Smoky Mountain News | May 20, 2020

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Open Door goes mobile with Salvation Army help Page 13

STAFF

On the Cover:

A recent court ruling has left places of worship free to hold in-person services amid Gov. Cooper’s “stay home” order, but several local church leaders are still being cautious in an effort to protect their congregations during the COVID-19 Pandemic. (Page 6) Mt. Olive Baptist Church on Pigeon Street in Waynesville. Cory Vaillancourt photo

News

Cherokee sues feds over Catawba decision ............................................................4

Macon budget priorities change amid pandemic ......................................................8

Franklin sets budget priorities for 2020-21 ................................................................9

Waynesville presents grave budget message ........................................................10

Despite coronavirus, Canton budget stays the course ........................................10 ‘Hair-iffic’ discovery at Waynesville sewer plant ......................................................11 Free COVID-19 testing site opens in Sylva

Open Door goes mobile with Salvation Army

Nikwasi Initiative hires first director

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Hannah McLeod.

Cory Vaillancourt.

Garret K. Woodward. .

ACCOUNTING & O FFICE MANAGER: Amanda Singletary. .

D ISTRIBUTION: Scott Collier. . .

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Cherokee sues feds over Catawba decision

Mountain casino

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has filed a federal lawsuit over a recent decision from the U.S. Department of the Interior that would pave the way for the Catawba Indian Nation to build a casino in Cleveland County near Charlotte.

“Instead of abiding their trust duties and obligations under federal law to consult with the EBCI concerning the issues and concerns the EBCI raised with regards to Defendants’ proposed final agency action, Defendants ran roughshod over the Administrative Procedures Act, National Environmental Protection Act and the National Historic Preservation Act and took final agency action on March 12, 2020, without issuing a Final Environmental Assessment or Finding of No Significant Impact, in direction violation of the APA and NEPA,” the lawsuit reads.

The tribe filed the suit in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia on March 17, just five days after the U.S. Department of the Interior approved an application that the Catawba had submitted in September 2018 requesting that 16.57 acres in Kings Mountain be taken into federal trust for the purpose of conducting gaming activities. The suit names the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Katuk Mac Lean Sweeney and Acting Regional Director for the BIA Eastern Regional Office R. Glen Melville as defendants.

In addition, the Catawba filed a motion to intervene to join the defendants in resisting the Eastern Band’s claims, while the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma filed a motion to intervene in support of the EBCI. Both motions were approved.

QUEST FOR APPROVAL

The Catawba, a federally recognized tribe with a reservation in Rock Hill, South Carolina, have been trying for years to gain approval for a casino in Kings Mountain. The tribe is governed by the congressionally approved Settlement Act of 1993, which states that the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act does not apply to the Catawba and that the tribe must instead abide by South Carolina gaming laws. However, South Carolina does not allow gaming, meaning that the tribe cannot have a casino on its existing Rock Hill reservation.

So, the tribe has tried various strategies to gain approval for a casino over the state line in Cleveland County, North Carolina. The Kings Mountain site is just 34 miles away from the existing reservation, according to the DOI’s March 12 decision document.

The Catawba first applied for the land to be taken into trust in August 2013, but that mandatory acquisition application was denied in March 2018. That September, the tribe submitted a new application under the discretionary process and also attempted a legislative route. S.790 — introduced by South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham with

support from North Carolina Senators Thom Tillis and Richard Burr — would have authorized the DOI to take the land into trust for gaming, but the bill died in committee.

However, in March the Catawba received word that its 2018 discretionary application had been successful.

GROUNDS FOR OBJECTION

In the lawsuit, the EBCI argues that this decision was “rushed,” “flawed” and “violates the plain language of federal law.” If not overturned, the tribe said, it would result in irreparable harm to tribal sovereignty and cultural preservation.

According to the EBCI’s filed complaint, both the Cherokee Treaty of 1777 and the 1884 Royce Map of Cherokee Land Sessions showed present-day Cleveland County as being located within Cherokee historical territory. The Catawba, meanwhile, claimed in a court document that its members “have resided on the land that is currently North and South Carolina since before English settlement.”

Despite the Cherokee’s historical ties to the land, the lawsuit charges, the EBCI was

not consulted at any point during creation of the draft Environmental Assessment that led to approval of the Catawba’s application. In a declaration attached to the lawsuit, EBCI Tribal Historic Preservation Officer Russell Townsend said that he first heard about the EA on Dec. 23, 2019, when Principal Chief Richard Sneed received an email inviting the tribe to review and comment on the published Draft EA.

“I was surprised to learn of this Draft EA because the BIA would typically consult me and other Cherokee Tribal Historic Preservation Officers prior to the release of a draft EA for lands within Cherokee treaty and historical territory,” Townsend wrote. “As a part of government-to-government consultation, the BIA consults with the EBCI THPO multiple times per week on various projects in the Cherokee traditional aboriginal territory. The BIA typically reaches out to us early in the process so we can participate in the development of research design and scopes of work, not simply review completed documents.”

Unsurprisingly, the suit said, the Cherokee’s lack of involvement in the process led to a flawed EA. A total of 14 alleged deficiencies are iden-

tified within the lawsuit, including a failure to protect Cherokee cultural resources, to consider alternative land acquisitions in South Carolina, to properly assess biological impacts and disclose who was consulted in developing the document, among others.

In addition, Townsend noted that, “contrary to information in the Draft EA, State of North Carolina site files show that there is evidence of an archeological investigation on the Kings Mountain Site.”

A 2005 N.C. Department of Transportation project led to discovery of a historic pottery kiln and human-made stone tools on the site, and this information should have triggered an archeological survey to determine whether the site contains other materials as well, Townsend wrote.

Concerns such as these, he said, would typically trigger a collaborative process to determine whether religious or cultural items were present on the site. However, he said, in correspondence with the BIA none of his concerns were acknowledged or addressed.

In the suit, the EBCI asks the court to issue a preliminary injunction barring the DOI from taking the land into trust, arguing that failure to do so would cause irreparable harm to the Cherokee people.

“If the Kings Mountain site is taken into trust for the Catawba Nation, the land will fall under the sovereign governance of the Catawba Nation, and the EBCI THPO will lose the right to consultation on and protection of Cherokee religious and cultural sites,” Townsend wrote.

The suit also asks that the court declare that defendants violated the APA, NEPA, NHPA and 1993 Settlement Act. In addition, it asks the court to order defendants to engage in good faith consultation with the EBCI, complete an Environmental Impact Statement and pay all court and attorney costs.

POLITICAL MOTIVATIONS

ALLEGED

Throughout the complaint, the EBCI maintains that political motivations were largely responsible for the DOI’s alleged missteps in this process.

“Upon information and belief, Senator Graham and other elected and appointed officials supportive of the casino developer — former member of Graham’s campaign finance committee Wallace Cheves — brought undue political influence on DOI and other federal officials in their quest to obtain BIA approval of a casino in North Carolina,” the suit reads.

A Smoky Mountain News investigation published in June 2019 found that Cheves donated nearly $50,000 between 2015 and 2018 to the campaigns of Republican Senators Graham, Burr and Tillis, with an additional $152,000 to three Republican organizations — the N.C. Republican Party, Republican National Committee and National Republican Senate Committee.

In an email statement given at the time, Cheves said that he has donated to many campaigns and individuals from several states who “share my vision for economic

growth and job creation” and that “it’s unfortunate that those profiting off the Eastern Band of Cherokee … continue to actively oppose the very same opportunities for other less fortunate tribes.”

Sneed, meanwhile, said that it’s not about opposing an opportunity for the Catawba but rather about preventing an allegedly illegal action that, if allowed, “would turn Indian gaming on its head.”

The EBCI is doubling down on its efforts to win the case, with Tribal Council voting during a special session May 12 to engage the firm Jenner & Block LLC to join with its existing representation Pipestem Law to represent the EBCI. The vote also included approval of the firm’s $50,000 retainer fee.

On May 14, Sneed appeared before the Swain County Board of Commissioners to ask for their support. The board voted unanimously to approve a resolution that calls on Gov. Roy Cooper, Attorney General Josh Stein and “other elected and appointed officials” to “protect the interests of North Carolinians from the harmful decision of the U.S. Department of the Interior officials and those who politically influence them.”

“We feel very confident based on the merits of our case that we’ll be successful,” Sneed told commissioners.

The Catawba did not return a request for comment, but Chief Bill Harris issued a statement March 13, after the Eastern Band had declared its intention to file suit but before it actually did so.

“It is unfortunate that the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians continues to perpetuate this narrative of tribe versus tribe,” Harris said. “The Catawba Nation has reached out many times to the leadership of EBCI to try to work together. In the past Chief Sneed has asserted that he isn’t against federally recognized tribes going into the gaming industry, but he wants all tribes to follow the DOI established regulations. In Catawba’s decision letter from the Department of Interior it clearly outlines that Catawba followed the process from beginning to end, and the decision also demonstrates our cultural and historical ties to this area. Eastern Band has the right to react however they want to the decision from DOI, but we have done and will continue to do all we can for the betterment of our nation as well as extend the hand of friendship and cooperation to other native nations.”

Success will be important for the Eastern Band and for the region as a whole, Sneed said in the Swain County meeting, because the potential economic impact of a casino in Charlotte can’t be overlooked. About onethird of the casino’s customers base comes from the Charlotte area, and Harrah’s would lose an estimated $100 million-plus in annual revenue should the casino be built. Such a loss would have massive impacts not just for the tribe but for the entire region. The casinos in Cherokee and Murphy employ more than 4,000 people and draw customers who also spend money at various local businesses, indirectly supporting many more jobs.

“What the region needs to understand is what happens to the Eastern Band happens to Western North Carolina,” Sneed said. “Our economies are inextricably connected.”

Ingles Nutrition Notes

written by Ingles Dietitian Leah McGrath

CELIAC AWARENESS MONTH:

Myths and MisinforMation

1. Myth - Celiac disease means you have an allergy to gluten.

fact: Celiac disease is NOT a food allergy and it is not correct to refer to it as a "gluten allergy". Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease that causes the body to attack itself (an autoimmune response) when gluten is consumed.

https://nationalceliac.org/celiac-disease-questions/gluten-allergy/ Individuals with an allergy to wheat are NOT experiencing the same thing as having celiac disease.

2. Myth - Someone with celiac disease can still eat small amounts of gluten.

fact: If a person has celiac disease even small amounts of gluten can cause damage to the intestinal villi. Even if the person is asymptomatic (doesn't seem to have symptoms or a reaction) the damage is still occurring.

For information on celiac disease including symptoms go to: https://www.cureceliacdisease.org/

Honking for Jesus Churches

adapt, ponder reopening after lawsuit

Although aware of the court ruling, area churches are in no rush to reopen. Cory Vaillancourt photo

is, but in a multi-layered organization with a congregation 10 times the size of Horton’s.

“For us, it’s not just a matter of ‘can we?’ it’s a matter of ‘should we?’” Westmoreland said. “We take very seriously the responsibility of caretaking people’s health when they’re in our space and trying to do everything we can to reduce the rates of infection.”

Westmoreland’s concern is well placed; by their very nature, religious gatherings can be fantastic environments in which to spread the coronavirus due to the enclosed nature of most churches and the elderly populations that tend to frequent them.

In March, the funerals for two Albany, Georgia, men resulted in more than 200 cases among mourners, immediately overwhelming the 14-bed capacity of the local ICU and on Mother’s Day, a Californian who attended worship service with 180 other people found out the next day that they’d tested positive for the virus.

By comparison, Haywood County had only seen 28 cases as of press time, and 16 of those had recovered, meaning in a county of 60,000 people, there remain only 12 active confirmed cases. However, of those 60,000, only 544 have tested for the virus. A mass spreading incident like those in Georgia and California would have a cascade effect on medical resources not only across the county, but also across the region.

BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF W RITER

On May 17, a typical sunny spring Sunday in this community of churches, congregants gathered for religious services all across Haywood County much as they’d done hundreds or thousands of times before.

Choirs warmed up. Pianos tinkled in the background. Pastors shuffled papers and pamphlets at podiums, testing the microphones and speakers and projectors. Worshipers parked themselves in place and prepared for the sermon.

It wasn’t that different from a pre-pandemic service, but when the preacher belted out the classic interrogatory, “Can I get an amen?” he was answered — with no less enthusiasm, no less accord, no less faith — by the resounding honks of dozens of car horns.

Beginning in March, churches, synagogues, mosques and other places of worship became subject to North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s “stay home” order banning indoor gatherings of 10 or more people.

Since then, they’ve adapted in various ways, like the drive-up outdoor service recently held at the First Baptist Church of Maggie Valley that was broadcast over a short-range FM station to people in the parking lot.

A recent court ruling now leaves many houses of worship free to reopen at limited capacity, but local religious leaders remain protective of their congregations while still entertaining thoughts of what a post-pandemic Sunday might look like.

When Rev. Dr. Michael Horton first became pastor at Waynesville’s Encouraging Word Baptist Church six years ago, he probably never guessed he’d cel-

ebrate its ninth anniversary by holding worship in the parking lot.

“I believe it was the middle of March when we first canceled services and moved online, and we just started drive-in services the first Sunday in May,” said Horton. “It was hard at first, and connecting online is good, but it’s not great. Since we began the drive-in services, people really seem to be enjoying it.”

But not everyone’s enjoying it. In fact, some have questioned the ban on mass gatherings as it specifically applies to churches, citing violations of the free exercise clause of the First Amendment.

On May 14, four plaintiffs filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina alleging just that — Cooper’s series of executive orders “target constitutionally protected activity, significantly burdening Plaintiffs’ right to freedom of religion and assembly, establishing an orthodox form of religious exercise approved by the State, all the while providing broad exemptions for many other gatherings of more than 10 people that are not constitutionally protected.”

Judge James C. Dever agreed and issued a temporary restraining order on Saturday, May 16, enjoining law enforcement from taking enforcement action against worshippers.

Although Dever’s order doesn’t appear to set limits on the number of people that can attend services, it does suggest that people gathering to worship “should observe recommendations to promote social distancing and reduce transmissions to the extent possible.”

Dever also scheduled a hearing for May 29 to consider making the temporary order permanent. A Cooper spokesperson told Raleigh’s News & Observer that while Cooper didn’t agree with the May 16 order, he wouldn’t appeal it.

“There

isn’t anything in the Bible that says if you’re not there at 11 o’clock on Sunday morning, then you’re not my people. I mean, Jesus stood on the mountain and told people to go out and love everybody. We can do that right now.”

— Rev. James Markey, minister of music at Canton’s First Baptist Church

“We only heard about it this morning,” Horton said just before Encouraging Word’s May 17 service. “We’ve been thinking through it for several weeks and we do plan on reopening probably the first Sunday in June.”

For Horton, reopening still means putting restrictions in place, including rigorous sanitizing, socially-distanced seating and perhaps even a separate room where at-risk populations can isolate themselves while watching the service on a video screen.

