listen live
Tim Ertzberger

ON AIR STAFF
Tim Ertzberger
full schedule

on the air
clear sky 53° Mar 28's Weather
Clear
HI: 56° LOW: 51°
Your Forecast

News

Pardee UNC Health Care, along with Blue Ridge Health is seeking a new cooperative arrangement, as a Federally Qualified Health Center. If this new arrangement becomes a reality for the two organizations, it would allow for an

intentional existence in their collaboration with each other as businesses, which would help in the continuation of reduced gaps in quality care, while improving the overall patient experience.

There has been a long history of work together between Blue Ridge Health & Pardee UNC Health care. Both organizations are excited about the future, and how they can best work with providers in bringing the very best care possible to

the residents of Henderson County area.

 

STORY BY WHKP'S TYLER SAMS.

Karen Whiting of Glenn C. Marlow Elementary is HCPS’ 2022 Teacher of the Year

HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. (May 20, 2022) — Karen Whiting, a 4th grade English Language Arts (ELA) and social studies teacher at Glenn C. Marlow Elementary, was named Henderson County Public Schools’ 2022 Teacher of the Year on Thursday at the award luncheon sponsored by AdventHealth and Boyd Chevrolet at Jeter Mountain Farm.

Whiting has 17 years of teaching experience, including middle and high school special education in Texas and North Carolina for the first half of her career. Now in her 9th year teaching at Glenn C. Marlow, Whiting is a treasured member of the Marlow Mustangs family and especially beloved by her students – who crafted #TeamWhiting shirts to show support during Whiting’s battle with breast cancer this year.

“Several things stand out to me when I think of Ms. Whiting,” says Assistant Principal Megan Alessi. “The first is the intensity she has for her teaching practices. The second is the ongoing steps she takes to always improve. And the last, and most important, is the love and joy that are completely reciprocal within her classroom and community.”

Whiting prioritizes building relationships with her students so they feel safe and loved, and to understand how each child learns best. “I make it a priority to really get to know them, including sitting with them at lunch, playing with them at recess, and using our morning check-in to hear their hearts,” says Whiting.

By using choice boards in her classroom, Whiting gives her students the opportunity to demonstrate their learning through individual learning styles and different strengths. She cultivates her classroom library and small group discussions to encourage students to share their thoughts, accept differences, and celebrate diversity. And, Whiting says, “Knowing my students well also allows me to help them pick ‘good fit books,’ which is a huge passion of mine as a 4th grade ELA teacher.”

Moreover, Whiting makes learning fun, says Alessi. “There’s never a boring day in her classroom.”

For example, Whiting hosts a “book café” for her students to sample different genres. “Each table is dressed like a café table, she brings battery operated candles, and plays Italian music,” Alessi says. “At each table is a different genre, and the kids travel to each table to ‘taste a book.’”

Whiting’s teaching philosophy extends beyond the classroom, and guides her leadership in various clubs and extracurricular activities at Marlow. She serves on the school’s STEM committee, co-leads the Marlow Run Club – which is open to any student or staff member and currently has 75 students involved – coordinates the annual “Marlow’s Got Talent” show, and helps with the theatre department at West Henderson High whenever she can.

“I choose to lead these activities because they give the students a place to express themselves, push themselves, and (it) gives them an opportunity to shine,” Whiting says.

“Ms. Whiting is inclusive,” says Alessi. “That’s definitely one of her strongest characteristics. She’s got an open door for everyone.”

Following Thursday’s reception at Jeter Mountain Farm, Whiting returned to Glenn C. Marlow Elementary, where she was greeted by her students and a giant banner at the front of the school. Whiting’s students proudly paraded their teacher through the school, where the rest of the student body and Marlow teachers handed her balloons and daisies – Whiting’s favorite flower.

“By the time she got to the end, she had a large bouquet,” said Alessi.

Like all 23 nominees from each elementary, middle and high school, Whiting was nominated by her peers for the designation of her school’s Teacher of the Year. Following extensive interviews with a selection committee comprised of an administrator, parent, board member and the previous teacher of the year, Whiting was selected to represent Henderson County Public Schools as its 2022 Teacher of the Year.

