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Suspect Apprehended in Downtown Hendersonville Incident

On April 22, 2019, at approximately 12:23am, the Hendersonville Police Department received a call from Hannah Flanagan’s located at 300 N. Main Street in Hendersonville regarding an individual who was displaying and showing off a handgun outside of the establishment. HPD Officer Keenan Nesbitt was the first officer to arrive on scene to investigate the incident. During Nesbitt’s investigation, the suspect refused to cooperate and did not comply with Officer Nesbitt’s instructions. The suspect ran down 3rd Avenue and into Edwards Alley. Officer Nesbitt pursued the suspect on foot, and the suspect drew a firearm. Officer Nesbitt drew his service weapon and fired one round, striking the suspect in the shoulder. The suspect dropped his firearm but continued to flee. He was apprehended a short time later by assisting officers and transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Officer Nesbitt did not sustain any injuries during the incident.

The suspect has been identified as 36-year-old Robert Gregory Robinson II. He is currently charged with Possession of Stolen Firearm, Altering or Removing a Serial Number from a Firearm and Possession of a Firearm by Felon.

THIS REPORT FILED BY ALLISON NOCK, Communications Manager for City of Hendersonville, N.C.

As the 'old saw' goes, "it doesn't take a rocket-scientist' to determine that the growth of Henderson County continues at a rapid pace....both in population and in economics.  

All one has to do is to look around the county in terms of new construction in the way of apartment buildings and new business openings.  There are many of both.

One of the new big industries in the county is the craft beer and wine distillers. One of the latest to open is Point Lookout Winery in Edneyville, owned and operated by Michael Jackson on property maintained in the family for generations. Sierra Nevada opened their massive east-coast brewery in the Mills River area several years ago, which also includes a 400-seat restaurant.  This faciltiy has added 'handsome returns' to Henderson County in the way of tax revenue. 

In spite of this continued economic growth with more employment opportunities in all sectors, Henderson County wage and income growth lags both the nation and the state.

Statistics show Henderson County averages around 1,500 new residents every year which has pushed Henderson County's total population to some 116,000 persons.  Henderson County has long been known as the 'land of the retired' and continues to gain in that category with more and more assisted living facilities being opened in the area.  However, the largest demographic is people between 40 and 44 years of age.

Henderson County has long been known as a 'varied economy' with a distribution between agriculture; industry; tourism and retirement.  In other words, the county continues to thrive due to this great diversity.  Henderson County continues to lead the state in the production of apples and is the seventh-largest apple producing county in the nation.  

Henderson (county seat of Hendersonville) is the second-largest county in the 17-county western North Carolina area, trailing only Buncombe, county-seat to Asheville. This WNC area is represented in congress by Mark Meadows. 

Town of Laurel Park has narrowed the search for its next town manager to five candidates, with a selection likely to be revealed in May.
The Town Council has scheduled a series of five closed-session meetings to interview candidates from April 22-24 at Saint James Episcopal Church in Hendersonville.
Town officials are planning to conduct a second round of interviews the week of May 5, that according to interim Town Manager Michael Morgan.
Laurel Park is looking to fill the vacancy left by former manager Alison Alexander, who left Jan. 4 to take a position working for Lancaster County, S.C.
Morgan said the town will conduct background checks on the finalists in Mid-may and ideally make a job offer on May 21.
The new manager is expected to begin the position July 1, the start of the 2019-20 fiscal year.
The town of Laurel Park does not plan to reveal the names of the candidates until the new manager is named, according to Morgan.

State of North Carolina’s coastal regulatory board says risks associated with offshore oil and gas exploration and drilling off the Atlantic coast aren’t worth threats to the tourism and fishing economies along with the environment.
The state Coastal Resources Commission has approved a resolution this week opposing the idea.
President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing permits to allow testing for possible drilling sites off the Atlantic coast. Some East Coast states and many coastal North Carolina communities already oppose the plan.
Thursday’s resolution approved unanimously cited the Exxon Valdez and Deepwater Horizon oil spills and studies showing adverse effects from seismic testing on marine life.
The commission is appointed by the governor and legislative leaders. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein have already have spoken out against offshore exploration.

Conditions slowly getting back to normal across much of Henderson County, with the torrential rain, out of these severe storms that pounded our area at the end of the week.

A day after heavy rains and storms pummeled the region, residents are about to get a relative break, and welcome change from the wet weather, but signs of its aftermath remained even during the day on, Saturday.

