RUTHERFORDTON — Jock Brandis, a 2008 Purpose Prize winner and founder of The Full Belly Project, will offer his message of service to humanity to students, farmers and the public on Monday at Foothills Connect. Brandis, who is an author, movie special effects specialist and inventor, delivered the Purpose Prize to Foothills Connect Business & Technology Center Executive Director Tim Will, when Will received his $100,000 prize late last year.

Brandis designs and distributes agricultural devices that generate income for people in more than 17 developing countries, including Guyana, Haiti, Mali and Malawi. Brandis will demonstrate several of his small farm creations, including the Universal Malian Nut Sheller a hand-powered device made of concrete and simple metal parts, that shells peanuts and other crops from coffee beans to walnuts, and the Rocking Water Pump made of cement and old truck inner tube rubber that will pump eight gallons of water a minute up a 300-foot slope. Additionally, Brandis will bring his bicycle-powered corn cracker and several other low-cost, novel inventions that may be of use to the Foothills regional small farming business, Will said. On Monday at 8:15 a.m. he will visit with R-S Central High School students for a closed presentation, but the public will have the opportunity to meet Brandis at several venues throughout the day. At 1 p.m. he will be at Earthperks organic farm and garden supply store, at 976 Poors Ford Road in Rutherfordton. Call 287-7730 for directions.

Brandis will demonstrate his “universal nut sheller,” corn cracker and other equipment. At 2:30 p.m., Brandis will be at Kudzu Cow Farm, 722 Duncan Road in Rutherfordton, off of Jack McKinney Road in the Harris/Holly Springs community. Brandis will demonstrate his sustainable and inexpensive man-powered irrigation equipment at 5 p.m. at R-S Central High School (seminar room). An RSVP is required for this event at 641 U.S. 221 North, Rutherfordton. Brandis will give a presentation on sustainable agriculture and the future of the small farmer. Refreshments will be served, and reservations are required for this free event. Contact Anna Levitsky at 288-1650 to RSVP.

In Brandis’ travels around the world, he has seen the physical and economic results of hunger and poverty worldwide, Will noted. For his humanitarian work with small farmers Brandis has received multiple national and international awards. He was featured as a CNN Hero, and is one of this year’s Buckminster Fuller Challenge finalists, with winners to be announced June 5. Brandis is also a former Canadian
naval officer, a former CUSO and Oxfam worker, a McMaster University alumni, and a visiting speaker at the MIT D-Lab, Edgerton Center. The Purpose Prizes are awarded each year by the Civic Ventures Foundation http://www.civicventures.org/ to recognize persons more than 60 years of age who are leading social innovators in their “encore” careers.

More information on the Full Belly Project, a nonprofit organization based in Wilmington, is available at www.fullbellyproject.org

RUTHERFORDTON — Broad River Water Authority ended drought restrictions at their March meeting Tuesday night and agreed to hear a proposal from Foothills Connect on using their water towers for high speed Internet service. Jim Brown of Foothills Connect Business and Technology Center came before the BRWA board to talk about the newly formed Foothills Connections — a point-to-point wireless Internet service that hopes to use the utility’s water towers for their radio transmitters free of charge.

“It has been very clear to me for a long time that broadband access has become just as much a part of the infrastructure as water lines, roads, electricity and all of those things we all help maintain,” Brown said. “Foothills has been in existence since 2005 and one of our concerns has been not to compete with private business. We have waited five years and no one has stepped forward to offer broadband access to the rural areas of Rutherford County.”

Foothills will be partnering with Skyrunner — a wireless provider out of Asheville. Brown said there were several areas of Rutherford County where residents were lucky to get dial-up access to the Internet. Foothills has worked on government grants to get 100 miles of high speed broadband fiber optic cable placed in the county for schools and public services. “The students have great access at school now, but when they go home, they may not have access at all,” Brown said. “Our role here is to provideaccess not make money. We’re offering an ultra-level access for $60 a month and if you choose that level you’ll get the highest level of access we can offer and $10 each month will go toward our scholarship fund to help students get access at home.”