“We’re taking care of each other because that’s more important at the moment than moving inside the building,” he said. “We’re looking out for each other, looking out for our community. That’s where our focus is.”

Rev. Chris Westmoreland, lead pastor at Long’s Chapel United Methodist Church, is focusing on many of the same things Horton

Like Encouraging Word, Long’s Chapel hasn’t held in-person, indoor services for its roughly 800 congregants for some time now. They’ve also stayed away from the drive-in concept due to parking constraints and ongoing construction.

They have, however, continued operating the child enrichment center, which ministers to children of essential workers in accordance with federal, state and local mandates.

“The other layer for us is that obviously we’re United Methodist, which means we’re a part of a global connection and denomination,” said Westmoreland. “Our bishop has strongly advised that at the very least through the month of May that we not have in-person worship experiences to try to protect the health and safety of our folks.”

Westmoreland said he was planning to present a roadmap to reopening, and that it could include phasing in small groups of worshippers, designating separate in-and-out doors to the campus and/or issuing worshipers hundreds of cloth masks that are currently being made by church volunteers.

“Our first responsibility to our people is to do no harm,” he said. “So the best way that we can honor that in this season is to be socially distant, but spiritually close.”

One way Long’s has been able to accomplish that is with professional-level video production and digital distribution.

“The seeds that had been planted years earlier in the life of our church related to digital connection and community are absolutely reaping the harvest in this season,” Westmoreland said. “There’s no doubt about it.”

For years, the philosophy at Long’s has been to treat the online audience as the “second balcony” of the sanctuary itself, especially since a good percentage of church members don’t reside in Haywood County on a full-time basis.

“We’re taking care of each other because that’s more important at the moment than moving inside the building. We’re looking out for each other, looking out for our community. That’s where our focus is.”

— Rev. Dr. Michael Horton, pastor at Waynesville’s Encouraging Word Baptist Church

“They’ve been able to kind of stay connected to our community that way,” said Westmoreland. “Where it used to be kind of an extra, obviously now it’s been essential. It’s a front row seat.”

A front row seat perhaps, but for some, that seat still isn’t close enough.

“It’s been discouraging for a lot of folks,” said Rev. James Markey, minister of music at Canton’s First Baptist Church. “Especially our older congregants. This is their church family, so being able to meet once or twice a week in the building has kind of been their connection to the world outside of their own little circle. As far as the way they’ve been responding to it, I think everybody understands that getting together is not worth the risk with what we don’t know about this.”

Markey said that church leadership has discussed the topic of reopening, but in speaking for himself, he personally doesn’t feel inclined to rush back to the pews.

“When we do look to starting to meet again in the building, it will not just be ripping the band aid off or turning the faucet right back on. It will be sort of a tiered approach,” he said. “It seems to me just as a person that if we’re really following the teachings of Jesus, we’re supposed to be protecting those who are the most vulnerable among us.”

Despite suppositions to the contrary, all three reverends — Westmoreland, Markey and Horton — say that the need for revenue isn’t a factor in how their respective institu-

tions will approach reopening.

“We’ve been very blessed,” Horton said. “People here have been very faithful. God’s been very good and so we’re actually able to help others. We’ve been able to give during this time, which has been very nice, and we’re blessed for it.”

Markey said he wasn’t aware of any serious budget crunch at First Baptist, and Westmoreland pegged Long’s decrease in revenue in the ballpark of about 10 percent.

Meanwhile, several local businesses told The Smoky Mountain News last week that yearly revenues were down by 50 to 75 percent, if not more.

“Obviously we’re doing what every other small business is doing,” Westmoreland said. “We’re trying to adapt our expenses to reflect the income, but our folks have been incredibly generous and gracious, and I feel very grateful for that. I also realize that a lot of our congregation is being financially impacted, so obviously as they draw in less, they have a different capacity in what they’re able to give.”

As to the importance of opening up the buildings themselves for worship, Long’s is banking on a multi-million-dollar campus expansion predicated on the desire of worshippers and the larger community to congregate, even though Westmoreland appreciates the opportunities for engagement with faith that a strong digital presence provides. Markey sees things just a little differently.

“Anybody that would question what the church needs to be about needs to know that all Christians have a manual and we all are supposed to refer back to that,” he said. “There isn’t anything in the Bible that says if you’re not there at 11 o’clock on Sunday morning, then you’re not my people. I mean, Jesus stood on the mountain and told people to go out and love everybody. We can do that right now.”

Horton takes a historical view of the need for physical congregation, and offered up a more precise definition of what, exactly, he thinks a church is supposed to be.

“With early Christians, the building wasn’t important at all, but we’ve gotten used to it. To me, I’ve kind of been excited to have some new challenges and to think literally outside the box that is this building in finding new ways to minister. In a way, it’s been a

he said. “The

be the people.”

Planning to begin on massive Canton recreation parcel

BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF W RITER

Despite the reticence of some local governments to spend money on nonessential services due to uncertainty in revenues amidst the Coronavirus Pandemic, the Town of Canton and Haywood County are moving full speed ahead with development of the Chestnut Mountain project.

“This project is not just for recreation’s sake, it’s for economics’ sake,” said Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers. “I think this is a game changer not just for the Town of Canton but Haywood County.”

Later this month, the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy will close on a parcel located just east of Canton’s town limits, on 19/23 near the Buncombe County line, and gift it to the town.

Totaling almost 450 acres, it was planned as an 8,000-seat motorsports park that never materialized, however the parcel’s acquisition by SAHC means it will soon become a substantial new addition to the county’s outdoor recreational assets.

More than $1 million toward the purchase price was awarded to SAHC by the Clean Water Management Trust fund, so the Chestnut Mountain project will in perpetuity protect the forested tract and the nine miles of Hominy Creek that runs through it.

Months ago, Canton put out a Request For Proposals (RFP) to outdoor recreation and planning firms that might be interested in carrying out the master plan and a trail design plan. Contracts were awarded to Western North Carolina-based planning firms Equinox and Elevated Trail Designs.

The total cost for the plans, which will include public input at a later date, is $75,000. Canton chipped in $25,000 toward the project, and the Cruso Endowment Fund matched that. During a meeting on May 18, Haywood County commissioners voted to contribute the other $25,000 after the county’s parks and recreation advisory board gave the project the green light.

Haywood County Project Administrator David Francis said that the town would make applications to the North Carolina Recreational Trails Program as well as the North Carolina Parks and Recreation Trust Fund to implement whatever amenities appear in the Chestnut Mountain plan.

If awarded, the maximum funding from NCRTP would be $250,000 and the maximum funding from PARTF would be $350,000, meaning there’s up to $600,000 available for development.

“To be very honest, I do think the COVID situation is going to push more people into places like Haywood County,” Smathers said. “That will bring pros and it will bring cons, but to offer that recreation amenity, that economic amenity, where people come and say, ‘Hey I want to get dinner, I want to go shopping,’ Canton and Haywood County are sitting right there to take that opportunity.”

MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY 10-5

SATURDAY 10-6

SUNDAY 11-5

Macon budget priorities change amid pandemic

BY J ESSI STONE

N EWS E DITOR

When Macon County officials started their 2020-21 budget process back in early February, COVID-19 was barely a blip on their radar.

The county was projecting a steady increase in sales tax revenue and prepared to invest major funds into a long-term capital improvement plan, but County Manager Derek Roland told commissioners May 12 that the COVID-19 Pandemic has caused a lot of uncertainty that will no doubt play out in the upcoming budget process.

“You can ask 10 different people ‘what is our future with respect to the COVID-19 Pandemic?’ and it’s safe to say — as we’ve seen in the media and throughout the nation — you’ll get 10 different answers,” he said. “There’s great uncertainty from a public health standpoint and from an economic standpoint.”

Thanks to a collaborative effort from the county’s health department, social services, sheriff’s office and emergency services teams, Roland said Macon County has been fortunate to only have five confirmed cases of the virus. While he is hopeful the health impact has been mitigated, he said the economic impact will be ongoing.

“Unemployment has skyrocketed with 30 million people filling for benefits — North Carolinians have accounted for almost 800,000 of those. For perspective, in 2009 during what many Americans now refer to as the Great Recession, 221,763 North Carolinians filed unemployment claims in the months of March and April,” Roland said.

REVENUE LOSSES

He then presented commissioners with a preliminary 2020-21 budget of $52.3 million, which includes $951,000 less in expenses over the current fiscal year budget due to projected decreases in several revenue streams.

Roland said sales tax revenues will be hit the hardest with the county projecting a 5 percent decrease — $442,000 less than the current budget. The budget also anticipates a $290,000 loss in current year property tax loss and $322,000 decrease in revenue from services fees from inspections, register of deeds and permitting.

The proposed budget would maintain the current property tax rate of 37.47 cents per $100 of assessed property value. Commissioners did approve a tax increase last year from 34.9 cents to the current rate.

BUDGET REDUCTIONS

Department heads turned in their budget requests March 13, but the country was under a State of Emergency by March 23, leaving Roland with the difficult task of choosing what projects and needs take top

priority. Finding $951,000 to cut from an already lean budget isn’t possible without sacrifices, Roland told commissioners. He said the proposed budget maintained current levels of services but didn’t add any new programs or initiatives.

About $100,000 was saved by eliminating the county’s adult dental care clinic — a program that served 366 people in the last year. However, it has seen a 48 percent decrease in usage since 2018. Roland said the program was started at a time when dentists didn’t accept Medicaid, but now they do and the county’s program isn’t utilized as much. It’s also become more challenging to recruit and retain staff.

Other savings were found by cutting $68,000 from various operating supplies and $250,000 worth of cost saving measures at the detention center. Sheriff Robert Holland

Roland also proposed a 50 percent reduction to the county’s nonprofit contributions — the Community Funding Pool is reduced to $37,500; Scaly Mountain Community development reduced to $2,500; Macon County Historical Society reduced to $10,000 and Cowee School reduced to $18,000.

The Department of Social Services and Senior Services budget will decrease by about $55,000 and the Health Department budget will decrease by $107,575, though additional COVID-19 related expenses will have its own line item. Economic and Physical Development budget will decrease by about $84,000 while the county contribution to the Fontana Regional Library System will remain the same at just over $1 million.

When it comes to Macon County Schools, the proposed budget decreases the system’s annual capital outlay budget by $275,000 — a 9.5 percent reduction.

ing the operating budget.

The fund balance is often referred to as a “rainy day” fund a county can use in emergency situations, and operating a county government during a global pandemic definitely constitutes an emergency. For this reason, Roland said he left out $1.3 million in requested capital projects from the proposed budget. However, he said commissioners could revisit the budget mid-year to decide whether any of those projects can be added back when they know the actual economic impact of the virus.

“I’m hesitant to move forward with any other capital projects that are not critical because we don’t know how long it’s going to rain,” Roland said. “We have to keep in mind it’s taken a lot of years to get the fund where it is now. There’s going to be life after COVID and we want to be in a situation where we’ve maintained the fund balance as best we can.”

The proposed budget includes a $702,312 appropriation from fund balance to fund three capital projects — $400,000 to convert and install new tax collection software; $218,600 to upgrade the county’s data stor-

told commissioners the inmate population is down right now, which means the county isn’t spending extra money to house inmates in other county jails. That factor combined with the fact the county recently hired a third party to handle transportation for inmates, has significantly brought down costs. The current budget has $300,000 allocated for inmate transportation while the new proposal only has $100,000. Another $50,000 in savings was found by reducing the medical services line item at the detention center. According to the budget message, medical costs at the jail have decreased significantly since the county began contracting with a full-time registered nurse who works alongside the part-time medical director.

“While this reduction is substantial, reduced overhead costs and annual wear and tear at facilities resulting from extended closures in FY20’ combined with nearly $200M in COVID-19 statewide school relief, should help offset this reduction,” Roland wrote in his budget message. “This reduction, which will be re-evaluated mid-year as well, does not adversely affect the learning opportunities of students or the livelihoods of locally supported school system employees.”

FUND BALANCE

Roland said Macon County is fortunate to have such a healthy fund balance of $23.5 million — representing 44 percent of its annual budget. When the county created its Capital Improvement Plan and prioritized $150 million worth of infrastructure projects over the next five to 10 years, the plan was to rely on some money from the fund balance to complete one-time projects without impact-

age and $83,712 in matching funds to construct a 1,200-square-foot addition to the county transit administrative offices.

Roland pointed out that the county’s general fund debt will still be decreased by $262,860 in the 2020-21 budget. The county’s total debt load is about $3.7 million.

County commissioners will hold a public hearing regarding the proposed 2020-21 budget at 6 p.m. June 9 in the commission boardroom on the third floor of the Macon County Courthouse. Meetings are also recorded and available at the county’s website www.maconnc.org. The next budget workshop will be held at 6 p.m. May 26.

To review the complete draft budget, visit www.maconnc.org/budget.html.

Franklin sets budget priorities for 2020-21

BY J ESSI STONE

N EWS E DITOR

Just like every other local government in the nation, the Town of Franklin is facing uncertainty when it comes to trying to budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year.

“It is estimated that at least 80 percent of sales tax revenue is derived from non-essential goods. The North Carolina League of Municipalities is anticipating that municipalities and counties could see at least a 25 percent reduction in sales tax revenues for fiscal year 2020-21,” Town Manager Summer Woodard recently told the town council.

“Water and sewer revenues will also be affected due to COVID-19 and North Carolina Executive Order 124, which prohibits public utilities from disconnecting residential utilities due to non-payment.”

The town is currently seeing a 40 percent decline in monthly utility revenue because of that state order, and Woodard ventured to guess some of those accounts may never get caught up in the next year. Anticipating more unexpected revenue loss and unexpected expenditures, Woodard said she budgeted $30,000 in contingency.

Despite the uncertainties, Woodard said Franklin continues to operate within a sound financial position with a healthy fund balance that represents 78 percent of its total budget of about $9.2 million. Woodard’s proposed budget does include appropriating $272,408 from fund balance into the general fund to have a balanced budget while holding the property tax rate steady at 32 cents per $100 of assessed value.

Town employees will not be receiving a cost-of-living raise this year but will potentially receive merit increases based on their annual performance review. The merit raise will be a one-time bonus given to employees in December.

The town will be absorbing a 6 percent increase to its health insurance costs and will also still be investing in several capital improvement projects. Woodard said $40,000 was budgeted to replace 200 water meters; $500,000 budgeted to replace the sewer line on Sloan Street and Rolling Hills Drive; and another $500,000 to replace the sewer line on Crane Circle and Lakeside Drive.

“Those two projects are crucial with the development of a new hospital and Scenic Ridge,” she said.

It will cost the town $43,000 to replace two of the town’s computer servers at the police department and town hall and $6,200 to install a sliding safety glass barrier at the front reception window at town hall.

