Smoky Mountain News

CONTENTS

On the Cover:

Western Carolina University earlier this year received the results of an in-depth faculty satisfaction survey conducted by Harvard University. The results show WCU leaders what they are doing right and what needs work. (Page 8) WCU photo

News

TDA tax bill stalls in the legislature.

MedWest hospitals hire consultant to evaluate partnership.

Canton to unload submachine guns for a profit.

Methodist church leader from Africa settles in at Lake Junaluska.

Vacant lots re-envisioned as low-income, affordable neighborhood.

Local mental health resources strained by cuts, increased demand.

Details of Macon County salary study scrutinized.

Completion date set for Waynesville skate park.

Bryson City business owner scouted for Hollywood

Opinion

Investing in the region’s creative minds.

A&E

Whittier man launches handmade banjo business.

Outdoors

Forest Service gathers input to determine future of area forests.

Back Then

Saved by the appearance of a tree swallow.

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Parrying between tourism interests slows progress on tourism tax bill

BY B ECKY JOHNSON STAFFWRITER

The prospects of Haywood County’s tourism development tax increase making it through the General Assembly in Raleigh this year is highly likely — or perhaps highly unlikely. It depends on whom you ask. Those for the tax say they are on the cusp of a compromise that will pave the way for the bill to go through. Those against the tax say it is dead.

There’s only one man, however, who actually knows. Whether the bill will live or die is ultimately up to Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin.

Davis said the hastily put forward proposal appeared to have widespread support at first, but backlash has erupted in its wake. That’s given him pause over whether it was properly vetted locally before landing in his lap in Raleigh.

“They hadn’t done their due diligence before asking us to bring forth the legislation,” he said.

Davis has parked the bill in neutral until competing tourism interests stop feuding and come to the table to line up behind one version of the bill.

“It may take them a while to get things lined up. We may wait until next year until they get their ducks in a row,” Davis said.

But Rep. Joe Sam Queen, D-Waynesville,

said with a little more work, they can zero in on a compromise — the process has just been a little backward.

“If we had a little more time and weren’t under the deadline, we may have gotten it right the first time,” Queen said. “We were trying to build consensus in the middle of the night to file a bill.”

County commissioners and tourism leaders called for the additional 2 percent tax on overnight lodging to help build new tourism attractions or improve existing ones. The 2 percent tax on overnight stays would bring in roughly $450,000 a year.

The idea surfaced publicly in February. By then, it was already in the 11th hour, less than a month before the deadline to introduce bills in the General Assembly.

Proponents had to move, and move fast, to get it on the drawing board. The Haywood County tourism board and county commis-

Maggie Valley contingent vehemently opposed to proposed room tax hike

BY B ECKY JOHNSON STAFFWRITER

A faction of lodging owners in Maggie Valley is hoping to derail a tax increase on overnight accommodations.

The money brought in — roughly $450,000 a year — would be dedicated solely to building tourism attractions or improving existing ones.

“It creates a whole new set of Haywood County destinations,” said County Commissioner Chairman Mark Swanger.

But some Maggie hotel and motel owners think it would hurt more than help. While the tax would purportedly go toward projects to bring more tourists — and thus more business for motel and hotel owners — some lodging owners claim the additional tax would instead drive tourists away. And that’s the last thing Maggie needs.

“This town is dying. People are going out of business like you wouldn’t believe,” said Karen Hession, owner of Misty Mountain Ranch Bed and Breakfast. “The economy is so poor in Maggie and almost everybody would sell their place if they had a buyer.”

A state bill enacting the room tax has been temporarily sidelined after debate broke out between competing tourism destinations in Haywood County over the tax.

sioners hastily but unanimously endorsed the idea.

It was then shipped off to Raleigh in early March. State legislators Davis and Queen were called on to introduce the bill on Haywood County’s behalf and shepherd it through the General Assembly.

They obliged, but in hindsight got a little more than they bargained for.

“We got a little bit of pushback,” Queen said.

A brouhaha broke out between feuding tourism interests over just about every aspect of the funding raised by the tax. Who would decide how the money was spent? How much voice would Maggie Valley get? What about Canton? Would all the money be sucked up by one big project or spread around?

Since time was of essence, a placeholder bill was filed with bare bones language — under the assumption it would be massaged and hashed out later and amended.

But the fast pace irked Maggie Valley lodging owners, who have since voiced their opposition. While the tax is intended to boost tourism by creating new attractions, some lodging owners fear the additional 2 percent tax on hotel bills will keep tourists from coming here.

“It moved too fast and is being shoved down our throats,” said Sue Koziol, a member

Swanger said opponents to the tax in Maggie Valley are ironically the very ones who stand to gain the most from new tourist attractions being funded.

“It is shortsighted to arbitrarily be against something than to put forth effort to be for something that will be help,” Swanger said.

Rep. Joe Sam Queen, D-Waynesville, agreed.

“The tourism industry needs a shot in the arm and certainly Maggie Valley does. This is an effort to help them rebound,” Queen said. “This builds jobs and underpins our tourism economy.”

Not all Maggie Valley lodging owners are against the tax. Some are for it. But it has been hard to determine so far how many are in which camp, other than anecdotal claims.

“Everybody feels it would do more harm than good,” Hession said. “We need more attractions, but the solution isn’t taxes. No one is for it.”

What is the solution? Hession said she didn’t have one at the moment.

The pot of funding from the room tax increase would be doled out by a specially-appointed board. But exactly how seats on the board will be divvied up has proved the most contentious issue.

Maggie Valley wants the majority of the seats.

“If they pass it I damn well would want to see that money go to Maggie Valley, not all over the county because Maggie needs it the most. We always felt like we were the stepchild,” Hession said.

The rest of the county has agreed to give Maggie more seats than any other part of the county, but not as many as Maggie might want.

Currently, 55 percent of the overnight lodging tax collected countywide is collected from the Maggie Valley area.

of the Maggie Valley Lodging Association.

The crux of the controversy: Maggie tourism interests want the biggest seat at the table when picking what projects get funded. But the rest of the county isn’t ready to hand over the keys to Maggie. Maggie can call shotgun, perhaps, but can’t have the driver’s seat all to itself.

TRY, TRYAGAIN

Meanwhile, a flurry of new wording has been circulated from one end of the county to the other in the ensuing weeks in an attempt to satisfy the parties.

It has proved challenging, however. Many of the caveats being demanded are mutually exclusive. What leaders in Canton want is diametrically opposed to what leaders in Maggie Valley want. And the county commissioners want to keep their eye on the big picture of economic development countywide and forget town-centric politics altogether.

So Queen and Davis ended up playing the role of matchmaker and mediator.

“When we get agreement on one end we lose a little on the other,” Queen said, prompting another round of rewrites.

Queen isn’t ready to give up and feels they are on the verge of a compromise.

“We are working on a perfecting amendment to make it a consensus-building bill,” Queen said. “We are treading water to let the local ideas and opinions congeal.”

At the same time, Queen said the ball is now in the hands of local leaders.

“If everyone is going to get mad at us and can’t get along then neither Jim nor I will push this bill. We will just let it sit,” Queen said. “There is a real

FBut just because Maggie Valley historically is home to more hotels and motels than the rest of the county doesn’t necessarily mean it deserves credit for every person that beds down there.

“You don’t come to Haywood County to visit a mattress,” Queen said. “You come to visit Wheels Through Time, to come to a conference at Lake Junaluska, to visit downtown Waynesville, to go to our great festivals, to visit our craft shops, to go skiing.”

“People tend to go to venues and attractions and then chose a motel,” said Canton Town Manager Al Matthews. “They don’t chose a motel and then say, ‘Oh by the way since I am in Charlotte and say they are going to take in the CocaCola 600.’”

A tug-of-war over tourism tax dollars is nothing new in Haywood County. For nearly three decades — since the room tax was first put in place — similar turf battles have repeatedly surfaced.

Robert Edwards, owner of A Holiday Motel in Maggie Valley, said he thinks Maggie would benefit from any new tourist attraction in the county — regardless of where it was built.

“People aren’t coming to Maggie to do strictly those things that are found within our town limits,” said Edwards, who recently was appointed to the county tourism board. “The majority are here to enjoy the region. They are using Maggie Valley as their home base.”

Edwards said with the right assurances the Maggie tourism community would support the idea.

“I have a feeling that the majority who are opposed aren’t necessarily opposed to having a tax hike. They are opposed to some of the details pertaining to the implementation of the tax,” Edwards said.

MedWest-Haywood continues focus groups

MedWest-Haywood will continue to host community focus groups following a successful first series of meetings.

“The purpose of the community groups is to create a focused environment designed to capture current perceptions of our hospital from those who live here,” said Janie SinacoreJaberg, president and CEO of MedWestHaywood. “We need to hear directly from those we serve and those we hope to serve.”

During the groups, participants are asked general questions about their experience and expectations of MedWest-Haywood. The groups feature an instant audience response system to capture participants’ answers. Participants are provided a handheld device and asked to register their response to a multiple-choice question asked by Sinacore-Jaberg.

Session size is limited to 15 to 20 participants in each group. Each session lasts 90 minutes.

828.631.8889 or andrea.robbins@haymed.org.

WCU undergrad talents to be showcased

The research, creative work and service of undergraduate students at Western Carolina University will be on display during the 15th annual Undergraduate Expo on April 3-4 at WCU’s Honors College.

More than 280 students representing 25 academic areas have signed up to give presen-

incentive for the local tourist business to get it together.”

Davis has gotten tired of being in the middle of a tug-of-war.

“I am not going to be the arbiter or the referee. That went on for so long that I finally said, ‘You need to figure it locally,’” Davis said. “Once they get all the stakeholders on board I will usher the legislation through the Senate.”

Queen and Davis say they will pull the trigger on the bill once there is consensus, compromise and agreement at the local level.

That could be hard to achieve. A faction of Maggie lodging owners have dug in and said they will never support a tourism tax increase (see related article)

“There will be some that don’t want the 2 cents period. They don’t see the benefit of it,” Queen said. “Consensus does not have to be 100 percent.”

Davis said those in favor of the tax need to win their critics over.

“They will have to give a compelling argument to the stakeholders. If not the bill will not survive,” Davis said.

It’s unclear, however, how much critical mass the opponents have. Canton Town Manager Al Matthews said a vocal minority is creating the illusion of widespread opposition and scaring off the state legislators.

“They are getting hammered by an extremely vocal minority,” Matthews said.

tations. The expo poster session will be held from 5-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 3, in the A.K. Hinds University Center.

Also that day in the center, there will be a reception for student presenters, faculty sponsors and the general public at 5:30 p.m. During the ceremony, WCU faculty member Brent Kinser, associate professor of English, will receive the Recognition of Distinguished Instruction and Nurturing Award, which comes with an engraved replica of “The Thinker” and $500.

The expo will also offer numerous performances, including “A Salute to Rockette History” by WCU dance students at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 4, in Niggli Theatre. www.honors.wcu.edu or 828.227.7383.

Child Advocacy Center earns re-accreditation

The Heart To Heart Child Advocacy Center in Cherokee has been awarded re-accreditation by the National Children’s Alliance, which awards various levels of accreditation and membership to centers responding to allegations of child abuse in effective and efficient ways.

“Heart To Heart is to be commended for its continued commitment to effectively serve victims of child abuse,” remarked Teresa Huizar, executive director of the National Children’s Alliance.

Accredited child advocacy centers must undergo a re-accreditation process every five years to ensure that best practices are continually being applied. Heart To Heart serves the children of Cherokee and the surrounding areas. It is located at 75 John Crowe Hill in Cherokee. 828.554.6313.

Davis said he doesn’t have a scientific way to measure when the majority has reached a consensus.

But, “I’ll know it when I see it,” Davis said. “They are not there yet.”

Versions of the bill are continuing to bounce back and forth between the parties this week.

Matthews said he understands Davis’ issue.

“He has worked very hard on this and caught a lot of heat,” Matthews said. “His condition was that all the areas come together and have a unified stance. It is going to take compromise.”

But Maggie Alderman Mike Matthews said they might need a cooling off period before trying to make another go of it.

“Now we can go back to the drawing board,” Mike Matthews said.

Mike Matthews is among those who believe the tax could potentially be a good thing — but wants built-in guarantees that the tourism projects that get funded would help Maggie Valley.

Mike Matthews said so many versions of the bill have been bouncing around that he’s skeptical the end product will actually be what Maggie wants.

“You bring up issues and express concerns and then you’d see a new draft that fixed them, but then the next day you would see a different version,” Mike Matthews said.

WCU study to determine faculty satisfaction rate

BY CAITLIN BOWLING STAFF WRITER

Employees at Western Carolina University are distilling the recently released results of a Harvard University study to see if regional comprehensive universities have lower faculty satisfaction rates.

WCU is what is known in the higher education world as a regional comprehensive university, which essentially means it is a small, regional school. It is not a liberal arts college nor is it a research institution.

It focuses equally on three aspects of the university mission: teaching, research and service in the community. Because of this, some researchers argue that WCU-like colleges tend to have identity crises and therefore lower faculty satisfaction rates.

“We have tried too often to be all things to all people,” said Bruce Henderson, a WCU professor of psychology.

Henderson wrote a book, Teaching at the People’s University, about the identity problems among small, regional universities. He argued that professors become unhappy at colleges like WCU because they want them to be something they aren’t, such as a highlevel research institution. And since most professors come from a research university background, they may not be satisfied working at a “people’s university.”

However, a group of fellow WCU faculty and staff hope to disprove that. WCU employees are inputting data taken in the 2011 COACHE surveys, faculty satisfaction reports put together by Harvard, and using that information to plot the satisfaction rates among professors at different types of universities.

“What we are doing is testing it to see how sensitive it is to institution type,” said Laura Cruz, associate professor of history and associate director of the Coulter Faculty Center. Cruz is one of the WCU employees conducting the study.

The data will show researchers if in fact WCU-like schools have lower satisfaction rates when compared to other types of colleges.

“I suspect that that is at least in some part untrue,” Cruz said.

Research only began recently and will take at least another few months to complete.

“We are still building a foundation now,” said Kirk Smith, an assistant professor of human resources and leadership who is working with Cruz.

But once all the information from the survey is inputted, researchers can begin drawing conclusions about the data — the key point of the study. For example, if universities like WCU do have low faculty satisfaction rates, the researchers, using the data

What makes you stay

Survey evaluates faculty experience at WCU

BY CAITLIN BOWLING STAFFWRITER

Every three years, Western Carolina University gets a report card.

It does not prescribe the university an A, B, C or even F, but the report does tell WCU what it does right and where it needs to improve. Then, it instructs the university to do better.

“It’s not ‘this is your grade’ and you’re done,” said Mark Lord, WCU’s interim associate provost. “It’s really supposed to be a call to action.”

The Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education, or COACHE, survey completed by Harvard University on a triennial basis asks faculty members about leadership at the school, collegiality, quality of life, research and teaching, among other topics. The university is then given the results, showing how faculty ranked it in each area and how it compared to other institutions.

The idea behind the in-depth and lengthy survey is that a university’s success is dependent on the happiness of its faculty. The better they like their job, the more invested they are in its quality. And the more faculty that care about the quality of the institution, the better the university will be.

Earlier this academic year, WCU received the results of its most recent COACHE survey, which was conducted 2011. The report listed the university’s strengths (tenure and promotion, recognition among peers and

the department, collaboration, and departmental collegiality and leadership) and its weaknesses (research support, family policies and benefits).

For the most part, those did not come as a surprise to WCU leaders — both the strengths and weaknesses were things administrators had heard faculty say time and time again.

“In general, the overall highs and lows were consistent with what we might have expected,” Lord said, adding that the only real surprise of the survey was its high marks in the tenure category.

View the findings

Check

Tenure is a hot button issue on most college campuses. Faculty members complain that the process is unclear or unfair or that they don’t have a decent chance to move up.

But WCU’s departments scrapped their tenure policies a few years ago and started again. On the 2011 COACHE survey, faculty members indicated that university policies related to tenure were clear and consistent in regards to how and when a professor could expect to achieve tenure.

While university administrators are happy to see improvement in tenure rankings, their focus is more drawn toward areas where WCU scored poorly and what choices could turn them around.

“Where can this inform decision making?” Lord said.

majority of faculty surveyed listed WCU’s geographic location as the best aspect of their job. The atmosphere allows faculty like associate biology professor Sean O'Connell (pictured) to bring his students out into the field.

QUALITYOFLIFERANKSLOW

FOR WCU FACULTY

Before accepting any job, people evaluate two things: the quality of their work life and the quality of life outside the office. You could work at the best job possible, but if you don’t like where you live or otherwise struggle, it can drag down your job happiness levels.

Access to childcare, the ease with which a spouse can find work, salaries and health benefits for family members all affect an employee’s quality of life outside a university. According to COACHE, WCU faculty awarded the university low scores in general quality of life areas. That doesn’t mean that faculty don’t enjoy living in Western North Carolina, but it does show that cost of living and access to services could be a reason why faculty leave or prospective employees chose not to move there.

Faculty settling in Jackson County may have trouble finding an affordable house, for example. Cullowhee is known to have a housing shortage, and what housing is available may be too expensive.

“A lot of people, when they move to the region, have difficulty finding housing in their price range,” Lord said.

If you can’t find a home in the area, then you can’t work there. Some WCU faculty have found luck in Haywood County, which also puts them closer to Asheville — a larger city where their spouse can find work if need be.

However, the larger problem for some faculty is childcare. WCU has a Headstart program, but it is mostly for students with children, and faculty don’t typically meet the minimum standards for entry. For the most part, day-

cares in Jackson County are expensive, too far out of the way or don’t provide what the parent is looking for.

“There are just not a lot of options,” said Lori Caudle, assistant professor in the birthkindergarten program.

Caudle had a 3-year-old son when she accepted a position at WCU a couple years ago. She had wanted to put him in the Headstart, but it didn’t work out, and many of the other options were just too costly on a professor’s salary. Although she was eventually able to find a suitable daycare in Haywood County, where she lives, Caudle said lack of childcare choices could be a deterrent for incoming employees.

“It’s definitely a problem, and it scares some new faculty away I think,” Caudle said.

But even before the COACHE survey results came out this year, WCU leaders heard employees’ complaints about childcare. In 2011, a task force charged with researching possible solutions to employee’s childcare conundrum began meeting regularly.

Jill Ingram, who works in WCU’s public relations department, chaired the task force. As a mother, Ingram faced similar problems to Caudle in terms of finding a quality and affordable program.

“There is agreement across the board that there is a lack of affordable infant care,” Ingram said. “I don’t think there is any question of the need.”

The university is currently looking into an Appalachian State-run daycare as a possible model for its own infant through preschool program. However, no official decisions have been made as to whether WCU will start a childcare program anytime soon.

SHOWMETHEMONEY, SAYSFACULTY

With basic services and housing being more costly in rural Cullowhee, WCU must ensure its salaries are consistent with the cost of living and are also competitive when compared to other institutions. For four years, WCU did not increase salaries, whereas larger schools with bigger donor pools could attract outside money to help cover things like faculty pay raises. This school year, faculty received a 1.5 percent raise.

WCU administrators recognize the lack of raises as a problem — one that could send faculty elsewhere.

“Salaries have been stagnant. They have been stagnant for years,” Lord said. “It might reflect in quality of life.”

WCU Chancellor David Belcher said just that in his inauguration speech last spring. The university must make salary increases a priority or face losing out on quality faculty

Ken Flynt, professor and associate dean of WCU’s College of Business, interacts with student during a class. At small, rural university, faculty are expected to balance research, teaching and service to the community. Mark Haskett photo

“There are a lot of people who absolutely love it here. We choose to stay in Cullowhee.”

— Mark Lord, WCU’s interim associate

provost

rank well among WCU faculty — but again administrators were not caught off guard.

“This is something that was not really unexpected,” Lord said. “It has been an area of some concern.”

On the COACHE survey, faculty cited a lack of graduate student assistance, support for obtaining grants and time available to spend on research. Most of the questions dealt with how supported faculty felt as they moved through the research process.

Between 2011 and this year — when the survey was taken and when the results debuted — WCU created a new faculty research support person within its faculty commons, an office that provides various forms of aid to faculty members. By hiring someone whose sole focus is supporting faculty research, opinions about the topic have begun to rise.

“I think that it’s gotten better recently. I think that we have historically not been very focused on research. But of late, that has become a higher priority,” said Jack Summers, associate professor of inorganic biochemistry.

But there is still room for improvement despite the measures already implemented.

“The support is really not there in terms of reduced teaching load,” Summers said. And “Secretarial services is spotty.”

By allowing faculty members to cut back on teaching hours and providing someone to help with the pesky paperwork, professors can focus more on their research. Summers said he spends hours filling out budget paperwork and dealing with outside vendors — time he could be in a laboratory or out in the field.

available, can suggest how those colleges can improve those rates.

“What kind of implications and recommendation can we draw?” Smith said. “If you are just doing it for the sake of letting it sit on a shelf, it is really only an academic exercise.”

members. In the COACHE survey, 42 percent of respondents said that compensation was the worst aspect of working at WCU.

Caudle said she does believe that the chancellor is taking a real look at compensation, and despite what the survey says, for her the choice to stay isn’t about money.

“I think I could go elsewhere and make more. I don’t think that I would get the quality of life that I have here,” said Caudle, who came from Tennessee.

In fact, respondents in the COACHE survey listed geographic location and quality of colleagues as the top two best aspects of their jobs, respectively.

Although Cullowhee’s rural surrounding deters some students and professors, it’s exactly what draws others in and what they like the most. Lord is a geological sciences professor, in addition to interim assistant provost, so Western North Carolina is a great place to teach and research.

“There are a lot of people who absolutely love it here,” Lord said. “We choose to stay in Cullowhee.”

And collegiality among faculty and

The COACHE surveys are split in to general areas such as leadership, family policies, tenure and promotion. Faculty at various universities ranked their institution on aspects of each category. Once all the data is crunched, WCU researchers will be able to see where certain types of universities scored lowest or highest and individually analyze subsets of the data — leading pos-

departments is a common plus listed among employees when asked about their favorite part of work at WCU.

“I would definitely say that that is a plus for Western. There is a lot of support,” said Cathy Grist, associate professor in the Human Services department. “I have heard of other universities where that is not the way it is.”

