News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
With high fire hazards, why no prescribed burns yet? What’s with the 5 p.m. early voting cutoff? Why can’t the city tap into the Biltmore Estate’s reservoir? • Asheville Watchdog
Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers:
Question: We know U.S. Forest Service employees have been hard at work opening roads, recreation areas and trails (and we thank them) on the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests. But with all the hazardous fuel (trees) now on the ground, what are they doing to mitigate this added risk for future wildfires? We haven’t had rain in weeks, which has been a blessing to recovery efforts, but are they concerned about this fall fire season? Next spring? What steps are being taken, and what do we need to know?
My answer: If there is a prescribed burn anywhere, could someone please come take away my busted fence and toss it on the fire?
Real answer: Tropical Storm Helene undoubtedly felled hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of trees in western North Carolina. It was a slaughter.
Adam Rondeau, public affairs officer with the U.S. Forest Service’s National Forests in North Carolina, noted that Helene “left a significant amount of downed trees and woody debris across much of the area’s forestland, including on both the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests, leaving us with higher-than-usual levels of fuel on the ground.
“This, combined with the dry conditions we’ve experienced over the last few weeks, creates a heightened risk of wildfires,” Rondeau said. “As we head into peak fall fire season, we’re identifying available assets, such as firefighting crews, heavy equipment and aircraft, which can be called up at a moment’s notice if the need arises.”
The Forest Service is also “already evaluating plans for the next prescribed burning season when weather conditions are more favorable,” Rondeau said.
The prescribed fire season usually begins in late January or early February in western North Carolina when weather conditions are favorable, then picks up in March, he said.
The North Carolina Forest Service, part of the state Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, is also keeping a close eye on the forest fire danger, according to spokesperson Philip R. Jackson. The Asheville area has had almost no rain since Helene struck Sept. 27.
The N.C. Forest Service is the lead agency for wildfire response on state and privately owned or managed land, and Jackson said the service “has and will continue urging North Carolinians to be careful and responsible with outdoor fire…”
He provided a list of recommendations and stressed how important they are, as this is a prime season for wildfires (see below).
“As the weather has remained dry over the last several weeks since Hurricane Helene, it’s imperative that folks adhere to the guidance to help reduce the number of new fire starts by minimizing ignition sources,” Jackson said, adding, “Especially with the added fuel of down trees and storm debris in western NC.”
“Folks choosing to burn need to refrain from doing so on dry, windy days, especially as relative humidity levels decrease this time of year,” Jackson said, noting that you should stay with a set fire until it’s completely out. “Even if your fire area is no longer showing flames, as long as it continues to smolder, hiss, crackle and pop, heat is still present, and as long as the heat source remains present, so does the risk for reignition, escape and becoming a wildfire.”
Kelley Klope, spokesperson for the Asheville Fire Department, said firefighters are particularly concerned about wildfires from October through early December, and all the Helene debris adds to that concern. Open burning is illegal inside city limits.
“Common ignition sources like backyard debris burning, arson, escaped campfires, and the use of machinery and vehicles can lead to human-caused wildfires,” Klope said.
Around here, we have what’s known as the “wildland-urban interface, where developed areas meet wildlands,” Klope said.
“This poses significant risks, especially as rapid population growth pushes more people into once-rural regions, increasing wildland-urban interface acreage,” Klope said. “In fact, three of the top four states with the most homes near wildlands are in the South, including North Carolina.”
Klope said that as of 2020, more than half of North Carolina’s population lives in such areas.
Klope also recommended the Firewise USA program, a voluntary framework that helps communities reduce wildfire risks and increase the ignition resistance of homes.
The North Carolina Forest Service reminds us that human activity causes 99 percent of forest fires. In 2023, the service responded to nearly 2,000 wildfires from October through December, including more than 1,200 in November alone.
So with that in mind, here are the tips from the N.C. Forest Service:
- Make sure you have a valid burn permit. You can obtain a permit at any N.C. Forest
- Service office or authorized permitting agent, or online at https://www.ncforestservice.gov/burnpermit.
- Check the weather. Never burn on dry, windy days.
- Keep your fire small, not tall.
- Be sure you are fully prepared before burning. To control the fire, you will need a wate hose, bucket, steel rake and a shovel for tossing dirt on the fire. Keep a phone nearby, too.
- Never use kerosene, gasoline, diesel fuel or other flammable liquids to speed up burning.
- Douse burning charcoal briquettes or campfires thoroughly with water. Drown all embers, not just the red ones. When soaked, stir the coals and soak them again. Make sure everything is wet and that embers are cold to the touch. If you do not have water, mix enough dirt or sand with the embers to extinguish the fire, being careful not to bury the fire. Never dump hot ashes or coals into a wooded area.
