The Southern Highland Reader

Once, about ten years ago, I was having lunch at a Sylva restaurant called the Spring Street Cafe.

From my table I caught a quick glimpse down an unlikely sightline — framed just so by some plants and interior drapes, down a hallway, and through a cracked door — of a baker’s table. On the table was a wedding cake, and the cake was being carefully decorated by two hands. The hands were all I could see.

The owner of those baker’s hands would one day become my wife, and we would come to own a house across the street from the cafe, where we live today with our three girls.

Spring Street, which has been closed for nearly a year, will soon open again under the ownership of former employee Emily Elders, a Cullowhee native. One of her ideas for an advertisement is a group shot of kids that have sprung from the many friends that have surrounded the cafe for the past ten years. (It better be a big ad).

All along, Spring Street Cafe has held a particular niche in Sylva’s lively-for-a-small-town restaurant scene.

First, in the nineties, it was City Lights Cafe, a small eatery attached to the bookstore upstairs, and under the proprietorship of Joyce and Allen Moore.

About a decade ago it was expanded into it’s full service self by Faye Holliday, whose culinary flair traces at least a little of its lineage to Asheville’s Hector Diaz, owner of the eclectic and popular eateries Salsa’s, Zambra and others.

Holliday and her unusually loyal (for food service) crew built a strong following through wild explorations of fresh local and world cuisines, and Tuesday night old time jam sessions and Sunday brunches were de rigueur among a certain Sylva social set.

Faye’s slow food influence can now be felt in a number of kitchens in the southern mountains.

Holliday sold the place to Lisa Agee a few years back, and Agee, whose desserts were quite a calling card, closed her business last spring, a victim of the economic malaise.

Enter Ms. Elders. As a single mom, a student and director of the Jackson County Greenways Project, you’d think she might have enough on her plate to worry about what’s on everybody else’s, but she’s game. She and a band of volunteers have been sprucing the place up in preparation for a January 26 opening.

“I’m very much inspired by Faye’s ideals,” Elders says. “We’ll be as local and as organic as we can be. My goal right away is to keep price points down, and bring back a lot of the items people remember and love.”

Elders has assembled a crew of former employees and a front-of-the-house manager that’ll be familiar to Sylva folks: Michael Redmon has been a longtime employee of Annie’s Bakery.

Several of the specifics that fans of the place remember will return, sushi Wednesdays and Sunday brunch among them. In addition, Elders and new City Lights Bookstore owner Chris Wilcox hope to develop a more symbiotic relationship than the two businesses have shared before. The cafe’s hours will be much closer to those of the bookstore, and the bookstore will open on Sunday afternoons.

Spring Street will hit the ground running, events-wise. Elders will host a Chamber of Commerce business after hours on January 28th, and will open for business the next day.

Book-signings and an art opening are already on the schedule for February.

SYLVA–City Lights Bookstore, a retail anchor in downtown Sylva since the early eighties, is changing hands.

Owners Joyce and Allen Moore are selling the store to longtime employee Chris Wilcox, effective January 1.

Moore informed her customers of the change in a letter written on Monday, in which she wrote, in part:

As I begin my 66th year and a new decade, I feel the need to slow and simplify my own life, but I believe that I am leaving the store in capable hands, well suited to dealing with the evolving complexities of the bookselling world.

The Moores bought the store from local author Gary Carden in 1986, and moved it from Main Street to its current location at the corner of Spring St. and East Jackson St. a few years later.

In her letter, Moore also wrote:

Chris and his employees will also be facing many changes.  Some are beginning to affect not only the face of the bookselling world, but even the book itself.  It will take hard work, a constant acquisition of new information, flexibility and most of all, your continuing support to carry City Lights into the new decade.

Many independent bookstores across the country are closing in these economic hard times, but you have continued to say with your dollars that having a real bookstore in Sylva is important to you.  It is essential that you continue that commitment, not only to City Lights, but to all the independent businesses in downtown Sylva.

2009-12-18: Fans and foes of a controversial youth dance club in Sylva aired their thoughts before the Sylva Town Board Thursday. Opponents of “Club Offspring” provided a petition asking the board to investigate the business and to consider closing it. Proponents said the controversy is overblown, and provided a petition of their own. Either way, said Mayor Maurice Moody, we have no evidence that any laws have been broken, but we’ll keep an eye on it.

