Let’s grow a Farmers’ Market solution
Editor:
Boone: we have a great Farmers Market. It’s time to save it.
During the six years I have served as a Board member of the Watauga County Farmers Market (WCFM), many from nearby communities have asked me how they could start a farmers market of their own. When asking this question, they almost always added that they would love it to be ‘just like the market in Boone.’ But the WCFM is unique.
It is centrally located in a wonderful town within an hour’s drive of productive, diversified family farms and skilled artisans. Boone has an educated and discerning community who value fresh, local, quality foods and crafts. Saturdays and Wednesdays at the WCFM are more than just a market: they are an ongoing festival celebrating all that viable local farms and creative entrepreneurs bring to our mountain home.
In short, location matters. Part of the magic of the success of the WCFM is that it operates at a historic downtown location: nestled among Hickory Ridge Homestead, the Daniel Boone Native Gardens, and the Horn amphitheatre.
This success is now threatened by short-sighted avarice on the part of the Southern Appalachian Historical Association (SAHA). SAHA leases this site from the town of Boone, and the WCFM sub-leases from . Despite the terms of this sub-lease granting the WCFM the use of the parking lot during market hours, SAHA has been ‘double-dipping’ by concurrently leasing the parking lot to ASU.
In the coming year, SAHA proposes to lease 250 spaces to ASU; this would leave only 29 spaces for farmers market customers! How can more than 90 small businesses (i.e.-market vendors) possibly survive with space for only 29 customers at a time? Boone, if you want to have a viable farmers market in the future, the time to act is now. I ask you to join me in calling upon elected officials and community members to stand-up for local farms and the WCFM’s continued success:
All of the SAHA Board must recognize that their mission of celebrating “through entertainment, education, and preservation, the way of life of the North Carolina High Country,” is about as explicit a call to help and preserve the Farmers Market on-site as can be stated. The history of local farmers selling their produce directly to the community lives-on twice weekly all summer at the Horn parking lot thanks to the WCFM. While leasing parking spaces to ASU students is surely a convenient revenue stream for the perennially-debt-ridden SAHA, to do so in a manner that contravenes their own mission statement is not appropriate conduct for SAHA board members.
The Watauga County Farmers Market is willing to do its part. We pay rent for the space, and this rent has more than quintupled since I first became a market vendor. I, and all the Board members of the WCFM continue to work toward collaborative solutions that keep the Farmers Market viable and lively within the larger context of the historic site. A call from the whole community to save the Market is needed now. Please add your voice to those supporting local agriculture and a Watauga County market for independent family farmers.
Richard Boylan
WCFM vendor since 2002

July 1, 2009

Who represents us in healthcare debate?
Editor:
During the various debates about healthcare reform between our elected U.S. senators and U.S. congresspersons, have any of us in the electorate heard any of our esteemed elected officials discuss the fact that they enjoy one of the finest health care programs available in the United States of America?
No, we have not heard any of them mention that fact, so readily available in survey after survey concerning health care ratings.
Why are none of our elected officials in Washington, D.C., stating that “the American people should enjoy the same health care coverage I enjoy” as a congressperson or senator?
This should make those of us who elected our U.S. congresspersons and U.S. senators question whether these people are really about to engage in the “people’s business” concerning health care reform. If any of us have been watching this debate closely, it is easy to notice that the only group without anyone at the table representing them in this discussion are the people (the electorate) of the United States of America. Big insurance — at the table! Big pharmaceuticals — at the table! Lobbyist for various groups of doctors — at the table! Lobbyist for various health care manufacturing concerns — at the table!
Who is going to really represent you and me at this table when these same groups contribute millions of dollars to the re-election campaigns of our U.S. senators and U.S. congressman?
Are we as citizens of the United States of America not worthy of the same healthcare program available to our elected officials in Washington, D.C., at a reasonable cost via a not-for-profit public program to compete against the health care giants?
Why would big insurance, big pharma, lobbyists for various groups of doctors and anyone with an interest in this debate be against an available public option?
These organizations consistently state that they desire free market competition. Wouldn’t all of them welcome the chance to compete against a not-for-profit public health option available from the United States government?
Research available to our U.S. congresspersons and senators indicate that health care cost to consumers is doubling every nine years. Many corporations and small businesses alike find the current system unsustainable to offer health care to their employees due to the extreme cost.
What are our options? Should we leave it to the insurance companies alone who have already rationed care to the insured or should a public option be available to see if organizations like Blue Cross/Blue Shield, United Healthcare or other large insurance concerns really want to compete as they state they do?
Contact U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, Sen. Richard Burr and Sen. Kay Hagan to indicate that we desire a public health care program to compete against all the other groups at the table in this debate. Tell each of them it should be a good as the program they enjoy at taxpayer’s expense.
Patrick Miller
Deep Gap