Colleagues tend to work together rather than compete.

“Everyone wants each other to succeed,” Caudle said.

Caudle added that department and school leaders also do little things here and there to make employees feel appreciated and heard.

“Our dean and department heads are actually cooking us breakfast,” Caudle said. “That is the kind of stuff that keeps people around, the meaningful interaction.”

PROMOTINGRESEARCH,

PROVIDINGTIME

In addition to family policies and benefits, research and support for research did not

sibly to subsequent research projects.

Marie-Line Germain, an assistant professor of human resources and leadership and a research team member, said she is most interested in how leadership was ranked among the various colleges.

“We’ve learned through practice and also experience that leaders … need to know how to create a better workplace,” Germain said.

“There are a lot of places where I feel it could be streamlined,” Summers said.

Figuring out how to write grants can also be troublesome if there is no one there to provide guidance.

However, in general, faculty members have said that research support is getting better.

“I think there could be some improvement, but I think overall there is good support for research,” said Marie-Line Germain, assistant professor of human resources and leadership.

Germain said WCU has helped her financially when she wanted to attend conferences to exhibit her latest research.

Professor Laura Cruz said that some faculty research gripes have less to do with the services provided by the university and more to do with the fact that faculty want WCU to be a research university, which it’s not.

“The world doesn’t need more crappy research facilities,” said Cruz, associate professor of history and associate director of the Coulter Faculty Center. “Too often institutions like ours try to be Research 1 institutions. But we can’t be.”

The WCU team may also expand its research using data from COACHE surveys prior to 2011. However, they could hit a speed bump if the questions are different each year. Differently worded questions would like yield different answers from faculty because of the way people comprehend what is being asked.

“That is a real problem,” Germain said.

Due diligence underway on MedWest hospital split

BY B ECKY JOHNSON STAFFWRITER

MedWest hospital leaders have hired an outside consulting firm to help them analyze the pros and cons of staying together versus dissolving their fledgling partnership. Also at stake: whether Carolinas HealthCare System will stay on as the hospitals’ management company.

Last summer, the hospitals in Jackson and Swain counties formally declared that they want out of the MedWest partnership forged three years ago with Haywood County and to part ways with Carolinas. The call was driven in part by dissatisfaction among the medical community in Jackson and Swain.

An uprising in Jackson’s medical community cited cultural differences with Haywood’s medical community, a perceived underdog status, fear that local health care services would be siphoned away by Haywood, and an eroding bottom-line.

But to dissolve MedWest, it takes agreement by three-fourths of the MedWest board members. Since half the MedWest board hails from Haywood — which didn’t necessarily share the same dissatisfaction — the next move wasn’t clear.

Should hospital leaders in Haywood let Jackson and Swain go amicably, or should they fight to keep MedWest together?

The strategic hospital consulting firm Stroudwater Associates has been hired in part to help MedWest leaders examine their options.

The firm will also analyze MedWest’s business outlook and market position “in relation to national and regional trends as a result of health reform, market demand, competitive challenges, referral patterns and the like to determine future expected volumes for the sys-

tem,” according to a public statement.

Hospital leaders aren’t elaborating beyond the written statement issued last week. They are playing their cards close to their vest as they assess the best path forward based on Stroudwater’s analysis, which should be completed by June.

SEEKINGABIGGERPARTNER

MedWest’s relationship with Carolinas HealthCare System could naturally be part of the fallout. Carolinas, which has a network of 36 hospitals under its umbrella, was hired by MedWest to serve as a management entity.

If MedWest is dissolved, the affiliation with Carolinas would likely end, too.

That would leave the hospitals on the prowl for a new partner to join up with. In fact, both hospitals have been casually putting out feelers to see what interested parties are out there.

Reverting to their former status as independent, stand-alone hospitals simply isn’t plausible given today’s financially trying environment, according to Don Dalton, spokesperson for the N.C. Hospital Association.

Of the 131 hospitals in North Carolina, only 25 are still independent stand-alone hospitals.

Small, rural hospitals across the country have scurried to the protection of bigger ones in recent years, seeking a safe harbor from those financially trying times. They’ve also been banding together with other small hospitals in neighboring communities — as was the case with MedWest — in hopes of shoring up their weaknesses.

Inevitably, not all of them work out. While somewhat rare, MedWest wouldn’t be the first partnership to dissolve and part ways.

“It is not uncommon that after a few years, they unaffiliate. They might affiliate for five years and then go off and affiliate with another hospital,” said Lisa Phillips with Irving Levin Associates, a research firm that tracks hospital acquisitions and mergers.

It would, however, be the first hospital partnership in North Carolina to dissolve, according to Dalton.

Machinations over a business structure aside, hospital leaders have emphasized the mission would be the same — to provide compassionate, quality health care close to home — as would the doctors, nurses and staff, which are the lifeblood of a hospital.

But the community could find itself once again having to get its mind around a new name on the entrance sign out front.

“It can cause confusion,” Phillips said. “It can give the impression they don’t know what they are doing.”

The formation of MedWest wasn’t technically a merger. No money or assets changed hands. Both kept balance sheets. But day-today, the hospitals were supposed to function as a team and blend their operations.

Many of the hospital partnerships fall somewhere in this loose category.

“We call them mergers, acquisitions, and O.W.A.’s — which stands for Other Weird Arrangements,” said Dalton. “We see them in every guise they can be created in. There is no cookie cutter approach to these situations because individual hospitals and individual markets are all very unique.”

Nationwide, there were 90 such deals in 2011 and 100 in 2012, according to Irving Levin Associates.

Recently, clusters of already-partnered hospitals are now merging with other clusters to make even larger hospital systems. Previously, large entities took on one new hospital at a time, gradually building a network of smaller hospitals around a large flagship. But now, existing networks are merging into even bigger systems.

“Even these big chains are in play,” Phillips said.

As consolidation increases, just a handful of large hospitals systems could be left.

That means less competition, which is a good thing for the hospitals that no longer have to pour resources into competing for patients. But it can also tread into anti-trust territory.

In Georgia, two recently merged hospitals ran afoul of the Federal Trade Commission and are now being forced to dissolve.

“They are going to make them unwind it,” said Phillips.

There’s only a handful of reasons that would prompt hospitals to voluntarily go through the headache and expense of dissolving a partnership.

One is money — namely, did the merger help their bottom line as hoped?

“They are all trying to get more efficient,” Phillips said. “They are seeing things getting tighter and tighter. They are looking for cost savings, and if the cost savings aren’t there, they can always undo it and try again with another partner.”

The bottom line in mergers is often all about the bottom line. It was a critical factor for Haywood Regional Medical Center and Harris Regional Hospital. But both still lost money last year.

Haywood and Harris certainly aren’t alone. Roughly one-third of hospitals in North Carolina are losing money. Roughly one-third are profitable. The remaining third are hovering precariously around the barely breaking even mark, Dalton said.

Not surprisingly, the two-thirds who are either losing money or in the fragile zone are mostly the smaller, rural hospitals.

“Hospitals are all built to serve the needs of our community, so their financial fortunes are tied very much to the financial fortunes of their communities,” Dalton said. “The rural areas are skewed more rural and poorer than the urban areas.”

Rural hospitals have more patients on Medicare and Medicaid, which means they don’t recoup the actual costs of providing care. They also have more patients without insurance.

Unloading machine guns could raise big bucks for Canton

BY CAITLIN BOWLING STAFFWRITER

The Canton Police Department is considering selling two 80-year-old submachine guns and using the proceeds to pay for new and better equipment for the force — before the federal government possibly bans such weapons.

“Somewhere, somehow, the town acquired them. We can’t use them; there is no need to have them sitting in our arms room gathering dust,” said Canton Alderman Ed Underwood. “I’ve been advocating to sell them for quite a while.”

Three Thompson submachine guns, or “Tommy guns,” were given to the Canton Police Department sometime in the 1930s. The weapons are similar to the gun used by Johnny Depp in “Public Enemies,” a flick about notorious criminal John Dillinger. Little is known about where Canton’s submachine guns came from.

“The historical side of it is a little grey,” said Canton Police Chief Bryan Whitner.

But what is known is that the firearms are valuable. The town sold one of the three last year. It netted $24,000 for the department — money that was then used to buy all new service weapons, police shotguns and tasers for officers on the force.

“It was a much needed requisition,” Whitner said.

With new firearm legislation being debated at the federal level, Canton leaders want to get the weapons out of their hands before selling them possibly becomes illegal. If Congress passed a new gun control bill preventing the sale of submachine guns, the town would lose out on potential revenue. Whitner estimated that the two remaining “Tommy guns” will sell for about $48,000 total.

One is worth about $28,000 and the other, which needs its barrel replaced, is val-

Look no further for a job

ued at about $20,000. However, if the town decides its worth their money to fix the barrel, Canton Police Department could fetch even more for the second gun.

Whitner already has a list of equipment the money could be used for, including high quality, undercover surveillance gear for drug stings, a new vehicle and tactical weaponry such as an AR-15.

During a time when funding is still tight all over, town and county departments are looking at any and every avenue for additional money.

“We are trying to be self-sustaining,” Whitner said. “It reduces the burden on the taxpayer.”

And the sale of old submachine guns, which the police have no use for, is the perfect way to raise a decent amount of new money for desired equipment upgrades.

“We would be able to obtain a lot of money off them,” Underwood said.

The Canton Board of Aldermen voted unanimously earlier this month to sell off the last two “Tommy guns,” but the town cannot just auction them off to anyone. There are strict federal regulations as to how to sell such weaponry and who can buy it.

“It’s not something you want on the street,” Whitner said.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives oversees the sale and manufacturing of machine guns. Using a government-permitted middleman, the town can sell the old guns to someone who is licensed to own it — a process that will take more than a couple of months.

“There is an extensive amount of paperwork that has to go to the federal government,” Whitner said.

Any money earned from the sale of the guns will go into the town’s general fund, where it will sit until the police department requests it.

Don’t miss Southwestern Community College’s Job Fair from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday, April 4, in the Burrell Building Conference Center on the Jackson Campus. More than 50 employers will be represented at the free event.

“This is a unique opportunity for job seekers in the community because we are bringing all these employers together in one location,” said organizer Patty Kirkley, SCC’s Career planning and placement coordinator. “This will be your one-stop shop. We’ve done all the legwork to bring them together for you.

Even if employers aren’t hiring immediately, Kirkley said those attending the job fair can learn about future openings as well as co-ops or internships. 828.339.4212.

HCC president to be named Thursday

Haywood Community College will host a gathering to announce the name of its next president at 10 a.m. Thursday, March 28, in the student center auditorium.

The college board will meet at 8:30 a.m. to officially vote on the next president after months of a search. The next president will then be introduced and give a talk at 10 a.m.

The announcement comes after almost a year of searching since former HCC President Rose Johnson said she planned to retire. Check out www.smokymountainnews.com on Thursday morning to find out who HCC’s Board of Trustees names.

World Methodist leader overcomes adversity in his life path to Junaluska

BY ANDREW KASPER STAFFWRITER

Ivan Abrahams didn’t come to hold the top spot in the World Methodist Council because he abided by the rules. At more than one point in his spiritual career, he was a bit of a thorn in the clergy’s side.

But his commitment to the scriptures and unwavering belief in equality carried him on his path from a boy of mixed race on the sandy plains of apartheid South Africa to the spiritual leader of one of the world’s largest churches — claiming 80 million or so members globally.

Abrahams is the first person of color to hold the high-ranking post, tasked with working as a mediator and unifier between the 75 or so Methodist denominations located in 132 countries across the globe.

These days, however, home for Abrahams is Lake Junaluska, where the World Methodist Council has had its headquarters since the 1950s. When Abrahams was named general secretary by a vote of the worldwide Methodist representatives, the job meant moving from his home in South Africa to take up temporary residence at Lake Junaluska. Now he can be found, along with his wife, walking amongst the flocks of geese along the shores of the lake — when he is not traveling to New York or Africa that is.

Despite the obvious culture shock, Abrahams has found Lake Junaluska “a place of beauty and hospitality.”

But once considered a second-class citizen even in his own country, it wasn’t an easy journey to rise to his prominent post. Abrahams is living example of what it means to believe, even when the religious, political and social powers are working against you.

“It is being a prisoner of hope that brings me to Lake Junaluska,” Abrahams said. “It is a hope that a different world is possible.”

It’s quite easy for Abrahams to trace back to one of the first times he recognized his own church was wrong and did something about it.

While studying at an all-black seminary school in South Africa in 1977, he and two other students decided to take a trip. During the night, they packed up their belongings and drove more than 500 miles to the allwhite seminary at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Arica, along the southern cape.

They settled in, and the next morning were spotted quite easily at the white institution.

“When they woke up, they found us there,” Abrahams said. “We were not welcomed at all.”

The church leadership threatened the group of students with disciplinary action and accused of them of trying to embarrass the organization. Nevertheless, Abrahams said their act of defiance was the impetus that eventually brought about the integration of

seminary education.

“We wanted to push the boundaries,” Abrahams said. “That is born out of my own conviction and reading of the Bible that apartheid is an abomination and a heresy and against everything that the scriptures stood for.”

But his struggles for racial equality in South Africa and the Methodist church did not stop there.

Abrahams, who was born in 1956 and lived under the cloud of apartheid until it was abolished in 1994, described it as “the fabric of daily life.” Every facet of society in the racedivided country was segregated, from drinking fountains to beaches to the education system, and the Methodist church was no exception. Blacks attended black churches while whites typically attended white churches. If a church was of a mixed congregation, it wasn’t uncommon for people of color to sit in the back and whites in the front.

One of the rare instances when blacks and whites intermingled within the Methodist church was during conferences of the organization’s higher-ups.

In terms of race, Abrahams is technically somewhere in the middle. His paternal side of the family traces its roots to Russia, where his greatgreat-grandfather fled from the czar before settling in South Africa and marrying an aboriginal woman. His maternal side came to the region with the Dutch East India Company in the mid-1600s.

Abrahams father, a painter, who was also of mixed heritage, could have passed for white but chose to be black. Abrahams, himself, didn’t have a choice because his wiry hair failed the so-called “pencil test.”

The test was used to separate people of mixed heritage from whites. The test went like this: stick a pencil in a person’s hair and if it falls out the person is white; if it stays, the person is colored.

toe the line and behave.

Regardless, that didn’t stop him from routinely inviting the small contingent of colored parishioners to seat themselves in the front, typically reserved for the whites.

It wasn’t long before he took a post, which paid half the wages, with a poor black congregation in the cape flats, a sandy wasteland where many colored citizens had been relocated in settlements.

“I felt I needed to be there in the trenches and supporting folks who mattered most,” Abrahams said.

His appointment was nearly blocked by a court order. Because of his ongoing involvement with an anti-apartheid group of reli-

about rebuilding after social upheaval. In essence, the position prepared him for the anticipated overturn of apartheid in South Africa so that he might better serve the church upon his return.

While holding that position in Namibia, Abrahams saw the apartheid regime tumble in his home country. It was a momentous occasion that caused him to look back over years of struggle he experienced firsthand and breathe a momentary sigh of relief.

“There was a kind of mantra or chant we used to say: ‘Freedom in our lifetime,’” Abrahams said. “I hung on to that. I believed it passionately.”

Later, Abrahams became the director of missions for the Methodist Church of Southern Africa — a transnational organization representing six African countries and 2.2 million members. Then, in 2003, he rose to the rank of presiding bishop, the highest rank in the organization.

As with most social change, the victories are often fleeting, and there’s always more to be done. Abrahams believes the footprint of apartheid is still noticeable in the Methodist churches across South Africa, and other forms of injustice and discrimination still permeate Methodist churches in every corner of the globe. He said he’d like to work toward greater inclusion of persons with handicaps, the poor, women and youth in the Methodist church. He also wants to advocate for the rights of people with HIV and AIDS.

“Some of my family were considered white because they passed the pencil test,” Abrahams said. “Others were considered black.”

Yet, Abrahams’ fairer skin allowed him to bridge the racial gap and identify with both sides of the split South Africa.

After graduating from seminary school, Abrahams was assigned as pastor to a church along the north Indian Ocean coast near Durban with a well-to-do congregation that was majority white. He said it was part of his punishment for pushing the boundaries as a student.

There, he felt the sword of Damocles hanging over his head with the threat that he

gious and civic leaders, United Democratic Front, Abrahams had been labeled by the government as an “undesirable element.”

Nevertheless, he was able to overcome the sanction, and, in the end, the government label he had earned helped attract scores of people to his sermons to hear him speak.

From there, he began his ascension within the church. In 1992, at the age of 37, he was selected as the bishop to Namibia, a neighboring country to South Africa, making him the youngest appointed bishop in the church.

He speculated the church sent him to Namibia, a country that had flung the chains of its own colonial ruler in 1989, to learn

From his desk in Lake Junaluska, Abrahams has already noticed a glaring difference between the United Methodist Church, the denomination that predominates in the United States, and the Methodist churches in South Africa. Although both are part of the same worldwide Methodist association, in the United States homosexuality is considered at odds with the religion, and in South Africa, it is accepted.

“What a person’s sexual preference is, is up to them,” Abrahams said. “I believe passionately that the church needs to be an inclusive organization.”

However, Abrahams also said he respects the local doctrine and knows from experience that change within society, and within the Methodist church, can take time to materialize. Furthermore, Abrahams’ role is not one that allows him to make changes at the drop of a hat. The World Methodist Council is more like a United Nations of the various denominations worldwide, with Abrahams as the secretary general.

Although he assumes that when the church’s leadership voted him into his current position, it was a vote for inclusivity and progress for the Methodists, he also understands the challenges. But during his five-year term as spiritual leader he hopes he can at least point the ship in the right direction.

“My metaphor for the church is that it is like a super tanker,” Abrahams said. “It takes such a long time to turn it about.”

A real estate phoenix

Foreclosed second-home lots transformed into low-income housing

BY CAITLIN BOWLING STAFFWRITER

The story is all too familiar.

A property developer buys a large swath of land with grand plans to build high-end homes and sell them for a substantial profit. But the housing bubble bursts. The lots don’t move. The property sits empty, and eventually, the developer can’t repay the bank loan used to purchase the land. It falls into foreclosure and becomes an artifact of the U.S. real estate market crash.

Paid builders work on an affordable, 800square-foot house in Jonathan Creek. Once finished, the homes will be sold at cost, helping fill a need for low-income housing in Haywood County.

which was opened up as a homeless shelter for a couple of winters during the recession.

Despite homes withering in value on the market, there are few options for lowincome families wanting to buy a house of their own in Haywood County. Boiled down to the basics, the options are new, expensive homes, a trailer or a 50-year-old house in need of major repairs. And given the recent recession, banks aren’t willing to hand out mortgages to just anybody.

In many cases, that is where the tale ends. But that’s not so for 50 acres on Jonathan Creek in Haywood County. Instead, it is a rare example of a silver lining to the recession. The story starts the same, but the end has a fairy-tale-like quality.

After the first developer failed, another one stepped forward and bought the 50 acres, with views of the Hemphill Mountains and utilities already installed, out of foreclosure. He planned to build vacation condominiums. He even partially built three small log cabins before personal issues forced him to sell the land, and sell it quickly.

That’s where Richard Bates came in. Envisioning a low-income, affordable housing neighborhood, Bates contacted the man and was able to buy the land — 75 plots total, at a bargain rate of $425,000. Because of the minimal cost of acquire the ready-fordevelopment tract, he plans to pass on his own savings to the future homeowners.

“We really just wanted to build something for the working people,” Bates said.

Bates has been active in Christian philanthropy circles in Haywood County for years. He and his wife, Karen, started the Christian-based nonprofit Camp Bethel in 2006. The nonprofit is dedicated to helping the needy, but they also run a camp in Waynesville for Christian youth groups —

“It can be overwhelming for people. You have to have a lot of resources,” said Patsy Dowling, executive director of nonprofit Mountain Projects. “Anybody can have trouble.”

Even people with steady jobs, say a single mother of two, may be living paycheck-topaycheck and find it difficult to squirrel away the required savings for a down payment. Yet, they also don’t necessarily qualify for help from agencies such as Mountain Projects or Habitat for Humanity. They fall through a gap. Again, that is where Bates and his nonprofit Camp Bethel come in.

Bates is orchestrating the construction of 75 quality, energy-efficient, affordable homes, which he plans to sell at cost — about $80,000 if all goes well. To keep the home prices low, however, Bates needs a mixture of donated or discounted goods and volunteer work.

Camp Bethel is looking for “anyone who wants to build a home for somebody” and “whatever we can get donated,” Bates said. “Any cost that is not incurred gets passed onto the buyer.”

In other words, the less it costs to build the homes, the cheaper he will sell them for.

Haywood Community College students and churchgoers from First Baptist in Maggie Valley, Long’s Chapel United Methodist Church and Morningstar United Methodist Church have all volunteered, performing tasks that Camp Bethel would have otherwise had to pay workers for. Scott’s Landscape and Lawn Care and Smoky Mountain Log Homes have also donated labor and materials.

Camp Bethel has worked out a deal with the Open Door, a nonprofit that serves the

poor and homeless of Haywood County. Those in need of financial help can trade labor for whatever assistance they may need. The person sets a goal for themselves — anything from paying off a fine to getting their driver’s license to simply paying a bill.

Once they put in a requisite amount of work, then Camp Bethel will help them with that goal, for example writing a check directly to the courthouse to pay off a fine or to the Town of Waynesville to cover an electric bill.

Bates is also keeping an eye out for any deals. After searching on Craigslist, he found several new doors selling for $75 a piece. At retail, the same doors sold for $300, he said.

Currently, four homes are under construction. The houses will be about 800 square feet but will comfortably fit a family of three. There is a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, a porch and another small room as well as an upstairs loft that could be storage space or act as a second bedroom.

Once complete, Camp Bethel will sell the home at cost. However, not just anyone can buy one. They have to meet several requirements (see box).

Bates is working with Mountain Projects to find people who do not meet its standards for housing help but still need aid. Dowling, executive director of the nonprofit, applauded Bates for striving to fill a troublesome gap in housing availability.

“It’s amazing — what a great gift to this community,” Dowling said. “It’s just a real

Qualify for housing

To qualify for a low-income home in Bethel Village neighborhood, people must:

■ Be a state resident.