The dust-up arose after the club, which doesn’t serve alcohol or admit patrons over the age of 24, circulated a flyer that invited teens to come to the venue “as wasted as you want”.

Asheville television WLOS spent the day in Sylva — seeming a little more breathless than the story deserved — and aired images from the club’s MySpace page that showed scantily-dressed teens. One club-goer’s response, in so many words, was that when you dance for hours at a time you need a way to cool off.

More here from WLOS.
More here from the Asheville Citizen-Times.
More here from the Sylva Herald (link will expire in one week)

Sylva teen club draws ire

A teen and young adult party club doing business in Sylva has raised the ire of parents by circulating sketchy flyers that urge kids to “come as wasted as they want” to the venue, located near the intersection of NC 107 and Business 23 downtown.

“Club Offspring”, which does not serve alcohol, advertises that it allows “no adults”.

The flyers, which made their way into the local high school, also made their way into the hands of a local parent, Brian Bartel, who went to Asheville television WLOS with the story and is circulating a petition that he plans to present to the Sylva town board on Thursday. The petition asks the town to shut the club down.

It’s unlikely that the board will have legal standing to do so, whether or not it has the inclination.

Here’s the story from WLOS, in which the station notes that the club’s 22-year-old owner is in the slammer for statutory rape.

More here from Justin Goble at the Sylva Herald.

Bryson City pub owner cited in underage drinking death

The Asheville Citizen-Times Josh Boatwright writes that Charles Hutchinson, owner of Mickey’s Pub in downtown Bryson City, served numerous drinks to an underage patron on May 17, and that that patron left and promptly drove into a nearby building, killing himself.

Hutchinson faces a criminal citation and the suspension of his liquor license.

MURPHY–Dwight Otwell, staff writer for the Cherokee Scout in Murphy, reported recently about efforts made by mountain farmers to diversify and to profit from niche crops.

Agriculture has dwindled rapidly in the mountains, where farmers face not only the standard competition from industrial farming, but the added challenge of a lack of flat land.

Otwell’s lead:

Farmers who make their entire livelihood from working the land are almost a relic from the past in Cherokee County.

As the number of large farms has steadily dwindled, a new type of farmer has emerged, one who can forge a living from an acre or two growing for a specialty market.

He goes on to interview a vintner, a dairy farmer and vegetable farmers, all of whom are using innovative methods to make their famrs work.

Another excerpt:

A new type of market is using the Internet to sell products to high-end restaurants or consumers. The main market for this area is Atlanta.

The idea is that a chef gets the fresh produce he wants the next day, Wood said. The chef knows the farm the produce comes from and he trusts it. A person with as little as a half acre of land willing to grow specialty crops can make $20,000 to $30,000 an acre.

Read Otwell’s story in the Scout here.

New life for the old post office

It’s hard to think of much that would bring more life to a quiet building than a dance academy, and that’s just what’s coming to Sylva’s old post office, located on Landis St., and closed since spring.

Triple Threat Performing Arts Academy is moving from its current location adjacent NAPA Auto Parts on the Asheville Highway into the old post office. Renovations there are ongoing, and owner Valerie Tissue hopes to crank up in March. Downtown merchants will take note; the academy has over 230 students, whose parents and assorted caretakers have a lot of time on their hands between drop-off and pick-up.

Spring St. Cafe to reopen

Spring St. Cafe would celebrate its ten-year anniversary in March — if it were open. And apparently it might be, as owner Faye Holliday and space-owners Joyce and Allen Moore are close to reaching terms with an interested party …

Downtown wayfinding system

Downtown merchants — particularly the ones who aren’t directly on Main St. — have long complained about the lack of a standardized signage system for the downtown area. Many have resorted to various sandwich boards placed here and there, bringing about the occasional visit from the sign ordinance folks. Town Manager Adrienne Isenhour has been working this year to implement the needed system, and her efforts got a boost this week with a $9,000 municipal grant from county government.

Downtown Sylva Association; another successful parade

From the DSA: Downtown Sylva celebrated its annual Christmas parade Saturday with a great turn out and amazing floats that showed the time, effort, and talent that went into making such a special presentation. Wilmot Baptist Church won “Best in Show” and $200.  Honorable mention was a tie and goes to Yesterday’s Tree and Heritage Christian Academy.

STATEWIDE–The North Carolina Utilities Commission has approved a 7 percent rate hike for Duke Energy customers.