Another project that will get funded after several years of discussion is renovations to the gazebo on the town square. Woodard said she budgeted $8,000 for new boards, a

new paint job and a new roof. The improvements will not alter the look of the gazebo. About $10,000 has been allocated to replace the town’s aging and outdated wayfinding signs around downtown.

With $450,000 allocated from state Powell Bill funds, the town has prioritized several major sidewalk projects, including 615 feet on Philips Street (Panther Drive to Wayah Street); 560 feet on West Palmer Street (Commerce Street to West Main Street); 300 feet on East Palmer Street (South Patton Avenue to East Main Street);

Franklin is currently seeing a 40 percent decline in monthly utility revenue because of that state order, and Town Manager Summer Woodard ventured to guess some of those accounts may never get caught up in the next year.

610 feet on First Street (Highlands Road to Van Raalte Street) and 930 feet on First Street (Old Cat Creek Road to Cherry Street). Several departments are in need of new vehicles. Woodard has budgeted $70,000 for the police department to replace two patrol vehicles that have over 100,000 miles; $25,000 to replace a truck at the water treatment plant; $49,000 to replace a dump truck for sanitation and $265,000 to purchase a new street sweeper.

While it’s an expensive purchase, Woodard said it’s much needed as the current sweeper is a 2008 model that was costing between $10,000 and $20,000 a year in maintenance costs. Surplusing the old one could recoup $20,0000 to $30,000 toward purchasing a new one and the town could also put some of its Powell Bill funds toward the purchase.

Town water and sewer customers could also see an increase to their bills as Woodard is proposing a 3 percent rate increase to only base rates and volume charges. It won’t apply to tap fees or other services.

A public hearing regarding the 2020-21 budget will be held at 6:10 p.m. June 1 at town hall. Town Council meetings are also being livestreamed during the pandemic. To see the complete proposed budget, visit www.franklinnc.com/budget-franklin-nc2020-2021.html.

FIREWOOD MINISTRY GOLF TOURNAMENT

you

feel the satisfaction of keeping a family warm while helping our local businesses and restaurants. Our traditional golf tournament fundraiser has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but your participation and support can continue! Funds are still needed as we begin our spring wood project which allows us to provide next winter’s wood for heat-insecure folks in Haywood County. If you are interested in contributing to the Firewood Ministry, you can donate in the following ways:

Despite coronavirus, Canton budget stays the course

BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF W RITER

As local government units across the state work on their annual budgets a variety of approaches have been taken by administrators, but in one Haywood County town, it’s pretty much business as usual.

“It’s a very similar dollar amount to last year’s budget both on the revenue and expenditure side. We didn’t really want to run scared in the way that we were approaching the budget but also do it in a way that’s kind of strategic that we’re not able to do anything if something changes,” said Canton Town Manager Jason Burrell. “We approached it very similar to the way we do every other fiscal year in terms of being ultra-conservative with our revenue numbers.”

This year’s budget stacks up at about $150,000 less than last year’s, out of more than $9.6 million. One of the reasons for the continuity is that Canton doesn’t anticipate as much of a hit from decreasing sales tax revenues.

“March sales tax revenues were slightly higher than last year’s,” Burrell said.

Although the true impact will be shown when April numbers are released sometime in June, Canton’s never relied on sales tax to the extent that other regional municipal economies do.

“We’re not as tied into the tourism, multiple restaurant economy as some of our sister municipalities,” he said. “I also think we’ve done very well as a community to support those local restaurants and work within the

parameters that we have to right now.”

Still, Burrell’s budgeted for a 10 percent decrease, just to be on the safe side. The town will also offer employees a 1 percent cost of living increase, and continued on with its prepandemic economic development budget. Canton’s iconic Labor Day festival will also proceed as normal if practicable. No increase in water or sewer rates is projected, and the town was also fortunate to see a mere 8 percent increase in health insurance costs.

Most importantly, no property tax increase is projected either; Canton’s had the highest property taxes in the county for some time now, but hasn’t changed the rate since 2007 despite constant cost increases.

“We’re still providing the same amount of service to what we were [in 2007],” Burrell said. “As we add more property tax value, you’re getting more for your money now than you did back in that time frame.”

Per state law, municipal budgets must be passed by July 1. Canton will hold the requisite public hearings during the month of June.

Waynesville presents grave budget message

BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF W RITER

Waynesville Town Manager Rob Hites, an experienced professional with almost 40 years in municipal government, called the current budget year a strange one, and apparently town aldermen have heard him loud and clear.

“We had a freeze on non-essential spending and hiring pretty much as soon as the State of Emergency came in,” Hites said during a May 12 budget presentation to the board. “We very well could spend a million between finishing off this fiscal year and next year’s budget.”

A projected downturn in revenue due to the disruptive effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic will necessitate the use of fund balance, and if it’s severe enough, that could jeopardize the town’s standing with the Local Government Commission’s mandated fund balance levels.

In particular, Hites is concerned about

sales tax revenue. With many businesses closed for part of March, all of April and much of May — thus far — the impact hasn’t yet been felt but most assuredly will be.

“We are a tourist town and we’re going to take a huge hit,” Hites said, noting an 8 percent projected decline that he admitted may be optimistic. “What the economists are saying is that the sales tax will come back slowly, so this may last three fiscal years.”

After the Great Recession of 2008, Hites said, it was four or five years until governments could say they’d returned to “normal” revenue levels.

State sales tax collections data lags by two months, so April’s numbers have yet to be released. Hites said that the Christmas season will be a great indicator of how sales tax rev-

Franklin hires new police chief

The Town of Franklin recently announced that it has hired Franklin resident Bill Harrell to be its next police chief. When the position became vacant in February, the Town Council of Franklin appointed a search committee to seek a predecessor for former chief, David Adams, who was hired as the police chief of Waynesville.

After committing to a rigorous process and screening applicants both local and from afar, town resident and Town of Highlands Police Chief Bill Harrell was chosen to lead the department moving forward.

“The Town of Franklin is pleased to welcome Chief Harrell,” said Town Manager Summer Woodard. “His experience, education and proficiency will be an asset to the Franklin Police Department. He is an established leader in our community who is familiar with the Town of Franklin and Franklin Police Department. Chief Harrell will be a great addition to the Town of Franklin.”

enues are doing.

It’s all a bitter pill to swallow, considering the town was looking forward to a number of factors that would have created a sizable bump in revenue.

A countywide property revaluation currently underway would have added to the town’s tax rolls in 2021, but now if an increase does occur, that revenue will likely have to be used to make up for losses during the pandemic.

“It involves the market value of real estate, and we’re certainly in a slump but I haven’t heard that the slump is bad enough to affect the market,” Hites said, adding that low interest rates are helping the market remain attractive for buyers.

In lieu of the regular 6:30 p.m. meeting, the Town of Waynesville will hold a budget review session at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, May 26, at the Public Services building, 129 Legion Drive. For more information, visit www.waynesvillenc.gov.

Harrell began his career with the Town of Franklin as a patrol officer before continuing his career with the Morganton Public Safety Department, Hickory Police Department, Macon County Sheriff’s Department, and finally, with the Highlands Police Department where he served as police chief for 15 years.

Harrell has a B.S. in Criminal Justice from Western Carolina University as well as a Master of Justice Administration from Methodist University, graduating Magna Cum Laude from both. Among his many accolades, he is also a graduate of the North Carolina Justice Academy Management Development Program and a graduate of the West Point Leadership Program.

“Chief Harrell has an outstanding list of accomplishments in the field of law enforcement,” said Franklin Mayor Bob Scott. “He is a graduate of many of the top-level management courses offered by the NC Justice Academy and universities. He has a record for being a leader in the criminal justice system with a long-range vision while putting into practice the latest in technology and community-oriented policing.”

‘Hair-iffic’ discovery at Waynesville sewer plant

BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT

RITER

Contractors performing work at Waynesville’s wastewater treatment plant last week were surprised to make a revolting discovery that highlights the importance of personal responsibility in terms of what should and should not go into one’s toilet.

While pumping down a 20-foot tall, 20foot wide digester tank so that piping could be changed out, workers expected to find a layer of sludge, which is usually treated with lime and then given away as fertilizer. Instead, according to Town Manager Rob Hites, they found something else.

“They encountered 12 feet of hair, plastic and flushable baby wipes,” Hites told aldermen during a meeting May 12. “I’ve never in my career seen 12 feet of hair. I guess it started in 1964. It’s pretty gross.”

That’s saying a lot for a man like Hites, who’s worked in municipal government for almost 40 years. This is the third sewer

Macon County Sheriff

releases mobile app

The Macon County Sheriff’s Office has released a free mobile smartphone app allowing the public access to a multitude of vital information along with the ability to communicate with law enforcement and find out about MCSO’s various services and divisions.

“We are excited to share our latest project with our community which I think will serve as an excellent tool for providing important information and depending on the importance, we can do so in a matter of a few moments and at the push of a button," said Sheriff Robert L. Holland.

Available on Apple App Store or Google Play App Store, the Macon County Sheriff’s

plant he’s had to rehab or replace during that time.

“Flushable baby wipes don’t flush,” he said. “Sewer plants can’t handle plastics, and one of the most typical plastics you find is the plastic tampon wrappers. People put them in the toilet, when they can just as easily put them in the trash can.”

For many, what goes into the toilet is, thankfully, quickly out of sight and therefore out of mind. In a case like this, however, there are some very real consequences. The contractors servicing the digester tank had to rent a huge knuckle boom to pull the hairy mass out of the tank and send it to the landfill — at an additional cost of $20,000.

The fuzzy pile of muck isn’t solely the fault of the general public, nor is it the fault of current town employees; instead, it’s a situation the town inherited.

“Bars in the bar screen were corroded or broken, and stuff slipped through,” Hites said. “Deferred maintenance always costs you more in the long run.”

Office app was developed to improve communication between the sheriff’s office and Macon County residents, businesses, and visitors. In addition to allowing the ability to report crime and submit tips, the app will provide the community with the latest public safety news and information. Residents can also access gun permit applications, information on inmates incarcerated in jail, the latest weather and more.

The Macon County Sheriff’s Office will also use the mobile app to alert citizens of vital information regarding law enforcement activity and/or to share crime prevention information. The app is linked to the MCSO’s current social media platforms.

Check out the Macon County Sheriff’s Office mobile app at: https://apps.myocv.com/share/a42828734.

County COVID-19 updates

As of press time Tuesday, Haywood County Health Department had reported a total of 28 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the county.

The latest two cases were reported on Monday, May 18, and are currently in isolation at home. According to the press release, both individuals are residents of Haywood County with no recent out-of-state travel history. One was exposed to the virus while out of the county at work, and the other is a community transmission case contracted within Haywood County.

Haywood County Public Health nurses are identifying close contacts of these individuals. To protect individual privacy, no further information will be released. The first 16 cases of COVID-19 in Haywood County are categorized as recovered. The other 12 remain in isolation.

Haywood has administered 544 tests to symptomatic people and as part of contact tracing plus another 283 asymptomatic essential employees were tested during a drive-thru testing site paid for by the county.

Macon County had been holding steady at three cases until a fourth case was reported Friday, May 15. The health department reported that the individual is between the ages of 25-49. The patient is symptomatic and will isolate at home for 14 days. As of May 18, 474 tests had been administered in Macon County. Macon County has had one COVID-19 related death, an elderly part-time resident who contracted the virus out-of-state and was tested in Buncombe County.

In Swain County, 925 tests had been administered as of May 14 — 773 negative, six positive and 146 pending results.

Free COVID-19 testing site opens in Sylva

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER

Jackson County saw a modest increase in COVID-19 cases this week, with the disease confirmed in 25 residents as of Monday, May 18, compared to 22 residents on Tuesday, May 12. An additional two parttime residents and 22 non-residents who saw Jackson County health providers have been diagnosed — the part-time figure has held steady for some weeks, while the non-resident category increased by two over the past week.

However, those numbers are expected to increase due to improved access to testing.

A drive-thru-site offering free COVID-19 testing opened at the Walmart parking lot in Sylva on Friday, May 15, and is open from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. On May 15, 31 tests were administered, with an additional six tests given during a soft opening May 14. All 37 tests have come back negative — in total 1,145 tests had been administered in Jackson County as of May 18.

Walmart Public Affairs Director for North Carolina. “We are grateful to our associates who keep our stores running, our pharmacists who support these testing sites, and to eTrueNorth and local officials as we work together to open the site and help our community.”

Tests will be available for first responders, health care providers, people with COVID-19 symptoms and asymptomatic people who are

Individuals can find their results online at www.doineedacovid19test.com and will receive a text or email notification when results are available. Average turnaround time is three to five days from the day of collection.

Jackson County, like the rest of the state, is in the midst of a phased reopening. At 5 p.m. Friday, May 8, the county lifted local restrictions that had banned gatherings of 10 or more people and lodging facilities like hotels and Airbnbs with leases of 30 days or less, and had also required people traveling to Jackson County from out of state or country to quarantine for 14 days following their arrival. However, the order lifting these restrictions made it clear that people should still think twice before planning a vacation to Western North Carolina.

The testing is made possible by eTrueNorth, a U.S.-based health care technology company that enables laboratory testing at retail pharmacies. The company has partnered with a growing list of national pharmacy chains — including Walmart — to offer free COVID-19 testing across the nation. The effort includes funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There are currently eight such testing sites in North Carolina. Prior to the Sylva site’s opening up, the closest such site was in Wilkesboro.

“Walmart is part of the community, and we are proud to help support the expansion of COVID-19 testing in Sylva during this unprecedented time,” said Brooke Mueller,

at high risk for the disease. Appointments must be made ahead of time at www.doineedacovid19test.com. The appointment creation process will include a screening to ensure individuals meet Centers for Disease Control eligibility for testing.

The site uses a self-administered nasal swab test that allows those being tested to swab their own nose onsite while in their vehicles and observed by a trained medical volunteer who can ensure the sample is taken correctly. Those being tested are required to wear a mask and should bring an ID with them. Sealed samples are deposited upon leaving the drive-thru site, and eTrueNorth then processes test samples and communicates those results to those being tested and to the Department of Health.

“Though lodging facilities such as hotels, motels and short-term rentals are allowed to have a limited opening under (Gov. Roy Cooper’s) Executive Order No. 138, individuals need to remain vigilant to stop the spread of this virus,” the order reads.

“Jackson County looks forward to the return of tourists to the area when appropriate, but this is not the time for a vacation.”

When leaving their homes, residents are asked to stay at least 6 feet away from those who are not part of their immediate household; to wear a cloth face covering in indoor public spaces, as well as outdoor public spaces where it’s not possible to maintain a 6foot distance from others; to carry and use hand sanitizer when leaving home; to wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds whenever possible; and to regularly clean high-touch surfaces like steering wheels, wallets and phones. Residents should stay home if sick.

Haywood County, its individuals and families.

