T1

Tuesday, deCeMber 4, 2012

Give thanks by giving back this holidayWhitney WeaverStaff Writerwweaver@heartlandpublications.com

For over 20 years, volun-teers of the Ashe Services for Aging home-delivered meals program have expe-rienced the gratification of helping others as they brought meals and friendly greetings to disabled or el-derly recipients, but there is always a need for help-ing hands – and wheels to

deliver meals to approxi-mately 70 Ashe County residents.

“These people are the sweetest in the world and so appreciative,” said Betty Ball, who has been deliver-ing Meals-on-Wheels for around 13 years.

Ball began making her rounds through the wind-ing back country roads after she retired from mak-ing her rounds through the hospital halls as a nurse.

Though she knows every route in the county, she now makes the 57-mile trip through the Horse Creek routes, visiting 14 indi-viduals every weekday in order to bring them lunch and some kind words.

Driving from house to house, she stopped for a few minutes and talked to each person, asking how they were doing and if they had plans for the holidays. “Some of them really like to talk,” Ball said.

At one stop, a resident

gave Ball some apples, and on the way out, she said, “Some of them like to give you things, and it just tick-les them to death. It makes them feel good to give you something in return.”

Several of the seniors to whom Ball delivers live alone, but when their chil-dren visit, Ball gets even more appreciation. The son of one client was vis-iting for a few days, and after hearing what extra lengths Ball went to for his

Volunteer for Meals-On-Wheels

Whitney Weaver | Jefferson PostMeals-on-Wheels volunteer, Betty Ball (right), stops for a chat and a hug as she delivers a hot meal to Arlene Davis (left).

Whitney Weaver | Jefferson PostFinancial Consultant Amy Miller and Ashe Market President Martin Little present the donation box and collection jar for Feeding Families for Christmas at the Mount Jefferson location of LifeStore on Tuesday morning.

Help LifeStore feed families for ChristmasWhitney WeaverStaff Writerwweaver@heartlandpublications.com

Many families in Ashe County live in poverty are struggling to feed their children, so the classic Christmas meal during which the family gathers around a table laden with their favorite holiday foods may be just a fan-tasy without the help of gener-ous donations.

LifeStore Financial Group invites the public to help bring Christmas to these families by donating food items to help those in need.

When school is in session, school age children receive meals at school through the free and reduced lunch program. Once the Christmas break be-gins, many of these children will

not have such meals, and will only be able to hope they have a meal for the Christmas holiday.

In conjunction with Ashe Outreach Ministries, LifeStore Bank and Insurance is collect-ing food items so Ashe County families in need can prepare a Christmas dinner. LifeStore asks you to show your support by dropping off non-perishable food items, suitable to serve for a holiday meal, at any LifeStore location between now and Dec. 19.

If you prefer to contribute money to go toward the pur-chase of needed items, there are collection cans inside LifeStore locations.

Help make a difference for those in need this holiday sea-son. LifeStore and Ashe Out-reach Ministries thank you for

helping others enjoy this Christ-mas tradition.

Items like canned vegetables, potatoes or canned meats can go a long way in helping these families prepare a delicious Christmas meal. The following items are suggestions for dona-tions:

• Canned vegetables• Side dish ingredients

(brown sugar, butter, flour)• Marshmallows• Canned cranberry sauce or

jar of applesauce• Canned pumpkin and

piecrust mix• Canned milk• Canned ham• Biscuit or roll mix• Package of stuffing• Prepared rolls (last week

only)

Submitted Photo | Jefferson PostAppalachian Women’s Fund board member, Cathy Williamson (right) listens as Robin Falkner and Tonya Roark (left to right) with the Ashe County Partnership for Children talk about how A Safe Home For Everyone and the Threads of Hope thrift store benefit women in Ashe County at an AWF “friend-raiser” social Friday night.

Women helping other women help themselvesWhitney WeaverStaff Writerwweaver@heartlandpublications.com

Formed in 2007 by 24 women representing the medical, legal, education-al, realty, insurance and banking professions, Ap-palachian Women’s Fund (AWF) has contributed over $300,000 in grants to women in need in the mountains of North Caro-lina.

On Friday night, Nov. 16, Kay McCloskey, mem-ber of the AWF board of di-rectors, opened her home as a venue for a “Friend-raising” event.

The event’s purpose was to celebrate achievements of the AWF and bring women together to discuss women’s issues such as do-mestic violence and other forms of abuse, and the re-sources available to those who decide to assert their independence from damag-ing relationships.

