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January 14-20, 2015 Vol. 16 Iss. 33
Cherokee cuts two weeks from fishing season Page 11 Hunting dog attack leads to fight for law changes Page 28
CONTENTS
STAFF
On the Cover: Evergreen Packaging has announced plans to close a medical clinic it operates in Canton for its employees and their families. The potential loss of the popular family physician and the inconvenience of having to travel outside of town for medical care has local officials and patients trying to find a solution to keep the clinic operating. Also at stake for local hospitals is cache of patients with good insurance coverage. (Page 6-7)
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News Foundation redefines mission after for-profit firm buys Haywood hospital . . . . 4 General Assembly to weigh in on newly released fracking rules . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Lawmakers return to Raleigh with plenty on their plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Cherokee Tribal Council affirms stance against gay marriage . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Cherokee to cut two weeks out of fishing season. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Jackson officials concerned about runoff from DOT project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Haywood schools join education lobbying effort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Law enforcement says pawnshop electronic registry a helpful tool . . . . . . . . 14 Lawsuit stalls plans for huge student housing project near WCU . . . . . . . . . 15
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January 14-20, 2015
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Finding its way Foundation severs formal ties to hospital, forges new mission BY B ECKY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER he most affluent, prominent charity in Haywood County has reinvented its mission but hopes to remain on donors’ radar as it moves toward a larger goal: improving health care in the community. Few private philanthropic groups can top the fundraising prowess seen by the former Haywood Regional Medical Center Foundation over the years. It raised $14 million in two decades — an impressive feat in a not-so-big community. But the recent sale of the Haywood hospital to the for-profit network Duke LifePoint called the foundation’s future into question. Legally, it could no longer provide direct support to the hospital. “We basically had the option of folding up shop, or creating a new mission and moving forward,” said Foundation Board Member Chris Williams, an executive with First Citizens Bank in Waynesville. Walking away would have been the easy route but would have left a void in the community, said Foundation Chair Ginger Lang. So, the foundation decide to remake itself with a larger healthcare focus that extends beyond the hospital campus. “The hospital can now take care of things that we used to take care of,” said Lang, whose husband is a radiologist at Haywood. “It gives us an opportunity to address what the community perceives as unmet health care needs. We were doing that before, but in a very channeled way.” To Lang, the transition is a milestone full of promise. “Expanding our mission, to me, that is the most exciting part of it,” Lang said. Board members admit some of the donor support they have gotten in the past will dry
Smoky Mountain News
January 14-20, 2015
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up, however. People are often inspired to give to the hospital because it’s where their children were born, where their husband died, where they were touched by the kindness of a nurse during recovery from surgery. While the foundation had its share of ringers writing generous checks, the donor circle was far-reaching. More than 6,000 individuals gave to the hospital foundation since its inception 23 years ago. Lang believes community support will follow the foundation’s new mission. “We will hopefully gain other support because we will be touching so many new areas,” Williams said. The former hospital foundation had another advantage in the fundraising arena. Its tangible big-ticket projects were easy sells — like the fitness center, the new emergency department, the new outpatient surgery center and the new hospice center. Even the smaller projects — like remodeling the labor and delivery wing or buying new surgery equipment — came with visible results capped by ribbon-cutting receptions. “It is easy to say we are renovating the fourth floor or building a hospice,” Williams said. “Donors will now want to know ‘what am I giving to?’ We will have to tell our story.”
PICKING PRIORITIES Tailoring a new mission didn’t happen overnight. The board spent months contemplating the directions it could go and ultimately decided to leave it open-ended. “We wanted to make sure we had the ability to be nimble,” said Gavin Brown, also a foundation board member. The new mission is admittedly broad and vague. “We are still feeling ourselves out,” Brown said. But that’s by design. The foundation hopes to support a litany of health care initiatives in coming years. “We are still in an evolution, certainly,” Williams said. “The big question for our
A future full of potential? The newly revamped Haywood Healthcare Foundation could play a valuable role in coming years when proceeds from the sale of Haywood Regional Medical Center are eventually unlocked. The hospital sold to Duke LifePoint for $26 million, but quite a bit of that amount was deducted to pay off outstanding debt and bills. The remainder will be held in escrow until the risk of lingering liabilities has passed. Whatever’s left at that point — likely in the $15 million range, give or take a few million — will come to the county. That’s a few years away, but discussions are already playing out behind the scenes on how to safeguard the money when it comes down the pike. County commissioners have indicated they want to put the principle in a lock-
The Power of Pink run, raising money for mammograms, is a signature event that will will carry forward under the new Haywood Healthcare Foundation. Donated photo
A new image for a new mission The Haywood Healthcare Foundation, formerly known as the hospital foundation, has launched a new mission following the sale of the Haywood Regional Medical Center. Now owned by a for-profit company, the hospital can no longer accept philanthropic support. The Haywood Healthcare Foundation will continue to carry the torch, however, by supporting a broad spectrum of unmet health care needs in the community. The Healthcare Foundation’s new logo features a compass and symbolizes a “strong and stable center with energy moving outward into the community, representing our multi-faceted means of supporting healthcare in our county,” according to Foundation Chair Ginger Lang. The logo and new website were designed by Melanie Williams, graphic designer and owner of Pixels In My Pocket; Susanna Barbee, content writer with Pixels In My Pocket and Lorelei Garnes, owner of WNC Social Media Buzz.
donors is ‘what projects and initiatives are you going to fund?’” That’s yet to be determined and will be based in part on community feedback. The foundation will use a two-fold approach to vet and pick projects. One will be mini-grants of $5,000 to support health initiatives by various community organizations.
“I think the grants will give us an opportunity to gauge the needs in Haywood County,” Williams said. The foundation will also fund and carry out its own signature projects. Its major undertaking for the coming year will be chosen next month. As the first effort undertaken by the new founda-
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box and only draw on the interest each year, which would be earmarked for “Haywood Healthcare Foundation stands ready health care initiatives. to work with the Board of Commissioners in any The new Healthcare Foundation could be a vehicle to carry out those way to achieve our mission and the county’s health care initiatives in partnership with the county. support of a healthy Haywood County.” “I think the county is certainly — Gavin Brown, treasurer of the Haywood Healthcare Foundation amenable to some sort of partnership and mayor of Waynesville with the foundation,” said Haywood County Commissioner Mark Swanger. The county will have earmarked ests of Haywood County,” Swanger said. funds to spend on healthcare initiatives, which is exactly “Haywood Healthcare Foundation stands ready to the mission of the foundation. Both are exploring how they work with the Board of Commissioners in any way to could join forces, instead of duplicating efforts. achieve our mission and the county’s support of a “It would be desirable to have one foundation to aughealthy Haywood County,” said Gavin Brown, treasurer ment the health needs of Haywood. We will move forward of the Haywood Healthcare Foundation and mayor of in a measured way and try to accommodate the best interWaynesville.
BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR aggie Valley resident Joe Maniscalco has not given up on getting his property de-annexed from the town despite several failed attempts over the last five years. Most recently, Maniscalco, 78, filed for a judgment against the town for the amount he has paid in taxes for his Clearview Drive home off Jonathan Creek. He claimed he was in fact de-annexed from the town in 2012 when the board of aldermen voted 3-2 to allow his property to be de-annexed. However, the board does not have authority to de-annex property — only the General Assembly can approve such a measure through introducing a local bill.
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Programs and initiatives to address unmet health care needs in Haywood County could be eligible for mini-grants of up to $5,000 through the Haywood Healthcare Foundation. A reincarnation of the former hospital foundation, the Haywood Healthcare Foundation is inviting nonprofits, schools and agencies to apply for funding to support projects aimed at creating a positive impact on health care in the county, such as chronic disease initiatives, wellness and prevention education, nutrition campaigns, substance abuse programs, senior health care issues and more. Deadline is Jan. 30. www.haywoodhealthcarefoundation.org “Can we spend this money in a fashion that was what the donor initially wanted?” The foundation is sending letters to as many donors as it can identify from recent years to inform them of the change, however. So far, no donors are recalling past donations. Logistically, it would be hard to figure out whose donations were the ones left over in the bank. The foundation didn’t attach trackers to every dollar that came in because there was no need. “We never foresaw a situation where we would have to give money back,” Brown said. So from an accounting perspective, tracing the roughly $1 million left in the foundation’s account back to original donors would be almost impossible. So the foundation is doing the only thing it can do, which is spend the money on other health care-related undertakings. And that’s ultimately a positive for the community, foundation board members said. “This is a huge opportunity for the citizens of Haywood County. Now we can do more,” Williams said.
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The foundation had a narrow window to act once it learned the hospital would be sold to a for-profit entity and render its historic purpose moot. Rebranding its mission wasn’t the only matter at hand. The foundation has to spend down money earmarked for particular projects within the hospital before the sale went through. Initially, the window was only about six months. Construction had to move swiftly to complete the biggest outstanding project on the books: a remodel of the hospital’s labor and delivery wing and of the progressive care unit (a level of care below intensive care, but above standard inpatient care.) Those used up about $400,000 in the bank. Another $200,000 was spent on other loose ends, including outpatient surgery equipment, nursing scholarships, drug safes and mammograms for women who couldn’t otherwise afford them. Still, the foundation still had a sizable pot left — more than $1 million — when the hospital sale went through. “We can no longer legally do what the money was initially raised for, so what do you do when your purpose is frustrated?” asked Brown, an attorney by trade and training.
Healthcare grant pool opens in Haywood
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January 14-20, 2015
tion, it will be a litmus test of sorts — can it successfully rally community support, raise funds and implement a project outside the boundaries of the hospital? The foundation won’t completely sever its ties with the hospital, and plans to partner and collaborate with Duke LifePoint on joint initiatives in the community. The foundation can also continue programs that support patients themselves, such as its ongoing initiative to pay for mammograms for women who otherwise couldn’t afford them. And it can continue to support end-of-life care for patients at The Homestead Hospice house. For example, the foundation is paying a music therapist to visit with hospice patients. That helps patients directly rather than benefiting Duke LifePoint.
Legislators never passed a bill for Maniscalco’s annexation and his property remains in the town limits. The town also argued that Maniscalco pled guilty and was convicted on fraud charges related to his efforts to get deannexed in 2013. A judge dismissed Maniscalco’s complaint on Dec. 23, finding that the town did not owe Maniscalco anything because he still lives in the town limits. The judge also ordered Maniscalco to pay all attorney fees from the judgment request. Rep. Michele Presnell, R-Burnsville, introduced a local bill during the 2014 short session to have Maniscalco deannexed but then she pulled it before it ever made it to the floor for a vote. Maggie Valley Board of Aldermen went into closed session during a Jan. 12 meeting to discuss a legal matter pertaining to Maniscalco, but no action was taken.
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Maggie still in dispute with Maniscalco
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Community rallies to keep Evergreen clinic BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR vergreen Packaging in Canton plans to close the Evergreen Family Medical Center and pharmacy on March 31, but county officials are working behind the scenes to entice one of the area hospitals to keep it open. Evergreen employees and their families are now rallying around Dr. Tony Jones and his staff at the clinic and pharmacy with the hope that Haywood Regional Medical Center, recently purchased by Duke LifePoint, or Mission Health in Asheville will swoop in to save the day. Traci Hoglen, of Canton, has planned a second rally in Canton so employees and their families can come out and show support for keeping Jones in the community. “We’re not fighting the mill — the union does that — we’re fighting to keep Dr. Jones and the pharmacy in the county,” she said. “We want Mission or Duke (LifePoint) to hear us and see how valuable they are to the community.”
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January 14-20, 2015
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Employees began receiving a letter from Evergreen’s Human Resources Manager Mike Culbreth on Dec. 31 — even though the letter was dated Jan. 5 — informing them of the clinic closure. Hoglen said she called Dr. Jones’ office as soon as she got the letter in the mail only to find that Jones and his staff were just finding out about it as well. Dr. Tony Jones Evergreen doesn’t own the clinic, she said. It contracts with a different company that owns the clinic and pharmacy. “They made so many mistakes in sending this letter out. They should have sat down with the doctor at least nine months ahead of time so he can let his patients know what’s going on,” she said. “Somebody literally put the cart way before the horse.” “Though the clinic has been open for a number of years, the volume of patients has declined over time to the point that continued operation is no longer feasible,” Culbreth wrote in the letter. The letter also included a list of pharmacies and a link to physicians in the area that are accepting new patients. Knowing there is a shortage of family physicians in Haywood County, Hoglen said she called all of the physicians on the list to see if they were in fact taking new patients. “About 80 percent said they had no openings and the rest told me a couple of doctors had a couple of openings but they were already booking people out to April,” she said. Hoglen also doesn’t believe the clinic usage has declined like Evergreen claims. She said there are always cars in the parking lot and sometimes she has to wait a week
About 25 people showed up to a rally on Jan. 6 to show support for keeping the Evergreen Family medical Center and pharmacy open in Canton. The next rally will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15 in the Smoky Mountain Local 507 in Canton. Jessi Stone photo or two for an appointment. “You don’t ever go by there without it being full of people,” said Deb Fincannon, a former Evergreen employee. In a prepared statement, Dane Griswold, Evergreen general manager, said the company was committed to providing high quality, affordable health care to its employees and understands the impact this decision may have on employees and the community. “By making this announcement as the New Year begins, we have given three months advance notice of this decision in order to provide employees with ample opportunity to research and transition to other providers,” he said. “Evergreen’s Human Resources professionals are prepared to assist employees and their families with the transition.”
THE PATIENTS As someone with a business degree and experience being in a supervisory position, Fincannon said she understands Evergreen is a corporation that must take into consideration how much money it spends to keep the clinic in operation. On the other hand, she sees the people who will suffer if the clinic and pharmacy are closed. “They’re looking at the bottom line and that’s what companies do, but sometimes you have to do the right thing and think about your people,” she said. “If you have happy and healthy people, you have productive people.” Fincannon’s family helped build the mill and has had four generations work there, including her father who worked there for 50 years. Her fiancé and her son-in-law also work at the mill. She worked there for 13 years before she became ill. “I’m disabled now — I have both heart
and lung disease,” she said. “Dr. Jones has been my doctor since the day he came here and he literally saved my life.” When Jones suspected she had a heart condition, he sent her to specialists in Asheville to get the care she needed. Since then she has gone to see him at least once a month. Alvin Forney has worked at the mill for 40 years and has witnessed a lot of change, but this is one change he hopes doesn’t happen. He has participated in the mill’s diabetes program since he was diagnosed in 1997.
the long run if employees don’t get the preventative care they need. “I only pay $25 every time I go to the doctor so it’s been very beneficial for me. I also have sleep apnea and arthritis and those medications start to add up,” he said. If the diabetes program is cut out along with the clinic, “There’s going to come a time where I’ll have to decide whether to take my medicine or feed my family.”
“Though the clinic has been open for a number of years, the volume of patients has declined over time to the point that continued operation is no longer feasible.”
Patients of Jones have nothing but good things to say about him and the staff. After forming relationships with the staff and doctor for more than 10 years, patients say they will be hard pressed to find another doctor that will go above and beyond the call of duty like Jones. Hoglen’s husband has worked at the mill for 34 years and they both utilize the clinic and pharmacy. She is allergic to many medications and said Jones and the pharmacy go out of their way to make sure they provide her with the right medications. “ I had an allergic reaction to a medication they gave me once and within five seconds, Dr. Jones had me in a room and injected me,” she said. “And then he called me after hours himself to check on me. Nobody does that anymore.” The pharmacy staff also knows she is highly allergic to many components found in medications. Hoglen said the pharmacist calls the pharmaceutical company every time Jones prescribes a new medicine to double check the chemical makeup to ensure it won’t cause an allergic reaction. “If there’s one little thing in it, they go to Jones and get him to change it,” she said. “Dr. Jones spends his private
— Mike Culbreth, Evergreen human resources manager
The program pays for all of Forney’s diabetes related medicines and supplies as long as he sees Dr. Jones regularly and has his blood sugar readings monitored. With the cost of prescriptions going up every year, he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to afford all his diabetes medication in addition to his other prescriptions. He said he has saved more than $900 just in the last three months thanks to his insurance and the diabetes program. Forney understands it costs the company money, but it would probably cost the company more in
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cannot comment further on this now.” Mission Health could also potentially be interested in acquiring the clinic or make Jones a part of their network. Mission purchased 23 acres in Clyde earlier this year to build a My Care Plus facility that will offer primary care, specialty and ancillary services. The decision to expand into Haywood came after Mission completed an extensive study of primary care and specialty services in the region. As of August, Haywood County had about 15 primary care physicians, which could be why Mission saw some 9,000 patients from Haywood County in 2013. In a prepared statement, Marc B. Westle, Mission’s senior vice president of innovation, said Mission Health strives to provide convenient, quality and affordable care close to where people live and work across our multi-county service area. “If an under-served area is identified, such as the closing of the clinic at Evergreen Packaging, Mission evaluates if we are able to offer services through a sustainable model of care that meets local needs,” he said. “We have reached out to Evergreen Packaging and look forward to discussing their needs and whether we can support them.” Canton Board of Aldermen unanimously passed a resolution at its last “If an under-served area is identified, meeting expressing support of keeping the clinic and such as the closing of the clinic at pharmacy open. Town Evergreen Packaging, Mission Manager Seth Hendler-Voss said he would draft the resoevaluates if we are able to offer lution and deliver it to services through a sustainable model Evergreen as soon as possible. Mayor Mike Ray said he of care that meets local needs.” was hopeful something good would come out of the — Marc B. Westle, Mission’s situation after talking with senior vice president of innovation County Commissioners Mark Swanger and Bill great doctor but also a wonderful human Upton, Economic Development Director being who cares about his patients. If he leaves Mark Clasby and the new Haywood Regional Haywood for a practice in Asheville, she said CEO Phillip Wright. she would just drive farther to see him. “I feel like it’s a good situation they’re “Those people are family to us. They know going to move on and have for the people in us better than we know ourselves,” she said. our area,” Ray said. “The powers that be are Evergreen Family Medical Center declined very interested.” to comment on the situation until all is said Alderman Zeb Smathers said the best and done. thing was that the community was coming together to keep their doctor and pharmacy. always pulls together — that’s HAT S NEXT what“Canton we can depend on,” said Alderwoman Fincannon said they are just trying to get Gail Mull. fthe word out in the community because if the In the meantime, Hoglen and others have clinic closes, it affects all of Haywood County planned a rally from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. if thousands of people are in need of a new Thursday, Jan. 15, in the parking lot of the Smoky Mountain Local 507 in Canton. doctor starting in less than three months. With Duke LifePoint recently purchasing Everyone is invited to attend. Supporters can find petitions to sign Haywood Regional Medical Center and pouring millions into the cash-strapped hospital, around the county, including Black Bear Café, Dr. Jones’ patients hope the hospital will take Sellars Florist and Exxon Radio Hill in Canton, Single stop BP in Clyde, and Citgo in over the clinic. When asked for comment, the new HRMC Waynesville. Stay updated on progress on the CEO Phillip Wright said, “We were surprised Facebook group, “Petition to Save Our Doctor to hear the news of the clinic’s closure, but and Pharmacy.”
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time researching and looking for something for me to take. And he’ll schedule 45 minutes to an hour with me if that’s what I need.” Hoglen said she wasn’t against Jones having to accept other patients as long as it meant he stayed in the community. Mill employees have Blue Cross Blue Shield health coverage and that is the only type of insurance the Evergreen Family Medical Center accepts. That means Hoglen can’t use her secondary Tri-care insurance coverage at the clinic or pharmacy, but she doesn’t mind paying a little more out of pocket to stay with Jones. “I choose to pay my deductible and copays and whatever for my medicines because that’s how valuable they are to me,” she said. Fincannon agreed that Jones was not just a
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On the road to development Revised fracking rules head to Legislature BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER hey’ve plowed through the feedback, and now the N.C. Mining and Energy Commission has in hand a revised version of rules to govern oil and gas development in North Carolina, all ready for the new legislative session. The commission members had a tough job — the initial draft spurred an onslaught of comments so large that it delayed the commission’s initial timeline to report on them. Statewide, more than 217,000 comments came to the MEC, and a September public hearing in Cullowhee drew at least 560 people. The comments were largely negative about fracking in general and the rules in particular, but the MEC had the challenge of amending its rules to reflect the comments while still finalizing something that met the directive from the Legislature — to pave the way for hydraulic fracturing, known as “fracking,” in North Carolina. “We don’t make law. They do,” said Vikram Rao, commission chairman. Maybe so, but you don’t have too look far to find someone who’s supremely displeased with the way the revisions shook out. “I don’t see the revisions as changing much at all,” said Sally Morgan, energy and water justice organizer and researcher for Clean Water for North Carolina. “These rules are still much too weak to protect the public from the danger of fracking.” “It’s been a while since I looked at them, and I was so depressed afterward because they really didn’t make any significant change from the comments they received,” said Donna Dupree of the Jackson County Coalition Against Fracking. “I think that the revised rules are disappointing in light of the fact that the MEC received over 200,000 comments, and those comments are not reflected in the rules,” said Mary Maclean Asbill, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center. However, the revised set of rules does sport some marked differences from the original document.
Shale gas development has proven lucrative for quite a few states already, and North Carolina is hoping to get in on the game. National Science Foundation photo.