Nikwasi Initiative hires first executive director

BY J ESSI STONE

N EWS E DITOR

Nikwasi Initiative, a new nonprofit established in 2018 with the mission of preserving the Nikwasi Mound in downtown Franklin and expanding access and educational activities, has hired its first executive director.

friends and supporters of NI, Eisenbraun said she was excited to embark on such an innovative project.

Open Door goes mobile with Salvation Army help

BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF W RITER

Tconference calls and about what people were doing, I put out there that we had the canteen, it was over in Asheville, Buncombe County doing service for a number of weeks, but they finished up over there and we hooked up with Bill Guy over at Open Door through the telephone conference calls.”

Nikwasi Initiative board member Bob McCollum recently gave Franklin Town Council an update on the nonprofit’s work since the board voted unanimously last May to deed over the mound property to the new nonprofit to manage. The town had ownership of the mound since 1946 and even though the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians tried several times to reclaim the native land in recent years, the town board has refused.

Nikwasi Initiative formed as a collaborative effort between representatives of Franklin, Macon County, EBCI and Mainspring Conservation Trust. Their goal was to obtain the mound and use adjacent properties to highlight local Cherokee history. The mound will also be part of a larger scenic cultural corridor stretching from Otto to the Qualla Boundary.

The transfer of the deed didn’t come without controversy as some Macon residents didn’t want to entrust the mound to a new entity, but now that the issue has been resolved the nonprofit has been steadily making progress.

After a nationwide search last November, the NI board of directors hired Elaine Eisenbraun to lead the organization. Eisenbraun is from Long Creek, Oregon, and plans to relocate to Franklin soon. She began the job April 1. In a letter written to

Fontana libraries provide curbside services

All Fontana Regional Library locations in Macon, Jackson, and Swain counties will provide curbside pickup service starting the week of Monday, May 18. Call your local library to ask about hours for that location.

How does curbside work for a library? Members of the public will not be allowed inside the buildings. Place a hold on items through the online catalog or by calling the library to make a request. When you are notified that your items are available, come to the parking lot and call the library using your cell phone (or knock on

“The first time I discovered the work of Nikwasi Initiative, I was awed by the creativity that must have welled up in this community in order to achieve such extraordinary outcomes,” she wrote. “Not many local groups could be so effective, and I allowed myself to feel a bond to a collection of people who can faithfully work together to translate big dreams into brilliant reality. Yours is a very special neighborhood of people.”

In her new role, she said she recognized that her responsibilities extend well beyond the core of the organization and into the entire community and region because of the cultural importance of the mound.

“Perhaps, what is most exciting to me about Nikwasi Initiative is that it is about life — the lives of yesterday, the people of today, and those that will follow, tomorrow — all woven together in culture and heritage,” she wrote.

In the past, Eisenbraun has served as executive director for three other organizations — an outdoor education center, a large river and landscape restoration organization and a healing arts start-up. At the same time, she consulted for countless other nonprofits. She studied forestry in undergraduate school and received a master’s degree in business leadership.

“But, if you really want to know the person who will guide Nikwasi Initiative forward, it would be good to look to the many other jobs I’ve enjoyed, including time spent as a teacher, farmer, forester, wilderness guide, ski patrolman, and knitting instructor,” she said. “I’ve volunteered in Hospice, Girl and Boy Scouts, Meals-on-wheels, and many community groups. Currently, I serve as an advisor to the EPA on Environmental Education. I love to write, walk, jog, garden, recite poetry, learn languages, and play music.”

the door). Your items will be brought out to you. Only items that have been reserved ahead of time will be available.

Social distancing rules will be observed, and staff will be wearing masks. Patrons are encouraged to do the same when accepting materials from library staff members.

Library materials that have been returned will be set aside in quarantine for 72 hours for disinfection purposes. All materials picked up by patrons at curbside will have been quarantined already.

Due dates for all items that are currently checked out have been extended to June 1. Returns may be made anytime at the drop boxes in each library’s parking lot.

For more information, call your local library.

he Coronavirus Pandemic has made it that much more difficult for many low income and unsheltered individuals to feed themselves especially with Frog Level’s Open Door being closed, but thanks to a partnership with the Salvation Army, volunteers will soon be able to take meals, mail and clothing to people who need it.

“The Salvation Army has a history of disaster services, and we actually have a mobile canteen located here in Waynesville that’s part of a coalition of vehicles throughout the Salvation Army’s North and South Carolina division,” said Maj. David Cope, who’s set to retire from the Salvation Army in about a month. “That canteen can be called upon to respond in the aftermath of tornadoes, hurricanes or any disaster.”

The current disaster is much different than what Cope’s dealt with in his 35-year career — he spent time at the Pentagon in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks as well as in Houston after Hurricane Katrina — but the need for services is no less pressing.

“When COVID-19 sprang upon us and we started participating in the coalition

Pre-pandemic plans had the Open Door moving into a new space right about now, after landlords declined to offer the Christian ministry a new lease, but the pandemic and the difficulty in locating a new spot has left the group unable to provide meal services. That’s where the mobile canteen, similar to a food truck, comes into play.

“This whole process of getting set up with them, it’s been less than a week that we met with them and everything’s set up,” said Guy, executive director at the Open Door.

The Salvation Army will supply the driver, the fuel and volunteers to cook and distribute meals. The truck will pick up meals prepared at the Open Door and begin visiting a series of regular locations in the area June 1.

“We’re all about taking care of our needy citizens in an emergency, people who have found themselves in difficult times because of COVID-19,” Cope said.

The Open Door will remain in its current Commerce Street location “indefinitely” according to Guy, who cited amenable discussions with landlords, but is now hoping to be in a new location by Jan. 1.

The Staff of Select Homes would like to thank all Front-Line and Essential Workers in Haywood County for your hard work and dedication so everyone else can #StayHome and #StaySafe!

DONATE SHOP VOLUNTEER

Jackson health offers family planning

For the past 40 plus years, the Jackson County Department of Public Health has provided a comprehensive Family Planning Program to our community that allows men and women to access medical appointments, education and counseling, as well as all types of birth control for low- or no-cost.

Staff at JCDPH empower men and women to consider all options for birth control that best fit their lifestyle so that they can better care for themselves and their families. In late January, JCDPH teamed up with the Jackson County 4-H Youth Leadership Council to assess whether the agency should use guidance from the University of Michigan’s Adolescent Health Initiative for Youth Friendly Services. JCDPH has already begun to find ways to incorporate their advice into service delivery and has additional future plans in place. This type of youth-led decision making falls in line with the rebranding of May as Sex Ed for All Month from Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month.

Jackson County 4-H Youth Leadership Council Members provide feedback on Health Department services, décor, marketing, and more. From left around the table: Delaney Rodriguez, Norah Rubel, Anna

HCC recognizes teachers

Haywood Community College recently recognized five full-time and one part-time instructor for Excellence in Teaching awards.

Those recognized for full-time instruction include Doug Cabe – Computer-Integrated Machining Technology instructor, Lucy Lowe –Biology instructor, Emily Reason – Professional Crafts-Clay instructor, Paige Reece – Nursing instructor and Susan Roberts – Biology instructor. Recognized for part-time instruction was Veronica Decker – College and Career Readiness instructor.

HCC instructor of Fish and Wildlife Management Technology Dr. Wally Woods, III was recognized as Master Teacher. This award is a distinguished teaching award presented to the fulltime curriculum faculty member who most exemplifies excellence in teaching by demonstrating excellent teaching, leadership, and service to the College and the community.

Walton selected to lead new program

With the hiring of a director to create an African American Studies minor program, Western Carolina University has come one step closer to fulfilling its promise to add the offering to its curriculum.

David Walton, an assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, has been named the director of WCU’s African American Studies minor and will begin his new role Aug. 1.

In the fall of 2018, a committee was formed to explore how to implement an African American Studies minor after a group of African American students presented the request, among others, to university administration to help improve the climate of diversity and inclusion on campus after several racial incidents occurred in 2018.

“I want to create a pipeline out of Western Carolina for those interested in pursuing a graduate-level degree in black studies,” Walton said. “I want kids in high schools in North Carolina who say, ‘I want to get a degree in black studies,’ to say, ‘I’ve got to go to Western Carolina because there’s no other place to go.’”

Pre-K registration for Macon

Macon County is currently taking applications for the N.C. Pre-K program through Macon County Schools for the 2020-21 school year.

A child is eligible for N.C. Pre-K if they turned 4 on or before Aug. 31 of the program year (2020), but is not yet 5 years of age and the family meets income guidelines.

Anyone who is interested in applying for a NC Pre-K spot or has questions on eligibility requirements, contact Valerie Norton ASAP at 828.524.3314 ext. 1041.

HCC establishes Chere’ Frisbee endowment

Growing up, Chere’ Frisbee always wanted to be a nurse. Finding out as a young child that she had Cystic Fibrosis meant that dream would probably not become a reality.

Frisbee died as a senior in high school at the age of 17. But her parents, Rev. Floyd and Esther Lee Frisbee, are ensuring that others get to pursue this dream. Esther Lee passed away in March 2019, five years after her husband’s death, and left a gift to the Haywood Community College Foundation to establish the Chere’ Frisbee Memorial Endowment for nursing students. From the lives they led, the Frisbees made an impact on many people. As a Baptist minister, Floyd was a leader in the community. For Esther Lee, she touched the lives of many youth in

Haywood County by working in cafeterias for Haywood County Schools.

For more information about this scholarship or to give to the HCC Foundation, call 828.627.4544 or email pahardin@haywood.edu.

Volunteers needed for WCU study

A faculty member in Western Carolina University’s Department of Communication is seeking volunteers to participate in a research study exploring how people obtain and assess information about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Scott Eldredge, assistant professor of communication at WCU.

“The purpose of this study is to understand how individuals seek information related to the COVID-19 virus as ongoing shelter-at-home restrictions are extended, modified and lifted, as well as to understand individuals’ efforts to manage information-related uncertainties regarding the virus,” he said.

The researchers are recruiting volunteers 18 or older to participate in the study through interviews lasting approximately one hour and conducted by telephone or video conference. Depending upon the volunteers’ answers, researchers may ask additional questions designed to get additional details. Participants will not be identified by name in reports about the results of the research.

For more information or to volunteer for the study, contact Eldredge at saeldredge@wcu.edu.

HCC student receives Academic Excellence Award

Haywood Community College’s Academic Excellence Award recipient Ronald Gorby retired from the Navy after over 25 years. During his serv-

ice, Gorby worked in the Naval Info Warfare Office and Naval Intelligence, where he led a 450-person operations department and spent time all over the world in such places as Japan, England and Norway.

After retiring, Gorby aimed to further his education and support his community. At HCC, he is enrolled in the Medical Office Administration (MOA) program. Gorby decided to come to HCC because the MOA program is comprehensive and the classes offer a low student to teacher ratio, which ensures he gets one-on-one attention. With the MOA degree, he hopes to get a job working from home.

“Education has been a major driving force in my life and career,” he said. “Education has allowed me to achieve major goals and promotions while empowering me in community volunteerism and in life.”

SCC graduates new public safety officials

Southwestern Community College recently welcomed 19 brave men and women into the public safety workforce through the National Park Service - Park Ranger Law Enforcement Academy program. The program, offered several times each year through SCC’s Public Safety Training Center in Macon County, is designed to prepare park rangers to perform law enforcement duties, including firearm use, making arrests and investigation of federal violations and motor vehicle accidents.

Students are required to complete more than 700 hours of general training, with an optional 40 hours of specialized wildland fire training offered at the end of academy. SCC is one of the few institutions in the United States to offer the NPS-PRLEA.

The next NPS-PRLEA will run from Aug. 3Dec. 12 at the PSTC in Macon County. The deadline to apply is June 30. For more information on the program or how to apply, contact Instructor Don Coleman at 828.306.7055 or d_coleman@southwesterncc.edu.

Waynesville teacher awarded fellowship

Noal Castater of Waynesville Middle School has been awarded a 2020–21 Kenan Fellowship.

Castater is among an esteemed group of nineteen North Carolina teachers who were selected from a competitive pool of more than seventy statewide applicants. He is supported by Haywood EMC and North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives and will partner with Danielle Wittekind, Tom Batchelor, Ken Thomas and Jennifer Heiss for a project entitled EmPowering Education.

The Kenan Fellows Program was established in 2000 as a K–12 education initiative of the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology, and Science at North Carolina State University. The Program addresses the critical need for high-quality professional development for educators, and is the largest science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) focused teacher fellowship in North Carolina.

A powerful need to help those in need

National Emergency Medical Services Week is May 17-23, and in the midst of a global pandemic the timing resonates more this year than at any other moment in recent memory. What these men and women do — whether it be EMTs, those in the medical field, firemen and the police — has never been more essential to helping our society maintain some semblance of normalcy and order.

And the stress sometimes becomes too much to bear. Stories abound right now of EMS workers and others on the frontline coping with mental health disorders and just unimaginable stress. Even if they aren’t working in locations where the pandemic is killing hundreds, these workers are still facing dangers the rest of us don’t. Suicides and breakdowns are very, very real.

Those on the front lines go into unknown situations, taking whatever precautions are available given the moment. They put themselves in danger to care for others without seeking glory or a medal. For many it’s their calling, a powerful need to help those in need.

And it almost always goes on in the background.

Just last week, we experienced a tragedy among this special group of people. Eldon Jamison, a longtime EMT who then began volunteering after he retired, died in a high-ropes rescue search at Whitewater Falls in Jackson County. A hiker, Chandler Manuel, was reported to have fallen over the waterfall. The Glenville-Cashiers Rescue Squad and others responded. After suspending the night search due to storms, Jamison died the next morning as efforts continued to find Manuel,

I prefer to be a live jerk

To the Editor:

Come on guys, your MAGA hats won’t make me sick. Your bumper stickers can’t hurt me. Your open state rallies are ill advised, refusing to wear masks is downright dangerous.

I see you in the supermarket, Walmart, Lowe’s, wherever you go. I see you smirk at me as if to say “you’re a jerk.” Maybe I am, but I want to be a live jerk. My husband would not survive COVID-19. Therefore, I take this personally.

So, keep your hats, bumper stickers and rally if you want. I just want to keep my husband and others at risk safe.

The president refuses to wear a mask, he also said injecting disinfectant would cure the virus. You chose to follow his lead?

Ah, come on guys!

AR-15 useless against this virus

To the Editor:

which was eventually successful.

At 71, Jamison was reportedly a mentor and leader to the next generation of rescuers. “He was a very loving and compassionate man,” Glenville-Cashiers Rescue Squad EMS Director Jeremy Stewart told the Sylva Herald. “He loved what he was doing. I just can’t explain it in words.”

On call, in a moment, no thought to self. You do what you’ve been trained to do, which sometimes is inherently dangerous. That’s the job, the calling.

I had my own encounter with EMTs a few years back. I stepped in a hole while hiking and ruptured my quadricep tendon, totally severed it from the kneecap, unable to walk, a few miles into the backcountry. It was a gorgeous Sunday in the fall, dusk approaching, and there was no way I would get out of the woods by nightfall even with the help of my wife and friends.