■ Have a job.

■ Qualify for a mortgage.

■ Participate in a homeownership course.

■ Commit to 200 volunteer hours toward constructing a home.

There are also income guidelines. To qualify, a household can’t make more than $35,435 for one person; $40,470 for two people; $45,505 for three people; $50,540 for four people; or $54,635 for five people.

To volunteer, call Kalon Stiggins at 863.557.5167. For more information on living at Bethel Village, call Richard Bates at 828.564.1142.

blessing to have him here to help us.”

But ironically, Camp Bethel could not have built a quality, affordable housing neighborhood without the market crash. The recession forced the 50 acres Jonathan Creek property into foreclosure after the developer had already installed the expensive, yet necessary utility infrastructure. One developer lost out on his plans to build a development catering to second-home owners, but in turn set the stage for a small nonprofit to purchase the property at an unbelievably low price. If that wasn’t how it played out, Bethel Village would not exist.

“That is the only reason we can do it,” Bates said.

Resources fail to keep up with mental health needs

BY ANDREW KASPER STAFFWRITER

In late February, a Macon County youth was checked into the local emergency room in need of psychological care. Because the hospital, Angel Medical Center, does not provide that type of service, he spent the night in the ER while awaiting transfer to a state inpatient facility that treats juveniles with mental health issues.

That one night turned into eight more before a bed became available and the youth was transported to Broughton, a state psychiatric hospital in Morganton.

Although the thought of a juvenile in need of psychiatric services left languishing for more than a week in a local emergency room seems exceptional, it’s not. Across Western North Carolina, unequipped hospitals are being overrun by an increasing load of patients in need of emergency mental health services while the state resources available are rapidly disappearing.

“By default, the ER department becomes the repository for some of these individuals for days at a time,” said Jim Bross, president and CEO of Angel Medical Center. “This is not specific to Macon County; this is not specific to Franklin — the hospital leadership around the region is all sharing a similar experience.”

Because most local hospitals like Angel Medical Center are not staffed with psychiatrists or personnel to provide mental health care, Bross said providing an initial assessment and then making the patients comfortable until they can be transported to another facility is the best they can do.

At Angel Medical Center, which is prohibited from turning away patients because of its nonprofit status, it’s not uncommon to have four or five such patients at a time in the 13-bed emergency ward awaiting transport to a psychiatric facility. Meanwhile, the medical staff has to split its time between the usual emergencies such as heart attacks and car accidents and these mental health patients.

“In many cases, they consume significant resources from the ER,” Bross said. “It’s not the best place for them, not at all.”

And the strain in resources is not only felt in the health care sector. If mental health patients are involuntarily committed by a local judge — usually referred by a friend or relative who has safety concerns for that person — law enforcement becomes involved. Those patients usually pose a threat of suicide or violence, and substance abuse is often involved.

Then, sheriff’s deputies or detention guards are responsible for picking the patient up, taking them to the local emergency room, standing bedside around the clock, providing transportation when an opening appears in a psychiatric facility,

and later picking that patient up at the end of the commitment.

Swain County Sheriff Curtis Cochran said the matter has become a big problem for his small staff. And the situation is impossible to anticipate.

“We may have weeks where we don’t

miles on just under 200 transports. Those transports took up nearly 6,000 hours between driving on the road and trading off shifts in the hospital with the patient.

The average wait time for a patient to find a bed in a local mental health facility — such as the Balsam Center in Haywood County — can be a matter of hours. However, as the severity of the patient’s need increases, so does the amount of time spent waiting for an appropriate hospital to have a vacancy.

Shields said committed patients who are violent, suicidal, juveniles, elderly or have serious medical complications will

Mental health in the seven western counties, by the numbers

*Source: Cases handled by Appalachian Community Services

Community mental health services available

Despite statewide funding cuts and lack of access to inpatient services, outpatient services are available in all counties including mobile crisis management, clinical assessment, medication management, and evidenced based group and individual therapy. Individuals should to contact Smoky Mountain Center at 800.849.6127 or Appalachian Community Services at 888.315.2880 if they, or someone they know, is in need of mental health services. A mental health professional will assist the caller in accessing services.

have any, and then a week where we have one everyday,” Cochran said.

Andy Shields, chief deputy for the Macon County sheriff, has watched the number of man-hours he loses to the process climb during recent years. In 2012, the office saw a 43 percent jump in the number of involuntary commitment transports it had to make. In 2011, the department dealt with an almost 100 percent spike compared to 2010.

“It’s not very long before you run out of resources to deal with the issue,” Shields said. “Each year, the issue gets worse.”

The transport can be as close as a mental health care facility in Haywood County, or as far away as Wilmington, a more than six-hour drive to the coast. Last year, Macon officers drove more than 42,000

episode is not an ideal situation, said Doug Trantham, clinical director at the Balsam Center. And, that’s if they’re lucky enough to be admitted to the hospital in Asheville, which is often at capacity.

“Children and adolescents need to be served near their families,” he said. “For inpatients, minors are one of the most difficult to deal with.”

Trantham works for Appalachian Community Services, which contracts as the service provider for the Smoky Mountain Center. The Smoky Mountain Center is a quasi-governmental agency that is the designated mental heath care provider in the region. ACS has walk-in mental health clinics in six of the seven western counties, a patient center in Haywood — which is a level of care below a psychiatric hospital — and an on-call mobile crisis team for mental health emergencies.

Most mental health patients in the region are not involuntarily committed but rather seek help, said Trantham. These patients can be treated in an outpatient setting or during a short stay at the Balsam Center to detox or receive other care. One of the most effective ways to prevent the overload of mental health patients taxing local hospitals and law enforcement is through services, identifying and treating mental health problems before they escalate and end up as a visit to the ER, he said.

But if that fails, it’s the children, people with mental retardation, elderly with diabetes or violent patients that fall through the cracks.

“As bad as it is for certain people, it doesn’t mean that nothing in the system is working,” Trantham said. “But some things, frankly, are not working at all; they don’t even exist.”

And Trantham fears that if public funding for mental health does not rise to meet the level of need, the gaps in the system will become even more apparent. About nine out of 10 patients treated at the Balsam Center are without health insurance or Medicaid, so treatment at private mental health hospitals is usually not an option.

wait a long time in the emergency room with a guard by their side. If several of these factors are present, the situation becomes particularly difficult for the patient and law enforcement. Last year in Macon County, the process for one violent juvenile lasted more than 300 hours.

“If you view mental health as an issue that requires immediate assistance, and you don’t get it, how would you fare?” Shields said. “Can you imagine the despair and anguish?”

Moreover, the two primary overnight mental health hospitals in the area — the Balsam Center and Haywood Regional Medical Center — only provide adult care. The closest facility for children is in Asheville. Having children sent so far from their families to recover from a mental health

Meanwhile, the ACS clinic in Sylva was closed due to funding reductions, and many experienced staff members have been lost during recent years. Also, services like case management to help patients navigate the care network were eliminated last July. Trantham said the situation has been exacerbated by the fragmentation of services, split up among different providers contracting with Smoky Mountain Center.

“Now, more of those people are going into crisis,” Trantham said.

The Smoky Mountain Center operates on a mix of federal, state and local funds. It took a $3 million hit last year from the state, said Brian Ingraham, CEO of the Smoky Mountain Center. It was the latest in a series of recent reductions, he said. In the meantime, a struggling economy and higher unemployment have added further stress to local households and possibly put some people a bit closer to the edge.

“As the money shrinks, the group of people needing that funding does not shrink,” Ingraham said. “That’s simple math.”

Study says Macon employees underpaid compared to counterparts

BY ANDREW KASPER STAFFWRITER

Astudy that revealed that most Macon County government employees were underpaid compared to counterparts in other North Carolina counties is catching flack from some critics for alleged design flaws, as well as calling into question the worth of a public servant.

The $30,000 study conducted last summer by the Springsted consulting firm based in Virginia compared public employee pay and job duties from a cross section of 67 Macon County positions to the same information collected from 10 other governmental entities across North Carolina.

At a recent county meeting, the results of the study were presented in depth to county lawmakers. The study’s conclusion: 90 percent of the Macon County positions surveyed are paid below market value.

Springsted Senior Vice President John Anzivino said that’s an indicator that the county has not been keeping up-to-date with its pay scale, nor has it been increasing its employee salaries to stay current and match their changing duties. The county’s last employee study was conducted more than a decade ago.

“Macon County went a good long time between studies,” Anzivino said. “The last study was prior to a lot of things happening in the market place.”

Also included in the study were recommendations for how the county could adjust the pay

3 Terrific Young

Adult Authors join us BETH REVIS, CARRIE RYANAND MEGAN HANSEN SHEPHERD

Saturday, March 30th at noon

DANNY BERNSTEIN will present, The Mountain-to-Sea Trail Across North Carolina: Walking a Thousand Miles Through Wilderness, Culture and History

Friday, March 29th at 6:30 p.m.

BIRKE BAEHR, 13-year old advocate for organic food and sustainable farming practices, will talk about his book, Birke on the Farm

Saturday, March 30th at 3 p.m.

plans for its 400 or so employees. The cheapest of those plans — apart from commissioners deciding not to implement the study — is a $618,000 annual injection of county money into the wages of its workers to bring them up to the recommended minimum pay. The second option would cost about $759,000 per year and include 2 percent raises for some workers.

Commission Chairman Kevin Corbin said he wasn’t against changes to the pay plan, but not necessarily the ones recommended. He added the study was remiss in not factoring in the county’s benefits plan, one of the most generous in the state. In the past, the commissioners have voted to beef up the benefits plan instead of offering cash raises.

“Nine-thousand dollars per year should be added back into some of those calculations,” Corbin said of the salaries used by the study for comparison purposes. “Macon County has a good benefits plan.”

Under the cheapest plan proposed by Springsted, the salaries of the top earners in Macon County government would remain untouched.

However, the county’s transit drivers would each receive about a $6,000 per year raise to just more than $25,000; the veteran’s service officer would get about a $7,000 raise, bringing the annual salary to $35,000; and the animal shelter attendant salary would rise $3,000 annually to about $25,000.

County Manager Jack Horton said the increases would help some public workers

make a living wage and give others the salary their job duties call for. The county manager’s annual salary of $133,000 was not included in the pay study. Horton said implementing the plans would not raise taxes.

“We’re not looking to give everybody a big raise,” Horton said. “We’re looking to pay a fair wage for a fair day’s work.”

But, Commissioner Ron Haven was skeptical about the pay raises. He said that he understands its hard to make it on a low wage; however, it’s a struggle shared by many others in the private sector. Raises have been scarce there as of recent, Haven said. In 2011, Haven supported a 3 percent cost-ofliving increase for county employees.

from a pool of places that were comparable in demographics to Macon County. He said the methodology has been proven to work. Rather, he said, these types of studies can gather undue scrutiny because of the subject matter.

“It’s a very complex process,” Anzivino said. “And a process that often gets a lot of scrutiny because it involves public sector pay.”

However, Haven asked if the concern was

“This is like trying to compare Italian to Mexican food to French cuisine, while we’re sitting here eating beans, potatoes and pork chops.”

— Ron Haven, Macon commissioner Ron Haven

“I believe in paying everybody for what they do and for what they’re worth,” Haven said. “But just because someone feels they are making less than what they’re worth, well, welcome to the club.”

Haven also questioned the study’s comparisons. The study only used one bordering county, Transylvania, to draw its conclusions. Other counties used in the comparison included Haywood, McDowell, Bladen and Henderson.

Nevertheless, Anzivino defended the comparison counties, saying they were selected

losing employees to other entities, why do the comparison with counties so far away?

“This is like trying to compare Italian to Mexican food to French cuisine,” Haven said. “While we’re sitting here eating beans, potatoes and pork chops.”

Furthermore, Macon County has an 8 percent annual employee turnover rate, which is relatively low.

The commissioners may discuss the study and its recommendations further at their upcoming April meeting and possibly take action soon. All North Carolina counties begin their new fiscal year on July 1.

Waynesville skateboard park to ramp up by summer

After years of stops and starts, construction is now imminent on a long-awaited skateboard park in Waynesville.

The Waynesville town board is expected to approve a $341,658 contract this week with WNC Paving of Waynesville to build an 8,000-square-foot skate park on Vance Street. It should be completed by July.

“It’s exciting,” said Assistant Town Manager Alison Melnikova.

For more than a dozen years, Waynesville has been lobbied to build a

Tony Hawk Foundation and the North Carolina Community Foundation and a few thousand dollars in private donations.

The town is covering the rest of the cost, about $240,000. A big dent in the price tag — $98,000 to be exact — came from business license fees the town charged video sweepstake operations until the machines were outlawed.

Once completed, Melnikova expects that skateboarders from around the region will visit Waynesville to test out the new skate park. Those who can travel already make the 45-minute trip to Cherokee’s recently constructed skate park, she said.

The California-based Spohn Ranch Skateparks designed Waynesville’s future skate park, which is slated for completion this summer.

skate park — a safe place for skaters to practice tricks and an outlet for teens in need of a pastime. One of the biggest champions was Waynesville Alderman Gary Caldwell, who kept the idea on the front burner until fellow town leaders agreed it was time to find the money and get it done.

A consultant designed the skate park with input from members of the local skating community. The park will feature at least four ramps, rails and various obstacles that recreate an urban skateboard setting.

“It gives them the feeling of skating downtown,” Melnikova said.

There also will be bleachers for spectators.

The town raised $98,000 toward the project from outside sources, including a $60,000 grant from the N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, $20,000 from the Waynesville Kiwanis Club, grants from the

“We expect people from those communities to come here, too,” Melnikova said.

The skate park will bring yet another new feature to the sprawling town recreation complex along Richland Creek. It already has tennis courts, a dog park, a Frisbee golf course, a greenway trail, a playground, fishing docks, a walking track and sports fields.

The town recreation department has its plate full with other improvement plans as well. The tennis courts at the recreation park need resurfacing, and the town has applied for grants to help cover the cost.

Meanwhile, Waynesville leaders are finalizing design plans for a new restroom pavilion near the children’s playground. The restrooms were vandalized many times and set on fire, leading to their closure.

The new building will include bathrooms, new plumbing, a pitched roof, an extended picnic shelter with places to barbecue, a concession stand, a food prep area with a microwave and a meeting room.

— By Caitlin Bowling

HCC holding open house at technology center

There will be an open house in observance of North Carolina Manufacturing Awareness Week from 3-7 p.m. Tuesday, April 9, in the Regional High Technology Center at Haywood Community College.

Advanced manufacturing uses cutting-edge technology to create products used in fields such as aviation, communications and health care. During the open house, participants will learn more about careers in the advanced manufacturing field, meet with business and industry representatives, and participate in hands-on demonstrations of advanced manufacturing equipment. There will also be tours of machining labs and electronics engineering labs. www.haywood.edu/manufacturing _week.

From the holler to Hollywood

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF WRITER

Catapulting classic cars and blowing up helicopters just isn’t enough for Lance Holland.

“You’ve never had fun until you’ve wrecked a freight train,” he chuckled.

A Hollywood location scout for the better part of the last two decades, the Stecoah

were a healthy mix of local history, folklore and nature.

Now, he’s settled into a new life as a small town business owner and mainstay fixture in Swain County. There are seemingly no regrets for Holland, with his life spent amid the landscape he finds so alluring.

“I like how unspoiled it is here,” he said. “It’s a small town, and I like that.”

Resort, a lone outpost on the isolated Fontana Lake, flanked by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on one side and the Nantahala National Forest on the other. His wife, Tina, also got work through the resort.

In a twist of fate, when director Michael Mann was flying over Fontana Lake, he saw the setting as the perfect location for his upcoming film “The Last of the Mohicans.” It was wild, natural and unmarred by man — a backdrop that is otherwise hard to find in modern society. With Cherokee nearby, there was a Native American population within proximity for the cast and production.

Owner of Appalachian Mercantile in downtown Bryson City, Lance Holland has settled into the fabric of small town life after a career in the wilderness, from a logger to Hollywood location scout to outdoors guide.

director Andrew Davis around the forest where he pointed out each and every species of plant and animal they came across, all in an effort to get the picture just right. Being a location scout and production manager meant Holland had to not only find the ideal locations, but also had to decide where everything could go within the logistics of the set.

“Scouting the woods is the fun and artistic part of it, but spotting port-o-potties isn’t as glamorous,” he laughed.

Pulling together his years of Southern Appalachian study, he released a book in 2001, Fontana: A Pocket History of Appalachia, which is currently in its third printing. His latest venture is Appalachian Mercantile, a variety store he opened four years ago. Specializing in fine sauces, condiments and Western North Carolina wares, the idea entered Holland’s head after several trips to Colonel Mustards, a similar store in Highlands. He befriended the owner, who in turn shared his secrets of the trade that

resident sits quietly behind the counter of his store, Appalachian Mercantile, in downtown Bryson City. Gazing out the large bay windows of the building onto a bustling Everett Street, Holland reflects on his journey with a big grin and hearty laugh.

“I’ve been everything from a logger to a moviemaker, and now a shopkeeper, so I’m trying it all out,” he said.

Holland’s storied life in the Smokies was anchored on Fontana Lake, where he spent 25 years as an outdoor guide — by both land and water — amid the remote and rugged reaches of the Smokies. These tours

Holland is a well-regarded expert of navigating and identifying the woods. He endeared himself to old-timers, picking up the local stories from the people whose roots ran deep into the mountains. These tales soaked into his soul.

“I have always loved these mountains,” he said.

The 62-year-old has always held a fascination and love for the outdoors. Following college, Holland got a job with the U.S. Forest Service in North Georgia. But he wanted to be further in the Appalachians. He ultimately landed at Fontana Village

WNC FAMILY COUNSELING

“The director sent out his scout and that guy did what I do now — which is if I’m not familiar with an area, I find someone who is,” Holland said.

That man found Holland. Since that first film endeavor, he’s done around 20 productions, each taking about six months to complete. His projects included the “The Fugitive,” “Dukes of Hazzard” and “The Hunger Games.” It was during the filming of “Dukes of Hazzard” in Louisiana that Holland found himself next to legendary country singer Willie Nelson, who was cast as the part of Uncle Jesse.

“We had a meeting one night and Willie’s bus was parked out there,” he said. “We started talking and it was great. I guess us longhaired old guys have to stick together.”

But, perhaps the most memorable production for Holland was “The Fugitive.”

With the train wreck filmed in Dillsboro and the ambulance theft scene shot in downtown Bryson City, the enormous set was right in his backyard. He found himself showing

“I like how unspoiled it is here. It’s a small town, and I like that.”

— Lance Holland

Holland has applied to his process of deciding what works and what doesn’t in his store.

“He gave me the benefit of his 20 years of experience, and as a result everything in here is great,” he said. “Besides, I’m my own boss here, I enjoy talking to people that come in. I sit here, read my books and put money in the cash register. It’s not stressful for me, like the movie business can be.”

Though Hollywood continues to knock on his door, Holland’s film pursuits have been winding down. He’s always willing to entertain an offer, but those long months away from home and on the set are mostly behind him.Yet, it has been a fulfilling career filled with innumerable fond memories.

“I scouted recently. After one day, I decided I got too used to being my own boss, and I turned it over to a buddy of mine,” he said. “Twenty-five years of living out of a suitcase was about enough for me. It was a good run, though.”

TREATMENT SERVICES, PLLC

Investing in the region’s creative minds

When the city of Asheville decided that this year’s Bele Chere street festival would be the last it funded, little more than a whisper of protest was reported in the local media. The monstrous festival had become a victim of its own success. The largest street party in the Southeast cost nearly half a million dollars of taxpayer money each year, took just as much time to plan, and then during the summer buildup needed weeks of preparation. Many long ago decided it had become too big to enjoy.

Bele Chere may survive under the auspices of some other entity other than the city government, a move that would be helpful to the nonprofits that depend on it for a significant portion of their fundraising. The downtown association is a likely candidate, while the city could still help with security and garbage, writes Jason Sandford, the creator and writer of the blog Ashvegas.

As Bele Chere stares down an uncertain future, though, it has been recommended that Asheville hire a “creative economies director” that would work under the auspices of the economic development office. That’s an idea worth pursuing and one the entire region could perhaps emulate.

The arts attract tourists, create jobs and stimulate economic investment from entrepreneurs who want to live in a culturally rich community. Instead of Asheville spending its tax money on someone who would simply put on festivals or events, it will try to hire someone to leverage the community’s creativity and talent.

Anyone who lives in this region or visited here knows that the arts — music, dance, craft, visual arts, literature — have a special place in the fabric of the WNC community. We raise many of our own artists, and creative souls from across the country have

Voter ID issue just keeps getting better

To the Editor:

The radical Republican regime in Raleigh has a new pretext for the voter ID scheme North Carolina doesn’t need. It’s no longer about voter fraud — which is virtually nonexistent — but about voter “confidence” instead.

The real fraud is in how the votes we cast are rigged so they don’t matter. The Raleigh gang does not intend to fix that.

Here’s N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis rationalizing the matter on MSNBC last week, as quoted on WRAL.com:

“There is some evidence of voter fraud, but that’s not the primary reason for doing this. We call it restoring confidence in government. There are a lot of people who are just concerned with the potential risk of fraud.”

There has been only one known instance so far of impersonation at a North Carolina polling place. It’s already a felony to vote in the name of someone else. Whoever gets caught at it goes to prison. That’s all the confidence we need on that score.

Where confidence needs urgently to be restored is on the issue of whether the votes we cast even matter. By design, they often don’t. The Raleigh gang’s cunning redistricting gave the Republicans a 9-to-4 edge in the congressional delegation even though votes for Democrats outnumbered those for Republicans 51 percent to 49.

always been attracted to this region. Much has been done to capitalize on this phenomenon, and the benefits reach into our education system, to our downtowns and ripple throughout the economy.

Editor Scott McLeod

But the exciting part of what Asheville is considering is that the recommendation is for this position to be part of the economic development office. For too long the arts have been treated like a cute but impatient child, getting a pat on the head and smile from the political leaders but seldom real recognition — or taxpayer investment — for what it contributes to the economy.

A 2012 Arts and Economic Prosperity study pegs the arts as a $140 million industry in our region. They support 4,655 full-time jobs, while audience spending accounts for $60 million of that total. That’s real money spent in restaurants, hotels, galleries, music halls, theaters, convenience stores, and more.

