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January 23-29, 2019 Vol. 20 Iss. 35

Mission Health sale to HCA cleared by AG Josh Stein Page 3 Jackson to re-examine health, DSS organization Page 15

CONTENTS On the Cover: With 10 U.S. states already offering legal recreational cannabis for purchase, some say it’s only a matter of time before North Carolina begins to examine the possibilities of a medicinal/recreational cannabis industries. Meanwhile, more than 800 farmers across the state are already taking advantage of the recent legalization of growing industrial hemp. (Page 6) Research assistant Katie Learn collects data for a 2018 CBD hemp trial. Donated photo

News Mission Health sale cleared by AG Josh Stein ..........................................................3 Qualla Housing ordinance tabled ..................................................................................4 Entegra Bank merges with SmartFinancial ................................................................5 The future of cannabis in N.C. ........................................................................................6 Cannabis legalization under study in Cherokee ......................................................10 Appalachian Growers digging into hemp industry ................................................12 Jackson to re-examine health, DSS organization ....................................................15

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N.C. Extension tests out cannabis production ........................................................28

Back Then Wooden cookstoves force one to slow down..........................................................39

January 23-29, 2019

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The inherent flaw of a rush to judgment ....................................................................16

Porch 40 kicks off ‘Pour 40’ tour, new album ..........................................................20

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Mission Health sale cleared by AG Josh Stein Contract negotiated to address concerns

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DOGWOOD TRUST

Dogwood board has changed from having no people of color to including, as of the date of this letter, 27 percent people of color.”

In an effort to make the foundation more transparent, Dogwood agreed to conduct a national search for a qualified executive director using an executive search firm and agreed to host three public meetings in 2019 to discuss the needs of the region and to get input on top priorities. Dogwood must also provide an annual report to WNC detailing its focus areas and how funding is being spent.

“Dogwood has agreed to spend $25 million over five years to fund programs and services dedicated to addressing substance use disorder for residents of Western North Carolina,” the letter states. “This money will be spent in conjunction with programs developed by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.”

For more details about the negotiated purchase agreement, visit www.ncdoj.gov/news-and-alerts/newsreleases-and-advisories/attorney-generaljosh-stein-does-not-object-to-mis.aspx.

HRMC limits visitation due to flu cases Haywood Regional Medical Center has begun limited visitation at the hospital due to the increased number of positive flu cases in the hospital, physician practices and urgent care locations.

Visitor limitations is a precaution often taken during flu season when flu activity reaches a certain level. Should the flu activity level increase further, greater restrictions may be recommended or implemented.

Limited visitation means visitors will be limited to those 12 years or older who do not have symptoms of respiratory illnesses such as: fever, cough, sore throat, sneezing, runny or stuffy nose, headache, nausea or vomiting. Pregnant women or those with chronic lung disease are encouraged to not visit the hospital during flu restrictions.

To ensure the safety and wellbeing of patients, if you must visit, limit the number of visitors to three per patient and if you have any flu-like symptoms and you must visit for a procedure, appointment, or other reason; wash your hands before entering and exiting rooms and wear a mask.

For more information, visit myhaywoodregional.com/flu or www.cdc.gov/flu.

Smoky Mountain News

When a nonprofit system is sold to a forprofit system, a new health care foundation must be created to receive the proceeds from the sale. While the region is set to benefit from those funds that are to be used to improve the health and wellbeing of WNC’s population, communities outside of Asheville had expressed concern over the makeup of the board and whether outlying communities like Franklin and Highlands would have fair representation on the board.

Even though the transaction isn’t complete, The Dogwood Health Trust has

already been established and a majority of members appointed so far are from Buncombe County and have previous ties to Mission Health’s Board of Directors. Out of the 11 people appointed to the board thus far, only a couple reside west of Buncombe — Michell Hicks, former chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and Sam Lupas, a Cashiers real estate broker and developer.

Through Stein’s negotiations, the foundation agreed that by July 1, 2019, the board will have no more than 50 percent of its members residing in any one county. Two of its Buncombe appointees will not seek reappointment at the end of 2019 and one other Buncombe appointee will not seek reappointment at the end of 2020.

By that time, the board will include at least one member from the five regions of its local hospitals. The board will not include any member who is an employee or has a business relationship with HCA or is a member of the Mission Health board.

“Dogwood agreed its board will fairly reflect the diversity of population of Western North Carolina by January 1, 2020,” Stein’s letter stated. “We recognize that the

January 23-29, 2019

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR hose who were unhappy with the original terms of the proposed sale of Mission Health to a for-profit heathcare giant got some relief last week.

During a Jan. 16 press conference in Asheville, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said he completed his review of the pending sale of nonprofit Mission Health to HCA. Stein’s office analzyzed thousands of documents that included responses to questions from his office to Mission, HCA and the new health care foundation Dogwood Health Trust Stein’s office also retained an outside expert to provide an opinion about the fairness of the price — a proposed $1.5 billion — that HCA will pay for Mission’s assets in this transaction. Two experts hired by Mission Health concluded HCA is paying a fair market value for Mission’s assets.

Lastly, Stein negotiated with Mission, HCA and Dogwood for a more favorable outcome for the people of Western North Carolina that Mission Health represents.

Stein said he did not oppose the negotiated asset purchase agreement in which HCA agreed to extend its promise from five years to 10 years to provide the current services offered at Angel Medical Center in Franklin, Blue Ridge Regional Hospital in Spruce Pine, Highlands-Cashiers Hospital, Mission Hospital in Marion and Transylvania Regional Hospital in Brevard.

HCA also agreed to have an independent monitor to oversee compliance of its promises for the future of Mission Health. HCA would have to get approval from this independent monitor and a local advisory board if it wants an exemption from its promise to provide services at the local hospitals or if it wants an exemption from promised charity care.

“As a result of these changes, HCA is limited in its ability to cite government actions or economic downturns as a basis for waiver of HCA’s promises,” Stein wrote in a letter.

“Buyer has now also made a contractual representation that it has no present intent to invoke Force Majeure.”

While HCA has stated it has no intent to discontinue any services or sell a hospital within the next 10 years, if HCA does decide

it wants to sell any of the local hospitals, Stein said the company has now agreed to give the regional foundations first bid on their respective facilities.

HCA also agreed to build a 120-bed inpatient behavioral health hospital in Asheville and it may not reduce the scale of that muchneeded project.

Another major benefit to the region is HCA’s commitment to spending at least $14.28 million for community service programs, including $7.5 million over the next 10 years along with $6.78 million in the next year to support specifically named projects.

As for Mission’s current employees, Stein said HCA has agreed that employees transferred from Mission Health to HCA will, if let go within a year after the closing, receive information about HCA job openings across the country. If the employee is rehired within a year, the will be able to keep their seniority within the company.

North Carolina law will apply to these key HCA promises in the event of a legal dispute and any disputes will be handled in N.C. Business Court and not through arbitration.

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news

Qualla Housing ordinance tabled

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER n ordinance that would have codified a laboriously passed December resolution abolishing the Qualla Housing Authority was tabled during the Cherokee Tribal Council’s Jan. 10 meeting.

During its December meeting, the body passed a resolution dissolving QHA and designating the tribe’s Division of Housing as the entity to receive any future monies from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. While the resolution was all that the federal government needed to start disbursing grant funds to the Division of Housing rather than QHA, actually dissolving QHA — whose role is encoded in tribal law — requires Council to pass an ordinance too.

Simply passing the resolution was a massive effort requiring hours of work sessions and formal discussions, with Council first considering the legislation in October, when it tabled for November, after which it tabled it for December before finally passing it.

Nor was this the first time legislation was introduced attempting to dissolve QHA, which has a history of allegations involving misuse of funds, insufficient recordkeeping and poor internal controls — the organization has even been investigated by the FBI, which removed two U-Hauls full of records from QHA in February 2017. Also in February 2017, then-Principal Chief Patrick Lambert submitted a resolution attempting to begin the process of dissolving QHA, but the resolution was repeatedly tabled and eventually disappeared from the agenda.

The decision to table the ordinance that would have finally dissolved Qualla Housing was made at the beginning of the Jan. 10 meeting, during the section of the agenda when Tribal Council decides on any changes to the published agenda before diving into business. Principal Chief Richard Sneed, with support from Councilmember Perry Shell, of Big Cove — who also chairs the Qualla Housing Board — asked that Council table the ordinance for further discussion.

“This affects everybody, all of our constituents, and not just the board,” said Shell.

“I think we need to have more discussion to

Smoky Mountain News

January 23-29, 2019

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Smith said.

“We will and we do, but we don’t want to make a hasty decision either,” replied Shell.

Neither the housing board nor council has had a chance to talk about the proposed ordinance yet, Shell said. The draft, redlined ordinance is 12 pages long.

“This has been over a year. You called me yesFBI agents remove records terday on the whole from the Qualla Housing thing,” Smith interjected, Authority in February 2017. causing Chairman Adam Wachacha to bang his SMN photo gavel.

“I’m going to curtail this a little bit,” said Wachacha. “It’s already been voted on to table and have a work session on it, and we’ll contact everybody that needs to be there.”

The federal government shutdown might have more severe impacts if passage doesn’t move along, Smith warned.

Much of the QHA’s budget comes from federal HUD dollars, which are frozen during the shutdown. Earlier in the QHA discussions, Sneed had said that abolishing QHA “This affects everybody, all of our constituents, and not just the and consolidating the functions of QHA and the board. I think we need to have more discussion to include all of the Division of Housing would result in a $2.5 representatives here.” million savings.

— Perry Shell “We’re on the reserve part of HUD dollars now,” Smith said. “If we go over a month or so there will be potential “I understand that, but that input you’re Shell replied that he’d spoken to several layoffs too. So something else to think looking for, no one has contacted me lookmembers of the housing board and of about.” ing for that input or had questions on these Council who wanted to talk about it more The ordinance will likely reappear on the things,” said Smith. first. agenda for the Feb. 7 meeting.

It’s “frustrating,” he said, to see the “Because of the gravity of it on the entire Editor’s note: This story was reported using change keep getting pushed back — Tribal tribe, I think we need to have a work session online meeting videos, as Tribal Council’s April Council is at the “end of the line” and needs on it,” said Shell. “It was a unanimous vote decision to ban non-Cherokee media from its to either pass the ordinance or rescind the to go ahead and do it.” chambers prevents The Smoky Mountain News “I appreciate that,” replied Smith, “but it resolution it passed last month, he said. from attending in person.

“We’ve got to make a decision here,” was also a unanimous vote to move ahead

include all of the representatives here.”

Council voted unanimously to table the ordinance, but later in the meeting Housing Director Travis Smith arrived with a question.

“Can I get some reasoning why?” he asked. “What was it tabled for?”

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with it (the resolution in December).”

In December, 11 of the 12 councilmembers voted to pass the resolution, with Councilmember Bo Crowe, of Wolfetown, the sole nay vote.

“We need more input on it,” Shell told Smith.

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Entegra Bank merges with SmartFinancial

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Un-scrambling Egg Lingo QUESTION: There are so many different types of eggs at my Ingles store these days... can you explain what some of the labels mean like ...organic... free-range... pasture-raised... and cage-free?

ANSWER: Organic - An organic label on the egg carton would mean the farm it is part of the USDA organic program and there is a specific set of guidelines about the feed for the laying hens (it must be organic feed), the use of antibiotics (if the chickens are sick and a flock has to be given antibiotics they cannot be considered organic).

The organic standards also mandate outdoor access and prohibit constant indoor confinement except in specified situations like inclement weather and illness.

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January 23-29, 2019

https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/Poultry%20-%20Guidelines.pdf

Free Range - "...produced by hens housed in a building, room, or area that allows for unlimited access to food, water, and continuous access to the outdoors during their laying cycle."

2 3

Pasture-Raised - This could be very similar to "free-range" though the term is not regulated by the USDA.

Cage Free - is very similar to free range except that they would not necessarily have access the outside but would not be housed in cages.

4

It's important to remember that chickens can harm each other, spread diseases, contract diseases from wild birds (avian flu) and harm workers; so housing chickens in cages, or at least in houses, may be beneficial in some cases and allow for worker and poultry safety, and easy access to eggs.

Smoky Mountain News

Plemens is expected to join the combined bank as President of the Carolinas. Entegra Chief Financial Officer David Bright and Chief Operating Officer Ryan Scaggs are expected to assume the same roles with the combined company.

Five Entegra directors are expected to join the pro forma boards of directors of the combined company and the combined bank, each of which would have 17 members upon completion of the merger.

Additionally, current Entegra directors not joining the SmartFinancial and SmartBank boards will be invited to become members of a newly formed Carolina Advisory Board. SmartFinancial has agreed to make a $1 million contribution to the SmartBank Foundation, a nonprof“We are thrilled to be joining forces with it charitable organization, upon completion the SmartBank team and to combine of the transaction, with these two strong, growing institutions.” the allocation of these funds to be directed by — Roger D. Plemens recommendation of the Carolina Advisory Carroll, SmartFinancial President & CEO. Board (in consultation with the President of “This partnership strengthens both organithe Carolinas for SmartBank) to charities in zations in all key areas and presents a comthe communities served by Entegra. pelling value proposition for each of our “We are thrilled to be joining forces with constituents.” the SmartBank team and to combine these Entegra had more than a dozen banking two strong, growing institutions,” Plemens locations in Western North Carolina, said. “We believe this is going to be an outincluding Waynesville, Sylva, Franklin, standing combination for our shareholders, Cashiers, Highlands and Murphy, plus customers, and employees and the commuthree locations in South Carolina and five nities we serve.” locations in Georgia.

Under the terms of the merger agreement, Macon Bank, a regional bank headquareach share of Entegra common stock outtered in Franklin, changed its name to standing immediately prior to the merger will Entegra Bank in 2016 as the company conbe converted into the right to receive 1.215 tinued to expand outside of Macon County. shares of SmartFinancial common stock.

Around the same time, the new Entegra The transaction is valued at approxiBank acquired Old Town Bank in mately $22.36 per share of Entegra common Waynesville. Since opening in 2006, Old stock, or approximately $158.2 million in Town Bank had prided itself for being a the aggregate, based on the closing price of locally governed hometown bank and CEO SmartFinancial’s common stock of $18.40 Charles Umberger promised the acquisition on Jan. 14, 2019. The transaction is projectwouldn’t change that. Now it’s merging ed to generate more than 20 percent earnwith an even larger corporation. ings per share accretion in the first full year Entegra had approximately $1.7 billion and tangible book value dilution is expected in total assets as of Sept. 30, 2018, while to be earned back in less than 2.5 years.

SmartFinancial has about $2.3 billion in SmartBank and Entegra Bank have total assets following its most recent acquientered into a separate bank merger agreesition of Foothills Bancorp, Inc. that was ment providing for the merger of Entegra completed on Nov. 1, 2018.

Bank with and into SmartBank following The combined company will be headthe merger of SmartFinancial and Entegra. quartered in Knoxville, but a significant The transaction is expected to close midportion of the combined bank’s operations year 2019, subject to customary closing conwill still be based in Franklin, according to a ditions, including the approval of both press release. companies’ shareholders and the receipt of Billy Carroll and Miller Welborn will all required regulatory approvals. continue to lead the combined company as SmartFinancial Chairman Miller President & CEO and Chairman, respectiveWelborn added, “The clear common vision ly. Additionally, the combined company is of these two management teams and boards expected to benefit from the integration of of directors has been evident since our first key management and directors from discussion. This combination will result in Entegra into the SmartFinancial executive an exceptional company and present a team and board of directors. tremendous amount of new growth opporEntegra President & CEO Roger D. tunities moving forward.”

With Their Needs news

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR ntegra Bank, which has locations throughout Western North Carolina, will soon merge with SmartFinancial, Inc., the parent company of SmartBank based in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The merger, an all-stock transaction, will create a $4 billion-asset bank holding company with 47 branches across Tennessee, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida, serving a number of key Southeastern growth markets.

“This is a historic milestone for both companies, one which we believe lays the foundation for the Southeast’s next great community banking franchise,” said Billy

Helping Seniors

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In North Carolina, a 2014 bill titled “Hope 4 Haley and Friends” allowed for the use of marijuana extract with THC levels less than 0.3 percent by weight to treat intractable seizure disorders. In 2015, an amendment to that bill raised the percentage to 0.9 percent, still far below the threshold of psychoactive impact.

California was the first state in the nation to legalize medicinal use in 1996. Two years later it was followed by Alaska, Oregon and Washington. During the first decade of the 21st century, eight additional states followed suit, and by 2014, more than 30 states had allowed some form of medicinal marijuana use.

J In the first seven states that legalized recreational marijuana after having already legalized medicinal marijuana, that process took on average 14.75 years. But the three most recent states to do so, Vermont, Michigan and Massachusetts, took 12 and 10 and 4 years, respectively.

It’s clear the pace of recreational legalization in the United States is picking up, making recreational marijuana legalization in North Carolina a “when, not if ” question that’s largely postulated on another question — why?

When, not if The case for and against cannabis in NC

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER ith the recent actions of Michigan and Vermont, 72 million people in 10 U.S. states — 23 percent of the population — can now purchase recreational marijuana in a retail setting, after decades of strict prohibition and despite a lingering federal ban.

North Carolina isn’t one of those states, but it soon could be if a recent trend towards the legalization of recreational marijuana continues.

Not everyone in the state or in the small towns scattered about the Smokies are high on the idea, but as the tide of marijuana legalization turns nationally, what does N.C.’s future, for or against, look like?

January 23-29, 2019

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THE PATH TO NOW

Smoky Mountain News

The recreational use of marijuana throughout antiquity garnered little notice until the 1850s, when patent medicines with secret formulas hawked by snake-oil hucksters attracted the attention of many U.S. states, which subsequently enacted consumer protection measures known as “poison laws.”

North Carolina was one of many states to define marijuana as “poison,” but it wasn’t until the well-known efforts of Harry J. Anslinger, head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics in the 1930s, that the longstanding stigma surrounding its usage began to take hold.

A small wave of statewide decriminalization efforts began to occur in the early 1970s starting in Oregon and Texas, with North Carolina close behind in 1977. To date, marijuana has been decriminalized in 13 states that haven’t already legalized recreational use.

The term “decriminalized” doesn’t mean “legal,” but rather that criminal penalties associated with the possession or use of marijuana products have been relaxed, compara6 tively speaking.

THE GREEN ECONOMY Comparison of legal marijuana states STATE • • • • •

POPULATION IN MILLIONS

MARIJUANA TAX REVENUE, 2017

PER CAPITA TAX BURDEN, 2016

Alaska................................0.79......................................$1,700,000....................................$1,042 Colorado..............................5.6.....................................$247,000,000..................................$2,309 Oregon ................................4.1......................................$70,000,000...................................$2,689 Washington .........................7.4.....................................$319,000,000..................................$3,057 North Carolina....................10.3............................................N/A..........................................$2,582

“Just since I’ve been practicing, [penalties] have been relaxed even in that 15 year period, so now basic misdemeanor possession of paraphernalia is a class 3 misdemeanor,” said District Attorney Ashley Welch. “Most of the time, you don’t even qualify for a courtappointed lawyer with that because your punishment is a fine and [court] costs.”

In North Carolina, possession of anything under 1.5 ounces is a misdemeanor.

“Essentially if you abide by certain terms and conditions and you don’t get in trouble anymore, usually a judge will sentence you to community service, sometimes a drug test,” Welch said. “After a period of time, you can get that expunged. That’s true even for a felony. The drug trafficking in marijuana, you’ve got to have an enormous amount of marijuana to get to that point, and even then you’re not looking at significant active time. If you’re trafficking in cocaine, for example, your mandatory minimum at the bottom level is going to be 70 months active. With marijuana, I believe it’s 44 months. You’re dealing with a big difference in punishment.”

Drug crimes are prioritized in that manner because of how the state categorizes the drug itself.

Chapter 90 of the North Carolina General Statutes is known as the “North Carolina Controlled Substances Act” — a mind-boggling array of illegal substances and chemical

formulae defined, outlined and ranked in terms of potential both for addiction and for medicinal use.

The higher the former and the lower the latter means in theory greater danger and therefore greater penalties. Schedule I includes what the legislature has accepted as the most hazardous drugs, like heroin, fentanyl, LSD and MDMA. Marijuana and Tetrahydrocannabinols (THC), the main psychoactive component of marijuana, are the only two items listed North Ashley Welch Carolina’s lowest category, Schedule VI, which states that there is “no currently accepted medical use in the United States, or a relatively low potential for abuse in terms of risk to public health and potential to produce psychic or physiological dependence liability based upon present medical knowledge, or a need for further and continuing study to develop scientific evidence of its pharmacological effects.”

As of this year, 47 states including North Carolina had acknowledged some form of currently accepted medical use, which has been shown to be a precursor to recreational legalization.

Nearly 200,000 people are now employed across the nation in the recreational marijuana industry; aside from the wage boon in an era of historically low unemployment, substantial tax revenues are collected even though states with legal recreational marijuana have all adopted differing approaches to its taxation.

On Jan. 1, 2014, Colorado began retail sales of recreational marijuana after instituting medical use back in 2000. Both medical and recreational products were subject to the state’s 2.9 percent sales tax, but recreational products were also tagged with an additional 10 percent sales tax.

Beginning July 1, 2017, recreational marijuana was no longer subject to the 2.9 percent sales tax, but the 10 percent tax was increased to 15 percent. There’s also a $50 per ounce excise tax levied on business-to-business sales, like from a cultivator or processor to a retailer.

State revenue from these taxes totaled $67 million in 2014 but grew to $247 million during 2017 and as of November 2018 was $245 million.

Since 2014, that all adds up to a staggering $884 billion in new revenue, which is disbursed per state law. An April 2018 story in Denver weekly newspaper Westword outlines how $209 million from the 2016-17 fiscal year was spent.