Smoky Mountain News
January 14-20, 2015
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OPEN PITS
When frackwater comes back up the wellbore, it has to go somewhere to await transport to whatever waste processing facility it’s headed toward. In the first round of comments, the rules’ OK of waste storage in open pits was a big sticking point. “Allowing companies to store toxic fracking chemicals in open pits is a recipe for disaster,” Asbill said. “We’ve just come off this [Duke Energy] coal ash catastrophe and to have more holes in the ground full of toxic waste, that are legal, in my mind is just horrible.” The revised rules still say open pits are 8 OK, but they make some changes to how they
UNANNOUNCED INSPECTIONS
What is fracking? Fracking involves injecting a combination of water, chemicals and sand to prop open cracks in rocks below the surface, allowing any oil or gas the rocks contain to flow into the wellbore and up to the surface. In the last couple decades, it’s been combined with horizontal drilling to create wells going as deep as 2 miles before turning to proceed horizontally through the hydrocarbonbearing formation. Fracking then commences in this long, deep wellbore, allowing previously unrecoverable fossil fuels to make their way to tanks and pipelines. The marriage of these techniques has caused fossil fuel production to surge in the United States, along with questions about the method’s safety. must be built. Pits now must be big enough to accommodate a 25-year flood, and sensors and an alarm system must be installed to immediately report any seepage from either the primary or secondary layer of pit liner. “As written, I believe they’re safe,” Rao said. “Industry practice is to be below ground, but the safeguards we’ve put in place I believe exceed what’s in place elsewhere.” Dupree begs to differ. “The 100-year floodplain hasn’t been protecting people’s homes during floods, so how is it going to protect all of these open pits?” she asked. “If 100-year’s not going to, the 25year certainly can’t.” But the pits must be built outside of the 100-year floodplain of existing waterways anyway, Rao said, and the commission is in fact studying the possibility of requiring that all waste be kept in closed tanks, eliminating open pits. They just weren’t able to corral all the necessary information to make a decision before their deadline for this go-around, he said. “Those [floodplain concerns] are the kinds of things why I sort of lean toward above-ground,” he said, “but we have to make sure they’re safe because you have a body of water sitting in a container above ground — you want to make sure it’s secure.” The rules aren’t static, he emphasized, and there will be plenty of time to study the issue and recommend any necessary changes before any company has time to do enough exploring to decide whether investment in North Carolina shale gas is even feasible. That’s not an argument Asbill buys. “I think that before writing a rule that
be only 200 feet away from streams, rivers and wetlands and 650 feet from occupied buildings and drinking wells. The revised rules kick the setback up to 1,500 feet for rivers and municipal water sources. That’s one of the changes Asbill referred to when she said, “The MEC did make a couple of good changes to the rules.” “We were taken with the objections from the public that when you’re talking about municipal water supply sources, the setback was not sufficient,” Rao said. However, the setbacks required for homes, drinking wells and smaller water bodies stayed the same, and there’s criticism that they should have been ratcheted up as well. “North Carolina, including the region in Lee County where it’s basically ground zero for fracking, has a lot of small, groundwaterbased public water systems that are still vulnerable because that setback does not include those water systems,” Morgan said.
they already acknowledge is inadequate, they should take the time to study it and get themselves a longer deadline,” she said. “I don’t think that the people and wildlife of North Carolina are an experiment.”
INCREASED SETBACKS FROM WATER The new rules drastically increased the distance that wellheads, pits, tanks and production facilities had to be from rivers and municipal water sources. Fracking opponents were pretty unhappy with the setback requirements proposed in the original draft, which would require that oil and gas facilities
Energy companies will have to stay on their toes a little bit more with a rule change allowing unannounced inspections. In the original draft, inspectors had to notify the company before visiting the premises. That revision sounds good, but it’s not good enough, Morgan said. “That change in the language merely made it possible to have unannounced inspections,” she said. “It didn’t require unannounced inspections.” Requiring inspections isn’t within the MEC’s jurisdiction, argued Rao. “That is a crossover into DENR’s [the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resource’s] function,” he said, questioning why DENR would announce their inspections if they were allowed to come unannounced. As to the argument that a lackluster inspection schedule is inevitable where inspections are not required and staff is limited, Rao said that technology could do a lot to send automatic streams of information to DENR, reducing the need for on-site visits. “When I left Halliburton eight years ago, I swear at least 70 percent of all the fracturing jobs were monitored and controlled remotely,” he said. “Don’t
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Mining Commission lands in court A lawsuit filed earlier this month contends that the N.C. Mining and Energy Commission — the body responsible for writing rules to govern oil and gas development in North Carolina — is unconstitutional. It seeks to render the rules the commission wrote invalid. The suit, filed Jan. 5 in Wake County Superior Court by the Haw River Assembly — a water quality advocacy group based in Chatham County — alleges that because the majority of the members of the rulemaking body were appointed by the Legislature, the appointments violate the separation of powers outlined in the state constitution. Of the Commission’s 13 members, five were appointed by Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and eight were appointed by the General Assembly. “The composition of the MEC represents a usurpation of power by the legislature,” the suit reads. Seven members of the MEC, all of whom were appointed by the Legislature, are named as defendants in the suit, as is the MEC as a whole, the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the State of North Carolina. Haw River Assembly and Keely Puricz, a Lee County resident whose neighbor has signed a lease with a mineral company, are the plaintiffs. The Southern Environmental Law Center is representing them.
think that monitoring requires that people go all the time. That is old-fashioned.”
regulation,” Morgan said. But these areas are not within the MEC’s purview, Rao said. “It’s a very strange thing, this whole thing,” he said. “It’s all new to me, but you can only do what you are directed to do by the Legislature.” The MEC can advise, though, so one of its standing committees is going to look into what kinds of air quality rules it should recommend the Environmental Management Commission to adopt, Rao said.
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WHAT’S NOT THERE
The revised rules don’t address the air pollution that comes from drilling, impacts to wildlife or forced pooling, which refers to whether a property owner could be forced into signing a mineral rights lease if a certain percentage of his neighbors already have. According to opponents of the rules, those are gaping holes without which development can’t responsibly go forward. “There’s no requirement in the rules about the roads and the wellpads that have to be built for each drilling unit and what effect that will have on wildlife habitat,” Asbill said. In other states, such as Colorado, full wildlife studies have been required before fracking could occur, she said. “A lot of the public comments dealt with the lack of air pollution rules, and still the MEC and the Rules Review Commission has passed their rules without any air emission
WHAT’S NEXT? From here, the rules will enter into a waiting period with the beginning of the legislative session Jan. 14. Legislators will have 30 days to introduce a “disapproval bill” opposing any specific rule, and the Legislature will have 30 days from the date of filing to take action, according to Asbill. If no disapproval bill is passed, or if no action is taken by the deadline, the rules will automatically go into effect. The first drilling permits can be issued
But McMahan felt the county should take a more direct stance on the issue. “The resolution they adopted didn’t even use the term ‘fracking,’ so we really were unclear whether they were for it or against it,” he said. “I think this just eliminates any doubt in anyone’s mind how the current board feels about hydraulic fracturing.” McMahan told those gathered at the Jan. 8 meeting that he intends to take Jackson County’s stance beyond mere words. “We will be asking the planning board to immediately start review of our development ordinance and make suggested changes or develop a new ordinance that gives us the protection that we need in the event that fracking does come to Western North Carolina,” McMahan said. 60 days after the rules become effective. That’s a different process from the one outlined in the 2012 law, called the Clean Energy and Economic Security Act, which resurrected the Mining and Energy Commission. That law makes it clear that no permits can be issued “until the General Assembly takes legislative action to allow the issuance of such permits.” The 2014 Energy Modernization Act, introduced with Senate Bill 786, changed that. “That final approval was part of the set of promises made in 2012, so it was another promise that was broken with 786 to the public,” Morgan said. But the revised rules aren’t set in stone. “I don’t consider the rules to be static,” Rao said. “I consider the rules to be the best you can do at the time, because we felt we should meet the deadline.” He sees the rules as “the most thoughtful in the country,” “borrowing from the best” of what’s already enacted in other states. But while he admits that there’s room for revision, especially where the open pits are con-
cerned, he has no qualms about the protections afforded by the set in place now. And anyway, there’s plenty of time to make the revisions necessary before anything gets fracked in North Carolina. “Even if the permitting happens in the spring like some people are saying it will, you’ve still got a long time between now and when any building will really happen,” he said. “I don’t see the prospects in North Carolina interesting enough without more exploration being conducted, and exploration does not involve fracking.” To fracking opponents like Morgan and Asbill, though, that’s like a high-stakes gamble in a game without a winning number. Even the strongest rules in the country, they say, can’t make up for the dangers to air, water and soil posed by fracking. “I just really don’t feel like fracking makes sense for North Carolina,” Morgan said. The revised rules are online at portal.ncdenr.org/web/mining-and-energycommission under the link “Oil & Gas Rules Submitted to RRC.” 9
Bettie Ashby celebrates Jackson County’s unanimous passage of an anti-fracking resolution. Holly Kays photo
Smoky Mountain News
paved the way for development rules and permitting in North Carolina. A laundry list of counties and municipalities rushed to pass resolutions opposing fracking in their jurisdictions, regardless of the fact that the state law explicitly states that local ordinances can’t restrict oil and gas development beyond what the state law spells out. But that doesn’t make Jackson’s resolution a waste of time, said Commissioner Vicki Greene. “Some of you may think this is a useless resolution. I strongly disagree,” Greene said at the Jan. 8 commissioners’ meeting. “I am part of not of just Jackson County but Western North Carolina, the state of North Carolina. I certainly don’t want fracking in any part of Western North Carolina and the state of North Carolina unless they are counties that want it, and I know that we are not among the counties considered likely places for fracking, but we need to make noise.” In addition to Jackson County, five counties, 16 municipalities and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians have passed fracking resolutions so far, according to a list compiled by Frack Free N.C. The list includes Haywood and Swain counties as well as Franklin, Webster, Sylva and Forest Hills. Bryson City has also passed such a resolution. “I have to believe that if all 100 of the counties were to pass resolutions, that the state, the General Assembly and the governor would have to sit up and take notice, so I’m gonna be working to see that other counties also have resolutions,” Dupree said. This wasn’t the first time that the Jackson County Commissioners had talked about fracking. In October, the outgoing board passed a resolution to address the issue, though that resolution never used
January 14-20, 2015
BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER pplause broke out as Jackson County Commissioners concluded a unanimous vote last week passing a resolution opposing hydraulic fracturing — known as fracking — in their first regular meeting since a new board was sworn in. “I tell you what, I was grinning from ear to ear and was still grinning from ear to ear at midnight. I was really happy,” said Donna Dupree of the Jackson County Coalition Against Fracking. “[Commission Chairman] Brian [McMahan] has made a campaign promise that his first business he would do as chairman would be to pass a resolution against fracking, and he fulfilled that campaign promise.” Fracking supporters credit the evolution of horizontal drilling and fracking techniques with reducing American dependence on foreign oil and claim that technology has come so far in the past decade or so as to render many opponents’ concerns about the practice outdated. But opponents say it contaminates groundwater, pollutes the air and scars the landscape with the trappings of heavy industry — the short-term benefits can’t come close to justifying the long-term consequences, they say. “I take our environment very seriously,” said Brian McMahan, who beat out incumbent Jack Debnam for the chairman’s seat in the November election. “Most of the time we only have one chance to keep it clean, and in a lot of cases when it’s damaged, it’s damaged permanently and it’s irrevocable, and that’s the kind of activities we want to avoid.” Over the past year, fracking has been at the forefront of discussion after the General Assembly in 2014 lifted a moratorium and
The purpose would be to restrict the areas in which any oil and gas development could occur in Jackson County, and also perhaps to spell out requirements such as bonding and environmental mitigation. Such an action could have trouble holding up in court, though, due to a section of the state law that limits local governments’ ability to enact their own fracking regulations. The section says that “any regulation that prohibits or has the effect of prohibiting” oil and gas activities beyond what’s outlined in the state law would be invalid. “I’m very happy to hear that Jackson County’s looking hard at the issue and trying to make sure their residents are protected, but that’s something they’ll have to navigate,” said D.J. Gerken, managing attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Asheville office. Depending on how it ends up being interpreted, the law could potentially apply to ordinances already on the books, even if they don’t specifically mention fracking. “Essentially, they [the Legislature] set up the Mining and Energy Commission to decide which local ordinances have an unacceptable impact on fracking, so it’s not just fracking-specific ordinances,” Gerken said. “This is very sweeping language, and I’m sure they are, but the folks in Jackson County are going to have to look hard at the language and think about what they can craft that survives this bill,” he added. McMahan acknowledged that there are some legal questions yet to be answered but said the state has some of its own to answer. He’s waiting on the outcome of a lawsuit recently filed against the state by the Chatam County-based Haw River Assembly. The suit says that the Mining and Energy Commission’s formation is unconstitutional and that their proposed rules are therefore invalid (see story on page 8). “I think the big question is whether or not what has been done thus far from the state perspective is unconstitutional or not,” he said.
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New Jackson board passes anti-fracking resolution
the words “fracking” or “hydraulic fracturing.” The resolution simply reaffirmed the county’s industrial development ordinance, which County Attorney Jay Coward said at the time would “effectively prohibit” fracking by restricting the area in which it could occur. “This protects us,” then-Commissioner Doug Cody had said. “A resolution will not protect us. This ordinance will. This ordinance has been in place for 12 years.”
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General Assembly resumes Local legislators to tackle key issues
FRACKING
BY J ESSI STONE N EWS EDITOR orth Carolina Legislators are back in session in Raleigh this week with a full agenda, including unfinished items from last year’s short session. The local delegation is ready to tackle the budget, Medicaid, education, fracking and other local issues affecting Western North Carolina.
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Smoky Mountain News
January 14-20, 2015
BUDGET Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, said passing the budget would be his No. 1 priority as he returns to the General Assembly. “I think the first order of business for the Senate will be dealing with the budget — it starts in the House this time,” he said. The biggest concern is a $190 million projected revenue shortfall. “We have to deal with that, but I hope with the Christmas season (revenues) we’ll be able to cover that. We’ll just have to wait and see.” In general, Davis said he would like to continue moving more toward a consumption tax and get away from using income tax. “Though we’ll probably never do away with the corporate income tax, we’re continually competing with other states that did away with income tax so I’d like to see that happen,” he said. Rep. Joe Sam Queen, D-Waynesville, said the expected revenue shortage could be contributed to the Republican tax code changes made in 2013. “They dug a hole by giving away tax breaks to the wealthy, so we’re going to have a revenue hole,” he said. “Do we keep cutting or do we ask those doing well to pay their fair share?” Overall he is hopeful for a productive session and looks forward to working with new and returning colleagues and with a new Speaker of the House, Rep. Tim Moore. “The budget starts in the House so it will be interesting,” he said. “It’s deeply divided right now and hard to get on both sides.”
MEDICAID
Whether or not North Carolina will expand its Medicaid program also will likely be a divisive issue during this session. To date, 27 states and Washington, D.C., have expanded Medicaid, but North Carolina legislators chose not to expand the program during the 2013 session. Though the federal government committed to paying the entire cost of the state expanding the program for three years before tapering off the funding, Republicans said the state system wasn’t ready for an expansion. GOP Gov. Pat McCrory called the current system “broken” and said it would need to be 10 fixed before the state could expand.
“It doesn’t matter what you do, they’re not going to be satisfied, but we will continue to work on it and get it done properly,” she said. “I want to focus more on the students and see that they are getting a good education and that goes for kindergarten through college if they have the opportunity to go.”
A Haywood County bill introduced last year to annex Lake Junaluska Assembly into the town of Waynesville is still on the backburner since Rep. Michele Presnell, R-Burnsville, does not support the measure. Margaret Hester photo Rep. Michele Presnell, R-Burnsville, said she recently met with health care providers at Mission Health in Asheville to discuss Medicaid expansion and other things that could help them financially. “We’re still working on that (Medicaid), but we probably should not expand right now,” she said. Davis, who voted to block Medicaid expansion in 2013, said he was willing to listen to any new developments presented this year. ”I anticipate a pretty heated discussion with the House and the governor,” he said. (McCrory) seems to be more open to expanding Medicaid this year and the House is more inclined to go along with him.” He added that McCrory recently met with President Obama to discuss some special waiver options for North Carolina. However, he said the Senate still feels like the state needs to get a better handle on the program first. “I think we’re in a better position but I’d like to be in great position before we look at that,” he said. “We also need to see what’s going to happen with the Supreme Court decision when it comes down in June.” Queen voted in favor of expanding Medicaid in 2013 and his position hasn’t changed. If Medicaid expands, he said it would mean 15,000 low-wage workers in his district would receive free health care and 800 new health care provider jobs would be created to serve those people. “We passed a pretty good resolution in the House to progress in that direction but the Senate hasn’t been very receptive,” he said. Queen said he didn’t understand how the state could not accept $2.5 billion from the federal government to expand the program because it means taxes paid by North Carolina residents are now going to other states that chose to expand Medicaid. “Every million represents 20 to 25 jobs in North Carolina, and we would definitely get our share here in Western North Carolina,” he said.
A new study out of George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and funded by the Cone Health Foundation and the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, shows county by county the effects of not expanding Medicaid in North Carolina. According to the report, North Carolina will miss out on $21 billion in federal matching funds between 2016 and 2020 if the state does not expand Medicaid by 2016. The study also concludes that Haywood County will have 115 fewer jobs created by 2020, $35.1 million less in growth to the county’s economy from 2016-20 and $767,000 less in collected tax revenues.
EDUCATION The 2014 short session addressed many education issues, including pay raises and teacher tenure, but legislators say they aren’t done yet. “We fixed the worst of the problem (last year) with entry level teachers’ pay, but veteran teachers didn’t like it because they felt they were ignored this last time,” Davis said. Queen said he would continue his efforts this year to support the profession of teaching through professional development, respect and proper pay. “I’m all about doing things better year after year,” he said. “Their (Republicans) idea of reform is cutting it. They want to improve thirdgrade reading scores but then they cut out the reading coaching. It doesn’t make sense.” Davis said he was looking at cutting driver’s education from the public education budget for some additional savings. Parents and students would then be responsible for paying that cost through a private program if they want their child to participate. “I doubt they would complain about that,” he said. Presnell also said she thinks more needs to be done with education reform, but this year she would like to focus more on the students instead of the teachers.
In 2012, the General Assembly passed a bill legalizing fracking but kept a moratorium on permitting until rules and regulations could be developed and passed by the legislature. Even though the proposed rules have yet to be voted on, the legislature lifted the moratorium in 2014. The proposed rules went through several public comment sessions and now the Mining and Energy Commission plans to present the rules for adoption during this session. Local legislators said they haven’t had a chance yet to read the 120-plus proposed regulations. Davis supported the fracking bill last year and said his position hadn’t changed much, but he looks forward to seeing the MEC’s recommendation. With the price of oil coming down, he said the demand for fracking in the state would likely come down. “The mere fact that Saudi Arabia and Russia know we’re willing to harvest our own resources will probably lead to a reduction in price,” he said. “But as I’ve said before, so long as we can do it safely, I’m all for trying to be energy independent.” Queen attended many of the public hearings held throughout Western North Carolina and said the MEC was not particularly responsive to the citizens’ input. A majority of residents advocated for stricter fracking rules. He added that he hopes the lower gas prices at the moment would also lower the need for fracking. “It will be challenged in the courts so hopefully that will slow it down enough to bring some sense to it and not pollute the ground waters of North Carolina,” he said.
LOCAL BILLS
Haywood County has been trying to push through two local bills for the last two years — one to increase the county’s occupancy tax from 4 to 6 percent and one to annex Lake Junaluska into the town of Waynesville. Neither of the bills was successful at getting through both chambers because of Presnell’s opposition to annexation and raising taxes. Even though Davis anticipates hearing from Lake Junaluska about getting annexed and the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority about the occupancy tax, he said the issues are dead in the water without all the local delegation on board. Queen and Davis both supported the occupancy tax and annex bills. “Even though I’m against tax increases, I’m an even stronger proponent of local control,” Davis said. “Lake Junaluska wants to be annexed. My suggestion to them is to prepare for a public referendum,” Queen said. “Don’t aggravate the General Assembly. If (Presnell) won’t support it, it won’t move through the House.”
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special guests from the reality TV show “Hillbilly Blood.” Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for children. Maggie Valley Board of Aldermen approved the special event during a Jan. 12 meeting after hearing the proposal from Mayor Ron DeSimone at a work session. DeSimone told board members he has wanted to start a winter event in Maggie since he was elected and finally it has come together. He said the WinterFest would not cost the town any money because a nonprofit would act as the promoter for the event.
DeSimone said Dr. Kristen Hammett was the lead organizer of the new organization that has the mission of raising money for a new animal shelter in Haywood County. The dog sleds being used will be on tires similar to bike tires so the sleds can race around the perimeter of the festivals grounds with or without snow. However, if there is a lot of rain, DeSimone said the sleds couldn’t race in the mud because it would damage the grounds. “While dogs seem to be the showcase in the beginning, it will probably evolve past
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Maggie Valley to hold first Winterfest
BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR In an effort to bring in more tourism dollars during the cold winter months, the first WinterFest Smoky Style will be held Feb. 28 and March 1 at the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds. The festival will feature dog sledding events, canine demonstrations, vendors and
Fishing is an ever-popular pastime in Cherokee, which hosts many tournaments throughout the year, including the Talking Trees Children’s Trout Derby pictured here. EBCI photo.
While the resolution does explicitly prohibit Cherokee licensing of same-sex marriage, that’s a bit of a moot point because the tribe doesn’t issue marriage licenses anyway. the case even before this latest resolution passed in December. Federal courts have struck down state bans on same-sex marriage, including the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which covers North Carolina. But any challenge to the Cherokee law would have to come through Cherokee Tribal Court, Smith said on Nov. 6. “This has been a very hot topic in other jurisdictions,” Smith said. “It has not been a hot topic in our jurisdiction. No one has challenged it through the court system. The law that’s proposed isn’t doing anything new. It doesn’t add to what our tribal law has already crafted for this jurisdiction.”
Smoky Mountain News
do what they need to do to help,” said Teresa McCoy, councilmember from Big Cove. The new policy won’t go into effect this year, as businesses are already planning on an open fishing season for March and anglers have already booked hotels. And even when the season closes for those two weeks in 2016, it won’t be completely closed down. Enrolled tribal members will still be able to fish, and the catch and release area will still be open for fly fishing. “We stock some of our highest amount of fish prior to that March weekend already, so it’s kind of a continuation of those efforts,” Lavoie said.
BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ame-sex marriage may be legal in the state of North Carolina, but it’s not on the Qualla Boundary, according to a resolution recently passed by Cherokee Tribal Council. Though tribal code already defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, the newly adopted resolution further specifies that the “licensing and solemnizing” of same-sex marriage cannot happen on tribal land. Of the councilmembers present at the Dec. 11 vote, seven voted in favor of the resolution: Bill Taylor, Perry Shell, Tommeye Saunooke, Albert Rose, Bo Crowe, Brandon Jones and Adam Wachacaha. Council Chairwoman Terri Henry voted against the resolution and Teresa McCoy refrained from voting. The legislation doesn’t really do anything new, however. “This amendment to tribal law would not change any kind of legal analysis in our court system,” said Assistant Attorney General Hannah Smith at the Nov. 6 council meeting, when the legislation was originally introduced. “Therefore, because we already define marriage here between a man and a woman, there’s no legal need to amend the law.” While the newly adopted resolution does explicitly prohibit Cherokee licensing of same-sex marriage, that’s a bit of a moot point because the tribe doesn’t issue marriage licenses anyway. “Everything gets processed strictly through our office,” said Jennifer Blanton, deputy register of deeds in Jackson County. In order to be legally married, a couple must pick up a marriage license application from a county office and then return the application once the ceremony has occurred. “I just remember off the top of my head we have had a same-sex couple obtain a marriage license here and one of them was an enrolled member,” Blanton said. That ceremony was performed Oct. 30, 2014. The bulk of tribal land is located in Swain County, but that county’s register of
deeds, Diane Williamson Kirkland, said she doesn’t recall seeing any same-sex Cherokee couples come through. The legislation met widespread support in council, but one tribal member came forward to speak against it at the November meeting. “There might be some people on the reservation that might want to marry each other, and if they can’t do it in our court are you going to recognize it?” asked Robert Cat, adding that he’d like to see a referendum on the issue. The answer to Cat’s question seems to be yes. Because Cherokee gives “full faith and credit” to states’ lawful orders, the legislation would not preclude same-sex couples who have received marriage licenses in North Carolina or any other state from accessing the same benefits on the Qualla Boundary as any other married couple. What the Cherokee laws do mean, however, is that legal marriage ceremonies between same-sex couples can’t happen on tribal land. Such a ceremony would be void in the eyes of the law. But that was
January 14-20, 2015
BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER herokee will institute a two-week fishing season closure each March beginning in 2016 after operating under a year-round season since 2011. “We decided to open it up to year-round just to provide more fishing opportunities during March when the state fishing waters were closed, but we decided to go back to a compromise with a two-week closure in March to allow our operations to catch up for the opening day and allow a new level of excitement for the opener, knowing the waters haven’t been fished for two weeks,” explained Mike Lavoie, fisheries and wildlife program manager for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Lavoie brought his request before Cherokee Tribal Council last week, telling councilmembers that his staff could use a couple weeks to catch up on stocking and maintenance and that restoring the opening day tradition would be a good thing for the community. North Carolina’s fishing season doesn’t start till the first Saturday in April, so holding an opening day the last Saturday in March would still mean that anglers would cast their first lines of the season in Cherokee. Still, some councilmembers weren’t convinced, weighing in on a split vote that only narrowly passed Lavoie’s resolution. “We fought for years to get this season open. Businesspeople on our end wanted it open yearlong, and it took a lot of years to do that,” said Alan “B” Ensley, councilmember from Yellowhill. “How is this going to affect our revenue for that month?” Lavoie answered that those two weeks account for about 5 percent of the year’s license sales, equating to about $40,000. But he would expect some of that to be offset by increased participation and business revenue on opening day. “You could do some things that would generate a lot more revenue to offset whatever losses might be,” agreed Perry Shell, councilmember from Big Cove. There will be a tournament on opening fday and some other festivities to bring people in, Lavoie said. “The community’s willing to step up and
Cherokee affirms gay marriage ban
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Cherokee to move away from year-round fishing
that to be much more,” he said. The long-range plan is to grow the festival into a ten-day event. The idea for a WinterFest began developing when Hugh Neff, a wellknown dog musher, visited Maggie Valley to give a motivational speech to students at Jonathan Valley Elementary School. Neff discussed racing in the Iditarod, taking care of his mushing dogs and many of his personal challenges in dog sled racing. He also spoke at a meet and greet to county tourism groups about the benefit of holding a winter festival in Maggie Valley. 11
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Erosion from DOT job concerns Jackson residents BY B ECKY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER highway construction project in Jackson County has come under public scrutiny for muddying the Tuckasegee River. Erosion control measures have failed to stop mud and sediment from running off the construction site, into creeks and onward to the river during heavy rains. While the highway department has admitted to some runoff problems at the site, it claims it is doing a good job overall. On three occasions, the Department of Transportation reported itself for violations to state erosion inspectors. But erosion and sediment watchdogs who have kept tabs on the high-profile roadwork aren’t so sure those were the only three times mud has run off the site. Roger Clapp, director of the Tuckaseigee Watershed Association, makes a habit of visiting the creek downstream of the construction project after heavy rains to see if there is sediment washing into it, and has noted a brown plume at its confluence with the Tuck. “Things just aren’t jiving and we need to get data down at the river to find out why it is so muddy at those places,” Clapp said. “I and others know mud is coming off this site.” DOT engineers over the job deflected criticism about its erosion track record for the roadwork during a Jackson County planning board meeting last week. The county has been fielding complaints about the DOT road construction project, Jackson County Planning Board member Sarah Graham said. But it is unclear who has oversight and who people should call if they notice a problem, she said. “You fall outside our jurisdiction and we are trying to figure out what we as a planning board can to do address the public’s
January 14-20, 2015
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concerns. Our fresh waterways are a huge part of our quality of life and economy. We want to do what is in our power to fix this,” Graham said. The project in question is a new road leading to the Southwestern Community College campus off N.C. 107. A controversial project from the outset due to its high cost and questionable need, the new road is being cut over steep terrain, requiring largescale earthmoving. DOT estimated 500,000 cubic yards of dirt — about 50,000 dump truck loads — will be dug out and hauled off during grading. Some members of the public claim dirt is falling off the trucks during hauling, either coming out of the tire treads or spilling out the sides. Jackson County Planning Board Member Gerald Green said he has seen dirt accumulated on the side of the road along the route the dump trucks take when hauling the dirt off. While that should not be the case, in reality, dirt falls off the trucks sometimes, said Brian Burch, the DOT engineer over the project. Green asked why it wasn’t cleaned up more quickly, citing one instance when the piles of dropped mud lay along the roadside all weekend. “Obviously someone didn’t take corrective action,” Burch replied. “What should be done?” Green asked. “On the weekend?” Burch asked. “Anytime,” Green said. Figuring out who the public should report concerns to — or where to turn for recourse if they weren’t fixed — wasn’t an easy matter, however. Planning board members had to drill down for an answer. Planning Board member Tom Rodgers eventually suggested the DOT post a prominent sign with a number the public can call if
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they see a problem. “I think that would be a good thing to do. There is obviously some confusion about who has oversight authority,” Rodgers said. During heavy rains, anyone driving along N.C. 107 can see muddy rivulets running down the denuded face of towering steep slopes in the construction zone. So they call the county. But the county doesn’t have enforcement authority over sediment coming off DOT jobs, so what should the county tell people when they call? Graham said that was the whole reason the planning board invited the DOT to their meeting. “We wanted to learn more about how y’all handled that,” Graham said. When the Tuck runs muddy, the people of Jackson County care, said Graham. It also matters to the economy. The tourism industry — fishing and paddling in particular — rely on clean mountain water. Graham said a local fly fishing guide was forced to take clients fishing in other counties recently when the Tuck was too muddy. “We are trying to understand what we can do to remedy that problem,” Graham told the DOT officials at the meeting. “When the tuck runs brown, what do you think is causing it?” “I think it is negligible what we contribute,” Burch replied. “We live here, too, and we want to protect our environment, too.”
A 10-YEAR-STORM THE NORM? The three documented sediment violations at the construction site were the result of heavy rain overtopping a culvert that is supposed to divert a stream around the construction area. The culvert wasn’t big enough, however, and the creek backed up. It overtopped the culvert and flooded the construction site, carrying sediment back into the
creek as the water resided, Burch explained. He blamed extremely heavy rain that exceeded their expectations. Erosion control measures are designed to withstand a certain amount of rainfall, but in these cases, the rainfall exceeded the DOT’s design threshold for a 10-year storm event. But upon further questioning, Burch said he actually had no way of knowing for sure whether the rainfall exceeded the 10-yearstorm standard, but he “assumed” it must have. Since the erosion control measures are supposed to hold up to run-of-the-mill heavy rains, the fact they didn’t work must mean the rainfall exceeded the 10-year-storm threshold, he said. “What are the chances of three 10-yearstorm events happening in one year,” asked Roger Clapp, the director of the Tuckaseigee Watershed Association. “It is one out of 1,000. We picked the wrong year to do this project.” Ken Brown, an environmental advocate in the county, said the DOT should reassess the design standard for its erosion control measures if the 10-year-storm threshold isn’t cutting it. “We seem to have an awful lot of 10-yearstorm events,” Brown said. The state relies on the honor system when it comes to DOT, which self-polices its own erosion compliance, from start to finish. The DOT develops its own erosion control plan before work begins, signs off on it own plan, makes sure erosion control measures follow the plan, monitors the site for erosion once construction starts, recommends fixes if erosion is noticed, and ultimately report itself for any violations of state sediment laws. “I think you need someone to inspect it a little more careful and more often,” Planning Board member David Books said.
BY B ECKY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER he Haywood County School Board was divided this week on whether to join forces with school systems around the state in a lobbying campaign to back pro-education legislation in Raleigh. The school board ultimately voted 5-to-4 to support the political advocacy arm of the N.C School Board Association. The county will pay annual dues of $3,000 to the cause. “Public education is under attack,” said School Board Member Lynn Milner. “We can’t deny that. Unfortunately, I feel like we need a strong advocate.” “I will be honest with you, I have lost some sleep trying to decide what to do on this vote,” responded School Board Member Jim Francis. Francis questioned whether it is a good use of limited school dollars during tough budget times despite the worthy goals of the political action committee. But to School Board Member Bobby Rogers, that’s exactly why Haywood County Schools should support the lobbying effort.
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“You have to look at the risks and rewards,” Rogers said. The risk is further dismantling of public schools by unfriendly legislative policies. The reward is protecting the sanctity of public schools. “At that point, I have to support that,” he said of the lobbying expenditure. The school board had supported the legislative lobbying initiative last year, but withdrew its support this school year. School Board Chairman Chuck Francis asked the board to revisit that decision at its meeting this week. Only one of the nine seats on the school board flipped in the election. Republican school board member Bob Morris lost re-election in November and was replaced by Democrat Bobby Rogers, who voted for the measure, which carried by a 5-to-4 vote. Morris had voted against the measure previously. While the Haywood County School Board isn’t always unanimous in its decisions, it’s rare for a split vote to be so close. Those in favor were Lynn Milner, Chuck Francis, Walt Leatherwood, Bobby Rogers and Rhonda Schandevel. Those against were Steven Kirkpatrick, Jim Francis, Bobby Rogers and Larry Henson.
January 14-20, 2015
It’s not rare – it’s common in fact – for government bodies to pool their political clout in hopes of influencing state policies. Towns have a lobbying arm under the League of Municipalities, counties have one through the N.C. Association of County Commissioners, and community colleges have one though the N.C. Association of Community College Trustees. But the N.C. School Board Association has not had a political lobbying arm until two years ago. About half the counties in the state pledged monetary support for the new legislative advocacy work, but there are few from the mountains. Transylvania, Buncombe, Asheville City Schools are the only others in the region besides Haywood.
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news January 14-20, 2015 Smoky Mountain News 14
Haywood tourism board loses experience, gains fresh faces Three new members have been appointed to the tourism board in Haywood County that guides tourism marketing, promotions and development. The recent round of appointments to the Tourism Development Authority continues a changing of the guard on the tourism board that’s been playing out for two years now. Of the 12-member board, eight have been appointed in the last two years. Turnover on the tourism board is the fallout from a new rule that limits how long members can serve. “We are just now starting to feel the effects of that,” said TDA Executive Director Lynn Collins. Board members can only serve six years before they have to step down, ensuring an injection of new blood and new ideas. But coupled with naturally occurring turnover — those who step down because they get too busy, move or retire from the industry — the tourism board is now stacked with relatively new members. Collins said the change has its pros and cons. There are new ideas and perspectives on one hand, but a lack of continuity and institutional knowledge on the other. “We are all the old school that was on the board,” said Ken Stahl, a Waynesville hotelier who had been a workhorse on the tourism board for almost three decades but has now been sidelined. It can also be hard to recruit board members to fill the seats, making it hard to lose dedicated, long-time board members forced off by the new term limit rule. The Haywood TDA oversees more than $1.2 million annually collected through a 4 percent tax on overnight lodging, which is then pumped back in to tourism marketing and initiatives. The recent round of newly appointed tourism board members include: · Sally Eason, owner of Sunburst Trout Farm, appointed as the town of Waynesville representative on the board. She replaced Stahl who was bumped off by term limits. · Carole Edwards, a Canton town board member, appointed as the Canton representative on the board. She replaced Canton Mayor Mike Ray, who stepped down voluntarily due to time constraints. · Chris Corbin, director of rooms at The Waynesville Inn Golf Resort & Spa, appointed by the county commissioners. He was the only one who applied for a seat vacated by Sammy Carver, owner of the Waynesville Inn, who was bumped off by term limits. · A fourth seat held by Beth Brown of Maggie Valley was also up for appointment, but she had only served three years and was eligible for three more. County commissioners did not consider any other applicants for the seat and reappointed Brown for another term. — By Staff Writer Becky Johnson
Franklin pawn dealers now required to digitally report
Steve Boatright, co-owner of Depot Street Pawn in Franklin, assists a customer. Depot Street Pawn recently signed up to participate in Leads Online, a nationwide digital database that allows law enforcement to easily track stolen items. Jessi Stone photo BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR econdhand dealers in Franklin will soon be required to report their pawned items electronically to the police department within 48 hours, or they could face a $500 fine. The new requirement, which will go into effect July 1, doesn’t seem to bother many pawnshop owners who are already submitting their pawn tickets through a nationwide searchable database called Leads Online. John Murdock, manager of Plaza Pawn & Gun, said his store has been voluntarily using Leads Online software to submit pawn tickets for five years. “We’ve got four stores total — the others are in Jackson and Haywood — and they have that requirement, so it just made sense companywide to be trained to use it,” he said. “It also helps us maintain a decent relationship with our local police department, and I think customers tend to appreciate it because they know they won’t get a stolen item.” Having pawnshops and other secondhand dealers electronically enter information online helps law enforcement quickly search for stolen items that were pawned.
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Without the database, law enforcement officers have to physically go to each business and search through a handwritten ledger of items. Other towns and counties would also like to see similar regulations passed locally in order to save department time and resources. The town of Sylva requires pawn dealers to submit information electronically, but Waynesville Police Chief Bill Hollingsed said it’s still voluntary in Waynesville. However, some businesses still don’t use it. “We encourage the use of Leads Online, but there’s no current ordinance to mandate it,” he said. “We talked to our board about in the past, and I’d love for it to be mandatory because it doesn’t cost the business owner anything. It’s a great investigative tool.” Macon County Sheriff Robbie Holland said using the online database is still voluntary on the county level, but he would like it to be mandatory. “It’s a valuable tool,” he said. “It not only helps us in our job, but it helps pawnshops make sure their items are not stolen. Not everyone uses it, but people we talk to are starting to get on board. It’s something that needs to be seriously looked at.”
Scott Stamey, owner of Big A Gun & Pawn, is located outside the city limits in Macon County, but he still participates voluntarily in the online database because it’s free, simple and easier than trying to keep up with individual tickets. “It keeps us square with the sheriff ’s department,” he said. “Pawnshops get a bad name, but we’re just providing a service to the community. It costs us money when things get stolen — it costs everybody money.” Stamey said he wants to help law enforcement locate stolen items quickly, but on the other hand, he said, most thieves know they can’t take stolen items to a pawnshop without getting caught fairly quickly. He said most stolen items end up at flea markets and junk shops because no paperwork is involved. “A majority of my dealings with stolen items are from kids pawning things they stole from family for drugs,” he said. Steve and Eve Boatright, owners of Depot Street Pawn in Franklin, said they recently signed up to use the online database after being in business for about three years. “We’re already computerized anyway so it makes it easier — we don’t have to fax anything to the police,” Eve said. She thinks it’s completely fair to make all secondhand dealers report electronically to help prevent stolen items from being brought into her business. “There’s nothing worse than someone coming in and saying their stuff has been stolen,” she added. The Franklin Board of Aldermen approved an amended business license ordinance in December to include the new requirements for pawnshops and currency converters. In addition to a business license, these dealers must obtain a pawnbrokers license from the town. Franklin Town Manager Summer Woodard said the cost for both licenses could be up to $75 depending on the business. She said the new rules are applicable to about 10 secondhand dealers in the town. “All pawnshops that I’m aware of are already using it (Leads Online),” she said. “But when the police chief and lieutenant were looking at the ordinance, they thought it would be good to tackle that issue and be proactive about it.” Secondhand dealers must obtain and submit the following information through Leads Online: a clear and accurate description of the property (model and serial number); name, address, phone number and date of birth of the seller; date and time of the sale; description of the seller, including height, weight, sex and race and the amount paid for the item. If a dealer is unable to submit information because of computer failures, the dealer must immediately notify the police and keep physical records of the information and report it online as soon as the problem is resolved. Businesses selling donated items, nonprofits, flea markets and antique dealers are exempt from the ordinance.
with dissolving the company’s assets. That includes the Cullowhee property. “The Receiver is authorized to enter into an agreement, and culminate any transaction, on behalf of Monarch Ventures, as the 100 percent manager and member of Monarch Cullowhee, LLC, to maximize the value of the WCU Project for the benefit of creditors and members of Monarch Ventures,” the preliminary injunction reads. If the property were sold, County Planning Director Gerald Green said, “that raises some questions about whether the application is still valid.” Monarch got its land-use application approved in March and has not yet broken ground on the project. If nothing happens within a year of the application being approved, Monarch would have to reapply. But what if the company that winds up doing the development is not Monarch but some other entity? “That’s one of the questions that needs to be answered,” Green said. Requiring a new permit to move forward would mean more than just presenting the developer with a fresh sheet of paper. Monarch got its original permit in just days before Jackson County’s subdivision ordinance expanded to include student housing complexes. The ordinance includes requirements addressing stormwater management, open space, adequate parking, landscaping and sidewalks. Operating under the existing permit, Monarch would be exempt from all of that. But if a new permit were required to begin construction, then the expanded ordinance would kick in. “There are some questions that we will be looking at with regard to the validly of the permit we have on file,” Green said. Thomly declined to comment for this story and her lawyer Fred Monroe, King and Andy Barbee, the receiver appointed by the court, did not return calls requesting comment.
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BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER Monarch Ventures, a Charlotte-based student housing company, has been trying to locate a posh 500-bed student housing complex in Cullowhee for nearly four years. But, despite the fact that they’ve got a deed and land-use permit in hand, the county’s heard nothing but radio silence from the company since June. As it turns out, that’s due to a lawsuit between Monarch’s two owners — Shannon King and Martha Thomly — that is likely to result in the company’s dissolution. “All parties agreed that ultimately the Company should be dissolved,” reads a preliminary injunction issued from Mecklenburg County Superior Court in October 2014. Thomly filed the suit against King in September, which claimed that King had “through artifice, fraud, and intentional misrepresentation and misconduct wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars of funds, violated the Monarch Ventures Operating Agreement, diverted revenue streams to other entities, and usurped company opportunities, all in plain violation of Ms. King’s fiduciary duties owed to Monarch Ventures.” The two women had tried to resolve the dispute out of court, the suit says, but wound up having to go a legal route to get things settled. King and Shannon are named co-managers of the company, with King owning 48 percent of the company and Shannon 43 percent. Two other part owners, Lisa Pulsinelli and Jenny Neal, own 5 and 2 percent, respectively. Including the development at Western Carolina University, Monarch has six current projects scattered in university towns from Florida to West Virginia. Litigation is ongoing, but the court has already ordered that Monarch appoint a receiver, which is basically a lawyer tasked
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Going ‘all in’ on free speech takes backbone
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wide spotlight. It’s a fringe publication, and somewhere on the fringe is probably where it should have remained. The murdering terrorists, however, have turned it into a symbol for free speech that will go down in history. My first free speech awakening happened back during the Watergate hearings in the summer of 1973. I was 13 years old, and in the 100-degree heat of eastern North Carolina an airconditioned living room was a peaceful respite on June and July afternoons. Editor Only problem was that all the networks — all three channels, that is — were showing the hearings. Watching those hearings led me to read the follow-up stories in the local newspaper in Fayetteville, and the reality that the work of a couple of reporters could almost singlehandedly bring down a president left a powerful impression on me. I imagined a career in journalism as something meaningful. Watergate is one prime example of why the West — and I would argue the U.S. in particular — has an almost quasi-reli-
Scott McLeod
watched world leaders with arms linked lead a march of about 1.5 million people in Paris to commemorate the ideals of free speech following the massacre at the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo by Muslim terrorists. I read about the outpouring of support for the newspaper’s gutsy cartoons that lampooned — in addition to Islamic terrorism — anything and everything. And then I sought out the cartoons that infuriated so many Muslims so I could see for myself what kind of artwork could engender such emotion. If you haven’t looked, you may or may not want to take the time to do it. These are rough, sometimes vulgar images that are cringe-worthy. Satire has always been one of the cruelest forms of free expression because at its best it insults your sensibilities to get a message across. And these cartoons are insulting. National and international pundits are pouring out their views on this attack, and I’ve read dozens of articles and opinion pieces. As the publisher and editor of a small weekly in the mountains of Western North Carolina, I’ve been fascinated and consumed by the whole free speech debate. I’ve also been intrigued by how a small, little-known journalistic endeavor like Charlie Hebdo could suddenly be thrust into the world-
gious passion for protecting free speech and freedom of the press, a fervor that is not shared by many other parts of the world. Many of those who marched in Paris were protesting the killing of innocents as much as they were sending a message about free speech. But the two beliefs go hand in hand. If you don’t protect and fight for the right to criticize leaders — political, religious, cultural or corporate — then innocent people end up at the mercy of those leaders. It happens all over the world. Ultimately, going all in on free speech means we have to accept the distasteful and outrageous while believing that open debate will lead a majority of reasonable people to choose the right path. Those leading that Paris march and the rest of us must make room for bigots and racists to spread their message. As much as we hate it, that’s part of the bargain, that’s the underbelly of the beast. But the choice is clear. As one pundit put it, and I’m paraphrasing: no one deserved to die for those cartoons, but many of those cartoons sucked. Indeed. (Scott McLeod can be reached at info@smokymountainnews.com.)
