AVERY COUNTY — While most North Carolinians are happy to say goodbye to this week’s bitter cold snap, the state’s ski industry is cashing in.
Sugar Mountain in Avery County opened on Nov. 2 this year, the second earliest start day in its history, and has been going strong ever since.
Resort officials say the combination of real snow and ideal conditions to make the fake stuff has resorts more than ready for the busy Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.
“We’re really psyched with this weather because with the cold, we figure we’re going to have everything open for that weekend,” said resort president Gunther Jochl.
In terms of tourism dollars spent, he says this year could be the best they’ve seen in the past five.
“Right now it’s shaping up to be a pretty good year, but let’s talk about it in March,” Gunther laughed. “A lot can change between now and then.”
In anticipation of milder weeks, Sugar Mountain recently expanded its snow making system.
The pump house was redesigned this past year to accommodate an additional 1,000 gallons per minute vertical water pump.
Black diamonds: Tourism chief says skiing one of state’s jewels
Rick Barbero/The Register-HeraldAmy Shuler-Goodwin, deputy secretary of commerce and commissioner of tourism, skiing at Winterplace Ski Resort during the event that the West Virginia of Division of Tourism held in celebration of the learn to ski and snowboard campaign.
Black diamonds: Tourism chief says skiing one of state’s jewels
Rick Barbero/The Register-Herald Deputy secretary of commerce and commissioner of tourism, Amy Shuler Goodwin, after coming down a slope at Winterplace Ski Resort during the hosted event the West Virginia of Division of Tourism held a go outside and ski in celebration of learn to ski and snowboard month.
Posted: Friday, January 9, 2015 3:00 am
Black diamonds: Tourism chief says skiing one of state’s jewels (W/ VIDEO)
By Cody Neff REGISTER-HERALD REPORTER
Register Herald
When Amy Shuler-Goodwin addressed nearly 200 people in Beckley in November at a conference on economic diversity in the region, she made the point several times that tourism had to be part of the discussion.
Goodwin, the state’s tourism commissioner, also said marketing dollars spent by her agency were being primarily used to target summer visitors to the state, even though studies showed that nearly half of out-of-state visitors were coming in winter.
On Thursday at Winterplace Ski Resort near Ghent, Goodwin made her pitch for winter sports in West Virginia.
“When we talk about the dollars and cents of skiing, we have to think about the fact that we’re supporting 5,000 jobs across the state,” she said. “That’s big business. They call us ‘The Mountain State’ for a reason. We’re known for a lot of wonderful things, and skiing and snowboarding are just some of them. We are encouraging a ‘Go Outside and Play’ campaign every month.”
Goodwin says she wants people to see that they don’t have to travel far to have a good time.
“You have things right in your backyard,” she said. “This is some of the best skiing on the East Coast.
“Our snowmaking conditions are phenomenal. We’re easy to get to. We’re affordable. We need to continue to market and advertise in West Virginia.”
To help promote the snow sports industry, the Division of Tourism has partnered with local ski resorts.
“The West Virginia ski industry is proud to participate in a national ‘Learn to Ski’ and ‘Learn to Snowboard’ campaign,” West Virginia Ski Areas Association Terry Pfeiffer said. “We are not only trying to introduce people to snow sports, but to convert them to lifelong skiers and snowboarders so that they’ll come back again and again to the state of West Virginia.
“West Virginia provides some of the finest teaching terrain in the country. The terrain is only as good as the teachers that use it. What makes this program work are the professional ski instructors who take the time to teach the new folks.”
Ski resorts in West Virginia see about 800,000 visitors a year, one official said.
“About 15 percent of those visitors are from West Virginia,” West Virginia Ski Areas Association Spokesman Joe Stevens said. “That 15 percent isn’t disappointing because that’s still at least 80,000 people skiing from West Virginia. We see a lot of young people who snow tube. That 800,000 number doesn’t include snow tubers, so that number is a little misleading.
“The majority of the skiers are from North Carolina and Virginia. During the three-week holiday season, we see tons of people from Florida. During the early and late parts of the season, we’ll see a lot of local West Virginians. Resorts like Winterplace have really tuned into the local audience by using specials to help locals understand what’s right in their back yard.”
You might need those specials and deals to give snow sports a try, Stevens said.
