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January 17-23, 2018 Vol. 19 Iss. 34

Cherokee joins other counties in suing opioid makers Page 4 Innovation, Bell’s trademark dispute dismissed Page 13

CONTENTS On the Cover: Several smaller political parties of varying ideology have set about qualifying for ballot access in North Carolina this year, and appear poised to succeed in time for the 2018 elections if an ongoing dispute in Raleigh regarding the composition of the State Board of Elections is resolved in time. (Page 8)

News Impact fees to change in Jackson ..................................................................................3 Cherokee sues opioid companies ..................................................................................4 Mystic Lands property owners win lawsuit ..................................................................6 N.C. Congressional districts struck down ................................................................10 Reroute planned for Blackrock Trail ............................................................................12 Innovation, Bell’s trademark dispute dismissed ......................................................13 Franklin native fighting to have rights restored ........................................................14 Canton water leaks irk public ........................................................................................16 Brunch Bill finally passes in Maggie Valley ..............................................................19

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Impact fees to change in Jackson

• July 20, 2017 — Law is passed requiring uniform process for setting system development fees in North Carolina.

• October 17, 2017 — Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority awards consulting contracts for setting system development fees.

• Feb. 13 — Draft system development fee recommendations and supporting analysis to be presented.

• Feb. 21 — Advertising period begins for public comment on draft recommendations and analysis.

• April 17 — Public hearing to be held for draft analysis and recommended fees.

• May 15 — TWSA board to approve system development fee recommendations.

• May 31 — Proposed system development fees to be incorporated into draft budget.

• June 19 – 2018-2019 budget to be adopted.

State law outlines new process for setting up-front water and sewer fees

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THE IMPACT FEE ISSUE

The state law gives no guidelines as to how an equivalent residential unit should be calculated. It could be based on peak flow, like impact fees are now, a measure of the actual average consumption of that type of dwelling, or some other formula. erating capital revenue,” said Dan Harbaugh, TWSA’s executive director. “The reason that an upfront charge has been charged in the past by different entities is to say if you tie on, we have got to give up a certain amount of water capacity and a certain amount of sewer capacity from the existing system. The purpose of these upfront fees for new customers is to replace the capacity.”

However, impact fees have come under fire in recent years, with some arguing that they prevent new businesses — especially water-heavy businesses such as restaurants — from opening in Jackson County. Perhaps the biggest opponent of impact fees is David Nester, a Sylva commissioner and member of the TWSA board.

“I think it (the impact fee) came out of a time when there was unprecedented growth in the county and it was an easy source to take advantage of. I don’t think that model works anymore,” Nestler said in a February 2017 interview with The Smoky Mountain News.

“I think it’s really hurting businesses and residences in the county.”

Among TWSA board members, however, Nestler has been mostly alone in this view.

His colleagues often point out that, should

impact fees disappear, existing customers who have already paid their impact fees would suddenly find themselves with much higher rates to subsidize future users who would be exempt from impact fees. In 2015 TWSA adopted a new policy aimed at mitigating the prohibitive effect large impact fees can have on new businesses — customers can now rent allocation through a monthly payment rather than forking over thousands of dollars all at once.

THE PROCESS It remains to be seen what effect the new law might have on the magnitude up the upfront fee.

“We can’t speculate one way or another, because we don’t have the financial analysis done,” Harbaugh said.

The financial analysis, to be completed by Asheville-based W.R. Martin, will look at the types of revenues TWSA receives and how much future repairs might cost. Meanwhile, the engineering analysis, to be completed by Asheville-based McGill Associates, P.A., will inventory the system and develop a capital improvements plan outlining when such projects will need to be addressed over the next 20 years. TWSA will pay a total of about $60,000 for the two consultants.

Maximum system development fees — the new name for impact fees — will then be calculated based on how much it will cost to address capital concerns associated with that increased demand. These fees will be charged based on “equivalent residential units,” — ERUs for short — a unit that is supposed to reflect how much capacity a three-bedroom single-family home would require.

“If there was going to be a new grocery store built in Sylva, we would look at that grocery store and use the standards for determining how much wastewater would be used and convert that to ERUs,” Harbaugh explained.

However, the devil’s in the details. The

state law gives no guidelines as to how an ERU should be calculated. It could be based on peak flow, like impact fees are now, a measure of the actual average consumption of that type of dwelling, or some other formula.

“The law doesn’t get into the weeds on that, but it has to be a uniform consistent procedure,” Harbaugh said.

Harbaugh said that, based on his calculations, it looks like the current impact fee rates are “not far off ” from the actual cost of associated system expansion. But the financial analysis will be the final word on that, and if the new rates come in below the existing impact fees, the board may have to look at increasing or instituting other fees in order to make up any shortfall in needed revenue. The board could also choose to set the fees below the maximum recommended rate.

During a Jan. 9 TWSA meeting, Harbaugh told board members that the consultants have accomplished “99 percent of what’s on the list.”

“They’re still digging deep to validate funding sources on projects, dates of various awards that we received,” he said.

The consultants will present the board with their draft recommendations during a work session at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 13, and the board will also likely meet at some point the week beforehand to discuss the issue, Harbaugh said. The analysis will then go out for public comment, with a public hearing scheduled for Tuesday, April 17.

“Those timelines are really a hard timeline because we have to accomplish certain things under the law by a certain date to get through the public input process,” Harbaugh said.

The consultants will be present at the public hearing and will incorporate that feedback into their final draft, and the TWSA board will vote on the proposal during its May 15 meeting. Those fees will then be incorporated into the 2018-2019 budget, scheduled for adoption June 19.

“The way the law is written, you as a board are meant to be insulated from the process,” Harbaugh told the board Jan. 9.

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Smoky Mountain News

Under the new law, all such fees will be called “system development fees,” a type of fee that is now known in Jackson County as the impact fee. Impact fees are upfront charges that the Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority levies on new customers to offset the capital costs that come as a result of expanded water and sewer service. They’re calculated based on the maximum amount of water and sewer that a user could possibly demand — the amount that user would require if, for example, all the toilets were flushing at the same time that all the sinks were running and the laundry was on rinse cycle as the dishwasher ran. Charges vary based on the type and size of the establishment requesting service.

“The whole idea behind impact fees, or any other name for a fee that’s charged for a customer to tie on initially, is a means of gen-

The Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority is in the midst of a state-mandated process to determine how much it may charge new users in up-front fees. File photo

January 17-23, 2018

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER state law passed in July 2017 will lead to changes in water and sewer fees across North Carolina this year. In Jackson County that change will come amid what has been an ongoing debate about the particular fee that the law targets — the impact fee.

House Bill 436 requires water and sewer utilities to follow a uniform process to decide how much, if anything, they should charge new users in up-front fees. The law requires utilities to hire an independent engineering or financial consultant to map out capital needs for the next 20 years and determine how much new users should be charged to provide for capital needs associated with system growth.

The law stems from a 2016 lawsuit that Quality Built Homes Incorporated and Stafford Land Company Inc. brought against the town of Carthage. The developers argued that the town had no authority to levy water and sewer impact fees and sought repayment of the $123,000 they had paid in fees, plus interest and attorney’s fees. The court ultimately ruled in the developers’ favor, prompting the legislature to address the issue with a new state statute.

“What is required under the new law is to differentiate between expense for new capacity versus expense for continuation of the existing system,” explained Dan Harbaugh, executive director of the Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority.

In completing the analysis, the law says, the contractor will determine the maximum amount that the utility can charge new users, and the utility will then set its fees within those parameters.

The timeline

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Cherokee sues opioid companies Suit names 23 defendants, asks for damages to fund addiction-related services

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER he Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has filed a federal lawsuit seeking damages from 23 companies that manufacture or distribute opioid drugs. Listing a total of seven counts, the suit alleges violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act as well as negligence, conspiracy, fraud and creation of a public nuisance.

“Defendants knowingly traded in drugs that presented a high degree of danger if prescribed incorrectly or diverted to other than legitimate medical, scientific or industrial channels,” the suit states. “Because of the severe level of danger posed by, and indeed visited upon the State and Plaintiff ’s Community by these dangerous drugs, Defendants owed a high duty of care to ensure that these drugs were only used for proper medical purposes.

Defendants chose profit over prudence and the safety of the community, and an award of punitive damages is appropriate as a punishment and a deterrence.”

No dollar amount is named in the suit, but the amount sought is likely in the tens of millions of dollars. In the suit, the tribe seeks relief for all the costs it has incurred to provide treatment, counseling, rehabilitative services, care for the children of addicted parents and law enforcement related to the drug epidemic.

This year, the tribe opened a $13 million treatment center in Snowbird, and a $35 mil-

January 17-23, 2018

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lion crisis stabilization unit is in the planning stages — both projects are directly related to the opioid crisis.

The 161-page complaint contains page after page of allegations against the companies, detailing how they supposedly conspired to allow “hundreds of millions of pills” to illegally enter the market, failed to report suspicious orders as required by law, and conducted a marketing scheme to convince doctors to prescribe opioids to a much broader group of patients than they were previously intended for.

“In connection with this scheme, each Manufacturer Defendant spent, and continues to spend, millions of dollars on promotional activities and materials that falsely deny or trivialize the risks of opioids while overstating the benefits of using them for chronic pain,” the suit says.

The suit deems these efforts “wildly successful,” with opiods now the most prescribed class of drugs, generating $11 billion in revenue for drug companies in 2010 alone.

The result, the suit claims, is a public health crisis of epic proportions nationwide — but North Carolina’s epidemic is worse than most of the country, and Cherokee’s is worse than most of North Carolina.

North Carolina has an opioid prescription rate of 96.6 per 100 people, the 13th highest in the country compared to the U.S. median of 82.5. Between 1999 and 2016, more than 12,000 North Carolinians died from opioidrelated overdoses, with the 2015 figure of 1,567 overdose deaths up 14.5 percent from the 1,358 who died in 2014, the suit says.

It’s even worse on the Qualla Boundary.

The Cherokee Indian Hospital Authority reports that 14 percent of their patients, and 10 percent of tribal members, received a diagnosis related to substance

The complaints The lawsuit includes lists seven counts of alleged misconduct requiring relief. These allegations are summarized below.

Smoky Mountain News

COUNT I: PUBLIC NUISANCE

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Residents of the Qualla Boundary have “a common right to be free from conduct that creates an unreasonable jeopardy to public health, welfare and safety, and to be free from conduct that creates a disturbance and reasonable apprehension of danger to person and property.” However, the defendants have “unlawfully and/or intentionally caused and permitted dangerous drugs under their control to be diverted such as to injure” members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

COUNT II: RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS ACT The market for prescription drugs is a “closed system” regulated by the Controlled Substances Act, which limits the defendants’ ability to manufacture and distribute Schedule II substances like opioids. These laws prevented members of

NORTH CAROLINA: OPIOIDRELATED HOSPITAL USE Rate of Emergency Department (ED) Visits

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the Opioid Diversion Enterprise from achieving their “everincreasing sales ambitions”, so they “systematically and fraudulently violated their duty” to prevent diversion of their drugs, report and halt suspicious orders and notify the Drug Enforcement Agency of suspicious orders.

COUNT III: RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS ACT The defendants “agreed and conspired” to violate federal racketeering laws, and conspiring to violate these laws is a crime.

COUNT IV: NEGLIGENCE AND NEGLIGENT MISREPRESENTATION The defendants had an obligation to exercise “reasonable” and “due” care in manufacturing, marketing, selling and distributing “highly dangerous opioid drugs,” and “reasonably prudent” manufacturers and distributors would have known that opioid addiction would “wreak havoc” on communities and that pushing these opioids for chronic pain would result in “the severe harm of addiction.” However, the defendants continued to sell “escalating amounts” of these drugs, mis-

represented their compliance with the laws surrounding them, and misrepresented their addictive nature.

COUNT V: NEGLIGENCE PER SE The defendants “breached their duties to maintain effective controls against the diversion of dangerously addictive opioids,” and it was foreseeable that this breach of duty would result in “the economic damages for which the Plaintiff seeks recovery.”

COUNT VI: CIVIL CONSPIRACY Acting with “a common understanding or design to commit unlawful acts,” the defendants created a public nuisance and committed fraud and misrepresentation in their handling of opioids. They failed to act to prevent the diversion of these drugs and unlawfully marketed opioids.

COUNT VII: FRAUD AND FRAUDULENT MISREPRESENTATION The defendants knowingly made false statements regarding their compliance with laws outlining duties to prevent diversion and report suspicious orders, and falsely represented the facts regarding using opioids to treat chronic pain.

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January 17-23, 2018

a handle on it,” he said. “These drug companies need to be held accountable. This is a manufactured crisis.”

The Smoky Mountain News reached out to each of the companies listed on the lawsuit — the 23 names boil down to 10 parent companies. Of those 10 companies, four had returned a request for comment as of press time.

“We are deeply troubled by the prescription and illicit opioid abuse crisis, and we are dedicated to being part of the solution,” said John Puskar, director of public affairs for Purdue Pharma. “We vigorously deny these allegations and look forward to the opportunity to present our defense.

Responses from Endo and Janssen included similar statements, denying the allegations and outlining ways the companies have responded to the opioid crisis.

Heather Zoumas Lubeski, senior director of corporate affairs for Endo, said that the company has voluntarily ceased opioid promotion and eliminated its entire product salesforce. In addition, she said, Endo has implemented new antidiversion measures and “In connection with this scheme, each stopped developing new opioid products.

Manufacturer Defendant spent, and William Foster of continues to spend, millions of dollars Janssen, meanwhile, said that Janssen has acted “in on promotional activities and materials the best interests of that falsely deny or trivialize the risks of patients and physicians with regard to its opioid opioids while overstating the benefits pain medicines” and that Janssen opiates “consisof using them for chronic pain.” tently have some of the — From a lawsuit filed by the Eastern Band lowest rates of abuse of Cherokee Indians among these medications.”

A statement from Kaelan Hollon of Teva Tribal Council passed a resolution — introduced by Principal Chief Richard Sneed — did not directly address the lawsuit but said declaring the opioid crisis a public nuisance. that the company is “committed to the approThe resolution noted that Council had priate use of opioid medicines” and recog“received information that indicates that nizes the harm caused by misuse of the drugs.

“To that end, we take a multi-faceted wholesale distributors of controlled substances in areas surrounding the Tribe’s approach to this complex issue; we work to Reservation may have violated Federal and or educate communities and healthcare State laws and regulations that were enacted providers on appropriate medicine use and to prevent the diversion of legally produced prescribing, we comply closely with all relecontrolled substances into the illicit market.” vant federal and state regulations regarding After Sneed introduced the resolution, these medicines, and, through our R&D Tribal Council went into a brief closed session pipeline, we are developing non-opioid treat— possibly to discuss the potential for a ments that have the potential to bring relief future lawsuit — before resuming open ses- to patients in chronic pain,” Hollon said.

John Parker of the Healthcare Distribution sion to unanimously pass the resolution.

That action was followed by an Oct. 16, Alliance, which represents wholesale distribu2017, decision to file a civil suit against opioid tors including those named in the suit, distributors and manufacturers. The August responded to SMN’s request for comment by resolution was a necessary first step, Sneed commenting that, while distributors undersaid on that occasion, giving the EBCI stand- stand the “tragic impact” of the opioid epidemic and are willing to be part of the soluing to file civil action.

“Should we prevail in court, any settle- tion, they “aren’t willing to be scapegoats,” as ment funds would be designated for rehabili- they aren’t responsible for making, markettation, education and law enforcement,” ing, prescribing or dispensing medicines.

“The idea that distributors are solely Sneed told Tribal Council in October. “Once again, this would be the EBCI leading the way responsible for the number of opioid prescriptions written defies common sense and in Indian Country.”

Sneed went on to say that the tribe’s current lacks understanding of how the pharmaceutiannual costs for maintaining its existing drug- cal supply chain actually works and how it is related programs, such as the needle exchange regulated,” Parker said.

Other companies named in the suit are and treatment center, is $6 to $7 million.

“That number’s not going to come down Cardinal Health, Normaco McKesson, Allergan and in the foreseeable future. In fact the cost will AmerisourceBergan, probably increase year-over-year until we get Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals. abuse in 2012. The 2010 overdose rate on the Qualla Boundary was 118 per 100,000 people, 10 times the U.S. all-races rate, the suit says.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is one of three governments in Western North Carolina to file a similar suit. Buncombe County brought similar allegations against a nearly identical list of companies in a suit filed Nov. 14, 2017, which has now been transferred to the Northern District of Ohio.

Catawba County filed a suit in Jan. 11.

Several other Native American tribes are also suing opioid companies. In April 2017 the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma filed a lawsuit naming six companies, three of which are also named in the EBCI’s suit. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe, the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe and the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, all of South Dakota, filed a suit Jan. 8 against 24 opioid manufacturers and distributors.

Numerous such lawsuits have been filed by governments across the nation.

Cherokee began the process toward filing its lawsuit in August 2017, when the Cherokee

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Mystic Lands property owners win lawsuit

Mystic Lands, a gated residential community along the Nantahala River, has been controversial since the property was sold to a private developer in 2005.

Battle over control of the property owners’ association continues

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR Swain County jury sat patiently listening for seven weeks as a room full of lawyers introduced over 400 exhibits, examined and cross examined numerous witnesses and pored over thousands of emails trying to get to the bottom of a dispute between a developer and property owners.

It was anyone’s guess how the jury would rule. Would they sympathize more with Ami Shinitzky — an elderly, wealthy developer trying to keep control over his multi-million dollar investment property after struggling to get through the recession — or would they side with a group of “outsiders” who spent big money to own pristine land right on the Nantahala River?

After deliberating for about three days, the jury ruled in the plaintiffs’ favor on every issue — and the issues they were presented with weren’t simple.

“The jury got it right,” said Adam Peoples, an Asheville lawyer who represented Mystic Lands homeowner Fred Yates.

“This is a victory across the board for the homeowners.”

Shinitzky’s attorney Craig Justus said he appreciated the jury’s civic commitment to this issue, but added that a motion to appeal could be filed.

“Although we are disappointed with the verdict, we believe that there were legal issues surrounding the jury instructions and what questions that they were asked to answer,” he said in an emailed statement.

“Ultimately, as to my client’s belief that the Mystic Lands developer had been harmed by the actions of the plaintiffs, the jury did not agree. Appealing these legal issues is one option that my client is considering; all options are being weighed.”

While the issues between Shinitzky and the property owners are complex and have a lot of moving parts at the moment, plaintiffs were seeking to force the developer to meet his contractual obligations with this particular lawsuit. The individual plaintiffs also had to defend themselves against Shinitzky’s 6 countersuit for defamation. His defamation

Smoky Mountain News

January 17-23, 2018

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suit stems from the property owners accusing Shinitzky of misappropriating Mystic Lands Property Owners’ Association funds.

THE VERDICT The plaintiffs do believe Shinitzky misappropriated the POA funds for his own personal development business and did make statements to that effect in the last several years, but that’s not the allegation the jury was specifically tasked with deciding.

Since Shinitzky was countersuing for defamation, his legal team had the burden of proving the plaintiffs defamed him by making unfair or deceptive statements that were false and that financially harmed his business.

The jury found that the plaintiffs did not defame Shinitzky, but because of how the question was posed and the multi-part test to proving defamation, it’s unknown whether the jury found the statements to be true or if the jury determined that statements were false but didn’t rise to the level of harming his business.

“The jury told us that we didn’t defame Shinitzky by accusing him of misappropriation, but they were not specifically asked whether the allegations of misappropriation were true,” Peoples said.

Shinitzky also accused the plaintiffs of unfair and deceptive trade practices and sought $1.2 million in damages claiming the defamatory statements against him kept him from selling Mystic Lands lots. The jury did not award him any damages either.

The jury also found that Shinitzky breached his contract with plaintiff and homeowner Tom Schreiber by not paving the road up the ridge to his home. Schreiber and other plaintiffs didn’t seek any damages in this case but instead asked for “specific performance,” meaning the court can order Shinitzky to complete the road projects. Those details have yet to be laid out by the judge.

“The next step is going to be the enforcement of the judgment and working out the details for paving of the road — hopefully that goes smoothly,” Peoples said.

ON THE STAND The trial began in a Bryson City courtroom Nov. 6, took a long recess for the Christmas holiday, resumed Jan. 3 and finally

wrapped up Jan. 9. It had been a grueling process for the jurors — you could see their patience wearing thin.

“The length of this trial was highly unusual for Bryson City,” Peoples said.

It would have dragged on for another week or two had the plaintiffs’ lawyers not changed their minds about introducing more evidence or witnesses. The 400 exhibits belonged solely to Shinitzky’s defense attorneys who began laying out their case Nov. 4 and didn’t rest until Jan. 4.

“We talked about it and decided this jury has had enough,” Peoples said. “Craig Justus (Shinitzky’s lawyer) told the judge he thought it would take two to three weeks to present his case, but six weeks later he was still putting up more evidence. Every week they went over, we cut another witness from our case.

We (the homeowners’ attorneys) felt like the jury had seen enough evidence and we didn’t need to go any further.”

During his time on the stand, Shinitzky made it pretty clear he believes Greg Diehl was the main source of contention at Mystic Lands. Diehl was hired in 2012 to be the director of the POA, but he was also working for Shinitzky’s development at the same time and received commissions for helping sell lots at Mystic Lands.

While plaintiffs painted Diehl as the “whistleblower” for alerting property owners that Shinitzky was using POA funds for devel-

opment purposes, Shinitzky and his defense painted Diehl as the instigator of the entire mess.

Shinitzky testified that Diehl was the one either making financial mistakes or misallocating POA funds. He said he wasn’t aware of the misappropriation until 2014 at which time the board was planning not to renew Diehl’s contract as director.

Shinitzky said Diehl was not a whistleblower — he was only trying to save his job by telling property owners Shinitzky was misappropriating funds from the POA. However, the jury never got to hear from Diehl personally as the defense did not call him as a witness during the trial. Shinitzky’s lawyers did work to discredit Diehl by showing the jurors emails between him and property owners plotting against Shinitzky, including an email Diehl sent to The Smoky Mountain News under the fake name Stan Roberts. Roberts claimed to be a Mystic Lands property owner upset about Shinitzky clear cutting trees along the river.

Much of the last few days of the trial were spent discussing Mystic Lands finances and the events leading up to Yates and other plaintiffs having cause to be concerned with how money was being spent.

Alex Cury, an attorney for one of the plaintiffs, questioned Shinitzky about many of his financial practices when managing the POA account.

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— Adam Peoples, attorney for Mystic Lands homeowner Fred Yates

Mystic Lands faced hurdles since the beginning

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR he Mystic Lands development along the Nantahala River has been controversial since Ami Shinitzky purchased the 35acre tract for $4.8 million back in 2005.

Once a public campground, Shinitzky purchased the pristine river property with plans to develop a private, gated community with a total of 32 small lots.

The Nantahala River is surrounded by national forest, making the Mystic River development a rare opportunity to own a piece of land in the gorge. Despite pushback from the outdoor recreation community who felt the development would destroy the natural setting of the Nantahala Gorge, the lots sold in a matter of weeks following an aggressive marketing campaign. People paid between $225,000 and $375,000 for lots that on average were only one-third of an acre.

The economy and the housing market were in a much different state in 2006, but with the recession hitting everyone hard in 2007, developers all over the country were in way over their Mystic Lands property owners have been in a legal dispute with heads. Many develop- the developer for several years. One source of contention was the ers building large updeveloper’s promise to build first-class amenities like a ridge-top scale subdivisions in observatory. The final product is not what property owners Western North expected it to be. Donated photos Carolina cut their losses during the Property owners finally made contribuheight of the recession, leaving property tions in the form of a $550,000 loan to get owners in the lurch on their investments. the clubhouse completed. Shinitzky did Shinitzky also made many promises to eventually pay back that loan to the POA the people buying up lots — Mystic Lands members, but that was just the beginning was going to be a nirvana with topnotch amenities including a clubhouse and obser- of the financial struggles between property owners and the developer. vatory on top of the ridge. Shinitzky was Construction of the observatory, a facilproud to say on the stand that he was one of the few developers determined to stick it ity where homeowners could view the nighttime sky from the top of the ridge, out after the real estate bubble burst — didn’t get underway until the plaintiffs after all he was also a property owner in were already in court with Shinitzky. the Mystic Lands community.

While property owners are happy it got “I have built this place and loved this done, the facility is definitely not what they place and sacrificed for 12 years and spent millions only to try to steal a few thousand were told it would be. An artist rendering shared with property owners displays a dollars? Are you kidding me?” Shinitzky much nicer dome-shaped observatory said while testifying. while what was actually built looks like a Even though the lots sold at record small modular building with an observatospeed, home construction was slow movry dome on top of it. ing as property owners waited for a better 7

T

Smoky Mountain News

At this point, Diehl’s claims about Shinitzky misusing their annual dues for development purposes seemed to be the only answer.

Yates sent multiple emails to Shinitzky asking for an explanation to the financial questions, and though Shinitzky at first offered to go over the books with him and other property owners in detail, he wouldn’t hand over the books to them for review.

Shinitzky said during his testimony that he felt Diehl and the group of property owners were conspiring against him and building a case to get him removed as declarant, which is why he wouldn’t hand over the books to anyone other than financial experts.

“Why would I let him look at the developer’s books if he’s trying to undo me?” he said on the stand. “He (Yates) doesn’t know the difference between a balance sheet and a profit and loss statement — he’s not an expert.”

Shinitzky did agree to an independent audit of the books by a professional CPA and her report showed no proof of misappropriation. The plaintiffs’ lawyers claimed the investigation done was not independent and that the auditor did her report based solely on Shinitzky’s “curated” records.

Again, many allegations were thrown around during the trial, but the jury was

FAR FROM OVER While this verdict was a victory for the group of property owners in Mystic Lands, it’s definitely not the last time they will be in a courtroom facing Shinitzky.