This conversation about creative economies should also include a technological component. Designers and artists work all over the digital media these days, and supporting the “creative economy” means we will also appeal to software engineers and code writers who support these industries.

In addition, perhaps no other industry also keeps dollars local. Money spent on the arts — by its very nature — stays right here, creating direct benefits and cultural enrichment.

A look around Western North Carolina shows that local gov-

They stole the 11th Congressional District by annexing the Democratic parts of Asheville to Gastonia, 100 miles distant, a community with which it has nothing in common. They grew their majorities in the General Assembly in the same dishonorable way.

This occurred nationwide. Democrats nationally received 1.4 million more votes for Congress than the Republicans did, but the Republicans still control the House 234 to 201.

Gerrymandering is, of course, an equalopportunity sin. Democrats have been as shameless as Republicans. Even so, there was a bipartisan agreement last session to create a nonpartisan districting system like Iowa’s for North Carolina. The House passed it 88-27 but the Senate leadership refused to take it up. It has not been reintroduced this year. Meanwhile, the Republican leadership is obstructing this essential reform, which would truly restore confidence in the election process, in favor of an unnecessary, meanly inspired, and potentially very expensive scheme to make it harder to vote in the first place.

Martin

A. Dyckman

Waynesville

Return train to Dillsboro, but not as proposed

To the Editor:

Let’s remember when talking about the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad (GSMR), we are talking about two different entities.

ernments still spend almost all their economic development money chasing old school manufacturers and bigbox chains, spending money on site work and buildings. The state offers tax breaks to large companies but do little for the small entrepreneur. Elected leaders need to have a more open mind about what is the best way to encourage economic development, especially in a region know for its individuality and creativity.

Helping local arts organizations directly or hiring someone who could seek grant funding or organize multi-day events just makes sense. A creative economies director could also develop ways to bring different cultural and arts organizations together to showcase their product. In most cases, the investment would be far less than what is spent on traditional economic development.

A couple of weeks ago, we reported on the fact that Haywood commissioners had to cut funding to nonprofits as it struggled to keep county workers on the payroll and pay for vital services. That move was born out of the necessity of the recession, and no one can blame them for tightening their belts and hunkering down like everyone else in order to make it through the tough times.

As the economy begins to strengthen, though, Haywood and other local governments should look for innovative ways to build on the creative economy infrastructure that is already in place in our communities. It’s a natural fit in WNC, and one that could forever stamp this region as one of the most culturally rich regions in the U.S. Let’s keep an eye on Asheville as it takes the first steps into this arena.

(ScottMcLeodcanbereachedatinfo@smokymountainnews.com.

LOOKINGFOROPINIONS

The Smoky Mountain News encourages readers to express their opinions through letters to the editor or guest columns. All viewpoints are welcome. Send to Scott McLeod at info@smokymountainnews.com., fax to 828.452.3585, or mail to PO Box 629, Waynesville, NC, 28786.

Formerly, the GSMR created and operated with private investment funds by Malcolm and Joan McNeill (who moved to and became an integral part of Jackson County). Currently, the GSMR is adept at operating with OPM (Other Peoples’ Money), is owned by those not living here, and has similar operations in other states to which monies can be easily transferred.

Merely having a train coming to Dillsboro will not provide the needed economic stimulus: that only generates foot traffic to nearby restaurants/shops during a short layover. It will not “put heads in beds” or fill restaurants in Sylva or help Shopkeepers throughout Jackson County. For that, the train needs to originate in Dillsboro (or Sylva?) so people stay in Jackson County accommodations. Commissioners apparently understand this: they stated a goal for first year diesel trips and stipulated half of steam excursions originate in each county. Given that in previous years when there was a steam train, steam excursions weren’t that

numerous. Any agreement should require, starting with the first year, half of all excursions originate in Dillsboro continuing so throughout 15 years. To further encourage overnight stays the agreement should require reinstatement of the Dinner Train.

It isn’t clear (the agreement hasn’t been released to the public, yet we’re invited to comment) whether the maintenance shed and turntable must be unencumbered and Jackson County have a first position, and whether the steam engine be unencumbered and that Jackson and Swain counties share first position.

I fully concur with Commissioner Vicki Green’s desire/request to see GSMR’s tax returns (and P&L) and Mr. Harper’s financials. It is incomprehensible that commissioners (businessmen also) would grant or loan $700,000 of taxpayer money without having this information.

Matching a bank/Small Business Administration (SBA) loan might be considered (a 2009 SBA change allows unencumbered business assets to be collateral). Why grant $700,000 to a private business that cannot obtain a bank/SBA loan for half of what it needs to operate?

Forgiving $40,000 a year means GSMR will, in essence, be earning more than 5.7 percent interest on taxpayer money. I don’t think any of us are able to earn such favorable rates. Does the proposed agreement stipulate that Jackson County will receive half of GSMR’s 2 percent county sales tax receipts?

Yes, let’s bring a railroad back to Jackson

County, but insure that:

• Starting the first year, 50 percent of all rides originate in Dillsboro and Dillsboro’s Dinner Train is reinstated.

• Collateral is unencumbered and Jackson County has a first position.

• Jackson County receives sales tax for all rides originating in Dillsboro.

• Money earned by GSMR stays in North Carolina.

• Any assistance is an interest-bearing loan matching an equal loan the GSMR gets.

Let’s not forget the lesson of Metrostat: merely having collateral doesn’t insure recouping losses. As good as Jackson County’s government is, they’re no more capable of running a tourist train than running an Internet communications company.

George Ware Whittier

Dillsboro will welcome railroad back

To the Editor:

There seems to be some confusion as to the withdrawal of the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad from the town of Dillsboro, so let me try and set the record straight.

Back a few years ago the railway lost a tank mounted below one of its passenger cars on a return trip from Bryson City. The tank fell off the car as it passed a street crossing in Dillsboro that had been recently repaired. The immediate conclusion of the railroad was that it was the fault of the repaired roadway surface. Demands were made for repayment from the town for damages. The town promptly turned the matter over to its insurance company, whose adjuster came immediately and made a complete survey and report of the crossing and the damaged equipment.

The insurance company determined that there was considerable doubt as to what caused the tank’s damage. The railroad then filed a lawsuit for the claimed damages. After following all legal procedures, including a session with a mediator, the case went to court in Asheville.

On the day the judge was to enter his decision, the railroad withdrew the case. Lastminute evidence indicated the tank’s valve had been torn off in Whittier and the tank likely drug along, partly torn loose, and finally fell off at the Dillsboro Street crossing.

Shortly thereafter, the railroad announced it was closing its Dillsboro operation, stating it was due to a lack of business. If action by Dillsboro to protect taxpayer funds was driving the railway out of town, the town can

hardly be blamed.

The town would welcome the train back, and have done so during the recent times when the railroad has brought some excursions for short layovers, allowing folks to shop or refresh themselves. Dillsboro never held any ill will, having been falsely accused of having caused damage to the railroad’s equipment.

Herb Nolan retired town clerk, Dillsboro

Consider safety issues related to steep slopes

To the Editor:

I once again would like to bring up the safety issues regarding fire, rescue and sheriff’s department personnel responding to home sites that are built on steep grades. In my humble opinion, the present 30 percent maximum should have stayed at the 25 percent proposed level and not increased, much less be increased higher for any reason, much less to 34 percent.

Any commissioner or planner so inclined to vote to do so, I would highly recommend a mandatory field trip. They should be forced to ride to home sites built on grades 30 percent and higher in order for them to appreciate the dangers involved with just getting to the home site as a passenger in the front seat of a fully loaded fire engine containing 1,200 gallons of water or more when there is snow and black ice. Following that fire truck is a large rescue vehicle and then a sheriff’s vehicle.

Getting to the scene is only half the fun they will enjoy. Getting back down that same mountain, fully loaded with water on a false fire alarm, would be the real decision maker.

Then and only then will they fully appreciate the dangers involved for our folks who respond to calls for help. There is no reason imaginable to increase our responders’ risk just because someone wants to live on a mountaintop.

Just as there is a waiver for the big island in Glenville Lake for our fire departments, should there also be a waiver for all of our responders for homes built on grades higher than 30 percent? That could be a revision.

Sound pretty harsh? Then why make the problem any greater than it already is?

I request the commissioners to please shelve the idea of grades higher than the present. Oh, I am sure there are plenty of folks on the other side of this issue. I just would like the planners to be aware of the safety issues.

Thomas F. Fischel Cullowhee

tasteTHE mountains

Taste the Mountains is an ever-evolving paid section of places to dine in Western North Carolina. If you would like to be included in the listing please contact our advertising department at 828.452.4251

AMMONS DRIVE-IN

RESTAURANT & DAIRY BAR

1451 Dellwwod Rd., Waynesville. 828.926.0734. Open 7 days a week 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Celebrating over 25 years. Enjoy world famous hot dogs as well as burgers, seafood, hushpuppies, hot wings and chicken. Be sure to save room for dessert. The cobbler, pie and cake selections are sure to satisfy any sweet tooth.

ANTHONY WAYNE’S

37 Church St, Waynesville. 828.456.6789

Open for lunch Monday-Friday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; open for dinner Thursday-Saturday 5 to 9 p.m.; and Sunday brunch 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Exceptional, new-American cuisine, offering several gluten free items.

BLUE RIDGE BBQ COMPANY

180 N. Main St., Waynesville. 828.452.7524. 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. TuesdayThursday; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Blue Ridge BBQ is a family owned and operated restaurant. The BBQ is slow hardwood smoked, marinat-

ed in its own juices, and seasoned with mountain recipes. All menu items made from scratch daily. Featuring homemade cornbread salad, fresh collard greens, or cornbread and milk at your request. Old-fashioned homemade banana pudding and fruit cobbler of the season. Catering, take-out, eat-in. blueridgebbq@gmail.com.

BLUE ROOSTER SOUTHERN GRILL

207 Paragon Parkway, Clyde, Lakeside Plaza at the old Wal-Mart. 828.456.1997 Monday-Friday 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friendly and fun family atmosphere. Local, handmade Southern cuisine. Fresh-cut salads; slowsimmered soups; flame grilled burgers and steaks, and homemade signature desserts. Blue-plates and local fresh vegetables daily. Brown bagging is permitted. Private parties, catering, and take-out available. Call-ahead seating available.

BOURBON BARREL BEEF & ALE

454 Hazelwood Ave., Waynesville, 828.452.9191. Dinner nightly from 4 p.m. Closed on Sunday. We specialize in handcut, all natural steaks, fresh fish, and other classic American comfort foods that are made using only the finest local and sustainable ingredients available. We also feature a great selection of craft beers from local artisan brewers, and of course an extensive selection of small batch bourbons and whiskey. The Barrel is a friendly and casual neighborhood dining experience where our guests enjoy a great meal without breaking the bank.

tasteTHE mountains

HERREN HOUSE

94 East St., Waynesville 828.452.7837

Lunch: Wednesday - Saturday 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday Brunch 11 a. m. to 2 p.m.

Enjoy fresh local products, created daily. Join us in our beautiful patio garden. We are your local neighborhood host for special events: business party’s, luncheons, weddings, showers and more. Private parties & catering are available 7 days a week by reservation only.

CATALOOCHEE RANCH

119 Ranch Dr., Maggie Valley. 828.926.1401. Mile-high mountaintop dining with a spectacular view. Join us for cookouts on the terrace on weekends and Wednesdays (weather permitting) and familystyle dinners on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Social hour starts at 6 p.m., with dinner at 7 p.m. Our bountiful family-style meals include prime rib, baked ham, and herb-baked chicken; cookouts feature steaks, ribs, chicken and pork chops, to name a few. Every dinner is complemented with an assortment of seasonal vegetables, homemade breads, jellies and desserts, and we offer a fine selection of wine and beer. Breakfast is also served daily from 8 to 9:30 a.m., and lunch from 12 to 2 p.m. Please call for reservations.

CHEF’S TABLE

30 Church St., Waynesville. 828.452.6210

From 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday dinner starting at 5 p.m. “Best of” Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator Magazine. Set in a distinguished atmosphere

with an exceptional menu. Extensive selection of wine and beer. Reservations honored.

CITY BAKERY

18 N. Main St. Waynesville 828.452.3881. Monday-Friday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Join us in our historic location for scratch made soups and daily specials. Breakfast is made to order daily: Gourmet cheddar & scallion biscuits served with bacon, sausage and eggs; smoked salmon bagel plate; quiche and fresh fruit parfait. We bake a wide variety of breads daily, specializing in traditional french breads. All of our breads are hand shaped. Lunch: Fresh salads, panni sandwiches. Enjoy outdoor dinning on the deck. Private room available for meetings.

CITY LIGHTS CAFE

Spring Street in downtown Sylva.

828.587.2233. Open Monday-Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tasty, healthy and quick. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, espresso, beer and wine. Come taste the savory and sweet crepes, grilled paninis, fresh, organic salads, soups and more. Outside patio seating. Free Wi-Fi, pet-friendly. Live music and lots of events. Check the web calendar at citylightscafe.com.

CORK

& CLEAVER

176 Country Club Drive, Waynesville.

828.456.7179. Reservations recommended. 4:30-9 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Tucked away inside Waynesville Inn, Cork & Cleaver has an approachable menu designed around

locally sourced, sustainable, farm-to-table ingredients. Executive Chef Corey Green prepares innovative and unique Southern fare from local, organic vegetables grown in Western North Carolina. Full bar and wine cellar. www.waynesvilleinn.com.

COUNTRY VITTLES: FAMILY STYLE RESTAURANT

3589 Soco Rd, Maggie Valley. 828.926.1820 Open Daily 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., closed Tuesday. Family Style at Country Vittles is not a buffet. Instead our waitresses will bring your food piping hot from the kitchen right to your table and as many refills as you want. So if you have a big appetite, but sure to ask your waitress about our family style service.

FRANKIE’S ITALIAN TRATTORIA

1037 Soco Rd. Maggie Valley. 828.926.6216 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Father and son team Frank and Louis Perrone cook up dinners steeped in Italian tradition. With recipies passed down from generations gone by, the Perrones have brought a bit of Italy to Maggie Valley. frankiestrattoria.com

FRYDAY’S & SUNDAES

24 & 26 Fry St., Bryson City (Next To The Train Depot). 828.488.5379. Winter hours: 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thur & Sun. 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fri & Sat. Fryday’s is known for its Traditional English Beer Battered Fish & Chips, but also has burgers, deep fried dogs, gyro, shrimp, bangers, Chip Butty, chicken, sandwiches & a great kids menu.

tasteTHE mountains

Price friendly, $3-$10, Everything available to go or call ahead takeout. Sundaes has 24 rotating flavors of Hershey's Ice Cream making them into floats, splits, sundaes, shakes. Private seating inside & out for both locations right across from the train station & pet friendly.

FROGS LEAP PUBLIC HOUSE

44 Church St. Downtown Waynesville 828.456.1930 Serving lunch and dinner from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, Sunday lunch and dinner from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., closed Mondays. Frogs Leap is a farm to table restaurant focused on local, sustainable, natural and organic products prepared in modern regional dishes. Seasonal menu focuses on Southern comfort foods with upscale flavors. Come for the restaurant’s 4 @ 4 when you can choose a center and three sides at special prices. Offered WedFri. from 4 to 6. frogsleappublichouse.org.

GUADALUPE CAFÉ

606 W. Main Street, Sylva. 828.586.9877

Open 7 days a week at 5 p.m. Located in the historic Hooper’s Drugstore, Guadalupe Café is a chef-owned and operated restaurant serving Caribbean inspired fare complimented by a quirky selection of wines and microbrews. Supporting local farmers of organic produce, livestock, hand-crafted cheese, and using sustainably harvested seafood.

J. ARTHUR’S RESTAURANT AT MAGGIE VALLEY

U.S. 19 in Maggie Valley. 828.926.1817

Lunch Sunday noon to 2:30 p.m., dinner nightly starting at 4:30 p.m. World-famous prime rib, steaks, fresh seafood, gorgonzola cheese and salads. All ABC permits and open year-round. Children always welcome. Take-out menu. Excellent service and hospitality. Reservations appreciated.

JUKEBOX JUNCTION

U.S. 276 and N.C. 110 intersection, Bethel. 828.648.4193. 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Serving breakfast, lunch, nd dinner. The restaurant has a 1950s & 60s theme decorated with memorabilia from that era.

LOS AMIGOS

366 Russ Ave. in the Bi-Lo Plaza. 828.456.7870. Open from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for lunch and 5 to 10 p.m. for dinner Monday through Friday and 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Enjoy the lunch prices Monday through Sunday, also enjoy our outdoor patio.

MAD BATTER BAKERY & CAFÉ

Located on the WCU Campus in Cullowhee. 828.293.3096. Open Monday-Thursday

7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Earth-friendly foods at people-friendly prices. Daily specials, wraps, salads, pastries, breads, soups and more. Unique fare, friendly service, casual atmosphere and wireless Internet. Organic ingredients, local produce, gourmet fair trade and organic coffees.

MAGGIE VALLEY CLUB

1819 Country Club Dr., Maggie Valley. 828.926.1616. maggievalleyclub.com/dine. Open daily for lunch and dinner. Fine and casual fireside dining in welcoming atmosphere. Full bar. Reservations accepted.

OLD STONE INN

109 Dolan Road, off Love Lane.

828.456.3333. Classic fireside dining in an historic mountain lodge with cozy, intimate bar. Dinner served nightly except Sunday from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Signature dinner choices include our 8oz. filet of beef in a brandied peppercorn sauce and a garlic and herb crusted lamb rack. Carefully selected fine wines and beers plus full bar available. Open year round. Call for reservations.

PASQUALE’S

1863 South Main Street, Waynesville. Off exit 98, 828.454.5002. Open for lunch and dinner seven days a week. Classic Italian dishes, exceptional steaks and seafood (available in full and lighter sizes), thin crust pizza, homemade soups, salads hand tossed at your table. Fine wine and beer selection. Casual atmosphere, dine indoor, outside on the patio or at the bar. Reservations appreciated.

PATIO BISTRO

30 Church Street, Waynesville.

828.454.0070. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Breakfast bagels and sandwiches, gourmet coffee, deli sandwiches for lunch with homemade soups, quiches, and desserts. Wide selection of wine and beer. Outdoor and indoor dining.

RENDEZVOUS RESTAURANT AND BAR

Maggie Valley Inn and Conference Center

828.926.0201 Bar open Monday thru Saturday; dining room open Tuesday thru Saturday at 5 p.m. Full service restaurant serving steaks, prime rib, seafood and dinner specials.

SOUL INFUSION TEA HOUSE & BISTRO

628 E. Main St. (between Sylva Tire & UPS). 828.586.1717. Tuesday-Friday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday noon -until.

Scrumptious, natural, fresh soups, salads, sandwiches, wraps and desserts. 60+ teas served hot or cold, black, chai, herbal. Seasonal and rotating draft beers, good selection of wine. Home-Grown Music Network Venue with live music most weekends. Pet friendly and kid ready.

TAP ROOM SPORTS BAR & GRILL

176 Country Club Dr. Waynesville

828.456.5988. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. Enjoy soups, sandwiches, salads and hearty appetizers along with a full bar menu in our casual, smoke-free neighborhood grill.

THE WINE BAR

20 Church Street, downtown Waynesville. 828.452.6000. Underground cellar for wine and beer, served by the glass all day. Cheese and tapas served Wednesday through Saturday 4 p.m.-9 p.m. or later. info@classicwineseller.com. Also on facebook and twitter.

VILLAGE GREEN CAFE

389 Walnut Street, Walnut Village Plaza, Waynesville. 828.550.9489. Open Monday thru Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. A fun, casual lunch spot offering fresh made salads, sandwiches, panini, and soups. All meats are allnatural and we support local growers when produce is available. Free delivery in the Waynesville area and call-in orders welcome. villagegreencafe.com. Like on Facebook to view daily specials and promos.

Taking matters into his own hands

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF WRITER

When he didn’t have the money to purchase a banjo, Joshua Grant took matters into his own hands.

“I couldn’t afford what I wanted, so I decided to build one,” he said.

A native of the Nantahala Gorge, the 31-yearold recently launched Grant Custom Banjos, a business that constructs handmade instruments as unique and full of character as Grant himself.

“Tone is the most important thing to me,” he said. “I want to make the banjo look good, play well and feel comfortable, but if it doesn’t sound good, I will not sell it.”

This attention to detail and craftsmanship comes from his father, a mechanic who instilled in his son the idea that a good business reputation originates in the person who takes the time to not only built a quality product, but also inspect their finished work with care and precision.

“He taught me that when you feel something, it should be as smooth as glass,” Grant said. “It’s about paying attention to the small things, and to study these things. A lot of people who look at instruments never get up into it and really look at the detail.”

Grant’s musical journey began as a kid. He remembers watching the variety show “Hee Haw” with his dad (where he saw the clawhammer style of banjo playing displayed) or sitting and listening to close friends pluck a few strings. Though he didn’t initially attempt to learn the instrument, the seed had been planted and continued to grow as he moved along in his endeavors.

“I told myself when I was 12 that someday I would either play fiddle or the banjo,” he said. “And it took awhile for it to click, but when it did, and I made my first one, it was almost like a train with all the mechanics firing.”

In 2008, Grant hiked the entire Appalachian Trail. That experience took him out of the modern world and put him squarely on his own.

“By hiking the trail, I realized that huge goals can be attained by taking small steps,” he said. “You have to do it when the moment strikes and the energy comes. Sometimes it’s at 11:30 at night, sometimes you can’t even sleep because you know you have to do this one thing.”

His trek opened his eyes and heart to passions that were finally bubbling to the top of his soul. Once he got off the trail, Grant cultivated his epiphany and knew it was time to finally unite with the banjo and its rich heritage.

“There came a realization when I was out there, away from materialism and consumerism, that fads come and go so fast that nothing sticks around or is true anymore,” he said. “Constants are so hard to find these days that when you do find one you find the value in it.”

Once the plans were put into motion, Grant began observing and working in a friend’s studio, where he had access to certain tools and ways of going about his projects. From there, he

“There came a realization ... that fads come and go so fast that nothing sticks around or is true anymore. Constants are so hard to find these days that when you do find one you find the value in it.”