“Your average person has to get into this slowly,” he said. “To go out and buy new equipment, new gear, and everything would be a bit on the pricey side. You get better and you buy your own things.
“For someone getting into the sport, there’s great ‘Ski-and-Learn’ packages that include ski lift tickets and equipment rentals at a reasonable price. The deals are even better in the middle of the week.”
So what’s the appeal of skiing, anyway? Isn’t it just about falling and freezing?
Stevens said it’s like a chance to be closer to the heavens.
“This is like surfing the clouds,” he said. “I snowboard, myself. I’m 58 years old and I snowboard. It’s like surfing in the clouds, especially when you’ve got fresh snow beneath you and a freshly groomed slope.”
—Email: cneff@register-herald.com; Follow on Twitter @RHCodyNeff
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Charlie, a tabby cat, stretches at Susan Marie Designs, where he resides as shop cat, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. Owned by the jewelry maker, Susan Marie Phipps, Charlie has brought people into the store and, in some cases, even helped Phipps make a sale. He has close to 20 outfits, and wears a different one each day. (Photo: , Katie Bailey/bkbailey@citizen-times.com)Charlie, a tabby cat, hangs out at Susan Marie Designs, where he resides as shop cat, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. Owned by the jewelry maker, Susan Marie Phipps, Charlie has brought people into the store and occasionally helps with Phipps’ sales, she said. (Photo: , Katie Bailey/bkbailey@citizen-times.com)Charlie, a tabby cat, hangs out at Susan Marie Designs, where he resides as shop cat, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. Owned by the jewelry maker, Susan Marie Phipps, Charlie has brought people into the store and occasionally helps with Phipps’ sales, she said. (Photo: , Katie Bailey/bkbailey@citizen-times.com)Charlie, a tabby cat, hangs out at Susan Marie Designs, where he resides as shop cat, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. Owned by the jewelry maker, Susan Marie Phipps, Charlie has brought people into the store and occasionally helps with Phipps’ sales, she said. (Photo: , Katie Bailey/bkbailey@citizen-times.com)Charlie, a tabby cat, hangs out at Susan Marie Designs, where he resides as shop cat, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. Owned by the jewelry maker, Susan Marie Phipps, Charlie has brought people into the store and occasionally helps with Phipps’ sales, she said. (Photo: , Katie Bailey/bkbailey@citizen-times.com)Charlie, a tabby cat, hangs out at Susan Marie Designs, where he resides as shop cat, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. Owned by the jewelry maker, Susan Marie Phipps, Charlie has brought people into the store and occasionally helps with Phipps’ sales, she said. (Photo: , Katie Bailey/bkbailey@citizen-times.com)Charlie, a tabby cat, watches to catch a treat at Susan Marie Designs, where he resides as shop cat, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. Owned by the jewelry maker, Susan Marie Phipps, Charlie has brought people into the store and occasionally helps with Phipps’ sales, she said. (Photo: , Katie Bailey/bkbailey@citizen-times.com)Charlie, a tabby cat, catches a treat with his paws at Susan Marie Designs, where he resides as shop cat, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. Owned by the jewelry maker, Susan Marie Phipps, Charlie has brought people into the store and occasionally helps with Phipps’ sales, she said. (Photo: , Katie Bailey/bkbailey@citizen-times.com)Yellow labs Tsali, left, 11, and Roan, 4, sit with owner Robbie McLucas at Town Mountain Realty in Asheville, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015. The office has a regular group of five-to-six pets at work on any given day, McLucas said, adding that they help with lowering the stress on employees. (Photo: , Katie Bailey/bkbailey@citizen-times.com)Yellow labs Tsali, left, 11, and Roan, 4, roam the halls at Town Mountain Realty’s offices in Asheville, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015. The office has a regular group of five-to-six pets at work on any given day, owner Robbie McLucas said, adding that they help with lowering the stress on employees. (Photo: , Katie Bailey/bkbailey@citizen-times.com)Yellow labs Tsali, left, 11, and Roan, 4, hang out with owner Robbie McLucas at Town Mountain Realty in Asheville, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015. The office has a regular group of five-to-six pets at work on any given day, McLucas said, adding that they help with lowering the stress on employees. (Photo: , Katie Bailey/bkbailey@citizen-times.com)Yellow labs Tsali, left, 11, and Roan, 4, greet Frenchton puppies Luci, left, and Oliver at Town Mountain Realty in Asheville, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015. The office has a regular group of five-to-six pets at work on any given day, McLucas said, adding that they help with lowering the stress on employees. (Photo: , Katie Bailey/bkbailey@citizen-times.com)
ASHEVILLE – Shortly after Susan Marie Phipps opens her downtown Asheville jewelry store in the morning, her companion and colleague, Charlie, gets dressed in one of his 20 outfits and starts his shift.