And they showed up. A dozen or more, among them Cruso Backcountry Rescue volunteers and Haywood County EMT. On a stretcher they carried me down a narrow, rutted path. Haywood County Emergency Services Director Greg Shuping was among them. I wasn’t in any kind of mortal danger, but rather an unlucky hiker in extreme discomfort. It didn’t matter.

Our daily lives go on, while those on the front lines yet in

LETTERS

in belief.

There is a favorite truism of some of these folks: You have to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything. I think they don’t know how close they are to the truth and yet how very far away. If the thing you stand upon is a crumbling wobbly foundation then surely you will fall …. for everything.

My brother is a doctor, a pathologist. He is a man of science. He is not an alarmist. He does not speculate. When presented with a problem, he inhales the available literature in an honest attempt to advance his understanding. He understands that science is a continuing inquiry, a continuing search for facts. There are questions that science cannot answer. There are truths beyond the realm of science. But, there are facts derived by science that exist whether we believe them or not.

Kathy Lang Waynesville

I see these folks protesting, yelling and carrying weapons, as if a gun is an argument that trumps all else. I want to ask them what they are afraid of since volume and bravado are usually signs of fear. But, we live in a time of fear, a time when reasons and a search for truth are cast aside by dogmatism and belief

He wrote the following in an e-mail:

“In the matter of isolation: I actually think that we are entering the period when staying up on the mountain is more and more prudent. It is just a matter of mathematics; there are now a million or more known cumulative cases of Covid in the U.S. There have been studies done in New York (based on antibody testing, to demonstrate virus exposure in the past) suggesting that with the limited virus and testing that has been done in real time to find cases, there has been an underestimation of as much as 10:1 of the numbers of actually exposed infected people. Thus 1 million known infections translates to 10 million prob-

the background often do heroic work that goes unnoticed. Not today. Thanks to all of you. We appreciate what you do, and offer a prayer for those we’ve lost.

North Carolina’s stay-at-home order hit the books Monday, March 30. Seven weeks later, resolve is breaking down.

Protests by those “re-open now” groups aren’t necessarily growing, but all you have to do is look around. Small groups, small crowds, people itching to get out and even get together.

Most expect the governor to announce as early as today (Wednesday) or Thursday phase 2 of North Carolina’s reopening. Such businesses as bars, fitness centers and personal-care services could reopen if they can follow safety protocols, potentially including a reduced number of patrons. Indoor gatherings at reduced capacity would be allowed at entertainment venues.

As this happens, we’ll be trying to cover more business stories, particularly from those who don’t reopen. We can only hope that the number of businesses who don’t make it out of this is few, and that continued aid from the federal, state and local governments can help those struggling. Gov. Cooper has vowed to make his decision based on the data available. Let’s hope the arrows are going in the right direction. If so, I think we’ll all be breathing a sigh of relief. (Scott McLeod is publisher and editor of The Smoky Mountain News. info@smokymountainnews.com)

able real infections, which is to say the 1 million known ones and the 9 million that were asymptomatic, had mild or atypical symptoms, or had real disease but never made it to hospital and either recovered or died without fanfare. It can be assumed that this bug is now circulating freely through the entire U.S. population and if the various troglodytes decide to allow things to reopen in the current state of the epidemic in the U.S. there will not only be a further major fiasco …”

The second clause of his final sentence was related to our personal discussion. I am in my late 60s and have a spate of auto-immune diseases that require regular infusions of biologics. That puts me at very high risk. Fortunately, I live on a mountain in rather isolated conditions. My brother was cautioning me on the necessity of maintaining that isolation.

We were discussing the very real possibility that we would not see each other again or see our mother or an uncle who we are close to. My mother is in her 90s. My uncle is just turning 80. Both have health issues which make them even further at risk. My brother lives in Canada so crossing the border to see either of them or me involves both risk and logistical problems.

Besides those family members I think of my friend Nelda. She is soon to be 76 and lives in Raleigh now. We became acquainted when she was my editor at the Mountain Xpress. Our relationship became much more than that. She is my emotional partner, the person in this world I truly love.

The idea that I may never see her in person again is devastating; made even worse by the prospect that the loss would extend to her two beautiful granddaughters. They call me Uncle Maniac and offer a light I never thought I would see since I never had children of my own.

Maybe this all sounds very melodramatic and maudlin, but I have every reason to want to not believe this virus is dangerous. The losses I face have nothing to do with money. They could be permanent, irreparable, without any hope of recovery or reconciliation. I do not relish the consequences of this enforced isolation. I do not want to accept the emotional, social, and, yes, economic devastation that this has wrought. But anger, ignoring facts and data, or concocting conspiracy theories accompanied by accusations of ulterior motivations won’t change the basic science and its implications.

Your AR-15 cannot shoot the virus or make it run away. Yelling incoherent slogans about freedom will not confer immunity. Denial, wishing for magic cures, or whistling past the graveyard with false bravado will accomplish nothing other than to make this much harder. Fear, misplaced belief, and anger will kill you with the same finality as any bullet.

Patience, steadiness, reliance on facts, and perhaps most of all basic human kindness, decency, and concern for each other are our most potent weapons.

We’ve been here before … sort of

It’s funny how you can hear a story your entire life but don’t see its relevance until it smacks you in the face.

Since childhood, my parents have told me the tale of the Hong Kong flu (H3N2 virus) during the winter of 1968. They weren’t sure where they contracted it initially. At the time, my dad was a student at Mars Hill College and worked as a short order cook in the student center. My mom was in her first year teaching public school. Both places were most likely rampant with germs.

It started with a small cough and within no time, they were both horribly ill with chest pain, deep coughing, chills and high fevers. They did not eat for a couple days until one night, my mom crawled from the bed to the kitchen. On her hands and knees, she managed to put two russet potatoes in the oven to bake.

After a week, they began to recover, although it took time to regain complete strength. They were in their twenties, their young bodies able to fight off the wretched virus.

Until lately, my parents’ Hong Kong flu story was merely another chapter in their long book of life. With decades upon decades of marriage, they shared many stories like this one. But now, in the middle of a similar pandemic, the narrative offers greater implication.

Recently someone mentioned the pandemic of the late 1960s being similar to the one we’re experiencing now. Like the proverbial light bulb, a vision of my young parents delirious with illness flashed in my mind. During COVID-19, my dad hasn’t mentioned the Hong Kong flu, so I brought it up the other night, reminding him that he’s already experienced this once in his lifetime.

My dad agreed that what he experienced during the Hong Kong flu episode was one of the sickest times of his life, but he touched on the key disparity between then and now. In 1968, there was no internet or 24-hour news cycle. There was no social media or texting or constant update in case numbers and deaths. While he knew from the radio and nightly news the Hong King flu was a global pandemic, the true focus of the illness was within his own home and community. There were no restrictions or business closures. When individuals and families recovered, they carried on with regular life. The mass hysteria was much less.

The first recorded case of H3N2 was on July 13, 1968, in Hong Kong, but there is a

possibility the virus began in mainland China. This strain is of animal origin. By September of 1968, the virus reached India, the Philippines, northern Australia and Europe. That same month, it entered the United States by troops returning to California from the Vietnam War. It became widespread in the United States by December 1968 and reached Africa, Japan and South America by 1969.

In Berlin, the excessive number of deaths resulted in corpses being stored in subway tunnels, while in West Germany, garbage collectors buried the dead, due to an insufficient number of undertakers. Manufacturing, postal services and train systems suffered throughout Europe, Asia and the United States.

According to the CDC, one million deaths were reported worldwide and 100,000 of those being Americans. The illness was allowed to spread without restrictions on economic or social activity, until a vaccine became available some four months after it started. While individuals wore masks and stayed home while sick, social distancing was not enforced. The Hong Kong flu returned the following flu season (1969/1970) resulting in a second, deadlier wave.

While there are clear similarities between the Hong Kong flu and COVID-19, it’s not quite apples to apples. Perhaps most notably is that any strain of flu is more easily managed than a novel virus such as COVID-19. Doctors and scientists first created a viable flu vaccine in the 1940s, so when they must create a vaccine for a new type of flu, they are not starting from ground zero, making the development and availability much quicker.

During the 1968 Hong Flu pandemic and the 1957 flu pandemic, vaccines were created in a short time frame. Even though these strains still circulate as part of seasonal flu illnesses, herd immunity has decreased the threat monumentally. With COVID-19, it seems doctors and scientists are starting from scratch. It also seems there is more red tape and bureaucracy than in the early to mid-twentieth century, leading to delays in the creation and accessibility of a vaccine.

It seems bizarre that in 2020, we’re dealing with a completely novel virus, but isn’t that the way? Viruses are ruthless. Once the human host becomes quasi-resilient to one type, another will spawn and rear its ferocious head. The positive is that when we create a vaccine for COVID-19, we’ll have a prototype for similar viruses in the future.

In the meantime, do what you can to stay safe while maintaining your mental health. Like my dad said, the mass panic was less in the 1960s because their access to news and statistics was limited. Help yourself by staying off social media and limiting your time watching TV. It’s not necessary to watch coverage all day or routinely check case numbers. Instead, take a walk, pick up an instrument or a book, dig in your garden or write a letter to a loved one. Believe me, you’ll be so glad you did.

(Susanna Shetley is a writer, editor and digital media specialist. susanna.b@smokymountainnews.com)

NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR FALL 2020

The Catamount School, a school for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders in Jackson County, is accepting 6th, 7th and 8th grade registrations for the 2020-21 school year. Operated by Western Carolina University’s College of Education and Allied Professions in cooperation with Jackson County Public Schools, The Catamount School is designed to explore innovative teaching approaches and applied learning opportunities in order to help every student discover his or her full academic potential. The school is a public lab school operated on the campus of Smoky Mountain High School and is free to accepted students and their families. APPLY TODAY FOR AUGUST ENROLLMENT! TO LEARN MORE AND APPLY, GO TO CATAMOUNTSCHOOL.WCU.EDU

In search of the song

Jon Stickley Trio releases latest album

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF W RITER

Sitting on his side porch in West Asheville last Thursday morning, guitarist Jon Stickley strums his 1958 Martin acoustic. Sunshine cascades onto his large backyard filled with the sounds of birds and wind chimes hanging nearby.

And though the scene is serene and relaxing, Stickley would rather be on the road and onstage in the midst of the organized chaos that is the annual festival circuit.

“[Being off the road] has been a big adjustment — it’s been a rollercoaster of emotions,” Stickley said. “There have been a lot of positives that have come along with all of this, time to sit back and relax. But, I wish I was out touring and hitting the festivals right now — that’s what I’m really missing.”

Within musical circles across the country (and beyond), the Jon Stickley Trio is a whirlwind of sound and purpose. Once regarded as the best kept secret in the bluegrass and jam scenes, the group is now heralded as one of the most intricate and innovative string acts today.

In terms of genre, it’s a tone hard to pinpoint by the mere fact the trio pulls influences from seemingly every direction: bluegrass, indie rock, Americana, jazz, classical, metal, etc. And it’s that melting pot of musicality that is at the heart of why the act is quickly becoming a marquee name.

Coming into 2020, the Jon Stickley Trio was gearing up for a breakthrough year. Alongside the immensely talented Lyndsay Pruett (fiddle) and Hunter Deacon (drums), Stickley signed with Organic Records (Arden) in March 2019. And the band’s highly-anticipated debut album for the label, “Scripting the Flip,” was released in early April, right as society shutdown due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.

But, even with the hand the group has been dealt, Stickley remains an eternal optimist. The trio has come this far, and the only way to go from here is forward — instruments in hand, ready to fully embrace the bountiful fruits of their labor.

Smoky Mountain News: What’s surprised you the most being a creative entity amid this isolation period?

Jon Stickley: Well, one thing that changed for me is that over the past couple of years, I got in the mode of really trying to buckle down and write as much material as possible. And that was done in between tours. Now,

that we’re not touring at all, the music is getting written in between home improvement projects.

The kind of the music I’m drawn to is a little different. When we were touring a lot, I was listening to a lot of like death techno, where I would drive into that really complex arrangements and production. I was obsessed with that [music] and also really dark, true crime podcasts.

And since I’ve been home it’s completely shifted. I’ve been wanting to get into a little bit more of the folk-roots stuff — kind of lay back and just try to try to really stay as positive as possible. It’s a totally new head space that I haven’t been in probably since 2000.

SMN: You’re one of those people that really bridges the gap between the traditional and progressive camps in bluegrass. Is that just what you like about bluegrass or is that how you evolved as a performer? Because a lot of times they can be very distinct camps…

JS: Yeah, they can be. And I’ve been a part of various camps in the past — going all in on traditional bluegrass or all in on hard driving, modern bluegrass in “B” or “Dawg” music (David Grisman). And eventually I just realized — and it happened when I started writing more music — that I have to dig deep to try to find the song, you know?

And that’s when I started thinking about

Want to listen?

The latest album from the Jon Stickley Trio, “Scripting the Flip” (Organic Records), is now available for purchase and on all streaming services. www.jonstickley.com.

crossing the genres a little bit more, taking things I liked from all of the different music that I’ve been obsessed with over the years and trying to kind of fit them together in a way that works.

SMN: Though there’s an obvious foundation in bluegrass, I look at your music as almost like water, where if you spill it, it just goes where it goes. And when I listen to the trio, there’s a lot of things going on in there…

JS: It wasn’t a conscious thing, but it really just came from a place of wanting each band member to be able to express themselves exactly like they want to.

When Lyndsay and I worked out that process together — which we’re still kind of working out — it’s fitting what she hears and her style and what I hear and what I want to do. It doesn’t usually match perfectly, it’s much more of a meeting of the minds thing.

And now that Hunter’s involved on drums, he’s kind of the same way. He’s got a lot of dis-

“Going to these festivals and watching people perform, it’s like a religion for some people. It touches them in such a deep way that they can go back and live their life and just wait for the next [festival or show] for that recharge of spiritual energy.”

— Jon Stickley

tinct feelings about how things should sound. And the point of it all was just to get everyone to a [place] where we like the music as it is. The music that we do is really a product of the three people more than a design.

SMN: You’ve been a professional touring musician for 15 years. What has the culmination of those experiences taught you about what it means to be a human being?

JS: It’s taught me that art and music are as important as I think they are. I mean, I’ve been drawn to it because I love it so much. But, the way people react to it, the way fans come up and say it’s changed their life — it’s kind of hard to see and understand that from the stage.

Going to these festivals and watching people perform, it’s like a religion for some people. It touches them in such a deep way that they can go back and live their life and just wait for the next [festival or show] for that recharge of spiritual energy.

And that’s when I started realizing I’ve felt that a lot, too, especially [during] festival season. There’s just unexplainable amounts of love that you feel when you come away from these events. And I think it really does spread out into the world. So, being a part of that, and being able to make music that has an impact on that whole vibe, I feel like it is pretty important.

