Category: Open Lines

One of the most frightening industrial accidents in the U.S. occurred March 28th in 1979.  It was 4 a.m. at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant on the Susquehanna River, south of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  A cascading chain of events started when someone mistakenly cross connected air and water lines in the plant’s number two reactor.  Before the crisis was over, the plant reportedly came close to a hydrogen gas explosion and a meltdown of its uranium core, which would …

Last night I attended the retirement ceremony for outgoing Henderson Vance County Chamber of Commerce President Bill Edwards.  It was a heartfelt celebration, with words spoken by chamber members, elected officials at the local and state level, even a song honoring Mr. Edwards.  At the end Bill gave a moving speech as well thanking everyone.  I don’t want to say details of who was there or post pictures since it was  private event.  But I’ll ask the Chamber if I …

Chapel Hill’s town council voted Monday to ban all cellphone use behind the wheel, including hands-free devices. The ban is the first of its kind in the state.  Read the full article here With spring here, a device that’s been around since time immemorial is being honored — it’s National Umbrella Month.  No one knows who invented the umbrella or exactly when, but it’s estimated that it was being used as much as 4,000 years ago.  It’s thought the original …

Weekly Address: President Obama Says House Must Pass Bipartisan Transportation Bil.  President Obama is calling on the House of Representatives to pass a bipartisan transportation bill that would repair crumbling roads and bridges and support construction jobs in communities all across America. According to a new report, 90 percent of these construction jobs are middle class jobs. The Senate passed the bill with the support of Democrats and Republicans because if the bill stalls in Congress then constructions sites will …

Tara Servatius, a blogger for the John Locke Foundation, a “free-market think tank” in Raleigh, N.C., resigned on Thursday after posting an offensive cartoon of President Obama on the foundation’s blog earlier in the week. Servatius issued a statement saying she was “genuinely sorry my inclusion of the photo along with my blog post has caused controversy.” But the conservative blogger also defended her inclusion of the photo as an attempt to articulate her position “At the time, I was …

Wednesday marked the birthday of one of the major figures of the American wine industry — Julio Gallo.  With his brother Ernest, he started making wine after Prohibition ended in humble surroundings — a rented California warehouse, with equipment bought on credit.  Over the years, the brothers’ hard work saw their winery become the largest in the U.S., and their creative marketing techniques helped shape the nation’s drinking tastes.  Now, Americans buy $18.5 billion of wine annually.  California vintners produce …

Yesterday, March 20th.  As of 1:14 Eastern time in the morning, it’s spring in the northern hemisphere.  While celebrated by poets, composers, and artists, people of every age will also be glad to welcome a change in the weather after the long winter.  While winter may hang on in spots around the country for a few weeks more, the time is coming for spring rains and soon afterward, a profusion of flowers in an infinite variety of colors.  Those whose …

One of the most remarkable piano players in jazz celebrates her 94th birthday today — Marian McPartland.  Born in England, she married Chicago jazz cornetist Jimmy McPartland after the two met while performing at USO shows in World War II.  Coming to the U.S., McPartland played a long engagement at the New York nightclub, the Hickory House.  In the ’60s, she began a series of radio shows highlighting guest pianists, which led to her decades long program on NPR called …

President Obama says that America needs an all-of-the-above energy strategy that invests in new technologies and ends the $4 billion in annual subsidies to oil companies that are earning historic profits. Listen and watch in this weeks Weekly Address: This week, the President pressed for support of advanced manufacturing, held a series of “Live from the White House” Interviews, made a major announcement on trade rights, hosted Prime Minster Cameron for an Official State Visit and a trip to an …

Yesterday, reader Michael Bobbitt submitted an article regarding his recent visit to an Economic Development Commission meeting.  According to his report, during the meeting Sam Watkins of the EDC board made a remark regarding our website, Home in Henderson in that we have a negative impact on growth in the area.  Perhaps I have the responsibility of responding to that. I checked our home page, and out of the 20 articles we have posted on the home page as I …

