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Last evening I attended a meeting from 5:30-6:30 at our local GOP HQ. I met and chatted with NC GOP chairman, Jason Simmons, and with our Congressman, Chuck Edwards and his wife, Theresa… among other friends in our local GOP organizations.
I lamented to Jason that while CNN has done a media “hit job” on NC Republican gubernatorial candidate, Mark Robinson, and although Robinson just filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against the communist news network, I remarked to Simmons that it looked pretty hopeless at this point that Robinson would be able to defeat the uber-Leftist Democrat Josh Stein for the Governor’s office.
When I asked him what he thought, Simmons was very diplomatic in saying simply that Robinson is facing a very tough uphill battle. My translation: Yeah, he’s going to lose badly.
(North Carolina GOP Chairman Jason Simmons. Photo by James Bruggeman)
The meeting was very sparsely attended because (we presume) most people are still reeling and recovering from the damage of Hurricane Hellene. The primary purpose of the meeting was to encourage everyone that this disaster is not going to stop us from getting all our voters from being able to get to the polls and vote.
Representative Edwards reported that of all the polling stations there is only one which is not up and running. Meanwhile, our State Senators and Reps got the signature of Dem. Gov. Roy Cooper on a bill to expand the deadlines and the means/accessibility for NC citizens to register and vote—which was aimed specifically, of course, at us in the impacted 22 counties of Western North Carolina (WNC).
Mr. Simmons expressed his gratitude to our Henderson County Chairman, Brett Callaway, for taking him on a tour of the Chimney Rock area. Readers may have seen before and after pictures of the town. You would not recognize it because the town was literally swept away! That also happened to the town of Micaville, NC, and others.
Chuck added that the town of Green River had 30 inches of rain in 12 hours and the waters caused the Toe River to rise 40 feet above normal as it swept away everything in its path.
After that brief meeting, I hurried to the first gathering of our weekly Mountain Shag Club dances since the hurricane. It was a bittersweet reunion. I arrived a half hour late, and found no one was dancing.
Instead, everyone was hugging, chatting, and inquiring about one another’s welfare. Our venue had closed off the normal area where we dance because they were serving hot meals for the homeless there—although I did not see any homeless there during my stay there.
The Club president finally took the DJ’s microphone and announced that no members of the Club were killed or missing, but quite a few had some damage to property. He began with me (probably going in alphabetical order), and there were several other members’ homes or businesses with much worse damage than mine.
Two members had their businesses totally wiped out and swept away by the raging waters of the Swannanoa River. The river runs east to west through the heart of south Asheville and along the famous Biltmore Estate property.
Power and water have been back on at my house for several days and my cable and internet service came back up a day or so ago, and has not failed since then. I am praising God!
My house did not suffer any structural damage as happened to many people in this region with trees falling into them. Some friends of mine had just completed a kitchen and dining room remodel job weeks before. During the storm, they huddled in the basement.
Then the husband decided for some reason (which I cannot recall) to go up to the main floor and check on something. At that moment, a tree crashed through the roof. He and the family were unhurt, but the remodel job was all for naught.
My house did suffer significant storm damage from siding being ripped off and some part(s) of the roof being damaged. Water came gushing in I need drip pans during the hours and hours of downpours. It caused ceiling and wall damage in seven rooms. Ugh! Lots of drywall ceiling and wall board need to be ripped out and replaced with an eye out for mold damage.
I have already been diffusing essential oils (Thieves and Purification blends from Young Living) to mitigate mold formation and eliminate the musty smell.
All this happened while we were not yet finished moving stuff from the old office to the new. The landlord at the old office has been very kind and understanding.
Tomorrow should be the final piece we no longer need or want: a big old Konica-Minolta BizHub copier that nobody or no organization wants. Parts are from China and are no longer available for it. Go figure. It’s a monster machine and will take 2-3 men and a pickup to haul it to the scrap metal recycling company.
Saturday my neighbors have offered to help me remove and cut up a couple of 18-feet tall arbor vitae bushes that were uprooted and tumbled over.
Other than that, there’s not much going on here in my life!
In all seriousness, though, I am very blessed and grateful that everyone I know is safe and uninjured. However, many are not. There is one couple in our neighborhood, whom I did not know, but she had an asthmatic anxiety attack during the hurricane’s fierce winds and horizontal sheets of rain. She did not make it. A couple days later her husband then passed away also. So sad!
With all the home repairs needing immediate attention and my new office looks like this (photo below), I cannot say when we will be back to normal. We are very disappointed not to have been able to be with many of you at the Bible Conference in Minneapolis this weekend.
In the meantime, we have determined that the new address we gave you previously: 4110 Hendersonville Road, Fletcher, NC 28732 is unsuitable as it is not weather tight. DO NOT USE THAT ADDRESS. I discovered before the Hellenic rainstorm, that even mild and gentle rains caused the envelopes to be very moist.
Hence, here is our new and permanent address: PO Box 9, Fletcher, NC 28732. (I was delighted to get a single digit number!)
Thank you all for your prayers and your financial support for our work here—for the glory of God and our King, Jesus the Christ, Savior of the world!
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