This must be the place

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

The questions of a thousand dreams, what you do and what you see

It’s been exactly two months since I remember what it felt like. You know, “normalcy.”

It was a Tuesday and also St. Patrick’s Day. By order of the governor, the bars and restaurants of North Carolina were to close until further notice at 5 p.m. Oddly enough, it was one of the nicest days of the year at that point in the mountains of Southern Appalachia. Sunshine and a warm breeze signaling spring after another winter gone by.

A group of us from The Smoky Mountain News staff met up at Frog Level Brewing Company a few blocks from our office in downtown Waynesville. Seeing as it was Tuesday, which is “press day” for us, we usually head for a 5 o’clock beverage once the week’s newspaper is sent to the printer. Sitting alongside Richland Creek behind the brewery, we basked in the sun’s rays, drinks held high, saluting each other and wishing all the best with the unknowns of the impending isolation period. We laughed and we smiled, trying to feel at ease with whatever was around the corner for our community and the world at-large.

friend circle even tighter. Gas is extremely inexpensive, and yet we can’t really go anywhere (or fly for leisure). Oh, the irony, eh?

Nowadays, masks aren’t even given a second glance in public, where it’s become so normalized, we as a society have even found ways to color-coordinate mask designs to match our outfits or show allegiance to a particular sports team.

For someone like myself, who (purposely) is constantly in motion, it’s been a surreal experience to sit still and not be wandering, chasing down some story or music-related event. But, I’m finding several silver linings within all of “this.”

In my tight friend circle, it’s been quite enjoyable to find and make time to sincerely sit and visit with beloved faces I’d normally see in passing or make vague plans to meet up with. Now, we’re grilling out a few times a week, usually sitting on a porch, sipping a cold beer, engaged in thoughtful conversation, and simply watching the sun fall behind the Great Smoky Mountains.

And I’m finding my alone time very soothing. Though I’ve always kind of been an extroverted loner, I’m using my solo hours and days hiking into the depths of the mountains surrounding my humble abode. I’m experimenting with cooking more dinners for myself, as well as learning the true ins and outs of grocery shopping.

But, most importantly, I’m diving into things I’m passionate about. Where now I’m learning (and obsessed with) the ukulele, I’m also peeling back the covers of numerous books that have been on the “to do” list for way too many years.

A couple of days later, I headed down to St. Augustine, Florida, to check on my parents. Hailing from the cold depths of my native North Country (Upstate New York), they make Florida home for the month of March, and have for the better part of a decade. They’re 71 and 78 years old, and I wanted to make sure they felt safe and were able to get needed supplies.

Just as I arrived, the beaches and businesses began closing, almost like a domino effect following me from Western North Carolina. Local law enforcement put up signs stating “Beach Closed,” all while the beach bum bars and eateries locked the front doors and began their quarantine.

Each morning, my folks and I would make breakfast as President Trump or New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo were streaming across the TV, giving the daily briefing on the coronavirus: where we stood and where we might be in a day, week or month (or year). Even with the Florida sunshine streaming into the bungalow, there was a sense of trepidation running through our restless minds and responsible actions.

Fast-forward two months and here we still stand in midst of the unknown. But, seemingly with a better sense of self in the grand scheme of things. Sixty or so days of waking up to the “new norm” of isolation, quarantine and shelter-in-place protocols.

Sitting at home and/or keeping your travel circle small. Keeping your family and

In my hands at the moment are Studs Terkel’s Hard Times and Woody Guthrie’s Bound for Glory, both poignant reads for where we currently find ourselves as a country.

Though the books deal with first-hand accounts of those who experienced and survived The Great Depression, the sentiments in the air back then (politically, socially, culturally, economically) stills ring true today — nothing is the same, everything is the same.

Right now, Bound for Glory has captivated my attention. As someone who serendipitously become a writer after reading Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, finally tracking down and devouring the words and tales of folk music legend and road poet Woody Guthrie have evoked a wondrous, cathartic feeling within my heart and soul.

The vernacular and attitudes of Guthrie rolling around America during The Great Depression and The Dust Bowl, in search of work and of a platform to perform his songs, is riveting, to say the least. Guthrie speaks of the lives of the common man, for good or ill, and how true beauty in this universe can be found in the smallest and most simple of pleasures in life.

And as I set the book down, while sitting on my couch last night, gazing out the open window onto the falling rain, a small glass of Kentucky bourbon within reach, I can’t help but remain hopeful for the future — for all of us. We’ve come this far, and we’re still here, ready and willing to create a better tomorrow for each other.

Life is beautiful, grasp for it, y’all.

Soldiers who shaped our nation

May the memory of these men sustain us all and remind us of their sacrifice to secure our freedom. May we never forget their bravery and all they gave up so that we might live free. We are forever indebted to these heroes, whose unknown valor we are obligated to know.

TFirst, though McCallum and Drez visited Pacific battlefields, interviewed survivors of these battles and their descendants, and as

others as psychological biography — might bother the more fastidious, but I found McCallum’s inventions brought these people to life on the page.

and true.

hose words conclude Unknown Valor: A Story of Family, Courage, and Sacrifice from Pearl Harbor to Iwo Jima (HarperCollins Publishers, 2020, 315 pages). Here Martha McCallum, assisted by co-author, military historian, and exMarine Ronald J. Drez, tells the story of the Marines in the Pacific during World War II, with a particular focus on the Battle of Iwo Jima, where the uncle she never met, Harry Gray, was killed during a mortar barrage.

We’ve had many other memoirs and histories of the Marines and the islands they assaulted in the Pacific. In Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War, William Manchester, biographer of John F. Kennedy, Douglas MacArthur, and best known for his trilogy on Winston Churchill, writes of the Marines storming various islands, including his own combat at Okinawa. Many rate Eugene Sledge’s With The Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa as one of the best war memoirs ever written by an American. Robert Leckie, who recounted his time in the Marines in Helmet For My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific, is yet another highly regarded chronicler of that war, and both his book and Sledge’s heavily influenced HBO’s The Pacific.

Martha McCallum and Ronald Drez take a different approach to the war in the Pacific and the Marines who helped win that war.

evidenced by the 28 pages of “Notes” at the back of the book, McCallum also puts herself into many of the characters she describes, recreating their emotions and thoughts. Her Aunt Anne, Harry Gray’s mother, and her Aunt Nancy, Harry’s sister, undoubtedly conveyed their emotions and those of Gray to the McCallum, but she nonetheless takes liberties when recreating those times. This approach to history — some might describe it as fiction,

When the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, Harry is still a boy in high school. Like many of that time, he is eager to enlist and do his part to fight back against the aggressors.

His Uncle Frank, Anne’s brother-in-law and McCallum’s grandfather, and the man who became a surrogate father for Harry after his own father’s death, prays the war will end before Harry can come of age to join the Marines. Through McCallum’s reminiscences gleaned from her relatives, we follow Harry as he finishes high school, falls in love with Dorothy, who is two years younger, and achieves his dream of become a Marine.

Here is a description of Harry sitting in a movie theater with Dorothy:

“He couldn’t care less what is on the screen once the newsreels are over. He has it all planned out. He will enlist as soon as he turns seventeen. He will likely be a part of the attack on Tokyo, and then he will come home a hero. He and Dorothy will get married … and then he will spend the rest of his days smelling Dorothy’s skin and feeling her curls brush his cheek. She makes him happy, and he is 100 percent sure that he makes her happy, too. It’s nice when life looks clear ahead: he can see it all perfectly.”

Is this strictly history? No, but the portrayal of Harry, like millions of others who have gone off to fight our country’s wars, is real

Unknown Valor also explores the home front during the war. We cut back and forth between the agonies of the Marines in battle and those who with fascination and dread follow the news of the fighting and beg through prayer that their sons be spared. When a messenger boy delivers the telegram announcing Harry’s death on Iwo Jima, we feel the grief and shock of his grandmother, mother, and kid sister.

“Anne is at work, and Harry’s Grandma Bowes answers the door. She reluctantly takes the envelope. The delivery boy bows his head and turns down the steps. As she opens it, her eyes scan and fall on the only three words that matter. DEEPLY. REGRET. KILLED. She slides down into the hall chair and weeps.”

Finally, McCallum and Drez recreate the hell that greeted the Marines on Iwo Jima, a volcanic island of coral and rock, a twisted landscape beneath which the Japanese had built tunnels and bunkers. As one Marine later described the battle, “The Japs weren’t on Iwo Jima; they were in Iwo Jima.” Before this horrible ordeal ended, 6,800 Marines had died and nearly 20,000 were wounded.

Today many Americans likely have little knowledge of the major battles of the Pacific, engagements such as Guadalcanal, Midway, Saipan, and the Philippines. Perhaps many too are unfamiliar with other places in which men gave their lives for one cause or another: Breed’s Hill, Antietam, Belleau Wood, Anzio, the Chosin Reservoir, the Ia Drang Valley, and places like Kamdesh in Afghanistan.

As McCallum points out, we are obligated to know the uncommon valor of those who died for freedom and for us.

When we know them, when we remember them, we know and remember who we are as well.

(Jeff Minick is a writer and teacher. minick0301@gmail.com)

The fire ant, S. invictus, arrived in Mobile, Alabama, in the early 1930s after it was accidentally

Fire (ants) on the mountain

Research shows invasives species can survive cold winters

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER

Since its arrival to the United States in the early 1930s, the fire ant has been making a slow but steady march northward from the site of its initial arrival in Mobile, Alabama, but scientists had always assumed that cold winters would at some point put a stop to the tropical invasive species’ spread.

New research from Western Carolina University in Cullowhee suggests otherwise.

“The conventional wisdom had been that they just can’t handle the cold,” said Jim Costa, a coauthor on the study who holds a doctorate and is a professor in WCU’s Department of Biology. “Now we know that they can.”

Costa was one of three authors on the study. The lead author was Amanda Lytle, who earned her master’s degree in biology at WCU and is now a research technician at N.C State University. Also collaborating was Robert Warren, who is a faculty member at Buffalo State University in New York but

received his master’s degree in biology from WCU. The paper was published this month in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE.

THE RESEARCH PROCESS

Costa, an entomologist, has long had an interest in fire ants. He began noticing them around Cullowhee about 10 years ago, an observation that piqued his interest in light of that conventional wisdom about fire ants and their sensitivity to cold.

“When I first noticed them in Cullowhee, I was curious about whether they were colonizing and staying,” he said. “I thought it was possible that colonies could get going in the spring but then the severe winters would knock them back.”

So, around 2014 he had an undergraduate study that very thing. It turned out to be a year with a harsh winter resulting from a polar vortex, making it a prime time to do the test.

“They actually survived,” said Costa.

The next question was, how? When Lytle came on as Costa’s student, she set about finding the answer using a technique Warren had developed to measure the thermal tolerance of insects. The goal was to find out if fire ants collected from warmer, low-elevation loca-

that yes, they are somehow adapting,” said Costa. “We just don’t know whether genetically or physiologically.”

It could be that fire ants are shifting genetically to better tolerate the cold. Or it could be an adaptation that occurs within the body, outside of genetics — like the way that people who live in the Andes develop a greater lung capacity than people who live at more typical elevations.

“People that live at those high elevations can adapt to those conditions. It’s not a genetic change — it just reflects a kind of capacity of the body to adjust itself,” said Costa.

That question of genetic versus physiological adaptation will be the next research question to pursue, and while the plans upended by the COVID-19 pandemic include research plans, Costa hopes to continue the research once he has a student on board who’s able to do so.

LIVING WITH FIRE ANTS

In the meantime, Costa said, it’s important for land managers to be aware that fire ants aren’t a threat that can be ignored with the assumption that winter cold will control the population.

“I think the message to land managers is if we do see fire ants getting a toehold, jump on it,” he said. “Don’t let them spread, because they can survive the winter and they will multiply.”

tions had a different tolerance to cold than ants collected from cooler, high-elevation locations.

During the summer of 2017, the research team collected both fire ants and native A. picea ants at three different ranges of altitude — 0 to 1,000 feet, 1,500 to 2,500 feet, and over 3,000 feet — in an area that included Clemson, South Carolina, Rabun County, Georgia, and Jackson and Macon counties in North Carolina. They collected from active, mature fire ant colonies that were at least 10 meters away from other colonies, accumulating fire ants from a total of 42 colonies scattered across the elevation gradient as well as A. picea ants from each of 21 colonies found as close to fire ant colonies as possible.

To test for temperature tolerance, ants of both species were placed in individual test tubes in a water bath. The temperature of the water was slowly lowered, and the ants were observed after each decrease of 1 degree Celsius. An ant’s cold tolerance was said to end at the point that it was unable to right itself after being flipped on its back. A different set of ants was then tested in the same way for tolerance to increasing temperatures.

“The higher-elevation ants were much more tolerant of cold conditions than the ants collected at lower elevations, so that indicated

Not without constraints, however. While the research has shown that fire ants have the ability to persist at high elevations, they need open, sunny areas to build their colonies. Because much of the higher-elevation area of Western North Carolina is heavily forested, suitable habitat for the fire ant at those heights is limited.

“It’s a fairly intact forest, and much of that is going to be unsuitable for these ants getting in and surviving,” Costa said.

Fire ants have been documented in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park since 2000, but thus far have been seen only at lower-elevation areas of the park — Chilhowee Lake, Foothills Parkway West, Cades Cove, Elkmont, Sugarlands and Gatlinburg, though Smokies Science Coordinator Paul Super said they probably exist in “many other areas” as well and could have moved into areas that managers have yet to notice.

“I have not ever seen them deep in forested areas of the park,” Super said. “The recent paper indicates that they can acclimatize to colder temperatures at higher elevations, but its important to note that they still were not observed in undisturbed forests.”

Along the Blue Ridge Parkway, there have been no recorded fire ant sightings even in the Parkway’s lower elevation areas, said spokesperson Caitlin Worth. However, that doesn’t mean there won’t be — according to Costa, the Parkway’s grassy roadsides would be “prime” fire ant habitat.

Even a small sunny area can be F

National forest lifts fire restrictions, some recreation closures

The Pisgah National Forest has begun to reopen many trails and roads and partially lift restrictions for dispersed camping, and fire restrictions have been removed for both the Pisgah and the Nantahala.

The reopening process will use a site-by-site approach, including assessment of facility cleanliness, maintenance status and health and safety of recreation areas. Facilities and services may remain limited at some sites.

Dispersed camping continues to be prohibited for the Pisgah Ranger District, but restrictions have been lifted for the entire Appalachian Ranger District as well as for the Grandfather Ranger District with the exception of overnight weekend camping in the Linville Gorge Wilderness Area, which requires a permit. Permits will not be issued for the month of May. These decisions were made in coordination with county and local partners to ensure the safety of the public and employees.