The hike will increase Duke’s annual revenue by $315.2 million. Duke originally sought a $488 million increase in rates, but the Commission staff had argued that a $183 million increase for Duke would be sufficient. The final amount represents a compromise.

The rate hike will be phased in, with Duke customers seeing an initial 3.27% hike next month.The balance will come in January of 2011.

The hike is controversial, in part, because Duke plans to use part of the revenue to pay for its new Cliffside Steam Station, a large, coal-driven plant west of Charlotte. Cliffside is opposed energetically by environmentalists.

Read more here, from the Charlotte Business Journal.

REGIONAL–The governing board of MedWest Health System voted unanimously Tuesday to accept Carolinas HealthCare System’s recommendation and appoint Mike Poore as the chief executive officer for the affiliated hospitals of Haywood Regional Medical Center, Harris Regional Hospital and Swain County Hospital. The system will enter into a management agreement with Carolinas HealthCare System beginning in January, 2010.

Mike Poore

Poore, who was hired as CEO of Haywood Regional Medical Center in October 2008, will assume the new position effective January 1, 2010.

“I’m excited about the challenges of bringing these two organizations together to better serve all of our communities. By integrating the resources of WestCare, Haywood Regional and Carolinas HealthCare System we will greatly enhance the healthcare of our region,” states Mr. Poore.

“The new MedWest CEO will be very busy over the next few months working with the new organization and with Carolinas HealthCare System to develop a management action plan to be presented to the MedWest board. The transitional process will take approximately six months,” said Mark Clasby, chairman of the MedWest board.

Fred Alexander, board vice chairman, stated, “Mike Poore has the experience and expertise to lead this system as it grows and enhances healthcare in the area. He has the full backing and support of the board and we look forward to the work that needs to be done.”

“I would like to congratulate Mike Poore on his appointment to CEO of MedWest Health System. This system, with support of Carolinas HealthCare System, will ensure that quality healthcare continues to be delivered to the citizens of Western North Carolina for years to come. I am very proud of our strong, capable and compassionate WestCare staff and know they will remain committed to providing excellent patient care. I would ask the WestCare staff to give Mike the same level of commitment and dedication they have always provided,” Mark Leonard, CEO of WestCare Health System.

The MedWest Board of Directors is made up of 14 members and has equal representation from both Haywood Regional Medical Center and Harris Regional and Swain County Hospitals. Two physicians each from Haywood and WestCare will also serve on the board of directors.

Poore served as senior vice president and administrator for Wellstar Douglas and Wellstar Paulding hospitals and the Paulding Nursing Facility in Atlanta, Ga., from 2007 to 2009; and as vice president and administrator for Douglas Hospital from 2004 to 2007. He served as the administrative director of ancillary services and vice president of operations at DePaul Medical Center from 1998 to 2004. Prior to that he was an administrator of support services at Erlanger Health Systems and was an administrator at Stewart Webster Hospital in Richland, Ga.

“An organization will flourish when you develop ownership and pride among employees. I believe in giving employees the tools needed to do their job, removing any barriers, and then getting out of the way and letting them do their job,” Poore said.

He is originally from Mobile, Al. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Services Administration at Auburn University and a Master of Business Administration degree at the University of South Alabama. He is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. He and his wife, Penny, have two sons and one daughter.

“I would like to thank the MedWest board for their hard work to ensure a strong system that can offer better service to all communities served by the newly integrated network,” said Michael C. Tarwater, CEO of Carolinas HealthCare System. “CHS looks forward to being actively involved in those communities, and responsive to community needs, once the new management agreement has taken effect.”

Mr. Clasby said the MedWest board’s goal is for the management agreement to become effective in January. The management services agreement will help to ensure access to broader resources, including sharing best practices in areas such as financial management, staff recruiting, safety and quality improvement, he said.

Haywood Regional Medical Center (www.haymed.org) was established in 1927. The current facility opened in 1979 and is licensed for 170 acute care beds. It is the third largest employer in Haywood County with more than 900 employees.

WestCare Health System (www.westcare.org) was formed in February 1997 when Harris Regional Hospital and Swain County Hospital combined to develop a full spectrum of health services. WestCare employs almost 1,200 full and part time employees and has a medical staff of more than 90 physicians representing 22 specialties.

Carolinas HealthCare System (www.carolinashealthcare.org) is the largest healthcare system in the Carolinas, with 29 affiliated hospitals in North Carolina and South Carolina.