Though he sometimes takes a nap on the job, Charlie always brings in the customers.
“He’s my best salesman,” Phipps said of her longtime “employee” and companion. “I have people come and visit Asheville from all over the world, and almost everyone wants to stop in and take a picture of Charlie.”
That’s because Charlie does not do his job for a paycheck or benefits at Susan Marie Designs. Instead, the 10-year-old orange tabby cat is content working for treats, the chance to show off his latest tricks and the affection of strangers.
Phipps started bringing Charlie to work when he was just a kitten as a way to keep her company during slower days. But now he’s an asset, attracting an estimated 20 percent of her customers. He even has his own Facebook page, which has close to 2,000 likes.
“Jewelry is not something you purchase every day,” Phipps said. “It’s something you usually get for a special occasion — anniversaries, weddings, birthdays or custom work — but he gets people in here. And once he gets people in the store, they start looking around at everything.”
Accepting and catering to all creatures great and small has become a part of Asheville’s quirky culture, including the way people do business — whether they are in the pet industry or not.
“It’s part of what makes Asheville different. We’re not so stuffy that we can’t allow pets to be in our store,” Phipps said. “In Asheville, people treat their pets like they are family.”
Tourism: Not just for humans
Though “Good Morning America” recently named Asheville as a top travel destination, Asheville regularly gets praise for being a pet-friendly destination, too.
The Travel Channel picked Asheville as one of its five pet-friendly U.S. towns in 2014. The same year, Purina ONE selected Asheville as a “perfect dog-friendly city.”
BringFido.com, an online pet-friendly travel guide based out of nearby Greenville, South Carolina, lists Asheville as one of its top 25 cities for dog owners in search of pet-friendly lodging and activities.
Accolades like those roll in almost every year, said Dodie Stephens, director of communications at the Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“It’s due to a variety of things that are similar to the reasons why their human counterparts are drawn to Asheville,” Stephens said. “We have this amazing outdoor setting with hiking trails and a national park, but we also have this downtown that is super dog-friendly with restaurants that welcome them on their patios.”
Dogs are also welcome to stay.
According to the latest lodging listings at the Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau, Asheville offers 86 pet-friendly accommodations — 33 hotels, 39 bed and breakfasts and 14 cabin companies. Stephens said she expects that number to increase.
Referencing a 9 percent growth in page views specifically on the pets section of ExploreAsheville.com, Stephens said, “We can see that Asheville’s pet travel resources are something that a growing audience of potential travelers are seeking out.”
Even the Biltmore Estate, one of Asheville’s biggest draws, welcomes dogs to enjoy its grounds. Though Fido cannot tour the house or enter other buildings unless they are a service animal, on-site kennels are available for free on a first-come, first-served basis.
At the Aloft hotel in downtown Asheville, guests who check in with man’s best friend receive a free “arf package” for their pooch. The canine gets doggie treats, poop bags, a squeaky tennis ball and access to their own dog bed. The human gets an Aloft logo water bottle.
“Instead of putting a rollaway in the room, we put a dog bed in,” said Aloft General Manager David McCartney. “We have approximately 22 dog beds. On many weekends, we put them all out.”
But the Aloft hotel in Asheville takes animal hospitality one step further than a fluffy dog bed by fostering adoptable dogs.
This summer, the hotel partnered with Charlie’s Angles Animal Rescue, a nonprofit rescue organization in Fletcher that saves cats and dogs from being euthanized at area shelters.
Since the partnership began in July, the downtown hotel has helped 14 dogs find their forever homes. Christine Kavanagh, director of sales at Aloft, said foster dogs are at the hotel an average of 7 to 10 days before they are adopted through Charlie’s Angels.
