Category: Quick hits

The day we all have awaited and/or dreaded is here. The Henderson-Vance Economic Partnership will make its debut in polite society this afternoon at 4:30 at the H. Leslie Perry Memorial Library. As demanded by the public, the meeting will be open to all comers. Here’s your chance to see what all the fuss was about and to observe economic development in action. We’re curious to see whom the ex officio members of the partnership board will elect as representatives …

No sooner do we recover from the excitement of a City Council meeting than we’re faced with true government thrills: an intergovernmental meeting between the city and the county today at 6 p.m. Some old reliables are on the agenda — the ETJ and the ambulance contract — along with something that already happened (the special ceremony for the girls 12-and-under softball All-Stars) and what could prove to be a monumental waste of money (considering what is needed and how …

Before we open things up for discussion, and we understand the City Council was in fine form Monday night, we offer you this public service announcement: The third and likely final community forum on the proposed Weed and Seed application will be held today at 6:30 p.m. in the cafeteria at Eaton-Johnson Middle School. Now that we’ve dispensed with the civic duty, on with the discussion.

It’s a big day. The last Speak Up Henderson forum before the municipal elections is at 6 p.m. The penultimate City Council meeting before the elections is at 7:30 p.m. And all of the right-thinking UNC fans will have a blast at work all day mocking the State fans, whose only hope at being better than Carolina was in football, and now it looks as if that dream is as dead as T.A. McLendon’s NFL aspirations. Feel free to discuss.

The City Council candidates will have another chance to tell Hendersonians about their hopes and dreams today at a forum arranged by Ward 1 at-large candidate Sara Coffey, who has said this event will be her only effort to campaign for the council seat she’s trying to take from Bernard Alston. The fun part of the forum, in addition to the possibility that the questions will make the candidates squirm, is that there will be gospel music in addition to …

There’s no need to fear — your open line is here. We’ll post the mixed unemployment news later (had to deal with movers Friday and today), but there should be plenty to talk about. After all, Monday night is City Council meeting and Speak Up Henderson forum night!

Dr. Dennis, your prayers are answered — well, almost. Herewith we present a fresh open line. But it appears that Thursday’s open line was somehow lost in the wind as Rita came blowing by on her way to Texas. If we can ask the Rev. Hester to say a little something (easily diagrammed, of course), we can put Thursday to rest and move on to a whole new day of Henderson craziness.

Below, Henderson City Manager Eric Williams explains the reasons that council member Elissa Yount was kept in the dark Friday about a regional water meeting. What he doesn’t explain is how it could happen again so soon. We hear there’s a water meeting today, and again some council members weren’t notified. Here’s our notification: The floor is open to everyone.

At 10:30 a.m. at the Aycock Recreation Complex, the Vance Organization to Implement Community Excellence has its last regular meeting before its self-imposed Oct. 1 deadline to complete the Weed and Seed application for Henderson and Vance County. VOICE is due to discuss the first two Weed and Seed public forums, as well as a forum scheduled for Tuesday at Eaton-Johnson Middle School at 6:30 p.m. The group also must make appointments to the formal Weed and Seed steering committee.

We don’t usually push the discussion in any particular direction — well, at least not successfully. But for selfish reasons (WIZS doesn’t carry as far as Marietta, Ga, unfortunately), we’d like to start with something special today: What did y’all think about Sunday’s forum for Henderson City Council candidates? More than opinions on who did well or who won, we’d like to hear what statements made a strong impression, good or bad. What were the most important things you heard? …

We apologize for being a bit late posting the open forum today, but we’ve been mulling over what we’ve learned this week. First, Henderson doesn’t have blue laws, but heaven forbid commerce should go on within shouting distance of a church on Sunday — even if the church isn’t concerned. We have a good enough Fire Department that we trust it to extiguish blazes with or without operational hydrants. Speaking of water, we learned that neither Congress as a whole …

One of the glories of Henderson’s past rediscovered, or at least re-emphasized, in the past few years is the Corbitt company, which made some of the nation’s best trucks in an area that is now western Henderson where Corbitt Road runs into Parham Street. A monument erected months ago is officially dedicated today at 10 a.m. The monument sits by the old railroad bed behind Snackers off Parham Street. The monument is solid, simple and effective, like the trucks once …

Sorry, no time for anything clever this morning, although I’m still a bit disappointed that no one else plotted controlled chaos with potassium- or sodium-based explosives in their young and foolish days (kids, don’t try this at home or at school or anywhere else). By the way, how was Alive After Five? If you’re out there, Whit Sutton, how is Ophelia treating you? Anyway, the floor belongs to all y’all.

The boys should be back from Washington, in time to talk about fire hydrants, gasoline and road maintenance at a 10 a.m. meeting of Ranger Wilkerson’s Public Works Committee. And they’ll be around for the year’s final Alive After Five, featuring the Breakfsat Club, at 5:30 p.m. outside the likely future city hall, the Operations & Service Center on Beckford Drive. We await word on whether the Washington lobbying trip led by Mayor Clem Seifert had any luck with the …

So there’s nothing wrong with Henderson’s drinking water that a little rain, a little potassium and a little time won’t fix. Aside from regretting the wasted negotiating opportunity (“Gee, general, we’d be happy to take 20 million gallons a day of this stinky, foul-tasting water for, say, $1 million, but $3.455 million? Do algae cost extra?”), we’re fascinated by the use of a potassium compound in a water plant. Back in high school chemistry, the mix of water and potassium …

It’s time to wish our city negotiating team the best of luck as the group heads to Washington to seek relief from the Army Corps of Engineers’ $3.455 million request (demand?) for a water storage contract at Kerr Lake. We don’t have much hope, but stranger things have happened. Meanwhile, the floor is open.

The Henderson-Vance 12-and-under girls softball team — the Southeast champions who finished fourth in the nation at the Babe Ruth World Series last month — will be honored during a celebration at the Aycock Recreation Complex at 2 p.m.

It has been a busy week in Henderson, what with the Chavasse Avenue railroad crossing finally smoothed out, the City Council seeming to move ever closer to consolidating city operations in the old Lowe’s building and the Optimist Bowl (congratulations to Southern Vance on the 20-2 win, but playing the rivalry game midseason sucks out some of the excitement). Next week should bring even more excitement, with the Weed and Seed forum, the Board of Education meeting and the regular …

The donation drop site is open now until 5 p.m. at the Wal-Mart Supercenter. It’s as easy an opportunity as you’ll have to donate money, toiletries, nonperishable food or water to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort through the Red Cross.

Can anyone explain this controversy over the use of the term “refugees” to refer to people whom Hurricane Katrina drove from their homes, often with the loss of everything they owned? How did that perfectly apt word — far more telling of the problems at hand than the bland “evacuee,” which leaves the implication of going home in a couple of days, or the even less meaningful “victim” or “survivor” — become another flash point in this nation’s on-again, off-again …