Recreation areas that have reopened include:

• Black Balsam Road and associated trails

• Bent Creek Road and most associated trails and trailheads

enough for a colony to establish. From there, the ants themselves can go foraging in the forest surrounding the sunny spot.

“They won’t go super far, but they will go in, and they’re very serious predators,” he said. “They very seriously knock back native insects.”

• Brown Mountain Off Highway Vehicle Area

• Catawba Falls, Trail 225

For a complete list of trails, roads and recreation areas that are reopening, visit www.fs.usda.gov/goto/pisgahreopenings. The few roads that remain closed are closed only to motorized vehicles, and non-motorized use is allowed.

Bathrooms will continue to be closed and trash services suspended. Visitors should pack out everything they pack in and remember to practice Leave No Trace Principles. Visitors should also follow Centers for Disease Control, local and state guidelines for social distancing, hygiene and cloth face coverings.

The May 15 announcement lifting closures in the Pisgah came on the heels of a May 13 release stating that forestwide fire restrictions that had been in place for the entire Pisgah and Nantahala national forests had been lifted. The restrictions went into effect on April 9 due to high fire danger, with the initial announcement stating that they would remain in place through Aug. 8. When initially enacted in March, the COVID-19 closures were to remain in effect through Aug. 13.

Forest Service staff will continue to perform risk assessments to determine which recreation areas can resume operations in accordance with county and local partners and current public health guidance.

tious part while leaving the seed intact. However, some studies have shown that fire ants will devour both the nutritious bodies and the seeds themselves, inhibiting the plant’s reproduction efforts.

“Of and by themselves, these ants being here to stay is not cataclysmic, but it is one more problem that the native ecosystem faces,” said Costa.

Emerald ash border, hemlock wooly adelgid, gill lice — the list goes on. Each invasive makes life a little harder for native plant and animal communities and threatens to chip away at species diversity a little bit more.

In addition to having an infamously nasty sting, fire ants disrupt the ecosystems they invade. They can displace native ants, and that’s a problem, because native ants are better adapted to exist in harmony with the rest of the ecosystem. For instance, said Costa, many wildflowers rely on ants to disperse their seeds. The flowers will produce seeds that have nutritious bodies attached. Ants then collect the seeds, often moving them to a new location, and eat the nutri-

When it comes to invasives, “the genie’s really out of the bottle,” said Costa. Global trade and movement have their virtues, but they also make the spread of nonnative species almost unavoidable. The best thing people can do, he said, is to take an active role in the one place they have some control — their own backyards.

“All we can really do is in our backyards, we can try to keep invasives at bay and try to encourage healthy ecosystems,” said Costa.

HAYWOOD COUNTY CARES

ABOVE: Staff members at Autumn Care of Waynesville.

We’re In This Together

Roberta Harverson started her nursing career as a CNA. After completing her LPN at AB­Tech, she began working at Autumn Care of Waynesville in 1992. In 1998, she became a Registered Nurse but continued to stay at Autumn Care, since it has always felt like home to her.

Over the years, she has held several positions in the facility. Currently, she is the assistant director of nursing, sta development, and the infection control nurse. She said she and her sta have taken care of many people over the years and are now caring for some of their family members.

“I feel honored that they have trusted us. We have a great team here. I have seen a lot of changes in healthcare over time but nothing has compared to COVID­19. It is scary but sad times. My heart breaks for the residents and families that cannot be together during this. We are doing everything we can to protect our residents. We are doing our best to make their surroundings as near to normal as possible. I feel that each day that passes we are moving one step closer to the nish line,” said Harverson.

“During this pandemic, Roberta has gone above and beyond with our preparations, working 70+ hours weekly. Even when she goes home for the night she makes contacts and nds PPE to make sure that Autumn Care of Waynesville is never in a position where we wouldn't have what we need to protect our sta and residents. She is the de nition of what a nurse should be,” said David Woodlief, administrator.

Join the Great American Camp-In

The Great American Camp-In, a new event from the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont, is underway with an online scavenger hunt that will culminate with a virtual camp-in experience Memorial Day Weekend.

Teams will earn points as they participate in the online scavenger hunt and camp-in challenges that promote outdoor recreation, exploration and learning in their backyard, courtyard, or nearby green space. The challenges will adhere to social

distancing practices while also encouraging participants to explore their local parks.

Registration is open through 11:59 p.m. Thursday, May 21, and participation is free with an optional donation of $50 per team. Donations help support Tremont’s mission of connecting people and nature. Learn more at www.gsmit.org/camp-in. Sponsorship opportunities are available. Contact Caleb Carlton with questions at caleb@gsmit.org or 865.448.6709.

New shelter-in-place medical course offered

A new online course from Cullowhee-based Landmark Learning is teaching first aid skills for people who are sheltering in place. The course includes training on patient assessment and care for medical problems and injuries, along with decision-making guidelines for contacting advanced medical care. The goal is to help the public know basic care they can provide on their own, and to know when advanced care is required.

Haywood hiking series will start in June

A new hiking program will launch in Haywood County starting in June, designed to educate and inspire citizens about the variety of trails and vistas available in the county.

The Haywood Hiking Trails Program will offer excursions ranging from easy to moderate in difficulty with local, experienced guides leading the way. Hikes are free and open to all ability levels.

Due to COVID-19, hikes will be limited to 10 people, with three hikes offered each month. To register or receive more information about the program schedule, contact Haywood County Recreation and Parks, 828.452.6789 or ian.smith@haywoodcountync.gov.

The course includes 3.5 to 4 hours of combined practice and video and can be taken at leisure over a seven-period, using materials in the home for practicing course demonstrations. The $35 administrative fee helps offset tech support, discussion board management, site repairs and updates. A downloadable manual is included.

Register at www.landmarklearning.org/ course/shelter-in-place-first-aid.

Meet the birds of summer

A two-day course exploring the world of birds will be offered May 26-27 from Alarka Expeditions.

Participants will explore the role of birds in modern poetry and mythology and also spend time in the fields and forest, observing neotropical arrivals and learning their spring songs. Each day will include time for readings and discussion,

Soak in a field full of peonies

The 2020 Festival of Peonies in Bloom is underway through the end of the month, allowing visitors to witness a field full of peonies in bloom.

but all activities will take place outdoors. During this time, Alarka will be sure to observe safe distance protocols and to keep the group to eight or fewer. Wouldbe adventurers who aren’t comfortable being around a small group yet might consider booking a private float trip with Alarka.

The birding course is perfect for beginners wanting to learn to identify birds by song and sight. Binoculars are a must. $60 per day or $100 for both days, with registration at www.alarkaexpeditions.com.

Wildcat Ridge Farm on the banks of the Pigeon River in Haywood County specializes in growing, propagating and selling the finest herbaceous Itoh intersectionals, Chinese tree peonies plants and fresh peony cut flowers. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day in May, the farm will be open to the public to enjoy a month-long celebration of blooming paradise.

The farm will remain open amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as the 5-acre farm offers plenty of space for folks to spread out and the event never attracts a crowd all at once.

The farm is located at 3552 Panther Creek Road in the Crabtree area of Haywood County. 828.627.6751 or www.wildcatridgefarm.com.

Have You Heard About Our Medication Packaging Program?

Our packaging makes keeping track of your medications easy and convenient. We work to align your medications to be filled once monthly, saving you trips to the pharmacy. Your medication comes packaged in easy-to-follow weekly dose packages that are divided based on time of day.

You won’t have to worry about keeping track of countless medication bottles or running out of refills. We coordinate with your doctor to make sure that your medication is filled on time each month.

There is no additional charge, and by enrolling you will receive one free delivery of your medications monthly. We can also include your supplements and OTC items!

If interested, talk to a pharmacist or pharmacy technician today!

Conservation easement protects resources in Macon

A recently conserved piece of land in Macon County includes a federally significant marsh, a scenic view and a portion of the Nantahala River.

Waterfall Byway and surrounding Nantahala National Forest lands. It has abundant aquatic resources and riparian habitat, including more than a mile of Nantahala River frontage. Upstream of the public section of the river that provides recreation opportunities and economic benefit to both Swain and Macon counties, this project further protects these waters that are currently classified as Outstanding Resource Waters by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality.

Mainspring Conservation Trust has conserved more than 205 acres in the Rainbow Springs area of the county’s western portion, and that land is now part of a larger node of privately conserved property that totals 2,619 acres and abuts the Nantahala National Forest. The newly conserved land — which Mainspring Executive Director Jordan Smith called “one of the most ecologically significant and diverse areas within Mainspring’s entire region” — is owned by the Rainbow Springs Hunting and Fishing Club and was the last unprotected piece of land in the club’s ownership.

Puzzles can be found on page 30

These are only the answers.

“All of us recognized the importance of the biological diversity of the property and the need to protect this valuable resource for future generations,” said Charlie Owen, one of the partners in the Rainbow Springs Club. “Mainspring has been a great partner in making this possible.”

About 85 percent of the newly conserved property is within the viewshed of the Appalachian Trail and is visible from the

Closure at Cathey’s Creek

Located within the property is the Rainbow Springs Marsh, which holds important federal significance. The marsh is part of a bog wetland that is so unique, it’s included the Mountain Bogs National Wildlife Refuge, one of approximately 30 areas in western North Carolina and northeast Tennessee that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife designated in April 2015 as the Firescald Conservation Partnership Area. www.mainspringconserves.org.

About 3 miles of Cathey’s Creek Road in the Pisgah Ranger District of the Pisgah National Forest is closed through the end of June.

The closure starts at U.S. 64 and is in effect so that crews can replace a stream crossing. The road is closed to vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian access. 828.877.3265.

Trump names FSA director for N.C.

Eddie Woodhouse has been named the new executive director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency in North Carolina, serving as an appointee of President Donald Trump.

“Working on behalf of the President, Vice President and Secretary Perdue to put North Carolina’s farm producers in a position of success will be the urgent focus of my work at USDA,” said Woodhouse, a North Carolina native. “Service is, indeed, the critical function of Farm Service

Agency.”

FSA state executive directors help implement USDA policies in planning, organizing and administering FSA programs in their respective states. They are also responsible for running the day-to-day activities of the state FSA office.

Prior to his appointment, Woodhouse served on a County Board of Elections, with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and on U.S. Senate staff. He is married to Michele, a medical consultant. Woodhouse previously served North Carolina agricultural producers as the state’s Communications Coordinator and Outreach Coordinator for USDA.

PLEASE CHECK WITH ORGANIZERS TO ENSURE EVENTS HAVE NOT BEEN CANCELED BEFORE TRAVELING TO AN EVENT LISTED BELOW.

• Sylva First United Methodist Church, 77 Jackson Street, will host an Open Door Meal “To Go” from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Friday, May 29, and Tuesday, June 2. Guests are asked to drive into the church parking lot and stop in the area indicated. A church volunteer will deliver the free prepared meals to the cars. Supplemental food bags will be available for those who would like to have them.

• North Shore Cemetery Association announced the cancellation of all North Shore Cemetery Decorations through June 15. At present, all group activities within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are suspended through June 15 and this may change in the future given the complexity and unknown factors concerning the Covid-19 pandemic.

• The Annual Cemetery Decoration at Lauada Cemetery routinely scheduled for the fourth Sunday in May will be held May 24 this year. Lauada known by many as the cemetery with the small white crosses on the hill west of Bryson City at Almond on U.S. 19.

• Bardo Arts Center has a new webpage dedicated to virtual opportunities at arts.wcu.edu/virtual. Highlights include a series of Thursday lunchtime webinar presentations, which will be streamed on Facebook and YouTube, as well as through the arts.wcu.edu/virtual website. The Thursday webinar series opens with a theatrical talkback, followed by three webinars related to WCU Fine Art Museum exhibitions.

• All Fontana Regional Library locations in Macon, Jackson, and Swain counties will provide curbside pickup service starting the week of Monday, May 18. (Those locations not open on Mondays will begin on Tuesday.) Call your local library to ask about hours for that location.

• Moe Davis, the Democratic nominee for Congress in the 11th District, will be hosting a series of "Moe Talks" Facebook Live virtual town halls. There will be two events to be held at the same time each week: from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Mondays and from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursdays. Topics will change week to week. Viewers can submit questions in advance to the @MoeDavisforCongress Facebook Page.

B USINESS & E DUCATION

• League of Women Voters Asheville-Buncombe will host an online panel forum titled “Does Your Vote Count?: The Impact of Gerrymandering,” from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 3 via Zoom. Panelists will be Dr. Ashley Moraguez, Professor of Political Science at UNCAsheville, and Blake Esselstyn, an expert on the use of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) for drawing maps. The event is limited to 100 people and is free. Visit https://tinyurl.com/y9fznope to register. For more information or questions, contact Karen Depew at kdnorthwood@gmail.com.

• Join Pisgah Legal’s virtual Justice Matters Tour from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, May 21, to find out more about how civil legal aid can be an effective anti-poverty tool and our response to the COVID-19 crisis, including being a resource for community members facing unemployment, a loss of health insurance, and domestic violence situations. To register, visit https://www.pisgahlegal.org/justice-matters-tour/.

• Western Carolina University’s Office of Professional Growth and Enrichment will be offering a four-week online introduction to Cherokee language course, entitled, “Cherokee 101 – Online,” July 6-31. Registration fee is $129. EBCI members and Veterans of the US Armed Forces may register for $89. For more information and to register, visit http://learn.wcu.edu/language.

n All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted.

n To have your item listed email to calendar@smokymountainnews.com

• Small business owners can find materials and services to support business growth at Fontana Regional Library’s locations in Macon, Jackson and Swain Counties. Computer classes and one-on-one assistance available. 586.2016 or www.fontanalib.org.

VOLUNTEERS & VENDORS

• The historic Shelton House in Waynesville is currently in need of volunteers for an array of upcoming events. Alongside help for events and gatherings, the organization is also seeking a docent, gift shop attendee, data entry person, landscaper, handyperson, and other positions.

• Haywood Vocational Opportunities is seeking donations of goods, services, time and support for the second annual “HVO Stans Up to PTSD Veteran Community Resource, Education and Job Fair,” which will be held on June 27. 454.6857.

• Feline Urgent Rescue is seeking volunteers and sponsors. Info: 422.2704, www.furofwnc.org, www.facebook.com/furofwnc or 844.888.CATS (2287).

• Cat adoption hours are from noon-5 p.m. on Fridays and noon-4 p.m. on Saturdays at 453 Jones Cove Road in Clyde. Adoption fee: $10 for cats one-year and older. Check out available cats at www.petharbor.com. 452.1329 or 550.3662.

Senior Companion volunteers are being sought to serve with the Land of the Sky Senior Companion Program in Henderson, Buncombe, Transylvania and Madison Counties. Serve older adults who want to remain living independently at home in those counties.

• Great Smoky Mountains National Park is seeking volunteers to assist rangers with managing traffic and establishing safe wildlife viewing areas within the Cataloochee Valley area. To register for training or get more info: Kathleen_stuart@nps.gov or 497.1914.