McCloskey said she got invlolved with the AWF by attending a Women of Vi-sion luncheon at which Liz Murray spoke. Murray’s in-spiring memoir “Breaking Night” was the basis of the television movie “Home-less to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story.”

“While women’s issues have always been impor-tant to me, this particular

story just blew me away. This woman’s determina-tion was so inspirational. So many women are deter-mined, but just don’t get the breaks. The Appala-chian Women’s Fund helps women get those breaks,” said McCloskey.

President of the Board of Directors Jean Brooks said, “The goal of the Appala-chian Women’s Fund is to build a network of women who will work together to identify and address needs in all parts of the county….We would like to spread our influence through members in Ashe. We have huge ambitions for our-selves, and the only way we can make them happen is to grow membership here.”

Executive Director Parker Stevens said that the AWF serves eight counties and works closely with agencies for abused women, assisting them through grants and volun-teer projects. Stevens gave statistics about the status of women in the area, be-ginning with the fact that 20 percent of women are living in poverty, which translates to one in five. “That’s pretty astounding,” said Stevens.

She went on to say 50 percent of single mothers live in poverty, on average, women in this area make

Whitney Weaver | Jefferson Post

Kay McCloskey hosted a “friend-raiser” event at her home Fri-day evening to spread the word about the Appalachian Wom-en’s Fund, a grant making organization benefiting women in need. Pictured (left to right) are Parker Stevens executive director of AWF, Jean Brooks AWF board chair, Kay McCloskey AWF board member, Alice Atwood and Dee Peterson.

Rescue squad apologizes for miscommunicationJames HowellStaff Writerjhowell@heartlandpublications.com

Officials with the Ashe County Rescue Squad said it has “no plans” for the land on Clarence Lyall Road outside West Jef-ferson, property that also involves the Fleetwood Volunteer Fire Department and local business owner Steve Halsey.

“On behalf of the rescue squad, I would like to apol-ogize to Steve (Halsey) for any miscommunication we’ve been involved in,” said Captain of the Ashe County Rescue Squad Ricky Roark.

This apology is in re-sponse to a proposed land swap offered by the Ashe County government, which came to a boiling point during a commis-sioners meeting on Nov. 5 that Halsey and officers of the Fleetwood VFD at-tended.

“I feel like I’ve been pushed into it (the land swap), one way or anoth-

er,” said Halsey during the Nov. 5 meeting.

In July 2011, the Fleet-wood VFD leased land ad-jacent to property owned by Halsey through 2099.

Against the advice of the county, the Fleetwood VFD spent more than $15,000 to install a un-derground water tank on the newly-leased property, only to discover the N.C. Department of Transpor-tation currently owns that piece of property for the future widening of 221.

Because of this, mem-bers of the Fleetwood VFD are concerned the county could force them to move their tanks and then use the land for a building to house Ashe County Res-cue Squad equipment, said Fleetwood VFD Chief Steve Craven.

“There were talks of us-ing that land for a rescue squad building during the early stages of the land swap,” said Ashe County Manager Dr. Pat Mitchell.

During the Nov. 5 meet-

ing, Mitchell said as N.C. 221 widens, county of-ficials asked “would it be smart to have rescue out there?”

Although the Rescue Squad did consider using the property for a building and equipment, the Rescue Squad ultimately decided the property was too small

to use, said Roark.While the rescue squad

was still interested in the property, Roark, along with fellow rescue squad member Robert Poe and Emergency Management Coordinator Patty Gam-bill, surveyed the property.

File photo | Jefferson PostAt the Nov. 5 commissioners meeting, Ashe County Manager Dr. Pat Mitchell explained the property lines surrounding the “Old Fields” property, adjacent to Steve Halsey’s business.

See HOLIDAY | Page 2

See WOMEN | Page 2

See RESCUE | Page 2

See CHRISTMAS | Page 2

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T2

Page 2 — The Jefferson Post Shopper, Tuesday, December 4, 2012

mother, such as picking up prescrip-tions or getting a last-minute item from the store for her, he was very apprecia-tive.

“He asked, ‘Betty, can I give you a hug?’ It made him so happy to know that his mother was being looked after and that she could depend on someone to be there for her,” Ball said.

Living in remote areas of the coun-ty, it would be difficult for some resi-dents to go to the grocery store on a good day, but when the weather is bad, and the roads impassable, getting food would be a real issue. “When school is cancelled and the buses don’t run, we don’t go out,” said Ball. However, there is an alternative for inclement weather.