- Never leave your fire. Stay with it until it is completely out.
Finally, check with your municipality or county before burning.
Question: Did you see that the Democrats on the board of elections voted last week to continue to keep early voting closing at 5 p.m.? That should be reported on. We are the only county doing this. Other counties hit hard by Helene are staying open until 7:30 p.m. It’s upset a lot of people, and this is the sort of thing that plants seeds of doubt with a form of voter suppression. Polls throughout our state and country are all manned by retired folks, so perhaps they should stay open so that shift workers and people who work on weekends can come in later.
My answer: Hey, I live in Henderson County, where the geniuses on the Board of Elections had the brilliant idea of having just one early voting site. Then when the state forced them to open more, they had two voting machines for the entire Town of Fletcher. It took me two hours to vote. I know, first world problem, but where has common sense gone?
Real answer: Buncombe County spokesperson Lillian Govus said the Board of Elections on Oct. 8 “approved a new early voting plan in response to the devastation from the storm.” The previous plan was approved May 21 “and included locations that were no longer safe/accessible after the storm.
“The new plan includes longer hours on Saturdays, and an additional day of Sunday voting as compared to previous years,” Govus said. “The Board of Elections will not be taking on changing hours the last week of early voting. It was considered last week; however, ultimately the board did not approve changing hours.”
Govus said Board Chair Jake Quinn cited these reasons:
- Confusion after having to delay the absentee ballot mailing due to having to print ballots without the “We the People” party candidates.
- While early voting officials were trained ahead of the storm, a quarter were no longer available to work after the storm.
- Unsafe road conditions after dark for voters and poll workers.
- Having to change 17 of 80 election day precincts and the associated logistical, administrative, and communication challenges.
While I doubt the change is curtailing the rural vote, as some have claimed, I certainly hope the board goes back to the 7:30 p.m. closing time for the next election. This system really does create a problem for working people.
Corinne Duncan, Buncombe County’s director of elections, also addressed an early voting question at the Oct. 31 daily county Helene briefing. She echoed the comments of Govus and Quinn, noting that once the storm hit, the State Board of Elections “knew that the western counties might have challenges with the plans that were approved by the State Board and the county boards, and so they put in more flexibility into the plans to be able to build new plans.
With roads, water and power out, some sites, such as fire stations, could not be used, Duncan noted. They also had concerns about poll workers.
“We didn’t have as many early voting poll workers available to us as we did before the storm, so staff produced a plan that we knew that we would be able to implement,” Duncan said. “That included a reduction of hours during the week and then an expansion of hours and an additional day during the weekend.”
They proposed that to “make sure that staff and poll workers would be able to safely get home” in the evenings, and because communication, initially, was problematic.
“Communication has improved drastically since the time that the plan was proposed, but we really wanted to make sure that with these changes so close to early voting, that we were able to communicate the change as well,” Duncan said. “So being able to say ‘nine to five every single day,’ including the weekends, was advantageous.”
She noted that the board reviewed the plan and passed it unanimously. The plan also went to the State Board of Elections for approval.
A reminder that Election Day, mercifully, is Tuesday, Nov. 5. Polls will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Question: Has the city asked the Biltmore Estate if it can tap into the Busbee Reservoir? Has the estate offered this? How much could it boost available water?
My answer: If I lived in Asheville, I would’ve drilled a well Sept. 28.
Real answer: The Biltmore Estate does own the Busbee Reservoir a couple of miles from the estate, but it’s not the estate’s drinking water supply. As I reported in February 2023, until the 1980s, the estate used the Busbee Reservoir and a 2.2-mile long water line that conveyed water to the Lone Pine Reservoir on a hill above the Biltmore House.
But new regulations required the estate to connect to the city of Asheville’s water system in the 1980s.
“Growth of the estate, demands for additional water supply, and the dependence on a single water supply line from Asheville to the Estate raised concerns of vulnerability,” McGill Associates stated in a 2021 news release about work it did for the estate. The company drilled wells for the estate that augment its water supply and can provide water in the event of a city outage.
I sent this question to the Biltmore Estate but did not hear back by deadline. The estate said previously it uses water from its reservoirs only for irrigation.
Asheville Water Resources Department spokesperson Clay Chandler responded for the city via email.
“The short answer is that it is not feasible for the city to use water from the Biltmore Estate,” “Availability of water is not the primary problem. It’s the treatability of the available supply.”
Also, Chandler said if the city were to introduce treated water into the system “from a source other than North Fork, there is no guarantee the two sources wouldn’t eventually mix somewhere in our distribution system.”
