Tag: north carolina

‘Redneck Air Force’ Reportedly Steps Up After FEMA’s Lackluster Response to Helene

Turns out that even in the face of unmitigated disaster and tragedy, good men can still step up — and with some humor in their hearts, as well.

As the American southeast continues to grapple with the debilitating aftermath of Hurricane Helene, many eyes have turned to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to see how the government organization would respond to this catastrophe.

Helene’s damage was a multi-state affair, starting in Florida and moving up the east coast through Georgia and Tennessee, ending up in North Carolina.

And it’s in the Tar Heel State that this story of good men with a sense of humor originates.

Asheville, North Carolina, continues to grapple with the cataclysmic fallout from Helene, with much of the city still looking like a ravaged war zone, weeks after the devastating storm hit.

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Grieving North Carolina families forced to bury dead in backyards as they blast FEMA for hurricane ‘cover up’

Grieving families in North Carolina have been forced to bury their dead in their backyards – and are accusing authorities of downplaying the damage caused by Hurricane Helene.

The official death toll rose to 227 over the weekend – half of whom were from North Carolina – but state and federal officials told The Spectator that this number is woefully inaccurate. 

Many bodies haven’t even been recovered amid debris and flooding. There are also piles of deceased people who have yet to be identified. They are being transported all over the state in hopes of finding open morgue space.

‘According to folks on the ground – fire, medical, law enforcement officials – they’re way underreporting the numbers. All the morgues are full and they’ve hauled a ton [of bodies] to Greensboro,’ the state official said. ‘People are starting to bury them in their yards because they have no place to put them.’

One individual who was in Asheville when Helene hit told The Spectator: ‘It’s so much worse than they’re saying…I think there’s a massive cover-up.’

The destruction from Helene, and the immense multi-state death toll, comes just days before Category 5 Hurricane Milton is set to barrel into Florida’s coastline.  

Helene made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida at night on September 26 before laying waste to Georgia and the Carolinas with record storm surges and tornados.

North Carolina alone had six confirmed tornados on the morning of September 27, two days before 500 members of state’s national guard were deployed to help with rescue efforts.

Locals say they are ‘pissed’ at General Major Todd Hunt, director of the North Carolina National Guard, for waiting a whole 48 hours to get boots on the ground.

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FEMA abandons devastated NC town residents because it can’t drive around ‘Road Closed’ sign: ‘Nobody’s been bringing in supplies except civilians’

Residents of a tiny North Carolina town that was almost totally destroyed by Hurricane Helene have been fending for themselves after FEMA told them that a “Road Closed” sign is an insurmountable obstacle for the agency to navigate.

“FEMA called me and told me they wanted to inspect my house, then called me back to say they couldn’t drive around the ‘Road Closed’ sign. They weren’t allowed,” local Chelsea Atkins, 38, told The Post.

“You can drive it by car for sure, it’s not that bad, you just have to drive around the ‘Road Closed’ sign. I explained that to them. They said they couldn’t,” she said, recounting her maddening exchange with the embattled federal agency.

Left to fend for themselves, Bat Cave residents banded together — opening the roads and starting the arduous work of cleanup and recovery. Residents told The Post that they don’t need FEMA now — and at this point, they don’t even want the disaster relief agency to come.

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As North Carolina Flood Victims Begged For Help, Mayorkas Went Boutique Shopping In Georgetown: Report

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas reportedly went on a luxury shopping spree in Georgetown this weekend as residents across southern Appalachia continue to beg for emergency supplies.

“Mayorkas, who was impeached by the House of Representatives earlier this year for his handling of the border crisis, was spotted by the Washington Free Beacon strolling through the mens section of Sid Mashburn, a high-end menswear store, surrounded by security,” the Washington Free Beacon reported Saturday. “He appeared to purchase some items at the store, where suit jackets go for as much as three thousand dollars.”

The Beacon noted that there are still more than 170,000 power outages in North Carolina “alone” and the death toll from Hurricane Helene stands at 227. Residents across flooded out regions of southern Appalachia, however, have been left without immediate disaster relief from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), an agency Mayorkas oversees as part of the Department of Homeland Security.

“They desperately need oxygen for stranded home-bound seniors. They need food, clean water, and shelter,” The Federalist’s Matt Kittle reported Friday. “Sadly, they also need bodybags.”

Residents have “been literally begging FEMA officials for critical supplies.”

