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Keyword: blueridge

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  • After 4 years of construction and delays, upgraded SH-288 now open

    12/16/2020 4:05:41 PM PST · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 13 replies
    ABC 13 Eyewitness News Adware Farm ^ | November 30, 2020 | Katherine Whaley and Courtney Fischer
    HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The SH-288 toll lanes are open and you'll have to pay to use them starting today. Until now, the fees had been waived. Adjustable pricing is based on time of day and volume of traffic. In other words, if the lanes get too congested, toll prices will increase to control traffic. "I think you have to realize that the tolls will be managed based on time of day. If you're in the tolls during peak, it will cost a little more. If you're driving off peak, it will be less. And that's how they're designed," said...
  • Man dead after shooting on Blue Ridge Parkway (Roanoke, VA)

    04/10/2018 10:33:47 PM PDT · by Perseverando · 20 replies
    The Roanoke Times ^ | April 10, 2018 | Amy Friedenberger
    Facebook Twitter Email Print Save A man died after being shot on the Blue Ridge Parkway Tuesday during what an official described as a possible road rage incident. Chief Ranger Neal Labrie said two men were driving near mile marker 116, near Explore Park, about 10:15 a.m. when a road rage incident resulted in a shooting. Roanoke County police arrived to the scene within about 15 minutes. “We understand that one presented a weapon and the other responded with shooting,” Labrie said. One man was taken to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he died. His name has not been released,...
  • At Least 11 People Killed in North TX Storms: Police

    12/27/2015 5:38:34 AM PST · by gop4lyf · 17 replies
    NBC DFW ^ | 12/27/15
    At Least 11 People Killed in North TX Storms: Police Sunday, Dec 27, 2015 | Updated 7:20 AM CST Eleven people have died, including a young child, after severe storms spawned several tornadoes Saturday afternoon and evening in North Texas, officials say. National Weather Service Meteorologist Anthony Bain in Fort Worth said several tornadoes touched down, although the full extent of damage would not be known until daylight Sunday.
  • Operator of Blue Ridge Parkway inn fights to keep contract

    06/15/2014 11:14:03 AM PDT · by abb · 23 replies
    The Roanoke Times ^ | June 12, 2014 | Staff
    The operator of the Pisgah Inn on the Blue Ridge Parkway who defied the federal government shutdown last year now must fight to keep his contract. Bruce O'Connell has operated the inn for 40 years, the Asheville Citizen-Times (http://avlne.ws/1xNysyN) reported. O'Connell kept the inn open last year, even though the federal government shutdown brought an order to close during the funding dispute in Washington. The park concession contract is open for bid. O'Connell says he's not worried about fallout from his high-profile fight last year. He's more worried that a number of similar contracts recently have gone to big companies...
  • In your face, Spite House! Blue Ridge inn blockaded by Park Police reopens today [legal docs #80]

    10/09/2013 9:28:20 AM PDT · by abb · 97 replies
    Twitchy ^ | October 9, 2013 | Staff
    The Pisgah Inn on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina created a publicity crap storm for the Spite House when operators were forced to close during the government shutdown. The inn sits on federal land and despite the owner’s attempt to defy orders from the Park Police, he was forced to close his doors and throw away spoiled food during the height of fall foliage season. Today, the inn will reopen at 5 p.m. and all October reservations will be honored.
  • Blue Ridge Parkway Turns 75

    06/05/2010 7:07:23 AM PDT · by Frenchtown Dan · 20 replies · 326+ views
    Fox News ^ | 06/03/2010 | Unknown
    FLOYD, Va. - The construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway began as a project to put people back to work during the Depression. But 75 years later, the winding roadway has evolved into one of the United States' most-visited national park sites, drawing about 17 million people annually and bringing about $2 billion to surrounding areas. This year the National Park Service is celebrating the parkway's 75th anniversary with a variety of events, including a weekend festival in September. That makes this summer and fall a good time to enjoy hiking and camping, local arts, and small-town life along "America's...
  • The Blue Ridge Railroad

    02/20/2010 6:09:58 AM PST · by jay1949 · 10 replies · 560+ views
    Backcountry Notes ^ | February 20, 2010 | Jay Henderson
    The Blue Ridge Railroad was chartered and funded by the Virginia General Assembly in 1849 in order to build a rail link between the Piedmont and the Shenandoah Valley. After rejecting a route across Swift Run Gap, the state turned to French-born engineer Claudius Crozet, one of the founders and the first Commandant of the Virginia Military Institute, determined that a series of four tunnels could be built at reasonable expense at Rockfish Gap. [archival images.]
  • Backcountry Folk of the Virginia Blue Ridge

    02/19/2010 5:28:18 AM PST · by jay1949 · 29 replies · 815+ views
    Backcountry Notes ^ | February 19, 2010 | Jay Henderson
    The Shenandoah National Park displaced some 450 families from the northern reach of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. The Park meant the end of a generations-old way of life for the mountain folk, many of whom didn't want to leave. [numerous vintage photographs]
  • Lost Log Cabins of the Virginia Blue Ridge

    02/16/2010 6:45:28 AM PST · by jay1949 · 54 replies · 1,313+ views
    Backcountry Notes ^ | February 16, 2010 | Jay Henderson
    The establishment of the Shenandoah National Park displaced the traditional communities of Backcountry folk who had lived for generations in the Blue Ridge Mountains between Front Royal and Rockfish Gap. By and large, the houses, barns, and stores which were within the Park boundaries were not spared -- they were razed. [Vintage photographs]
  • Seven Generations of Service

