Polk Lore

What role should local governments play in the national crisis we're living through? How far outside their comfort zone is it reasonable to ask county and city politicians to go? I don't have answers. But we can start at least acknowledging the problem.

Sources

Brevard City Council Feb. 3 meeting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DivXuyb0rVI

Panama hotels imprison US deportees:
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/19/nx-s1-5301668/panama-us-deportees-hotel

Blue Ridge Highway repairs
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/2025/02/18/blue-ridge-parkway-sections-still-closed-from-helene-what-to-know/78956829007/

WNC recovery at risk from Forest Service cuts
https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2025/02/18/us-forest-service-staff-were-working-on-helene-recovery-before-firings/78638333007/

Pentagon cuts are next:
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/14/nx-s1-5297896/elon-musk-doge-pentagon-dod

Within a few weeks, 141 Polk County voters have a very real chance of discovering that the ballots they cast in last year's election have been thrown out. All because the losing candidate in the election for an NC Supreme Court seat wasn't able to accept the outcome of the election.

One of those 141 is David Twiggs. He's not happy about that scenario — which is the subject of a court battle at the moment — and in this episode he explains why more is at stake than just a seat on the state's highest court (as if that isn't enough).

Find out if your ballot is also about to be thrown out at https://thegriffinlist.com

More details on the case at:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/State_Board_Meeting_Docs/Orders/Protest%20Appeals/Griffin-Adams-McGinn-Sossamon_2024.pdf

Chris Cooper's analysis of the challenged ballots:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/th1ipqxja56ypvjkskuad/challenged-votes-analysis3.pdf

There’s a long list of people who went above and beyond in the hours and days after Tropical Storm Helene smashed into the Blue Ridge Mountains. For some communities in Polk County, that list is dominated — not by first responders and other government employees who are paid to help when disaster strikes, because so many of them were trapped at home by blocked or washed out roads — but by those who could get out and those who had the rescue skills and the equipment the rest of us needed.

Among that list are a group of white-water paddlers who quickly recognized just how devastating the storm had been for both the people who live along the Green River, and the river itself. The new MountainTrue office in Saluda became a crucial staging ground for dozens of volunteer relief teams. That response, by people whose primary relevant qualification was their knowledge of the river, seemed astonishing to me. At least it did until I talked with Chris Wing, founder of the H2O Dreams paddling school, and one of the leaders of those relief efforts. 

Resources
Helene caused severe damage at Tuxedo power plant, Hendersonville Lightning, Dec. 12, 2024

H2O Dreams paddling school

 Green River Access

There's a little piece of Polk County you've probably never heard of. Tropical Storm Helene destroyed a bridge on the only road in and out. The story of how the folks who live their responded is worth hearing, because it changed the very nature of the piece of the county,

Resources

Brennan Center story on Big Hungry and Cliff Marr:

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/north-carolina-wont-let-hurricane-hamper-election

Globe and Mail story

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-in-north-carolina-officials-scramble-to-ensure-flooding-doesnt-dampen/

Washington Post story

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/04/hurricane-election-voting-north-carolina/

Had enough of election coverage? Stop tearing out your hair, because cued up next is just what you need: a politics-free discussion with Saluda singer-songwriter-composer Michael Flynn, a.k.a Slow Runner.

I’ve been bugging him for ages to do an episode of this show so we can talk about the economics of the music industry, Taylor Swift, and a certain song that he can't not sing, Finally, with the release of his new album, Yesterday Don’t Fail Me Now, he agreed.

Resources

(Old) age and interest in new music
https://skynetandebert.com/2015/04/22/music-was-better-back-then-when-do-we-stop-keeping-up-with-popular-music/

Homogenous pop music 
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/science-proves-pop-music-has-actually-gotten-worse-8173368/

Slow runner

https://slowrunner.net

One county commissioner runs afoul of his profession's state licensing board. One congressman tries to thread the needle of partisan disinformation. One podcasters tries to put it all in context.

Sources

IRS funding:

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2024/aug/28/donald-trump/fact-check-trump-falsely-said-harris-voted-to-hire/

Cooper and Biden calls:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/tim-moore-claims-biden-never-called-about-helene-response-but-he-heard-from-white-house/ar-AA1sJH1H

For every extra degree Celsius of warming, air can hold 7% more water.:

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2304077120

= Clausius–Clapeyron equation

and an increase in rainfall rates of approximately 13% per °C:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41612-019-0095-3

Sea surface temperatures

https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/sst_daily/?dm_id=world2

and

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ocean-heat-records-2024-climate

Pam Genant, who wants to represent about two-thirds of Polk County as a member of the US House of Representatives. Isn't she the Democrat who ran against congressman Patrick McHenry in 2022 for District 10? Yes. Here's how she ended up on our ballot this year:

Redistricting last year left Saluda and Coopers Gap in District 11. Tryon, Columbus, and Green Creek are now in District 14, which just happens to be home of state representative Tim Moore. It's now represented by Democrat Jeff Jackson, but the district is no longer so Democrat-friendly, and Jackson is running for Attorney General instead. Patrick McHenry, who represents District 10, decided not to run again, which left room for Moore to run for the seat, if we wants it. And he does.