The first $40 million of the excise tax goes toward school construction, the rest into a permanent fund for public schools, a $32 million contribution.

From the retail tax, 10 percent goes back to the local governments that allow retail sales, a total of $15 million. The other 90 percent — $84 million — went into the state’s general fund. Of that 90 percent, $30 million goes into another state public school fund and the remaining $54 million — along with the 2.9 percent medical sales tax — goes into something called the marijuana cash fund.

That fund appropriated $41 million to education and public health,

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CAROLINA GREEN

GREEN ECONOMY New revenue sources of such scale are rare for most governments, however significant concern exists as to whether or not

“I think there’s a lot of other issues we need to look at in addition to just how much money it’s going to make us. We could sell a lot of things and make money [but] does that mean it’s good for the community?”

— Bill Hollingsed, Waynesville police chief

continue to be my focus. With this being our current climate, I can’t wrap my mind around supporting the recreational use of a substance that has the propensity to alter your mind or thinking, or even lead to addiction.”

Christopher’s office logged 191 detention center bookings involving marijuana charges in 2018, including 47 of their own. The rest come from jurisdictions like Hollingsed’s.

But just 27 of those bookings were for standalone possession only, while the rest included other charges. The vast majority of those standalone cases involved no jail time, so marijuana arrests aren’t exactly clogging up the county detention center at $77 a night.

They’re also not clogging up the courts, according to DA Welch.

“We don’t get that much. Certainly it is on the docket, but your straight-up possession of marijuana, we don’t have all that often. It’s usually combined with drug paraphernalia or often times it’ll be a felony level,” she said.

“What we’ve been doing for years is offering deferred prosecution programs on those lower-level charges, particularly if it’s your first offense.”

Welch was careful to note that it’s her duty not to opine on the law, but instead to uphold it, as was Hollingsed, but both indi-

cated that legal marijuana probably wouldn’t save their respective departments much money, if any.

In fact, Hollingsed said that based on his observation of Colorado’s experiment with marijuana, he thought it might end up costing his department more.

“One of the other arguments is it’s going to let law enforcement focus on other areas instead of focusing on marijuana-type crimes.

Talking with the DEA and others out there, their focus on marijuana has actually increased,” he said. “Now that it’s legal in Colorado, people are moving into Colorado from all the other states and even from other countries, creating these large grow operations and distributing out to other states. I have family that lives in Nebraska right over the border from Colorado. It’s a huge issue for them now.”

It’s precisely those types of unintended consequences, he said, that should give states considering legalization pause.

“I think in Colorado it all came down to ‘Look at the money that it’s going to bring in, the revenue side, look what it’s going to do for the state,’” he said. “On the backside, we’re telling people it’s OK to use marijuana recreationally, we’re going to bring it into the state, but we’re paying on the back end three to four times that revenue in new treatment centers. So were saying let’s do it, but then we’re funding treatment centers saying we need to get off of it.”

Backing up claims made by proponents and opponents of retail marijuana legalization isn’t easy; or, rather, it’s very easy, because what’s been written about the implementation of legal marijuana depends very much on who’s holding the pen — a lingering testimonial of the aggressive advocacy on both sides of the issue.

According to the Drug Policy Alliance’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey issued in January 2018, almost 22 percent of U.S. high school students had used marijuana in the previous month, and that rate has remained relatively stable for more than two decades. Usage rates in Alaska, Colorado and Washington were similar.

However, an extensive report produced in September 2018 by a multi-agency consortium of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming called the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area says that Colorado children aged 12 and older use marijuana at a rate 85 percent higher than the national average.

The DPA also reports that there is an association between legal marijuana use and decreased harm from opiates; overdose death rates in states with marijuana access are nearly 25 percent lower than in states without, and abuse-related hospitalizations are also 23 percent lower. After recreational legalization in Colorado, a reduction of 0.7 overdose deaths per month across the state was seen, as well as a decline in “the decades-long upward trend of overdoses” plaguing the Centennial State, according to the report.

HIDTA reports that emergency department visits related to marijuana increased 52

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THE COST OF THE

these income streams are penny-wise but pound-foolish.

“I think there’s a lot of other issues we need to look at in addition to just how much money it’s going to make us,” said Waynesville Police Chief Bill Hollingsed. “We could sell a lot of things and make money [but] does that mean it’s good for the community?”

In addition to the purported social benefits of the tax revenue, proponents of legal marijuana have claimed it would lower prison populations and allow law enforcement to focus on violent crimes, all while reducing traffic fatalities, suppressing teen usage and even helping to ameliorate the opioid crisis.

Haywood County Sheriff Greg Christopher doesn’t think that’s the case.

“My opinion regarding legalization of marijuana for recreational use is that I’m opposed to it,” said Christopher. “I am very focused on the issues surrounding addiction in our communities — the opioid epidemic, the continuing prevalence of meth use, prevention efforts like education and abstinence training, rehabilitation efforts and recovery.

That’s what we’re talking about. That will

January 23-29, 2019

Oregon assigns 40 percent of that revenue to the common school fund, 20 percent to mental health, alcoholism and drug services, 15 percent to the state police, 10 percent to both cities and counties for enforcement as well as 5 percent for the state’s alcohol and drug abuse prevention program.

Like Oregon, Alaska began retail sales in 2016, however Alaska’s relatively miniscule population and strong anti-tax, pro-local control legacy reflect a completely different approach to both the collection and disbursement of recreational marijuana tax revenue.

There’s no state sales tax in Alaska, and marijuana is treated the same way. There is a $50 per ounce excise tax, and municipalities can levy sales taxes, like Anchorage’s 5 percent stipulation, which was projected to bring in about $3.5 million this year — a princely sum, compared to the state’s total haul of $1.7 million for fiscal year 2017.

Of that state revenue, half flows directly into the state’s general fund, and half goes to a program specifically designed to reduce criminal recidivism, amounting to total state spending of about $2.27 per person, per year.

Alaska doesn’t tax recreational marijuana much because it doesn’t have to — the state’s 740,000 citizens already shoulder a relatively low $1,042 average yearly tax burden, compared to Oregon’s $2,698, Washington’s $3,057 and Colorado’s $2,309. But Anchorage opted for the additional tax, adding an additional $8.72 in spending for each of its 401,000 metropolitan area residents.

Asheville’s metro area is larger than Anchorage’s by just 27,000 people, and North Carolinians each paid an average of $2,582 in state taxes in 2016.

Averaging out the effective tax rates of the four widely disparate systems used by Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington, about $35 in recreational marijuana tax revenue per resident, per year, has been demonstrated.

Assuming comparable per person levels of retail marijuana sales, North Carolina’s 10.3 million residents could see in excess of $360 million in new tax revenue each year.

Alternatively, using Washington’s state liquor control apparatus as a guide, that number could be much higher. In 2017, alcohol tax revenue there amounted to $206 million, against $319 million in marijuana revenue.

If the popularity or the taxability of recreational marijuana is any indicator, North Carolina’s ABC board distributed $406 million in collected revenues during fiscal year 2017, which would suggest North Carolina marijuana tax revenue collections upward of a half-billion dollars.

It’s more than just a fiscal analogy — some existing state liquor control boards have found themselves tasked with additional responsibility over recreational marijuana, like the Alaska Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office, the Washington State Liquor and Marijuana Board and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission.

The Chairman of Asheville’s Alcoholic Beverage Commission, Lewis Isaac, was quoted in the Asheville Citizen-Times on Dec. 12 telling city council members the previous day that he assumed the ABC would “probably oversee the sales and distribution” of marijuana if it comes “because we are already a part of that control structure” with alcohol.

Isaac’s remarks were made in the context of explaining why the ABC is including extra space for marijuana in a new $3 million, 40,000-square-foot warehouse necessitated by growing liquor sales.

If North Carolina’s ABC does become part of that structure as Isaac thinks it will, the model for disbursing recreational marijuana revenues is already close at hand — from the state ABC’s $406 million windfall in 2017, $306 million went to the general fund, $74 million to cities and counties, $17 million to the state’s distribution center, $12 million toward alcohol education, $8 million to local law enforcement, $3 million to counties for rehab and $2 million to the state DHHS. For some states, the revenue side of the equation is hard to resist when measured against 2016 tax collections — similar to Washington, North Carolina’s 2016 budget included $26 billion in tax collections, but Washington’s $22 billion in tax receipts includes more than $319 million in recreational marijuana revenue.

Oregon collects around $11 billion a year in taxes, to which it will now add another $80 million a year or so from recreational marijuana taxes. Colorado takes in about $13 billion in taxes a year, of which almost $250 million a year comes from recreational marijuana.

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$32 million to the Colorado Department of Human Services, $16 million to affordable housing programs, $6 million to local law enforcement and $3 million to public safety.

Those figures represent government spending of roughly $157 total per person since recreational marijuana sales began in 2014, or about $44 per person in 2017.

A similar per-capita spending figure for 2017 of $43 was distilled from data provided by the State of Washington, where recreational sales made by more than 500 retail licensees began six months after Colorado in July 2014. Revenues there grew from $66 million in 2015 to $189 million the next year and $319 million in 2017.

About 30 percent of that, or $96 million, went to the state’s general fund, with 45 percent, about $146 million, going to health care services. Education got about 10 percent, with smaller shares going to cities allowing retail sales.

Colorado’s taxation structure is a bit more complex than Washington’s straight 37 percent sales tax, but Oregon’s allows for some degree of local control; a 17 percent sales tax can be bumped up to 20 percent by municipalities.

All in all, Oregon generated $70 million in retail marijuana tax revenue during fiscal year 2017 and $82 million in 2018, or about $20 per person.

S EE CANNABIS, PAGE 8 7

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CANNABIS, CONTINUED FROM 7 percent after the legalization, and marijuanarelated hospitalizations increased 148 percent.

DPA says that in both Colorado and Washington, a decline was seen in alcohol and drug-related DWI arrests. HIDTA says that marijuana related traffic deaths increased 151 percent just as all Colorado traffic deaths increased 35 percent, and that the percentage of all marijuana-related traffic deaths increased from 11.43 pre-legalization to 21.3 percent post.

Dozens of competing reports produced since 2012 by agencies with obvious agendas all take their own slanted views at the statistics, clouding what should be a relatively straightforward analysis of the cost-benefit analysis of legalization; luckily, in North Carolina, we elect local and state leaders to weed through available evidence and make those decisions on our behalf.

THE PATH TO TOMORROW

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January 23-29, 2019

The pros and cons of recreational marijuana legalization have been weighed in more than just the states that have approved it, but the outcome always seems to depend on who’s holding the scales.

All 10 states where recreational marijuana is legal, except for one, legalized it by ballot question, leaving it up to the state’s voters, not legislators, to decide. Vermont became the first state to use the legislature as a vehicle for legalization. That journey is similar to that of medical legalization, where nine of the first 10 states also passed it by ballot measure.

A 2017 Elon University poll claimed that while 80 percent of North Carolina residents support medical use, 45 percent support recreational legalization.

Eight of the next 40 medical approvals were legislative in origin; most bills become law through the typical process of being filed, moving through committees to the floor, and then to the other chamber and finally the governor’s desk.

That involves some author or sponsor — and then dozens of elected officials — putting their names, their reputations and their re-elections on the line to support what is still a contentious subject, especially in the Bible Belt South where alcohol remains controversial and the opioid crisis has community leaders wary of intoxicants, in general.

Maybe that’s why the other nine states where recreational marijuana is legal chose a different route — statewide ballot referendums, similar to North Carolina’s recent voter ID question.

On one hand, a referendum relieves legislators of the burdensome expenditure of political capital to shepherd a bill — any bill — through the sausage factory that is the legislative process.

On the other hand, a referendum in North Carolina cannot occur without the authorization of the legislature, which means someone expending political capital shepherding a bill through the sausage factory.

The important difference is that the referendum bill isn’t advocating for a controver8 sial subject like voter ID; it’s a simple bill ask-

ing voters to decide. That decision could be binding, or not.

“It depends on what the act passed by the General Assembly says,” said Robert Joyce, a professor at the UNC School of Government.

“The General Assembly could make the results of the referendum binding, or it could provide that a ‘yes’ result in the referendum merely authorizes the General Assembly to act but does not require it to do so.”

That referendum could also mandate local buy-in, or not.

CAROLINA GREEN “Once again, it depends on what the act passed by the General Assembly says,” Joyce said. “The law could provide for a general statewide system or it could leave discretion in cities and counties.”

Any which way, it all depends on state legislators first and foremost. Gov. Roy Cooper did not respond to requests for comment on this story, nor did Senate President Phil Berger or House Speaker Tim Moore.

Haywood County’s entire legislative delegation, however, did.

“It’s too early to make a judgment,” said five-term N.C. Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, Jan. 17 at an elected officials reception held by the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce.

Davis has always held himself to be a data-driven decision maker, owed to his medical training, and as a dentist is well aware of how pharmaceuticals affect the human body. He’s been active locally in addressing the opioid crisis, and said he’d adopt a wait-and-see attitude while eyeing the ongoing experiment in Colorado and California.

Rep. Michele Presnell, R-Burnsville, is firm in her opposition.

“I do not support legalization of marijuana in North Carolina,” said Presnell. “Let's call it what it is — marijuana is a gateway drug. Too many families are forever broken through drugs in our counties.”

Presnell said that Colorado has admitted to making “a wrong choice” in legalization, citing broken families and motor vehicle misuse.

“I hear, ‘Oh, it's just for medical reasons that we want recreational marijuana.’ You can purchase CBD oil online and get a good grade delivered to your home,” she said. “The substance to get a ‘high’ is removed. Why would we want to add more problems for our law enforcement and more addiction treatment centers?”

Rep. Joe Sam Queen, D-Waynesville, echoes Davis in that he wants to hear how recreational legalization transpires in other states first.

“It’s not the top of my agenda,” said Queen. “I have campaigned on education and health care and universal broadband, that’s where I am putting my energy. I tell you, constituents are talking about this, it certainly part of the public conversation and I am listening. The short of it is, don’t expect anything to happen right away.”

All three of Haywood’s lawmakers — Davis, Presnell and Queen — voted for both the “Hope 4 Haley and Friends” act in 2014 and its subsequent 2015 amendment.

“I suffer from multiple sclerosis and I know that people with MS have found relief from their MS symptoms, so I can see the possible benefits from research of using medical marijuana. But it would have to be heavily regulated.”

— Kevin Ensley, Haywood County commissioner

LOCAL REACTION When — not if — recreational marijuana legislation appears in the General Assembly, Haywood’s representatives in Raleigh will hear from the folks back home, including local elected officials and the business community.

“At this time the Chamber has not taken a position on recreational legalization of marijuana, however, it is time for the discussions to be held at both local and state levels,” said CeCe Hipps, president of the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce. “There are many aspects to the discussion; total legalization, partial legalization or legalization for medicinal use. Each needs to be researched, debated and fully vetted on the negative and positive impact before any decision is made regarding legalization, either total or partial.”

By comparison, Asheville’s Chamber President Kit Cramer told The Charlotte Observer, The News & Observer and The Durham Herald-Sun last October that “North Carolina should make marijuana legal and

then tax it the way we do alcohol or tobacco.”

Local government officials could also lobby state legislators for or against, privately, or publicly in the form of a resolution. In the event of a state-authorized Brunch Billstyle implementation, every local government unit would need to vote to approve a retail environment.

It’s not just a thought experiment; a December opinion by the News & Observer urges proactivity in the face of inevitability, and The Daily Tar Heel, among others, reports that Rep. Kelly Alexander, DMecklenburg, has plans to introduce into the General Assembly — yet again — more measures supporting decriminalization, medical expansion, criminal expungement and recreational implementation.

As could be expected, opinions vary greatly among those who responded to a Jan. 15 Smoky Mountain News poll on if and how recreational marijuana sales in North Carolina should be implemented.

“I would not be in favor of

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More responses online On Jan. 15, The Smoky Mountain News contacted almost every elected official in Haywood County for whom an email address was listed with the county’s board of elections. Around half failed to respond, but those who did were sometimes too verbose for print; in the interest of transparency, the full comments of everyone who responded are available online at bit.ly/SMNmj.

“I do support legalization of marijuana for both medicinal and recreational use and believe it should be taxed and controlled in the same way alcohol is.”

— Jon Feichter, Waynesville alderman

statement. I feel that I would have to better educate myself on the topic and I would have to consider the population in Clyde and the citizens that I represent,” said Fore. “In Clyde, we have recently dealt with an item that challenged one of our ordinances. It has been a true learning experience in attempting to face all the challenges created by one person wanting to change the ordinance to suit his requests. In the end, I was amazed at the ‘silent majority,’ which were many of the citizens that have lived in Clyde their entire lives. If I learned anything it is ‘change is a challenge to many and the wheels of change turn very slowly in a well-established base of citizens in a small town.’”

It’s perhaps Maggie Valley Alderman and Mayor Pro-Temp Dr. Janet Banks that most succinctly sums up the state of local affairs, with regard to retail marijuana legalization.

“This is a difficult question for me to attempt to answer, as this issue is not even in the Town of Maggie Valley's kitchen at the moment,” she said, lodging detailed queries related to possession amounts, DWI enforcement and drug testing on the job, as well as concerns about health, auto and life insurance rates, among others.

“I would not be lobbying my local representatives on this issue unless the people in my town felt strongly one way or the other,” Banks said. “As Maggie Valley did before with the Brunch Bill, we would have a public hearing, bring it up for board discussion and vote.

If the public hearing indicated that the townspeople felt strongly in one direction, I would bring up a motion to express their view.”

January 23-29, 2019

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looking for another tax source, because by then the marijuana manufacturing and sales tax will not be enough.”

Votes from commissioners would only affect those who live in the county’s unincorporated areas, meaning all four of Haywood County’s towns would also have to determine if recreational legalization is right for their community, if given such authority in a Dillon’s Rule state.

“I have not considered this issue enough to have an opinion that I would feel comfortable giving,” said Waynesville Mayor Gavin Brown, “other than to say I favor legalization. If I were making the decision I would add a second component and outlaw tobacco products!”

Alderman Jon Feichter was the only other Waynesville alderman to respond.

“Drug policy — over and above the issue of the decriminalization of marijuana — is an important one for our county, state and nation. As you’re no doubt aware, this country has spent an estimated $1 trillion on the war on drugs since 1971. If the investment had resulted in significant reductions in the manufacture, sale and use of illegal drugs, that’d be one thing. But to my mind, we are as far away from solving this problem as we were almost 50 years ago. It is imperative we develop new strategies to combat a plague that affects all of us and the first step, in my opinion, is how we deal with marijuana,” said Feichter. “Therefore, I do support legalization of marijuana for both medicinal and recreational use and believe it should be taxed and controlled in the same way alcohol is.”

Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers said that his constituents haven’t expressed a desire for legalization, and that there are far more important issues on the table.

“My focus remains on economic develop-

ment, recreation and housing which are issues raised by our taxpayers,” he said. “If this issue got to a situation similar to the Brunch Bill, many more questions concerning enforcement and logistics would need to be answered before any vote was taken.”

Smathers, a defense attorney by trade, did say that he supports the continuing reduction of penalties associated with marijuana possession.

“Time and time again, I see our citizens, especially young adults, paying the long-term costs of a short-term bad decision. We need to continue to expand our expungement laws to reward the ones who have learned from their mistakes,” he said. “Marijuana is easy to classify as a ‘gateway drug,’ but tobacco and alcohol could be easily be classified as the same. We need to continue to be innovative to see how we can resolve the situation and prevent the individual from continuing down a path towards other dangerous substance abuse issues, such as opioid addiction.”

First-term Canton Alderwoman Kristina Smith holds a view similar to that of Smathers.

“This is a state and federal issue, not a municipal call to make. Personally, I don't see an issue with medical marijuana but we are still understanding what it looks like to legalize recreational use,” said Smith. “I wouldn't lobby for or against recreational legalization.

We have community challenges and opportunities within our jurisdiction to address.”

Alderman Diane Fore was the only elected official from the Town of Clyde to respond.

“I’m afraid at this time I would not have a

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recreational marijuana,” said Haywood County Board of Commissioners Chairman Kevin Ensley. “The cons far outweigh the pros, as Colorado is now seeing. The sheriff told me he was in a meeting in Colorado, and the law enforcement there told him the tax revenues did not cover the costs that the recreational marijuana caused.”

Ensley, however, added that he both supports and has used CBD. “I would be inclined to support a very heavily regulated use of medical marijuana, mainly in the market of CBD oil or other derived substances to treat chronic illnesses,” said Ensley. “I suffer from multiple sclerosis and I know that people with MS have found relief from their MS symptoms, so I can see the possible benefits from research of using medical marijuana. But it would have to be heavily regulated. I have used CBD oil for relief of spasticity, but because it is not produced in every state it is very expensive. So I use other meds, which are cheaper but come with side effects. I did not experience those with CBD oil. However, recreational marijuana should never be legal.”

Ensley’s Vice Chairman, Commissioner Brandon Rogers, concurs with Ensley but for slightly different reasons.

“I would oppose legalization of this drug as recreational use and would oppose a resolution in support as such. Users can develop dependence or addiction through ways similar to other drugs of abuse including alcohol and tobacco,” said Rogers, citing statistics from the University of Rochester Medical Center.

“Because of the drug’s effects on the ability to understand and on reaction time, users are more involved in car crashes than people that don’t use the drug. There is a strong link between drug use, unsafe sex and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Under the influence of this drug, students may find it hard to study and learn because it hurts the ability to concentrate and pay attention.”

Newly-elected Haywood Commissioner Tommy Long made his stance clear as well.

“I confess, I tried something years ago. I tasted it and it was good. It put me on the most incredible high! What did I try? It was the Lord and I’ve never come down from the high he gives me,” Long said. “It’s a perpetual high. It makes me love everybody and my love for my neighbor tells me to vote no on marijuana. Marijuana is detrimental to individuals and it bleeds over into and invades other innocent people’s lives.”

