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Lyn McFarland loved music, art, his dog Poco — and people • Asheville Watchdog

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avlwatchdog.org – JOHN BOYLE – 2024-11-07 06:00:00

Asheville Watchdog is bringing you the stories behind the staggering loss of life from Helene, the children, parents, grandparents, multiple generations of a single family, all gone in one of the worst natural disasters to hit the mountains of western North Carolina. This is the fifth installment.  

At least two neighbors pleaded with Lyn McFarland to leave his beloved riverside home and spend the night with them the evening of Sept. 26.

But McFarland, an outgoing real estate agency owner with a wide circle of friends in the Botany Woods subdivision in Oteen, loved everything about the Swannanoa River. Its beauty. The way it calmed people and brought them together. Its power.

Tony DeLaurentis, McFarland’s neighbor and close friend, lives up the hill from the now-barren spot that held McFarland’s two-story home. They would often have dinner together on McFarland’s riverside deck, admiring the view and the sound of the water, and enjoying the company of McFarland’s beloved Lab-beagle mix, Poco.

Lyn McFarland’s neighbors pleaded in vain with him to move to safety on the evening of Sept. 26. // Photo provided by Alex Poblet

“The irony was, we had a nice dinner the night before [Helene], and I said, ‘Come on up, come on up,’” DeLaurentis said. “And he’s like, ‘Nah, the river’s going down. It went down three feet since we had dinner.’”

The water, DeLaurentis says, has a way of “tricking people a little.” 

“Early Friday morning, it just all went to hell,” DeLaurentis said. “I can’t explain how fast the water rose. It wasn’t a gradual (rise) or a tidal wave. It just was like this water level, then that water level.”

He gestured with his hand as low as possible, then as high as possible.

‘The minute never came’

McFarland, 68, and Poco were last seen standing on a piece of the two-story home as it bobbed downstream in the muddy torrent. About a week later, a search and rescue team found his body about two miles away.

“I thought I saw him for a split second in the water, and that was it,” said DeLaurentis, 62, describing his last glimpse of his friend.

Lyn McFarland and Alex Poblet bought this home at 28 Driftwood Court in 2006. The home and McFarland were swept away Sept. 27. // Credit: Buncombe County GIS
Lyn McFarland’s home stood at this spot on Driftwood Court. On Sept. 27, McFarland and his dog, Poco, were swept away in the Swannanoa River’s raging floodwaters. // Watchdog photo by Starr Sariego

DeLaurentis said he and a group of younger men ran down to the next water access, hoping to spot McFarland again.

Even when they realized McFarland had been swept away, they held out hope he’d be washed ashore.

“It was just, ‘Ok, he’ll be up any minute, you know,” DeLaurentis said. “And the minute never came.”

McFarland’s ex-husband, Alex Poblet, who also owns a home in Botany Woods in the Oteen area, said he and McFarland moved into the home on Driftwood Court in 2006. They divorced a decade later but remained friends.

Over the years, Poblet said, milder floods came up in the yard, once even in the basement. The home was listed as being in the floodplain in Buncombe County records.

By estimating the water lines on houses across the street from the homes that washed away, DeLaurentis calculates the river hit at least 37 feet high. At 10:25 that morning, the water had risen up over Driftwood Court.

“And then by 10:39 the houses were gone, and you could just hear this incredible crashing noise,” DeLaurentis said. “And it takes you a second to realize, the house is breaking up. And they’re not like floating down the river; they’re just disintegrated.”

Everyone else in the neighborhood got out before their houses were swept away, DeLaurentis said. He thinks McFarland just miscalculated how fast the river could rise.

The homes in this part of Botany Woods sat yards from the Swannanoa, but well above the river. DeLaurentis has tallied 11 homes that are gone and two that are badly damaged.

Like McFarland, residents traded a little risk for the beauty of the river on a daily basis.

Lyn McFarland was last seen floating on a piece of debris Sept. 27 with his beloved Lab mix Poco. “Lyn told me two weeks before the hurricane that Poco was the best dog he ever had and went everywhere with him,” said McFarland’s ex-husband, Alex Poblet, who gave Poco to McFarland 10 years ago. // Photo provided by Alex Poblet

“His favorite thing is to spend (time) sitting by the river every evening with the dog,” DeLaurentis said, still using the present tense about his friend a month later. “They walked up and down the road, and I joined him a bunch of times walking with the dog. He loved the river.”