“We acclimate the dog very slowly here. We have a sleeping kennel in a private office,” she said as Bubbles, the 3-year-old dachshund-beagle mix the hotel is currently fostering, sat on her lap. “We try to make sure the dog is going to be comfortable. Then, they get to go out and make puppy eyes at people and find their forever families.”
As Bubbles sniffed her way around the hotel lobby, Kavanagh said, “We honestly thought we would only be able to help adopt out two or three dogs. Now we are on our fifteenth.”
Owned by jewelry maker Susan Marie Phipps, Charlie the cat does a trick for treats at Susan Marie Designs. The shop cat has even helped Phipps make sales in the past.
A growing demand
When Rachel Ackerman opened Pawsitivity Pet Spa, she knew her business idea would not be a far-fetched one in the Asheville community.
“There’s aromatherapy and calming music for dogs in the space,” Ackerman said of her pet spa, which opened last summer in West Asheville. “Styling is, a lot of times, a stressful experience for dogs. Over the years, I’ve realized that a lot of the stress is unnecessary. I just think that dogs do everything they can for their owners every day of their lives, and I want to make this an enjoyable experience for them.”
Painted in light blues and greens, the grooming salon provides a range of services to pamper pups of all breeds and sizes, including a bath in a custom tub with a choice between three different aromatherapy shampoos.
For $7, pet owners can even add a facial to their dog’s spa day experience.
Though Ackerman, 28, is not the first person in Buncombe County to open a pet spa, she said she does not see demand for pet business and services dwindling anytime soon. Within less than three months of opening, Ackerman said Pawsitivity Pet Spa was breaking even and has continued to generate revenue.
“I’m not going to pretend — it’s a good space to be in. There’s definitely money to be made in the pet business, but I think at the end of the day people know whether you’re in in it because you love it or not. For me it’s all about the dogs,” she said.
Despite economic downturns, the amount of money spent in the United States on pets has more than tripled since 1994. In 2014, Americans spent an estimated $58.51 billion on their pets, according to American Pet Products Association, a trade association.
During the last 20 years, there has not been one year where Americans did not spend more on their pets than the previous year.
When Kim Burress was laid off from her job four years ago, she decided she was going to go into business for herself. Though she was used to holding shears in her hands nearly 30 years as a horticulturalist, Burress said starting a mobile cat grooming business in 2012 has turned out to be a smart — though unexpected — career move.
After calling around to area groomers to see if they groomed cats and getting a resounding no from most, Burress decided to attend the National Cat Groomers Institute of America in Greenville, South Carolina.
“Cat grooming is a little more dangerous; it can be more dangerous than grooming dogs. Cats have the weapons of mass destruction — their nails,” she said.
In 2012, she launched her business, Calling All Cats. By being mobile, Burress said she can make the experience less stressful for cats and does not have to use any sedatives to get the felines to stay still while she gives them a shiny coat.
To date, Burress said her client base has increased by 25 percent.
But grooming services aren’t the only pet businesses getting local and tourist dollars.
After years of doing business in a converted farm house at the site of an old car lot in West Asheville, Patton Avenue Pet Company opened a second store to meet increased demand.
“It was really nice because when we opened in December 2011, there was definitely a need for it in West Asheville because the neighborhood has so many animals, and people didn’t want to drive across the bridge,” said owner Jenna Yarosh. “We really adapted our business based on what people were asking for: high quality pet food and supplies without high costs. We got a little too busy in that really small space, and that’s when we started exploring other options.”
Located in downtown Asheville, the second store opened in the summer and continues its tradition as a curated pet store. However, Yarosh said she has seen a difference in her canine-loving clientele in the downtown location.
“One thing we see a lot of in our downtown store is people who work downtown will bring dog to work,” Yarosh said. “We had two people come in today to get some chews to keep dog busy while they work.”
Though no data is available locally on the number of pet-friendly and pet-centric businesses in Asheville, there’s no question that animals are influencing the local economy.
“It’s not just Asheville, everywhere is trying to tap into the pet market,” Yarosh said.
Even at the Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau, Stephens said the decision to spend $1,000 to make a cat video showing Asheville’s holiday offerings in a fun and feline-centric way was intentional.
“The proliferation of pet businesses in Asheville are proof that the market is here,” she said.”We are marketing to pet lovers, for sure.”