Like Long, Commissioner Mark Pless has only been on the board for a few weeks, but opposes recreational marijuana use.

“First, the immediate concern that it would affect the safety of everyone in Haywood County when people drive, operate machinery or even prepare food at restaurants while under the effects of legal marijuana. Second, there are still a lot of unrevealed ways the body could become diseased from regular use of marijuana,” he said. “Third and lastly, government is always looking for new tax sources when the real problem is spending. There is no reason to look at marijuana as a new tax source because in 10 years or less the tax revenue will no longer be a bonus to alleviate tax deficits portrayed today. Everyone will be

1819 Country Club Drive Maggie Valley, NC

M AG G I E VA LLEY C LU B . CO M 9

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Cannabis legalization under study in Cherokee

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER s states across the nation loosen restrictions on cannabis products, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is launching a study into the feasibility of legalizing such industries on the Qualla Boundary.

“That’s becoming a real big topic in Native America in general,” said Councilmember Jeremy Wilson, of Wolfetown. “We’ve got to be prepared for that now that it’s realistic.

We’ve got to take advantage of it.”

Wilson is the driving force behind the study, which was initiated through a resolution he introduced during the Oct. 25 session of Annual Council.

That legislation authorized a feasibility study on “the issues and impact associated with the legalization of cannabis for medicinal, industrial and potential economic opportunities for the EBCI,” to be Jeremy Wilson conducted through a study group including representatives from the tribe’s Department of Justice, Public Health and Human Services, Tribal Council, Kituwah Economic Development Board and Division of Commerce.

The study, with a cost yet to be determined, will be paid for from the tribe’s general fund and finished by April, the resolution says.

Wilson said that his goal for the study is to realistically examine the various ways in which legalization would affect the tribe, and how those effects would differ depend-

January 23-29, 2019

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ing on whether legalization encompassed medicinal CBD oils, industrial hemp or recreational cannabis.

Issues include impacts to public health, such as potential to quell the opioid epidemic by providing an alternative to opioid medications and issues related to the plant’s use as a drug; agricultural opportunities for farmers; economic benefits from potentially related tribally owned businesses; legal issues requiring new laws to be drafted; impacts to the

CAROLINA GREEN tribe’s drug court; and whether hospital personnel paid through federal funding would legally be allowed to prescribe CBD oil.

Wilson is clear that pushing recreational marijuana legalization is not his motivation — rather, he wants to see Cherokee farmers able to capitalize on what he sees as a golden opportunity and sick people able to access medicinal benefits from a source that doesn’t pose the same addiction risks as opioids.

“It’s not just about cannabis,” he said.

“It’s about can cannabis help the issues we currently talk about and face?”

It’s also about looking toward what North Carolina may do in the future. The EBCI is a sovereign nation, but it’s also located within North Carolina, so anything the state does in regard to cannabis laws will have an impact on the Qualla Boundary.

What if, at some point in the future, North Carolina legalizes recreational use? How would such an action affect Cherokee?

“Even if it is illegal right now, we have to prepare ourselves,” said Wilson.

Diane E. Sherrill, Attorney

Smoky Mountain News

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Economic diversification is another cornerstone of his support for medicinal and industrial cannabis. The casino is undeniably the cash cow of Cherokee, but for years tribal leaders have discussed the need for a plan B, for additional revenue streams that would continue to grow even if the casino should falter.

“There are some tribes out west who are able to make $1 million per 10 acres of hemp. That’s going to create a new revenue stream or opportunity for our farmers,” said Wilson. “I think what’s also vital to note is our younger generations are not becoming farmers. Back then farming was the way of the world, and it still is, but we’re not bringing in youth. We’re not bringing in young people to want to be interested in farming, but youth are attracted to cannabis.”

Wilson is not alone in his high hopes for hemp crop values. Across the state, farmers of all ideologies and experience levels are considering planting cannabis, filling the seats at educational forums and flooding the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service with

phone calls. But the market is still new and developing — the dynamics of supply and demand have not yet settled, and techniques for growing a consistent, quality crop are still forming. The long-term state of the hemp market remains to be seen.

“I do think we’re going to have a successful industry,” said Jeanine Davis, Ph.D., of the Extension station in Mills River. “I think we’re going to grow a really good quality, but it’s just going to take time to shake out.”

The bulk of the work on the feasibility study is still to come. Wilson has met with the members individually, but the group has yet to discuss the issue around a single table.

Because no dollar amount for the study was specified in the October resolution, the group also still needs to come back to Tribal Council with a specific funding request.

Wilson expects the price tag to settle between $40,000 and $50,000 and believes the job can be done by the April deadline.

The resolution passed overwhelmingly, but not unanimously — nine of the 12 members voted in favor.

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January 23-29, 2019 Smoky Mountain News

Councilmember Bo Crowe, of Wolfetown, voted against the resolution with Councilmember Bucky Brown, of Snowbird, abstaining and Councilmember Tom Wahnetah, of Yellowhill, absent.

In November 2015, Tribal Council had voted unanimously to fund a study examining the pros and cons of legalizing marijuana on the Qualla Boundary. Then-Principal Chief Patrick Lambert vetoed the measure, saying that with drug use in Cherokee at “epidemic proportions” it would be irresponsible to consider legalizing yet another drug — “the legalization for recreational use of marijuana within our communities would create a haven for outsiders to come onto our boundary and use an otherwise illegal substance,” he wrote in his veto letter.

When Lambert presented his veto, council reversed course, with 11 of the 12 members voting to uphold the veto.

“The initiative is to bring back the effort back in 2015,” said Wilson of his study. It’s a goal he’s been moving toward since shortly after his election in September 2017, in May 2018 holding an informational forum on hemp for tribal members.

While councilmembers were favorable to the idea, they were clear that recreational legalization is not something they’d be willing to support.

“I’m all for the medicinal part, but that’s the only part,” Councilmember Richard French, of Big Cove. “I can’t support this because it’s got the potential for recreational, and I’m not for recreational. We’ve got a lot of people that’s not for it on this boundary, and the last time it came through here, that’s what got hit.”

Wilson was careful to tell Council that he was not advocating for recreational legalization, agreeing to strike language from the draft resolution that specifically outlined recreational legalization as a topic of study. Instead of “potential recreational opportunities” as originally presented, the enacted resolution reads “potential economic opportunities.”

However, Wilson said in council, recreational use could figure into those potential economic opportunities. For instance, the tribe’s LLC could choose to purchase a cannabis dispensary somewhere out west, where it’s legal, bringing money into the tribe without bringing recreational legalization to the boundary. It would also be beneficial to have a baseline understanding of how recreational legalization could impact the tribe, since North Carolina could someday decide to legalize through its jurisdiction without the tribe’s input.

“We need to be mindful that at some point the state may legalize, and we need to be mindful of how that will affect us,” agreed Principal Chief Richard Sneed in October. “I think it would be expedient for us to at least understand the implications of recreational.”

Education is key, said Wilson, and will be an important outcome of the study.

“There has to be an increasing effort for education for people, and I think that’s what we’re lacking,” he said. “The topic is making headlines, but the education isn’t so much making headlines.”

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“We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, but it all just fell into place,” Lacy said.

Appalachian Growers got licensed through the state, found existing farmland to lease in Macon and broke ground last February on a 4,000-square-foot metal warehouse to prepare for their first growing season.

Most first-time farmers will just dip their toe in — perhaps plant an acre or two to see how it goes — but Yuzzi and Lacy jumped right into the deep end by planting 10 acres during their first season. Hemp can be a fickle plant depending on the soil and the weather, but when looking around at all the bins stored away in their warehouse two weeks ago, it appears the bold move paid off.

“Even though there was a steep learning curve, everyone here believes in what they’re doing,” Lacy said.

Smoky Mountain News

January 23-29, 2019

CAROLINA GREEN

Lori Lacy and Steve Yuzzi are the owners of Appalachian Growers, an industrial hemp farm in Macon County. Jessi Stone photo

From the ground up Appalachian Growers digging into hemp industry

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR t may look like marijuana and it may smell like marijuana, but it’s not marijuana.

Without the THC component, the green and aromatic plant is simply hemp. It won’t get you high and it’s now legal to grow in 34 states, including North Carolina.

More than 800 farmers across North Carolina are now growing industrial hemp in some capacity to use for textiles, teas, CBD oils and more since the General Assembly passed the 2014 farm bill. That bill led the way for the hemp pilot program to begin a 12 year later. Even though it’s legal now, there’s

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still stigma and misperceptions surrounding the industrial hemp market.

It’s part of the reason Appalachian Growers has been trying to keep a low profile in the last year as they grow their business on leased farmland in Macon County. There’s bound to be curious onlookers who want to visit the farm and see what’s going on, but they try to keep traffic to a minimum out of respect for the neighbors.

However, owners Lori Lacy and Steve Yuzzi of Waynesville are excited about being on the ground floor of a growing industry as they continue to learn more about the process through trial and error.

“Steve has always been a business owner — he was raised here. I was a personal trainer for years and when we met we decided to pursue a business venture together,” Lacy said.

Yuzzi has started several businesses in the region — a bowling alley, a pizza restaurant and more — but the two couldn’t really decide on what they wanted to do next. After visiting an industrial hemp farm during a trip to Maine, Yuzzi and Lacy finally found something new and exciting they could pursue.

“It’s been great to come back to Franklin and work with several of my former classmates,” Yuzzi said. “In all of our projects, we try to source work locally and provide economy to the community.”

The goal was to get the seeds in the ground by June, but planting kept getting postponed because of all the rain, and the seeds had been germinating in the greenhouse since April. The hemp seeds were finally planted and grew until September before being harvested. The harvesting process took about five weeks to complete.

“I have about nine to 10 people working right now, but we had 20 to 30 during planting and up to 50 during harvest,” she said.

“We try our best to hire locally.”

Josh Brandes serves as the farm manager and Noah Miller of Bryson City is the assistant farm manager at Appalachian Growers.

Industrial hemp is an industry Miller has wanted to break into for some time, but a few years ago he thought he’d have to leave North Carolina to do it.

“This is something I’ve always wanted to do,” he said. “I thought I’d have to travel the country to do it, but I never thought it would be happening here in North Carolina.”

Gaining experience at the hemp farm will

help him toward his goal of becoming a master grower, something Lacy said will help him in the future be able to get just about any job he wants in the industry.

“To be a master grower you have to have a lot of knowledge about the industry and different growing techniques. You have to learn about the plant and its different stages of life and all the science behind it,” she said. “He’ll be an invaluable resource.”

As first time farmers, Lacy and Yuzzi also enlisted help from more experienced growers in the region to gain valuable knowledge about the process, including folks from Darnell Farms in Bryson City, JW Mitchell from Mitchell Farms and Nathan Moss. Nate Darnell said it’s been a mutually beneficial relationship — as he’s helped Appalachian Growers with farming techniques, he’s been able to learn more about the emerging hemp industry.

Once the crop was harvested, the plants had to be hung upside down to dry for five to seven days before being stored in large bins to cure. Then the buds from the plants had to be taken off the stems and run through a trimmer.

Appalachian Growers plant two different types of hemp seeds — special sauce and sour space candy. Both grow from feminized hemp seeds ordered from a hemp seed company in Oregon genetically designed without THC. Female plants are required to be able to produce hemp for CBD purposes. Male plants present within a crop will pollinate the female plants and produce seeds, which is not what you want to happen because that process can then reduce the cannabinoid production.

Even though hemp is legal to grow now, operations are still very closely monitored and regulated by the state. Appalachian Growers is licensed by the state of North Carolina and performs regular quality control tests to show the hemp is free of THC, pesticides, mold, yeast and other micro-toxins before being sold to the public.

While the average batch of marijuana can contain anywhere from 5 to 20 percent THC,

Patrick Roberts from Darnell Farms in Bryson City picks hemp buds off the stems at Appalachian Growers in Macon County. Jessi Stone photo

such a naysayer of cannabis and here I am now providing jobs for people who have a real passion for it. That’s been amazing to me.”

She’s now growing a product she strongly believes in because she’s seen the benefits CBD can have for a number of ailments, including aches and pains, anxiety, insomnia and more.

“Many people have transitioned from using marijuana to CBD for anxiety and sleep,” she said. “A lot of people aren’t look-

See also Read more about industrial hemp efforts at the Mountain Research Station in Waynesville on Page 28.

sell to anyone for personal use or a quick way to make a buck.”

Lacy said she’s never been a marijuana user — far from it. A self-described suburban mom, she said she never imagined owning her own hemp farm. Just like a lot of other people, she probably had misperceptions about cannabis and hemp as well as the people who use it, but now she’s learned about the benefits of hemp and has enjoyed getting to know other experts in the field.

“I went from a suburban mom to working with an entire new group of people that offer a different perspective and I love it — they are some of the most kind people I know,” she said. “I’ve learned so much about something that was totally out of my wheelhouse. I was

January 23-29, 2019

the state requires that hemp contain no more than 0.3 percent THC. Yuzzi said their hemp showed only about 0.01 percent THC, so they are extremely proud of the quality of their product coming out of the ground. They hold themselves to high standards and are active members of the North Carolina Industrial Hemp Association.

“We use all organic practices — no pesticides — but we’re not yet organic certified,” Lacy said. “Were in the process of doing all the paperwork now to get certified.”

The final result is a biomass product that can be shipped to businesses around the country that use it to make CBD oils, teas and more.

“We only sell to businesses and we have to verify their product,” she said. “We won’t just

ing to get high — they’re looking to address those symptoms so CBD is more beneficial for them to use, but it’s not for everyone. You should always consult your physician beforehand if you have specific conditions.”

As Appalachian Growers prepares for its second growing season, Yuzzi and Lacy are also offering any advice and guidance they can to other farms about the ins and outs of growing industrial hemp. Just last week they participated on a panel discussion for area farmers through the extension office. They’ve also offered tours for Western Carolina University students.

“We can offer advice and consulting services to other farmers trying to break into the industry using our year-long experience,” Lacy

said. “We can help them know where to start and things we had to learn the hard way.”

While the market is growing and there is certainly money to be made, Lacy also cautions that hemp is not going to be a panacea for farmers. It’s actually a pretty risky crop to grow because of how it’s classified by the federal government. Only recently did the the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency make CBD with THC below 0.1 percent a Schedule 5 drug, as long as the medications are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It was the first time any kind of cannabis was removed from the Schedule 1 classification. These classifications make it impossible for farmers to protect their crop with federal crop insurance.

“Growing hemp is something farmers can add to what they’re already doing — it can clean and renourish the soil but it’s not going to be the savior of crops,” Lacy said. “The market will level out so you have to create something with sustainability.”

When looking to the future of hemp and cannabis in North Carolina, some growers and businesses are preparing for the day medicinal or even recreational marijuana is made legal, but Lacy said Appalachian Growers didn’t start with any intention to grow marijuana.

“There’s such a market for hemp and we want to stay true to what we believe in — we want to learn how to be good at what we’re doing and keep high standards and strict guidelines,” she said.

For more information about Appalachian Growers, follow them on facebook or visit www.appalachiangrowers.com.

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Ed Polley of Clayton, Georgia, stands in awe at the first hemp harvest at Appalachian Growers. Donated photo

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33 Bennett Street, Waynesville 7066 Old Clyde Road, Canton • 565 Jones Cove Road, Clyde Noah Miller, assistant farmer manager, separates hemp buds through a sifter at Appalachian Growers. Jessi Stone photo

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January 23-29, 2019

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People speak out against consolidating the health department and the department of social services in Jackson County during a commissioner meeting last year. File photo

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which they did — McMahan and Deitz retained their seats, and political newcomer Gayle Woody ousted Elders.

“I know we all recognize where we’re at right now is where we don’t want to stay with oversight of DSS and the Health Department as the county commission board being the oversight board,” McMahan said Jan. 15.

“Something I felt very strongly about is moving us back to where we used to be with the two independent boards.”

— Brian McMahan, Jackson commission chairman

Deitz Family Band to perform in Sylva First United Methodist Church Sylva’s Open Door Meal & Sing will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 30, in the church’s Christian Life Center. The community is invited to enjoy a delicious meal which will be prepared by church members, musical entertainment, and fellowship.

The Joe Deitz Family Band will provide the entertainment. This group is well known throughout the region for their gospel and bluegrass music. A brief devotional will be led prior to the meal.

The Open Door and Sing event is held on the fifth Wednesday in those months which have one. All are welcome and invited to attend.

First United Methodist Church, Sylva is located at 77 Jackson Street in downtown Sylva. For more information, call 828.586.2358.

WCU chancellor search narrowed The committee leading the national search for the next chancellor of Western Carolina University has narrowed the pool of candidates

Planning board to consider Plott Creek project Developers will again present a master site plan for the proposed 200-unit Plott Creek apartment complex project to the Town of Waynesville Planning Board at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 29, in the Waynesville Town Hall, located at 9 South Main Street in downtown Waynesville.

Plans for what’s being called the Palisades at Plott Creek had already been presented to the board, but due to a legal technicality, the town opted to start over from the beginning.

Tuesday’s proceedings will be a quasi-judicial hearing, which is open to the public.

For more information on the meeting, call the Waynesville Planning Department at 828.452.2004, or visit www.WaynesvilleNC.gov.

Smoky Mountain News

“I agree,” said Woody. “I think that’s an important issue. Thank you.”

McMahan asked county staff to start looking into what the process would be to bring the issue up again — what sorts of ordinances might have to be enacted, when public hearings may be required and related issues.

The two Republican commissioners in attendance, Mau and Luker, did not say anything during the discussion. However, over the past year they’ve maintained their support for a consolidated department — after the August vote to unconsolidated the departments and place commissioners as the governing board, Mau hinted that he saw that structure as a temporary solution, saying that “for now it’s wait and see how this will work, and we’ll move on from there.”

The Federal Shut-Down is, or soon will be, affecting federal workers, federal and local food assistance deliveries, food-insecure citizens, and many more.

The Community Table is soon expecting to have an overwhelming need of food and needs help to ensure no one in Jackson County goes to bed hungry. Jackson County Democrat Party is kicking off a Federal Shut-Down Food Drive to assist the Community Table feed our neighbors. The JCDP is asking for a donation of food or money to subsidize this need. Pasta, canned or fresh food — especially fruits and vegetables, baby food and kid healthy snacks are needed. Check out communitytable.org. Money can also buy what they need (checks to be made out to “Community Table”, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization).

Drop off points include: Community Table, 23 Central Street; Jackson County Democrat Party Headquarters, 500 Mill Street, Sylva and the Democratic Women of Jackson County’s Chili Dinner at the Webster Family Resource Center, 1528 Webster Road, Webster.

down to 10 contenders who will be invited to participate in off-campus interviews set for Thursday, Jan. 31, through Saturday, Feb. 2.

The committee, working with the Buffkin Baker executive recruitment firm and Lynn Duffy, senior associate vice president for leadership and talent development for the University of North Carolina System, met for nearly four hours Monday, Jan. 14, at the Ramsey Regional Activity Center to evaluate the current candidate pool.

In addition to discussing individual candidates and qualifications — discussion that occurred in closed session in accordance with the state’s open meetings laws, which permit public bodies to go into closed session to consider the qualifications of prospective public officers or employees — the committee has scheduled three days of off-campus, face-to-face interviews with the 10 candidates.

Following the off-campus interviews, the committee will narrow the field to a smaller number of candidates to bring to campus for visits in February with selected students, faculty, staff, administrators, alumni and community members.

Participants in those sessions will be required to sign nondisclosure agreements to protect the confidentiality of the candidates. Dates and times for those sessions will be scheduled after the airport interviews.

The WCU search committee is working toward the goal of having a new chancellor named by the end of the current academic year.

For more information, visit the website chancellorsearch.wcu.edu.

January 23-29, 2019

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ith the one-year anniversary of Jackson County’s decision to consolidate its health and social services departments looming, commissioners are now talking about returning to the way things were before 2018.

“Something I felt very strongly about is moving us back to where we used to be with the two independent boards,” said Chairman Brian McMahan during a Jan. 15 work session.

The vote to consolidate happened on Jan. 29, 2018, after a public hearing that drew 11 speakers who were unanimously opposed to the idea. At the time, the board had a 3-2 Republican majority — Republican commissioners Ron Mau, Mickey Luker and Charles Elders supported consolidation, saying that it would streamline oversight of the departments and allow for improved service delivery and monetary savings.

Democrats McMahan and Boyce Deitz, however, had consistently opposed the proposal, saying that the improved service delivery and savings the Republicans spoke of were unlikely to occur and that the whole thing was essentially a case of trying to fix what was never broken.

The new board that was appointed to oversee the consolidated department also had issues with the move, and when it voted in August to delay hiring a new director until after the November elections, the Republican majority voted to abolish the consolidated board, separate the departments once more and place commissioners as the new governing body.

The issue was a prominent feature of the 2018 election season, with Democrats pledging that they would reinstate the separate departments with their independent boards if they gained a majority,

Federal Shut-Down Food Drive

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Jackson to re-examine health, DSS organization

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Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

The inherent flaw of a rush to judgment

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Are we acting Christ-like?

To the Editor: The other night I dreamed I talked with Jesus. That’s right! Jesus! Jesus Christ! The same Jesus that evangelicals claim to worship.

I said, Jesus, the book of Matthew (KJV), Chapter 14, verse 19 reads — “And he commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.” Later in verse 21 he said — “And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.”

Jesus smiled at me. I said, “Jesus, had you made any eligibility determination before you fed those people? Were there some who were

People rendered their verdicts. Apologies for the boys’ behavior began to trickle out, one from the mayor of Covington, Kentucky, where the school is located. Another one from a spokesperson from the school itself. The more generous among the commentators fretted over the boys’ future. The less generous said they deserved whatever public censure was coming their way, “reaping the whirlwind” of their odious, sub-human behavior.

