As the Appalachian Trail idea celebrates its centennial anniversary, The Smoky Mountain News reflects on the vision of Benton MacKaye and what he might think of the A.T.’s popularity and impact today. (Page 28) In an undated photo, Benton MacKaye surveys a future section of the Appalachian Trail. Appalachian Trail Conservancy photo
News
Tribal Council silent on same-sex marriage law proposal ......................................6
Trump speaks at Republican convention in Greenville ............................................8
Waynesville fires town attorney ....................................................................................11
Jackson considers pay raises for first responders ..................................................12
Macon hikes property tax rate for capital needs ....................................................15
Waynesville funds overnight stays for unsheltered ................................................17 Airbnb partners with ECBI on economic development ........................................19
Opinion
Social media is not the public square ........................................................................20
Letter: Is this really the land of the free?....................................................................21
A&E
Graham Sharp brings solo show to Orange Peel ..................................................22
Books
A few lessons in virtue from a veteran ........................................................................27
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The slide of U.S. 441 on Cowee Mountain may be stabilized by the end of the year as a contractor for the N.C. Department of Transportation changes construction plans.
NCDOT and WNC Paving have recently agreed to change the material stabilizing the embankment above a rock buttress from existing soil to a stone material in order to accelerate completion of the project.
Switching material accelerates the project timeline by allowing crews to work on days during and immediately following a rainstorm instead of waiting for existing soil to dry.
“If it rains, you lose a lot of time,” Division 14 Construction Engineer Mitchell Bishop said. “We still have a few logistics to work out, like an estimated completion date, and we still have to work out a final cost estimate.”
The project will stabilize the hillside, which has been slowly shifting for decades, and will return traffic to its five-lane formation for many years into the future. Traffic on U.S. 441 has been reduced to utilizing one lane in each direction in the construction zone since the fall of 2019.
The first phase of the project included significant drainage repairs and excavating about 18,000 cubic yards of earth material to build a soil-nail wall and maintain traffic in the two-lane pattern.
This second phase is like building one side of a pyramid, by starting with a buttress of large stone at the bottom and working up with small stone. It includes adding about 123,000 tons of shot-rock to build the buttress — which is about 50 percent complete — and an additional 105,000 tons of smaller stone to build the embankment.
“The mountain wants to move and we’re keeping it in place to keep drivers safe,” Bishop said. “We ask that drivers remain patient and drive safe through the work zone.”
Tribal Council declines to hear proposed same-sex marriage law
BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER
Every month, the Tribal Council agenda starts the same way. The chairman calls the meeting to order, and then there’s a prayer, a roll call, a call for requested changes to the agenda and a unanimous vote to deem the ever-present list of new proposed ordinances read and tabled.
That’s not how the June 1 meeting went.
“Mr. Chairman, I know it’s out of the ordinary, but I’d like to deem items two through nine read and tabled,” said Vice Chairman David Wolfe after Chairman Adam Wachacha asked for changes to the agenda.
Wolfe’s move left out Item One, an ordinance submitted by tribal member Tamara Thompson to legalize same-sex marriage on the Qualla Boundary. About 13 minutes later, Wachacha reminded Council that it had not deemed Thompson’s ordinance read and tabled.
“What is the pleasure of Council for this ordinance proposal?” he asked.
The question was met with seven seconds of silence.
“If there isn’t any action taken to be read and tabled, that one shall die pertaining to Section 117-38(a) and (b), because it never got to start the process,” Wachacha said.
Thompson said she was shocked at this outcome.
“For the longest time I thought this was simply an oversight. It’s just a forgotten issue — nobody thinks this, it’s just, they weren’t thinking about it,” said Thompson, a Big Cove resident who is part of Cherokee’s LGBTQ community. “Now I see it wasn’t just a forgotten issue. It was a purposefully neglected issue.”
Tribal law specifically defines marriage as an institution between a man and a woman.
A footnote on the online copy of the tribal code states that the ordinance setting up that provision was passed in 2000.
“The licensing and solemnization of same-sex marriages are not allowed within this jurisdiction,” the law reads.
In 2014, Tribal Council passed a resolution affirming its marriage law by a 7-1 vote, with one abstention and two absences. The resolution, submitted by Denny Crowe, Bo Parris, Ben Reed and Gilbert Breedlove, states that the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has “for generation upon generation” recognized marriage as a union between a man and a woman and that “recent court cases” have “triggered the local review and response of strengthening the laws within this jurisdiction to best protect the institution of marriage.” It then goes on to quote Bible verses defining marriage and prohibiting homosexuality, specifically Genesis 1:27 and Romans 1:26-27.
kind of broke my heart.” She also questions their legality.
Tribal law sets out a clear process for consideration and adoption of new ordinances. Under Sec. 117-38(b) — the section Wachacha quoted as justification for deeming the ordinance dead on the floor — all proposed ordinances placed on the agenda “shall” be assigned an ordinance number and be read into the record by the clerk. Tribal Council can vote to waive the reading requirement, and while members may discuss the ordinance after it’s read, “no member may propose any motion or amendment to the ordinance at the first reading,” the law reads. Ordinances must sit for at least 25 calendar days before they’re voted on. The law does not include any provision for declining to read an ordinance that appears on the agenda into the record, or for declaring it dead on the floor prior to the first reading.
“The fact that they quoted the exact law that they broke and used that to justify their actions was shocking,” said Thompson.
Thompson was not in the room June 1. Typically, the first reading of an ordinance is uneventful and perfunctory. In fact, she said, about two weeks before the June 1 meeting she received a phone call from the Tribal Operations Program letting her know that her ordinance had been placed on the agenda but that she didn’t need to be there, because the first reading is only a formality.
“Now I see it wasn’t just a forgotten issue. It was a purposefully neglected issue.”
— Tamara Thompson
While same-sex marriages are not recognized in Cherokee Court, residents of tribal lands are also residents of Swain, Jackson, Cherokee or Graham counties, and ever since a federal judge struck down North Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriages in October 2014, all counties in the state have issued marriage licenses to gay couples. The EBCI is a sovereign nation and was not directly affected by the court ruling.
Thompson said that Tribal Council’s actions last week “disgusted me” and “really
“I would have hoped that Council would not have made this as big of an issue, but I’m kind of glad they are in a way, because it helped me to recognize that the fight’s still going, and it kind of invigorated my own fight,” she said. Thompson said she has resubmitted the ordinance for the July 1 agenda and that this time she’ll be there when the meeting starts at 8:30 a.m., along with any supporters who care to join. If she doesn’t succeed in getting her ordinance heard, she said, she will consider filing an ethics complaint against members of council and submitting a protest to the chairman.
Requests for comment sent to Wachacha and Wolfe, as well as to legislative counsel and the EBCI Attorney General’s Office, were not returned as of press time.
Cherokee voters choose Primary Election winners
BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER
Tribal Council incumbents fared well in Thursday’s Primary Election, with all six representatives who faced primary contests sailing easily toward the Sept. 2 General Election. However, the General Election ballot will feature only one incumbent Cherokee Central Schools Board member between the three school board races underway this year.
In each Tribal Council race, the top four vote-getters will progress to the General Election, as will the top two vote-getters in each School Board race. During the General Election, all 12 Tribal Council seats will be up for election. All results are unofficial until the Board of Elections certifies results to Tribal Council, which according to tribal law will occur during Tribal Council’s first meeting following the Primary Election.
Birdtown Representatives Boyd Owle and Albert Rose were by far the top two vote-getters in their community with 26.6% and 24.6% of the vote respectively, according to unofficial tallies. Challenger Cyndi Lambert was not far behind, with 20.1%. Gloria “Punkin” Griffin came in fourth of the seven candidates with 14.8% and will also progress to the General Election.
In Wolfetown, incumbent Bo Crowe was by far the most popular of the five candidates, earning 40.3% of the vote. Behind him were former Chairman Bill Taylor with 17.9% and incumbent Chelsea Saunooke with 17.5%. Jesse Sneed will also progress to the General Election after earning 14% of the vote.
Incumbent Vice Chairman David Wolfe and Representative Tom Wahnetah are assured a place on the General Election ballot after pulling 29.4% and 22% of the vote, respectively, in the field of seven candidates. T.W. Price Saunooke will move on as well after earning 14.3% of the vote. Stephanie Saunooke French occupies fourth place with 39 votes, or 9.6%. Close behind her are Shannon Ross with 36 votes, Christopher Reed with 33 and write-in candidate Elvia Walkingstick with 31 votes.
Only one current member of the Cherokee Central Schools Board will appear on the General Election ballot. Incumbent Isaac “Ike” Long received 40.2% of the vote in the race to represent Birdtown, behind challenger Berdie Toineeta, who captured 53.7%. Current Birdtown representative Gloria Griffin is not running for re-election and will instead seek to represent her community on Tribal Council this fall. Meanwhile, Big Cove representative Karen French-Browning came in third out of five candidates, failing to secure enough votes to progress to the General Election. In September, Melanie Lambert and Ashford Smith will face off in search of the Birdtown seat, and Lavita Hill and Kristina Hyatt will spar for the Big Cove seat.
The results
Tribal Council
Birdtown
Boyd Owle: 283 votes, 26.6%*
Albert Rose: 262, 24.6%*
Cyndi Lambert: 214, 20.1%
Gloria “Punkin” Griffin: 157, 14.8%
Robin Lambert: 76, 7.1%
Jacob George: 38, 3.6%
Gilbert Crowe Jr.: 33, 3.1%
Wolfetown
Bo Crowe: 346, 40.3%*
Bill Taylor: 154, 17.9%
Chelsea Taylor Saunooke: 150, 17.5%*
Jesse Sneed: 120, 14.0%
Sam “Frell” Reed: 88, 10.3%
Yellowhill
Dave Wolfe: 119, 29.4%*
Tom Wahnetah: 89, 22.0%*
T.W. Price Saunooke: 58, 14.3%
Stephanie Saunooke French: 39, 9.6%
Shannon Ross: 36, 8.9%
Christopher Reed: 33, 8.1%
Elvia Walkingstick: (Write-in) 31, 7.7%
School Board
Big Cove
Lavita Hill: 54, 34.8%
Kristina Hyatt: 51, 32.9%
Karen French-Browning: 31, 20%*
Damian Solis: 15, 9.7%
Lori Taylor: 4, 2.6%
Birdtown
Melanie Lambert: 189, 34.7%
Ashford Smith: 169, 31%
Ray Long: 153, 28.1%
Bree Stamper: 34, 6.2%
Wolftown
Berdie Toineeta: 183, 53.7%
Isaac “Ike” Long: 137, 40.2%
Harland Squirrel: 21, 6.2%
* denotes incumbent
• Top vote-getters who qualify for the General Election according to unofficial results shown in italics.
• Data from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Communications Office.
The elections office did not respond to a request for voter turnout information. However, the total number of votes is low compared to the last two Primary Elections held during years without chief’s races, 2017 and 2013. The total number of votes cast for the Birdtown, Wolfetown and Yellowhill Tribal Council races this year was 67 percent of the total number cast in those races during the 2017 primary and 94 percent the number cast in the 2013 primary.
written by Ingles Dietitian Leah McGrath
COTTAGE CHEESE THE UNDERDOG OF DAIRY
Many of us tend to associate cottage cheese with something our grandparents may have eaten. The “diet plate” of a leaf of lettuce, half of a canned peach and a scoop of cottage cheese. But what if we are underselling cottage cheese?
Let’s look at some facts about cottage cheese:
1. Looking for protein? It’s a protein power house – 1 cup of non-fat cottage cheese has 23-25 grams of protein (depending if it is large curd or small curd).
2. Looking for something that’s low in carbohydrates? 1 cup of nonfat cottage cheese has just 3-5 grams of carbohydrates.
Here are some ideas of how to use cottage cheese in your meals:
• Blend with eggs and use to make scrambled eggs.
• Add ½ cup of small curd to your milk or milk alternative smoothies.
• Make a cottage cheese parfait with fresh, canned or frozen fruits and granola or cereal.
• Blend with avocado or guacamole and spread on toast for a Avocoto toast that has protein.
• Add spice and herb blends and use as a dip.
Nutrition tip: Because of how cottage cheese is made it does have a sodium content that should be considered if you have been told to limit sodium in your diet.
Former President Donald Trump made one of his first major public appearances since losing the 2020 election, returning to the battleground state of North Carolina on June 5 and dispelling any doubts about who’s really wielding power in the Republican Party.
BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT P OLITICS E DITOR
Since leaving office in January — under the cloud of pending impeachment and a social media blackout — questions have swirled over Donald Trump’s continuing influence among Republicans, as well as Trump’s own political future. But when North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley heaped praise upon him at an event in Greenville over the weekend, it sounded very much like he was making a case for Trump’s re-election.
“When Donald Trump came down the escalator in 2015 and announced he was going to run for president, that he was going to win the presidency, he said that he was going to unleash the American economy. After he won that election we saw record low unemployment among Hispanics, record low unemployment among Blacks, record low unemployment among women and the most robust economy we’ve seen since the end of World War II,” Whatley said. “Promises made, promises kept.”
Whatley was speaking to a capacity crowd of more than 1,200 Republicans at the party’s annual state convention, at the Greenville Convention Center. During the weekend-long event, party delegates from across the state gathered to elect new party officers, attend workshops and hear speeches from a roster of GOP luminaries like Rep. Madison Cawthorn, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
The main attraction, as always, was Trump himself.
A master showman, Trump kept the crowd waiting for more than an hour as their anticipation grew, but when he finally took the stage, he spent more than an hour recounting what he said were the major accomplishments of his administration.
“As you know, we handed the new administration the greatest economy in the history of the world. We passed massive tax cuts — the largest ever — larger than our great friend Ronald Reagan. [We enacted] record regulation cuts, historic pro-American trade deals and achieved American energy independence,” Trump said. “We launched the fastest economic recovery on record. We produced three vaccines and numerous therapeutics to defeat the virus.”
Indeed, the Coronavirus Pandemic
dogged Trump during the final year of his term and may have even cost him the election. He blames China, and during his speech made a bold demand.
“The time has come for America and the world to demand reparations and accountability from the Communist Party of China,” Trump said. “We should all declare with one unified voice that China must pay. They must pay.”
Trump called for a 100 percent tariff on all goods made in China, which he said would help American farmers, hamper China’s military and bring offshored manufacturing back to the United States — specifically, North Carolina’s furniture industry.
Going a step further, Trump said that the entire world should present China with a bill for $10 trillion and take meaningful steps to collect on it.
“As a first step, all countries should collectively cancel any debt they owed to China as a down payment on reparations,” he said. “The nations of the world should no longer owe money to China.”
China currently owns the second-largest portion of the estimated $28 trillion U.S. national debt, about a trillion dollars, just behind Japan’s $1.25 trillion stake.
The shift in focus back to China as a malfeasor in the global pandemic is more than financial; it underlies what’s come to be known as The Big Lie — conspiratorial claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. No proof of these claims has yet been found, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t still looking.
“The 2020 presidential election was by far the most corrupt election in the history of our country. There’s never been anything like this. They used COVID and they used the mail-in ballots to steal an election,” said Trump. “It was a third-world country election, like we’ve never seen before.”
Trump went on to congratulate state senators in Arizona, who called for an election audit that’s currently underway. Although the audit has been widely derided by experts as haphazard and a “circus,” its results — no matter how flawed — will likely add more fuel to the phony election fire.
“They’ll be finished in three or four weeks. It’ll be very interesting, but I’ll tell you, maybe they’ll find nothing. Maybe they’ll say, ‘Oh, it was a wonderful, perfect election,’ but maybe not,” he said. “Now
they’re looking at it in Pennsylvania and they’re looking at it in Georgia. And they’re looking at it in many other states because they’re [all] saying ‘The same thing’s happened to us.’ That election will go as the crime of the century, and our country is being destroyed by people who perhaps have no right to destroy it.”
And it wouldn’t be a Trump speech without heaping helpings of ridicule and derision directed at people he thinks are destroying the country — an ever-growing enemies list that includes congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Talib, Facebook magnate Mark Zuckerberg and Sen. Bernie Sanders, just to name a few.
The harshest blows were reserved for President Joe Biden himself.
“Joe Biden and the socialist Democrats are the most radical left-wing administration in history. Even Bernie Sanders can’t believe it,” Trump joked. “I don’t know if they even know what the hell they’re signing. Somebody is drawing these documents and putting [them] in. It’s getting signed. It’s a disgrace what’s happening to our country.”
Trump won North Carolina by less than 4 percent in 2016, and less than 2 percent in 2020. North Carolina will again be a battleground state in the 2024 Presidential Election but will also become more valuable — census figures show the state will get another congressional district, and another vote in the Electoral College.
With campaign season for the 2022 midterms already underway, it’s critical for Republicans to maintain their dominance at the state level if they hope to keep North Carolina red, whether it’s Trump running for president or not.
“The survival of America depends upon our ability to elect Republicans at every level, starting with the midterms,” he said. “Next year, we have to get it done. We have to get it done. We have no choice.”
Two Western North Carolina Republicans who hold prominent positions in party leadership, District 11 Chair Michele Woodhouse and Haywood County Republican Party Chair Kay Miller, were asked to assess — on a scale of 1 to 100 — how much North Carolina Republicans were still behind Trump.
“Oh, I would say a hundred,” Woodhouse said.
“Very close to a hundred,” said Miller.
“In my view I thought that the support was really palpable. You could just really feel it. Everybody was so excited. I’m sure there’s some folks that wish he would just kind of move on, but right now he’s the leader of the party.”
Woodhouse reiterated Whatley’s assertions of “promises made, promises kept” and credited Trump’s enduring popularity within the party to his wide appeal across demographics.
“You had people in there tonight sitting at $25,000 tables, and you had people in there who had paid their admission into this convention. You had incredible patriots from the front to the back of the room and people of all classes in there, and he continues to be the one key Republican who can speak to people from plumbers to executives, urban to suburban whites, Blacks,” she said. “He really does speak across a much broader range than we’re used to seeing in the Republican Party.”
Even though he’s not in office, Trump’s impact on the 2022 midterms cannot be overstated. He used the occasion of his speech to make a surprise endorsement of Rep. Ted Budd, a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by retiring Republican Richard Burr.
Maintaining control of the seat is especially important for Republicans, given the current 50-50 deadlock in the Senate. Vice President Kamala Harris votes in the case of a tie, and serves as President of the Senate, technically putting it under Democrat control, like the House and the presidency.
Miller thinks Trump’s endorsements still hold considerable weight.
“People are going to get behind those candidates,” she said. “I think that those he’s backing are going to see that it helps them.”
Like anything else, there are both pros and cons to Republicans again casting their lot with Trump. One of the cons is that Trump lost support in the suburbs in 2020. In 2016, the suburbs paved the way to the Trump presidency, but if Trump’s to throw his weight around for Republicans in 2022, the party has to figure out how to reclaim this important demographic.