There is still an appeal pending in regard to Shinitzky’s current powers as declarant of Mystic Lands, which are clearly laid out in the covenant that he wrote for the POA. “Shinitzky has control over everything — he’s president of the POA, he holds enough votes to overcome the votes of the homeowners, and he can appoint and remove members of the board,” People said. “There’s no checks and balances to ensure he’s looking out for the property owners’ best interest.”

The property owners want to strip him of the stronghold he has over the POA so they can have board elections and prevent Shinitzky from simply appointing the people he likes and removing the people who disagree with him. In order to do that, the plaintiffs will have to go to court again.

In the Mystic Lands covenants, the declarant doesn’t have to give up control to the Mystic Lands POA until he sells 95 percent of the lots, which plaintiffs claim has been a moving target. They allege that 95 percent of the original lots have been sold, but Shinitzky keeps dividing lots to keep himself below the 95 percent threshold.

“The big deal for the plaintiffs is whether his control has ended. The court of appeals has to decide whether the period of declarant control has expired. If declarant control has expired, and we believe it has, the property owners will finally get a democratic governance for their POA, which is all they’ve ever wanted,” Peoples said.

This was actually the first lawsuit the property owners filed against Shinitzky.

Under the state’s preclusion law, plaintiffs were able to file a derivative action — meaning the group of property owners filed the complaint against him and his development businesses on behalf of the entire POA. But because Shinitzky has the power to appoint and remove anyone he chooses from the board, Peoples said he removed two of the plaintiffs from the board — Fred Yates and Tom Schreiber — and appointed property owners who supported him. Then the board took a vote to dismiss the complaint against Shinitzky and his development businesses on the POA’s behalf. Even if the POA board was independent of Shinitzky, Yates testified in court that Shinitzky’s vote could override everyone else’s because his vote carries more weight and he owns multiple lots.

“They want to have a say in how their neighborhood is run and he has complete control over everything,” Peoples said.

The issue of whether Shinitzky has reached the 95 percent in sold lots is currently being appealed. If the plaintiffs’ and their legal team can show that Shinitzky’s powers have expired, the POA can take over control of Mystic Lands.

A look back

economic climate to construct their dream second homes.

By 2012, construction was rebounding and nearly a dozen property owners began designing and building their Mystic River homes. Things were looking up and all the property owners were working hand in hand with Shinitzky to see the completion of more homes and the amenities promised to them.

But patience wore thin by 2015 when homeowners weren’t seeing any progress being made — the specialized septic systems needed for the river property weren’t provided, roads up to the Mystic Ridge properties weren’t being paved and construction of the clubhouse and observatory wasn’t being done.

January 17-23, 2018

“The jury got it right.

This is a victory across the board for the homeowners.”

reminded that they were to focus on the issue at hand — did Shinitzky breach a contract with the plaintiffs and did the plaintiffs defame Shinitzky with their claims of misappropriations?

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During one of his depositions, he said it was common for him to take the QuickBooks file home for a few days and make changes in the system before payroll was due.

Cury also pointed out that several employees had access to the QuickBooks files and none of them used a specific password to get into the file, which means it’s impossible to know who made what changes.

As Cury tried to show that Shinitzky used POA funds to clear his lots for a sale event in 2013, Shinitzky placed the blame on Diehl for hiring a company to spread gravel on the driveways and paying the bill from the POA account.

When Cury asked what account that bill was paid out of — the POA or developer account — Shinitzky said he had a large credit in the POA account at the time.

The conflict between property owners and Shinitzky came to a head in the summer of 2014 when Shinitzky told the property owners they owed him $280,000. In addition to the suspicions of misappropriations, property owners were already unhappy about their POA dues increasing every year.

Property owner dues went from $700 a year in 2005 to $2,200 a year by 2015 — and they still didn’t have all the amenities they were promised. With all that money going into the POA account, property owners couldn’t understand how they owed the developer $280,000.

January 17-23, 2018

Volunteers for the Constitution Party sought petition signatures at an Asheville-area gun show Jan. 13. Cory Vaillancourt photo

Minor parties seek NC ballot access

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER isillusionment with the two-party American political system has been around for a long time, but with a polarizing President in the White House and gerrymandered districts that tend to push major party candidates towards more extreme primary election positions, it’s rarely been higher.

“The fastest growing group in North Carolina is neither Democrat nor Republican, but it’s unaffiliated,” said Dr. Chris Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University. “There’s actually more unaffiliated voters than Republicans in the state right now.”

Last October, Senate Bill 656 was passed in the General Assembly, drastically lowering the requirements for so-called minor parties to gain ballot access in statewide and local partisan elections.

As a result, several parties of varying ideology have set about qualifying for ballot access in North Carolina this year, and appear 8 poised to succeed in time for the 2018 elec-

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D

tions — if an ongoing dispute in Raleigh regarding the composition of the State Board of Elections is resolved in time.

‘DEFINITELY DOABLE’ Candidates running for partisan office in North Carolina currently have three options for affiliation: one of the two major parties, Democrat or Republican, or the one minor party, Libertarian. If a candidate identifies as a member of any other party, the name of that party doesn’t appear on the ballot.

While meant to prevent elections from turning into a frustrating, frivolous mess consisting of dozens of self-proclaimed political parties with little to no actual support, the unrealistic and unattainable ballot access requirements in many states reinforce the two-party system, making it hard for smaller parties with less resources to qualify for ballot access.

To gain that access, some states require cash but most all require signatures; gathering thousands of signatures takes lots of time, which is also the same thing as lots of cash.

“The fastest growing group in North Carolina is neither Democrat nor Republican, but it’s unaffiliated. There’s actually more unaffiliated voters than Republicans in the state right now.”

— Dr. Chris Cooper, political science professor at Western Carolina University

Senate Bill 656, however, lowered the bar on the signature requirement, and also added a new way for minor parties to gain ballot access.

For the first time in the state, if a minor party had a candidate on the 2016 General Election ballot in at least 35 states, those parties henceforth could be included on North Carolina ballots.

It’s the signature requirement, however, that has minor parties excited about the bill’s passage.

“Prior to (the new law’s passage), it was the most restrictive ballot access law in the country, requiring 98,000 signatures, or 2 percent of the registered voters in the last election,” said Camille McCarthy, co-chair of the Western North Carolina chapter of the

N.C. Green Party. “Now it’s 11,000.”

Any registered N.C. voter can sign the petition, which simply asserts that such minor parties should be allowed on the ballot; it doesn’t obligate you to vote for them, it doesn’t put you on a mailing list, and it doesn’t change your existing voter registration or political affiliation.

Aside from the actual number of signatures, which is 11,925, the petitions must also contain signatures of at least 200 voters from three — previously four — separate congressional districts.

At an average of 10 signatures per hour, it would take 9,800 hours of work to acquire 98,000 signatures; paid at N.C.’s minimum wage, that effort would cost $71,050, not including materials like clipboards, pens or printing.

To put that in perspective, it would take a staff of nine people six months of full-time work to accomplish the task.

At the more attainable 11,000-signature requirement, only 1,100 hours of work — one person, full-time, for six months — would be needed, at a cost of $7,975.

“Last time, we ended up with about 15,000 to 20,000 valid signatures,” McCarthy said. “That took four years. We know that we can get to 11,000 because we did get over that number. The number we have now is definitely doable.”

The party’s website says that it’s already garnered more than 5,100 signatures, and is looking to raise $5,000 to support the effort.

If McCarthy and the Greens are successful, it will level their playing field somewhat, giving voters a better idea of who’s who on their ballots, and who stands for what.

“So this petition drive would allow us to run people in elections that have the word ‘Green’ next to their name, the same way that people have ‘Republican’ and ‘Democrat’ next to their name on the ballot,” she said.

But what does “Green” mean?

“The Green party realizes that the environment is under attack,” said Bob Carson, another member of the WNC Greens. “The future for our young folks is under attack.

We’re looking to promote the values of peace, ecology, justice and democracy, and the established political parties are not dealing with the environmental problems that are facing us very critically right now.”

Aside from its environmental positions, the Green Party’s platform trends towards the progressive policies of the Democratic Party, which is currently the world’s oldest voter-based political party.

Left-leaning groups, however, aren’t the only ones seeking ballot access, suggesting that there’s also dissatisfaction with the status quo on the right.

“I’ve been a Republican all my life. I’m 58 years old. I registered to vote Republican when I was in the Air Force. When I turned of age, the first person I ever voted for was Ronald Reagan,” said Eddie Cabe, who was helping to gather signatures for the Constitution Party at the Asheville Gun and Knife Show Jan. 13. “I’ve just seen the corruption that’s come down on both the Republicans and the Democrats.”

Cabe’s a fair example of major party disillusionment by voters who nowadays define

margin. Those districts, not surprisingly, have been ruled unconstitutional gerrymanders and will likely change before 2020, becoming tighter and, in theory, more competitive.

During that same election, 33 of the state’s 50 Senate Districts saw contested races; the average margin of victory in those contested races was 30 percent. The closest race was in the Cary-area 17th District, where Republican Tamara Barringer defeated Democrat Susan P. Evans by just 42 votes, or less than 1 percent.

Barringer’s was the only Senate race decided by less than 5 points; Libertarian Susan J. Hogarth, however, pulled 4.24 percent, or almost 5,200 votes — most of which would probably have gone to Barringer.

Also in 2016, 57 of the state’s 120 House Districts were uncontested. Of the 63 that saw contested races, the average margin of victory was almost 26 points. Eight of those races, however, were decided by less than four points.

Thus the inclusion of minor parties, as Cooper alluded to, probably won’t result in state legislators bearing minor party affiliations any time soon, but these parties could find greater relevance playing spoiler – if anyone from the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement shows up to receive the stacks upon stacks of signatures they’ve been gathering around the state since the passage of SB 656.

Since last summer, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has been locked in political combat with the Republican-controlled General Assembly over the state’s elections board, which was recently consolidated with the N.C. State Ethics Board to create a unified State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement.

Cooper opined the move was unconstitutional, and hasn’t yet appointed anyone to the new board, but courts disagreed with him, so the case has now gone to the N.C. Supreme Court.

SB 656 gives a June 1 deadline for the filing of minor-party petitions if those parties want to participate in the upcoming 2018 elections.

McCarthy said that the Green Party is attempting to qualify under the 70 percent clause and is also gathering signatures as a backup, but as of now, there’s no one at the new NCSBEEE to receive the paperwork for either method.

Regardless, minor party advocates remain undeterred in their belief that the inclusion of such parties in an age of rarefied political division is both necessary and helpful to the state and country as a whole.

“I think parties like Greens and other third parties, it’s time for us to have a seat at the table,” Williamson said. “People are willing to listen to the solutions and ideas that third parties are bringing. Obviously, ballot access is a huge part of that.”

Although Eddie Cabe inhabits a wholly different part of the political spectrum than Williamson, they seem to agree on that.

“I believe the more good people we have running for office,” said Cabe, “the better choices we’ll have.”

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talking about a percentage point or two, maybe three, but the fact you’ve got parties on both sides, I kind of think it GET CREAMED represented would come out in the wash.”

Considering the hundred-fifty-something That these minor parties might affect the fortunes of the major ones is understood; to year head start the major parties have on minor parties in terms of brand recognition what extent, however, is not.

“Most of these unaffiliated voters are and political loyalties often passed down genwhat we call ‘shadow partisans,’ so they may erationally, the impact of these parties on register as unaffiliated but have preferences North Carolina elections may be small, but may not be inconsequential. for one party or the other,” said Cooper.

“It’s important to have more parties, but The inclusion of minor parties on the balto be blunt about it, third parties rarely win, and third parties rarely make a big difference in the long run,” Cooper said. “We can all point to a few exceptions, but even [with] the exceptions, the third parties tend to get creamed.”

One such exception who both made a difference and got Camille McCarthy and creamed was Dee the Green Party hope Williams, a candidate to be included on for Asheville City statewide ballots this Council in the last elecfall. Cory Vaillancourt photo tion. Although the race was non-partisan, Williams is a member of and closely affiliated with the WNC chapter of the Green Party, and was also endorsed by similarly left-leaning minor parties like the Asheville branches of the Democratic Socialists of America and the International Socialist Organization.

Williams finished fourth in a field of 12 during the October, 2017, primary, good enough to advance to “Prior to (the new law’s the general election, where she finished sixth passage), it was the most out of six candidates competing for three seats. According to the WNC Greens, restrictive ballot access Williams is the first Green candidate in law in the country, North Carolina to make it through a city council primary election. requiring 98,000 “Our volunteers ran an amazing campaign and highlighted a lot of issues with signatures, or 2 percent certain populations of our local community of the registered voters in that probably would not have been addressed, specifically issues of affordable the last election. Now it’s housing and economic inequality,” said Ben Williamson, who with Camille McCarthy 11,000.” serves as co-chair of the WNC Greens. “A — Camille McCarthy, co-chair of lot of people were surprised at the support the Western North Carolina chapter Dee garnered and I think it shows a readiof the N.C. Green Party ness of people to really listen to these issues, and I think a general frustration and disenlot could lead some of those unaffiliated vot- chantment with the established two-party ers towards affiliation, and could lead to system.”

That frustration and disenchantment defections from the major parties as well, making it far more difficult to predict what puts these smaller parties in position to swing might happen to Democrats and several North Carolina seats.

In the 2016 election, the state’s 13 conRepublicans if the Green Party and the Constitution Party, or any other party, gressional districts all saw contested races, but the average margin of victory in those acquires ballot access.

“It obviously muddies things, and makes races was just over 25 percent, with the them more complicated,” he said. “We’re closest race still resulting in a 12-point

January 17-23, 2018

counterpart, the Republican Party.

It’s pro-life, pro-gun, anti-U.N. and supports traditional marriage; it also opposes socialized health care, the minimum wage, and calls upon governments to “cease their attacks on the religious liberties of the people and the states, regardless of the forum in which these liberties are exercised.”

Cabe said that message seems to be resonating with voters — at least, in that place, at that time.

“Well, we’re at a gun show so you’ve got a lot of conservative, constitutional people, and the vast majority of them, when they look at the Constitution Party platform — God, liberty, freedom, First Amendment, Second Amendment — once they see what it’s all about, most everyone that I’ve asked has agreed to sign,” he said. “We’re gathering signatures pretty good.”

McCarthy said that when the Greens attempt to gather signatures at polling places or community festivals, the response has mostly been favorable, albeit subject to place and time.

“In general, people are either friendly or say ‘No thank you,’ but some, depending where in the state you are, sometimes it’s Republicans who get mad at you, and sometimes it’s Democrats.”

MAKE A DIFFERENCE,

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themselves more by principles than by party.

“I was removed from the party for ‘party disloyalty,’ basically because I called out a [Republican Haywood County] commissioner for not following the party platform,” he said. “It seems like the Republican Party has just abandoned the people. They’ve turned into an establishment. They’ve turned into part of the swamp.”

The Constitution Party, like the Green Party, offers up a slightly different but substantially similar platform to its major-party

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NC Congressional districts struck down State districts next?

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER ust one month before candidates start signing up to run for the 2018 elections, a three judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit struck down North Carolina’s congressional districts as partisan gerrymanders that violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

Although N.C. General Assembly has been directed by the Jan. 9 ruling to redraw the districts by Jan. 24, a promised appeal by the GOP makes that date unlikely, but it’s clear that change — and probably some degree of chaos — is coming to the only democracy in the world in which elected officials pick their voters, and not vice versa.

“Any change we see is going to benefit the Democrats,” said Western Carolina University Political Science professor Dr. Chris Cooper. “But I think it remains to be seen how much.”

In the short term, Cooper said, the lines delineating the 10th and 11th congressional districts would likely change.

“The 10th is unlikely to become Democratic leaning,” said Cooper of Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry’s Hendersonville-area district. “The 11th [home to Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Cashiers] is much more of a question mark, I think. It was the most competitive district in the state, but then it became the most Republican district in the state.”

North Carolina Republican Party execu-

January 17-23, 2018

J

tive director Dallas Woodhouse denounced the ruling as political in nature and as penned by an activist judge, but Haywood County Democratic Party Chair Myrna Campbell used to work in the office of former Democratic Congressman Heath Shuler, Meadows’ predecessor, and can verify firsthand Cooper’s assertion.

“I think a strong case can be made that the redrawing of the congressional map in 2011 to place Asheville into the 10th district and adding three predominately Republican counties to the 11th constituted partisan gerrymandering because it significantly diminished the number of Democrat voters in the Mark Meadows 11th,” Campbell said.

“Prior to the redistricting, the 11th was classified as a competitive district. Now, it’s statistically impossible for a Democrat to win with just Democrat votes.”

But for 150 years Democrats had a boot on the neck of state Republicans, wielding legislative power and drawing gerrymandered districts of their own — even before Democratic Gov. Jim Hunt took office in 1977, a Democratcontrolled General Assembly gave him the power to fire state workers at will. His assistant Joe Pell is quoted in Wayne Grimsley’s biography as unapologetically saying at the time, “The game of politics, as far as I know, is still played on the basis of ‘to the victor goes the spoils.’”

With the GOP’s recent takeover of state government — as well as a current supermajority in the house — can they really be

NORTH CAROLINA 11TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

North Carolina’s congressional districts, including the 11th, could see big changes.

NationalAtlas.gov photo

“Prior to the redistricting, the 11th was classified as a competitive district. Now, it’s statistically impossible for a Democrat to win with just Democrat votes.”

— Myrna Campbell, Haywood County Democratic Party Chair

blamed for playing the game by the rules that currently exist?

“We all expected this in a lot of ways,” Cooper said. “Republicans had a lot of policy proposals they weren’t able to pass for over a century. The Republicans didn’t hide the ball.

They were pretty clear on what they stood for, and they got elected fair and square, so I don’t think it’s a big surprise. This will tick off some people probably, but in some ways it’s a positive sign for democracy — they said what they wanted to do, they got into office, and they’ve done it.”

In the long run, Cooper thinks that the ruling will not only change the lines, but also the way the lines are drawn.

“Up until this point, legislators in North Carolina and elsewhere have been able to draw lines to benefit their party and they’ve been open about it,” he said of current districts, which saw 56 percent of voters choose Republican congressional candidates in 2016, which somehow resulted in 10 of 13 seats going for the GOP. “They say, ‘It was only 10-3 because we couldn’t get 11-2.’”

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Melrose to run for Superior Court judge

Welch to seek second term as DA

ment about the state legislature — that it is a partisan gerrymander — and if that would hold, then I think we would redraw those. So it wouldn’t be immediate but I think the second order effects of it could trickle down to the General Assembly.”

That becomes important because the decennial census is rapidly approaching in 2020. The results of that census will be used to draw all new districts for the 2022 elections, both congressional and legislative.

It’s likely that North Carolina will gain an additional congressional seat at the expense of some northern state, and state legislators will be the ones doing the drawing, as well as drawing their own districts.

“If this ruling holds, then I think we would see that the same principles apply to the legislature, where I think the Republican supermajority would be up for grabs pretty quickly,” Cooper said.

Still, just about everything surrounding the next two election cycles in North Carolina is up in the air until more appeals are settled.

“They’ve held three elections with unconstitutionally drawn maps,” Campbell said, “and they’re determined to have at least one more.”

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While the 11th is currently seen as a safe district for Meadows, placing Asheville back into the 11th and removing one or more of the three Republican counties added in 2011 “could dramatically change the political landscape” according to Campbell.

Meadows, for his part, doesn’t seem too worried about his district changing. The three-term congressman won his last two elections by more than 25 percentage points each, and won his first term in 2012 by almost 15 points, an average margin of victory of just under 23 percent overall.

“We enjoy a great working relationship with the N.C. legislature, and we have total confidence that they will act in the best interest of the people of North Carolina,” said Ben Williamson, Meadows’ press secretary.

Even if Asheville — or parts thereof — are added to Meadows’ district, it may not be enough to make the district competitive.

It may be a different story on the state level, however; the same arguments that were made about congressional districts in North Carolina could also be made about the legislative districts, resulting in a complete redo of those districts as well.

“If the Democrats make the same argu-

Women's Wednesdays

$

January 17-23, 2018

First-term District Attorney Ashley Welch recently announced her candidacy for re-election at the GEM Country Republican Women’s Club meeting in Franklin.

“It has been an honor to be the first woman to serve as District Attorney for the seven westernmost counties of North Carolina, and today I’m announcing my candidacy for re-election,” she said. “I have served the people of our communities as a prosecutor for my entire career, and I’ve worked hard during my first term to make my office accessible, efficient and effective.”

Welch said her office has been open to the public during regular hours each week in every county for the first time in the history of the office, and that she’s worked together

with elected legislators to be able to bring additional prosecutors and staff to an office that desperately needed the extra support.

“Working together with our talented and professional law enforcement officers we have been able to bring violent criminals to justice and we’ve made tremendous progress in ridding our communities of the drug dealers who ruin lives and families,” she said in a press release.

“We’ve also partnered with our children’s advocacy centers and child abuse response agencies to give a loud voice to the littlest victims and send a strong message that we will not tolerate those who prey on our children.”

When she was first elected, Welch said she promised to be more than an administrator and she said she’s kept that promise by working in the courtrooms as a lawyer, and as a District Attorney she has personally sent drug dealers and violent criminals to prison for the rest of their lives.

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Waynesville attorney Mark Melrose has announced his intentions to run for Superior Court Judge for the 30th Judicial District of North Carolina.

He has 28 years of experience practicing law in the Superior Courts throughout North Carolina and has started and managed a successful law practice in Sylva and Waynesville.

“My career has included countless jury trials involving the most serious and complex civil and criminal cases handled in the North Carolina trial courts. This professional background, and my personal life experiences, has blessed me with wisdom, as well as profound respect for the people of western North Carolina,” he said in a press release. “My family and I have decided the time is right for me

to give back to these mountain communities that have supported me in my law practice.”

If elected, Melrose said he would treat everyone that comes before him with respect.

He also said he would ensure that juries hear all the facts of the case. “Fundamentally, I want justice served no matter the consequences.

Lawyers and litigants whose cases would appear before me will have the confidence that my job is to call balls and strikes, and make sure the rule of law is followed,” he said.

Although the N.C. General Assembly has required candidates for judge to run with a partisan label this year, Melrose said voters would not see his party affiliation on his campaign website.

“There are no blue sets of law books or red sets of law books. Instead the Constitution and General Statutes of North Carolina are written with black ink on white paper. As a judge, I will have no favorites,” he said.

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Reroute planned for Blackrock Trail

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER he infamously steep trail leading up to Blackrock from Pinnacle Park will soon find itself with a gentler incline following the planned reroute of 0.37 miles of the most severely angled piece of the pathway.

“That current trail up to the ridge toward Blackrock was never really a well-planned trail,” said Dennis Desmond, stewardship coordinator at Mainspring Conservation Trust. “It was just kind of forged by who knows who and really wasn’t sustainable and subject to erosion and such, so I encouraged them to think about rerouting it.”

The “them” in this case is the town of Sylva, which owns the 1,088-acre Pinnacle Park where the trail is located. At its northern end, the property abuts land that was part of a 2016 addition to the National Park Service known as Waterrock Knob Park.

Formerly home to the town’s water supply, the state now holds a conservation easement on Pinnacle Park through the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, and Mainspring is in charge of monitoring that easement.

Sylva’s leadership was game to look into a reroute, and Desmond is now working with Facilities Director Dan Shaeffer and Pinnacle Park Foundation Chairman Jay Coward to flag out the exact route. Securing a less severe grade will require lengthening the trail segment. The current plan would result in the existing 0.37-mile section being

Smoky Mountain News

January 17-23, 2018

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Help build new trail A workday is coming up for those interested in helping construction of the new segment of trail leading to Blackrock. A group will hike in to the area Friday, Jan. 26, and camp out to put in a full day of work before heading out the next day.

A high level of physical fitness is required to participate, as volunteers will need to hike in their own overnight supplies as well as any tools they’ll be using that weekend. To sign up, contact Jay Coward at jkcoward@chspa.com.

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Then Irma came along, further lengthening the to-do list.

During the board’s Oct. 12 meeting, Coward said that Schaeffer had supervised 12 full days of work crews at Pinnacle Park over the past month, removing trees and installing ditches.

“It is in better condition today than at any time since I’ve been making reports to this board, and I’ve been making reports for 24 years about what’s been happening at Pinnacle Park,” Coward said.

“It’s in really good shape.”

Pinnacle Park has been a regular topic of conversation in the Sylva Town Hall over the past couple years, with commissioners in The proposed reroute, represented by a pink dotted line, will 2016 exploring the posresult in a gentler grade leading up to Blackrock and reduced ero- sibility of creating a sion, but will extend the trail’s length by about a mile. mountain biking trail Mainspring Conservation Trust map system on the property.

Commissioners seemed work clearing the trails and also completing to like the idea, and the Nantahala Area some needed maintenance work noted in Southern Off Road Bicycling Association Desmond’s June 2017 easement monitoring held a well-attended community meeting to report. receive input on the topic.

“Immediate steps should be taken to However, as always, funding is the quesstop the active erosion along the trails, and tion — Sylva doesn’t have much of that to accompanying sedimentation of streams, spare, and the plan has languished over the mainly by installing diversion ditches at key past year or so. The current conservation locations. Rehabilitation of the eroded/guleasement doesn’t address whether mountain lied areas of the trails to improve recreationbiking would be a permitted use of the propal and managerial access could be a subseerty, but Desmond indicated that getting quent and more time-consuming step,” permission might not be difficult.

Desmond wrote in the report.

“I think if a well thought-out plan for He went on to suggest that a compact development of trails was presented to the excavator such as a Bobcat be used to put in (Clean Water Management) Trust Fund, I diversion ditches along the trails, allowing think they would seriously consider it,” he water to drain off with minimal erosion. said.

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replaced by a new 1.25-mile section.