Owner of Grant Custom Banjos, Joshua Grant plays a few tunes on his car at home in Whittier. Focusing on handmade banjos, he uses an array of unique woods and techniques to construct the instruments alongside his budding passion for exploring and promoting old-time Appalachian music and culture. With each banjo ranging in price between $350 and $1,000 depending on the make, Grant Custom Banjos can be contacted at Facebook.com (search: Grant Custom Banjos). Garret K. Woodward photos

spent the next seven months refining his methods and producing his first handmade banjo. Over the last few years, he figures to have made almost a couple dozen banjos that have been bought by curious and interested customers from around the country through word-ofmouth.

“Watching someone sit there by themselves and play the banjo, it can make you cry when you really focus on it,” he said. “It’s one person doing something so real, with so much talent, while they’re dependent on their own fingers and their own sound.”

Grant estimates each instrument can take between 15 to 60 man-hours, depending on what type he creates. Besides a growing knack and appreciation for the variations of wood, he comes across his pieces from contractor friends with leftover strips of wood or perhaps just by happenstance, like a recent find of bird’s eye maple from an old barn.

“I can’t stand to see anything thrown away,” he said. “When I was a kid, you sat at the table until your plate was done. You don’t throw anything away. And that’s what I love about oldtime mountain people is that they reuse anything. If it has a purpose, they will repurpose it.”

Grant has also been dabbling in incorporating large gourds in his work. He has acquired quite the collection from a church garden in nearby Bryson City. Out of every 100 gourds, maybe five are prime candidates for the eight to nine inch diameter desired to make into a banjo. Originally used in the earliest form of the banjo in Africa (and still used today), gourds are known for their durability and tone, which thought remains in African instruments has disappeared in the evolution of the instrument on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.

“I’ve seen gourd crafts in magazines from 3,000 B.C. that still look great today,” he said. “And I’ve forgotten one on the roof of my car,

where it fell off and bounced down the road without a scratch to it. That gave me faith enough to know that gourds are study enough, and worthy enough, to be made into instruments.”

With his business thriving and emerging into the regional craft scene, Grant is hoping to attend Western Carolina University in the fall to acquire a degree in fine art, with a minor in Appalachian studies. He wants to someday open a banjo museum and perpetuate the storied and cherished culture of old-time string music and traditions, all in an effort to connect the dots of sound and people around Southern Appalachia.

“I’ve been blessed enough to have the ability to build something like this,” he said, pointing to his latest banjo creation. “I want to make a resurgence of this art, make it acceptable again in society and shatter the stereotypes of what it’s all about.”

Artisan in the Mountains will be holding a woodcarving demonstration on March 30 in Clyde.

Woodcarving demo held in Clyde

Artisan in the Mountains will host a woodcarving demonstration featuring the Pigeon River Woodcarvers Club from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 30, at 99 Depot Street in Clyde. Pigeon River Woodcarvers Club was founded in 1997 by Frank Burchfield of Waynesville. The club has nine active members, three of which are charter members and meet every Saturday afternoon. The purpose and mission of the club is to promote woodcarving as an art of the mountain region. This is achieved by attending several festivals for demonstration and carving shows for competition. The club also wants to increase their membership numbers and welcomes anyone with an interest in the art. The demonstration is free and open to the public. peterson_j@bellsouth.net or 828.702.5448 or 828.565.0501 or artisaninthemountains@gmail.com.

Easter at Fontana Village Resort

Fontana Village Resort is staying busy for this year’s Easter holiday on March 31.

Executive Chef Tracy Williams and his staff have assembled a holiday menu that is only surpassed by the delectable dessert selections he will be presenting along with the stunning views of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park from the windows of the Mountview Restaurant where the Easter feast will be served. Fontana Marina’s staff is planning pontoon boat tours all weekend. The resort’s outdoor program will feature historical movies and tours, campfires with marshmallow roasts, Easter egg hunts and more. www.fontanavillage.com or 828.498.2211.

Trout and ramp festival in Cherokee March 30

Mountain trout and wild ramps take center stage at the annual Rainbow and Ramps Festival from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, March 30, at the Cherokee Indian Fairgrounds. Hosted by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the public is invited to celebrate a time-honored Cherokee tradition that rejoices in spring’s arrival and with it, the season’s first green – the ramp. A unique cultural experience, the one-day festival of food, music and dancing serves up a delicious feast of succulent trout, fried potatoes, corn bread and ramps, which are also known as wild leeks. As one of the first plants to emerge in the spring, ramps were traditionally consumed as the year’s first “greens.” The celebration also commemorated the opening of trout season on the Qualla Boundary. Fishing permits are required and

Gambling addiction hurts ...

• Has gambling ever made your home life unhappy?

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• Have you ever felt remorse after gambling?

Seal your doors

are available at local outfitters in Cherokee. Tickets are $10 per person. www.visitcherokeenc.com or 800.438.1601.

Artist Kathie Blozan will do a monotype print demonstration on April 4 in Bryson City.

Replacing the broken weather stripping on doors is another way to ensure that your precious cold air is staying inside. The material for weather stripping should cost around $20 and is a great DIY project that only takes a few minutes to complete

*See one of our trained salesmen for more details*

Art league holds monotype printing demo

Artist Kathie Blozan will demonstrate monotype printing for the Art League of the Smokies at 6:15 p.m. Thursday, April 4, at Swain County Center for the Arts in Bryson City.

In this program called “Monotypes: Creating Original Prints to Frame or to Send as Greeting Cards,” Blozan will demonstrate how to make prints without the use of a printing press using easily obtained materials that are water-soluble and non-toxic. Both the beginner and the experienced artist will be inspired and learn how to create their own original art using monotypes.

The demonstration is free and open to the public. 828.488.7843 or www.swain.k12.nc.us/cfta.

Marimba, jazz featured in Cullowhee

Solo marimba virtuoso Andy Harnsberger will perform at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 1, in the Coulter Building at Western Carolina University.

Harnsberger will lead a marimba master class at 2:30 p.m. that day in the Coulter space. He earned his doctoral degree at the Eastman School of Music and is the director of percussion studies at Lee University.

WCU’s Jazz Guitar Ensemble will perform a concert featuring the music of two jazzrock fusion pioneers, keyboardist Chick Corea and drummer Billy Cobham, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 3, in the recital hall of the Coulter Building.

Corea and Cobham led ensembles in the early 1970s that combined elements of jazz improvisation with rock drums, electric bass and electronic keyboards.

Both shows and the class are free and open to the public.

828.227.7242.

Clarinetist will perform at WCU

Clarinetist Brian Hermanson will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 7, in the Coulter Building at Western Carolina University.

Pianist Daniel Weiser will accompany Hermanson on all the evening’s selections. Weiser earned his doctorate in piano and chamber music at the Peabody Conservatory. The featured work will be selected pieces by Johannes Brahms, with Hermanson performing alongside Reese and Franklin Keel, associate principal cellist with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra. As a custom clarinet reed maker, Hermanson also will be conducting reed-making workshops with WCU students.

The event is free and open to the public.

828.227.7242.

Mountain Heritage Center jam series continues

The 2012-13 First Thursday Old-Time and Bluegrass Jam Series will conclude with Phil and Gaye Johnson at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 4, in the Mountain Heritage Center at Western Carolina University.

Playing guitar, mandolin, dobro and harmonica, and featuring tight harmonies, the couple regularly performs and teaches at major music events across the country. They also have appeared on many syndicated radio and television programs over the years, including “A Prairie Home Companion.”

The Johnsons’ performance is free and open to the public. It will be followed by an 8 p.m. jam session in which local musicians are invited to participate. Pickers and singers of all ages and experience levels are invited to take part in the jam session that will follow the concert, and the activities also are open to those who want to listen.

The 2013-14 concert/jam series at the Mountain Heritage Center will begin in October.

828.227.7129.

‘One-man band’ returns to Waynesville

“One-man band” Jay Brown returns to the Friday Night Live music series at 7 p.m. Friday, March 29, at the Classic Wineseller in Waynesville.

A prolific songwriter, Brown’s performance repertoire contains more than 50 original songs, as well as covers from a wide range of genres. He has spent years traveling and playing across the United States, absorbing its rich musical heritage, with Old Crow Medicine Show, Etta Baker and Doc Watson. A versatile musician, Brown is as much at home playing the blues in New Orleans as he is playing jazz or classical music in New York City.

Each week the Classic Wineseller’s popular Friday Night Live music series showcases local, regional, and on occasion, national talent. Small plate Italian fare is prepared from 5:30 to 9 p.m. www.classicwineseller.com or www.facebook.com/theclassicwineseller or 828.452.6000.

Vince Gill comes to Franklin

Country music star Vince Gill will be performing at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 5, at The Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

Gill is an outstanding songwriter and has released multiple platinum albums. Some of his hits include, “Never Knew Lonely,” “Look at Us,” “I Still Believe in You,” and “Go Rest High on that Mountain.” He has performed alongside great artists such as Ricky Skaggs, Brad Paisley, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban. A member of the Grand Old Opry, Gill has also been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Last year, he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Tickets start at $45 per person. www.greatmountainmusic.com or 866.273.4615.

‘The Medium’ comes to HART

Western Carolina University’s School of Music, in collaboration with the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre, will present Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera “The Medium” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 6, and at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 7, at HART in Waynesville.

“The Medium” is the story of Madam Flora; her daughter, Monica; and their servant, Toby, as they cheat vulnerable clients through fake séances. During one séance, a hand mysteriously touches Madam Flora’s neck, with the incident leading to insanity and murder.

The two-part production of the opera “The Medium” will take place at HART on April 6-7.

The program is made possible in part by the WCU School of Music’s new Artist-inResidence Program. Tickets are $15 for adults ($12 for seniors) and $6 for students. www.harttheatre.com or 828.456.6322.

HCC to offer knitting, crochet classes

Haywood Community College’s Continuing Education Creative Arts Department is offering beginning knitting and beginning crochet classes in the Professional Arts and Crafts/Instructional Facility.

The beginning knitting class will explore the creation of pieces from yarn, using needles and following written patterns or charts. Upon completion of the course, students should be able to create a knitted project, using basic techniques and have the knowledge necessary for beginner skill level patterns. Students will also begin to assemble a sample book of their work.

Two options for attending the Knitting class are Thursday, April 18, and Thursday, April 25, from 1 to 5 p.m.; or Saturday, May 18, and Saturday, May 25, from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

In the beginning crochet class, students will explore the creation of pieces from yarn, using hooks and following written patterns or charts. Upon completion of the course, students should be able to create a crocheted project, using the basic techniques and have the knowledge necessary for beginner skill level patterns. Participants will also start to assemble a sample book of their work.

Options for the crochet class are Saturday, April 6, and Saturday, April 13, from 1 to 5 p.m.; or Thursday, May 16, and Thursday, May 23, from 1 to 5 p.m.

Cost for each class is $38. Students must register one week prior to start date. Students can register either by visiting Student Services or visiting. www.haywood.edu/continuing_education or 828.565.4240.

Open call for birdhouse makers

Local artists are being asked to create birdhouses for a silent auction to benefit the Green

Thumb Community Garden in Waynesville.

Submissions must be made of weather resistant, permanent materials. No cardboard, fiberboard, glue, hot glue or temporary paints. Deliver completed birdhouses on Saturday, April 27 to MOM’s Music Festival at Herren House Bed & Breakfast on East Street in Waynesville. Also, look for creative community opportunities to decorate your birdhouse at Claymate’s in Hazelwood or at MOM’s Music Fest.

Birdhouses will be on display at supporting businesses on Main Street of Waynesville from Sunday, April 28 through Thursday, May 9. Selfguided garden tours will be held during The Whole Bloomin’ Thing Festival in Frog Level & Home Expo from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 11, in the community garden behind the Old Armory. The silent auction winners will be selected at 2:30 p.m., May 11, when birdhouses may be purchased. 828.476.4231.

Women in Business to host fashion show

The Greater Haywood County Chamber of Commerce Women in Business will host its 4th Annual Fashion Show, “Generational Style … Today and Tomorrow,” from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday April 4, at The Gateway Club in Waynesville.

Join the Women in Business Committee and speaker Nyda Bittmann-Neville of Asheville Savings Bank as the new spring and summer color palette and fashion trends are unveiled. The chamber’s Women in Business Committee aims to prepare women (and men) to be professional leaders in our community and to provide mentoring and support at all levels of business. Members of the chamber and business community alike are encouraged to attend. Cost is $25 for chamber members and $30 for nonmembers.

www.haywoodchamber.com or info@haywood-nc.com or 828.456.3021.

April activities on tap at Heinzelmännchen

April is the first-ever “North Carolina Beer Month” and Heinzelmännchen Brewery in Sylva taps into the fun with four initiatives for beer lovers.

Specializing in alternative beer made in the warmer regions of Germany, the brewery will offer the following events:

• A beer dinner will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 11, at City Lights Café in Sylva. Enjoy a six-course meal paired with Heinzelmännchen beers. The meal cost is $50 per person. www.citylightscafe.com.

• Book an April getaway with SunDog Vacation Rentals or Sunset Farms Cabins and ask for the beer month package. For $95 extra, participants receive two engraved mugs, a brewery tour, Heinzelmännchen cookbook and a dinner for two at City Lights Café.

• Heinzelmännchen teamed up with four area breweries to create a special ale crafted in the red rye style. The ale is available in April at all five breweries: Heinzelmännchen, Bearwaters (Waynesville), Nantahala (Bryson City), Tipping Point (Waynesville) and Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville).

• There will be a “Tuesday Bike Ride & Beer Night” every Tuesday evening in April. Join a bike ride sponsored by Motion Makers Bicycle Shop in Sylva, then head to the brewery for pint night. One dollar from every pint sold goes to support a local off-road cycling association. www.ncbeermonth.com or www.yourgnometownbrewery.com.

‘Catch the Spirit’ offers painting workshop

“Catch the Spirit of Appalachia” will kick off its art workshops with a pastel art class from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 6, at the Nature’s Home Preserve in Tuckasegee. Creating a quick composition through placement of dark and light colors and simple shapes, learn the basics in the use of pastels, color, composition and finishing detail.

Ongoing progressive painting workshops will continue to be offered the first Saturday of each month. Weather permitting there is possible hiking involved and each person will complete a plein air or still life painting in every class. Some of the techniques covered are spontaneous composition, working with complementary colors, figure painting, botanical drawing, landscape and still life painting.

The fee is $36 each class with all materials furnished. Open to beginning and experienced art students.

828.293.2239 or doreylart.yurtstudio.com.

Your IQ is at least 110. The average fish's is around 30. (This really shouldn’t be much of a contest, but it always is.)

Claim a piece of the $10,000 purse in our 3rd Annual Cherokee Fishermen Appreciation Trout Fishing Tournament, March 29 –30.

Held by the Cherokee Chamber of Commerce, this is the first of several big tournaments we have in Cherokee. So get your season started by trying to take home a big part of the $10,000 total purse. Register at any of our 28 fishing license locations in Cherokee, or online at FishCherokee.com. The entry fee is $5, and prizes will be redeemed at Artist Row on Highway 441.

Join us on a scenic journey through the Cullowhee Valley and along the Tuckaseigee River before winding back onto Western Carolina University campus for the finish.

The unforgettable life of Nancy Silver

Recently, when I was surfing through a depressing collection of nighttime TV programs — religious rants, psychics, cooking shows and weight loss commercials — I stopped on a “true crime” channel with a provocative title: “Dangerous Women.” Before I could punch the remote, a solemn voice announced:

“Tonight, a horrifying story from a remote cove in Appalachia, we bring you the story of Frankie Silver, a woman who not only murdered her husband but burned his body in the fireplace.” The narrator told me that the story takes place “somewhere near Morganton, N.C. in 1831.” Well, what could I do but satisfy my morbid curiosity. I got a cup of coffee and watched “the true story of Frankie Silver.”

Most of the program was “voice over.” As Frankie’s story played out in mime, a narrator related the grisly tale. Frankie and Charlie were seen as teenagers who quickly moved from newlyweds to Frankie’s pregnancy to domestic violence. Charlie, appropriately decked out in bib overalls was seen carousing in a tavern with a bevy of bad women while Frankie was at home washing, cooking and tending Nancy, her new baby. The narration hints that Charlie occasionally smacked his wife around. The narrator also supplements his tale with statements from alleged descendants, including storyteller Bobbie Macmillan. Various Stewart and Silver descendants relate anecdotes while standing near graves. (Charlie has three graves.) There were a number of “departures” from the popular version of the story. (Frankie’s hatchet bothered me. I prefer the traditional axe.) However, this gruesome tale has been

“embellished” with so many fanciful details, it doesn’t seem to matter.

Now, here is the thing. The number of books, plays and poems that have been written about Frankie Silver is awesome.

Everybody from Sharyn McCrumb to Manley Wade Wellman (my personal favorite) has exploited this grim tale with mixed results. There is a dramatic work by Perry Dean Young and countless “the true story” versions. About a decade ago, the filmmaker Tom Davenport made “The Ballad of Frankie Silver,” a kind of docudrama that received a critical response that could best be termed “mixed.” In fact, the story has been the subject of every literary genre except outdoor drama, and, ironically, I have always felt that a dramatic work with an outdoor setting is possibly the best vehicle for this gory mountain tragedy.

Currently, Frankie is treated as the poster child for abused women — especially brutalized women who finally said “Enough is enough.” There appears to be supportive evidence for this interpretation since Charlie allegedly boasted that he had to sometimes show Frankie who was boss. The “Dangerous Women” episode even had a spokesman who said that Frankie was hanged because she was a victim of “a misogynist mountain culture.” That seemed to be the high point of silliness in this TV version of the Frankie Silver story, but no, there was more. The show concluded with Frankie singing her ballad/confession just prior to her hanging, and the same

around to listening to the lyrics.

Now, all of this brings me to the latest book spawned by Frankie’s tragic tale, A Life for Nancy by Danita Stroudemire and Riley Henry. In essence, these dual authors propose to tell the story of Frankie Silver’s daughter, Nancy. It proves to be a story that is far more impressive than Frankie’s. As an infant, Nancy was snatched from her father’s breast moments before his murder. Following her mother’s execution, this infant was spirited away by her mother’s parents, the Stewarts, and raised secretly in Elijay (near Franklin). Eventually, Nancy came to live in Yancey County, where she later married David Parker and embarked on a life filled with hardship and tragedy.

Utilizing a narrative that is as unvarnished and artless as the timbers of Abe Lincoln’s cabin, Stroudemire and Henry relate an epic tale of how Nancy, a mother of five children, struggled to wrest a livelihood from her mountain farm in Yancey County while her husband is away during the war. In one instance, when hunger threatens the inhabitants of Yancey, Nancy rallies 50 women, arms them and leads an attack on the Confederate army’s stored food supply in Burnsville. Nancy’s husband is repeatedly wounded, captured, and finally dies in a field hospital in Virginia just as the war ends. Nancy, pregnant again, struggles to feed her family and emerges as a kind of beleaguered heroine in the eyes of her neighbors.

cruelty, violence and a callous disregard for the rights of others. Yet, this same stubborn defiance also gives her positive qualities like courage, persistence and an astonishing drive for survival.

Finally, A Life for Nancy contains a remarkable collection of letters which the authors painstakingly recreate. David Parker’s letters to Nancy display both authenticity and vitality. In addition to his constant concern for the health and well-being of his family, David’s letters contain graphic details regarding battles, fatalities, food (or the lack of it) and news about his fellow soldiers, many of which were also from Yancey County.

Nancy’s journey is epic in terms of both geography and spirit. From Morganton to Elijay (near Franklin) to Yancy County to Tiger, Ga., and Burnsvile, this remarkable woman evolves from a guilt-ridden and lonely child to a loving mother. When she finds herself victimized by her neighbors who not only continue to persecute her for her mother’s crime but actually steal from her, Nancy becomes a wrathful and dangerous woman capable of intimidating an entire community.

pompous spokesman solemnly announced that Frankie’s ballad was often sung as a “lullaby” in Appalachia. Oh, my goodness!  I guess the folks at “Dangerous Women” never got

‘Young adult’ authors speak in Sylva

But there is another theme in A Life for Nancy. Stoudemire and Henry develop a compelling message concerning Nancy’s stigma. In the eyes of the world, she is the child of “the woman who killed her husband and was hanged.” As a child, she is taunted and ridiculed, and as an adult, her short temper sometimes prompts others to suggest that Nancy may be “like her mother.” There are times when Nancy shares their suspicions. Certainly, she often demonstrates a talent for

When she loses her home and a hundred acres of land in Yancey, she rallies her children and makes a perilous journey back to Elijay, where she launches a new life and even marries again (unhappily). Each time she is confronted by daunting odds, she survives by “doing what I have to,” which may involve stubborn perseverance, defiance and even murder.

The language of A Life for Nancy is direct and artless; indeed the narrative of the “historic novel” is often indistinguishable from the spoken language of the characters. The story of Nancy Silver Parker is inspirational because it captures the heart of a 19th century mountain woman struggling to survive war, poverty and the heedless cruelty and greed of her neighbors: a woman who is flawed, stubborn and unforgettable.

A trio of young adult genre authors will host a reading and panel discussion at noon Saturday, March 30, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva. Beth Revis, Carrie Ryan and Megan Hansen Shepherd will discuss and read from their new books. Revis is the author the Across the Universe series and will present her latest installment, Shades of Earth Ryan is the author of the Forest of Hands and Teeth series and has also been included in some recent young adult short story collections. Hansen Shepherd will present her novel, The Madman’s Daughter , which is the first book of a trilogy. The event is free and open to the public. 828.586.9499.

Teenager to discuss sustainable farming

Birke Baehr, a 13-year-old internationally known youth advocate on organic food and sustainable farming practices, will be giving a presentation on sustainable farming at 3 p.m., Saturday, March 30, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva.

Baehr will discuss the problems of the industrialized food system and offer solutions for alternative options of local, organic and sustainable food. His book, Birke on the Farm , tells his story as a young boy reading about mercury levels in high fructose corn syrup to becoming a real voice for the local foods and sustainable farming movement. 828.586.9499.

Sound-off

“One of the big changes we’d like to see is a more comprehensive look at unique biological places in the forest that currently receive no recognition from the Forest Service. We’d like to see the Forest Service recognize them and add some sort of management that protects them.”