The board voted unanimously to allow Brown to come back soon with a formal proposal for free use of the towers for one year. In other business, the board also voted to extend developer agreements for three years that govern refunds for water line connections. Previously, government issued permits had a two or five year expiration date, but because of the economic slowdown state law has been changed to extend the deadlines. The utility has several agreements in place for when a developer puts in a waterline. For every tap made by a new home, BRWA pays the developer $2,500. The utility pays $1,000 and $1,500 comes from the customer, up to the amount the developer spent on the water line. There are about 51 sites eligible for refunds and since 2007 BRWA has only paid out five. The board voted unanimously to extend each of the agreements by three years. Finally, the board heard a report that the county has been out of drought conditions since September 2009, and so voted unanimously to end stage one water restrictions.

RUTHERFORDTON — Foothills Connect Business and Technology Center is seeking funding to develop a landfill gas/hoop house project at the closed county landfill. The project aims at utilizing greenhouse gases currently being vented into the atmosphere from the landfill to heat, during the coldest part of the winter, 100,000 square feet of inexpensive, transportable, horticultural hoop houses made of PVC, wood and sheet plastic. The hoop houses would be on five acres of county property adjacent to the landfill near the corner of Laurel Hill and Industrial Park roads. The project is estimated to cost $1.1 million, of which $400,000 is being requested through the N.C. Rural Center’s Economic Innovations Grant Program.

The heated hoop houses will be leased to 20 to 25 formerly displaced workers who have
received sustainable horticulture training. The fresh, local, sustainable or organic winter produce grown there will be sold in the market of restaurants, residences and distributors that Foothills Connect has developed, primarily in the Charlotte area. The project seeks to utilize the estimated 20 metric tons per year of landfill gases being vented out of the Rutherford Landfill through contractual agreements assigning rights to Foothills Connect and possible reassignment to a carbon credit broker. The letter of intent sent to the N.C. Rural Center says that the Environmental Credit Corp. of Chicago has expressed a willingness to provide $500,000 to develop the landfill gas collection infrastructure. They would do this in exchange for a large portion of the carbon credits. Another possible source of funding for the hoop house project would be $200,000 from the North Carolina State Energy Office’s Implementation of Methane and Greenhouse Gas Technologies Program.

The Rural Center grant pro-gram for green” projects reportedly has received 152 letters of intent and more than $28 million in requested funding. With only $4.8 million available for grants through the program for the year, the process is expected to be highly competitive. Tim Will, executive director of Foothills Connect, said Saturday afternoon that he has just received some encouraging news about prospects for getting the Rutherford project funded. He said it appears that Environmental Credit Corp. is ready to move ahead with potential new contracts, so the Foothills Connect project may be one of those selected. He also said there are other active carbon credit brokers who may be interested. Will said the North Carolina Energy Office plans to provide funding for the installation of landfill gas facilities that capture and convert greenhouse gases into energy, using money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program. Under that competitive solicitation, a maximum of $1 million could be received for a project. Only a city or county government would be eligible for the funding. Foothills Connect already has been in touch with the county about help with the landfill project.

RUTHERFORDTON — Foothills Connect has been awarded a $240,000 grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation to expand its Farmers Fresh Market project to two other business and technology centers in North Carolina. The grant is one of 11 authorized recently as part of the foundation’s Local Foods Initiative. The 11 grants total $1.8 million and will help fund ways to “improve and expand farmers’ access to commercial, institutional and retail markets that are increasing their use of local foods…”

Tim Will, executive director of Foothills Connect, has already begun the process, meeting recently with farmers touched by the Rockingham Business and Technology Center in Rockingham County. The Farm Fresh project uses a website to allow farmers to post and see their produce. In Rutherford County, farmers sell to chefs of Charlotte restaurants. Ongoing communication between the two groups helps identify specialty crops the chefs need. Prior to the establishment of Farm Fresh, chefs said produce would often have to travel 1,500 miles to reach their facilities. When buying from Farm Fresh, the chefs usually received produce picked within the last one or two days. More than 90 farmers — most using small plots of land and sustainable agriculture techniques — are utilizing the www.farmersfreshmarket.org Web site to sell their produce.