Traditionally, HCPS Teachers of the Year winners receive a commemorative plaque, an all-expense paid trip to a state education conference of their choice, and $1,000 from a sponsor. Beginning last year, the HCPS Teacher of the Year also receives $4,500 towards a vacation getaway of their choice, gifted by Boyd Chevrolet.

SCHOOL BOARD VOTES UNANIMOUSLY TO NAME THE STAGE OF THE REMODELED HHS AUDITORIUM FOR LATE SCHOOL TEACHER, THOMAS E. ORR.

What started out several years ago as a campaign to convince the Henderson County School Board to name the newly remodeled Hendersonville High School Auditorium for the late Tom Orr, an English and Dramatics art teacher, turned out to be partially successful when the school board voted, unanimously, Monday night to instead, name the stage in the auditorium for Orr. It will be called the Tom E. Orr Stage.
Several years ago, Orr’s niece, Ashley Self, organized a group consisting of hundreds of former HHS students who wrote letters and made calls to school board members and even had a special Tom Orr Day in front of the historical Henderson County Court House last fall encouraging the auditorium naming for Orr.
In spite of all the support for Orr, there were some in the school administration who didn’t think it fair to name the auditorium after just one teacher when so many other teachers were qualified for the naming rights. People ‘took sides’ and the effort for the naming right became quite ‘political’. Editorials were broadcast on radio and delivered to each school board member pointing out that other school buildings, gymnasiums and football fields in the Henderson County School System had been named after teachers in the past to no success in convincing the naming for Orr.
Much time passed and when it looked as if the long effort would end in failure, the school board understood that the organized group of HHS people weren’t going away’ and relented by ‘tossing the group a half-loaf of bread’ instead, and named the stage after Orr, instead of the auditorium. Supporters of Orr responded with appreciation and are planning appropriate ceremonies for the Tom E. Orr Stage when the auditorium remodeling process is finished.
Orr was a graduate of Hendersonville High School in 1957 and received his degree in Education from UNC-Chapel Hill followed by a master’s degree from Western Carolina University.
Tom was a dedicated teacher of English and Theater at Hendersonville High School for 32 years. His dedication is best described from a prestigious teaching award he received, The Parker Award, from UNC. He was described as “a young man whose training and experience in theatre arts may have taken him to the professional theatre world or to one of the nation’s major universities to teach, but chose to put his skill to work as a high-school teacher in his home-town.”
His students have thanked him for giving them life-changing inspiration and challenging them to do great things in life and taking risks to achieve it. His love for teaching drama and English instilled that same love in those he taught.

There are many prestigious awards and positions that he held during his teaching career. President of the Educational Theatre Association, president of the Southern Theatre Conference, state director of the North Carolina Thespian Society, president of the North Carolina Theatre, finalist for the North Carolina teacher of the year, Outstanding Teacher-Mentor award from the NC School of Mathematics and Science, Outstanding Teacher of Drama/Production and Design from NC School of the Arts, Presidents Award from the Educational Theatre Association, the John Parker award from UNC-Chapel Hill, the Stanton H. Proctor Award for Teaching Excellence from Western Carolina, president of the Educational Theatre Association and a founder of the Hendersonville Little Theatre.

After retiring from teaching in the classroom, Tom served on the Board of Public Education as chairman, the board of trustees of Flat Rock Playhouse, chairman of the Boys and Girls Clubs program, was on Blue Ridge Community Colleges board of trustees, chairman of the Historic Courthouse Centennial Committee, was inducted to the Hendersonville High School Hall of fame, and initiated and directed the Messiah production at First Baptist Church. Tom wrote weekly columns for the Times-News sharing history from Henderson County since 2009. He was instrumental in the founding of the Walk of Fame that honors Henderson County residents who were notable citizens.
And now, his final recognition – The Tom E. Orr Stage at Hendersonville High School.
Surely, today, after the long ‘fight’…Tom is ‘smiling’ from above.

 

schoolboard.jpg

 

 

 

 With warmer temperatures on the way, Hendersonville is gearing up for a beloved summer tradition.

The Rhythm & Brews Concert Series, presented by Horizon Heating & Air, is making its return to downtown Hendersonville with a variety of entertainment, craft beverages, food trucks and more!

The summer event takes place on the third Thursday of each month, from May through September, at the south end of Main Street, closing off the blocks between Allen and Caswell streets.

