2022 will be a crucial round of midterm elections across the nation. However, in Western North Carolina, amid a slate of retiring sheriffs, some of the most important races will be to determine who becomes each county’s top law enforcement officer. (Page 6)
News
Threats force Waynesville to consider meeting security measures 4 Proposal could be game-changer for affordable housing in Haywood 5 Bryson, Wilke square off in highly anticipated Haywood sheriff race
.6 Waynesville Police to launch new app
Jackson sheriff race down to Buchanan, Farmer
Cochran seeks fifth term as Swain Sheriff
Maggie Valley officer recognized for life-saving courage
Jackson race pits incumbent Democrats vs. Republican newcomers
McMahan and Letson compete for commission chair
Opinion
Haywood School Board
A cautionary tale of COVID’s resilience
A&E
Outdoors
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Legal Aid to host clinics for those affected by Tropical Storm Fred
Legal Aid of North Carolina is helping those recovering from the catastrophic flooding that occurred in August 2021 through free disaster legal services and clinics.
Legal Aid will host clinics in October to assist those affected by Tropical Storm Fred. Storm survivors interested in Legal Aid’s services should call 866.219.5262, ext. 2657 to learn more about how Legal Aid may be able to help and schedule an appointment for an upcoming clinic.
Legal Aid may be able to help with accessing assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Small Business Administration or the Office of State Budget and Management. Storm survivors may face fraudulent contractors and suppliers, tax issues, home ownership/heir property questions and the need for wills and advanced directives.
In June, the Legal Services Corporation announced that it would award $4.35 million to Legal Aid to support the delivery of legal services to low-income people impacted by Tropical Storm Fred, Hurricane Isaias, Tropical Storm Eta and other severe weather events the state faced in 2020 and 2021. The new grant funds will be used to continue to provide disaster legal services to multiple areas of the state, including Western North Carolina.
Those interested in Legal Aid’s disaster recovery services are encouraged to attend an upcoming event. Call 866.219.5262, ext. 2657 to schedule an appointment. Walk-ins are welcome, but appointments are preferred.
The events scheduled in October include:
• Sunday, Oct. 16, 1 to 5 p.m., Cruso Community Center
• Monday, Oct. 17, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Fines Creek Library
• Tuesday, Oct. 18, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Transylvania County Library
• Wednesday, Oct. 19, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Cruso United Methodist Church
Threats force Waynesville to consider meeting security measures
Handheld wands offer more flexibility and lower cost than large, walkthrough detectors. File photo
BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT P OLITICS E DITOR
The Town of Waynesville may soon start subjecting public meeting attendees to metal detectors in some form or fashion, Town Manager Rob Hites announced during a meeting on Sept. 13, saying that the town was aware of what they deemed credible threats to elected officials.
The beefed-up security comes in response to a series of threats first reported in The Smoky Mountain News more than a month ago.
“A couple of aldermen expressed concerns,” said David Adams, Waynesville’s police chief. “The lady was arrested last week, I’ve seen the paper, but there were some concerns maybe there’s some other people out there making threats against more than one board member. You have to treat it seriously nowadays, you know, consider it credible from the top down.”
On Sept. 7, agents from the Federal Bureau of investigation executed a search warrant at the Haywood County home of Darris Moody and arrested her later that day. Moody is free on bond but now faces federal charges related to “bounties” levied on elected officials, judges, municipal employees and healthcare workers.
These bounties came in the form of a series of phony “writs of execution” issued by a nonexistent court that call for, among other things, the payment of a fine and the surrender of the person “served” with the writ. The writs allege various environmental crimes and offer compensation of between $10,000 and $20,000 for the delivery of recipients who refuse to comply.
A website offers fill-in-the-blank versions of the writs for anyone who chooses to download them. Moody confessed to SMN on Sept. 2 that she was indeed responsible for some of the writs.
“I have to admit that I’ve served a few,” Moody told SMN before her arrest, “because my name was on it and it wasn’t supposed to be.”
According to a database hosted on the website, more than 30 public figures with ties to Haywood County were “served” beginning in late June. Intended recipients included the entire Haywood County school board, Canton’s mayor, members of the county commission and, supposedly, every member of the Waynesville Board of Aldermen.
While some aldermen said they weren’t aware that they’d been served, others said they were and would assess their own personal security measures. Alderman Julia Boyd Freeman was among the most visible targets of the writs, after someone posted physical copies at the post office.
Adams said that implementation of metal detection capabilities — in the form of a handheld wand, most likely — isn’t yet a certainty, but is under serious consideration.
“Of course, we have police officers at every board meeting too, so it’s not 100% we will do it or won’t do it,” he said. “We’re just kind of evaluating it.”
The wands retail for just a few hundred dollars, far less than the doorframe-style scanners in use in other places.
Adams contacted police department attorneys, who advised him that if the town were to implement such protocols, it would be best to make an announcement prior to doing so.
Although Adams said he hadn’t worked in any other jurisdictions that screen visitors to public meetings, he has worked shootings that occurred in public buildings, including one in Henderson County around 2004 that arose from a dispute at the county’s unemployment office.
“This is about public safety for everybody, and that also affects the citizens who come to the board meetings and their safety,” Adams said. “We don’t want anyone injured and getting hurt or anything like that. There are a lot of considerations, but what it boils down to is public safety.”
Ambitious proposal could be game-changer for affordable housing in Haywood
BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT
P OLITICS E DITOR
Haywood County was recently awarded another substantial grant to help address the affordable housing crisis, but the way the county plans to use the grant means its impact will be felt far into the future.
“After 20-plus years of talking about affordable housing, I feel like we’ve won the lottery with all the resources that’s coming into the county,” said Patsy Davis, executive director of Mountain Projects.
Last spring, an affordable housing grant opportunity was announced by Dogwood Health Trust, a nonprofit that administers the proceeds from the Mission Hospital sale on behalf of 18 western counties.
In 2021, Dogwood released the results of a housing needs assessment, which showed Haywood County with a deficit of 1,459 homes. Coincidentally, data from the Haywood TDA from July of this year documents a total of 1,648 whole-house shortterm rentals available on websites like Airbnb.
In April, a meeting took place between housing providers like Mountain Projects, Pathways, Habitat for Humanity and the Waynesville Housing Authority and all five local governments.
Funders, including Dogwood, the Southwestern Commission’s HOME program and the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, were also in attendance.
“It was the first time that we’d had, in my tenure here, a summit where we had all the people in the room to discuss our affordable housing needs,” said David Francis, community and economic development director.
“From that came ideas [on] how we pursued this grant for the county to be able to use American Rescue Plan funds for the grant.”
The grant award totals $1,112,500, which will be matched by the county from American Rescue Plan Act funds. The Town of Maggie Valley will also chip in $112,500, for a total of $2,225,000.
Of that, $375,000 will be used to pave the roads at Bethel Village, a subdivision in
Jonathan Creek owned by Mountain Projects. Paving the roads would open up opportunities for USDA loans, which offer generous terms.
Another $334,000 will go to Pathways for the development of transitional housing for individuals and families.
“That means that we’ll be able to provide temporary residence for up to 24 months for a family, two men and two women,” said Mandy Haithcox, executive director of Pathways. “That will continue to include continued intensive case management and wraparound services to be able to help these folks further stabilize their lives.”
Commission Chair Kevin Ensley thanked Davis and Haithcox for their work on the affordable housing issue.
“If people saw how the county was without Pathways, I think they would be shocked,” he said. “You all have helped hundreds of people get into housing. Literally hundreds of people.”
The remaining $1,515,602 will be dedicated to a more permanent resource that will make it easier for nonprofits and local governments to address the affordable housing crisis in the future.
“When we were discussing this matter,” Francis continued, “one of the things I didn’t want to see happen is we have funding that comes through here and then we turn around five years later going, ‘We don’t have any more funding.’”
Francis went on to announce the creation of a revolving loan fund, presaged by a recent $200,000 donation to Mountain Projects for just such a purpose.
The fund won’t engage in retail lending or be available to individuals. It will, however, make loans to qualified nonprofits like Mountain Projects, Pathways and Habitat for Humanity, as well as local governments and faith-based organizations.
Francis said that right now, Habitat for Humanity can only build one or two houses a year, but with the availability of revolving fund loans, they might build as many as four or five a year. The Waynesville Housing Authority, Francis said, might also use the funds to develop more rental properties.
NCWorks hosts Manufacturing Day event
National Manufacturing Day is Oct. 7, and to celebrate NCWorks will be hosting its second annual Manufacturing Day event. The event will be held Friday, Oct. 7, at the NCWorks Career Center in Waynesville from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. This event is a great opportunity for job seekers to speak with our local employers about their employment possibilities. Private offices inside the career center will be available for interviews, as well as computers to complete online applications. This event will take place in the parking lot, unless it rains. The Holy Cow food truck will arrive at 11 a.m. to serve food. Monetary donations to the food truck go to benefit Pathways. For more information call 828.456.6061 or email lisa.morris@commerce.nc.gov.
Ingles
written by Ingles Dietitian Leah McGrath
HELPING OUR NEIGHBORS
Many local food banks and food pantries have been struggling to meet increased needs in our communities. While requests for assistance have increased, donations of food, money, and time (volunteers) are struggling to keep up.
Food Donation suggestions:
Non-perishable food items that can be used to make meals. (Pop-top cans are often better for individuals that are homeless or don’t have access to a can opener)
• Canned proteins: beans, nut butters, chili with meat, canned chicken or beans
• Canned fruits and vegetables
• Meal “kits” that contain seasonings/sauces that beans or other proteins can be added to
• Shelf stable (UHT) milk or plant-based dairy alternatives
• Meal replacement bars
• Cooking oils, sugar, cake and quick bread mixes, muffins mixes. Here are some additional items that might be welcome –be sure to check with your food pantry first!:
• Instant coffee and tea bags
• Can openers
• Sanitizing hand wipes
• Storage bags or containers
Big changes coming in WNC law enforcement leadership
BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT P OLITICS E DITOR
Earlier this year candidates for sheriff began campaigning across the region, hoping to earn the trust of voters who, in many cases, will see big changes in local law enforcement leadership.
The impending retirement of long-serving sheriffs Greg Christopher and Chip Hall in Haywood and Jackson counties, respectively, means voters will lose years of experience and institutional knowledge. In Swain County, voters will have the chance to reaffirm or reject the leadership of incumbent Curtis Cochran.
In all three counties, the Nov. 8 General Election will give to voters the opportunity to install leaders who will shape the future of local law enforcement for years to come. That future has never been more fraught with political landmines, as the debate over police power continues.
Sheriffs aren’t simply custodians of the county jails and the people in them; they have fiscal and human resource responsibilities and engage in community relations, legislative advocacy and interagency coordination.
But they’re also elected in partisan elections and can have substantial public policy influence locally or on a statewide basis.
This week, Smoky Mountain News reporters take a look at the policies and the people behind the badge.
Bryson, Wilke square off in highly anticipated Haywood sheriff race
BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT
P OLITICS E DITOR
After nearly 10 years in office, Haywood County Sheriff Greg Christopher announced his retirement in Mach 2021, giving prospective candidates more than a year to contemplate their campaigns. Almost immediately, five men from two parties stepped up, seeking to replace him.
Christopher’s legacy will be as a sheriff who was heavily involved in the peripheral aspects of the job, from after-hours community meetings over coffee to behind-thescenes lobbying efforts before the General Assembly in Raleigh.
His progressive thinking in regard to recidivism and rehabilitation resulted in the Pathways Center, a Christ-centered shelter and kitchen ministering to some of Haywood County’s most vulnerable citizens while at the same time saving taxpayers thousands in jail expenses.
Even Pathways couldn’t ameliorate the need for a new $16 million jail expansion project that wasn’t exactly welcomed in all quarters of the community, but Christopher was still able to shepherd the project to the finish line.
So well respected was Christopher that during the two elections in which he stood for office — Christopher was appointed to finish out the term of former Sheriff Bobby Suttles in 2013 — he never once faced an opponent.
As a Democrat in a red county that’s only gotten redder, Christopher remains unique in that he’s one of only three from that party currently serving in a major countywide elected office.
Christopher came to the job with a great deal of law enforcement experience, albeit none of it with the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office.
That’s important to note, as the two candidates voters will choose from on Nov. 8 both offer a great deal of law enforcement experience that varies substantially in depth and breadth.
Democrat Larry Bryson briefly served as interim sheriff upon the resignation of Suttles, but that was long after Bryson started his law enforcement career with the HCSO in 1976. Bryson then worked for a decade as a Waynesville police officer, and even had a stint with Champion Paper’s private police force before returning to the sheriff’s office.
During his time at HCSO, Bryson has served in nearly every role imaginable. Detention officer. Deputy sheriff. Drug agent. Detective. Chief of detectives. Chief deputy. Since retirement in 2013, Bryson has worked as a U.S. Marshall, but is currently on leave for the duration of his campaign.
His opponent, Republican Bill Wilke, also has some pre-Christopher era history in Haywood County, as a candidate for sheriff in 2010. Wilke lost to Suttles by 6.5 points, but his story neither started or ended there.
A native of Maryland’s eastern shore, Wilke earned a psychology degree and spent four years on the Newport News police force before becoming a military police training officer with North Carolina’s Army National Guard.
At the same time, he became an Asheville police officer and served for 16 years until becoming a licensed private investigator in 2016. He currently serves as president of the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Association of Private Investigators, and recently retired from the National Guard as a colonel.
Although there are plenty of good reasons why the office of county sheriff shouldn’t be considered partisan in nature, right now it is. That would seem to give the Republican Wilke a slight edge in terms of numbers, but that hasn’t always been that way.
The last time a sheriff’s election was held, in 2018, Democrats held a numerical advantage in Haywood County, with more than 16,400 registered. At that time, there were 14,500 unaffiliated voters, and just 13,814 Republicans. The North Carolina State Board of Elections reported that as of Sept. 17, the entire situation had flipped. Unaffiliated voters now number more than 16,600, with Republican registrants in a close second, at 15,830. Democrats are a distant third, with 12,805.
Like Wilke, success for the Democrat Bryson means courting voters outside of his own party.
“I told my wife not long ago that if Democrats vote, we lose, and if Republicans vote, we lose,” Bryson said.
Bryson’s been targeting unaffiliated voters with mailers and handshakes, trying to answer questions they may have about his candidacy.
Wilke has been doing much the same, attending events and making himself available for those same voters.
“I’m a Republican by personal choice, but I’m a sheriff for everybody, regardless of their political affiliation,” Wilke said. “The law does not make differences between Democrats and Republicans despite some efforts in social media by certain individuals to try to divide us along those lines.”
Indeed, there are only subtle philosophical differences between the two candidates, despite their partisan affiliations.
Neither really supports the expansion of
Larry Bryson served briefly as interim sheriff in 2013. Donated photo
Bill Wilke ran for sheriff in 2010. Donated photo
existing red flag laws. Both support maintaining the county’s existing compliance with ICE detainers, something neighboring Buncombe County has refused to do, and both understand the importance of the less-than-glamorous but vitally important aspects of the job, like civil process service.
But as either Bryson or Wilke go on to assume the duties of sheriff, they’ll do so in an environment where the landscape of law enforcement continues to change dramatically.
Considerations over use of force policies, pretrial incarceration and even the basic tenets of the job have prompted much public debate over the role of law enforcement today and have also directed intense scrutiny toward those sworn to uphold the law, from the greenest of small-town beat cops all the way on up to the most experienced Federal Bureau of Investigation agents.
Some agencies are also seeing problems with staffing — HCSO not among them — however, in light of the recent Coronavirus Pandemic, perhaps the most burning questions revolve around how much discretion, exactly, a sheriff feels they can exercise in the enforcement of existing laws.
Back in 2020, some Haywood residents demanded that commissioners pass a resolution designating the county a “Second Amendment sanctuary.” Although largely symbolic, if passed, such a resolution would supposedly empower sheriffs to disobey local, state or federal laws they don’t agree with, specifically regarding gun control.
But there’s one big problem with that — it doesn’t work that way.
“I support our citizens’ protected right to bear arms under the Second Amendment and the doctrine of judicial review that grants to the United States Supreme Court and the
Waynesville Police to launch new app
As the world becomes more and more accessible in the palm of our hands, local governments must adapt to ensure the most up-to-date information is available for residents.
Such was the impetus behind the Waynesville Board of Alderman greenlighting a new app for its police department that will offer a number of different services all in one location. Tyler Trantham, a former Waynesville Police lieutenant, worked with the developers to determine how the app could best meet the needs of community members. Even now after he’s stepped away from law enforcement, Trantham has still worked part-time on the project.
“I’ve been working with [the developers] still weekly, if not more,” he said. “It’s a pretty complex process.”
Trantham said the decision to get the app was an easy one, given the way technology has shifted.
“It’s going to be in 2022 where almost everybody has a smart phone, whereas 10 years ago we’d push people to the website,” he said.
Not only will the app provide push notifications to inform residents of law enforcement activity, it will also offer those residents a chance to leave a tip regarding illegal activity, look up inmates in the Haywood County Detention Center and even simply compliment an officer they feel has done a good job.
“It will also link to our Facebook page, so anything that we put out on there will also be in the app,” Trantham said. “Not everybody has Facebook, but they may have the app.”
The app cost the town about $14,000 up front and will run about $4,000 per year to maintain. Waynesville Police Chief David Adams was enthusiastic about what it will bring to the community.
“It’s a great resource for us and the public. We can get information out quick,” he said. “I appreciate the town helping to fund this since it’ll be such a good tool.”
The app will launch in the next couple of weeks and will be free to download from any app store.
Kyle Perrotti, News Editor
lower courts the power to determine the constitutionality of any law,” Sheriff Christopher told commissioners on Jan. 20, 2020. “Sheriffs do not possess the legal authority to interpret the constitutionality of any law.” Commissioners ultimately opted to pass something called a “Constitution protecting county” resolution that expressed support for the entire document, and not just a single sentence from it.
Still, the “constitutional sheriffs movement” continues to assert the right of sheriffs to pick and choose which laws they’ll interpret.
Darris Moody, a Haywood County woman arrested by the FBI on Sept. 7 for sending a series of threatening documents to local elected officials including Christopher, espoused support for the movement in regard to the enforcement of mask mandates and said she’d even given Christopher a “handbook” on how to be a constitutional sheriff.
“They [law enforcement officers] made an oath to the Constitution and in my opinion, they have failed,” Moody told The Smoky Mountain News on Sept. 2. “They bowed to the government. They bowed to the SOP [standard operating procedures]. They bowed to the narrative, to the propaganda, to the TV.”
Still, during a Primary Election candidate forum hosted by the Haywood County Republican Party on March 31 of this year, chair Kay Miller asked Wilke and his fellow Republican opponent, former HCSO Capt. Tony Cope, if they would join the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association upon election.
Cope said absolutely. Wilke was a bit more circumspect about joining the CSPOA, saying he would be hesitant to join any organization because they can change ideologically,
but he also said that if a sheriff attempts to decide what is constitutional, that act would be unconstitutional in and of itself.
Asked for clarification on his stance last week, Wilke was unequivocal.
“How much more constitutional does it get than when I take oaths coming into office that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States, [and] support and defend the Constitution of North Carolina? That doesn’t grant me extra judicial authority to enforce laws that aren’t in place in place, nor does it give me the ability to neglect certain things that have been ruled constitutional by courts in the past,” Wilke said. “If we operate outside those boundaries, there’s a word for that — it’s called ‘vigilante.’”