Show us the money!
Editor:
I am puzzled – when the lottery was enacted, it was to raise money for schools. When the mixed-drink ordinance was voted on in Boone, the profits were to go to the schools. Where is all that money? I am a concerned citizen.
Susann Powers
Blowing Rock

It’s all about more taxes
Editor:
Don’t be fooled by the state legislature.
They are doing this on purpose. They are making most of the budget cuts in education in order to manipulate you into saying that you want higher taxes. That’s right.
They are taking a sneaky, underhanded path in order to get you, me and everyone else to say, “Ok, raise our taxes.” It’s sad really. They are too lazy to investigate and make real cuts to the state government, so they all decided to take the sneaky way out. I don’t care what they may say, that’s what they have done.
They could have cut other services that, while they helped some people, just couldn’t be justified with the budget shortfall the state is facing.
But someone came up with the idea to make the most visible and heaviest cuts in the one area that they know everyone is keen about. Education.
Now there are automated phone calls from the governor asking us to support “raising state revenue” – their latest lingo for taxes. Are you kidding me? Is this the best you could come up with? I am calling out our representatives in Raleigh, Sen. Steve Goss and Rep. Cullie Tarleton on this one. Do your jobs! Make real budget cuts, instead of trying to manipulate everyone into telling you to raise taxes.
Jeff Cannon
West Jefferson

Waiting in Willow Valley
Editor:
I am a resident in Willow Valley off of N.C. 105. I don’t believe I have seen a small project take as long as the construction that is going on there. It seems they work for one day then off for five. You drive by and there are four to six workers there but only one or two are working, the others are standing watching.
This project was supposed to be finished by Dec. 31, 2008. At this rate it won’t be finished by Dec. 31, 2009.
I don’t know what the problem is but, as a resident of Willow Valley, I would like to see this mess finished.
I would think that installing a functional traffic light would have been a lot quicker and at this rate a whole lot cheaper.
Patricia Bua
Willow Valley

Boone benevolence goes to the beach
Editor:
On June 19, my wife and I were at Surf Side Beach in South Carolina. My wife insisted on spending some time on the beach before we proceeded to our grandson’s basketball tournament in Wilmington.
She got situated on a chair on the beach and stayed there for a little over an hour.
She has done this many times, but this time the sun was too much for her.
Luckily, a family from Boone, saw that she was having a stressful time. I cannot remember their names, but their daughter who was with them is a pharmacist. To help my wife, they brought their beach umbrella over to her and gave her some water and kept her from getting sick.
I can’t thank them enough and cannot remember their names to send a proper thank you letter.
Hopefully they will see this letter in your newspaper and I wish to express my utmost gratitude for such nice people.
Jim Jeffries
St. Clairsville, Ohio

