Smoky Mountain News | February 9, 2022

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February 9-15, 2022 Vol. 23 Iss. 37

GOP congressional hopefuls lining up Page 9 Coffee shop loves calling Canton home Page 12

CONTENTS On the Cover: A management plan for the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests that was 10 years in the making has been released. Few of the original issues raised a decade ago have been completely resolved despite years of effort. (Page 18) A mountain biker pedals Staire Creek Trail in the Craggy area. Steven McBride photo

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Jackson, Macon schools to boost pre-K offerings......................................................4 Haywood schools change quarantine protocols ........................................................5 Independents gain voters at the expense of Democrats, GOP ............................6 Haywood seeks additional EMS staff ............................................................................8 GOP congressional hopefuls gather in Franklin ........................................................9 Sylva leaders lay out budget priorities ........................................................................11

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Smoky Mountain News

It’s important to understand that most beef cattle graze on grasses.

Even when cattle are moved to feedlots, their rations, calculated by animal nutritionists, are a mix of grasses and grains. Grass fed beef are cattle that are fed or graze on grasses for the majority of their lives.

Grasses can include legumes (like soy) or cereal grains (like corn, rye, oats, barley) in the vegetative state (pre-grain).

You may see certain brands claim that grass fed beef is higher than non-grass fed beef in omega 3’s (linked to brain health and heart health). While this is true, overall beef is not a good source of omega 3’s. A 3oz serving of grass fed beef has approximately .015 grams of omega 3’s while a 3oz serving of beef that has not exclusively been fed grass has .003 grams of omega 3’s. Compare this to a 3 oz serving of salmon that has about 1.5 grams of omega 3’s. You would have to eat 100 times the amount of beef (300oz or 18.75lbs) to get the same amount of omega 3’s in just 3 oz of salmon! (Note: Farmraised (aquaculture) salmon may have even higher amounts of omega 3’s depending on what they are fed.)

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Donations sought for Carden scholarship Beloved Western North Carolina author, educator and storyteller Gary Carden has immortalized himself though his life’s work of preserving and promulgating some of the region’s most important fables and folklore, but now that a scholarship fund has been established at Western Carolina University, he’s helping to shape the cultural memory of future generations. Carden is a 2006 recipient of the Brown-Hudson Award from the North Carolina Folklore Society, as well as the 2012 winner of the North Carolina Award for Literature. Carden also has an honorary doctorate from Western Carolina University. The Gary N. Carden annual scholarship was recently established there, and is seeking donations that will ultimately benefit the students of his alma mater. To make a donation, visit give.wcu.edu/garycarden. For more information on the scholarship, contact Jodi John Pippin, WCU director of donor relations, at 828.227.3090.

February 9-15, 2022

Interested in learning more about how law enforcement serves and protects your community? The Town of Waynesville’s civilian police academy is back, with a free 8-week course that meets at the Waynesville Police Department on Tuesdays from 6:30 to 9 p.m. The Waynesville CPA is open to Haywood County residents age 18 and up, although 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds can attend if accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Applications are due no later than Wednesday, Feb. 23 and can be picked up at the Waynesville Police Department or from the town clerk in town hall.

Applicants must also submit to a background check. For more information or to request an application via email, contact Mary Ford, civvol@waynesvillenc.gov.

acon County Schools is looking to expand its pre-K program through two additional preschool classrooms at Highlands School.

“We want to make sure that we have space for pre-K because that’s a serious need everywhere, especially in Highlands,” said Brooke Keener, Macon County Schools Preschool Director, during a December school board meeting.

Administration has been working with AHEC — Advancing Highlands Education Committee — to explore existing buildings, current programming and how best to accommodate new priorities in Highlands. AHEC completed a study looking at the need for preschool programming in Highlands. Keener presented information to the Macon County Board of Education during its December meeting that showed a clear need for more preschool opportunities in the county.

“The cost in Highlands is $600 [per month], and that’s the lowest price,” said Keener. “Just think of the exorbitant costs associated with some of these programs.

There is only going to be one place left up there and there are multiple years of waitlists.

So, it’s very hard to attract people who are young and starting families and just starting a career because there’s nowhere to go up there. The problem’s not as acute down here but it’s a big issue.”