Bryson, a Democrat, wasn’t part of the March HCGOP forum but at that time told SMN, “I think you have to go by the law that’s in place.”
During his candidate interview earlier this month, Bryson maintained a consistent position.
“Being a constitutional sheriff, there’s a line you have to walk, and some of that strays just a little bit from what the General Assembly has placed as a law in North Carolina,” he said, adding that he wouldn’t be spending his time in office interpreting which laws to enforce.
Wilke and Bryson both have different priorities they’ll pursue if elected. Bryson wants to rearrange and augment personnel to provide better coverage across the county, and Wilke said he’d form a community partnership with medical professionals and court officials to modernize the county’s approach to the opioid crisis.
But plans and perspectives such as those of Bryson and Wilke are nothing without
the means to implement them while at the same time performing the myriad other duties sheriffs are charged with; they maintain the jails, serve civil process documents, set department budgets and policies, manage human resources and uphold courthouse security.
Each candidate thinks it’s their experience that will help them accomplish their goals.
“Do you really feel like you can turn this [job] over to somebody to try on?” Bryson asked. “I just don’t think we can take a chance. I think I’m more rounded. I think my 35 years of experience and my over 3,000 hours of advanced training in all facets puts me in a position that I think the people should look more favorably toward me because as I’ve said, with the state that our country is in now I don’t think we can say haphazardly, ‘This guy don’t know a thing about it, but let’s put him in there and let him try it out.’”
Wilke contends that since Bryson’s retirement in 2013 his law enforcement experience with the Marshalls has been quite different than that of a day-to-day, street-level officer and that his own experience presents a truer picture of the challenges associated with policing in the 21st Century.
“I will tell you that it’s true that I haven’t worked in the same place, doing the same thing for 40 years. I was seven years old when [Bryson] started in law enforcement, doing things with paper reports and rotary telephones,” Wilke said. “I’m very well versed not just in the industry, but how that intersects with public service and I think that far better prepares me for this position than being in the same place at the same time doing the same thing for 40 years. I don’t think folks want to go back to the way it’s been done for so long.”
Haywood County Sheriff
Greg Christopher speaks to residents of Cruso in the aftermath of deadline flooding in August, 2021.
Cory Vaillancourt photo
Jackson sheriff race down to Buchanan, Farmer
BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF W RITER
With the impending retirement of Jackson County Sheriff Chip Hall, two candidates will compete for the seat this fall in the General Election. While their careers and background vary greatly, both men have vast experience in law enforcement.
a year in Iraq training that country’s police. In 2010, he went to work for the Sylva police Department, where he remained until he retired in 2019.
Both men have lived and breathed law enforcement for most of their lives, becoming interested in the field in grade school, when the appeal of helping others took hold. The bottom line for both men? Serving others and helping their community thrive.
first of 18 payments in part of an opioid settlement that will total over $3 million. The money comes from a $26 billion agreement involving the role of four companies in perpetuating the opioid epidemic.
Farmer says he hopes to see collaboration from several community stakeholders.
For Democrat Rick Buchanan, his longterm experience in the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office is what sets him apart from his opponent. He has been serving his community as a member of the Savannah Volunteer Fire Department for over 35 years and has been employed at the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office since 1991, working under several different sheriffs. He said he has paid attention and learned from their successes and failures. It is this insight, he believes, that makes him uniquely prepared for the job.
“My desire to help people has never changed,” said Farmer. “As I get older, the more resolve I have to put myself out there and help people. That’s one reason I’m running, because I feel that people need help right now.”
“The reason that I started law enforcement is I’ve always wanted to help,” said Buchanan. “I started my emergency management career when I became a volunteer fireman; that led into my career with the sheriff’s office. I started in high school as a volunteer junior firefighter, then I got involved with emergency management, liked that type of work. I’ve always wanted to help people. And I like to see now that I’ve done it for 30 years, it’s pretty rewarding work when you get somebody and you can help change their life or make a difference in their life. So that’s why I do it.”
“I have 30 years of law enforcement experience, and every bit of it has been with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office,” said Buchanan. “I am currently employed with the sheriff’s office, so I have the most-up-to-date and current knowledge of the issues it faces. That’s what makes me a candidate that stands out.”
On the other hand, republican Doug Farmer sees his varied experience in different facets of law enforcement as vital building blocks that make him ready to be sheriff. Farmer began his law enforcement career with 11 years at the Macon County Sheriff’s Office. Following a short stint with the Highlands Police Department, Farmer spent
“The more minds that you have working on these things, the more beneficial it will be,” said Farmer. “Tapping into mental health officials, those that will be involved in rehab. Everything is not about enforcement. And I understand with people who have substance abuse disorders, they’ve got to seek help. But over the years, our mental health funding has dwindled, and I think when the assistance there
Buchanan recognized the body of work that lies ahead for the next sheriff, and the county as a whole.
“That’s something that will involve sitting down with the county leaders, the town, other law enforcement agencies within the county, police departments, Western Carolina University, and I hope that we can all come up with a plan that fits the majority of the people in the county to help the biggest portion of those folks,” said Buchanan.
Another issue voters are concerned about
Farmer. “We’ve got to take every precaution we can to make sure that the search techniques you’re using are correct. If you have a work release that’s coming in and out and you think it’s the work release that’s the issue, then number one will be to shut that work release down. Number two, talk to whoever’s in charge during that shift, find out the issue. Ultimately, if it happens in your jail, you’re responsible for that death. So we’ve got to make sure that people are trained well.
Prisoners transporting contraband inside their bodies has been a thing that’s been ongoing,” said Farmer. “Your search techniques have to be spot on because they’ll do a lot of different things that you aren’t expecting them to do.”
“There’s nothing that takes the place of training your employees,” said Buchanan. “Since then, the county has purchased an xray machine. It’s not a pretty thing that individuals when they’re arrested or brought into jail are strip searched and everything like that, but you still may miss something because you can’t look everywhere. With that being said, I think the body scanner is going to aid and help, but again, people have to be trained in that, and nothing takes the place of training.”
As the general election draws closer, both candidates have been on the campaign trail for months, and they confirmed that the issue they hear most from voters is drugs. What will the new sheriff do about drugs in Jackson County, about the opioid epidemic that has morphed into the fight against fentanyl and heroin?
Buchanan plans to run an interdiction unit to combat the drug issue. This is a twostep process. The short-term goal is to target certain locations, find drugs coming into the county and stop the flow. The long-term goal is far-reaching investigations. Buchanan said these drug cases can take several months to work to get to the right people.
If elected, Farmer wants to take an aggressive, targeted approach to going after drug dealers in Jackson County. Part of that will include community patrols, something Farmer said there isn’t much of in Jackson right now. He would like to see deputies patrolling not just the main roads, but also more remote secondary roads.
This summer Jackson County received its
is jail safety. In June, Eddie Columbus Taylor died while in custody at the Jackson County jail, marking the fourth jail death since 2014. The county has since purchased a body scanner, at a cost of $148,730. Detention staff will be trained by the vendor this month and it will be fully operational on Sept. 29.
The State Bureau of Investigations is still investigating Taylor’s passing, and a cause of death has not yet been made public. However, both candidates for sheriff spoke to the importance of adequate searches to ensure prisoners are not smuggling contraband into the jail.
“Even though you have somebody in custody, you’re trusted with their safety,” said
While Buchanan and Farmer have been on the campaign trail, they have also been hearing from residents about the population of homeless people in Jackson County. At an August meeting of the Town of Sylva, one resident spoke about his concern with the number of panhandlers at the intersection of Asheville Highway and East Main Street.
This year, HERE (Housing Equity Resources and Education) of Jackson County held a community work session to determine the best path forward in combating homelessness. The idea was that the session would provide input for the decision-making process and county support for a homeless shelter. F
Rick Buchanan
Doug Farmer
Haywood EMC appoints new director
Haywood EMC appointed a new director, Alan Israel, to serve district six in Buncombe County. He was appointed by Haywood EMC’s Board of Directors to fill the seat vacated by Dr. Kenneth Israel (no relation).
Israel is a lifelong resident of Upper Hominy, graduated from Enka High School, and in 2022 graduated with a B.S. in Horticulture Science at NC State University. Mr. Israel is the co-owner at Jesse Israel and Sons Garden Center in Asheville, the Asheville Chamber of Commerce 2022 Family Business of the year, and still operates a six-generation century farm.
While installing a solar array at his residence in 2014, Mr. Israel learned much about the cooperative and electricity. As a memberowner who not only purchases electricity, but also generates it, he has a unique perspective on how the cooperative services the community.
As a business owner, he hopes to bring his managerial skills to the HEMC Board of Directors and give back to his community. He also hopes to bring his knowledge of solar electricity to help educate prospective solar owners
According to data from HERE, the organization provided emergency homeless services to 197 people — 149 adults and 48 children — in 2021. Families made up one-third of those experiencing homelessness. Of the total population assisted, 30% reported a mental health or substance use disorder, 62% were from Jackson County, 56% had zero income, 23% were fleeing domestic violence and 31% reported a chronic health condition or physical disability.
Farmer is opposed to the idea of a homeless shelter in Jackson County.
“We don’t have a shelter, and I don’t think that’s the answer,” said Farmer. “If you have a shelter, then you would draw even more. I know they have some availability during the winter, they try to house some of them. And I’m not sure where all they are coming from. I’ve heard some of them are being dropped off here, they end up here, we’ve got some staying in little camps, in different communities and abandoned houses, so that’s a problem we’re going to have to address at some point.”
Buchanan is more on the fence about a possible shelter.
“I believe it is crucial to help anyone from our local community who is suffering from circumstances beyond their control that have resulted in them being homeless,” said Buchanan. “There are a variety of different opinions and studies on why criminal activity typically occurs around homeless shelters. But the fact remains that it does occur. This is a delicate situation that involves so many different factors that must be considered to protect the safety of residents so as not to create an undue burden on the taxpayers and citi-
and expand access to electric vehicle charging stations.
His main goal as a director is the same as the cooperative’s, to provide safe and reliable power at a reasonable cost to all member-owners.
zens of Jackson County. Everyone must come to the table and be a part of this discussion. This includes mental health services, juvenile services, social services, law enforcement, emergency services, the Sylva Town Board, Jackson County commissioners, the health department and child advocacy services. We have to work together to find the best possible solution.”
Regardless of the outcome of this contest, voters should expect a sheriff that is invested in listening to the needs of the community as both candidates have made this a central piece of their campaign.
“We’re sworn to protect the citizens of the county,” said Buchanan. “Protection is a big part. Service is another big part. We’ve got to be available for the public to ask us questions, to provide them the help that they need, or to recommend the places they might need to go when we cannot help them.”
“I think the most important part of being sheriff is listening to what communities are telling you,” said Farmer. “I know the sheriff has many roles that he plays, but I think the people of Jackson County are the ones that put you in that office, they trust you with that office, so your ear should be there to listen to them and who better to know what’s going on in their communities than the people inside.”
One-stop early voting runs Oct. 8 through Nov. 5, Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, Oct. 29 and Nov. 5, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Election Day is Nov. 8; polling places will be open 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Check your voter registration, view your sample ballot and find your assigned Election Day polling place at jcncelections.org.
To be a sheriff in North Carolina is to be the most powerful elected official in a county.
In more rural areas like Western North Carolina, it is a tough gig demanding long hours. Given the lack of resources often available, it can be difficult to fulfill the statutorily mandated duties with the personnel on-hand, especially considering many deputies leave to go work in larger counties with larger budgets.
Curtis Cochran became Swain County’s sheriff in 2006 and since then he has spent 16 years in office. Despite his relatively long tenure, Cochran decided to again run for the position, facing off against Democrat Doug “Tank” Anthony in the General Election. Anthony didn’t respond to phone, email or Facebook interview requests.
Prior to becoming sheriff, Cochran was the maintenance director for Swain County, something he initially took criticism for his first few times running. However, he’s still won handily in his last few elections, besting his last General Election opponent in 2018 with 64% of the vote. Cochran, 69, said that when he first ran for sheriff over a decade and a half ago, he saw what he believed were unaddressed needs regarding the rapidly changing drug crisis.
“I talked to a lot of folks who felt the same way I did,” he said. “And I just decided to run.”
When asked why run again as he approaches his 70th birthday, Cochran simply said he loves serving the people of Swain County. But then he added that there’s still “work to be done.”
“The drug problem is still here, and we’re fighting it every day,” Cochran said, adding that he feels like there is plenty of work he hopes to follow through with.
Cochran said that during his tenure as sheriff the job itself hasn’t changed too much but the environment around law enforcement has. He mentioned the “defund the police movement” that developed in the wake of the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
“We don’t exactly have that problem here, but there can be a trickle-down effect,” Cochran said. “Once something like that gets a little traction, some folks want to jump on board.”
That said, Cochran noted that his office has adopted some reforms people have called for surrounding things like transparency, cultural sensitivity and banning physical restraint techniques that can cause long-term injuries or even death.
“I believe those have all been for the bet-
ter,” he said. “Those are a benefit to everybody.”
Cochran said he believes the biggest challenge over the next four years may be simply attracting and retaining quality deputies.
“It’s hard to recruit for this job, and pay is low, especially in Swain County,” he said.
“You’ve got to be cut out for this job, and it’s not for everybody,” he added, speaking about law enforcement in general.
“Sometimes people don’t figure out that out before they get into it, and then we spend time and money training them.”
When asked what he’d want to tell the voters of Swain County amid his contested run to again become the top law enforcement officer in the county, Cochran said he believes he has done a good job as sheriff and that he believes he will continue that work.
“The voters in Swain County have elected me overwhelmingly every time,” he said. “We’re not saying that we’re perfect by any means, but I’m here for the people of Swain County to support them just like they support me. I enjoy working with people. My family all lives here. We put our kids through school here. I’m vested in this county, and I want to be a servant to people here.”
Cochran added that he thinks he’s put in the hard hours — noting that he often works 12 hours a day seven days a week — and that he plans to continue doing that if reelected. Often, when a sheriff gets older and approaches retirement age, as Cochran is, they will call it quits midway through their term so they can have a say in who becomes the interim sheriff as it gives a big leg up to that person in the following election.
Cochran said he has no intention of retiring mid-term.
“Well, I know a lot of people do that,” he said. “I can tell you I will not do that.”
Curtis Cochran
Maggie Valley officer recognized for life-saving courage
BY KYLE P ERROTTI
N EWS E DITOR
An officer who risked her own safety to save the lives of others was hailed as a hero last week as she received honors from both the Maggie Valley Police Department and the region’s representatives in Raleigh.
While presenting the award from the police department, Chief Russ Gilliland described the actions Shanna Bellows, a canine officer who’s been on the force just over three years, took on July 18 in the heat of an intense situation with the highest of consequences.
“She placed herself in harm’s way to assist her fellow man,” Gilliland said. “Because of her actions, lives were saved that day.”
Off duty and traveling on I-40 near Canton headed east, Bellows witnessed what Gilliland called a “horrific” crash that quickly led to an 18-wheeler exploding, sending debris in all directions as others needed immediate extrication and medical aid, even as the intense heat from the fire bore down on her.
Despite the dangerous nature of the scene and the poor condition of the injured motorists she encountered, Bellows did what she had to do to get those folks out of danger.
Haywood seeks event center board members
The Haywood County Board of Commissioners is accepting applications to fill two upcoming vacancies on the Smoky Mountain Event Center Board.
The board meets the second Monday of each month at 4 p.m. Duties include promoting and encouraging agricultural, manufacturing, educational, recreational, cultural and art activities and events for the enrichment of Haywood County. This Board also plans and coordinates the annual Haywood County Fair. Board members are expected to be involved
Ultimately, Gilliland gave her an award on behalf of the police department for her heroic actions, and she was met with a standing ovation from the residents who created a packed house at the Maggie Valley Town Hall, many of whom were there solely to see her receive the award.
Next, Rep. Mark Pless (R-Haywood), Rep. Mike Clampitt (R-Swain) and Sen. Kevin Corbin (R-Macon) joined her in front of the crowd. Pless and Clampitt, both of whom have worked as first responders in the past, spoke first.
“It opens a pocket in your heart,” Pless said. “It makes you care more about others than yourself. After what we’ve heard, that’s what you did that day. We need more people like you out here.”
Wrapping things up before presenting the award — which again drew a standing ovation — was Corbin. He commended her bravery on behalf of the state.
“So often bravery is not something that’s planned,” he said. “It’s not something we budget for or think about. I think God puts us in the right place to serve the best we can.”
“I hope I’m never in a horrific accident,” he added. “But if I am, I hope you’re close by.”
and participate in board-sponsored events and activities. More information about the board can be on the Haywood County website at haywoodcountync.gov/754/Smoky-MountainEvent-Center-Board
The vacancies are for three-year terms to begin Jan. 2, 2023. Applicants must be fulltime residents of Haywood County.
Completed applications may be returned to the county manager’s office or attached to an email to Amy Stevens, Deputy Clerk to the Board of County Commissioners, at amy.stevens@haywoodcountync.gov
Applications will be accepted through Oct. 28. For more information, contact the county manager’s office at 828.452.6625.
MONDAYS AT 9AM
Classes run through November. Open to the public.
Located below the PinHigh Restaurant Taught by Candra Smith,
Bellows receives recognition (from left) from Rep. Mark Pless, Bellows, Sen. Kevin Corbin and Rep. Mike Clampitt. Kyle Perrotti photo
Race for Jackson County Commission: Incumbent Democrats vs. Republican newcomers
BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF W RITER
The Jackson County Commission has three seats on the ballot this fall. In addition to commission chairman, districts one and two are up for election. Democratic incumbents Gayle Woody and Boyce Deitz are challenged by newcomers Todd Bryson and John Smith respectively.
In Jackson County, a commissioner must live in the district they are running to represent, but on Election Day, all voters vote for a commissioner in every district.
DISTRICT ONE
Gayle Woody is a local retired art teacher who has served on the county commission since 2018. Woody also serves on the Recreation and Parks Advisory Board, Road Naming Board, Health Board, Emergency Food and Shelter Board and the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners.
“In 2018 I was really discouraged about the disrespectful and divisive discourse surrounding politics,” said Woody. “So I filed to run in 2018, and my goal at that point was to try and bring civility and respect into local politics.”
Todd Bryson is from Sylva and has worked for a funeral home for four years since graduating from Fayetteville Technical Community College with a degree in Funeral and Mortuary Science.
“I decided to run because I’m tired of the direction the county is going and I’m ready to see some improvements to the county, see it grow and move forward,” said Bryson. “It feels like we’re staying in the past while surrounding counties are growing, they’re building new things. They’re doing all the things that need to be done in order to have a county make money.”
DISTRICT TWO
Boyce Dietz is a local retired teacher and football coach. He has spent much of his retirement in public service working for six
years as a congressional staffer in Representative Heath Shuler’s local office and four years as an outreach coordinator for Western Carolina University. He has served two terms on the county commission. Commissioner Deitz also serves on the Fire Commission, Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, Mountain Projects and Transit Advisory Board.
“I never thought about running for county commission, but there was an issue that came up about mountain top development,” said Deitz. “I went to a meeting and gave a talk and afterwards several people said ‘you should run for county commissioner.’ And I thought, if running for county commissioner would save those mountains over there, I would do it. I wanted my great grandkids, when they looked at these mountains in Balsam Gap, for them to look just like when the first Native Americans looked at them, and we’ve got that done, through different conservation groups, the tribe, and the town of Sylva and through efforts that we put into it. I can rest knowing that will remain. That’s why I ran.”