Macon leaders should reconsider stance on wilderness
To the Editor: The Nantahala Hiking Club requests that Macon County commissioners reconsider or rescind the resolution passed on July 8, 2014, opposing the designation of additional wilderness areas within the Nantahala National Forest in Macon County. We believe that this resolution was passed prematurely and bypassed input from many interested citizens. Your minutes state that only one person, who represented the interests of one sector of forest users — namely small game hunters — spoke at that meeting. Our club members do not recall this resolution having been publicized prior to this meeting such that we could have provided our perspective on additional wilderness areas. Mr. Kevin Corbin, commission chairman, has been quoted in the press saying that the commission merely expressed its opinion in passing the resolution, a right the members have as other citizens do. Further he is said to have pointed out that a public hearing is not required to pass a resolution and that the vote did not result in a decision, only an agreement on an opinion. Also, the board had not jointly researched the matter prior to approving the resolution. Our 290-member strong club is one of the official maintaining clubs of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, caring for nearly 60 miles of the venerable Appalachian Trail from the North Carolina-Georgia border to Wesser in the Nantahala area. Forty-seven of these miles are in Macon County and 13 of them are in the Southern Nantahala Wilderness Area running from Deep Gap to Mooney Gap. Our club officially was begun in 1968 by the Rev. A. Rufus Morgan after decades of work in cre-
ating the trail by him and other Maconians. Our club has been active in the life of Macon County for many years, participating in Pumpkin Fest, the Christmas Parade, the Walking with Spring program at the Franklin Library, and the spring celebrations for AT thru-hikers including the Hiker Bash at a local motel and Easter gifts at local trailheads, among others. The club presents Hiking 101 programs in elementary and middle schools a few times each year and then takes children on hikes in their own backyard. We work closely with many businesses in our county including two major outdoor outfitters. Our long-standing and close relationship in the community resulted in Franklin becoming the first officially-designated Appalachian Trail Community by the AT Conservancy. We believe that the passage of the resolution ignored the relationships our club has built over the years throughout our county and the sizable financial and publicity contributions stemming from the network of hiking trails in the Nantahala Forest that our members maintain for the use and enjoyment of Maconians and countless visitors from throughout our nation and even the world. The club is presently reviewing the U.S. Forest Service proposed plans for forest use in the Nantahala Forest and, based on preliminary study, think that preserving the integrity of our trails will require supporting some of the proposed additions to wilderness areas by the forest service and that there are other areas that should be considered for wilderness based on various factors. We think the Macon County Commission should have studied this complex issue in depth and
sought input from various sectors, including hiking and outdoors representatives. Furthermore, we believe that passing a resolution opposing new wilderness designations in the manner it was done actually ignored the democratic process where all interests are heard and relevant voices have their say. As we humans continue to change the natural landscape, preserving some land in its untouched state may prove essential for our survival in understanding the interrelationships of organisms, obtaining cures for diseases, and preserving our connections to the earth and creation. Thousands of AT thruhikers and hikers attest to the human need for being in nature, for solitude, and for getting away from “civilized” life. Not all things have a monetary value, some things have value beyond the profits that may be derived from cutting down old trees. When the Macon County Commission passes a resolution it does more than express the individual opinions of its members. Because it is a governing body and because of the weight and respect that is accorded to it by citizens, the opinions embodied in a resolution exert a strong influence on other government agencies and their actions and may sway the viewpoints of many citizens. For these powerful reasons, the Nantahala Hiking Club reiterates that this resolution opposing the designation of additional wilderness areas must be reconsidered, brought up to the public, discussed and examined, and only then will the commission take a position reflecting the views of Macon County citizens. Olga F. Pader, President Nantahala Hiking Club
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UPCOMING EVENTS
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Taste the Mountains is an ever-evolving paid section of places to dine in Western North Carolina. If you would like to be included in the listing please contact our advertising department at 828.452.4251
FRIDAY, JAN. 16TH
Karaoke w/Chris Monteith SAT. & SUN. JAN. 17TH & 18TH
NFL Playoffs 83 Asheville Hwy. Sylva Music Starts @ 9 • 631.0554 275-03
ITALIAN CUISINE
STEAKS • PIZZA SEAFOOD CHICKEN & SANDWICHES
BREAKING BREAD CAFÉ 6147 Hwy 276 S. Bethel (at the Mobil Gas Station) 828.648.3838 Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Closed Sat. & Sun. Chef owned and operated. Our salads are made in house using local seasonal vegetables. Fresh roasted ham, turkey and roast beef used in our hoagies. We hand make our own eggplant and chicken parmesan, pork meatballs and hamburgers. We use 1st quality fresh not pre-prepared products to make sure you get the best food for a reasonable price. We make vegetarian, gluten free and sugar free items. Call or go to Facebook (Breaking Bread Café NC) to find out what our specials are.
1863 S. Main Street • Waynesville 828.454.5002 Hwy. 19/23 Exit 98
January 14-20, 2015
SERVING LUNCH & DINNER CLOSED WEDNESDAYS
www.CityLightsCafe.com
1/16 •7PM
Liz & AJ Nance TRIO Mon.-Fri. 7-4 Sat. 8-4
828.587.2233
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DOWNTOWN SYLVA • NC
Smoky Mountain News
Order By the Dozen: Bagels, Cookies, Cupcakes, Pastries and More!
Winter Hours:
CHEF’S TABLE 30 Church St., Waynesville. 828.452.6210. From 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday dinner starting at 5 p.m. “Best of” Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator Magazine. Set in a distinguished atmosphere with an exceptional menu. Extensive selection of wine and beer. Reservations honored.
BRYSON CITY BAKERY AND PASTRY SHOPPE 191 Everett St., Bryson City. 828.488.5390 Offering a full line of fresh baked goods like Grandma used to make. Large variety to choose from including cakes, pies, donuts, breads, cinn-buns and much more. Also serving Hershey Ice Cream. Open seven days a week, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. BRYSON CITY CORK & BEAN A MOUNTAIN SOCIAL HOUSE 16 Everett St.,Bryson City. 828.488.1934. Open Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday and Sunday brunch 9 a.m. to 3p.m., Full Menu 3 to 9 p.m. Serving fresh and delicious weekday morning lite fare, lunch, dinner, and brunch. Freshly prepared
CITY LIGHTS CAFE Spring Street in downtown Sylva. 828.587.2233. Open Monday-Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tasty, healthy and quick. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, espresso, beer and wine. Come taste the savory and sweet crepes, grilled paninis, fresh, organic salads, soups and more.
Country Vittles RESTAURANT
CATALOOCHEE RANCH 119 Ranch Dr., Maggie Valley. 828.926.1401. It’s winter, but we still serve three meals a day on Friday, Saturday and long holiday weekends. Join us for Breakfast from 8 to 9:30 a.m.; Lunch from 12 to 2 p.m.; and Dinner buffet from 6 to 7:30 p.m., with entrees that include pot roast, Virginia ham and herb-baked chicken, complemented by seasonal vegetables, homemade breads, jellies and desserts. We also offer a fine selection of wine and beer. And a roaring fire in the fireplace. So come enjoy mile-high mountaintop dining with a spectacular view. Reservations are required.
CITY BAKERY 18 N. Main St. Waynesville 828.452.3881. Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Join us in our historic location for scratch made soups and daily specials. Breakfast is made to order daily: Gourmet cheddar & scallion biscuits served with bacon, sausage and eggs; smoked trout bagel plate; quiche and fresh fruit parfait. We bake a wide variety of breads daily, specializing in traditional french breads. All of our breads are hand shaped. Lunch: Fresh salads, panini sandwiches. Enjoy outdoor dinning on the deck. Private room available for meetings.
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MEDITERRANEAN
BOGART’S 303 S. Main St., Waynesville. 828.452.1313. Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Carry out available. Located in downtown Waynesville, Bogart’s has been long-time noted for great steaks, soups, and salads. Casual family atmosphere in a rustic old-time setting with a menu noted for its practical value. Live Bluegrass/String Band music every Thursday. Walking distance of Waynesville’s unique shops and seasonal festival activities and within one mile of Waynesville Country Club.
menu offerings range from house-made soups & salads, lite fare & tapas, crepes, specialty sandwiches and burgers. Be sure not to miss the bold flavors and creative combinations that make up the daily Chef Supper Specials starting at 5pm every day. Followed by a tempting selection of desserts prepared daily by our chefs and other local bakers. Enjoy craft beers on tap, as well as our full bar and eclectic wine list.
Outside patio seating. Free Wi-Fi, pet-friendly. Live music and lots of events. Check the web calendar at citylightscafe.com. THE CLASSIC WINESELLER 20 Church Street, Waynesville. 828.452.6000. Underground retail wine and craft beer shop, restaurant, and intimate live music venue. Kitchen opens at 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday serving freshly prepared small plate and tapas-style fare. Enjoy local, regional, or national talent live each Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m. www.classicwineseller.com. Also on facebook and twitter. CORK & CLEAVER 176 Country Club Drive, Waynesville. 828.456.7179. Reservations recommended. 4:30-9 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Tucked away inside Waynesville Inn, Cork & Cleaver has an approachable menu designed around locally sourced, sustainable, farm-to-table ingredients. Executive Chef Corey Green prepares innovative and unique Southern fare from local, organic vegetables grown in Western North Carolina. Full bar and wine cellar. www.waynesvilleinn.com. COUNTRY VITTLES: FAMILY STYLE RESTAURANT 3589 Soco Rd, Maggie Valley. 828.926.1820 Open Daily 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., closed Tuesday. Family Style at Country Vittles is not a buffet. Instead our waitresses will bring your food piping hot from the kitchen right to your table and as many refills as you want. So if you have a big appetite, but sure to ask your waitress about our family style service. FILLING STATION DELI 145 Everett St., Bryson City, 828.488.1919. Open Monday through Wednesday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sundays (in October) 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Locals always know best, and this is one place they know well. From the high-quality hot pressed sandwiches and the huge portions of hand-cut fries to the specialty frozen sandwiches and homemade Southern desserts, you will not leave this top-rated deli hungry. FRANKIE’S ITALIAN TRATTORIA 1037 Soco Rd. Maggie Valley. 828.926.6216 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Father and son team Frank and Louis Perrone cook up dinners steeped in Italian tradition. With recipies passed down from generations gone by, the Perrones have brought a bit of Italy to Maggie Valley. frankiestrattoria.com
We’ll feed your spirit, too.
& GIFT SHOP
Wed. - Sat. 7:30 A.M. - 7:00 P.M. Sun. 8 A.M. - 3 P.M. Closed Mon. and Tues.
Featuring a Full Menu with Daily Specials BREAKFAST • LUNCH • DINNER
3589 SOCO RD. MAGGIE VALLEY 18
828.926.1820
Cataloochee Ranch 119 Ranch Drive, Maggie Valley, NC 28751 | CataloocheeRanch.com | (828)926-1401
tasteTHEmountains HERREN HOUSE 94 East St., Waynesville 828.452.7837. Lunch: Wednesday - Saturday 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday Brunch 11 a. m. to 2 p.m. Enjoy fresh local products, created daily. Join us in our beautiful patio garden. We are your local neighborhood host for special events: business party’s, luncheons, weddings, showers and more. Private parties & catering are available 7 days a week by reservation only. JOEY'S PANCAKE HOUSE 4309 Soco Rd Maggie Valley. 828.926.0212. Winter hours; Friday through Sunday and Mondays, 7 a.m. to noon. Joey’s is a family style restaurant that has been serving breakfast to the locals and visitors of Western North Carolina since 1966. Featuring a large variety of tempting pancakes, golden waffles, country style cured ham and seasonal specials spiked with flavor, Joey's is sure to please all appetites. Joey & Brenda O’Keefe invite you to join what has become a tradition in these parts, breakfast at Joey’s. JUKEBOX JUNCTION U.S. 276 and N.C. 110 intersection, Bethel. 828.648.4193. 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Serving breakfast, lunch, nd dinner. The restaurant has a 1950s & 60s theme decorated with memorabilia from that era. MAD BATTER FOOD & FILM 617 W. Main Street Downtown Sylva. 828.586.3555. Open Tuesday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Wednesday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 11
p.m. Hand-tossed pizza, steak sandwiches, wraps, salads and desserts. All made from scratch. Beer and wine. Free movies with showtimes at 6:30 and 9 p.m. with a Saturday matinee at 2 p.m. Visit madbatterfoodandfilm.com for this week’s shows. MAGGIE VALLEY CLUB 1819 Country Club Dr., Maggie Valley. 828.926.1616. maggievalleyclub.com/dine. Open daily for lunch and dinner. Fine and casual fireside dining in welcoming atmosphere. Full bar. Reservations accepted. MOUNTAIN PERKS ESPRESSO BAR & CAFÉ 9 Depot St., Bryson City. 828.488.9561. Open Monday through Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. With music at the Depot. Sunday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Life is too short for bad coffee. We feature wonderful breakfast and lunch selections. Bagels, wraps, soups, sandwiches, salads and quiche with a variety of specialty coffees, teas and smoothies. Various desserts. ORGANIC BEANS COFFEE COMPANY 1110 Soco Road, Maggie Valley. 828.668.2326. Open 7 days a week 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Happily committed to brewing and serving innovative, uniquely delicious coffees — and making the world a better place. 100% of our coffee is Fair Trade, Shade Grown, and Organic, all slow-roasted to bring out every note of indigenous flavor. Bakery offerings include cakes, muffins, cookies and more. Each one is made from scratch in
Asheville using only the freshest, all natural ingredients available. We are proud to offer gluten-free and vegan options. PASQUALE’S 1863 South Main Street, Waynesville. Off exit 98, 828.454.5002. Open for lunch and dinner seven days a week. Classic Italian dishes, exceptional steaks and seafood (available in full and lighter sizes), thin crust pizza, homemade soups, salads hand tossed at your table. Fine wine and beer selection. Casual atmosphere, dine indoor, outside on the patio or at the bar. Reservations appreciated. PATIO BISTRO 30 Church Street, Waynesville. 828.454.0070. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Breakfast bagels and sandwiches, gourmet coffee, deli sandwiches for lunch with homemade soups, quiches, and desserts. Wide selection of wine and beer. Outdoor and indoor dining. RENDEZVOUS RESTAURANT AND BAR Maggie Valley Inn and Conference Center 828.926.0201 Bar open Monday thru Saturday; dining room open Tuesday thru Saturday at 5 p.m. Full service restaurant serving steaks, prime rib, seafood and dinner specials. SMOKY MOUNTAIN SUB SHOP 29 Miller Street Waynesville 828.456.3400. Open from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. A Waynesville tradition, the Smoky
REEKSIDE COYSTER HOUSE & GRILL
Mountain Sub Shop has been serving great food for over 20 years. Come in and enjoy the relaxed, casual atmosphere. Sub breads are baked fresh every morning in Waynesville. Using only the freshest ingredients in homemade soups, salads and sandwiches. Come in and see for yourself why Smoky Mountain Sub Shop was voted # 1 in Haywood County. Locally owned and operated. TAP ROOM SPORTS BAR & GRILL 176 Country Club Dr. Waynesville 828.456.5988. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. Enjoy soups, sandwiches, salads and hearty appetizers along with a full bar menu in our casual, smoke-free neighborhood grill. THAI SPICE 128 N. Main St., Waynesville. 828.454.5400. Lunch: Tuesday-Friday 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday noon to 3 p.m. Dinner Tuesday-Saturday 4:30 to 9 p.m. Closed Monday. Thai Spice, an authentic Thai restaurant, warmly welcomes you to experience a superb dinning experience. Don’t be timid, the food comes mild, medium, hot and Thai Hot. You choose. www.thaispicewnc.com VITO’S PIZZA 607 Highlands Rd., Franklin. 828.369.9890. Established here in in 1998. Come to Franklin and enjoy our laid back place, a place you can sit back, relax and enjoy our 62” HDTV. Our Pizza dough, sauce, meatballs, and sausage are all made from scratch by Vito.
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WEDNESDAY: AYCE Fish & Shrimp THURSDAY: AYCE Crab Leg FRIDAY: Surf-N-Turf Special SATURDAY: Seafood Trio Special
Mediterranean Style Foods Winter Hours Monday - Saturday 8 am to 3 pm
6147 Hwy 276 S. • Bethel
828.586.1985•OPEN WED.-SAT.
(at the Mobil Gas Station)
438 Skyland Drive • Sylva Exit 85 to Skyland Dr., two blocks from McDonalds
bbcafenc.com • 828.648.3838
Nutrition Facts
Enjoy readings of Scotland’s most Saturday famous poet,
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Smoky Mountain News
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January 14-20, 2015
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19
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A&E
Smoky Mountain News
WHEN IT ALL CLICKS — the art of the angle
BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF WRITER John MacLean will never forget his first photo shoot. “I was 19 years old and it was at a meat packing plant in New Jersey,” he said. Standing in the basement of the Cullowhee Methodist Church at Western Carolina University last Saturday, MacLean told two-dozen folks of the Sylva Photo Club about how he got into the business. “They paid me $150 to take photos and the check bounced,” he laughed. But MacLean wasn’t deterred. He knew photography was his passion, where he’d already had an epiphany that this was the career and life path he John MacLean wanted to go down. “I took a photography class in high school and I still have this contact sheet where this other student wrote, ‘These are cool pictures,’” he said. “When I read that, it solidified everything — people liked my images.”
Want to know more? For more information about John MacLean, his portfolio and about speaking engagements or workshops, click on www.johnmaclean.com. The next meeting of the Sylva Photo Club will be with guest presenter/photographer Les Saucier at 2 p.m. March 14 at the Cullowhee Methodist Church on the campus of Western Carolina University. The workshop will be on how to make an inexpensive light box along with photographic lights. Light boxes are used for close-up studio shots, eBay/Craiglist, documenting valuables or photographing anything that is small. www.sylvaphotoclub.wordpress.com or 828.293.9820 or sylvaphotoclub@gmail.com. Photos courtesy of John MacLean
“It’s the way a reflection hits a wall, the way a shadow is cast on the ground, any of those nondescript things people won’t pay attention to.”
THE EYES BEHIND THE LENS
Growing up in suburban New Jersey, MacLean had a dark room in his basement. With his father having a deep love for photography, the youngster learned early on how to take, develop and appreciate the art of an image. “It was about seeing that image come to life in the tray,” he said. “It was magic.” MacLean would accompany his father to local bicycle and car races. They’d snap photos of everyday life in America, then bring the scene to life. It was a process that captivated the teenager. Following high school graduation, he found work at a handful of camera stores and learned the industry from the ground up. “It was about self-experimentation,” he said. “There was no doubt in my mind that this is what I wanted to do, it was just a matter of experimenting with different subject matter to find what best interested me — it’s not so much about what makes you money, it was more about what makes you motivated.” In 1982, he headed for sunny California to become a photo assistant on professional shoots around Los Angeles. “I experienced everything from a burrito factory to a Playboy shoot, so it was pretty varied,” he smiled. “The real nuts and bolts of my knowledge and techniques came from watching how other photographers worked. It was real world experience I couldn’t get in the classroom.” MacLean’s breakthrough in the industry came from a chance interview with acclaimed New York photographer Eric Meola, who hired him as an assistant on some high-end shoots around California.
— John MacLean
“It was product and car photography, where I learned a lot about high-end work,” MacLean said. And yet, after all of those shoots, MacLean was hitting a glass ceiling, eager to make his own mark. Relocating to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1993, he switched his title from “assistant” to “photographer,” a move that set the course for the rest of his career. “When I moved to Santa Fe, I didn’t want to approach it as an assistant, it was time to don the photographer’s hat — fake it till you make it,” he reminisced. “I ended up befriending this general manager of a hotel in Santa Fe who then called me to shoot all of these hotels in the city.” After a decade in New Mexico, MacLean headed back to Los Angeles for bigger projects to work on and larger clients to work with. The work was plentiful, the experiences bountiful. A few years back, MacLean packed up and headed for Western North Carolina to care for his aging parents in Franklin. And though he is far from the bright lights of California, he truly has immersed himself in the natural beauty and creative inspiration of Southern Appalachia. “I love the scenery here,” he said. “I adore the Blue Ridge Parkway. Anytime it’s open, I’m up there, taking photos and taking it all in.”
THE IMAGE OF MODERNITY Following his presentation to the Sylva Photo Club, MacLean takes a seat in a cafeteria across the hallway. Now 52, he wonders about the future of photography, as an art form and as a career. With endless digital technology and equipment at your fingertips, the lines have become blurred between professional photographer and amateur shooter. “In today’s world, it’s not anything like it was in the 1980s and 90s,” he said. “The problem is that there are so many people out there with a camera that think they can do it, and the thing is, they can do it, but they can’t do it to the level of production and repeatability with professional results.” When asked if would he have become a photographer had he grown up in the 21st century, MacLean pauses for a moment, glancing out the window and back to the question posed. “No,” he said. “It’s not something that I’d recommend for anyone to get into right now, to approach it as a business. To quit your day job and become a photographer can be a bit of a stretch. It’s better to keep it a passionate hobby these days.” But, regardless of the place of photography
in a modern world, what does remain is the singular power an image still can have on a person, where you are immediately stopped in your tracks, honed into a picture like two magnets snapping together. “We have become a Facebook society where we scroll the wall and just look at the highlights,” he said. “If you can get people to look at a print on a wall and get some sort of emotional response from it, some connection, then it had a lot more meaning than if you just were scrolling through an album online.” A photographer for the majority of his life, MacLean himself remains in awe of the world around him, where he constantly sees the essence of his surroundings, even in the most mundane of spaces. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as it is from the eyes behind the lens. “One of the things I enjoy about photography is the vision,” he said. “You look at things differently, you see things other might take for granted when you walk by something. It’s the way a reflection hits a wall, the way a shadow is cast on the ground, any of those nondescript things people won’t pay attention to.” When the Sylva Photo Club asked MacLean to present his work, the photographer started rummaging through an array of old images from his youth. Though the dates on the photos were decades ago, MacLean found himself transported right back to the exact moment they were taken. It is that mesmerizing ability of photography that provokes him further down the rabbit hole of his passion, further into a society he wants to expose the craft to. “You look at those old photos and wonder where all the time went and what transpired within that big gap between then and now,” he said. “From the moment I got in photography, I felt I had something to offer the world. And, I’ve been at it so long, I’d like to give back and share the knowledge and passion with others.”