A little over half of that trail has been laid out so far. The team is currently figuring out how to achieve the necessary reroute while also allowing a high-elevation spring that sits along the current trail to remain a trailside feature.

“The idea is to get a trail that slowly slopes up to it and switchbacks to the ridge so that we’ve got a trail pretty much mapped out to the spring, but from the spring to the ridge — that section still needs to be worked out,” Desmond said.

Sylva commissioners gave permission for the trail relocation to proceed with a unanimous vote during their meeting Jan. 11, though no funding is tied to the project.

However, when discussing the issue during an Oct. 12, 2017, meeting, Coward said he believed the reroute could be done very cheaply and possibly at no cost to the town.

“We can get the manpower,” he said in October. “We’ve built a lot of trails in the past. We’ve used Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Rotary clubs, prisoners. We put a lot of people to work up there. I don’t think we’ll have a problem rerouting that trail.”

During the same meeting, Coward said he’d spoken with leaders of multiple agencies and organizations that might be able to help supply volunteers, equipment and expertise, and that he’d met a favorable reception.

It remains to be seen whether the entire new trail length would be constructed with hand labor. While the conservation easement allows heavy equipment for maintenance of existing trails, which primarily run along old logging roads, it requires any equipment used to build new trails to be no more than 4 feet wide.

“They’ll have to figure out whether they want to get a small piece of equipment up there or rely on hand labor and volunteer crews,” Desmond said. “If it is volunteer crews, it will take a fair bit of time.”

The trail reroute is just the latest in a recent surge of work taking place at Pinnacle Park. After winds from Hurricane Irma downed untold numbers of trees on the property, Shaeffer and his crews went to

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Innovation Brewing.

T

“That slogan, ‘Bottling innovation since 1985,’ is a part of their marketing and as such should be afforded a lower amount of trademark protection,” he said. “Trademark case law has established that advertising slogans, such as used on bumper stickers, do not provide the same level of protection as trademarks used on packaging — they do not convey the source-identifying nature of trademarks and instead are simply considered laudatory phrases by consumers,” Reiser added.

So, what about Bell’s claim that it has common law rights over the slogan, “Bottling innovation since 1985”?

“They say ‘common law rights,’ which means they put it out in the marketplace and have been using it, and they deserve the right to keep using it,” Reiser said in 2015.

“Innovation does not dispute that they have full right to use and continue using the slogan, just that the slogan legally does not restrict Innovation’s use or registration of the Innovation Brewing name. The thing that keeps getting lost is that we believe that any common law rights Bell’s own are very minimal.”

Innovation owners Nicole Dexter and Chip Owen were unavailable for comment at press time.

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ing upward of 500 barrels a year, filed a federal trademark application in 2013 to register its brand name, Innovation Brewing. Bell’s Brewery, a Kalamazoo, Michigan-based microbrewery powerhouse producing upward of 310,000 barrels a year, objected to the application.

Bell’s felt it had common law ownership of the word “innovation” in terms of the craft beer industry, seeing as it has used the word in its marketing (“Bottling innovation since 1985”) for several years. Bell’s also claims its trademarked slogan, “Inspired Brewing,” may confuse consumers when comparing the two breweries.

Normally, disputes such as this are solved out of the public eye. This one, however, turned into a social media firestorm, with the microscope of worldwide media attention focused on both companies, once word of the dispute became known in March 2015.

“Basically, we filed a federal trademark application for ‘Innovation Brewing’ with the federal trademark system in 2013, and Bell’s filed an opposition against it in April 2014,” Innovation co-owner Nicole Dexter told The Smoky Mountain News in 2015.

The application was approved by the U.S. Trademark Office and was published for opposition, a 30-day period where third parties may formally object to registration.

Bell’s filed its objection in April 2014, and its complaint states that the similar names are “likely to cause confusion and mistake, and to deceive and mislead consumers into believing that [Innovation Brewing’s] beverages originated, are sponsored by, are

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January 17-23, 2018

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF WRITER he ongoing and exhaustive trademark dispute between Sylva’s Innovation Brewing and Bell’s Brewery is now over.

After more than three years of legal battles, the Trademark Trial & Appeals Board in Washington, D.C., recently decided to dismiss the case made by Bell’s against Innovation. The TTAB concluded that there was no consumer confusion when it came to deciphering the two breweries, on the shelves or in terms of marketing and branding.

In its findings, the TTAB found, “We have found that the parties’ goods, customers, and channels of trade are identical; that beer is inexpensive and subject to impulse purchase; and that Opposer’s marks are afforded the normal scope of protection to which inherently distinctive marks are entitled. Nonetheless, on the record before us, we find that the dissimilarity of the marks INSPIRED BREWING and INNOVATION BREWING in appearance, sound, connotation, and overall commercial impression outweighs the other du Pont factors. For that reason, we find the first du Pont factor to be outcomedeterminative. Considering the record evidence as a whole, we find that Opposer has not carried its burden to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that Applicant’s mark INNOVATION BREWING is likely to cause consumer confusion with Opposer’s mark INSPIRED BREWING in association with beer.”

Since opening in October 2013, Innovation has become a centerpiece within the community of Sylva and greater Jackson County. The company, a nano-brewery mak-

Bell’s Brewery felt it had common law ownership of the word “innovation” in terms of the craft beer industry, seeing as it has used the word in its marketing (“Bottling innovation since 1985”) for several years.

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Brewery trademark dispute dismissed

licensed from, or are jointly owned by or otherwise associated with [Bell’s] and/or [Bell’s] goods marked with its Inspired Brewing trademark.”

Even though Bell’s does have the trademark for “Inspired Brewing,” the filing also makes a claim on the “Bottling innovating since 1985” slogan, which has been in use by Bell’s marketing (bumper stickers and on their delivery trucks) for around six years.

“Nobody has said that Bell’s doesn’t have the trademark for ‘Inspired Brewing.’ We do believe that, everyone does,” Doug Reiser, an Asheville-based brewery lawyer representing Innovation Brewing, told The Smoky Mountain News in 2015. “We just don’t see how ‘Inspired Brewing’ and ‘Innovation Brewing’ are in any way confusing to craft beer consumers. If you look it up in the dictionary, the words aren’t even close.”

Reiser pointed out that Bell’s has prided itself for years for being vigilant in registering its own trademarks on its numerous products and slogans. So, why didn’t the company ever file a registration for the “Bottling innovation since 1985” slogan? Reiser also asks why go after Innovation Brewing when others also use and have registered trademarks that include “innovation” for beer?

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ulation not eligible for Medicaid.)

The General Assembly reduced Vaya’s Single Stream Funding by $7.4 million for 2017-18 and by $7.5 million for 2018-19, which Inman said is restricting the agency’s ability to use these funds to pay for MDEs. Now, she said DHHS only provides about $40,000 a year to pay for all MDEs needed across the state.

Vaya and other regional funding agencies must submit invoices to the state for reimbursement to access these funds on a first-come, firstserve basis.

Inman said Vaya was notified Nov. 21 that all funds available Hannah Nix of Franklin is attempting to get her rights restored after being deemed mentally incompetent for MDEs for fiscal several years ago. Donated photo year 2017-18 had been expended. Vaya and other regional agencies have advised DHHS that the annual amount allocated for MDEs is insufficient to meet the statewide demand, but right now their hands are tied.

“This is in addition to the approximate $31 million in non-Medicaid dollars cut from Vaya’s funding between 2009 and 2015. policy of reducing service funds for

BY J ESSI STONE UNDING NOT AVAILABLE This individuals without Medicaid has been N EWS E DITOR underway for the last decade and is severely annah LeAnn Nix says she’s not the The Macon County clerk issued an order eroding our ability to provide services for same person she was a few years ago stating that Vaya Health, which manages when a judge deemed her mentally public funds for mental health services in 23 this population,” she said. “For this reason incompetent and appointed her a state Western North Carolina counties, “shall pre- and as we announced in June and July of last guardian. pare and provide a current multidisciplinary year, we are targeting these limited dollars toward direct treatment and crisis services.

She’s been living in a group home in evaluation of the respondent.”

Forest City for the last couple of years, but Since the MDE is for an indigent client, she said she’s ready to return home to her the state is responsible for funding the evalu“It was a close case — friends and family in Franklin. Now at the ation. The N.C. Department of Health and she almost didn’t need age of 25, she said she’s ready to prove her Human Services provides funding for those mental health condition is being properly types of services annually and Vaya Health the guardian. Since the managed and reclaim her independence. distributes those funds to providers in WNC. “I’m fully capable of taking care of However, Vaya Health and the other original guardianship myself,” Nix said. “I can basically run this agencies that manage public mental health order, she’s grown up and house myself — I do everything around funds across the state are not receiving here.” enough funding from the state to meet the matured and is ready to Nix must prove to the state she has the demand for these types of evaluations. Upon mental capability to take care of herself, but receiving Nix’s order for a MDE, Vaya Health have her rights restored.” a lack of state funding may prevent her from informed the clerk of court that funding is — Chase Wells, attorney for even getting the chance. In order to have her not available right now.

Hannah Nix rights restored, Nix’s attorney Chase Wells Under the current law, Vaya spokesperfiled a petition for restoration to the Macon son Allison Inman said the cost of the MDE County Clerk of Court Victor Perry.

Using this funding to pay for an MDE directis the responsibility of the DHHS if the perWith any petition for restoration, Wells ly reduces the amount of funding available son is indigent. said the clerk of court has the statutory for substance use treatment and other criti“Vaya is only responsible for arranging option to order a multi-disciplinary evaluacal services in our communities.” for the MDE, but we cannot arrange for an tion for the petitioner.

Wells said he sees the refusal to fund the MDE without a guaranteed source of fund“This consists of a psychological evaluaevaluation as a direct violation of the court ing to reimburse the provider,” she said. tion and a social worker evaluation, each order from the clerk, who is treated as a In the past, Inman said Vaya expended one being summarized in a report by conjudge under the law of guardianships. up to $100,000 per year to pay for MDEs tracted professionals who will recommend “Normally the procedure to follow when using its Single Stream Funding (funding for that the person does or does not need a a court order is violated is to issue a ‘Show mental health, intellectual/ developmental guardian,” Wells said. “They cost around Cause’ order and set a hearing date where disability and substance use services for the the violating party must appear and explain uninsured, under-insured and indigent pop14 $1,000 to perform.”

Life in Limbo

Smoky Mountain News

January 17-23, 2018

Franklin native fighting to have rights restored F

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to the judge/clerk why they failed to follow the order and why they were not held in contempt,” Wells said.

Vaya maintains that it’s the DHHS in violation of the order as the state department is responsible for funding the evaluations.

“We would consult with our board, legal counsel and NC DHHS if such an order were issued,” Inman said.

Cuts to Vaya are being passed along to many of the local entities providing mental health and substance abuse services in the region, including Appalachian Community Services and Meridian Behavioral Health Services. A larger Virginia-based health provider bought ACS last year, which has helped the provider maintain and expand services, but Meridian is still operating as a nonprofit entity. Meridian has had to cut services and reduce employee salaries to make ends meet and is starting a major fundraising campaign to avoid future cuts.

OVERCOMING THE PAST In the meantime, people like Nix are stuck in limbo just hoping they can get their request in first on July 1, 2018, and get an evaluation approved when that limited amount of funding is still available. But when someone else has had control over your life for the last seven years it can be difficult to be patient.

Wells said his client was young and going through a hard time with her family when a judge deemed her incompetent.

“It was a close case — she almost didn’t need the guardian. Since the original guardianship order, she’s grown up and matured and is ready to have her rights restored,” he said. “She basically runs the home she lives in, communicates with me by email, Google hangouts and smartphone, expresses herself well, cooks, cleans, and manages what little money she is allowed to keep.”

Nix feels like none of this should have happened to her and chalks it up to a series of unfortunate events that culminated in the worst possible way. Her father got custody of her when she was 15 because there were some allegations of her mother being abusive toward her.

However, Nix said her father placed her in foster care where she bounced around from house to house until she was 18. Her father then got guardianship over her when she was deemed incompetent and she lived with him and her stepmother.

“It just started to go down hill from there. When I was 19 — almost 20 — it was to the point it was too much. Living with them became unbearable. I know I could have brought it on myself a little by running away from my dad,” Nix said. “But my stepmom took me to police department threatening to arrest me if I kept running away.”

Not being able to handle her anymore, Nix’s guardianship was transferred and she ended up in the group home in Forest City — hours away from her friends and family.

Her mother and younger brother come to visit her when they can but because of the alleged abuse when she was younger, she is only allowed to have supervised visits with her mom.

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“We can only have two-hour visits and they have to be supervised,” Nix said. “I can’t see my grandparents in Georgia and they’re in their 80s.”

Nix said she’s stuck in the house most of the time because her guardian at the group home is so strict about letting her go out and do things on her own and she can’t have a job or it would interfere with the Social Security checks she is currently collecting.

“I would rather work 40 hours a week instead of having a check and being in a group home,” she said. “I’d rather be living with my mom. I’m engaged to someone here I’ve been with for two years and I can’t even go out on a date with him.”

Hannah Nix wants to be reunited with her mother and brother in Franklin, but is stuck in a group home in Forest City under state guardianship. Donated photo

January 17-23, 2018

“I would rather work 40 hours a week instead of having a check and being in a group home. I’d rather be living with my mom.”

— Hannah Nix

SPACE AVAILABLE

Smoky Mountain News

On her restoration petition, Nix wrote that she’s spent the last several years working toward being independent and responsible despite her past problems. She shops by herself, prepares meals, helps clean the house, pays her bills and makes her own doctor appointments.

“I’ve learned to cope with my anxiety and PTSD,” she wrote. “I go to regular counseling and I take my medication regularly.”

She knows she isn’t perfect, but if given the chance, she wants to prove that she is a different person than she was the last time she appeared in court. If she gets her rights restored, Nix plans to move back to Franklin and live with her mother until she can get a job and find her own place. Long term, she wants to move away from North Carolina and start a new life with her fiancé, but right now that dream seems out of reach until more funding is available for her evaluation.

“I have enough people on my side saying they’ll testify for me saying I’m stable enough,” she said. “But right now I have to pull strings just to figure out how to get a test that costs $1,000.”

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Canton wants to help you sign up for Haywood alerts

Much ado about gushing

Haywood County’s new emergency alert system startled many Jan. 11 with a “shelter in place” notification just after 6 p.m., related to shots fired on Biodome Drive.

Just a few days later, in Hawaii, a similar message warning of an impending missile strike did a bit more than startle residents, many of whom are aware of escalating rhetoric between the U.S. and a nuclear-armed North Korea.

Both messages were mistakes — there was no missile, and the Biodome alert probably didn’t need to go countywide — but the notice both incidents generated underscores the importance of such systems for when the dangers become more real.

Haywood’s is an opt-in system, for the most part, meaning that people who want to receive the notifications have to sign up; the easiest way for most is to text their zip code to 888777, but an online site, www.alerts.haywoodcountync.gov, is also available.

The Town of Canton, however, has a unique challenge; it’s residents, at least anecdotally, tend to be older than in most other Haywood County locales and as such may face technological challenges that could leave them out of the loop.

“I feel like it makes it more difficult because that age demographic is not as electronically oriented,” said Canton Town Clerk Lisa Stinnett.

“Some of them don’t know how to text, some don’t have smartphones or computers.”

Stinnett wants that age group — or any other, for that matter — to know that the town can and will assist in signing people up for the system, which is integrated across Haywood County and costs about 29 cents per resident, per year.

“The system not only makes people aware of emergency situations, which is obviously our top priority, but it also keeps you safe, keeps your family safe and keeps people aware, like with the water outage,” she said.

During the town’s recent spate of water line breakages during a particularly cold snap, some residents wouldn’t have received updates because data from the town’s old system wasn’t migrated over to the new system.

Canton residents can stop by or call town hall at 828.648.2363 for help signing up.

— Cory Vaillancourt, Staff Writer

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER series of water line breakages in Canton during a recent period of extreme cold provoked unusually lengthy complaints from residents determined to point out the obvious, while also pointing fingers.

“It’s been a nightmare outage,” said Mike Hyde of the four days he was without water. “Thanksgiving of 2016 went past an inconvenience, [but] this was a hardship. It was worse on people with health problems.”

Hyde joined several others at a town board meeting Jan. 11, where a full 90 minutes was spent discussing the breakages, which began Jan. 5.

“Starting Friday about 2 p.m. several water breaks started occurring around town,” said Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers. “About 4:37 — I can tell you it was 4:37 because I was doing the dishes when it happened — my water and other houses in the Spruce Street area lost water as well.”

As in many municipalities across the nation, sewer and water infrastructure needs have been a can kicked down the road for decades; such projects are expensive, difficult and not nearly as glamorous as a new animal shelter or recreation center. They don’t win elections, and are largely out of sight and out of mind, until residents are out of water.

But when a series of nights with lows more than 10 degrees below average beset the region, more than 40 homes were left quite literally high and dry; Canton Alderman Dr. Ralph Hamlett said that he, for one, wasn’t afraid to use the term “climate change.”

Earlier news reports attempting to implicate the town’s massive Champion

A

Paper mill as a convenient culprit — the mill typically uses about a million gallons a day — helped fuel the marathon comment session. Those reports, however, are all wet.

Canton Alderwoman Gail Mull, who is retired from the mill, said that the papermaking machinery at Champion doesn’t use water from the town’s supply, instead taking it directly from the nearby Pigeon River.

Only sinks, restrooms, showers and other such accommodations at the mill, such as emergency eyewash stations, demand potable water from the town.

restored, but in situations like this, I do think it highlights more important than strong infrastructure in a town, the thing that a town survives on and thrives on are the people who care deeply about it — both the people who take care of one another and the town employees who went so far above and beyond to make sure that people were taken care of and looked after.”

The leaks, however, came at a particularly opportune time, if such a time truly exists.

The Spruce Street reservoir, which serves the north side of Canton, had water

Canton Alderman Dr. Ralph Hamlett (left) takes notes as Mayor Zeb Smathers addresses the crowd at a town board meeting Jan. 11.

Cory Vaillancourt photo

Regardless of why it happened, or whether it was an act of God or of humankind, town officials offered up hotel rooms and bottled water to those inconvenienced by the leaks, which were mostly fixed by Jan. 10.

“When you’re dealing with unprecedented cold with lines that were buried 40 years ago or four weeks ago, things are going to get cold and break,” said Alderman James Markey. “I share the frustrations of how long it took to get water

levels too low to pump water during the crisis; after other leaks were fixed and the pumps were primed, residents in the area were glad to see their normally low-pressure service return.

It won’t be that way for long, though.

Last spring, the town supposed it would take about $1.7 million for water upgrades in the area; funds for the project were secured less than six weeks ago, just as any doubt over the project’s justification or cost dried up in the cold January air.

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Canton water leaks irk public

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“SITTING UP ON COLD CONCRETE WHILE HOLDING YOUR KNEES TO YOUR CHEST AND SHIVERING IS NOT SLEEP.”

Smoky Mountain News

January 17-23, 2018

Homeless in Haywood:

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A community conversation Cory Vaillancourt, Smoky Mountain News Chris Westmoreland, Long’s Chapel UMC 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 18 Long’s Chapel, 175 Old Clyde Rd., Room 505, Waynesville Free and open to the public

because the bill is an additional tool in the toolbox for future economic development for Maggie Valley,” Banks said. “I believe the state of North Carolina recognized this when it passed this bill, because N.C. became the 47th state in the U.S. to authorize the sale of alcohol on Sunday before noon. Much of N.C.’s economy depends on tourism, and we should not be limiting our guests’ experiences in our state.”

Maggie Valley’s vote likely brings an end to the brunch bill debate in Haywood County, at least for now; Waynesville passed it without controversy in September, and Canton passed it with little controversy in October.

The Town of Clyde has not yet taken up the matter, and Haywood County Commissioners likely won’t unless and until businesses come clamoring; neither jurisdiction, however, has many businesses that would benefit from such an ordinance, which has been framed as being more about economic development than about alcohol.

“Our Board is very aware of the need to pursue opportunities for businesses to locate in Maggie Valley as well as be attractive for visitors and future residents since the closing of Ghost Town,” Banks said.

“With the Haywood Chamber of Commerce joining forces with the Buncombe County Chamber of Commerce for promotion and

Shots fired in Hemphill community

to 4 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18, at the Haywood County Public Library in Waynesville.

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Canton and Waynesville to reap the benefits of this collaboration.”

Planning for Cashiers’ future Jackson County Planning Department officials will introduce a Small Area Plan community development process at the Cashiers Planning Council meeting to be held at 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 22, at the Albert Carlton Cashiers Community Library.

This will be the first county-sponsored plan to analyze current development conditions and demographics in Cashiers and to identify priority issues relating to and use, transportation, economic development, utilities, infrastructure, resources and recreation.

Attend this first session to learn more about how you can participate in the process to develop an inclusive and sustainable Small Area Plan that will serve as a resource for government commitment and investment in the future.

For more information, visit www.planning.jacksonnc.org.

Smoky Mountain News

Just after 5 p.m. last Thursday, Haywood County Sheriff ’s deputies responded to a residence on Bio Dome Road in the Hemphill community after a concerned neighbor called 911 reporting a man outside the residence was shooting a gun multiple times and behaving in an erratic manner.

Shortly after this call, another came into the 911 center stating numerous rounds have been fired. Because of the potential danger to law enforcement officers responding to this incident, the Haywood County Sheriffs Office requested assistance from the Jackson County Sheriffs Office for use of their Bearcat vehicle. The Haywood County Sheriff ’s Office SRT Team assisted by the Waynesville Police Department took Kyle Byrd into custody.

Byrd, 52, of Waynesville will be charged with being intoxicated and disruptive, going armed to the terror of the public and felony assault by pointing a firearm at a government official.

development, Maggie Valley needs to have an open, positive presence along with

January 17-23, 2018

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER t was déjà vu all over again in Maggie Valley, where the Board of Aldermen once again passed the controversial Brunch Bill ordinance by a vote of 3-2, just like it was on Dec. 11.

The one difference, though is that this time the vote actually resulted in the enactment of the ordinance, which moves the start time for both on-premise and offpremise alcohol sales on Sundays from noon to 10 a.m.

“Some decisions are not easy to make and the pros and cons have to be weighed by the people elected to make those decisions,” said Maggie Valley Alderman Dr. Janet Banks.

Because the ordinance didn’t pass by the required two-thirds majority on its first reading in back December, it had to be voted on again, where a simple majority would suffice for passage.

Alderman Phillip Wight and Alderman Clayton Davis voted against the ordinance both times. After initially signaling her disapproval, Maggie Valley Mayor Saralyn Price said she couldn’t ignore the overwhelming public support and voted for it both times, along with Alderman Mike Eveland and Banks.

“I have been a supporter of this bill

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Brunch Bill finally passes in Maggie Valley

19

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Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

Let’s eliminate the power of the Electoral College

A

GOP supports childrens’ health care To the Editor: It is easy to understand Dr. Stephen Wall’s compassion for young children. Knowing Dr. Wall well, I hold him in high regard for this. When Congressman Mark Meadows, R-Asheville, gave Dr. Wall assurance that CHIP would be funded, Dr. Wall should know that he could take it to the bank! This letter addresses Dr. Wall’s misdirected frustration in his Dec. 27 letter to the editor (www.smokymountainnews.com/ archives/item/21429).

Funding for CHIP expired on 9/30/17. The House of Representatives passed HR 3922 on Nov. 3, 2017, extending funding for CHIP and other important public health programs. Rep. Meadows supported passage of a full five-year re-authorization of CHIP and funding for two years for community health centers. (https://energycommerce. house.gov/news/ press-release/ house-passes-responsible- commonsense-bill-extending- funding-chip-critical-public-

The national popular vote compact has been ratified by 10 states and the District of Columbia, accounting for 165 of the 270 electoral votes that would put it into effect. But the remaining 105 would have to come mainly from Republicanruled states like North Carolina, where SB 440 reposes in the Senate Rules Committee. That’s where Senate boss Phil Berger sends bills to die.

His attitude toward the bill may owe to the fact that every electoral dysfunction since Jackson has benefited the Republicans. If that’s his objection, it’s a short-sighted one. The system has come close to hurting his party on several occasions. In 1968 a shift of only 77,724 votes in Missouri and Illinois would have sent the NixonHumphrey race into the House of Representatives, where Democrats controlled a majority of the delegations Guest Columnist and George Wallace hoped to cut a deal to end desegregation. In 2004, a shift of fewer than 60,000 votes in just one state, Ohio, would have ousted Bush despite his national lead of some 3 million votes. It’s not hard to imagine a scenario in which a competent Republican candidate runs well enough in California, New York and Massachusetts to lead in the popular vote nationwide while still losing enough key states to be denied the presidency.

It isn’t healthy for a nation that regards itself as a democracy to suffer elections in which the loser wins. It erodes the people’s respect and trust.

The Electoral College is harmful even when the popular vote winner wins the electoral vote. If you’re a Republican in California, New York or Massachusetts or a Democrat in Texas, Tennessee, or South Carolina, your vote won’t matter. That’s true in most of the other states as well. Those seen as safely red or blue are taken for granted while the campaigns lavish all their attention on the few where the votes look to be close.

Some 94 percent of all 2016 campaign events were in only 12 states with 30 percent of the population, and nearly six out of 1 were in Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

“The nation as a whole is not going to elect the next presi-

Martin Dyckman

mericans are asking why we now have a president whom they wouldn’t trust to manage their finances, teach their children or date their daughters. The answer, of course, is the Electoral College, which was created mainly to protect us from just such a person as Donald Trump.

That’s usually said in a resigned tone of voice, as if there’s nothing that can be done to prevent another such dysfunction.

In fact, the Electoral College can be reduced to a figurehead formality in an amazingly simple way. That’s by state legislatures enacting a compact to cast their electoral votes for whichever candidate wins the popular vote nationwide. It’s alive, if not well, in North Carolina in the form of Senate Bill 440. I’ll get back to that.