— Josh Kelly, public lands biologist with Western North Carolina Alliance

“All the wildlife isn’t in the forest anymore, it’s down and around the houses. That’s one of my main goals — to see that changed and see some more habitat restoration for wildlife. And it benefits everybody. We all like to see wildlife as much as to hunt them.”

— Chris Hedden, president of the Nantahala Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, Macon County

“I’ve lived here all my life, logged most of it, and I’ve noticed that timber cutting has decreased over the years. And I don’t know why. There’s plenty of recreation out there, trails and everything else; I think we need to focus more on economics than anything.”

— Marvin Cunningham, logger, Macon County

“I don’t think there should be any public lands people can’t get to. In other words, when you have wilderness areas without roads, they’re not accessible to people who need access. Plus, because these lands are ours they should not be excluded from us. I mean, what are they saving it for?”

— Dan Eichenbaum, ophthalmologist, Cherokee County

“I think the forest helps control growth and population density — which is what I moved away from — environmental impacts, water quality and air quality. I think it makes Western North Carolina a very enjoyable place to live because of the economic benefits and recreation opportunities that are available.”

— John Brill, retiree, Macon County

“The Nantahala National Forest has 15,000 acres with no management. Can you believe that, no management on 15,000 acres? It’s on in-holdings. An in-holding is a forest service tract surrounded by private land. You can’t get to it. They’ve never addressed this and the Forest Service needs to address this.”

— Tom Thrash, Former U.S. forest service employee

Changing recreational habits challenge forest service

BY ANDREW KASPER STAFFWRITER

The painstaking process of outlining a clear mission for the U.S. Forest Service and how it will manage its expansive public lands in Western North Carolina and the varied — and sometimes competing — interests of the people that use them has begun. Once completed, the new plan will serve as a reference for the coming 15 years on any major decision made about the Pisgah and Nantahala forests in regards to protected wilderness areas, logging, mountain biking, fires, hiking, hunting and more.

recreation aspect, a whole bunch of stuff gets involved. You’ve got to try to come up with a program that’s going to please everybody.”

A hiker or mountain biker doesn’t necessarily want to cross a firing range on an afternoon pedal or stroll, and a hunter doesn’t necessarily want them disturbing their quiet hunt. Therein lies the challenge.

The 1.1 million acres of national forest land in WNC — split about evenly between the Nantahala and the Pisgah forests — has stayed relatively constant since the last long-range plan was written in 1987 and later revised in the mid 1990s. However, the number of forest users has

To kickoff the multi-year planning process, the forest service is hosting a series of six public meetings in communities surrounding the Pisgah and Nantahala, collecting opinions from everyone from Boy Scouts and environmentalists to loggers and birdwatchers.

The public input collected, along with the forest service’s own analysis, will help guide the direction the plan takes. But if the crowd of folks attending the last of those meetings in Franklin last week was any indication as to what lies ahead, forest service staff will likely have its hands full trying to make everyone happy.

Macon County resident Bob Henry, who attended last week’s Franklin meeting, summed up nicely the task ahead for the forest service.

“Hunting does for me what bicycling and hiking does for you,” Henry said. “With the

skyrocketed. Last year, an estimated six to seven million people visited the Pisgah and Nantahala forests — two of the most visited forests in the United States.

The recreational habits of that increasing number of users changes with time, which may spell fun for outdoor enthusiasts but create new types of management challenges for the overseers. Case in point, said Forest Planner Ruth Berner, is mountain biking.

The non-motorized vehicle was hardly even on the radar when the last forest service plan was written, and still not registering when the revision was made. However, whichever way you look at it now, the mountain bike is here to stay.

“Before, mountain bikes were not around,” Berner said. “Now, they’re a huge issue on some

of districts.”

But it’s not just changes in recreation demands and outdoor sporting preferences that are posing new challenges for the forest service. Private land around the national forests has been gobbled up by development, increasing the demand for outdoor recreation on public lands.

Raymond Bunn, a gunsmith from Jackson County, recounted how different hunting is today after decades of construction, new vacation homes and an upward trend in population.

“We’ve lost so much access on private lands that we used be able to hunt on,” Bunn said. “That’s why it’s important for the forest service to re-look at its plans. They have to help the wildlife.”

Helping wildlife from a hunter’s point of view, though, can be far different than helping the wildlife from a biologist’s perspective.

Many game species like deer, grouse and turkey thrive in sections of the forest disturbed by logging or other activities. Yet the populations of other, more sensitive forest species suffer greatly under the same conditions.

Josh Kelly, a public lands biologist with the Western North Carolina Alliance — an environmental group based Asheville — said this simple conundrum can make even a statement like “protect wildlife” seem like a unifying cry on the surface. But really it means very different things depending on who’s saying it.

“There’s a lot of public demand for increasing populations of deer and grouse, and they benefit from disturbance such as logging,” Kelly said.

The crux is that there are a lot of other species that have ranges restricted to the Blue Ridge Mountains, Kelly said, and can’t pick up and move to the Piedmont if their old growth tree forest gets cut.

Therefore, Kelly said his organization is pushing the forest service to expand protections against logging, mining and road construction to new areas of the forest that are biologically unique but vulnerable under the current plan.

Currently, he said about 60 percent of the forest is restricted from resource extraction such as mining and logging. But special areas like Corbin Knob in Jackson County and Cliff Ridge in Macon County are not.

“Logging, mining, also road building, threaten these areas,” Kelly said. “If they’re done in the wrong places, they can do a lot of damage.”

Brent Martin, southern Appalachian director for The Wilderness Society, said his organization is looking to increase the acreage of protected land in the forest, and, if possible, the amount designated as wilderness. Martin said wilderness land — 66,000 acres divided among five areas in the Nantahala and Pisgah forests — is currently underrepresented among the 1.1 million forest acres in WNC.

“We won’t be focusing solely on wilderness,” Martin said. “But we’d like to see more wilderness out of the plan.”

The Naturalist’s Corner

BY D ON H ENDERSHOT

Green Oscars V

Wild South held its fifth annual Green Gala celebrating the 2012 Roosevelt-Ashe Society’s Conservation Award winners last Friday, March 22. Wild South is a regional nonprofit with offices in Asheville and Moulton, Ala., that works to protect, conserve and enhance the wild places and wild things across the South.

According to Wild South’s website, the Roosevelt-Ashe Society is “a select group of individuals and businesses committed to sustaining the protection of the Southeast’s wild places. They uphold the legacies of President Theodore Roosevelt and Mr. W.W. Ashe by making personally significant contributions to support Wild South programs.”

And every year, through open nominations, Wild South selects Roosevelt-Ashe nominees in at least five categories to recognize the outstanding work being done to help protect the wild things and wild places of the South.

“These awards recognize present day conservation heroes for their contributions to protect wild places and wild things across our region,” said Tracy Davids, Wild South’s executive director, in a press release. “Like Teddy Roosevelt and W.W. Ashe for whom our giving society and awards are named, their work exemplifies passion, dedication, and leadership.”

“Wild South’s Roosevelt-Ashe Conservation Awards always attract highcaliber nominees, and this year is no exception. These conservation heroes have their own amazing stories of passion for a cause, tenacity and victory,” said Todd Witcher, Award Selection Committee member.

This year’s nominees and winners are: Outstanding Business in Conservation — Asheville Independent Restaurant Association (Asheville,); Cherokee Historical Association (Cherokee) and Avondale Brewing Company (Birmingham, Ala.). Outstanding Journalist in Conservation –Bob Davis (Anniston Star, Ala.); Harry Austin (Chattanooga Times Free Press, Tenn.) and George Ellison (Freelance Writer, Naturalist). Outstanding Educator in Conservation – Mark Case (Southern Guilford High); Tracy Childers (West McDowell Jr. High School) and Heather

Montgomery (McDowell Environmental Center, Dragonfly EE Programs, Ala.).

Outstanding Youth in Conservation – Mirel Crumb (Food for Life, Sierra Club, Tenn.); Maya Crumb (Food for Life, Sierra Club, Tenn.) and Avalon Thiesen (Conserve it Forward, Fla.). Outstanding Conservationist – Charles Rose (Shoals Environmental Alliance, Ala.); Margaret Copeland (Friends of Noxubee, Audubon Society, Miss.) and Chris Oberholster (The Nature Conservancy, Ala.) An independent committee composed of respected conservationists from around the South selects the winners every year. And it’s a job I sure don’t envy because when I looked around that room last Friday night at the nominees, they were (are) all winners.

I feel especially fortunate to have been present on the evening my friend, George Ellison, won his award for Outstanding Journalist in Conservation. Ellison’s literary accomplishments are many and varied. He writes a weekly column titled “Back Then” for The Smoky Mountain News, which I’m sure most of the readers of The Naturalist’s Corner read religiously. He wrote the biographical introductions for the reissues of two Southern Appalachian classics: Horace Kephart’s Our Southern Highlanders and James Mooney’s History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees. A collection of his essays, Mountain Passages: Natural and Cultural History of Western North Carolina, was published in 2005 and that just scratches the surface as he continues to have his work published. In 2012, The History Press published Permanent Camp: Poems, Narratives and Renderings from the Smokies that includes his wife Elizabeth Ellison’s art.

And after decades of leading natural history programs and seminars in indoors and outdoors settings across the mountains of Western North Carolina for groups and venues ranging from North Carolina Arboretum, University of Tennessee’s Smoky Mountain Field School, North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching, to the Intentional Growth Center, Center for Life Enrichment, to the Swag Inn on the Cataloochee Divide, Ellison is still the most sought after naturalist in the Western North Carolina mountains. Congratulations, friend.

(Don Hendershot is a writer and naturalist. He can be reached a ddihen1@bellsouth.net.)

Plow horses on the move in Pisgah Forest

The Cradle of Forestry in America will open its 2013 event calendar on April 13 with a living history lesson, demonstrations by artisans and an exhibition on working the land the old-fashioned way. David and Diane Burnette from Haywood County will be on site with their Percheron draft horses and, weather permitting, will plow the Cradle’s vegetable garden like the old-timers. The local crafters and heritage interpreters will also share their work along the Biltmore Campus Trail. In the afternoon there will be fiddle music by the garden. The Cradel of Forestry is located in the Pisgah National Forest along N.C. 276. The cost is $5 for adults; under age 16 admitted free. 828.877.3130 or www.cradleofforestry.org

Logging and other resource extraction is not allowed in national forest wilderness areas, which also don’t allow road building.

Although the back and forth between environmentalists and loggers is an old turf battle, a new menace to conservation has come on the scene since the 1980s and 1990s: global climate change. And along with it, the proliferation of invaders like the emerald ash borer and the woolly adelgid.

Some of the forest areas where Kelly is lobbying for increased protections are high-altitude, cool ridgetops he hopes will serve as refuges for species moving up the mountain looking to escape the warming temperatures below. Also, with a prognosis of floods and droughts, protecting forested watersheds is a top priority.

“We want them to consider how important the Nantahala and Pisgah are in terms of climate adaptation,” Kelly said.

In the forest service’s other ear are the loggers trying to persuade the planning staff not to forget the local economy and the original intent of the nation’s federal forests. Created more than a century ago, America’s public lands were originally called forest reserves and were intended to set aside sustainable plots of trees for routine timber harvest.

“In 1891, that’s what it was set up for,” said David Jones of Cook Brothers Lumber in Macon County.

Jones said Cook Brothers employs 17

Help beautify Lake J

Volunteers are needed to help with activities such as clearing brush and power washing signs and buildings at Lake Junaluska Beautification Day Thursday, April 11. Participants will work alongside Lake Junaluska staff and residents.

The day will kickoff with a free breakfast at 7:30 a.m. in the Kern Auditorium and afterwards work assignments will be given. Lunch will also be provided.

www.lakejunaluska.com/beautification or tmcdowell@lakejunaluska.com or 828.454.6702.

Farmer’s market kickoff meeting

The 2013 kickoff meeting for Haywood’s Historic Farmers Market will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 28, at the Haywood County Extension office on Raccoon Road in Waynesville.

Details of this year’s market will be discussed, and anyone interested in participating is invited to attend. Applications will be accepted at that event and can also be downloaded online.

Haywood’s Historic Farmers Market operates on Wednesday and Saturday mornings at the HART Theater and Shelton House parking lot at 250 Pigeon Street. This year’s market

people at its local sawmill, spends millions of dollars locally buying supplies for its operations, and contributes money toward local government and schools through the timber it cuts on the Nantahala and Pisgah forests.

However, Jones contends that the amount of land logging operations have access too is ever shrinking. Plus, behindthe-scenes restrictions, like protecting the viewshed from the Appalachian Trail, further chip away at the industry’s stockpile of trees.

Jones would like to see more areas made available for logging as part of the new plan. The local economy depends on it, he said.

“How much revenue does anything else bring in other than timber — it doesn’t pay its way, it’s zero,” Jones said. “I enjoy getting out hiking and walking and fishing, but people aren’t looking at the big picture.”

After holding its six meetings near each of the local ranger districts, Berner said it was too soon to say what direction the new plan would take during the course of the next three to four years. However, she did acknowledge that the world around the Nantahala and Pisgah forests had changed, and that will most likely affect the final product and new direction of the forest service in WNC.

“Conditions have changed out here,” Berner said. “We’ll start with the plan that we have and see where we need to make adjustments.”

opens on Saturday, April 20. waynesvillefarmersmarket.com.

Join WNCA for a full slate of spring gathering events

The Western North Carolina Alliance has scheduled workshops, hikes, a barbecue meal and a bluegrass celebration April 6 as part of this year’s spring gathering in Sylva.

“Taking Passion and Activism to the Next Level in Local Communities,” will be held from 10 a.m. to noon at The Community Table. The program provides an overview of making change through local government. Local elected officials will talk about their transition from citizens and activists to policy-makers and the opportunities they’ve had to make a difference.

Registration is required: www.action.ncconservationnetwork.org.

Daytime hiking excursions will be offered from 2 to 5 p.m. and hikers can choose between an easy hike near Sylva, with a focus on wildflowers, or a more strenuous four-mile hike to Cedar Cliff Mountain.

An Evening Party will run from 6 to 9 p.m. at The Community Table, featuring a BBQ dinner by Firehouse Catering with beer from Bearwaters Brewery and music by The Freight Hoppers and square dance caller Joe Sam Queen. The cost is between $5 and $7. www.wnca.org.

WCU schedules LEGO bonanza and star-viewing activities

Western Carolina University will participate in the statewide 2013 N.C. Science Festival with a stargazing event 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 5, at the Jackson County Airport. Enrique Gomez, a faculty member in the WCU Department of Chemistry and Physics, will lead the stargazing. The public can view stars, planets and the comet PANSTARRS through an onsite telescope. The event is part of a statewide “Star Party” to kickoff festival activities. It will be canceled in the event of overcast weather.

pfoley@wcu.edu or 828.227.3683.

The Western Carolina University College of Arts and Sciences will host an open house from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 13 in WCU’s Stillwell and Natural Science buildings. The event will include displays and activities from biology, chemistry and forensic science programs as well as Highlands Biological Station.

The day will also feature a “LEGO Summit” from 9:15 a.m. to noon on the fourth floor of the Stillwell Building. The summit is geared for children in first through eighth grades. All LEGO materials will be provided.

tobiasandlarissa@gmail.com or pamcmyers@gmail.com.

Pesticide collection day in Cherokee

The North Carolina Pesticide Disposal trailer will be at the Acquoni Expo Center in Cherokee from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 2, to accept unwanted pesticides, insecticides, and fungicides from farms, homes and gardens.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Cooperative Extension Agriculture Program and Sanitation Department, and N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and are offering this free service.

Pesticides must be clearly labeled in their original containers. Unknown products cannot be accepted. Staff will be on hand to help with the pesticide containers. 828.554.6935.

Sarge’s dog walk and run at Lake Junaluska

The friends of Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation are putting on a one-mile run and dog walk Saturday, April 13, at Lake Junaluska. The proceeds will benefit Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation.

First place takes home a Sarge’s T-shirt and participants are encouraged to bring their leashed pets to enjoy the event. There will also be a bake sale and photo booth. The walk/run starts at 10 a.m. The event will start at the Bethea Welcome Center parking area at 91 North Lakeshore Drive. Registration is $5 and begins at 9 a.m. on

Volunteers participate in the “Kudzu Roll”, a method for removing this fast growing invasive vine. Donated photo

Invasive species education on the Franklin Greenway

The Land Trust for the Little Tennessee and Friends of the Greenway are hosting an invasive species day from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. Wednesday, April 3, at the Tassee Shelter on the Franklin Greenway. The educational event is taking place in conjunction with N.C. Invasive Species Awareness Week. Experts from the two organizations plus the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Watershed Association of the Tuckasegee River, U. S. Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Forest Service, Southern Appalachian Cooperative Weed Management Partnership, N.C. Forest Service and North American Land Trust will host educational displays, give brief presen-

tations and answer questions about exotic invasive plants, insects, mammals, fish and aquatic invertebrates.

Franklin High School Agricultural Education and Job Corps students will also team up for a service learning project to demonstrate a “Kudzu Roll,” one method for removing the fast growing invasive vine. Additional topics to be covered include the importance of streamside plantings for water quality; tools and methods for habitat restoration; and the impact of exotic species on our native woodlands and forests.

This event is open to the public, with financial support from Duke Energy.

828.507.1188 or shimes@ltlt.org.

Grant to help farmers fence cattle out of Little Tennessee tributaries

Several organizations have won a $214,195 state grant that will allow Macon County landowners improve water quality in the Little Tennessee River watershed.

The goals of the Franklin to Fontana Restoration Project are to improve water quality in three tributaries to the Little Tennessee River — Iotla Branch, Cat Creek and Rabbit Creek. These streams face threats from agriculture and development and register high fecal and bacteria counts.

The grant will help install livestock fencing and provide alternative water sources for cattle that currently drink straight from the

Local river outfitters sponsors elite paddler

The Nantahala Outdoor Center has launched its own elite paddling team and signed whitewater slalom paddler Michal Smolen as its first member. The team was formed as a way to help in the training and sponsorship of paddling athletes. The team is expected to grow to include other disciplines of paddling sports and outdoor sports competition.

Smolen began his paddling career as a youth member of the local Nantahala Racing Club. At the age of 19, he has already been on the U.S. Canoe/Kayak National Slalom Team for two years running. Smolen won a gold medal at the early season race, the Glacier Breaker, which took place in the gorge in late February.

Smolen competes around the world and said the NOC sponsorship would help him maintain his strict whitewater regiment.

“(I am) very proud and grateful to have been chosen for the team,” Smolen said. “I have a long season ahead of me and this support will go towards my expenses from traveling to races.”

Michal Smolen competes in the 2012 Bank of America U.S. Open

race day. Participants can also register in advance at www.thefundraiser.wufoo.com or help with additional fundraising at www.crowdrise.com/sargesonemilefunrundogwalk 828.734.1307 or 828.508.2997.

Franklin Relay for Life coming up

The Banking on a Cure Fundraiser run and walk will take place Saturday, April 13, on the Franklin Greenway.

The Relay for Life events will leave from the Tassee Shelter, at the corner of Wells Grove Road and Ulco Drive, on the Greenway. The one-mile walk will start at 8

stream. It will also help plant trees along the stream banks. An estimated 2,244 tons of topsoil, 13,467 pounds of nitrogen and 4,488 pounds of phosphorus will be saved from washing into the river. The grant will offer a cost-share arrangement that allows farmers to afford these practices.

sion

threatened

The Southwestern N.C. Resource Conservation & Development Council applied for the grant from the N.C. Division of Water Quality on behalf of the Macon Soil and Water Conservation District, the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee, the Coweeta Long-Term Ecological Research Program, the N.C. Ecosystem Enhancement Program, the N.C. Natural Heritage Program, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The N.C. Division of Water Quality will also provide technical assistance in addition to the grant funds.

a.m., while the 5k runners and walkers will set out at 8:30 a.m.

The event is sponsored by the Macon Bank. First place prizes will be awarded for male and female finisher in various age groups: www.Active.com or 828.524.7000, ext. 2449.

Run and walk for a healthy heart

Angel Medical Center’s Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program is sponsoring a heart-healthy run and walk event beginning at the Little Tennessee Tassee Park

Saturday, April 6. The annual Macon Your Heart Beat has a varied lineup of one-mile, 5K and 8K walk and run events that day. The longest of the events is new this year. The one-mile starts at 8:30 a.m.; the 5K at 9 a.m.; and the 8K at 9:15 a.m. Race day registration begins at 7:30 a.m. at the park shelter. The cost is $25 for the shortest distance and $30 for the other two before April 1, then the prices increase by $5 each. Registration is available online or by picking up a form at the hospital.

Last year more than 175 participants raised about $8,500 that went to benefit patients who could not pay for specialized rehabilitation.

828.349.8290.

WNC Calendar

B USINESS & E DUCATION

• Computer Class: Internet Safety, 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, Jackson County Public Library. Space limited. 586.2016.

• Dedication Celebration of Western Carolina University’s College of Health & Human Sciences Building, 10 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, 4121 Little Savannah Road, Cullowhee.

• Networking After Hours, 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, Sid’s on Main, Canton. Young Professionals of Haywood County Chamber of Commerce. Appetizers provided, cash bar available.

• Grand Opening new Professional Arts and Crafts/Instructional Facility, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, March 1, Haywood Community College. 627.4522. www.haywood.edu.

• Computer Class: Basic Email, 5:45 p.m. Monday, March 4, Jackson County Public Library. Space limited. Register at 586.2016.

• Free seminar: How to Price Your Product or Service, 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, March 5, Student Center at Haywood Community College, Clyde. Sponsored by the Small Business Center at Haywood Community College. Arlene Childers of Going2Win Consulting in Morganton will be the presenter. Preregister at 627.4512.

• Issues & Eggs, 8 a.m. Wednesday, March 6, Gateway Club, Church St., Waynesville. Speaker is Jack Ewing, executive director of Lake Junaluska, in celebration of the Lake’s 100th anniversary.

• Computer Class: Intro to Excel, 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, March 6, Jackson County Public Library. Space limited. Register at 586.2016.