AHEC is contracting with Novus Architects, the same firm that completed the addition at South Macon Elementary, to look at remodeling existing spaces versus new construction, and seeing what can be done immediately. The plan is for Novus to have a budget to Macon County Schools by Feb. 15, so MCS knows what it needs to ask for in its capital outlay request from Macon Commissioners.

“If we want to continue to attract and retain young families in our area, it’s [pre-K programs] a need that we’re going to have to address,” said Keener.

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Students in the preschool classroom at Smokey Mountain Elementary School enjoy sharing books with each other. Jackson County Public Schools will soon add new preschool classrooms at Cullowhee Valley, Scotts Creek and Blue Ridge School thanks to a grant from Dogwood Health Trust.

HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER amilies in Jackson and Macon counties are set to see a bump in pre-K capacity as both counties work to expand their programs in the coming months.

Civilian police academy begins March 2

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Jackson, Macon schools address pre-K need

gram. With additional classrooms added by fall of 2022, JCPS will be able to serve about 105 preschool students across the district.

According to Ayers, the school system plans to hire a certified teacher for each of the three additional classrooms.

“The earlier we can expose children to structured learning environments, to early literacy opportunities, the better they’re going to be in the future as students,” said Ayers.

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ackson County Schools will double its preK opportunities, adding one classroom each at Blue Ridge School, Scott’s Creek Elementary and Cullowhee Valley School.

“Early literacy is so important and this will allow us to expand our opportunities for kids and give them that exposure early on that they’re not getting if they’re in the home or just simply in a childcare center that doesn’t offer preschool type opportunities,” said Jackson County Schools Superintendent Dr. Dana Ayers.

In December, the school system received $236,000 in grant money from Dogwood Health Trust to add pre-K classrooms at Scott’s Creek Elementary and Cullowhee Valley School, neither of which currently offer a pre-K program.

“Opening those two classrooms will pull

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students, or potential students, who should go to Scotts Creek or Cullowhee Valley so that they’ll be in a preschool program at their home school,” said Ayers. “And it’ll open up additional slots for Fairview families.”

The second grant came from the Blue Ridge School Education Foundation for just over $115,000. This money will go towards an additional pre-K classroom at Blue Ridge School in Cashiers. The additional classroom will provide the first pre-K classroom for 3year-olds in Jackson County Schools.

“Because Blue Ridge School has the physical space right beside their current preschool classroom, it’s easy to add an additional classroom there with some modifications to that classroom,” said Ayers. “We’re fortunate that they already have the appropriate playground for preschool children, and they have a wonderful resource in their experienced teacher there, Wanda Crisp. I’m looking forward to adding an additional classroom so Wanda can work with the teacher, and the students that we put in there too.”

Currently, Jackson County Public Schools serves 54 students through its preschool pro-

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HCS adopts shortened quarantine policy

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The CDC is recommending a rapid antigen test on day six instead of a PCR test because of the amount of viral load each test detects. The thought is that as the level of the virus comes down, if it is below the threshold that can be detected by an antigen test, it’s low enough not to be contagious. A negative rapid antigen test doesn’t mean a person doesn’t still have a viral load, but it does mean they may be less contagious. PCR tests detect any amount of virus at all, which could force people to stay isolated longer, even when they have a small viral load but aren’t contagious.

If a student (or teacher) is exposed to COVID-19 — within six feet of someone who tests positive for more than 15 minutes without proper masking — isolation and testing will depend on vaccination status. If the stu-

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dent is up to date with vaccinations or has had a documented positive case themselves within the last 90 days, this person does not need to be isolated, but should follow the consistent masking policy for the next five days. If a person is not vaccinated, they will need to be isolated for the first five days after exposure and get a rapid antigen test on day six to determine next steps.

“I think to make this work well, it really requires people to honor the whole package of what’s here, not just pick and choose,” said Jaben.

Haywood County has set up a free testing site, open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday at the Wilson’s Children’s Complex at Lake Junaluska. Both rapid and PCR tests are available.

Board member Jimmy Rogers noted that this system would not only help students and teachers get back to school faster, it would also help parents in getting back to work sooner instead of having to stay home with isolating children.

Rogers made the motion to support the new 5+5 COVID Guidance presented by the Haywood County Health Department. The motion passed; board member David Burnette cast the only dissenting vote.

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g HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER aywood County Schools will follow new COVID protocol, referred to as “5+5 COVID Guidance,” after a presentation from the Haywood County Health Department during a special called meeting Monday night.