“I think the suburban white voter like me, the suburban white college-educated woman has proven to be a problem for the
S EE TRUMP, PAGE 10
The Return of the Don
Cory Vaillancourt photo
Trump makes early endorsement in 2022 NC Senate race
BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT P OLITICS E DITOR
Voters excited about the possibility of a new chapter in the Trump family’s political legacy were in for a bit of a letdown last Saturday night, but former President Donald Trump did give North Carolina Republicans something else to be excited about.
“Now you may have heard a rumor that I have been considering possibly running for a Senate seat here in North Carolina,” said Lara Trump, who since 2014 has been married to Donald Trump’s middle son, Eric. “I did a lot of soul searching, a
lot of thinking, talking with my father-in-law, my parents, my husband Eric … and because of my two
for now,’ not, ‘No forever.’”
Lara Trump was born in Wilmington in 1982 and graduated
kids who are very young, 1 and 3, Carolina and Luke, it is going to be very hard for me to enter this Senate race right now. But I am saying ‘No
cum laude from North Carolina State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications. In 2012, she became a pro-
TRUMP, CONTINUED FROM 8
Republican Party before president Trump,” said Woodhouse. “It cannot be a problem going forward. The Republican Party has to use the school struggles that we’re having with critical race theory, things that are happening to suburban white working women, and speak to them. We’re not doing a great job with the platform in that space, and I think we have an incredible opportunity to really improve.”
At the grassroots level, Miller and her Haywood Republicans are working to preserve dominance of their own, from top to bottom. The county commission is 4-1 Republican, both state
reps are Republican, the state senator is Republican, the congressman is Republican and both U.S. Senators are Republican.
Western North Carolina is so Republican, in fact, that not only do its Republican presidential candidates
urban areas in the rest of the state. “Our efforts are really focused on grassroots mobilization right now and getting our precincts with the proper leadership in place and having precinct meetings and just trying to educate our folks in the precincts, get-
It’s been a while since the world heard from former President Donald Trump, but at the state Republican convention last weekend, he sounded a lot like President Donald
often win, they win by large margins that generate surplus votes to erode the influence of heavily Democratic,
ting to know our neighbors,” Miller said. “That’s the biggest thing that we’re doing right now.”
North Carolina native and Fox News personality Lara Trump (left) stands with her father-in-law in Greenville on June 5. Cory Vaillancourt photo
Trump. Cory Vaillancourt photo
as his advisor and surrogate on occasion.
Mentioned as a possible candidate for retiring Republican Senator Richard Burr’s U.S. Senate seat, Lara quashed speculation that she would join the 2022 Primary Election field that already includes prominent North Carolina Republicans like former Gov. Pat McCrory and former Rep. Mark Walker.
Donald Trump said he’d waited on Lara’s decision before making an endorsement, and once she announced it, he wasted little time in doing so, calling Rep. Ted Budd to the stage.
“I am giving him my complete and total endorsement. We’re going to work with them. We’re going to campaign with them. You can’t pick people that have already lost two races,” Trump said in a thinly-veiled barb against McCrory. “You can’t pick people that have already lost two races and do not stand for our values, so I’m going with Congressman Ted Budd, complete and total endorsement. Come on up, Ted.”
Budd, of Davie County, emerged from a 17-candidate Republican Primary Election in 2016 and benefitted from the “Trump surge” in the General Election to win his first term in Congress.
“The Dems outspent me two-to-one in the worst Republican district and with your help, Mr. President and Lara, you coming in to help, we won,” said Budd. “In 2020, Lara, we fought together. We fought to help [U.S. Sen.] Tom Tillis win, we fought to keep the North Carolina legislature, we fought for North Carolina judges. You’re a heck of a teammate and you’d be a heck of a Senator. Mr. President, Lara, this means the world to me. Thank you, but we’ve got a lot of hard work ahead, so let’s win this together and let’s get back to making America great again.”
McCrory responded on Twitter, saying he was “disappointed that President Trump has endorsed a Washington insider who has done more to oppose the Trump agenda than anyone in this race.”
Trump’s endorsement of Budd also puts him at odds with another Republican congressman with whom he’s grown close — Madison Cawthorn. Cawthorn endorsed Rep. Walker back in February.
Now, McCrory and Walker — along with declared Democrats in the field like former state Supreme Court Justice Cheri Beasley, state Sen. Jeff Jackson, and former state Sen. Erica Smith — will be among the first to test the efficacy of the next-generation Trump machine.
“Just because my name is not on the ballot does not mean I am not fighting every step of the way with you here in North Carolina,” said Lara. “If we’re being honest, this is so much bigger than a Senate seat. It’s about the future of America. We have to fight for our conservative values. We have to have a person in that Senate seat who represents North Carolina, and he’s going to lead this country in the right direction.”
Jackson considers more salary for law enforcement, first responders
BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER
After multiple work sessions and a public hearing, Jackson County commissioners may designate an additional $444,000 in the 2021-22 budget for law enforcement and emergency response salaries.
Proposed changes to the initial recommended budget presented May 18 include $296,000 for pay increases in the sheriff’s department and jail as well as $148,000 to support the county’s two volunteer rescue squads. Commissioners are also considering $15,000 for the Jackson County Farmers Market. A $13,001 line item to buy a commercial mower for Southwestern Community College would be taken out after SCC decided the equipment was not needed.
The pay increases for law enforcement are in response to a request that Chief Deputy Matt Wike presented May 24. As of June 1, Wike said, there would be 10 vacancies in a department of 82 employees. In a two-year span, the department had lost 25 employees, mostly to higher-paying jobs.
“When we start having those numbers of vacancies, that’s when we start worrying that we’re not going to be able to provide these
services the way it needs to be provided for this county,” he said. “We can’t just afford to continue to kick it down the road.”
Currently, sheriff’s employees are paid according to a different pay scale than the one used for other county employees. The plan Wike presented would place sheriff department and detention employees on the county pay plan, targeting the largest pay raises to the positions that most need an adjustment.
The plan would increase salaries for detention officers and sergeants by 6.81% and those of detectives and deputies by 12.16%. Lieutenant, captain, major and chief deputy positions would all see a 1.73% increase. The sheriff would not get a pay raise. Wike had presented a plan totaling $345,000 in salaries and benefits.
Wike told commissioners that funding the raises in the 2021-22 budget would be critically necessary to “stop the bleeding,” but that they should be prepared to spend more in the future.
“I do expect that if y’all do plan to go ahead in the final budget with the countywide salary study, you might see that there is still a gap, even if we were to do this plan,” he said. “But I think it will address the
immediate needs that we see in the Sheriff’s Office to start turning the tide on our salaries.”
Adams’ proposed budget sets aside $1 million to implement the results of a planned salary study, and he suggested that commissioners fund sheriff’s and jail pay raises from that line item, should they choose to do so.
“I don’t think we have the option to decide whether we want to do it,” said Chairman Brian McMahan. “I think we have to do it.”
The rest of the board members seemed to agree with that assessment.
The sheriff’s office is also hoping to purchase an integrated officer camera system in the foreseeable future, but it has not yet made a formal funding request for that money and hopes to find outside monies that will not rely on the county’s taxpayer dollars.
Of the $148,000 recommended to go to the rescue squads, $35,000 would provide a $12 pay per call to volunteer members who show up for emergencies. The remaining funds would support one full-time position at each of the county’s two rescue squads, putting the county’s support of those squads in line with the support it provides the five
volunteer fire departments that are not supported by a fire tax.
“There is a need to make sure that the rescue squads are made whole as well and that they’re at the same level and operations that we’re giving to the fire side,” McMahan said during a June 1 work session.
According to discussion during the June 1 session, rescue squad funding would come from a line item currently reserved to fulfill the county’s promise to help the GlenvilleCashiers Rescue Squad pay for a new building in Cashiers. The county has reserved that funding for three years, but ongoing litigation within the rescue squad has pushed back the construction timeline, so the money has not been spent. Once the rescue squad comes back with a formal funding request for construction, commissioners will have to find the money to honor their previous commitment. However, said Adams, the year-to-year debt payment could be less than previously calculated due to lower interest rates and more accumulated funds available to make a larger down payment.
During the June 1 budget hearing, eight people gave public comment, all representing local nonprofits and thanking commissioners for their financial support.
A final budget will be presented for adoption during commissioners’ next regular meeting, at 1 p.m. Tuesday, June 15. There will be a time for public comment at the beginning of the meeting, either in person at the Jackson County Justice & Administration Building or via Zoom. Call 828.631.2213 by noon June 15 to give comment by phone or video.
Jackson County names new DSS director
BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER
After five years heading the agency, Jennifer Abshire will retire as director of the Jackson County Department of Social Services on July 1. Following a closed session discussion June 1, county commissioners unanimously approved the social services board’s decision to hire Graham County DSS Director Cris Weatherford to take her place.
Abshire will retire after a 29-year career with Jackson County DSS, something she termed a “wonderful and rewarding experience” in her Feb. 10 resignation letter.
“There are not many places you can work where you have the opportunity to positively affect the lives of others while feeling valued for the work you do,” she said. “This has been an amazing place to work and grow.”
The Jackson County Board of Social Services chose Weatherford from “a highly qualified pool of candidates,” according to a press release. He has served as Graham County’s DSS director for nearly two years, and his professional background also includes two years as development director with Mainspring Conservation Trust, eight years as director of the Cherokee Boys Club and 16 months as supervisor for Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Family Safety. In 2005, Weatherford was a child welfare social worker with Jackson County DSS.
“Weatherford has a proven track record in making a variety of human services programs successful in his career,” said Abshire. “I feel confident that he will continue to meet the needs of your community in a professional and compassionate way.”
Weatherford holds a bachelor’s degree in social work and a master’s in public administration, both from Western Carolina University. He and his wife Charla live in Jackson County and have raised three boys.
“Cris Weatherford has a personal connection with Jackson County and brings a variety of leadership experiences,” said Social Services Board Chair Dana Tucker. “He is committed to the mission, purpose
Waynesville fires town attorney
Following public complaints, the Waynesville Board of Aldermen voted to terminate the contract of its town attorney, Bill Cannon.
Some of Cannon’s personal tweets on Twitter expressed controversial opinions on political topics as well as current and former elected officials like Donald Trump, Mark Meadows and Rep. Madison Cawthorn. Cannon had served in the role since
and people of Jackson County Department of Social Services and to the families, children and adults that the department serves.”
Departments of social services are facing some significant challenges, particularly in
Medicaid transformation and child welfare transformation. In addition to the pandemic, a substance abuse pandemic is still ongoing and has been claiming victims for years. As director, Weatherford seek to make Jackson County a place of helping and healing amid these challenges.
“I truly love collaborating and being a part of something bigger,” he said. “It takes a lot of teamwork and collaboration to successfully address these challenges.”
Weatherford will lead a staff of 70 fulltime employees and direct an annual budget of $8.4 million. Commissioners approved his hire at a salary of $92,299, well above the advertised minimum of $67,235. As of July 2020, Abshire’s salary was $112,512, up from $87,000 when she was initially hired to the position in 2016. Weatherford will start his new job July 1.
early 2017 and was paid $275 per hour. A closed session for personnel was held at the conclusion of the June 3 special called meeting of the board, but was recessed, rather than adjourned. The closed session reconvened at 10 a.m. on June 7 and resulted in a 4-1 vote to terminate. Alderman Chuck Dickson was the only holdout. Planning Board Attorney Ronald Sneed, who practices in Black Mountain and Swannanoa, and is currently the Black Mountain town attorney, will serve in an interim capacity at least through the board’s June 8 regular meeting.
Waynesville seeks volunteer board applicants
The Town of Waynesville Board of Aldermen is accepting applications to fill the following vacancies on various community boards and commissions. Applications should be submitted no later than June 16 for consideration. Applications are kept on file for one year. Unless indicated, applicants must be a resident of Waynesville to qualify.
• ABC Board – one vacancy
• Cemetery Committee – two vacancies
• Historic Preservation Commission – three vacancies
• Planning Board – two vacancies; one vacancy for ETJ representative ** One vacancy to represent Haywood County Planning Board** Must live in ETJ **
• Public Art Commission – three vacancies
Downtown Waynesville director announces retirement
After 14 years at the helm of the Downtown Waynesville Association, Buffy Phillips is calling it quits.
“It is with a mixture of emotions that I tender my resignation effectively [sic] August 6,” Phillips wrote in a letter to DWA board members dated May 27. “For the board member partners, property and business owners with whom we have achieved much progress toward revitalization in Downtown Waynesville.”
Early in her tenure, Phillips presided over a
• Recreation Advisory Board – three vacancies
• Waynesville Housing Authority – two vacancies (serving a five-year term)
• Zoning Board of Adjustment – two vacancies; one vacancy for ETJ representative
The terms for these boards are three years will begin on July 1, 2021, and run through June 30, 2024.
The Waynesville Housing Authority terms are for five years beginning July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2026.
Applications are available online at www.waynesvillenc.gov/current-vacancies or can be obtained at the Municipal Building, 16 South Main Street, Waynesville. For more information, 828.452.2491 or eward@waynesvillenc.gov.
renaissance on Waynesville’s Main Street commercial district but had come under fire in recent years for what critics describe as a lack of performance and professionalism. Phillips hinted at her impending resignation during a March meeting but refused to confirm it at the time and since then has refused to return phone calls and emails from The Smoky Mountain News. The DWA’s contract to manage the town’s Municipal Service District expires at the end of this month, and it’s not yet clear if the DWA will emerge from the competitive RFP process with a new contract. Phillips’ resignation makes clear that if the DWA is indeed awarded a new contract, Phillips will not be part of the picture. A public records request made of the DWA by SMN near the end of March still has not been fulfilled.
Cris Weatherford. Donated photo
Women's Retreat About Much More Than Yoga
· BY JESSI STONE ·
Some of us were there to get out of the house. Some of us were there to escape our grief. Some of us were there to strengthen our aging bodies. Some of us were there to get away from our husbands. Some of us were there to let go of stress and control. Some of us were called by a higher power to be there.
All of us were meant to be there.
That’s how I felt walking away from a recent women’s health & wellness yoga retreat at Lake Junaluska along with the 13 other women I met during the journey. As we closed the retreat with a sharing circle, the women all said they expected to do a lot of yoga, but what they didn’t expect was to find such a deep connection with complete strangers in such a short amount of time.
They didn’t expect to find themselves so emotional reflecting on the retreat and they didn’t expect to find complete understanding and camaraderie in a group of women from all walks of life — different states, ages, backgrounds, ethnicity and experience. We had to pass around a box of tissues as we moved around the room to each speaker.
Jay MacDonald, owner of Waynesville Yoga Center and retreat facilitator, just smiled as she listened to our closing thoughts. She wasn’t surprised at all — it’s exactly what she hoped to accomplish when she planned the women’s yoga retreat. It’s exactly what she envisioned when she opened the yoga center in Waynesville a few years ago.
As Jay pointed out to us, it’s not often a group of women can come together like that with no judgment or preconceived notions about one another, but when it does happen, it’s pretty magical.
Personally, I signed up so I could take a Monday and Tuesday off from work and destress with two days worth of med-
itation and yoga practice. I felt like it might help me up my personal yoga practice at home and help me cure this overwhelming feeling of burnout and stuckness lately.
I got everything I signed up for and more. We had great workshops about hormones, stress relief, inflammation and nutrition. We flowed, we meditated, we savasanaed, we learned about different
kind words about each person on their piece of paper. As the paper made its way back to each person, we each read all the kinds words from strangers in silence. The tears that followed told me something I know all too well — accepting kind words from others makes us uncomfortable because it’s something we’re not used to hearing.
styles of yoga and we did a lot of forward folds and upward dogs.
I was there dealing with my own burdens and grief, but as I heard more from the other ladies during the discussions, lunch break and small group work, I found I wasn’t alone. I wasn’t the only one who’d lost a loved one — or many — in the last year. I wasn’t the only one grieving for someone with a terminal illness. I wasn’t the only one overwhelmed and exhausted from this pandemic. I wasn’t the only one struggling to take care of myself mentally, physically and emotionally.
There was something reassuring about hearing their stories and being present for that kind of vulnerability — something that isn’t my strong suit. I guess there’s no reason why that would make me feel any better, but for some reason I think it lessened the burden we were all carrying.
Jay had us number a piece of paper 1 through 14 with our name on the top of it and pass it around the circle until it came back around to us. Everyone was to write
We don’t tell ourselves enough about how amazing we are, so it can be a mind-boggling moment reading an entire page full of compliments from other women who’ve only spent a couple of days with you. I’m keeping that piece of notebook paper forever — hell, I may even frame it — so I can look back when I’m having a bad day and remember who I am and how others see me. In a moment where I was feeling weak, sad and tired, these women saw me as joyful, fun, hilarious and insightful. I went home walking a little taller with my shoulders more relaxed instead of up under my ears. I left a lot of resentment, anger and disappointments on the mat. I felt more at peace with where I am at in my life and with hope for my future, convinced I’m on the right path since it had put me in front of these amazingly strong women and teachers.
I’m working hard to maintain that feeling of peace and calm as I return to normal life. That’s the purpose of yoga — to be able to take what you’ve learned on the mat and integrate it into your everyday life.
The 13 other women in my group are already looking forward to returning to the lake next May for the second annual retreat. But if you don’t want to wait until then, Waynesville Yoga Center has two more retreats coming up this year — An Out of the Box Adventure Retreat in July and an Aging Gracefully retreat in September.
Rumble is a weekly e-newsletter created by women, for women and about women. It is published by The Smoky Mountain News and delivered to your inbox each Thursday. The goal is to offer readers a beautifully curated email that will inspire and motivate women to live their best lives. By hearing the challenges and successes of other women, we hope you will find an opportunity to live, love, learn and grow in your own unique way.
Graphic Designer Jessica Murray (from left), SMN News Editor Jessi Stone, Staff Writer Hannah McLeod, Digital Media Specialist Susanna Shetley and Amanda Singletary (not pictured)
Macon’s proposed budget causes discord
Board raises taxes for capital needs
BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR
County Manager Derek Roland was tasked with delivering a flat budget for the 2021-22 budget year, but after countless hours of heated discussions, Macon County Commissioners approved increasing property taxes with a narrow majority.
With a 3-to-2 vote of approval, Macon
increased 2.4 million — or 4.5 percent — over last year’s original budget and a 2.6 percent increase over the 2019-20 budget. The county’s fund balance also increased by 2.5 million, bringing the county’s total savings account to about $27.6 million, representing about 51 percent of the county’s annual expenses.