John Smith spent seven years in the armed forces as an intelligence analyst. Since leaving the military in 1992, he has worked in the information technology field and is currently a systems engineer. He has three children, all of whom attend Jackson County Public Schools.
“The reason I decided to run is because the same things keep happening over and over in the county,” said Smith. “Things get approved without discussion and things like that. If you want change, you gotta stand up and try to make change or, you know, get outta the way.”
Jackson County recently received its first of 18 payments in part of an opioid settlement that will total over $3 million. While there are certain restrictions for how the funds can be spent, the county commission will be in charge of deciding how to allocate that money.
“We’ve already decided as county commissioners, number one, we want to be very
strategic and very careful that we make a direct impact with that money,” said Woody. “First, we’re listening to our local people, local stakeholders for a snapshot of what Jackson County’s concerns are. Second, we’re looking at other rural counties and how they’re addressing it. And then thirdly, we are looking at using some of that money for a regional residential program.”
“I’m a funeral director and I see many overdoses devastating families,” said Bryson. “If I’m elected, I want to see that money spent the right way. I want to work with the next
sheriff and make sure that our citizens and our residents are protected. I wanted to see some sort of a rehab facility for drugs, not a homeless shelter, but a rehab facility for drug addicts and drug abuse.”
“The spending of those funds would mostly be in the law enforcement area,” said Smith. “Drug dogs, more officers to patrol out in the community, that’s a big thing. If we can get the cars and officers back out in the community patrolling, that’s a big deterrent to drugs, and right now we don’t have the
force to do that. Random checks, walk the dogs to the school parking lot, to see if anybody’s got any drugs in their cars.”
“This is really complicated, there are so many facets of the issue,” said Deitz. “Besides the money, how to take care of this is such a problem. It is so important that we in some way alleviate some of this problem. It’s one of those things, if we figure it out, everyone would want to know how we figured it out. Working in conjunction with other counties may be helpful.”
In commissioner meetings, Deitz has floated the idea of hiring one person to help several western counties determine the most impactful way to spend the opioid settlement funds.
Housing availability and affordability continues to be a problem for Jackson County. Monthly data published by the Canopy Realtor Association shows the average listing price for a home in Jackson County in July at $968,809. The median sales price and average sales price were $402,000 and $448,746, respectively.
“What we’re going to have to look at, which has not been recognized as a need in rural areas, is multi-unit housing,” said Woody. “Most everybody traditionally has lived in single family dwellings, our rentals have been single family dwellings, we have very few multi-unit residential opportunities. What we need is more of those multi-unit residences so that people starting out in a job, maybe a single person, or a new, young family could rent until they get established and then maybe buy something.”
“I’m going to try to push affordable housing,” said Bryson. “I’m gonna talk with someone at Mountain Projects, maybe some former employees there within the next little while, and try to see what needs to happen from a county standpoint, what the county needs to do to help with affordable housing. I think that we’re lacking in that. We need to look at people that are willing to come in and build facilities and build apartment complexes.”
“There is some low income housing that was built in the county that
McMahan and Letson compete for commission chair
BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF W RITER
This election season, there are three seats up for grabs on the Jackson County Commission, all held by Democrats, all of whom are seeking reelection. One of those seats is the commission chair. Voters will have the opportunity to choose between a candidate with ample experience as chairman and a newcomer to the field.
Brian McMahan is the incumbent commission chairman, and he is running for
reelection as a Democrat. McMahan is challenged by Mark Letson in the General Election, after Letson beat out his only Republican primary opponent, Rick Wood.
In Jackson County, the chairman of the county commission is elected by the voters in the county, creating a unique opportunity for those voters to have input on board leadership. In most counties, the commission chairman is appointed by fellow board members.
McMahan is a volunteer firefighter currently serving as chief of the Balsam Fire
Department, where he has worked for the past 25 years. He previously worked with Jackson County Emergency services.
“It’s an important part of our community, it’s an important service,” said McMahan.
McMahan has served on the Board of Commissioners for almost 20 years, he was first elected to the district two seat in 2002.
In 2005, he became chairman of the commission, where he served all but one term between 2010 and 2014 when he was defeated by Jack Debnam.
“I’m running again because we’ve got several projects that we’ve been working on that are unfinished and I think it’s very important to see through some of those projects that we’re passionate about and would like to see come to fruition,” said McMahan.
By contrast, Letson has never served on the commission. He currently serves as the chairman of the Jackson County Planning Board, is a member of the Business and Industry Advisory Committee for Jackson
Gayle Woody
Boyce Deitz
Todd Bryson
John Smith
filled up pretty quick,” said Smith. “I’d like to see more of those, but the question is funding and who are we going to get to sponsor that? Are there any grants available? It falls back to infrastructure as well. Do we have the water and sewer infrastructure to support more housing like apartments? We need to work with TWASA and different things and see how we can build that out. It’s going to be a long process and it’s probably not going to be cheap.”
“We do have a housing problem and that is something [the commission] works on. Affordable housing is so important,” said Deitz. “You try to get people to buy property and build homes that are affordable. Well, if you’re a builder, you’re interested in making money. We have this severe need, but so many people don’t want these houses near their nicer homes.”
Throughout the campaign Bryson has been vocal about his intention to bring more restaurant options to Jackson County, as well as a family-friendly public facility like a fairground.
“Voters should vote for me because I’m young and I want to see the county grow in different ways,” said Bryson. “I’m a Christian conservative and I just want our county to grow. I want to see the right things come into the county that are beneficial to our residents.”
If reelected, Woody looks forward to finishing the projects the commission has started during the four years she has been on the board.
“I want to accomplish these things that we’ve started,” said Woody. “One thing I have learned in being a commissioner is that no one person can accomplish anything. It takes working together as a board to accomplish these things. For one thing, you have to have three votes at least, but our board has worked bipartisan and worked well together because we really care about our community. I’ve been very pleased to see how well our board works together to accomplish things.”
John Smith has campaigned on being the change that Jackson County needs, and on bringing more industry to Jackson County.
“We’ve been electing the same people for a long time,” said Smith. “So if you want change and you want to see different things happening in the county, then you need to move some different people in. Typically, to bring in industry you’d provide them incentives, maybe subsidize some of their connection fees to infrastructure, water, sewer, things like that, maybe a little tax relief for a period of time. From what I’ve seen the current group of commissioners are not doing that. They do not do any concessions for any business coming in.”
Deitz is running for commission again because he wants to bring more kindness to the public arena, continue to support county employees and serve the people of his community.
“I’m running again because I enjoy the work,” said Deitz. “I enjoy my relationship with the people. I think our county employees are so important and they do such a great job, and I want to be the go to person for them, look out for them. I’m a democrat, but sometimes I feel like I’m the most conservative one on the board. I always question our spending.”
County and previously served on the Cashiers Planning Council, all appointed boards. Letson and his wife have owned Cashiers Valley Pharmacy in Cashiers since 2006. He previously ran against Mark Jones in 2020 to represent district four on the commission.
“I hope to lower taxes, I hope to be able to bring our county into the 21st century with fiber access and utilities access that’s not a burden on them,” said Letson. “I hope to reduce our drug problem and our crime problem that is not just in one area, but spread across the county almost evenly.”
Housing availability and affordability is a growing problem for Western North Carolina counties and Jackson County is no different.
“There is very little we can do,” said McMahan. “The availability of land is one problem, there’s just not a lot of available land that people are willing to sell for housing. Second would be contractors. We have a shortage of contractors. There’s not a lot of contractors available who are willing to build what I would classify as middle income housing and low income housing.”
McMahan did note that the county has partnered with nonprofits for some small projects, and has maintained the second lowest property tax rate in the state, making it cheaper to own property in Jackson County than other surrounding counties.
“That’s the only thing right now that we can do to really have an impact on the broader housing crisis,” McMahan said. “We’ve tried to do things on the periphery to
help make this a better place to live and a place where people would want to come live, but ultimately we have no control over the home market. We try to make sure we have all the services in place that support the housing market, but as far as being able to do anything other than that right now, our hands are tied.”
Letson, if elected, would try the route of direct outreach.
“I would probably call one of these larger companies, a larger developer that has the resources to say, ‘I’m going to come in and there’s 30 acres and I can put X amount of
houses on it.’ I really feel like that’s how we’re gonna really tackle some of this,” said Letson. “They have the economies to scale. They have the plans to come into an area, assess it, determine how many homes are going to be on it and get it done relatively quickly.”
Jackson County recently received its first of 18 payments in part of an opioid settlement that will total over $3 million. While there are certain restrictions for how the funds can be spent, the county commission
Ridge
will be in charge of deciding how to allocate that money.
“I think it should go to drug treatment,” said Letson. “One of the biggest issues we have is mental health in this area, and that follows suit with drug treatment.”
“Right now, we are being very slow to decide how to best use those funds,” said McMahan. “At this point our plan is to take a look at the different ways that money can be spent and evaluate each of those components. We’re going to bring people from each of those fields in to talk to the board. Most likely it will be a broad approach that will utilize a couple different options. The other thing I feel very strongly about personally is prevention. I think trying to promote and keep people from ever getting on drugs in the first place is a huge task and we ought to focus some effort on that.”
The county has also floated the idea of forming a regional partnership to use the funds more effectively.
“We as a region recognize that working together in partnerships with our seven western counties, we stand a greater chance of being able to put that money to better use partnering together than we would to try to go it alone,” said McMahan. “We might be able to leverage services that we would not be able to leverage on our own and we would help each other; we all share in this problem.”
For McMahan, internet access is a vital need in Jackson County. Under his leadership the commission has set aside a significant amount of American Recovery funds to match broadband grants.
Human service needs are another priority for the incumbent chairman.
“We don’t have a women and children’s domestic violence shelter, but that is something that we are working on to try to make sure the community has those services in house,” said McMahan. “Dealing with the homeless population, that’s a need that is regional, trying to find an adequate way to help those people get on their feet.”
One of Letson’s priorities is helping businesses that are being affected by the NC 107 project. At least 35 businesses are having to relocate due to the construction that will widen the road and make it safer for vehicles and pedestrians. The county recently partnered with the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce to create a grant program for those affected businesses. Letson doesn’t think this is enough.
“We’ve hit the point now where it’s going to cost us more to move these businesses than it should’ve,” said Letson. “Five years ago, it was under consideration, we should’ve been working with them from then. It is troublesome to think that we’ve waited until two months ago to start focusing on how we’re gonna help these other businesses.”
One stop early voting runs Oct. 8 through Nov. 5, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 29 and Nov. 5, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Election Day is Nov. 8, polling places are open 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Check your voter registration, view your sample ballot and find your assigned Election Day polling place at jcncelections.org.
Brian McMahan
Mark Letson
Audience chastised for applauding nonprofit leader’s mishap
BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT P OLITICS E DITOR
Members of Waynesville’s Board of Aldermen responded harshly to applause from the audience after payments to a nonprofit contractor were suspended because the group didn’t furnish paperwork requested by the town after its executive director was severely injured in an alleged DWI crash.
On July 9, Nicole Kott, founder and executive director of Helping Hands of Haywood, was charged with driving while impaired, reckless driving, failure to wear a seat belt and possession of an open container after failing to negotiate a curve on U.S. 276, striking two mailboxes and then a tree.
According to the citation, her husband told the responding trooper that Kott had been “drinking at the river” and that he’d made their kids ride home with him. Kott was hospitalized with extensive injuries.
“I’m just very sorry and I wish things had turned out differently and I wish I had made a different choice,” Kott told The Smoky Mountain News on Sept. 19.
Back in 2021, aldermen approved a twoyear, $70,000 contract with Helping Hands for the purposes of providing temporary shelter to people experiencing homelessness. Contrary to what many have claimed, the money did not come directly from Waynesville taxpayers but rather from President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan.
The first payment of $8,750 was disbursed that October, and subsequent payments of the same amount were made in January, April and July of this year.
Per the contract, Helping Hands is to provide full accounting for the funds, and would only receive subsequent payments after approval by aldermen.
As of Aug. 31, Helping Hands hadn’t supplied the town with receipts from the second quarter of this year. Kott told SMN that she hadn’t planned on submitting the paperwork until it was time to request another disbursement from the town, in October.
Helping Hands also failed to provide a list of responsible parties or a succession plan to town officials.
Each year, the town makes special appropriations to a long list of community partners. Typically, the total amount is equivalent to around one cent on the tax rate. Last fiscal year, the town appropriated $130,000. However, aldermen shaved that total down to $100,000 for the 2021-22 fiscal year.
Only $96,000 was actually appropriated, split among a number of groups including ARC, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Folkmoot, HART, Haywood County Arts Council, Meals on Wheels, Historic Frog Level Merchants Association, CARE, Shelton House, Pigeon Center, REACH, Tuscola High School’s Air Force JRTOC, United Way of Haywood County, Meridian Behavioral Health Services, Waynesville’s Historic Preservation Commission, the
Haywood Healthcare Foundation, the American Red Cross, Pathways, Waynesville Public Art Commission and a trio of programs run by Mountain Projects that provide resources to the county’s elderly population, including nutrition assistance.
During a Sept. 13 Board of Aldermen meeting, Town Attorney Martha Bradley said she’d learned from Town Manager Rob Hites that Kott was now paralyzed as a result of the accident. Although that’s not entirely accurate, Kott was hospitalized and unable to walk.
Bradley suggested that the town take a proactive role in the situation by ensuring no more payments could be made until Helping Hands was brought back into compliance.
Aldermen suspended funding to Helping Hands of Haywood Sept. 13. Town of Waynesville photo
Alderman Chuck Dickson questioned the need for the suspension, considering that Helping Hands didn’t have a current request before the board, and that aldermen have to approve each requested disbursement at the time of submission anyway.
Bradley explained that the suspension would ensure that in the event the organization carries on with a new executive director, there would be no confusion over the status of its contract with the town.
Mayor Gary Caldwell made the motion to suspend the payments, which was seconded by Alderman Jon Feichter. Once it passed unanimously, some in the crowd began to clap, including frequent critic Shari Morgan.
Morgan, who regularly opines to the board about “socialism,” had earlier called Kott “part of the problem,” and called for an end to the town’s funding of “socialist nonprofits.”
When the applause broke out following the vote, Alderman Anthony Sutton intervened.
“Wait, wait, wait,” he said. “This person has had a catastrophic event occur in their life and they are paralyzed. This is not a moment to celebrate, because certain people are not going to get some of the systems that they need. There is no need to celebrate. It’s catastrophic across the board, and it will affect our community tremendously. There is no reason to celebrate.”
Dickson told Sutton he appreciated Sutton’s statement and chimed in with a statement of his own.
“I’ve been reviewing the North Carolina Constitution recently, which we took an oath to uphold,” Dickson said. “One of the things that’s really kind of interesting in the Constitution is it says that ‘Beneficent provision for the poor, the unfortunate and the orphan is one of the first duties of a civilized and a Christian state.’”
Haywood County Schools names teacher of the year
Bethel Middle School STEM teacher Sally Hundley was named the 2023 Teacher of the Year.
Bethel Middle School teacher Sally Hundley was named Haywood County Schools’ 2023 Teacher of the Year.
Hundley, who has worked in Haywood County Schools for 30 years, was selected as the district-wide winner. Runners up were Jamie Frese from Meadowbrook Elementary School and Emily Burrus from Pisgah High School.
Every year, each of the district’s 15 schools selects a Teacher of the Year. A selection committee is then tasked with choosing the district-wide Teacher of the Year after reviewing applications and visiting each teacher’s classroom.
“All of you probably don’t even realize how valuable you are to our school system,” Haywood County Schools Superintendent Dr. Bill Nolte said at the Teacher of the Year banquet held earlier this month. “You just come to work, you love the children, and you teach; but your coworkers at school recognize your efforts.”
Nolte acknowledged that the district moving up three spots to seventh in the state was due in large part to the school system’s teaching staff.
“You are people who have been selected by your fellow teachers to be the Teachers of the Year,” Nolte continued. “We have a load of folks who are really talented and do the right things, even when things are tough.”
Hundley was announced as the winner to a standing ovation.
“I read one time about a teacher who wanted to have one good year and repeat it 30 times,” Hundley said in her acceptance speech. “Well, I don’t want to have that kind of Groundhog Day, nor do you guys. We push each other to be better. To be in your company amazes me.”
No two days, let alone years, are alike in Hundley’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) classes at Bethel Middle School — a tall order for a veteran teacher.
Ryan, a sixth grader at Bethel Middle School, works with Sally Hundley to create a sailmast model during a STEM class focused on aerospace engineering.
Each day, Hundley welcomes in sixth, seventh, and eighth graders to her classroom to have thought-provoking discussions and complete challenging experiments. Although the content of the class is strenuous at times, Hundley is sure to throw in a good measure of humor and understanding of middle school student life in each lesson.
“I love teaching the elective STEM class because students work together to apply the math and science that we are learning everywhere else,” Hundley said. “I look at the topics in science and math for middle schoolers, then I add in a dose of build, destroy, build.”
Sixth grade’s focus is aerospace engineering, seventh grade studies biomedical engineering and eighth grade is patterned around civil engineering.
Projects include everything from building structures and testing weight limits to students studying their own genetics to soldering biomedical equipment.
While Hundley has been a Bethel Blue Demon for the past 12 years, she has worked in several Haywood County schools teaching a variety of classes since 1992.
Upon graduating from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, Hundley accepted her first job at Pisgah High School teaching United States history, world geography, psychology and sociology.
“I was a N.C. Teaching Fellow, and in my mind, I was just going to teach for four years to repay my college tuition,” Hundley explained. “During my first year teaching, I realized teaching is contagious. I love what I do, and I cannot imagine anything else.”
After three years of teaching at Pisgah, she made the move to Waynesville Middle School where she taught history, math, and science before becoming the school’s lead teacher.
“One day the district’s HR director, Jason Heinz, called and told me there was an electives teaching position open at Bethel
Middle,” Hundley said. “He allowed me to put my creative spin on what was planned. He brought me back into the classroom, and I am forever grateful.”
Hundley described her teaching philosophy as constructivist, meaning that children construct knowledge and skills by building them through active learning.
“I have three legacy statements that matter to me as a teacher,” Hundley explained. “All children are gifted, we are made to create and mistakes are learning.”
“I have three legacy statements that matter to me as a teacher. All children are gifted, we are made to create and mistakes are learning.”
— Sally Hundley, Haywood County Schools’ 2023 Teacher of the Year
While many would classify middle school as a trying time for parents and teachers alike, Hundley does not hesitate to welcome any student to her class.
“My job is to find where children are gifted, help them recognize their talents and discover how to use them the rest of their lives,” Hundley said. “People often spend too much time afraid of making mistakes. I want my students to reach for the high hanging fruit, even if that means missing sometimes.”
While in Hundley’s classroom, students frequently exclaim that STEM is their favorite class as they glue together straws and tie fishing line to construct space aircraft.
“Mrs. Hundley is relatable, and that’s why she’s one of my favorite teachers,” Layla
Henson, a sixth grader, said. “She makes us laugh while we’re working on our projects, and I never want to leave her class.”
This year marks the third time Hundley has received the Haywood County Schools Teacher of the Year award. She served as the Western Region 8 Teacher of the Year in the past and was also on the State Teacher of the Year Team.
Additionally, she has served as an adjunct professor for Western Carolina University, Lees McRae College and Appalachian State University.
Hundley’s accolades are not limited to North Carolina. She was a DisneyHAND Team Teacher of the Year. Through that, she traveled to Disney Parks, graduated from Disney U and learned new ways of teaching and learning.