Ball said, “Every fall we take them two or three boxes of emergency meals. We usually take two boxes of five meals, but if it’s a bad winter, they’ll or-der more and we’ll take extra. They use the emergency meals when we can’t get to them.” Even if there isn’t someone there to deliver the meals, home-bound individuals know that someone is look-ing out for their well-being.

Sometimes clients get specialty items like bread or baked goods thanks to Lowes. On Mondays, Wednesdays and

Fridays, Lowes donates leftover baked goods to the home delivered meals program. “One of these little ladies just loves bread, and she tells me she will look at the loaves in the grocery store, but won’t buy them, so I bring her bread. She tells me that some of the stuff I bring her is something she never would have tried, but she loved it,” said Ball.

“Every now and then, we’ll get a cake or pie, and this one man really likes sweets. I told him that if he had five million dollars, I might have something for him. When I told him it was a cake, he said he might be able to come up with two million. He likes to joke with me like that,” said Ball.

Ball has known many of the people on her route for years, and even took care of some when she was a nurse. Experi-encing the joy of giving to others does not require as much time as Ball puts in, though. Even an hour or two a few times a week could make a difference, and Ashe Services for Aging is always looking for volunteers, not just for the home delivered meals program, but for other programs as well.

For more information about volun-teer opportunities, contact Glenda Lu-ther, Ashe County Volunteer Coordina-tor at (336) 246-4347.

From Page 1

Holiday

75 cents to every dollar men make, and the me-dian income for a female head-of-household is around $21,000 per year. Also, the average child-care expenses are more than college tuition.

Parker said last year 2,000 women sought services from domestic violence and sexual as-sault programs. “The problems are vast and funding is limited, which is why it is so important there are organizations to address these issues.”

Last year, grants from the AWF funded many projects including build-ing a women’s dorm for the Hospitality House, paying for extra staff in women’s shelters and providing summer school scholarships to first gen-eration college students. “We take care to figure out where programs are making an impact,” said Stevens.

One of the agencies benefited by the AWF is A Safe Home for Ev-eryone (ASHE), which provides services and support for victims of do-mestic violence and sex-ual assault to help them escape and recover from abusive environments. Among the services pro-vided by ASHE are cri-sis assistance, shelter, court advocacy and ac-companiment, support groups and counseling services, educational programs and training and financial assistance for survivors to become self-sufficient.

Robin Falkner, pro-gram director for ASHE, said, “Our first priority is to serve the needs of women in the county.” She said ASHE served 218 clients during the 2011-2012 fiscal year, 173 women and 45 chil-dren. 167 of those served were new clients. The shelter served 23 women and 23 children.

“The fact that there are so many new clients does not mean that domestic abuse is increasing, but that more women are hearing that there is a resource. It is a positive thing that women are reaching out for help,” said Falkner.

Some of these resourc-es might not be avail-able without the help of organizations like the AWF. Falkner said, “We were able to pay the cost of the crisis line with grants from the Appa-lachian Women’s Fund. There were 114 calls last year just to the emergen-cy crisis line.”

“What we do at ASHE is provide options and information. We’re the generalist that connects women to specialists and resources,” said Falkner.

Another source of funding for ASHE is the Threads of Hope thrift store located on East Main Street in Jeffer-son next to Becky’s Hair Boutique. Tonya Roark, supervisor of Threads of Hope, said it is not just a store, but a place to spread the message of what ASHE does. The store not only sells items to the public, but

also donates clothing to ASHE clients. Roark de-scribed Threads of Hope as an upscale thrift store boutique. “Last year, we served 31 clients, giving them over $1,000 worth of clothing,” said Roark.

“The empowerment women feel when some-one tells them they need to get something nice for themselves, then be-ing able to go into the store and pick out items of their own choosing that look good on them is amazing. Being able to get clothes for a job interview or household items when moving to a new violence-free home is very important to them,” Roark said.

Falkner said, “Women come to us sometimes with just the clothing on their backs, and when we’re developing a plan for them, you hear the hopelessness in their voices when they think they have nothing. It feels good to be able to say to them, ‘It’s okay, we have a store where you can go and get what you need.’ Empowerment is an integral piece in their healing process. Making decisions for themselves without being controlled or given strict param-eters is a big deal for abused women.”

