What a Year!

2009 in Review—Part 4 of 4: October through December

Compiled by Sam Calhoun and Anna Oakes

October ‘09

High Country Press reported on the local Farmworker Health Program and how it is assisting local migrant and seasonal workers.

Valle Crucis Principal Wayne Eberle was selected as the Watauga County Schools Principal of the Year for 2009-10.

Boone Police Captain Curtis Main and Boone Master Police Officer Carl Underwood retired from the Boone Police Department on September 30.

Dana Bruce Crawford, a native of Avery County and 20-year law enforcement veteran, took over the position of chief of the Boone Police Department on October 12.

Interstate 40 closed at mile marker 2.6 in North Carolina, near the Tennessee state line, due to a rockslide that occurred on October 25.

• CARE: High Country Press reported on the local Farmworker Health Program and how it is assisting local migrant and seasonal workers.

• RETREAT: Elected officials and administrators from the High Country’s municipalities, Watauga County and ASU came together to hear presentations on healthcare and parks and recreation on September 28 at an intergovernmental retreat.

• GOODBYE: Popular local television host and personality Bill “Fish” Fisher announced that he would retire from his duties at Mountain Television Network and his duties as announcer for ASU home football games in mid-December.

• UNEMPLOYMENT: Although unemployment figures increased throughout most of 2009, the unemployment rate in all seven High Country counties dropped in August and September, only to increase again in October and beyond.

• KUDOS: Valle Crucis Principal Wayne Eberle was selected as the Watauga County Schools Principal of the Year for 2009-10.

• GREEN: The ASU Board of Trustees approved $5.34 million for energy-saving measures that are expected to save at least $600,000 per year in energy costs.

• GOODBYE: Boone Police Captain Curtis Main and Boone Master Police Officer Carl Underwood retired from the Boone Police Department on September 30.

• PLANNING: After hosting public meetings and gathering input from the local community, Town of Banner Elk staff began work on a new land use plan, the first for the town since 1967.

• LEADERSHIP: Chosen from an initial field of 124 applicants, Dana Crawford, a native of Avery County and 20-year law enforcement veteran, was hired as Boone’s new chief of police on October 12. 

• SAFETY: Law enforcement officials and river conservationists collected approximately 40,000 pills, 12 gallons of liquid medication, 2,000 needles and syringes and a glucose meter during Watauga County’s first ever prescription drug take back event, Operation Medicine Cabinet, on October 3.

• BLOOD: ASU students, faculty and staff collected 1,003 pints of blood for the American Red Cross during the ASU Homecoming Blood Drive.

• KUDOS: Grandfather Academy saw a 21.6 percent increase in students performing at or above grade level on the 2008-09 End of Grade tests, which translated into a ranking of 17 out of the 97 total North Carolina Public Charter Alternative Schools.

• HONOR: Outdoor Magazine named Boone a Top 10 Favorite Adventure Small Town.

• TEACH: The Watauga Education Foundation awarded more than 20 local teachers with grants totaling $20,000 to fund new teaching initiatives in High Country classrooms.

• BUZZ: After leaving a position with the Charlotte Bobcats, former ASU basketball coach Buzz Peterson returned to Boone to begin his second stint as the Mountaineers’ head coach.

• BILLBOARDS: Airing on the side of aesthetics rather than commerce, the Watauga County Commissioners on October 20 adopted amendments to the Watauga County Ordinance to Regulate Signs that prohibit new billboards in Watauga County. The vote came just three days before a moratorium on all new billboards and all new off-premise electronic signs was set to expire and effectively ended the more than 18-month debate concerning the future of billboards—electronic or otherwise—in Watauga County.

• WACE: A woolly worm named Wilbur trained by Chapel Hill-native Noah Jens won the 32nd Running of the Worms during the Woolly Worm Festival in Banner Elk.

• STIMULUS: ASU received more than $552,000 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to support six projects, four of which were research projects funded through the National Science Foundation (NSF). ASU also submitted proposals for another $6.5 million in stimulus funding for additional projects related to economic growth and stability. 

• POLITICS: Candidates for Boone mayor and Boone Town Council fielded questions about small business, smart growth, consultants, annexation, steep slope regulations and the Howard Street Project at a Meet the Candidates Forum on October 20.

• PLANNING: After more than two years in the making, a land use master plan for the Town of Boone was unanimously adopted by the Boone Town Council on October 15. The plan, titled “Boone 2030: The Smart Growth Plan for the Heart of the High Country,” serves as a guide for development and redevelopment in Boone over the next 20 years.

• KUDOS: Doc Hendley, president and founder of local nonprofit Wine to Water, was selected as one of the Top 10 CNN Heroes and was honored and featured multiple times on the national news channel. 

• ROCKSLIDE: Interstate 40 closed at mile marker 2.6 in North Carolina, near the Tennessee state line, because of a rockslide on October 25. Engineers’ estimated that it could take three months to clean up the entire slide and restore traffic.

November ‘09

Boone Mayor Loretta Clawson won the first four-year mayoral term in town history during the 2009 elections.