“This is based off of recent CDC updated guidance with respect to isolation and quarl antine and when a person can leave the sepad ration phase of isolation and quarantine,” said Dr. Mark Jaben, Haywood County Health Department’s Medical Director.

What is the 5+5 plan? Essentially it is new guidance intended to shorten the isolation period for students and teachers exposed to COVID-19 and/ or those testing positive in order to get them back in school r quicker. This is possible because of the less y severe nature of the Omicron strain of r COVID-19.

Here is how the guidance works. Day zero is considered the first day of symptoms, r or the first day of a positive test result for d someone who has no symptoms. Students who fall into this boat should isolate themselves from day zero through day five. Even with the Omicron strain, people are most infectious during the first five days of infection. g “The CDC chose five days because, particularly with studies of Omicron, when people got infected they developed symptoms sooner and they perhaps cleared it a little sooner than previous waves,” said Jaben.

“What they’re trying to do here is thread the k needle between getting people back to work, getting kids in school, and then knowing that there is going to be some degree of cont tagiousness going on.”

On day six, students who have been l isolating should have a rapid antigen test.

If the student has a negative test, has had d no fever for 24 hours and other symptoms K are improving, they can return to school, being sure to consistently mask during days six through 10. (The school system had previously been operating under a 10day isolation system for people who were infected, with no test required to leave isolation and return to school.) Students should still reduce their exposure to other people outside of school during these second five days.

“If we’re going to reduce the risk that an infected person passes this to somebody else, then we really need them to be wearing a mask consistently,” said Jaben. “It needs to be a mask they are wearing at all times, at home and at school, it needs to be a proper mask, and probably more important than even the type of mask, is that it is being worn appropriately, which means no gaps.”

If however, a person tests positive on day six, they will need to be isolated for five more days.

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N.C. Supreme Court throws out maps

Smoky Mountain News

February 9-15, 2022

s expected, the North Carolina Supreme Court overruled on party lines a unanimous Wake County Superior Court decision that upheld new congressional and state legislative maps as constitutional.

The decision came on the evening of Feb. 4, just two days after oral arguments were heard, and throws the maps back to the Republican-led General Assembly, which will now attempt to draw maps that aren’t racial and/or partisan gerrymanders as they have been ruled to be in the past.

Chief among the complaints about the maps were the proposed congressional district lines, which gave Republicans a likely 10-4 advantage, possibly even an 11-3 advantage, in a state where Donald Trump won by just 1.6 points in 2020, a Democratic governor is serving his second term, almost all Council of State offices and both U.S. Senate seats are held by Republicans, who also dominate the General Assembly but represent a minority on the Supreme Court.

Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s congressional district was altered slightly, but Cawthorn announced on Nov. 11 that he’d seek reelection in a new district.

Widespread changes to the state’s congressional maps could impact Cawthorn’s decision.

Significant changes were also made to the districts of Western North Carolina Republican representatives Mark Pless and Mike Clampitt, and a seemingly nonsensical chunk of Haywood County — Canton, basically — was cut out of the district of Sen. Kevin Corbin, R-Franklin.

It’s not yet clear what changes will be made to the maps, or if any of them will affect WNC districts, but Republicans have until Feb. 18 to present new maps.

The court is scheduled to adopt maps no later than noon on Feb. 23.

Barring further legal action or delays, the candidate filling period will commence on Feb. 24 and run through noon on March 4.

Absentee ballots will begin to be mailed on out March 28, and prospective voters will have until April 22 to register or change their party affiliation.

One-stop early voting will take place from April 28 through May 14 in advance of the Primary Election, which will be held on May 17.

As is often the case in North Carolina, all election-related dates are subject to change, sometimes on short notice.

For more information on eligibility, dates, registration and voting procedures – especially for overseas members of the United States armed forces – consult your county board of elections, which can be found at the North Carolina State 6 Board of Elections website, ncsbe.gov.

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Clear trends emerge in partisan voter registration

Source: NCSBE, The Smoky Mountain News

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR wo years ago, The Smoky Mountain News took a look at statistical data on the party affiliation of registered voters across the state and in the seven westernmost counties, from Jan. 1, 2016 through Jan. 1, 2020. It was great news for Republicans, and the exact opposite for Democrats.