Poco, McFarland’s dog, really didn’t. He looked like a yellow Labrador retriever, “but he wasn’t a big water dog,” DeLaurentis said, noting Poco was a mix-breed, including possibly some shar-pei. “So he looked like a golden with a really loose suit.”

Remains of the home are scattered about the property and beyond. McFarland’s Dodge Ram pickup truck ended up corkscrewed into a tree.

The front steps remain, but with no door or wall behind them. Neighbors have adorned the stone steps with flowers, McFarland’s beloved artwork and small items of his they’ve found, creating an impromptu memorial.

“And one day, last Friday, there’s a dog collar,” DeLaurentis said.

It was Poco’s.

“At night, we always took the collar off and left it on the kitchen counter,” DeLaurentis explained. “I know it’s the only thing we’re gonna have left from him. Someone found it and carefully placed it here so I could bring it home and clean it up.”

Wrestling with regret

Another neighbor, Nicole Crane, also pleaded with McFarland to come to her house Sept. 26. She chronicled her concerns for McFarland, and her search — often on foot — on Facebook.

On Oct. 3, Crane posted:

“One week ago today I walked with Lyn McFarland and Poco the pup on Driftwood. It was getting dark and the river was not displaying anything suggesting what was to come. He had a bag packed just in case.

In the early morning hours I texted and called him as trees began falling on my house. I cannot forgive myself for not being brave enough to walk over to see if he was getting out when my messages went unanswered.

Lyn McFarland bought the cabin of neighbor Nicole Crane’s ex-husband and renovated it, complete with a “sanctuary patio” leading to the river. He always assured Crane that she was free to use the short-term rental whenever she wanted. // Credit: Buncombe County GIS

I continue to search for this man who has supported me without judgment for two decades through my divorce, raising my daughters whom he’s known since they were toddlers, helping me when parts of my house were falling apart, my brain was falling apart, my heart was falling apart. He encouraged all my ideas on furthering my education, changing careers, taking on athletic challenges and most of all, frequently told me that he respected me.”

McFarland bought the cabin of Crane’s ex-husband, next door and also near the river, and renovated it, complete with a “sanctuary patio” leading to the river. He always assured Crane that she was free to use it whenever she wanted.

“It was my place of solitude with my kids, my dogs,” said Crane, a 57-year-old nurse practitioner and mother of two daughters. “Even though it was a rental, he always granted me that access.”

Like McFarland’s house, that cabin is gone.

Poblet remembers all the good times at McFarland’s home, how McFarland had a beautiful music room upstairs with nearly a thousand albums and 500 compact discs. He remembers the parties with friends and their dogs, sometimes everyone winding up in the Swannanoa for a soak.

“It was a very happy, happy, happy place,” Poblet said. 

Successful businessman, art and dog lover

Poblet and McFarland met in south Florida in 2006, and they had a beautiful home there.

“But everybody was talking about Asheville, North Carolina,” Poblet said.

Lyn McFarland and Alex Poblet bought their house in Botany Woods in 2006. While they divorced in 2016, they remained friends. Tropical Storm Helene swept the home downstream Sept. 27, claiming McFarland’s life. // Photo provided by Alex Poblet

He and McFarland bought the home on Driftwood Court that same year, although McFarland split time between Asheville and Florida for two years. The couple filled their home with art, including pieces from John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

“They’re somewhere in the river now,” Poblet said solemnly Oct. 29.

At age 14, McFarland ran away from his Memphis home, hitchhiked across the country and slept wherever he could lay his head for two years, Poblet said, describing McFarland as an “old hippie.” McFarland returned home, finished high school, attended college for a couple of years and then migrated to Baltimore.

McFarland started a commercial carpeting business that he sold the company to a big corporation, but he continued working for the company for a few years.

Poblet said McFarland was always generous, and in business he was remarkably astute and could close any deal. After he sold his business, McFarland used the money to start his real estate business, Asheville Bulldog Realty. 

McFarland used his money in part to support local artists, including Brian Carter, a 33-year-old wood carver from Ohio. Carter posted a moving tribute to McFarland on his Facebook page.

“Thank you for your kindness, compassion, and influence in my art career,” Carter wrote. “Words can’t even begin to describe the devastation I’ve felt knowing what happened a week ago. You are truly an incredible soul and I just want to thank you for all of the opportunities you provided me.”