In November, Millie Barbee received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest civilian honor awarded by the governor’s office.

A virtual who’s who of renewable energy experts from ASU and across the state, as well as local officials and businesspeople involved with the project, gathered at the Broyhill Inn on November 12 to celebrate the installation of the largest wind turbine in the state.

Speedway Associates Inc. President and Director of Operations Alton McBride Jr. announced in November that his company would bring racing back to the North Wilkesboro Speedway.

• POLITICS: Boone Mayor Loretta Clawson won the first four-year mayoral term in town history during the 2009 elections. Jamie Leigh, Rennie Brantz and Andy Ball were elected to terms on Boone Town Council.

In Blowing Rock, J.B. Lawrence was re-elected as mayor, and Tommy Klutz, Jim Steele and Doug Matheson were elected to serve on town council.

Paul Piquet, Cindy Keller and Rick Miller were elected to Beech Mountain Town Council, and Kay Ehlinger, David Ehmig and Bob Dodson were elected to Seven Devils Town Council.

Deka Tate solidified another term as Banner Elk mayor, and Gail Draughon and Brenda Lyerly were elected to Banner Elk Town Council.

Tudor Vance won the race for mayor in Crossnore, and Jesse Smith, Billy Howard and Don Vance were elected as Crossnore Aldermen.

Valerie C. Jaynes was elected as mayor of Newland, and Thomas Jackson, Roxanna Roberson and Donetta McKinney were elected to Newland Town Council.

Louise Anderson and William Schmitt were elected to Sugar Mountain Town Council.

John T. Fitzgibbon won the race for Grandfather mayor, and Bob Donovan and Andre T. Tennille, Jr. were elected to Grandfather Town Council.   

• ALCOHOL: In the 2009 election, Newland residents narrowly passed referenda approving the sale of malt beverages and wine.

• PLANNING: Fulfilling its promise to transparently display its progress on Watauga County’s new Comprehensive Plan, dubbed the “Citizens’ Plan for Watauga,” the seven-member Plan Oversight Group (POG), which was appointed by the Board of Commissioners and had spent three years crafting the plan from citizens’ and county leaders’ input, hosted two community meetings in November where more than 20 citizens learned about the plan and provided feedback and visions for the county’s future.

• KUDOS: Appalachian Voices, an environmental nonprofit based in Boone, received a double honor in November when its work on the issue of mountaintop removal mining was featured as part of Google Earth's Heroes series and was also included in Good Magazine's Good 100 list.

• KUDOS: The Blue Ridge Wine & Food Festival in Blowing Rock was designated a Southeast Tourism Society Top 20 Event.

• WIND: A virtual who’s who of renewable energy experts from ASU and across the state, as well as local officials and businesspeople involved with the project, gathered at the Broyhill Inn on November 12 to celebrate the installation of the largest wind turbine in the state. The turbine was installed over the summer and is a Northwind 100 that rises 121 feet into the air, features a blade diameter of 54 feet and produces 150,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, or roughly enough power to meet the needs of 10 to 15 residential homes. The ASU Renewable Energy Initiative spearheaded the project that was partly funded by self-administered student fees.

• BUDGET: ASU finalized its budget in November. After suffering funding cuts from the state, the university’s budget contained $15.2 million less than originally anticipated.

• RECORD: At its Fall Exhibition Celebration on November 6, the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts in Boone saw 1,742 people enter the doors between 7:00 and 9:00 p.m.—the largest exhibition opening crowd in the museum’s history.

• KUDOS: Millie Barbee, who came out of retirement in 2009 to serve her second term as executive director of High Country Host, was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine—the highest civilian honor awarded by the governor’s office—for her years of hard work and service across the state.

• DOMINATION: Under the leadership of senior quarterback Armanti Edwards, the ASU football team won its fifth straight Southern Conference title with a win over the Elon Phoenix on November 14.

• RACING: After 13 years of silence, Speedway Associates, Inc. announced that it would bring back the sound of race car engines to the North Wilkesboro Speedway in September 2010. 

• KUDOS: The winner of the Top 10 CNN Heroes contest was announced on November 21 and, unfortunately, Boone resident and founder of the Boone-based nonprofit Wine To Water Doc Hendley did not take home the grand prize. However, each of the Top 10 CNN Heroes, including Hendley, received $25,000 to use at their discretion.

• LEADERSHIP: Jennifer Greene, originally of Meat Camp, was chosen as the new executive director of the North Carolina Christmas Tree Association.

• BEAUTIFICATION: In a unanimous vote, the Boone Town Council on November 19 approved a Downtown Streetscape Plan with short- and long-term improvements that included new benches, trash receptacles, streetlights, sidewalk paver edging, public art, garden spaces and signage as well as de-cluttering of current signage and utility lines.

December ‘09

Local law enforcement staff successfully located a missing 4-year-old boy in Vilas.

The Peddler Steak House in Boone sustained approximately $185,000 worth of damage when a fire broke out on December 8.

