Corridor K funds may be diverted - Opt

Local
6A - Cherokee Scout Wednesday, December 18, 2013
A man for all seasons
going out of business
By DWIGHT OTWELL
[email protected]
By DWIGHT OTWELL
[email protected]
Murphy – A long-awaited road project
could lose out to Buncombe County, and the
potential for economic development may be
lost with it.
Local officials are concerned that the state
may divert some of the $281 million set aside
for completion of Corridor K to other highway
projects.
“I don’t think you want to open the door to
shift that money,” Stacy Guffey with Opportunity Initiative told members of the Cherokee
County Economic Development Commission
on Dec. 6.
“I have heard that it will be built my entire
life,” EDC member Larry Kernea said, “and I
am still waiting on it.”
The Fiscal Research Division of the N.C.
General Assembly has produced a document
that outlines options for shifting funds away
from Corridor K.
The Appalachian Development Highway
System was created by Congress in 1965 to
connect and bring economic development to
the mountains in 13 Appalachian states. North
Carolina’s share of the funds is $281.7 million
to complete two corridors, K and A. About
18.1 miles of Corridor K, mostly in Graham
County with some in northeastern Cherokee
County, hasn’t been completed. About 7.3
miles of Corridor A in Clay County hasn’t
been completed.
Corridor K is an 83.9-mile highway that
would link Interstate 75 near Cleveland, Tenn.,
to Dillsboro near Sylva. That would make driving from areas like Andrews and Robbinsville
to Chattanooga, Tenn., and Asheville far less
burdensome for local drivers.
The Fiscal Research Division brief states
there are numerous obstacles to overcome
if Corridor K is to be completed. One is the
elimination of federal earmarking funds for
the project.
It also is uncertain if right of way work will
begin anytime soon. Plus, the federal Highway
Trust Fund is in fiscal trouble, making it uncertain if there will be federal funding in the
next transportation reauthorization bill and
beyond.
North Carolina has a new law emphasizing
congestion and the benefits versus costs of
funding various projects. Corridor K would
score low in priority in that funding formula.
“These issues do not create an insurmountable hurdle to complete Corridor K, but do
merit a discussion as to whether the state’s
best interest is to continue holding $281.7
million in reserve for incomplete [Appalachian
Development Highway System] projects,” the
brief states.
One probable source of fund diversion is
to Interstate 26 through Buncombe County.
The I-26 Asheville Connector is a new interstate highway that connects I-26 southwest of
Asheville to U.S. 19/23/70 north of Asheville.
“The mountains need to understand the
challenges – the topography and geology and
costs relative to what [completing Corridor
K] will do for us,” Kernea said. “There is the
possibility of environmental mitigation. It is
a big, broad question, but we have a golden
opportunity to become involved in a huge
transportation project to help us. If it opens
the area to prosperity and commerce, let’s get
that.”
Kernea said the region should put together
an option for the need for Corridor K completion that is defensible.
“We have to rally western North Carolina
to get to the table and rally for that vision,”
he said. “The majority of the people who have
come to the table thus far are people who
benefit by not [completing Corridor K]. But I
don’t want to lose the opportunity to open up
that east-west corridor.”
Guffey said he has seen a desire from other
counties in the region to come together so the
area’s voice will be heard.
“I hope that if all [the Corridor K funds] go
to I-26, we will all have a bloody nose,” Kernea
said.
West seeking re-election in 2014
By JAMES BUDD
[email protected]
State Rep. Roger West
(R-Peachtree) has announced
that he will seek an eighth
term in the
N.C. House
of Representatives.
We s t , a
c o n t r a c t o r,
represents
Cherokee,
Clay, Graham
and Macon
West
counties. He
serves on the powerful House
Appropriations Committee,
which draws up the budget
for the state. He also serves
as chair of Appropriations’
Natural and Economics Resources and Environment
committees.
West said he will continue
to support completion of the
four-lane Corridor K from
Andrews to Robbinsville and
Stecoah. About $368 million
has been earmarked in Fed-
eral Highway Administration
funds for the project, which
has been delayed by an economic impact study.
“I’m for the road and always
have been,” he said. “I think it
will come up next year. There
has been discussion about it.”
West said if the money earmarked for the road is yanked
by the feds, it may signal an
end to the project. He plans to
concentrate on transportation
improvements.
“I am running for re-election simply because there
is more to accomplish for
my district and for the state
of Nor th Carolina,” West
added. “We have made great
progress on many important
issues since my first election, and especially over the
last three years. But work
remains to be done.
“The citizens of western
North Carolina need legislators who know how to get
things done and understand
what it takes to continue to
improve our local economy,”
West said. “I am confident that
I can continue to serve.”
The Legislature reduced
the state’s corporate tax
rate from 6.4 percent to 6
percent starting in 2014. The
rate drops to 5 percent in
2015, which will help lure
businesses, West said.
“It’s already helping,” he
said.