There were some scattered, occasional showers hitting the area late Saturday afternoon before ending in the evening, but the next few days should be dry.
According to Jeffrey Taylor at the National Weather Service, the Asheville airport broke the daily record on Friday, while totals in Henderson County varied by location.
“The Asheville airport got 5.92 inches in 24 hours, breaking the record,” he said. “In Henderson County, there was a pretty good range. There was a swath close to 5 inches in the northwest part of the county. As you go to the southeast, it drops down to 2-3 inches. Most of the county got at least 2 inches.”
Rivers and parks
According to a statement from the National Weather Service, a river flood warning continues until 6:45 a.m. for the French Broad River at Blantyre affecting Henderson and Transylvania Counties and the French Broad River near Fletcher affecting Buncombe and Henderson Counties. The statement noted that runoff from previous heavy rain will result in the rivers remaining above flood stage.
The French Broad River at Blantyre was at 21.1 feet as of 3 p.m. Saturday (flood stage is at 16 feet), but it is expected to subside below flood stage early Monday. Additionally, the Little River at Merrill Road in Transylvania County reached a high point of 10.96 at 4:30 p.m. Friday (flood stage is 9 feet), but it was down to 9.62 at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the storms and heavy rain left many parks and other activity areas a soggy mess.

 

Photo courtesy of Blue Ridge Now.com

Area farmers have been hit pretty hard, and Friday's heavy rain was certainly no exception, continuing in that too-wet trend, thats been going on for a year now, according to Henderson County Extension Director Dr. Terry Kelley.

Back last year (May 2018) when a big rain event, and the ongoing trend of practically solid wet weather, that has given growers all over the county problems, from washed out roads to fields too wet to even work in.

The county has indeed seen periods when conditions were favorable for a drying trend, but then it all starts again.

Apple growers in Henderson County, and those with other crops have started their spraying treatments which rain and moisture can of course disrupt. Wetter weather creates, and enhances better environment for diseases.

Hopefully the spigot will eventually normalize, with not so much rain, and wet weather going into the upcoming Summer months, as we have had previously.

A blaze broke out at The Walmart Supercenter at 250 Highlands Square Drive early this morning. The store was quickly evacuated when firefighters responded to a freezer fire.

Firefighters received a call at around 4:30 a.m. involving a refrigeration unit that had caught on fire, according to Hendersonville Fire Chief Joseph Vindigni.

The store, which is open 24 hours a day, had to be evacuated.

Firefighters used an extinguisher for the fire, Vindigni said. However, the fire caused billows of smoke throughout the building.

Friefighters assisted with ventilating the building, which took a long time, Vindigni said, due to the size of the building as well as the torrential rain.

The scene was cleared by about 8:30 a.m.

Dana, Edneyville and Valley Hill fire departments were on hand and assisted, along with the Hendersonville Police Department, Henderson County Rescue Squad and EMS.

The Bill Moore Community Park in Fletcher is closed today because of the weather, and they hope to open, and resume service tomorrow.

Sylvia Hatchell Is Out at U.N.C. After Inquiry Supports Team’s Complaints

Sylvia Hatchell coached the University of North Carolina women’s basketball team for 33 years.

By Marc Tracy and Alan Blinder

April 19, 2019

Sylvia Hatchell, the longtime women’s basketball coach at the University of North Carolina, stepped down after an investigation found she had made “racially insensitive” comments and pressured injured players to compete, the university announced late Thursday night.

Hatchell, who is fifth in career coaching victories in women’s basketball, was placed on leave this month, days after parents of several players met with the university’s athletic director, Bubba Cunningham, to complain about comments she had made that players interpreted as racist, including a warning that a bad loss could lead to “nooses.”

The report “found issues that led us to conclude that the program needed to be taken in a new direction,” Cunningham said in a statement.

Hatchell, 67, did not address the accusations in the statement, which described her departure as a resignation. Instead, it said she had been contemplating this move since she was given a diagnosis of leukemia several years ago.

FILED BY ROBERT FRANKLIN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

A band of heavy rain showers and embedded thunderstorms are roaring through the mountains of the Western Carolinas. The primary threat from these showers and storms will be from very heavy rainfall leading to that localized flash flooding in low lying areas. Brief, damaging wind gusts can still be a possibility as these storms continue. Tomorrow will be unsettled, much cooler, with a few showers. Easter Sunday will turn mostly sunny with a milder afternoon.

Currently at weather observation station, WHKP has received 2.5 in. of rain as of 1:25PM on Friday afternoon.