“Every local government across North Carolina saw a fund balance increase in 2021 because of the influx of COVID funding and because we braced for the worst last year and thank God we got the best,” Roland said.
cations and 12 in the sheriff’s department. The compensation and classification study will help us to design a marketable pay structure.”
The public safety budget will increase by $800,000 this year for a total of about $15 million to cover the cost of a new ambulance, a new animal control crate, a new generator, new dash cams for sheriff patrol cars and another $55,000 to cover the increasing costs of housing Macon County inmates at other jails because of capacity issues.
County’s property tax will increase from 37 cents per $100 of assessed value to 40 cents. The increase is estimated to bring in an additional $2 million in annual revenue.
Commissioners Paul Higdon and Josh Young voted against the budget.
The $2 million gain will go toward providing a 2 percent cost-of-living raise for county employees ($400,000), $600,000 toward implementing the forthcoming recommendations of a pay study, increasing the Fontana Regional Library budget by $30,000 a year, a one-time investment for Nikwasi Initiative and a one-time $10,000 capital project at Cowee School. The remaining funds will be placed into the county’s contingency fund to make sure the county has enough funds to implement the pay study. If the money isn’t needed to increase pay for county positions, it will be put toward capital needs for the school system.
Higdon said he couldn’t support increasing property taxes.
“We gave Derek the charge to give us a flat budget and he does an excellent job and then we have all these personal wants — we’ve blown this budget all to pieces,” he said. “We need more in contingency because we can’t stay within a budget.”
On May 25, Roland presented the commissioners with a balanced budget of $54,641,096 that maintained the same millage rate as last year. The proposed budget
He was referring to the unexpected increase in revenue streams — Macon received $1.56 million from the CARES Act for pandemic-related expenses — but the county also saw a huge increase to its sales tax revenue during the pandemic. Overall, the county saw a 19 percent increase in sales tax revenue, bringing in $10.5 million.
GROWING EXPENSES
Though the increase in revenue is great news, Roland said the county has also been hit by a number of expenditure increases as well as a long list of capital needs. For the first year in many years, the county’s health insurance premiums will remain flat, but the state is requiring another increase to county contributions to the retirement plan that will cost Macon an additional $196,000.
The county is also expecting the results of a pay study to increase its budget by more than $1 million to bring county employee pay up to current market levels in order to improve recruitment and retention.
“As the economy improves, wages increase and so does the competition to recruit and retain employees,” Roland said.
“As of May 12, we had 50 vacant positions, and a majority of those are in priority areas providing critical services — seven vacancies in public health, 11 in department of social services, seven in EMS, one in telecommuni-
Public transportation’s budget will increase by $33,520 for a total of $1.5 million to cover the cost of a multi-year facility expansion project.
Health and Human Services budget is about $13 million and includes funds this year to purchase two new vehicles.
The recreation department will see a $200,000 increase to its budget ($2.8 million) for a new vehicle and a joint capital improvement project with the town of Highlands to improve the lighting at the ballfield for $127,500.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS NEEDS
The Macon County Schools budget request each year usually takes up the most discussion among the commissioners. Once again, Roland presented commissioners with a budget that kept Macon County Schools at the same funding levels for operational costs and capital projects even though the schools requested additional funding that would allow them to restore and expand its art and music programs at the elementary and middle school levels.
Overall, Roland recommended $10.3 million for the school system — $8.2 million for operating expenses, $80,000 for water and sewer fees, $532,590 for teacher supplements and $1.15 million for capital outlay.
Since the school system is expecting to see at least 34 fewer students in the upcoming school year, Roland said the county’s contributions would be an increase in the per-pupil funding. At current levels, the county is contributing $1,961 per student.
Not reflected in the schools’ budget is a $350,000 health department grant that will allow it to continue the school nurse program. The grant is paying to have five nurses in the schools — representing a 1 to 898 student/nurse ratio.
Roland also pointed to two pieces of proposed legislation in the House of Representatives that if approved, would place a nurse in every public school across the state, which is why he did not include the schools’ request for five more nurses within the county budget.
The schools’ budget also doesn’t reflect the $650,000 worth of funding in the sher-
iff’s budget to make sure Macon County has a school resource officer in each school.
Roland also didn’t include the schools’ request for an additional 10 mental health professionals, which would have cost $820,000, because he said the state planned to spend $1 million to expand the existing tele-health program in schools to help students who are struggling.
Lastly, Roland did not include additional operating funding that would allow the school system to hire more art and music teachers — something that community members have spoken in favor of over the last couple of months during budget talks.
School Superintendent Dr. Chris Baldwin recently explained to commissioners how important art and music were going to be in improving student academics and also their mental health coming out of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
“We have to address their social and emotional needs before we can address the academic losses,” he said. “You’ve heard how important the arts are to our community.”
Commissioners have argued that it is the state’s responsibility to fund teacher positions and it’s up to the school board to determine how it will prioritize its operational budget. However, Baldwin explained to the board that the state’s class size mandate for kindergarten through third grade has eaten up any additional funding for the last few years during the gradual implementation. To meet the new class size limits, Macon has had to hire 15 new teachers across the district.
While Baldwin is hopeful that the school system will be able to use some COVID relief funds to hire more mental health professionals and add more art and music classes, those proposals have to be approved through the federal grant process. The schools’ applications are currently still pending. Also, that funding will eventually go away and the schools will have to figure out how to continue to fund those positions or lose them all over again.
Commissioners have also spent hours discussing how to proceed with the need for a new Franklin High School. A plan has been presented to rebuild a new facility on the current campus at an estimated cost of $88 million. While the board approved moving forward with plans for the replacement, Higdon was opposed without more discussion and public input. He suggested a referendum, but Commissioner Ronnie Beale said any referendum was likely to fail even though the school needs to be replaced.
“If the referendum fails, then what, we wait another 50 years?” Beale asked.
“If that’s what the people want, Ronnie, give it to them,” Higdon replied.
A public hearing regarding the budget was held at 6 p.m. June 8 (after press time). It is unknown whether the board will vote on the budget following public comment or if they’ll take more time to discuss. A balanced budget must be adopted by the end of June.
Public educators’ association tours 100 counties
BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER
The North Carolina Association of Educators’ “We Heart Public Schools Tour’’ stopped in Haywood County Friday. The tour visited every county in North Carolina, finishing in the western portion of the state last week.
“We did this primarily because we wanted to honor and recognize the incredible effort that our educators and students and parents have done this past year,” said NCAE President Tamika Walker Kelly.
It was an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of public school teachers, especially during the trying times of the Coronavirus Pandemic, boost morale and bolster support for NCAE. The tour made one of its final stops in Canton at BearWaters Brewing Friday afternoon.
“Part of it has been, really, to help strengthen the relationship between the statewide and the county level organizations and to help support growth on the county level. It’s been great. We’ve had lots of people join us on this journey. We’ve had a lot of folks be curious about stepping into greater leadership roles,” said Leslie Abbott, NCAE associate member and integral part of the tour organization.
NCAE works to provide general support for public school educators and advocates for public schools in state and local govern-
INature never did betray the heart that loved her. —William Wordsworth, 1798
n the US, over 50 billion plastic bottles are used a year. Eighty percent of them (40 billion) end up in landfills. By 2050 ? only 29 years from now ? the oceans will be filled with more plastic than fish. Whether this catastrophe happens depends on each of us.
Tuesday night, May 12, Dargan Gilmore, the co-founder of Toward Zero Waste, made a compelling case for making small changes to reap big benefits for the future of today’s children. Toward Zero Waste (TZW) is a Raleigh, North Carolina, volunteer organization encouraging people to buy more sustainably, throw away less, and re-use more of what they have. The TZW focus is homes and local communities.
Gilmore showed many practical changes that she and her young family have made in their Cary, North Carolina, home and neighborhood. One major project was turning their lawn into a wildflower garden with raised beds for growing food. To fertilize them, the Gilmores used compost they made themselves. She told the group, “The regeneration of soil is the task of our generation.”
STEPS YOU CAN TAKE NOW TOWARD A ZERO-WASTE HOME AND COMMUNITY: Do a home trash audit to discover exactly what you are dumping. Do a count of each type
ment. During the tour throughout the state NCAE worked to collect signatures for state and local petitions regarding funding for public schools. In Haywood County that included competitive pay to keep teachers in local schools; a nurse in each school; access for students to social and emotional support from counselors, psychologists and social
Over her 18 years here, she says, she has seen the decline in North Carolina Schools.
“I have definitely seen firsthand what happens when schools are defunded,” she said.
The Coronavirus Pandemic shone a light on the importance of public schools to a functioning community, as well as the stark
workers; and safe, clean modern spaces for learning.
Tara O’Laughlin is Haywood’s NCAE president. She has been teaching art at Waynesville Middle School for 18 years. She first came to North Carolina because of how innovative the state was with education.
funding shortfalls in some places.
“This year the world saw what educators already knew,” O’Laughlin said. “Public schools are underfunded, yet they’re expected to play a vital part in creating a healthy community. During this pandemic, Haywood County educators rose to the chal-
Waste Not, Want Not
of trash. The Gilmores were surprised that their biggest throwaway was paper towels. Second was food.
Find ways to reduce what goes into your local landfill. The resources below and other articles in this Triple-win Climate Solutions column have suggestions.
HERE ARE A FEW:
• Schedule a composting class for your church or other group. Homemade compost enriches the soil, helps to sequester carbon, and keeps methane-emitting materials out of landfills.
• Avoid buying plastics when glass or metal is an option. Repurpose and reuse.
• Take your own mesh produce bags to the grocery for unpackaged fresh produce.
lenge.”
According to O’Laughlin, Waynesville Middle School has two counselors serving over 800 students. The American School Counselors Association, as well as the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, recommend that ratio be one to 250.
She said there are several other concerns within the Haywood County School system — lack of high-speed internet, getting connections to families, getting printed copies of school work out when and where necessary, the general over-stress of teachers — but that the mental health of students is her biggest concern.
“The thing that I’ve seen the most has just been the mental health needs and not having the facilities to be able to meet that where it’s at,” said O’Laughlin.
Macon County NCAE President John deVille is also worried about students’ mental health and how it will affect their willingness and ability to participate in summer school programs necessary to make up for the learning loss from COVID-19.
“Right before the pandemic hit, we did a mental health survey and we had here at the high school, close to a thousand kids,” said deVille. “We had over a hundred kids with serious issues. They had ideated suicide, they engaged in self-harm. We had struggled with trying to get a lot of them on campus for the past 15 months or F
Instead, ask everyone to bring their own household cutlery, plates, glasses, and cups. It’s easy to make a grab-and-go bag.
• For gifts, focus on quality over quantity, experiences over stuff. Give a tubing trip or tickets to an event instead of things.
TO SUPPORT THE NECESSARY REGULATIONS AND LAWS FOR MITIGATING THE DAMAGE FROM HUMAN AND INDUSTRIAL WASTE:
• Call or write your Representative in the NC General Assembly to support House Bill 1119 on restaurant and related businesses’ donations of safe food for human consumption.
• Got more than you can eat? Almost any food can be frozen for enjoyable eating later: bread, cooked onions and other vegetables; milk, pancake batter, soups and stews….
• For group events, don’t buy plastic and paper.
• Call or write NC General Assembly Senator Corbin to support a Senate copy of House Bill 230. This bill will put necessary curbs on polluting waste. It will bring money into counties to help reduce the plastic going into landfills.
TRIPLE-WINS:
1) Feel proud to be reducing the damage to our climate.
2) You and those you love can become healthier as well as wealthier.
3)Your home and community can be more healthful and beautiful.
RESOURCES:
• Three video tutorials on composting for First United Methodist Church, Waynesville, by Sara Martin, farmer and biologist, who runs Sustainabillies LLC with husband Dustin Cornelison, near Canton. fumcwaynesville.com/events/creation-care-minist ries The tutorials are a project of the church’s Creation Care Ministries.
• “Composting: A Recipe for Success” by Laura Armour. www.themountaineer.com/life/home_and_gar den/composting-a-recipe-for-success/article_cecc96f2-9328-11eb-8b122352956f6901.html
• “Composting.” State regulations and guidelines. deq.nc.gov/about/divisions/waste-management/solid-waste-section/composting
• PBS documentary “The Plastic Wars”
• Films: Kiss the Ground
• Books: Zero Waste Home and Drawdown Toward Zero Waste, Raleigh, NC: https://towardzerowaste.org/zero-waste-blog/
• A May 12, 2021, report on chemical companies’ lying to the FDA over decades about the dangers of plastic packaging: www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/12/che mical-giants-hid-dangers-pfas-foreverchemicals-food-packaging-dupont
Mary Jane Curry, a retired teacher, is a cofounder of the WNC Climate Action Coalition and a Climate Reality Leader.
Waynesville funds emergency overnight stays for unsheltered
BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT P OLITICS E DITOR
Just days after a local nonprofit asked the Town of Waynesville to help fund emergency overnight stays for the unsheltered, aldermen gave them an answer.
“We said yes because I think it’s the right thing to do,” said Jon Feichter, a Waynesville alderman. “Lots of folks are unsheltered in this community and for them this might be the first step to permanent housing or ending substance abuse or getting a job. The alternative is, these folks are out on the streets 24/7/365 and that’s not good for anybody. It’s not good for the community and certainly not good for those individuals. This a win-win, a win for the community, and a win for unsheltered that live among us.”
On May 25, community social worker Korri McLauglin delivered a presentation during a town meeting on behalf of Helping Hands of Haywood, a group that provides various free services to vulnerable populations.
Those populations largely consist of the very old, the very young and people experiencing mental health problems, substance use disorder or other poverty-related issues that contribute to homelessness.
The problem of homelessness in Waynesville — and to a lesser extent, other areas in Haywood County — has garnered increasing amounts of attention over the past several years, and was a central issue in the 2019 municipal election.
McLauglin, who is also an HHH board member, asked the town for up to $70,000 over two years to fund overnight hotel stays that will essentially serve as the first step in a housing continuum that ultimately leads from the streets to something safe, secure and affordable.
After a unanimous June 2 vote, aldermen will now provide $35,000 in each of the next two years to Helping Hands of Haywood.
That money will fund approximately 1,000 nights of emergency overnight hotel stays for unsheltered people each year, and comes as part of the estimated $2.97 million the town will receive over two years as part of President Joe Biden’s American
so. And to just be in a position to offer summer school as if that is going to be the balm that heals, I think this is really, more of a two, three, four, five-year horizon to try to make up for the damage that’s been done. Not just in the past year, but 10 years, a decade of underfunding public schools.”
This budget season, Macon County Schools is asking County Commissioners to fund several additional staff positions, including art and music teachers that in some cases have been missing from schools for over 10 years. According to deVille, county commissioners have insinuated that
Rescue Plan. For the first year, funds will be disbursed quarterly, and HHH will be required to report back quarterly on how the money was spent.
“I obviously hope that this would be a model that other municipalities and counties would follow. This problem is not going away, and it’s not unique to Waynesville,” Feichter said. “This is a problem that affects all of us and it seems to have been dumped in Waynesville’s lap. We are struggling with these kinds of questions, and balancing the needs of folks who are unsheltered in this community with the folks who are experiencing problems associated with drug abuse and addiction. I think the alternative, doing nothing, is helping nobody. Not doing anything is not acceptable in my eyes.”
Funding provided by the town is to be used only for residents of Waynesville, but McLauglin said that would free up other funds the nonprofit has raised on its own to help those who don’t qualify.
Included with McLauglin’s request were letters of support from several community partners in the social services arena, including the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, Mountain Projects and Waynesville’s Grace Church in the Mountains. All vowed to partner with HHH in the effort, Grace Church has already stepped up with a $6,500 donation toward the effort.
“We’re going to continue our efforts with fundraising and apply for separate grants so we can continue providing survival supplies needed for other seeking support from the surrounding areas,” McLauglin said.
The decision by the town is bound to leave some people unhappy; residents have used the last two public comment sessions at town meetings to harangue aldermen over their handling of the homeless problem, but Feichter hopes the funding decision ends up being a positive step.
“We need to work together,” he said. “I’m willing to do that and I talk to a lot of people that realize we may not agree on everything, but we can agree on a lot and work from there, and that’s how I’m proceeding. Let’s work together.”
these funding responsibilities lie with the state, not the county and that the school system should appeal to state representatives.
“This is just indicative of two larger things,” said Walker. “One, local county governments have become more responsible for filling the gaps in state funding. Since the state will not fulfill their obligation to fully fund the public education budget on their level. But two, it also just shows the disconnect between what North Carolina citizens want our representatives to do and what they are doing in Raleigh.”
Airbnb partners with ECBI on economic development
BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT
Hoping to cash in on the trend of vacationers seeking rural destinations with access to outdoor attractions, Airbnb announced last week that it would expand its Entrepreneurship Academy to include the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
“The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is excited to work with Airbnb to offer this training opportunity to members of our community,” said Principal Chief Richard Sneed in a June 3 press release. “The Western North Carolina mountains the EBCI calls home serve as the perfect landscape for this venture, offering scenic beauty, natural landscapes and a wealth of outdoor activities. I look forward to seeing what our community members do with the information provided by this training series and hope to grow our relationship with Airbnb for future endeavors.”
The expansion is the first in the United States for Airbnb, the $3.3 billion online lodging marketplace. The Entrepreneurship Academy stems from programs in Africa and Asia that are designed to empower marginalized communities. Part of the reason Airbnb selected Western North Carolina as its first American location, according to Airbnb’s Global Head of Policy and Communications Chris Lehane, is that unlike in large municipalities, most of the money spent here, stays here.
“The Smoky Mountains are a special part of the world and we know more people than ever want to visit — I know this from personal experience,” Lehane said. “Our goal is to make sure as much of the eco-
nomics generated by this travel stays in the community and has a multiplier effect within the community. Our data shows U.S. guests are seeking rural locations with access to the outdoors and state and national parks, and with their proximity to Great Smoky Mountains Park, the EBCI are uniquely situated to tap into this travel trend and grow the economics from the travel pie.”
To help WNC property owners get a piece of that pie, the Entrepreneurship Academy provides immersive, hands-on training in digital marketing and professional photography, along with mentorship from experienced hosts.
Airbnb also says it will collaborate with the N.C. Rural Center to develop the programs.
“For more than 30 years, the NC Rural Center has worked to promote entrepreneurship and small-business development in our state’s rural communities,” said Patrick Woodie, president of the N.C. Rural Center. “We believe the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of our state’s rural people is key to moving our economy forward as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, and we welcome the opportunity to advise
Airbnb as they embark on this work.”
Stats provided by Airbnb show that rural travel now accounts for almost 30 percent of all nights booked on Airbnb. Rural hosts in North Carolina have earned more than $170 million since the start of the Coronavirus Pandemic, with an average host income of $8,448 — up $2,000 from the 2019 average.
counties are both above $32,000 a year. Buncombe and Haywood counties are both around $25,000.
