To the editor:

Why do people choose to live in the Landrum, Tryon, Columbus, Saluda area? Is it accessibility to shopping malls and high end corporate retail shops that look like suburbia anywhere else in America? Is it more concrete and asphalt everything. I don’t think so.

I think what people are looking for when they move here is a slower pace of life, an appreciation of the beauty and sense of community that is this place we call home. Awe-inspiring mountain views, clear mountain streams, equestrian farms, peach orchards, vineyards, walking and riding trails, friendly people and small family owned businesses that you usually find the owner present in the business ready to greet you and catch up on family news and who really appreciates your business.

The Cherokee Indians said this area along the Blue Wall was where they came to recharge their Spirits. This area is truly amazing! We can drive 30-50 miles in any direction and have all of that other stuff but you can’t put a price on “amazing.”

I think the preliminary plans for the Duke Energy Western Carolina Transmission Enhancement have not been well thought out and would negatively affect this area’s best natural resource, the uniqueness that this area represents.

The proposed plans do not directly affect the cities and towns in our community because they pass outside the corporate limits of all of our municipalities, but the people who live outside our corporate limits visit our shops and restaurants and require the services of businesses that are located in our cities and towns. These folks are part of the lifeblood that keeps our communities alive therefore we are all connected, We Are One. To create havoc on one affects us all!

I think there is a better route for the proposed Western Carolina Transmission Enhancement project. If the objective is to supply the Fletcher, N.C. Power Plant and area with more power in anticipation of future growth, and the plan is to get that increase in power from the Oconee Nuclear Power Plant in Seneca, S.C., the most direct and shortest route is to follow Hwy 25 to Flat Rock, N.C.

One of the routes that is currently being proposed in the Western Carolina Transmission Enhancement maps shows coming from the sub-station in Campobello, S.C. and heading west picking up Hwy 25, and then north to Flat Rock. I think the more logical route would be to put the sub-station somewhere in the vicinity of Hwy 25 and Hwy 11, access the large transmission line there and avoid the Landrum, Tryon, Columbus, Saluda and Campobello. This route would be shorter, cost less to build, be a more direct route and would cause no adverse effect on this amazing place we call home.

R.B. Briggs
Mayor, City of Landrum