Hundley has received grant awards from multiple groups including the Haywood County Schools Foundation, HP Computers, Apple Computers, National Science Teachers Association, Western Carolina University Teacher Education Partnership, National Education Association and the International Society of Technology in Education.
As Teacher of the Year, Hundley received a monetary award from Haywood County Schools and will be recognized again in the spring with a Pactiv Evergreen award from the Haywood County Schools Foundation. She will also now be considered for the WNC Regional Teacher of the Year award.
Over the next year, Hundley will act as an ambassador for teachers throughout the county and will serve on several district-wide committees.
“I’m preparing to use my voice to talk about education, and it is my hope that I will move through the next levels and have a greater opportunity to share that message,” Hundley said. “I want others to know that public schools matter to the strength of our community.”
Legislative raises hit WCU paychecks University continues to struggle with inflation, retention issues
BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF W RITER
Faculty and staff at Western Carolina University have been seeing higher paychecks since July following the N.C. General Assembly’s passage of a budget that includes an across-the-board raise of 3.5%. Coupled with the 2.5% raise included in the previous budget enacted Nov. 18, 2021, that’s a 6% increase in less than a year.
“This marks the largest legislative increase we’ve seen in faculty and staff pay in the past two decades,” Chancellor Kelli Brown said at the Sept. 2 Board of Trustees meeting.
It’s a big step forward in the right direction — but it’s not enough to fix the problem.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator, inflation soared 8% between August 2021 and 2022, and anyone who has tried to buy or rent in Cullowhee lately knows that housing has become increasingly unaffordable.
“I am committed to continuing to advocate for additional resources to make headway against the inflationary pressures that continue to impact our workforce,” Brown said.
Not only do the recent legislative raises fall short of fully answering current inflationary pressures, they do nothing to address the declining buying power of a WCU salary that had been building for a
decade prior to the pandemic. Between 2010 and 2019, inflation-adjusted salaries at WCU reached below negative 8%, according to a 2021 analysis by WCU business professor Sean Mulholland.
However, Vice Chancellor for Human Resources and Payroll Corey Causby said during a Sept. 1 Academic Affairs and Personnel Committee meeting, WCU is doing all it can to maximize gains to its employees. The university was the only UNC institution that processed the most recent raises in time to include them in the July paycheck, with staff working weekends to make it happen. And in addition to the 6% raise from the state budget, WCU has spent $2.1 million to address salaries, retention and pay compression for its faculty and staff.
The legislature has also allocated another 1% increase in state-appropriated salary funding — about $780,000 — as a labor market adjustment reserve to further address those issues.
“I’m currently working with our leadership and executive council to identify exactly how to use that most effectively to touch the most
people and address the most critical issues, and we’re hoping to implement that this fall,” Causby said. “It will be probably October at this point.”
Higher salaries have been a perennial request from WCU employees for years now, but data indicate that failing to meet the need could have dire consequences for the university’s workforce. Over the past year, the university has seen faculty and staff leaving their posts at staggering rates.
Between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022, WCU recorded 202 voluntary turnovers, the term used when an employee leaves because they want to, not because they’ve been fired or reached retirement. That’s more than double the previous four-year average of 100.5 voluntary turnovers, and way beyond the high point of 117 during that time. Other UNC schools have seen similar trends.
“There’s no other way to look at that other than to say that the numbers are significant and something we’ll have to continue to watch closely,” Causby said.
WCU’s annual employee satisfaction survey continually returns stellar results, Causby said. The most recent survey put WCU toward the top of the UNC system in employee satisfaction, with the score increasing from 2020. In exit interviews more than 75% of departing employees say salary issues influenced their decision to leave, Causby said.
“What the Great Resignation has done at the macro level is it’s created a tremendous amount of opportunity to move throughout higher education that normally doesn’t exist and in some fields doesn’t exist at all,” said Provost Richard Starnes. “The number of faculty we’ve had who left in the past year who have gone on to R1 jobs is really staggering.”
However, the light at the end of the tunnel may be coming into view, Causby said. Turnover numbers for July and August came in closer to the normal prior to the 2021-22 fiscal year.
“We’re hopeful that trend will continue,” he said.
The fiscal year that ended July 30 saw unprecedented numbers of employees leaving for other jobs.
With county funding, AWAKE will complete building repairs
HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER
The Jackson County Commission allocated just over $60,000 of American Rescue Plan funds to AWAKE Children’s Advocacy Center for the organization to finish renovation of its current building.
“We know the great work that you do in our community and what a great service this is for our children,” said County Commission Chairman Brian McMahan. “We wish no child would have to come to you, but we know what the reality is and making sure that we have these facilities and services is very, very important.”
AWAKE — Adults Working and Advocating for Kids’ Empowerment — is a 501(c)3 nonprofit focused on advocating for victims of child abuse and coordinating services for those victims. Executive Director Crystal Jones came before the county com-
mission at its Sept. 6 regular meeting to make the request for funding.
“We are the only child advocacy center in Jackson County,” said Jones. “Our services are not duplicative.”
The building that AWAKE uses was recently gifted to the organization by its landlord, Phil Haire.
“We were incredibly blessed, we were very, very thankful for this,” said Jones. “We celebrate him for sure.”
Even with a permanent home in hand, AWAKE had to take into consideration all the repairs necessary to safely serve children in the building. The heating and cooling system wasn’t working properly, leaving employees freezing in the winter months and sweltering during summer. The building also needed a new roof, siding, doors, windows, insulation for the upper floors, a covered walkway and
County funding will allow AWAKE Children’s Advocacy Center to finish vital repairs to its current building. AWAKE photo
WCU graphic
“Security is a huge priority of ours,” said Jones. “Sometimes we make people mad, and we want to make sure that who we’re letting in is not an alleged perpetrator, so we screen our clients that come into our building. Not only that, but COVID as well, we want to make sure everyone is safe.”
Under normal circumstances, AWAKE likely would have been able to pay for the improvements to the building. However, last year two of AWAKE’s major operational funding sources, the Victims Of Crime Act and Department of Health and Human Services, weren’t allocating funding as usual. This wasn’t resolved until the VOCA Fix Act was signed in late 2021.
“We’re still not seeing those monies be recuperated. Specifically, many [child advocacy centers] across the state took a 67% decrease in funding,” said Jones. “DHHS tried to pick up the slack, but that still made us have to wait over 10 months for reimbursement. That put us about $184,000 short while waiting for those monies to come back in.”
When AWAKE was denied a crucial medical grant because of the pandemic, the organization had to use reserve funds.
“If we hadn’t had these huge cuts, we probably could have found a way to make it work, but not only that, we were also seeing a huge increase in services,” said Jones. Needs for services continue to increase. Between June-July, 2019-2020 and June-July 2021-2022, there was a 62% increase in forensic interviews, 350% increase in medical evaluations and an 81.6% increase in new families coming to see AWAKE.
The amount needed for essential repairs, estimated by Western Builders, was $156,000. AWAKE was able to raise $91,288.43 through local foundations and private donors. In order to make up the difference, AWAKE officially requested $64,711.57 from Jackson County at the commissioner’s Sept. 6 meeting. The amount requested is a one-time ask that will enable the organization to finish repairs to its building.
“We want something to be there for the long haul because children are going to come,” said Jones. “It’s very important that children don’t feel like they’re just going to another corporate building. They need to feel secure when they come to talk to us. The trauma informed approach is crucial.”
The Jackson County Commission unanimously approved the request, allocating funds from its American Rescue Plan money.
“One of the things that I appreciate about AWAKE is that they have an educational component and I think that’s very important,” said Commissioner Gayle Woody. “I know with some of these social issues we can look at it and say the numbers are increasing, and they certainly are, but do we have to stay there? I think we don’t. I think we can be proactive with education. I applaud AWAKE, that they also are doing work in primary prevention.”
Tribal Council debates election law changes
BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER
Term limits could be on the chopping block in Cherokee’s updated election ordinance due to legal advice arguing that the current law, which restricts chiefs and vice chiefs to two consecutive four-year terms, conflicts with the tribe’s Charter and Governing Document.
“If you want to change the election ordinance, you can do that,” Attorney General Mike McConnell told Tribal Council during its Sept. 1 meeting. “You cannot change the charter by changing the ordinance. The charter change requires a referendum. The opinion of the assembled attorneys in my office is that this attempt at term limits is ineffective and violates the charter.”
The current language term-limiting the tribe’s top executives was approved in 2016, through an ordinance submitted by thenPrincipal Chief Patrick Lambert. However, the Charter, which serves as the tribe’s highest legal authority analogous to a constitution, does not set out term limits and merely states that chiefs and vice chiefs must be at least 18 years old, enrolled members of the tribe, and serve four-year terms after winning an election.
“If the voters want term limits, it should be done by referendum or in a constitution,” McConnell said.
For years, a committed group of tribal members has been working to create a constitution to propose for approval from
Cherokee voters, but getting the document to the finish line has proven a monumental task. A resolution aimed at bringing Tribal Council term limits to a referendum vote in the September 2023 election is under discussion and currently tabled — the document could be amended at a later date to include questions seeking to limit consecutive terms for chiefs and vice chiefs as well.
McConnell’s position elicited fierce pushback from some on Tribal Council. The amendment Yellowhill Rep. David Wolfe proposed to remove term limits from the ordinance failed to pass, earning a weighted vote of 31 in favor and 45 against, with 24 absent. Among the five councilmembers who opposed the amendment was Big Cove Rep. Teresa McCoy, who engaged McConnell in a protracted back-and-forth over the issue.
“To me, that’s not contrary to anything in the charter, Mike,” McCoy said. “It’s just an additional housekeeping deal maybe.”
“I think it would be a mistake to leave it in because this ‘additional housekeeping deal’ could be interpreted by somebody who’s not in this room down the road to say, ‘I’m going to take this issue to court,’” McConnell responded. “And we want to avoid that if we can.”
“I would leave it in there and wait and see if it’s challenged,” McCoy said. “I don’t think it’s been challenged, and I personally don’t think it’s going to be challenged. I think it’s been an accepted practice by the community since 2016 and I think that it’s
something we need to hold onto.”
“It hasn’t been challenged because it hasn’t been triggered,” McConnell said. “We’re about to enter a time when it could be triggered. So I’m saying this language is wrong. We should take it out, and if you want to put it in a referendum, then that’s the voters’ choice.”
After Lambert was impeached and removed in 2017, then-Vice Chief Richard
Tribal Council is likely to meet Thursday, Sept. 29, to finalize election law changes. File photo
Sneed was sworn into the principal chief role, and Alan “B” Ensley, then representing Yellowhill on Tribal Council, became vice chief. However, their first full terms didn’t begin until 2019, when they both won election to their seats. Should they both run again and win in 2023, the term limit question likely wouldn’t kick in until four years later, in the 2027 election. McConnell offered Tribal Council F
Photo by J.Shown courtesy of Pilobolus.
multiple legal arguments to support the conclusion that partial terms like the ones Sneed and Ensley served after the 2017 impeachment wouldn’t count when calculating term limits.
Tribal law states that any changes to the election ordinance must take place by Sept. 30 because Oct. 1 marks the start of a new election year. The election ordinance can’t be changed during an election year. In an email, Chairman Richard French said he’s trying to schedule a final vote on the ordinance for 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 29.
Though Tribal Council voted against striking term limits from the existing law, the proposed ordinance features several other changes, most of them minor amendments.
“It’s our opinion that the changes that are proposed are procedural and not contentious issues,” McConnell told Tribal Council during a follow-up work session on the ordinance Wednesday, Sept. 7.
The proposed ordinance makes permanent the longer early voting period put in place as a temporary pandemic response measure and takes out language that limited curbside voting to “elderly, handicapped or infirm” people who are “unable” to enter the polling place. Curbside voting will now be available to anybody who is “unable or unwilling” to go inside.
The ordinance also clarifies the conditions in which an election recount may take place. The current law says that an unsuccessful candidate may request a recount “if defeated by no more than 2% of the total number of votes cast for that particular office or seat” — making it appear as though the 2% margin may be calculated based on the entire field of candidates.
The new language states that a recount may be held if the margin is within 2% of the total number of votes cast “between the unsuccessful candidate and the immediately closest successful candidate.” Compared to the other method, this would reduce the number of votes by which two candidates could be separated while qualifying for a recount.
“What we’ve tried to do is make the language more airtight so it’s clear about when somebody can request a recount and when the board is mandated to do a recount,” said Chris Siewers, an attorney in McConnell’s office.
On Sept. 1, Tribal Council also adopted an amendment proposed by Wolfe that would change the start date for Board of Election terms from Sept. 1 to Sept. 30.
“With the fiscal year starting in October, I think that would be a better date because they would come on in the new budget year,” Wolfe said.
Additionally, he said Tribal Council’s September meeting frequently falls after Sept. 1, so changing the date would provide more time for the body to make appointments decisions.
The start of the election year Oct. 1 kicks off a period during which all 12 Tribal Council seats, both chief offices and three School Board positions will be up for election. Filing will occur in March, with the Primary Election held Thursday, June 1. The General Election Thursday, Sept. 7.
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Community Almanac
New pediatric therapy clinic
opens in Franklin
The Franklin Chamber of Commerce recently cut the ribbon at a celebration of Kids in Stride.
Kids in Stride is an outpatient pediatric therapy clinic offering occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech therapy services for people up to age 21. Occupational therapy assesses an individual and determines delays. Kids in Stride works with emotional regulation, handwriting, learning disabilities and behaviors. If you feel like your child is “always getting into trouble” or is “struggling with daily activities,” it may be worth getting assessed.
Speech therapy works on speech, communication including cognitive and/or social communication. If you feel like your child “just doesn’t listen” or “other people can’t understand them,” it may be worth getting assessed for auditory processing delays or articulation difficulties.
Physical Therapy works on limitations in movement, balance, physical pain and/or coordination. If you feel like your child is “clumsy,” “always falling down” or is not moving like other children their age, it may be worth getting assessed by a physical therapist.
Celebrate Halloween at Lake Logan
Lake Logan will host a Halloween event on Sunday, Oct. 30 from 4 to 8 p.m. Activities include trunk or treat, a haunted trail, a family movie, costume contests (including a contest for your pet!), pumpkin carving, vendors and lots of family friendly activities. Food
will be available for purchase and will include candied and caramel apples and other fall treats, as well as dinner items. There will be fun options for everyone.
People can pre-purchase tickets, which include all the activities, at lakelogan.org/event/a-lake-logan- halloween/. Prices will go up at the gate, so register soon.
Proceeds from this event will benefit the ministries of Lake Logan. Volunteers are needed for the trunk or treat and the haunted trail. Please email intern@lakelogan.org if you would like to volunteer.
Highlands’ Unfurl Massage and Bodywork to hold ribbon cutting
This Sunday, the Highlands Chamber of Commerce will host a traditional red ribbon cutting ceremony to welcome Unfurl Massage and Bodywork to the community. The event is open to the public and will take place at 1 p.m. at its studio, 435 N. 4th St.
Unfurl is a calm, nourishing massage and bodywork studio, offering a variety of services, customizable to each client’s needs. It will host an open house on Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m.
“I feel there is a need for the local population to be able to benefit from massage therapy in a comfortable and healing environment,” says Unfurl Owner Betty Chrestman. “Having my business here enables me to have a community of family, friends and clients.”
Unfurl is open Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information about Unfurl, call 828.482.2219 or email unfurlmassagenc@gmail.com
WCU ready to host Mountain Heritage Day Saturday, most popular outdoor festival for region
This Saturday, celebrate the 48th Mountain Heritage Day festival. Mountain Heritage Day is an annual multicultural celebration held on the Western Carolina University campus from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with free admission, free parking and free shuttle service.
“Mountain Heritage Day is a gift from Western Carolina University to the community, and everyone from everywhere is welcome to attend,” said WCU Chancellor Kelli Brown. “This family-oriented festival shows how much we value this incredible, beautiful region we call home and its diverse culture and history.”
FUR hosts seventh annual Barnyard BBQ Blast
FUR’s seventh annual Barnyard BBQ Blast fundraiser will be held on Sunday, Oct. 9, from 1 to 4 p.m. With music, raffles, games, a silent auction and, of course, a delicious BBQ lunch with all the fixins, this event will make any cat lover purr. The fun takes place at Barn Star Events in the Jonathan Creek area.
While lunch will be served at 1:30 p.m., the festivities begin at 1 p.m. with FUR’s annual meeting. All are welcome
Tickets are available online at www.furofwnc.org/events or by mail at P.O. Box 1352, Waynesville, North Carolina, 28786.
An individual ticket costs $35 and comes with one plate of food from Ben’s Backdraft and Woof Street Bistro and unlimited sweet or unsweetened tea or water. Sponsorships are available for $150 and include two plates of food and four wines or beers, as well as the other beverages. There will be a cash bar with wine from Bosu’s Wine Shop and handcrafted beer donated by Boojum Brewery. Please bring an ID to visit the cash bar.
There will also be a drawing for a special item. Shady Lady quilter La Veda Longfellow has donated a fun art quilt called “Biscuit Head Cats.” The quilt measures 37-by-37 inches. Tickets will be available at the event or in advance at Smoky Mountain Dog Bakery for $3 each or four for $10. The winner need not be present.
“This event has been a wonderful success in years past,” said Lisa Sanborn, event co-coordinator and FUR Board President. “We are excited to again gather with our supporters for a fun event to further FUR’s mission.”
FUR would like to thank Boojum, Longfellow and Woof Street Bistro, who is donating the food, for their generosity.
All proceeds benefit Feline Urgent Rescue (FUR) of Western North Carolina, a non-profit dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming of abused, abandoned and neglected cats in Western North Carolina.
For more information or directions, visit the website or call 844.888.CATS (2287).
Renowned as a showcase of bluegrass and mountain music, family activities and the region’s finest arts and crafts, other highlights include presentation of the Mountain Heritage Awards to an individual and an organization in honor of achievements in historic preservation and outstanding cultural contributions.
Bluegrass, traditional and gospel music are an important part of the event, which is equal parts of a family reunion, a harvest festival, an arts and crafts showcase, a county fair and musical jamboree — all to celebrate the wonderful diversity of Southern Appalachian history and culture. This year’s headline musical act will include the Becky Buller Band and Mountain Heart.
Alongside the musical stages are arts and crafts booths, children’s activities, heritage demonstrations, Cherokee stick ball games, a chainsaw competition, wagon rides and a classic car and truck show. An additional handiwork and skills exhibitor recently added to the lineup is Kevin Fountain, who will demonstrate corn grinding and hit and miss engines. The Jackson County 4-H will
have demonstrations from their Livestock Club and Simone Pace will provide clogging instruction for kids in two sessions in the Children’s Tent. Liberty Baptist and Bailey Mountain Cloggers are set to also entertain the crowd.
The festival, which began in 1974, continues its legacy of highlighting traditional folk arts and skills, Cherokee crafts, clogging, storytelling and shape-note singing. More than 130 arts and crafts vendors will be on hand with creations ranging from furniture and jewelry to leather goods and metalwork. Vendors will offer a variety of festival food, with favorites ranging from fry bread, kettle corn and homemade ice cream to funnel cakes and barbecue. Organizers said additional musical acts, including local favorites, and clogging teams will be announced soon.