Opening acts will kick off each evening at 5:30 p.m. followed by the headliner performance from 7:30-9:30 p.m. Doors open at 5:15 p.m.

The 2022 Rhythm & Brews Concert Series Lineup features the following:

  • May 19: Flow Tribe [[New Orleans funk rock]] with LazrLuvr [[80s cover party]]
  • June 16: Erin & The Wildfire [[indie-pop soul]] with Hustle Souls [[soul/rock]]
  • July 21: Melt [[soulful indie]] with Pink Beds [[danceable indie-pop]]
  • August 18: Alexa Rose [[americana/folk]] with Aaron Burdett [[singer-songwriter]]
  • September 15: The Wooks [[upbeat bluegrass]] with The Greybirds [[classic-style rock]]

The Hands On! Kid Zone will have plenty of kid-friendly activities while adults can enjoy a variety of locally crafted drinks from Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Guidon Brewing Co., Oklawaha Brewing Co., Dry Falls Brewery and many more establishments.

"All net proceeds from adult beverage sales will benefit the Friends of Downtown Hendersonville 501c3 nonprofit, whose mission is to identify, preserve and enhance the key factors that contribute to the authentic small town urban character of historic downtown Hendersonville," a press release from the city says. "In the past year, the Friends of Downtown Hendersonville has supported downtown businesses with over $35,000 in direct business support through the façade and pivot grant programs".

 

STORY COURTESY OF ABC 13 WLOShttps://wlos.com/news/local/rhythm-brews-concert-series-hendersonville-north-carolina-2022-downtown-entertainment-main-street PHOTO COURTESY OF RHYTHM & BREWS FB PAGE.

 

 

Centennial Celebration for WBT Charlotte And WDEL Wilmington, DE.

WBT WAS THE THIRD RADIO STATION LICENSED IN THE UNITED STATES

With the advent of radio forever tied to KDKA broadcasting the results of the 1920 election, the burgeoning medium spread beyond Pittsburgh during the early part of the decade. The year 1922 was a significant one for radio with the third broadcast license awarded to WBT Charlotte on March 18 of that year. (WGY Albany is recognized as the second radio station licensed in the U.S., signing on in February 1922.) March was a busy month for licensing these “wireless telephone broadcasting stations,” with WLW Cincinnati and KMJ Fresno among the long-standing stations that debuted that month.

This weekend WBT will celebrate its centennial anniversary, coinciding with the date of the “provisional” qualifier being removed from the station license 100 years ago. Sunday, April 10, 2022, has been declared “WBT Day” by the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, and that night the city’s skyline will be lit up in the station colors of red, white, and “WBT Blue.”

The first station in the Southeast, WBT served the city of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and listeners “from Canada to Cuba” since April 1922. The signal was increased to the maximum of 50,000-watts ten years later in August 1932.

“Through the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, Hurricane Hugo, the 9-11-01 terrorist attacks, and countless local, state, and national events, residents have been able to rely on WBT for entertainment, news, and information for a century,” a station release read.

The “WBT Day” proclamation was presented to morning hosts Bo Thompson and Beth Troutman on Tuesday, April 5.

“Quite simply, we are humbled and honored,” PD Mike Schaefer said. “Recognition by the City and County of this unique milestone, and their proclamations of WBT Day means everything to the twenty-five team members of WBT, and to the over one hundred hard-working members of our extended Radio One Charlotte family.”

A 100th-anniversary celebration is scheduled for Saturday, April 9, with tickets available for the public. On Sunday, April 10, from 10am-1pm, WBT will air special programming to commemorate the station’s century of broadcasting.

STORY REPRINTED COURTESY OF INSIDE RADIO

Way back in 1946, WHKP RADIO became the first radio station in Henderson County.

Today - 75 years later, it is still the first radio station in overall listening, as it continues to dominate local radio ratings, as shown by the Nielsen County Coverage 2022.

The 2022 Nielsen County Coverage ratings report was released Wednesday and shows WHKP FM 107.7 and AM 1450 has  more listeners than the other local station WTZQ.

WHKP showed right at 6000 cume listeners, while WTZQ was about 3000 listeners.

Those results show WHKP having nearly twice the local radio listening audience!

WHKP thanks its many loyal radio listeners for keeping the station at the top of listening for 75 years.