BY GARRET K. WOODWARD
T
Drive-By Truckers. David McClister photo
Want to go? The Drive-By Truckers will perform at 9 p.m. Jan. 16-17 at The Orange Peel in Asheville. Tickets cost $25 in advance or $30 day of show. www.drivebytruckers.com or www.theorangepeel.net.
Dirty Soul Revival (rock/blues) will perform at 9 p.m. Jan. 16 at No Name Sports Pub in Sylva.
Smoky Mountain News: With A performance of the “An Appalachian the Truckers latest album “English Songbook: North Carolina in Word, Music and Oceans” it was more of you being Song” will be held at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 20 at showcased. I had read you had Western Carolina University. writer’s block and the record was a creative breakthrough for you? The “Robert Burns Dinner” will be held from Mike Cooley: Kind of. That’s 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Jan. 24 in the Tartan Hall at been my cycle always, to spend a the Franklin Presbyterian Church. few years coming up with enough Through the Hills (Americana/folk) will new songs to add to a record and perform at 7 p.m. Jan. 23 at Frog Level then tour, and then kind of get Brewing in Waynesville. stuck. Almost every album for me has been either one of the other, The Get Right Band (funk/soul) will perform either coming out of a slump with at 7 p.m. Jan. 23 at BearWaters Brewing in a lot of new stuff or coming into it Waynesville. really bummed out because I don’t have any new stuff so I pull out something older. This time What do you think about that? around, I didn’t have anything older to pull MC: That’s the nature of it — it comes out. (Laughs). and it goes. It has flown by. Patterson [Hood’s] (singer/guitarist) sister came by SMN: The band is celebrating 19 years the other day and dropped off an old together. There have been a lot of bands that photo. Looking at that it seems like a lifecame up with you in the beginning that time ago, but then someone says 18, 19 or aren’t here anymore, and yet you guys are. 20 years, it doesn’t seem like that long at
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SMN: What are you thinking when you’re up there onstage? MC: If I’m thinking about anything, I’m forgetting words. (Laughs). I try not to think, but you can’t help letting your mind wander. Most of the time I’m staring at that red exit sign at the back of the room, that’s where my eyes always land. One night, I forgot my words because I was thinking about that red exit sign. It’s like no matter where I am, I’m looking for an exit sign. (Laughs). SMN: What’s rock-n-roll’s place in 2015? MC: People will always gravitate to rock music. Kids will always pick up an instrument. It has always evolved and it always will. That’s the one thing about entertainment — nobody started it and nobody’s going to end it. The first things people gathered around to watch was seeing somebody imitating something they had seen somebody else do. SMN: What has a life playing music taught you about what it means to be a human being? MC: You get a unique perspective because you see things, a different lens with the lifestyle you live. You see the world and the people in it very differently than if you drove the same five miles to your job and five miles back home. I have to remind myself to not get too impatient with my fellow man, because of no fault of their own they might not be able to see as big of a picture as I’m fortunate enough to see, and to also remember that it doesn’t make me more important or better, it just is different. SMN: Music is the biggest communicator for change. How do you see the role of the Truckers in your responsibilities as an entertainer? MC: Maybe someone with a narrow perspective can see the world at a different angle with our music. We’re not looking to charge windmills — we’re looking to plant seeds.
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Bookstore Thur., Jan. 15 at 10:30 a.m. th
The Coffee with the Poet series continues with local writer, Kirk Thomas
Fri., Jan. 16th at 6:30 p.m. Catherine Carter will read from her new poetry chapbook, Marks of the Witch 3 EAST JACKSON STREET • SYLVA
828/586-9499 • citylightsnc.com
Fly Fishing the South
Smoky Mountain News
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SMN: Seeing the band live these days, everyone seems so comfortable onstage, so calm. MC: We are. When I’m saying we’re having more fun and doing more and playing better than ever, I don’t mean that as an insult to any former members. I’ve put in more effort to be better at my game, and I know Patterson has, too. We’re all in a better place.
January 14-20, 2015
hey say all great art comes from conflict. It’s conflict of the soul, the heart and the mind, everything that either nurtures or tortures us. And for the Drive-By Truckers, conflict is what fuels their intent. Coming into their 19th year of rebel rousing, the Athens, Georgia, southern rockers are the epitome of the “New South.” They are folks from below the MasonDixon Line that not only listened attentively to their Depression-era elders, they took their wisdom, words and warnings, and have applied all of it to carved-in-stone melodies that echo out across a country where maybe those ideals of humility, simple generosity and hard work ethics skipped a couple generations. And throughout their career, the Truckers have continually evolved, where an initial slow burn of success and notoriety has now become a full-fledged inferno of kick-the-doors-down-and-kickyour-sorry-ass-rock-n-roll. The Truckers will roll into The Orange Peel in Asheville on Jan. 16-17. The Smoky Mountain News recently caught up with singer/guitarist Mike Cooley. The “Stroker Ace” himself spoke of how 2014 was a benchmark year for his band, what exactly is it he sees while onstage in the heat of a performance and why after almost 20 years together the Truckers are only getting started.
Health & Healing are just 2 feet away arts & entertainment
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WAYNESVILLE 251.9721
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On the wall arts & entertainment
Class includes a 25-pound bag of clay. $100 for Bascom members, $150 for non-members. • An exhibit of paint as a sculptural medium artist Paul Farmer, “First Cut,” will be on display from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 17, at The Bascom. • The Kid’s Creation Station will be from 10 a.m. to noon Jan. 17, 24 and 31 at The Bascom. Theme will be metal. For ages 5 to 10. $20 per month. • A figure drawing class with Knight Martorell will be offered from 5 to 6 p.m. Jan. 21 and 28 at The Bascom. Draw from a live model in the adult education studio. $10. aalig@thebascom.org or 828.787.2865. • The Franklin After-School Art Adventure will be from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m. Jan. 21 and 28. The theme will be metal. Students will explore popular techniques, theories in art history, as well as dive into contemporary and folk art. For ages 5 to 10. $20 per month. www.thebascom.org or 828.526.4949.
A wide variety of children and adult art activities will be happening this month at The Bascom in Highlands. www.thebascom.org
January 14-20, 2015
Children, adult classes at The Bascom There will be an array of art classes offered throughout the month at The Bascom in Highlands, as well other activities put on by the institution around Macon County • An after-school art enrichment class will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Jan. 15 at the Macon Middle School in Franklin. Free. 828.743.0200 to register. • A basic hand-building and wheel throwing class will be offered from 10 a.m. to noon Jan. 15, 20 and 22 at The Bascom.
‘Winter Craft’ series in Bryson City Crafter/owner of Taylor’s Greenhouse, Karen Taylor, will be the instructor for the “Winter Craft” series at Wild Fern Studios in Bryson City. • A beeswax candle making workshop will be held on Jan. 17. Using beeswax sheets, attendees will make candles, learn formations of shapes and the basics of rolled candles. • A wet felting workshop will be held Jan. 24. The class explores the art of wet felting, along with needle felting and the basics that go along with making a unique piece of jewelry. Each series date runs from 10 a.m. to noon. Class fee is $20. 828.736.1605.
Smoky Mountain News
Open call for Front Street, art market
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An open call for artists and vendors is currently under way for the inaugural Front Street Arts & Crafts Show and the Arts & Crafts Market in Dillsboro. The Front Street Arts & Crafts Show will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 20. This is the first summer show in Dillsboro in many years, and will kickoff the summer/fall events with the same promoters of the popular ColorFest. The show will feature a silent auction to benefit the Community Table of Sylva, food and entertainment. Arriving during the show will be a trainload of visitors to Western North Carolina through the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad. Also during the summer, every third Saturday the town has planned the “Arts & Crafts Market” where vendors are encouraged to attend for a small fee. Each market will have a separate focus. July 19 will showcase pottery vendors with a pottery studio self tour and demonstrations at all pottery studios. Aug. 15 will showcase arts and crafts vendors
York-Bridgers brings mixed media to Sylva Mixed media artist Dr. Rachel YorkBridgers will hold a workshop at noon Saturday, Jan. 17, at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva. Using an assortment of found objects, fabric, natural material, and traditional art supplies (paint, pencils, chalk) participants will begin by working from a place of intention, or a theme, and move toward interpretative abstraction, or collage, through the free flow and exploration of mixed media. Bring any ‘special’ items you may want to incorporate — photographs, a piece of broken jewelry, a beautiful piece of material. York-Bridgers is an educator, community activist, artist, environmentalist and researcher, currently teaching English, and leading professional based critical thinking workshops at the University of Toronto. Over the last 15 years, she has led adult literacy, community based service learning projects,
and teacher education workshops in Canada and the U.S. Her nature writing expeditions and workshops with teachers and adult educators at OISE /University of Toronto were often used in the professional development program to encourage an engagement of place-based education and holistic learning. No experience is necessary for this workshop. It is free of charge. The workshop is limited to 12 participants. Call the library to register. This event is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Jackson County Public Library. 828.586.2016 or www.fontanalib.org.
Dr. Rachel YorkBridgers will instruct a mixed media art workshop on Jan. 17 in Sylva. Donated photo
demonstrating with additional demonstrations within the shops of Dillsboro. Sept. 19 will showcase food vendors with cooking demonstrations in the shops and restaurants. Vendors may apply for these shows by downloading an application at www.visitdillsboro.org. 954.707.2004. • Haywood County Arts Council’s annual meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 22, at Gallery 86 in Waynesville. The gathering will begin with a wine and cheese reception, following by a presentation and performance. Attendees will be asked for input by the following questions: What are we doing well? What do we need to do more of? What should be doing differently? RSVP by Jan. 15 to manager@haywoodarts.org or 828.452.0593. www.haywoodarts.org.
ALSO:
• “The Skeleton Twins” (Jan. 9-11, 13-14, 16-17), “Planes: Fire & Rescue” (Jan. 10, 17, 24, 31) and “The Boxtrolls” (Jan. 10, 17, 24, 31) will be screened at The Strand at 38
Main in Waynesville. Saturday morning cartoons will also be shown at 11 a.m. For screening times, click on www.38main.com or call 828.283.0079. • The “Come Paint with Charles Kidz Program” will be at 4 p.m. Jan. 15 and 22 at the Charles Heath Gallery in Bryson City. $18 per child. Materials and snacks included. 828.538.2054. • “Boyhood” (Jan. 15), “Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy” (Jan. 16), “The Muppets” (Jan. 17), “Lucy” (Jan. 22), “The Boxtrolls” (at 2 and 6:30 p.m. Jan. 23-24) will be screened at the Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. Screenings are free and begin at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.madbatterfoodandfilm.com. • “Exodus: Gods and Kings” and “The Theory of Everything” will be screened at the Highlands Playhouse. Showtimes are at 2, 5 and 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and also 2 and 5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets cost $9. For dates and more information, call 828.526.2695. www.highlandsplayhouse.org.
On the street arts & entertainment
WNC celebrates MLK Day
• Western style square dancing lessons will be offered from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Mondays through April 20 at the Recreation Center in Cullowhee. $65 per person. Register at the center.
newsdesk crafts
ALSO:
• A wine tasting will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. Jan. 17 and 24 at Papou’s Wine Shop & Bar in Sylva. 828.586.6300.
Wishing You the Best of Everything in 2015!
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Smoky Mountain News
• The “Robert Burns Dinner” will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Jan. 24 in the Tartan Hall at the Franklin Presbyterian Church. Celebrating the Scottish tradition, there will be a “Calling of the Clans,” recitation of “Ode to Haggis,” the “Immortal Memory” of Burns, as well as toasts, singing and dancing. 828.524.7472.
January 14-20, 2015
In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A commemorative service will be held at 3 Day on Monday, Jan. 19, there will be an p.m. Jan. 18 at the Pleasant Grove Baptist variety of events around Western North Church in Canton. The 25th annual Prayer Carolina. Breakfast with guest speaker Janie SinacoreEstablished as an annual day of rememJaberg will be at 8 a.m. Jan. 19 in the brance that was passed by both houses of Lambuth Inn Dining Room at the Lake Congress, MLK Day was signed into law by Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center. President Ronald Reagan in November 1983, Sinacore-Jaberg is the vice president of with its first celebration occurring in 1986. regional operations for Carolinas Healthcare Since then, U.S. citizens volunteer their serv- System. 828.215.0296 or 828.246.2588. ice on MLK Day, the third Monday in • Brandon A. Robinson will be the January. keynote speaker for the MLK Day celebra• Unitarian minister and social activist tion at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21, in the John Haynes Holmes will present “NAACP: A.K. Hinds University Center at Western The Moral Monday Movement” at 11 a.m. Carolina University. Robinson is an attorney, Sunday, Jan. 18, at the Unitarian Universalist two-time Western Carolina University alumFellowship of Franklin. Holmes is a minister nus and member of the WCU Board of at The Community Church of New York — Visitors. There will also be a range of service Unitarian Universalist, which were among the founders of both the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909 and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). • The “Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service and Gratitude” will be from 3 to 5 p.m. Jan. 19 at Bridge Street Park in Sylva. The service is sponBrandon A. Robinson will be the keynote speaker for the MLK Day sored by the Jackson celebration on Jan. 21 at Western Carolina University. Donated photo County NAACP, which also has active membership for Swain and Macon activities taking place at varying locations counties until each can have their own from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 19 and 24 on the branch. The group will also be hosting a WCU campus. The event is coordinated by roadway cleanup between the Catamount WCU’s Center for Service Learning. The Gap and the Western Carolina University Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity will host a Unity entrance. For the cleanup, meet at 8 a.m. Jan. March at 4:30 p.m. Jan. 19 behind the 19 at the Cullowhee Post Office. There will University Center. Students will recite varialso be a collection of non-perishable food ous speeches of social justice at noon for The Community Table and United Tuesday, Jan. 20 from the University Center Christian Ministries, with items to be balcony. There will be a music performance brought to the Bridge Park celebration. and showcase art display about the Civil • The Haywood County Martin Luther Rights Movement at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. King, Jr. Committee will host a Pride March 22, in the University Center. The Robinson at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 17, which will start address and all MLK Day celebration events at the Harris Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church at WCU are free and open to the public. and conclude at the Town Annex in Canton. www.wcu.edu.
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# 314 - free hat
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arts & entertainment
On the beat WCU to present ‘Appalachian Songbook’
‘An Appalachian Songbook’ will be performed Jan. 20 at Western Carolina University. Donated photo
www.facebook.com/wynonnajudd
Wynonna to bring music, stories to Franklin Country star Wynonna Judd will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Drawing on her nearly 30 years of experience as a country music megastar, Judd’s career has always revolved around telling stories. Whether she’s using her rich, com-
January 14-20, 2015
A performance of the “An Appalachian Songbook: North Carolina in Word, Music and Song” will be held at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20, in the Coulter Building at Western Carolina University. The program features soprano and WCU alumna Jacquelyn Culpepper performing songs from “Appalachian Songbook” by Kenneth Frazelle. Former WCU English professor Kathryn Stripling Byer will read poems from her books Wildwood Flower and Black Shawl. Pianist Philip Bush will perform “Wildwood Flowers,” also by Frazelle. Culpepper has performed for audiences
across the United States, Europe, South America, the Caribbean and Asia. Career highlights include performing more than 85 roles in opera and oratorio, and solo concert tours throughout the world with American Voices, a nonprofit organization whose mission has been to further the appreciation and understanding of American music and culture. Byer served as North Carolina’s first female poet laureate, from 2005 to 2010. Her poetry, prose and fiction have appeared in Poetry, The Atlantic, Georgia Review, Shenandoah and other publications. Her most-recent collection, Descent, received the Roanoke-Chowan Award from the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association, as well as the Southern Independent Booksellers Award in Poetry. She was inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2012 and received an honorary doctor of letters degree from WCU in 2013. Bush, a highly sought-after chamber musician, is regarded as a pianist of uncommon versatility during an active and unconventional career that has taken him to many parts of the globe. Since his New York recital debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he has appeared as recitalist throughout North America, as well as in Europe, Asia and the Caribbean. Free. 828.227.7242
manding voice to sing one of her countless hits or sitting down for a bold, sincere television appearance, Judd always gets her point across with unflinching honesty and wisdom gained over the course of her very public life. A five-time GRAMMY winner and New York Times bestselling author, she has been at work recording her eighth studio album, the latest in a string of hit records that started with her quintuple platinum 1992 solo debut, “Wynonna.” Tickets start at $42. www.greatmountainmusic.com or 866.273.4615.
Wynonna Judd will perform Jan. 24 in Franklin.
Bryson City community jam
A community music jam will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15, at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City. Anyone with a guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dulcimer, anything unplugged, are invited to join. Singers are also welcomed to join in or you can just stop by and listen. 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 year round. 828.488.3030.
JANUARY
24 - 31
Come join us in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee for the
25th Anniversary Wilderness Wildlife Week! Smoky Mountain News
This special free event features more than 400 educational seminars, 65 hikes and field trips into Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the local area, as well as more than 70 onsite exhibitors!
Featured sessions include presentations by: Lee Stetson & Alan Sutterfield Ken Jenkins • Dr. Bill Bass • The Talk is Cheap Tour featuring Bill Landry, Sam Venable, Jim Claborn & Elizabeth Rose
...and many other exciting programs!
The LeConte Center at Pigeon Forge 2986 Teaster Lane Pigeon Forge, TN 37863 For more information, visit MyPigeonForge.com or telephone the Pigeon Forge Office of Special Events at (865) 429-7350
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arts & entertainment January 14-20, 2015
Smoky Mountain News
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On the beat • BearWaters Brewing (Waynesville) will have Tonology at 8 p.m. Jan. 16 and The Get Right Band (funk/soul) at 7 p.m. Jan. 23. www.bwbrewing.com or 828.246.0602. • City Lights Café (Sylva) will have The Liz Nance Trio at 6 p.m. Jan. 16. www.citylightscafe.com. • Classic Wine Seller (Waynesville) will have Jay Brown (singer-songwriter) Jan. 16, Jacob Johnson (folk/funk) Jan. 17 and Kevin Lorenz (folk/acoustic) Jan. 23. All shows begin at 7 p.m. $10 minimum purchase. 828.452.6000 or www.classicwineseller.com.
ALSO:
• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will have Craig Summers & Lee Kram at 6 p.m. Jan. 15 and 22, and Through the Hills (Americana/folk) at 7 p.m. Jan. 23. Free. 828.454.5664 or www.froglevelbrewing.com. • Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will have an Open Mic night on Jan. 14 and 21, a jazz night Jan. 15 and 22, and The Liz Nance Trio Jan. 24. All events begin at 8 p.m. www.innovation-brewing.com.
• Mad Batter Food & Film will have Painted Giants and The Breedlove Brothers Jan. 23 and Darren & the Buttered Toast and Lyric Jan. 24. All shows are $2 and begin at 9 p.m. www.madbatterfoodandfilm.com. • No Name Sports Pub (Sylva) will have Ethan Morse Jan. 15, Dirty Soul Revival Jan. 16, Fat Cheek Kat Jan. 17, Ricky Pail Jan. 22, Dustin Martin & The Ramblers Jan. 23 and Mangus Colorado Jan. 24. All shows are free and begin at 9 p.m. 828.586.2750 or www.nonamesportspub.com. • Rathskeller Coffee Haus and Pub (Franklin) will have Ronnie Evans on Jan. 16, Dave Stewart Jan. 17, Tom Johnson Jan. 23 and Gary Carter Jan. 24. All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. www.rathskellerfranklin.com or 828.369.6796. • Tipping Point Brewing (Waynesville) will have Chris Williams (singer-songwriter) at 9 p.m. Jan. 16. Free. 828.246.9230 or www.tippingpointtavern.com. • Western Carolina University (Cullowhee) will present the Sheila Jordan Jazz Vocal Recital from 7:30 to 10 p.m. Jan. 23 in the Coulter Building. www.wcu.edu.
January 14-20, 2015
On the stage
GREGG ALLMAN
Smoky Mountain News
F R IDAY, J A NU A R Y 16
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tains people of all ages. The production is part of WCU’s Arts and Cultural Events Series. The show is recommended for ages 3 and older. Tickets cost $5 for students and children, and $10 for all others. They can be purchased at the Bardo Arts Center box office, online at www.bardoartscenter.wcu.edu or by phone at 828.227.2479.
AMA ZING ENTERTAINMENT COMING TO HARRAH’S CHEROKEE
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Societal comedy to hit HART stage
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Tickets to go on sale for ‘FROGZ’ Imago Theatre’s “FROGZ,” a family friendly show that combines Cirque du Soleil-style acrobatics with mesmerizing masks, mime and music, will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, in the Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center at Western Carolina University. Tickets go on sale Tuesday, Jan. 20. With larger-than-life animals taking on human characteristics, “FROGZ” was designed to create a comedic and mindbending carnival of the absurd that enter-
The societal comedy “Elemeno Pea” will be held at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 16-17 and 23-24 and at 3 p.m. Jan. 18 and 25 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville. It’s just after Labor Day, and Martha’s Vineyard has started emptying out, but you can still smell the suntan lotion (the expensive kind). And the expensive life is just what Simone is living these days, as personal assistant to Michaela Kell, trophy wife of an absurdly rich (and often absent) New York ad man. When Simone’s older sister, a social worker from blue collar Buffalo, comes to visit, lifestyles — and worlds — collide. This keenly observed comedy about class, family and the choices that shape who we are unfolds in real time, fast, furious and funny. Tickets cost $10 for adults, $6 for students. www.harttheater.org.