Photos were posted comparing the boys to photos of whites pouring sugar and syrup on the heads of black people sitting at lunch counters during the Columnist Civil Rights era. Within a period of six hours, they had already been assigned their place in history, the video clip now and forever a part of the shameful iconography of racism and white privilege.

And then…

The next day, another round of video clips began to appear, longer videos of the very same incident shot from different angles. These videos included a new group of characters not seen or heard from in the first clip, several black men — later identified as Black Hebrew Israelites — trading insults and epithets with the Covington boys.

In the longer video, we see the Native American man initially at some remove from this stand-off, perhaps 50 feet away from where the boys were assembled at the base of the Lincoln Memorial, and then approaching the group while playing his drum and chanting, essentially positioning himself between the black Hebrew group and the Covington group, but facing the Covington group. It seems clear that there is considerable tension between these two groups, a context completely missing from the first video clip.

Now, we have a different context, an expanded context, MORE context. But is it really a clearer context, or just a different context? Things were no longer as they first appeared.

Did the Native American man instigate the confrontation, or escalate it? What were his motives for approaching the boys?

And how about the group of black men, adults trading insults with school boys?

Once again, millions of people seething with anger took to the internet to defend the boys, demanding that the original apologies be retracted and new apologies issued to the boys,

Chris Cox

is is the face that provoked untold millions of posts on social media, the teenage boy from Kentucky faceto-face with an aging Native American man playing a drum, the two of them surrounded by a group of shouting boys, many of them in those red “Make America Great Again” hats.

We see the boy smiling. Is that a smug smirk, or the smile of a boy who has no idea how to react to what is happening in this moment? What does it “mean,” what does it “say?” The imagery itself is so fraught that it is all but impossible to view the photograph without experiencing waves of emotion, immediate and visceral, but also deeply embedded in a painful and resonant history.

Then came a video clip, providing a more damning context. We see the boys in a frenzy now, dozens of them, jumping around, mugging for the camera, some taunting the Native American with tomahawk gestures, some mocking him with exaggerated versions of a chant, many of them looking to each other for validation of their behavior and permission to push it a bit further, as boys will when each is trying to impress his peers. It’s a frenetic scene, bordering on mob behavior, volatile and potentially dangerous, despite the boys’ ages.

But the boy at the center is motionless, implacable, just smiling as the older man pounds away on his drum, just inches away. This goes on for several minutes. It appears that this Native American elder in full regalia has been surrounded by a bunch of foolish young men in their Trump regalia. It appears that they are harassing him, the many against the one.

It is an infuriating clip, and millions of people across the country were, in fact, infuriated when they saw it. Within a few hours, the clip had gone viral and there was a tsunami of outrage sweeping across the internet. Firsts the posts, then the memes, then the commentary, eviscerating the boys, their parents, their teachers, the private Catholic school they attend, and the entire “culture of Trump.” Just like that, the boys were cast as the villains, the embodiment of everything that is wrong with this country — racist, entitled, brazen, mindless, you name it.

By contrast, the Native American man remained stoic, continuing to beat his drum and chant, not yielding his place but neither displaying any signs of anger or aggression. He was cast as dignified, resolute, and courageous. Within hours, there were memes all over social media with his name and photograph, some providing background information on his life.

LETTERS just taking advantage of your generosity like the migrants at the United States/Mexico border are today?”

Jesus looked at me intently and said firmly, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” Then He walked away. I woke up wondering if I have been merciful enough with my fellow human beings.

Dave Waldrop Webster

Rep. Meadows stands for national security To the Editor: “Government shutdown is not really about a wall.” Correct. It is the Democrat “resist, resist, resist” philosophy. “... functioning gov-

their parents, their teachers, and the school.

Just like that, all of the actors on the stage were instantly recast. Now the boys were victims, rather than villains. We were informed that they should be applauded for their “restraint.” Here at long last was definitive proof that the media is ALWAYS out to get anyone on the right. The whole thing was rigged from the get-go to make the boys look bad.

They were set-up.

Conspiracy theories were launched. The Native American man — a Vietnam veteran — was now cast as the villain, a phony with a history of starting trouble. Anyone who believed what they saw yesterday in the shorter clip was revealed as a fool, a snowflake, a sheep being led to slaughter by the media, which is controlled by the Deep State and a shadowy pack of globalists. George Soros had surely arranged the entire thing.

This is only a small sample of the comments I read on social media.

So what is the truth in any of this?

One day soon — and then for years to come — these videos will be shown in college classes as examples of how easy it is to form narratives and accept “evidence” based on video footage that seems clear, when it is anything but. The video clips — both of them — are the video equivalent of a Rorschach test. We watched and saw what we were inclined to see, making assumptions based on what we were already inclined to believe about the different people involved, willing to settle for a photograph, 45 seconds of footage, or five minutes of footage, to draw ironclad conclusions.

The more you watch the footage, the more ambiguous it becomes, at least in terms of how these events unfolded, and why. The news was not fake. It was not staged. It was just more complicated than it seemed. We may live in an age of instant news and immediate access to it, but that doesn’t mean that there should also be a rush to draw conclusions. Nor does it mean that eventually, in the search for truth, that conclusions cannot and should not be drawn. The truth is out there.

For example, someone found yet more footage of Covington Catholic High students, this from a basketball game in 2012 in which several of the school’s students were dressed in blackface. There is a photograph of them taunting a black player attempting an inbounds pass. What additional footage may eventually appear that would cast that clip and that photo in a different light?

(Chris Cox is a teacher and writer. jchriscox@live.com)

ernments require negotiations …” Also correct. Speaker Nancy Pelosi should be negotiating instead of taking a luxurious vacation in Puerto Rico or a seven-day junket.

Congressman Mark Meadows doesn’t favor shutdown. I hope at every opportunity he is advising President Trump that border security is absolutely necessary for this country as we know it to survive.

I hope Congressman Meadows is reminding President Trump that President Reagan made the mistake of taking the word of Democrats who promised a wall in exchange for a onetime amnesty but reneged and are now asking for another amnesty (DACA).

In 2009, Sen. Chuck Schumer said strong border security was necessary. He denies that. Watch One America News network for the

truth. Congressman Meadows doesn’t favor the shutdown but he puts our country ahead of illegal immigrants. Schumer and Pelosi put illegal immigrants ahead of our country and 800,000 unpaid workers due to Democrat inaction.

Our national defense is the President’s

foremost duty, to which border security is key. I urge Congressman Meadows and President Trump to stay the course to achieve a bipartisan agreement ending shutdown.

Ted Carr Bethel

Isaac Herrin

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I do fully understand that only one-third of illegal immigration occurs from folks traveling across the border. I understand that the majority of illegal immigration comes from overstayed visas. But the difference is staggering between the two when you consider the amount of crimes and the classification of crimes committed by those who make no attempt to follow our immigration procedure through visas or through citizenship.

Rationally consider this: if you get a call that your child has been doing drugs after school, what do you do? You figure out how to make your child stop this bad habit before it continues all throughout their life.

Illegal border crossings are done by people who make no attempt to follow our laws; they typically do not attempt to apply for a visa or citizenship. Just as you want to stop your child from a habit you know will most likely continue unless prevented, we need to ensure that someone who is not abiding by our laws from day one will not continue to.

Visas are another story, where Democrats and Republicans actually agree, but they won’t admit it: since the majority of illegal immigration comes from overstayed visas, we need to ensure that who is coming into our country is someone who will contribute to our success. So we need to be stricter on visas; not necessarily taking in less, but being stricter on who we let in. And as a staunch conservative, I see no issue with allowing those with expired visas to look toward citizenship: we let them in once, why not allow them that opportunity?

These are my thoughts, rationally considering the issue considering the border wall. I do wish that both Republicans and Democrats would come to the table and talk about this rationally. I understand the opposing argument, and some are valid points. But we’re all in the same boat, hopefully rowing in the same direction. If we stop rowing, the boat will sink. If both sides cannot sit down and rationally talk about this, the country fails.

Democrats in the House are unwilling to sit down with the President to discuss border security and reopening the government.

President Trump is keeping his campaign promise. Something must be done, 800,000 Americans are close to an entire month without a paycheck. But the resolve has to come from both sides. President Trump has offered to meet, but Democrats won’t. They are to blame for this, not Donald Trump.

Isaac Herrin is second vice chairman of the 11th District Republican Party. He can be reached at isaacbherrin@gmail.com. Or on twitter @isaacbherrin.

January 23-29, 2019

K, let’s get the opposing comments out of the way: “Rationally, Trump should open the government and stop being petty,” “The last thing a Trump supporter is allowed to say is we need to be rational,” “If you think this is on the Democrats, you’re just blind.”

Now, let’s talk about this … rationally. Over the past four decades, our country has grown used to the all talk, no action politicians, where we get promised everything under the sun during Guest Columnist the campaign and then, once they get into office, nothing changes. You know it’s true. I mean think about it, candidates talk about lowering taxes, but do they really?

Even your town council members say they want to change local ordinances, but do they really?

We all know that President Trump is a polarizing figure. Whether you love or hate him, I would hope that we could all at least agree that what he is fighting for is exactly what he campaigned on. Truly, consider this: he campaigned on lowering taxes, fulfilled by the 2017 tax reform bill; he campaigned to cut regulations on businesses, which the latest fact sheet shows he has signed 67 deregulatory bills, while only signing three new regulatory bills into law. And of course, where would we be without mentioning the biggest campaign promise of them all: the (in)famous southern border wall.

If you heard President Trump’s remarks from the Oval Office, you’d know that this isn’t about our President being racist. It’s about security and safety, not only for Americans, but it actually helps immigrants as well.

“According to migrant shelters and FusionTV, four-fifths of Central-American women who make an attempt to trek across the border into America are either sexually assaulted by gang members and thugs or are sold into human trafficking. The majority of this happens in Mexico, where we cannot stop this because it isn’t our country. A wall would dramatically decrease their attempts to cross.

In the meantime, BorderFacts.com reports that 17,000 adults were arrested at the border last year with previous criminal records; this number does not include the amount who made it through our border security.”

opinion

Let’s think rationally about the government shutdown

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828.246.0350. Taproom Open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday & Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., Sunday 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Gem Bar Open Tuesday through Sunday 5 p.m. to 12 a.m. Enjoy lunch, dinner or drinks at Boojum’s Downtown Waynesville restaurant & bar. Choose from 16 taps of our fresh, delicious & ever rotating Boojum Beer plus cider, wine & craft cocktails. The taproom features seasonal pub faire including tasty burgers,

sandwiches, shareables and daily specials that pair perfectly with our beer. Cozy up inside or take in the mountain air on our back deck.”

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 hand-cut, 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.

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.

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.

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

FIREFLY TAPS & GRILL 128 N. Main St., Waynesville 828.454.5400. Simple, delicious food. A must experience in WNC. Located in down-

January 23-29, 2019

10:00AM - 6:00PM

828-246-6996 429 Hazelwood Ave Waynesville

Smoky Mountain News

Monday, Tuesday Wednesday Thursday, Friday Saturday, Sunday

7:30am-8 pm Closed 7:30am-8 pm 8 am-8 pm

WEDNESDAY 5-9 P.M.

THURSDAY 5-9 P.M.

SUNDAY 11 A.M-3 P.M.

Rib buffet, fried chicken, vegetables, and a twenty-three item salad bar!

Piano Man & Angie

Buffet Brunch

$11.95

Country Buffet

$11.95

$12.95

Whatever the Occasion, Let Us Do the Cooking!

828.926.0201 At the Maggie Valley Inn • 70 Soco Road, Maggie Valley

WAYNESVILLE’S BEST BURGERS

Meetings, Events, Parties & More It’s cold outside, but the pancakes are hot!

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

34 CHURCH ST. WAYNESVILLE 828.246.6505 18

featuring turkey and dressing

twitter.com/ChurchStDepot

facebook.com/ChurchStreetDepot

OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK ALL YEAR! 7 A.M. TO NOON

Sun.–Thurs. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Any day is a great day when it starts with Joey’s Pancakes!

4309 Soco Rd., Maggie Valley (828) 926-0212

1941 Champion Dr. • Canton 828−646−3750 895 Russ Ave. • Waynesville 828−452−5822

tasteTHE mountains town Waynesville with an atmosphere that will warm your heart and your belly! Local and regional beers on tap. Full bar, vegetarian options, kids menu, and more.

Reservations accepted. Daily specials. Live music every Saturday from 7 to 10 p.m.

Open Mon.-Sat. 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Sunday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

FROGS LEAP PUBLIC HOUSE 44 Church St., Downtown Waynesville 828.456.1930 Serving dinner 5 to 9 p.m.

Tuesday through Thursday. 5 to 9:30 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.

Reservations accepted.

HARMON’S DEN BISTRO 250 Pigeon St., Waynesville 828.456.6322. Harmon’s Den is located in the Fangmeyer Theater at HART. Open 5:309 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday (Bistro closes at 7:30 p.m. on nights when there is a show in the Fangmeyer Theater) with Sunday brunch at 11 a.m. that includes breakfast and lunch items. Harmon’s Den offers a complete menu with cocktails, wine list, and area beers on tap. Enjoy casual dining with the guarantee of making it to the performance in time, then rub shoulders with the cast afterward with post-show food and beverage service. Reservations recommended. www.harmonsden.harttheatre.org

JOEY’S PANCAKE HOUSE 4309 Soco Rd Maggie Valley.

828.926.0212. Open seven days a week! 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. Joey’s is a family-friendly restaurant that has been serving breakfast to locals and visitors of Western North Carolina for decades. Featuring a large variety of tempting pancakes, golden waffles, country style cured ham and seasonal specials spiked with flavor, Joey’s is sure to please all appetites. Join us for what has become a tradition in these parts, breakfast at Joey’s.

Located riverside at Bearwaters Brewing, enjoy daily specials, sandwiches, wings, fish and chips, flatbreads, soups, salads, and more. Be sure to save room for a slice of the delicious house made cake. Relaxing inside/outside dining and spacious gathering areas for large groups.

KANINI’S 1196 N. Main St., Waynesville.

828.452.5187. Lunch Monday-Saturday from 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., eat in or carry out. Closed Sunday. A made-from-scratch kitchen using fresh ingredients and supporting the local food and local farm-to-table program. Offering a variety of meals to go from frozen meals to be stored and cooked later to “Dinners to Go” that are made fresh and ready to enjoyed that day. We also specialize in catering any event from from corporate lunches to weddings. Menus created to fit your special event. kaninis.com

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 deliver after 4 p.m. daily to all of Maggie Valley, J-Creek area, and Lake Junaluska.

Monday through Wednesday: 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Thursday: 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. country buffet and salad bar from 5 to 9 p.m. $11.95 with Steve Whiddon on piano.

Friday and Saturday: 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday 11:30 to 8 p.m. 11:30 to 3 p.m. family style, fried chicken, ham, fried fish, salad bar, along with all the fixings, $11.95.

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

828.586.3555. Open Monday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. with Sunday Brunch from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Handtossed pizza, house-ground burgers, steak sandwiches & fresh salmon all from scratch.

Casual family friendly atmosphere. Craft beer and interesting wine. Free movies Thursday through Saturday. Visit madbatterfoodfilm.com for this week’s shows & events.

SAGEBRUSH STEAKHOUSE 1941 Champion Drive, Canton 828.646.3750 895 Russ Ave., Waynesville 828.452.5822. Sunday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Carry out available.

Sagebrush features hand carved steaks, chicken and award winning BBQ ribs. We have fresh salads, seasonal vegetables and scrumptious deserts. Extensive selection of local craft beers and a full bar. Catering special events is one of our specialties.

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.

PIGEON RIVER GRILLE 101 Park St., Canton.

828.492.1422. Open Tuesday through Thursday 3 to 8 p.m.; Friday-Saturday noon to 9 p.m.; Sunday noon to 6 p.m. Southerninspired restaurant serving simply prepared, fresh food sourced from top purveyors.

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.

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.

FIRST BIRTHDAY!

Zach Dupont January 26 7pm

3 E JACKSON ST. • SYLVA, NC

www.CityLightsCafe.com

We’re giving YOU the gift!

Friday/Saturday 11 a.m.-10 p.m.

Closed Tuesday

Sunday 12-9 p.m.

Sandwiches • Burgers • Wraps 32 Felmet Street (828) 246-0927

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!

Breakfast served all day!

NEW WINTER HOURS CALL FOR MORE INFORMATION 2804 SOCO RD. • MAGGIE VALLEY 828.926.0425 • Facebook.com/carversmvr Instagram- @carvers_mvr

Real New Yorkers.

Real Italians. Real Pizza.

Dine-In ~ Take Out ~ Delivery

An Authentic Italian Pizzeria & Restaurant from New York to the Blue Ridge.

Just to serve you!

Come celebrate with us on

FRIDAY, JANUARY 25 Spin our Firefly wheel to see what gift you receive.

243 Paragon Parkway | Clyde

828-476-5058

Discounts • Firefly gifts • Free stuff • Cake!

172 Sylva Plaza | Sylva

LIVE MUSIC BY BRYCE DENTON 7 to 9 P.M.

All location hours: Mon-Sat 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Closed Sundays

Smoky Mountain News

It’s our

Mon/Wed/Thurs 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

January 23-29, 2019

HAZELWOOD FARMACY & SODA FOUNTAIN 429 Hazelwood Avenue, Waynesville.

828.246.6996. Open six days a week, closed Wednesday. 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday; 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday. Breakfast until noon, old-fashioned luncheonette and diner comfort food. Historic full service soda fountain.

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.

828-492-0641 Present this coupon and recieve:

Open Sunday-Thursday 11:30 to 8 • Friday and Saturday 11:30 to 9 • Closed Wednesday

828.454.5400 | 128 N. Main | Downtown Waynesville | FireflyTapsAndGrill.com

10%

OFF ENTIRE MEAL

19

20

A&E

Smoky Mountain News

What lies beyond the horizon

Porch 40 kicks off ‘Pour 40’ tour, new album

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF WRITER oming into seven years together, the members of Porch 40 continue to hold steady and elevate each other’s craft, with a constant motto of “all for one, one for all” echoing loudly through the band’s purpose, passion and performance.

Last November, the Cullowhee-based quintet rolled down to New Orleans, Louisiana.

They headed into the studio of musician Robert Mercurio, bassist for legendary funk/rock act Galactic, whose personal collaboration and professional influence on Porch 40 is not only evident, but clearly bountiful.

What has resulted is Porch 40’s soon-to-be released sophomore album, “Radio Edit.” And when you place the melodies against the likes of Elvis Costello, Dave Matthews Band and Maroon 5, you can precisely see and hear the similar sonic blueprints Porch 40 is working with. The record itself runs right up to the line of being slick, but without ever coming across as too polished, a perhaps subconscious sentiment Porch 40 reverberates in its live shows where the tone aims to be as inclusive and jovial as possible.

C

after three songs. It wasn’t much of a show, but I was hooked. I loved playing with other skilled musicians, and I just wanted more.

SMN: With the new album, tell me about that recording process, what you experienced and took away from working with Robert, living and being in New Orleans?

CM: We got to record in a studio called The Parlor, which was nothing but high-quality gear and experienced staff. It was a blast and an honor half the time, and just kind of surreal the other half. There would be days when I’d walk in and say hey to Robert and the members of Galactic, while other big-time NOLA musicians would be hanging out in the studio.

“We’ve never been afraid to try new genres, new sounds and new song structures. We love what we do, and we’re not tired of experimenting with it.”

— Carter McDevitt, bass, Porch 40

Porch 40 is Brett Wilson, (from left) Drew Duncan, Scott Burr, Mitchell Metz and Carter McDevitt.

“Radio Edit” is a completely professional release, one which will ultimately push the Jackson County group into the next level of what it takes to break into the national touring scene.

It’s also the culmination of plain ole hard work, stubborn determination and a belief that the talent within is worth radiating outward — something proven onstage nightly by one of the most promising and talented bands to ever spill out of Western North Carolina.

Smoky Mountain News: How much has the original intent of Porch 40 changed or stayed the same since the inception of the group?

Carter McDevitt (bass): The original intent is pretty much the same since we started. We’ve always strived to be a mixed bag stylistically,

and we’ve just been getting more and more comfortable pushing ourselves outside our comfort zone. We’ve never been afraid to try new genres, new sounds and new song structures. We love what we do, and we’re not tired of experimenting with it.

SMN: What was that first jam together like? And what do you remember seeing and feeling during that first show?

CM: I joined on March 20, 2012, the same week as our first show. We lived in the same dorm at Western Carolina University. Our first jam was in the same house as our first show. The house was just called “The Farmhouse.” It was right next to campus and a notorious party house. To be honest, it was a great place to have a first show. I don’t remember much from it because we were so loud the police shut us down

As far as the idea of working with a producer for the first time through, as artists we were a little concerned. I feel like every artist who has a distinct vision for his or her art can have misgivings when other people are involved in the creative process or when they suggest changing things. Which is completely understandable, and we felt kind of the same way before we went down to NOLA and actually started working with Robert.

It’s easy to convince yourself that the producer is out to get you, doesn’t respect you, or just doesn’t care. It’s similarly easy to get in your own head about that kind of thing, and we definitely did. Then we got down to NOLA to actually work and record with Robert, and of course he turned out to be friendly, smart, respectful, very present and wound up being exactly what we needed.

Being around musicians at the level of Galactic, or anyone who has made it further than you have, can really give you something to strive for — in the way you play, the way you write, the way you represent yourself and even in just the way you act. There were lessons learned for what to do and what not to do every single day, and it really made us want this even more than we already did.

Want to go?

Porch 40 will launch its “Pour 40” tour with a special performance at 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 1, at The Gem, the downstairs taproom at Boojum Brewing in Waynesville. The show will be sponsored by The Smoky Mountain News. Admission is $5 at the door.