Population growth — or rather, the lack of it — in Swain County is also becoming a problem. From 2010 through 2019, Swain’s population has increased just 2.1 percent, compared to 5.6 percent in Haywood County, 9.1 percent in Jackson County, and 5.7 percent in Macon County.
The partnership could be a much-needed boost for the economy in Swain County, which ranks 66th out of 100 North Carolina counties in median income, or just over $19,000 a year. By comparison, median incomes in Orange and Wake
Vaya, Cardinal merge to take on Medicaid transformation
Two of North Carolina’s largest managed care organizations recently announced they will consolidate in preparation for the state’s transformation to Medicaid managed care.
Vaya Health and Cardinal Innovations have already begun transition efforts, with Vaya assuming responsibility for coordinating services and supports for Cardinal Innovations members once consolidated. Together, the organizations will work toward a seamless transition focused on integrated, compassionate care for individuals with mental illness, substance use disorders and/or intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Vaya Health currently manages services for individuals in 22 counties in Western North Carolina. If approved by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services and county representatives, the consolidation will expand Vaya’s operations to encompass benefits for the individuals and counties served by Cardinal
Innovations. The proposed consolidation marks the fourth such endeavor for Vaya, having successfully led previous mergers with New River Behavioral Healthcare in 2007, Foothills Area MH/DD/SA Authority in 2008 and Western Highlands Network in 2013.
Vaya’s experience with transitioning members through consolidation efforts will be especially beneficial as the state’s public health care system is undergoing a significant shift. The first phase of N.C. Medicaid Transformation will launch on July 1, 2021, with five commercial health plans poised to manage integrated health benefits for the majority of Medicaid enrollees.
As part of the second phase of transformation to BH and I/DD Tailored Plans, which are expected to launch in July 2022, Vaya and Cardinal Innovations have been preparing to evolve their operations to offer fully integrated care for people with a serious mental illness, a serious emotional distur-
bance, a severe substance use disorder, an intellectual/developmental disability or a traumatic brain injury.
According to a press release, the consolidation of the two organizations will enable a stronger health plan to serve individuals who receive care through North Carolina’s public health care system. It will also bring needed stability to members in counties served by Cardinal Innovations.
“We believe that when we work together to meet the needs of our communities, we all benefit,” said Brian Ingraham, Vaya Health President & CEO. “Our number one priority throughout this transition will be to support members, providers and counties and avoid any disruption in care. We remain committed to offering a successful public service option as a Tailored Plan. It is a privilege to have the opportunity to strengthen the public model, support our county partners and serve even more North Carolinians on their journey toward health and wellness.”
“The passion and commitment of Vaya staff in serving our members and communities is beyond compare,” said Rick French, Vaya Health Board Chair. “The Board of Directors is pleased to expand that work to ensure Cardinal Innovations health plan members continue to receive quality services
Almost 90 percent of the land in Swain County is government-owned, and therefore not taxable, putting additional stress on a stagnant pool of existing taxpayers.
“I was contacted by Beth Frederick, of Speaker [Tim] Moore’s office,” said Rep. Mike Clampitt, R-Swain, who facilitated the partnership. “She was concerned about negative population growth. I certainly hope this will be successful because we are diminished in our ability to collect property taxes, so we have to be innovative and think outside the box, not just on a state or national level, but also on an international level.”
and supports.”
“We believe in our mission to improve the health and wellness of our members and their families,” said Trey Sutten, Cardinal Innovations CEO. “It has become increasingly clear that in order to deliver on that mission, we need to consolidate with a strong organization that has a history of meeting member and community needs and can stabilize the disruption caused by Medicaid Transformation and county realignments. I have known Brian and the Vaya team for years, and know that our members, providers and communities are in the best possible hands.”
Leadership for the two organizations will be working closely with DHHS as well as local and state government representatives to ensure a successful transition. The boards for each organization will establish a joint steering committee to guide the development of a transition plan that puts member, provider and county needs at the forefront of planning efforts.
Vaya leadership will be visiting with each county to hear their concerns and learn about the unique needs of each community. Consolidation of the two entities under Vaya Health leadership is expected to be completed by June 30, 2022.
During the Coronavirus Pandemic, visitors flocked to the Smoky Mountains. Swain TDA photo
Social media is not the public square
Think Facebook’s ban of Donald Trump is justified? It’s a fascinating issue, one that gets to the heart of the differences between the internet and more traditional news sources like television, radio and newspapers.
First, it’s good to remember that Facebook is a private company. Because of the sheer numbers — 3.45 billion people were using at least one of the company’s core products (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, or Messenger) in the first quarter of 2021 — and because of the way it is set up, many think of it as something it’s not: a public forum for all to express their opinions. Though social media sites have traditionally done very little editing of posts, it is still a private business and not the public square. Its owners have every right to set up guidelines for how they will do business. We, as users, choose whether to do business with Facebook or any other internet site. Some do so to the tune of spending hours a day browsing different sites and making posts, often complaining later about getting “sucked down the rabbit hole.”
Second, Washington lawmakers made the decision a long time ago to treat online news differently than traditional news sources. Many have heard of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, commonly referred to as “Section 230.” It basically protects online sites from legal claims of libel and defamation for posts made by users.
The law was passed, some argue, to encourage the growth of the online businesses and commerce, recognizing that the sheer volume of users would prevent editors from checking every post. Others say the law was meant to allow site hosts to edit and remove content — like the Trump ban — without
Don’t trust the oligarchs
To the Editor:
According to my eighth-grade American history teacher, Jan McCracken (RIP), onethird of the American colonists fought for the revolution, one-third fought against it, and one-third sat it out. History is a useful lens to understand what is going on in our country and the world today.
The billionaires and those doing OK in our economic system don’t want change. The survival of the fittest mentality would be OK except the billionaires start wars and damage the environment, manipulate the economy, and do not give a hoot about anyone else, including the supporters they need to keep operating (not rich supporters, consider the cost of health care and health insurance, whose profits go to investors).
Were our founding fathers crybaby socialists or people that cared about the common good and doing what’s right (slavery not withstanding)? The very rich are doing all they can to keep us divided and confuse the issues. Please, please, please, think for yourself and don’t buy into their BS.
David Stearns Otto
facing lawsuits. We in the newspaper business don’t have the first protection, but we have the same ability to moderate content. Because we are responsible for every word in every edition, we can be sued for purposely or maliciously lying or printing falsehoods in order to damage a person or a business’ reputation.
As a newspaper owner, I was originally unhappy that online sites have the protections in Section 230. I think algorithms to check nearly every post could be developed. Hell, they monitor all our online activity already, as we all know from the ads that get thrown at us.
As more time has passed, however, I’ve changed my mind. Now, I think, users know that newspapers and other traditional media sites that have to moderate their content are seen as more dependable, more trustworthy. I see some individual making a rash claim on a Facebook post and I’m immediately skeptical; I see it attributed to a bona fide news site — whether that be a conservative or liberal leaning organization — and I’m more likely to trust it. With real news organizations, you may disagree with an opinion or a story, but we won’t publish outright falsehoods despite what some say or believe.
One legal article I read compared the social media sites to blank rolls of newsprint. The users choose what is on that newsprint, not its owners — Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc. So, if I post something libelous on Facebook, I can be sued but
LETTERS
Home prices leave many hopeless
To the Editor:
I am 60 years old, legally blind and homeless for 11 months now in Haywood County. I am not a drug addict nor someone with a criminal record.
I have lived here for many years and love it. I sold my home last year, put my money in the bank and started looking for a smaller house for me and my dog. My search was looking positive until I applied for a loan and was denied due to my monthly income of social security. No matter that I have an awesome credit score, one small loan for my used car and down payment bucks waiting to be used. Obviously with mortgage rates so low my buying versus renting would be ideal and I know how to live within my means. So, I started looking for a decent rental only to find that the rent prices have gone sky high and now to do an application, your monthly income has to be a certain percentage to even be considered. In desperation I contacted Mountain Projects and applied for section eight. That was about eight months ago and I’m still hoping to get the “letter.” I’ve
Facebook can’t. It is protected.
In Trump’s case, however, Facebook’s Oversight Board decided he violated its policies. For now, he’s been banned for two years and the decision stands until Jan. 7, 2023. The company says it has new rules for public figures in times of civil unrest and violence and that Trump was given the maximum suspension. When the suspension ends, Facebook will “evaluate external factors, including instances of violence, restrictions on peaceful assembly and other markers of civil unrest,” according to a statement from Nick Clegg, vice president of global affairs.
Read the statement carefully, and it is clear the Oversight Board is doing two things: granting itself broad powers to moderate content on the platform while also committing to be more open about its policies and how it makes those decisions. That sounds relatively fair, whether one agrees on the Trump ban or not.
Way back when Trump was first making a name for himself in business all the way to his tenure in the Oval Office, he’s prided himself in being brash and pushing against the kinds of boundaries that contain most people. Once he’s let back on the platform, no doubt he’ll keep the Facebook Oversight Board busy.
In the end — like it or not — it’s Mark Zuckerberg’s business. Some may accuse him of playing politics, but in this country, we celebrate capitalism and First Amendment rights. He’s playing by the rules we currently have in place, something Trump has never learned to do.
(Scott McLeod can be reached at info@smokymountainnews.com.)
tried for an FHA, USDA and anything you can think of to no avail.
I’ve discovered that very few landlords will accept section eight and there are hundreds of families here in line with me. The greediness is mind boggling along with the prices for a roof over your head. I am fortunate more than many but only due to the incredible friends I have here who have allowed me and my sweet dog to bounce around with our boxes and bags of our basic stuff.
The downside for me is sheer exhaustion both physically and mentally. The stress on my pet worries me too. My diet has really been compromised and my vision is worse than ever. I’ve read with great interest about all the recent plans to build affordable houses, grants and projects and that would be great except I don’t have the time or energy to wait a couple of years on that list either.
Every day is the same dismal results and I’ve never felt so hopeless, but I do have new insight regarding homeless people on the street. I just don’t want to join them. Mylan Sessions Waynesville
Editor Scott McLeod
Is this really the land of the free?
To the Editor:
The main point in Dave Parker's letter in last week’s paper is that racism has somehow vanished from the national scene, and that attempts to talk about the history of race and racism in America from various points of view is fatally flawed. In his telling — and his view is widely held on the political right — racism just does not exist, and his proof is the twin elections of our first Black President, Barack Obama. He specifically targets the 1619 Project and critical race theory as gross distortions or completely false depictions of reality.
Since they describe historical events relating to race, they also pose some kind of unexplained and nefarious threat to students, and serve the purpose, for no good reason, of stirring up groups of people against other groups. The way this works is also unexplained.
The 1619 Project is a product of The New York Times, a favorite target of the Right since they do pretty good work talking in an evidence-based way about no end of important stuff, and earned the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary, which, and I quote from the paper’s website, “seeks to place the enslavement of Africans at the center of America’s story, prompting public conversation about the nation’s founding and evolution.’
Concerning critical race theory, Wikipedia says this: “CRT examines social, cultural and legal issues as they relate to race and racism.” Americans commonly celebrate as a pillar of our democracy the First Amendment, which allows for a rich and tasty smorgasboard of ideas in the service of a free and open society. And while conservatives give lip service to this ideal, in actual practice they want to limit the dialogue to serve the aims of their preferred narrative, instead of letting the debate play out on the public stage, ultimately allowing the people to decide which opinions prevail or not. Their preferred motive? More on this later.
President Obama’s elevation and re-election to the presidency were important steps in the continuing saga of race relations but hardly indicative of anything like an end to conflict. In fact, violence against minority citizens, expanding membership in white supremacy terrorist organizations, rightwing fury over immigration policies, and other race based indicators of political and civil unrest began to rise dramatically immediately after Obama's Inaugaration, and has not abated. It is undeniable, absent a desire for sanitized versions of historical reality, that a goodly amount of racial animus and systemic bigotry was simmering just beneath the veneer of our collective claim to civility.
The truth is that far from being a sign that all was well between racial divisions in America, as Mr. Parker is alleging, President Obama was the gasoline poured on the fire of the political Right’s effort to maintain the status quo and keep the underclass in it’s place. Who, you might ask, are the members of this underclass? As regards race, mainly Black and brown folks who have the temerity to insist, loudly and ongoingly, on a political
landscape that reflects, in policy and practice, the grand promise of racial and economic equality. Of course, in Dave Parker’s view, these protesting sorts are no evidence of anything needing to be done at all, since they obviously share a common set of delusions with the NYT. Apparantly all the noise and unrest is just some kind of blowing off steam, since all is well and nothing needs doing.
In my view one must be myoptic, and willfully so, to be able to ignore all that is obviously out of whack as regards race. If you are like Mr. Parker and deny racism, then let me ask a few questions. What exactly is wrong when accumulated wealth, so crucial to stability and security, is so lacking in minority families; average white families possess nearly 10 times that of average black families. What is the cause of these actual poverty statistics; Whites, 9%; Blacks, 21%; Hispanics, 17%; and Native Americans, 24%? Why do weekly news reports feature abuse and not infrequent death of Blacks at the hands of police, while white detainees seem to suffer little to no such treatment? Why does the Republican Party have only one Black senator out of 50? Why do Blacks in all walks of U.S. life report elevated levels of stress and paranoia directly related to a fear of being profiled and picked upon by white authority? Why are Republican legislatures and statehouses across this land being flooded with hundreds of voting laws which, if enacted, will have the direct effect of lowering the chances to vote by minority populations (which tend to vote for Democrats, and this is well-known by the GOP)? Why do the sponsors of these bills loudly represent their efforts as being for election security, when it is easy to expose this as a lie? Do you mean that my neighborhood bank can make internet banking safe for the management of billions of assets, but goverment can’t figure out a way to make voting easy, available to everyone, and secure?
All of us understand my point, which is that if one is not willing to acknowledge that which is obvious and true and a clear cause of real tribulation and damage to our culture, then these kind of questions make no sense. And by denying the reality of the problem, the search for extremely difficult solutions is pointless.
Which is exactly the sum total of Dave Parker's point. He, and other conservatives like him, don’t want these kind of real questions and uncomfortable facts to be discussed and dealt with. That would be way too confrontational and difficult, and just might expose to general view a very real and pernicious value that undergirds the ranks of the ruling white elite. It is just flat less trouble to work hard to eliminate the voice of those who are disenfrancised and discriminated against lest they upset the applecart of majority rule and dominance. And for too many of us, that rule and dominance is one of the many sweet fruits of living in the land and of the (mostly) free, and the home of the (somewhat) brave.
Truer picture of me Graham Sharp of Steep Canyon Rangers
BY GARRET K. WOODWARD
ARTS & E NTERTAINMENT E DITOR
It’s late morning at Citizen Vinyl in downtown Asheville. Formerly the CitizenTimes Building, the historic structure is now home to a record manufacturing facility, café, bar, record store and recording studio. On the third floor is the legendary “Studio A,” once home to WWNC, an enormously popular and vital radio station, which broadcasted the first on-air performances by the “Father of Bluegrass” Bill Monroe (in 1939) and folk legend Jimmie Rodgers (the week before he ventured up to the “Bristol Sessions” in 1927, dubbed the “Big Bang of Country Music”).
Standing in Studio A is Graham Sharp, Grammy-winning singer/banjoist for the Asheville-based Steep Canyon Rangers, one of the marquee bluegrass/Americana acts of the 21st century. But, today, Sharp is there to pick up the vinyl test pressings of his debut solo album, “Truer Picture.”
Created as a result of the shutdown of the music industry last year due to the pandemic, the record is a portrait of a man reflecting on the world surrounding him. Whether it be through the lens of his family, his band, or simply the matters of the day, it’s an
embracing and intricate offering — a culmination of Sharp’s wide-ranging talents and deep appreciation for those who came before him.
Putting “Truer Picture” on the record player in Studio A, it’s a full circle kind of thing for Sharp, as he sat down and immersed himself in the sounds radiating from the speakers. Thoughts and visions of Bill Monroe singing in that very spot over 80 years ago, a place Sharp, literally and figuratively, now occupies, this current torchbearer of that “high, lonesome sound” — an artist ever-evolving and reshaping his melodic palette.
Smoky Mountain News: You’re used to nonstop touring and recording with the Rangers. But, with the shutdown, you’ve got to have something to focus on when you’re sitting still.
Graham Sharp: Totally. And that was it. I mean, everything else around you stopped, but I wouldn’t, I didn’t, I couldn’t stop. I just needed to keep working and feel productive.
SMN: It must’ve been kind of a cathartic thing, not only for your personal life, but also your creative side.
GS: Oh yeah. I never had any plan to cre-
ate all this music or turn it into a record. But, the moment was heavy [in 2020]. The moment was Black Lives Matter, obviously the pandemic and everything that came with that. And the [presidential] election.
So, the next natural reaction for me was just to write songs. That’s kind of the way that
Want to go?
Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Graham Sharp will host an intimate seated show at 8 p.m. Friday, June 18, at The Orange Peel in Asheville. Doors at 7 p.m. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to www.theorangepeel.net and click on the “Shows” tab. To learn more on Graham Sharp, www.grahamsharp.com.
I’m tuned to react to stuff. And it’s a tricky situation. Everybody needs music, and I believe it’s a unifying force, a force for positivity. And, at least for me, I feel it’s the musician’s job to reflect the reality around them.
You can only write with what inspires you, you know?
SMN: What surprised you about the process of putting together a solo record, rather than a group effort with the Rangers?
GS: Well, you’re ridiculously nimble when you’re solo. [With] the Rangers, we’re democratic to a fault. We’ve been together for 20something years now and have very little turnover. It’s definitely has been the right way to go, but it can be slow and it can be messy.
And there were times when I missed the band’s input on music. But, it’s just so nimble. Like, the cover [photo] to the [solo] album. My other project during the pandemic was that I took my garage stall and turned it into an apartment [for an] Airbnb.
[That Airbnb] was part of my B-game for the pandemic, [in] how to survive [financially]. So, I was jackhammering out the slab at the bottom of my basement for the channels for the plumbing. And just snapped a picture — let’s make it the album cover, simple as that.
SMN: The Rangers celebrated 20 years together recently. What do you think about that number, the road from then to now?
GS: Hugely proud of it. You know, for something that started [out in the dorms at UNC-Chapel Hill] with very little expectations besides, “let’s just learn how to play this music,” I’m unbelievably proud of it — this is our life’s work.
SMN: And yet, 20 years probably feels like 20 days sometimes.
GS: It feels like about 20 days. I still think I’m a young man, but last night’s [solo gig in Winston-Salem] proved that I’m not. [Laughs]. Driving out there [from Asheville] for the show, do the show, then turn around and drive home.