Making a difference in the lives of women is what Appalachian Wom-en’s fund does every day. For more information about the organization or for volunteer opportuni-ties, visit www.appala-chianwomensfund.org.

From Page 1

Women

“The survey showed the property was way too small for the rescue squad to utilize properly, and we were no lon-ger interested,” said Roark

“The size of the property wasn’t that only problem,” said Roark.

When Roark approached Halsey about purchasing the property, Roark decided the land was too expensive. “Halsey wanted more than the res-cue squad was willing to spend,” said Roark.

According to Roark, this meeting, to his knowledge, was the last time any-one representing the rescue squad met with Halsey to discuss the property.

During the Nov. 5 meeting, Halsey said Poe met with him once more to look at the property.

After the Nov. 5 meeting, Mitchell said “I think what happened was Poe might have suggested to Halsey that a straighter property line would accom-modate a rescue building better. That

may have led to the pressure Halsey felt.”

Mitchell also said the county wasn’t counting on acquiring the land for the rescue squad for everything else in the land swap to “fall into place.”

Roark said he’s sorry Halsey felt he had been pressured, but the res-cue squad never intended to pressure Halsey to agree to the land swap.

“On Friday, I spoke with Steve (Halsey) to see how he was feeling, and he told me he did feel like he was be-ing pressured to do the land swap and that’s the last thing that I want,” said Roark.

“The Ashe County Rescue Squad has no plans whatsoever to purchase or build next to Halsey’s property. The goal of the rescue squad is to help peo-ple in Ashe County, and we would never try to push an action that could cause problems for anyone,” said Roark.

“Again, I’ve apologized to Steve on my behalf, and on behalf of the Ashe County Rescue Squad.”

From Page 1

Rescue

• Cake mix and frost-ing

• Fresh items (apples, tangerines, potatoes, sweet potatoes, nuts)

• Non-perishable items that children can eat while home from school (granola bars, easy mac and cheese, cereal)

• Beverages (apple

juice, tea bags with sugar, soda)

For more information, call 336-246-4344.

LifeStore Financial Group, headquartered in West Jefferson, provides banking, investment and insurance services. It is a federally chartered thrift holding company that owns 100 percent of the common stock of LifeS-

tore Bank (Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lend-er) and operates branches in Boone, Jefferson, War-rensville and West Jeffer-son.

LifeStore Insurance is an independent insurance agency that serves these markets along with Elkin, Lenoir, North Wilkesboro and Sparta.

From Page 1

Christmas

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T3

Puzzle Solutions

The Jefferson Post Shopper, Tuesday, December 4, 2012 — Page 3

Creston resident celebrates centennialWhitney WeaverStaff Writerwweaver@heartlandpublications.com

In today’s world, dra-matic change can be expe-rienced in moments, days, months, decades – so what must it feel like to experi-ence an entire century of life?

Robert Johnson, Chair-man of the High Country Council of Governments recently signed a reso-lution honoring the life and 100th birthday of Creston resident Thomas Perry Hendricks.

According to the reso-lution, Hendricks cel-ebrated his centennial on Sept. 27, 2012, after witnessing many histori-cal events including the moon landing, several ma-jor wars, the Great Depres-sion, and the Inauguration of the first African Ameri-can president.

Hendricks was born in Detroit on Sept. 27, 1912, to parents Harry and Vio-la Hendricks. Hendricks was married to his wife, Clara, for 64 years. He worked as a machinist until he retired in 1977. He lived in Michigan with

his son Tom after Clara’s passing and moved to North Carolina in April of this year to live with his son Terry after Tom’s passing.

Hendricks belongs to the Lutheran Church and enjoys fishing, reading and doing crossword puz-zles. Also according to the resolution, “Hendricks contributes so much to the lives of his family, his friends and all with whom he has become acquainted over the span of his one hundred years.”

Submitted PhotoThomas Perry Hendricks of Creston celebrated his 100th birthday on Sep. 27.

Trinity man kills large black bear

James Howell | Jefferson PostRobert Turner of Trinity killed a black bear last Thursday near Little Piney while visiting his family in Ashe County. Turner, 74, said he saw the bear while sitting in his tree stand, deer hunting, and shot it with a .50 caliber muzzleloader. Turner estimated the bear weighed 300-325 pounds, but said “it felt like it weighed 1,000 pounds by the time we loaded it onto the truck.”