Catering to canines and felines
Long before Ashley Garrison created the recipe for doggie ice cream four of five years ago, the Hop Ice Cream Café had been serving up sweet treats for Fido.
“We just thought it was a neat idea,” said Greg Garrison, who co-owns the ice cream shop with his wife, Ashley Garrison. “Back when we worked at the old Hop, when it was a drive-thru on Merrimon Avenue, we would give a small kiddie cup of vanilla yogurt to dogs if they wanted it.”
The idea for a simple, dog-friendly and yogurt-based ice cream grew out of working with the Animal Compassion Network for fundraising events, Greg Garrison said. To date, the banana and peanut butter flavored treat for Fido has become a staple ice cream flavor at both the North Asheville and West Asheville locations.
Other restaurants and businesses in town have their own ways of catering to their customer’s four-legged friends.
Jane Anderson, executive director of the Asheville Independent Restaurant Association, said local eateries have found a value in considering the tail-wagging companions of their patrons.
“I think our restaurants have just tried to embrace the fact that people that travel here and people that live here love animals, and they try to show that they’re animal-friendly and welcoming by putting out bowls of water,” she said. “The other thing that is significant is many of our restaurants give back to charities in certain ways, and many of them choose animal-oriented charities.”
During the annual Dine to be Kind event, local restaurants donate 15 percent of their breakfast, lunch, dinner and take-out sales to the Asheville Humane Society. Last year, more than 50 area restaurants participated.
Phipps, who owns Susan Marie Designs, said she regularly donates to both Brother Wolf Animal Rescue and the Animal Compassion Network. Charlie, she said, was adopted from the Humane Alliance of WNC.
For real estate broker Robbie McLucas, his loyal yellow labs, Tsali and Roan, are regulars in the office and at meetings outside of it.
Oftentimes, they sit under his desk. Otherwise, they stay within his line of sight. Though the pups do not know much about the real estate business, they have been coming to work at Town Mountain Realty with McLucas for five years.
“They’re just a very calming influence,” McLucas said. “If you’re having a bad day, you can take a couple of minutes to hang out with your dogs and it automatically makes you feel better and realize that sometimes things aren’t as bad as they seem. They help you take a step back.”
McLucas will take his dogs to meetings with clients around town. Sometimes, he will take them with him to show houses. While he talks about mortgages and square footage with the adults, Tsali and Roan can entertain his clients’ kids.
Part of our culture
Whether they are in the pet industry or not, business owners said the separation between customers with two legs and four legs matters not.
“People here in Asheville tend to value all beings,” said Ackerman at Pawsitivity Pet Spa. “I think that people just really value the life of animals here and are willing to look past the fact that they have four legs.”
When Phipps moved to Asheville in 1995, the pet-loving culture was one of the first things she noticed. Now, she said, she sees more dogs than she ever did.
“Pets make our lives uncomplicated,” Phipps said. “Being a small business owner is stressful, but Charlie always does something funny to make me laugh.”
As Charlie lounged in the storefront window beneath the floating jewelry cases on display, Phipps walked toward a wall near the back of her store. Alongside photos of her jewelry designs and a framed article from when she first opened in Bitlmore Village, four pictures of Charlie are framed on the wall.
One is a detailed and realistic pencil line drawing. The other is a colorful rendition of Charlie wearing a Christmas-colored party collar. The third was done in yellow crayon by a young girl named Chloe. The last one was drawn with pens and markers.
Phipps chuckled as Charlie jumped on the table where she often meets to discuss designs with clients.
Gov. Pat McCrory and N.C. Commerce Secretary John Skvarla, along with the Economic Development Partnership of NC, made the announcement Friday.
“White Labs is a leader in one of the fastest-growing industries in the country,” McCrory said in a news release. “By locating its East Coast operations in Buncombe County, it is establishing North Carolina as a key location for other companies related to the craft beer and wine industries.”
White Labs, based in San Diego, was founded in 1995 and supplies breweries, wineries and distilleries with fresh yeast and related products, including analytical services.
The Buncombe County operation will be its first on the East Coast, and will manufacture yeast for alcoholic beverage production, conduct sales and marketing, beer production, on premise beer sales, classes and retail sales.
In addition to San Diego, White Labs has operations in Davis, Calif. and Boulder, Colo.