The Founders assumed that elected surrogates would make a wiser choice than the people themselves. The Electoral College, Alexander Hamilton wrote, “affords a moral certainty that the office of President will seldom fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.” What he called “talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity” wouldn’t cut it.

That worked as intended so long as everyone’s intent was George Washington, but it wasn’t long before the electors became rubber stamps, faceless functionaries executing the will of their states’ voters. Soon after, in 1824, Andrew Jackson won a 41.3 percent popular vote plurality but not enough electors to keep the decision out of the House of Representatives, which gave the presidency to runner-up John Quincy Adams.

Jackson took his revenge four years later.

The electoral outcome has defied the popular vote four times since — for Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, Benjamin Harrison in 1888 (ousted President Grover Cleveland scored his comeback four years later), George W. Bush in 2000 and Trump in 2016. In each previous instance, it could be rationalized that the winner was at least a competent politician whose mental fitness and character were not in doubt. But there is no such silver lining for what the Electoral College delivered last year. It failed too badly to be trusted ever again.

SB 440, introduced by Sens. Jay Chadhuri, D-Wake, and Joyce Waddell, D-Mecklenburg, would put North Carolina into the national popular vote compact. Curiously, there’s no House companion. There needs to be.

health-programs) In regard to Dr. Wall’s bashing of our state legislators, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has a statutory formula to “redistribute funds” to cover state shortfalls that may occur in the absence of funded FY 2018 CHIP allotments.

There is nothing more our state legislators are required to do. (https://energycommerce. house.gov/news/press-release/ house-passes-crextending- temporary-funding-critical- publichealth-programs-relief- states-need-chip-funds/) Rather than use the SMN to mislead the public, attention should be directed to the obstructionist Democrats in Washington. Hillary Clinton’s “resist, resist, resist” policy is not the way to accomplish anything. Republicans proposed a generous reauthorization of CHIP. Why does it not go through? House Democrats object because they do not want millionaires and billionaires to pay for the new spending on children’s health insurance. Senate Democrats object because they want

S EE LETTERS, PAGE 21

dent. Twelve states are,” Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said in 2015 before he quit the race.

It would be too complicated mathematically to try to provide for proportional representation in the Electoral College.

That or a simple direct popular vote without retaining the Electoral College machinery would face the daunting challenge of getting a constitutional amendment past two-thirds of each house of Congress and 38 of the 50 states. The on-line petitions calling for an amendment are pointless except as fundraisers for their sponsors.

The national popular vote compact is the only easy solution and the best one.

Candidates would need to look for votes everywhere and tailor their messages more to the great majority of moderate voters than to their liberal or conservative core constituencies.

That would engage many more voters and position the winners to govern from the center rather than from either extreme. The policy consequences would be substantial.

So, Phil Berger, here’s something to consider from people on your side of the aisle: “This is a state rights issue, a true federalist solution to the current problem where four out of five Americans are ignored by presidential candidates. Every person — in every state — has the right to decide who is elected President … “‘Battleground’ states receive seven percent more federal grants than ‘spectator’ states, twice as many presidential disaster declarations, more Superfund enforcement exemptions, and more No Child Left Behind law exemptions. Because of the disproportionate vote of the ‘swing states,’ federal policy decisions have been distorted in ways that grow the size of the federal government. The largest government entitlement since the Great Society was Medicare Part D, designed to win the large senior voting population in Florida.”

That’s from a statement signed by eight former chairs of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which is really, really conservative. One of those former chairs is Harold Brubaker of North Carolina, who led ALEC in 2004.

He’s an important lobbyist in Raleigh now. Sen. Berger should talk to him.

(Martin A. Dyckman is a retired journalist. dyckmanm@bellsouth.net)

to attach tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to insurance companies.

Aren’t the Dems the ones shouting the rich should pay their fair share? (http://thefederalist. com/2017/10/11/ democrats-hold- kids-health-subsidieshostage- protect-millionaires) Dr. Wall’s concern and energy is appreciated, just misdirected, as the facts show.

Ted Carr Bethel

I’ll have a beer and hash browns To the Editor: It’s been interesting to read the controversy about the Sunday “brunch bill” enactment in Bryson City, Jackson County and other locales in the region.

Might I suggest we take it one step further and allow both pouring and sales of alcoholic beverages 24/7 until Trump exits the White House.

As far as the so-called religious community objecting to booze with Sunday

Chef’s Demo with Jay Horton Let’s Talk Chocolate! * What is chocolate? * Where does chocolate come from? * What are the dierent kinds of chocolate? * Pairing chocolate with beverages. * Demo: Chocolate Spiders (With Recipe) * Demo: Chocolate Torte (with recipe)

Tuesday, January 16th, 7pm at Mad Batter Food & Film Call 828-588-3555 for more info Free to everyone!

Limited seating, reservations recommended!

brunch, you surrendered your standing when you supported the “two” Corinthians pretender Trump.

Franklin Graham, John Hagee and all the others of the “religious” ilk are no different than temple priests in the days of old. They are only interested in power.

It’s been reported by fact-checkers Trump lied or told more than 1,900 falsehoods during 350 days in office. How do you tell when Trump lies? He opens his … (fill in the blank).

The president doesn’t know a Corinthian from an Ephesian or what happened to Saul on his way to Damascus, yet you blindly follow this truly weak, selfabsorbed president.

Here’s one for you people who wear religion on your sleeves. Who is the “father of lies?” Think about it.

“Hey bartender, I think I’ll have a mimosa with that order of eggs benedict.

Nah, make it a Dirty Girl Blonde, some hash browns scattered and smothered, and scrambled eggs.”

By the way, here’s to Noah and his vineyards. Cheers. Selah.

James Budd Bryson City

MAGGIE VALLEY RESTAURANT Daily Specials: Soups, Sandwiches & Southern Dishes

Featured Dishes: Fresh Fried Chicken, Rainbow Trout, Country Ham, Pork-chops & more

Breakfast : Omelets, Pancakes, Biscuits & Gravy!

New Hours: Thurs.-Fri. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat.-Sun. 7 a.m.-4 p.m.

Breakfast served all day on Thursday & Friday!

828.586.3555 • Downtown Sylva MadBatterFoodFilm.com

2804 SOCO RD. • MAGGIE VALLEY 828.926.0425 • Facebook.com/carversmvr Instagram- @carvers_mvr

January 17-23, 2018 Smoky Mountain News

mind.

It’s been a really long time since I’ve done this.

What if I fall and crack my tailbone?

I’m not 20 years old anymore.

Should moms even be doing this?

I grew up in Weaverville, 15 miles from Wolf Ridge Ski Resort in Madison County.

When I was a teenager, snowboarding had just become popular, so a group of friends and I decided to learn. Each winter, we bought passes and drove up to the mountain after school or on weekends, and would spend every day of Christmas break on the slopes.

Neither of my parents skied or snowboarded. They loved the fact I was skilled at a winter sport and taking advantage of living near a ski resort.

And now, being close to Cataloochee, I want my boys to have that experience as well. It would be a shame to live mere miles from a ski area and never take advantage of it.

With all these thoughts on my mind, I decided this was the year to resurrect my love of snowboarding.

A fire in 2005 consumed my parents’ house, the home I’d lived in from the age of 14 until I went to college. It was a devastating electrical fire. At the time, I was in my early 20s and because I was sharing a house with two other people, I’d moved a lot of my big bulky items — like my snowboard — to my parents’ house.

After it burned in the fire, I never bought another one. They aren’t cheap, and I wasn’t hanging out with too many people who were skiing or snowboarding, so I couldn’t justify spending the money.

Then several years ago, I made a friend here in Waynesville. We each had two boys the same ages and started hanging out regularly. What began as playdates turned into a dear friendship. Her family is very into snowboarding. Their love for the sport is energizing and sparked something within me. I was ready to get back on the slopes.

The dad of the family let me borrow one of his boards and I went snowboarding with them, but only twice.

Until this year, the last time I went was two years ago.

After many recent changes in my life, 2018 felt like the year to reconnect with hobbies and activities I once loved. When I was in college, I went to Colorado and Canada multiple times on snowboarding trips, not to mention boarding in North

Susanna Barbee

W

hile standing atop a black diamond run at Beech Mountain last weekend, several thoughts crossed my

LETTERS, CONTINUED FROM 20

opinion

Lessons learned on the black diamond

Carolina. So, it wasn’t something I haphazardly partook in. I was really into the sport and over the years, the fact that I let it go gnawed at me.

With that being said, let’s get back to last weekend on the black diamond.

A friend and I had already been on the lower runs for a while that day. Neither of us had been skiing or snowboarding in a few years, so we were taking it easy at first, but just like riding a bike, it came right back to us.

After multiple runs and a little liquid courage from the mountaintop brewery, it was time for the big slopes. We knew we could do it. I bent down and tightened my bindings then stood up and adjusted my gloves. I jumped to get my board to the side and away I flew.

It was an amazing ride and when I got to the bottom, I realized some things.

Why did I wait so long to do this?

Columnist I didn’t fall and crack my tailbone.

I’m 38, but I feel 22 on this mountain.

Moms everywhere should be doing this.

It’s been a brutally cold winter and for the past decade of Januarys, I’ve squirreled away inside and have, admittedly, let the cold and darkness get me down.

Typically, the only bright spots of this month are the boys’ birthdays which fall one day apart on Jan. 19 and 20.

But no more.

There’s such a beauty in this frigid month, a time to experience sports and activities only available in the here and now.

My memories of snowboarding, my friend and her family, and a weekend getaway to Beech Mountain have all inspired me to get back out there.

Believe me, I love the sunshine and moderate temperatures as much as anyone.

I love biking and running and hiking and kayaking. But if I only associate fun and physical activity with the warmer months, I’m missing out on half my life. As I get older, my wanderlust and sense of adventure seem to only heighten.

Not only does this make my life more full and exciting, but it teaches my boys that life isn’t about sitting around or watching TV or playing games on devices. There’s a big amazing world out there waiting for us.

Let’s go get it, my friends.

(Susanna Barbee is a digital media specialist for Mountain South Media and also works for The Smoky Mountain News and Smoky Mountain Living. susanna@mtnsouthmedia.com.)

facebook.com/smnews 21

tasteTHEmountains

AT BEARWATERS BREWING

101 PARK ST. CANTON 828.492.1422 PIGEONRIVERGRILLE.COM MON-THUR 3-8 • FRI, SAT, SUN 12-8

FRIDAY, JANUARY 19 AT 7:15PM Daniel Shearin guitar, vocals. FolkRock, Pop, Originals. Dinner and music reservations at 828-452-6000.

January 17-23, 2018

SATURDAY, JANUARY 20 AT 7:15PM Joe Cruz piano, vocals. Beatles, Elton John, James Taylor, Sting. Dinner and music reservations at 828-452-6000.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 25 Robert Burns Supper beginning at 6:30pm sharp. Tickets are $39.99++ per person and include a four-course traditional Scottish dinner, a toast, and a wine or beer tasting. For reservations call 828-452-6000.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 26 AT 7:15PM Bob Zullo guitar, vocals. Jazz, Pop, Eric Clapton, Santana. Dinner and music reservations at 828-452-6000.

Smoky Mountain News

SATURDAY, JANUARY 27 AT 7:15PM Joe Cruz piano, vocals. Beatles, Elton John, James Taylor, Sting. Dinner and music reservations at 828-452-6000.

WAYNESVILLE’S BEST BURGERS

MON.-SAT. 11 A.M.-8 P.M.

34 CHURCH ST. WAYNESVILLE 828.246.6505 22

twitter.com/ChurchStDepot

facebook.com/ChurchStreetDepot

AMMONS DRIVE-IN RESTAURANT & DAIRY BAR 1451 Dellwwod Rd., Waynesville.

828.926.0734. Open 7 days a week 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Celebrating over 25 years.

Enjoy world famous hot dogs as well as burgers, seafood, hushpuppies, hot wings and chicken. Be sure to save room for dessert.

The cobbler, pie and cake selections are sure to satisfy any sweet tooth.

APPLE ANDY’S RESTAURANT 3483 Soco Road, Maggie Valley located in Market Square. 828.944.0626. Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; closed Wednesday and Thursday.

Serving the freshest homemade sandwiches, wraps, and entrees such as country fried steak and grilled flounder. Full salad bar and made from scratch sides like potato salad, pinto beans and macaroni and cheese. www.appleandys.com BLUE ROOSTER SOUTHERN GRILL 207 Paragon Parkway, Clyde, Lakeside Plaza at the old Wal-Mart. 828.456.1997. Open Monday through Friday. Friendly and fun family atmosphere. Local, handmade Southern cuisine. Fresh-cut salads; slow-simmered soups; flame grilled burgers and steaks, and homemade signature desserts.

Blue-plates and local fresh vegetables daily.

Brown bagging is permitted. Private parties, catering, and take-out available.

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.

newsdesk crafts

Monday: Closed Tue-Thurs 3pm-8pm Fri-Sat: 12pm-9pm Sunday: 12pm-6pm

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

BOURBON BARREL BEEF & ALE 454 Hazelwood Ave., Waynesville, 828.452.9191. Lunch daily 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; dinner nightly at 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday. Wine Down Wednesday’s: ½ off wine by the bottle. We specialize in handcut, all natural steaks from local farms, incredible burgers, and other classic american comfort foods that are made using only the finest local and sustainable ingredients available.

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 8:00 to 9:30am; Lunch from 12 to 2:00pm; and Dinner featuring entrees such as prime rib, Virginia ham and lime-marinated chicken, complemented by seasonal vegetables, homemade breads, jellies and desserts. And a roaring fire in the fireplace.

We also offer a fine selection of wine and craft beer. Come enjoy mile-high mountaintop dining with a spectacular view.

Reservations are required. For more details, please call 828.926.1401.

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.

CHURCH STREET DEPOT 34 Church Street, downtown Waynesville.

828.246.6505. 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Mouthwatering all beef burgers and dogs, hand-dipped, hand-spun real ice cream shakes and floats, fresh hand-cut fries.

Locally sourced beef. Indoor and outdoor dining. facebook.com/ChurchStreetDepot, twitter.com/ChurchStDepot.

CITY LIGHTS CAFE Spring Street in downtown Sylva.

828.587.2233. Open Monday-Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Tasty, healthy and quick. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, espresso, beer and wine. Come taste the savory and sweet crepes, grilled paninis, fresh, organic salads, soups and more.

Outside patio seating. Free Wi-Fi, pet-friendly.

Live music and lots of events. Check the web calendar at citylightscafe.com.

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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.

Wednesday through Saturday serving freshly prepared small plates, tapas, charcuterie, desserts. Enjoy live music every Friday and Saturday night at 7pm. www.classicwineseller.com. Also on facebook and twitter.

COUNTRY VITTLES: FAMILY STYLE RESTAURANT 3589 Soco Rd, Maggie Valley.

828.926.1820 Winter hours: Wednesday through Sunday 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. 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.

DELLWOOD FARMHOUSE RESTAURANT 651 Dellwood Rd., Waynesville.

828.944.0010. Warm, inviting restaurant serving delicious, freshly-made Southern comfort foods. Cozy atmosphere; spacious to accommodate large parties. Big Farmhouse Breakfast and other morning menu items served 8 a.m. to noon. Lunch/dinner menu offered 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Come see us.

You’ll be glad you did! Closed Wednesdays.

EVERETT HOTEL & BISTRO 16 Everett St.,Bryson City. 828.488.1934.

Open daily for dinner at 4:30 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday Brunch from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.; dinner from 4:30-9:30 p.m. Serving fresh and delicious weekday morning lite fare, lunch, dinner, and brunch. Freshly prepared 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. 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.

FERRARA PIZZA & PASTA 243 Paragon Parkway, Clyde.

828.476.5058. Open Monday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday 12 to 8 p.m. Real New Yorkers. Real Italians. Real Pizza. A full service authentic Italian pizzeria and restaurant from New York to the Blue Ridge. Dine in, take out, and delivery. Check out our daily lunch specials plus customer appreciation

We’re open every evening for dinner until 9 p.m.

Join us for tasty burritos, tacos, quesadillas or crepes!

3 E JACKSON ST. • SYLVA, NC

#193 - free table leveler

www.CityLightsCafe.com

tasteTHEmountains nights on Monday and Tuesday 5 to 9 p.m. with large cheese pizzas for $9.95.

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 FROGS LEAP PUBLIC HOUSE 44 Church St., Downtown Waynesville 828.456.1930 Serving lunch 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; Dinner 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. 5 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday. Frogs Leap is a farm to table restaurant focused on local, sustainable, natural and organic products prepared in modern regional dishes. Seasonal menu focuses on Southern comfort foods with upscale flavors. www.frogsleappublichouse.com.

GUADALUPE CAFÉ 606 W. Main Street, Sylva. 828.586.9877.

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

JUKEBOX JUNCTION U.S. 276 and N.C. 110 intersection, Bethel.

828.648.4193. 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday; Sunday 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Serving breakfast, lunch, nd dinner.

The restaurant has a 1950s & 60s theme decorated with memorabilia from that era.

LOS AMIGOS 366 Russ Ave. in the Bi-Lo Plaza.

828.456.7870. Open from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for lunch and 5 to 10 p.m. for dinner Monday through Friday and 11:30 a.m. to

MAD BATTER FOOD & FILM 617 W. Main Street Downtown Sylva.

828.586.3555. Open Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Sunday brunch 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Handtossed pizza, steak sandwiches, wraps, salads and desserts. All made from scratch.

Beer and wine. Free movies Thursday trought Saturday. Visit madbatterfoodfilm.com for this week’s shows.

MAGGIE VALLEY CLUB 1819 Country Club Dr., Maggie Valley.

828.926.1616. maggievalleyclub.com/dine.

Open seasonally for lunch and dinner. Fine and casual fireside dining in welcoming atmosphere. Full bar. Reservations accepted.

MAGGIE VALLEY RESTAURANT 2804 Soco Road, Maggie Valley.

828.926.0425. 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. Daily specials including soups, sandwiches and southern dishes along with featured dishes such as fresh fried chicken, rainbow trout, country ham, pork chops and more.

Breakfast all day including omelets, pancakes, biscuits & gravy. facebook.com/carversmvr; instagram @carvers_mvr.

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.

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 70 Soco Road, Maggie Valley 828.926.0201 Home of the Maggie Valley Pizzeria. We

SMOKEY SHADOWS LODGE 323 Smoky Shadows Lane, Maggie Valley 828.926.0001. Check Facebook page for hours, which vary. Call early when serving because restaurant fills up fast. Remember when families joined each other at the table for a delicious homemade meal and shared stories about their day? That time is now at Smokey Shadows. The menus are customizable for your special event. Group of eight or more can schedule their own dinner.

SPEEDY’S PIZZA 285 Main Street, Sylva. 828.586.3800.

Open seven days a week. Monday-Friday 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Saturday 3 p.m.-11 p.m., Sunday 4 p.m.-10 p.m. Family-owned for 30 years. Serving hand-tossed pizza made to order, pasta, subs, gourmet salads, calzones and seafood. Also serving excellent prime rib on Thursdays. Dine in or take out available.

TAP ROOM BAR & GRILL 176 Country Club Drive, Waynesville.

828.456.3551. Open seven days a week serving lunch and dinner. 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Tucked away inside Waynesville Inn, the Tap Room Bar & Grill has an approachable menu designed around locally sourced, sustainable, farm-to-table ingredients. Full bar and wine cellar. www.thewaynesvilleinn.com.

WAYNESVILLE PIZZA COMPANY 32 Felmet Street, Waynesville.

828.246.0927. Open Monday through Friday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 10 p.m.; Sunday noon to 9 p.m.; closed Tuesdays. Opened in May 2016, The Waynesville Pizza Company has earned a reputation for having the best hand-tossed pizza in the area. Featuring a custom bar with more than 20 beers and a rustic, family friendly dining room. Menu includes salads, burgers, wraps, hot and cold sandwiches, gourmet pizza, homemade desserts, and a loaded salad bar. The Cuban sandwich is considered by most to be the best in town.

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Smoky Mountain News

1196 N Main St Waynesville NC 828.452.5187 Kaninis.com Serving lunch Monday-Saturday 10:30-2:30

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January 17-23, 2018

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Smoky Mountain News

Eye of the beholder Outdoor photographer shares love of the craft

Top: A self-portrait of outdoor photographer Steve Yocom on a recent trip to Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. Yocom had a second camera positioned in the distance to take this shot with remote triggers. Above: Athabasca Falls off the Icefields Parkway in Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada. Steve Yocom photos

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF WRITER Catch him if you can.

For the last few years, Steve Yocom has made quite a name for himself as one of the premier outdoor photographers in Western North Carolina and greater Southern Appalachia. If it wasn’t for his wild and wondrous images of the great outdoors, of iconic spots or off-the-beaten gems, you’d truly have no idea where he was at any given time.

“There’s a few things in this world that take me away from my mind and put me in a place where I am solely in the moment. When the sun is setting and I only have 10 minutes to capture it all, that’s where I am — it can be such a rush,” Yocom said. “I find myself there a lot when I’m outside. The combination of getting outside your comfort zone, getting those endorphins flowing, pushing oneself and being rewarded to some incredible views really puts your brain in a positive place. I think more and more people are finding that, and, in trade, are finding themselves out in the mountains more and more.”

Constantly on the run, in search for the ideal emerging sunrise or fading sunset, endless waterfall, frozen landscape or exotic setting, the Maggie Valley resident finds himself in a battle against time and place, where a split-second can determine whether you “have something” or not.

“Things don’t always work out as planned, but you have to keep going regardless. I’ve had to go out

Want to go?

Acclaimed professional outdoor photographer Steve Yocom will host a special showcase of his work from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20, at Elevated Mountain Distilling Company in Maggie Valley.

Yocom will have his art available for purchase, and will also be discussing his craft, techniques and what he uses for equipment on expeditions. As well, there will be a question and answer portion of the evening.

The event is free and open to the public. www.steveyocomphotography.com or www.elevatedmountain.com. to some locations 10 to 15 times before getting something I was happy with, and it’s almost always the day you decide to be normal and go grab a beer with friends that the light will be unreal,” Yocom said.

“You have to let go and realize you can’t be everywhere at once, everyone needs their rest days and personal time. I’ve taken up a great understanding of weather and astronomy as well because of all this. So much planning goes into capturing the night sky or knowing where to bank on having better light, so it’s been wonderful to learn about all that as well.”

Yocom’s journey into Mother Nature began in an office. Employed in software training and doing support for a medical company, he decided to take his work bonus and purchase a camera in March 2014 — a Sony A65 — to capture and remember a vacation he was getting ready to take.

“I figured maybe it would do a little

This must be the place

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

Sunrise on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail in Western North Carolina. Steve Yocom photo The Cranberries.

‘You know I’m such a fool for you’

HOT PICKS 1 2 3 4 5 Country/Americana act The Darren Nicholson Band will perform at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 19, at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville.

Smoky Mountain News

They said it happens.

When I was younger, and very The Friends of the Scottish Tartans Museum much so in conversation nowawill host its annual Burns Night Dinner at 5 days, it was always said that as p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27, in the Tartan Hall at you get older, you tend to circle the First Presbyterian Church in Franklin. back to the music of your youth.

A community jam will be held from 6 to 7:30 Partly, out of pure nostalgia p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18, at the Marianna and the sense that a ticking clock Black Library in Bryson City. is just over your shoulder, peering down at you. Partly, that you simAndrews Brewing Company (Andrews) will ply are pushing further along host the “Lounge Series” with “The Story Teller your own journey that is life, from Bryson City” at 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20. where new things appear on a daily basis, and seemingly the Acclaimed county music act Tracy Lawrence only familiarity, perhaps comfort, will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26, lies in the music that’s always at the Smoky Mountain Center for the been there, longer than many Performing Arts in Franklin. people, places or things have been throughout your entire existence. moment, where that Bob Dylan quote So, when the news broke this past Monday that Dolores O’Riordan, lead singer echoes loudly, “You can’t be wise and in love at the same time.” of The Cranberries, died unexpectedly at 46 When that mesmerizing vibrating string in London, it’s no wonder myself, and many others, felt saddened as a piece of our melod- section spills out at the beginning of “Linger,” I’ve always found time to magically ic familiarity was now gone.

One of the many surreal aspects of music slow down. I’ll be driving down the highway and “Linger” comes on the radio, where my is the immediate flood of memories that mind drifts, as faces of former lovers or wash over you when a certain song comes choices made in haste, perhaps out of regret, on. “Linger” by The Cranberries is one of or even just the beautiful harmonies within those tunes. I can surmise it’s a melody that the song, seamlessly flow within whatever conjures such deep feelings within the soul landscape you’re traveling through — rural of any listener. It has that sonic quality that or urban, alone or in a crowd. feels like a kiss, whether hello or goodbye, As a junior in college in 2005, I did a that tugs at your heartstrings. It’s a song semester abroad in Ireland, on the west about love, loss, and how two souls become coast, in the Ring of Kerry, city of Tralee. Not intertwined in the confusion of the

January 17-23, 2018

It wouldn’t be long before Yocom began disappearing regularly from society, whenever he had a free evening or open weekend. With each passing trek into the unknown, he found himself more immersed in what would soon become his career and unrelenting passion for outdoor photography.

“I came from a place where people don’t often venture outside their comfort zone. The outdoors and traveling have done so much for me, that documenting those moments, with hopes to inspire others to get out, became one of my main missions with a camera,” Yocom said.

“One of the most special things I’ve come to learn recently is the power of a photograph. The favorite image of a grandparent who has passed that a family holds onto dearly. The photo of a friend who struggles with self-doubt conquering their fears and climbing a ‘14er’ out west.

The frame on the wall containing a memory from one’s wedding day to remind them of their love if things ever get tough.

I’ve been reminded my work has done just that for some folks and that is truly an honor.”

Over this fall and winter, Yocom trekked into the desolation of the Banff and Jasper national parks, high up in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta, Canada.