During the next year, Foothills personnel will work with the other business and technology centers to establish a similar program in those locations. Foothills was established in 2005 as part of the statewide effort to expand the penetration of broadband access to the rural areas of North Carolina and to encourage the use of technology to create more opportunities for local jobs and businesses. During a visit to Rutherford County last year, state Agriculture Secretary Steve Troxler praised the program for its contribution to the growth and diversification of the local economy. During this week’s Institute for Emerging Issues Conference held in Raleigh, Gov. Beverly Perdue cited Foothills Connect as an example of a creative use of social media to affect change in economically challenged communities.

RUTHERFORDTON — County Commissioners voted 3-2 Monday night to approve a contract with PANGAEA Internet to maintain and operate the $1.4-million fiber optic cable network in the county. Commissioners also endorsed a methane gas project at the county landfill and held a public hearing on an incentives agreement for an Italian textile company that is considering locating here and bringing 32 new jobs.

After months of discussion, Commissioner Paul McIntosh moved to approve the current agreement with PANGAEA with the understanding that the deal will be renegotiated when the contract expires in November. Omar Causey, a former broadband Internet engineer from Florida, addressed the commissioners to try and voice some concerns with the contract and asked what would happen if Polk-County-based PANGAEA went bankrupt while being in charge of the county’s fiber. He explained he felt a federal judge would say the county had lost its rights to its own network. “But at this point I think this horse has already left the barn on this deal and you should approve the contract,” Causey said. He also asked about a PANGAEA arrangement where the company got to “piggyback” eight miles of fiber on the county’s network for about $1,000 a mile — or $8,000 total. The normal cost is $25,000 a mile.

Commission Chairman Brent Washburn explained that the county had an Please see County, Page expansion contract in place with PANGAEA that gave the county the same consideration should PANGAEA expand fiber.

“We can piggyback with them, too,” Washburn said.

Commissioner Margaret Helton read an e-mail from David Reno where he asked if it was true that someone at PANGAEA had already set up a pole attachment agreement with Duke Energy as though PANGAEA was already in charge of the county fiber network.

“He said these questions have not been adequately addressed and that it appears someone at PANGAEA overstepped their bounds,” Helton said. “Has this been addressed?” “I don’t really discuss those kinds of contract details with average citizens,” County Manager John Condrey countered. “I would be happy to discuss those kinds of questions with you as the county board in closed session with our attorney present.”

Before the final vote, Commissioner Susan Crowe made an amendment to the motion that Washburn should sign the contract for the county and not Condrey. The amendment was passed unanimously, but the motion vote was three to two with Commissioners Eddie Holland, McIntosh and Washburn voting for it and Commissioners Helton and Crowe against. Commissioners gave Foothills Connect Executive Director Tim Will permission to proceed with writing a grant for a plan to capture methane gas from the county’s landfill on Laurel Drive. The project would use some methane for heating a 100,000 square foot greenhouse to help grow specialized crops for the Farm Fresh project to sell produce to restaurants in Charlotte. And it would also sell carbon credits and use some of the gas for electricity co-generation with Duke Energy. Will estimated the project would cost $1.1 million but would not require county funding. During public comments, Zoran Naskov supported the methane gas project, but advocated the county sell — not lease — land at the landfill to Foothills Connect. Commissioners will wait and see if Will can get the grant from the N.C. Rural Center. Commissioners hosted a public hearing on an industrial incentive package for Italian company Saati, Inc.

If the compensation is approved, the county will set up a five-year property tax forgiveness program and in exchange the synthetic fabrics company agrees to invest at least $4 million in the county and create 32 jobs over the course of the five years. The company’s highly specialized textiles are used to make lightweight weaves for aircraft construction and body armor products like bulletproof vests. Commissioners will review the agreement at their March meeting. In other business, the board also appointed several board members to the fireman’s relief fund boards at the various fire departments in the county. But first, Commissioner Crowe moved to separate the appointments for the S-D-O department because the nomination came from the fire chief and not from the S-D-O board.