“Buncombe County is becoming known around the country for its craft beer industry,” Skvarla said in the release. “North Carolina boasts the largest number of craft breweries in the South, with more than 100 breweries and brewpubs. It says a lot about the growth of the industry here that White Labs chose this part of North Carolina for its first East Coast operation.”
Salaries will vary by job but will include microbiologists, analytical services and brewing. The average annual salary will be $35,818. The average annual wage for Buncombe County is $35,784.
“At White Labs we are excited about being closer to our customer base in North Carolina and the East Coast, and having the opportunity to expand production to meet our industry’s growing needs,” Chris White, president and CEO of White Labs, said int he release. “We expect this facility to be our anchor for production needs east of the Mississippi and places beyond including Europe. The decision of where to locate our facility was difficult, and we made this decision based on the people we worked with, the city of Asheville, the great breweries in the area, and the quality of life we have witnessed.”
The project was made possible in part by a performance-based grant from the One North Carolina Fund of up to $40,000. The One NC Fund provides financial assistance, through local governments, to attract business projects that will stimulate economic activity and create new jobs in the state.
Companies receive no money up front and must meet job creation and investment performance standards to qualify for grant funds. These grants also require and are contingent upon local matches.
“These new jobs and this new facility are perfectly suited for Buncombe County,” Sen. Tom Apodaca said in the release. “White Labs is an industry leader, and they will find that coming to this part of North Carolina is an excellent decision.”
In addition to the N.C. Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership, other partners that helped with this project include: N.C. Community Colleges, Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County, Buncombe County and the city of Asheville.
MEMPHIS, Tenn., Jan. 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Tru-D SmartUVC LLC announced the company has been awarded a group purchasing agreement with the Premier, Inc., for room equipment infection prevention products. The new agreement allows Premier members to take advantage of special pricing and terms pre-negotiated by Premier for the purchase of Tru-D SmartUVC’s automated disinfection robot.
“This newly formed relationship with Premier will be key to our growth in 2015,” said Chuck Dunn, president and chief executive officer of Tru-D SmartUVC LLC. “Even more importantly, this contract gives thousands of acute care facilitates greater access to Tru-D, helping them to bolster infection prevention efforts in a time when we are constantly seeing hospitals seek methods to automate the room disinfection process.”
Proven by multiple third-party studies to be the most superior UV disinfection device on the market, Tru-D’s technology utilizes UV bulbs endorsed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy and guaranteed to deliver the most powerful and efficient germicidal UVC light energy to protect patients and health care staff. Tru-D is the only portable UVC disinfection system on the market with Sensor360 technology. This technology automatically calculates the time needed to react to room variables – such as size, geometry, surface reflectivity, and the amount and location of equipment in the room – and effectively delivers a lethal UVC dose in both line-of-site and shadowed spaces from a single, central location in the room. In addition, Tru-D users are able to collect usage efficiency analytics through the robot’s customized, secure cloud-based data tracking system, iTRU-D, which records and reports operational data to hospital staff.
About Premier, Inc. Premier, Inc. is a leading healthcare improvement company, uniting an alliance of approximately 3,400 U.S. hospitals and 110,000 other providers to transform healthcare. With integrated data and analytics, collaboratives, supply chain solutions, and advisory and other services, Premier enables better care and outcomes at a lower cost. Premier, a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient, plays a critical role in the rapidly evolving healthcare industry, collaborating with members to co-develop long-term innovations that reinvent and improve the way care is delivered to patients nationwide. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier is passionate about transforming American healthcare. Please visit Premier’s news and investor sites on www.premierinc.com; as well as Twitter,Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Foursquare and Premier’s blog for more information about the company.
ABOUT Tru-D SmartUVC LLC Tru-D SmartUVC is the device of choice for nearly all of the existing independent research on UV disinfection technology. Hundreds of Tru-Ds have been deployed to disinfect hospitals across the U.S., Canada, Europe and Africa, including the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland; Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust’s QMC campus in Nottingham, England; and Ebola Treatment Units at ELWA Hospital and Island Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia. For information and links to independent studies on Tru-D, visit www.Tru-D.com.