Other “Pour 40” dates include 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2, at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in Mills River (free); 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8, at Highland Brewing in Asheville (free); 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9, at Lazy Hiker Brewing in Franklin (free); 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22, at Bold Rock Cidery in Mills River (free); 9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23, at the Innovation Station (Innovation Brewing) in Dillsboro ($5 at the door); and alongside The Colby Deitz Band at 9 p.m. Saturday, March 9, at Pisgah Brewing in Black Mountain ($7 advance/$10 day of show). www.porch40.com.

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

The backroads of Plattsburgh, New York. Garret K. Woodward

Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline

Bluegrass act Balsam Range will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

Many people take yoga teacher training not because they want to teach, but to deepen their own yoga practice. YTT, as it's commonly called, offers a in-depth training into anatomy + physiology, Yoga philosophy & lifestyle, Ayurveda, kinesiology, and of course: many different flavors of yoga!

Why Pick WYC? Our program is local, affordable and is accessible for all ages, body types and levels of experience. For more details - and/or to reserve your spot in our upcoming YTT, contact us: hello@waynesvilleyogacenter.com 828.246.6570

274 S. MAIN ST. WAYNESVILLE 828.246.6570

CASUAL FINE DINING WITH LIVE MUSIC COVERED PATIO LATE NIGHT MENU

KITCHEN 743 TUESDAY THRU SUNDAY FROM 5PM UNTIL...

SATURDAY & SUNDAY BRUNCH FROM 10AM TO 2PM

Smoky Mountain News

It’s like getting hit in the face with a frying pan.

Stepping out of my parents’ Vermont singer-songwriter Zack DuPont (of The farmhouse in Upstate New DuPont Brothers) will perform at 7 p.m.

York this past week, the outside Saturday, Jan. 26, at City Lights Cafe in Sylva; temperature was 5 below zero and 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27, at the Innovation with a wind chill hovering Station in Dillsboro. around minus 20 or so. I had Folkmoot will host a Scottish Friendship Dinner three layers of shirts on with and presentation from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. running tights and other win25, at the Folkmoot Friendship Center, located ter attire. in the Historic Hazelwood School at 112 Virginia Jogging down the backroads Avenue in Waynesville. of my native North Country, the sun soon fell behind the The Haywood Arts Regional Theatre will kick off distant tree lines surrounding its annual “Winter Studio Season” with the vast cornfields of the silent, Sarah Ruhl comedy “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” frozen landscape. Some 1,100 at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25-26 and at 2 p.m. Jan. 27 miles from my current home in in Waynesville.

Western North Carolina. The sky turned from yellow to Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host Scott Low orange to red. My mind drifted (Americana/indie) at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26. into deep reflection of what was, what is, and what hopefulting on my kitchen table back in ly will come to pass.

Waynesville, gathering dust until another When I last ran these roads, I was in the occasion demands its presence. midst of a breakup that left me in a physical I came back to Clinton County, New and emotional fog that only seemed to disYork, to surprise my mother for her 70th appear and transition into much-needed birthday. It also happens to (usually) be the clarity somewhere around Thanksgiving. It coldest time of year in the Champlain Valley. was a hot August sun then. Shorts and a Tshirt. My thoughts were cluttered and many, Blasting out of Haywood County just about a week ago, I shot up Interstate 81 along the mostly about finding some sort of footing in spine of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the question we all find ourselves asking Virginia into the endless farmland of central from time to time — what now?

Pennsylvania and New York.

And here we are, heading towards the A lot of thinking was done on that trek end of the first month of 2019. New Year’s back north. My heart has seemingly found Eve already seems like some long, forgotten its balance again, regaining its natural memory. A leftover half-bottle of whiskey rhythm and beat. My head isn’t so much in bought in jovial haste on Dec. 31 is still sit-

Yes! It's true: Waynesville Yoga Center is offering a 200 hour yoga teacher training program, starting in March. We're thrilled - and honored - to provide a program for those who want to deepen their yoga practice, whether to teach others, or simply understand yoga better.

January 23-29, 2019

HOT PICKS 1 2 3 4 5

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TRAINING!!

arts & entertainment

This must be the place

the clouds as it is once again determined to make the best of any situation, and to push ahead into the possibilities of tomorrow — a place where all our dreams lie as we work hard today towards the upcoming, unknown sunrise.

Pulling into my parents’ driveway somewhere around 9 p.m. Thursday, my mother was shocked to see me walk through the door. And though she figured that was probably the only big surprise of her 70th trip around the sun, she was beside herself when she came home Saturday afternoon to a house full of friends and family members all shouting, “Happy birthday, Kathy.”

Most of the faces at the party I myself hadn’t seen in sometime, many for several years. It isn’t until you cross paths and catch up with those beloved and familiar folks, that you finally take inventory of how long you’ve really been gone from home — in body and in mind.

For me, I’m coming into the seventh year of the “Western North Carolina experiment.”

Back in 2012, I had nothing to my name and nowhere to go, really. And Waynesville become my home when I was offered fulltime employment from this newspaper. A gig too-good-to-be-true, and yet here I am, still wondering (with my deep, ancestral Celtic skepticism) whether this dream of being a writer is just that — a dream.

Following my mom’s party, I headed into town (Plattsburgh) for some shenanigans with one of my best friends, a childhood crony who grew up just down the street from me. Bouncing between hundred-year-old parlors and dive bars, we caught up on what’s new and regaled each other with tales of old times, moments still vivid in the minds of those who never forgot.

Come morning, I found myself at the local diner around the corner. I sat down on the same stool I resided upon each and every morning when I called Plattsburgh home. I was in my early 20s, sitting there for hours, just writing in journals or reading books, sipping endless cups of coffee. A struggling writer, I couldn’t — and still can’t — walk away from something that means too much to me, a passion on levels I’m only now making sense of.

At 33, soon to be 34, I find the only times I come home are either for a milestone birthday, a wedding or a funeral. Most of the big birthdays have gone by in my family, so have most of the weddings in my friend circles (some of which now divorced).

And the inevitable circle of life results in the passing of loved ones, near and far.

Which is why I aim to always take the time to jump in my truck and head for the North Country whenever an opportunity arises to spend time with those who know you the best and love you the most.

And as I’m writing this column, it’s last Tuesday morning. Back down in Western North Carolina, my co-workers are “putting the paper to bed,” as we say. Up in New York, as my time winds down before my return back to those ancient and sacred mountains of Southern Appalachia, I can only be in utter awe and gratitude to the path I continue to wander down.

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

743 HAYWOOD RD • WEST ASHEVILLE

ISISASHEVILLE.COM 828.575.2737

21

On the beat arts & entertainment

Balsam Range in Macon

The Oak Ridge Boys.

Oak Ridge Boys return to Franklin

_______

January 23-29, 2019

Country legends The Oak Ridge Boys will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

The group is one of the most distinctive and recognizable sounds in the music industry. The four-part harmonies and upbeat songs of The Oak Ridge Boys have spawned dozens of country hits and a number one

pop smash, earned them Grammy, Dove, CMA, and ACM awards and garnered a host of other industry and fan accolades.

The string of hits includes the the number one hit “Elvira,” as well as “Bobbie Sue,” “Dream On,” “Thank God For Kids,” “American Made,” “I Guess It Never Hurts To Hurt Sometimes,” “Fancy Free,” “Gonna Take A Lot Of River,” and many others.

Tickets start at $32 per person. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, visit www.greatmountainmusic.com or call 866.273.4615.

w] h_o_ _ _ [___ Kickoff S

Balsam Range.

Legendary bluegrass act Balsam Range will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

The band is an ensemble of multi-talented musicians who take a creative blend of bluegrass, folk, and gospel music and provide an exciting and inspiring concert experience.

Balsam Range is a group of five fantastic musicians and singers from Haywood County. They have many accolades to their claim, including over a dozen International Bluegrass Music Association awards.

Most recently, they were named the 2018 IBMA “Entertainer of the Year” for the second time. The group has had multiple national number one hits including, “Blue Collar Dreams,” “The Girl Who Invented The Wheel” and “Trains I Missed.”

Members of Balsam Range are Buddy Melton, Tim Surrett, Marc Pruett, Caleb Smith, and Darren Nicholson.

Melton was named IBMA’s “Male

Vocalist of the Year” in 2014 and 2018.

Surrett has performed with Ralph Stanley, Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, and many other notable artists. He has a place in the Southern Gospel Hall of Fame and won the IBMA “Mentor Award” for his inspiration and work with young artists. In 2018, Surrett was named IBMA “Bass Player of the Year.”

Pruett is a Grammy-winning banjo picker who played on four albums with Ricky Skaggs. He earned an honorary doctorate from Western Carolina University in 2010 for his contributions to bluegrass music.

Smith has also won “Male Vocalist of the Year” and “Guitar Player of the Year” awards. He is an accomplished luthier, building Smith Custom Guitars for clients such as Zac Brown. Nicholson has toured with many artists and is Grammy award nominee. He has also won multiple IBMA awards.

Tickets start at just $18 each and priority seating is available. To purchase tickets, visit www.GreatMountainMusic.com or call 866.273.4615.

Smoky Mountain News

Minick releases new album

22

WHO:

Porch 40

(hosted by The Smoky Mountain News)

WHAT: "Pour 40 Tour" WHERE: The Gem Taproom at Boojum Brewing in Waynesville WHEN: 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 1 ADMISSION: $5 at the door EMCEE: Garret K. Woodward LINK: For more information on other "Pour 40 Tour" dates, go to www.porch40.com

Smoky Mountai n News will host the first sh ow of the Pour 40 Tour at Booj um Brewing.

The popular band Porch 40 will be doing seve ral shows through February at local breweries in cele bration of all the times these spots have hosted them over the years

Longtime Western North Carolina singersongwriter Chris Minick will host a performance for his new album “A Place To Go” from 2 to 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2, at The Jeweler’s Workbench in Waynesville.

Enjoy a sip of wine and some snacks and get one of his new albums to show your support for one of Haywood County’s most beloved musicians.

Alternate snow date is Saturday, Feb. 9. You can go to chrisminick.hearnow.com to download his music.

@SmokyMtnNews

On the beat

• Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva) will host John Emil (singer-songwriter) 8 p.m. Jan. 25. All shows are free and open to the public. www.balsamfallsbrewing.com.

• Blue Ridge Beer Hub (Waynesville) will host an acoustic jam with Main St. NoTones from 6 to 9 p.m. Jan. 24 and 31. Free and open to the public. www.blueridgebeerhub.com.

• Boojum Brewing Company (Waynesville) will host a bluegrass open mic every Wednesday, an all-genres open mic every Thursday, Karaoke Night 6 p.m. Jan. 26 and Porch 40 (jam/rock) 9 p.m. Feb. 1 ($5 cover). All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.boojumbrewing.com.

ALSO:

GILES CHEMICAL Acclaimed Vermont singer-songwriter Zack DuPont (of The DuPont Brothers) will perform a series of dates around the region.

DuPont will hit the stage at 9 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 25, at Isis Music Hall in West Asheville ($10 admission); 7 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 26, at City Lights Cafe in Sylva (free); and 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27, at the Innovation Station in Dillsboro (free).

DuPont’s latest solo album, “Bootlegs Vol. 1,” is now available for purchase and streaming at zackdupont.bandcamp.com.

Jan. 30 and Grayson Foster w/Zach Cannella (pop/rock) 7 p.m. Jan. 30. www.isisasheville.com.

• The Classic Wineseller (Waynesville) will host live music on Fridays and Saturdays. All shows are free and begin at 7:15 p.m.

828.452.6000 or www.classicwineseller.com.

• Mad Anthony’s Taproom & Restaurant (Waynesville) will host Doyle & Merrell (variety) Jan. 26. All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m.

• Harmon’s Den Bistro at HART (Waynesville) will host karaoke and an open mic at 8 p.m. on Saturdays. All are welcome. www.harttheatre.org.

• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host the “Stone Soup” open mic night every Tuesday. All shows are free and begin at 7 p.m. www.mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.

• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will have an Open Mic night Jan. 23 and 30, and a jazz night with the Kittle/Collings Duo Jan. 24 and 31. All events are free and begin at 8 p.m. www.innovation-brewing.com.

• Pub 319 (Waynesville) will host an open mic night from 8 to 11 p.m. every Wednesday.

Free and open to the public. www.pub319socialhouse.com.

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• 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 Saturdays, and a Trivia w/Kelsey Jo 8 p.m. Thursdays.

• Satulah Mountain Brewing (Highlands) will host “Hoppy Hour” and an open mic at 6 p.m. on Thursdays and live music on Friday evenings. 828.482.9794 or www.satulahmountainbrewing.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 an “Open Mic Night” on Mondays, karaoke on Thursdays, Chelsea Lovitt & The Boys Jan. 25 and Whiskey River Band Jan. 26. All events at 10 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.456.4750.

SATU T RDAYY, FEBRUARY 23 6:30PM AT LAUREL RIDDGE COUNTRY CLUB

Smoky Mountain News

• Isis Music Hall (West Asheville) will host Morgan Wade & Ashley Heath (Americana/alt-country) 7 p.m. Jan. 23, Anna Grace Beatty & Heather Taylor (Americana/folk) 7 p.m. Jan. 24, “Italian Night” with Mike Guggino & Barrett Smith (world) 8:30 p.m. Jan. 24, Bumper Jacksons (Americana/swing) 7 p.m. Jan. 25, Zack DuPont (singer-songwriter) 9 p.m. Jan. 25, Chatham Rabbits (Americana/bluegrass) 7 p.m. Jan. 26, Blue Yonder & Tony Creasman (Americana/country) 6 p.m. Jan. 27, Greenville Jazz Collective Big Band (jazz) 7:30 p.m. Jan. 27, Tuesday Bluegrass Sessions w/Powder Keg 8:30 p.m. Jan. 29, Amy McCarley (singer-songwriter) 8:30 p.m.

102 COMMERCE ST., WAYNESVILLE, NC

January 23-29, 2019

• City Lights Cafe (Sylva) will host Zack DuPont (singer-songwriter) Jan. 26 and Nikki Forbes Feb. 2. All shows are free and begin at 7 p.m. www.citylightscafe.com or 828.587.2233.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host an open mic night at 6:30 p.m. every Thursday, Nick Prestia (singer-songwriter) Jan. 25, “Battle of the Beans” chili cook-off with Sol Rhythms 6 p.m. Jan. 26, Frog & Owl (acoustic) Feb. 1 and Natty Love Joys Feb. 2.

All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host Scott Low (Americana/indie) Jan. 26 and Mike Yow (singer-songwriter) Feb. 2. All events are free and begin at 7 p.m. www.innovation-brewing.com.

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DuPont rolls through WNC

arts & entertainment

• Andrews Brewing Company (Andrews) will host the “Lounge Series” at its Calaboose location with Bill Vespasian (singer-songwriter) Jan. 25 and Tom Edwards (singersongwriter) Jan. 26. All shows are free and begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.andrewsbrewing.com.

TO PURCHASE TICKETS: CALL C 828-456-2400, STOP BY HAYW Y OOD O COUNTY SCHOOLS CENTRAL OFFICE (1230 N. MAIN STREET WAAYYNESVILLE), OR VISIT HCSF.HA . YW Y OOD.K12.NC.US 23

arts & entertainment

On the wall ‘Cockatiel’ by Nathan Perry.

work in the gallery.

Artists included in this exhibit: Nancy Blevins, Barbara Brook, Grace Cathey, Melba Cooper, Wendelyn Cordwell, Velda Davis, Mary Decker, Helen Geltman, Nina Howard, Jo Ridge Kelley, Gregg Livengood, Susan Livengood, Francoise Lynch, Betsy Meyer, Betina Morgan, Melissa Moss, Cayce Moyer, Nathan Perry, Sue Reynolds, Denise Seay, Jennifer Sharkey, Maureen Simon, Melissa Enloe Walter, Christina Weaver, Rod Whyte, Haidee Wilson, Annelle Woggon and Russell Wyatt. www.haywoodarts.org.

Cherokee art showcase at WCU

New Franklin art exhibit HCAC ‘Juried Artist Exhibit’

Smoky Mountain News

January 23-29, 2019

The Haywood County Arts Council (HCAC) in Waynesville will be kicking off the new year with a variety packed show filled with the original art of 28 local artists.

The “2019 Juried Artist Exhibit” will run through Feb. 23. Each of the exhibiting artists went through an extensive jury process and are delighted to have their

24

There will be a showcase for painter Milly Honeycutt through the end of January at the Macon County Public Library.

“I never did any kind of art when I was in school other than what they call shop class. We did metal, wood, leather and ceramics,” Honeycutt said. “Later in life, I did China painting, China dolls, acrylic and tole paintings. When I moved here, I was in my 70s and a friend talked me into taking an oil class at the art gallery downtown with teacher Jon Houglum. I’ve been with him about 12 years now.” www.fontanalib.org.

‘The Thunder Boys Release Game into the World’ by America Meredith.

The exhibit “Outspoken: Paintings by America Meredith” will be on display through May 3 at the Fine Art Museum Gallery B in the Bardo Arts Center at Western Carolina University.

This showcase draws particular attention to the importance of language in Meredith’s work, bringing together paintings that incorporate Cherokee syllabary, reference Cherokee oral histories, and pair found-object text with visual imagery.

The WCU Fine Art Museum is free and open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday. Free parking is available on site. www.facebook.com/americameredithart.

Waynesville, Canton Library art showcase There will several local artisans on display at the Waynesville and Canton libraries through March.

Artists at the Waynesville Library will include Patty Johnson Coulter (painter), Linda Blount (painter), Jason Woodard (painter) and Mollie Harrington-Weaver (painter). Artists at the Canton Library will include Russell Wyatt (photographer) and Ashley Calhoun (painter). www.haywoodarts.org.

New monthly documentary program The Jackson County Public Library in Sylva will be starting a monthly documentary series called “DocuWednesday.”

It will be held at 4 p.m. on the last Wednesday of each month. The movies will be shown in the beautiful movie heater in the Community Room. At the end of each movie, the staff member who selected that documentary will lead a short discussion.

If you would like to know what movie will be showing each month, please email Benjamin Woody at bwoody@fontanalib.org

to be placed on an email list. The first showing will be at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 30. They will be showing the powerful climate change documentary “Disruption.”

For more information, call 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).

Do you like Legos?

The next Lego Club meeting will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 24, at Marianna Black Library in Bryson City.

The library provides Legos and Duplos for ages 3 and up. The only thing area children need to bring is their imagination. This program provides an excellent opportunity for children to learn how to develop fine motor skills. It also develops problem-solving skills, organization, planning through construction, and improves creativity.

This month the theme will be “Musical Monsters,” which will build your teamwork skills and test your engendering ingenuity.

The Marianna Black Library is also requesting that you consider donating your gently used Legos and Duplos to the library, to help expand the Lego Club.

828.488.3030.

On the wall

The Western Carolina University Fine Art Museum at Bardo Arts Center is pleased to present the School of Art and Design Faculty Biennial Exhibition 2019, which will be on display through May 3.

Outside of the classroom, faculty members in the School of Art and Design are active artists and scholars that make significant contributions to the arts. They regularly exhibit in venues across the globe, from New York to Los Angeles to Japan and speak at major conferences in their fields.

ALSO:

• Haywood Community College (Clyde) Continuing Education Creative Arts will host “Introduction to Bladesmithing” March 1819, as well as the “Smoky Mountain Hammer-In” March 21-24. For more information about any of these classes, visit creativearts.haywood.edu or call 828.565.4240.

• 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

• 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. Keep up with them on Facebook or call 828.276.6226.

• “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.

• Free classes and open studio times are being offered at The Uptown Gallery in Franklin. Join others at a painting open studio session from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. every Tuesday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursdays.

For information on days open, hours and additional art classes and workshops, contact the gallery on 30 East Main Street at 828.349.4607.

Come Skate on Maggie’s Synthetic Ice Surface Kids Skate Free on Monday, February 11!

Ice Skating Plus Kids Activities

Family Skate for $20 on February 13!

Cost: $8 - Kids 12 and under $5 Skating times listed daily at MAGGIEVALLEYNC.GOV

What Are Cannabinoids?

Cannabinoids are a group of closely related compunds that act on cannbinoid receptors in the body, unique to cannabis (or hemp). The body creates compounds called endocannabinoids, while hemp produces phytocannabinoids, notably cannabidiol.

Cannabinoids is traditionally used for pain, sleep, and fibermyalgia.

Alzheimer’s Migraines Asthma Breast Cancer

Diabetes Crohn’s Disease

Prostate Cancer Menstrual Cancer

CBD has traditionally been used for: Anxiety/Depression Seizures Pain/Fibromyalgia Nausea/Vomiting Sleep Tremors PTSD ADHD/ADD Autism

The Endocannabinoid System is perhaps the most important physiologic systerm involved in establishing and maintaining human health. Although the endocannabinoid system affects a wide variety of biological processes, experts believe that its overall function is to regulate homeostasis.

Smoky Mountain News

• The Western Carolina University (Cullowhee) Campus Theme, the “Defining America” exhibit brings together artists with different perspectives on the concept of “America” and asks visitors to reflect on the values, definitions, and assumptions attached to this concept. The exhibition will be on view through May 3 at the Bardo Arts Center. Regular museum hours at the BAC are Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Thursdays until 7 p.m. For information, call 828.227.ARTS or visit bardoartscenter.wcu.edu.

screenings, visit www.madbatterfoodandfilm.com.

February 8-17

January 23-29, 2019

• A “Beginner Step-By-Step” painting class will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursdays at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. Cost is $25 with all supplies provided. For more information on paint dates and/or to RSVP, contact Robin Arramae at 828.400.9560 or paintnitewaynesville@gmail.com.

Maggie on Ice

arts & entertainment

WCU School of Art and Design Faculty Biennial Exhibition

The School of Art and Design Faculty Biennial Exhibition provides students and the public an opportunity to view recent work created by these distinguished faculty members whose primary research output is studio based.