The representative is the
third generation of legislators
to serve the area in the state
House and Senate. West’s father was Herman “Bull” West,
who served the area in the
late 1960s and early ’70s. His
grandfather was Bruce West,
who served in the House in
the 1940s. Election Day is
Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014.
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Corridor K funds may be diverted
Brasstown – Bob Grove
moved to Cherokee County
and began teaching in 1978,
but he soon began his own
business that would become
one of the most respected in
the industry.
After 35 years, Grove Enterprises, a standard in the
shortwave and radio equipment business, closed at the
end of November along with
his longtime magazine, Monitoring Times.
“Judy and I decided to
finally take real retirement,”
the Brasstown resident said.
He will be missed.
“Grove radio has been a national institution to shortwave
and other radio enthusiasts
for many years,” Bellview
resident Hugh Williamson
wrote to the Cherokee Scout.
Grove taught science and
math for two years at Hiwassee Dam High School beginning in 1978. He had been
living in Florida and became
disillusioned with the fast
growth and crime.
“I was establishing the
business,” he said. “I loved
the kids, but it became clear
that my destiny was to go into
business for myself.”
It began as a mail order
business for radio receivers
of all kinds. Its specialties are
radio scanners, shortwave
receivers, antennas, database and control software,
listening accessories and a
full spectrum of publications.
Grove Catalogue is mailed to
the company’s database of
customers each year.
However, Grove is a man
of many interests. It took him
six years to get a four-year
college degree because he
changed his major 12 times.
He taught a wide variety of
subjects in public schools –
including every science, English, journalism and creative
writing.
Grove grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and taught in Ohio
and then Florida. He was
named director of the South
Florida Museum & Bishop
Planetarium in Bradenton,
Fla. He later went back into
teaching, but became curator
and interim director of a museum in Palm Beach County,
Fla.
Grove was noticed by a
local ABC television affiliate
and began working a few jobs
for them before being named
public af fairs director. He
hosted some programs and
was seen on air by more than
any other person in southeast
Florida. His favorite guest was
famous movie star and dancer
Ginger Rogers, who he called
“delightful.” His most irritating guest was Eddie Albert,
actor and star of the television
show Green Acres.
“He was just snarly,” Grove
said of Albert. “He looked
around at the studio and
asked, ‘What is this – the city
dump?’ ”
His memories of his time
at the studio are both touching and humorous. Grove
gave tours of the facility,
and one day some kids were
fascinated at the height of the
SCOTT WALLACE/[email protected]
Bob Grove – communications expert, auctioneer and
unapologetic collector of cool stuff – listens to an ancient
vacuum-tube-powered radio from the 1920s that actually
still works at his home in Brasstown.
transmission towers. Grove
pointed to the tower, and at
that moment lightning hit it.
The kids asked him how he
did that.
Grove hosted the television
show Now World and was
known as Mr. Science.
Grove and wife Judy had always cared deeply for animals
and wildlife. After moving to
Brasstown, they had a tree
cut down that had a nest with
squirrels. A wildlife official
told Grove they weren’t allowed to keep the animals, but
they could designate them as
the Brasstown Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.
“We have kept anything that
walks on two or four legs,” he
said, including hawks, owls,
deer, oppossums, groundhogs and mink.
Grove and Judy gave talks
to schools and groups. Once,
Judy was telling a group that
you can’t get close to wildlife
because you have to eventually set them free. You can’t
make pets of them. Just then,
a squirrel they had rehabilitated ran up, jumped on the table
and onto Judy’s shoulder.
Grove was surprised that
they have received well wishes from hundreds of present and former customers
and subscribers who sent in
congratulations about their
retirement.
“It is very gratifying. There
were no negative comments
about our closing,” he said.
Although both Grove Enterprises and Monitoring Times
are being retired, the chief
editor and practically all of
the writers will begin a new
magazine, Spectrum Monitor,
on Jan. 1.
Grove is 75, but he isn’t going to just sit back in an easy
chair. He will write for the new
magazine and do original writing for publications and more
books. He has already written
an e-book, Misadventures of
an Only Child, which he calls
his autobiography. It’s for sale
at Curiosity Shop Bookstore
in downtown Murphy.
Grove will also continue
teaching adult continuing
education classes. Through
John C. Campbell Folk School
and Young Harris (Ga.) College, he teaches local geology, including field trips with
students.
His latest enterprise is
being president of the new
Mountain Community Orchestra. The orchestra is
assembling serious musicians
from the region and hope to
begin performing after the
first of the year.
“I don’t play an instrument.
I am a dr ummer,” Grove
quipped.
At 7 p.m. today at the folk
school, Grove will do his
annual reading of A Christmas Carol, which is a special
arrangement by the author
Charles Dickens. Grove will
do the entire reading himself,
in costume. He said it’s fun
but exhausting.
“It is all British, but I have
no problem with that,” he
said.
”My father was born in
England. I love life, and I have
had a great time of it.”
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