This is Deaf History Month, running from Tuesday through April 15th, including three key dates for the nation’s deaf community. The first school in America for deaf students opened its doors in 1817. In 1864, President Lincoln signed the charter of what today is Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. And this week in 1988, Gallaudet selected its first deaf president. Today in the U.S., there are 36 million disabled people. Of these, 10.2 million have some degree of hearing impairment, …

The calendar says spring is close, but it doesn’t pay to let your winter guard down.  On March 13th, 1888, New Yorkers were beginning the herculean task of digging out from one of the most devastating blizzards in East Coast history and the worst ever to hit the city, before or since.  Forty to 50 inches of snow fell, driven by winds of gale force.  The combination left drifts up to 40 feet high.  More than 400 people died, 200 …

Yesterday, the White House released a data filled look at oil prices and production in response to GOP claims Obama is to blame for near $4.00 a gallon gasoline prices.  The station at Garnett St and Raleigh Road intersection seem to always have the lowest prices in town.  But the gas prices have been this high before, under Bush’s presidency.  So I’m confused why GOP says its Obama’s fault for our current prices.  Apparently, one particular news station generally accused …

Tonight hosts  City Council, Board of Commissioners and Board of Education meetings.  Check our articles on the home page for each sessions agenda. Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr., R-N.C., has introduced a resolution declaring that should the president use offensive military force without authorization of an act of Congress, “it is the sense of Congress” that such an act would be “an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor.” “This week it was Secretary of Defense Panetta’s declaration before the Senate Armed Services …

March is Women’s History Month. The first state college for women was created this month in 1884 in Mississippi. Known as the Mississippi Industrial Institute and College, classes opened in the fall of the next year on the campus of a former college in Columbus.  Now called the Mississippi University for Women, it has been ranked as one of the top schools in the annual list of “America’s Best Colleges.”  Now coed, the school has many of the buildings on its imposing …

This is National Peanut Month — celebrating one of the nation’s favorite foods.  They are enjoyed in many ways — roasted in the shell as a snack while watching sports events, used in salads and stir-fry recipes, in cookies and, of course, ground into peanut butter.  The idea of honoring the peanut began as a special week in 1941 and has been a month long observance since 1974.  Americans eat an average of some 6-1/2 pounds of shelled peanuts a year …

In the State of the Union, President Obama introduced a basic principle: Every homeowner who is current on his or her payments ought to have a chance to refinance their mortgage at today’s historically low rates. To make that idea a reality for everyone, Congress must take action. But today, the President is taking another step to make refinancing easier for millions of Americans who have government-sponsored mortgages. He’s cutting fees — to help families save money and make refinancing …

FM radio as we know it began this month in 1941.  That’s when the first commercial FM station went on the air — W47NV in Nashville.  FM — standing for frequency modulation — was first proposed in a scientific paper written by Edwin Armstrong in 1922.  By 1934, he demonstrated how FM was unaffected by static, unlike all the radio stations then on the air, which used AM or amplitude modulation.  Critics said the idea was impractical.  World War II …

President’s Weekly Address: Taking Control of Our Energy Future – President Obama talks about how the American auto industry is back and creating cars that are better than ever — and says we need to fight for a clean energy future that is within our reach. West Wing Week: “That’s Worth Fighting For” – This week, the President honored the resurgence of the American auto industry, challenged governors to invest in education, held a dinner honoring Iraq War Veterans, hosted …

Welcome to the end of another week in Henderson. Let’s recap this weeks article contributors, be sure you take a few minutes to read and comment on them as they’ve worked hard to write these articles for your discussion. Richard Brand: Acting Like A Christian Elissa Yount: Pay Attention Henderson Gary Morgan: Pure Foreign Policy Richard Brand: What Does It Say If you’d like to contribute please email us at submit@homeinhenderson.com How’s that winter weather for ya?  Saturday will be …