The city’s main source of water, North Fork Reservoir in Black Mountain, sustained washouts to the two primary lines coming out of the plant, as well as a backup, leaving the city’s 63,000 customers with no water for weeks. The city repaired the bypass line and is now providing chlorinated water from the lake, but it is not potable.
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941. His Answer Man columns appear each Tuesday and Friday. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.
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News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
Poll: Robinson did not hurt other candidates | North Carolina
SUMMARY: A recent poll indicates that nearly half of respondents believe Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s issues did not affect their voting choices. Robinson lost the gubernatorial race to Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein, with his campaign suffering from a CNN report linking him to a past porn chat room. Despite this, 50.1% of voters now feel America is on the right track, an increase from previous months. Stein holds a 53.2% approval rating, and other elections resulted in a split of statewide positions between Democrats and Republicans. The poll included 615 responses with a margin of error of +/- 3.94%.
The post Poll: Robinson did not hurt other candidates | North Carolina appeared first on www.thecentersquare.com
News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
At least 3 of 43 fatalities in Buncombe were unhoused people • Asheville Watchdog
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 seventh installment.
Buncombe County’s homeless advocates feared the worst: Helene would be deadly for the dozens of unhoused people living along the banks of rivers and streams that turned into raging floodwaters.
“We thought that the death toll just in this population was going to be up in the 20s, 30s, just because of how many people camp on the rivers,” said Alanna Kinsella, homeless services director at Homeward Bound.
Read previous installments of The Lives We Lost.
Asheville Watchdog has identified three unhoused people of the 43 who perished in Buncombe from the Sept. 27 tropical storm: Jody Henderson, an Air Force veteran described by his sister as extremely loving, Calvin “Michael” McMahan, who liked to travel and preach to people he met, and Lisa Plemmons, a cook at an Asheville nursing home who was living in her car and had been featured in a previous installment of The Lives We Lost.
About five unhoused people remain unaccounted for, Kinsella said.
“Did they leave town before? Do we have their legal name? It’s really hard to know,” she said. “It could only be one or two people that are really actually missing.”
The toll on Asheville’s homeless community turned out to be lower than feared. The Asheville-Buncombe Homeless Coalition called a Code Purple beginning the morning of Sept. 26, opening shelter space for anyone who needed it and providing free bus transportation.
Teams that included community paramedics and outreach workers visited homeless encampments to warn people near water and urge them to seek shelter. Advocates were also able to spread the word about Code Purple early because of the persistent rains ahead of the storm.
At AHOPE, a day shelter run by Homeward Bound, “so many people were coming in here at that time because people needed to get dry, they needed to get supplies,” Kinsella said. “We were really able to disseminate that information really quickly.”
Many went to shelters, “and a lot of our campers really moved into the core of town,” Kinsella said.
In the weeks after the storm, advocates have been attempting to account for everyone. Asheville’s 2024 Point-In-Time count identified 739 people without housing, most in emergency shelters or transitional housing, but 219 were camping, sleeping in cars or on the street.
The task has been difficult because some homeless people were known only by aliases or street names.
“It really took an entire community of us to come together and say, ‘Okay, I know that person’s legal name,’ or ‘I only know them by this,’“ Kinsella said. “It was a lot of really having to piece things together.
“It may be a while before we know the full scope of who all from our community, of people experiencing homelessness, have been lost.”
Here are two of their stories.
Jody Henderson
Jody Henderson’s life never was easy, but he “was one of the most loving people you would ever meet,” said his sister, Kathy Henderson Cook.
Her younger brother struggled with bipolar disorder and was often homeless and unable to work. Henderson had a high IQ and was good looking, she said, but the disease kept him hamstrung for most of his adult life.
“He had so much going for him, but he just couldn’t put that grasp on things and just stay with it,” Cook said. “He would float off, and then he would just get kind of loopy.”
Henderson, 63, died Sept. 27, swept away by Helene’s floodwaters, according to his death certificate.
He had been staying at the Veterans Restoration Quarters on Tunnel Road in East Asheville, but Cook said he’d spent a couple of weeks at the VA hospital for mental health treatment.
On the day before Helene, Henderson was on a “weekend pass” from the VRQ and rented a cabin along the Swannanoa River at the KOA Campground. He needed a space that would accept dogs, as he didn’t want to go somewhere without his beloved mutt and emotional support dog, Bullet.
Cook said that on Sept. 27, as the river breached its banks and the water rose, her brother was standing on top of the cabin. An evacuation team had just arrived. As he often did when his situation was dire, Henderson called his sister.
“He called me at 9:17,” Cook said.
Their conversation was short.
“He said, ‘Sis, I love you. The evac team just arrived. I’ll call you,’” Cook said. “He hung up, and he was gone.”