In an interview, Carter said he knew McFarland for about four years, and the man literally changed the direction of his life. He encouraged Carter to devote himself to his carvings and McFarland put his money where his mouth was, buying about two dozen pieces.

“I would do a project for him, and I never personally had anyone who was so appreciative to have me come perform and to see it happen,” said Carter. “He was just an incredible friend. I was really in the very beginning part of discovering my art, and he really gave me the place and the time to figure it out.”

‘Everyone’s his friend, even the ones he hasn’t met yet’

Poblet, Carter and Crane all noted how an eagle totem that Carter carved really embodied McFarland, and not just the freedom of the birds or how the highest eagle was sharing a fish with the one below.

Lyn McFarland bought more than 20 of Brian Carter’s carved artworks, including this sculpture of eagles. // Photo provided by Brian Carter

At the base was a carved heart.

In one of her Facebook posts, before McFarland’s body was found, Crane noted that the totem remained standing on the patio amid all the destruction, albeit slightly askew. 

“I climb through the tattered remains of bamboo and massive wreckage of people’s lives daily and place my hand on the carved heart below the eagle and try to channel positive energy for his survival,” Crane wrote. 

On Oct. 4, Crane posted: “My final search for Lyn McFarland was this morning. Unfortunately Lyn has now been confirmed dead.”

Crane had shared her information with a search and rescue team, especially how she had tracked distinctive flooring from McFarland’s home downriver, and that team found his body. The identification was possible because of a distinctive tattoo on McFarland’s upper arm: a depiction of a merman.

“Ironic, and sad,” Crane said. “Lyn was a fabulous swimmer.”

DeLaurentis says McFarland befriended everyone he met, including at the neighborhood meet-and-greets, where they became friends.

“He’s just a fantastic person,” he said. “You know, everyone’s his friend, even the ones he hasn’t met yet.”


Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. John Boyle has been covering Asheville and surrounding communities since the 20th century. You can reach him at (828) 337-0941, or via email at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.

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Helene: Death toll 107 in North Carolina, 236 in seven states | North Carolina

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www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-03 14:11:00

(The Center Square) – Hurricane Helene’s death toll in North Carolina has grown to 107 and is 236 across seven states.

Gov. Josh Stein shared news of a death in the Avery County community of Newland. The wife of a couple camping was among those who died in earlier confirmations; the husband’s death was added on Thursday after his body was found.

The governor said the couple was camping on the last weekend of September when the storm hit.

This weekend marks the beginning of the 28th week of recovery. Damage is estimated at $60 billion.

Helene is arguably the worst natural disaster in state history. Hurricanes Floyd in 1999 and Hazel in 1954 have their place, as does Asheville’s Great Flood of 1916. Comparison is not apples to apples.

Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Dekle Beach, Fla., on Sept. 26. It was expected to come north to the Appalachian Mountains; however, the rainfall total from its dissipation there exceeded all forecasts.

Some places got more than 30 inches, most were at 24 or more. Due to terrain, water often rushed before it pooled and flooded – very unlike the flooding that happens in the coastal plains.

AccuWeather said rainfall totals were 32.51 inches in Jeter Mountain, 31.36 inches in Busick, and 26.65 inches in Hughes.

Forty-two died in Buncombe County, 11 in Yancey and 10 in Henderson.

Respective state officials say 49 were killed in South Carolina, 34 in Georgia, 25 in Florida, 18 in Tennessee, two in Virginia and one in Indiana.

Numbers were confirmed by The Center Square based on information supplied by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services; South Carolina Department of Public Safety; Georgia Emergency Management Agency; Florida Department of Law Enforcement; Tennessee Emergency Management Agency; Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin; and the Gibson County Sheriff’s Office in Indiana.

Helene is the fourth most deadly hurricane from the Atlantic Basin in the last three-quarters of a century. Only Katrina (2005, deaths 1,392), Audrey (1957, deaths 416) and Camille (1969, deaths 256) killed more people.

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Analysis: ‘Valley’ of AI journey risks human foundational, unique traits | National

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www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-02 14:21:00

(The Center Square) – Minority benefit against the majority giving up “agency, creativity, decision-making and other vital skills” in what is described as a valley of an artificial intelligence journey is likely in the next few years, says one voice among hundreds in a report from Elon University.