CONTACT INFORMATION: Ali Glemser Obsidian Public Relations 901-572-1042 Email
Kate Wentworth had what some would consider a dream life in the Virgin Islands for three years after college. Now, at 26, she’s bracing for a winter in a yurt in York County without electricity or running water. We called her up to find out what it was about the endless Caribbean summer that drove her to seek out endless winter.
ISLAND TIME: What was Wentworth doing in the Virgin Islands? Her dad has a search and rescue business on St. Thomas. She went down to visit a few times and then “my round-trip flight ended up being a one-way.” She worked for the National Park Service on a cleanup and restoration effort on Hassel Island.
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PARADISE LOST, INTENTIONALLY: Why leave? “I think maybe it was just living on an island that was 13 miles long (and had nine residents),” she said. “And getting tired of going to the beach.” But that sounds glorious. “I just saw a pattern developing, and I didn’t want to be a part of it,” she said. A pattern of stagnation. Ever since she finished college (she studied graphic design at the New England Institute of Art in Brookline, Massachusetts) she’s been shaking things up for herself.
SHAKE IT OFF (OR UP): She followed up her time in the Virgin Islands with a stint in Wisconsin, harvesting apples. Then there was an internship at the Turtle Island Preserve and education center in Boone, North Carolina. That didn’t last the full 14 months as scheduled; she had a disagreement with Eustace Conway, profiled by Elizabeth Gilbert in her pre-“Eat, Pray, Love” book, “The Last American Man,” during a serious cold snap when she was freezing. “I asked him for a few pieces of firewood and he gave me a big lecture on how our ancestors survived.” Then it was off to live with a boyfriend in a tepee in the Smoky Mountains. After they broke up, “I was like, ‘I am not done living in the woods or whatever it is I’m doing.’ ”
AND WHAT IS THAT? Trying to get back to basics. “Self-healing, growth, work on me,” she said. “I’m just trying to get in touch with my ancestral self.”
NOT SHIRLEY MACLAINE STYLE: Like past lives? Not exactly. Wentworth wants to get a feel for how her ancestors lived. The sight of “kids getting off the school bus with their phones in their hands, looking down like zombies” appalls her. “We don’t need this technology.” Although, it is useful for finding yurts. It was an ad she posted on Craigslist.org, offering labor in trade for free living in a cabin, that led her to the yurt.
IS IT COLD INSIDE? Generally the yurt stays cozy, thanks to the wood stove, which occasionally doubles as a cook top. (Wentworth worked out an arrangement with the landowners: She can help herself to any wood that’s already fallen, and that’s plentiful on the property). She also uses a propane stove for cooking. But during “two days of sideways rain” recently, her dog, a chow mix named Bruiser, let himself out at night and didn’t close the “door” behind him, soaking the carpets. She didn’t realize until she stepped on them. “Soggy wet socks is the last thing you want in the morning.”
MAKING FUN: Friends let her shower at their places once or twice a week in exchange for labor. Like mucking out horse stalls. She gets “ridiculed a lot for living the way I do.” How so? “They call me a granola at work,” she said. It took her awhile to figure that out; she didn’t realize it was a gently mocking term. That’s cool, though: “I find it funny because I love granola. I eat it every day.”
LIGHTS OUT: At night she uses her head lamp and a battery-operated lantern, but generally relies on candlelight. “I find I can get candles at Goodwill for like 25 cents.”
A STITCH IN TIME: How does a 21st-century 26-year-old pass the time in a yurt? Reading, hanging out with Bruiser and doing a lot of knitting. Her grandmother taught her how when she was a child. Right now she only knows how to make hats, handbags and scarves, but she’s equipped herself with books to take her skills to sweater-making level: “Because it’s going to be a long winter.”
DELIVERY WOMAN: There’s no rent on the yurt, but she’s got to eat. Wentworth pays the bills with a part-time job making deliveries for Long Horn Horse Pet Supply. This takes her out on Maine’s back roads, sometimes delivering to farms. “I love making those connections,” she said. Last summer, she worked on an organic farm in Buxton.
FARM FUTURES: Is she thinking of going into farming when the yurt experiment has played out? Having her own herd of sheep or alpaca for wool would be nice someday, she says. But not quite yet: “Maine is so big,” she said. “The world is so big.” Her mother moved around a lot when she was a kid. “Maybe that’s why I have this wanderlust,” she said. “I want to see everything and do everything, and I don’t think there is enough time in the world to do everything I want to do.”