After a four-year stint as ASU quarterback, Armanti Edwards graduated in December, leaving behind a legacy that, in addition to dozens of awards, includes 64 school records and 14 Southern Conference records. Later in the month, Edwards became the first player in history to win consecutive Walter Payton awards.

• UNEMPLOYMENT: In December, The Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009, formerly The Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2009 (H.R.3548), became effective. As a result, according to www.opencongress.org, unemployed citizens of almost all states are eligible for extended unemployment benefits for 14 weeks after their original unemployment benefits are exhausted, and citizens of states with an unemployment rate at or above 8.5 percent—such as North Carolina—can receive an extra six weeks of benefits after those 14 weeks of benefits are exhausted.

• BANNED: Effective December 1, texting while driving and the use of license plate frames were made illegal in North Carolina.

• BIRTHDAY: Sugar Mountain Resort celebrated its 40th anniversary season of skiing and snowboarding after opening on November 27.

• FOUND: After a 4.5-hour search through thick woods and underbrush in Vilas, law enforcement staff successfully located a missing 4-year-old boy and reunited him with his family.

• INPUT: Watauga County Parks and Recreation hosted three community meetings to gather citizen input on the organization’s master plan.

• DELAY: NCDOT officials on December 9 said that Highway 321 south of Blowing Rock could be closed for one week as crews worked to stabilize a section of mountainous terrain that caused a rockslide.

• REPORT: Engineering firm W.K. Dickson & Company released an environmental assessment for a planned New River water intake facility to serve the Town of Boone. Residents had until January 4, 2010, to submit comments to the U.S. Department of Agriculture concerning the assessment.

• HONOR: Although he didn’t win the Top 10 CNN Heroes contest, Wine to Water founder Doc Hendley served as grand marshal of the Boone Christmas Parade on December 9.

• TEACH: ASU received a three-year, $300,000 grant to enhance the capacity of a Mexican partner institution, Fundación Universidad de Las Américas Puebla (FUDLAP), with its renewable energy and energy efficiency educational programs and activities.

• FIRE: The Peddler Steak House in Boone sustained approximately $185,000 worth of damage when a fire broke out on December 8.

• SOLAR: The 14th annual Solar Tree Lighting, which is presented by the ASU Sustainable Energy Society, took place at the Jones House on December 16.

• LEADERSHIP: Jim Hamilton, a former Watauga Cooperative Extension Service agent who had spent the past few years in higher education, announced he would return to serve as the county’s new Cooperative Extension director beginning January 4, 2010.

• GOODBYE: Popular local television host and personality Bill “Fish” Fisher retired officially on December 11, after he filmed his last spot for Mountain Television Network.

• CHANGE: High Country Press took an in-depth look at what had changed since Boone residents voted in liquor-by-the-drink.

• FAREWELL: Former teacher and Watauga County school board member Andy Reese died at the age of 75.

• LAW: Judge Phil Ginn of Boone announced his candidacy for reelection in the non-partisan superior court judge race for the 24th judicial district covering Avery, Madison, Mitchell, Yancey and Watauga counties. The election will take place in November 2010.

• LEADERSHIP: The Appalachian Regional Library (ARL) announced that Monica Caruso had been hired as county librarian for the Watauga County Public Library, effective January 4, 2010.

• KUDOS: Richard Boylan of Boone received the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Agent of the Year award from the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association.

• FOUND: The body of Deana Elizabeth Schermerhorn, who was last seen by family members on November 8 at her residence in Seven Devils, was positively identified on December 15 in the Seven Devils area. Schermerhorn’s cause of death is still unknown.

• SMOKING: Boone’s elected leaders voted in December to enact new smoking rules in the Town of Boone. Effective January 2010, in Boone, smoking is prohibited in all enclosed areas of public places, in all town parks, within a six-foot radius of any public place on town sidewalks and within a six-foot radius of a child on any town property.

• RANK: High Country Press staff and readers chose the Top 10 Christmas movies of all time and the Top 5 Worst Christmas movies of all time.

• ANNIVERSARY: John Mena’s Haircut 101 in Boone celebrated its 20th anniversary in December. 

• WOW: After a four-year stint as ASU quarterback, Armanti Edwards graduated in December, leaving behind a legacy that, in addition to dozens of awards, includes 64 school records and 14 Southern Conference records. Later in the month, Edwards became the first player in history to win consecutive Walter Payton awards.

• BIG SNOW: From December 18 and 20, between 18 and 27 inches of snow blanketed the High Country in what was labeled as the biggest snow of the decade. If that wasn’t enough, an ice storm befell the region on Christmas Day, leaving tens of thousands without power.

• NIGHTLIFE: Appalachian Ski Mountain introduced Midnight Blast Weekends on December 26. During the weekends, skiing and snowboarding is offered until midnight.

• KUDOS: In late December, all five members of the Watauga County Board of Education won individual recognition from the North Carolina State Board Association for their commitments to continued training, and the board as a whole was honored with a Special Achievement Award for Exemplary Boards.

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« Part 3 of 4: July through September | Back to the Beginning »

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