But, I look back on the Rangers, and I still feel like we’re just getting started, I still feel like we’re growing into ourselves. And that’s a good feeling, there’s just so much musical talent and energy in that group, so many different skills that when the thing really starts working and in the energy swirling — it’s amazing. It’s powerful.
SMN: What’s it like to be here in the legendary Studio A, the same place Bill Monroe got his start those many years ago?
GS: It’s heavy being in this room. I’ve heard about this [place] forever, ever since I moved to Asheville. The music scene in Asheville is really, really special. And I feel like it’s just getting broader and better all the time. And a lot of it has to do with places like [Studio A], venues like The Orange Peel and The Grey Eagle, and all of the incredible musicians who call these mountains home.
Graham Sharp. Sandlin Gaither photo
This must be the place
BY GARRET K. WOODWARD
Ode to 22 years, ode to being together again
It was exactly a week ago when it was decided as a newsroom to cleanup up our offices for The Smoky Mountain News “Distant Social & Birthday Bash” last Friday afternoon.
Digging through old files, binders, newspaper issues, boxes of archived materials, boxes of objects of unknown origin. Deciding what stays and what gets brought to the dump. Wednesday morning and the excavation began.
A couple years back, I gave up my personal office to one of our advertising representatives. Back then (and to this day), I’m only ever at the office on Tuesdays to edit and proof the newspaper pages before it goes to the printer, soon to be dropped off at newsstands around Western North Carolina come Wednesday morning.
I’ve never been able to be at the office for long periods of time. I’ve also never been able to sit still, from childhood through adulthood. Besides, I’d rather do my interviews and writing at coffee shops or at my desk in my apartment, a bustling Russ Avenue in downtown Waynesville floating by my front window, my fingers typing away wildly as they are right now on this quiet Sunday afternoon.
I let go of my old office to someone who needed her own space (and more of it). That said, my boxes of files and objects of unknown origin got put in the back office, right across from our conference room. From constantly being on road on assignment or simply frolicking around Southern Appalachia, I’ve neglected unpacking the boxes or just getting around to tossing them out.
During the chaos of 2020 and such, the boxes still sat there atop the office desk in the back, untouched and gathering dust. It got to the point where I didn’t even notice the boxes and files piling up higher and
higher with each passing week of putting the newspaper together.
Thus, there I was last Wednesday, with orders from my publisher, Scott McLeod, to finally clean out our building and its offices before we welcomed the general public over
Mountain News, those interview subjects and matters that seemed so urgent at the time. All of those columns about whatever I was up to that particular week. Words about femme fatales now long gone from my fieldof-vision, but never forgotten. Words about being back home in my native North Country, of heading out West to find myself once again, and seemingly everywhere (and everything) in-between.
I even unearthed my first article for The Smoky Mountain News, a cover story on Balsam Range’s “Papertown” album release party in Canton in August 2012. I
for free Boojum beer from its antique keg truck and small plates of culinary delights emerging from the Fuego food truck also onsite for the “Distant Social & Birthday Bash.”
As with any time one finally cleans up their space and starts digging into all their junk, you soon find yourself amid a cathartic moment, this sense of self about where you came from, where you are, and where you may go from here.
You start to pick through things and realize each item — old newspaper, receipts, business cards, letters from readers, post it notes with interview reminders, etc. — is a moment in time in the continuing motion of your life’s journey. Names on pieces of paper you haven’t talked to in way too long.
Assignment notebooks filled with quotes from countless stories, some I had forgotten about in the grand scheme of things.
And all of those old copies of The Smoky
was 27 years old and just uprooted my entire life in Upstate New York in hopes of a fresh, promising new chapter in Western North Carolina. Nine years ago, feels like nine days ago, truth be told. And I love it here now more than ever.
completely cleared off, ready to edit and proof this week’s issue.
That ride down Memory Lane on Wednesday parlayed itself in deep feelings of compassion and connectivity within our mountain communities as we greeted any and all Friday afternoon at the “Distant Social & Birthday Bash.” Celebrating 22 years of The Smoky Mountain News in business, it was a truly full circle thing to be in the presence of all who read and support what we do, and are trying to do.
At one point, which was definitely after a
HOT PICKS
1
Popular psychobilly act Humps & The Blackouts will hit the stage at 3 p.m. Sunday, June 13, at The Water’n Hole Bar & Grill in Waynesville
2
Boojum Brewing (Waynesville) will host Billingsley (jam/rock) at 9 p.m. Saturday, June 12.
3
The “An Appalachian Evening” series will return to the Stecoah Valley Center in Robbinsville with Frank & Allie (Appalachian/folk) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 12.
4
Presented by “Kids at HART,” a production of “Sister Act Jr.” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. June 12 and 19, and at 2 p.m. June 13 and 20 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.
5
What really made me stop in my tracks were all the issues from last spring, when Covid-19, the pandemic and eventual shutdown were just starting to become part of our daily lives. Cover stories trying to make sense of what was happening in real time, and what our landscape of people, places and things may look like with so many unknown back then.
By early Wednesday afternoon, the back office was spotless, my files and old newspapers neatly organized on the nearby shelves. Books and other trinkets finding a home somewhere on the same shelves. My desk
The “Downtown Sylva Sidewalk Sale” will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 12.
few beers, I found myself standing on a chair in the newspaper parking lot, in front of dozens of birthday patrons. I spoke of the importance of community journalism, and how surreal it was to be around everyone who came, to see their smiling faces once again, to laugh together, and to merely just be together — reconnecting in a time of disconnection.
I missed each and every single one of you. Thank you for being you. And thank you for providing me with a bountiful career of unlimited possibilities.
Life is beautiful, grasp for it, y’all.
The exhibit ‘Inspiration: The Creative Muse at Work’ will run through June 26 at the Haywood County Arts Council in downtown Waynesville. The showcase will feature works from our current retail artists: Diannah Beauregard, Linda Blount, Barbara Brook, Bonnie Calhoun, Susan Remi Dawkins (pictured), Allison Gernandt, Gayle Haynie, Jude Lobe, Jennifer Sharkey, Debbie Skelly, and Cheryl Summey. www.haywoodarts.org.
‘Faces,’ an exhibit of drawings by the late Ron Hunnicutt, who passed away in February, will be held through the end of June at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. 828.524.3600.
QuickDraw art sale
QuickDraw, a local art initiative that funds art supplies in rural Western North Carolina schools, is selling art for education online now through June 30. The fundraiser presents art to buy or bid on, and a giveaway basket opportunity for donors.
QuickDraw’s mission is to keep focus on art education’s importance in the face of shrinking school budgets. Proceeds fund art education in Haywood County through teacher classroom supply grants and student scholarships.
Artists step up for education and present their work in an online art market and art auction that runs now through June 30. Artists donate 50 percent or more of the sale to QuickDraw to support art education through funding for teacher supply grants and student scholarships.
enthusiasts and rod collectors.
The auction features collectible work by prominent artists including Luke Allsbrook, Jenny Buckner, Nina Howard,
QuickDraw’s sale is live for shoppers and donors through June 30. The online art market and art auction can be accessed at: wnc-quick-draw.myshopify.com.
Fifty regional artists are represented in the sale and the auction. One-of-a-kind art includes fine art paintings, jewelry, fine craft decor and fashion pieces by local artisans, premium bamboo fly rods for fishing
ALSO:
• The “Thursday Painters” group will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursdays at The Uptown Gallery in Franklin. Free and open to the public. All skill levels and mediums are welcome. Participants are responsible for their own project and a bag lunch. For more information, call The Uptown Gallery at 828.349.4607 or contact Pat Mennenger at pm14034@yahoo.com. See more about Macon County Art Association at www.franklinuptowngallery.com and like, follow and share the Uptown Gallery on Facebook.
• The Marianna Black Library (Bryson City) will be offering a free craft for adults. The library’s adult services staff will walk you through simple instructions to start creating an Americana star. The star craft will be from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, June 19. All crafts are limited, so call 828.488.3030 to reserve your spot. www.facebook.com/mariannablacklibrary.
• The Haywood County Arts Council’s “Art Works @ The Library,” a collaborative pro-
gram between the Haywood County Public Library system and the HCAC, is currently showcasing works by artist Cayce Moyer at the Canton Library. Working in traditional and mixed media, Moyer blends the worlds of high-brow and low-brow work. Classically trained at Savannah College of Art and Design, her portfolio includes drawing, painting, sculpture, illustration, graphic design, murals, and set prop painting for theatre and TV.
• Farmer’s Market (with artisans) will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays through October at 117 Island Street in Bryson City. Stop by the old barn by the river for local, homegrown produce, as well as baked goods, jellies and preserves, authentic crafts, and more. Food truck, picnic tables and a strolling musician. Leashed pets are welcome. Outdoor event. Current Covid-19 safety protocols will be followed and enforced. 828.488.7857.
• Open call for artists to sell their work in the Carriage House Gift Shop at the historic Shelton House in Waynesville. For details, call 757.894.2293.
Allen Davis, Joyce Schlapkohl, Grace Cathey, Erin Tapley, Margaret Roberts and the late Nick DePaolo.
Local businesses contributed to stock a thank-you basket for donations. Donors can contribute online, or in person at Bosu’s Wine Store at 138 Miller Street in Waynesville.
For more information, visit www.quickdrawofwnc.com or call 828.734.5747.
Want to paint, sip craft beer?
The “WNC Paint Night” will return to local breweries in Haywood, Jackson and Swain counties. With step-by-step instructions, you will paint yourself a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. This is pure fun to do while you sip on something tasty at the brewery.
Events will be held at the following locations: Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) from 6 to 8 p.m. June 24, July 22, Aug. 19, Sept. 16, Oct. 14, Nov. 11 and Dec. 9; and Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva) from 6 to 8 p.m. June 23, July 21, Aug. 18, Sept. 29, Oct. 27, Nov. 17 and Dec. 22; BearWaters Brewing (Canton) from 6 to 8 p.m. June 25, July 8, Aug. 5, Sept. 2 and 30, Nov. 12 and Dec. 23. Space is limited. Reserve your seat by texting Robin Arramae at 828.400.9560. To learn more, visit the Facebook page @paintwnc or Instagram @wnc_paint_events.
Botanical art workshop
Norma Hendrix, retired art professor at Western Carolina University and founder/director of the internationally recognized arts organization Cullowhee Arts, will lead a two-day botanical art workshop June 14–15 at Lake Logan Conference Center in Canton. Participants will learn to make graphite rubbings, embellished with collage. This workshop is for any level, including beginner. The art of frottage, or “rubbings,” is a printmaking process done without the need of a printing press. Using simple graphite sticks, an accurate impression of plant material is “rubbed,” onto vellum paper.
These rubbings become the basis of further creative exploration using collage materials, watercolors, and dry media, such as art graf chunks, and colored pencils.
“Lake Logan Conference Center is the ideal location for a botanical workshop,” Hendrix said. “Here, students and I will have access to acres of unspoiled wilderness, filled with compelling botanical specimens. I know first-hand the supreme beauty of its campus and how its environment naturally unlocks the creative spirit.”
Overnight single, double occupancy and commuter options are available. For more information, click on www.lakelogan.org/event/ botanical-art-workshop or call 828.646.0095 for more information.
A work by Jacqui Fehl.
HART’s first outdoor show
The Haywood Arts Regional Theatre will present “Billy Goat Gruff” as their first outdoor musical June 18 through July 4.
Audiences are invited to bring a blanket or chair, relax in the summer sun, and enjoy this one act musical featuring that Appalachian sound we all love.
“Billy Goat Gruff” tells a tale of adventure, believing in yourself, and not judging others. Actors play instruments, create sound effects and scenery, and sing soaring melodies that fill the HART outdoor amphitheater.
Amongst the band of actors you’ll hear fiddle, stand-up bass, auto-harp, ukulele, djembe and HART will have the composer of “Billy Goat Gruff,” Ben Mackel, on guitar.
“Billy Goat Gruff” is suitable for all ages and would be a great first show for your grandkids or a lovely afternoon outside with your sweetheart.
“Billy Goat Gruff” will have matinee performances at 10 a.m. Fridays, 2 p.m. Saturdays and 4 p.m. Sundays.
While you are encouraged to bring a blanket or picnic, HART will have chairs available and will be offering their usual concessions. Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for students and will only be sold at the door for all outdoor performances.
Check HART’s Facebook or Instagram for updates if you are worried about rain cancellations. Groups of 10 or more get $2 off per ticket, so bring the whole family or friend group.
www.harttheatre.org.
‘Sister Act Jr.’ at HART
Presented by “Kids at HART,” a production of “Sister Act Jr.” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. June 12 and 19, and at 2 p.m. June 13 and 20 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.
The musical tells the story of Deloris Van Cartier, a high-spirited aspiring singer, who witnesses a murder and is forced to enter the Queen of Angels convent under witness protection. Based on the hit film of the same name, “Sister Act Jr.” features music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Glenn Slater, a book by Cheri and Bill Steinkellner, and additional
On the table
Taste of Scotland returns
The Taste of Scotland celebration of the Ceilidh will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday, June 19, at The Rathskeller in Franklin.
A Ceilidh is a social gathering, which will feature Scottish and Irish music and singing. Scottish hand food will be provided by Rockin’ Rollie Pollie and Scottish beverages will be available from The Rathskeller.
The public is invited to join the TOS society for this special occasion. All are welcome to attend.
book material by Douglas Carter Beane. This fabulous cast includes: Morgan Allen, Akilah Black, Henry Blackburn, James Cloninger, Robin Cloninger, Ruby Cloninger, Lia Collier, Kayenta Cruz, Melodie Erickson, Chelcy Frost, Drake Frost, Naomi Gevjan, Rob Gevjan, Tabitha Gevjan, Turner Henline, Erica Henry, Hannah Meigs, Logan Norman, Josie Ostendorff, Jada Roundy, Savanna Shaw and Abby Welchel.
For more information, contact the box office at 828.456.6322 or click on www.harttheatre.org.
‘Unto These Hills’ outdoor drama
The “Unto These Hills” stage production will be held at 8 p.m. Monday to Saturday through Aug. 14 at the Mountainside Theater in Cherokee. There will also be a 10:30 a.m. show on Saturday, June 26, and all Saturdays in July.
This decades-old acclaimed outdoor drama traces the Cherokee people through the eons, through the zenith of their power, through the heartbreak of the Trail of Tears, finally ending, appropriately, in the present day, where the Cherokee people, much like their newly re-scripted drama, continue to rewrite their place in the world — a place based on traditional Cherokee values and modern sensibilities.
For more information and to purchase tickets, click on www.cherokeehistorical.org.
ALSO:
• The “BBQ & Brews Dinner Train” will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on select dates at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City. Full service all-adult first-class car. Craft beer pairings with a meal, and more. For more information and/or to register, call 800.872.4681 or click on www.gsmr.com.
• “Dillsboro After Five” will take place from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Wednesdays in downtown Dillsboro. Start with a visit to the Jackson County Farmers Market located in the Innovation Station parking lot. Stay for
dinner and take advantage of late-hour shopping. www.mountainlovers.com.
• There will be a free wine tasting from 6 to 8 p.m. every Thursday and 2 to 5 p.m. every Saturday at The Wine Bar & Cellar in Sylva. 828.631.3075.
• The “Uncorked: Wine & Rail Pairing Experience” will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on select dates at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City. Full service all-adult first-class car. Wine pairings with a meal, and more. 800.872.4681 or www.gsmr.com.
On the beat Bluegrass icons in Highlands
One of the most beloved and innovative acts in the history of bluegrass music, Seldom Scene will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 18, at the Highlands Performing Arts Center. Since forming nearly 50 years ago, the group has brought both freewheeling joy and immaculate musicianship to their take on bluegrass, offering up spirited interpretations of songs from limitless genres.
For more information and/or to purchase tickets, click on www.highlandsperformingarts.com.
• Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva) will host an open mic from 8 to 10 p.m. every Thursday. Free and open to the public. 828.631.1987 or www.balsamfallsbrewing.com.
• BearWaters Brewing (Maggie Valley) will host Bohemian Jean (folk/soul) from 7 to 9 p.m., June 12.
• Boojum Brewing (Waynesville) will host karaoke at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, trivia at 7 p.m. on Thursdays, Billingsley (jam/rock) June 12 and Positive Mental Attitude (rock/roots) June 19. All shows begin at 9 p.m. Free and open to the public.
828.246.0350 or www.boojumbrewing.com.
• The Classic Wineseller (Waynesville) will host a special dinner show with Nathan Hefner (piano/vocals) June 10, Cynthia McDermott (mandolin/vocals) June 12 and Kevin Lorenz (guitar) June 19. All shows begin at 7 p.m. Reservations required. 828.452.6000 or www.classicwineseller.com.
• Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.369.4080 or www.coweeschool.org.
• Currahee Brewing (Franklin) will host semiregular live music on the weekends.
828.634.0078 or www.curraheebrew.com.
• Elevated Mountain Distilling Company will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 828.734.1084 or www.elevatedmountain.com.
• Friday Night Live (Highlands) will be held at the Town Square from 6 to 8:30 p.m. with Frank & Allie (Appalachian folk) June 11 and Johnny Webb Band June 18. Free and open to the public. www.highlandschamber.org.
• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host Gypsy & Me June 11, Sugah & The Cubes June 12, Joey Fortner (Americana/folk) June 18, Bob Keel June 19 and Zip Robertson 3 p.m. June 20. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.454.5664 or www.froglevelbrewing.com.
• The Haywood County Courthouse (Waynesville) will host the Haywood Community Band on the front lawn at 2 p.m. July 3 during the Stars & Stripes Celebration. Free and open to the public.
• Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host Shaine Weston Lyles June 13 and Cam Cokas June 20. All events are free and begin at 2 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.innovation-brewing.com.
• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will host Bird In Hand (Americana/indie) w/Rye Baby (Americana/indie) at 7 p.m. July 4. Free and open to the public. www.innovation-brewing.com.
• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host karaoke 7 p.m. June 11, Roscoe’s Road Show (folk/blues) June 12 and The High Strangeness (rock) June 19. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.342.5133 or www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.
begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. 888.905.7238 or www.noc.com.
• “Pickin’ on the Square” (Franklin) will host Tugelo Holler (jamgrass) June 12 and Michael Reno Harrell (singer-songwriter) June 19. All shows start at 7 p.m. Free and open to the public. Located on Main Street. www.franklin-chamber.com.
• Satulah Mountain Brewing (Highlands) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.482.9794 or www.satulahmountainbrewing.com
• Saturdays On Pine (Highlands) will be held at the Kelsey-Hutchinson Park from 6 to 8:30 p.m. with Crowe Brothers (bluegrass/Americana) June 12 and Americana Jones June 19. Free and open to the public. www.highlandschamber.org.
• Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts (Franklin) will host Mark Lowry w/Endless Highway at 7:30 p.m. June 18. Tickets start at $25 per person. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to www.greatmountainmusic.com.