Hurricane Helene crashed into Florida as a Category 4 storm and poured a record-breaking 40 trillion gallons of water across the South, washing away entire Appalachian towns. FEMA is typically proactive in disaster-response efforts, with pre-staged supplies set up where storms are estimated to hit, but such support was completely absent before the torrential downpours in Appalachia.

Last week, Mayorkas responded to the crisis by telling reporters FEMA was low on money.

“FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season,” Mayorkas warned on Air Force One. “We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have.”

While the residents of washed-out communities would dispute that their needs are being met by the federal government, FEMA has spent over a billion dollars in disaster funding on illegal migrants. FEMA’s website says the agency allocated nearly $364 million in the fiscal year 2023 and $650 million for the 2024 fiscal year to the “Shelter and Services Program” “to provide humanitarian services to noncitizen migrants following their release from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).’”

“Over the last 4 years the Biden-Harris admin has steadily transformed FEMA — the agency responsible for responding to natural disasters like Hurricane Helene — into an illegal alien resettlement agency that emphasizes DEI over public safety,” reported America First Legal, a conservative non-profit, which published a series of posts outlining where FEMA spent tax dollars.

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Hurricane Helene Destroys NC Town Containing ‘Purest’ Quartz Mines, Disrupting Semiconductor Industry

The devastation in a small North Carolina down from Hurricane Helene may cause unexpected issues to the semiconductor production industry, as nearly all of the world’s supply of a necessary mineral comes from that area.

The “purest form” of quartz is mined in Spruce Pine, which has a population of just 2,600 people, according to CNBC. 

With the town’s electricity and running water still out more than a week after the storm and raging flood waters ripped through the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the $600 billion global semiconductor industry may be crippled, the outlet reported. 

Before Helene, companies like Sibelco and The Quartz Corp. extracted the high-quality quartz before refining it and shipping it to global manufacturing facilities, primarily in China and other Asian countries. 

Those operations have all been placed on pause as the Appalachian community grapples with getting basic necessities such as food and water. 

Neither of the major companies has released a timeline on when they could possibly resume mining. 

“Hurricane Helene has significantly impacted North Carolina, USA, and the Spruce Pine community has been hit particularly hard,” Sibelco said in a September 30 statement, before saying that “many people,” including their own employees and families, are facing “displacement.”

“We have confirmed the safety of most employees and are working diligently to contact those still unreachable due to ongoing power outages and communication challenges,” the company continued. “As of September 26th, we have temporarily halted operations at the Spruce Pine facilities in response to these challenges.”

“The Spruce Pine community has been hit particularly hard,” Sibelco said in a statement on Sept. 30. “We have temporarily halted operations at the Spruce Pine facilities in response to these challenges.”

In a similar October 1 statement, the Quartz Corp announced that “operations at our facilities were stopped on September 26th in preparation of the event and we have no visibility on when they will restart.”

“This is second order of priority. Our top priority remains the health and safety of our employees and their families,” company officials added, noting that they have successfully made contact with all of their Spruce Pine workers. 

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Unmasking the Forgotten Villain: How Robert Doughton’s Secretive Anti-Liberty Agenda Still Haunts America and North Carolina Today

Few politicians have had as lasting and detrimental an impact on U.S. governance as Robert L. Doughton. 

Serving in Congress for over four decades (1911–1953), Doughton helped shape some of the most sweeping expansions of federal power in U.S. history. 

His policies, ranging from supporting high taxes to advocating for massive entitlement programs, left a legacy that prioritized government control over individual liberty. 

Despite being celebrated for his role in projects like the Blue Ridge Parkway, Doughton’s broader impact on personal freedoms and economic freedom casts a long, dark shadow. In examining his career, it becomes clear that Doughton was one of the most damaging figures to the principles of limited government and free markets in U.S. and North Carolina history.

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Helicopter pilot threatened with arrest after flying rescue missions in flood-ravaged NC

A South Carolina pilot who flew stranded Hurricane Helene victims in flood-ravaged North Carolina to safety claims he was told he would be arrested if he continued the rescue missions.

Jordan Seidhom was flying victims out of the devastation over the weekend when local leaders told him there was a flight restriction on the area and that they would have to arrest him if he continued making flights.

“There were other victims. As we were flying out leaving the area, we spotted within 300, 400 yards of their location [people] were waving for help as my son and I were leaving,” Seidhom told Queen City News.

