January 10 , 2008 issue
October 2007
• AGREED: Watauga commissioners approved a request from the Hospitality House to lease a 1.9-acre parcel of land adjacent to the Hunger and Health Coalition to build a new shelter.
• UPWARD TREND: Watauga commissioners approved replacing the scale house and scale at the Watauga County Sanitation Department at a bid of $645,000. The original estimate was $275,000.
• GENESIS: High Country Press announced that it will present a two-day Daniel Boone Days festival in September 2008.
• TESTIMONY: Local Christmas tree grower Harry Yates testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Full Committee on Agriculture.
• POLITICS: State Senator Steve Goss was appointed to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee of the North Carolina General Assembly to make recommendations on ways to improve public education.
• GLOBAL WARMING: Grandfather Mountain reported that September 2007 was the warmest ever, with two daily high temperature records broken. Record daily high temperatures were also broken October 7, 8 and 9.
• DROUGHT: The U.S. Department of Agriculture granted Gov. Mike Easley’s request to designate 85 counties as disaster areas because of the ongoing drought, Easley asked residents to cut their water use by half, 17 waters systems in the state neared the crisis point, and Blowing Rock adopted a Stage III water shortage advisory.
• POLITICS: Lieutenant Governor Beverly Perdue officially kicked off her campaign for governor.
• KUDOS: Watauga High School Principal Angela Quick was named the Watauga County Schools Principal of the Year for 2007-08.
• WITHDRAWN: Plaintiffs in the suit filed against Boone’s steep slope and viewshed ordinances withdrew the case without prejudice and with the right to refile the case within one year.
• CELEBRITY: Special guest Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. attended Appalachian Voices’ 10th anniversary gala.
• TOP WORM: Armstrong the woolly worm outpaced 1,400 other caterpillars to win the 30th annual Woolly Worm Festival in Banner Elk.
• POLITICS: Loretta Clawson, Stephen Phillips and Lynne Mason won seats on the Boone Town Council, with Dempsey Wilcox and Liz Aycock in a runoff.
• POLITICS: U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx hosted the first-ever Fifth District telephone town hall.
• POLITICS: State Rep. Cullie Tarleton was appointed to the Joint Legislative Commission on Dropout Prevention and High School graduation.
• HEALTH: A Community Health Assessment showed that more than one-quarter of 5- to 11-year-olds in Watauga County are obese.
• ASU: The Mountaineers beat the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs 45-7 at homecoming in front of a crowd of 27,428 students, fans and alumni.
• MONEY: The North Carolina Clean Water Management Trust Fund announced that Boone will receive a $178,000 grant to establish a 0.75 acre wetlands pool in the Elizabeth Drive area.
• PROTEST: About 200 people attended a public hearing in Spruce Pine to oppose Young & McQueen Grading Company’s proposal to operate an asphalt plant there.
• AGREED: After Floyd “Dipper” Garrison spent months petitioning both the Boone Town Council and the Watauga County Board of Commissioners to provide sewer service to the Elk Motel on Highway 321, the town council unanimously agreed to proceed with the project, without the county’s participation and subject to several conditions.
• FINALLY: Possum Jenkins celebrated the release of their long-awaited second CD—On Time—with a show at Boone Saloon.
November 2007
• GREENING: Watauga commissioners approved a recommendation from the high school subcommittee to seek LEED—Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design—certification for the new Watauga County High School.
• CONSERVATION: Laurelmor dedicated a 600-acre conservation easement to the Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust.
• KICKOFF: Christmas in the Mountains, a new Christmas compilation of holiday songs by local artists being sold to benefit the Hunger and Health Coalition, was released.
• NEW FACES: Retired local attorney Ed Hardin was named chair of the Edgar Tufts Memorial Association and said that the primary objective for the ETMA was to get Wildcat Lake back in operation.
• HEATH: Appalachian Regional Heathcare System announced that a $3.5 million image guided radiation therapy machine for the cancer center had been ordered and should be operational by April, and a new $1.2 million 64-slice CT scanner would be installed between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Also, ARHS and the Smoky Mountain Center plan to reopen the behavioral unit to provide in-patient psychiatric treatment at Cannon Hospital in early October 2008.
• RELEASE: Local author Nan Chase released her new book, Asheville: A History.
• POLITICS: Roy Carter officially launched his campaign for the United States Congress in the 5th Congressional District of North Carolina.
• POLITICS: Liz Aycock defeated Dempsey Wilcox in the runoff election for the Boone Town Council.