Finding himself — physically and spiritually — atop the world, the trip refueled the creative tank for Yocom, where he’s now plotting an extended photo expedition into the west for the upcoming spring and summer months.

“Chasing light in new places, new seasons, having a goal of capturing a new product or taking on a new assignment is so exciting and keeps me feeling alive,” Yocom said. “There’s a million ways to make a photograph, and that is the beauty of it all — it’s up to you how you want to capture it.”

far up that west coast sits the city of Limerick, hometown of The Cranberries. I remember a day trip our professor took with the six of us students up that way, along these long and winding roads, the Atlantic Ocean glistening to our left, my thoughts thinking about my friends back home on the other side of that body of water in New York.

There was this spot our vehicle stopped, an overlook with vast views of emerald green fields and waves crashing into jagged cliffs — Ireland at its finest. And I vividly remember my professor pointing to this cottage way out in the distance. “You know, that’s Dolores O’Riordan’s house,” he casually said. “Huh, how about that, eh?” I replied, gazing at the property and wondering how her day was going.

Standing there at that overlook, I thought of the first time I heard “Linger,” which I think happens to anyone who really connected with a song as a kid, where your mind gets triggered into when and where you first heard a specific melody. In terms of “Linger,” it was my Aunt Chrissy’s house in my native Upstate New York. I couldn’t have been more than eight years old. She was obsessed with that album, “Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?” I stood there in front of her massive living room stereo system, listening to “Linger,” secretly pressing the repeat button when the song finished, my aunt and mother talking over coffee in the kitchen.

It’s not that I just spent the last 600 words or so explaining my love and appreciation for The Cranberries and one song that will forever remain on the “soundtrack of my life.” It’s that the power of music lies in where you were when a song hit you. And wherever you were that initial encounter almost sets a trajectory by which you not only remember the melody, you also continue to attach memories to it as you remember every time you heard it thereafter — where you were, who you were with. Like a charm bracelet, without the cheesiness, but filled with the sincerity of the sands of time.

And there are countless other songs that summon similar sentiments. Random moments I might otherwise forget or dismiss if it wasn’t for something playing in the background, capturing whatever it was I may have been thinking or feeling at a time, put perfectly into lyrics and chords swirling around the room.

Like Sugar Ray’s “Fly” and being in seventh-grade art class on the Canadian border, and it playing on the small radio nearby, right next to the girl I had a crush on since third grade. Then there’s J-Kwon’s “Tipsy” and being a freshman in college in Connecticut, awkward and trying to find footing, academically and physically on the slippery floors of a house party amid the tune blaring from a huge speaker in the corner. And how about “3 Dimes Down” by the Drive-By Truckers, which I first heard in a lonely hotel room in Idaho, thousands of miles from home, starting my first job postcollege, ready for anything and everything the (truly) Wild West had waiting for me.

But, those songs and the stories behind them are for another time. Until then.

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

25

arts & entertainment

more justice than my Go Pro. It was overwhelming at first, [but] I think I’ve been lucky enough to have a decent eye for composition right out of the gate,” Yocom said. “But, the technical parts and all those buttons on that thing were way over my head. I remember seeing photos of that island we were on by the professionals, and I just had to know how they made them — the obsession took over from there.”

On the beat arts & entertainment

Country star to play Franklin

LUNCH DAILY 11:30 A.M.-2:30 P.M. DINNER NIGHTLY AT 5 P.M. TUESDAY-SATURDAY Voted Best Steak in Waynesville

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Smoky Mountain News

er who arrived in Nashville nearly three decades ago with a guitar and $700 in his pocket has done himself proud. Don’t remind him, though. Because despite it all, the “sticks and stones” icon has always felt it important to maintain a steadfast workmanlike approach to and sheer reverence for his craft.

Tickets start at $25. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, visit www.greatmountainmusic.com or call 866.273.4615.

Americana on tap at Frog Level

Nicholson is well-known as being the mandolinist in beloved bluegrass group Balsam Range. His solo band does an array of original and cover material in the realms of Americana, honky-tonk and folk music.

The show is free and open to the public. www.froglevelbrewing.com.

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Acclaimed county music act Tracy Lawrence will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 26, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

By nearly every metric, Lawrence is a megawatt success story — 13 million albums sold, a collection of No. 1 singles, 22 songs on the Billboard Top-10 charts, a slew of CMA and ACM awards and even a Grammy nomination.

Yes, the small town Arkansas-bred teenag-

“

January 17-23, 2018

Closed Sunday & Monday 454 Hazelwood Ave • Waynesville Call 828.452.9191 for reservations

Tracy Lawrence.

Country/Americana act The Darren Nicholson Band will perform at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 19, at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville.

‘Open Door Meal & Sing’ The “Open Door Meal & Sing” will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 31, at the First United Methodist Church in Sylva.

The community is invited to enjoy a meal prepared by church members, musical entertainment and fellowship.

The entertainment will be provided by Jeff Ginn, a talented singer and guitar player who performs a wide variety of music. Ginn is a native of Cullowhee and has recently moved back home from Texas with his wife, Holly, and his two children. Although Ginn has traveled worldwide, he always had a desire to return to the mountains. While he lived in Texas, Ginn was the youth director at a Methodist church.

A brief devotional will precede the meal. The “Open Door & Sing” event is held on the fifth Wednesday in those months which have one. All are welcome and invited to attend.

On the beat • Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will have an Open Mic night Jan. 17 and 24, and a jazz night with the Kittle/Collings Duo Jan. 18 and 25. All events are free and begin at 8 p.m. www.innovation-brewing.com.

• Blue Ridge Beer Hub (Waynesville) will host an acoustic jam with Main St. NoTones from 6 to 9 p.m. Jan. 18. Free and open to the public. www.blueridgebeerhub.com.

• Isis Music Hall (Asheville) will host The Honey Dewdrops 7 p.m. Jan. 17, Willie Nile 8:30 p.m. Jan. 17, Noah Zacharin 7 p.m. Jan. 18, Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley 7 p.m. Jan. 19, Juice 9 p.m. Jan. 19, Charles Walker Band 7 p.m. Jan. 20, Andrew Scotchie Birthday Bash 9 p.m. Jan. 20, Brandon Lee Adams 5:30 p.m. Jan. 21 and Native Harrow & The High Top Boys 7:30 p.m. Jan. 21. For more information about the performances and/or to purchase tickets, visit www.isisasheville.com.

• The Classic Wineseller (Waynesville) will host Daniel Shearin (singer-songwriter) Jan. 19, Joe Cruz (piano/pop) Jan. 20 and 27, and Bob Zullo (singer-songwriter) Jan. 26. All shows are free and begin at 7 p.m. 828.452.6000 or www.classicwineseller.com.

ALSO:

• e s d s t e•

Currahee Brewing (Franklin) will host Blue Revue (Americana) Jan. 20 and Eric Hendrix & Dr. Todd Davis (singer-songwriter) Jan. 27.

All shows are free and begin at 7:30 p.m. www.curraheebrew.com.

Derailed Bar & Lounge (Bryson City) will have music at 7 p.m. on Saturdays. n 828.488.8898.

• Encouraging Word Baptist Church (Waynesville) will host “America’s First Family of Gospel Music,” The Hoppers, at 6 p.m. Jan. 20. Tickets are $15 per person and can be purchased by calling 828.454.5917.

• The Oconaluftee Visitor Center (Cherokee) will host a back porch old-time music jam from 1 to 3 p.m. Jan. 20. All are welcome to come play or simply sit and listen to sounds of Southern Appalachia.

• Pub 319 (Waynesville) will host an open mic night from 8 to 11 p.m. on Wednesday with Mike Farrington of Post Hole Diggers. Free and open to the public.

• Salty Dog’s (Maggie Valley) will have Karaoke with Jason Wyatt at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays, Mile High (classic rock) 8 p.m. Wednesdays, and an Open Jam with Rick 8 p.m. Thursdays.

Diane E. Sherrill, Attorney

Bryson City community jam A community jam will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18, 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 jam is facilitated by Larry Barnett of Grampa’s Music in Bryson City.

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 — yearround. This program received support from the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment of the Arts.

828.488.3030.

• Satulah Mountain Brewing (Highlands) will host “Hoppy Hour” and an open mic with Susan at 6 p.m. on Thursdays and live music on Friday evenings. 828.482.9794 or www.satulahmountainbrewing.com.

• Sneak E Squirrel Brewing (Sylva) will host line dancing every Friday at 7 p.m. and contra dancing every other Friday at 8 p.m.

828.586.6440.

• Soul Infusion Tea House & Bistro (Sylva) will host Jonathan Breedlove (singer-song-

writer) Jan. 27. Both shows begin at 7 p.m.

828.586.1717 or www.soulinfusion.com.

• The Strand at 38 Main (Waynesville) will host an “Open Mic” night from 7 to 9 p.m. on Saturdays. 828.283.0079 or www.38main.com.

• The Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host Andrew Rickman (singer-songwriter) Jan. 19, Chicken Coop Willaye (Americana/bluegrass) Jan. 26 and Jason Taylor Birthday Bash (rock/acoustic) Jan. 27.

All shows begin at 9:30 p.m.

January 17-23, 2018

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host The Darren Nicholson Band (country/Americana) at 7 p.m. Jan. 19. All shows are free and open to the public. There will also be a drum circle at 6 p.m. Jan. 23, all are welcome to attend. www.froglevelbrewing.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host Troy Underwood (singer-songwriter) Jan. 19, Nick Prestia (singer-songwriter) Jan. 26 and Frogtown (bluegrass) Jan. 27. All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. There will also be an open mic night at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 25. www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

arts & entertainment

• Andrews Brewing Company (Andrews) will host the “Lounge Series” with Blue Revue (Americana) Jan. 27 and The Trailer Hippies Feb. 3. All shows are free and begin at 5 p.m. www.andrewsbrewing.com.

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Smoky Mountain News

February 21 • 11:30 A.M.

Wishing You A Happy New Year!

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27

On the street arts & entertainment

WCU celebrates MLK Nick Breedlove photo

Open call for Greening Up

Smoky Mountain News

January 17-23, 2018

There is an open call currently underway for artisans, vendors and environmentally-themed booths at the 21st annual Greening Up the Mountains, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 28, in downtown Sylva.

Celebrating the new spring in the mountains, the festival has become a beloved regional event. Applications can be downloaded at www.greeningupthemountains.com and will be accepted through April 1.

For more information, call 828.554.1035 or email greeningupthemountains@gmail.com.

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Western Carolina University will celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. with a variety of events throughout January, highlighted by the university’s annual MLK speaker.

Jane Elliott, renowned teacher, lecturer and diversity trainer, will be the 2018 MLK speaker at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 29, at the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center. Elliott is the creator of “Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes.” As a third-grade teacher in an all-white, rural town in Iowa, Elliott struggled with a way to explain the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. to her students. As a means to help them process his death and educate them about discrimina-

tion, Elliott created an exercise in which her students were treated differently based on the color of their eyes.

Elliott has spent the past 50 years educating people across the world and has appeared on “60 Minutes,” “The Tonight Show,” “Oprah” and several other media outlets. She has presented at more than 350 colleges and universities. In addition to her numerous awards and accolades, Elliott also has been criticized, discriminated against, threatened and challenged as a result of her work, but she has remained committed to helping people better understand the impact of discrimination.

Following Elliott’s presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. The event is free and open to the public.

• The WCU Fine Arts Museum at the Bardo Arts Center will open an exhibition Tuesday, Jan. 16, by Willie Cole titled “Soles and Boards from Highpoint Editions.” Cole draws from his own African-American heritage and celebrates African art and culture while confronting viewers with the painful history of slavery in America, utilizing imagery of clothing irons and ironing boards.

The exhibit is free and open to the public.

• On Wednesday, Jan. 17, “Unity, Not Uniformity” will take place in the UC Grandroom at 7 p.m. The performancebased event allows for creative expression of King’s legacy of cooperation, brotherhood, peace and respect.

• WCU’s Department of Intercultural Affairs will hold a Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity Education session titled “I’m Not A Racist” at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18, in the UC’s Raleigh Room. Intercultural Affairs Director Dana Patterson will facilitate the interactive session.

• WCU’s Center for Service Learning will hold a MLK Day of Service volunteer event for a community project on Saturday, Jan. 20. For more information, contact associate director Jennifer Cooper at 828.227.7184 or jacooper@wcu.edu. www.wcu.edu.

On the street

• The Classic Wineseller (Waynesville) will host special “Robert Burns Supper,” celebrating the beloved Scottish poet, at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25. Tickets are $39.99 per person, which includes a four-course traditional Scottish dinner, wine and beer tasting. 828.452.6000 or www.classicwineseller.com.

ALSO:

• Andrews Brewing Company (Andrews) will host the “Lounge Series” with “The Story Teller from Bryson City” at 5 p.m. Jan. 20.

The performance is free and open to the public. www.andrewsbrewing.com.

• “Laughing Balsam Sangha,” a meeting for Mindfulness in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh, meets will meet from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Mondays at 318 Skyland Drive in Sylva. Included are sitting and walking meditation, and Dharma discussion.

Free admission. For more information, call 828.335.8210, and “Like” them on Facebook.

• There will be a free wine tasting from 1 to 5 p.m. Jan. 20 and 27 at Bosu’s Wine Shop in Waynesville. www.waynesvillewine.com or 828.452.0120.

• A free wine tasting will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. Jan. 20 and 27 at Papou’s Wine Shop in Sylva. www.papouswineshop.com or 828.631.3075.

• Free cooking demonstrations will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturdays at Country Traditions in Dillsboro. Watch the demonstrations, eat samples and taste house wines for $3 a glass. All recipes posted online. www.countrytraditionsnc.com.

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Smoky Mountain News

• The High Mountain Squares will host their “Broadway Tonight Dance” from 6:15 to 8:45 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29, at the Robert C. Carpenter Community Building in Franklin. Western Style Square Dancing, main/stream and plus levels. New dancer lessons will begin Feb. 12.

Everyone is welcome. For information, call 828.342.1560 or 828.332.0001 or www.highmountainsquares.com.

Common practices in all Burns Night celebrations are a calling of the clans, presentation of the Haggis, ode to the haggis, Selkirk grace, a witty toast to the Lads and Lassies, the immortal memory of Robert Burns, a toast to the bard, and “Auld Lang Syne,” which Scots sing to welcome a new year.

Tickets for the five-course dinner and celebration are $35 per person, $15 for children ages 12 and under. Tickets are available for purchase at the Scottish Tartans Museum and the Franklin Chamber of Commerce.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Scottish Tartans Museum.

828.524.3119 or www.franklinchamber.com.

January 17-23, 2018

The Friends of the Scottish Tartans Museum will host its annual Burns Night Dinner at 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27, in the Tartan Hall at the First Presbyterian Church in Franklin.

Although many poets and musicians have won awards, there is only one person who has a world-wide celebration every year from Canada, United States, Europe, South Africa, to Australia. That is Robert Burns, national poet of modern Scotland.

Robert Burns is credited with saving the folk music of Scotland. He was born just a few years after England conquered Scotland in 1746. The English were intent on destroying the clan system. Edicts of Proscription were issued forbidding the remaining Scottish people from wearing tartans and speaking Gaelic upon removal or threat of death.

Scottish leaders and their families were hunted down. The lucky ones escaped and came to America and Canada. Not many decades passed before the old language, except in the darkest dells of Scotland, was lost.

Burns was a poor farmer in Ayeshire, Scotland, but became an accomplished poet.

He began to compose a collection of poems about familiar country characters and legends.

To make the subjects more human, he wrote in the Broad Scots dialect that was used for storytelling. He set many of these to old pub ballads.

He performed this repertoire in meeting halls and salons around Scotland, attracted mentors, and became famous. Over two-anda-half centuries later, Robert Burns Nights highlighting his poems and songs are bring-

arts & entertainment

Robert Burns dinner

ing people together around the world. He did not live long enough to gain his popularity.

He died at the age of 37.

You do not have to have a Scottish heritage or a certain dress to attend this event.

Anyone is welcome. The evening starts with a roll call of clans and districts, moves on to a five course Scottish dinner menu, interspersed with Burns’ poems and songs and concludes with singing “Auld Lang Syne,” perhaps his most famous work.

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29

arts & entertainment

On the wall Grant awarded to Women’s History Trail The Women’s History Trail (WHT), a project of Folk Heritage Association of Macon County, has received a $740 grant from the Jim McRae Endowment for the Visual Arts.

WHT aims to celebrate the lives of Macon County women and bring their contributions out of the shadows, through a marked historical trail, the arts, events, publications and other media. The first phase of the trail will be installed later this year.

Sculptor Wesley Wofford, of Cashiers, has been engaged to develop a design maquette for an initial sculpture, which will tell the story of three women — Cherokee, black, and white — who are representative of the early settlement period.

Creation of this large piece of public art is an ambitious project, and fundraising efforts are under way to support it.

Last April, WHT held its first event, a dramatic portrayal of the lives of nine women who are buried in the cemetery of First United Methodist Church. That fundraiser, along with contributions by FHAMC and

other gifts, kick started work on the trail.

This is the second year the project has received funding from the McRae endowment, a fund of North Carolina Community Foundation. The endowment was established in memory of Jim McRae, a noted figurative artist who lived in Franklin. McRae died in 2010.

“The mission of the Folk Heritage Association is to provide living history experiences and to preserve the folk heritage of Macon County for generations to come,” said Anne Hyder, chairman. “The Women’s History Trail is a unique and groundbreaking way to preserve and share our heritage. Its emphasis on public art has the power to transform our communities. We are excited to be its sponsor.”

Mary Polanski and Barbara McRae cochair the WHT committee.

“We invite anyone who wants to participate in this project to join us,” Polanski said. “We are project-oriented, and there is a lot to do.”

You can contact Polanski at marypolanski@gmail.com. Contributions may be made to FHAMC, P.O. Box 1416, Franklin, N.C., 28734. The donation should be earmarked for the Women’s History Trail.

Smoky Mountain News

January 17-23, 2018

Fine Art Museum new acquisitions

30

Haywood Arts annual meeting The Haywood County Arts Council will hold its annual meeting at 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 18, at The Strand at 38 Main in Waynesville.

The event will then move to a wine and cheese reception at the Haywood County Arts Council immediately following the presentation. Attendees will be asked to provide input on fresh goals as the Haywood County Arts Council continues its strategic planning initiatives.

Both reception and meeting are open to the public. Though not required, an RSVP is encouraged. Email info@haywoodarts.org or call 828.452.0593. In case of inclement weather, the meeting will be postponed until Jan. 25 (and announcements made on HCAC social channels and website).

The Western Carolina University Fine Art Museum at the Bardo Arts Center is pleased to present the exhibition “WCU Collects: Recent Acquisitions” through Jan. 26 in Cullowhee.

This WCU Collects exhibition showcases a selection of artworks recently given to the museum and includes a number of artists not previously represented in the collection. The WCU Fine Art Museum stewards a collection of more than 1,500 art objects in all media — from painting and printmaking to book arts, sculpture, ceramics, and contemporary craft. As the museum continues to research and interpret the collection, purchases and gifts expand and strengthen its holdings. New acquisitions find their way into the collection through a variety of routes and particularly through the generosity of donors.

All WCU Fine Art Museum exhibitions are free and open to the public. For further information, visit go.wcu.edu/wcucollects or call 828.227.3591.

The WCU Fine Art Museum boasts four art galleries with exhibitions year-round.

The Museum is open Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. www.wcu.edu.

Franklin art showcase

There will be a new art showcase for painter Milly Honeycutt that will run through Jan. 31 at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. Free and open to the public.

“I started oil painting 10 years ago. A friend talked me into taking classes with Jon Houglum at the art gallery downtown,” Honeycutt said. “I’ve always been interested in all kinds of the arts. Ceramics, China painting, making China painted dolls and making all the clothes. I’m always doing some kind of crafts. [I’ve also] been doing mixed media at the Macon County Senior Center, and that’s real fun to do.”

• The “How to Crochet” class will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20, at Tunnel Mountain Crafts in Dillsboro. Cost is $26.99, which includes all materials. Class is limited to six participants. For more information, call 828.458.5165.

• Mad Batter Food & Film (Sylva) will host a free movie night at 7:30 p.m. every Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

For the full schedule of screenings, visit www.madbatterfoodandfilm.com.

ALSO:

• The “Watercolor, Gouache & Ink Pen” class will be held from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 27, at Tunnel Mountain Crafts in Dillsboro. Cost is $40, which includes all materials. For more information, call 850.445.4375.

• The Waynesville Fiber Friends will meet from 10 a.m. to noon on the second Saturday of the month at the Panacea Coffee House in Waynesville. All crafters and beginners interested in learning are invited.

You can keep up with them through their Facebook group or by calling 828.276.6226 for more information.

• “Paint Nite Waynesville” will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursdays (Jan. 18) at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. Sign up for either event on the Paint Night Waynesville Facebook page or call Robin Arramae at 828.400.9560. paintnitewaynesville@gmail.com.

• There will be a “Thursday Painters Open Studio” from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. at the Franklin Uptown Gallery. Bring a bag lunch, project and supplies. Free to the public. Membership not required. For information, call 828.349.4607.

• A “Youth Art Class” will be held from 10:30 a.m. to noon every Saturday at the Appalachian Art Farm on 22 Morris Street in Sylva. All ages welcome. $10 includes instruction, materials and snack. For more information, email appalachianartfarm@gmail.com or find them on Facebook.

On the stage

One of the bright spots of the winter is the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre Studio Season.

Each year HART in Waynesville presents a festival of plays in its intimate 60-seat Feichter Studio. The space is located backstage in the Performing Arts Center at the Shelton House and for many this is where the region’s most exciting theater happens.

Beginning with Eugène Ionesco’s “The Bald Soprano” (running until Jan. 21) and continuing through mid-April, HART will present six different productions, a new one every two weeks.

Tickets are only $10 with general admission seating, but reservations are recommended as many shows regularly sell out. Another cautionary note, don’t arrive late. Once the show begins, no one can be admitted.

The first production is considered a masterpiece of the Theatre of the Absurd movement of the 1950s. The idea for “The Bald Soprano” came to Ionesco while he was trying to learn English with the Assimil method. This begins with a passive period of reading and listening to a foreign lan-

guage with translations. Lonesco was impressed by the contents of the dialogues, often very sober and strange, so he decided to write an absurd play named “English without Toil.” The current title was set only after a verbal slip-up was made by one of the actors during rehearsals.

The other shows coming this winter include: “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare abridged” (Jan. 26-Feb. 4), “Twelfth Night” (Feb. 9-16), “Women and War” (Feb. 23-March 4), “Mass Appeal” (March 23-April 1) and “In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play” (April 6-15).

A complete schedule is available at www.harttheatre.org. Season tickets are also available for the winter season. Most shows traditionally run two weekends, but reservations are only taken one week at a time due to possible weather cancellations.

Those attending can also dine at Harmons’ Den Bistro at HART prior to the show.

To make reservations or for more information call the HART box office at 828.456.6322. HART is located at 250 Pigeon Street in downtown Waynesville.

HPAC ‘Live via Satellite’

Open call for HCP production

The Highlands Performing Arts Center will screen “Live via Satellite” the National Theatre of London’s production of Stephan Sondheim’s “Follies” at 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20.

Set in New York, 1971. There’s a party on the stage of the Weismann Theatre.

Tomorrow the iconic building will be demolished. Thirty years after their final performance, the Follies girls gather to have a few drinks, sing a few songs and lie about themselves. Tracie Bennett, Janie Dee and Imelda Staunton play the magnificent Follies in this dazzling new production. Featuring a cast of 37 and an orchestra of 21, it’s directed by Dominic Cooke.

The HPAC will also broadcast “Live via Satellite” the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Puccini’s “Tosca” at 12:55 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 27. The production, conducted

by Emmanuel Villaume and directed by Sir David McVicar, opened this New Year’s Eve. Sonya Yoncheva and Vittorio Grigolo star as the heroine Tosca and her lover Cavaradossi, both making role debuts, with eljko Lu i as the villainous Scarpia.

Tickets are available online at www.highlandspac.org, at the door or by calling 828.526.9047.

Danie Beck, choreographer for the Highlands Cashiers Player’s Rodgers & Hammerstein’s musical revue “Some Enchanted Evening,” will be auditioning dancers for the May show from 1 to 3 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 21, at the Highlands Performing Arts Center. Beck, a nationally known choreographer who produced half-time shows for the Orange Bowl for 10 years, is looking for people who move well on stage.

Les Scott, the United Methodist Church’s musical director, is also the musical director for HCP’s May 24-27 and May 31-June 3 show.

Singers are encouraged to prepare a Rodgers & Hammerstein song. A list of the songs in the show can be found at www.highlandscashiersplayers.org, but any Rodgers & Hammerstein song can be used.

Those auditions will also be from 3 to 5 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 21. Show Director Adair Simon is looking for five main singers and numerous backup singers and dancers. Rehearsals will start in late March or early April.

Callbacks will be from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 22, and also for those who could not be at the Sunday singing auditions.

Dancer callbacks, and also for those who could not attend the Sunday dance auditions, will be from 7 to 8 p.m. Monday, Jan. 22.

arts & entertainment

‘The Bald Soprano’ kicks off HART winter season

January 17-23, 2018 Smoky Mountain News 31

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Books

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Insightful books to kick off the new year n early January, I sat with two friends in a café discussing the New Year. We were all coming off a rough time and were certain 2018 would usher in happier days. Our optimism was running high until we made our way to the deserted lot where my friends had parked their cars. Both of their vehicles were missing, towed away by a zealous, or more likely unscrupulous, wrecking service.

This dash of cold reality might have snuffed out our hopes, but my friends took this minor disaster with such good grace, laughing at the irony of the situation Writer vis-à-vis our anticipation of better times, that their mood and good humor raised my spirits. By the time we secured their cars, the New Year had recovered a bit of its flame.