At first, it looked as though Holland voted in favor of Crowe’s motion. But when Washburn called for a revote due to confusion Holland voted against Crowe’s motion. The motion failed, and then commissioners voted to make all of the appointments — including S-D-O — by a margin of three to two with Crowe and Helton voting against. The men appointed from the various departments were: Reggie Vess, Bill’s Creek; Darrell Toney, Cherry Mountain; Richard Price, Cherry Mountain; Peter O’Leary, Chimney Rock; Brian Gill, Chimney Rock; Monroe Ensley, Cliffside; Tommy Phillips, Cliffside; Charles Vassey, Ellenboro; Keith Lowery, Ellenboro; Gary Wilson, Fairfield Mountain; Tom Pawelko, Fairfield Mountain; Eddie Parker, Green Hill; W. Coy Morgan, Green Hill; Frank Hodge, Hudlow; Fred Burgin, Jr., Rutherfordton; Calvin McGinnis, Rutherfordton; Paul Chapman, S-D-O; Scott Morrow S-D-O; Bryan Melton, Sandy Mush; Brandon Greene, Sandy Mush; Alan Duncan, Shingle Hollow; Wanda Conner, Union Mills; Alvin Nanney, Union Mills. County Tax Administrator Kep Kepley was given directive to publish the names of delinquent taxpayers in The Courier.

By SCOTT BAUGHMAN
RUTHERFORDTON — County commissioners will hear a proposal to make money from trash as part of their February meeting Monday night. But first commissioners will preside over a public hearing for an industrial incentive for an unnamed industry that is considering coming to the county. The hearing will address grants that could be up to $400,000 for industrial development. The company would have to commit to invest at least $4,000,000 and to create between 35 to 50 jobs before the end of 2012. Representatives from Foothills Connect will propose the county support the methane gas collection at the county’s landfill on Laurel Drive.

“I stumbled upon this idea in the Peace Corp 30 years ago,” said Foothills Connect Executive Director Tim Will. “I refined it and County Manager John Condrey is very interested in what we’re doing. We’ve been meeting with SWEEP and brought in a landfill consulting engineer.” The project is still in the planning stage, but Foothills Connect representatives will suggest to the county what pipes be installed in the landfill to collect the methane gas produced from the decay of the waste. This gas can be used for electricity co-generation and the power then sold to Duke energy. The utility is interested in the power generation method because of its more ecologically friendly side effects of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the county’s landfill. But the Foothills Connect plan doesn’t stop there. “There are companies willing to come in and work with county landfills to put together collection infrastructure – primarily pipes – to collect the methane gas to be used for co-generation of electricity and also to use the heat from the generators to heat greenhouses,” Will explained. “We can build this 100,000 square foot hoop houses and get a 12 month out of the year agricultural industry going on.” The Farm Fresh Market, which allows local growers to sell specialized produce to Charlotte restaurants, would be a prime user of the greenhouses. “Number one on the list of crops that we want to grow year round are heirloom tomatoes,” Will said. “The main deterrent to doing that is the cost of the heat. Well, this way the heat would be free. We can use this also as a training round for our farmers to learn about running their own small business in the greenhouse.” Commissioners will be asked support the project, and express a nonbinding desire to give the rights to the methane as to Foothills Connect.

“Conceptually, the county staff supports Foothills in their effort,” said Condrey. “SWEEP has also participated in these discussions and is fully supportive of the project going ahead.” In other business, commissioners will make appointments to the board of equalization and review, the workforce development commission, and the board of trustees for fireman’s relief fund. Commissioners will also discuss a contract with PANGAEA for Internet service and the fiber optic network that has been installed in the county from a $1.4 million Golden LEAF grant. Several groups in the county have asked commissioners to reconsider a contract that gives the network to PANGAEA for $10 and let the contract for bid by other Internet service providers. Commissioners postponed the vote on the contract at their January meeting and will address it again Monday. More items may be added to the agenda. The February meeting of the Rutherford County Commission will be Monday at 6 p.m. at the County Annex.