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Smoky Mountain News
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Outdoors
Smoky Mountain News
Dog fight in the forest Woman crusades for legal change after hunting dog attack Anderson and her dogs, Loki (left) and Finn, enjoy a snowshoeing adventure the winter before the attack. Donated photo
BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER adie Anderson was packing up camp after a night in the backcountry with her two Australian shepherds when the peace of an autumn forest waking up from a nighttime rain was decisively broken. “A pack of hunting dogs came into the camp and attacked my dogs, almost killed my dogs, bit me a couple of times while I was trying to protect them,” recalled Anderson, an Ohio resident who at the time was camping in the Snowbird Wilderness Area in Nantahala National Forest. Some of the dogs dragged Loki, who’s 8, down to the nearby river, while the others tackled 2-year-old Finn. “I honestly thought that was the end. I thought they were going to end up killed,” said the 29-year-old veterinarian. But she wasn’t going to let that happen without a fight. Armed with only a plastic tent stake — her pepper spray was somewhere in the tent and in the heat of the moment she forgot about the knife in her pocket —
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Anderson had to face the worst moment of the whole ordeal: deciding which dog to defend first. She went for Loki, jumping onto the dog pack, doing whatever she could to get them off her longtime friend. Finally, she was able to get Loki away and safe inside the tent. Loki had a deep wound on her abdomen, one that Anderson was worried might prove fatal. At that point, she turned to Finn, who was quite literally being ripped to shreds in front of her, but she couldn’t extricate him.
THE AFTERMATH By the time the dogs’ owners got there, Anderson said, “I’d been screaming for help for almost an hour and I was starting to get worried that no one was going to show up.” Even once they got there, relief wasn’t instantaneous. The first of the group to arrive didn’t have enough leashes to tie off a dozen dogs, and they had to wait for the rest of their party before they could break up the fight. “They were pretty horrified,” Anderson
“This was a predatory attack,” she said. “There’s no excuse for letting dogs get away with that.” — Kadie Anderson
said. “I think they were surprised it had happened, for one. One of the hunters said he had been hunting with dogs for 50 years and had never had this problem.” That’s a sentiment echoed by Wallace Messer, a Waynesville resident who’s been running bear dogs for more than 50 years and currently serves as treasurer of the N.C. Bear Hunters Association. “I’ve been hunting about 54, 55 years and I’ve never had a dog that would jump on another dog when a bear dog gets doing what it loves to do — that’s run a bear,” Messer said. Maybe this wasn’t an entirely unprovoked attack, Messer postulated, though acknowl-
edging that he wasn’t there and hasn’t researched this particular incident. “Maybe they growled at those dogs,” he suggested. “Just like a human being, you growl at someone, they’d be ready to do something.” But Anderson vehemently denies that’s what happened. “This was a predatory attack,” she said. “There’s no excuse for letting dogs get away with that.” She accepted the hunters’ help in packing up the campsite — that would have been hard for Anderson to do on her own, given that her hands had been bitten badly in her efforts to save the dogs — and in getting back to her car. But she didn’t think to ask their names, and they didn’t offer that either or help with medical and veterinary expenses, which would eventually total about $1,800. The kicker, though, came when Anderson started calling up law enforcement to tell them what had happened. “I reported it to the [Graham County] Sheriff Department and the [Nantahala National Forest] ranger department and pretty much everyone you’re supposed to contact and found out that there’s a law in North Carolina that basically protects the owners of hunting dogs from being cited in cases like this,” Anderson said. The law in question is a 1990 statute spelling out the liabilities associated with owning a dangerous dog. According to the law, if a dog attacks a person and incurs medical bills of more than $100, the owner is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by as much as a $5,000 fine and two years in prison. Local ordinances can spell out even more penalties and precautions. However, the law specifically exempts dogs being used in a hunt. “I drove right past their [the hunters’] campsite,” Anderson said. “I told the sheriff exactly where they were, then come to find out they can’t charge them anyway. They should at the very least require a rabies quarantine and check their rabies vaccination.” Neither of those things happened, so Anderson had to get post-exposure rabies shots, which cost $300 a pop.
IS CHANGE NEEDED? That outcome upset Anderson to the point that, within a week of returning home to Ohio, she launched an online campaign to raise money for her medical expenses and identify the hunters. The site later morphed into a movement to change the North Carolina law. An online petition to remove the hunting dog exemption now has more than 1,500 signatures. “As soon as I get to my target number of signatures, I would like to go down and actually deliver it to the governor,” Anderson said. Messer sympathizes with what happened to Anderson and her dogs, but he isn’t so sure that changing the law is the best thing to do. “How many times has this happened with hunting dogs bothering
Hundreds of mountain bikers will descend on the frozen trails of Fontana next weekend to brave the signature winter race: the Icycle Mountain Bike Event at Fontana Village Resort on Jan. 24. Racers will cover a 7-mile single-track course featuring rocks, roots, creeks and wideopen passing lanes — and likely some ice on the trail. For those up to the extra challenge, a nighttime downhill race will be held in the dark, but helmet lights are mandatory. The first race, the Icycle Cross Country Lemans, begins at 11 a.m., with sport, big bike and beginner categories. Expert and singlespeed categories will race at 1 p.m. The heartstopping downhill race will start at 5:30 p.m. Registration information is online at www.active.com by searching “Fontana Dam.” www.fontanavillage.com. Donated photo
Smokies makes must-see list of World Heritage sites
someone’s pets? How often does that happen? One out of a thousand, one out of 10,000, one out of what?” he asked. When incidents occur between hunting dogs and backcountry users out in the middle of the woods, whose story is the one that flies? Who’s to say who growled at who first, who instigated the fight? “I don’t think we should be held responsible for another dog that maybe just jumped on mine and he’s just fighting back,” Messer said. Besides, bear hunters are a responsible kind of folk. Bear hunting is more than just “turning your dogs loose in the woods and jumping on anything you come across,” he said. Hunters walk the woods and let the dogs loose when they come across a bear, then the dogs get to doing the thing that they love to do. When they’re done doing it, they’re ready to go home and take a nap. That said, Messer made clear, “My dog bites you, you don’t have to worry about it anyway. I’ll put him to sleep.” “Most hunters, I’d say 99.9 percent of all hunters, take care of their dogs and if anything happens they’ll be responsible for their own dog,” he added. Given that, Messer favors the personal responsibility form of dog regulation. Hunters, by and large, will do the right thing, but they should also be allowed the freedom to practice their hobby during the scant days of the year when they’re allowed to do so. In the western part of the state, the
2014-15 bear season only lasts from Oct. 13, when the attack happened, until Nov. 22. The season opens up one more time from Dec. 15 to Jan. 1. Those few weeks of sport are a window of time that sportsmen pay dearly to participate in, Messer said, though acknowledging that hunters are able to take their dogs on training runs beginning August 15 and can legally continue through March 15. “She’s got all that time to let her dogs run loose in the woods that she does for free, where I’ve got to pay for mine,” Messer said. Big game stamps, hunting licenses, yearround food and training for the dogs … it all adds up to thousands of dollars. “I’ve never kept track of it because I’m afraid to,” Messer said. “It’s a hobby that we got, and an expensive hobby, and we get dogs hurt too.” Anderson, however, is still working to right what she sees as an injustice. With the legislative session starting up this month, she’s hoping for some tangible progress in the near future. And then, a return to North Carolina to replace her last memory of the mountains with something better. “It’s a beautiful place, and also I feel like I need to go back and look at it from a different perspective,” she said, “but I can tell you I will have pepper spray and probably a firearm.” A link to Anderson’s www.change.org petition is online at www.facebook.com/justiceforkadie.
Frosty Foot race kicks off from Tsali The Frosty Foot Race will return to Tsali Recreation Area on Saturday, Jan. 17 this year, offering grueling foot races of 30 and 50 kilometers. Racers will enjoy a scenic, rolling course but
Sapphire Valley Ski Area is now open, thanks to chilly temperatures and round-theclock snowmaking. In addition to the typical skiing, snowboarding and tubing runs, a new zip line canopy challenge course premiers this year, the Vordach Zip Line Canopy Challenge Course. The small ski area is located on the border of Jackson and Transylvania counties near Cashiers. Skiers and snowboarders can make runs Fridays noon to 8 p.m., Saturdays 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sundays 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Mondays 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Snow tubing hours are the same barring a 10 a.m. opening Saturdays and Sundays. Hours are subject to change depending on the weather. 828.743.7663 or www.skisapphirevalley.com.
Smoky Mountain News
sites’ significance and interesting facts about them. World Heritage Sites are areas that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, has determined to possess outstanding global value to humanity for their exceptional cultural and natural importance. www.nps.gov/nr/travel/worldheritagesites.
Sapphire Valley Ski finally gets cranking for season
January 14-20, 2015
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is part of a new online travel itinerary from the National Park Service that highlights the 22 World Heritage Sites in the United States. The listings, which include such diverse areas as Yellowstone National Park, Independence Hall in Philadelphia and San Juan National Historic Site in Puerto Rico, feature background information on these
should be prepared to be self-sufficient through its duration. The race makes a circuit on the trails at Tsali, known for its mountain biking. The entry charge is $1 per kilometer, with all participants receiving a custom race running beanie and 50K runners scoring a pair of arm sleeves. Foot Rx Asheville organizes the event. www.footrxasheville.com.
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Fontana bike races offer icy adrenaline
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Gardener program gears up in Macon
Community support delivers new kitchen to Outdoor Mission Camp
Sign-ups for the Master Gardener program are underway in Macon County. The program is designed for gardeners who want to hone their horticulture knowledge and give back to the gardening community. The short course, provided by North Carolina Cooperative Extension, helps home gardeners improve their understanding of plants and gardening. It entails 42 hours of training in topics such as fruit and shade trees, ornamental plants, lawn care, insects, disease and vegetable plants. Participants are certified as Master Gardeners after completing training and volunteer program components. Classes begin in February. Application information is available at macon.ces.ncsu.edu or 828.349.2046.
Smoky Mountain News
January 14-20, 2015
Fowl fans wanted for new poultry club From backyard chickens to guinea hen hobbyists to commercial farmers, anyone with a hankering to raise poultry is invited to an organizational meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, for a new poultry club forming in Jackson County. A similar club in Macon County has built up a large following with about 50 members on its roster. A poultry club is an increasingly popular venue for poultry keepers to learn about topics ranging from nutrition to anatomy to business considerations. Many raise backyard chickens as a hobby and as a source of fresh eggs, selling their extras to friends and neighbors or at the farmer’s market. “We do see a turning away from the large-scale commercial farming of the past,” said Chad Mcconnel, who leads the Macon County club. “Many people are more interested in local foods as a healthier alternative to mass-produced food. Some of our members sell poultry and eggs at local stores and restaurants.” All ages and interest levels welcome. Held at the Jackson County Cooperative Extension office. 828.586.4009.
Getting the crane required to install Superior Walls’ prefabricated panels up the mountain was no easy task. Donated photo
Calling campground hosts to Lake Glenville Onsite campground hosts are needed to oversee Ralph J. Andrews Park, located on
Clean Water Fund awards $1.3 million to land conservation in western counties Projects in Haywood and Swain counties will benefit from an additional $4.5 million of Clean Water Management Trust Fund dollars awarded this month when the trust fund received revenue from specialty license plates and funds returned for previous award participants who wound up with unused money from their projects.
Lake Glenville in Jackson County, for the 2015 camping season. Beginning in May, campground hosts will start up their duties, including welcoming guests, collecting fees and performing some light housekeeping duties. In
exchange, hosts will receive a free campsite and utilities for their camper or RV during the entire camping season. The campground is owned and operated by Jackson County. Jennifer Bennett, 828.293.3053 or jenniferbennett@jacksonnc.org.
■ $1 million to purchase 365 acres above Maggie Valley, protecting parts of Sheeprock Knob Natural Area and Carpenter Branch, a stream that feeds the public drinking water supply. The land will be purchased by The Conservation Fund, which has already protected hundreds of acres in this area of Haywood County to conserve water quality, viewsheds from the Blue Ridge Parkway and wildlife habitat. ■ $270,000 to conserve 128 acres on the Little Tennessee River in Swain County adjacent to the Needmore Game Lands. The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, which already manages the Needmore Game Lands, will acquire the tract, with additional
funding support from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the purchase. Known as the Allen Tract, it contains critical wildlife and aquatic habitats. The project will also improve public access to a portion of the Needmore Game Land by providing contiguous state ownership of property in the area. The trust fund is a program of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources and is financed through a state budget appropriation and a small cut of annual license plate receipts. A full list of awards, as well as application information for this year’s granting cycle, is online at www.cwmtf.net.
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Outdoor Mission Camp in Maggie Valley, an affiliate of Youth for Christ USA, is being outfitted with a new kitchen to serve its faith-based outdoor wilderness adventure camp thanks to donations and volunteers. Superior Walls of North Carolina, a Fletcher-based company that specializes in making and installing precast concrete foundation systems, supplied basement and main floor walls to build a compact commercial kitchen at the camp with an office beneath. A church in Tennessee donated the cooking equipment, and an anonymous $2,500 matching grant paid for other building materials. With the help of volunteers and further donations, Outdoor Mission Camp hopes to have the kitchen ready for camp this summer. Donations can be sent to Outdoor Mission Camp, 2514 Fie Top Rd., Maggie Valley, N.C. 28751.
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Insect wars hoped to take a bite out of pests Laricobius nigrinus beetle. Ashley Lamb/Virginia Tech photo
lands,” said Joe Tomcho, a conservation technician with the Wildlife Commission who helped with the initial treatments. Tomcho’s optimism is based, in large part, on research conducted by Dr. Richard McDonald of Sugar Grove, which shows that the predator beetles eat more than 90 percent of the adelgids where they’re released.
Smoky Mountain News
Pitting insect against insect, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission released predator beetles last month on the Sandy Mush Game Land, located in Buncombe and Madison counties, to combat the devastating effects of the hemlock woolly adelgid on hemlock trees. Staff released 50 of the small black beetles — a natural predator of the adelgid — as part of the Hemlock Restoration Initiative, a cooperative effort launched by the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in March 2014 to restore North Carolina’s hemlock trees to long-term health. A native of Asia, the hemlock wooly adelgid has decimated hemlocks in Western North Carolina over the past decade and is a problem throughout much of the hemlock’s range. Predator beetles have been a leading strategy to stave off the adelgid’s total annihilation of hemlocks, but they have primarily been used on national park and national forest lands until now. “We are hopeful that the Lari predator beetles will take hold and provide long-term control of the adelgids and help save the remaining hemlock stands on our game
January 14-20, 2015
Twelve birders split up into four teams for the Dec. 18 bird count. They counted 41 species, compared to 43 the previous year and counted 977 birds, down 99 from last year. Some highlights were a large flock of pine siskins, five species of woodpeckers, a hermit thrush, 25 hooded merganser and a ruby-crowned kinglet. Two teams enjoyed Birders turned out throughout Western excellent views of golden-crowned kinglets, North Carolina — and the globe — to parwith males flashing their golden-edged, ticipate in an avian enthusiast’s favorite scarlet crowns. winter tradition: the Christmas Bird Count. ■ Franklin Bird Club. Despite more than 2 More than 60,000 birders participated in all inches of rain that day, 29 birders turned 50 states as well as Canada, Latin America, out to count birds Jan. 3 in Franklin’s third year doing the Christmas Bird Count. The group identified 63 species, up from 60 last year, when 34 birders turned out. A total of 6,054 birds were spotted, up from 4,270 last year. Special sightings this year included two green-winged teals, two rusty blackbirds, four hooded mergansers and a snow goose. ■ Carolina Field Birders. Though birders fell a bit short of the average count of 73 species, the 69 bird species the 18 counters found in an area including parts of Haywood and Jackson counties sported some rarities. The Field Birders are working with Audubon to confirm a sighting of a female scarlet tanager at the Maggie Valley Club and Resort — if accepted, it would be the first documented winter sighting of the A pair of mergansers float along. HPAS photo species in Western North Carolina. Other notable sights included an American woodcock near Lake the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands. Logan, a black vulture and a passel of rapHere’s how the bird count discoveries tors: 11 red-tailed hawks, one red-shoulbroke down in the mountains. dered hawk, four Cooper’s hawks, four ■ Highlands Plateau Audubon Society. American kestrels and a peregrine falcon.
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Bird count catalogues avian diversity in WNC
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WNC Calendar
Smoky Mountain News
COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS • Tourism grant-funding workshops that are mandatory for entities seeking a tourism grant from the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 15, in Room 202 of the Harrell Center at Lake Junaluska. haywoodcountytourismdevelopment.com/grants-info/. • How the Douglas DC-3 changed the world is the topic of the Jan. 20 Aviation Historical Society meeting at 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 20 at the Macon County Airport near Franklin. Free, public welcome. Contact Fred Alexander at aeroscribbler@gmail.com or 506.5869. • Gem Capital Gun Show will be Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 24-25, at Haywood Fairgrounds in Waynesville. Show is from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sunday. $8 admission. gemcapitolshows.com or 400.1704.
MLK EVENTS • An MLK Pride March starts at 11 a.m. on Jan. 17 beginning at Harris Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church and ending at the Canton Town Annex. • An MLK commemorative service will be held at 3 p.m. on Jan. 18 at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Canton. Speaker: Rev. Charles Mosley Pastor, Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Waynesville. • An MLK Prayer Breakfast will be held at 8 a.m. on Jan. 19 at Lambuth Inn Dining Room at Lake Junaluska. Speaker: Janie Sinacore-Jaberg, vice president, regional operations, Carolinas Healthcare System. Breakfast tickets: $15 adults, $8 students, children 8 and under free. Tickets may also be purchased at the Administration Building at Lake Junaluska Conference & Retreat Center. 215.0296. • As part of its Martin Luther King Jr. celebration, themed “We As One,” Western Carolina University will present a series of events including a unity march hosted by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity (4:30 p.m., Jan. 19, start behind University Center); students reciting speeches (noon, Jan. 20, University Center balcony); students performing music and showcase art (6 p.m., Jan. 22, in club Illusions in University Center). ftbrown@wcu.edu or 227.2276. • “Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service and Gratitude,” a celebration presented by Jackson County’s NAACP, is scheduled for 3-5 p.m. on Jan. 19 at Sylva’s Bridge Park. General public is welcome. • A celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr., Weekend will be held at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 18, at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Franklin. Enrique Gomez will be speaking about NAACP: The Moral Monday Movement. 736.3674. • Western Carolina alumnus and attorney Brandon A. Robinson will be keynote speaker for WCU’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 21, in the Grandroom of the A.K. Hinds University Center in Cullowhee. Sign up: jacooper@wcu.edu. ftbrown@wcu.edu or 227.2276.
Visit www.smokymountainnews.com and click on Calendar for: ■ Complete listings of local music scene ■ Regional festivals ■ Art gallery events and openings ■ Complete listings of recreational offerings at regional health and fitness centers ■ Civic and social club gatherings • Free computer class covering the free photo-editing computer software GIMP will be offered at 5:45 p.m. on Jan. 21 at the Jackson County Public Library. 90 minutes. Taught by retired WCU professor Roger Bacon. Limited to first 16 who register. 586.2016. Cosponsored by Friends of the Jackson County Public Library. • Computer security tips will be offered at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 22, at Macon County Public Library. Tips are by Dave Stewart, computer consultant and owner of local computer services store Wired. 524.3600.
THE SPIRITUAL SIDE • A sermon series on the life of Abraham is being held at 7 p.m. every Sunday at Coweeta Baptist Church in Otto. • Start the year off right by adding time for Grace in your life, new sermon series – from 9-10:40 a.m. Sunday at Vine of the Mountains. 452.2771 or www.thevine.cc
FUNDRAISERS AND BENEFITS • Service projects planned by the Jackson County NAACP include a roadway cleanup at 8 a.m. on Jan. 19 at Cullowhee Post Office and collection of non-perishable food that can be donated at the Bridge Park celebration between 3-5 p.m. on Jan. 19. • Ice Bowl Disc Golf Tournament and Chili Cookout starts at 9 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 25, at the Fontana Village Resort. $20 entry fee plus five canned good items. Proceeds benefit Hope for Families and the Fontana Foundation. • A Polar Ice Plunge to benefit Kids in the Creek and youth education will take place on Jan. 31 at Lake Junaluska. Registration starts at 11 a.m. at the Lake Junaluska beach; festivities start at 11:30 am. Cost: $25 or free by raising sponsorships; Proceeds benefit Haywood Waterways’ youth education programs. 476.4667. Donate or register at www.crowdrise.com/3rdpolarplunge. • Soup and Cornbread Scholarship Fundraiser 11 a.m. To 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20 at First United Methodist Church in Waynesville. The meal includes soup (vegetable or potato), fresh cornbread, a beverage and your choice of dessert. $8 for adults and $4 for children 12 and younger. Proceeds benefit scholarship funds for Haywood County students.
HEALTH MATTERS BUSINESS & EDUCATION • Guidance on looking for a job or gaining basic job skills will be available from 1-4 p.m. each Wednesday starting Jan. 14 at the Macon County Public Library. One-on-one help from a Southwestern Community College employability instructor. 524.3600. • Tech-savvy questions will be answered from 10 a.m.8 p.m. every Tuesday in the month of January at the Jackson County Library. 586.2016.
• A Red Cross blood drive will be held from 10 a.m.2:30 p.m. on Jan. 14 at the Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. • Affordable Care Act help is available from 3-6 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 14 and Jan. 21 at the Jackson County Public Library. 586.2016. • Affordable Care Act representatives will be available Thursdays until Feb. 12 at Maggie Valley Town Hall from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
• SAAT/Project Lazarus will meet at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 15 in the big room at the Jackson County Health Department. · Harris Regional Hospital and Swain County Hospital will host free information sessions on the National Health Insurance Marketplace, offering free assistance to those wishing to sign up for coverage. The Sylva event will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15 at Smoky Mountain High School. The Bryson City event will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20 at the Swain County Chamber of Commerce. 828.631.8924. www.healthcare.gov. Assistance available anytime at 586.7355 or 888.982.9144. • A Red Cross blood drive will be held from 12:30-5 p.m. on Jan. 15 at First Baptist Church in Franklin. • A Red Cross blood drive will be held from 10:30 a.m.3 p.m. on Jan. 19 at the Summit Charter School in Cashiers. • Affordable Care Act representatives will be available 9 a.m. to noon on Jan. 21 at Joey’s Pancake House in Maggie Valley. • Be Well Western Carolina, a resource for holistic wellness, is hosting a “CELEBRATE the NEW YOU” open house event at 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 22 in Waynesville’s Forga Plaza Loop. RSVP to Michelle Sanderbeck at 734.7702 or michelle@bewellwc.com. • The Red Cross will hold a blood drive from 1:30-6:30 p.m. on Jan. 22 at Hazelwood Elementary School in Waynesville. Redcrossblood.org or 800.733.2767.
