Located on the south fork of the New River, nestled inside of 160 acres of wooded mountains and grassy flatlands in the beautiful mountains of Ashe County in Glendale Springs, Camp New Hope is a privately owned, nonprofit, no-charge retreat/ministry for families who have children with life-threatening medical conditions. (Ms. Randy Brown is the Camp's Executive Director). In case you do not know about this camp, a 90-second video telling about it can be seen by clicking here ( * ).
Sadly, ALL of these children have compromised immune systems! 85% are in wheelchairs, and/or they use feeding tubes, and/or they have some sort of ventilator, and/or they can't talk. 25% are legally blind. These kids suffer from various types of cancer, many have frequent seizures, and some have never been diagnosed because of the many health issues they were born with.
There have been two major additions at Camp New Hope this year!
First: in the past, the facility used by campers' families as their "residence" while at the camp was The Lodge (pictured below on the left). Because of major renovations done during the winter, campers' families can now also use the Play House (pictured below on the right) as their "residence" while at the camp. These two facilities are less than 1/4 mile away from the proposed asphalt plant.
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Second: a long-time neighbor of Camp New Hope (Nancy and Robert Sumner) have renovated a cottage on their property, and are allowing Camp New Hope (starting in the late-Spring of 2017) to have campers' families stay there every other week. This cottage is located essentially on the bank of the south fork of the New River (with the driveway to it pictured below on the left, and the cottage pictured on the right).
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The renovation process of this cottage took quite a bit of time (as a lot of trees and under-brush were cleared out around the cottage...and then grass was planted. Also, an old wooden bridge over the creek in front of the cabin had to be completely replaced with a steel-girdered bridge with a new wooden floor. And then the cottage itself had to be completely renovated.) When the air permit for the proposed asphalt plant was issued by the State, this renovation process was underway. The reason this is important: this cottage is located just across the road from the quarry where the proposed asphalt plant will be located (and the exact location of the cottage is circled in white in the picture below).
One other thing to consider: fog regularly can be found in the early mornings along the river. Below are two pictures taken from a location very close to the driveway to the cottage. The one on the left shows the Boggs Road bridge over the New River (and is thus looking up-river from the cottage driveway), and the one on the right is looking down-river.
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Below is a list of the hazardous chemicals that would be emitted annually from this proposed asphalt plant (run by a firm named Appalachian Materials). This list came from the above mentioned firm's permit application.
What do you think the effects of the following toxins
(being released by the proposed asphalt plant
into the foggy air
just across the road from this cottage)
would be on the Camp New Hope children with life threatening diseases
and their families?
(being released by the proposed asphalt plant
into the foggy air
just across the road from this cottage)
would be on the Camp New Hope children with life threatening diseases
and their families?
It must be remembered that Camp New Hope was hosting campers well before the Radford Quarry ever began operations!
Pictured below are 17 of the hundreds of campers that have come to this great camp over the 12 years of its existence.
