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Ankr/Exponential Digital’s unenclosed crypto-mining facility on Harshaw Road in Murphy has become the bane of many surrounding residents’ existence. It’s incessant noise has made sleeping difficult for some, lowered the quality of life for many and annoyed nearly everyone.
Residents have looked to the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners for help in the matter, but there’s little the government can do to stop someone from taking advantage of their personal property rights. Because our county does not have zoning nor business license requirements, we can’t kick out certain businesses just because they aren’t necessarily being good neighbors.
Updating the county’s noise ordinance is the latest attempt to solve the problem, though the county attorney says the punishment of $50 “per violation” can’t change as a Class 3 misdemeanor. However, the proposed level of 50 decibels could create even bigger problems.
Several years ago, local officials recruited Core Scientific to the county with a strong sales pitch, including incentives, which led that crypto-mining company to hiring dozens of residents while investing millions of dollars into the former Coats American plant in Marble. The enclosed facility is quiet to the neighborhood, yet it still may exceed 50 decibels.
If a noise ordinance, especially one passed after businesses already opened, ended up leading to shutdowns of both Ankr/Exponential Digital and Core Scientific, those companies could reportedly lose millions of dollars per day in revenue. Their only recourse to regain that would be to sue the county. Do we want to end up with the short end of a multimillion-dollar stick in court again?
Without a doubt, residents deserve help with this issue. But at the same time, we must be careful how we proceed with any new ordinances, less the consequences create a much bigger problem.
Many thanks in rescue
A 38-year-old Murphy woman walking with her 3-year-old daughter in Joyce Kilmer Forest was far from the first person to think they were on the upper loop of the Memorial Plaque Trail, when actually it was the Naked Ground Trail. The result was a nearly 12-hour ordeal that didn’t end until 3:26 a.m. May 1.
Thankfully, this story has a happy ending. The Graham County Rescue Squad – including members from the Snowbird and Meadow Branch units – responded to the call around 8 p.m. April 30. The experienced rescuers were fairly certain of where she probably was and began searching the Naked Ground Trail.
Squad members Tory Lynnes, Brent Eller and Larry Crisp went ahead searching for the hikers, while other members brought in a basket stretcher. After 11:30 p.m. and fighting through fallen trees, the woman and her daughter were found at an elevation of about 4,920 feet. Searchers took turns carrying the little girl until they met the other squad members.
This incident could have had a sad ending if it wasn’t for the brave and unselfish volunteers and workers, who gave up their Saturday night to search for a stranger. We’re grateful to know you’re there if we need you.
The rebirth of nepotism
It’s understandable why three members of the Andrews Board of Aldermen decided to rescind the town’s anti-nepotism policy last month and allow supervisors to hire family members to work in
their departments. However, it’s perfectly understandable why Mayor Pro Tem Brandi Smith was “extremely against” it.
“It will open up the god-awfulest can of worms,” Smith said, using a fantastic Southern word in the process. She added that the decision could open a “can of worms” in the future.
While hiring the sons of Andrews Police Chief Rocky Burrell and Recreation Director James Ellis can be justified under today’s circumstances, there will come a time tomorrow when we’re not talking about temporary part-time positions, but full-time careers. If a family member is hired then over a more experienced or qualified applicant, the noise will reach crypto-mining levels.
Mayor James Reid’s conclusion of the matter was, “We just have to use good judgment,” and he’s absolutely right. Let’s hope future mayors and board members also exercise good judgment in hiring decisions, or else they’ll wish the nepotism policy had remained in place.
Storm can’t stop worship
In Mark 4:35-41, the Holy Bible shares the story of Jesus calming a “furious squall” that threatened to sink the boat he was traveling in. On May 6, that storm came to Murphy, destroying the Big Gospel Tent set up in the shadow of Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River Casino & Hotel.
Instead of picking up the pieces and going home, Voice of Hope Ministries and local coordinators did quite the opposite – they extended the Western North Carolina Awakening crusade for another week and moved it just down the highway to First Baptist Church of Murphy, where it wrapped up Friday night.
As an independent voter who attends an independent church, I admire the spirit of interdenominational Christian unity that is at the heart of the crusade. It’s rare for church leaders to make their own congregation secondary and put the overall movement of God first, but many people say that’s exactly what happened over the last month in Cherokee County, with dozens of people reportedly turning their lives over to God in the process.
Evangelist D.R. Harrison’s moving testimony, which you can read in the May 11 edition of the Cherokee Scout, undoubtedly helped some people make that decision. But even more than that, folks saw what God was doing and wanted to get involved. Let’s hope that positive feeling remains well after the tent is long gone.
– Publisher David Brown