REGIONAL–From Onvia, by way of the North Carolina Economics blog, here’s a nice interactive map of federal stimulus spending in North Carolina. Click on counties to read a summary of projects.

The short take:

• Jackson: 9 projects at a value of $3,811,725
• Swain:  12 projects at a value of $15,667,128
• Graham: 3 projects at a value of $1,260,556
• Cherokee: 9 projects at a value of $98,949,966
• Clay: 3 projects at a value of $25,806,709
• Macon: 6 projects at a value of $6,220,760

NATIONAL/STATEWIDE–A federal stimulus program designed to help keep the unemployed insured is phasing out.

The lead from the Philadelphia Inquirer:

At a time when the unemployment rate tops 10 percent, many unemployed Americans will no longer qualify for federally subsidized health insurance.

That’s because a nine-month health-insurance subsidy that was part of the federal stimulus legislation began to end Monday for many who have relied on it. As many as 7 million people were eligible for the subsidy in 2009, according to government statistics.

People who have not used up their nine-month subsidy will be able to finish it. But no one laid off after the end of the year will be able to start using the subsidy. Parts of the stimulus legislation dealing with the insurance coverage end Dec. 31.

Read the story here.

FRANKLIN–The Bras for the Cause 15 month calendars are now available just in time for the holidays. Now is your chance to get your own piece of history for a mere $10 donation with the proceeds staying in Macon County to create a center of excellence in breast health at Angel Medical Center.

All 85 men and women who participated in the Bras for the Cause Walkathon are making an encore appearance in the calendar created by Bob Justin and Gay Todsen. Check out the photographs by Paula Alter, Ellen Hodgins, Elaine Mashburn, Bob Scott, and Sherry Taylor. The calendar was created to draw attention to breast cancer that affects one in eight women and to honor the memory of those who have succumbed to this deadly disease and to salute those courageous survivors who are battling or who have conquered breast cancer. According to the North Carolina Central Cancer Registry, 41 women in Macon County will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and it is projected that 7 women in Macon County will die from the disease in 2009. However, there is hope. The American Cancer Society studies have shown that when breast cancer is detected and treated in the earliest stages, the five-year survival rates approach 100%.

Some local business owners have partnered with Angel Medical Center to make these calendars available. Participating businesses include A Stitch in Time, Bi-Lo, Dr. Alan Boruszak, Creative Framing, Express Mart, Fatz Café, Holbert Lang DDS, Main Street Coffee & Tea, NC Mountain Made, Party Zone, Primrose Lane, ReMax Elite Realty, Sassy Sisters Boutique, Serendipity Salon and Spa, Shear Impressions, Simple Elegance, Sophisticut Salon and Day Spa, Tanner Outlet, the UPS Store, and Wendy’s. If you are interested in distributing the Bras for the Cause 15 month calendars, contact the Foundation office at 349-6887 or 349-6884. The calendars will also be available at the main entrance of the hospital or by calling the Foundation office.

REGIONAL–Ingles Markets, one of the larger grocery chains doing business in the western region, announced earlier in the fall that it would not allow Salvation Army bell-ringing at its stores this holiday season.

After some public pressure, it has reached a compromise with the charity.

From editor Kelly Donaldson’s story for the Cashiers Crossroads Chronicle:

Craig A. Gontner, Captain, WNC Area Coordinator and Waynesville Corps Officer with the regional Salvation Army office that serves Cashiers, said, “Ingles did make a business decision at a corporate level to allow only unmanned kettles to be placed in their stores. The Salvation Army’s view is that we understand their decision and value the partnership.

“Ingles is a committed friend and partner to the Salvation Army and this community,” added Gontner. “Ingles has agreed to allow bell ringers to be present for the time just prior to Christmas, Monday, Dec. 21 through Thursday, Dec. 24. We plan on utilizing this opportunity.”

The Hendersonville Times-News reported that Ingles originally banned bell-ringers to provide its customers with an “unsolicited environment” during the holiday season, given the tight economy. The Times-News also reported on the compromise. It’s lead: “The spirit of Christmas — and sensitivity to a barrage of customer complaints — has won the day.”

The compromise limits bell-ringers to a few days just prior to Christmas, down from more than a full month’s worth of ringing in previous years.