• Southern Porch (Canton) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.492.8009 or www.southern-porch.com.
• Stecoah Valley Center (Robbinsville) “An Appalachian Evening” series will host Frank & Allie June 12 and Buncombe Turnpike June 19. The three shows are free and open to the public. A special online performance by The Kruger Brothers will be June 26. Ticketed shows will include The Jeff Little Trio July 10 ($25), Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road July 17 ($15) and Darin & Brooke Aldridge July 24 ($25). 828.479.3364 or www.stecoahvalleycenter.com.
• The Ugly Dog Pub (Cashiers) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. 828.743.3000 or www.theuglydogpub.com.
Brunch with the Blackouts
Popular psychobilly act Humps & The Blackouts will hit the stage at 3 p.m. Sunday, June 13, at The Water’n Hole Bar & Grill in Waynesville. The East Tennessee band of bandits is wellregarded for its mix of honky-tonk, bluegrass and alt-country stylings. As well, The Water’n Hole will be serving brunch starting at noon and will do so for each Sunday moving forward. The show is free and open to the public. 828.456.4750.
• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host Eric Alan Barker (classic rock) June 11 and Natti Love Joys (reggae/soul) June 18. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.
• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. 828.538.0115 or www.mtnlayersbeer.com.
• Nantahala Brewing (Sylva) will host a “Jazz Night” from 7 to 10 p.m. on Wednesdays and semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 828.641.9797 or www.nantahalabrewing.com.
• Nantahala Outdoor Center (Nantahala Gorge) will host “Bluegrass with Blue” June 11 and 18, Somebody’s Child June 12 and Pioneer Chicken Stand June 19. All shows
• The Ugly Dog Pub (Highlands) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.526.8364 or www.theuglydogpub.com.
• Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host Crossfire June 12. All shows begin at 8 p.m. Free and open to the public. 828.538.2488.
• Valley Tavern (Maggie Valley) will host Scoundrel’s Lounge 3 p.m July 25. 828.926.7440 or www.valley-tavern.com.
• Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host karaoke on Thursday nights, Humps & The Blackouts June 13 and Scoundrel’s Lounge June 20. All shows begin at 3 p.m. 828.456.4750 or www.facebook.com/waternhole.bar.
• Whiteside Brewing (Cashiers) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.743.6000 or www.whitesidebrewing.com.
Humps & The Blackouts.
Seldom Scene.
On the shelf
A few lessons in virtue from a veteran
On the shelves around the room where I write and work a visitor would find all sorts of books, including a few “selfhelp” guides and manuals on writing and composition. My theory on spending money on such books is this: If they contain even one piece of advice, however small, that might improve my life or my writing, then the money I paid for that book is more than worth that expense.
forge your character, strengthen your soul, and keep you connected to the rest of the world.”
And under “The Hero Code” for this chapter is “I will be kind and compassionate to at least one person every single day and
marked many pages and passages with slips of paper or penciled comments, and the set still sits on my shelves looking as much like a hedge hog as books can look.
Hosting Author
ERIC LODIN
to read from his debut novel, Soft Hearts: A Rett Swinson Mystery Saturday, June 12th at 1 o'clock
Admiral H. McRaven’s The Hero Code: Lessons Learned From Lives Well Lived (Grand Central Publishing, 2021, 157 pages) came to me via the public library, and I doubt I will purchase my own copy — I’ve made a conscious effort the last two or three years to cut down on my book buying — but here’s a slender book with some great stories and some life-affirming advice.
McRaven, author of the bestsellers Make Your Bed and Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations, served for 37 years in the Navy Seals and takes many of his stories from his time in the service and the military personnel with whom he worked. We travel with him from the Pentagon to Afghanistan, and we learn of the exploits of battlefield heroes and those who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in other areas of life, like actor Gary Sinise, most famous for his role as Lieutenant Dan in the film “Forrest Gump,” whom McRaven met when Sinise was personally delivering pallets of school supplies for Afghani children.
McRaven divides The Hero Code into chapters under such titles as “Humility,” “Sacrifice,” “Compassion,” and “Humor.” After telling his stories of the role models who exhibit these virtues, he ends these chapters with a short reflection on the virtue discussed, followed by a simple summary under “The Hero Code.” Under “Hope,” for example, McRaven speaks of the hope Gary Sinise brings to veterans through his assistance to wounded warriors and to the families of those who have lost loved ones in combat. He then writes how some of us have difficulty taking the time to be kind to others.
“Fortunately, the fix is easy: one dollar for the homeless, one hour at a soup kitchen, one dinner for the church bazaar, one thank-you for returning soldiers, one small act of kindness to
‘Murder on Scotts Creek’
expect nothing in return.”
McRaven begins his book by recounting his boyhood adoration of Superman. In the “Epilogue,” he reminds us that if we open our eyes we find heroes all around us, “common people thrust into the crucible of action,” men and women who do the right thing even at great personal cost. He ends with these words about heroes, touching again as he does so on The Man of Steel of his youth:
“Their actions rise above the crowd. They separate themselves from the weak-kneed, the bench-sitters, those who lack the moral fortitude to do the right thing, and in the end, the heroes make us better people, a better society, and a better world. As much as I hoped the Man of Steel would be around to save the world, he is not. It is up to us. It is up to you.”
If you’re looking for some inspiration in a bad time, or if you just want a small book chock full of good stories, The Hero Code is the book for you.
•••
A few years ago, I spent almost 12 months making my way through Will and Ariel Durant’s 11-volume magnum opus, The Story of Civilization. Along the way I
In writing an article about Roman women and their virtues for another publication, I recently opened Will Durant’s volume titled Caesar and Christ. I had forgotten his wit and his way with humor and language. At the time I read these books, I even considered putting many of these observations, some of them now politically incorrect, into a book of its own.
Here are a few of these “Durantisms” from Caesar and Christ to brighten your day and perhaps give you pause for thought:
On the power of Roman women: “Since the greater urgency of the male supplies women with charms more potent than any law, her status in Rome must not be judged from her legal disabilities.”
On judging famous leaders from the past: “We must think of Caesar as at first an unscrupulous politician and a reckless rake, slowly transformed by growth and responsibility into one of history’s most profound and conscientious statesmen. We must not forget, as we rejoice at his faults, that he was a great man notwithstanding.”
On the impact of wealth on families in the later republic: “Children were now luxuries which only the poor could afford.”
On the growth of “reckless luxury” among the upper classes: “‘The citizens,’ Cato mourned, ‘no longer listen to good advice, for the belly has no ears.’”
On the fall of Rome: “The political causes of decay were rooted in one fact — that increasing despotism destroyed the citizen’s civic sense and dried up statesmanship at its source.
On Rome’s influence and a long thought: “Our Roman heritage works in our lives a thousand times a day.”
(Jeff Minick reviews books and has written four of his own: two novels, Amanda Bell and Dust On Their Wings, and two works of nonfiction, Learning As I Go and Movies Make the Man minick0301@gmail.com)
Hometown Bookstore since2007 your
There will be a special book signing with Ronald Evans for his new work, Swift Justice: Murder on Scotts Creek, at 3 p.m. Saturday, June 12, in the old courtroom at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva. The courtroom is where the 1947 trial of Earl O’Dear and Robert Messer was held for their murder of taxi-driver Jack Hall and his young wife Margie Hall in Sylva-Dillsboro, which is the basis for this new book. To reserve copies of the book, call City Lights Bookstore in Sylva at 828.586.9499. Another signing will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 19, at Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville.
A century after Benton MacKaye proposed it, millions enjoy the A.T. each year
BY HOLLY KAYS OUTDOORS EDITOR
Awall of wind hurtles through the asphaltcovered mountain gap as I exit my car, popping open the trunk to rummage through the sea of stuff for any last-minute additions to the loaded backpack lying atop the mess.
The air is chilly for early May, barely clearing 50, and I’m tired. It’s 4 p.m. on a Friday, the end of a long week made longer by ongoing complications from a home improvement project. I made a point of declaring that, regardless of the circumstances, I would be going backpacking this evening, but if I’m honest with myself, the treadmill of sifting and planning and losing and finding the gear I’d need to make it happen left me wondering if a brief overnight adventure was really worth all the effort.
But here I am, standing alone in the wind under the I-26 overpass at Sams Gap, a loaded pack on my back and an excited dog attached to the leash in my hand. I’ve come too far to turn around now, so I step forward, footfalls echoing beneath the overpass before following the white blaze up a steep asphalt drive and then hanging a left onto the Appalachian Trail.
I turn my back to the highway, place my boots on the dirt, and breath in beauty. Lowangled light dapples the newly green forest floor. Mayapples stand erect like open umbrellas, and young ferns coil like wound springs. The trail quickly turns steep, and my legs strain against gravity while my lungs contract and expand in support. In an irony I’ve often noticed while spending time outdoors, the harder my body works, the more quickly my fatigue evaporates. I feel alive.
More than a century ago, a young boy named Benton MacKaye found a similar kind of transformation in the mountains, and he grew into a young man whose vision and idealism birthed the Appalachian Trail.
Born in Connecticut on March 6, 1879, MacKaye had a turbulent upbringing as the sixth of seven children, son of a brilliant but often broke inventor/playwright, Steele MacKaye. He was 9 years old when his older brother Will died and 14 when his father passed away, leaving the remaining sons to support the family.
In the face of tragedy, MacKaye always found restoration in the wilderness. As a teenager, he thoroughly explored the forest surrounding the family home in Massachusetts, carrying a sketchbook in which he created exquisite maps and drawings of the plants and animals he encountered.
As an undergraduate at Harvard University, his expeditions grew in scope and
still unclear what a forestry degree meant in the real world. MacKaye spent a few years working for the U.S. Forest Service — an experience that was “a bit like hiking with a pebble in your boot,” Ryan wrote — and then came back to Harvard as an instructor. Life had been going well, but it took a turn for the worse in 1910 when he lost his job. A year later, MacKaye and his fiancée Mabel “Lucy” Abbott broke up. After the split, MacKaye was hired as forest examiner for the Forest Service, an offer that came directly from the agency’s head, Henry Graves, but by 1919 he had parted ways for good with the Forest Service and federal employment in general. In 1915, MacKaye married. His wife, Jessie Hardy Stubbs, known as Betty, was a lecturer and social activist, an “intellectual soul mate” to MacKaye and, like her husband, suffered from debilitating bouts of depression, Ryan wrote. On April 19, 1921, Betty died by suicide after jumping in New York’s East River.
Through that tragedy, the A.T. idea made its way to the national stage.
After Betty’s death, MacKaye’s close friend Charles Harris Whitaker invited him to come stay at his farmstead in Mount Olive, New Jersey.
ambition, writes Jeffrey H. Ryan in his book Blazing Ahead: Benton MacKaye, Myron Avery, and the Rivalry that Built the Appalachian Trail. After completing his freshman year, MacKaye and a couple classmates spent two weeks exploring the White Mountains of New Hampshire, ascending multiple summits along a path that would later become part of the Appalachian Trail. A few years later, he took a post-graduation trip with his brother Percy and a close friend named Horace Hildreth, which Ryan described as “the most ambitious” excursion yet. The young men traveled by train and then by foot — sometimes using dirt roads, other times bushwhacking through the forest — to summit Haystack, Stratton and Bromley mountains.
“At a time when the approaches to high peaks, if any, were mostly dirt roads and the young men often counted on the kindness of farmers or their own resourcefulness for food and shelter, it was an ambitious and exhilarating feat,” Ryan wrote. “Yet the memory that stuck most with MacKaye was how it felt to stand above the clouds.”
The experience altered the course of MacKaye’s life, inspiring the idea for the trail with which he would be forever linked.
“I felt as if atop the world, with a sort of ‘planetary feeling,’” he wrote in an April 1901 letter to his brother James, describing the summit of Stratton Mountain. “I seemed to perceive peaks far southward, hidden by old Earth’s curvature. Would a footpath someday reach them from where I was then perched?”
MacKaye went on to earn a graduate degree in forestry, a new field still working to define itself, and was in fact the first person to enroll in Harvard’s freshly minted forestry program. He enjoyed his studies, but it was
“Without a partner or any immediate job prospects, he spent his days developing and refining an idea that was taking root in his mind and coming to life on the pages of his diary and notebook,” Ryan wrote. That idea was “a bold, new plan for the entire Appalachian Range: a recreational and economic plan that evolved around a footpath extending ‘the full length of the Appalachian skyline — from the highest peak in the north to the highest peak in the south — from Mount Washington to Mount Mitchell.’” Whitaker happened to be the editor of the Journal of Landscape Architecture, and MacKaye’s idea excited him. He set up a meeting with Clarence Stein, head of the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on Community Planning, and the three developed a plan to run an article about MacKaye’s idea in Whittaker’s journal, which Stein would then promote through his committee.
The resulting article, “An Appalachian Trail: A Project in Regional Planning” came out in the journal’s October 1921 issue, 100 years ago this fall. Within 16 years of the article’s publication, the 2,000-mile trail MacKaye had envisioned along the Appalachian spine became a reality.
During the 2.5-mile hike to Hogback Ridge Shelter, I see almost nobody. Most of the people walking the trail this time of year are northbound thru-hikers unlikely to walk past Hogback Ridge at this point in the day. I’m hiking south, and I have the sun-pierced purple larkspurs and the evening chorus of birdsong all to myself.
When I reach the shelter, I find a group of five or six thru-hikers clustered around the camp, some eating dinner at the single picnic table, others sitting around a blazing fire.
After a long day on the trail, hikers hang out around the fire at Hogback Ridge Shelter on the Appalachian Trail. Holly Kays photo
Northbound from Georgia is still the most popular way to hike the trail, so here the “bubble” of thru-hikers tends to occur in mid to late spring.
“Do you want some water?” a red-haired woman asks as I approach, offering me a pour from her hydration bladder and explaining that the water source is a longerthan-usual walk away from the shelter.
I decline — unlike her, I hadn’t just walked 16 miles with a 25-pound pack — then set about getting water, setting up the tent and unloading my sleeping bag and mat. I spend an hour or so wandering down the trail a bit in hopes of bumping into my cousin, a thru-hiker who’s aiming for Hogback Ridge tonight, but eventually I head back toward camp to make some dinner.
That’s when I meet Stashe and Pickles, a couple thru-hikers sitting on the edge of the three-sided shelter eating instant dinners from plastic bags.
“I met Pickles over here on day one or two,” says Stashe, a 31-year-old Portland, Oregon, resident known as Zac Coykendall when he’s not on the trail. His sizeable mustache gives a clue as to his trail name’s origin. “We all found a group of people who were all hiking the same speed, a bunch of lovely weirdos. I liked hanging out with them, and I’ve been hanging out with them as long as I can.”
They’ve all been hiking for about a month, recently cresting 300 miles. It’s surprising, Stashe says, the degree to which the people he’s met have defined his experience.
“You think of this as a Walden experience, how you go out in the middle of nowhere,” he says. “But no, it’s mostly about the people.”
“I didn’t know how important the community would be to my success,” adds Pickles, a 28-year-old from Orlando, Flordia, whose off-trail name is Analise Pena. “I knew it would happen. I knew I’d have friends and it would be fun. But when it’s really, really tough and you have that support, there’s nothing like it. It’s really important.”
The next morning I meet a 21-year-old Army veteran from Gillette, Wyoming — “Cowboy” on the A.T., or Tristan Dowling off it — who reminds me of the off-trail support hikers get, too.
“The kindness of people and the absolute warmth and hospitality that hikers receive,” he says when I ask what’s been surprising about the experience so far. “If you think about it, we’re nasty, smelly, gross people and they charge us less for rooms and we make a bigger mess and we’re loud, rambunctious — just a rowdy kind of crowd. And everybody loves us.”
For tonight, though, that outside world is far away, and the on-trail atmosphere takes over. As the setting sun sends pink streaks into the sky, visible between still-bare trees, the campfire wards off the oncoming chill. After a long day on the trail, my cousin wanders into camp as a thru-hiker aptly named Tunes strums his ukulele. Everyone sings along to “Sweet Caroline” and “Country Roads” until hiker midnight hits and the warmth of the sleeping bag calls.
Today, the Appalachian Trail is a 2,193mile blazed footpath stretching from Springer Mountain, Georgia, to Mount Katahdin, Maine.
Three-sided shelters, typically accompanied by a fire ring, picnic table and water source, are spaced roughly a day’s hike apart throughout the whole thing, and every now and then there’s a road crossing near a community where hikers can down a hamburger or five, get a decent shower and replenish their food supplies. Every year, thousands of people attempt to hike the whole thing, and millions embark on shorter excursions.
But MacKaye’s original plan was about more than just a trail.
employment.”
This “problem of living” is a recurring theme MacKaye’s article.
“It goes without saying we should work upon the labor problem,” he wrote. “Not just the matter of ‘capital and labor’ but the real labor problem — how to reduce the day’s drudgery.”
He wrote during a time of rapid urbanization and upheaval. In 1921, World War I and the Spanish flu epidemic were barely in the rearview. Many rural areas were in decline, with Americans increasingly leaving the country for urban settings.
As technology progresses, MacKaye wrote, there will be increasing time for
This long trail would have shelter camps located “a comfortable day’s walk” apart, a fair description of the shelters present today. But it would also have community camps of 100 acres or more established as self-owning communities for the purpose of “non-industrial” activities — recreation, recuperation, study and seasonal field schools, for example. A later development, MacKaye posited, would be food and farm camps established in adjoining valleys or included in the community camps.
“Their development would provide a tangible opportunity for working out by actual experiment a fundamental matter in the problem of living,” MacKaye wrote. “It would provide one definite avenue of experiment in getting ‘back to the land.’ It would provide an opportunity for those anxious to settle down in the country; it would open up a possible source for new, and needed,
Avery, because interestingly enough what happened is MacKaye really wanted to shepherd this thing through on his own, and he really didn’t have the right personality to engage and organize people,” he said.
MacKaye was a man of ideas. Avery was a man of action.
After growing up poor in coastal Maine, Avery graduated from Harvard Law School in 1923, becoming a maritime lawyer and an Appalachian Trail enthusiast. He was one of the founding members of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club and eventually served seven consecutive terms as ATC chair. He was brilliant, he was hardworking, and he was determined to get the job done.
“He had an obsession with completing the trail, and he was not really concerned with anything else in terms of alienating people or a minor inconvenience like having the Skyline Drive (in Virginia) literally built over a 30-mile section of trail they had built,” said Ryan. “His response was, ‘Let’s just move the trail over.’”
The Skyline Drive episode highlighted the stark contrast between Avery’s and MacKaye’s philosophies regarding the A.T. Avery’s main goal was to achieve a complete, continuous footpath along the Appalachian ridge — if the trail had to sacrifice some wilderness characteristics to accomplish the goal, so be it.
