000 for the Watauga County Courthouse parking lot to be constructed on the site of the demolished law enforcement center on Queen Street was substantially more than the $385,000 budgeted for the project.
• NEW FACES: The Watauga Education Foundation announced Melanie Bullard as the organization’s new executive director.
September 2007
• KUDOS: ASU trumps Michigan 34-32 for the biggest upset ever in college football history.
• MONEY: The cost for relocating the 39 Hartley Family graves was approximately $100,000, a cost that includes the geology fee, disinterring and reinterring the remains, the plots at Mount Lawn cemetery and the markers at the new gravesites.
• POLITICS: Roy Carter announced his candidacy for the Fifth District Congressional seat currently held by Rep. Virginia Foxx.
• COMPLAINTS: A low-flying plane pulling an advertising banner for GEICO flew over Boone for several hours, and residents responded by calling Town Hall to complain.
• DROUGHT: The NC Cattleman's Association reported that as many as one-third of the state’s approximately 20,000 cattle farmers may not make it through the drought because of the critical hay shortage.
• SUCCESS: The second annual High Country United Way Power of the Purse luncheon, benefiting the High Country Women’s Fund, raised approximately $60,000.
• RELOCATION: The Appalachian Cultural Museum opened an exhibit in temporary quarters at the Wilcox Emporium.
• RELOCATION: The last ET&WNC railroad depot in the High Country was moved to the Avery County Museum in Newland.
• POLITICS: Senator Richard Burr was named the ranking Republican on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
• DISMISSED: U.S. Magistrate Judge Dennis L. Howell issued a verbal ruling that all claims in the a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by former Chief Deputy Paula Townsend against former Sheriff Mark Shook case would be dismissed.
• HONORS: Avery County High School Band was invited to perform at the FedEx Orange Bowl in Miami on January 1, 2008.
• DEVELOPMENT: Developers and officials broke ground at Boone Point, a planned mixed-use development on the Highway 105 Extension.
• HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Watauga Literacy Association celebrated 20 years of service.
• ASU: With reserved seats at Kidd Brewer stadium sold out for the rest of the season, the ASU Board of Trustees directed staff to develop a plan to add 4,000 to 5,000 seats.
• GUILTY: Kyle Quentin Triplett—one of three defendants charged with the 2005 killing of ASU student Stephen William Harrington—pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to at least 40 years and not more than 50 years and four months.
• HIGH SCHOOL: Officials broke ground at the site of the new Watauga High School.
• COMMUNICATION: Watauga Commissioners approved the $15,000 purchase of a Reverse 911 System, a computerized, automated telephone notification system.
• ARRESTED: Following a three-month investigation of drug activity on King Street, Boone Police officers, assisted by members of the Watauga County Sheriff’s Department, arrested 15 suspects.
• KUDOS: An Ashe County Fraser fir was chosen for the White House Christmas tree.
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