So many of us embrace January 1 with high expectations. We make our New Year’s resolutions, and some of us — you can already rule me out on this one — even manage to keep them. If we’ve endured a particularly tough year — you can count me back in — we are eager to see an end to hardship, hoping for less suffering and greater joy.

Many of us also look to the change in the calendar as a time to change ourselves. We watch inspirational videos on YouTube, we enlist in websites promising to send us daily quotations of encouragement, we join a gym or some social group hoping that the presence of others will boost our efforts at alteration.

Some of us even read books.

In Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life And Maybe The World (Hachette Book Group, 2017, 130 pages), Admiral William H. McRaven expands on a commencement address he delivered in 2014 to students at the University of Texas-Austin.

When the address went viral, winning the admiral 10 million views, McRaven decided to turn that speech into a book, using the same outline as his speech but adding many more stories about himself and others to illustrate

Jeff Minick

I

his point.

McRaven, who served for 37 years as a Navy Seal and retired as Commander of all U.S. Special Operations Forces, takes many of these examples from his time in the military.

The lessons he learned as a Seal he regards as useful to everyone. In the first chapter, “Make Your Bed,” he teaches us to begin each day with a task completed and to understand the importance of details. In other chapters, with titles like “You Can’t Go It Alone,” “Failure Can Make You Stronger,” and “Never, Ever Quit,” the admiral urges his readers to take command of their lives, accept responsibility for their actions, and to follow through on

Book study group: ‘Daring Democracy’ A new book group will hold a discussion on the work Daring Democracy: Igniting Power, Meaning, and Connection for the America We Want by Francis Lappe and Adam Eichen.

Discussions will be on three Sunday afternoons: Jan. 21, Feb. 4 and Feb 18. This free community program will begin at 1 p.m. at the UU Fellowship on 85 Sierra Lane in Franklin.

Democracy is not just a description of our government, it is a way of life we all can and must participate in to be effective.

Complaining does not foster change. Voicing our opinions in con-

their ambitions.

In Higher Is Waiting (Spiegel & Grau, 2017, 205 pages), Tyler Perry teaches some of the same lessons, but comes at them from an entirely different direction. Well known today as a playwright, filmmaker, comedian, actor, and philanthropist, Perry fought his battles not in foreign lands but in the streets of New Orleans. Son of an abusive father and a loving mother, shy,

poor, and black, Perry left The Big Easy for Atlanta at the age of 21, carrying little more than a play he had written and his dreams.

Perry gives us snapshots of his struggles during his childhood and early adulthood: the beatings delivered by his father; the constant reminders from the people around him that he would never amount to anything; the years in Atlanta when he worked odd jobs, existed from paycheck to paycheck, and was several times homeless and living out of his car.

Though tempted a dozen times to give up his

structive ways, selecting leaders who represent our interests, and participating in decision making processes are all part of the democratic process.

All are welcome. Register in case they need to reschedule for weather: 828.524.3691 or sandidonn2@yahoo.com.

The history of the Plott Hound The Jackson County Public Library will welcome Bob Plott at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25, in the Community Room of the library in Sylva.

Plott is an award-winning North Carolina native who has published several books on hunting and the premier big game hunting

dreams of writing plays and pulling himself out of poverty, Perry never quit. Today he is the owner of several successful enterprises, and his Perry Foundation gives money to numerous individuals and causes.

Like Admiral McRaven, Perry aims at inspiring readers by sharing the lessons he learned through these struggles: taking one step at a time, never quitting, reacting to criticism, giving back to those in need, and a score of other insights. Again like Admiral McRaven, he uses as evidence for his arguments insights from his past, showing us how his mother’s love and care bolstered him, how other adults like the blind Mr. Butler and pet shop owner Miss Lynn taught him lessons for a lifetime, how his hard upbringing and the hits he took in Atlanta gave him the strength and courage to follow his ambitions.

One major difference between Make Your Bed and Higher Is Waiting is Tyler Perry’s belief, evinced again and again in his story, in the “essence, power, and grace of God.” He quotes frequently from Scripture, recounts Biblical stories, and credits his professional success with a faith in a holy force that “was protecting me, loving me, and keeping me close.”

Perry also adds helps for readers in the form of admonitions and questions at the end of each chapter. Some of these guidelines come from the Bible, while others read like this one: “Consider a fear you have. It could be flying, heights, being alone, speaking in public — whatever frightens you. What’s keeping you from climbing higher? What are you willing to do to overcome it?”

If you’re looking for inspiration, if you are bloodied and down and looking for a way up, Higher Is Waiting and Make Your Bed offer a good way to start your journey toward change and new possibilities.

dog breed in America — the Plott Hound. Plott will be discussing his latest book, Plott Hound Tales.

This fascinating story of the Plott family and the Plott hound is a classic American tale of adventure with roots deeply entrenched in North Carolina soil and American history and culture. And it is a story that award-winning author and historian Bob Plott, the greatgreat-great grandson of Johannes George Plott, is uniquely qualified to tell.

This program is free of charge. For more information, call the library at 828.586.2016. This event is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Jackson County Public Library.

The Jackson County Public Library is a member of Fontana Regional Library (www.fontanalib.org).

34

Outdoors

Smoky Mountain News

Watery restoration Waynesville and partners restore stream flows, aquatic habitat

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER aynesville is in the midst of a makeover on three of its streams, and it’s a renovation that fish, crayfish and tadpoles alike are likely to find satisfactory.

One of the three projects is already complete, a rehabilitation of Shelton Branch at the Waynesville Recreation Park that wrapped up in October, with stream restorations at East Street Park and Chestnut Park poised to start soon.

The Shelton Branch project had been in process since summer 2016, when Waynesville Streets and Sanitation Superintendent Daryl Hannah approached the Haywood Waterways Association about helping the town get a permit to relocate the stream.

Running in a deep, eroded channel right next to Vance Street, Shelton Branch — which pours into Richland Creek — was undercutting the road, causing pieces of it to break off and fall down the side. Dirt continually washed into the stream as well, diminishing habitat quality for the aquatic creatures living there.

“The old channel was pretty straight up against the road,” said Haywood Waterways Director Eric Romaniszyn. “It was steep and eroding on the right side of the bank.”

But fixing the problem wouldn’t be easy.

Before the first shovelful of dirt could be moved, the town had to obtain permits from the Army Corps of Engineers and the N.C. Division of Water Resources. An engineer had to design the relocation, taking into account surrounding land use and upstream areas so that the new channel would be stable enough to handle major storms.

All of that takes money.

In total, the relocation cost about $52,000. A $14,000 grant from the Pigeon River Fund of the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina paid for part of it, with various partners putting in about $2,000 and the remaining $36,000 coming from the town. However, very little of that $36,000 was cash money — most of it was in-kind donations of labor and equipment use.

“We view it as a win-win because we get that section of stream cleaned up and improved, but it also makes a

W

Shelton Branch’s flow through the Waynesville Recreation Park has been restored from an eroded, steep-banked channel (above, donated photo) to a much healthier, more natural-looking waterway. (below, Holly Kays photo)

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January 17-23, 2018

Design work is complete, and the project is shovel-ready once the weather gets warmer.

“The streambank had gotten so steep and incised that dirt was falling into the water, and the streambank itself was not safe,” Teague said. “It could collapse.”

Unlike Shelton Branch, this stream won’t require a full-on relocation. It’s on a steeper slope than Shelton Branch, so that type of stream is naturally straighter.

However, the project will involve sloping the stream banks back a little bit to hold more water, putting in structures to get the water following more slowly and revegetating Restoration will soon begin at the stream the banks. flowing through the town’s recently acquired “It’s a chance for us to Chestnut Park. Holly Kays photo clean up the stream itself and to beautify some of the plants and landscape along there, and create a few little access points where kids could get into the creek and play,” Teague said. “That’s part of our goal.”

Finally, the town is planning a phase two rehabilitation of the stream at East Street Park, which is an unnamed tributary to Shelton Branch. Phase one occurred in 2015, using grant money stream is running up against that streamthe Pigeon River Fund awarded to Haywood bank. That rock was designed to keep the Waterways to restore a heavily channelized main power of that flow in the center of the section below Happy Hollow Road. Phase channel, away from the streambanks.” two will focus on the upper section of the To finish it up, a variety of native species stream. were planted on the stream banks to anchor “That’s a much harder one to do,” the soil and improve wildlife habitat.

Romaniszyn said. “It’s a narrower area to “I think when the spring comes and all move the stream. It’s a much deeper chanthe plants come up, it will be really nice,” nel and longer, too.”

Romaniszyn said. “In a couple of years you The section in question is about 600 might not notice any work was ever done.” feet, significantly longer than the recently However, neither Haywood Waterways, completed Shelton Branch restoration, the Town of Waynesville, nor the which clocked in at less than 450 feet.

Southwestern N.C. Resource Conservation The RC&D is managing this project, & Development Council — which has also which is also funded through the Clean been a partner on these stream restoration Water Management Trust Fund grant. projects — is drawing much of a breath fol“We have an opportunity to get in and lowing completion of the Shelton Branch clean up the stream, get all the trash and project, because two more significant stuff out but also look at stream morpholostream restoration efforts are on the horigy — the shape of the stream and the flow,” zon.

Teague said.

“It takes a while to put these thoughts The project will entail adding rock vanes down on paper, to apply for grants, to get and riffles to aerate the water, improving its your permitting done, and it just happens capacity to house all manner of aquatic that all of these came about and we’re going creatures. to be working on them within this two-year Teague said the partnership of the three timeframe,” Teague said. “It’s not new projagencies — Waynesville, Haywood ect ideas. It’s just that they’re finally coming Waterways and the RC&D — has been key to fruition.” to getting projects like these three stream The RC&D recently landed a $206,000 restorations off the ground. Each agency grant from the Clean Water Management has a different area of expertise, different Trust Fund to complete two more stream community connections and different grant restoration projects in Waynesville over the opportunities. coming year.

“We’re often each of us in our realm Up next is a stream restoration at given grant opportunities that maybe the Chestnut Park, a 3-acre parcel of which the other one doesn’t get,” Teague said. “So by town gained ownership in September 2015. working together, we can leverage in funds Upon securing the title, the town received a and also share and match so that we’re maksmall grant to fix up some of the park furing the dollar go the farthest it can to get nishings and landed a $24,500 grant from these projects done, and that’s been really the Pigeon River Fund to complete engiimportant here in Haywood County.” neering work on the stream restoration. nicer public space,” said Town Planner Elizabeth Teague.

The earth-moving part of the project involved adding some curves — called “meanders” — to the stream to break up the water’s velocity, reducing erosion when storm runoff causes the water to move faster. The channel is wider now, too, giving stormwater a place to go besides the road or the field adjacent to the stream.

“A lot of rock was involved,” Romaniszyn said. “When we get eroding streambanks, of course the big issue is the

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outdoors

Become a Master Gardener Applications are open for Macon County’s 2018 Master Gardener Program.

The program is a short course in horticulture provided each year by N.C. Cooperative Extension to help home gardeners improve their understanding of gardening and plants. Master Gardeners receive 42 hours of training in subjects including insects, disease, fruits, shade trees, ornamentals, lawn care and vegetable culture. The program includes a volunteer component as well, with volunteer hours required as well as training to become a certified Master Gardener.

Classes start in February. Request an application at 828.349.2046.

Draft coyote management plan released

Smoky Mountain News

January 17-23, 2018

A draft coyote management plan has been released and will be open for public comment through Feb. 9.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission developed the 177-page plan at the request of the N.C. General Assembly. It addresses the impact of coyotes — a nonnative species — in North Carolina and the threats they may pose to citizens, industries and populations of native wildlife.

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The plan includes biological information on coyotes in North Carolina, identifies concerns surrounding the species, outlines the challenges of coyote control and provides strategies to minimize their impact. It also outlines statutory changes that would improve coyote management, identifies known knowledge gaps and research needs, and recommends new biological and social strategies to address coyote management issues.

The plan is available at www.ncwildlife.org/portals/0/learning/documents/profiles/mammals/coyote_management_plan_draft_1.pdf. Comments can be emailed to coyotemgtplan@ncwildlife.org or mailed to N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, Coyote Management Plan, MSC 1722, Raleigh, N.C. 27699.

After the public comment period closes, public feedback will be incorporated and a final plan presented to wildlife commissioners for approval at their Feb. 22 meeting. www.ncwildlife.org/coyote.

outdoors

Weekday programs offered at Cataloochee Tuesdays and Wednesdays offer special opportunities at Cataloochee Ski Area, with programs now available for homeschoolers and families. n Homeschoolers will receive discounted rates every Tuesday through the end of the season, with rates $20 for lift ticket only, $30 for lift and rental, and $45 for lift, rental and a lesson. The package applies to day skiing from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with students required to present homeschool credentials. n Every Wednesday, children 17 and under will receive a free lift ticket when accompanied by a parent purchasing a full-price adult day lift ticket. Not valid with other discounts.

Regular rental and lesson rates apply. cataloochee.com.

Cataloochee Ski Area photo

The targeted section holds more than its share of litter. Nick Breedlove photo

Help clean up litter in Sylva Volunteers are wanted for a litter pickup along the Dark Ridge portion of Scotts Creek in Sylva, beginning at 9 a.m.

Saturday, Jan. 27.

The Tuckasegee Chapter of Trout

Unlimited is spearheading the effort to clean up the area between the train trestle and new bridge. The group will meet at the Sylva McDonald’s.

Dale Collins, tuckriverclub@gmail.com.

Help out on the greenway

Hiking challenge will raise money for kids with cancer

{Celebrating the Southern Appalachians}

Whitewater Falls.

SMN photo

Sign up to attend the information session at www.rei.com/learn.html. Learn more about the hike at www.trailblazechallenge.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?iev ent=1177247.

Smoky Mountain Living celebrates the mountain region’s culture, music, art, and special places. We tell our stories for those who are lucky enough to live here and those who want to stay in touch with the place they love.

Smoky Mountain News

Hikers are wanted to take on the 2018 Trailblaze Challenge, a 28.3-mile trek to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Two information sessions are coming up at REI in Asheville, slated for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 30, and 10:30 a.m.

Saturday, Feb. 3.

The single-day hike follows the Foothills Trail from Upper Whitewater Falls in Jackson County to Lavonia, Georgia, offering a physical challenge while raising money to grant wishes for children battling cancer.

Hike weekends are May 18-20 and June 1-3.

Signups for Jackson County Little League Baseball and Softball will be offered at multiple locations in the coming weeks. n 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays, Jan. 27, Feb. 3 and Feb. 10, at the Cullowhee Recreation Department. n 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3, at the Qualla Fire Department across from Shoal Creek Baptist Church in Whittier.

The programs are open to boys and girls ages 5 to 16. Signup is $65 with a $5 discount for any additional siblings in the household. Bring a copy of the child’s birth certificate to signups.

Updated registration information posted on Facebook at Jackson County Little League-NC. Contact jacksoncountynclittleleague@gmail.com or 828.226.0061.

January 17-23, 2018

Volunteers are needed to help maintain the Highlands Plateau Greenway Trail 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Jan. 20. The volunteer group conducts these workdays on a monthly basis.

Participants will receive a brief orientation, as well as all the necessary tools and safety equipment to complete the task at hand. RSVP to highlandsgreenway@nctv.com or 828.342.8980.

Sign up for Little League

Hike for waterfalls An easy 2-mile hike Sunday, Jan. 21, will explore a section of the Bartram Trail just outside of Franklin.

With just 300 feet of elevation change, the Wallace Branch Loop passes multiple waterfalls. The group will meet at 2 p.m. and carpool 3 miles to the trailhead.

Organized by the Nantahala Hiking Club, with visitors welcome. RSVP to hike leader Mary Stone at 828.369.7352. No dogs.

Subscribe or learn more at smliv.com MAGAZINE

37

outdoors

Land conserved along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Jackson The Blue Ridge Parkway will soon acquire an additional 46 acres in Jackson County thanks to a pair of land acquisitions completed by the Conservation Trust for North Carolina.

The CTNC recently received a donation of 21 acres in the Hi-Mountain subdivision, a property known as Woodfin Creek Headwaters, and the parcel abuts a 25-acre property that CTNC owns at the Parkway’s milepost 447. CTNC will donate both properties to the National Park Service to expand the Parkway’s boundary.

“The land seemed so appropriate for conservation purposes that the initial intention of developing or selling to a developer quickly changed,” said John Scelfo, who donated the 21-acre property to CTNC. “We are proud to help protect the beauty and natural heritage of the region by donating this property to CTNC and the Blue Ridge Parkway.”

The property conserves a portion of land at the headwaters of Woodfin Creek, upstream of Woodfin Falls in the Little Tennessee River basin.

It will contribute to the complex of land recently assembled around Waterrock Knob establishing a 5,000-acre recreation area near the Parkway’s south end. The property is visible from the Mt. Lyn Lowry Overlook at milepost 445.

Conserving land along the Parkway

enhances the landscape’s resilience to the changing climate by providing protected places where human and natural communities can move and adapt. With an elevation between 4,840 and 5,060 feet, the newly protected Woodfin Creek Headwaters has the potential to support significant numbers of rare plant and animal species.

The Conservation Trust for North Carolina has now conserved 66 properties on the Blue Ridge Parkway totaling 34,472 acres. www.protecttheblueridgeparkway.org.

Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation celebrates new headquarters The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation will celebrate the opening of its new office in Asheville with a gathering 4 to 6 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 18, at 322 Gashes Creek Road.

Refreshments, door prizes, a ribbon cutting and a chance to learn more about the Foundation’s mission to protect and preserve the Parkway will be offered. The new office is a recently renovated cottage built in 1949. The Foundation’s former office next door is now headquarters for the Foundation’s Kids in Parks Program, creating a mini-campus for the nonprofit. Atriax Group worked with Frellick Brothers Custom Home Builders to complete the renovation.

Smoky Mountain News

January 17-23, 2018

Winter Adult Coed Volleyball League Organizational Meeting: Wed., January 24, 6:30 pm at the Waynesville Recreation Center Must be 18 years of age by January 1, 2018 For more information call 456-2030 or email dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov

Additional comments specific to the NPS Ideas for the future of the land surapproach to large landscape collaborative rounding Waterrock Knob and Plott Balsam management for the Waterrock Knob lands are welcome during a public hearing slated are welcome at for 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25, at the parkplanning.nps.gov/waterrockknobviFolkmoot Friendship Center in Waynesville. sionplan, and written comments can be In 2016, the Blue Ridge Parkway announced plans to acquire 5,329 acres near Waterrock Knob, the park’s largest expansion in 60 years. One of the highest points along the Blue Ridge Parkway, the area is home to a plethora of rare species, breathtaking landscapes and The Blue Ridge Parkway undulates rich cultural histobeneath the vantage point of ry. The National Waterrock Knob. Donated photo Park Service is now working on a plan sent to Blue Ridge Parkway, ATTN: Suzette to manage the new Parkway acreage, and Molling, 199 Hemphill Knob Road, public input will be important to creating Asheville, NC 28803.Comments will be that plan. accepted through Feb. 25.

The open house is an opportunity for For more information about the newly members of the regional community to conserved lands at Waterrock Knob, read share their feedback on future stewardship the story at of the area’s natural and cultural resources, www.smokymountainnews.com/archives/it and its role in the broader landscape. The em/18338-the-value-of-a-view-thousandspublic will also be able to comment on the of-acres-added-to-the-parkway-for-park-serNPS proposal to manage the lands at vice-centennial.

Waterrock Knob as part of a larger landGrants from the Blue Ridge Natural scape collaborative, focusing its manageHeritage Area Partnership and the Pigeon ment on goals shared by local, state and River Fund of the Community Foundation federal land managing agencies across the of Western North Carolina have made the region, seeking to preserve resources on an meeting and overall planning process possiecosystem scale. ble. The meeting is hosted by the Blue Feedback will help inform a collaboraRidge Parkway Foundation in collaboration tive visioning effort for the area that with the National Park Service and multiple involves the NPS, the Blue Ridge Parkway local, state and federal land managers in the Foundation, neighboring communities, region. Light refreshments will be served. land trusts, nonprofits and stakeholders.

SCC instructor will guide outdoor leadership standards

WAYNESVILLE

PARKS AND RECREATION

828.456.2030 38

Public input sought on Waterrock Knob planning

or email dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov

find us at: facebook.com/smnews

Paul Wolf, leader of Southwestern Community College’s Outdoor Leadership Program, has been chosen as a member of the international Association of Experiential Education’s accreditation council and standards committee.

Alongside other in countries including Canada, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Australia, Wolfe will work to create, maintain and uphold the standards and accreditation processes that the AEE sets for adventure programs and outdoor behavioral healthcare. The body and its members work to ensure professional and safe standards for programs around the world.

“Throughout his time at Southwestern, Paul has consistently raised the bar for our outdoor leadership program,” said Dr. Thom Brooks, executive vice president for instruction and student services. “He puts in hours that nobody will ever know about, and his sole focus is on ensuring that all students who go through his program are fully prepared to be successful when they graduate and go into the field. The fact that he’s also able to work on a prestigious international committee just speaks to his dedication and professionalism. We are extremely proud to have him as a member of the SCC family.”

Wolf, founding coordinator of the program, began SCC’s Outdoor Leadership Program more than 18 years ago, using a desk propped up by four cinderblocks and a wealth of knowledge. Without any template in place, Wolf created the now nationally known program from scratch.

WNC Calendar COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS • The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation will hold a ribbon-cutting from 4-6 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 18, to celebrate opening its expanded Asheville office at 322 Gashes Creek Road. http://brpfoundation.org.

• Western Carolina University will celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. with a variety of events throughout January, highlighted by the university’s annual MLK speaker. Jane Elliott, renowned teacher, lecturer and diversity trainer, will be the 2018 MLK speaker at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 29, at the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center. On Wednesday, Jan. 17, “Unity, Not Uniformity” will take place in the UC Grandroom at 7 p.m. The performance-based event allows for creative expression of King’s legacy of cooperation, brotherhood, peace and respect. Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity Education session titled “I’m Not A Racist” at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18, in the UC’s Raleigh Room. A MLK Day of Service volunteer event for a community project on Saturday, Jan. 20. For more information, contact associate director Jennifer Cooper at 828-227-7184 or jacooper@wcu.edu. www.wcu.edu.

• Registration is underway for a grant writing and research workshop for nonprofits through the Franklin Chamber of Commerce. Workshop is from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Feb. 13 at the Franklin Chamber of Commerce and Welcome Center, 98 Hyatt Road in Franklin. https://tinyurl.com/yax5m96j. Info: 704.614.8703.

• The Town of Waynesville is accepting applications from nonprofit organizations for consideration of special appropriations in the upcoming fiscal year 2018-19 budget. Applications available at www.waynesvillenc.gov/government or at the municipal building. Applications due by March 31. Info: 452.2491 or aowens@waynesvillenc.gov.

• Cruise in Maggie Valley event is held from 1-5 p.m. every Sunday at 2771 Soco Road. Vendors: $10 per space. Cruising@MaggieValleyAntiques.com.

• Qualla Boundary Historical Society meets at 6:30 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of each month. Everyone is welcome.

BUSINESS & EDUCATION • The fourth annual Appalachian Farm School, organized by Southwestern Community College’s Small Business Center and its partners, will be held from 6-9 p.m. on Tuesdays through Feb. 27 in the Burrell Building on SCC’s Jackson Campus in Sylva. Designed for anyone in the agriculture business. Topics include business planning, farm evaluation, goal setting and more. Registration required: www.southwesterncc.edu/sbc. Info: t_henry@southwesterncc.edu or 339.4426.

• Concealed Carry Handgun Classes will be offered from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. on Jan. 20 and Feb. 17 at Bethel Grocery Hunting & Fishing at 5692 Pigeon Road in Waynesville. 648.5797 or bethelgrocery@gmail.com.

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

• A meeting of current and former employees of the Waynesville plant of Champion/Blue Ridge/Evergreen is held at 8 a.m. on the first Monday of each month at BoJangles near Lake Junaluska’s entrance.

• One-on-one computer lessons are offered weekly at the Waynesville and Canton branches of the Haywood County Public Library. Lesson slots are available from

All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted.

10 a.m.-noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Canton and from 3-5 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Waynesville Library. Sign up at the front desk of either library or call 356.2507 for the Waynesville Library or 648.2924 for the Canton Library.

FUNDRAISERS AND BENEFITS • The First United Methodist Church of Sylva will hold an Open Door Meal & Sing at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 31, in the church’s Christian Life Center.

Entertainment by singer/guitar player Jeff Ginn.

Devotional precedes meal. 586.2358.

VOLUNTEERS & VENDORS • Exhibitors are being accepted for the ninth annual Healthy Living Festival, which is from 9 a.m.-noon on Saturday, March 24 at the Jackson County Cullowhee Recreation Center. Applications due by Feb. 16.

Applications and info: 587.8238 or janellemesser@jacksonnc.org.

• There is an open call currently underway for artisans, vendors and environmentally-themed booths at the 21st annual Greening Up the Mountains, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 28, in downtown Sylva. Celebrating the new spring in the mountains, the festival has become a beloved regional event.

Applications can be downloaded at www.greeningupthemountains.com and will be accepted through April 1.

For more information, call 554.1035 or email greeningupthemountains@gmail.com.

• The Good Samaritan clinic of Haywood County seeks volunteers to help uninsured patients receive medications, vision care and other health and spiritual-related services in Waynesville. Clinic is open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on Monday through Thursday and from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. on Friday. 454.5287 or crocco@gcshaywood.org.

HEALTH MATTERS • HIV and syphilis testing will is offered during normal business hours at Jackson County Health Department.

• Classes to help you take control of your diabetes will be offered from 10 a.m.-noon on Wednesdays from Jan. 17 -Feb. 28 (but no meeting on Feb. 7) at the Canton Library, 11 Pennsylvania Ave., in Canton. Family members, caregivers and friends also welcome to attend.