Mountain Heritage Day goes on rain or shine, and everyone is invited to bring lawn chairs or blankets for comfortable seating. Dogs on leashes are allowed, with water and comfort stations provided. For more information and updates, www.mountainheritageday.com
FUR will host its seventh annual Barnyard BBQ Blast Fundraiser on Oct. 9. Donated photo
Haywood School Board misses an opportunity
When the Haywood County School Board announced that it had chosen Trevor Putnam as the system’s new superintendent, I can’t think of a single person who follows education news in this region that was surprised. People were making that call even before Superintendent Bill Nolte announced his relatively sudden November retirement. What did catch some off guard, though, was the revelation of a “succession plan” that, according to a couple of school board members, had been in place for at least five years. I immediately thought of the now King Charles and his long-reigning mother Elizabeth. Perhaps the school board fancies itself a kind of advisory council, acting benevolently in allowing the outgoing superintendent to anoint his own successor.
Look, here’s wishing Trevor Putnam the utmost success. He’s been straight up and open with the reporters for this newspaper and has proven as accessible as any high-level educator in the region. My wife teaches for Haywood County Schools and I have three grown children who are products of the system. I’ve lived in Haywood County for 30 years, I own a business here and served on the board of the Haywood County Schools Foundation. I have a vested personal and financial interest in this county remaining a place with a welleducated citizenry where people and businesses prosper. A good school system plays a vital role in a community’s reputation and liveability.
Results of statewide standardized test scores show that Haywood schools do well on tests, ranking seventh in results
We need to stop the overspending
To the Editor:
The article regarding the backlash over Biden’s forgiveness of student loans was another, “Well, Susie did it!” diatribe. The information about the PPP payments made to a particular Republican was more confusing than informative.
Americans have no idea how their tax money is being spent, by whom, for what reason, how much foreign aid goes to our enemies, how many representatives and senators vote present, etc. The private club that peoples Washington, D.C., is termed government, but it’s not governing.
Americans are astonished that repressive governments like China, Russia and Venezuela own and dictate reporting of TV stations, newspapers, their hosts and columnists, and our media is controlled exactly as the “bad guys” are.
While media intentionally hypes party division, they distract us from the frightening realization that we, as a country, are out-
released in the past two weeks. In private conversations, though, one often hears negative comments in the community about morale and the school system’s direction and leadership. There seems to be an obvious disconnect between student testing success and many folks’ negative feelings about the system’s leadership.
So no surprise at Putnam’s appointment; very surprised that an actual succession plan has been around for five years and this was, more or less, pre-ordained. I was also very surprised that the members of the school board chose to not even conduct a search. Some of those on the board have been there for a decade or more, so surely they were politically savvy enough to know they’d take some criticism — can anyone say “good ol’ boy system” — for not even going through the motions.
And perhaps that is where we should lay the blame for the niggling questions about the direction of the Haywood County Schools — squarely at the feet of the elected school board. It made the decision not to spend the time and money — and yes, a search would have cost some of our tax dollars — to see if some brilliant educator from somewhere else in this country might want to lead this school system for a few years. I mean, people are moving here from everywhere, so surely an opening like this would have had some appeal.
LETTERS
spending our income. Reporting that irresponsibly hypes political division advances the ticking timebomb.
The USA has held the status of reserve currency for almost a century; that means we get a cut on every single deal between countries who trade, unless those countries have existing trade deals. That’s like collecting tolls for bridges outside this country. We have reserve currency because the USA was stable, had superior production, and a reliable political and monetary system. Americans believed their president was elected fairly. We spent less than we made. Today, the significant difference is our president is detonating our monetary system and replacing it with a universal give-away system, plunging the USA into global bankruptcy.
The U.S. will collapse if government officials, at the very top continue oppressive burdens on taxpayers while bailing out the world. Pointing fingers will be as effective as ordering strychnine for arsenic poisoning.
Kathryn van Heyningen
Franklin
This is the same school board that supported Bill Nolte’s knee-jerk decision last school year to pull a racially charged book from an English class instead of encouraging discussions about one of the most sensitive and fraught issues facing this country. For the last several years it seems that the school board has not been leading but instead has just been rubber stamping everything the administration brings before it.
Most successful organizations know that processes are important, that final decisions are stronger when the group follows best practices and uses proven techniques. By foregoing a search, school board members left a lot of Haywood’s citizens questioning their decision-making process and, in fact, did the ne w superintendent an injustice. Their desire for a local that was a known commodity and for expediency won out over a more open, competitive and formal process.
Say a real search had been conducted and Trevor Putnam rose to the top despite having to compete against applicants from near and far. Some school boards have even gone so far as to include parents or teachers in the selection process, showing that those elected officials truly care about what parents and staff think. If that had occurred and Putnam had won the job, the school board would have quieted many of its critics. Unfortunately, that’s not how this played out. Let’s call it a missed opportunity.
(Scott McLeod can be reached at info@smokymountainnews.com)
Editor
Scott McLeod
A cautionary tale of Covid’s resilience
Last week I was among five friends on an outdoor excursion. It was a lovely early fall day, the river was at a fun level, and the scenery was stunningly beautiful. Everyone was paddling well and negotiating the rapids splendidly. We ate lunch sitting on comfortably arranged boulders on a riverside beach. The day ended on a fun rapid. We hiked our boats out on a short but steep trail. It was a marvelous day with a wonderful group of friends. What’s not to love about that?
The next day one of our group emailed everyone to say their COVID test had returned positive that morning. A scratchy throat and a mild runny nose the day of our trip seemed just like allergies. But because they had just returned from a two-week-long trip, it was thought best to make sure.
One person in the group that day shuttled to and from the river in the same car — an hour each way. All but one shuttled in the same vehicle back to the put in, windows up on a windy, dusty gravel road for the 20minute ride.
Within two days, two of them developed “viral” type symptoms and tested positive for COVID, all people who have done their best not to find out how their immune systems would respond to this infection. Some in the group are high risk by age or other health conditions.
Some were quite upset about this exposure. After all, they had been very vigilant throughout the pandemic and had avoided illness. So how did this happen? After all, everyone was outdoors and outdoors is safe, right? It’s much harder to generate a concentration of virus enough to transmit the virus when the wind is blowing around. But 20 minutes in a vehicle with the windows up and nobody wearing a mask was enough. An hour both ways in a vehicle with the windows up and nobody wearing a mask was enough.
This is a reminder that this pesky virus in its current more contagious form is still with us and is still quite formidable. In fact, one out of every five new reported infections is actually someone getting infected again. It reminds us that there are some among us who really can’t afford to get COVID. And it is a reminder that even with vaccination and
boosting providing protection, there remains a risk of contracting COVID, albeit a smaller risk of getting infected (14 times less risk of that infection progressing to the sort of bad outcomes some not vaccinated have experienced. If vaccinated but not boosted, your risk is 3 times higher compared with those vaccinated and boosted. Boosted twice reduces that risk even more than boosted once.)
It is a reminder that recognizing high-risk situations and adding mitigating layers of protection in those high-risk environments remains important to avoid getting sick. It reminds us that when we have been in such a place, it’s important to recognize the potential to have been infected and take measures to guarantee we are not, so as not to put others at risk. (Don’t forget that a person is contagious two days before they get symptoms.) And it is a reminder that what seems like the same symptoms you’ve had before, like with allergies, may not be the same.
There is nothing new in these reminders. They have applied throughout the entire pandemic. What is new is that we hear less and less about what’s going on. But as this tale reminds us, out of sight, out of mind does not equate to out of risk. There are some things that have not changed.
Now I know there are those who, even if they read this, will dismiss this as the ramblings of a paranoid person scared of the world. They may even want to believe this is a made-up story to scare others. But I also know there are those of you who have had similar experiences yourself or with loved ones. And most of the time it worked out OK, but there are many among us for whom that experience did not end well. Those who want to dismiss this story must also dismiss these real-life experiences.
The real lesson here is not to be scared. Instead, be aware and be careful. That member of our group feels terrible about what has unfolded. But honestly, that day we all let our guard down somewhat. The time to be careful is before the exposure. Anticipate the potential and act accordingly. That’s the reminder for me.
Western North Carolina has been in the red zone with high case transmission all summer, especially remarkable given the degree of under reporting. The virus only cares about finding the next person it can infect. On this day, it found a couple more.
(Dr. Mark Jaben is the medical director for Haywood County Health and Humans Services Department. jabenm@aol.com)
Guest Columnist
Mark Jaben
Opening the doors of creativity
Haywood Arts Studio Tour to be held Sept. 24-25
The Haywood County Arts Council’s annual Haywood County Studio Tour will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, and from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25.
The tour is a two-day, self-guided, free event where Haywood County artists open their studios to the public. For 2022, the celebration will feature 24 studios and over 40 artists in various locations around our backyard.
Aside from all of the studio locations, there will also be a special community event called the Canton Hub at the Town of Canton’s Sorrells Park. A long-standing event, HCAC is mixing it up with the Canton Hub, which is sponsored by the Cruso Foundation and the Town of Canton.
“The Canton Hub is the launching pad and gateway to the Haywood County Studio Tour” said Morgan Beryl, executive director for the HCAC in Waynesville. “We’ve been looking for ways to have a greater presence in all the towns that make up Haywood County and to create a central meeting place for the Studio Tour.”
The Canton Hub will be a recreational community event with live music, local food trucks, artist demonstrations, a prize drawing and a community art project. The prize drawing is a
load of gravel donated by Hilltop Tractor, Grading and Landscaping.
“I made the donation without a thought once I received the phone call. I’m extremely big on supporting the community and small businesses like myself,” said Joseph Lee Williford, president and co-owner of Hilltop. “I believe in today’s world, the more you help others and stand behind each other, the more you are creating opportunity for others to have a chance in enjoying these activities in the future.”
Stephanie Kea, a Tuscola high school art teacher and HCAC board director is helping lead the community art project which will be painting two run-through banners to be used at the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Tuscola and Pisgah high school rivalry football game.
“We are working with students to design the banners and community members who visit the Canton Hub will be invited to add their mark by helping paint the banner,” Kea said.
Donations of any amount will be accepted to join in the painting and the raised funds will benefit both high school art programs. As well, HCAC is reliant on grants from organizations like the Town of Waynesville and the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority, who both funded marketing the event, but also on business sponsorships and individual donations.
“We are so grateful to our $1,000 level business sponsors like the Days Inn and Best Western, and our artists who are donating art as door prizes,” Beryl said.
Door prizes are won by donating any amount at the door of a participating studio.
“The Studio Tour is a great opportunity for the public to see where you spend your time creating art,” said Gayle Haynie, a participating door prize artist and HCAC board director. “It gives folks the opportunity to learn the techniques you spent years perfecting and get a better understanding of the time and materials that goes into your artwork.”
experience, HCAC has partnered up with The Southern Porch for a limited attendance event called “Meet the Makers” from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, at the restaurant in downtown Canton.
The evening includes a mini quilt block creation activity, food, drink, a private performance by a well-known Canton performer, and a facilitated discussion with two Canton artists, Cheryl Summey and Lisa Conard.
“The Studio Tour is a great opportunity for the public to see where you spend your time creating art. It gives folks the opportunity to learn the techniques you spent years perfecting and get a better understanding of the time and materials that goes into your artwork.”
— Gayle Haynie
Another new feature is the Studio Tour passport. It costs $5 and attendees will get the passport stamped as they enter each studio. Then, they must fill out the short survey on the back and turn it in for a chance to win two tickets to the Smoky Mountain Bluegrass Festival on Oct. 29 in Maggie Valley. The musical gathering will host the likes of bluegrass sensations Balsam Range, Sister Sadie and The Amanda Cook Band.
For visitors looking for a more exclusive
“I’m a proud Pisgah Black Bear and a lifelong Canton native. I love my small mill town life and am relishing in watching it be revitalized and thriving again” said Summey, who is also an HCAC board director. “Tucked in among the hills and valleys are treasured memories that I bring to life with my jewelry and the passion to create my art.”
Tickets to “Meet the Makers” can be reserved online or by calling HCAC. The Studio Tour is free, and brochures can be picked up at the Canton Hub during the event, at HCAC or viewed online.
The Haywood Handmade Gallery at the HCAC is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
For more information on the Studio Tour and/or any future HCAC events, workshops and happenings, click on haywoodarts.org or call 828.452.0593.
A work by Jo Ridge Kelley.
The Cold Mountain Art Collective in Canton.
This must be the place
BY GARRET K. WOODWARD
Could have been the Willie Nelson, could have been the wine
Waking up in the hotel room at the Chateau Laurier in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, last Saturday morning, I rubbed my eyes and stretched out in the king bed. Another solo excursion of irresponsible enlightenment, which has now landed me above the border — in the land of friendly faces, poutine and hockey.
After finishing up interviews throughout the last couple days for a Rolling Stone assignment with the remaining members of The Tragically Hip, arguably Canada’s most beloved rock band, the plan now was to keep heading west. Toronto to Detroit, then to Ohio, with Lexington, Kentucky, ultimately in the crosshairs.
But, as I packed up the bags and called the front desk to retrieve the truck, I decided to follow intuition and scrap those plans, instead aiming the nose of the vehicle to the east. Back to my native North Country, back to the starting line of where it all began — that hometown of Rouses Point, New York.
Seeing as I didn’t have to be in Lexington until Thursday afternoon, I figured another day or so back in Clinton County would be a good holding spot until I was ready to trek to The Bluegrass State. Circle back home, see some friends and family for a hot minute, only to say goodbye — onward to the next unknown adventure, unwritten chapter.
It was late Saturday afternoon and I was still two and a half hours away from Rouses Point. But, I knew my last two childhood friends residing in town, Kailey and Erin, would most likely be around to grab an evening beverage at the local American Legion on Pratt Street. With text messages exchanged and plans confirmed, the Legion it was.
mer sun quickly falling to the horizon in the rearview mirror. Darkness now draped over the silent farmland, the headlights and taillights of fellow Canadian motorists keeping me company as I approached the border crossing and returned back to the good ole US of A.
To preface, Kailey and Erin are two of my oldest friends in all time and space. Kailey was (and remains) the best friend of my little sister, who is also one of my closest chums. Erin grew up on the same street as me, and we’ve been thick as thieves for the better part of 30 years. Two strong women and steadfast mothers, with Erin recently returning to the North Country with her young family after a decade-long stint in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
HOT
PICKS
1
The 48th annual Mountain Heritage Day will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, on the campus of Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.
2
The Haywood County Arts Council’s annual “Haywood County Studio Tour” will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, and from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25.
3
Yonder Community Market (Franklin) will host “Songwriter Sundays” with Webb Wilder 2 p.m. Sept. 25.
4
There will be a reception for the contributors of “Sounds of Tohi: Cherokee Health and Well-Being in Southern Appalachia” at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva.
5
Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host Troy Underwood (singersongwriter) at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24.
your journey. Tell them you love them, for you must always do so, especially in those instances where your heart feels like it’s about the explode with joy — your soul vibrating at such high frequencies only felt in the presence of those who never have forgotten you or your worth, and vice versa.
The next morning, I awoke at Kailey’s house. Enough Labatt Blues the night before to be safe and crash at her place. With all my travel gear remaining in the truck, I grabbed running clothes, laced up the shoes and headed out the door. Jogging along Lake Street, I trotted by homes that used to house families I grew up with, spaces that made up the story of my early years, those chapters before college, before life after graduation.
Rocketing down the highway out of Ottawa towards Quebec and down to the border crossing in Rouses Point, I put the truck on cruise control and soaked into the landscape. Thoughts of my recent time with The Tragically Hip, of wild nights painting the town red in Ottawa, and of nothing and everything. Soon, the large urban sprawl of Ottawa transitioned into rural farmland, in the distance dirt roads shooting off to nowhere through endless cornfields.
Holding steady at 120 KPH (kilometers per hours), the sounds of the Hip radiated from the stereo speakers. Endless memories of home, and of faces and places long gone, dancing across the dashboard, the late sum-
Pulling into Kailey’s driveway, she emerged from her picturesque Norman Rockwell small town abode and hopped in the truck. Erin and her husband would meet us at the Legion. Stepping into the Legion bar area, there was a handful of patrons on the counter stools, most of which I knew from back in the day, all of which remembered me and said hello, “How have you been, Garret?”
Eventually, it was one corner of the bar counter overtaken by Erin, her husband, Kailey and myself. Swapping tall tales. Rehashing embarrassing and/or memorable stories from our youthful transgressions. Laughter. Cheers to you and me and us, and in this moment. Toss some money in the jukebox and crank up the sounds of the Hip, the soundtrack of the North Country. Order another Labatt Blue and turn to your old friends, the ones who know you the best in this universe, and smile. Simply smile in awe for having kind souls like these on
Meander along Lake Street, crossing over to Stoney Point Road, to the breakwater on the shores of the massive, ancient waters that is Lake Champlain. With a crisp wind blowing down from Canada, I stood on the rock barrier and gazed out over the rippling water to nearby Vermont, shifting focus back around to Rouses Point, all of those folks still waking up and emerging into their impending Sunday.
Turning around to Lake Street, I made my way into the quaint downtown and Kailey’s house. Plans for Sunday were already in motion and I had to get ready for whatever and whoever may lie ahead. As I passed by Pine Street, where my late grandparents’ home is now occupied by my Aunt Moe and Uncle Chuck, I stopped on the corner, not far from Kailey’s, and just stood there.
On that sidewalk, I was alone, and let out a big sigh. One not of heaviness, but of gratitude. I looked up to the heavens, a slight grin rolling across my face for the journey at hand, the sheer beauty of, “Where to from here, eh?”
Life is beautiful, grasp for it, y’all.
The Hayford Road in Rouses Point. (Garret K. Woodward photo)
Webb Wilder to play Franklin
Mississippi Musician Hall of Fame icon Webb Wilder will perform as part of the “Songwriter Sundays” live music sessions at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25, at Yonder Community Market in Franklin.
Beginning with his 1986’s classic debut, “It Came From Nashville,” Wilder emerged as a barnstorming hero who delivered a peculiar mix of rockabilly, poetry and tomfoolery. These days, some folks call Wilder’s music “Americana,” though it is as impacted by mods and British Invaders (of the guitar-wielding
The Whisnants return to Franklin
The Whisnants will hold a special performance at 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Beloved stage act The Perrys will open the concert. In 1970, around the old upright piano in John and Betty Whisnants’ house, a family began singing in the Appalachian foothills of Morganton. The voices of children blended with their parents as the sound of a gospel song filled the house. And, from that time forward, they were known as The John Whisnant Family.
Passing the leadership of the group onto Jeff (John & Betty’s son) and Susan in 1990, a new era of The Whisnants began. The current line-up of the trio is Jeff and Susan, Aaron Hise and their sons Austin and Ethan.
With over 40 years of traveling behind them, the group has celebrated 13 number one songs (spanning from 2001 to 2013), with the first single for 2014,
• 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 balsamfallsbrewing.com
• Blue Ridge Beer Hub (Waynesville) will host a semi-regular acoustic jam with the Main Street NoTones from 7 to 9 p.m. every first and third Thursday of the month. Free and open to the public. For more information, click on blueridgebeerhub.com.
ALSO:
• Boojum Brewing (Waynesville) will host karaoke at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, trivia at 7 p.m. on Thursdays and semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.246.0350 or boojumbrewing.com
• Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.369.4080 or coweeschool.org/music.
• Currahee Brewing (Franklin) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 828.634.0078 or curraheebrew.com
wise noted. Free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com
• Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host “Music Bingo” with Hibiscus Sunshine every Wednesday and Andy Ferrell (singer-songwriter) Sept. 24. All events begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.
• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host Trivia Night at 6:30 p.m. every Wednesday, Old Time Jam 6:30 p.m. every Thursday and Deep Water Sept. 23. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.
