Musings on the current state of things

Trying to drive across downtown Hendersonville reminds me of an old Mutual of Omaha wildlife episode of lemmings piling up at some Siberian river’s edge.

Lemmings are small furry brown rodents that remind me of congested traffic, you see. Anyhow, the pile gets bigger and bigger until finally, the dam breaks and out the lemmings pour ... until the next light.

So when the four-way stops went in on Main, I thought it was great. No more lemmings piling up. But, I admit I would really, really hate for some little old lady or young mother with a babe in her arms to get hit by a car.

I didn’t think it was that much of a problem. I even conducted some field research, but as the guys in my shop are constantly reminding me, I’m wrong an awful lot of the time. If safety can be helped by returning to the red lights, I say go for it.

The only thing more frustrating than driving through town is trying to find a place to park. I know the subject of a parking garage has been beaten to death, but for heavens sake can’t we hire Ken Gaylord or wild Bill O’Cain or Stuart Stepp, or maybe one of the dozen or more architects that hang out around here.

The ones I know, some of whom I just named, could all whip out one of their omnipresent blue ink pens, snatch up a cocktail napkin and sketch a design that could be plopped down on top of the Dogwood parking lot and fit in fine.

Forget the out-of-state guys who want to win awards; hire someone who has to live with what the town thinks of their work. That’s why I buy my tools from Louis Williams and my lumber from Builders First Source. If I don’t like something, I know where to hunt them down and they know it, so they never give me a sorry job.

I could get into having a downtown parking deck, especially when it rains, which it always seems to do when the windows are down and I am a mile away from my parking spot.

Another dead horse to beat: Remember Ms. Parrick-Rogers, teacher at Blue Ridge Community College and her column about academic freedom in the paper last spring? Or maybe you remember another columnist who thought her students are whiny little shut-ins because they objected to what she wanted them to do?

I just found out this month what they were being asked to study and also found out that I know most of the students who objected. The subject is about a bunch of European people having sex with one anothers’ wives, girlfriends and mistresses. I don’t care how many English majors call it uplifting literature, it’s still titillating trash fit for the pages of porn magazines.

I think the students showed more maturity by standing up and saying “No” than all their critics have mustered. The easy thing would have been to keep quiet and go along, but that’s cowardice.

I am very proud of them. I wish more young people had their grit.

And, I know you’re all in a sweat to know how our North Carolina 4-H shooting team did at Nationals out in Nebraska. We had a sixth and ninth overall individual in small bore (.22) silhouette shooting with a fourth-place team finish, and a third place individual in air rifle silhouette with a seventh place overall in air rifle. That’s against 400 competitors from 30 states and 109 degrees on the range.

Henderson County’s’ shooters were Patrick McCraw (Mills River), Matthew Ray (Mill Spring), Caleb Worrell (Green River), Kyle Stinnett (Mills River), Hannah Hall (Saluda) and David Musselwhite (Horse Shoe).

The team going to Stillwater, Okla., for Wildlife Habitat Evaluation Program nationals this month will be Kayla Jones (Mills River), Bethany Hyde (Saluda), Patrick McCraw (Mills River) and Caleb Worrell (Green River).

And we could still use some donations. Really. Mills River community has been very generous; many thanks to our local farmers.

Finally, will somebody please tell me why in Flat Rock we need a turning lane in place of Dr. Garrison’s parking lot? Is it because of the rampant growth across the street? Shouldn’t the person causing the problem have her property confiscated instead? Maybe Dr. Garrison should just close up and move away after 30 and more years of being there.

I don’t think so.

Chip Worrell, a Times-News community columnist, can be contacted at cworr@juno.com. His column appears on the third Friday of every month.