So does Genant, and if you live in the District 14 portions of Polk County, she like your vote. (If you live in the District 11 parts of the county, please scroll back one episode to listen to my interview with Caleb Rudow.)

Either way, this conversation, which covers housing, healthcare, and other issues that everyone can relate to, will be useful for anyone not already committed to someone. My guest insisted upon showing up at the Saluda Library for our scheduled interview on Sept. 26 despite the impending tropical storm. 

Resources

Pam Genant campaign website: https://www.pamgenant.com

Find your district here: ⁠https://vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/⁠

State of emergency voting provisions: ⁠https://www.ncsbe.gov/news/press-releases/2024/10/07/bipartisan-state-board-unanimously-approves-measures-help-wnc-voters⁠

Polk County Board of Elections: ⁠https://www.polknc.gov/board_of_elections_2.php⁠

or ⁠828-894-8181

US Congressional District 11, in addition to being a bit of a cursed, and repeatedly gerrymandered, seat, is pretty darn spread out. Polk is on the eastern outskirts, and the the western end is the Tennessee line. There are a lot of counties in between here and there crying out for some attention, and we’re never going to be near the top of any candidate’s priority list. Making things worse this time around is the fact that Democrat Caleb Rudow and the Republican incumbent he’s trying to displace, Chuck Edwards, are asking for votes from only about a third of Polk County — the western and northern portions that cover Saluda and Sunny View. Thanks to our state legislature and the supreme court, everything else was transferred to NC 14 last year.

To be fair, Rudow paid a brief visit to our little corner of District 11 on Coon Dog Day. And I am sure he’ll pop by again before election day. But given how little local news coverage there is left these days, this interview might be your best chance to learn why Rudow wants a shot at representing us, and the rest of a district that hasn’t chosen a Democrat since two thousand ten. We talked in the Democratic Party’s Asheville headquarters.

Resources 

Caleb Rudow campaign site: https://www.rudowforcongress.com

Find your district here:
https://vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/

State of emergency voting provisions: https://www.ncsbe.gov/news/press-releases/2024/10/07/bipartisan-state-board-unanimously-approves-measures-help-wnc-voters

Polk County Board of Elections: https://www.polknc.gov/board_of_elections_2.php

or

828-894-8181

In the 2022 election for NC House District 113, Republican Jake Johnson, running for his second full term, received 27,267 votes, which worked out to all of them, because the Democratic Party of North Carolina couldn’t find anyone to run against him. Two years before that, Johnson, who was running to fill out the term left by the resignation of fellow Republican Cody Henson, drew 30,367 votes against 20,596 for the Transylvania businessman Sam Edney. The results in both years, in the district and in Polk County specifically, were pretty consistent, with the Republican candidate taking about 60% of the vote. 

So it’s easy to see why it might hard for the Democrats to scare up someone to bother running, given the long odds against winning. The state has been gerrymandered so fiercely that few seats are even remotely competitive. Two years ago, of the 170 state house and senate races, the Democrats ran a candidate in just 126, abandoning the rest to the Republicans, and ours was one of those 44 seats.

This time, though, the Democrats have left only two seats for the GOP to keep without a fight. The challenger for District 113 is Flat Rock’s Michele Antalec. Politics aside, you have to respect her willingness to mount a campaign, and even if she doesn’t win your vote, she at least deserves your gratitude for giving you a choice on the ballot. She met me at the Saluda Library a few days before the rains hit.

Resources

Michelle Antalec campaign website

https://www.michellenc113.com/home

Democrats leave races open

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/article283107143.html

Rob Parsons is the most recent addition to the Polk County Board of Education, which has to get at least some of the credit for that success. In this first partisan school board election in history, he’s running as a Democrat, and his Saluda seat is the only one that’s being contested by a Republican.

His fellow Democrat member, Rick Covil of Tryon, is running unopposed, and independent Cindy Allen, who represents White Oak, and was on Polk Lore  earlier this year while she was trying to qualify for the ballot, is facing only a Democratic challenger, Syd Mutschler. Rob has been the pastor of Saluda’s United Methodist Church for the four years or so. We talked in his office in Saluda.