ABC store is financially healthyJames HowellStaff Writerjhowell@heartlandpublications.com

While the West Jeffer-son Board of Alcoholic Beverage Control has been celebrating its fifth year anniversary, its annual financial audit has been completed and indicated the board has been in full compliance with federal and state requirements and has paid $77,500 to the town of West Jefferson.

“We’re doing really well so far,” said Tony Lyall, the general manager of the ABC board.

The audit was conduct-ed by Combs, Tennant & Carpenter, P.C. Certified Public Accountants, and examined the boards as-sets, taxes, contributions, and measured the board’s compliance with legal re-quirements.

“There were no instanc-es of material matters of noncompliance with fed-eral and state General Stat-ute requirements,” said the audit.

The report also indicated the ABC board has distrib-uted $30,000 to the town of West Jefferson this year alone. The town has col-lected $77,500 from the ABC board since its incep-tion.

The audit also men-tioned the ABC boards fis-cal health.

“Net assets are an indica-tor of the fiscal health of the

ABC Board. Assets exceed-ed liabilities by $478,820 in 2012,” said the report.

According to the report, the largest component of net assets was the invest-ment in capital assets (land, building, furniture and equipment), which comprised 47 percent of the boards total net assets.

By the end of the fi-nancial year on June 30, 2012, the ABC Board had an operating revenue of $1,416,761. This was an in-crease of $46,466 (3.39 per-cent) from the same period last year.

Also, the boards “work-ing capital increased from $170,038 to $252,690,” said the audit.

N.C. Alcoholic Bever-age Control Commission Rule .0902 defines working capital as the total of cash, investments and inventory minus all unsecured liabili-ties.

“An ABC board shall set its working capital require-ments at not less than two weeks’ average gross sales of the last fiscal year nor greater than four months’ average gross sales of the fiscal year,” said the report.

By that standard, the ABC board easily met the minimum amount of work-ing capital, which was $42,114, according to the audit.

The audit also stated how much the ABC board paid in taxes. Taxes pay-able for July 1, 2011 totaled

$25,689. Taxes collected during the year totaled $309,663. Taxes remitted to Department of Revenue totaled $308,626. Taxes payable for June 30, 2012 totaled $26,726.

The West Jefferson ABC Board also paid a liquor sales tax of $93,903 and a mixed beverage tax of $11,956.

In addition to the taxes, the board also makes con-tributions to law enforce-ment, alcohol education and rehabilitation.

According to the au-dit, “12 percent of profits were expended for law enforcement and alcohol education in the current year.”

Of that 12 percent, five percent of the boards profits was spent for law enforcement, totaling $3,423, while 7 percent was spent for alcohol edu-

cation and rehabilitation, totaling $4,792.

On top of that, the ABC board makes a “rehabilita-tion contribution” to Ashe County’s finance officer.

According to the report, “a bottle charge of one cent on each bottle containing 50 milliliters or less and five cents on each bottle contain more than 50 mil-liliters is collected and distributed monthly to the county commissioners for alcohol education and re-habilitation.”

The boards total rehabil-itation contribution for the year equaled $4,474.

The ABC board’s debt was another topic men-tioned in the audit.

The report indicated the ABC board has already paid off its original line of credit, money borrowed to help “get this place up and running,” said Lyall

James Howell | Jefferson PostWest Jefferson has received $77,500 from the ABC board since it opened in Nov. 2007.

Ashe gets no help from Pre-K expansionWhitney WeaverStaff Writerwweaver@heartlandpublications.com

Many parents know that the first few years of a child’s life are the most important in de-velopment, and with their children’s best in-terest at heart, may seek out resources like the Pre-K program to make their little ones school-ready.

On Oct. 18, N.C. Governor Bev Perdue is-sued Executive Order No. 128 authorizing the expansion of the NC Pre-K program to serve up to 6,300 additional children by Jan. 1, 2013. An estimated 1,000 of those children were served immediately in Pre-K classrooms across the state.

“Through good economic times and bad, North Carolina’s enduring commitment has been to educate our children. Now more than ever, as we sit poised for an economic recov-ery, any delay in preparing our kids to be to-morrow’s workforce is simply unacceptable,” Perdue said. “After the General Assembly cut early education programs by 20 percent, thou-sands of our youngest students were cut out of the Pre-K classroom. Today we can welcome many of them in.”

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Page 4 — The Jefferson Post Shopper, Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Clipping for a cause: Locks of Love

Submitted photo | Jefferson PostHannah Hamby, the 7-year-old daughter of Gary and Kristal Hamby of West Jefferson, donated eight inches of her hair to Locks of Love on Nov. 10, 2012. Thanks to Tera Shaw and Mark of Eden for a wonderful new look.