STATEWIDE–The Charlotte Observer editorialized today that Gov. Bev Perdue has done good things to make state government more trustworthy and transparent, but that when it comes to the NC Department of Transportation board – a notorious gathering spot for high-dollar political contributors – “some things never change”.

Here’s an excerpt:

Perdue’s approach was to change the Board of Transportation from a decision-making board with the power to approve highway and other transportation projects to a planning board where members could not use their influence to channel roads, bridges or intersections to benefit themselves or their associates. That’s a significant improvement over the old system, which all but invited the board to reward its members, though it still means members make decisions about planning.

But Perdue’s plan did not alter one time-honored, if that’s the right adjective, tradition. She still appoints campaign contributors to the Board of Transportation. Last week she named five members to the board: Sam Halsey of Jefferson, David Burns of Laurinburg, Gary Ciccone of Fayetteville, Ronnie Wall of Burlington and Stan White of Nags Head. All are accomplished business and civic leaders. And election records show all have been contributors to Perdue’s campaigns, though not all in large amounts.

Read the editorial here.

NANTAHALA–Nantahala Outdoor Center has announced its title sponsorship of the 2010 Outdoor Industry Association Rendezvous in Asheville, NC. OIA’s Rendezvous is an annual leadership conference for the outdoor industry, and NOC along with the Asheville Chamber of Commerce welcome these leaders October 5-7, 2010.

“In a way, we’re welcoming home a group whose industry is a fundamental part of why the Asheville area is such a compelling destination,” said Tim Lampkin, Director of Convention Sales & Group Services at the Asheville Convention & Visitors Bureau. “This is a region that celebrates its natural treasures, so we heartily welcome the businesses and associations that help us make our natural assets economic ones.”

Rendezvous will bring together leaders from across the country for a week of keynote speakers, breakout sessions, networking opportunities, recreation and entertainment, capped off with a volunteer service project to give back to the host community.

“We are excited to partner with NOC for Rendezvous 2010 and look forward to bringing the industry to Asheville next fall to showcase their efforts, as well as all the density of outdoor recreation and retailers in the area,” said Ann Obenchain, vice president of marketing and member services for OIA. “NOC’s leadership as a business in the Southeast and as a retailer in the outdoor industry is paramount and we are looking forward adding more paddlesports and retail influences to the event with their help.”

On the final day of Rendezvous, OIA attendees will give back to the community by working together to cleanup recreation areas in and around Asheville. This event will prove to be a special opportunity for leaders in the outdoor industry to make an impact on Asheville’s outdoor and paddling communities.

SYLVA–Last year, when automobile gas prices were through the roof, CSX railroad began running obvious ads, making a point the industry could’ve been making all along: it makes more sense to pull a couple of hundred trailers with two or three engines than a couple of hundred trailers with a couple of hundred engines.

Well, no kidding. That’s true no matter how pricey gas becomes.

CSX’s tagline – “our trains can move a ton of freight 436 miles on a single gallon of fuel” – has become a fighting slogan for the entire industry lately, as the prevailing economic and environmental winds begin to signal a railroad renaissance.

Financier Warren Buffet’s purchase of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad recently drove the point home. Said Adam Hochberg on National Public Radio: “Buffett’s $44 billion acquisition, via his company Berkshire Hathaway, is one of a number of signs that freight railroads are in resurgence. While they may have been thought of as passé in the 1960s and 1970s, they’re now playing a vital role in the transportation system.”

Lobbyists for the asphalt and trucking companies, who for so long thought railroads were kaput, still make the argument that logistically, trucks work better.

“You can’t back a freight train up to the Harris Teeter,” one industry rep told Business North Carolina not long ago.

But some industry analysts believe that almost any regulations created to fight emissions will favor railroads, and that logistical issues with moving goods on the local level are easily overcome – in fact, are already overcome in some cases by the use of containers that can then be moved to flatbed trucks.

Closer to home, the topic reminds me of a sidewalk conversation I had in Sylva when gas was at it’s peak. “Before long,” my friend told me, “we’ll be able to ride a train to Asheville.”

I’m not sure I’m buying that – the cost of the necessary trestle work between Sylva and Waynesville alone would raise even Buffet’s eyebrows – but it is safe to assume that freight trains (which are allowed to run on ricketier tracks than passenger trains) aren’t going anywhere soon, even from our area.

