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Campus News
The Clarion | Sept. 28. 2012
French
Broad Cafe
Local business supports
BC. Let's return the favor!
By Erica Zaveta
StaffWritei^^
Have you ever noticed that tornados can be
spelled with or without an “e”? Local Brevard
business owner Debbi Martin Burdette has.
Debbi owns the French Broad Cafe located
on West French Broad Street and apart from
being a Brevard College super fan, she has
been serving up some appetizing dishes at the
French Broad Cafe for about year and a half
Debbi will tell you she has had no formal
training in culinary arts, but one taste of her
dishes and you will see that a passion for
cooking and baking (in combination with
a lot of life experience) has been the best
teacher. Debbi grew up in a large family, and
by the age of eleven she and her sister were
in charge of cooking for the family. Bom in
Texas, she moved to Brevard twenty-six years
ago with her husband and opened a restaurant
on Main Street called The Bagel Place. Now
at the French Broad Cafe she uses her own
recipes for many of her dishes and gets as
much vegetables produce as she can from local
food supplier Whistlestop Market, located just
eight miles from Brevard in Cedar Mountain,
talk about a home cooked meal!
It’s hard not to notice that Debbi is a huge
fan of Brevard College. She has won the
grand prize for the most decorated storefront
celebrating the tornados. She was awarded
with yearlong passes to any of the BC
athletic events and loves to attend football
and volleyball events. When asked how she
liked living in Brevard Debbi explained, “It’s
pretty exciting to live in a place so deeply
rooted in family.” Her husband is a North
Carolina native, his mother was a nurse at
Brevard College for twenty-five years, and
his late aunt, Vera Jones, was a descendent
of Solomon Jones, who was involved in the
constmction of highway 276 from Greenville
to Brevard, NC.
Come check out the French Broad Cafe for
breakfast (which is served all day in case you
want to sleep in) or lunch. Open seven days a
week from Sam to 2pm.
Open 7 days a week
Breakfast &lunch
Dine-in or take-out
Invasive species threatening
Brevard College campus
By Alisha VanderSyde
Opinion Editor
I’m sure we could all name one or two
invasive species in America. We hear about
them all the time! Kudzu suffocating the East
coast, Burmese pythons slithering through the
Florida Everglades, and even an American
Alligator in the French Broad River!
These may all seem like minimal problems
to many of us, but the truth is, any one of these
out-of-place species can produce devastating
results on any particular ecosystem or the
environment as a whole.
Today, there are certain policies and laws
concerning the importation of any plant or
animal from another country because of the
unknown risks associated with introducing
foreign species. But with as much people and
goods traveling from country to country, it is
easy for one little bug to slip through customs
unnoticed.
Some of you may be familiar with the
American chestnut tree that is nearly extinct
because of an invasive species called “blight.”
Blight is a fungi or a mold, introduced from
the importation of Japanese Chestnut trees in
1904. The American chestnut had no defense
against the foreign parasite, and in less than 40
years, the blight caused the death of 3.5 billion
American chestnut trees.
People are stepping up to save these trees
across the East coast. Less than 50 miles
from where we sit today, a ranch in Maggie
Valley was dedicated to saving the American
chestnut tree. Teamed with the American
Tree Foundation, the owners Tom and Judy
Alexander decided to do their part by raising
these magnificent historical trees! Although
there is no cure or treatment available to
aid in the prevention of blight, a process
commonly known as “quarantine” is proving
to be successful.
Sadly, the American chestnut is not the
only tree in threat of extinction due to an
invasive species. Right here, on Brevard
College campus, the Eastern Hemlocks are
experiencing a very similar dilemma. On the
bright side, we, as an educated community, can
make a significant mark in history. We have
all been empowered to make a difference in
this world, no matter how minimal our roles
may seem.
Next week we will stroll metaphorically
through nature together and explore what the
future could be for our Eastern Hemlocks.
Find out what you; as a student, a teacher,
director, janitor, librarian, grounds keeper, chef
or whatever your role here may be, can do to
make a difference for our ecosystem.