20180582 Ver 2_News Article_20190828

Cashiers, Glenville, Sapphire
predicted
Cashiers Lake hearing set
Sept. 5 meeting at library would let residents
sound off on proposed dredging, new houses
BY DON RICHESON 89 -acre project in May 2018 but
Staff
A public hearing has been an-
nounced on a proposed large-
scale Cashiers Lake dredging
and housing development. The
possible project was revealed
in a U.S. Army Corps of Engi-
neers letter sent to 29 owners of
property adjoining the planned
the public hearing was just an-
nounced last month in low-key
listings on U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers and N.C. Department
of Environmental Quality Divi-
sion of Water Resources web-
sites.
According to websites' post,
DWR announced there will be a
Cashiers hearing on the Cashiers
Lake proposal. It is set for 6 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 5 at Albert Carl-
ton -Cashiers Community Li-
brary at 249 Frank Allen Road.
Sign -in and speaker registration
will begin at 5:30 p.m.
The public is also invited to
comment in writing on the pro-
posal. Written comments must
be received by DWR no later
than 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 7.
Mail written comments to: 401
See LAKE page 9A
Tuckasegee
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
conference
DON RICHESON / Staff
Tranquility reigns on Cashiers Lake on a foggy late afternoon Monday, as just one tiny
boat is visible way off in the distance. Days of peaceful scenes there like this may be
numbered: There is a proposal to dredge the lake and build a large-scale housing de-
velopment on its shores.
SONGWRITERS ROUND RAISES THOUSANDS FOR BLUE RIDGE
New Country Music Hall of
Fame inductee Rivers Ruth-
erford (above) sings Saturday
night during the 14th annual
Blue Ridge Early College -bene-
fit Songwriters Round at Trillium
Links and lake Club. He is joined
on stage by other "big name"
Nashville songwriters, from left,
Kelley Lovelace, Tim James and
Dave Turnball. Foundation Pres-
ident and main event organizer
Carl Hyde of Sapphire (right)
welcomes the sell-out crowd
of more than 400 people to the
event. The foundation will use
proceeds from the event to fund
scholarships for Blue Ridge Early
College graduates and purchase
items for Blue Ridge community
like Promethean Activ Panels,
instruments for the music pro-
gram, space camp tuition sup-
port, Spanish classes, middle
school calculators and materials
gift cards for teachers, among
other items. For information on
the foundation or to make a do-
nation, visit www.
brsfoundation.com. Visit www.
CrossroadsChronicle.com for
links to videoclips from the
event. More photos, page 2A.
Photos by DON RICHESON / Staff
Classified ................................... 5B question: Do you welcome or oppose proposed
Crossword/horoscopes ................ 9B
Obituaries.................None this week dredging and big development on Cashiers Lake?
Opinion.....................................4A
i
Sports ...................................... OA Cast your vote!
Upcoming events ........................ 8A
Weather ..................................... 3A Log on to www. CrossroadsChronicle. com
Last week's results: Should the NC legislature OK
a bill allowing rural counties and towns to build broad-
band Internet infrastructure? Yes: 100% No: 0%
1 111118014112116014111§01001001001140 1I1I 1 (24 votes total)
Cashiers duo
give petition
to HCA reps
p
Haug, Bills emphasize need
for Cashiers physician; reps
say they are working on it
BY DAN BROWN
Staff
Following up on their community forum in
July and a petition collection drive expressing
concerns about the lack of quality healthcare
in the Cashiers -Highlands area, Ellen Haug
and Mary Jane Bills met with Greg Lowe,
president of HCA's North Carolina Division,
and Kathy Guyette, HCA division chief nurse
executive, on Aug. 7.
"The meeting was cordial, but there's noth-
ing new to report," Haug told the Chronicle
via phone Friday.
Haug said in a letter to the editor, which ran
in the Aug. 14 edition of the Chronicle, that
she had concerns about the quality of health-
care services in Cashiers. The letter was a fol-
low-up response to the approximate 719 sign-
ees of the petition she had promised to deliver
to HCA.
"We have done what we said we would do
at the July 11 forum," Haug said.
Haug and Bills presented HCA executives
with the petition, which was signed by those
objecting to the expected departure of Dr.
Thomas Duncan early next month.
Duncan's pending retirement leaves the
Cashiers -Highlands area grossly underserved
when it comes to healthcare treatment, Haug
said.
"We have more veterinarians than we do
doctors," she said. "Something's very wrong
here."