Register at the Senior Resource Center or call 356.2800.

• A program on the “Brain-Gut Connection” will be presented by Michelle Sanderbeck, ND, from 3-4 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 18, at the Waynesville Library. Explore how stomach or intestinal distress can be caused by anxiety, stress or depression. 356.2507.

• “Beat the Sugar Blues,” a workshop about what sugar does to your health and how to reduce sugar consumption, will be presented from 2-4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 20, at the Waynesville Yoga Center. 246.6570, hello@waynesvilleyogacenter.com or www.waynesvilleyogacenter.com.

• A program entitled “Know the 10 Signs” – regarding early detection of Alzheimer’s Disease – will be offered from 2-3 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 24, at the Waynesville Library. www.alz.org/what-is-dementia.asp.

• A tired leg/varicose vein educational program will be presented at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 25, at the Vein Center at Haywood Regional Medical Center in Clyde.

Led by Dr. Al Mina, MD, FACS, and Dr. Joshua Rudd, DO. RSVP required: 452.8346.

Smoky Mountain News

• The Haywood Health Authority Board Meeting is set for 4 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 25, in the second floor classroom at Haywood Regional Medical Center in Clyde.

• A support group for people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), family, friends and caregivers will meet at 6:45 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month at the Jackson County Public Library conference room in Sylva.

293.2503.

• A support group for anyone with MS, family & friends meets monthly at 6:45 p.m. on the 3rd Tuesday of each month at the conference room of Jackson Co. Library in Sylva. No Fee, sponsored by National MS Society. Local contact: Gordon Gaebel 828-293-2503.

• “Laughing Balsam Sangha,” a meeting for Mindfullness in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh, meets will meet from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Mondays at 318 Skyland Drive in Sylva. Included are sitting and walking meditation, and Dharma discussion. Free admission.

335.8210, and “Like” them on Facebook.

• A “Walk With A Doc” program is scheduled for 10 a.m. each Saturday at the Lake Junaluska Kern Center or Canton Rec Park.

MyHaywoodRegional.com/WalkwithaDoc. • Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families (ACA) meets at noon on Saturdays at the First United Methodist Church Outreach Center at 171 Main St. in Franklin. 407.758.6433 or adultchildren.org.

• Western Carolina University’s student-run, Mountain Area Pro Bono Physical Therapy Clinic will be open from 6-8:30 p.m. on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. 227.3527.

• The Haywood County Health & Human Services Public Health Services Division is offering a Night Clinic from 4-6:30 p.m. on the third Monday of every month in Waynesville. Services include family planning, immunizations, pregnancy testing, STD testing and treatment. Appointments: 452.6675.

• The Jackson County Department of Public Health will offer a general clinic from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 587.8225.

• A Food Addicts Anonymous Twelve-Step fellowship group meets at 5:30 p.m. on Mondays at Grace Church in the Mountains in Waynesville. www.foodaddictsanonymous.org.

• Big Brother/Big Sister, a one-evening preparation class for children who are about to greet a new baby into their family, is offered for children ages 3-10 at Haywood Regional Medical Center. 452.8440 or MyHaywoodRegional.com/ParentClasses.

• Mothers Connection, an ongoing social gathering for mothers and their babies, meets from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. on Thursdays excluding holidays at Haywood Regional Medical Center. 452.8440 or MyHaywoodRegional.com/ParentClasses.

• A support group meeting for those with Parkinsons Disease and their caregivers will be held at 2 p.m. on the last Wednesday of the month at the Waynesville Senior Resource Center.

• A support group for anyone with Multiple Sclerosis, family and friends meets twice each month: at 2 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month in the Heritage Room at the Jackson County Senior Center in Sylva and at 5:30 p.m. on the second Thursday at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva. Info: 293.2503.

• Dogwood Insight Center presents health talks at 6:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month.

• Free childbirth and breastfeeding classes are available at Harris Regional Hospital in Sylva. Classes are offered bimonthly on an ongoing basis. Register or get more info: 586.7907.

39

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 • Angel Medical Center’s diabetes support group meets at 4 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month in the AMC dining room. 369.4166.

• A free weekly grief support group is open to the public from 12:30-2 p.m. on Thursdays at SECU Hospice House in Franklin. Hosted by Four Seasons Compassion for Life Bereavement Team. 692.6178 or mlee@fourseasonscfl.org.

• A monthly grief processing support group will meet from 4-5:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month at the Homestead Hospice and Palliative Care in Clyde.

452.5039.

• A free, weekly grief support group will meet from 12:30-2 p.m. on Thursdays at the SECU Hospice House in Franklin. 692.6178 or mlee@fourseasonscfl.org.

• “ECA on the Move!” – a walking program organized

by Jackson County Extension and Community Association – meets from 9-10 a.m. on Mondays through Thursdays. It’s an effort to meet the American Heart Association’s recommendation of 10,000 steps per day. 586.4009.

• A Tuesday Meditation Group meets at 6:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Franklin.

RECREATION AND FITNESS • Registration is underway for rumba, waltz and line dance lessons that will be offered in February and March.

Beginning rumba is offered on Mondays from Feb. 12March 19; intermediate waltz is available on Tuesdays from Feb. 13-March 27; and beginning line dancing is offered on Wednesdays from Feb. 14-March 21. A higher level of line dancing is scheduled for Thursdays from Feb. 15-March 22. $60 per person. All classes are from 6:307:30 p.m. Info: 356.7060 or 550.3170.

• Registration is underway for a TaijiFit program, which will be presented by International Tai Chi Champion David-Dorian Ross from March 3-4 at the Haywood Regional Health and Fitness Center in Clyde. TaijiFit makes Tai Chi, yoga and meditation more accessible.

Info: 904.377.1527 or mattjeffsdpt@outlook.com.

• Pickleball, a cross between tennis, badminton and ping-pong, will be offered from 9 a.m.-noon on Mondays and Wednesdays at the Old Hazelwood Gym in Waynesville. $3 per visit, or $20 for a 10-visit card.

452.6789 or iansmith@haywoodcountync.gov.

• Yoga classes designed specifically for those who have experienced trauma are being offered at the Fitness Connection in Waynesville. www.sonshineyoga.com.

• ZUMBA! Classes, are offered from 6-7 p.m. on Tuesdays, at the Canton Armory. $5 per class. 648.2363 or parks@cantonnc.com.

• Tai chi is offered from 10:45-11:45 a.m. every Tuesday and Thursday at Haywood Regional Health and Fitness Center. It’s also offered from 1-2 p.m. on Thursdays. Taught by Bill Muerdter. For info about the classes or HRHFC memberships and offerings, call 452.8080 or visit MyHaywoodRegional.com/Fitness.

wnc calendar

• Ultimate Frisbee games are held from 5:30-8 p.m. on Mondays at the Cullowhee Recreation Park. Organized

by Jackson County Parks & Recreation. Pick-up style.

293.2053 or www.rec.jacksonnc.org.

• The Wednesday Croquet Group meets from 10 a.m.noon at the Vance Street Park across from the shelter.

For senior players ages 55 or older. 456.2030 or dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov.

• Pickleball is from 1-3 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday nights at First Methodist Church in Sylva. $1 each time you play; equipment provided. 293.3053.

• Cardio Lunch class will meet from noon-1 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Waynesville Recreation Center. For ages 16 and above. Cost is regular admission fee to the rec center or free for members.

456.2030 or tplowman@waynesvillenc.gov.

• Flexible Fitness class will meet from 4:30-5:15 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays at the Waynesville Recreation Center. For ages 16 and above. Cost is regular admission fee to the rec center or free for members. 456.2030 or tplowman@waynesvillenc.gov.

• Pump It Up class will meet from 6:30-7:30 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays at the Waynesville Recreation Center. For ages 16 and above. Cost is regular admission fee to the rec center or free for members. 456.2030 or tplowman@waynesvillenc.gov.

• The Canton Armory is open to the public for walking from 7:45-9 a.m. on Monday through Friday unless the facility is booked till spring. 648.2363. parks@cantonnc.com.

• Pickle ball is offered from 8 a.m.-noon on Mondays through Fridays at the Waynesville Recreation Center.

456.2030 or www.waynesvillnc.gov.

January 17-23, 2018

SPIRITUAL • A book study group will be starting at 1 p.m. on Jan. 21 at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Franklin.

Book: “Darking Democracy: Igniting Power, Meaning and Connection for the America We Want” by Francis Lappe and Adam Eichen. 524.3691.

• Registration is underway for Lake Junaluska’s winter youth retreat featuring Cecilia Tucker (speaker) and The Advice (worship band). Retreat is from Jan. 26-28.

Register or get more info: 800.222.4930 or www.lakejunaluska.com/winteryouth.

• Registration is underway for Lake Junaluska’s winter youth retreat featuring Chris Sasser (speaker) and The Advice (worship band) Retreat is from Feb. 2-4.

Register or get more info: 800.222.4930 or www.lakejunaluska.com/winteryouth.

Smoky Mountain News

• Registration is underway for Lake Junaluska’s winter youth retreat featuring Eddie Willis (speaker), Abbye West Pates (worship band) and Joshua Lozoff (illusionist).

Retreat is from Feb. 16-19. Register or get more info: 800.222.4930 or www.lakejunaluska.com/winteryouth.

40

POLITICAL • The Jackson County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing at 5 p.m. on Jan. 29 at the Justice and Administration Building, 401 Grindstaff Cove Road, Room A201, in Sylva. Purpose is to receive public input concerning consolidation of the Health Department and the Department of Social Services.

• The Jackson County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing to receive public input concerning text amendments to the “Cullowhee Community Planning Area Development Standards” at 4:55 p.m. on Jan. 29 at the Justice & Administration Building at 401 Grindstaff Cove Road, Room A201, in Sylva. Copies available at jacksonnc.org/planning or at the Planning Department at the Justice Center.

• The Jackson County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing to receive public input concerning a “No-Wake Zone” on Glenville Lake at 5:55 p.m. on Jan. 29 at the Justice & Administration Building at 401 Grindstaff Cove Road, Room A201, in Sylva.

AUTHORS AND BOOKS • The “Coffee with the Poet” series gathers at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva the third Thursday of each month and is co-sponsored by the North Carolina Writers Network. 586.9499.

• Canton Book Club meets at 3:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month, at the Canton Library.

648.2924.

• Cookin’ the Books will be held at noon on the last Wednesday of the month at the Waynesville Public Library. A book club focused on cookbooks. All members choose a recipe from the book and bring it to share.

The group will discuss the good and bad aspects of the chosen cookbook. 356.2507.

• Banned Book Club meets from 10 a.m.-noon on Saturdays at Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville. For those who enjoy literature and intellectual conversation. 456.6000, blueridgebooks@ymail.com or www.blueridgebooksnc.com.

SENIOR ACTIVITIES • Registration is underway for a senior mystery drive trip will be offered by the Waynesville Parks and Recreation Department on Jan. 22. $10 per person for members; $12 for nonmembers. For info and to register: 456.2030 or tpetrea@waynesvillenc.gov.

KIDS & FAMILIES • Registration is underway for a Smart Start Sports Development Program for 4-5 year olds, which will be offered through the Waynesville Recreation Center. For children who will be 4-5 as of Feb. 1. Registration deadline is Jan. 18. $50 registration fee. 456.2030, dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov or stop by the rec center.

Puzzles can be found on page 46.

These are only the answers.

Signups for the upcoming Jackson County Little League Baseball and Softball seasons will be held from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturdays, Jan. 27-Feb. 10, at the Cullowhee Recreation Department. Signups also offered from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Feb. 3 at the Qualla Fire Department in Whittier. For ages 5-16. $65, with a $5 discount for additional siblings. Bring birth certificate(s). jacksoncountynclittleleague@gmail.com or 226.0061.

• Camp Hobbit Hill is currently offering an essay contest to future campers. Winners of the essay contest have a chance to win a free session of camp.

Camp Hobbit Hill is a girls overnight camp, with a focus on horsemanship and arts, located in Alexander.

The essay must answer one of the following questions (200-250 words), be written by the potential camper, and be submitted to camp@CampHobbitHill.com no later than March 1. Please explain what leadership and community mean to you or How could attending and experiencing camp help you become more actively involved in your community or Tell us how you can be a good role model to other students in school (300 words or less). Further instructions will be available at www.camphobbithill.com. Contestants may enter all sections of the contest, but are only entitled to win one 1st prize. All entries must include name, age, parental contact and return email.

• A “Youth Art Class” will be held from 10:30 a.m. to noon every Saturday at the Appalachian Art Farm on 22 Morris Street in Sylva. All ages welcome. $10 includes instruction, materials and snack. For more information, email appalachianartfarm@gmail.com or find them on Facebook.

ONGOING KIDS ACTIVITIES AND CLUBS • The Canton Library offers a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics) program each month. At 4 p.m. on third Tuesday. Children ages 6-12 are welcome to attend. Please call 648-2924 for more information.

• A Tuesday Library Club for ages 5-12 meets at 4 p.m. each Tuesday (except for the fifth Tuesday on months that occurs) at the Canton Library. Hands-on activities like exercise, cooking, LEGOs, science experiments and crafts. 648.2924 or kpunch@haywoodnc.net.

• “Art Beats for Kids” will be held from 4 to 5 p.m. on Thursdays at the Charles Heath Gallery in Bryson City.

A new project every week. $20 per child, with includes lesson, materials and snack. To register, call 828.538.2054.

• Stories, songs and a craft are offered for ages zerosix (and caregivers) at 10:30 a.m. each Tuesday at the Canton Library. 648.2924.

• A program called “Imagine,” an art program for children 8-12 meets at 2 p.m. on Tuesdays at the Jackson County Public Library. Program contains art, writing, and drama. 586.2016.

• Rompin’ Stompin’, an hour-long storytime with music, movement and books, is held at 10:30 a.m. on Thursdays at the Canton Library and at 11 a.m. on Thursdays at the Waynesville Library. For ages zero to six. 648.2924.

• Rompin’ Stompin’, an hourlong storytime with music, movement and books, is held at 11 a.m. on Fridays at the Canton Library. For ages zero to six. 648.2924.

• Crafternoons are at 2:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of every month at Hudson Library in Highlands.

• Library Olympics will be held at 2 p.m. on Fridays at Jackson County Public Library. Children age 5 and up get active through relay races, bingo, mini golf.

586.2016.

• Get Moving, a program for children ages 5-12 to encourage children to live a healthy life through exercise and healthy eating, will be held on the first Tuesday of the month at 4 p.m. at the Canton Public Library. 648.2924 • Full STEAM Ahead, a program for children ages 5-12 to allow them to explore science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics through fun hands-on activities. Program open to the first 15 participants, at 4 p.m. on the third Tuesday of the month at Canton Public Library. 648.2924.

• Family Story Time is held on Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. at the Canton Public Library. Ages 0-6. Stories, songs, dance and crafting. 648.2924.

• Storytimes are held at 10 and 10:40 a.m. every Thursday at Hudson Library in Highlands.

• After-School Art Adventure will be on from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m. on Tuesdays at The Bascom in Highlands. For ages 5 to 10, Art Adventure is a class that explores the creative process of drawing, painting, printmaking, clay, sculpture, fiber art, and crafts by utilizing a variety of media. The students will investigate some of the most popular techniques and theories in art history and will be exposed to contemporary as well as folk art traditions. Tuition is $40 for a four-class package. www.thebascom.org.

• Wednesdays in the Stacks, “WITS”, a new program for children in grades 3-6, on the third Wednesdays of the month from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Macon County Library. WITS will include lots of fun games, prizes, and hands-on activities. This club replaces book club previous held on the third Thursdays of the month. 526.3600.

• Fun Friday, everything science, is held at 4 p.m. on Fridays at Jackson County Public Library. 586.2016.

• Teen Coffeehouse is at 4:30 p.m. on the first, third, and fourth Tuesday at Jackson County Public Library.

Spend time with other teens talking and sharing. 12 and up. 586.2016.

• Rock and Read is at 11 a.m. on Tuesdays at Jackson County Public Library. 586-2016.

• WNC Martial Arts will hold karate classes from 6-

• A Lego Club meets at 4 p.m. on the fourth Thursday of the month at Marianna Black Library in Bryson City.

Legos and Duplos provided for ages three and up.

488.3030.

• Story time and kids can make their own piece of art from 10 a.m.-noon every Saturday during the Family Art event sponsored by the Jackson County Arts Council at the Jackson County Farmers Market located at the Community Table, downtown Sylva. On the first Saturday of each month, there is a scavenger hunt with prizes. 399.0290 or www.jacksoncountyfarmermarket.org.

• Teen time 3:30-4:30 p.m. Thursdays at Waynesville Library. A program for teens and tweens held each week. Each week is different, snacks provided. 356.2511.

• A Teen Advisory Group meets at 4 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month to discuss YA books and teen program events at Canton Library. http://haywoodlibrary.libguides.com/teen or 648.2924.

• Michael’s Kids Club will be held for ages 3-and-up from 10 a.m.-noon on Saturdays at Michael’s in Waynesville. $2 per child for 30 minutes of creative crafts. 452.7680.

• A Lowe’s Build and Grow session for ages 3-and-up is scheduled from 10-11 a.m. on Saturdays at the Sylva (586.1170) and Waynesville (456.9999) Lowe’s stores. Free.

• Art classes are available for kids 10 and older from 4:15-5:30 p.m. on Wednesdays at the Bascom in Highlands. $15 per class. 787.2865 or www.thebascom.org.

• Art Adventure classes are taught for ages 5-10 from 3:30-4:45 p.m. on Wednesdays at the Bascom in Highlands. Theme: metal. Instructor: Bonnie Abbott. $20 per month. 787.2865.

• Free, weekly, after-school enrichment classes are offered by the Bascom and MCAA from 3-5 p.m. on Thursdays at Macon Middle School through a grant from the Jim McRae Endowment for the Visual Arts. To register, contact Bonnie Abbott at 743.0200.

•A community breastfeeding information and support group meets from 10:30 am.-noon on the first Saturday of each month in the main lobby of the Smoky Mountain OB/GYN Office in Sylva. Free; refreshments provided. For information, contact Brandi Nations (770.519.2903), Stephanie Faulkner (506.1185 or www.birthnaturalwnc), or Teresa Bryant (587-8223).

• Science Club is held at 3:30 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. on the fourth Thursday of each month for grades K-6 at the Macon County Public Library. 524.3600.

• Macon County 4-H Needlers club, a group of youth learning the art and expression of knitting and crochet crafts, meets on the second Tuesday of each month.

For information, call 349.2046.

• A Franklin Kids’ Creation Station is held from 10 a.m.-noon on Saturdays at uptown Gallery in Franklin.

Snacks provided. $20 tuition. 743.0200.

• 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 fourth 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 fourth Thursday of the month at 4:30 p.m. at Jackson County Public Library. 5862016.

• A Lego Club meet the second Wednesday of the month at 5 p.m. at Cashiers Community Library.

743.0215.

• Crazy 8 Math Adventure Club on Tuesdays 3:30 p.m.

- 4:15 p.m. for grades K-2 at the Macon County Public Library. 524.3600.

• Culture Club on the second Wednesday of the month, 1 to 2 p.m. for K-6 graders. Guest speakers, books, photos, crafts and food from different countries and cultures. Macon County Public Library. 524.3600.

• Children’s craft time, fourth Wednesday, 3:45 p.m. at Cashiers Community Library. 743.0215 • The Wee Naturalist program, which is for children ages 2-5 (with a parent or guardian), is held from 1011:30 a.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays at the North Carolina Arboretum. Age-appropriate activities such as nature walks, garden exploration, stories, crafts and visits from classroom animals $7 cost per child; $3 more for each additional child in a family. Register at: www.ncarboretum.org/education-programs/youthfamily-programs/wee-naturalist

KIDS STORY TIMES HAYWOOD • Mother Goose Time, a story time for babies and toddlers (5 months to 2 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 month at 10:30 a.m. at the Waynesville library. 4525169.

• Family story time for ages zero to six years old is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. each Tuesday at the Canton Library. 648.2924.

JACKSON • Baby Storytime is at 11 a.m. on Thursdays at the Jackson County Public Library. Songs, fingerplays and stories for infants through toddlers. 586.2016 • Kid’s story time Saturdays, 11 a.m., all ages at City Lights in Sylva 586.9449.

• Kids story time, Fridays 11 a.m., Saturdays at 11:30 a.m. at Jackson County Public Library. Story time includes books, puppets, finger plays, songs and crafts. 586.2016.

Smoky Mountain News

• 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.

• 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.

January 17-23, 2018

•A Lego club will meet at 4 p.m. every fourth Thursday of the month, at Marianna Black Library in Bryson City. Library provides Legos and Duplos for ages 3 and up. Free. 488.3030.

•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.

wnc calendar

7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at the Old Armory in Waynesville. For more info, contact Margaret Williams at 301.0649 or mvwilliams39@gmail.com.

• Pre-school story time, second Wednesday, 11 a.m. at Cashiers Community Library. 743.0215.

• Rock and Read storytime, 11 a.m. on Tuesdays at the Jackson County Public Library. 586.2016

SWAIN

41

wnc calendar

• 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 to 7:15 p.m. second Thursday of the month at Macon County Public Library. Children can read to a therapy dog. (grades K-6). 524.3600.

• Toddlers Rock, Mondays, 10 a.m., Macon Public Library. Music, movement and instruments (Designed for children 0-24 months, but all ages are welcome).

• Family Story Time is held at 10 a.m. on Tuesdays at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin.

524.3600.

• Family Story Time for ages 0 to 7 years is held at 10 a.m. on Thursdays at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. 524.3600.

• Bilingual Story time – 6 to 6:30 p.m., on Thursday, Nov. 10. Program reads a children’s book in English and Spanish at the Macon County Public Library.

526.3600.

• Paws 4 Reading, a family story time, will be held from 3:30-5:30 p.m. every Tuesday at Hudson Library in Highlands. Children (grades K-6) practice early reading skills by reading to a canine companion. Info: www.fontanalib.org, www.readingpaws.org or 526.3031.

tonk and folk music. The show is free and open to the public. www.froglevelbrewing.com.

• The Highlands Performing Arts Center will screen “Live via Satellite” the National Theatre of London’s production of Stephan Sondheim’s “Follies” at 1 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 20. Tickets are available online at www.highlandspac.org, at the door or by calling 526.9047.

• The Highlands Performing Arts Center will broadcast “Live Via Satellite” the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Puccini’s “Tosca” at 12:55 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 27, in Highlands. Tickets: highlandspac.org, at the door or 526.9047.

• Acclaimed county music act Tracy Lawrence will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

Tickets start at $25. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, click on www.greatmountainmusic.com or call 866.273.4615.

CLASSES AND PROGRAMS • The Haywood County Arts Council will hold its annual meeting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18, at The Strand at 38 Main in Waynesville. Both reception and meeting are open to the public. Though not required, an RSVP is encouraged. Please let email info@haywoodarts.org or call 828.452.0593. In case of inclement weather, the meeting will be postponed until Jan. 25 (and announcements made on HCAC social channels and website).

• A program on “How to Crochet” presented by “She’s Crafty AVL” is scheduled for 2-4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 20, at Tunnel Mountain Crafts, 94 Front St., in Dillsboro. $26, all materials included. 458.5165.

A&E

Smoky Mountain News

January 17-23, 2018

FESTIVALS AND SPECIAL EVENTS

42

• An open call is underway for artisans, vendors and environmentally themed booths for the 21st annual Greening Up the Mountains, which is scheduled for 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday, April 28. Due by April 1.

Applications: www.greeningupthemountains.com. Info: 554.1035 or greeningupthemountains@gmail.com.

FOOD & DRINK • The Friends of the Scottish Tartans Museum will host its annual Burns Night Dinner at 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27, in the Tartan Hall at the First Presbyterian Church in Franklin.

The evening starts with a roll call of clans and districts, moves on to a five course Scottish dinner menu, interspersed with Burns’ poems and songs and concludes with singing “Auld Lang Syne,” perhaps his most famous work. Tickets for the five-course dinner and celebration are $35 per person, $15 for children ages 12 and under. Tickets are available for purchase at the Scottish Tartans Museum and the Franklin Chamber of Commerce. Sponsored by the Friends of the Scottish Tartans Museum.

524.3119 or www.franklin-chamber.com.

ON STAGE & IN CONCERT • The Water’n Hole Bar & Grill will host Andrew Rickman (singer-songwriter) on Jan. 19, Chicken Coop Willaye (Americana/bluegrass) on Jan. 26 and Jason Taylor Birthday Bash (rock/acoustic) on Jan. 27 in Waynesville. All shows begin at 9:30 p.m.

• Country/Americana act The Darren Nicholson Band will perform at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 19, at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. Nicholson is well-known as being the mandolinist in beloved bluegrass group Balsam Range. His solo band does an array of original and cover material in the realms of Americana, honky-

• Registration is underway for “Let’s Create: Watercolor Pencil, Gouache and Ink Pen” – a program for beginners and intermediate artists that will be offered from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 27, at Tunnel Mountain Crafts, 94 Front St., in Dillsboro. $40, all supplies included. 850.445.4375.

• Beginners Chess Club is held on Fridays at 4 p.m. at the Canton Public Library. Ages 8-108 invited to participate. 648.2924.

• Cribbage is at 6:30 p.m. every Tuesday at the Maggie Valley Inn. 410.440.7652 or 926.3978.

• An Antique, Vintage & Handcrafted Flea Market starts at 8 a.m. every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 3029 Soco Road in Maggie Valley. Bring your own table/tent. Spaces rent for $10 a day or $25 for all three days.

• The Adult Coloring Group will meet at 2 p.m. on Fridays in the Living Room of the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. An afternoon of creativity and camaraderie. Supplies are provided, or bring your own.

Beginners are welcome as well as those who already enjoy this new trend. kmoe@fontanalib.org or 524.3600.