Exhibiting School of Art and Design Faculty: Erin Adams, Tom Ashcraft, Heather Mae Erickson, Jon Jicha, Justin Morgan Kennedy, Kevin Kirkpatrick, Ron Laboray, Mary Anna LaFratta, Matt Liddle, Susan Alta Martin, Greg McPherson, Leigh Ann Parrish, Nathan Perry, Laura Sellers, Erin Tapley, and Richard Tichich The faculty in the WCU School of Art and Design bring to the studio and classroom a commitment to the process of innovation and skill-building as well as their range of experience as makers, collaborators, and researchers.

Collectively, the faculty have received recognition and support from Fulbright, National Endowment for the Humanities, and National Endowment for the Arts.

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

366 RUSS AVE, WAYNESVILLE | 828.452.0911

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On the stage

Folkmoot Scottish Friendship Dinner Folkmoot will host a Scottish Friendship Dinner and presentation from 6 to 8 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 25, at the Folkmoot Friendship Center, located in the Historic Hazelwood School at 112 Virginia Ave. in Waynesville.

Enjoy a traditional Scottish meal of sauteed cabbage, parsley potatoes, highland chicken with whiskey and cream sauce with shortbread cookies for dessert. Beer will be available for purchase from Bear Waters Brewing Company.

Guests will convene to the Sam Love Queen Auditorium to enjoy Scottish music and a presentation of Scottish cultural fashion with the Breacan Clann.

The Breacan Clann is a living history group at The Scottish Tartans Museum and Heritage Center, Inc. In keeping with their purpose to educate the public on the history of Highland dress, they have chosen visual medium in an engaging fashion. The represented historical dress is from the Medieval through the Jacobite period.

Demonstrations include, Highland broadsword, Scottish crafts, and cultural discussions.

Tickets are $18 for adults, $10 for students. Limited seating is available so purchase tickets in advance at 828.452.2997 or

www.folkmoot.org. Parking is available in the back of the Folkmoot building for yearround events.

Folkmoot’s year-round programming initiatives have been made possible by the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina and the Cherokee Preservation Foundation. Folkmoot is a nonprofit organization dedicated to celebrating many cultures in one community.

• Bosu’s Wine Shop in Waynesville will host an array of wine tastings and small plates from Chef Stacy’s gourmet cuisine, available at The Secret Wine Bar within the shop. Dog friendly patio and front garden open, weather permitting. 828.452.0120 or www.waynesvillewine.com.

ALSO:

• A free wine tasting will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. Jan. 26 and Feb. 2 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.

HART’s ‘Winter Studio Season’ The Haywood Arts Regional Theatre will A scene from ‘Dead kick off its annual Man’s Cell Phone.’

“Winter Studio Season” with the Sarah Ruhl comedy “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” at 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 25-26 and at 2 p.m.

Jan. 27 in Waynesville.

The premise: A woman is sitting in a café. A man is sitting at the table next to her. His cell phone rings. He doesn’t answer it. She becomes annoyed but finally realizes he’s dead.

She answers his phone.

Her life will never be the same and the audience is in for a ride down a rabbit hole that becomes more twisted with each passing scene. Ruhl is also the author of last season’s popular hit “In the Next Room.”

The current production is being directed

by HART Executive Director, Steve Lloyd and features Charles Mills, Laura Gregory, Jeff Messer, Christy Bishop, Lyn Donley and Anna Denson. The play does contain adult material so audience discretion is advised.

Harmons’ Den Bistro will be open for

January 23-29, 2019

arts & entertainment

On the table

Smoky Mountain News

‘Tragedy of King Richard the Second’

26

The Highlands Performing Arts Center will screen the National Theatre of London’s production of “The Tragedy of King Richard the Second” at 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26.

Shakespeare’s Richard II starts his four history plays about the House of Lancaster.

King Richard (who ruled from 1377-1399) is a weak monarch, indecisive and irresponsible.

With the country on the verge of crisis, nobleman Bolingbroke challenges Richard for the throne, and eventually deposes him – an act which is viewed as the origin for the War of the Roses between the Houses of York and Lancaster.

The play has recently been in the spotlight from the BBC’s series “The Hollow Crown,” where Ben Whishaw played the troubled King Richard. The Almeida’s production,

opening night only, serving soups and panini on the HART Main Stage featuring selections inspired by the show.

HART’s production has hold over/snow dates the following weekend, Jan. 25-27.

Though Studio seating is general admission, reservations are recommended as seating is limited and performances regularly sell out.

Ticket prices are $13 for adults and $7 for students. For reservations, call 828.456.6322 or visit www.harttheatre.org.

however, will be completely different from the period-costume, historically focused BBC adaptation. Director Joe Hill-Gibbins has worked with a specialist adaptor of Shakespeare to cut the original three-hour long text down to 90 minutes.

As a result, it hones in on the key struggle between Richard and the challenger Bolingbroke, in a tour-de-force of power play, back-stabbing and political maneuvering.

The production poses the question, “When the country is on the brink of disaster, who is the right person to take charge – and should we trust them?” — which feels like a very pertinent question for our modern times. The aesthetic is stripped-back and contemporary, with all the actors performing within a white box (Richard’s physical and mental “prison”), and with only one prop on stage — the Crown.

Tickets are available at www.highlandspac.org or at the door. Students are admitted free.

• There is free comedy improv class from 7 to 9 p.m. every Tuesday in Maggie Valley. No experience necessary, just come to watch or join in the fun. Improv teacher Wayne Porter studied at Sak Comedy Lab in Orlando, Florida, and performed improvisation with several groups. Join Improv WNC on Facebook or just call 828.316.8761 to RSVP for directions.

ALSO:

Books

Smoky Mountain News

27

When the fault lies in ourselves used to teach seminars in composition, history, literature, and Latin to homeschool students. One day a bright young man who later entered Brown University asked me what I thought of the Harry Potter books.

“My kids loved them,” I replied.

“You haven’t read them?”

“No.” “Mr. Minick, you teach literature and you haven’t read the most popular books of our time. You need to read Harry Potter!”

“I’ve tried to read Harry Potter,” I said.

“Several times. I apparently lack the capacity to appreciate those books.”

Writer That was as truthful an answer as I could offer my incredulous student. I didn’t care for Harry Potter. Given the massive worldwide popularity of J.K. Rowling’s fantasy novels, my indifference had more to do with my own failings than with the books.

Often we fail to distinguish between “I don’t like Harry Potter” and “The Harry Potter books stink.” In the first instance, we offer a personal take on the book, acknowledging the book is not for us. We make judgments like this one every day. My mom loved liver and onions, whereas to this day I would never dream or preparing that dish or ordering it in a restaurant. Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” Verdi’s “Rigoletto,” and Bizet’s “Carmen” are masterpieces of opera, but I’m not a fan, in part, I suspect, because of my ignorance.

But when we say “The Harry Potter books are stupid and boring,” then we are playing an entirely different ballgame. We become critics, compelled to point out what we regard as the flaws in the writing, the absurdity of the plot, the poorly developed characters.

In my classes, my students often denigrated authors like Hemingway, Fitzgerald or Annie Dillard with blanket statements of condemnation. Always I would correct them, telling them that just as I didn’t care for certain authors praised by many other critics and readers, there was a difference between disliking a particular work and assaulting it without evidence. “Hemingway sucks” demands evidence.

Sometimes I used my own literary tastes as an example. Other than certain dystopian

work, a form I usually enjoy.

And yet I can’t read him.

A few weeks ago, I tried reading Knausgaard’s My Struggle: Book Six. After a few pages, I put the book aside, found it sever-

Jeff Minick

I

novels, the short stories of Ray Bradbury and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I feel no attraction to science fiction or fantasy literature. It just doesn’t appeal to me. Obviously, many people love those genres, but I am not one of

born daughter” — intrigued me. So I gave it a go.

Well, the go has gone. Yesterday I reached the end of Part One, page 57, of Spring, and the memoir now sits like an accusation on my desk, awaiting its return to the library.

So why can’t I read Knausgaard?

He is a good writer. He has an eye for detail, he brings landscapes and characters alive with his descriptions, and he seems a wise man. In this passage from Part One, for example, Knausgaard gives his daughter, who will neither read nor understand his words for several more years, an explanation of the unconditional love both he and her mother feel for her: It may happen that you don’t want anything to do with it. It may happen that you turn away from it. And one day you will understand that it doesn’t matter, that it doesn’t change anything, that unconditional love is the only love that doesn’t bind you but sets you free.

The love that binds is something else, it is another form of love, less pure, more mixed up with the person who loves, and it has greater force, it can overshadow everything else, even destroy. Then it must be parried.

them. It’s undoubtedly the main reason Harry Potter never snagged my attention.

Which brings me to the books of Karl Ove Knausgaard.

Knausgaard is a world-renowned writer.

His six My Struggle novels, the last of which appeared in its English translation in 2018, have earned praise from critics in his native Norway, the rest of Europe, and the United States. His first work of fiction won the Norwegian Critics’ Prize, the first-ever debut novel to do so, and he has garnered other prestigious literary awards. In both his novels and non-fiction works, Knausgaard writes very much from an autobiographical frame-

al days later sitting beneath some papers on my desk, and returned it to the library.

Perhaps the length — the novel is 1160 pages long — daunted me. Perhaps it was the detailed analysis of ordinary events. Perhaps it was his prose style, which struck me as flat.

At any rate, I turned away from My Struggle.

But not from Karl Knausgaard.

The next week, I decided to try again and picked up Knausgaard’s Spring (Penguin Press, 2018, 182 pages). The size of the book was more manageable, and the theme — “the recommencement of Knausgaard’s literary project of assembling a personal encyclopedia of the world addressed directly to his newly

Knausgaard mixes up a stew of fiction, history and autobiography in his books. He discusses literature, politics and philosophy. He writes well and offers insights into family, parenting and culture.

Seems like a perfect combination, given my interests.

But the fact remains: I just can’t read Knausgaard’s books. There it is, my liver and onions moment.

To paraphrase Shakespeare’s lines from Julius Caesar: “The fault, dear readers, lies not in the literary lions, but in myself.”

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

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Outdoors

Smoky Mountain News

Haywood County Extension Agent Rob Anderson trims buds for CBD trials. Donated photo

‘Wild West’ agriculture N.C. Extension tests out cannabis production

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER eanine Davis has spent more than two decades researching new and emerging crops in North Carolina, but she’s never experienced anything like the hype surrounding hemp.

“I’ve always gotten a disproportionately large number of inquiries just because there aren’t a large number of people across the country that work with the crops I work with,” said Davis. “Taking on hemp has taken it to a whole new level.”

Davis, who holds a Ph.D and is an associate professor and extension specialist with the N.C. State University Cooperative Extension Service based in Mills River, has been receiving calls and emails in such volumes that she can’t keep up with them — last week alone, Davis recorded five pages of phone calls in need of returning and hundreds of emails.

And all that considering that she has several employees helping her with the correspondence. Davis is working to train other extension agents in the facts and issues surrounding cannabis, and statewide a variety of organizations are hosting informational meetings on the crop.

“They’re taking place all over with extension, with the N.C. Department of Agriculture and a whole bunch of them by private companies, growers who are trying to set up their own business and are offering to train grow-

J

ers,” said Davis. “Each one of those meetings is probably having 100 people or more.”

All that excitement has sprung up quite quickly, and over a crop that still has surprisingly little research behind it.

Cannabis — the scientific name for the plant that can be grown to produce grain, fiber, CBD oil or a psychoactive drug — has long been under a blanket ban in the United States. A cannabis plant grown to yield CBD oil or fiber would be basically useless to someone looking to get high, but until recently growing any form of the plant was illegal.

The 2014 Farm Bill began to change that,

Read more about industrial hemp production in WNC on Page 12.

allowing pilot programs and research on industrial hemp, with the 2018 Farm Bill opening it up to licensed growers. In 2017, N.C. Extension grew its first test plots of hemp under the 2014 Farm Bill, but ran into some unforeseen roadblocks. It took longer than expected for the seeds to come in, as they had to be imported and then make it through the Drug Enforcement Agency, so most locations were late to plant their crops.

That first year, the Waynesville test plot was hands-down the state’s most successful plot, as the cooler mountain temperatures allowed the plant to thrive even with the late planting.

“We were able to show that given the right conditions, we can grow really beautiful grain and fiber hemp,” said Davis.

Last year, N.C. State conducted grain and fiber trials again but also added CBD hemp trials to its bag of tricks. Most of the CBD plants were at the Mills River station, but a smaller plot was grown in Waynesville, mainly to allow for law enforcement training out that way. While hemp grown for grain and fiber is planted close together like corn, CBD hemp looks a lot more like recreational marijuana when it’s in the field — the test plots allow law enforcement workers to see what a licensed grower’s field would look like and how that would differ from a more illicit operation.

Davis has learned a lot in the past two seasons, but there are still plenty of unknowns.

“Whether this plant should be grown on raised beds with plastic mulch like tomatoes or on an open field like tobacco we don’t really know yet, so that’s one of the things we want to look at this year,” said Davis. “My gut feeling is the grower should use the production system that he or she is most familiar with using.”

Various mulching, fertility and pruning practices still require research, and there are other problems, too. Such as, how should growers deal with pest and disease issues?

“Not only have we not done the research to find out what works, but even if we did we couldn’t technically say, ‘This is what you spray,’ because it’s not legal. We have to work through it,” said Davis.

There’s also the question of how the plant will ultimately be grown — outdoors, in greenhouses or indoors?

“All of our production has been outdoors at this point,” said Davis. “There are a lot of growers that are producing in greenhouses and some in totally indoor

F

CBD hemp plants grow in the foreground during a hops and hemp field day held at the Mills River research station last summer. Donated photo

Spiff up Scotts Creek

A 9-mile hike will allow for excellent views from the High Top tower site in the Shining Rock Wilderness, beginning at 8:30 a.m.

Sunday, Jan. 27.

The hike was a longtime favorite of the Boy Scouts at Camp Daniel Boone. From the camp, the trail ascends 1,900 feet to High Top and follows the Fork Mountain ridge before descending to the rushing Little East Fork of the Pigeon River.

Organized by the Carolina Mountain Club, with a meeting place in Asheville. Limited to 10 hikers. RSVP to hike leader Jim Magura, 828.606.3989 or jqs290@gmail.com. No dogs.

Get launched in the outdoor industry A free seminar series for small businesses hoping to launch in the outdoor industry will continue with a program 10 a.m. to noon Thursday, Jan. 31, at the Small Business Center at Southwestern Community College in Sylva.

“Whether you are an existing small business owner, or you are looking to start a business in the outdoor industry, this series is for you,” said Tiffany Henry, director of Small Business Training. “Entrepreneurs will learn how to gain a competitive advantage, brand their business values and develop innovative systems of management.”

The seminar will be the second of a three-part series that will conclude with a program 10 a.m. to noon Thursday, Feb. 7.

Register at http://bit.ly/sbcoutdoor. Tiffany Henry, t_henry@southwesterncc.edu.

January 23-29, 2019

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Smoky Mountain News

to process that,” she said. “People can’t grow fiber and make huge bales of it and drive it all the way across the state and make money in it. Fiber just doesn’t pay that much.”

CBD hemp is the type that’s currently yielding the highest prices, but growers will need to better learn how to get that oil from the plant while maintaining a consistently high of “There’s a lot of hype with that out there, making quality product.

The marit sound like you can make tens of thousands of ket on dollars the first year you produce the crop.” the buyer’s — Jeanine Davis end will also need time to develop. eventually grown at a pharmaceutical “What I came to understand last year grade, then it might be produced indoors so was people were promising they would buy as to be completely environmentally conyour crop, but their companies were so new trolled. Other uses, like food supplements, they didn’t have the money behind them to grain or fiber might make more use of field buy it right off,” she said. and greenhouse growth.

At this point, Davis’ best advice for Interest in cannabis production has growers is that they avoid investing more in been aggressive and diverse, with everyone this crop than they can afford to lose. from alternative agriculture organic types to But along with caution, there’s hope. traditional farmers asking Davis for more Davis is used to being the “lone ranger” information. in the crops she works with, often the only “This is where I think people can really one statewide doing serious research on help each other,” she said. them. There have been times when she Someone who has been farming their thought she had something promising but whole life would have a lot of information needed help from other disciplines, such as to share with someone who is newer to agrisoil science or pathology, to bring it home, culture, while some of the newer growers and it’s been hard to convince those scienwould likely have a better understanding of tists to get involved. how best to market the crop. But for both This time, it’s different. Faculty from a parties, she said, caution is important. cross-section of disciplines and locations in “There’s a lot of hype with that out North Carolina are also investigating hemp. there, making it sound like you can make “It’s really exciting,” she said. “We have tens of thousands of dollars the first year meetings and there’s a lot of us sharing you produce the crop,” said Davis. “My role what we’re seeing across the state. We as someone who has been working with might develop information a little faster new crops for a long time is, take time to than we have with other crops just because learn how to grow any crop.” of that.”

It takes time, too, for the infrastructure “You’re going to see so much going on to develop surrounding a new market. this year,” she added. “It’s really kind of the “If we’re going to do the grain, if we’re Wild West out there.” going to do the fiber, we’ll need more places growth situations where it’s all under artificial lights and everything is tightly controlled. If you talk to different people you’re going to get tremendously different opinions on what’s going to be the way to go in the future.”

In Davis’ view, the answer to that question could be different depending on what the end use of the plant is. If CBD oil is

A hike exploring the Bartram Trail in Macon County will embark at 9 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 26. This moderate-to-strenuous 8-mile hike starts from Hickory Knoll Road to ascend 1,300 feet on a new section of the trail, with views of Albert Mountain and the Little Tennessee River Valley. The group will hike to a derelict bus that’s been stranded along the trail for years and then return.

Organized by the Nantahala Hiking Club, with a meeting place in Franklin. RSVP to Bill and Sharon Van Horn, 828.369.1983. No dogs.

Hike High Top outdoors

Help clean up Volunteers remove large Scotts Creek in Sylva during a workday pieces of trash from along starting at 9 a.m.

Scotts Creek. Donated photo Saturday, Jan. 26.

The group will meet at McDonald’s at 9 a.m. to sign release forms and then proceed to the creek. The city of Sylva will assist in the cleanup, which is organized by the Tuckaseigee Chapter of Trout Unlimited and the Western Carolina University Fly Fishing Club.

Dress warm and bring gloves. www.facebook.com/tuckaseigeechapter373.

Adventure on the Bartram Trail

Closed Sunday & Monday 454 Hazelwood Avenue • Waynesville Call 828.452.9191 for reservations 29

outdoors

Conservationists wanted for award Nominations are wanted for people who have led the way in conserving nongame animals in North Carolina.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is accepting nominations for the Thomas L. Quay Wildlife Diversity Award through Jan. 31.

Nominations must include a completed form and detailed essay explaining the nominee’s contributions to nongame wildlife conservation in North Carolina.

In addition to this year’s nominees, nominations submitted in 2017 and 2018 will be considered. Nominations submitted prior to that will be considered upon request.

The Nongame Wildlife Advisory Committee will recommend final nominees and wildlife commissioners will announce the winner at their July meeting. The award is named for the late Thomas Quay, a professor of zoology at N.C. State University and self-described “full-time volunteer and unpaid environmental activist.”

Download the nomination form at bit.ly/2EsTWgc. Submit nominations to Melinda Huebner, melinda.huebner@ncwildlife.org.

January 23-29, 2019

find us at: facebook.com/smnews

Donation opens visitor centers for holiday weekend Despite the ongoing government shutdown, two visitor centers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park were open over Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend thanks to a donation from Friends of the Smokies. Appropriations from federal recreation fees are also keeping a third visitor center, as well as a variety of restroom facilities, open during the shutdown.

Park visitation typically spikes over the holiday weekend, and park partners had worried that if no visitor services were available over that period, damage to the park would ensue. Friends of the Smokies’ donation kept the Oconaluftee Visitor Center near Cherokee and the Sugarlands Visitor Center near Gatlinburg open from Friday, Jan. 18, through Monday, Jan. 21. Monday afternoon, the centers closed again until federal funding is restored and the park fully opens.

“We are proud to commit funding for the visitor centers and restrooms to reopen during the holiday weekend in order for rangers to provide a safe and enjoyable visitor experience,” Friends of the Smokies Executive Director Tim Chandler said. “Any opportunity to work with our partners to preserve and protect America’s most-visited national park is a welcome one, and Friends of the Smokies stands at the ready to provide further support.”

The donation provided resource education park rangers to work the visitor center

and provide information services to park visitors. The nonprofit also paid park employees to clean, reopen and maintain restrooms at the visitor centers during the temporary reopening, and Great Smoky Mountains Association staff kept park stores open at both locations, with all sales

supporting the park.

Restrooms are open at Newfound Gap, Cable Mill in Cades Cove, Smokemont Campground and Deep Creek Picnic Area, due to direction from the National Park Service last week that revenue generated by recreation fees could be used to clean and maintain the facilities during the shutdown.

This federal funding also allowed the reopening of Cades Cove Campground and

Picnic Area — including restrooms — and maintenance of Little River Road between Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area and the Townsend Wye and Foothills Parkway East.

The funding is also keeping the visitor center at Cable Mill in Cades Cove open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with staffing from GSMA. Friends Oconaluftee Visitor Center. and GSMA Trotter and Associates photo have both stepped up during the shutdown to provide essential services during the park’s busiest times.

GSMA donated more than $50,000 to keep the visitor centers at Oconaluftee, Sugarlands and Cades Cove open from Dec. 22 through Jan. 1, and Jan. 4 Friends of the Smokies announced it would fund restroom maintenance at Newfound Gap and Cades Cove for at least two weeks, though the funds were not needed that long due to the release of federal recreation fees.

— By Holly Kays, staff writer

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Take the plunge

The seventh annual jump into a chilly Lake Junaluska will be held 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Super Bowl Saturday, Feb. 2, at the Lake Junaluska Beach near Waynesville.