Benton MacKaye’s
sketch of a proposed A.T. route included various spur trails.
American people put their leisure time to use in supridge trail that could offer
tion, and employment in struggling rural areas, he argued, their efforts would be equal to that of “40,000 persons working steadily on the job.”
While the second half of MacKaye’s plan — community and farm camps along the trail — never came to fruition, the first half of his proposal progressed with startling speed. MacKaye’s article published in October 1921. The first Appalachian Trail Conference, later to become the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, was held in March 1925, and by 1937 a complete trail stretched from Springer Mountain, Georgia, to Mt. Katahdin, Maine — an even longer distance than MacKaye’s originally proposed route.
According to Ryan, the rapid speed of completion was not due to MacKaye but rather to a lesser-known but just as influential name in A.T. history — Myron Avery.
“That is almost 100 percent Myron
“Our main problem is to actually create it,” Avery said in a 1934 statement for the Appalachian Trail Conference, quoted in Ryan’s book. “Then we may discuss how to use it.”
MacKaye couldn’t have disagreed more.
“MacKaye passionately felt that Avery’s view was short-sighted and missing the whole point of the A.T.,” Ryan wrote. “‘A wilderness is like a secret,’ he told the gathering. ‘The best way to keep it is to keep it. Keep the wilderness wild. Do not manicure it.’ MacKaye believed the violation caused by skyline roads was wholesale. Two months before he had written that a skyline road ‘violates the wilderness solitude not merely here and there but throughout its whole length.’”
Ultimately, Avery won. Today, the A.T. closely parallels Skyline Drive for most of the road’s length and also hugs the connected Blue Ridge Parkway in various places.
That same year, MacKaye grew so disenchanted with Avery’s approach to things that he left the ATC and — together with fellow wilderness advocates Bob Marshall, Harvey Broome and Bernard Frank — started another organization that is still active today: The Wilderness Society.
Three weeks after that chilly but rejuvenating night on Hogback Ridge, I find myself in Benton MacKaye’s shadow again — this time, by accident.
I’d signed up for a ladies backpacking trip to the Lakeshore Drive area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and as we stepped on the trail I noticed a small green sign noting that this was part of the Benton MacKaye Trail. I hadn’t known before showing up.
original
Appalachian Trail Conservancy photo
Forestry student awarded for academic excellence
Brandon Light, a student in Haywood Community College’s Forest Management Technology Program, has been named the college’s Academic Excellence Award winner.
Light spent more than a decade after high school exploring different countries and traveling throughout the U.S. His travels inspired him to return to the classroom to better understand sustainable forestry.
The 288-mile trail, I would later learn, shares its start in Springer Mountain, Georgia, with the A.T. and intersects that longer trail multiple times before reaching its terminus in the Big Creek area of the Smokies.
hikes. She thru-hiked the A.T. in 2011, and she’s completed various other trails in the years since, most recently the 339mile Pinhoti Trail, which starts in her native Alabama. There’s a time for solitude, she said, and there’s a time for community.
vision gave rise to what I assume must be the most traveled trail in the world. Certainly the most revered and iconic, and that’s really something.”
The BMT follows a route that’s closer to the one MacKaye originally proposed for the A.T.’s southern reaches. Some say it’s truer to his vision in another respect, as well — the prevalence of wilderness.
From Feb. 1 through April 30 of this year, a whopping 2,689 people registered to start a northbound thru hike on the A.T. On the busiest day, April 1, 56 people were registered to start the trail. The BMT is a different story. A section on the Benton MacKaye Trail Association
“I am convinced that a thorough understanding of forest ecosystems is critical to ensuring the health and continued survival of life on earth,” Light explains. “I hope to become a writer spreading knowledge of ethics, conservation and sustainability in nature.”
Light is the president of HCC’s Society of American Foresters Chapter, a member of the Appalachian SAF Leadership Academy, a social media intern for the Appalachian SAF and employee at one of the country’s best tree care companies on high-level urban tree care projects. He received a $1,000 scholarship from The North Carolina Forestry Association’s Forest Education and Conservation Foundation and was the 2020 HCC Dendrology Champion.
Light plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree in forest management and a master’s degree in wildlife natural resource management.
Mainspring adds staff
Mainspring Conservation Trust has hired two new positions, expanding the regional nonprofit’s staff to 12 people.
Emmie Cornell, originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee, is the land trust’s new land conservation associate and will work closely with Director Jordan Smith to help with land protection throughout the nonprofit’s sevencounty service area. N.C. State University graduate
Alex Jump will assist Mainspring’s stewardship program, helping manage its public properties and other conserved lands.
“The number of conservation opportunities that we’ve had over the past few years revealed that our staff was stretched too thin to do all that we want to do,” Smith said. “Our ability to protect important places is greatly multiplied with the addition of two young, energetic and passionate individuals.”
www.mainspringconserves.org.
“When I did the Pinhoti Trail in the fall, I was really needing to get away, and it was great to be by myself,” she said. “But now I’ve been by myself too much, so I want to be around people.”
These days, the A.T. usually has people — especially within the “bubble” of spring-starting northbounders. In the 1940s and ‘50s combined, only 17 people thru-hiked the A.T. But in recent decades, the trail’s popularity has exploded. Between 2000 and 2010, 5,970 people logged at least 2,000 miles on the
website labeled “Crowds” reads simply: “Known as a trail where hikers can enjoy mile after mile of peaceful solitude, crowds are not a problem.”
Just days away from completing her BMT hike, Sara Liebold had already groundtruthed that statement when we met her at Campsite 74 on the Lakeshore Trail. Our group of five had already set up camp and gotten water boiling for dinner when she walked up to the campsite, and though we’d never met before, she was relieved to see us. It had been days, she said, since she’d seen anybody at all.
“I’d rather be around a little more people, because it’s just been nobody,” she said.
Liebold, 34, is no stranger to long
“By having the foresight to create this interconnected footpath from Maine to Georgia, MacKaye’s vision has provided a way for millions each year to benefit from a true natural experience, in many cases just a short drive from some of the most populated cities in world,” added Jordan Bowman, communications director for the ATC. “In regard to conservation, the work and words of Benton MacKaye have rekindled the notion that the Appalachian Trail should be ‘a realm' beyond the footpath itself.”
MacKaye didn’t just create a trail, said Ryan. He created a vision, a template for all other long-distance hiking trails to follow, as well as a model for building and sustaining those trails. The A.T. is part of the National Parks System, but it owes its existence more to the dedicated efforts of generations of volunteers than to government oversight. Included in MacKaye’s original proposal was the idea that volunteer hiking clubs should be responsible for building and maintaining the trail and its amenities — and clubs like the Carolina Mountain Club and Nantahala Hiking Club continue to fulfill that role today.
The A.T. is a lot different now than it was as an idea in MacKaye’s head in 1921, as a new trail in 1937, as a burgeoning phenomenon in the 1970s or as an incredibly popular cultural symbol in the 21st century. It’s different today than it was yesterday or will be tomorrow.
A.T., and in the 2010s that number grew to 9,046.
Figures like that leave Liebold torn. She’s glad she thru-hiked when she did, because she’s not sure she would like it as much now. On the other hand, “it’s great, because honestly the more people that go on the trails, the more people you have that are going to love it and want to protect it,” she said.
Ken Cissna, president of the Benton MacKaye Trail Association, wonders what MacKaye might have thought about the trail named in his honor compared to the one known as his brainchild.
“I kind of think he might like the Benton MacKaye Trail, because it does provide a more wilderness experience,” he said. “But I mean, my goodness, his
“MacKaye was surprised in his later years about the number of people and the amount of time they spent on the A.T.,” said Bowman. “As originally envisioned, MacKaye believed that most people would likely spend around two weeks max on the trail — primarily to get out in the open and study nature, not necessarily to recreate. I’m sure he wondered how many were seeking and receiving the benefits of the outdoor culture he had in mind originally. Nonetheless, I believe MacKaye would be happy to know how many people have come to genuinely love the trail — and have committed time and resources in order to conserve it.”
As MacKaye wrote back in 1921, “Two weeks spent in the real open — right now, this year and next — would be a little real living for thousands of people which they would be sure of getting before they died.”
In May of 1975, just months before his death on Dec. 11 of that year, MacKaye gave what may have been his final pronouncement regarding his hopes for the future of the trail he’d help birth half a century earlier.
“What I hope,” he told journalist Constance Stallings, “is that it won’t turn into a racetrack. I for one would give the prize to the person who took the longest time.”
Alex Jump (left) and Emmie Cornell.
Brandon Light. Donated photo
MacKaye (left) envisioned the A.T., but his sometimes rival Myron Avery (right) was largely responsible for making the dream a reality. Appalachian Trail Conservancy photo
A large white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) blooms along the A.T. near Sams Gap.
Holly Kays photo
Catch Base Camp on the Go
Base Camp On the Go will be making the rounds this week, providing free outdoor fun in various Haywood County locations through June 11.
Each event will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and feature zorb balls, gaga ball and giant chess. Locations are: n Fines Creek Community Center on
Wednesday, June 9.
n Dutch Fisher Park in Hazelwood on Thursday, June 10.
n All-Abilities Playground at Recreation Park in Waynesville on Friday, June 11. Waynesville Parks and Recreation, 828.456.2030 or cmiller@waynesvillenc.gov.
Swim meets will cause pool closure
The Waynesville Recreation and Water Park will be closed on Saturdays, June 12 and July 10, for swim meets this summer. 828.456.2030.
Regional outdoors brand celebrates debut
Learn more about Made X Mtns, a new regional brand for Western North Carolina, at 4 p.m. Tuesday, June 15, at Fire Mountain Outpost in Cherokee.
Hosted by Mountain BizWorks, Outdoor Gear Builders of Western North Carolina, the N.C. Outdoor Recreation Office and Growing Outdoors Partnership, the event will offer the chance to hear an overview of the brand celebrating the outdoor industry hub of the East over a pint.
Learn more about Made X Mtns at www.madexmtns.com.
A pair of cyclists cruise WNC trails riding bikes outfitted with parts made by Asheville-based company Industry Nine. Industry Nine photo
Bring Special Olympics to Cherokee
Volunteers are needed to help with the upcoming Special Olympics season on the Qualla Boundary. Training will start this fall for a variety of Olympic-type sports. Special Olympics North Carolina will host invitational events across the state, and volunteers are needed to help manage and plan two to three events on the Qualla Boundary. Events will host 50 to 100 athletes and take place within a half a day or in the evening.
For more information, contact Kathy Langfield at volunteers@sonc.net or 929.719.7662, ext. 116. Meetings will be held via Zoom through August or September, after which planning teams will meet in person to finalize details.
Zorb balls are a popular attraction at Base Camp on the Go. Donated photo
Bear activity reported in Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock
Visitors to the Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness on the Nantahala National Forest should take extra precautions after recent reports of bear encounters in the area.
No injuries have been reported, but encounters have included bears stealing food and backpacks. Bears will often stay in the area of the incident for multiple hours and possibly days depending on food availability.
Encounters have occurred on Haoe Lead Trail, Stratton Bald Trail, Hangover Lead Trail and Hangover Trail.
To avoid bear attacks, keep dogs on leash in areas where bear activity has been reported, pack up food and trash and immediately vacate the area after seeing a
bear, properly store food and scented items like toothpaste in a bearproof container, and never in a tent, and clean up food and garbage. In case of a bear encounter, move away slowly, and if necessary scare the animal away with loud shouts and by throwing rocks and sticks. If attacked, fight back with any object available, and never play dead.
More bear safety tips are online at go.usa.gov/czwbw.
Dive into folklore this Friday
Blue Ridge Parkway rangers will host a new outdoor interpretive series dubbed “Fridays at the Folk Art Center” at 7:30 p.m. every Friday this season at the Folk Art Center in Asheville.
The June 11 presentation will focus on folklore, especially tricksters. The presentation will look at Rabbit, a powerful figure from Cherokee mythology, and Jack, who is typically associated with a certain beanstalk. The session will discuss what else these characters are famous for, how they reflect their different cultures and just how tricky a trickster has to be.
The Folk Art Center is located at Milepost 382 of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The building will not be open during the programs, with no restrooms available on site. Bring a chair or blanket. 828.298.5330, ext. 302.
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
WEDNESDAY:
Experience a Casual, Relaxing Atmosphere
perfect for all walks of life, from families to golf groups to ladies who lunch. We pride ourselves on using fresh ingredients from our gardens and supporting local farmers. The details are priority.
Get outdoors at Chimney Rock
Celebrate National Get Outdoors Day at Chimney Rock State Park on Saturday, June 12, with climbing, yoga, live animals and more.
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Fox Mountain Guides will offer free climbing tasters for guests, and Namaste in Nature will demonstrate yoga stretches and poses for hikers.
On-site naturalists and animal ambassadors will provide programs throughout the day, and guests exploring the park’s six trails should be on the lookout for trail guides providing special science and history activities. All activities included with park admission, which is $17 for adults, $8 for youth 5 to 15 and free for children 4 and under.
Sierra Designs will come to Black Balsam
Black Balsam Knob in the Pisgah National Forest is one of seven spots nationwide that Sierra Designs ambassadors have chosen to celebrate National Trails Day.
One Saturday, June 19, ambassadors will be at Black Balsam to host a trailside happy hour and hand out Sierra Designs swag as part of the Toasts on Trail program, designed to encourage people to get out and hike.
Black Balsam is the only East Coast location among the seven, which also include sites in Alaska, Colorado, Washington and Minnesota.
www.sierradesigns.com/toasts-on-trail.
Trail race proceeds help SCC students
The 2021 Assault on Blackrock trail race raised $4,100 for the Southwestern Community College Student Emergency Fund.
“I try to give the proceeds from the race to different organizations in Sylva every year,” said Race Director Brian Barwatt. “I’ve graduated from and worked at SCC, and Scott Clontz with his graphic design students have helped with the race for years. I felt it was a good time to give back to the college.”
The Student Emergency Fund was created by the SCC Foundation to support students who encounter a sudden financial emergency that could impact their educa-
Trail tale time
tion at SCC. Contribute to the fund at www.southwesterncc.edu/sef.
Dominique (from left) and Brian Barwatt present a donation from the Assault on Blackrock trail race to SCC President Dr. Don Tomas and SCC Foundation Director Brett Woods. Donated photo
Park visitors inspect various animal skins on display at an educational booth. Donated photo
Melissa McGaw photo
Partial solar eclipse coming
A partial solar eclipse will be visible across the northern hemisphere on Thursday, June 10, hitting Western North Carolina around sunrise.
A solar eclipse happens when the Moon moves between the sun and Earth, casting a shadow on Earth and fully or partially blocking the Sun’s light in some areas. In WNC, the sun will appear to have a dark shadow on parts of its surface as the area experiences a partial solar eclipse. People in parts of Canada, Greenland and northern Russia will experience an annular eclipse, in which the moon looks like a dark disc on top of the sun’s larger, bright disk, creating what looks like a ring of fire around the moon.
eclipse is no longer safe to use, because these materials have a lifetime of only two years.
The International Space Station appears as a dot on the sun during a partial solar eclipse seen near Banner, Wyoming, on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017.
NASA/Joel Kowsky photo
Enrique Gomez, associate professor of physics and astronomy at Western Carolina University, urges viewers to use only certified, recently purchased eclipse glasses. Equipment purchased for the 2017 solar
The safest way to experience this eclipse would be to make a pinhole projector, Gomez said. To make one, take a piece of cardboard or aluminum foil, poke a small hole, and look at the projection from this hole on another flat surface to see a sun have a “missing part,” which is the disc of the moon partially covering it.
The sun will rise partially eclipsed by the moon at 6:15 a.m. and this partial phase will end at 6:27 a.m. in Western North Carolina.
Meet the Smokies’ plant collection
Learn about the Smokies Herbarium during a Zoom presentation 1 to 3 p.m. Friday, June 18, presented by Janie Bitner, a volunteer with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Natural History Collection.
The talk is part of the Science at Sugarlands speaker series presented by Discover Life in America. This year’s series will take place over Zoom, with sessions offered on the third Friday of each month through October. The July session is titled “Birds of the Smokies.” Free. Register for the Zoom link at www.dlia.org/sas.
Discuss disaster — and how to recover from it
A free film screening and panel discussion dealing with disaster preparedness and climate-related severe weather will be held 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 16, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. “Revisioning Recovery: Films Uncovering the Roots of Disaster” will be a hybrid event with in-person and online attendance options. It will examine and explore the issue of how preparedness and recovery can become more inclusive and allow everyone to thrive, featuring a collection of five short films that tell environmental disaster recovery stories and examine
historical inequities that worsen when disasters hit.
An interactive panel discussion will feature Rob Young, director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University; Erin McCully, of Western N.C. Citizens’ Climate Lobby; and Jason Meador, aquatic programs manager at Mainspring Conservation Trust. Presented by Macon County Public Library, The Smoky Mountains STEM Collaborative, North Carolina Humanities and Working Films. Sign up by June 10 at bit.ly/revisioningaccess.
Give Richland Creek some love
Help clean up Richland Creek from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday, June 19, in Waynesville. Volunteers will meet at the Vance Street pavilion in the Waynesville Recreation Park and clean up along Howell Mill Road, walking the trail and stream bank of Richland Creek. Gloves, trash bags, grabbers and vests will be provided, but participants should wear closed-toed shoes and long pants that can get dirty and wet. Bring a towel.
Organized by Haywood Waterways Association. RSVP by June 17 to Christine O’Brien at christine.haywoodwaterways@gmail.com or 828.476.4667, ext. 11.
N.C. poised to set litter collection record
The N.C. Department of Transportation’s crews, contractors and volunteers have collected more than 6 million pounds of litter from roadsides, more than the total weight collected during all of 2020.
They are also on pace to exceed the record for litter collection set in 2019, which was 10.5 million pounds.
Litter pickup is important, but Transportation Secretary Eric Boyette encourages North Carolinians to be proactive in their efforts as well.
“Secure your load, don’t throw trash out the window and do your part to make sure others know this too,” he said.
Members of the public can report people who litter from their vehicle on NCDOT’s Swat-ALitterbug app, available at ncdot.gov/litter. The 2021 Fall Litter Sweep will be held between Sept. 11-25, offering an opportunity to clean up the state even more.
Severe drought hits southeastern N.C.
Of North Carolina’s 100 counties, 84 are currently abnormally dry or experiencing drought — but the far western region is so far exempt.
Six counties in the southeastern part of the state are in severe drought, with 49 more in moderate drought and 29 counties experiencing abnormally dry conditions according to the most recent drought report released June 3.