• Marianna Black Library (Bryson City) will host a Community Jam 6 p.m. Oct. 6. Free and open to the public. 828.488.3030 or fontanalib.org/brysoncity
• Moss Valley (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. Food trucks and beverages available onsite. Bring a lawn chair. Presented by Drake Software.
kind) as it is by the country music he’s heard all his life.
It’s also influenced by the Blues and R&B sounds recorded by his Aunt Lillian, who founded Trumpet Records and recorded Elmore James and Sonny Boy Williamson. To throw more genres in the mix, Paste Magazine put “It Came From Nashville” on their list of the “50 Best Southern Rock Albums of All Time.”
Free and open to the public. Donations encouraged. 828.200.2169 or eatrealfoodinc.com.
“He Can Move That Stone,” being nominated as a Top 10 Favorite Song in the Singing News Fan awards (2014). In 2003, the ballad “What You Took From Me” was ranked number one on the Singing News Top 40 Year End Chart as the most played song on radio, with “Even In The Valley” doing the same in 2004. As well, they have been nominated for “Trio of the Year” 10 times and received numerous other individual nominations.
Tickets start at $15 per person. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to smokymountainarts.com or call 866.273.4615.
• Farm At Old Edwards (Highlands) will host the “Orchard Sessions” on select dates. Tickets start at $25 per person. For tickets, click on oldedwardshospitality.com/ orchardsessions.
• Folkmoot Friendship Center (Waynesville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. For tickets, click on folkmoot.org.
• Fontana Village Resort Wildwood Grill will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 800.849.2258 or fontanavillage.com.
• Friday Night Live (Highlands) will host Sycamore Flats (old-time/bluegrass) Sept. 23 and The Foxfire Boys (Americana) Sept. 30 at Town Square on Main Street. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. highlandschamber.org
• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host Trouvere Sept. 24 and Syrrup 3 p.m. Sept. 25. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.454.5664 or froglevelbrewing.com.
• Frog Quarters (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows are free and are held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Located at 573 East Main St. littletennessee.org or 828.369.8488.
• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will host “Trivia Night with Kirk” from 7 to 9 p.m. every Tuesday, Open Mic Night every Wednesday, Paul Edelman (singer-songwriter) Sept. 22 and Rocky Collins (singer-songwriter) Sept. 24. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless other-
• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host Open Mic Night w/Ivor Sparks every Wednesday, George Ausman (singer-songwriter) Sept. 23 and Twelfth Fret (Americana) 5 p.m. Sept. 25. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.538.0115 or mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.
• Nantahala Brewing (Sylva) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. 828.641.9797 or nantahalabrewing.com.
• Nantahala Outdoor Center (Nantahala Gorge) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows behind at 5 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. noc.com
• Orchard Coffee (Waynesville) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. Tickets available for purchase at the shop. 828.246.9264 or orchardcoffeeroasters.com.
• Pickin’ On The Square (Franklin) will host Cornbread Creek (Americana) Oct. 1. All shows begin at 6 p.m. at the Gazebo in downtown. Free and open to the public. franklinnc.com/pickin-on-the-square.html.
• Quirky Birds Treehouse & Bistro (Dillsboro) will host Open Mic Night at 7 p.m. every Tuesday and The Shrubberies (rock/variety) 7 p.m. Sept. 24. Free and open to the public. 828.586.1717 or facebook.com/quirkybirdstreehouse.
• Saturdays On Pine (Highlands) will host Will Thompson Band (Americana) Sept. 24 and Fancy & The Gentlemen (country/honky-tonk) Oct. 1 at Kelsey-Hutchinson Park on Pine Street. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. highlandschamber.org
Webb Wilder. (David McClister photo)
The Whisnants.
LAZY HIKER WELCOMES UNDERWOOD
Local singer-songwriter Troy Underwood will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, at Lazy Hiker Brewing in Franklin. Underwood specializes in soul, rock and Americana music. You’ll hear an array of original material and some of your favorite cover melodies. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com
Bryson City community jam
A community jam will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6, at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City.
Anyone with a guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dulcimer, anything unplugged, is invited to join. Singers are also welcomed to join in or you can just stop by and listen. The jam is facilitated by Larry Barnett of the Sawmill Creek Porch Band.
The community jams offer a chance for musicians of all ages and levels of ability to share music they have learned over the years or learn old-time mountain songs. The music jams are offered to the public each first and third Thursday of the month — spring, summer, fall.
This program received support from the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment of the Arts. 828.488.3030.
• The Scotsman (Waynesville) will host The Carter Giegerich Trio (Celtic/bluegrass) from 2 to 5 p.m. every Sunday and semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.246.6292 or scotsmanpublic.com.
• SlopeSide Tavern (Sapphire) will host Seth & Sara (Americana) 10 p.m. Oct. 6. Free and open to the public. 828.743.8655 or slopesidetavern.com.
• Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts (Franklin) will host The Whisnants with The Perrys (gospel/faith) 3 p.m. Sept. 24. smokymountainarts.com or 828.524.1598.
• Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host Blackjack Country Sept. 22, Outlaw Whiskey Sept. 23 and Macon County Line Sept. 24. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.538.2488.
• Valley Cigar & Wine Co. (Waynesville) will host Tricia Ann Band 6 p.m. Sept. 23 and
Tricia Ann (solo acoustic) 2 p.m. Sept. 25. Free and open to the public. 828.944.0686 or valleycigarandwineco.com.
• Valley Tavern (Maggie Valley) will host Savage Outlaws 3 p.m. Sept. 25 and Twisted Trail Oct. 2. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.926.7440 or valley-tavern.com
• Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 9:30 p.m. 828.456.4750 or facebook.com/waternhole.bar
• Wine Bar & Cellar (Sylva) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. 828.631.3075 or facebook.com/thewinebarandcellar.
• Yonder Community Market (Franklin) will host “Songwriter Sundays” w/Webb Wilder 2 p.m. Sept. 25. Free and open to the public. Donations encouraged. 828.200.2169 or eatrealfoodinc.com.
Troy Underwood. Donated photo
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On the street
Mountain Heritage Day
A beloved long-time Western North Carolina tradition, the 48th annual Mountain Heritage Day will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, on the campus of Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.
The annual festival of Southern Appalachian traditions and culture is renowned as a showcase of bluegrass, oldtime and traditional music, as well as family activities, food vendors, artisan demonstrations, and the region’s finest arts and crafts booths.
The Harrah’s Blue Ridge Stage will host live music from Foxfire Boys w/Lil’ Mountain Wildfire clogging team (10 a.m.), Whitewater Bluegrass Company w/Bailey Mountain Cloggers (11 a.m.), Mountain Heritage Awards presentation (12:15 p.m.), Queen Family (12:30 p.m.), Phil & Gaye Johnson (1:15 p.m.), Becky Buller Band w/Cole Mountain Cloggers (2:15 p.m.), and Mountain Heart with Bailey Mountain Cloggers (3:45 p.m.).
The event is free and open to the public. mountainheritageday.com
ColorFest returns to Dillsboro
The annual ColorFest will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1, in downtown Dillsboro.
Come spend the day in a walk-about mountain town filled with color and history. Enjoy a day of fun, food, live music, artisan demonstrations, entertainment and shopping. Over 40 artisans will be displaying authentic Cherokee art, pottery, jewelry, photography, loom beading, handmade soaps, many kinds of needle work, Christmas ornaments, pine cone wreaths, candles, rustic furniture, chair caning, baskets and much more. For more information, click on visitdillsboro.org.
On the table
• “Flights & Bites” will be held starting at 4 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays at Bosu’s Wine Shop in downtown Waynesville. For more information on upcoming events, wine tastings and special dinners, click on waynesvillewine.com.
• A free wine tasting will be held 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.
• “Take A Flight” with four new wines every Friday and Saturday at the Bryson City Wine
Market. Select from a gourmet selection of charcuterie to enjoy with your wines. Educational classes and other events are also available. For more information, call 828.538.0420.
• “Uncorked: Wine & Rail Pairing Experience” will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 3 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. For more information and/or to register, call 800.872.4681 or click on gsmr.com
Mountain Heart. Donated photo
On the wall
Open call for art grants
The Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center is currently seeking applications for Artist Support Grants for 2022–2023.
These grants support artists in all disciplines with funding for projects that will have a significant impact on the advancement of their professional artistic careers. The Artist Support Grant program is managed through a partnership with local arts councils to serve artists in Clay, Cherokee, Graham, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties. Funding is provided by the North Carolina Arts Council.
Artists at any stage of their careers, emerging or established, are eligible to apply for grants in all disciplines, such as visual art and craft, traditional art forms, music composition, film/video, literature and playwriting, and choreography and dance. Types of fundable projects include the creation of new work, purchase of equipment and materials, and professional development workshops.
Complete funding guidelines and applications are available online at coweeschool.org. Grant awards generally range from $500-$1,000. Applications must be received by Oct. 15.
Informational workshops for interested artists will be offered online and in person. Please visit coweeschool.org for updated workshop dates and times. For more infor-
mation, contact Laura Brooks at maconheritagecenter@gmail.com or call 828.369.4080.
Interested in origami?
In partnership with the Japan Outreach Initiative Coordinator at Western Carolina University, there will be an “Origami Workshop” to be held from 4 to 5 p.m Monday, Sept. 26, at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City.
Nanaka Okamura, a Japan Outreach Initiative (JOI) Coordinator, will lead this workshop. Nanaka came to the United States last July and has been teaching Japanese culture, including Japanese calligraphy, origami, seasonal events and the Japanese language to people in the community here in Western North Carolina.
Origami has several brain-enhancing effects, including improving motor skills and developing concentration. When children follow directions to fold paper, both the motor and visual areas of the brain are activated. Using both the right and left hemispheres at the same time is essential for proper development, and not only stimulates the brain but also develops imagination and memory.
The workshop is for all ages. No registration required. For more information or driving directions, please call the library 828.488.3030.
‘The Way I’m Wired’
‘Woman Swarmed by Flies (Small #3)’ by Margaret Curtis.
A new exhibition, “The Way I’m Wired: Artist Reflections on Neurodiversity” will be available for viewing until Dec. 9 at the Western Carolina University Fine Art Museum in Cullowhee.
In this exhibition, artists share their experiences with neurodiversity and how these experiences have impacted their creative practice. Their perspectives shed light on a variety of ways that the brain can function and how this intertwines with their art.
Visitors interested in psychology, neuroscience, mental health, and reframing society’s assumptions about neurological differences will especially appreciate hearing these artists’ perspectives on the world.
“The Way I’m Wired” springs from a curiosity about neurodiversity in artists. It brings together the work of eleven artists who share their experiences with autism, anxiety, dyslexia, aphantasia, and other ways of being to explore how neurological frameworks can both help and hinder artistic practice.
Regular museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and until 7 p.m. on Thursday. For information, call 828.227.ARTS or visit bardoartscenter.wcu.edu.
On the wall
• “Life in Haywood” exhibit will be held through Oct. 2 at the Haywood County Arts Council in downtown Waynesville. The exhibit will showcase work that expresses artists’ connection to their lives in Haywood County. For more information, click on haywoodarts.org/events.
• Southwestern Community College Swain Arts Center (Bryson City) will host an array of workshops for adults and kids. southwesterncc.edu/scc-locations/swain-center.
ALSO:
• WNC Paint Events brings you “Paint & Sip.” This is a two-hour event, and you leave with your painting. Anyone 21 and up is welcome. Events will be held at the following locations once a month: 828 Market on Main (Waynesville), Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva), BearWaters Brewing (Canton) and Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City). As well, there’s also a “School Kids Paint Workshop” now being offered. For more information, click on wncpaint.events.
• Mountain Makers Craft Market will be held from noon to 4 p.m. the first Sunday of each month at 308 North Haywood St. in downtown Waynesville. Over two dozen artisans sell handmade and vintage goods. Special events will be held when scheduled. Mountainmakersmarket.com.
• “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 franklinuptowngallery.com and like, follow and share the Uptown Gallery on Facebook.
• A “Foreign Film Series” will be held at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva. Each month, on the second and fourth Friday, two movies from around the globe will be shown. This program is in the Community Room and is free of charge. Masks are required in all Jackson County buildings. To find out what movie will be shown and/or for more information, please call the library at 828.586.2016. This event is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Jackson County Public Library. The Jackson County Public Library is a member of Fontana Regional Library. To learn more, click on fontanalib.org.
• 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 St. 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 live music. Leashed pets are welcome. Outdoor event. 828.488.7857.
On the stage
HART presents ‘Little Women’
A stage production of the literary classic “Little Women” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 22-24 and at 2 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.
“Little Women” follows four sisters — independent, aspiring writer Jo, romantic Meg, pretentious Amy, and kind-hearted Beth — who dream and play all under the watchful eye of their beloved mother, Marmee, while their father is away serving in the Civil War.
The musical is told from Jo’s point of view — Jo being a fictional alter ego of the source material’s author, Louisa May Alcott — sharing her flair for dramatic storytelling. As each sister tries to find their place in the world they are met with surprises, tragedy, romance, broken promises, and, ultimately, a sense of belonging.
“Little Women: the Musical” at HART is fast-paced and inspiring under the direction of Kristen Hedberg with music direction from Anne Rhymer. HART’s production will showcase Artistic Director Candice Dickinson as Jo March, Clara Ray Burrus as Meg, Savanna Shaw as Amy, Chelcy Frost as Beth, and Kathleen Watson as Marmee.
The show also features the talents of Brenda Sheets as Aunt March, Dominic Michael Aquilino as Professor Bhaer, Matt Blanks as Laurie, Leif Brodersen as John Brooke, and Troy Sheets as Mr. Laurence.
Tickets range from $14 to $36 per person. To make reservations, call the HART Box Office at 828.456.6322 from 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday or click on harttheatre.org.
• Haywood Arts Regional Theater in Waynesville is currently offering a wide variety of classes in the theater arts for all ages, young and old. Whether you are just starting out or want to hone your skills, HART has opportunities for you. Classes run through Nov. 4. Browse the selection of fall classes at harttheatre.org. For more information, contact Artistic Director Candice Dickinson at 646.647.4546 or email candice@harttheatre.org
The cast of ‘Little Women.’ Donated photo
Annus horribilis: A review of Taylor Downing’s ‘1942’
Annus horribilis is Latin for a horrible year, a time of disaster, and aptly applies to the first months of 1942. On all fronts the Allied Forces — Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States after the attack on Pearl Harbor — suffered defeat after defeat. In the Pacific the Japanese took Singapore in one of the greatest defeats of British forces, attacked and seized the Philippines, marched into Malaysia, and threatened both Australia and India. German forces were pounding the Russians and in North Africa dominating the Brits, advancing across the desert and coming close to an invasion of Egypt, which would have meant the loss of the Suez Canal and possibly Middle Eastern oil fields.
ing track of the pulse of enthusiasm among civilians. Some men and women were given Mass Observation diaries or encouraged to keep them, writing personal observations about the state of the country and Churchill’s speeches, material that Downing uses throughout his book.
“In 1942: Winston Churchill and Britain’s Darkest Hour” (Pegasus Books Ltd., 2022, 432 pages), Taylor Downing, writer and historian, sweeps us back into that bleak year. The title of his history is a bit misleading in its restrictions, for while he primarily focuses on Churchill, who came under heavy political fire as prime minister for the string of British defeats, he also fleshes out, among other topics, German and Japanese strategy, the strategies of the war in Russia and the importance of oil and industrialization to war efforts in all these countries.
Downing’s accounts of life on the British home front are particularly intriguing. In every area of life, from foodstuffs to the manufacture of clothing, cutbacks and rationing were the order of the day. The government, for instance, encouraged citizens to wear older clothing, and adults were given clothing coupons, limiting their choices and their purchases. Of these coupons, “a man’s suit needed twenty-five, a shirt five, trousers eight,” and so on.
The government also took an intense interest in British morale. Mass Observation reports, which were notes on the spirit of the British public recorded by bureaucrats and citizens alike, served as a means of keep-
A Ministry of Information, founded before the war commenced, got off to a shaky start, mostly because of weak and outof-touch leadership, but eventually it sprang into action, waging an effective campaign to inspire the people through radio, film, ubiquitous posters and slogans. The government wisely realized that if the war was lost on the home front, then it was lost altogether.
Downing’s account of the war’s battlefronts unveils a different picture, an ongoing, bloody inventory of aircraft destroyed and ships lost at sea, and a butcher’s bill of casualty lists. In some ways, readers may become numb to this destruction as Downing read of the horrendous losses among the North Atlantic convoys, the huge number of aircraft shot down from the skies over Midway and the Mediterranean, and the armies of Russians and Germans sent to their graves in the East.
Cherokee health, well-being in Appalachia
There will be a reception for the contributors of “Sounds of Tohi: Cherokee Health and Well-Being in Southern Appalachia” at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva. Authors
and Tom Belt will be joined by Tom Hatley to celebrate the release. “Sounds of Tohi: Cherokee Health and Well-
Meanwhile, Downing gives us excellent portraits of leaders like Franklin Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, and of course, Winston Churchill, all of whom directed these battles of blood and steel. Though the prime minister made every effort to appear in public as indefatigable and optimistic, during this year of seemingly endless disasters Churchill often justifiably felt the presence of what he sometimes called his “black dog,” his name for the depression that seized him from time to time throughout his life.
One incident from this book involving Churchill and Stalin will stay with me. On his one visit to Moscow during the war, Churchill attends a banquet, and later a more private supper, at Stalin’s behest. While thousands of Russian soldiers are dying every day, and while civilians undergo hunger and homelessness, “Uncle Joe” serves up a variety of hors d’oeuvres and platters of fish and meat, including on both occasions suckling pig, to his guests. The river of vodka that flowed through the banquet left several of these officials dead drunk. Like some leaders around the world today, this disgusting party went on in the midst of death and dire privation.
Downing’s take on Churchill during this year of catastrophes is realistic. Churchill, he concludes, “was a flawed leader. He did not manage people well, especially those he relied on most. He did not always pick his best lieutenants.” Yet he also recognizes the single greatest attribute of Churchill: “But although he stared into the abyss of defeat, he had the determination to keep fighting. The demoralized British people had nearly lost confidence in him and the country’s ability to fight on. But he survived, and Britain could hold its head high.”
To all fans of Winston Churchill, to those seeking greater insight into the history of the Second World War, and to those wishing to take a first step into that history, I highly recommend Downing’s “1942.”
And this year seems the perfect time to read this history, as 2022 brings the 80th anniversary of those momentous months when victory against fascism seemed to hang in the balance. In our own present age of discontent, the struggles and appalling violence of those dismal days put into perspective our own troubles. Moreover, Downing’s “1942” reminds us that “It is always darkest before the dawn.”
(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)
Being in Southern Appalachia” is the result of almost two decades of work by medical anthropologist Lisa J. Lefler and Cherokee elder and traditionalist Thomas N. Belt.
The narrative consists of a dialogue between them that displays traditional Indigenous knowledge as well as the importance of place for two people from cultures and histories that intersect in the mountains of Southern Appalachia.
To reserve copies of “Sounds of Tohi,” please call City Lights Bookstore at 828.586.9499.
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In the fall, monarch butterflies travel up to 3,000 miles to reach their wintering grounds in Mexico.
Mystique of the monarch Butterfly’s migratory life inspires wonder, scientific inquiry
BY HOLLY KAYS OUTDOORS E DITOR
It was a chilly February morning in 2020 when Clemson, South Carolina, resident Heyward Douglass laid eyes on the legendary monarch butterfly wintering grounds, first discovered only 45 years before. Oyamel fir trees covered the south-facing slopes of the Neovolcanic Mountains west of Mexico City, and millions of monarch butterflies covered the fir trees, 8,000 to 10,000 feet above sea level.