Duncan, a part-time physician based out
of Mission Health's Primary Care Clinic on
White Owl Lane in Cashiers, is expected to
retire on Sept. 14.
"We have one physician presently," Haug
told a public forum of concerned residents
in July. "Recently, we have had local access
to an orthopedist, neurologist, urologist, gy-
necologist and weekly cardiologist. Up until
January, we had two primary care physicians
in Cashiers."
Currently, the Cashiers area has just one
physician in Dr. Duncan.
See PETITION page 6A
© 2019 Crossroads Chronicle/Community Newspapers Inc.
"r"
rt
--
DON RICHESON / Staff
Tranquility reigns on Cashiers Lake on a foggy late afternoon Monday, as just one tiny
boat is visible way off in the distance. Days of peaceful scenes there like this may be
numbered: There is a proposal to dredge the lake and build a large-scale housing de-
velopment on its shores.
SONGWRITERS ROUND RAISES THOUSANDS FOR BLUE RIDGE
New Country Music Hall of
Fame inductee Rivers Ruth-
erford (above) sings Saturday
night during the 14th annual
Blue Ridge Early College -bene-
fit Songwriters Round at Trillium
Links and lake Club. He is joined
on stage by other "big name"
Nashville songwriters, from left,
Kelley Lovelace, Tim James and
Dave Turnball. Foundation Pres-
ident and main event organizer
Carl Hyde of Sapphire (right)
welcomes the sell-out crowd
of more than 400 people to the
event. The foundation will use
proceeds from the event to fund
scholarships for Blue Ridge Early
College graduates and purchase
items for Blue Ridge community
like Promethean Activ Panels,
instruments for the music pro-
gram, space camp tuition sup-
port, Spanish classes, middle
school calculators and materials
gift cards for teachers, among
other items. For information on
the foundation or to make a do-
nation, visit www.
brsfoundation.com. Visit www.
CrossroadsChronicle.com for
links to videoclips from the
event. More photos, page 2A.
Photos by DON RICHESON / Staff
Classified ................................... 5B question: Do you welcome or oppose proposed
Crossword/horoscopes ................ 9B
Obituaries.................None this week dredging and big development on Cashiers Lake?
Opinion.....................................4A
i
Sports ...................................... OA Cast your vote!
Upcoming events ........................ 8A
Weather ..................................... 3A Log on to www. CrossroadsChronicle. com
Last week's results: Should the NC legislature OK
a bill allowing rural counties and towns to build broad-
band Internet infrastructure? Yes: 100% No: 0%
1 111118014112116014111§01001001001140 1I1I 1 (24 votes total)
Cashiers duo
give petition
to HCA reps
p
Haug, Bills emphasize need
for Cashiers physician; reps
say they are working on it
BY DAN BROWN
Staff
Following up on their community forum in
July and a petition collection drive expressing
concerns about the lack of quality healthcare
in the Cashiers -Highlands area, Ellen Haug
and Mary Jane Bills met with Greg Lowe,
president of HCA's North Carolina Division,
and Kathy Guyette, HCA division chief nurse
executive, on Aug. 7.
"The meeting was cordial, but there's noth-
ing new to report," Haug told the Chronicle
via phone Friday.
Haug said in a letter to the editor, which ran
in the Aug. 14 edition of the Chronicle, that
she had concerns about the quality of health-
care services in Cashiers. The letter was a fol-
low-up response to the approximate 719 sign-
ees of the petition she had promised to deliver
to HCA.
"We have done what we said we would do
at the July 11 forum," Haug said.
Haug and Bills presented HCA executives
with the petition, which was signed by those
objecting to the expected departure of Dr.
Thomas Duncan early next month.
Duncan's pending retirement leaves the
Cashiers -Highlands area grossly underserved
when it comes to healthcare treatment, Haug
said.
"We have more veterinarians than we do
doctors," she said. "Something's very wrong
here."
Duncan, a part-time physician based out
of Mission Health's Primary Care Clinic on
White Owl Lane in Cashiers, is expected to
retire on Sept. 14.
"We have one physician presently," Haug
told a public forum of concerned residents
in July. "Recently, we have had local access
to an orthopedist, neurologist, urologist, gy-
necologist and weekly cardiologist. Up until
January, we had two primary care physicians
in Cashiers."
Currently, the Cashiers area has just one
physician in Dr. Duncan.