Abnormally dry conditions extend as far west as Madison, Buncombe and Yancey counties. The June 3 report is the first time since Oct. 22, 2019, that severe drought has been reported in the state. However, due to the extended forecast at the time the June 3 report was issued, N.C. Drought Management Advisory Council Chairman Klaus Albertin said he was hopeful the severe drought would be short-lived. This spring has been North Carolina’s ninth-driest on record.
The drought map is updated every Thursday at www.ncdrought.org/education.
Volunteers pick up litter near Richland Creek. File photo
WNC Calendar
COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
• The Cherokee Bonfire & Storytelling will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays through Sept. 29 at the Oconaluftee Islands Park in Cherokee. The bonfire is free and open to the public. For more information, call 800.438.1601 or click on www.visitcherokeenc.com.
• The Lake Junaluska Flea Market will take place from 8 to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 12, at the Nanci Weldon Memorial Gym at Lake Junaluska. Special early bird shopping is available from 7:30-8 a.m. for $5 cash. Everyone is welcome to attend.
• The “Downtown Sylva Sidewalk Sale” will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 12. Shane Meade will be performing from noon to 2 p.m. in the town parking lot by the First Baptist Church. The Jackson Arts Market (JAM) will have music from 1 to 5 p.m. There will be 20 participating businesses. Eat, shop and enjoy the day. www.mountainlovers.com.
B USINESS & E DUCATION
• Cashiers area Chamber of Commerce will host a networking reception from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, June 10 at GlenCove by Old Edwards. Reservations are required, RSVP to office@cashiersareachamber.com.
• Betty Farmer, award-winning professor of communication at Western Carolina University and workplace consultant, will be facilitating an online workshop on “Understanding Emotional Intelligence,” from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Friday, June 11. The registration fee for this workshop is $139. For more information and to register, visit pdp.wcu.edu and click on “Workshops and Certificates for Managers and Leaders.”
• QuickDraw, a local art initiative that funds art supplies in rural WNC schools is selling art for education online now through June 30. Proceeds fund art education in Haywood County through teacher classroom supply grants and student scholarships. The online art market and art auction can be accessed at: https://wnc-quick-draw.myshopify.com/. QuickDrawofWNC.com or 828.734.5747.
FUNDRAISERS AND B ENEFITS
• With Heart Projects will host its first Annual Charity Golf Tournament at 12 p.m. Saturday, June 19, at the Waynesville Inn and Golf Resort. This is a four person captains choice tournament; entry fee is $250, and registration begins at 11 a.m. Contact Gabriel Frazier at 229.315.4240 or on With Heart Projects Facebook and Instagram.
n All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted.
n To have your item listed email to calendar@smokymountainnews.com
• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host Gypsy & Me June 11, Sugah & The Cubes June 12, Joey Fortner (Americana/folk) June 18, Bob Keel June 19 and Zip Robertson 3 p.m. June 20. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.454.5664 or www.froglevelbrewing.com.
• Boojum Brewing (Waynesville) will host karaoke at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, trivia at 7 p.m. on Thursdays, Billingsley (jam/rock) June 12 and Positive Mental Attitude (rock/roots) June 19. All shows begin at 9 p.m. Free and open to the public. 828.246.0350 or www.boojumbrewing.com.
• Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host Shaine Weston Lyles June 13 and Cam Cokas June 20. All events are free and begin at 2 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.innovation-brewing.com.
• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will host Bird In Hand (Americana/indie) w/Rye Baby (Americana/indie) at 7 p.m. July 4. Free and open to the public. www.innovation-brewing.com.
• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host karaoke 7 p.m. June 11, Roscoe’s Road Show (folk/blues) June 12 and The High Strangeness (rock) June 19. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.342.5133 or www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.
• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host Eric Alan Barker (classic rock) June 11 and Natti Love Joys (reggae/soul) June 18. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.
• Friday Night Live (Highlands) will be held at the Town Square from 6 to 8:30 p.m. with Frank & Allie (Appalachian folk) June 11 and Johnny Webb Band June 18. Free and open to the public. www.highlandschamber.org.
• “Pickin’ on the Square” (Franklin) will host Tugelo Holler (jamgrass) June 12 and Michael Reno Harrell (singer-songwriter) June 19. All shows start at 7 p.m. Free and open to the public. Located on Main Street. www.franklin-chamber.com.
• Saturdays On Pine (Highlands) will be held at the Kelsey-Hutchinson Park from 6 to 8:30 p.m. with Crowe Brothers (bluegrass/Americana) June 12 and Americana Jones June 19. Free and open to the public. www.highlandschamber.org.
• Nantahala Outdoor Center (Nantahala Gorge) will host “Bluegrass with Blue” June 11 and 18, Somebody’s Child June 12 and Pioneer Chicken Stand June 19. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. 888.905.7238 or www.noc.com.
A&E
• WNC JeepFest returns to the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, June 11, and Saturday, June 12. Tickets range from $7-25 and are available at www.sarges.org/event/2021-wnc-jeepfest/. All ages are welcome; children ages 7 and under are free. All proceeds will benefit Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation.
• The Classic Wineseller (Waynesville) will host a special dinner show with Nathan Hefner (piano/vocals) June 10, Cynthia McDermott (mandolin/vocals) June 12 and Kevin Lorenz (guitar) June 19. All shows begin at 7 p.m. Reservations required. 828.452.6000 or www.classicwineseller.com.
• Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host Crossfire June 12. All shows begin at 8 p.m. Free and open to the public. 828.538.2488.
• Valley Tavern (Maggie Valley) will host Bohemian Jean July 25 and Scoundrel’s Lounge 3 p.m. July 25. 828.926.7440 or www.valley-tavern.com.
• Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host karaoke on Thursday nights, Humps & The Blackouts June 13 and Scoundrel’s Lounge June 20. All shows begin at 3 p.m. 828.456.4750 or www.facebook.com/waternhole.bar.
• Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts (Franklin) will host Mark Lowry w/Endless Highway at 7:30 p.m. June 18. Tickets start at $25 per person. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to
www.greatmountainmusic.com.
• Thursday Painters come together every Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for fellowship and to paint in Franklin. Free and open to the public. All skill levels and mediums are welcome. Participants are responsible for their own project and a bag lunch. For more information call The Uptown Gallery at 828-349-4607 or contact Pat Mennenger at pm14034@yahoo.com.
F OOD AND D RINK
• There will be a free wine tasting from 6 to 8 p.m. every Thursday and 2 to 5 p.m every Saturday at The Wine Bar & Cellar in Sylva. 828.631.3075.
• Bryson City Wine Market will host weekly wine flight tasting events from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The market will also serve wine by the glass from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
• The “BBQ & Brews Dinner Train” will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on select dates at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City. Full service all-adult first class car. Craft beer pairings with a meal, and more. For more information and/or to register, call 800.872.4681 or click on www.gsmr.com.
ART SHOWINGS AND GALLERIES
• The exhibit “Inspiration: The Creative Muse at Work” will run June 4-26 at the Haywood County Arts Council in downtown Waynesville. www.haywoodarts.org.
Outdoors
• A partial solar eclipse will be visible across the northern hemisphere on Thursday, June 10, hitting Western North Carolina around sunrise. The sun will rise partially eclipsed by the moon at 6:15 a.m. and this partial phase will end at 6:27 a.m. in Western North Carolina.
• Base Camp On the Go will be providing free outdoor fun in various Haywood County locations through June 11. Each event will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fines Creek Community Center on Wednesday, June 9. Dutch Fisher Park in Hazelwood on Thursday, June 10. All-Abilities Playground at Recreation Park in Waynesville on Friday, June 11. Waynesville Parks and Recreation, 828.456.2030 or cmiller@waynesvillenc.gov.
• Mountain True will host No Man’s Land Film Festival at 6:30 p.m. June 11, virtually on Vimeo. Visit https://mountaintrue.org/nmlff2021/ for more information.
• Blue Ridge Parkway rangers will host a new outdoor interpretive series dubbed “Fridays at the Folk Art Center” at 7:30 p.m. every Friday this season at the Folk Art Center in Asheville. The building will not be open during the programs, with no restrooms available on site. Bring a chair or blanket to sit on. 828.298.5330, ext. 302.
• Haywood County Parks and Recreation will guide a birding tour at Cataloochee Valley at 8 a.m. June 12. The tour will be led by Howard Browers. Contact Haywood Parks and Rec to register at 828.452.6789 or Ian.smith@haywoodcountync.gov.
• Celebrate National Get Outdoors Day at Chimney Rock State Park from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 12, with climbing, yoga, live animals and more. All activities included with park admission, which is $17 for adults, $8 for youth 5 to 15 and free for chil-
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
dren 4 and under.
• Haywood County Parks and Recreation will guide a hike along the Asbury Trail at 8 a.m. June 16. The hike will be led by Kathy Odvody and Vickey Watson. Hikes are $10 per person, paid at registration. Contact Haywood Parks and Rec to register at 828.452.6789 or Ian.smith@haywoodcountync.gov.
• Swap Panthertown trail tales during an informal gathering 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 15, at Whiteside Brewing Co. in Cashiers. Hang out with trail pros and special guests, hear their tales and share your own. www.panthertown.org.
• Learn more about Made X Mtns, a new regional brand for Western North Carolina, at 4 p.m. Tuesday, June 15, at Fire Mountain Outpost in Cherokee. www.madexmtns.com.
• A free film screening and panel discussion dealing with disaster preparedness and climate-related severe weather will be held 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 16, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. Presented by Macon County Public Library, The Smoky Mountains STEM Collaborative, North Carolina Humanities and Working Films. Sign up by June 10 at bit.ly/revisioningaccess.
• Learn about the Smokies Herbarium during a Zoom presentation 1 to 3 p.m. Friday, June 18, presented by Janie Bitner, a volunteer with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Natural History Collection. Free. Register for the Zoom link at www.dlia.org/sas.
• Help win a regional competition to crown the 2021 champion of biodiversity by logging outdoor observations on the iNaturalist app from June 5-19. Jackson, Transylvania and Watauga counties will compete during MountainTrue’s annual BioBlitz event. Download the iNaturalist app, and under the “Projects” menu join the 2021 MountainTrue BioBlitz as well as the individual projects listed for Jackson, Transylvania and Watauga counties. Then, start logging observations.
• Help clean up Richland Creek from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday, June 19, in Waynesville. Organized by Haywood Waterways Association. RSVP by June 17 to Christine O’Brien at Christine.haywoodwaterways@gmail.com or 828.476.4667, ext. 11.
• Black Balsam Knob in the Pisgah National Forest is one of seven spots nationwide that Sierra Designs ambassadors have chosen to celebrate National Trails Day. On Saturday, June 19, ambassadors will be at Black Balsam to host a trailside happy hour and hand out Sierra Designs swag as part of the Toasts on Trail program, designed to encourage people to get out and hike. www.sierradesigns.com/toasts-on-trail.
• The Juneteenth Journey to Freedom Together 5K and 1K Fun Walk will step off at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 19, at Mark Watson Park in Sylva. It is organized by the Jackson County NAACP and will raise money for student scholarships and to bring the Harriet Tubman Journey to Freedom Sculpture to Sylva. In addition, a virtual bike ride will be held June 14-19. Cost is $30 for the 5K or bike ride and $20 for the 1K. Register by June 6 at www.jacksonncnaacp.org.
PLACE WNC
Market
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:
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• 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
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• Bold ad $2
• Yellow, Green, Pink or Blue Highlight $4
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Auction
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Employment
THE JACKSON COUNTY DEPARTMENT Of Social Services is recruiting for an Adult Services Social Worker. This position investigates reports of adult abuse and neglect and provides case management for substantiated adult protective services cases. This position also provides ongoing case management for guardianships, payeeships,
& PTO for FULL TIME Apply online at oldedwardsinn.com/careers
Sylva branch of the NC Works Career Center. Applications will be taken until June 18, 2021.
THE JACKSON COUNTY DEPARTMENT Of Social Services is recruiting for a full-time Community Social Services Assistant. Duties primarily involve transporting foster children for a variety of purposes such as visits with parents, medical appointments, counseling, education, or training. Candidates for this position should be highly dependable, adaptable, have the ability to lift children and car seats, have completed high school, interact well
individual and family adjustment services. Other duties include general intake and community outreach services. Requires limited availability after hours and on weekends on an as-needed-basis. Starting salary is $36,369.35, if fullyyear degree in a Human will be given to applicantselor’s Degree in Social Work and experience providing Social Work services. The application for employment is available online at: http:// www.jcdss.org or https:// www.jacksonnc.org/employment-opportunities or may be obtained at the Jackson County Human
with children, and have a valid NC driver’s license with a good driving record. The starting salary is $24,168.16. The application for employment is available online at: www. jcdss.org or www.jacksonnc.org and should be submitted to the Jackson County Department of
Street, Sylva, NC 28779 or the Sylva branch of the NC Works Career Center. Applications will be taken until June 18, 2021.
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Phone: (910) 678-7342 Internet: http://www.faytechcc.edu. An Equal Opportunity Employer.
Homes and Gardens
Estate- Heritage
• Carolyn Lauter - carolyn@bhgheritage.com
Beverly Hanks & Associates- beverly-hanks.com
• Billie Green - bgreen@beverly-hanks.com
• Brian K. Noland - brianknoland.com
• Anne Page - apage@beverly-hanks.com
• Jerry Powell - jpowell@beverly-hanks.com
• Catherine Proben - cproben@beverly-hanks.com
• Ellen Sither - ellensither@beverly-hanks.com
• Mike Stamey - mikestamey@beverly-hanks.com
• Karen Hollingsed- khollingsed@beverly-hanks.com
• Billy Case- billycase@beverly-hanks.com
• Laura Thomas - lthomas@beverly-hanks.com
• John Keith - jkeith@beverly-hanks.com
• Randall Rogers - rrogers@beverly-hanks.com
• Susan Hooper - shooper@beverly-hanks.com
• Hunter Wyman - hwyman@beverly-hanks.com
• Rob Roland - robroland@beverly-hanks.com
ERA Sunburst Realty - sunburstrealty.com
• Amy Spivey - amyspivey.com
• Rick Border - sunburstrealty.com
• Steve Mauldin - smauldin@sunburstrealty.com
• Randy Flanigan - 706-207-9436
EXP Realty
• Jeanne Forrest - ashevillerealeat8@gmail.com
Jerry Lee Mountain Realty
• Jerry Lee Hatley- jerryhatley@bellsouth.net
• Pam James - pam@pamjames.com
Keller Williams Realty - kellerwilliamswaynesville.com
64Research into a political foe's weaknesses, in slang
66Silky casing
682015 Bryan Cranston film
70She's a symbol for a cause
74Window material
761974 hit subtitled "Touch the Wind"
77Signaled "yes"
79Cambodian currency
80Slugging stat
81Stats, e.g.
83Hi- -- (some stereos)
84Roget's entry: Abbr.
85Aunt's sis, maybe
89Dry white wine of Italy
92Small, loose stones for a walkway
94Bit of a climb
95Adversities
96Chop down
97Singer Baker
98U.K. mil. fliers
101Yet to come
103Dudes
105Novelist Deighton
106Acted omnipotent
111Jail official
114Stable grain
115Big brawl
116Suffix with planet
117The planets, e.g.
118Societal welfare
121Film rating that's apt for this puzzle's theme
126Babble on
127Designer Saarinen
128Prayer place
129Jazz singer Fitzgerald
130NFL gains
131Romanov royal
132Snaring loop
133Result of a falling-out
DOWN
1Keystone --
2Novelist Levin
3Always, to a bard
4Long Russian river
5Wearing tattered duds
6Throws together
7Japanese beer
8'60s conflict site
9Resistance to change
10Gig gear
11Actress Farrow
12Cosmetician Lauder
13Quiet
14Narcissist's quality
15Pt. of ETA
16Verdi's "-- Miller"
17Page of films
18Sparked anew
242009 Colin Farrell film
26Capital in Scandinavia
29Novelist Rand
32Sinks heavily
33"Cagney & --"
34Actor Tom of "The Seven Year Itch"
35Croquet site
36Landing site
37Film director Nicolas
41Things to show a trainee
44Divvies up
45Certain day of the wk.
47Yoga pose
48Golf marker
50-- cum laude
51Thick cuts
52'60s hairdos
54Highest ladder part
55Limey's drink
56Lobbying gp.
57Ponying up, in poker
5826-Down's country, to its natives
61Aquarium favorite 65-- four (small cake)
66-- -Magnon
67Antique
69Funnywoman Tracey
70Criminals, to cops
71Go around
72Tuna net
73How tuna may be packed
75"-- little harder"
78The Divine, in Genoa
82Three days after 45Down: Abbr.
84Darn, e.g.
86Teresa of --
8739.37 inches
88-- flowing with milk and honey
90"Grand Ole" venue
91Happy
92Mani- --
93Forest figure
96Under-soil layer of clay
99Eagle nests
100Bank door abbr.
102Lead-in to Pen
103Starbucks selections
104Total
106Red flower
107Dern of films
108Being tried in court
109Fetch
110Siouan tribespeople
112-- voce
113Total
116Bad smell
119U.K. "Inc."
120Man-mouse link
122Mop & --
123Yalie
124Fairy
125Rebel Turner
ANSWERS ON PAGE 34
NOW HIRING AT MUSE-
UM Now seeking applicants for part time Front Line Associates at thekee Indian. Hiring both weekday and weekend positions, starting at $10/ organized; previous retail experience a plus. Please
OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR FIRST UNITED
OF SYLVA is seekingAdministrator is responadministrative operations of the church. This position directly manages and is responsible for all accounting and payroll functions, oversight of all accounts receivable and payable, maintenance of general ledger, and reconciliation of bank accounts. This position also works with support from
membership database, prepare communications such as email, newsletters, and bulletins. Degree in accounting and/or administration preferred; minimum two years’ experience required. For more information or to submit a resume, please
Brown, Senior Pastor at marybrown@sylvafumc. org. (828) 557-2773 marybrown@sylvafumc.org
Farm & Garden
ROTARY GAS MOWER
New Unused Poulan Pro 550, 158cc, 22” cut. $75. (828) 488-6970
Home Goods
GENERAC STANDBY GENERATORS Don’t Wait! The weather is in-
SUDOKU
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Pets
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SOLID WHITE CAT, BOOBOO 10 years old; sweet, beautiful lady. Sometimes plays with toys; likes to snuggle or just hang out near you. (828) 761-2001 publicrelations@ashevillehumane.org
BLACK NEWFOUNDLAND DOG, ONYX
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Real Estate Announcements
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Home Improvement
• Dangerous Tree Removal
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•
All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Fair Housing Act which makes it illegal to advertise ‘any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, or an intention to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination’. Familial status includes children under 18 living with parents or legal guardians and pregnant women. This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate in violation of this law. All dwellings advertised on equal opportunity basis.
Inc.
Recreational Vehicles
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Painters
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