• POLITICS: Incumbent council member Rita Wiseman lost her reelection bid and Terry Lentz did not run for reelection, so the Blowing Rock council gained two new members: Albert Yount and Phillip Pickett.
• POLITICS: All three incumbents were returned to the Seven Devils Town Council: Kathy Copley, Richard DeMott and Bill Wilkinson.
• POLITICS: Paul Piquet lost his seat on the Beech Mountain Town Council by one vote to Randy Corn. Challenger Alan Holcombe was elected to the council, along with incumbent Rick Owen.
• TRADITION: Cooperative Extension held Watauga County’s 52nd Farm-City Banquet at the Boone United Methodist Church.
• HAPPY BIRTHDAY: The Watauga County Historical Society celebrated its 30th birthday.
• POLITICS: State Rep. Cullie Tarleton was appointed to serve on the new Joint Legislative Study Committee on Public School Funding, and both Tarleton and State Senator Steve Goss were appointed to the Joint Select Committee on the Agricultural Drought Response.
• DROUGHT: Grandfather Mountain reported that as of the end of October, rain for the year to date totaled 42.69 inches, 11.93 inches (or 22 percent) below the 51-year norm.
• KUDOS: Blowing Rock’s Westglow Resort & Spa was named the number one boutique spa in the world in a Luxury SpaFinder Magazine consumer poll.
• CHANGES: Watauga County Schools Superintendent Dr. Bobbie Short announced her intention to retire at the end of the current school year.
• KUDOS: Local Author Maggie Bishop was honored as one of 100 Incredible East Carolina University Women.
• CLOSED: The Appalachian Twin movie theater in downtown Boone, opened in 1938, closed.
• ASU: The Mountaineers advanced to the national quarterfinals with their 28-27 win over James Madison University.
• KUDOS: Cooperative Extension Agent Richard Boylan received the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association Activist of the Year award.
• CELEBRITY: ASU announced that Gloria Steinem will speak at the university in February 2008.
• INFO: ASU Board of Trustees held a public information session to explain the rationale behind the Howard Street location for the new College of Education building.
• GAS: The average cost of a gallon of gas was $3.06, a 36-cent rise over the past month.
December 2007
• HOORAY!: The Mountaineers advanced to the NCAA National semifinals with a 38-35 triumph over Eastern Washington, advanced to the championship game with a 55-35 win over the University of Richmond, and then beat Delaware 49-21 in the NCAA Division 1 FCS National Championship game. With the win, ASU became the first football team in NCAA Division 1 FCS history to win three straight national championship titles, as well as the first NCAA Division 1 football program to win three consecutive national titles since Army accomplished the feat in the 1940s.
• EXPANSION: The Watauga commissioners approved a financial arrangement proposed by Caldwell Community College President Dr. Ken Boham that gave the go-ahead to a new 14,000 square foot building on the Watauga campus.
• APPROVED: The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources Division of Air Quality issued an air quality permit for a proposed asphalt plant in Spruce Pine.
• GREENING: Watauga County Habitat for Humanity ReStore began the ReStore Landfill Reclamation Program at the landfill to collect usable construction materials and keep the debris out of the waste stream.
• SUPPORT: Community members responded overwhelming to the Newell Family tragedy—an automobile accident that took the life of 22-year-old Drew Newell, severely injured his father Brian and injured two other family members. Within one week, people contributed more than $7,000 to a High Country Bank account for the family.
• KUDOS: Finishing the season 11-4, the Watauga High School Pioneers football team went 5-1 in conference play, winning Watauga’s first conference championship since 1981.
• KICKOFF: The Appalachian Women’s Fund—a new local initiative focused on the needs of women and children—was introduced at a kickoff luncheon at Westglow Resort & Spa.
• GLOBAL WARMING: Unseasonably warm weather broke two high-temperature records at Grandfather Mountain.
• NEW FACES: Parkway School Principal Billie Hicklin was appointed assistant superintendent of the Watauga County Schools effective January 1, 2008.
• POLITICS: Boone Mayor Loretta Clawson and council members Lynne Mason, Stephen Phillips and Liz Aycock were sworn in on December 20.
• UPGRADE: Watauga County’s bond rating was upgraded from A+ to AA.
• APPROVED: In a vote of 4 to 1, with Liz Aycock voting in opposition, the Boone Town Council approved an agreement with Floyd Garrison Enterprises, Inc. to extend the town’s sewer line to the Elk Motel and pay two-thirds of the estimated $300,000 cost.
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