RECREATION AND FITNESS • Open play volleyball and practice will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday in January and February at Waynesville Recreation Center. Free for members; $6 per non-members. Open to ages 18 and older. 456.2030 or dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov. • Registration for a women’s volleyball league begins Jan. 20 at the Recreation Center in Cullowhee. Games are Tuesday nights starting in March. $175 per team. 293.3053. • Friday Night Skiing at Cataloochee every Friday through Feb. 27. Registration closes at 4 p.m. the Friday before the trip at Jackson County Recreation Center in Cullowhee. Lift ticket only: $25, lift ticket and ski or snowboard rental: $35; lessons are available for $10 (age 6). 293.3053. • Yoga Classes for all levels are held at 5:30 p.m. every Monday, 9 a.m. every Tuesday, 5:30 p.m. every Wednesday and 9 a.m. every Friday at Nurture Wellness Studio in Bryson City. 400.9616 or www.nurturewellnessstudio.com.
SENIOR ACTIVITIES • A creative living class on “Calligraphy” will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 20, at the Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. $10. Registration required. 356.2800. • Cornhole for seniors will be held from 1-2:30 p.m. on the third and fourth Wednesdays of each month at the Haywood County Senior Resource Center. 452.6789. • A fitness class designed specifically for seniors will meet from 11 a.m.-noon on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at the Waynesville Recreation Center. 456.2030 or tplowman@waynesvillenc.gov.
KIDS & FAMILIES • Homeschool PE classes start Jan. 15 at the Recreation Center in Cullowhee. Thursdays, for ages 5-9 and 10-14. $20. 293.3053.
All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted. • Art classes for children and adults will be offered by Western Carolina University’s Office of Continuing and Professional Education starting Monday, Jan. 19, with an “Arts of Metallica Art Day” from 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. at the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center in Cullowhee. $25 cost includes lunch. Conferences.wcu.edu or 227.7397. • Kids trip for fifth-through-eighth grades will take place on Jan. 19 through the Jackson County Recreation Center to Sky Zone Indoor Trampoline Park and ice skating in Greenville, S.C. $40 includes transportation, entry fees (including skate rental) and lunch. Register by Jan. 14. 293.3053 or jenniferbennett@jacksonnc.org. • Six weeks of unusual art projects for adults and children (age 8 and up) 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Mondays starting Jan. 26 at the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center in Cullowhee. Conferences.wcu.edu or 227.7397. $99/person or $40/student. • SafeKids USA Blue Dragon Tae Kwon Do School offers defense training with after-school classes Monday through Friday and Saturday mornings. 627.3949 or www.bluedragontkd.net. • A trip to the 25th-annual Wilderness Wildlife Week to Pigeon Forge is being offered by the Waynesville Parks and Recreation Department for Jan. 24-25. Open to all ages; parents must accompany children under 17. $65 includes single room or $35 per person for a doubleroom. Price also includes Sunday breakfast and travel. Participant responsible for other meals. Trip leaves at 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 24 and returns by 8 p.m. on Jan. 25. 456.2030 or tpetrea@waynesvillenc.gov. • A community breastfeeding information and support group is held from 10:30-noon on the first Saturday of each month in the main lobby of the Smoky Mountain OB/GYN office in Sylva. Free.
Ongoing kids activities and clubs • Saturday morning cartoons play for free at 11 a.m. at the Strand at 38 Main in Waynesville. 283.0079 or www.38main.com. • A Lego Club meets on the third Tuesday of each month from 3:30-5 p.m. at Waynesville Library. 452.5169. • A Lego Club meets the second Thursday of the month at 4 p.m.- 5:30 p.m. at the Macon County Public Library. 526.3600. • A Lego Club meets the second Tuesday of the month at 4 p.m. at Jackson County Public Library. 586-2016. • A Lego Club meet the second Wednesday of the month at 5 p.m. at Cashiers Community Library. 743.0215. • Explorer’s Club for kids will be held on the third of each month at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva. Intended for all ages, with a special emphasis on cultural learning for children. Each Explorer’s Club will feature special guests, snacks and crafts that all are pertinent to the theme for that month. 586.2016. • Smoky Mountain Model Railroaders holds public viewing session from 2 to 4 p.m. the second Sunday of the month, 130 Frazier St. off Russ Avenue in Waynesville. The group runs Lionel-type 3rail O gauge trains. smokymountainmodelrailroaders.wordpress.com. • Teen time 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Thursdays at the Waynesville Library. A program for teens and tweens held each week. Each week is different, snacks provided. 356-2511 • Homework Help, 3-5 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays for students in grades two through six, Canton Branch
Library. Former schoolteacher-turned-Youth Services Librarian Katy Punch offers homework help on a firstcome, first-serve basis. 648.2924.
• The American Girls Club meets at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva. The club meets one Saturday a month, call for details. Club is based on a book series about historical women. Club members read and do activities. Free. 586.9499. • Teen Time, first, third, and fourth Tuesdays at 4 p.m. for ages 12 and up. Spend time with other teens talking about and sharing with each other. Jackson County Public Library. 586.2016. • A Teen Writing Group will meet at 6 p.m. on the fourth Thursday of each month at Jackson County Library, ages 12 and up. 586.2016 • Games for kids on the fourth Wednesday of the month at 4:30 p.m. at the Jackson County Public Library. Play a variety of games including AWE After School Edge Computers, board games and other fun activities. 586.2016. • Projects and activities after school Fridays, 3:30 p.m. for school age kids at Jackson County Public Library. Get your hands dirty with science experiments, discovering animals and making easy recipes. 586.2016. • Adventure Club on Tuesdays 3:30 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. for grades K-2 at the Macon County Public Library. 524.3600. • Book Club on Wednesdays 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Books and hands-on activities for grades 3-6. Macon County Library. 526.3600.
• Crafty Kids on the second Wednesday of each month at 4 p.m. Children from Pre-K to fifth grade will meet after school and hear stories, share about what they are reading, play games and get creative with a craft. Canton Library. 648.2924.
Kids movies • Free family movies are shown at 3:30 p.m. each Tuesday at Marianna Black Library in Bryson City. Disney, Hallmark and other family-oriented movies. Popcorn is provided by Friends of the Library. Each attendee receives one free movie check-out. 488.3030.
• Mother Goose Story Time, Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. for babies ages 5 months to 24 months with rhymes, songs, stories, and free play. Canton Library, 648.2924. • Rompin’ Stompin’ Story Time, Thursdays at 10:30 a.m. for children ages 1-5 — children get to sing, dance, and get out all their energy during this movement-filled story time. Canton Library, 648.2924. JACKSON • Kid’s story time Saturdays, 11 a.m., all ages at City Lights in Sylva 586.9449. • Rotary Reader Kid’s Story time, Mondays 11 a.m. at Jackson County Public Library. A rotary club volunteer reads stories with children. 586.2016. • Kids story time, Tuesdays and Fridays 11 a.m., Saturdays at 2 p.m. at Jackson County Public Library. Story time includes books, puppets, finger plays, songs and crafts. 586.2016. • Pre-school story time, 2nd Wednesday, 11 a.m. at Cashiers Community Library. 743.0215. SWAIN • Preschool Story time, Wednesdays, 10:30 a.m., Marianna Black Library. After a book or two is read, the children participate in games, songs, finger plays, puppet play and make a craft to take home. 488.3030. MACON • Paws 4 Reading, a family story time, will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. on Jan. 15 at Macon County Public Library. Children can read to therapy dog Murray McFurry (grades K6). 524.3600. • Sing and Sing Story Time, 10 a.m. on second and fourth Mondays, Macon Public Library. Designed for children 0-24 months, but all ages are welcome. • Toddlers Rock, 10 a.m. first and third Mondays, Macon Public Library. Music, movement and instruments (Designed for children 0-24 months, but all ages are welcome). • Family Story Time for ages 0 to 5 years is held from 10 a.m. on Tuesday and Thursdays at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. 524.3600. • Bilingual Story time – 6 to 6:30 p.m., second and fourth Wednesday. Program reads a children’s book in English and Spanish at the Macon County Public Library. 526.3600.
• Haywood County Arts Council will hold its annual meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 22 at Gallery 86 in downtown Waynesville. Open to the public. RSVP by Jan. 15 to manager@haywoodarts.org or 452.0593. Info at haywoodarts.org.
ON STAGE & IN CONCERT • “Elemeno Pea” will be performed from Friday through Sunday, Jan. 16-18, in the Feichter Studio at HART Theatre in Waynesville. Friday and Saturday shows are at 7:30 p.m.; the Sunday show will be at 3 p.m. • Greg Allman, founding member of the Allman Brothers Band and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, will play Harrah’s Cherokee Event Center on Friday, Jan. 16. Ticketmaster.com or mifisher@cherokee.harrahs.com. • The Tuba Studio and the Trombone and Euphonium Studio at Western Carolina University will host the inaugural Catamount Low Brass Assembly at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 16, and 5 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 17, in the Coulter Building recital hall at WCU’s campus in Cullowhee. Free. 227.7242. • Oldies group The Sock Hops will perform at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 17, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. $15 tickets. GreatMountainMusic.com or 866.273.4615. • Richard Shulman, classical pianist, performs at 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 17, in the Waynesville Library’s Meeting Room. • Gypsy jazz band One Leg Up will perform a free concert at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 18, at the Canton Library Auditorium. Part of the Haywood Arts Council’s
Sunday Concert Series sponsored by Friends of the Library. Donations accepted. 648.2924. • The play “Shining City” will be on stage from Jan. 30-Feb. 1 at HART Theatre in Waynesville. Friday and Saturday shows are at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday’s show is at 3 p.m. harttheatre.com or 456.6322 • “An Appalachian Songbook: North Carolina in Word, Music and Song” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 20 in the recital hall of the Coulter Building on the Western Carolina University campus in Cullowhee. Free. Features soprano and WCU alumnus Jacquelyn Culpepper along with poet and former WCU English professor Kathryn Stripling Byer. 227.7242. • Elvis impersonator Travis Ledoyt will perform the music and moves of Elvis Presley (circa 1954-1959) as part of the Galaxy of Stars Series at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 31 at WCU’s Bardo Center in Cullowhee. Single-show tickets are $21/adults; $16/WCU faculty and staff; $7 students and children. 227.2479 or bardoartscenter.wcu.edu. • Wynonna and Friends will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 24, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Tickets start at $42. GreatMountainMusic.com or 866.273.4615. • Imago Theatre’s “FROGZ,” a family-friendly show combining Cirque du Soleil-style acrobatics with masks, mime and music, will be presented by Western Carolina University at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 18 at the Bardo Center in Cullowhee. Tickets ($5 students; $10 all others) go on sale Tuesday, Jan. 20. bardoartscenter.wcu.edu or 227.2479. Information: ace.wcu.edu or faortizpineda@wcu.edu or 227.2612.
NIGHTLIFE • Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will have an Open Mic night at 8 p.m. on Jan. 14. www.innovationbrewing.com.
January 14-20, 2015
• Culture Club on the first Wednesday of the month, 1 to 2 p.m. Guest speakers, books, photos, crafts and food from different countries and cultures. Macon County Public Library. 524.3600.
• Family Story Time, Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. for children ages 1-5, themed stories, music, and a craft. Canton Library, 648.2924.
Duncan of Otto will be the caller. New dancer lessons have just begun. All are welcome. 371.4946, 342.1560, 332.0004 or www.highmountainsquares.com.
wnc calendar
•Teen Advisory Group, first Wednesday of each month at 4 p.m. For ages 13-18. Teens can enjoy snacks while discussing popular young adult books, help plan events and displays for children and teens at the library, and participate in community service projects. Canton Library, 648.2924.
month at 10:30 a.m. at the Waynesville library. 4525169
• Family movie time, 4 p.m. Mondays at Jackson County Public Library. Call for title of movie: 586.2016.
• Children’s craft time, fourth Wednesday, 3:45 p.m. at Cashiers Community Library. 743.0215
Kids Story Times HAYWOOD • Mother Goose Time, a story time for babies and toddlers (five months to two years) and their parents/caregivers, is held at 11 a.m. on Tuesdays at the Waynesville Library. 452.5169 • Family Story Time, 11 a.m. Wednesdays at the Waynesville Public Library. Stories, songs, crafts. 452.5169. • Movers and Shakers story time is at 11 a.m. every Thursday at the Waynesville Library. For all ages. Movement, books, songs and more. 452.5169. • Family storytime with crafts, second Saturday of the
A&E FESTIVALS AND SPECIAL EVENTS • A drum circle and “Raw-Mazing” potluck dinner starts at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 16, at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Franklin. Bring dish, raw as you like, to share. Drummers of all levels welcome. sanmardan@yahoo.com or 332.7118.
Smoky Mountain News
• Family movie time Thursdays, 3:45 p.m. at Albert Carlton, Cashiers Community Library. Free with popcorn. Call for title: 743.0215.
• Haywood Dancers will host a ballroom dance from 8-10 p.m. on Jan. 16 at Angie’s Dance Academy in Clyde. Free refreshments. 734.8726, 734.8063, 421.1290 or furofwncpowell@gmail.com. • The High Mountain Squares will host their “Western Dance” from 6:30-9 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 16, at the Macon County Community Building in Franklin. Jim
33
wnc calendar
• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will have a jazz night at 8 p.m. on Jan. 15. www.innovation-brewing.com. • Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will have Craig Summers & Lee Kram at 6 p.m. on Jan. 15. Free. 454.5664 or www.froglevelbrewing.com. • No Name Sports Pub (Sylva) will have Ethan Morse on Jan. 15. All shows are free and begin at 9 p.m. 586.2750 or www.nonamesportspub.com. • Liz & AJ Nance TRIO will be at City Lights Café at 7 p.m. on Jan. 16 in Sylva. 587.2233. • BearWaters Brewing (Waynesville) will have Tonology at 8 p.m. on Jan. 16. www.bwbrewing.com or 246.0602. • Classic Wine Seller (Waynesville) will have Jay Brown (singer-songwriter) Jan. 16, show begins at 7 p.m. $10 minimum purchase. 452.6000 or www.classicwineseller.com. • No Name Sports Pub (Sylva) will have Dirty Soul Revival on Jan. 16. All shows are free and begin at 9 p.m. 586.2750 or www.nonamesportspub.com. • Tipping Point Brewing (Waynesville) will have Chris Williams (singer-songwriter) Jan. 16. All shows are free and begin at 9 p.m. • No Name Sports Pub (Sylva) will have Fat Cheek Kat on Jan. 17. All shows are free and begin at 9 p.m. 586.2750 or www.nonamesportspub.com. • Classic Wine Seller (Waynesville) will have Jacob Johnson (folk/funk) Jan. 17, show begin at 7 p.m. $10 minimum purchase. 452.6000 or www.classicwineseller.com. • Joe Cruz plays at 7 p.m. on Jan. 24 at Classic Wine Seller in Waynesville. Classicwineseller.com or 452.6000.
January 14-20, 2015
BOOKS & AUTHORS • Poetry Reading with Brent Martin will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 15, in the Macon County Public Library Meeting Room. www.ncwriters.org/2014-01-07-18-35-09/bookbuzz/6041-staring-the-red-earth-down-by-brent-martin. • Coffee with the Poet featuring Jackson County resident Kirk Thomas will be at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 15, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva. 586.9499. • Adult Writing Group will meet at 6 p.m. on Jan. 22 at the Jackson County Library. Class consists of exercises, group readings and writing mechanics. 586.2016.
CLASSES AND PROGRAMS
Smoky Mountain News
• A figure drawing class with Knight Martorell will be offered on Wednesdays in January at The Bascom in Highlands. aalig@thebascom.org or 787.2865.
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• Western Style Square Dance Lessons will be offered from 7-8:30 p.m. Jan. 12-April 20 at the Jackson County Recreation Center in Cullowhee. $65 per person. No experience or partner required. This is the last week to registrar. 293.3053 • Creating Community Workshop entitled Mixed Media Art with Rachel York-Bridgers will be held at noon on Saturday, Jan. 17, at Jackson County Public Library. Free. No experience necessary. Limited to 12 participants. Register: 586.2016. Bring special items like photographs, broken piece of jewelry, material, etc. • Six weeks of unusual art projects for adults and children (age 8 and up) 6:30-8:30 p.m. Mondays starting Jan. 26 at the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center in Cullowhee. Conferences.wcu.edu or 227.7397. $99/person or $40/student. • Adult drawing classes will be offered from 1-4 p.m. on Mondays at First Baptist Church in Waynesville. Beginning through advanced levels welcome. Graphite, charcoal, pen and ink. $55 tuition for sixweek term or $10 per class. www.iamclasses.webs.com, 456.9197 or charspaintings@msn. • Adult painting classes will be offered from 1-4 p.m. on Tuesdays at First Baptist Church in Waynesville. Beginning through advanced levels welcome. All media. $55 tuition for six-week term or $10 per class. www.iamclasses.webs.com, 456.9197 or charspaintings@msn.
ART SHOWINGS AND GALLERIES • A photography exhibit entitled “Seeing with New Eyes” by Sharon Mammoser will be on display from Jan. 14-April 19 at The North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville. Parking fee. www.ncarboretum.org or sharenaturemore@gmail.com.
FILM & SCREEN • A new movie starring Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler will be shown at 2 p.m. on Jan. 15 at the Macon County Public Library. Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, and language. Runtime: 1:57. kmoe@fontanalib.org or 524.3600. • A classic 1948 movie starring Rex Harrison, Linda Darnell and Rudy Vallee will be shown at 2 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 16, in the meeting room of the Macon County Public Library. kmoe@fontanalib.org or 524.3600. • The Mad Batter Food & Film shows feature films, 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., Thursdays through Saturdays, downtown Sylva location. Special kids’ matinee at 2 p.m. Saturdays. Free. Movie listings and information, www.madbatterfoodandfilm.com. 586.3555.
Puzzles can be found on page 34.
All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted.
MUSIC JAMS AND GROUPS • Old-time music jam from 1-3 p.m. the first and third Saturday of the month at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on U.S. 441 outside Cherokee. 497.1904. • A community music jam will be held from 6-7:30 p.m. on the first and third Thursday of each month at the Marianna Black Library in Downtown Bryson City. Anyone with a guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dulcimer – anything unplugged – is invited to join. Singers and listeners are also welcome.
Outdoors
• Don Hendershot, naturalist and columnist for Smoky Mountain News, will lead a Franklin Bird Club walk: “Sparrowing at Kituwah” on Jan. 14. Meet at 8 a.m. at Waynesville Bi-Lo parking lot or at 8:30 a.m. at Dillsboro Waffle House to carpool. Sign up at 524.5234.
• The North Carolina Catch program, a three-phase conservation education effort focusing on aquatic environments, will be offered starting Jan. 16 and run through May 15. The program is offered by the Waynesville Parks and Recreation Department. Free for members; daily admission for non-members. 456.2030 or tpetrea@waynesvillenc.gov. • Frosty Foot Race is Saturday, Jan. 17, at Tsali Recreation Area outside Bryson City. $1 per kilometer. Running beanie for all participants; 50K runners get a pair of arm sleeves. Race-day registration is from 7-8 a.m. Pre-registration through Jan. 15 at Foot Rx Asheville. www.footrxasheville.com. • Military Appreciation Days will be held on Jan. 2223 at Cataloochee Ski Area in Maggie Valley. 926.0285 or cataloochee.com. • The Icycle Mountain Bike Event returns to Fontana Village Resort on Jan. 24. Registration starts at 8 a.m.; first race is at 11 a.m. Register at http://www.active.com/fontana-dam-nc/cycling/mountain-biking-races/icycle-2015 or 498.2211. • Yoga for Outdoor Fitness class will be held from 6-7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 21, at REI Asheville. Free. 293.5924. • Fitness Monitor Basics is offered for free from 7-8 p.m. on Jan. 22 at REI Asheville. Learn about fitness technology components, their use and functionality. Register at: www.rei.com/event/49083/session/107229. 293.7404. • John and Cathy Sill will lead a Franklin Bird Club trip on Feb. 7 to Lake Junaluska to look for wintering water birds and other species. Meet at 8 a.m. at the Bi-Lo parking lot in Waynesville. Sign-up at 524.5234.
These are only the answers.
SNOW SPORTS • A learn-to-ski series organized by Waynesville Parks and Recreation will be held 4-9 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays in January and February. Prices per trip for rec center members are $23 for lift ticket only; $35 for ticket and rentals; $7 for helmets and $10 for lessons. Prices for non-members are $25, $38, $7 and $10, respectively. 828.456.2030 or tpetrea@waynesvillenc.gov • Ski races for middle school and high school at Cataloochee Ski Area. Races start at 6 p.m. every
Tuesday for middle school and every Wednesday for high school. Season ends Sunday, March 1 for both. $30/night or $175/season – non-pass holders; $75/season pass holder with own equipment. www.isalessite.com/cataloochee/catalog/ticket. • The Cataloochee Challenge Cup Race Series at Cataloochee Ski Area. Races are held at 7 p.m. ever Thursday through Feb. 26. Age categories are 18-20, 21-29, 30-39, 40-49 and 50-over for both men and women. $15/race only; $35/race and lift ticket (6-10 p.m.). Helmet and goggles required; available for rental. Register between 6-7:30 p.m.