• Haywood Regional Medical Center is seeking volunteers of all ages for ongoing support at the hospital, outpatient care center and the Homestead. For info and to apply: 452.8301, stop by the information desk in the lobby or volunteer@haymed.org. Anyone interested in becoming a hospice volunteer can call 452.5039.

• STAR Rescue Ranch is seeking volunteers to help with horse care, fundraising events, barn maintenance and more at the only equine rescue in Haywood County. 828.400.4940.

• Volunteer opportunities are available throughout the region, call John at the Haywood Jackson Volunteer Center and get started sharing your talents. 356.2833.

• Phone Assurance Volunteers are needed to make daily or weekly wellness check-in calls for the Haywood County Senior Resource Center. 356.2800.

K IDS & FAMILIES

• The Kathryn Byer Memorial Poetry Contest celebrates our mountains and our connection to them in our everyday lives. It is open to all Jackson County students, K12. The poets are divided into three categories: K-4th grade, 5th-8th grade, and 9-12th. Three winners, in addition to Honorable Mentions, will be chosen in each category. Poems should be no longer than 40 lines, but can be much shorter, of course. Poems should be submitted to City Lights Bookstore in Sylva, either in person, mail or by email to more@citylightsnc.com by April

10. Please include “Poetry Contest” in the subject line. The winners in each category will receive gift certificates to City Lights Bookstore and will be invited to read at Greening up the Mountains at 3 p.m. April 25 at City Lights Bookstore. Winners will be announced by April 20. 586.9499.

• The Sylva Art + Design Committee is pleased to announce a unique pop-up gallery event that will feature the artistic creations of children ages 5-18 in the Western North Carolina region. “Nature Through A Child’s Eye” will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 4, at Viva Arts Studio in downtown Sylva. If you have a child that you think may want to be a participant ages of 5-18 apply by emailing sylvaartdesign@gmail.com or vivaartsstudio@gmail.com. Facebook at www.facebook.com/sylvapublicart or on Instagram @sylvaarts. All submissions will be available for purchase and can be picked up after the completion of the exhibition. All money raised will be equally distributed between SADC and the Sylva Community Garden in order to further the betterment of the community through arts, education, and environmental awareness.

• Registration is underway for the Challenger International Soccer Camp, which will be offered to ages 3-14 from July 20-24 at the Waynesville Recreation Center. Costs vary based on age group from $90-197. Separate goalkeeper and scorer program is $25 for ages 6-14 from 9-11 a.m. on Saturday. Register: challengersports.com. Info: 456.2030 or dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov.

• Waynesville Art School offers the Young Artist Program in the afternoons for 5-6 year old, 7-8 year old, 9-12 year old. Intro to Printmaking and Evening studies in arts is offered for 13-19 year old. Waynesville Art School is located at 303 N. Haywood Street. Info: 246.9869, info@waynesvilleartschool.com or visit WaynesvilleArtSchool.com for schedule and to register.

• Mountain Wildlife offers wildlife education programs for schools and organizations in Western North Carolina, free of charge. If you are interested in having them visit your group contact them at blackbears66@gmail.com, 743.9648 or visit the website at www.mountainwildlifedays.com.

Ongoing

H EALTH MATTERS

• Free dental clinic for low-income patients, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays by appointment at Blue Ridge Mountains Health Project Dental Clinic on the upper level of Laurel Terrace in Cashiers. 743.3393.

• The Community Care Clinic of Highlands-Cashiers, 5 to 9 p.m. Thursdays, provides free care to uninsured patients who meet financial need requirements and live or work in Highlands and Cashiers. $10 donation suggested. The clinic is in the Macon County Recreation and Health Building off Buck Creek Road. 526.1991.

VOLUNTEERING

• The Haywood County Meals on Wheels program has route openings for volunteer drivers. Substitute drivers also needed.

• P.A.W.S. Adoption Days first Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the front lawn at Charleston Station, Bryson City.

• The Community Kitchen in Canton is in need of volunteers. Opportunities range from planning a meal updat-

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

n Complete listings of local music scene

n Regional festivals

n Art gallery events and openings

n Complete listings of recreational offerings at health and fitness centers

n Civic and social club gatherings

ing their webpage. 648.0014.

• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Haywood County is now accepting applications for boys and girls within the Haywood County area between the ages of 6 and 14 who could benefit from an approved adult mentor/role model. No cost to the family. 356.2148.

• Gathering Table, 5 to 7 p.m. Thursdays, at The Community Center, Route 64, Cashiers. Provides fresh, nutritious dinners to all members of the community regardless of ability to pay. Volunteers always needed and donations gratefully accepted. 743.9880.

• The Haywood Jackson Volunteer Center has many new openings for volunteers throughout the region. Learn about a wide-range of volunteer opportunities with a variety of non-profit agencies, including respite work, domestic violence hotline volunteers, meal delivery drivers, court mediators, Habitat for Humanity house building, foster grandparenting, charity thrift shops, the Elk Bugle Corps for the Great Smokies National Park and many more. 356.2833.

• Community Care Clinic of Franklin needs volunteers for a variety of tasks including nursing/clinical, clerical and administrative and communications and marketing. 349.2085.

• Catman2 Shelter in Jackson County needs volunteers for morning feeding and general shelter chores. 293.0892 or hsims@catman2.org.

• The Volunteer Water Inventory Network (VWIN) is looking for people to work one to two hours a month taking water samples from local creeks and streams. Fill up empty bottles, collect water samples, and return full bottles. 926.1308 or www.haywoodwaterways.org.

• The Haywood County Historical and Genealogical Society maintains a museum located in the historical courthouse in room 308. The HCHGS is seeking articles and objects of historical value to Haywood County that anyone would like to share. 456.3923.

• REACH of Haywood County is looking for volunteers who would like to assist in its newly expanded resale store. 456 Hazelwood Avenue. 456.7898.

Market PLACE WNC

MarketPlace information:

The Smoky Mountain News Marketplace has a distribution of 16,000 copies across 500 locations in Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties, including the Qualla Boundary and west Buncombe County. Visit www.wncmarketplace.com to place your ad!

Rates:

• $15 — Classified ads that are 25 words, 25¢ per word after.

• Free — Lost or found pet ads.

• $6 — Residential yard sale ads.*

• $1 — Yard Sale Rain Insurance Yard sale rained out? Call us by 10a.m. Monday for your ad to run again FREE

• Legal N otices — 25¢ per word

• $375 — Statewide classifieds run in 170 participating newspapers with 1.1+ million circulation. (Limit 25 words or less)

• Boost Online — Have your ad featured at top of category online $4

• Boost in Print

• Add Photo $6

• Bold ad $2

• Yellow, Green, Pink or Blue Highlight $4

• Border $4

Note: Highlighted ads automatically generate a border so if you’re placing an ad online and select a highlight color, the “add border” feature will not be available on the screen.

Note: Yard sale ads require an address. This location will be displayed on a map on www.wncmarketplace.com

p: 828.452.4251 · f:828.452.3585 classads@smokymountainnews.com www.wncmarketplace.com

Announcements

CASH FOR CARS! We buy all cars! Junk, highend, totaled – it doesn’t matter! Get free towing and same day cash! NEWER MODELS too! Call 1-866-508-8362.

Business Opportunities

JOIN AVON For Free through May 26, 2020. Lois Halonen, Independent Sales Representative. loishalonen@gmail. com. www.youravon.com/ lhalonen.

NEW AUTHORS WANTED! Page Publishing will help you self-publish your own book. FREE author submission kit! Limited offer! Why wait? Call now: 888-910-2201

LOOKING TO EXPAND INTO THE Commercial Market?? Coatings manufacturer looking for company to install coatings on commercial roofs, in North & South Carolina. CALL 740-656-0177.

Employment

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SUPER CROSSWORD

69Came in first 71Sculpting aid

72Not too tasty

73"- a Rock" (1966 hit)

76"Ni-i-i-ice!"

78Semis, say

79Go bad

80Return Shearer's phone call?

84Operatic solo

86Running shoe brand

87Traffic sound

88Billion : giga- :: trillion : -

92Anthony championing personal liberties?

96- noires (bugbears)

97January, in Spain

98Coll. dorm supervisors

a Letter to My Love" (1981 film)

35Road goop

36Song syllable

37Acne care brand

38Physics prize of note

42Show penitence

44College founded by Hagen?

51Heredity determiner

52Attired

53Flummoxed

54Mrs., in Bonn

55Question for Knotts when he's holding a package?

60Bygone space station

61Extreme joy

64Arcing tennis shot

65Second letter addendum: Abbr.

66Singer with the 2011 album "21"

68Goes by car

99- -haw (donkey's sound)

101Moose kin

102With 111-Down, connect two dots, maybe

106Battling it out with Murdoch?

109Put Arthur on moodstabilizing medication?

113Regatta tool

114Poet John

115Exclude

116"Whew, such a relief that Kahlo arrived!"

120Area

121Samplings

122Kin of beige

123Prep school on the Thames

124Tram loads

125Ukrainian port city

126Exclude

127Unit of force

DOWN

1Sheffield loc.

2Pervade

3It's negatively charged

4Vote in 5Twain's Tom 6"- live and breathe!"

7Very virile

8Nearly globe-shaped

9Palindromic "before"

10Lounges idly

11All: Prefix

12Lab's - dish

13Great Lakes tribesmen

14Northern French river

15Commence

16Monocle, e.g.

17Pledge

18Answer from the accused

24"Warrior" co-star Nick

252,065, in old Rome

30Year, in old Rome

31Fawn's father

32Defective

33Uvea's organ

39Cat breed

40Virtual marketer

41Victors' wreaths

43Sir Isaac45Slangy negative

46Shaft of light

47Call a halt to

48"The jig -"

49Turner and Kennedy

50Ming of basketball

52Elliot of the Mamas & the Papas

56Feature of "gum" but not "gem"

57Pledge

58Download for a Kindle

59Bible book before Habakkuk

61Give a hug to

62Fill with a crayon

63Not dynamic, as a verb

67Expand

70"- so much"

71Lug

73"Who's there?" answer

74Make - deal out of

75Speed-of-sound ratio

77Scorching

78"The - Coochi Coo" (1961 hit)

81Musicality

82Winter hrs. in Wichita

83"... - iron bars a cage"

85When shows are broadcast

89Forever

90Had faith in 91Inquires

93Bereft

94- Lanka

95Myopic "Mr."

96"I - You" (hit for Elvis)

100Concludes

103Hard - follow

104"I thought - a deal!"

105Humble

106Phonies

107Fast one

108One way to mark losses

109Clown name

110Love deity

111See 102-Across

112Sinus docs

117Cookie-pushing org.

118Hexa- halved

119Hex- ending

ANSWERS ON PAGE 26

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European boar proliferated in WNC

Editor’s Note: This George Ellison Column first appeared in a May 2001 edition of The Smoky Mountain News

Numerous non-native plants have been introduced into the southern mountains during the last century or so. Many are now classified by wildlife biologists as “exotic pests.” Few would argue that kudzu does not fall into this category.

And without doubt, the most notable alien mammal ever introduced into this immediate region was the European wild boar. There are friends of the wild boar — mostly hunters — who believe that the animal’s outstanding qualities as a game animal outweigh its negative qualities. Then there are those who have observed its capacity to devastate large areas who think otherwise. I used to be a friend of the wild boar. Its survival instincts and ability to adapt to truly rugged mountain terrain seemed to me to be admirable traits in any animal. In recent years, however, after some up close and personal encounters, I’ve changed my mind.

A 29-page pamphlet by Perry Jones enti-

BACK THEN

tled “The European Wild Boar in North Carolina” (North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, 1959) tells the story of how the animal arrived and subsequently flourished in this region of the world. In 1908, the Whiting Manufacturing Co., an English concern, purchased Hooper Bald and adjoining lands near Robbinsville in Graham County.

George Gordon Moore, an adviser to English investors, was allowed to establish a 1,600-acre game preserve on Hooper Bald. Beginning in 1912, the preserve was stocked with eight buffaloes, 14 elk, six Colorado mule deer, 34 bears (9 of which were Russian brown bears), 200 wild turkeys, 10,000 English ring-neck pheasant eggs and 13 wild boar. For good measure, Moore also purchased 150 sheep and 150 turkeys locally.

“Almost immediately,” Jones writes, “blows of adversity began to strike the preserve. Some of the big bears promptly climbed out of the wire stockade. In order to return a bear to the lot, two men would have to lasso each of his front feet, pull him around a tree, and securely bind both pairs of feet together on the opposite side of the tree. Next a pole was placed across the back of his neck, and his chin was pushed up firmly against the tree. While two men would hold this pole, another would put a

collar securely around the bear’s neck. Two chains were then snapped on the collar. The pole and ropes were then removed, the bear was ‘collared,’ and the two men at the extreme end of the chain would hold the bear off each other. This procedure was described as ‘spread-eagling’ a bear.” So, there you go. Next time you need to deal with a bear you know exactly what to do — “spread-eagle” the varmint.

“The bear quickly fell prey to sharpshooting mountaineers,” Jones writes, and all the other animals rather quickly faded away in an environment they couldn’t cope with — all, that is but the wild boar.

“One source states that the wild boar were capable of sticking their legs between the rails of their pen and actually climbing over the fence,” Jones writes. “It seems likely, however, that the majority of them chose to remain within the enclosure where they were allowed to reproduce unmolested for a period of eight to 10 years.”

In the early 1920s, Moore’s foreman, Cotton McGuire, a Graham County resident who provided most of the information Jones collected, “invited some of his friends who owned packs of dogs up to the Bald for a grand hog hunt. This hunt was conducted within the boar lot, and by this time the boar had increased to an estimated herd of between 60 and 100. The Russian boar, however, turned out to be more than the hunters

or dogs bargained for. Only two boar were killed, and at least a dozen dogs were killed, or severely maimed. Some of the hunters were forced to take refuge in trees to escape the charging beasts. Overly excited by the baying of dogs and shouts of hunters, the boar simply tore their way through the fence and escaped into the nearby mountains.”

A mature animal can attain a height of over three feet at the shoulder and a weight of over 400 pounds.

Troy Hyde, a veteran Graham County hunter, told Jones that one could “root up concrete, if he put his mind to it.” That sounds like exaggeration until you see areas where they have been rooting. The first time I encountered such an area I momentarily wondered what fool had been rototilling in the national park. Then the hog smell betrayed the culprits’ identities. I was astonished at the extent of damage.

Wild boars are independent cusses that have made the transition from one continent to another with admirable ease. They didn’t asked to be hauled from Europe to Graham County, but they’ve made a go of it without any whining or bellyaching. That’s admirable. But you can’t really be the friend of an animal that pollutes your water supply and uproots rock walls on your property. Can you? Even kudzu doesn’t do that.

(George Ellison is a writer and naturalist who lives in Bryson City. info@georgeellison.com.)