• Haywood County Arts Council is inviting artist members to participate in its annual Artist Member Show.

Download a show contract/inventory sheet from www.haywoodarts.org. Send completed forms to gallery@haywoodarts.org or P.O. Box 306; Waynesville, N.C. 28786.

• The Jackson Rangers Camp 1917 will hold monthly meetings at 6 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month at the Barkers Creek Community Center. Members are being sought to participate in honor guard graveside events and honor Confederate soldiers. The Confederate Rose, a ladies auxiliary group that supports active members, meets at the same time and location. 736.6222 or jrcamp1917@hotmail.com.

• “Stitch,” the community gathering of those interested in crochet, knit and needlepoint, meet at 2:30 p.m. every first Sunday of the month at the Canton Public Library. All ages and skill levels welcome. www.haywoodlibrary.org.

• The Sew Easy Girls meet from noon-3 p.m. on the first Monday of every month at the Jackson County Cooperative Extension Office’s conference room. Learn how to sew. 586.4009.

FILM & SCREEN • “Blade Runner” will be shown at the Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva at 7 p.m. on Jan 18. FREE. 586.3555.

• “Hangman” will be showing at the Strand on Main in Waynesville on Jan. 18 at 9:15 p.m. Visit www.38main.com for tickets.

• “Stratton” will be showing at the Strand on Main in Waynesville on Jan. 25 at 9:15 p.m. Visit www.38main.com for tickets.

• Free movies are shown every Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva.

Madbatterfoodfilm.com.

Outdoors • An opportunity for the public to offer input on the future of the larger Waterrock Knob and Plott Balsam region will be held from 5-7 p.m. on Jan. 25 at the Folkmoot Friendship Center in Waynesville. Comments may also be submitted at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/waterrockknobvisionplan or through mail to: ATTN: Suzette Molling, 199 Hemphill Knob Road, Asheville, NC 28803. Comments accepted through Feb. 25.

• The Tuckasegee Chapter of Trout Unlimited will hold a litter pickup along the Dark Ridge portion of Scott Creek on Jan. 27. Volunteers meet at 9 a.m. at McDonald’s of Sylva. tuckriverclub@gmail.com.

• Registration is underway for a basics of trail running class that will be offered from 6:30-8 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 29, at REI in Asheville. www.rei.com/learn.

• The Waynesville Photography Club meets at 7 p.m. on the third Monday of each month on the second floor of the Haywood Regional Health and Fitness Center in Clyde. All skill levels welcome.

Waynesvillephotoclub@charter.net.

• A community art group meets at 10 a.m. every Wednesday at the Hudson Library in Highlands.

828.526.3031.

• A writer’s group meets at 1 p.m. every Thursday at Hudson Library in Highlands. 526.3031.

• Cataloochee Ski Area is offering a $59 package in January for a beginning lesson, lift and rental to anyone 8-up. Valid for non-holidays Monday through Friday. Only available online: www.isalessite.com/cataloochee-rez/Catalog/Rez. Info: www.skiandsnowboardmonth.org.

• Waynesville Fiber Friends welcomes fiber artists of every kind: crochet, knitting, cross-stitching and more, from 10 a.m.-noon on the second Saturday of each month at Panacea Coffee House in Waynesville.

276.6226.

• Free one-on-one technology help is offered every Tuesday and Thursday morning at Hudson Library in Highlands. Call 526.3031 to make an appointment.

• The Asheville Winter Bike League offers structured group rides at 10 a.m. every Saturday through Jan. 28. https://tinyurl.com/ycgp8a4s.

• Appalachian Art Farm will host a free art session from 4:30-5:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month at the Community Table in Sylva. 273.9682 or MyriahStrivelli@gmail.com.

ART SHOWINGS AND GALLERIES

• The High Country Quilt Guild meets at 6:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month at the First Methodist Church in Waynesville. www.highcountryquilters.wordpress.com.

Acclaimed professional outdoor photographer Steve Yocom will host a special showcase of his work from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20, at Elevated Mountain Distilling Company in Maggie Valley. For more information, click on www.steveyocomphotography.com or www.elevatedmountain.com.

• The Bryson City Lion meet at 6:30 p.m. on the first and third Thursdays of each month at the Iron Skillet in Bryson City.

An art show, “Oils and Mixed Media,” will be presented by Milly Honeycutt through Jan. 31 at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin.

• “Paint Nite Waynesville” will be held at 7 p.m. every other Thursday at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville.

Sign up on the Paint Night Waynesville Facebook page (www.facebook.com/paintwaynesville) or call Robin Arramae at 828.400.9560. paintnitewaynesville@gmail.com.

• Linda Dickinson’s display of black-and-white photography is being displayed at the Canton Public Library Meeting Room in Canton. Show is entitled “Waynesville and Environs, a Black & White Perspective.” 648.2924.

• There will be a “Thursday Painters Open Studio” from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. at the Franklin Uptown Gallery. Bring a bag lunch, project and supplies. Free to the public. Membership not required. For information, call 828.349.4607.

• Coloring Club will be hosted on the second Wednesday of the month at 4 p.m. at Canton Library.

Color pencils and color pages supplied. For ages 8 to 108. 648.2924.

• The Western Carolina University Fine Art Museum at Bardo Arts Center will host the exhibit “WCU Collects: Recent Acquisitions” through Jan. 26. 227.3591.

• New artist and medium will be featured every month at the Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. 356.2800.

• The Western Carolina University Fine Art Museum at the Bardo Arts Center is pleased to present the exhibition “WCU Collects: Recent Acquisitions” through Jan. 26 in Cullowhee. go.wcu.edu/wcucollects or call 828.227.3591.

COMPETITIVE EDGE • The largest recreational ski race program in the world, NASTAR Public Racing is happening through the end of February from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Sundays at Cataloochee Ski Area. Competitive, easily accessible racing program that allows racers of all ages and abilities to compare themselves with each other, regardless of when and where they race, using a racer handicap system. $10 for two runs or $20 for unlimited runs.

Register: nastar.com or at the ski resort’s ticket center on the lodge’s lower level.

• The Cataloochee Thursday Night Race League is open to skiers and snowboarders 18 years or older from 78:30 p.m. through Feb. 22. Individuals race against the clock on a modified GS or slalom course for the better of two runs. The top three challengers in men’s and women’s age divisions will win prizes. Helmets and goggles required. $15 to race or $35 for race entry and night lift ticket. https://tinyurl.com/y9ys99hu.

FARM AND GARDEN • Local farmers can stop by the Cooperative Extension Office on Acquoni Road from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. every fourth Friday to learn about USDA Farm Service Agency programs in the 2014 Farm Bill. Info: 488.2684, ext. 2 (Wednesday through Friday) or 524.3175, ext. 2 (Monday through Wednesday).

PRIME REAL ESTATE Advertise in The Smoky Mountain News

AUCTION

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

Rates:

■ Free — Lost or found pet ads.

■ $5 — Residential yard sale ads, ■ $5 — Non-business items that sell for less than $150.

■ $15 — Classified ads that are 50 words or less; each additional line is $2.

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 or colored background.

■ $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.

Classified Advertising: Scott Collier, phone 828.452.4251; fax 828.452.3585 classads@smokymountainnews.com

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www.smokymountainnews.com

January 17-23, 2018

WNC MarketPlace

EMPLOYMENT A PRIVATELY OWNED TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANY Is seeking applications/resumes for an Installer/Technician.

The successful applicant will need the following: • Able to climb utility poles • Good driving record •The ability to operate and handle hand tools, power tools, hydraulic eqpmnt., ladders, etc.

• Some computer experience would be helpful • Self-motivated & dependable with the ability to work independently • The ability to deal with difficult customers and members of the public in a professional, courteous manner • Be able to handle multitasking and stressful situations in a professional manner • Be available for “On Call” Duty on weekends and overtime as needed with little notice • Be able to pass a drug test and background check This person will be responsible for the installation of telephone, cable, and internet service from the utility pole into a customer’s home, will install and set up modems, digital equipment, etc. in a customer’s home, and be able to detect, troubleshoot, and fix problems as they occur with the services offered to a customer.

Salary is dependent on exp.

Benefits are available Anyone interested should e-mail their resume to: sanders@ccvn.com or fax it to 828.536.4510.

Resumes/applications will be accepted through February 9, 2018.

Equal Opportunity Employer Veterans encouraged to apply BROWN TRUCKING Is looking for COMPANY DRIVERS and OWNER OPERATORS. Brown requires: CDL-A, 2 years of tractor trailer experience OTR or Regional (Multiple states) in the last 3 years, good MVR and PSP. Apply: www.driveforbrown.com.

Contact Brandon Collins.

919.291.7416.

SAPA

EMPLOYMENT SEEKING AN INDIVIDUAL To Provide Direct Client Services for Victims of Domestic and Sexual Violence, to Create and Support a Fundraising Plan for Jackson County Victim Services, and to Develop and Implement Education, Marketing, and Outreach Materials. If Interested, Please Submit a Resume to REACH of Macon County, PO Box 228 Franklin, NC 28744 or Send to: reach@reachofmaconcounty.org FTCC Fayetteville Technical Community College is now accepting applications for the following positions: Respiratory Therapy Clinical Instructor (Part-time Raleigh Area).

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Send cover letter & resume to: PO Box 1802, Sylva, NC or to: info@mountainmediation.org

by January 18, 2018.

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HOUSEKEEPING SUPERVISOR Cataloochee Ranch is seeking a Full-Time experienced Housekeeping Supervisor. Our facility includes 12 cabins, 12 guest rooms, a main Ranch House and full service housekeeping.

Minimum 3yrs. housekeeping experience preferred. Apply in person or send resume to: info@cataloocheeranch.com Cataloochee Ranch is an EOE employer. 828.926.1401

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828-508-9607

EMPLOYMENT

EMPLOYMENT

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT For Downtown Development program. Downtown Waynesville Main Street City organization seeks self-motivated individual, good customer service skills, trustworthy, dependable, team oriented, advanced computer expertise, Quick Books proficiency, innovative promotional abilities, adept in Social Media/Facebook.

Full time. Requires some nights, weekends, holidays. Involves other comprehensive job responsibilities supporting work flow of organizational director by providing administrative reinforcement.

• Applicants may inquire by email: buffy@downtownwaynesville.com Only applicants who send resume, cover letter, salary requirements will be considered.

Send to: DWA - PO Box 1409 Waynesville, NC 28786 NCCAT AT CULLOWHEE Seeks Permanent Full-Time RECEPTIONIST Salary Range: $27,000-$29,950 Job description and application are available online: www.oshr.nc.gov/jobs/index.html Application deadline: January 26, 2018, at 5 PM EST. Questions about this job?

Please call Karen Sumner at 828.293.5202.

NC State Government is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

FRONT DESK/OFFICE MANAGER Full Time or Part Time: Maggie Valley Cabin Resort Seeks a Versatile, Energetic & Experienced Front Desk Employee. Customer Service & Computer Exp. Req. Weekends, Nights & Holidays a Must! Call 828.926.1388 AIRLINES ARE HIRING – Get FAA approved hands on Aviation training. Financial aid for qualified students - Career placement assistance. CALL Aviation Institute of Maintenance 866.441.6890 NCCAT AT CULLOWHEE Seeks Permanent Full-Time COOK II Salary Range: $24,405 - $29,000 Job description and application are available online: www.oshr.nc.gov/jobs/index.html Application Deadline: January 26. 2018 at 5 PM EST. Questions about this job? Please call Ian Talarico at 828.293.5202 NC State Government is an Equal Opportunity Employer EARN $500 A DAY: Lincoln Heritage Life Insurance Wants Insurance Agents • Leads, No Cold Calls • Commissions Paid Daily • Agency Training • Life License Required.

Call Now for more information 1.888.713.6020 SAPA

CAVALIER ARMS APARTMENTS NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS

PUBLISHER’S NOTICE 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 equal opportunity basis.

NICOL ARMS APARTMENTS NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS

Section 8 Accepted - Rental Assistance When Available Handicapped Accessible Units When Available

Section 8 Accepted - Handicapped Accessible Units When Available

OFFICE HOURS:

OFFICE HOURS:

Tuesday & Thursday 8:00a.m. - 5:00p.m.

50 Duckett Cove Road, Waynesville, NC 28786

Monday, Wednesday & Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm 168E Nicol Arms Road Sylva, NC 28779

Phone# 1.828.456.6776 TDD# 1.800.725.2962

Phone# 1.828.586.3346 TDD# 1.800.735.2962

Equal Housing Opportunity

Michelle McElroy RESIDENTIAL BROKER ASSOCIATE

828.400.9463 Cell www.beverly-hanks.com

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS RAILROAD IN BRYSON CITY Is currently hiring for a Track & Right-of-Way Laborer with the Maintenance of Way Department. A Commercial Driver License (CDL) is required.

Eligible for Medical, Dental, Paid Time Off and 401K. Earn train passes, retail & food discounts, passes to area attractions and more!

Full Job Descriptions and Applications are Available at: www.gsmr.com/jobs You may also get an application from the Bryson City Depot.

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

We Are Offering 2 Bedroom Apartments, Starting From $465.00

michelle@beverly-hanks.com 44

NCCAT AT CULLOWHEE Seeks Permanent Full-Time Development Foundation Executive Assistant Salary Range: $29,861-$37,000 Job description and application are available online: www.oshr.nc.gov/jobs/index.html Application deadline: January 26, 2018, at 5 PM EST. Questions about this job? Please call Tina Wilson at 828.293.5202.

NC State Government is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

REAL ESTATE ANNOUNCEMENT

Offering 2 & 3 Bedroom Apartments, Starting at $420.00

E-PRO, CNHS, RCC, SFR

74 NORTH MAIN ST. • WAYNESVILLE, NC

EMPLOYMENT

74 North Main St. • Waynesville 828.452.5809

Equal Housing Opportunity

REAL ESTATE ANNOUNCEMENT

SOUTHPORT, N.C. Limited time offering. For sale waterfront condominium hotel resort units for as low as $149,900.

Scheduled completion for summer occupancy. The River Hotel Of Southport. Deep water fishing pier.

Amazing water views! Cooke Realty. Call Stuart 910.616.1795.

HOMES FOR SALE BRUCE MCGOVERN A Full Service Realtor, Locally Owned and Operated mcgovernpropertymgt@gmail.com McGovern Property Management 828.283.2112.

SAVE YOUR HOME! Are you behind paying your MORTGAGE? Denied a Loan Modification? Is the bank threatening foreclosure? CALL Homeowner’s Relief Line now for Help 844.359.4330 SAPA

VACATION RENTALS

LAWN & GARDEN

BROKER

828.

243.1126 MOUNTAIN REALTY

71 N. Main St. • Waynesville, NC

828-564-9393

BORING/CARPENTER BEE TRAPS No Chemicals, Poisons or Anything to Harm the Environment.

Handmade in Haywood County. 1 for $20, 2 or More for $15 each.

828.593.8321

SFR, ECO, GREEN

PETS HAYWOOD SPAY/NEUTER 828.452.1329

147 WALNUT STREET • WAYNESVILLE

828.506.7137

aspivey@sunburstrealty.com

www.sunburstrealty.com/amy-spivey

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:

——————————————

GEORGE

ESCARAVAGE BROKER/REALTOR

——————————————

• • • • • • •

berkshirehathawayhs.com Ira Atkins Margie MacDonald Kaye Matthews Donna Miano Robert Sales Jay Spiro Bill Thagard

Beverly Hanks & Associates • • • • • • • • • • • • •

beverly-hanks.com Ann Eavenson - anneavenson@beverly-hanks.com George Escaravage - gescar@beverly-hanks.com Billie Green - bgreen@beverly-hanks.com Michelle McElroy - michellemcelroy@beverly-hanks.com Marilynn Obrig - mobrig@beverly-hanks.com Steve Mauldin - smauldin@beverly-hanks.com Brian K. Noland - brianknoland.com Anne Page - apage@beverly-hanks.com Brooke Parrott - bparrott@beverly-hanks.com Jerry Powell - jpowell@beverly-hanks.com Catherine Proben - cproben@beverly-hanks.com Ellen Sither - ellensither@beverly-hanks.com Mike Stamey - mikestamey@beverly-hanks.com

sunburstrealty.com • Amy Spivey - amyspivey.com • Rick Border - sunburstrealty.com

Keller Williams Realty kellerwilliamswaynesville.com • The Morris Team - www.themorristeamnc.com

Lakeshore Realty • Phyllis Robinson - lakeshore@lakejunaluska.com

28 WOODLAND ASTER WAY

Mountain Home Properties

828.400.0901

mountaindream.com • Cindy Dubose - cdubose@mountaindream.com

ASHEVILLE, NC 28804

GESCAR@BEVERLY-HANKS.COM

BEVERLY-HANKS.COM

McGovern Real Estate & Property Management • Bruce McGovern - shamrock13.com

Steve Mauldin

828.734.4864

smauldin@beverly-hanks.com

74 N. Main St.,Waynesville

828.452.5809

beverly-hanks.com

find us at: facebook.com/smnews

RE/MAX — Mountain Realty • • • • •

remax-waynesvillenc.com | remax-maggievalleync.com Holly Fletcher - hollyfletcher1975@gmail.com The Real Team - the-real-team.com Ron Breese - ronbreese.com Landen Stevenson - Landen@landenstevenson.com Dan Womack - womackdan@aol.com

smokymountainnews.com

PHOENIX - SLEEK SOLID BLACK FEMALE KITTY, ONLY ABOUT ONE YEAR OLD. SHE HAD A LITTER OF KITTENS WHEN SHE CAME TO SARGE'S, BUT THEY'RE GROWN UP AND SHE'S READY TO LEAVE MOTHERHOOD BEHIND FOR GOOD. SHE'S A SWEET, FRIENDLY GIRL, & SHE'LL BE A GREAT FELINE FRIEND FOR HER NEW FAMILY.

Berkshire Hathaway

ERA Sunburst Realty

Tuesday-Friday, 11:00 am - 5:00 pm 182 Richland Street, Waynesville

HARKIN - ONE OF OUR SPECIAL FAVORITES. HE IS A REDBONE COONHOUND ON UP IN YEARS, WE THINK AROUND SEVEN OR SO. HE'S GOT THE LETTER "B" BRANDED ON EACH EAR, GIVING HIM A VERY DISTINCTIVE APPEARANCE! HARKIN IS SUPER SWEET AND GENTLE, AND APPEARS TO BE IN GREAT PHYSICAL CONDITION.

Haywood County Real Estate Agents

January 17-23, 2018

BEACH GETAWAY SPECIAL. Ocean Isle Beach, N.C. Mention this add to receive an extra $25.00 discount on all spring reservations.

Limited time offering. Call Now 1.800.NCBeach; or visit us at: cookerealty.com

GREAT SMOKIES STORAGE Conveniently located off 19/23

by Thad Woods Auction. Available for lease now: 10’x10’ units for $55, 20’x20’ units for $160.

Get one month FREE with 12 month contract. Call 828.507.8828 or 828.506.4112 for more info.

Dan Womack WNC MarketPlace

GOT LAND? Our Hunters will Pay Top $$$ To hunt your land. Call for a FREE information packet & Quote.

1.866.309.1507

STORAGE SPACE FOR RENT

Rob Roland Realty • Rob Roland - rroland33@gmail.com

TO ADVERTISE IN THE NEXT ISSUE 828.452.4251 | ads@smokymountainnews.com 45

www.smokymountainnews.com

January 17-23, 2018

WNC MarketPlace

Super

46

CROSSWORD

9 B.C. ACROSS 1 Opera start 5 “Yes, yes, Juan!”

9 Take — (taste some) 13 Cheeky type 19 Road, in German 20 Foretoken 21 Lovett of country 22 No longer surprised by 23 Ram forcefully?

26 Frito Lay chip 27 December mall hirees 28 Teeny 29 Greeting sent by a cosmetics company?

31 “Agnus —” 32 Cache 34 Southeast Kansas city 35 Where lots of mail deliverers scuba-dive?

40 Not at all nigh 44 Most robust 45 Kazan of film directing 46 Hilo “hello” 47 In days past 48 “Lo-o-ovely!”

49 Set crossword hints to music?

53 Prefix with pathology 56 The Big Apple, briefly 58 Fissile rock 59 Midday sleep 60 Divide by type 62 Contract out 66 TV title alien 67 Water whirl 68 Required maintenance items?

73 Face cover 76 From — Z 77 Big fair 78 Character 82 “Scat!”

83 Prologue 85 Upsilon’s follower 88 Qdoba treats 89 Inelegant five-member band?

94 66-Across et al.

96 Salt’s “Help!”

97 Muslim palace area 98 Haul around 99 Number of magazine subscribers, e.g.

102 Writer Haley 103 Long to look at a periodic table?

107 Feng — 108 Poetry Muse 109 White-haired 110 Library cubicle in which Chablis is served?

116 Jackie O.’s “O” 117 New York state prison 120 Is wild for 121 Writes hacky computer programs?

124 Chemist’s “I” 125 Nursing school subj.

126 Bit of help 127 In awe 128 Naval units 129 Car-lot sticker abbr.

130 Barley brews 131 Guru’s discipline DOWN 1 Essentials 2 “Fame” star Irene

3 Very loud 4 Alternatively 5 — -chef 6 Unruly kid 7 Fit for sailing 8 Ready to be driven 9 Pugilist Muhammad 10 Harmony 11 1942 role for Ingrid 12 “The Dick Van Dyke Show” surname 13 Ballet dancer Nureyev 14 “Sitting on — ...” (“Mrs. Robinson” lyric) 15 Blood bank fluids 16 Nero’s 404 17 Quintillionth: Prefix 18 “Crazy” bird 24 Aristide’s land 25 Eagles’ nests 30 Female deer 32 Is sporting 33 Hoagie shop 35 Its capital is Accra 36 Is very angry 37 Co. kahuna 38 — Tin Tin 39 Tatty cloths 40 Exclusively 41 Ran across 42 In the future 43 Harsh-toned 46 Top gun 50 Spicy cuisine 51 Stop moving 52 Pixieish 54 Stone 55 — pro nobis 57 Amigo of Fidel 61 Sedative drug, informally 63 Berg stuff 64 Stout of mysteries

65 Seer’s skill 67 This, to Pedro 69 Dying rebuke 70 “Me neither” 71 Sponge up 72 Scarf down 73 Coffee flavor 74 Auditory 75 Rubberneck 79 West Coast coll. in La Jolla 80 Hen’s perch 81 Swirly letters 83 Suffix with 90-Down 84 Being aired, in a way 86 Like religious dissenters 87 Writer Calvino 90 Gender 91 Tip of a sock 92 Suffix with major 93 Azadi Tower locale 95 Holy Fr. woman 100 Ham it up 101 City-circling route 103 Goes after 104 1921 Karel Capek play 105 Stability-improving auto part 106 Vocalist Kitt 107 Hound’s trail 110 Homeless kid 111 Sacred cow 112 Center point 113 The “E” of HOMES 114 Practically forever 115 Jet name 117 Gets the total 118 Stop up 119 Kelp, e.g.

122 Brand of motor oil 123 A single

answers on page 40

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Answers on Page 40

The naturalist’s corner

BY DON H ENDERSHOT

Will eagles dare? pair of mature bald eagles has been hanging out at Lake Junaluska for a few months now. I have heard two separate reports of these birds carrying nesting material. In the dark musty cobweb covered labyrinth that serves as my memory, I seem to remember reading about bald eagles nesting on Waterville (Walters) Lake, along the Pigeon River in northwest Haywood County near the Tennessee border back in the late 1970s.

However, I recently did a Google search and could find no reference, so? Maybe some reader(s) could clear that up for me?

There are nests in the region. I know of nests along Fontana Lake, Douglas Lake and Lake James to note a few. Many, including me, are hoping reports of nesting material are true and would love to see a successful bald eagle nest at Lake J. Most probably know the highlights of the near loss of this beautiful raptor that was chosen as a symbol to represent the newly created United States of America in 1782. More than half a million bald eagles resided in North America at that time.

Deforestation, depletion of prey through hunting — especially market hunting —

A

and urbanization quickly began to take its toll on this national symbol. Populations had plummeted so far that by 1940 the Bald Eagle Protection Act was passed by Congress. But eagles and other raptors continued to struggle. The bald eagle was one of the first animals afforded protection under the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 (the precursor of the 1973 Endangered Species Act). Protections afforded under the ESA plus the banning of the pesticide DDT helped the bald eagle and other raptors like the peregrine falcon begin to rebound. Some science revisionists and industry apologists have tried to discount the connection between DDT and mortality in raptors like bald eagles but I think the science is pretty sound. I believe a good place to get a cursory overview is reason.com/archives/ 2004/01/07/ddteggshells-and-me.

This rebound in population was enough to remove the bald eagle from the endangered species list in 2007. And it is true that more and more eagles are being noted across the continent. But I believe it bears keeping in mind there are only around 10,000 nesting pairs of eagles in the lower 48 states and a total North American popula-

timing. I fear the scheduled drawdown of the lake for much needed repairs to the dam could be a deal breaker.

When the water goes, so goes the eagles food.

There will be no more coots and/or diving ducks to dine on. And I’m not sure what happens to the fish during this kind of drawdown. If they are trapped in the lake, they may provide enough prey for the eagles to nest successfully. If they migrate up or down Richland Bald eagle on a frozen Lake Junaluska. Don Hendershot photo Creek there will be slim picktion of around 80,000 — still a far cry from ings. I wonder if the eagles might sense this the half million present when the bald eagle loss of resource and look for a more producwas selected as our national symbol. tive nesting site.

As I mentioned earlier, I would love to (Don Hendershot is a naturalist and a writer see bald eagles nesting at Lake Junaluska. I who lives in Haywood County. He can be do fear, however, this spring may be bad reached at ddihen1@bellsouth.net)

January 17-23, 2018 Smoky Mountain News 47

January 17-23, 2018

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