“What you see just blows your mind,” said Douglass, 74, an entomologist, pilot and former director of the Foothills Trail Conservancy. The tour group he was part of wasn’t allowed to walk through the roosting area. They had to stand just outside the edge, but that was spectacle enough.
“You’re just looking on down through there,” he said, “and they’re on every limb in front of you as far as you can see into the woods.”
Atypical monarch butterfly weighs only about half a gram — barely anything — but the trees sagged under the collective weight of the hundreds and thousands of insects perched on their limbs.
“Every now and again a limb will crack,” Douglass recalled, “and a whole load of but-
terflies will flutter off and flutter around.”
It was a magical week for Douglass, who from childhood has held avid interest in “all things to do with Mother Nature.” Douglass started the spider collection at Clemson University and logged the state’s first official observation of the poisonous brown recluse spider, and in 1985 he helped carry the first cage of peregrine falcons for release at Table Rock, South Carolina.
But throughout the years, the monarch butterfly has held a special fascination. Each fall, monarchs living east of the Rocky Mountains travel up to 3,000 miles from their summer breeding grounds to find safe haven for the winter, conserving energy to begin the northward journey once more in March. The butterflies stop in the southern U.S. to lay eggs, dying shortly thereafter. But the next generation continues the northward journey. It’s typically the year’s fourth generation that butts up against the end of summer and begins the southerly migration again. Migrating monarchs typically pass through Western North Carolina in late September.
While there are reports of western monarch overwintering sites in California dating back to the 1860s, for a long time nobody knew where monarchs east of the Rocky Mountains went once the weather turned cold.
“I think that’s one of the neatest stories in
all of entomology in the last 50 years,” said Douglass. “For umpteen decades and decades, they just disappeared. They were like birds. And sure enough, they were doing more or less the same thing. It’s an incredible story.”
That story had not yet reached its conclusion in 1969, when Douglas graduated from Clemson University, or when he received his master’s degree in entomology from that institution a few years later. Douglass was finishing up a five-year term in the U.S. Air Force and starting a new job as an entomologist with the Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service when National Geographic published its famous August 1976 cover story, announcing the 1975 discovery of the monarch butterfly’s Mexican wintering grounds.
“I wanted in the worst way to go down there and see them, but it took almost 40 years before I managed to do it,” Douglass said.
Large and beautiful in their striking blackand-orange coloring, the monarch butterfly is about as charismatic as an insect species can be. Their caterpillars are equally eye-catching, bands of white, black and yellow circling plump bodies until it’s time to spin themselves into jewel-like chrysalises, creamy green and gold-studded.
“They are such beautiful animals,” Douglass said. “If you want to have one that’s
going to be your banner to march down the street with, certainly there’s nothing prettier than a monarch butterfly. It just lends itself to that type of affection from the general public.” Conservation groups have been sounding the alarm on monarch butterflies for decades, as overwintering grounds in both Mexico and California have experienced enormous population declines. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the monarch population that winters in Mexico shrank 84% between 1996 and 2014. The smaller western population, which spends the winter along the Pacific Coast in California, fell from as many as 10 million in the 1980s to just 1,914 in 2021.
California’s 2022 count came in astoundingly high by comparison at more than 247,000 butterflies, but the nonprofit partnership Monarch Joint Venture pointed out in a press release that “we weren’t celebrating five years ago” when the census logged a similar number. A level of 200,000 to 300,000 butterflies “still represents a 95% decrease in the population from historic numbers,” the organization wrote. For various reasons monarchs, like many other insects, are subject to large year-to-year population fluctuations. The butterfly is not listed under the Endangered Species Act, though that’s not because it doesn’t deserve to be. In 2020, the
Donated photo
Celebrate the monarch
The inaugural Mountain Monarch Festival will come to Gorges State Park in Transylvania County 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, celebrating the monarch butterfly during its migration season.
Taking place at the park’s visitor center, the event will bring attention to the species’ declining overwintering numbers. It will include educational programs and exhibits, including monarch-themed children’s crafts, live music, a food truck, a festive photo board, local art for sale and a monarch migration passport to lead families through monarch-themed activities.
Heyward Douglass, an entomologist who has worked as a park naturalist, visited the monarch’s wintering area in Mexico and served on the Foothills Trail Conservancy’s board of directors since 1989, will deliver a keynote presentation.
Gorges lies along the monarch’s migratory route, and each year in late September the butterflies fly over the park’s visitor center on their way south to high-elevation fir forests in Mexico’s Neovolcanic Mountains, where they stay until spring returns.
The event is free, though advance registration is requested by emailing “Monarch Festival Registration” and the number of people in your party to gorges@ncparks.gov. It will be held rain or shine and is sponsored by Friends of Gorges State Park and organized in partnership with Monarch Watch, N.C. Cooperative Extension Service and N.C. Department of Commerce. For more details, visit www.ncparks.gov/events-and-programs
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that the butterfly’s inclusion on the list is “warranted but precluded by work on higher-priority listing actions.” However, in June IUCN announced that it would add the monarch butterfly as an endangered species on its Red List of Threatened Species.
“It is difficult to watch monarch butterflies and their extraordinary migration teeter on the edge of collapse, but there are signs of hope,” Anna Walker, leader of the IUCN’s monarch butterfly assessment, said in a press release. “So many people and organizations have come together to try and protect this butterfly and its habitats.”
Loss of breeding, migrating and overwintering habitat are some of the biggest threats to monarch populations, according to Monarch Joint Venture. Chemicals used to control weeds and insects can also harm monarchs, and climate change is making some habitat less suitable than it used to be.
In recent decades, there’s been a push to engage people across the continent in making their communities more monarchfriendly by planting nectar-producing flowers and milkweed, whose leaves supply the only acceptable food source for monarch caterpillars. It’s a message with potential for big impact, said Douglass.
“What most people can do is very miniscule, but when you do it and you get thousands and thousands and maybe millions of people putting stuff out there, just like a lot of other things it mounts up,” he said. He brought up the example of the bluebird, which went from being as common as the robin in the 1920s to teetering on the verge of extinction by 1970. A campaign to engage the public in putting up bluebird boxes resulted in a marked rebound of the population. Now the United States has a healthy, stable population of bluebirds.
The mystery of the monarch’s winter home is far from the only enigma where the monarch butterfly is concerned. Just 11 days before IUCN’s announcement of the grave dangers facing North America’s migratory monarch butterfly, a group of six researchers published a paper indicating the situation may be far less dire than advertised.
National Geographic’s August 1976 issue reported the discovery of the monarch’s winter home.
“There’s this perception out there that monarch populations are in dire trouble, but we found that’s not at all the case,” Andy Davis, one of the study’s authors and an assistant research scientist at the University
of Georgia, told Leigh Beeson of UGA Today. “It goes against what everyone thinks, but we found that they’re doing quite well. In fact, monarchs are actually one of the most widespread butterflies in North America.”
The researchers compiled more than 135,000 monarch butterfly observations that the North American Butterfly Association logged between 1993 and 2018 to look for patterns and population change drivers. During a two-day period each summer, volunteers with the organization log butterfly observations within a defined circle 15 miles in diameter.
While wintering populations in Mexico and California have seen dramatic declines, the researchers found an overall annual increase of 1.35% in the butterfly’s relative abundance. Traffic, bad weather and other obstacles might be making the southern journey more difficult than it used to be, but the findings suggest that summer breeding makes up for those losses, the researchers said.
“A single female can lay 500 eggs, so they’re capable of rebounding tremendously, given the right resources,” said Davis. “What that means is that the winter colony declines are almost like a red herring.”
These results don’t mean people should become complacent about the butterfly’s survival, as rising global temperatures could bring new threats — not just to monarchs, but to all insects. However, study co-author and UGA professor William Snyder thinks that there are other butterfly species in greater need of conservation focus.
“We don’t want to give the idea that insect conservation isn’t important, because it is,” he told UGA Today. “It’s just that maybe this one particular insect isn’t in nearly as much trouble as we thought.”
Population numbers aside, monarchs possess something that arguably no other butterfly species has, at least in comparable quantities — immense, enthusiastic popularity. That can be a powerful tool for saving not only the monarch, but all the other species that are dependent on similar habitat conditions.
The United States is home to more than 4,000 bee species, 1,120 bird species and 750 butterfly species. Many of the same actions designed to help monarchs — reducing pesticide use, landscaping with native plants, conserving natural meadows — can help them too.
“If you have interest in monarchs and your heart goes there, you’re liable to have the same attitude toward other things that come up too,” said Douglass. “I think that the monarch being the banner for conservation and saving species and maybe ultimately ourselves, the more people we get thinking in that direction, the better.”
Heyward Douglass stands with a larger-than-life monarch.
Donated photo
Rally ‘round the campground
Five dozen vintage trailers will be on display this weekend when the Vintage Trailer Open House event returns 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, at Creekwood Farm Campground in Haywood County.
Owners will be on hand to answer questions and share their trailer’s history, and participants will be able to go inside many trailers to check them out.
The event is hosted by Vintage Trailer Rallies of the Southeast, and proceeds will benefit Haywood Waterways Association. Tickets will be available onsite for $5, with kids 12 and under free.
Federal guidance to strengthen tribal land management role
Last week, the U.S. Department of the Interior released new guidance aiming to strengthen the role of tribal governments in federal land management.
The National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management have each released documents outlining how they will facilitate and support agreements with tribes to collaborate in co-stewardship of federal lands and waters.
“From wildfire prevention to managing drought and famine, our ancestors have used nature-based approaches to coexist among our lands, waters, wildlife and their habitats for millennia. As communities continue to face the effects of climate change, indigenous knowledge will benefit the Department’s efforts to bolster resilience and protect all communities,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “By acknowledging and empowering Tribes as partners in co-stewardship of our country’s lands and waters, every American will benefit from strengthened management of our federal land and resources.”
The guidance helps further the directives from Joint Secretarial Order 3403, signed by the secretaries of the DOI and Department of Agriculture during the 2021 White House Tribal Nations Summit, which outlines how the two departments will strengthen tribal co-stewardship efforts. Since the order was signed, co-stewardship agreements have been completed for the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Bison Range Restoration in Montana, Rappahannock Indian Tribe Homeland’s Restoration in Virginia and Dworshak National Fish Hatchery Transfer to the Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho.
Established in October 2005, The North Carolina Arboretum’s Bonsai Exhibition Garden is a world renowned garden that displays up to 50 bonsai specimens at a time.
Watch a bonsai artist at work
Learn more about the art of bonsai 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25, at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville.
Weather permitting, a bonsai tree curating demonstration will be offered in the Bonsai Exhibition Garden. The demonstration will be repeated Saturday, Oct. 15.
Endangered status proposed for tri-colored bat
The deadly disease white-nose syndrome has killed more than 90% of tri-colored bats in affected bat colonies, and now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has issued a proposal to list the species as endangered.
Bats are essential for healthy ecosystems and contribute at least $3 billion annually to the U.S. agricultural economy through pest control and pollination. The growing extinction crisis highlights the importance of the Endangered Species Act and efforts to conserve species before declines become irreversible.
White-nose syndrome is currently present across 59% of the tri-colored bat’s range. The species is found east of the Rocky Mountains in 39 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, in four Canadian provinces and in portions of eastern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize and Nicaragua.
“White-nose syndrome is decimating hibernating bat species like the tricolored bat at unprecedented rates,” said FWS Director Martha Williams. “Bats play such an important role in ensuring a healthy ecosystem. The Service is deeply committed to continuing our vital research and collaborative efforts with partners to mitigate further impacts and recover tricolored bat populations.”
Tricolored bats are vulnerable to the disease during the winter, when hibernating in caves and abandoned mines and tunnels. During spring, summer and fall, they roost primarily among leaf clusters of live or recently dead trees, emerging at dusk to hunt for insects over waterways and forest edges. While white-nose syndrome is by far the most serious threat to the species’ survival, other threats — such as habitat disturbance, climate shifts and mortality from wind energy facilities — now have greater significance due to the dramatic decline in the species population.
The proposal follows a March announcement of a similar finding for the northern long-eared bat, which the FWS recommended should be reclassified from threatened to endangered, largely due to white-nose syndrome.
When a species is listed under the Endangered Species Act, the FWS works with industry and other players to find strategies to avoid harming, harassing or killing the species in question. Tools include consultation and habitat conservation plans that offer management
flexibility and predictability while providing longterm conservation for listed species. The FWS will not designate critical habitat if the tri-colored bat is listed, because habitat loss is not having large rangewide effects on the species, and identifying bat roost locations could increase the risk of harm to the bats.
To address the growing threat of white-nose syndrome to the tricolored bat and other bats across North America, the FWS is leading the White-nose Syndrome National Response Team, a coordinated effort of more than 150 non-governmental organizations, institutions, tribes and state and federal agencies. The team conducts research and develops management strategies
White-nose syndrome is killing 90% of tricolored bats in the colonies it affects. Pete Pattavina/USFWS photo
to minimize impacts from the disease and recover affected bat populations. The effort has yielded scientific advancements that include identifying crucial information about the disease and its impacts, development of disease surveillance tools, and testing of various treatments to improve bat survival.
Comments on the proposed rule to list the tricolored bat as endangered can be submitted through Nov. 14 online at regulations.gov by searching for 1018-BG15, by mail to Public Comments Processing, Attn: FWS-R5-ES-20210163, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/3W, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041, or during a virtual public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 12. An informational meeting will be held at 6 p.m. followed by the public hearing 7:30-8:30 p.m. Register at bit.ly/3ScEuX8. A final decision will be made within 12 months.
FACES OF HAYWOOD
We are proud to support the Haywood Chamber of Commerce as a corporate member for 50 years and we believe in the mission of such an important organization within our community. We are a small 4th generation family owned independent insurance agency and we value the information/activities the Chamber offers. The Chamber organizes special events, such as the Apple Harvest Festival, helping support many downtown retail businesses and restaurants so our beautiful town can promote more outside interest each year and we appreciate that! Serving the insurance needs of Haywood County since 1928 we plan to continue that tradition and to be a loyal Chamber of Commerce member for years to come!”
Left to right: Mark Tongen, Merritt Tongen, Kathy Lance,
Get to work for National Public Lands Day
Volunteers work on the Appalachian Trail at Max Patch during a 2021 National Public Lands Day event.
National Public Lands Day is Saturday, Sept. 24, and two local events offer a chance to give back to the lands that offer adventure and escape all year long.
• A workday at Max Patch in the Pisgah National Forest will be held 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., organized by Carolina Mountain Club. No experience is necessary, with tools and hardhats provided along with guidance from experienced CMC trail maintainers. Volunteers should bring work gloves, lunch, water, sturdy shoes and long pants. A carpool group will meet at Ingles in Canton at 8 a.m., with the group gathering at Max Patch at 9:30 a.m. to hand out door prizes and go through the work plan. Once the workday is over, everyone is invited for a celebration at BearWaters in Canton, with each volunteer 21 or older receiving a free beer. Register at carolinamtnclub.org/eventform.cfm.
• Half-day and full-day service opportunities will be
offered at 9 a.m., starting at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Volunteers will join Superintendent Cassius Cash to perform trail maintenance along the Oconaluftee River Trail, pick up litter along trails and overlooks, remove roadside graffiti, and assist in campground and picnic area cleanup. Discover Life in America will be onsite 9 to 11 a.m. to invite the public to collect information about the plants and animals they see in the park using the iNaturalist app, and park rangers and volunteers will provide Leave No Trace information and lead activities at visitor centers and on trails throughout the park. Register by Friday, Sept. 23, to GRSM_Volunteer_Office@nps.gov. Volunteers should wear long pants, sturdy closed-toed shoes and layered clothing for varying temperatures, and bring their own lunch, water and rain gear. The park will provide gloves, safety gear and tools for the day. For more information, call Trail and Facilities Volunteer Coordinator Adam Monroe at 828.497.1949 or Volunteer Coordinator Nick Yarnell at 865.436.1265.
Since 1994, National Public Lands Day has been held annually on the fourth Saturday of September, bringing out thousands of volunteers to help restore and improve public lands around the country. It’s also a “Fee-Free Day,” with entrance fees waived at national parks and other locations too.
Learn the basics of mushroom foraging
Distinguish between the delicious and the deadly with a mushroom program offered at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27, in the Community Room of the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva.
Bryan Thurman, one of the owner/operators of Snake Song Shop, Farm and Co-op, will teach attendees how to identify various local mushrooms and tell the difference between edible and poisonous species. Free, and co-sponsored by Friends of the Jackson County Public Library. 828.586.2016.
Man dead in Smokies following trike motorcycle accident
A Texas man has died following a trike motorcycle accident Friday, Sept. 9, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Rangers responded to the incident on Newfound Gap Road at 11:04 that day, about 9 miles south of the Sugarlands Visitor Center. Lyle Tidwell, 85, of Cleveland, Texas, lost control of the motorcycle near the roadway loop between Chimney Tops Trailhead and Alum Cave Trailhead, veering across the centerline to hit an oncoming vehicle. Tidwell died from his injuries and was transported from the site by the Sevier County Medical Examiner’s Office. His passenger Bonnie Tidwell was flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center by UT LifeStar. Occupants of the involved vehicle were not injured. Gatlinburg Fire Department emergency responders assisted park rangers at the scene.
Holly Kays photo
Smokies species project marks milestone
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is celebrating a milestone in its Smokies Most Wanted citizen science project, with 100,000 observations now recorded by people using the iNaturalist app.
Led by the park’s nonprofit partner Discover Life in America, Smokies Most Wanted encourages visitors to record species they find in the park through the app. DLiA and the park then use these data points to map species ranges, track exotic species and discover species new to the park.
“GSMNP currently ranks No. 5 in iNaturalist observations, users and species recorded across the National Park Service system,” said Will Kuhn, DLiA’s director of science and research. “But the Smokies is probably number one in terms of actual documented species.”
In 2011, only four people were using iNaturalist in the Smokies. Now, the area has more than 7,100 users, Kuhn said.
Of the 100,000 records submitted through iNaturalist, 92 revealed species not previously recorded in the park. Additionally, users have contributed needed location data for key species on the Smokies Most Wanted target list, which includes underdocumented plants, insects, birds and other species. These observations have documented seven
species sufficiently to remove them from the list — great blue lobelia, red-spotted purple butterfly, smooth rock tripe lichen, chicken of the woods mushroom, poke milkweed, orange-patched smoky moth and white turtlehead. DLiA intends to replace these seven species with other underdocumented Smokies residents.
To learn more about the Smokies Most Wanted initiative, visit dlia.org/smokiesmostwanted
Youth Deer Hunting Day returns
Youth Deer Hunting Day is Saturday, Sept. 24, giving youth 17 and under the chance to use guns or any other legal equipment for deer hunting.
On that day, youth can hunt deer of either sex and do not need to be accompanied by an adult if they have completed a hunter education course. All deer hunters must wear blaze orange Sept. 24, even if using archery equipment.
During the remainder of the hunting season, youth 17 and younger must use the legal implement for open season in the area where they are hunting.
Hunters 16 and older need to purchase a license with a big game harvest card. They are available online at ncwildlife.org, by calling 1.888.248.6834 or by visiting one of the more than 1,000 Wildlife Service Agents across the state. Youth under 16 must obtain a free Big Game Harvest Report Card from a wildlife service agent or by calling the 888 number.