Nuclear power needs a second look
Editor:
I am writing in response to Patrick Miller’s latest letter deriding nuclear energy based on less than veracious figures while upholding inefficient and unreliable wind energy as the key to America’s future energy needs.
It is useful to compare many sources of energy in load factor, the cost of construction/maintenance, and the cost of fuel. Load factor is the ratio of actual output to maximum output. Most fossil fuel plants can attain a load factor around 80 percent while solar energy has only 20 percent.
Nuclear plants in the United States now achieve close to 90 percent while wind turbines vary by model but cluster around 30 percent.
Nuclear energy is more reliable and consistent than other sources of energy. Wind turbines only produce electricity about 30 percent of the time they are operational, which is not a perfectly agreed upon number due to the mercurial nature of the wind and the inconsistencies in the design of turbines.
The construction cost of a heavily governmentally regulated nuclear power plant of 1GW could cost close to ten billion dollars including decommission, excluding maintenance and fuel and occupy up to ten acres. The cost of a wind turbine of similar capacity is trickier to decide.
As an example, a commissioned 1GW wind-farm in Australia will cost one-fifth as much as a nuclear reactor (excluding land) and occupy 80,000 acres.
So you can grasp what size this wind-farm is, that is 20 times the size of Boone to produce the same amount of electricity in thrice the time (the load factor of nuclear energy is three times that of wind power) assuming average atmospheric conditions.
I would say that this revelation alone eliminates the need to discuss the more costly and even less efficient solar option.
Though both energy sources have their merits, ultimately one must weigh the total cost of each option with the efficiency and capacity of each. It is clear that nuclear power is the most efficient option available to mankind at this time and is capable of delivering tens of times more energy in the fission reaction than alternatives.
Wind power (like solar power) is remarkably less reliable and efficient and only capable of delivering capacities comparable to other sources by consuming vast tracts of land.
Miller’s proposed locale for wind power would be the agricultural fields of Kansas; this is hardly actionable as destruction of grain fields would inflate food prices even more than current ethanol quotas.
Finally, in response to the issue of nuclear waste, nuclear reprocessing can reduce radioactivity and provide fuel for later fission reactions by recycling much of the waste mass.
Solid-state storage centers such as Yucca Mountain are safe alternatives for the naturally decaying waste.
It is imperative to begin construction of new nuclear reactors now before nuclear energy declines as a percentage of U.S. energy production.
Contrary to Miller’s assertion, nuclear energy (including fusion) will be a much more important source of energy in the future and essential in creating a world of “green energy.”
Jack Villanova
Boone

Another successful Relay For Life
Editor:
Thank you so much to everyone who helped to make the 15th annual Watauga County Relay For Life so successful. The Relay, which was held on June 19 and 20, drew a large crowd to Watauga High School to fight cancer and honor cancer survivors, while raising $201,508.91 for the American Cancer Society. Our 72 teams have been hard at work raising money since early March, and with some teams still turning in funds we hope that the total will continue to climb until the end of our fiscal year on August 31.
Those still wishing to make a donation may do so by mailing a check to P.O. Box 1903, Boone, NC 28607 or by making a contribution online at www.relayforlife.org\watauganc.
It takes so many people to put on an event of this size each year. Everyone who works on Relay For Life is a volunteer, and we appreciate the tremendous amount of hours devoted to this cause.
Thanks to all the team captains and co-captains, team members, committee members, entertainers, food vendors, and people who showed up to help with the set-up.
Thanks to Watauga High School for hosting this event for the fourth year, and to the staff that assists us in so many ways.
Thanks to our loyal corporate sponsors, especially during this tough economic time. Thank you to the many individuals who made donations – we have truly been able to raise this money $1 at a time! Thank you to all those who donated silent auction and bingo items, and to those who donated food for the survivor reception.
Thanks to those who donated goods and services to the event – we could not afford to put on the Relay without your help. Thanks also to the local media for supporting our teams by publicizing their fund-raising events.
Thanks to everyone who purchased one of the 3,895 luminaria or one of the 80 memorial torches that lit up the night so beautifully.
We would like to also thank all those who came out to the event – you know what a special celebration Relay For Life is, and we ask that you invite your friends and neighbors to come and experience it for themselves next year.
Finally, thank you to the extraordinary cancer survivors who came out and walked the Survivor Lap to begin the event. You are our reason to Relay and we are honored to celebrate your survivorship.
To the generous people of Watauga County, the money you help raise is fighting cancer by funding life-saving research and education, by advocating for the 12 million cancer survivors in the U.S., and by providing patient services for those fighting this disease. With your support we will find a cure.
Glenda Hodges and Sharon Trivette
Co-Chairs, Watauga County Relay For Life

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