Vocational rehabilitation provides employment opportunitiesWhitney WeaverStaff Writerwweaver@heartlandpublications.com

From July 2011 through June 2012, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, through its Division of Vocational Reha-bilitation Services, assisted 6,716 people with disabilities in finding work.

The DVRS, which serves people with disabilities and employers interested in hiring them, placed seven percent more people in jobs than the year before. The division as-sists people with all types of disabilities including mental health problems, intellectual disabilities, substance abuse issues or physical disabilities any of which are a direct im-pediment to getting or keep-ing a job.

Getting people back to work is the primary focus of the DVRS. Division director Lin-da Harrington said, “That’s

our central mission, provid-ing to all our consumers the needed counseling, training, education or other services to get them ready to work. We can then match them up with businesses’ needs, saving the employer time and money.”

Besides pre-screening, Har-rington says there are other factors that give DVRS’s ap-plicants an edge with pro-spective employers. Some benefits include continuing, follow-up consultations to make sure the employee and job remain a good match and compensation to employers for providing their referral on-the-job-training, at the end of which, the employer has the option to hire the trainee as a regular employee.

There are also tax incen-tives for hiring people with disabilities and for adapt-ing the workplace to accom-modate a new employee’s specific disability. National data shows that often no ac-

commodations are required in these situations. When re-quired, accommodations can usually be met at minimal or no cost.

According to the Council of State Administrators of Vo-cational Rehabilitation, indi-viduals typically pay back the cost of their services through taxes in two to four years of employment. Further, em-ployment of these individuals generates savings in the cost of no-longer-needed benefits.

Harrington said, “We serve every county in North Caro-lina. For every employer, we have a local office not very far away.” Residents of Ashe County that qualify for vo-cational rehabilitation ser-vices are served by offices in Watauga and Wilkes Coun-ties.

Libby Keller of NC Vo-cational Rehabilitation in Boone specializes in sub-stance abuse and mental illness cases, and serves

clients in Ashe.“Vocational Rehab is a

service for individuals with chronic disabilities that are a substantial hindrance to em-ployment,” said Keller. “We’ll sometimes have our Ashe cli-ents come in to Watauga Op-portunities for an assessment then try to place them in jobs in their community that are a good fit for them.” According to Keller, Vocational Rehab is able to provide a variety of services, in conjunction with other agencies, to meet the in-dividual needs of their clients. Some services may include job placement, job coaching or supported employment. If necessary, Vocational Re-habilitation may also assist clients with treatment for mental illness or substance abuse, treatments or physi-cal therapy for clients with physical disabilities, and can help clients find resources to help them go back to school for retraining.

Gov. Perdue chooses state-federal partnershipGov. Bev Perdue declared last week

the state’s intent to establish a state-federal partnership exchange to sup-port implementation of the federal Af-fordable Care Act (ACA).

The Governor signaled her sup-port of the grant application to begin North Carolina’s health care exchange planning process. Her decision gives North Carolina input and a degree of control over the health care decision making process, and provides greater flexibility for the incoming administra-tion.

Perdue notified Insurance Commis-sioner Wayne Goodwin, legislative leaders and Governor-elect Pat Mc-Crory about her decision to choose the state-federal partnership model for expanded health care.

“North Carolina is moving forward with implementing a process that pro-vides much needed health insurance for every citizen,” said Perdue. “It is critical for our state to participate in decisions that affect our state’s citi-zens. We will not cede total control to the federal government. It remains my goal to pursue a state-based plan.”

Under North Carolina Session Law 2011-391, the North Carolina Depart-ment of Insurance (NC DOI) and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NC DHHS) are charged with collaborating and planning in the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. NC DOI is the lead agency in planning North Caro-lina’s work regarding a Health Insur-ance Exchange.

Last Friday was the deadline for states to submit grant applications for two of the three options available: full state control or a state-federal part-nership. North Carolina missed the opportunity to set up a state-based ex-change by 2014, since the legislature did not act on the issue during the last legislative session.

North Carolina will collaborate with the U.S. Department of Human Ser-vice’s Center for Consumer Informa-tion and Insurance Oversight in estab-lishing a Health Insurance Exchange. That program will expand access to health care coverage for hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians.

The letter to Secretary Sebelius is available online at http://www.governor.state.nc.us/.