Race through the Pisgah
A pair of races Oct. 15-16 will offer miles of adventure in the Pisgah National Forest, starting along U.S. 276 near the Davidson River Campground in Transylvania County. The Clawhammer Mountain 50K on Saturday, Oct. 15, will include 6,250 feet of climbing and an equal descent, with 90% of the route running on trail and 10% on gravel
Forest Service road. Elevations range from 2,159 to 4,201 feet. Cost is $110 through Oct. 7.
The Front Range Five Miler covers 5.75 miles, with 100% of the route on trail, either singletrack or skinny doubletrack. The course includes 1,165 feet of ascent and equal descent, with a maximum elevation of 2,896 feet. Cost is $40 through Oct. 7. Visit shiningrockadventures.com to sign up, apply for a scholarship, become a sponsor or learn about volunteer opportunities.
An iNaturalist user snaps a butterfly observation. Lucas Pfeiffer photo
Notes from a Plant Nerd
BY ADAM B IGELOW
Ad astera! To the stars! (Asters Part 2)
Very soon, my guided wildflower walks will mostly consist of me walking along a trail and saying, “That’s an aster, that’s a goldenrod. There’s another aster. And this is a different goldenrod.”
There are many different types of asters that grow in the woods, roadsides and mountaintops around us here in Southern Appalachia, and many of them can be very difficult to tell apart. One thing they all have in common is that they are composite flowers, consisting of ray and disc flowers. I detailed this type of flower in a previous column (Aster family plants, the stars of summer!, published Aug. 10). Imagine a kid’s drawing of the sun. The rays of the sun are like the ray flowers, and disc flowers are where you’d draw the smiley face.
south requires a lot of energy to complete, and that energy comes from nectar. Along with other fall blooming plants like queenof-the-meadow (Eutrochium spp.) ironweed (Vernonia spp.) and goldenrod (Solidago spp.) asters provide that late-summer to fall source of high-quality nectar for migrating monarchs. However, many asters fall victim to weedeaters or herbicide spraying long before their beautiful blooms redeem their general, green-leaf weedy nature seen most of the year.
Asters often have blue to purple ray flowers, with golden yellow centers. This purple and gold combination is very com-
Another characteristic most asters share is when they bloom. If you’re like me and you enjoy working crossword puzzles, then you’ll know that if you see a five-letter word with the clue of “fall flower” the answer will be “aster.” Aster flowers dominate the fall landscape in the Southeastern U.S., and it is good that they do so. Asters are very important sources of pollen and nectar for native insects like bees, wasps, flies, moths, and butterflies who are frantically preparing to go dormant for the winter and need a lot of energy to get ready to do so.
mon with fall blooming plants, helping to increase the visibility of the flowers to the insects seeking a meal. But some asters have white ray flowers and purple centers. Some are large, and some are small. Some thrive in the full sun, and some require deep shade.
Another important role of fall asters is that they are a major nectar source for migrating monarch butterflies, Danaus plexippus , who are making their way from the northern parts of North America to their overwintering grounds in the mountains outside of Mexico City. Every year, the monarch butterflies make one of the most amazing animal migrations known to science. In the springtime they are dependent on milkweed plants in the genus Asclepias, which serve as their host plants, or food for their caterpillar babies. This is because their journey north requires three successive generations of butterflies to make it from their winter to their summer grounds.
But in the fall they are travelling all the way from Canada to Mexico in one generation. This amazing 3,000-mile journey
Asters can be found in almost every corner of North America. There’s even one species of aster that has been recorded in every state in the continental U.S., and that’s the panicled aster, Symphiotrichum lanceolatum. But there’s one aster that only grows in Clay County and nowhere else in the world, and that is the Rhiannon’s aster, Symphyotrichum Rhiannon, which was discovered and named by Alan Weekly, the head of the University of North Carolina Herbarium who named this special flower after his daughter.
The word “aster” comes from the ancient Greek and means “star.” Very soon, the fields and meadows will light up with a billion aster flowers, forming unnamed constellations. And maybe one day I’ll get good at identifying their differences. Then, I’ll be a botanical star. Until then, I’m just going to call them all asters, and walk away.
(Adam Bigelow lives in Cullowhee and leads weekly wildflower walks and ecotours through Bigelow’s Botanical Excursions. bigelownc@gmail.com)
An aster flower displays the species’ classic gold-and-purple color combination.
Adam Bigelow photo
WNC Calendar
COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
• The Jackson County Farmers Market meets every Saturday November through March 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and April through October 9 a.m.-noon at Bridge Park in Sylva, 110 Railroad St. Special events listed on Facebook and Instagram.
• The Jackson Arts Market takes place from 1-5 p.m. every Saturday at 533 West Main St. in Sylva with live music and an array of local artists. Luns Buns Bass will play Sept. 10, Clayton Justice will play Sept. 17, Doug & Lisa will play Sept. 24.
• Cowee School Farmer’s Market will be held from Wednesdays from 3-6 p.m., at 51 Cowee School Drive in Franklin. The market has produce, plant starts, eggs, baked goods, flowers, food trucks and music. For more information or for an application, visit www.coweeschool.org or call 828.369.4080.
• WNC Pharoahs’ 1st annual Fall Cruise-In will take place from noon-4 p.m. Sept. 24, on Main Street in downtown Franklin. There is a $10 registration fee, trophies and cash prizes awarded. For more information contact 828.371.8253.
B USINESS & E DUCATION
• Pisgah Legal Services will offer free tax preparation services for low-income residents from 1-3 p.m. and 68 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21, at Region A Partnership for Children, 367 Dellwood Road Suite C-2, Waynesville. Make an appointment by calling 828.210.3404. Visit pisgahlegal.org/taxes for more information.
FUNDRAISERS AND B ENEFITS
• Rally for Health, Hope and Recovery will be held from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, at Riverfront Park in Bryson City. This is a family-friendly event with free food, live music, speakers, kids’ activities, bounce house, raffles, resources and Sweet Carolina’s Ice Cream Truck. For more information, or to volunteer call 863.698.4417.
H EALTH AND WELLNESS
• Swain County Caring Corner Free Clinic is open Thursday’s 4-9 p.m. at Restoration House (Bryson City United Methodist Church). Office hours are Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9 a.m.-noon. Call 828.341.1998 to see if you qualify to receive free medical care from volunteer providers.
CLUBS AND M EETINGS
• A model train exhibit of the “0” gauge model train running on a 1,500-foot layout will be open from 2-5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25, hosted by the Smoky Mountain Railroad Club at 13 Caboose Way, in Clyde. Tickets normally $10 are on sale for $5 per person, children 2 and under are free. For more information call Cheryl at 828.550.0960.
AUTHORS AND B OOKS
• A reception for “Sounds of Tohi: Cherokee Health and Well-Being in Southern Appalachia” will be held at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, at City Lights Bookstore. Authors Lisa Lefler and Tom Belt will be joined by Tom Hatley to celebrate the release. To reserve coins call City Light at 828.586.9499.
• Famed North Carolina hiker Nancy East will present her book “Chasing the Smokies Moon: A 948-mile hike — fueled by love, loss, laughter and lunacy” at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, at the Jackson County Library. The
n All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted.
n To have your item listed email to calendar@smokymountainnews.com
event is free of charge. For more information call the library at 828.586.2016.
K IDS & FAMILIES
• The Jackson County Public Library will host Operation Spy Family Night at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 22, in the Community Room. Potential spies will join in an evening of espionage, crafts, games and much more as they try to take down the notorious Professor Badguy. Free and open to the public. 828.586.2016.
• The Jackson County Public Library is hosting ecoEXPLORE at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, in the community room. An initiative of the NC Arboretum, the program is designed to let children learn about the diverse ecosystem and become citizen scientists. For more information call the library at 828.586.2016.
A&E
• Smoky Mountain Geek Expo will take place 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Smoky Mountain Event Center. The event celebrates comic books, sci-fi, anime and pop culture. smokymountaingeekexpo.com
• Karaoke takes place at 7 p.m. every Friday at the Meadowlark Motel in Maggie Valley. Call 828.926.1717 or visit meadowlarkmotel.com
• Paint and Sip at Waynesville Art School will be held every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 7-9:30 p.m. To learn more and register call 828.246.9869 or visit PaintAndSipWaynesville.com/upcoming-events Registration is required, $45.
• Mountain Makers Craft Market will be held from noon-4 p.m. the first Sunday of each month at 308 North Haywood St. in downtown Waynesville. Over two dozen artisans selling handmade and vintage goods. mountainmakersmarket.com
• Western NC Vintage Campers Fun in the Fall Rally will take place 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sept. 24, at Creekwood Farm RV Park in Jonathan Valley, 3817 Jonathan Creek Road in Waynesville. There is a $5 entrance fee for adults, children 12 and under are free, all proceeds benefit Haywood Waterways Association’s youth education programs.
F OOD AND D RINK
• Food Truck Boot Camp will take place Nov. 7-10, at multiple locations in Cherokee, North Carolina. For more information contact Laura Lauffer at 828.359.6926 or lwauffe@ncsu.edu.
• Take a trip around the world with four different wines every Friday 11 a.m.-8 p.m. and Saturday 11 a.m.-6 p.m. at the Bryson City Wine Market. Pick from artisan Charcuterie Foods to enjoy with wines. 828.538.0420.
• Cooking classes take place at the McKinley Edwards Inn from 6-8:30 p.m. on Thursday nights. To reserve your spot call 828.488.9626.
CLASSES AND PROGRAMS
• Community dance classes for all levels and ages will take place this fall, September through November at the Wortham Center for Performing Arts. For more information and tickets visit stewartowendance.com/classes or worthamarts.org/classes
• Folkmoot USA will begin its new “Life Long Learning” education initiative the first week of October. Six courses will be available, each lasting six weeks, Swedish Weaving, History — Haywood County Beginnings, introduction to Birds and Birding, The Civil War in Haywood County, Introduction to Comedy Improvisation and Introduction to Genealogy. For more information or to register go to www.folkmoot.org
• Chess 101 takes place from 3:30-4:30 p.m. every Friday in the Canton Branch of the Haywood County Public Library. No registration required, for more information call 828.648.2924.
• Wired Wednesday, one-on-one technology help is available at 3-5 p.m. every Wednesday at the Canton Branch of the Haywood County Library. For more information or to register, call 828.648.2924.
ART SHOWINGS AND GALLERIES
• “Thursday Painters” group will be held from 10 a.m.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. 828.349.4607 or pm14034@yahoo.com.
• The exhibit “Like No Other Place” is open July 16-Dec. 31, in the Joel Gallery at the The Bascom Center for the Visual Arts. For more information visit thebascom.org
• “Life in Haywood” exhibit will be held through Oct. 2 at the Haywood County Arts Council in downtown Waynesville. The exhibit will showcase work that expresses artists’ connection to their lives in Haywood County. haywoodarts.org/events.
Outdoors
• An Archery competition team shoot will be held 5:307:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21, in Cullowhee at the new archery range. Admission is $50 per team, three people per team, with age divisions 10-12, 13-17 and 18 and up. Register at jcprd.recdesk.com
• Sarah Adams, Appalachian Trail Conservancy Regional Manager, will lead a Leave No Trace Awareness Workshop from 6-7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22, in the Macon County Public Library Meeting Room.
• The 15th annual Power of Pink 5K Run/Walk/Dog Walk will raise money for early breast cancer detection on Saturday, Sept. 24, at Frog Level in Waynesville. Registration fee is $35 and $10 for dogs. Groups of five or more can register for $25 each. Hosted by Glory Hound Events. Sign up at www.gloryhoundevents.com/event/power-of-pink.
• Learn more about the art of bonsai 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25, at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville. Weather permitting, a bonsai tree curating demonstration will be offered in the Bonsai Exhibition Garden. The demonstration will be repeated Saturday, Oct. 15.
• Learn Mushroom Identification and Foraging at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27, in the community room of the Jackson County Library. The program is free of charge. For more information call the library at 828.586.2016.
• Input sessions on the Haywood County Greenway Plan are planned for 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 28, and 6-7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 29. Greenway plan information and virtual meeting logon info are available at haywoodcountygreenwayplan.weebly.com. For more information, contact Tristin Winkler at 828.251.6622 or tristan@landofsky.org.
• Haywood Community College will host a Hunter Safety Course 6-9 p.m. Oct. 11-12, on the HCC campus in build-
Visit www.smokymountainnews.com and click on Calendar for:
n Complete listings of local music scene
n Regional festivals
n Art gallery events and openings
n Complete listings of recreational offerings at health and fitness centers
n Civic and social club gatherings
ing 3300, room 3322. Participants must attend two consecutive evenings to receive their certification. Pre-registration is required. Anyone interested in taking a hunter safety course must register online in order to attend any session. Course registration may be completed at ncwildlife.org
S UPPORT G ROUPS
• Highlands Mountain View Group holds open A.A. meetings in Highlands at the First Presbyterian Church, 471 Main St., at 5:30 p.m. on Monday and at noon on Wednesday and Friday. The Cashiers Valley Group holds open meetings at the Albert Carlton Cashiers Community Library at 7 p.m. Tuesday, 5 p.m. Friday and Sunday, and at 9 a.m. Saturday. Zoom meetings are available at noon on Monday, at 7 p.m. Monday and Wednesday and at 9 a.m. Saturday (ID# 921 817 2966, password CVG2020). For more information, please visit www.aawnc80.org or to speak with a member of AA 24/7 at 828.349.4357.
• The SHARE Project and RISE Resources in Support of Empowerment bring you Smart Recovery Friends and Family at 6:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of every month in the Haywood Regional Health and Fitness Center Upstairs Classroom.
• Free support meeting for families and friends who are struggling in their relationships with loved ones in addiction. Meetings provide concerned significant others the tools needed to effectively support loved ones without supporting the addictive behavior. Meetings take place from 6-7:30 p.m. every other Thursday at RISE, located at 926 East Main St. in Sylva. More information at www.risewnc.org or 828.477.4136.
• Haywood Hospice & Palliative Care is sponsoring a Community Grief Gathering at 1 p.m. on the second Wednesday of the month at the Canton Library in the meeting room. Each month will feature a different grief topic. The Haywood County Public Library and Haywood Hospice require that masks be worn inside the building. For more information or to RSVP, please contact Dan Pyles at 828.452.5039 or email Daniel.pyles@lhcgroup.com
• Dementia Caregivers Support Group, for those providing care for folks who are dealing with dementia, meets from 4:30-6 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of every month at the Haywood Senior Resource Center (81 Elmwood Way, Waynesville). 828.476.7985.
• Al-Anon, for families and friends of alcoholics, meets every Monday night from 7-8 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 77 Jackson St., Sylva. Enter at front of church through the door to the left of the sanctuary; meeting is first door on the right. The Church requests that you wear a mask if you are not vaccinated.
• Narcotics Anonymous meetings are back “live” inperson after a year of being on Zoom only. Local meetings are at noon on Mondays and Wednesdays at Sylva First United Methodist Church in downtown Sylva. Entrance at back of building.
• Grief Gathering, hosted by Haywood Hospice & Palliative Care take place at 1 p.m. on the second Wednesdays of the month at the Haywood Regional Fitness Center. Designed to offer support to anyone in the community who has recently experienced a loss. For more information, contact Haywood Hospice at 828.452.5039.
Market PLACE WNC
MarketPlace information:
The Smoky Mountain News Marketplace has a distribution of 16,000 copies across 500 locations in Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties, including the Qualla Boundary and west Buncombe County. Visit www.wncmarketplace.com to place your ad!
Rates:
• $15 — Classified ads that are 25 words, 25¢ per word after.
• Free — Lost or found pet ads.
• $6 — Residential yard sale ads.*
• $1 — Yard Sale Rain Insurance Yard sale rained out? Call us by 10a.m. Monday for your ad to run again FREE
• $375 — Statewide classifieds run in 170 participating newspapers with 1.1+ million circulation. (Limit 25 words or less)
• Boost Online — Have your ad featured at top of category online $4
• Boost in Print
• Add Photo $6
• Bold ad $2
• Yellow, Green, Pink or Blue Highlight $4
• Border $4
Note: Highlighted ads automatically generate a border so if you’re placing an ad online and select a highlight color, the “add border” feature will not be available on the screen.
Note: Yard sale ads require an address. This location will be displayed on a map on www.wncmarketplace.com
SALVAGE GRAVEL/ STONE FOR SALE $15/ ton pickup. Stone can be delivered with our truck for an additional haul fee. Located at Pisgah HS football 828-293-7185 or (828) 269-3001 peicontractor@aol.com
Employment
Of
Social Services is recruiting for an Income Maintenance Caseworker I to work with the Emergency Assistance Programs. This position is responsible for taking and processing applications for multiple emergency assistance programs. It also provides intake and support services for the Food and Nutritional Services Program. Above
average communication, computer and work organizational skills are required. Work involves direct contact with the public. Applicants will be considered who have an Associate’s Degree in human services, business or clerical related high school and an equivalent combination of training and experience. The starting salary is $30,956.21. The application for employment is available online at: www. jcdss.org and should be submitted to the Jackson County Department of Social Services, 15
NC 28779 or the Sylva branch of the NC Works Career Center. Applications will be taken until September 30, 2022.
-
Of Social Services is recruiting an energetic and engaging Foster
Parent recruitment and licensing Social Worker. This position is rated as a Social Worker II. This position recruits, trains and licenses foster parents, provides support for foster/adoptive parents, provides adoption services and works with community groups. To a lesser degree, this position will also provide services to a small caseload of families where needs
The starting salary is $39,508.84 depending on education and experience. Minimum quali-
year degree in a Human will be given to applicants with a Master’s or Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and/or experience providing Social Work services. Applicants should complete a NC State application form (PD-107) and submit it to the Jackson County Department of Social
Street, Sylva, NC 28779 or the NC Career Works Center. Applications will be taken until September 30, 2022.
is October 7 and to celebrate NCWorks will be hosting our 2nd Annual Manufacturing Day. The event will be held Friday, October 7 at the NCWorks Career Center in Waynesville from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm. This event is a great opportunity for job seekers to speak with our local employers about their employment possibilities.
Career Center will be available for interviews as well as computers to complete online applications. This event will take place in the parking lot unless it rains. The Holy Cow food truck will arrive at 11 am to serve food and monetary donations to the food truck go to
more information call 828.456.6061 or email lisa.morris@commerce. nc.gov.NERS work schedule with bendental, life insurance, 401K and paid time off. Mon. – Fri. NO nights
or weekends. Full and Part time positions. Help someone remain independent in their home rather than be institutionalized. A lot of people need a little help and you could be that someone who cares. Up to $12.50 per hour. Call Home Care Partners 828-5861570 or 828-507-6065. Applications available at 525 Mineral Springs Drive, Sylva.
Boots
Steakhouse in Dillsboro is now hiring Bartenders, Servers, Bussers, Cooks and Dishwashers. Our employees earn top wages and we are ranked the #1 Steakhouse by Trip Advisor in the Carolina Mountains. Please apply to: bootssteakhouse@gmail.com to schedule an in person interview. You can also call 828-631-9713 and view our website: www. bootssteakhouse.com
B. H. GRANING IS
HIRING B.H. Graning Landscapes is hiring entry level crew members for Maintenance and Construction. FT and PT positions available. 13.00-20.00/hr. Apply in person or online at BHGLandscapes.com/landscaping-jobs Second chance employer. (828) 586-8303
Pets
To relieve scratching and promote healing due to hotspots & allergies on dogs and cats without steroids. NC Clampitt Hardware, 488-2782Asheville Humane adoptions@ashevillehumane.org
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