The Plunge Benefit-t-t-ting Kids in the Creek and Environmental Education is a fundraiser for the Haywood Waterways Association, which hopes to raise $30,000 to fund its environmental education programs in the coming year.

Plungers can commit to a fullbody immersion or simply dip their toes in the water, and costumes are encouraged. All plungers will receive a T-shirt and lunch, with prizes for most funds raised and best costumes.

Haywood Waterways’ mission is to reduce pollution and improve surface water quality throughout the Pigeon River Watershed, and educational Costumes are encouraged efforts such as Kids in the during the plunge. Donated photo Creek are a cornerstone of that effort. Now in its 21st 828.476.4667 or info@haywoodwateryear, Kids in the Creek is a hands-on learnways.org. Day-of registration is also availing experience that gets students in the able.

Pigeon River, flipping over rocks and learn-

outdoors

ing about the river’s incredible water quality. It has reached 14,000 students over the past two decades.

Cost is $25 for adults and $10 for kids under 18 — or free by raising sponsorships.

To donate or register, visit www.crowdrise.com/7thannualhwaplunge and click “join the team” to register. Hardcopy registration is available by contacting

Winter youth series returns to Lake Junaluska

Help feed the hungry

Southern Highlands Reserve honors volunters The Southern Highlands Reserve is honoring two mountain residents as its volunteers of the year. n Molly Tart, of Brevard, works in SHR’s nursery complex repotting young red spruce and is an avid supporter in the community. She is a member of the Waightstill Avery Daughters of the American Revolution and worked with that group to find the long-forgotten red spruce forest originally planted by the DAR in the 1940s, near Devil’s Courthouse off the Blue Ridge Parkway. n Paul Cooper, of Lake Toxaway, is a long-time volunteer at SHR. Every year, he logs more volunteer hours any anyone else, and his love of storytelling makes him a natural fit as a docent on visitors’ days.

SHR is located near Lake Toxaway at 4,500 feet and works to sustain the natural ecosystems of the Blue Ridge Mountains through preservation, cultivation and display of native plants and by advocating for their value through preservation, cultivation and research. www.southernhighlandsreserve.org.

Smoky Mountain News

Haywood Gleaners is looking for a cofield glean coordinator to assist in its efforts to feed the hungry with fresh produce that would otherwise go to waste.

The position is shared with another coordinator and would involve training and coordinating glean managers, taking calls from farmers alerting Haywood Gleaners that produce is available, checking out proposed glean locations, scheduling gleans and arranging boxes to be delivered to the field.

Plenty of training is available, and the co-glean coordinator would work only during gleaning season, which runs from August through November. In addition, the responsibilities could be split between multiple people.

Haywood Gleaners is a volunteer group that picks produce left in the field after harvest is complete, delivering this food that would otherwise rot on the ground to a variety of recipients, including food pantries and nursing homes.

To learn more, contact haywoodgleaners@gmail.com.

January 23-29, 2019

A series of winter youth retreats will offer opportunity for adventure, spiritual growth and worship at Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center in the coming weeks.

Retreat dates are Jan. 25-27, Feb. 8-10 and Feb. 15-18. Each weekend will feature energized worship with great bands as well as special activities like skiing or a mission project.

Prices vary depending on accommodations and activities selected. Register at www.lakejunaluska.com/winteryouth or call 800.222.4930.

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WNC Calendar

Smoky Mountain News

COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS • Emergency workers get a reduced rate on Jan. 24-25 at Cataloochee Ski Are in Maggie Valley. www.cataloochee.com.

• Western Carolina University’s Martin Luther King, Jr., celebration will include keynote speaker Aminata Cairo from 7-9 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 23, at the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center in Cullowhee. Cairo is lecturer of inclusive education at The Hague University of Applied Sciences in The Netherlands. For more info about WCU’s MLK celebration, visit https://tinyurl.com/y9cdzqro, call 227.2276 or ica@wcu.edu.

• The Smoky Mountain Model Railroad Club will hold an open house for its new, larger layout from 2-4 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 27, at Trinity Buffalo Ranch on Riverside Drive, North of Exit 24 and 209. 593.0394.

• First United Methodist Church of Sylva will host an Open Door Meal & Sing featuring the Joe Deitz Family Band at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 30, in the church’s Christian Life Center. 586.2358.

• Concerned citizens will hold a discussion about anomalies of the recent California fires at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 6, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. Includes conference call interview of a survivor of the Paradise Fire. Info: 800.736.3351.

• The 12th annual Father-Daughter Dance will be held from 6-8 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 9, in the Christian Life Center at First United Methodist Church of Sylva.

Advance registration: $30 per couple, $5 for each additional daughter. At the door: $45 per couple and $5 for each additional daughter. 586.2358.

All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted.

24. Seminars are held from 10 a.m.-noon on Thursdays through Feb. 7. Registration required: http://bit.ly/sbcoutdoor. Info: t_henry@southwesterncc.edu.

• Firefly Taps & Grill will have its first birthday celebration all day on Jan. 25 in Waynesville. Birthday cake, and spin the wheel to see what gift you win. 454.5400.

• Western Carolina University’s Office of Professional Growth and Enrichment will offer a Planned Giving Implementation Series from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on Jan. 25, Feb. 8 and Feb. 22, at WCU’s Biltmore Park instructional site in Asheville. Registration fee per organization: $2,000. Register: 227.7397 or jcthompson@wcu.edu.

Info: pdp.wcu.edu.

• The Jackson County Public Library in Sylva will be starting a monthly documentary series called “DocuWednesday” at 4 p.m. on the last Wednesday of each month. The movies will be shown in the beautiful movie theater in the Community Room. At the end of each movie, the staff member who selected that documentary will lead a short discussion with the public. If you would like to know what movie will be showing each month, please email Benjamin Woody at bwoody@fontanalib.org to be placed on an email list.

The first showing will be “Disruption.” 586.2016. www.fontanalib.org.

• The Jackson County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing at 5:55 p.m. on Feb. 5 in Room A201 of the Justice & Administration Building in Sylva.

• Southwestern Community College is seeking nominations for the SCC Foundation’s inaugural Distinguished Alumni Award. Nomination form is available at https://tinyurl.com/ycgrb6be. Nominations due by Feb. 11. Info: k_posey@southwesterncc.edu or 339.4227.

• Western Carolina University will offer a three-part “Retirement Planning Now” course from 5:30-8:30 p.m. on Feb. 5, 7, and 12 at WCU Biltmore Park in Asheville.

Offered by WCU’s Professional Growth & Enrichment.

Registration fee: $79. Register: pdp.wcu.edu or 227.7397.

• Registration is underway for the Region 8 Western Regional Science and Engineering Fair, which will be held Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 20-21, at the Ramsey Regional Activity Center at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. The largest STEM event held in Western North Carolina. For grades 3-12. For info and to register: http://camps.wcu.edu (click on “Science Camps and Programs”) or 227.7397.

• Western Carolina University’s Office of Professional Growth and Enrichment is accepting registrations for a “Better Communication Through Creative Play for Marketing and Sales Professionals” that will be offered from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 15, at WCU’s Biltmore Park location in Asheville. $99 (includes lunch). Register or get more info: pdp.wcu.edu or 227.7397.

• Cashiers Area Chamber is seeking feedback to improve visitors’ experiences to the area. Take the survey at: tinyurl.com/y6w4uqyo.

• Registration is underway for a seminar entitled “Are You Ready to Start a Business” that will be offered by Haywood Community College’s Small Business Center from noon-2 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 19, at HCC’s Regional High Technology Center in Waynesville. Part of the “Are You Ready to Start a Business series. Room 3021. Register or get more info: SBC.Haywood.edu or 627.4512.

• Registration is underway for Marriage Enrichment Retreats that will be offered three more times over the next year at Lake Junaluska. Led by Ned Martin, an expert in marriage counseling. Price is $699 per couple. Dates are March 10-12, Aug. 18-20 of 2019 and Sept. 29-Oct. 1 in 2019. Registration and info: www.lakejunaluska.com/marriage or 800.222.4930. ⦁ Fontana Regional Library now offers anyone with a library card free access to eMagazines, for reading on any mobile device or computer. This new service joins our popular eBooks and digital audiobook`s selection — all available 24/7 from the library’s digital collection. To get started enjoying digital magazines as well as eBooks and audiobooks, visit e-inc.overdrive.com or download the Libby reading app. www.fontanalib.org.

BUSINESS & EDUCATION

⦁ Haywood Community College’s Workforce Continuing Education Department is offering a wide variety of courses. For a complete listing: www.haywood.edu. Info: 627.4669 or rgmassie@haywood.edu.

• A Six Sigma Whitebelt training will be offered from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. on Friday, March 1, at Western Carolina University’s Biltmore Park in Asheville. Offered by WCU’s Office of Professional Growth and Enrichment; instructor is Dr. Todd Creasy, DM, MBA, MSc. Learn how to apply the five-step methodology of Six Sigma in product, process or service industries. Early bird registration: $249. After Feb. 1, cost is $279. For info and to register: pdp.wcu.edu or 227.7397.

• The Haywood County Tourism Development Authority’s Finance Committee meets at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 23, at the TDA Office/Visitor Center.

FUNDRAISERS AND BENEFITS

• Southwestern Community College will offer an Outdoor Entrepreneurship Seminar series starting Jan.

• Karaoke for animals is set for 6-10 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 26, at Boojum Brewing in Waynesville. Funds sup-

port Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation and its fund for special needs. Tickets: $20 in advance or $25 at the door. Follow Sarge’s on Facebook, visit sargeanimals.org or call 246.9050.

• The Jackson County Neighbors in Need will observe its 10th anniversary with a fundraising dinner, “Charlie’s Challenge,” at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 26, in the Mission and Fellowship hall of the First Baptist Church.

All donations are used to provide assistance to neighbors in need. RSVP: goodsonb11@yahoo.com.

• The seventh annual “Plunge Benefit-t-ting Kids in the Creek & Environmental Education” from 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 2, at the Lake Junaluska beach near Waynesville. Onsite registration starts at 10 a.m. $25 or free by raising sponsorships. Register: www.crowdrise.com/7thannualhwaplunge, 476.4667 or info@haywoodwaterways.org. Info: haywoodwaterways.org/theplunge.

• Tickets are on sale for Haywood Pathways Center’s inaugural Empty Bowls event, which is scheduled for 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 21, at HART Theatre in Waynesville. $25 per person. Attendees select a bowl handcrafted by local WNC potters and enjoy various soup tastings. Bowls go home with guests as reminders of the empty bowls in the community and warm hearts that work to fill them.

HEALTH MATTERS • Vantage Pointe Homes at Balsam Mountain in Waynesville will host a Winter Wellness essential oil make and take at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 24 in their clubhouse located at 17 Wilkinson Pass Ln. Come learn about essential oils and make winter wellness custom roller bottle blends. Each roller is $5, make as many as you would like. RSVP by calling Wende Goode at 246.2256 or emailing her at goodeoils@gmail.com.

• The Haywood Health Authority Board meets at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 24, in the second-floor classroom at Haywood Regional Medical Center in Clyde.

• A new documentary entitled “Modified: A Food Lover’s Journey into GMO’s” will be shown at 2 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 24, in the Macon County Public Library Program Room in Franklin. GMOs are Genetically Modified Organisms. Show is one hour, 27 minutes. modifiedthefilm.com.

• An information session on Hepatitis C will be offered at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 24, at United Methodist Church on Main Street in Bryson City. Swain County ranked No. 1 in the state in acute Hepatitis C cases in 2016. Info: 488.4455.

• A social issues forum on “Understanding Opioid Addiction” is set for 11 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 26, at Grace Church in Waynesville. Register: admin@gracewaynesville.com.

• Diabetes Prevention Program classes will be offered starting Jan. 29 at Haywood County Health & Human Services in Waynesville. Classes are offered from 5:306:30 p.m. on Tuesdays. To participate, call Megan Hauser at 356.2272.

• A Diabetes Empowerment Education Program meets from 2-4 p.m. on Wednesdays from Jan. 30-March 6 at Haywood County Health and Human Services in Waynesville. Designed to help seniors work with their healthcare providers and use nutrition, exercise, stress management and goal setting to take control of their diabetes. To register: 356.2272.

• The Meditation Center will host a class in Reiki, an ancient form of natural healing, from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Feb. 3 and Feb. 10, in Sylva. Cost: $125 donation. Info: www.meditate-wnc.org or 356.1105.

• “Your Amazing Newborn” class will be offered from 7-

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 9 p.m. on Feb. 7, April 4, July 11, Sept. 5 and Nov. 7 at Haywood Regional Medical Center in Waynesville.

Focusing on abilities, behavior, appearance and reflexes of your new baby. Pre-registration required: MyHaywoodRegional.com/ParentClasses or 452.8440.

• Registration is underway for a “Treating Pain Safely: Fewer Opioids & Better Results” – a controlled substances education opportunity for prescribers that will be offered from 5:30-8:45 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 18, at Swain County Hospital in Bryson City. Registration: https://mahec.net/event/57332. Info: https://tinyurl.com/y9ddjdp5.

RECREATION AND FITNESS • Registration is underway for “Dance Tonight Waynesville” upcoming classes in Waltz and fox trot.

Classes are held from 6-7:30 p.m. on Mondays throughout February at Folkmoot. Cost: $10. RSVP: 316.1344.

• Registration is underway for “Dance Tonight Waynesville” upcoming classes. Classes are held from 3-3:50 p.m. (rumba, salsa); 4-4:50 p.m. (foxtrot, single-time swing); and 6-7:30 p.m. (waltz and foxtrot) on Tuesdays throughout February at Laurel Ridge Country Club. Cost: $10. RSVP: 316.1344.

• Registration is underway for “Dance Tonight Waynesville” upcoming classes in “East Coast Swing.”

Classes are held from 6-7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays throughout February at Waynesville Wellness. Cost: $10.

RSVP: 316.1344.

• Waynesville Yoga Center will host a “Pop-Up: Power Core Yoga” class from 5:45-7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 25, in Waynesville. Cost is $14. Register or get more info: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com.

• CommUnity Square Dance is set for 7-9 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 26, at the Old Rock School in Webster.

Caller Stan Sharp teaches and calls all dances to live old-time music. No partner needed. Info; pammanottus@gmail.com.

• Waynesville Yoga Center will host a “Rock Your Resolutions Master” class from 2-3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 26, in Waynesville. Topic is Buti Yoga Burn. Cost is $20. Register or get more info: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com.

• Waynesville Yoga Center will host a “Meditation Series for the New Year” class from 7:15-7:50 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 28, in Waynesville. Cost is $15 for one class or $45 for the entire series. Register or get more info: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com.

• Waynesville Yoga Center will host a “Rock Your Resolutions Master” class from 2-3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 2, in Waynesville. Topic is Power Vinyasa Flow, Meditation and Crystal Bowl. Cost is $20. Register or get more info: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com.

• Tai Chi & QiGong classes are being offered at 7 p.m. on Mondays at Angie’s Dance Academy in Clyde.

450.3741 or paul@pcasper.net.

• A Tai Chi for Arthritis, Level 1, class is being offered

at 11:30 p.m. on Thursdays at Angie’s Dance Academy in Clyde. 450.3741 or paul@pcasper.net.

• Tai Chi for Beginners is offered at 1:30 p.m. on Thursdays at Angie’s Dance Academy in Clyde.

450.3741 or paul@pcasper.net.

• The Waynesville Parks and Recreation Department is now offering pickleball on four indoor courts from 7 a.m.-2 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays, at the Waynesville Recreation Center. Equipment provided; free for members or daily admission for nonmembers.

456.2030 or dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov.

• ZUMBA! Class with Monica Green, are offered from 67 p.m. on Monday & Wednesday, at the Canton Armory. $5 per class. 648.2363 or parks@cantonnc.com.

• ZUMBA is offered at First United Methodist Church in Waynesville on Thursdays at 6 p.m. with Patti Burke. Check Facebook page Patti Burke Zumba Students for additional information such as holiday or weather related cancelations. $5 per class.

• There will be several ballroom and Latin dance classes offered on Sundays and Mondays at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. Classes for beginners, intermediate and all levels. $10 per class. For more information, click on www.froglevelbrewing.com.

• Flow + Center Yoga is offered from 9-9:55 a.m. on Wednesdays at Maggie Valley Wellness Center.

944.0288 or maggievalleywellness.com.

• Gentle Vin Yin Yoga is offered from 9-9:55 a.m. on Fridays through November at Maggie Valley Wellness Center. 944.0288 or maggievalleywellness.com.

• The Safekids USA/Blue Dragon Taekwondo School is offering self-defense classes from 9-10 a.m. on Saturdays. $5 per class. For females 14-older. Classes are at 93 Jones Cove Road in Clyde.

• Karaoke is happening at 8 p.m. on Saturdays at Harmon’s Den Bistro at HART Theatre in Waynesville.

• A wide variety of yoga classes are offered daily through the Waynesville Yoga Center. For updated, current listings, visit: http://waynesvilleyogacenter.com/class-schedule.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Highlands Performing Arts Centefilr have dinner theater performances scheduled on March 21-23 and 28-30; and the full-length play “Calendar Girls” by Tim Firth, set for May 23-26 and May 31-June 2.

Highlandscashiersplayers.org.

• A family movie will be shown at 10:30 a.m. every Friday at Hudson Library in Highlands.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host an open mic night at 6:30 p.m. every Thursday. www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

SENIOR ACTIVITIES • A new jewelry class will be offered at 1 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 11, at the Jackson County Department on Aging Center in Sylva. Local artist Lawrie Williams will show how to make wire are rings and earrings. $3 for participants; $5 for non-participants. 586.5494.

• The Mexican Train Dominoes Group seeks new players to join games at 1 p.m. on Tuesdays at the Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. 356.2800.

• A Hand & Foot card game is held at 1 p.m. on Thursdays at Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. 356.2800.

• Pinochle game is played at 1 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. 356.2800.

• Mah Jongg is played at 1 p.m. on Wednesdays at Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. 356.2800.

• A Canasta card game is set for 1 p.m. on Mondays at the Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. 356.2800.

• A Parkinson’s Support Group is held at 2 p.m. on the last Wednesdays of each month at the Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville.

356.2800.

KIDS & FAMILIES • Winter Youth Retreats will be offered Jan. 25-27, Feb. 8-10 and Feb. 15-18 at the Lake Junaluska Conference & Retreat Center. Energized worship and special activities such as skiing and mission projects.

Info: www.lakejunaluska.com/winteryouth or 800.222.4930.

A&E FOOD & DRINK • Bosu’s Wine Shop in Waynesville will host five for $5 Wine Tasting from 5 to 9 p.m. on Jan. 24 and Jan. 31.

Come taste five magnificent wines and dine on Chef Stacy’s gourmet cuisine. 452.0120 or www.waynesvillewine.com.

• Folkmoot will host a Scottish Friendship Dinner and presentation from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25, at the Folkmoot Friendship Center in Waynesville. Enjoy a traditional Scottish meal of sautéed cabbage, parsley potatoes, highland chicken with whiskey and cream sauce with shortbread cookies for dessert. Beer will be available for purchase from Bearwaters Brewing Company. Guests will convene to the Sam Love Queen Auditorium to enjoy Scottish music and a presentation of Scottish cultural fashion with the Breacan Clann.

Tickets are $18 for adults, $10 for students. Limited seating, purchase your tickets in advance. 452.2997 or www.folkmoot.org.

•Monday TGI Monday (Thank Golly it’s Monday) Spanish Wine Sale & Tasting at Bosu Wine shop. All Spanish wine 15% off and sample of staff favorite between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. 452.0120 or www.waynesvillewine.com.

• A free wine tasting will be held from 1-5 p.m. on Jan. 26 and Feb. 2 at Bosu Wine Shop in Waynesville.

452.0120 or www.waynesvillewine.com.

• The ACT test-preparation service Test Ninja will present a workshop “Navigating the ACT/SAT Process” from 2-3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 2, in Room 345 of the Western Carolina University campus at Asheville’s Biltmore Park Town Square. Reservations: www.testninja.us.

• A free wine tasting will be held from 2-5 p.m. on Jan. 26 and Feb. 2 at Papou’s Wine Shop in Sylva. www.papouswineshop.com or 631.3075.

• Registration is underway for a Boy Scout Ski Retreat that will be offered from Feb. 22 through the Lake Junaluska Conference & Retreat Center. Get hands-on experience at Cataloochee Ski Area. Info: www.lakejunaluska.com/boyscouts or 800.222.4930.

• Reservations are being accepted for a Valentine’s Day Dinner and a to see “An Affair to Remember” at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 14 at The Strand in Waynesville.

454.5400.

• The Haywood County Arts Council will hold a JAM (Junior Appalachian Musicians) for fourth through sixth graders from 3:30-5 p.m. on Tuesdays from January through May at Shining Rock Classical Academy. Cost: $85. 452.0593 or bmk.morgan@yahoo.com.

• 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. ⦁ Registration is underway for Lake Junaluska’s Winter Youth Retreats, which are held from December through February in Haywood County for middle school and high school youth groups. Two-night events start at $186 per person; three-night events start at $249 per person. To register or view schedule, including speakers, band and entertainers: www.lakejunaluska.com/winteryouth. Register: 800.222.4930.

ON STAGE & IN CONCERT

• The Highlands Biological Foundation will offer a series of nature-themed films and documentaries shown at 6:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursday of March in Highlands. For info on each show, call 526.2221.

• Name That Song Trivia 60s, 70s, and 80s music is set for Jan. 29 at Firefly Taps & Grill in Waynesville.

454.5400.

• “Brown Bag at the Depot” – an opportunity to gather with neighbors – is at noon every Friday at Sylva’s newest park at the corner of Spring and Mill Street along Railroad Ave. For info, contact Paige Dowling at townmanager@townofsylva.org.