    07/03/2009 10:36:06 AM PDT · by Congressman Billybob · 1 replies · 792+ views
    Special to FreeRepublic ^ | 1 July 2009 | John Armor (Congressman Billybob)
    I was asked to write a brief history of the Church of the Incarnation, in Highlands. North Carolina, for a local magazine. The piece was intended to be about the building itself, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, and was built in 1896. But you cannot research the history of a church without also researching the history of the people who brought that church into being. Of the dozen people who formed the congregation for this church, one was Sarah Whiteside Norton. She was the first non-native American child born in the Highlands area, the daughter of...
  • It Was A Dark and Stormy Night

    05/04/2009 5:30:44 PM PDT · by Congressman Billybob · 16 replies · 1,724+ views
    Special to FreeRepublic ^ | 4 May 2009 | John Armor (Congressman Billybob)
    Actually, it was a dark and stormy weekend. On Friday, right after the computer office closed, our tower-broadcast Internet access failed. It remained out until Monday morning. Meanwhile, Michelle and I had two articles each that were on deadline. But that was the easy part. We have a good friend who is an adopted grandmother, named Gibson Jefferson McConnaughey, almost 91 years old. A week ago, she was fine for her age. Thursday she was in the hospital with serious complications from a blood clot. Saturday morning she died. Until an hour before she died, she was conscious and talking...
  • Snow, Ice, and Lame Tom

    01/18/2008 6:56:44 AM PST · by Congressman Billybob · 16 replies · 707+ views
    Special to FreeRepublic ^ | 18 January 2008 | John Armor (Congressman Billybob)
    It is not just in people and places that cultural divisions raise their ugly heads. It also happens in weather. In my first fifty years, spent largely in Maryland and D.C., there were maybe five times that the weather was so bad I was trapped in my home. Now that I live on the top of a mountain in the Blue Ridge, being trapped at home by the weather is an ordinary circumstance that happens several times a year, and we prepare for it, routinely. People in most parts of the nation may consider the Weather Channel as not particularly...
  • Geology Picture of the Week, Nov. 25 - Dec. 1, 2007: Looking Glass Rock, NC, early autumn

    11/30/2007 10:12:30 AM PST · by cogitator · 8 replies · 118+ views
    Half-size: click for full-size. Found this with a search initiated on the term "exposed pluton". Looking Glass Rock turned up in that search, so I searched more until I found this picture.
  • Politics In this Neck of the Woods

    07/21/2007 8:46:56 AM PDT · by Congressman Billybob · 22 replies · 723+ views
    Special to FreeRepublic ^ | 20 July 2007 | John Armor (Congressman Billybob)
    If you’ve read many of these columns you know I’m addicted to politics. My spouse, among others, tells me to cut it out from time to time. You may also know I live in a restored farmhouse, at the end of a half-mile gravel road, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. There IS a connection between those two facts. Consider what happens to anyone in a high position in American politics – or running for such a position. I’ve observed the behavior of many men and women who are – or are running to be – Members of Congress, Senators, or...
  • Bar Fight in the Blue Ridge: The Coming Battle for NC 11

    06/15/2007 11:44:48 AM PDT · by Congressman Billybob · 22 replies · 1,168+ views
    Special to FreeRepublic ^ | 16 June 2007 | John Armor (Congressman Billybob)
    You’d think that what happens in western Carolina, in the 11th Congressional District, isn’t very important to the powers-that-be in Washington. That’s usually so. But not now. And two extraordinary events that have occurred a year and a half before the 2008 election for that seat, prove the point. Some of you are aware of the TV ads now being run by AFSCME that paint freshman Congressman Heath Shuler, NC 11th, as a good guy. The ad sponsor’s full name is American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. This union is committed to steady expansion of government at all...
  • Taylor Reports Have Million-Dollar Errors

    03/29/2006 11:22:26 AM PST · by Congressman Billybob · 12 replies · 663+ views
    The North Carolina Conservative ^ | 29 March 2006 | John Armor (Congressman Billybob)
    Every Member of Congress, and every candidate for Congress, is required to file Reports with the House Ethics Committee on their financial holdings and transactions. Apparently, few people take a serious look at these after they are filed. The Reports filed by incumbent 11th District Representative, Charles Taylor, for the last seven years (the ones available on-line) show five errors in excess of $1 million each, plus one unexplained item for about $20 million. These Reports are filed with the Clerk of the House but they “will be reviewed by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct [the House Ethics...
  • Why I Am Running in 2006

    02/09/2006 10:02:35 PM PST · by Congressman Billybob · 81 replies · 2,641+ views
    Special to FreeRepublic ^ | 10 February 2006 | John Armor (Congressman Billybob)
    I am running. For Congress in the 11th District of North Carolina in 2006. Here’s why: Many times I’ve urged my readers to visit the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. This is one of the most beautiful places in the nation, and the world. Millions of people agree; the Great Smokies are the third most popular park destination in the US. There is a power, a majesty, a soothing effect, in the mountains, the forests, the streams, the waterfalls. There is truth in the Bible verse, carved in the oak altar of First Presbyterian Church, Highlands, North Carolina, “I...
  • Report shows Smokies 'beginning to die' [ Our Forrests

    04/15/2004 2:54:31 PM PDT · by kemosabe · 116 replies · 831+ views
    Winston-Salem Journal ^ | Thursday April 15, 2004 | Associated Press
    GATLINBURG, Tenn. A new report by the National Parks Conservation Association on the future of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park paints a dire picture. "This park is beginning to die," said Tom Kiernan, the conservation group's president. "This assessment clearly shows the park is in danger, and its long-term viability is at risk." High ozone levels, acid rain, continued underfunding and a proposed road on the north shore of Fontana Lake in North Carolina are combining to endanger the park's future, Kiernan said. Much of the damage could be slowed or prevented if certain steps are taken, he said,...