After the storm wreaked havoc on the region, leaving hundreds of people stranded as entire roadways washed away, Seidhom read about a family that was stranded without water on a mountain in Banner Elk, a ski town heavily battered by the storm, and knew he had to take action.

“I thought, I have a helicopter, maybe I can help,” he told the outlet.

Seidhom, who once led the Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office narcotics unit, and his teenage son Landon flew out bottled water and food to the family on Saturday and decided they would set out to find other people in need of help.

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Sheriff says video shows man buying rope found around his neck, family says it’s left more questions

Some new developments in a high-profile death investigation in Vance County.

Last week, ABC11 Eyewitness News reported the death of a young truck driver, Javion Magee. He was found dead last Wednesday in a wooded area with his back up against a tree and a rope around his neck.

Vance County Sheriff Curtis R. Brame said there were no signs of foul play in Magee’s death and that it was not a lynching.

On Monday, the Vance County Sheriff’s Office released a video showing the moments Magee bought the rope the sheriff says was used in his death.

In the video, you see a man purchasing a utility rope from the self-checkout lane at a Walmart in Henderson. You then see him walking out of the store with the rope in hand.

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The Only Legal Marijuana Store In North Carolina Is Thriving—And Represents A Win For Tribal Sovereignty, Leaders Say

More than a week after legal marijuana sales kicked off to all adults at The Great Smoky Cannabis Co., in Cherokee, North Carolina, thousands from across the region have now made purchases at what’s currently the only regulated cannabis retailer within hundreds of square miles.

Marijuana remains outlawed for all purposes in North Carolina, and none of the state’s neighbors—Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina or Virginia—have legalized recreational sales. That puts Great Smoky, located on the 57,000-acre Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), in a unique and sometimes complicated situation.

Ahead of last year’s election in which the tribe legalized adult-use cannabis, for example, a U.S. congressman representing North Carolina introduced legislation that would have cut federal funding for tribes where marijuana is legal.

But since first opening to all adults 21 and older on September 10, the mood at Great Smoky has been celebratory. Tribal members—including Great Smoky’s general manager, Forrest Parker—and the thousands of non-members who’ve showed up in recent days are reveling in the significance of the moment.

Parker himself described the project as “the most inspiring thing I’ve ever been a part of.”

“We’re the first regulated cannabis in the Bible Belt—in this region,” he told Marijuana Moment in an interview last week. “When you go talk to some of these people, even if they’ve been waiting way longer than they expected, a lot of folks are showing up to just be part of history.”

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Thousands Flock To Tribal Marijuana Store In North Carolina, Where Cannabis Is Otherwise Illegal, For Launch Of Adult-Use Sales

More than 4,000 of people lined up at The Great Smoky Cannabis Co. this past weekend as the tribal marijuana retailer began the first-ever legal adult-use cannabis sales within North Carolina.

Michell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), which voted a year ago to legalize adult-use cannabis on its 57,000-acre Qualla Boundary, called the launch “a significant milestone for our tribe, marking a new chapter of opportunity and growth.”

“This initiative is our right as a Tribal government to assert our Sovereignty,” he wrote.

“I want to take a moment to personally acknowledge and thank everyone who has poured their hard work, time, and passion into making this day possible,” he said. “Your dedication has been instrumental in bringing this vision to life, and I’m confident that this is just the beginning.”

Sales began at 10 a.m. local time on Saturday, with any adult 21 and older eligible to buy marijuana products.

“It’s a special day for us,” Forrest Parker, general manager for Qualla Enterprises, which operates Great Smoky Cannabis Co., told the tribe’s newspaper, Cherokee One Feather. “It’s a special day for the Eastern Band of Cherokees, period.”

Videos posted to social media on opening day Saturday showed a long line of cars waiting to take advantage of the dispensary’s drive-thru.

“When you see the people in this line, it’s clear,” Parker said. “And it’s very validating, I think, to the plant and to the medicine that comes from the ground. Which, nobody understands that more than Indigenous people.”

Great Smoky Cannabis began selling medical marijuana on April 20 of this year. In July, the store began recreational sales, but only to members of EBCI and other federally recognized Indian tribes. Saturday marked the first time any adult 21 and older could purchase cannabis from the store.

Speaking to local reporters on Monday, Parker said the opening was “humbling” and that he expects even more activity as momentum builds.

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