• WCU School of Nursing Education Fair, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, March 9, WCU’s instructional site at Biltmore Park Town Square, Asheville. No registration required; prospective students welcome. Reschedule date is March 16 in case of bad weather. Jessica Shirley, director of student services for the School of Nursing, jshirley@wcu.edu or 654.6506.

COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Spark Companions fundraiser, 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, March 1, Country Traditions, Dillsboro. Wine tasting, book reading, silent auction. $12 entry fee includes an exclusive Country Traditions wine glass. Spark Companions is a 501(c)(3) dedicated to helping people pay vet bills, buy dog or cat food, etc.

• Mardi Gras Ball, 6:30 p.m. Saturday, March 2, Laurel Ridge Country Club, to benefit the Haywood County Schools Foundation, $100 per ticket, black tie optional, sit-down dinner. Jenny Wood, 550.0550. www.thecmwgroup.com/mardi-gras-ball-tickets.html.

• Yard sale, Saturday, March 2, North Canton Elementary School hosted by NCES fifth grade students to raise money for a three-day field trip to Camp Daniel Boone in March. NCE, 646.3444.

• Indoor Flea Market, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, March, 2, Haywood County Fairgrounds, Inc.

• Foster Pet Adoption, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 2, Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation’s Adoption Center, 256 Industrial Park Drive, Waynesville. Photos of pets available for adoption at www.sargeandfriends.org or www.petfinder.com. 246.9050.

• Public meeting to discuss benefits of historic preservation, 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 6, Waynesville Town Hall Board Room, 9 S. Main St. (Police Department building), Waynesville.

• Is belief in authority the most dangerous supersti-

All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted.

tion?” Franklin Open Forum, 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 6, Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub, 58 Stewart St., Franklin. 349.0598.

B LOOD D RIVES

Jackson

• Sylva Community-Jackson County Blood Drive, 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. Friday, March 1, Jackson Senior Center, 100 County Services Park, Sylva.

• Skyland Care Center Blood Drive, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Thursday, March 7, 193 Asheville Highway, Sylva. Wanda Martin, 586.8935.

Haywood

• Pisgah High School Blood Drive, 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday, March 8, Pisgah High School Library, 1 Black Bear Drive, Canton. Stephanie Kuykendall, 646.3440.

• Junaluska Fire Department Blood Drive 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Monday, March 11, Junaluska Fire Department, 90 Old Clyde Road, Lake Junaluska, beside Junaluska Post Office. Billy or Larry, 452.4404 or 800.733.2767.

Macon

• Angel Medical Center Blood Drive, 8 a.m. to noon and 12:30 to 5 p.m. Friday, March 1, 120 Riverview St., Franklin, Barbara Hall, 369.4166.

H EALTH MATTERS

• Virtual Dementia Tour Series, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, Senior Resource Center, 81 Elmwood Way, Waynesville. Free, reservation required. 452.2370, ext. 2816 or shendrix@mountainprojects.org.

R ECREATION & FITNESS

• Youth Swim Refresher Swim Course 6:25 to 7:20 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, March 4-6 and March 11-13, Reid Gymnasium pool, Western Carolina University, Cullohwee. $59. 227.7397 or http://learn.wcu.edu and select Conferences and Community Classes.

• Grand opening of new fitness rooms at Central Haywood and Pisgah high schools, 1 p.m. Thursday, March 7. http://teacher.haywood.k12.nc.us/pepgrant/

THE S PIRITUAL S IDE

• Free lunch, noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, March 2, First Christian Church of Franklin, 156 Belleview Park Drive. www.facebook.com/firstchristian or www.firstchristianfranklin.com. 524.6840 or 332.8771.

• Bishop Larry M. Goodpaster, the spiritual and administrative leader of 1,107 churches in the Western North Carolina Annual Conference, 9:30 a.m. service of worship at Francis Cove United Methodist Church and 11 a.m. service of Faith United Methodist on Sunday, March 10. Rev. Susan Giles is pastor of both Waynesville congregations.

• United Christian Ministries of Jackson County annual meeting, 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 3, Lovedale Baptist Church.

• Come to the Table Project conference, how people of faith can relieve hunger and support local agriculture, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, March 15, Southwestern Community College. Sarah Gibson, Conference Coordinator, 919.259.5169 or sarah@rafiusa.org.

• Weekly Lenten Services, noon, through March 21, Canton First United Methodist Church, 31 Newfound St., Canton. Meal available for $5 after the service.

S ENIOR ACTIVITIES

• Welcome to Medicare presentation, 10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, Senior Resource Center, 81 Elmwood Way, Waynesville. Presented by councilors from the Haywood and Jackson County County office of the North Carolina SHIIP (Seniors’ Health Insurance Information Program). John, 356.2833.

K IDS & FAMILIES

• Traditional Music Performance Workshop for Youth, 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, March 2, Jackson County Public Library community room, Sylva. Geared for third through 12th grade students. Judy Rhodes, instructor. Register at Jackson County Cooperative Extension Center, 586.4009 or kerri_rayburn@ncsu.edu.

• Mountaineer Little League Baseball tryouts 10 a.m. Saturday, March 2 and Saturday, March 9, Elks field, Waynesville. Sign up 30 minutes before tryouts. For questions, call 507.7027.

• Mountaineer Little League Softball tryouts 10 a.m. Saturday, March 2, Dutch Fisher field. Sign up 30 minutes before tryouts. For questions, call 507.7027.

EASTER EVENTS

• PEANUTS™ Easter Beagle Express 11 a.m. departure for Dillsboro, Friday, March 29, and Saturday, March 30, historic Bryson City Depot. 1½-hour layover on Friday and a 2-hour layover on Saturday.

Join Snoopy, Lucy, Charlie Brown, and Easter Bunnies for old-fashioned Easter fun. Tickets start at $51 per adult, $29 per child 2 through 12. Infants 23 months and under ride free. Upgrades available. 800.872.4681 or www.gsmr.com.

LITERARY (CHILDREN)

• Children’s Story time – The Tooth Fairy, 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, Jackson County Public Library, 586.2016.

• Paws to Read, 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, Jackson County Public Library, 586.2016.

• Family Night - Sensational Senses, 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, Jackson County Public Library, 586.2016.

• Write On!- tween writing program, 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, Jackson County Public Library, 586.2016.

• Children’s Story time – Bears Loose Tooth, 11 a.m. Friday, March 1, Jackson County Public Library, 586.2016.

• Children’s Story time with Miss Sally – Share a Smile Day! 3:30 p.m. Friday, March 1, Jackson County Public Library, 586.2016.

• Children’s Story time – Rotary Readers, 11 a.m. Monday, March 4, Jackson County Public Library, 586.2016.

• Dr. Seuss birthday party, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Monday, March 4, Marianna Black Library, Bryson City. Ms. Amber, 488.3030.

• Children’s Story time – Seuss-ercise., 11 a.m. Tuesday, March 5, Jackson County Public Library, 586.2016.

• Spring Crafts with James Stewart-Payne, 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 5, Jackson County Public Library, 586.2016.

Visit www.smokymountainnews.com and click on Calendar for:

■ Complete listings of local music scene

■ Regional festivals

■ Art gallery events and openings

■ Complete listings of recreational offerings at regional health and fitness centers

■ Civic and social club gatherings

• Children’s Story time – Green Eggs and Ham, 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 6, Jackson County Public Library, 586.2016.

F OOD & D RINK

• Drink-N-Think, open-mic for thought, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Biweekly (every other week), Wednesday, Feb. 27, The Mad Batter, 568 Centennial Dr., Cullowhee. 5 percent off purchase. 293.3096.

• Free lunch, noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, March 2, First Christian Church of Franklin, 156 Belleview Park Drive. www.facebook.com/firstchristian or www.firstchristianfranklin.com. 524.6840 or 332.8771.

• Annual Chili Cook-off, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, March 9, Highlands Community Building. Live music dancing, chili, salsa, and cornbread. $20 at the door. Competitors contact Jennifer, 526.2112.

• Maggie Valley Chamber of Commerce Chili Challenge 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday, March 10, Maggie Valley Inn & Conference Center. $10 entry fee for members of the Maggie Valley Chamber of Commerce; $15 for nonmembers. Applications are available by contacting Teresa Smith at the Maggie Valley Chamber of Commerce, 926.1686 or email to teresa@maggievalley.org.

ECA EVENTS

• Extension and Community Association (ECA) groups meet throughout the county at various locations and times each month. NC Cooperative Extension Office, 586.4009. New members welcome any time.

• 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 5 – Rag Rugs, Kountry Krafters ECA, Tuckasegee Wesleyan Church, Tuckasegee.

• 9:30 a.m. Thursday, March 7 – Women’s Car Maintenance, Potpourri ECA, conference room, Community Service Center, Sylva.

• noon Thursday, March 14 – Starting Plants Indoors, Lunch and Learn ECA, conference room, Community Service Center, Sylva.

• 1 p.m. Monday, March 18 – Cancer Drain Bags, Sew Easy Girls ECA, conference room, Community Service Center, Sylva.

• 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 19 – Mug Rug, Cane Creek ECA. For location information, call the Extension Office, 586.4009.

• 10 a.m. Thursday, March 21 – ECA Craft Club Workshop: Crochet Scrubbies, conference room, Community Service Center, Sylva (call Extension Office to sign up, 586.4009).

P OLITICAL G ROUP EVENTS & LOCAL G OVERNMENT

Dems

• Swain County Democratic Precinct elections for precinct officers, 10 a.m. Saturday, March 9, at usual voting locations.

A&E

• Whimzik DVD Release Performance, 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, community room, Jackson County Library Building. The DVD was produced and directed on WCU’s campus and included collaboration with Arledge Armenaki, Bruce Frazier and students from the stage and screen department and the music school.

LITERARY (ADULTS)

• Comic Stripped: A Revealing Look at Southern Stereotypes in Cartoons, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, through Tuesday, May 14, Mountain Heritage Center, Western Carolina University. 227.7129.

ON STAGE & I N CONCERT

• The Highlands Cashiers Players (HCP) present, Social Security, March 1-3, Performing Arts Center in Highlands. 526.8084, http://highlandspac.org/ events/social/event_social.html.

• Balsam Range & Cordle, Jackson and Salley, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 2, Colonial Theatre, Canton. Tickets available 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, Colonial Theatre Box Office, 53 Park St., Canton.

• Music of Countries and Cultures, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, March 3, John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center, Western Carolina University. Free. WCU School of Music, 227.7242.

• Balaton Chamber Brass, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 5, Coulter Building, Western Carolina University. Features WCU music faculty members, Dan Cherry on trombone and Amy Cherry on trumpet. WCU School of Music, 227.7242.

• Solo marimba virtuoso Andy Harnsberger, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 6, recital hall of the Coulter Building, Western Carolina University. Harnsberger will lead a free marimba master class, at 2:30 p.m. in the Coulter space. Open to the public. WCU School of Music, 227.7242.

• Grammy-award winning singer, songwriter and producer Alicia Keys, 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 27, Harrah’s Cherokee Event Center. Tickets at www.ticketmaster.com. Must be 21 years of age or older to attend.

ART/GALLERY EVENTS & OPENINGS

• Clay demonstrations by Deborah Schwartzkopf, 9:30 a.m. to noon and 1:30 to 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, room 151, John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee. Artist’s talk from 5 to 6 p.m. room 130 of the Bardo Arts Center. Joan Byrd, WCU School of Art and Design, 227.3595.

• Spring Craft Event with James Stewart-Payne, 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 5, community room, Jackson County Public Library, Sylva. Free. Bring old magazines, large scrapbooking papers, scissors, and hot glue gun or stapler, if possible. Space limited. Register at 586.2016.

CLASSES, PROGRAMS & D EMONSTRATIONS

• Hand-dyed silk and fiber scarves workshop, 1 to 4 p.m. Friday, March 1, Uptown Gallery, 30 East Main St., Franklin. 349.4607 or MCAAgallery.org. Pre-registration required.

• Woman to Woman – The Southern Craft Revival Program, 7 p.m. Thursday, March 7, Macon County Public Library meeting room, Franklin. Speaker is

Anna Fariello, Craft Revival project director of Hunter Library Special Collections at Western Carolina University. www.artscouncilofmacon.org or 524.7683.

FILM & S CREEN

• Movie Night, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, Jackson County Public Library, 586.2016.

• Second Tuesday Movie Group, 2 p.m. Monday, March 11, Haywood County Public Library, Waynesville, auditorium. Popcorn and discussion. Kathy, 356.2507.

DANCE

• Pisgah Promenaders Shamrock Special square dance, 6:45 to 8:45 p.m., Saturday, March 9, Old Armory Recreation Center, 44 Boundary St., Waynesville. Plus and Mainstream dancing with caller Ken Perkins. 586.8416 or 507.7270.

M USIC JAMS

• First Thursdays Old Time Music and Bluegrass: Locust Honey String Band, 7 p.m. Thursday, March 7, Mountain Heritage Center Auditorium, Western Carolina University. Free.

M USIC MAKERS

• Haywood Community Band rehearsal, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, March 7, Grace In The Mountains Episcopal Church, 394 Haywood St., Waynesville. Rhonda Wilson Kram, 456.4880 or www.haywoodcommunityband.org.

Outdoors

in Cullowhee. Nine-day comprehensive wilderness medical course is the national standard for outdoor trip leaders. Landmark Learning, 293.5384 or main@landmarklearning.org.

• Hunter Safety courses, 6 to 9:30 p.m. March 4 to 6, room 309 Haywood Community College campus. HCC campus. Participants must attend three consecutive evenings to receive their certification. Free and no age limits. Must register online in order to attend any session, www.ncwildlife.org.

• Bike Maintenance Basics, 7 p.m. Thursday, March 7, REI Asheville, free, register at http://www.rei.com/event/38770/session/66518.

• Map and Compass Navigation Basics, 11 a.m. to; 1:30 p.m. Sunday, March 10, REI Asheville. $30 REI members/$50 non-members. Register at http://www.rei.com/event/43656/session/66551.

COMPETITIVE E DGE

• 4th annual Cubs on the Fun Run Sprint and 5k, 8:30 a.m. Saturday, March 23, Meadowbrook Elementary School. Entry form at http://teacher.haywood.k12.nc.us/bswanger/files/2011 /10/2013-brochure-entry-form2.pdf.

• Race fees for Western Carolina University’s Valley of the Lilies Half Marathon and 5-K go up Friday, March 1. The runs are set for Saturday, April 6 at WCU. Fees are $40 for the half marathon and $20 for the 5-K through Thursday, Feb. 28. Beginning March 1, the fees increase to $60 for the half marathon and $25 for the 5-K. Online registration will close Tuesday, April 2, but race day registration will be available at $80 for the half marathon and $30 for the 5-K. Register at imathlete.com. http://halfmarathon.wcu.edu or email valleyofthelilies@wcu.edu.

FARM & GARDEN

OUTINGS, H IKES & FIELDTRIPS

• Off the Beaten Path” Guided Hike: Tree ID, 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 2, Chimney Rock State Park. No additional cost with paid Park admission

• Climbin’ the Chimney, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 2, Chimney Rock State Park. $20 per person per climb, plus Park admission. http://chimneyrockpark.com/park/climbing, 284.8433.

• Sons of the American Legion Turkey Shoot, 9 a.m. every Saturday, Legion Drive, Waynesville. Benefits local charities.

• The local Audubon Society is offering weekly Saturday birding field trips. Meet at 7:30 a.m. in the Highlands Town Hall parking lot near the public restrooms, or at 8 a.m. behind Wendy’s if the walk is in Cashiers. Binoculars available. www.highlandsaudubonsociety.org or 743.9670.

• The Gorges State Park is looking for volunteers to assist in maintaining existing trails and campgrounds in the park on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., weather permitting. Bring gloves, water and tools supplied. Participants need to be at least 16 years old and in good health. Registration not required. Meet at 17762 Rosman Highway (US-64) in Sapphire. 966.9099.

PROGRAMS & WORKSHOPS

• Classic Hikes of the Smokies information sessions, 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, REI Asheville. Pre-register REI Hiking in the Smokies 101 at rei.com/asheville. www.friendsofthesmokies.org. www.smokiestrailsforever.org.

• Running workshop: Keys to Injury Prevention and Efficient Running for the New Year, 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, Jackson County Recreation Center.

• WMI - Wilderness First Responder (WFR) March 2-10

• Sylva Garden Club, 9:30 refreshments, 10 a.m. meeting, Tuesday, March 5, Fellowship Hall, First Presbyterian Church, Sylva.

• Fruit Tree Workshop , 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 5, Jackson Extension Center, 538 Scotts Creek Rd., Sylva. Register at the JEC at 586.4009.

• Free gardening class on propagating and transplanting seeds, 6 p.m., Monday, March 11, Clayton Municipal Complex, Hwy. 76 West. Offered by Sustainable Mountain Living Communities. Registration not required. 706/782.7978 or smlcinc@windstream.net

FARMER’S & TAILGATE MARKETS

• Jackson County Farmers Market, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., winter indoor location at the Community Table, Central Street, Sylva. Jenny McPherson, 631.3033 or visit jacksoncountyfarmersmarket.wordpress.com.

H IKING CLUBS

• Carolina Mountain Club hosts more than 150 hikes a year, including options for full days on weekends, full days on Wednesdays and half days on Sundays. Non-members contact event leaders. www.carolinamountainclub.org

• High Country Hikers, based in Hendersonville, plans hikes Mondays and Thursdays weekly. Participants should bring a travel donation and gear mentioned on their website: main.nc.us/highcountryhikers. 808.2165

• Nantahala Hiking Club based in Macon County holds weekly Saturday hikes in the Nantahala National Forest and beyond. www.nantahalahikingclub.org

• Mountain High Hikers, based in Young Harris, Ga., leads several hikes per week. Guests should contact hike leader. www.mountainhighhikers.org.

MarketPlace information:

The Smoky Mountain News Marketplace has a distribution of 16,000 every week to over 500 locations across in Haywood, Jackson, Macon, and Swain counties along with the Qualla Boundary and west Buncombe County. For a link to our MarketPlace Web site, which also contains a link to all of our MarketPlace display advertisers’ Web sites, visit www.smokymountainnews.com.

Rates:

■ Free — Residential yard sale ads, lost or found pet ads.

■ Free — Non-business items that sell for less than $150.

■ $12 — Classified ads that are 50 words or less; each additional line is $2.

■ $12 — If your ad is 10 words or less, it will be displayed with a larger type.

■ $3 — Border around ad and $5 — Picture with ad.

■ $35 — Non-business items, 25 words or less. 3 month or till sold.

■ $300 — Statewide classifieds run in 117 participating newspapers with 1.6 million circulation. Up to 25 words.

■ All classified ads must be pre-paid.

Classified Advertising:

Scott Collier, phone 828.452.4251; fax 828.452.3585 | classads@smokymountainnews.com

PRIME REAL ESTATE

ARTS & CRAFTS

ALLISON CREEK

Iron Works & Woodworking. Crafting custom metal & woodwork in rustic, country & lodge designs with reclaimed woods! Design & consultation, Barry Downs 828.524.5763, Franklin NC

ART AND PICTURES

Ranging from $10 to $35. For more information call 828.994.0870.

AUCTION

ABSOLUTE AUCTION -

Trucks, Trailers, Shop Equipment, Parts, Office Equipment, Lewiston, NC, April 3rd at 11am. Live and Online, Live at 130 Piney Woods Rd., Lewiston, NC. Iron Horse Auction Co., Inc., 800.997.2248. NCAL3936. Or go to: www.ironhorseauction.com

APRIL 6 - WILLIAMSTON, NC.

6 estates. 15 pedal toys, 110 vintage toys, furniture, 50 boxes tools, 140 dolls, 30,250 trading cards. Facebook: Larry B. Hardison Auctions, 252.217.8509. NCAL#3361

CRYSTAL COAST REAL ESTATE

Auction- Townhouses, Condotel & Houses in Atlantic Beach & Morehead City, NC. ONLINE ONLY AUCTION, Bidding Ends April 2. Register & Bid at www.HouseAuctionCompany.com. 252.729.1162. NCAL#7889

LARGE AUCTION

Friday March 29th at 4:30 PM.

Huge selection of items to be sold including: Quality furniture, glassware, primitives, unique primitive tools, Griswold & Wagner items, advertising items, Featherweight sewing machine, Rugs, antiques, collectables, household, box lots & tons more!

DON’T MISS THIS AUCTION!

For more info or to view pics of this auction visit: www.boatwrightauction.com Boatwright Auction, 34 Tarheel Trail, Franklin, NC, 28734. 828.524.2499 Boatwright Auction, NCAL Firm 9231

2 OUTSTANDING LAKEFRONT LOTS.

Smith Mountain Lake, VA. 4.89A (Moneta) & 2.1A (Huddleston). Absolute Auctions. Saturday, April 6, 10am. Terms, photos online: www.countsauction.com. 800.780.2991. VAAF93

AUCTION

DOWN-SIZING PERSONAL PROPERTY AUCTION

Antiques, Tools, Furniture, Art & Much More! March 29th, 5pm

Preview, 6pm Auction. 255 Depot St. Waynesville. AuctioneerGene Ferguson NCAL# 5402

CRYSTAL COAST REAL ESTATE

Auction - Townhouses, Condotel & Houses in Atlantic Beach & Morehead City, NC. ONLINE ONLY AUCTION, Bidding Ends April 2. Register & Bid at www.HouseAuctionCompany.com. 252.729.1162. NCAL#7889

BUILDING MATERIALS

HAYWOOD BUILDERS

Garage Doors, New Installations Service & Repairs, 828.456.6051

100 Charles St. Waynesville Employee Owned.

CONSTRUCTION/ REMODELING

DAVE’S CUSTOM HOMES OF WNC, INC Free Estimates & Competitive rates. References avail. upon request. Specializing in: Log Homes, remodeling, decks, new construction, repairs & additions.

Owner/Builder: Dave Donaldson. Licensed/Insured. 828.631.0747 or 828.508.0316

SULLIVAN HARDWOOD FLOORS

Installation- Finish - Refinish 828.399.1847.

TRIM CARPENTER/HANDYMAN

Projects start to finish. Any jobno size too big or small, Free Estimates. Painting, Tile Work Replacement/New, Kitchen Remodeling, Bath Renovation, Honey-dolist, Doggie Doors, Bookshelves, Closets. References - Toll Brothers and American Home Place. Call Harold for more info 828.456.4000.