FARM & GARDEN • A training class for Haywood County’s 2015 Extension Master Gardener Volunteer program will be held from 9 a.m.-noon on Tuesdays from January through April. 456.3575. $120. Must complete class and participate in 40 hours of volunteer efforts through extension center. • The Jackson County Farmer’s Market is held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays at the Community Table, located in downtown Sylva off Central Street between the playground and pool. 399.0290 www.jacksoncountyfarmersmarket.org. •The Appalachian Farm School, a pilot program to centralize agricultural business training in the state’s seven western counties, starts Jan. 29 and runs alternating Thursdays from 6-8:30 p.m. through April 9. $75 includes dinner during each class and all materials. Register at www.wncfpc.org/appalachian-farmschool or call 399.0297. Info at: wncfpc@gmail.com
HIKING CLUBS • A Carolina Mountain Club hike in Bent Creek in Enka with a 1,100-foot ascent will take place on Jan. 14. 502.494.9309 or jaykaymartin@msn.com. • A Carolina Mountain Club hike in Bracken Mountain Preserve near Brevard with a 1,000-foot ascent will take place on Jan. 18. 384.4870 or stuengo@citcom.net. • A Carolina Mountain Club hike in Pisgah Forest on S. Mills River trail with a 1,600-foot ascent will take place on Jan. 18. 502.494.9309 or jaykaymartin@msn.com. • A Carolina Mountain Club hike on Seniard Ridge Loop near Shining Rock with a 1,800-foot ascent will take place on Jan. 21. 545.6487 or mbgcmc@gmail.com. • A Carolina Mountain Club hike up Pine Mountain in Enka with a 2,400-foot ascent will take place on Jan. 25. 458.1281 or mcornn@aol.com.
KID’S ARTS • Kids can make their own piece of art from 10 a.m. to noon every Saturday during the Family Art sponsored by the Jackson County Arts Council at the Jackson County Farmers Market located at the Community Table, downtown Sylva. 399.0290 or www.jacksoncountyfarmermarket.org. • The Uptown Gallery in Franklin offers monthly art workshops for children. Children must be at least 8 years old. Pre-registration is required. 349.4607 or caauptowngallery@frontier.com. • Kids Creation Stations, 10 a.m. to noon, Saturdays, The Bascom in Highland. Ages 5 to 9, $5 per class. 787.2897. • After School Art Adventure, 4:15 to 5:30 p.m., Tuesdays, The Bascom in Highland. Ages 5 to 9, $5 per class. Follows Macon public school schedule. 787.2897. • Suzuki Flute Lessons for students ages 4 to adult are offered at The Music Village in Waynesville and Cullowhee. Beginning through advanced students are welcome. 293.5600 or www.themusicvillage.net.
PRIME REAL ESTATE Advertise in The Smoky Mountain News
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Rates: ■ Free — Residential yard sale ads, lost or found pet ads. ■ Free — Non-business items that sell for less than $150. ■ $12 — Classified ads that are 50 words or less; each additional line is $2. ■ $12 — If your ad is 10 words or less, it will be displayed with a larger type. ■ $3 — Border around ad and $5 — Picture with ad. ■ $50 — Non-business items, 25 words or less. 3 month or till sold. ■ $300 — Statewide classifieds run in 117 participating newspapers with 1.6 million circulation. Up to 25 words. ■ All classified ads must be pre-paid.
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BUILDING MATERIALS HAYWOOD BUILDERS Garage Doors, New Installations Service & Repairs, 828.456.6051 100 Charles St. Waynesville Employee Owned.
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SENIOR SERVICES PROGRAM COORDINATOR This is a full time position with benefits involving program development, implementation and evaluation, two years’ work experience is required. Must have excellent oral and written communication skills, flexibility, have the ability to work independently and as part of a team. Working experience with volunteers, senior programs and services helpful. Must be proficient in both Word and Publisher and be willing to seek funding for ongoing programs. High School Diploma/GED required, BS Degree preferred. Applications will be taken until January 26, 2015 at Mountain Projects, 2251 Old Balsam Rd, Waynesville, or 25 Schulman St, Sylva. Or you may go to our website www.mountainprojects.org and fill out an application. Pre-employment drug testing is required. EOE/AA.
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EMPLOYMENT
TEACHER RECRUITMENT FAIR To fill 2015-16 vacancies in 18 Virginia school divisions. Fri, Jan 30, 2015 - 4pm to 7pm. Sat, Jan 31, 2015 - 9am. to 12 noon @ Salem Civic Center, 1001 Boulevard, Salem, VA 24153. www.wvpec.org -- Job Fair. Sponsored by the Western Virginia Public Education Consortium.
FULL TIME BOOKKEEPER/ PAYROLL ADMIN. POSITION Available. Accounting Degree or equivalent work experience with minimum of 2 years’ experience with QuickBooks, full knowledge of accounts payable, accounts receivable helpful, indirect cost accounting a plus. Must have experience with on-line data base payroll management. Excellent computer skills required, experience with Microsoft Excel and Word. Applications available at DisAbility Partners, 525 Mineral Springs Drive, Sylva. Please call Gale at 828.631.1167 for more information. MEDICAL BILLING TRAINEES NEED! Doctors & Hospitals need Medical Office Staff! NO EXPERIENCED NEEDED! Online Training gets you job ready! HS Diploma/GED & Computer needed. Careertechnical.edu/nc. 1.888.512.7122 25 DRIVER TRAINEES NEEDED! Become a driver for Stevens Transport! No Experience Needed! New drivers earn $800+ per week! PAID CDL TRAINING! Stevens covers all costs! 1.888.748.4137 drive4stevens.com
FURNITURE
BEWARE OF LOAN FRAUD. Please check with the Better Business Bureau or Consumer Protection Agency before sending any money to any loan company. SAPA FIX BAD CREDIT In Just 30-days! Raise your credit score fast! Results Guaranteed! Highest Rated Company- Voted Overall Best! Call Now! 855.831.9712. SAPA SOCIAL SECURITY Disability Benefits. Unable to work? Denied benefits? We Can Help! WIN or Pay Nothing! Contact Bill Gordon & Associates at 1.800.371.1734 to start your application today! REACH READERS ACROSS North Carolina for only $375. Run your 25-word classified line ad in 99 newspapers with one call to this newspaper, or call NCPS at 919.516.8009.
PETS HAYWOOD SPAY/NEUTER 828.452.1329
HAYWOOD BEDDING, INC. The best bedding at the best price! 533 Hazelwood Ave. Waynesville 828.456.4240
LAWN AND GARDEN HEMLOCK HEALERS, INC. Dedicated to Saving Our Hemlocks. Owner/Operator Frank Varvoutis, NC Pesticide Applicator’s License #22864. 48 Spruce St. Maggie Valley, NC 828.734.7819 828.926.7883, Email: hemlockhealers@yahoo.com
REAL ESTATE ANNOUNCEMENT LEASE TO OWN 1/2 Acre Lots with Mobile Homes & Empty 1/2 Acre + Lots! Located Next to Cherokee Indian Reservation, 2.5 Miles from Harrah’s Cherokee Casino. For More Information Please Call 828.506.0578
Prevent Unwanted Litters! The Heat Is On! Spay/Neuter For Haywood Pets As Low As $10. Operation Pit is in Effect! Free Spay/Neuter, Microchip & Vaccines For Haywood Pitbull Types & Mixes! Hours:
FLEA, TICK & HEARTWORM Petmeds at Wholesale Cost. www.PetCareRx.com or call 1.888.478.5672. Ask about $20 off Pet Plus Today! SAPA
All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Fair Housing Act which makes it illegal to advertise “any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, or an intention, to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination” Familial status includes children under the age of 18 living with parents or legal custodians, pregnant women and people securing custody of children under 18 This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All dwellings advertised on an equal opportunity basis.
TEXAS LAND SALE Near El Paso, $0 Down, 20 Acres $128/month-$16,900. 40 Acres $198/month-$25,900. Money back guarantee. No Qualifying-Owner Financing. Call 1.800.343.9444. SAPA WATERFRONT PROPERTY AUCTION, 11.2+/-Acres Prime Waterfront on Trent River & Mill Creek, Pollocksville, NC - just 15 minutes from New Bern - OnLine Bidding January 12-22. Over 2300ft. on deep water. www.HouseAuctionCompany.com 252.729.1162. NCAL#7889
HOMES FOR SALE BRUCE MCGOVERN A Full Service Realtor shamrock13@charter.net McGovern Property Management 828.283.2112.
STORAGE SPACE FOR RENT
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ENTERTAINMENT DIRECTV! Act Now- $19.99/mo. Free 3Months of HBO, Starz, SHOWTIME & CINEMAX. FREE GENIE HD/DVR Upgrade! 2014 NFL Sunday Ticket included with Select Packages. New Customers Only. IV Support Holdings LLC- An authorized DirecTV Dealer. Some exclusions apply Call for details 1.800.849.3514 DISH TV RETAILER - SAVE! Starting $19.99/month (for 12 months.) FREE Premium Movie Channels. FREE Equipment, Installation & Activation. CALL, COMPARE LOCAL DEALS! 1.800.405.5081 SCOTTISH TARTANS MUSEUM 86 East Main St., Franklin, Open 10am- 5pm, Mon - Sat. Come & let us find your Scottish Connection! 828.584.7472 or visit us at: www.scottishtartans.org. MAKE A CONNECTION. Real People, Flirty Chat. Meet singles right now! Call LiveLinks. Try it FREE. Call now 1.888.909.9978 18+. SAPA
smokymountainnews.com
NICOL ARMS APARTMENTS
Section 8 Accepted - Handicapped Accessible Units When Available TINK A VERY UNIQUE BLACK AND WHITE FEMALE CAT. WE LOVE HER DISTINCTIVE MARKINGS! TINK IS ABOUT 6 MONTHS OLD AND IS A VERY FRIENDLY KITTY.
REAL ESTATE ANNOUNCEMENT
BULLFROG STORAGE PUBLISHER’S NOTICE
Tuesday-Friday, 11 - 5 pm or by Apt. 182 Richland Street, Waynesville
BROWNIE A VERY SWEET, COMPACT TERRIER MIX, ABOUT 3 YEARS OLD. SHE IS AN EASYGOING DOG WHO WILL MAKE SOMEONE A WONDERFUL COMPANION.
COMPARE QUALITY & PRICE Shop Tupelo’s, 828.926.8778.
January 14-20, 2015
WELDING CAREERS Hands on training for career opportunities in aviation, automotive, manufacturing and more. Financial aid for qualified students. Job placement assistance. Call AIM 877.205.6458.
AVIATION GRADS Work w/JetBlue, Boeing, NASA and others- start here with hands-on training for FAA certification. Financial aid if qualified. Call Aviation Institute of Maintenance. 877.300.9494.
FINANCIAL
WNC MarketPlace
SWAIN 4-H COUNTY EXTENSION AGENT Swain County Extension is seeking an extraordinary leader for the county 4-H program. Duties include managing 4-H clubs; volunteers; project books; summer camps; school based and youth agricultural programs Minimum Experience/Education: Bachelor’s degree in Youth or Child Development, Family Consumer Science, or a related discipline is required. A Master’s degree is preferred. Modern computer literacy is required. A vehicle and some overnight travel required. For more information, please contact Robert J. Hawk at 828.488.3848 or email at: robert_hawk@ncsu.edu Please go to following link for the full Job Posting: http://jobs.ncsu.edu/postings/46 389
EMPLOYMENT
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www.smokymountainnews.com
January 14-20, 2015
WNC MarketPlace
Super
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SITCOM MOMS
CROSSWORD
73 TV actress Jennie 74 Pizzazz ACROSS 75 In favor of 1 Lundgren of “Rocky 76 Pious person IV” 78 - jumping (extreme 6 Bathers’ scrubbers sport) 12 Like alcoves and 79 Portrayer of 23nooks Across 20 Mr. T’s TV group, with 82 Big vultures “The” 83 Once - blue moon 21 Approach and speak 84 Outlaw Rob to boldly 85 Reindeer kin 22 Loathed one 86 Like single-purpose 23 Vinton, Eunice and committees Ellen’s mom 88 Slow, to Solti 25 Planted again 90 Portrayer of 6126 - Lingus (Irish carrier) Across 27 “It’s cold in here!” 96 How blackbirds may 28 Hold together firmly be baked? 30 Also 99 Otoscope views 31 Outpatient facility 100 Pollen piece 34 “Allow me, - may ...” 101 Portrayer of 3737 Bud and Kelly’s mom Across 40 - acid (fat product) 105 Assembled 41 Garcia of fashion 106 Wildlife 43 Applies, as a coat of 107 From - Z (thoroughwax ly) 44 Wednesday and 108 Brunei ruler Pugsley’s mom 110 Post-op area 48 Proficient 112 Muhammad 113 Whale’s kin 52 Salad green 53 Suffix with bureaucrat 116 Portrayer of 44Across 54 May honorees 121 Precise 56 Curly’s buddy 122 Little hills 57 Casino client 123 Physicist Mach 61 Rudy, Vanessa, Theo, Denise and Sondra’s mom 124 They include Saturdays 65 Scented 125 Least crazy 66 Long green 126 Alloy of zinc and 67 Work with copper 68 Milk, in Paris 69 Comic Leary DOWN 70 Coin of Chile 1 Digital transmission, 71 Sped
for short 2 Literature’s “Moor of Venice” 3 More wary 4 Bud 5 “Let’s see now ...” 6 Oz Lion player Bert 7 Wind instruments with finger holes 8 Bar code scanner: Abbr. 9 Dandy dude 10 “Hang on -” 11 Razor sharpener 12 Krypton, e.g. 13 Force 14 Stengel and Kasem 15 Summer, to Jules 16 The lady 17 Many a taxi 18 Edit 19 Pa 24 Easy as 29 “A Doll’s House” family name 32 Louse-to-be 33 Winter spikes 35 Giant flops 36 Ky. neighbor 38 Talk big 39 German for 30-Across 42 “I thought we had -!” 45 Street - (urban acceptability) 46 Suffix with court or hotel 47 Like part of Russia 49 Official ban 50 Less rude 51 Cuts canines 54 Be reflective 55 Wood splitter 57 Kid’s sled 58 “Sweet -” (barber-
shop song) 59 Monte Carlo resident 60 Very edge 62 How pajamas fit 63 Harm 64 - flowing with milk and honey 66 Feline call 70 Address God 72 Four roods 73 Firearm storage item 75 Mahmoud Abbas’ gp. 77 Often-sprained joint 78 Churlish type 80 Literary twist 81 Nuke, maybe 82 “- -ching!” 87 Purifies, as whiskey 89 Even score 90 Baby oinkers 91 “- shocked!” 92 Health facility 93 Biblical shout of praise 94 Innocent 95 Halts 97 Allocate 98 Took a break 101 “Bam!” 102 Right wrongs 103 Eggy cake 104 Doesn’t have 106 Hot dog base 109 Mom’s mom 111 Abnormal body sac 114 Plen-T- - (Wrigley’s gum unit) 115 Metal deposit 117 Pitchman Popeil 118 Pelota cheer 119 Brother of George Bush 120 Bobby of hockey
answers on page 34
MUSIC LESSONS LEARN GUITAR & BANJO With Leigh Hilger. Many guitar styles. Clawhammer banjo. All skill levels welcome. Fun, relaxed teaching style for kids & adults. Located near Waynesville Library. 828.456.4435
PERSONAL YOUR AD COULD REACH 1.6 MILLION HOMES ACROSS NC! Your classified ad could be reaching over 1.6 Million Homes across North Carolina! Place your ad with The Smoky Mountain News on the NC Statewide Classified Ad Network- 118 NC newspapers for a low cost of $330 for 25-word ad to appear in each paper! Additional words are $10 each. The whole state at your fingertips! It's a smart advertising buy! Call Scott Collier at 828.452.4251 or for more information visit the N.C. Press Association's website at www.ncpress.com
SCHOOLS/ INSTRUCTION EARN YOUR High School Diploma at home in a few short weeks. Work at your own pace. First Coast Academy. Nationally accredited. Call for free brochure. 1.800.658.1180, extension 82. www.fcahighschool.org SAPA U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Reports millions of new jobs in fields that require less than two years of education. Train in just a few months for a rewarding new career in an in-demand field! Visit CareerStep.com/newcareer or call 1.866.553.8735 today! SAPA TEACHER RECRUITMENT FAIR To fill 2015-16 vacancies in 18 Virginia school divisions. Fri, Jan 30, 2015 - 4pm to 7pm. Sat, Jan 31, 2015 - 9am. to 12 noon @ Salem Civic Center, 1001 Boulevard, Salem, VA 24153. www.wvpec.org -- Job Fair. Sponsored by the Western Virginia Public Education Consortium.
SERVICES DISH TV Starting at $19.99/month (for 12 months) SAVE! Regular Price $32.99. Call Today and Ask About FREE SAME DAY Installation! CALL Now! 1.855.866.9941. SAPA DISH TV RETAILER - SAVE! Starting $19.99/month (for 12 months.) FREE Premium Movie Channels. FREE Equipment, Installation & Activation. CALL, COMPARE LOCAL DEALS! 1.800.351.0850. SAPA GET THE BIG DEAL From DirecTV! Act Now- $19.99/mo Free 3-Months of HBO, Starz, Showtime & Cinemax Free Genie HD/DVR Upgrade! 2014 NFL Sunday Ticket Included with Select Packages. New Customers Only IV Support Holdings LLC- An authorized DirecTV Dealer. Some exclusions apply - Call for details 1.800.413.9179. SAPA
CHILDLESS, MARRIED COUPLE Seeks to adopt. Will be hands-on mom/devoted dad. Love, laughter, learning. Expenses paid. Preplacement assessment approved by Better Living Agency, 6/26/2014. Jeanne & Damian 1.855.563.8901.
WELDING CAREERS Hands on training for career opportunities in aviation, automotive, manufacturing and more. Financial aid for qualified students. Job placement assistance. Call AIM 877.205.6458.
MEDICAL GUARDIAN Top-rated medical alarm and 24/7 medical alert monitoring. For a limited time, get free equipment, no activation fees, no commitment, a 2nd waterproof alert button for free and more - only $29.95 per month. 800.615.3868
HERO MILES To find out more about how you can help our service members, veterans and their families in their time of need, visit the Fisher House website at www.fisherhouse.org SAPA
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WEEKLY SUDOKU Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each small 9-box square contains all of the numbers from one to nine. Answers on Page 34
The creative code of old-time surveyors
S
George Ellison
ince 1976 we’ve resided in a cove about four miles west of Bryson City. Using various old deeds my wife, Elizabeth, and I have located tree slashes, stones, stakes, etc., which delineate the cove’s boundaries. We have found that old-time Appalachian surveys and deeds can be confusing and informational and amusing at the same time. The oldest specific deed I’ve found in the Swain County records for our cove dates to January 1904: “On the Waters of Lands Creek. BEGINNING on a beech in the Columnist Matthew Garrett line and runs S. 65 W. 79 poles to a pine on top of a ridge between Lands Creek and Tuckaseegee River; then up the ridge as it meanders N. 4 W. 10 poles to a hickory … then down the ridge as it meanders S. 9 W. 29 poles to a black oak … then S.W. 4 poles to a buckeye and spruce pine on the creek; thence to the BEGINNING, containing 35 acres more or less.” I’m not sure what a “spruce pine” is in this context. At 1,700 feet, the elevation is too low for red spruce. And the cedar pine, which is sometimes called “spruce pine,” is found in the coastal plain and piedmont. My
BACK THEN “guess” is that the reference is to short-leaf pine. A second 10-acre tract (“more or less”) was added to the property in 1910. By that time, the beech at the “BEGINNING” of the 1904 tract had either died or, more likely, been chopped down for firewood. The first line of the subsequent deed was emended to read: “BEGINNING at a white walnut tree near Ben Hyde’s house and runs S 67 W 47 poles to a pine on the top of the ridge between Lands creek and Tuckaseegie River.” The white (or butternut) walnut has also disappeared, no doubt a victim of a the butternut canker blight that entered the southern mountains in the latter part of the 20th century. Several years back, I found and printed out an online essay by Tennessee surveyor Phillip Meeks titled “Appalachian Surveying.” The essay is no longer posted, but I still have notes from the hardcopy. Under the heading “Natural Obstacles,” Meeks noted that “what these mountains lack in height they compensate for in blackberry brambles and thickets of rhododendron. This kind of terrain puts obvious demands on a land surveyor who must constantly deal with slope corrections, slow
travel through unforgiving vegetation and dense canopies that render GPS useless: ‘The Good Lord made plenty of flat land [here] but he put it all on its edge.’ “Difficult terrain and crude instruments no doubt resulted in less than ideal land descriptions by early surveyors. Few modern deed researchers in Appalachia haven’t had a chuckle or two over the wording in these documents [such as the property line] that ran ‘down to the stump where Bossy dropped her first calf,’ and another line [that] goes ‘to where a block of ice stood in the road.’ Another … defined a line as going ‘along a road the distance it takes to smoke two cigarettes.’ Other factors contributing to the poor quality of land descriptions included a lack of slope corrections in early surveys, missing reference points, local names for tree species and the sloppy quality of hand-copied deeds, all of which make things difficult if not impossible for the surveyor.” In surveying, a “pole” equals 16.5 feet (a rod). A local surveyor advised me that sapling poles of that length were used. Rope
— being more flexible and lighter — also made excellent “poles.” Where the line extended along a straight course, poles or ropes of 33 or even 66 feet could be employed to save time and energy. A staffmounted or hand-held compass allowed the surveyor to enter appropriate boundary descriptions in his data book. The Gunther’s Chain method was also used in old-time surveying for distance measurements. A magnetic compass was set on a tripod and leveled horizontally via the level bubble so as to obtain the direction by bearings. The chain is divided into 100 links, marked off into groups of 10 by brass rings which simplify intermediate measurement. “Back then,” the local surveyor noted, “surveys using poles, compasses, and Gunther’s Chains were not always perfectly accurate, of course. But we have been able to find one corner and then use old-time pole and compass methods to locate another corner. An old-time survey of 500,000 feet can sometimes be accurate to within 25 or 30 feet.” George Ellison wrote the biographical introductions for the reissues of two Appalachian classics: Horace Kephart’s Our Southern Highlanders and James Mooney’s History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees. Readers can contact him at P.O. Box 1262, Bryson City, N.C., 28713, or at info@georgeellison.com.
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Smoky Mountain News
Franklin Building Center
January 14-20, 2015
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