A witness at the campground said “it was around 10 o’clock when the building collapsed and everything went crazy,” Cook said.
Jody Nyle Henderson grew up with Cook in Chesnee, South Carolina, and had lived in California, Utah, Nevada, North Carolina and Texas before returning to Chesnee in 2018, according to his obituary. He attended Chesnee High School and Spartanburg Community College before joining the U.S. Air Force.
He is survived by three children, Cook and another sister, Kristi Henderson Walker. A brother, Michael Kenneth Henderson, died previously.
“His final days were in a log cabin with his beloved dog Bullet by the Swannanoa River with a view of God’s beautiful creation surrounding him as he made new friends,” his obituary states. “Bullet was adopted by one of those new friends, Chelsea of Maryland, who rescued Bullet from the flooding.”
Cook said her brother easily made friends, including Chelsea, whom he met at the campground. She did not want her last name published.
“He’d never met her. Didn’t know her, but of course, you know — two hours with Jody — best friends,” Cook said.
Cook, who called her brother “Bo,” said his death has been difficult, and she still has “moments where I tend to struggle with emotional issues.
“But as a whole, I know this was a blessing from God,” Cook said, explaining that she always worried about her brother, especially when he stopped his medications and was unhoused.
He would end up in need and then call to come stay with her, she said.
“He would do anything for me — he just didn’t have the ability to fight the disease,” Cook said. “And I don’t hold that against him.”
She noted that her brother suffered from “tall tale syndrome,” exaggerating facts or making up stories.
She and her sister take comfort knowing that Henderson went out with a story that would normally be hard to believe, one involving a historic storm that showed immense power and swept away entire buildings.
They’ve also taken comfort in the outpouring of support from the community, from churches to governmental agencies.
“It was a blessing to have to lose somebody and be as fortunate as we are in a community like we live in, to have people come together,” Cook said.
– John Boyle, Asheville Watchdog
Calvin “Michael” McMahan
Calvin McMahan’s sister feared the worst after Helene when she did not hear from the big brother who never went more than a few weeks without checking in.
The last she knew, McMahan, who went by his middle name, Michael, had been in Asheville, said Pamela Douthit of Bryson City. “I was wondering where he was, hoping he was okay, worried to death,” she said.
Douthit said police told the family that McMahan had drowned in the storm. His body was found Sept. 30 on Glendale Avenue along the Swannanoa River in one of the areas hardest hit by flooding.
The official cause of death was “landslide injuries,” according to his death certificate.
McMahan, 63, was the oldest of 10 children and had been unhoused for the past 15 to 20 years, his sister said.
“He lived everywhere,” she said. “He had property here in Swain County, but he wanted to travel. He wanted to visit different places, so he decided being homeless was his choice.”
McMahan liked to preach to the people he met. “He testified to people,” Douthit said. “He talked about God and how free we are and how thankful we are.”
McMahan visited his sister and her husband in Bryson City from time to time and would stay for a couple of weeks. “He said he had to do God’s work, so he went on out down the road,” she said.
McMahan had been staying under a bridge near the Swannanoa. His sister said he frequented homeless shelters in bad weather and must not have known about the dangerous flooding predicted in Helene.
“I guess it just snuck up on him. He was asleep or something,” she said. “I hate that he had to go the way he did.”
McMahan had a son and a daughter in Florida, she said. He had been a house painter and loved the guitar, though he did not know how to play.
“Like anyone else, he made mistakes, but he tried to do the best he could do for other people,” Douthit said.
McMahan had “some trouble with the law…He changed his life, and he started working for the Lord and doing what the Lord said to do. I was proud of that,” his sister said.
“I loved him. He was a good person,” she said. “He will be missed.”
– Sally Kestin, Asheville Watchdog
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. Sally Kestin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter. Email skestin@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s local reporting during this crisis is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.
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News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
Tar Heel Traveler: Little Pigs BBQ
SUMMARY: In Asheville, Scott Mason visits Little Pigs, the city’s oldest barbecue restaurant since 1963. Known for its hickory-smoked barbecue, hot dogs, and freshly roasted chicken, the eatery has become a local favorite, often attracting customers with its welcoming atmosphere. Owner Mr. Schwi converted the original gas station into a bustling restaurant that has stood the test of time, serving up delicious barbecue and homemade sauces. Despite minimal hurricane damage, Little Pigs has reopened, maintaining its reputation for quality and tradition. The restaurant is open daily, except Sundays, and remains cherished by patrons who appreciate its old-school charm.
It is Asheville’s oldest barbecue restaurant. Little Pigs opened in 1963 and has hosted several famous faces. Their pictures are on the wall, and the BBQ and broasted chicken is sizzling hot.
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