ELECTRICAL

BOOTH ELECTRIC Residential & Commercial service. Up-front pricing, emergency service. 828.734.1179. NC License #24685-U.

-

YOUR CAR, Truck or Boat to Heritage for the Blind. Free 3 Day Vacation, Tax

Free Towing, All Paperwork Taken Care Of. 877.752.0496.

CASH FOR CARS, Call Now

ASSISTANT PROPERTY MANAGER Responsible for the day-to-day administration and implementation of those policies, procedures and programs that will assure a well managed well maintained property The Assistant Property Manager will be assigned to specified action areas at the discretion of the Property Manager post available Full-Part/ time Send resume to: kevin.hardy@aol.com

SAPA

COMPANY DRIVER:

Solo & Team OTR Lanes. Competitive Pay. Great hometime. CDL-A with 1 year OTR and Hazmat End. Sign-On Bonus. $2000 Solo & $5000 Teams. 888.705.3217 or apply online at: www.drivenctrans.com

EMPLOYMENT

COMPANY DRIVERS:

$2500 Sign-On Bonus! Super Service is hiring solo and team drivers. Excellent hometime options. CDL-A required. Call 888.441.9358 or apply online at: www.superservicellc.com

DRIVERQualify for any portion of

$0.03/mile quarterly bonus: $0.01 Safety, $0.01 Production, $0.01 MPG. Two raises in 1st year. 3 months recent experience. 800.414.9569. www.driveknight.com

DRIVERS -

CDL-A $5,000 Sign-On Bonus For exp'd solo OTR drivers & O/O's. Tuition reimbursement also available! New Student Pay & Lease Program. USA TRUCK. 877.521.5775. www.GoUSATruck.com

AVIATION CAREERS -

Train in advance structures and become certified to work on aircraft. Financial aid for those who qualify. Call aviation institute of maintenance 1.877.205.1779.

SAPA

EMPLOYMENT

DRIVERSHiring Experienced/Inexperienced Tanker Drivers! Earn up to $0.51/Mile! New Fleet Volvo Tractors! 1 Year OTR Exp. Req.Tanker Training Available. Call Today: 877.882.6537. Or go to: www.OakleyTransport.com

DRIVERS...APPLY NOW, 13 Drivers Needed! Top 5% Pay & Benefits. Class A CDL Required. 877.258.8782. Or go to: www.ad-drivers.com

EARN $500 A DAY:

Insurance Agents Needed. Leads, No Cold Calls. Commissions Paid Daily. Lifetime Renewals. Complete Training. Health & Dental Insurance. Life License Required. Call 1.888.713.6020.

AVERITT

Offers CDL-A Drivers a Strong, Stable, Profitable Career. Experienced Drivers and Recent Grads. Excellent Benefits, Weekly Hometime. Paid training. 888.362.8608. AverittCareers.com. Equal Opportunity Employer.

EMPLOYMENT

FTCC -

Fayetteville Technical Community College is now accepting applications for the following positions: Biology Instructors. Mathematics Instructors. Deadline: April 15. All applications must be submitted online through our electronic employment portal at https://faytechcc.peopleadmin.com/ by the closing date of the position. Any previous versions of applications will not be accepted.

Human Resources Office, Fayetteville Technical Community College, PO Box 35236, Fayetteville, NC 28303. Phone: 910.678.8378. Fax: 910.678.0029.

Internet: www.faytechcc.edu. CRC Preferred Employer. An Equal Opportunity Employer.

GYPSUM EXPRESS

Regional Hauls for Flatbed Company Driver Terminal in Roxboro. Ask about Performance Bonus coming April 1st & more. Melissa, 866.317.6556 x6 or go to: www.gypsumexpress.com

EMPLOYMENT

INSURANCE AGENCY NEEDS

Motivated individuals to work preset appointments (10-15 per week around state). Great income! We'll train you! Must obtain insurance license. info@palmettounited.com or 888.930.6599

MEDICAL CAREERS BEGIN HERETrain ONLINE for Allied Health and Medical Management. Job placement assistance. Computer available. Financial Aid if qualified. SCHEV authorized. Call 1.877.206.7665 or go to: www.CenturaOnline.com SAPA

NEED MEDICAL OFFICE TRAINEES!

Become a Medical Office Assistant at CTI! No Experienced Needed! Online Training gets you job ready! HS Diploma/GED & Computer needed. For program disclosures, go to Careertechnical.edu/northcarolina. 1.888.512.7122.

PROFESSIONAL HOUSEKEEPER -

Full Time or Part Time (Sundays 10am - 3pm Required), References required. The Chalet Inn, Call 828.586.0251.

EMPLOYMENT

TANKER & FLATBED COMPANY.

Drivers/Independent Contractors! Immediate Placement Available.

Best opportunities in the Trucking Business. Call Today. 800.277.0212 or go to: www.primeinc.com

SATELLITE INSTALLERS NEEDED -

Be your own Boss! Join CAOTTI, one of the fastest growing contractors in the industry. Providing quality installation & service for home entertainment needs! Training & resources are provided to ensure a successful future. Late model WHITE truck or van & basic tools28' ladder required. Must be able to pass background check & drug screen. Apply online: tech.caotti.com.

866.310.2336

"CAN YOU DIG IT?"

Heavy Equipment Operator Training! 3 Wk. Hands On Program. Bulldozers, Backhoes, Excavators. Lifetime Job Placement Asst. w/National Certs. VA Benefits Eligible. 1.866.362.6497

THE TOWN OF MAGGIE VALLEY

Will be accepting applications for employment for a Senior Administrative Assistant until position is filled. The job requires a wide variety of administrative, secretarial and office management duties. The position requires a broader knowledge of office operations in order that the role may serve as backup and at a competent level in several roles. Requirements: Graduation from business school and considerable office management experience; or an equivalent combination of training and experience. An application along with a complete job description/requiremnts is available at Town Hall. Applications will be reviewed beginning April 12, 2013. Pay rate based on experience. Maggie Valley is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

A FEW PRO DRIVERS NEEDED! Top Pay & 401K. Recent CDL grads wanted. 877.258.8782. www.ad-drivers.com

TRUCK DRIVERS WANTED -

Best Pay and Home Time! Apply

Online Today over 750 Companies!

One Application, Hundreds of Offers! www.HammerLaneJobs.com.

SAPA

WIN SWEEPSTAKES -

Proven Strategies and Secrets. Free Shipping! Mail $20 cash or m/o to: 2901 Clint Moore Rd. #404, Boca Raton, FL 33496.

SAPA

UP TO $14.50 - $29/hr

Calling small business owners and setting appointments for our sales representatives! NO Selling Required. Call Recorded Hotline 1.507726.4051.

$1,200 WEEKLY GUARANTEED,

Mailing our company loan applications from home. NO experience necessary. FT/PT. Genuine opportunity. FREE Information (24/7)

1.800.279.3313

SAPA

OILFIELD JOBS

Immediate Opportunity. $64,000$145,000/year. No Experience Necessary. Call 24 Hour Free Recorded Message. 1.800.653.0206

SAPA

FINANCIAL

$$$ ACCESS LAWSUIT CASH NOW!!

Injury Lawsuit Dragging? Need $500-$500,000++ within 48/hours? Low rates. Apply Now By Phone! 1.800.568.8321. wwwlawcapital.com Not Valid in CO or NC. SAPA

BEWARE OF LOAN FRAUD.

Please check with the Better Business Bureau or Consumer Protection Agency before sending any money to any loan company. SAPA

FURNITURE

COMPARE QUALITY & PRICE Shop Tupelo’s, 828.926.8778.

HAYWOOD BEDDING, INC.

The best bedding at the best price! 533 Hazelwood Ave. Waynesville 828.456.4240

REMAINING FURNITURE LUMBER

Walnut, Butternut, Cherry. Need to clear building, $3,250 Call for more info 828.627.2342

LAWNAND GARDEN

HEMLOCK HEALERS, INC.

Dedicated to Saving Our Hemlocks. Owner/Operator Frank Varvoutis, NC Pesticide Applicator’s License #22864. 48 Spruce St. Maggie Valley, NC 828.734.7819 828.926.7883, Email: hemlockhealers@yahoo.com

PETS

CONTROL FLEAS/TICKS/MITES & Mosquitoes before heavy infestation with Happy Jack® DuraSpot®. Patented technology. Contains NO Fipronil! At Southern States. www.happyjackinc.com

Pet Adoption

FIVE, 9 WEEK OLD - German Shepherd mixes. They could be reserved (adopted) immediately, but can’t go to new homes until after their spay/neuter surgery April 1st surgery, return April 2nd. Three males, two females. Call 828.293.5629 for more information. Will be available for viewing on Saturday, March 30th at ARF adoption site from 1-3.

FUDGE - A five year old, male, Purebred Dachshund. He is housebroken, leash trained and knows how to use a doggie door. He would be best in a home without other dogs. Call 877.ARF.JCNC.

RASCAL - A cute Terrier/Corgi mix who is just 3 ears old. He is housebroken, current on all shots, not a lapdog, but is a good porch dog to alert when visitors arrive. Call 877.ARF.JCNC.

SASSY - A 60 lb., purebred Redtick. She is 1-2 years old. Very gentle, she will make a wonderful pet. Call 877.ARF.JCNC.

LONESOME DOVE - A 10 week old, female Terrier mix. She is brindle colored, has longish hair and looks like a Teddy bear. Call foster home at 828.293.5629.

BEN - A 5 lb. purebred Chihuahua. He is white and brown. He is a bit shy. No small children. Special pricing applies. Call 877.ARF.JCNC.

GIBBS - A two-year-old, purebred, male Beagle. He is tricolored, weighs 35 lbs., and is very friendly. He gets along well with other dogs, is affectionate with people, and obeys house rules. Call ARF at 877.ARF.JCNC ARF’S next low-cost spay/neuter trip will be April 8th. Register and pre-pay at ARF’s adoption site on Saturdays from 1-3.

ARF (HUMANE SOCIETY OF JACKSON COUNTY)

Holds rescued pet adoptions Saturdays from 1:00 - 3:00 (weather permitting) at 50 Railroad Avenue in Sylva. Animals are spayed/neutered and current on shots. Most cats $60, most dogs $70. Preview available pets at www.a-r-f.org, or call foster home.

JEWELEA - Abyssinian cat – tan & gray/white. I am 5-6 years old, and have large ears and a curious nature consistent with my breed. I’m a loving girl who is comfortable and social with strangers, but should go to a single-cat home. $100 adoption fee, Animal Compassion Network 258.4820 or animalcompassionnetwork.org.

MARLEY - Shepherd Mix dog –black & tan. I am a mediumsized girl about 3 years old. I had 9 pups who have all been adopted through ACN, and now I’m ready for a forever home of my own. I’m very shy but extremely sweet and gentle. I get along fine with kids, and should do well in almost any household once I settle in. $125 adoption fee, Animal Compassion Network 258.4820 or animalcompassionnetwork.org.

GRETTA - Shepherd Mix dog –tan/buff & white. I am about 8 years old, well behaved in the house, and one of the sweetest animals you’ll ever meet! I can spend all day sitting on the couch with you, or run and play in the backyard. I’m still quite active for my age and still curious about the world, and enjoy going for walks. I also get along well with children. My one downfall is that I’m afraid of pretty much all other dogs will bark and growl at them. I just need a wonderful forever home where I am the only dog! Animal Compassion Network 258.4820 animalcompassionnetwork.org; GRETTA'S ADOPTION FEE IS BEING SUBSIDIZED BY A GENEROUS DONOR AT A MUCH REDUCED COST.

NEED A NEW HOME

For your pet? Animal Comp Net provides a re-homing service!

ANIMAL COMPASSION NETWORK

Pet Adoption Events - Every Saturday from 11a.m. to 3p.m. at Pet Harmony, Animal Compassion Network's new pet store for rescued pets. Dozens of ACN dogs, puppies, kittens and cats will be ready to find their permanent homes. The store also offers quality pet supplies where all proceeds save more homeless animals. Come see us at 803 Fairview St. (behind Province 620 off Hendersonville Rd), visit www.animalcompassionnetwork.org, or call 828.274.DOGS.

Haywood County Real Estate Agents

REAL ESTATE ANNOUNCEMENT

HOMES FOR SALE

BRUCE MCGOVERN

MEDICAL

Beverly Hanks & Associates — beverly-hanks.com

• Michelle McElroy — beverly-hanks.com

• Marilynn Obrig — beverly-hanks.com

• Mike Stamey — beverly-hanks.com

• Ellen Sither — esither@beverly-hanks.com

• Jerry Smith — beverly-hanks.com

• Billie Green — bgreen@beverly-hanks.com

• Pam Braun — pambraun@beverly-hanks.com

ERA Sunburst Realty — sunburstrealty.com

Haywood Properties — haywood-properties.com

• Steve Cox — haywoodproperties.com

Keller Williams Realty kellerwilliamswaynesville.com

• Rob Roland — robrolandrealty.com

• Chris Forga — forgarentalproperties.com

Mountain Home Properties — mountaindream.com

• Sammie Powell — smokiesproperty.com

Main Street Realty — mainstreetrealty.net

McGovern Real Estate & Property Management

• Bruce McGovern — shamrock13.com

Prudential Lifestyle Realty — vistasofwestfield.com

Realty World Heritage Realty — realtyworldheritage.com

• Carolyn Lauter realtyworldheritage.com/realestate/viewagent/1701

RE/MAX — Mountain Realty remax-waynesvillenc.com | remax-maggievalleync.com

• Brian K. Noland — brianknoland.com

• Connie Dennis — remax-maggievalleync.com

• Mark Stevens — remax-waynesvillenc.com

• Mieko Thomson — ncsmokies.com

• The Morris Team — maggievalleyproperty.com

• The Real Team — the-real-team.com

• Ron Breese — ronbreese.com

• Dan Womack — womackdan@aol.com

• Bonnie Probst — bonniep@remax-waynesvillenc.com

The Seller’s Agency — listwithphil.com

• Phil Ferguson — philferguson@bellsouth.net

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A Full Service Realtor shamrock13@charter.net McGovern Property Management 828.283.2112.

STORAGE SPACE FOR RENT

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MEDICAL

ATTENTION DIABETICS

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Rental assistance available.

Disability accessible units subject to availability and need. $25 application fee; credit/criminal required. Call site for information 828.631.0124, Office hours are M-Th 1-3 pm or by appt.

Equal Housing Opportunity. Professionally managed by Partnership Property Management, an equal opportunity provider, and employer.

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DEALER DOWN-SIZING!

English Campaign Desk. Honduran Mahogany, 2-pieces, Mint Cond., Brass Handles, $8,000. Limoges French Tureen Set4-pieces. Studio Pottery available, $50 each. For more info call 828.627.2342

CHAMPION SUPPLY

Janitorial supplies. Professional cleaning products, vacuums, janitorial paper products, swimming pool chemicals, environmentally friendly chemicals, indoor & outdoor light bulbs, odor elimination products, equipment repair including household vacuums. Free delivery across WNC. 800.222.0581, 828.225.1075.

Good Shape $75. Leather Horse Bridle set $50. For more info call 828.627.2342.

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Offering 1 & 2 Bedroom Apartments, Starting at $400

8

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HOURS: Tues. & Wed. 10:00am - 5:00pm & Thurs. 10:00am- 12:00pm 168 E. Nicol Arms Road Sylva, NC 28779

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SCHOOLS/ INSTRUCTION

AIRLINES ARE HIRINGTrain for hands on Aviation Career. FAA approved program. Financial aid if qualified. Job placement assistance. Call Aviation Institute of Maintenance. 877.300.9494.

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SUPER CROSSWORD HEX NUTS

ACROSS

1 Epitaph start

5 Spoke from a soapbox

11 Inner city, e.g.

20 Crease remover

21 “The — Supremacy” (2004 film)

22 In touch with who one is

23 Billiards targets

25 Astonishing 26 Gazes

27 Opera house song

29 “... there — Santa Claus”

30 Twice DI 31 Flaming

32 George Lucas collection

36 Tennis’ Björn 37 Attend (to)

39 Norman Vincent — 40 Boise-to-Billings dir.

41 Some thorax attachments

44 Swiss artist Paul

46 Big fairs

50 Literary 67-Across girl

51 Vintage Olds

52 Lead-in for la la 54 “Hello, Hadrian!”

55 Mobile site

59 1970s sitcom siblings 63 Dueling swords 64 Swarm (with)

65 Alley —

66 “I’m all —!”

67 From Zurich, e.g.

68 61-Down purchases, e.g.

71 — New Guinea

(Pacific nation) 72 Oahu, e.g.

Water, to Fifi

Salve plant

Most plain

Things to pick or pluck

Fiduciary 81 Thing to pick

“Told ya!” 83 Crawler with antennae

Wall art

Dècor option

Rights gp.

Some pips

Supply with guns

Perp’s out

Seal school

100 Morales of “Mi Familia”

101 Stanley Cup contenders 106 Hesitate due to doubt 107 Race unit 108 “— for Cookie” 109 Starchy pudding ingredient 110 Lethargic state 112 Waterway with many locks

116 This puzzle’s theme 119 Toward a nation’s interior 120 Wallop 121 Descartes or Lacoste 122 Slob’s quality

Corrects, as a manuscript

River of Belgium

3 Audibly excited fans 4 Make bigger 5 Mitch Miller’s instrument

6 Legendary birds

7 Diving shorebird

8 Yummy tidbit

9 Catches in a

62 Loved ones 64 Talk up 68 Olympic figure skater

69 Math class: Abbr.

70 Kramer of “Seinfeld”

71 São —

73 Important time

Trademark 77 “No man is — to his valet” 78 Come from behind to

79 Arctic people

Quartet minus one

Strike callers

— -di-dah

Las Vegas’ — Palace

Explanatory drawing

Cook, as onion rings

Slow absorptions

93 Red Bull ingredient

94 Title for a knight

96 Actor Chuck or singer Lila 98 Hound breed

101 Small intestine division

102 “— diem!”

103 Heroic poems

104 Kunta — (“Roots” role)

105 Demi of film

106 Quartet minus two

110 K.P. veggie

111 Baking qtys.

55 Hands out 56 Court case 57 Competence

58 Attack from all sides

60 Stephen of “Bad Behaviour”

61 Popular pop

Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each small 9-box square contains all of the numbers from one to nine.

Answers on Page 34

113 Canon camera option

114 “— bono” (“To what purpose?”)

115 Fleur-de- —

117 Capacious vase

118 Gen — (post-’65 arrival)

Abi-monthly magazine that covers the southern Appalachian mountains and celebrates the area’s environmental riches, its people, culture, music, art, crafts and special places. Each issue relies on regionalwriters and photographers to bring the Appalachians to life.

In this issue:

Mountain couple explores art in life

Renowned schools and studios foster creativity

Mimicking nature with hook and hair

Paul Marchand’s botanical beauties

Saved by the appearance of a tree swallow

Earlier this morning (Tuesday, March 26) I gazed wishfully through my office window here in Bryson City. About all I could see was the fire station across the street just off the town square. Blue-gray snowflakes were slanting down. I was waiting for something to happen that I could write about. And then, as TV comedian Jackie Gleason used to say, “A-way we go!” All a writer really needs is a subject. Just a hint will generally do. The process of writing — and the way different writers go about it — is as interesting (to writers) as what gets written.

BACK THEN

snowy morning in late March is not a good time to be thinking about starlings and house sparrows.

A starling landed on my window sill. He pecked on the glass and looked at me. His eyes were bright and shiny. His bill had become greenish-yellow as he approached the breeding season. Maybe he was auditioning for the role.

He flew away and a house sparrow perched on the guy wire holding up the Clampitt Hardware sign. The house sparrow is uglier than the starling … or maybe I should say that the starling and the house sparrow are equally unattractive. Either way, I am not moved to write about them. A

I had just about given up on my catch-ascatch-can approach to finding subject matter when suddenly a bluish critter sailed by just above car roof level. After patrolling Main Street several times it went elsewhere as quickly as it had appeared.

It took me a few moments to recall the name of the bird. Memory is not instantaneous like it used to be. From “bluish animal critter in flight” I narrowed it down to “bird.” The graceful flight indicated “swallow.” So far so good. Next, I went (slowly) through a mental checklist of swallows that nest in the Smokies region or migrate through here in spring:

• No pale horizontal pattern on the forehead (not cliff swallow).

• No forked tail (not barn swallow).

• No brown body (not rough-winged swallow).

• No large dark-purplish glossy body (not purple martin).

• No broad brown chest band (not bank swallow).

• Iridescent bluish-green upperparts with a lower body that’s whiter than falling snow (bingo!): tree swallow.

The wait-to-the-last-minute and see what

pops up method of locating subject matter had once again … at the very last second … proved to be absolutely infallible. Something always comes to the rescue.

Tree swallows winter in the Southern states, especially along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. Other swallow species are largely dependent upon insects so they winter in Central and South America. But the tree swallow has learned to survive on a diet of vegetable matter, especially the fruits of wax myrtle.

With spring approaching the tree swal-

lows can get a head start in migration and arrive on their breeding grounds ahead of other swallow species. This gives them some wiggle room in case they have a nest failure due to predation or disease or whatever. They have a second shot at raising a brood.

They do, of course, run the risk of running into rough weather by coming so early. But the one I saw from my window looked OK. He came armed with the instinctual knowledge that he could shift from vegetable matter back to insects. Somehow he “knew” that the paved area over the street was warmer than the unpaved areas in town. Flying low through the blue-gray snowflakes as he skimmed just above car roofs he was leisurely feeding upon insects seeking warmth. And I saw him doing it through my office window.

George Ellison wrote the biographical introductions for the reissues of two Appalachian classics: Horace Kephart’s Our Southern Highlanders and James Mooney’s History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees In June 2005, a selection of his Back Then columns was published by The History Press in Charleston as Mountain Passages: Natural and Cultural History of Western North Carolina and the Great Smoky Mountains Readers can contact him at P.O. Box 1262, Bryson City, N.C., 28713, or at info@georgeellison.com.

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Grimball Park - 2BR, 1BA

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Laurel Heights

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Smoky Mtn. Retreat

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