The source of these ratings is Nielsen County Coverage 2022 and will be current until next year's survey.

The Henderson County Board Of Elections announced early voting dates,and locations Wednesday. Early voting begins 4/28 and runs through Saturday May 14th. The regular voting day for everyone not voting early is 5/17. There are 4
 
early voting locations..you can vote at any of the following..Board Of Elections 75 E Central St, Etowah Library 101 Brickyard Road, Fletcher Town Hall 300 Old Cane Creek Road, or Flat Rock Village Hall 110 Village Center Drive.
 
WHKP AM & FM will provide complete election results of all local, state and national races beginning at 7:30pm Election Eve 5/17.

 Because the lake is leaking into the aging sewer system underneath, not the other way around, the lake remains safe for recreation. Colby Rabon / Carolina Public Press'

Lake Lure using ‘providential’ ARPA funds to start massive sewage repairs'
Aging sewer system under the town’s namesake lake will take $60 million to replace over several phases. But $368k from ARPA will help stop leaks for now.
by Shelby Harris March 25, 2022

 The Lake Lure dam creates the Rutherford County town's namesake lake, seen here on March 24, 2022. Unfortunately, the lake is leaking into the aging sewer system under the lake, creating water treatment problems and forcing a costly replacement of the system. Colby Rabon / Carolina Public Press
Lake Lure’s long and costly list of sewer repairs got a little shorter with the help of federal COVID recovery money.

Shortly after receiving its first installment of American Rescue Plan Act funds, the Lake Lure Town Council elected to use all of its roughly $368,000 to fix more than 60 manholes in and around the 700-acre lake in Rutherford County.

Fixing the manholes, openings that lead to underground sewer pipes, has been a top priority for the county for more than two years, Lake Lure Mayor Carol Pritchett said.

“These manholes are what connects each property on the sewer system to the sewer lines that run through the bottom of the lake to the wastewater treatment plant,” Pritchett explained.

“(The manholes) are aged, and they were leaking.”

Sewer system wear and tear
Lake Lure, which plunges to 100 feet at its deepest point, produces enough water pressure to prevent sewage from leaking into the lake through the underwater sewage system.

Rather, lake water has been leaking into the sewage lines.

“People say, ‘Oh my gosh, the sewer is leaking into the lake.’ Au contraire, it’s the lake leaking into the sewer,” Pritchett said, adding that the leak has no negative effect on the lake or town residents.

“That’s why I take my grandchildren to swim in the lake every day that they’re here for 12 hours a day.”

 However, this type of leakage presents a different issue, said Brian Houston from Labella Associates, the engineering firm the town of Lake Lure hired to handle sewer repair plans.

When nonsewage runs through Lake Lure’s sewer lines and ultimately deposits at the town’s wastewater treatment facility, a different type of treatment must be performed on the water.

“Most wastewater treatment plants operate with a biological population of bacteria to treat the sewage, and that bacteria needs to be fed and sustained,” Houston said. “If you can’t feed them a decent concentration of waste, … then you can’t keep them sustained, and you can’t treat (the sewage.)

“Because of (the leaked water), the town is not able to operate their wastewater treatment plant like a wastewater treatment plant should be operated. Instead, they have to operate it more like a water treatment plant.”

Though the leaks have caused Lake Lure’s water treatment facility to operate less efficiently than ideal, the plant has continued water treatment even with massive amounts of lake water. Houston estimated 450,000 to 600,000 gallons of liquid has been flowing into the facility per day. That’s two times more than the average daily sewage for a town the size of Lake Lure, which census data shows has a population of roughly 1,300.

“Somewhere between 65% to 80% of the water coming to the treatment plant is lake water,” Houston said.

To prevent this leakage, the town worked with Labella to fill pipe cracks with a polyurea coating, similar to coating put on garage floors.

Manhole repairs began in late November, when the town lowered the lake’s water levels, and will soon be complete, with only three more to repair, Pritchett said.

 Turtles sun themselves near a manhole on Lake Lure on March 24, 2022. Colby Rabon / Carolina Public Press
While the leaks are not currently a concern for public safety, Houston said if the system weren’t repaired, catastrophic and expensive damage could be around the corner.