John M. Stuart’s full-length essay, one of 200 such responses in “Being Human in 2035: How Are We Changing in the Age of AI?,” speaks to the potential problems foreseen as artificial intelligence continues to be incorporated into everyday life by many at varying levels from professional to personal to just plain curious. The report authored by Janna Anderson and Lee Rainie of Elon’s Imagining the Digital Future Center says “the fragile future of some foundational and unique traits” found only in humans is a concern for 6 in 10.

“I fear – the time being – that while there will be a growing minority benefitting ever more significantly with these tools, most people will continue to give up agency, creativity, decision-making and other vital skills to these still-primitive AIs and the tools will remain too centralized and locked down with interfaces that are simply out of our personal control as citizens,” writes Smart, a self-billed global futurist, foresight consultant, entrepreneur and CEO of Foresight University. “I fear we’re still walking into an adaptive valley in which things continue to get worse before they get better. Looking ahead past the next decade, I can imagine a world in which open-source personal AIs are trustworthy and human-centered.

“Many political reforms will reempower our middle class and greatly improve rights and autonomy for all humans, whether or not they are going through life with PAIs. I would bet the vast majority of us will consider ourselves joined at the hip to our digital twins once they become useful enough. I hope we have the courage, vision and discipline to get through this AI valley as quickly and humanely as we can.”

Among the ideas by 2035 from the essays, Paul Saffo offered, “The first multi-trillion-dollar corporation will employ no humans except legally required executives and board, have no offices, own no property and operate entirely through AI and automated systems.”

Saffo is a futurist and technology forecaster in the Silicon Valley of California, and a consulting professor at the School of Engineering at Stanford.

In another, Vint Cerf wrote, “We may find it hard to distinguish between artificial personalities and the real ones. That may result in a search for reliable proof of humanity so that we and bots can tell the difference.”

Cerf is generally known as one of the “fathers of the internet” alongside Robert Kahn and for the internet protocol suite, colloquially known as TCP/IP.

Working alongside the well-respected Elon University Poll, the survey asked, “What might be the magnitude of overall change in the next decade in people’s native operating systems and operations as we more broadly adapt to and use advanced AIs by 2035? From five choices, 61% said considerable (deep and meaningful change 38%) and dramatic (fundamental, revolutionary change 23%) and another 31% said moderate and noticeable, meaning clear and distinct.

Only 5% said minor change and 3% no noticeable change.

“This report is a revealing and provocative declaration to the profound depth of change people are undergoing – often without really noticing at all – as we adapt to deeper uses of advancing AI technology,” Anderson said. “Collectively, these experts are calling on humanity to think intentionally and carefully, taking wise actions now, so we do not sleepwalk into an AI future that we never intended and do not want.”

In another question, respondents answered whether artificial intelligence and related technologies are likely to change the essence of being human. Fifty percent said changes were equally better and worse, 23% said mostly for the worse, and 16% said mostly for the better.

The analysis predicted change mostly negative in nine areas: social and emotional intelligence; capacity and willingness to think deeply about complex concepts; trust in widely shared values and norms; confidence in their native abilities; empathy and application of moral judgment; mental well-being; sense of agency; sense of identity and purpose; and metacognition.

Mostly positive, the report says, are curiosity and capacity to learn; decision-making and problem-solving; and innovative thinking and creativity.

Anderson and Rainie and those working on the analysis did not use large language models for writing and editing, or in analysis of the quantitative data for the qualitative essays. Authors said there was brief experimentation and human realization “there were serious flaws and inaccuracies.” The report says 223 of 301 who responded did so “fully generated out of my own mind, with no LLM assistance.”

Results were gathered between Dec. 27 and Feb. 1.

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Trump urged to reconsider order gutting agency that gives grants to libraries, museums

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ncnewsline.com – Shauneen Miranda – 2025-04-02 13:00:00

SUMMARY: On March 14, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to dramatically reduce funding for seven federal agencies, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which awarded $266.7 million in 2024. The order aims to eliminate non-essential functions and cut agency personnel to legal minimums. The move sparked backlash from library and museum organizations, warning it would severely impact early literacy programs, internet access, job assistance, and community services. Critics urged Congress to intervene, while the administration framed the cuts as part of efforts to reduce government waste under the U.S. DOGE Service initiative led by Elon Musk. 

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