See PETITION page 6A
© 2019 Crossroads Chronicle/Community Newspapers Inc.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019 - Crossroads Chronicle - Page 9A
H -C Health Foundation announces second grant cycle
The Highlands Cashiers Health
Foundation has announced a sec-
ond nonprofit grant cycle of 2019.
Beginning September 16 and
ending October 18 at 5pm grant
applications will be accepted
online at www.hchealthfnd.org/
grants. Committed to its purpose
to improve the health and wellbe-
ing of our Highlands, Cashiers
and surrounding communities,
the Foundation invites propos-
als to address solutions in four
focus areas: Health and Access to
Healthcare; Education; Economic
LAKE
Continued from page 1A
Stability; and Community Vitality.
"We are particularly interested
in innovative and collaborative ini-
tiatives," said Stephanie Edwards,
Programs & Grants Committee
Chair. "Our Committee and
Board will continue active
engagement during all phases of
the second grant cycle from lis-
tening sessions to grant awards."
The Foundation will follow a sim-
ilar process used during the first
grant cycle where grant proposals
were vetted according to Board
approved best practices.
Permitting, 1617 Mail Service Center,
Raleigh, NC, 27699-1617 or email
them to: [e-mail]
(include "Cashiers Canoe Club" in the
email's subject line).
Preliminary plans had called for a
100 -unit hotel and 55 -home community
on the northwest corner of Cashiers
Lake. However, in a newer proposal, the
hotel component has apparently been
removed and more homes were added.
Multiple hurdles would need to be
cleared before such a plan could become
reality, including receiving approval
from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The property is owned by Cashiers
Canoe Club Development LLC, which
lists an Austin, Texas mailing address
and Roseanne Giordani as the applicant.
The proposal calls for the dredging of
Cashiers Lake -- a manmade lake cre-
ated in the 1920s by damming up the
Chattooga River headwaters. Developers
in that era had reportedly intended to
sell home lots around the lake, but were
unsuccessful.
There would also be a new housing
development on the lake and new roads
would be created in the currently for-
Four listening sessions,
planned for September, will be
formatted as learning opportu-
nities. Qualified organizations
are invited to participate in peer
discussions regarding their needs
and roadblocks, providing the
Foundation with a deepened
knowledge and understanding of
health disparity root causes in the
area. Information regarding the
Foundation's grant application
process will also be discussed.
"The listening outreach ses-
sions were one of the most valu-
able components during the first
grant cycle. We gained significant
insight to the critical issues and
chronic problems facing our com-
munities," said Robin Tindall,
Foundation CEO.
Area non -profits are invited to
send two leadership representa-
tives to attend the listening ses-
sions that most closely correlates
to their organization's Social
Determinant of Health domain:
September 5, 2019 9:00-11:00
am - Community Vitality.
September 6, 2019 1:00-3:00
FROM THE FRONT
ested area on the lake's northwest side.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
is involved because the company's
application includes various fill and
dredging requests and permanent
wetlands impact in and around the
lake, which forms part of the head-
waters for the Chattooga River. "The
Chattooga River and its tributaries
contain some of the most pristine and
high-quality waters in North Carolina,
South Carolina and Georgia," reads
the Corps of Engineers' documents on
the proposed Cashiers Lake project.
The project application calls for
dredging 6.54 acres of wetlands and
17.37 acres of lake bottom, deep-
ening parts of it by three feet. The
dredged material would be transported
by dump trucks to a disposal area
between Zeb Alley Road and Cashiers
Lake Road.
The site is now generally undevel-
oped forest land -- "mixed pine/hard-
wood forest habitat," according to the
Corps of Engineers documents. The
application also calls for the creation
of new roads in the area, as well as
additional sewer and utility lines.
The proposal has drawn fire from at
least one environmental group. "We are
extremely concerned that the proposed
high density development at Cashiers
pm - Economic Stability.
September 12, 2019 1:00-
3:00 pm- Health and Access to
Healthcare.
September 16, 2019 1:00-3:30
pm - Education
RSVP required to attend one or
more listening sessions. RSVP to
a.mitchell-lanning @hchealthfnd.
org or 828-482-6514.
For information about
Highlands Cashiers Health
Foundation and access to the
online grant application visit
www.hchealthfnd.org.
Lake would cause long-term, signifi- said Tuesday in an emailed statement.
cant sediment and sewage impacts For information on the proj-
to the upper Chattooga River's out- ect, visit, https://edocs.deq.
standing resource waters," Chattooga nc.gov/WaterResources/Browse.
Conservancy Director Nicole Hayler aspx?dbid=0&startid=868294.
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