“If you took this plant that has a permit … right at a million gallons per day and started putting, say, 10 million gallons per day into that plant, there’s no way we could do anything other than kind of sit back and watch everything just overflow the plant and go to the river,” he said.

“It’s a ticking time bomb.”

A century-old system
Both Houston and Pritchett attribute Lake Lure’s deteriorating sewer system to its age. Built in the 1920s before the lake was filled, the sewage system consists of massive underwater cast-iron pipes that deliver sewage from more than 600 homes and businesses to the wastewater plant, which sits east of the dam.

A sewer system like Lake Lure’s wouldn’t be installed today, Houston said, because having sewer pipes underwater makes it tremendously difficult to access them for repairs if a large-scale leak occurs and sewage enters the lake.

When the system was built, limited access to pipes wasn’t as grave a concern as it is today. The Clean Water Act, federal legislation passed in the early 1970s that enforced sewage treatment, postdated the installation of the town’s sewer system.

 Water flows through the gates of the Lake Lure dam into the Broad River on March 24, 2022. Colby Rabon / Carolina Public Press
“Trying to get into the mind of a developer from 100 years ago, I would imagine they were thinking, ‘Well, we could just dump the sewage into the lake, but we’re making a real nice lake, and people don’t want floaters in their lake, so maybe we should run it downstream below the dam,’” Houston said.

“Once it went through the dam, it was dumped into the (Broad) River.”

Sparse access to the underwater pipes has meant few improvements to Lake Lure’s sewer system. Houston said the only repair he knew of was about 15 years ago, when the town repaired sewer joints, devices that connect pipes.

The sewer system isn’t the only part of Lake Lure that has been neglected.

In March 2018, Carolina Public Press reported the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality and its predecessor agencies had warned Lake Lure officials for more than a decade that they were badly behind on inspections and maintenance for the dam. The town has since addressed these issues.

ARPA for sewer repairs
The solution for Lake Lure, Houston said, is installing a new sewer system, which is currently being designed by Labella and projected to cost more than $60 million.

“We have a long-term plan to replace the sewer system in six different phases, but it will probably take over 10 years to do for a variety of reasons — probably among the first, funding,” Pritchett said.

To pay for the six-phase sewer project, Lake Lure increased its customer sewer rates, took out a $12 million revolving loan and received a $500,000 state-supported grant.

The first phase, which Pritchett said the town hopes to begin in the next year, will consist of expanding the sewer system from the dam northeast to Sunset Cove and southwest to the intersection of U.S. Highway 64 and State Route 9.

“It is sort of a pay as you go,” Pritchett said, adding that the town will work to secure funding for the project’s upcoming phases while completing those already paid for.

But the six-phase project leading to a state-compliant sewer system could not begin until Lake Lure fixed the immediate issues — namely the damaged manholes, which Houston said should hold the town over until a new sewer system is built.

The manhole rehabilitation, which the town expects to cost a total of $610,000, is being paid for mostly with American Rescue Plan Act money. The rest will come out of the town’s fund balance, Pritchett said.

Had the county not received ARPA money, it would have had to look for funds elsewhere through grants or loans.

“It was just providential when the ARPA money came along. We weren’t expecting it — nobody was expecting it, of course,” Pritchett said.

“It just could not have been better timing.”

Urgent dam repairs may cost town of Lake Lure millions


SHELBY HARRIS
Shelby Harris a Carolina Public Press staff writer, based in Asheville. Email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to contact her.

© 2022 Carolina Public Press.
Proudly powered by Newspack by Auto

Congressman Cawthorn Introduces Legislation Forcing President Biden to Address Rising Gas Prices

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Congressman Madison Cawthorn (NC-11) introduced legislation requiring that President Biden report to Congress methods the executive branch has at its disposal to stabilize and reduce gas prices nationwide:

"Joe Biden's energy policies have caused gas prices to explode throughout the country. His far-fetched, unrealistic, leftist agenda has caused the American people to suffer for too long. Between shutting down the Keystone XL Pipeline, green lighting Russia's Nord Stream 2, and pausing drilling licenses throughout the country, the Biden Administration has caused financial hardship for Americans everywhere. To provide relief, my new bill will demand that Biden seriously reevaluate his policy decisions and give the American people real answers on what can be done to give them relief at the pump. America needs energy independence now,” said Congressman Madison Cawthorn.