A representative from Norfolk Southern Railway told me as much not long ago, saying that the line between Asheville and Sylva, which Norfolk Southern owns, is a money maker. The expansion of Jackson Paper Manufacturing in Sylva can only help.

As for true passenger rail, though, most of its advances will be focused on the cities.

Still, mountain residents can catch Amtrak in Toccoa Falls, GA, or Greenville, SC and ride the Southern Crescent southwest toward New Orleans or northeast toward Washington, through the Piedmont and to all points beyond.

Proponents of the long-fought-for return of passenger rail to Asheville are still at it, so that Amtrak spur — which would run up the mountain from the Piedmont — is still a possibility. (The two links in the previous sentence are from the Asheville Citizen-Times, here’s a Twitter report from MountainXpress from a recent Asheville Rail Corridor meeting).

And plans for the long-considered magnetic levitation train between Atlanta and Chattanooga and perhaps on to Nashville just got an infusion of federal cash. Maglev trains, used widely in Japan and Europe, achieve speeds of some 300 mph, mainly by not touching the ground.

If you don’t plan to hop a train anytime soon, but still like to think about them, this post from Ruminations from the Distant Hills and this one from Appalachian History might tickle your fancy. And here’s a history of the WNC Railroad from Tim Osment for WCU’s Digital Heritage.

Here’s a phenomenal flickr set, if you like to look at pictures.

REGIONAL–Those television wireless ads, the ones in which translucent, floating coverage maps follow various hipsters around town, have more to do with you than you know.

Even if you’re a consumer of rural land-line phone service.

The TV ads are pushing wireless “3G” service – 3G being a term for service that supports voice, video and data. But they’re relevant to land-line customers as well, because large phone companies are increasingly focused on the installation of wired networks with a capacity to stream great quantities of data.

In heavily populated areas companies that do this make big stacks of money. On the other hand, maintaining these services in rural areas like ours is expensive, which is why Verizon wants – and soon will get – out.

Verizon is in the process of selling its rural land phone business in 14 states – including North Carolina – to a Connecticut company called Frontier Communications. And while regulators in some states are being harder on the deal than others, there is little reason to think that Verizon customers in western North Carolina won’t become Frontier customers sometime next year.

In North Carolina, we haven’t heard too much about this, maybe because our Public Utilities Commission isn’t inclined to rock corporate boats. But in some states — West Virginia, Washington, Oregon and Ohio in particular — people, newspapers and politicians are pointing out that when Verizon makes such sales – and they do it often – the outcome is usually bad for rural customers.

Land customers here will argue that little could be worse than Verizon, but apparently they’d be mistaken. The smaller companies that buy Verizon’s rural land line infrastructure are often saddled with enormous debt in the transaction, and running a phone company in sparsely-populated, often mountainous terrain is high-dollar stuff.

The October bankruptcy of FairPoint Communications is a case in point. In 2008, FairPoint paid $2.7 billion to buy Verizon phone lines in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire, but soon collapsed under the weight of its debt.

Wrote Oregonlive.com: “That set a grim precedent and served as a warning signal to regulators”.

Read the nuts and bolts of the deal here, from the Wall Street Journal
Read more about Verizon’s mixed messages on rural broadband here, from freepress.net
Read about an Oregon regulatory challenge here, from oregonlive.com
Read about West Virginia public opposition here from the Charleston (WV) Daily Mail
Read about West Virginia State Consumer Advocate Division’s concerns about deal here from WVNH television, Beckley, WV

REGIONAL–Asheville Citizen-Times editorial page editor and columnist Jim Buchanan (a Sylva native) notes in a Sunday column that North Carolina was recently named number one in the nation in terms of its business climate by Site Selection, an economic development magazine.

It’s the eighth time in nine years that the tarheel state has been so named.

Buchanan points out that the warm-hearth economic climate is limited to certain parts of the state.

An excerpt:

North Carolina’s business climate, it seems, is a lot like its … well, climate. Different parts of the state have markedly different weather. And looking at the Site report, it seems the same applies to business weather.

In the Charlotte/Raleigh corridor and the Research Triangle area, the business climate is blindingly beautiful. Business partnerships with universities and colleges are humming along, and the area has transitioned well from the tobacco/textiles/furniture economy to finance, medical and energy concerns.