• Graceann’s Amazing Breakfast is 8-10 a.m. every Tuesday in the Sapphire Room at the Sapphire Valley Community Center. $8.50 for adults; $5 for children.

Includes coffee and orange juice. 743.7663.

• Free cooking demonstrations will be held from 5-7 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.

• A game day will occur from 2-9 p.m. every third Saturday of the month at Papou’s Wine Shop & Bar in Sylva. Bring dice, cards or board games.

586.6300.

• A wine tasting will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on

• Haywood County Arts Council and Dr. John Highsmith & Sandra Hayes will present January Jazz at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 24, in Fangmeyer Theater at HART in Waynesville. Hors d’oeuvres, desserts, wine, coffee and music by Firecracker Jazz Band. $37 per person (includes one glass of wine/beverage).

Young professionals tickets: $20/person. Advance tickets available at the arts council’s gallery at 86 N. Main Street or online at EventBrite.com (additional fees will apply).

• Singer-songwriter Brie Capone will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 24, in the Community Room at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva.

• Country legends The Oak Ridge Boys will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

Tickets start at $32 per person. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, click on www.greatmountainmusic.com or call 866.273.4615.

• The National Theatre of London’s production of The Tragedy of King Richard the Second will be screened at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 26, at the Highlands Performing Arts Center in Highlands. Tickets: highlandspac.org or at the door. Students admitted free.

• Vermont singer-songwriter Zack DuPont (of The DuPont Brothers) will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26, at City Lights Cafe in Sylva.

• “Long Time Comin” – a musical history of the quest for freedom in America – will be presented at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 27, at the Swain Arts Center, on the campus of Swain County High School in Bryson City.

Admission: $10.

• The Haywood Arts Regional Theatre will kick off its annual “Winter Studio Season” with the Sarah Ruhl comedy “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25-26 and at 2 p.m. Jan. 27 in Waynesville.

• Bluegrass act Balsam Range will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

• Tickets are on sale now for National Theater’s production of “Hamlet” which will be screened as part of the Bardo Arts Center’s Sunday Cinema Series at 3 p.m. on Feb. 10 in Cullowhee. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch. $15 for adults; $10 for WCU faculty/staff and seniors and $5 for students.

Arts.wcu.cinema or 828.227.ARTS.

CLASSES AND PROGRAMS

⦁ Mad Batter Food & Film will host an Essential Oil Perfumery party at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 6.

Learn about essential oils and make your own signature perfume in a beautiful crystal perfume bottle.

Each bottle of signature perfume is $10. RSVP by calling 246.2256 or emailing Wende Goode at goodeoils@gmail.com.

• The Haywood County Arts Council will offer a contemporary acrylic floral workshop from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 26, in downtown Waynesville. $50 for HCAC members; $55 for nonmembers. Led by Nick DePaolo.

• Learn to watercolor in three easy steps from 2-4 p.m. on Jan. 28 at the Haywood Arts Council in downtown Waynesville. All materials provided. $35 for HCAC members; $40 for nonmembers.

Smoky Mountain News

• 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.

⦁ Down Home Haywood holds its monthly community meetings at 2:30 p.m. on the third Saturday of each month at Canton Presbyterian Church. Tackling issues like healthcare, wages, housing and more. chelsea@downhomenc.org.

• Macon County Public Library will show the children’s movie “Aladdin at 10 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 28, in Franklin.

January 23-29, 2019

⦁ The Maggie Valley Wellness Center is offering two yoga classes from 9-9:55 a.m. on Wednesdays through March: Gentle Flow with Candra and Gentle Vin Yin with Jamie. 944.0288 or maggievalleywellness.com.

• A Town Hall Meeting is set for 6-8 p.m. on Jan. 24 at the Cherokee Fairgrounds Auxiliary Building. Topics include proposed projects, funding sources and revenue vs. community necessity.

Wednesdays The Classic Wineseller in Waynesville.

Free with dinner ($15 minimum). 452.6000.

KIDS FILMS

wnc calendar

• A Tai Chi for Arthritis, Level 2, class is being offered at 12:30 p.m. on Thursdays at Angie’s Dance Academy in Clyde. 450.3741 or paul@pcasper.net.

POLITICAL

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wnc calendar

• Local artist Joan Doyle will offer a Valentine Wine & Paint Art Class from 4-5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 9, at the Haywood County Arts Council Gallery & Gifts in Waynesville. Sip a glass of wine while painting a Valentine heart. Cost: $25 for members; $30 nomembers. Reservations: 452.0593 or info@haywoodarts.org. HaywoodArts.org.

• Local artist Denise Seay is offering a Valentine Quilt Block Art class from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 9, at the Haywood County Arts Council Gallery & Gifts in Waynesville. Learn the basics of hand piecing, applique and quilting. Cost: $50 for members; $55 nomembers. Reservations: 452.0593 or info@haywoodarts.org. HaywoodArts.org. ⦁ The Haywood County Public Library is offering online lifelong learning courses in over 30 subject areas, many of which offer continuing education units, through Universal Class. Free for library cardholders. www.haywoodlibrary.org or 452.5169.

• One Heart Singing’s winter term is through April 10 at 89 Sierra Lane in Franklin. No audition or need to read music. Try two sessions before committing. Meets from 6:30-8 p.m. on Wednesdays. Info: 524.3691 or 360.1920.

• A “Beginner Step-By-Step” painting class will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursdays at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. Cost is $25 with all supplies provided.

For more information on paint dates and/or to RSVP, contact Robin Arramae at 400.9560 or paintnitewaynesville@gmail.com.

• A comedy improvisation class will be offered from 7-9 p.m. on Tuesdays in Haywood County. Led by improv teacher Wayne Porter, who studied at Sak Comedy Lab in Orlando and performed improv with several groups. To RSVP and get directions, call 316.8761.

ART SHOWINGS AND January 23-29, 2019

GALLERIES • An art show featuring oils and mixed media by Milly Honeycutt is on display through Jan. 31 in the Macon County Public Library Meeting Room in Franklin.

524.3600.

• The Haywood County Arts Council (HCAC) in Waynesville will be kicking off the new year with a variety packed show filled with the original art of 28 local artists.

The “2019 Juried Artist Exhibit” will run through Feb. 23. Each of the exhibiting artists went through an extensive jury process and are delighted to have their work in the gallery. The HCAC believes that original art by local artisans can be both affordable and collectable. www.haywoodarts.org.

Smoky Mountain News

• The exhibit “Outspoken: Paintings by America Meredith” will be on display through May 3 at the Fine Art Museum Gallery B in the Bardo Arts Center at Western Carolina University. The WCU Fine Art Museum is free and open to the public from 10 a.m.

34

to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday. Free parking is available on site. www.facebook.com/americameredithart.

• The Western Carolina University Fine Art Museum at Bardo Arts Center is pleased to present the School of Art and Design Faculty Biennial Exhibition 2019, on display through May 3. All WCU Fine Art Museum exhibitions and receptions are free and open to the public.

For further information, visit arts.wcu.edu/biennial or 227.3591. ⦁ The Western Carolina University Fine Art Museum at Bardo Arts Center will have a yearlong exhibition on “Defining America” through May 3 in Cullowhee. Info: 227.ARTS or bardoartscenter.wcu.edu.

• The Haywood County Arts Council and Haywood County Public Library are presenting works from the following artists at the following locations through March: Russell Wyatt and Ashley Calhoun at the Canton Library and Patty Coulter, Linda Blount, Jason Woodard and Molly Harrington-Weaver at the Waynesville Library.

• Through April 26, Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Center is hosting an exhibit to commemorate World War I and the centennial of the end of hostilities. “I Want You! How World War I Transformed Western North Carolina” is on display in the museum’s first floor gallery in Cullowhee.

227.7129.

• New artist and medium will be featured every month at the Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. 356.2800.

FILM & SCREEN

⦁ “Glass”, will be shown at 7 p.m. on Jan. 23-26 at The Strand on Main in Waynesville. 283.0079 or 38main.com. ⦁ “The Hate U Give”, will be shown at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 24 & Feb. 2 at Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva.

Free. 586.3555. ⦁ “First Man”, will be shown at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 25 & Feb. 8 and 7 p.m. Jan. 26 at Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. Free. 586.3555. ⦁ “Boy Erased”, will be shown at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 31 at Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. Free. 586.3555. ⦁ A special showing of the 1993 release “Groundhog Day”, will be shown at 4 p.m. on Feb. 2 at The Strand on Main in Waynesville. $2, visit 38main.com for tickets. ⦁ “Widows”, will be shown at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 7 & Feb. 9 at Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. Free.

586.3555. ⦁ A special showing of the 1957 release “An Affair to Remember”, will be shown at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 14 at The Strand on Main in Waynesville. $5, visit 38main.com for tickets. ⦁ “Bohemian Rhapsody”, will be shown at 7:30 p.m.

on Feb. 14. 6:30 p.m. Feb. 15 and 7 p.m. Feb. 16 at Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. Free. 586.3555.

• Free movies are shown every Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. See website for listings and times at madbatterfoodandfilm.com.

Outdoors

• A recreational racing program for skiers and snowboarders of all abilities will run from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on non-holiday Saturdays through the end of the season. Cost: $10 for two runs or $20 for unlimited pass.

Lift ticket or season pass required. Register: www.nastar.com.

• Cataloochee Ski Area will hold night racing from 78:30 p.m. on Thursdays from through Feb. 14 in Maggie Valley. Open to ages 18-up. $15 to race; $35 for race and 6-10 p.m. lift ticket. www.cataloochee.com.

• The Asheville Winter Bike League offers rides weekly at 10 a.m. on Saturdays through Jan. 26. Structures, long winter road training rides. Bit.ly/2qS3YP8.

• A weekly fly-tying class is held from 6-8 p.m. every Wednesday at Outdoor 76 in Franklin. 349.7676.

• Tuckaseigee Chapter No. 373 of Trout Unlimited and WCU Fly Fishing Club will have phase 2 of the Upper Scotts Creek Cleanup on Saturday, Jan. 26. Meet at McDonald’s in Sylva.

• Registration is underway for a winter-tree identification workshop that will be held from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 26, in Clayton, Ga. Cost: $55. .

• Registration is underway for an educational event about lichens that will be held on Saturday, Feb. 2, and offered through Alarka Institute in Cowee. Cost: $65 (includes lunch). www.alarkaexpeditions.com.

• Balsam Ridge Gallery and Haywood Waterways Association are hosting a post-Polar Plunge party and Groundhog Day celebration from 5:30-8:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 2, at 44 N. Main Street in downtown Waynesville.

• Registration is underway for the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project’s annual Business of Farming Conference, which is from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. on Feb. 23 at the AB Tech Conference Center in Asheville.

Cost: $75 before Feb. 1; $95 after. Register: https://asapconnections.org or 236.1282.

• Registration is underway for a winter-plant identification workshop that will be held on Saturday, Feb. 29, at Macon County’s Serpentine Barrens. Cost: $65 (includes lunch). www.alarkaexpeditions.com.

FARM AND GARDEN • N.C. Cooperative Extension in Macon County is tak-

ing applications for participation in the 2019 Master Gardener Program. Receive 42 hours of training.

Classes start in February. Info and applications: 349.2046.

• Macon County Cooperative Extension will hold a class offering five hours of continuing education landscape technical credits toward the landscape contractor’s license requirement from 8 a.m.-2:15 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 31, at the Macon County Extension Center in Franklin. Preregister by Jan. 25: 349.2046.

• The annual Haywood County Extension Master Gardener plant sale is underway through Feb. 25.

Orders must be pre-paid. Pick up an order form at Cooperative Extension Office in Waynesville, call 456.3575 or mgarticles@charter.net.

• 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).

HIKING CLUBS • Sign-ups are underway for an evening of insight into hiking the Appalachian Trail, which will be offered from 6:30-8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 25, at REI in Asheville. Led by Gary Sizer, who hiked the 2,000-plusmile trail in 2014. www.rei.com/event-cart.

• Nantahala Hiking Club will have a moderate-tostrenuous eight-mile hike with an elevation change of 1,300 feet on Saturday, Jan. 26, on a new section of the NC Bartram Trail. Reservations and info: 369.1983.

• Nantahala Hiking Club holds monthly trail maintenance days from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on every fourth Saturday at 173 Carl Slagle Road in Franklin. Info and to register: 369.1983.

• Hike of the Week is at 10 a.m. every Friday at varying locations along the parkway. Led by National Park Service rangers. www.nps.gov/blri or 298.5330, ext.

304.

• Friends of the Smokies hikes are offered on the second Tuesday of each month. www.friendsofthesmokies.org/hikes.html.

• Nantahala Hiking Club based in Macon County holds weekly Saturday hikes in the Nantahala National Forest and beyond. www.nantahalahikingclub.org • High Country Hikers, based out of Hendersonville but hiking throughout Western North Carolina, plans hikes every Monday and Thursday. Schedules, meeting places and more information are available on their website, www.highcountryhikers.org.

• Carolina Mountain Club hosts more than 150 hikes a year, including options for full days on weekends, full days on Wednesdays and half days on Sundays.

Non-members contact event leaders. www.carolinamountainclub.org

Puzzles can be found on page 38 These are only the answers.

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36

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HOMES FOR SALE

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January 23-29, 2019

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.

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WNC Real Estate Store • Jeff Baldwin - jeff@WNCforMe.com

TO ADVERTISE IN THE NEXT ISSUE 828.452.4251 | ads@smokymountainnews.com 37

WNC MarketPlace January 23-29, 2019 www.smokymountainnews.com 38

SUPER

CROSSWORD

THE LATEST FASHION ACROSS 1 Stuff pumped into a 747 8 Bracing devices 14 Teeny bit 20 “Stephen,” to the French 21 Rip into 22 Untrue rumor 23 Start of a riddle 25 “Ironic” singer Morissette 26 Enzyme name ender 27 Solo for a 41-Across 28 Not feeling well at all 30 Set aflame 31 Riddle, part 2 39 Shar- -40 No, to Burns 41 Certain opera singer 42 Actress Joanne 43 Bit of slander 44 Neighbor of a Croat 46 The, to Josef 48 Apt rhyme of “grab” 50 -- -O-Fish (McDonald’s sandwich) 52 Riddle, part 3 59 Very pungent 61 Certain opera singer 62 Adders, e.g.

63 Most blaring 66 Sculling tools 68 As blind as -69 Elegant tree 72 Pharmacy amount 73 Riddle, part 4 76 Blackthorn 77 Fire residue 78 Lady Grey 79 Sauce brand since 1937 80 Stays away from

82 Total or Life 84 Neighbor of a Swede 86 Goes fast 87 Riddle, part 5 93 NATO part 94 Mineo of “Tonka” 95 Knighted one, e.g.

96 Pleasant 99 The Beatles’ “-- Loser” 100 “Citizen X” actor Stephen 103 Equine noise 107 Do a lawn chore 109 Relo vehicle 110 End of the riddle 115 Dir. from Del. to Vt. 116 Busy mo. for a CPA 117 Big particle physics lab in Switz.

118 “Hail, Nero!”

119 Big name in sneakers 121 Riddle’s answer 128 Lenient 129 Beethoven’s Third, familiarly 130 Mark Antony’s wife 131 Local lingoes 132 Wet slightly 133 Wee baby DOWN 1 Seder celebrant 2 Ordinal number ender 3 Carrere of “True Lies” 4 Beyond embryonic 5 Oneness 6 Baja California resort port 7 Permit to 8 Biblical angel 9 Chicana, e.g.

10 Many flying creatures 11 Got together 12 Compadre

13 “Shrek!” author William 14 Like time, speed and temperature 15 Bad, to Luc 16 Including everything 17 Author Steel 18 More sandlike 19 MS markers 24 “Yuk” relative 29 PC screen variety 31 Special -- (mil. group) 32 Toll, for one 33 Atomizer for spraying paint 34 Turned right on a horse 35 Has no life 36 -- Ark (biblical boat) 37 With 57-Down, supporter for a caterer’s dishes 38 Pets’ docs 45 Groom’s partner 47 Microwave brand 49 Unoriginal 51 Indefinite things 53 Keats verse 54 Gobs 55 Railing locale 56 Hurricane relative 57 See 37-Down 58 Green-lights 59 Alan of “White Mile” 60 Doves’ calls 64 Horrify 65 Reasonably muscular 67 Lactose, e.g.

69 Unrequired course 70 Rob of the Brat Pack 71 Disorder 74 Gets close 75 Mom or dad’s sister 76 “Da Doo Ron Ron” singer Cassidy

78 -- Tull (rock band) 81 -- -Magnon man 82 Persian, e.g.

83 Country singer Rimes 85 Suffix with lion 87 Army group 88 Ball of perfume in a closet 89 Exhausting 90 Urged in defense 91 Intentions 92 Close friendship between guys 97 “Wheels” 98 Nav. officer 101 Expunges 102 African viper 104 Implant that helps in returning a lost pet 105 Athens’ land 106 Husband of Lily Munster 108 Greet with a hand motion 111 Resulted in 112 Followed a curved path 113 Hit skit show since ‘75 114 “-- & Kel” (1990s teen show) 119 -- Khan 120 Height fig.

122 Hunters’ gp.

123 -- de plume 124 Cyclotron bit 125 Actress Longoria 126 Apt humor 127 Letter encl. to facilitate a reply

ANSWERS ON PAGE 34

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Wooden cookstoves force one to slow down Woodstove At 18 below there is a silence that is not solitude.

Frost flowers etch darkened window glass.

The woodstove leaks the light of a million poems.

But you are beyond all words transported by the cold.

And what a fine thing to kneel & blow the coals just to see the embers glow, when suddenly the kettle boils.

— George Ellison

F

or going on 30 years now, my wife, Elizabeth, and I have been cooking our meals with wood cookstoves. Just how we got into wood cookstoves is sort of complicated, so I won’t bother you with the details. But once we starting using them we were hooked. Take our word for it: wood cookstoves are the only way to go if you don’t want to spend your life in the fastlane.

I don’t know when the first cast-iron cookstoves became generally available here in the Smokies region. It seems probable they appeared with the extension of the rail line westward from Asheville to Murphy during the 1880s and early 1890s.

Our first wood cookstove was a monstrosity that we inherited. The thing had a

BACK THEN side container built-in for heating water and various compartments. It was huge, ugly, and very inefficient. But it cooked food ... sort of.

After just one long winter of dealing with the monstrosity, we purchased, in 1977, a dandy little cast iron woodstove with compact warming cabinets from Allen and Joyce Moore, who live up in the Little Canada section of Jackson County.

Columnist They had had the stove for about seven years and were upgrading to a newer model.

I wish I could remember the name of that stove and its manufacturer, but, alas, I can’t.

Neither can Elizabeth nor Allen and Joyce.

Not remembering the name of a cookstove you’ve used for 20 years is akin to not remembering the name of a pet you’ve had for that long. That stove was an integral part of our family life when the children were growing up.

It wasn’t perfectly air-tight. When the kitchen was darkened you could see points of light through small cracks around the firebox door. One night at about midnight in

George Ellison

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in a January 2003 edition of The Smoky Mountain News.

the very late 1970s, I was sitting at the kitchen table alone, waiting for a teakettle to boil. Outside the temperature had dropped to 18 below. It was so cold I could hear tree limbs cracking and breaking. Inside the house the little stove was chugging away, doing its part to keep us warm and alive.

Right then and there, I wrote a poem. Surely it’s one of the few poem ever written in honor of a woodstove?

In the mid-1990s we upgraded to a Waterford Stanley, a wood cookstove manufactured in Ireland. Compact, with a white porcelain finish and black cast-iron trim, it’s easily the most handsome, useful, and expensive item in our home. The firebox is airtight. Heat can be directed via a damper directly toward the chimney flue or diverted into the oven, where desired baking temperatures can be maintained for hours. We mostly cook, however, directly on the top surface.

Cooking with a woodstove bears no relationship whatsoever to cooking on electric or gas burners. With a woodstove you have to slow down and get into a cookin’ frame of mind. It’s sort of like flying by the seat of your pants. There are no automatic controls. You use your sixth sense when deciding whether or not to slide a pot or pan this way or that.

The food cooks longer and slower. When done, it tastes better because you’ve paid more attention to what you’re doing. You’ve put more of yourself into it. Also, there’s time

to talk or think things over while cooking at this pace. Most of our family and professional decisions are made while cooking.

Both of us like to cook. For years, I cooked the majority of our suppers, but recently, for whatever reason (maybe I’m getting lazy), Elizabeth’s been preparing most of them. I can’t bake bread or make decent biscuits, but otherwise we’re about equal when it comes to cooking skills.

What we really enjoy arguing about is who knows the most about lighting and maintaining fires. First there’s the matter of paper. Elizabeth uses any sort of paper and lays it in the firebox any which way. I maintain that slick advertisement paper is inefficient and that paper should be crumpled into balls to allow more air-flow and burning surface. I like to cross my sticks of kindling on top of the paper for the same reason.

Elizabeth doesn’t bother herself about that sort of thing. I always light the paper in three places for good luck. Elizabeth just lights it. I like to use small- or medium-sized wood to keep the fire hotter. Elizabeth likes to use larger sticks so as not to burn up all of our wood before winter’s over. We grumble at each other about how much to open or close air vents. I really do think that my methods are best. But I will allow that her fires start up quicker and stay lit longer.

(George Ellison is a naturalist and writer.

He can be reached at info@georgeellison.com.)

January 23-29, 2019 Smoky Mountain News 39

WAYNESVILLE OFFICE 74 North Main Street | (828) 634-7333

Smoky Mountain News

January 23-29, 2019

Get details on any property in the MLS. Go to beverly-hanks.com and enter the MLS# into the quick search.

Balsam | 4BR, 5BA, 1HB | $1,100,000 | MLS#3464168

Cranberry Falls | 2BR, 2BA $159,900 | MLS#3358962

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BEVERLY-HANKS.COM 40

CALL TODAY (828) 634-7333