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Nicknamed “The Camel City” for its involvement in the tobacco industry, Winston-Salem was voted the best place to retire in 2012 by CBS Moneywatch. The Moravian Church originally settled the area and their history is still rich in the city and surroundings. The RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company set up shop in Winston-Salem in 1875 and the clothier Hanes was founded there as well in 1901. Both companies are still headquartered there today.
Nowadays the city thrives in the healthcare and technology fields and has bustling art, shopping and culinary scenes. The musical heritage of the area is a diverse mix including bluegrass, blues, jazz, gospel, and traditional Moravian music.
They Say:
The community dates back to 1753, when the first Moravians in North Carolina settled on 100,000 acres known as the Wachovia Tract. These German-speaking Protestants established the first colonial town in the Carolina Piedmont and in 1766 established the town of Salem. In the twentieth century, businesses such as R. J. Reynolds Tobacco and the Hanes companies also shaped Winston-Salem by bringing remarkable wealth to the city.
The spirit of entrepreneurship that has characterized the city since its earliest days, and today as the city’s economy shifts from manufacturing to finance, medicine and technology. Winston-Salem is also known for its diversity of business and community and with a strong and unwavering commitment to the arts, excellence in healthcare research and technology, and opportunities for specialized and advanced education. – Visit Winston-Salem
Most of the Early Decision and Early Action decisions are in. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a few others are the slowpokes of the gang and won’t release their notifications until the end of January.
Hopefully most students have heard from at least a few colleges, and for many of them that means there likely has been a mixed bag of acceptances, rejections and deferrals.
If your child was deferred, there are some concrete steps to take.
First, follow the specific directions in the letter. If this is a school that your child is very interested in and is certain they would attend if accepted, don’t be shy about sharing that information with the admissions office. I suggest sending a personal (hard copy, not email) letter to your admissions contact.
Additionally, make sure your child forwards any updates on academic performance (first semester grades and test scores) and extracurricular activities. If they have won any awards (debate, Eagle Scout) or their team (Model U.N., soccer, drama, etc.) went on to regional, state and/or national competitions, tell the college.
What if they’re rejected?
Allow yourself and your child to express hurt and disappointment and then move on. Take a closer look at the other colleges on the list. You’ll need to review and revise the list if this deferral or rejection came from a school that you believed was a solid safety school. Check the deadlines on any new schools you add to the list.
Examine more closely the colleges where they’ve already been accepted and explore some other potential safety schools to determine which ones represent the best fit academically and socially and the most realistic fit for your family financially.
Review the essays that already have been submitted. Students can make up to three revisions on the Common Application essay. Allow someone else, perhaps a teacher, to review the essays and consider any critical feedback.
So how do you as a parent handle the sadness of the rejection? I won’t bore you with “this is one of life’s tough lessons,” although of course there is a valuable message buried deep in the platitude. But the bigger message here is your reaction. Your children will often model their behavior after yours, so if you react as if this is a crime against humanity and is totally unfair, they are just going to feel terrible about themselves.
Losses like these shouldn’t be sloughed off casually, but don’t overindulge the disappointment. This becomes especially true when parents may want the acceptance more than their children do or find themselves overly engaged in the process. I hear stories of parents who are unable to sleep, checking college websites in the wee hours of the morning to see if decisions have been released or scoping out how other seniors have fared.
STOP! This kind of obsession is only going to make it worse.
Your responsibility as a parent is to make sure your child has options next spring and to acknowledge that this disappointment will not scar them for life.
Lee Bierer is an independent college adviser based in Charlotte, N.C. Visit her website at www.CollegeAdmissions Strategies.com.
NEW BERN, N.C. – The city of New Bern installed new “wayfinder” signs pointing out major attractions for the city.
It’s part of its recent branding campaign.
But many people living in the city questioned how much of their city tax dollars were spent on the signs.
So we took those questions directly to the city.
“The city of New Bern paid zero dollars for the wayfinding sign campaign,” Colleen Roberts of the city said. “Those signs including the pedestrian ones you see on the poles here were the result of a grant from the North Carolina Department of Transportation and a donation from the Craven County Tourism Development Authority”
However, the city will pay for landscaping around one of the new signs located near the entrance of Union Point Park.