<snip>

No silver bullet solution to the economic downturn or economic unevenness came out of our board conversation. Instead, many familiar issues and questions resurfaced, like the geographical and transportation challenges that are unique to the mountains. And frankly, blue-skying about economic development is fine, but that’s down the road. The task at hand for our leaders in a time of rolling credit crisis, high unemployment and an era of want most of us have never witnessed in our lifetimes is to simply make sure the social fabric doesn’t rip clean apart.

Read the whole piece here.

HIGHLANDS–The Atlanta Journal Constitution painted a technicolor picture on Tuesday of the mountain luxury home market.

Reporter Jeffry Scott’s lead:

The bidders came dressed like money on vacation, in polo shirts, sneakers, shorts, loafers without socks and khaki slacks. One wore a flowery print beach shirt; another, a straw cowboy hat, cowboy boots, black jeans and a snake skin jacket.

Into this crowd, the owner of a $4.8 million mountainside luxury second home, cast his plight. And, if you had to guess, you’re probably right. He didn’t get his $4.8 million. He got barely more than half that — $2.45 million.

In a lengthy story for the business section, Scott goes on to give a detailed description of the sluggish high-end real estate market in Highlands and Atlanta, and to make clear how some owners of these properties are turning to simple absolute auction.

Another clip:

Owners of multi-million-dollar estates and second homes built during the boom years who are trying to unload the homes now are watching as they languish, overpriced and unsold, on the market, sometimes for years, then resorting to the last resort: absolute auctions.

In an absolute auction there’s no minimum bid and the seller can’t pull out because the top bid is too low. Three bangs of the gavel and it’s gone. Half of what you hoped for? Tough.

Read the entire piece here.

STATEWIDE–The Charlotte Business Journal is reporting today that Duke Energy has reached a settlement with the N.C. Utilities Commission that would significantly reduce the power-producing behemoth’s proposed rate increase.

Duke was seeking permission to raise all residential electric rates by 13.5% and all municipal street lighting rates by 16.7%.

John Downey lead for the Business Journal:

Duke Energy Carolinas has agreed too cut its $484 rate increase request “significantly” as part of a proposed settlement reached with the Public Staff of the N.C. Utilities commission.

Staff executive Director Robert Gruber and a Duke spokeswoman declined to provide details. But Gruber says the settlement “will cut it significantly.” He said that there are other features to the settlement, but that the size of the increase was important to the staff.

In fact, the staff had recommended cutting it by more than half in earlier filings to about $183.4 million. Gruber would not say if the settlement cut the increase that deeply.

Read Downey’s entire piece here.

STATEWIDE–We noted last week that The Center for Science in the Public Interest thinks it’s a good idea to tax soda pop.

Along the same lines, the Raleigh News and Observer noted over the weekend that the NC Medical Society might recommend taxation of nutritionally worthless foodstuffs.
An excerpt from the story:

“Obesity is our number one health issue, as far as chronic issues are concerned,” said Scott Donaldson, a Hendersonville urologist who supports the resolution. The resolution includes a series of “whereases” that discuss the rise of obesity in the state (rank – 12th in a recent report), the costs of treating it and its link to various ailments such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer.

The N&O adds that the NC Medical Society resolution is expected to be discussed in committee on Saturday, Oct. 31. If the committee sends it to the society’s House of Delegates, they’ll vote the next day.

More reading:

Read the N&O blog post here.
Report on obesity (mentioned in excerpt above) from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

NATIONAL–The Center for Science in the Public Interest has compiled a list of foods most likely to make you sick.

Here’s a quote from the authors of the report:

“A globalized food system, archaic food safety laws, and the rise of large-scale production and processing have combined to create a perfect storm of unsafe food,’’ the C.S.P.I. writes. “Unfortunately, the hazards now come from all areas of the food supply: not only high-risk products, like meat and dairy, but also the must-eat components of a healthy diet, like fruits and vegetables.’’

Here’s the top ten:

1. Leafy greens
2. Eggs
3. Tuna
4. Oysters
5. Potatoes
6. Cheese
7. Ice cream
8. Tomatoes
9. Sprouts
10. Berries

Of course, these items will make you sick right now. Items that’ll make you sick on down the road come at it from a different angle, and the Center has some thoughts about those foods, too. They think we should tax the hell out of soda pop, for example.

Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center, says this: “Soda is dirt cheap and promotes expensive and debilitating diseases, which in turn run up healthcare costs at all levels of government.”

More reading:

From the New York Times
From CNN
From the Washington Post