Two years on, Western North Carolina’s political landscape continues to evolve, but as registration trends become more apparent over a six-year period from 2016 through 2022, it’s no surprise that one party is doing a good job of reaching rural voters and one is not.

How Republicans and Democrats adjust to those trends over the next nine months will go a long way in determining the 2023 makeup of the U.S. House and Senate, as well as the North Carolina General Assembly, various county commissions and county sheriffs’ departments.

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s much as North Carolina presents itself as a half-Republican, half-Democrat state it’s actually not – it’s more like a third, a third, a third.

Unaffiliated registrations have soared across the state since 2016, and now make up the second-largest group of voters in North Carolina at 34% after surpassing Republicans in 2018.

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“There are more and more Republicans on a national level and on a state level that are going unaffiliated, especially after the events of Jan. 6 and the mess that was the Trump years,” said Matt Ballance, North Carolina Democratic Party chair of the 11th/14th Congressional District. “I think we’ve seen more and more Republicans feel disenchanted with their party, and that’s led to the huge spike in unaffiliated voters.”

Over that same period, Democrats have watched their base erode by more than 5%.

Although 35% of North Carolina voters still identify as Democrats, if trends continue they’ll soon drop into second place, probably sometime this year. Republicans remain a distant third with 30% of all registrations.

It’s also worth noting that the fourth option — Libertarians, who have been on N.C. ballots since the 1970s — outpaced all three other registration options, with growth of 71% from 2016 to 2022. However, they still amount to less than 50,000 people, with Dems, Republicans and unaffiliated registrations all well above 2 million.

“With everything that’s happened in the last 20 years in terms of the way that the parties have moved in different directions, I think it’s very safe to say that a lot of our more rural voters in the extreme western part of North Carolina have found that they identify

more with some of the issues that are pushed by the Republicans,” said Ballance.

Republican registrations have grown by more than 11% statewide since 2016, but have seen explosive growth in the west. That’s important, because as Karl Rove told The Smoky Mountain News back in July, the huge Republican margins racked up by Republican Reps. Madison Cawthorn and Patrick McHenry help balance out heavily Democratic districts down east.

In North Carolina’s seven westernmost counties — Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain — Democratic registrations are down almost 24% since 2016, with Republican and unaffiliated registrations both up by a similar amount.

Jackson County fared the best for Democrats, losing just 9.5% of its Democrats since January 2016. Cherokee and Graham counties fared worst — each lost around 40% of its Democrats. Clay lost more than 30% of its Democrats, while Haywood and Swain counties were both about average, experiencing a 24% decrease in Democrats.

Conversely, Clay and Haywood counties saw the biggest jump in Republican registrations, right around 30%. Macon County now has 26% more Republicans than it did in 2016, as does Jackson.

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Source: NCSBE, The Smoky Mountain News

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nect hurts local Democrats, especially on law enforcement and Second Amendment issues.

Zeb Smathers, now in his second term as Canton’s mayor after four years as an alderman, has achieved some degree of success as a moderate Democrat and has his own views on what’s behind the lopsided voter registration trends — especially the surge in unaffiliated voters.

“I do believe that there is a moderate majority in this country,” Smathers said. “I see it time and time again. I hear it from Democrats. I hear it from Republicans. There is a moderate majority in this region, in this state, in this country, and I think at some point there are going to be leaders from both parties that will go out there and really have an opportunity to change things and lead and make this country a better place for people who are sick of the partisan divide.”

Smathers also has his own ideas on how Democrats can stave off the demographically induced electoral disaster that awaits his party if they don’t get their act together this year, or by 2024 at the latest.

“I don’t expect help or assistance or the national Democratic Party to provide a playbook to do that. I think in some regards, whatever your political stance is, whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, I’ve seen this firsthand — Western North Carolina wants leadership. They want results,” Smathers said.

“There’s a time for politics, but I think each political party has an obligation to go to people, to listen to their issues, even with people that they necessarily don’t agree with, and have the audacity to find common ground.”

February 9-15, 2022

Roxan Wetzel is the interim second vice chair of the NCGOP’s 11th Congressional District — at least until the state convention on April 2 — and also serves as chair of the McDowell County Republican Party. Wetzel has seen the shift firsthand in McDowell, where Dem registrations are down by a third and Republican registrations are up around 20%. She thinks she knows why voters there are leaving the Democratic Party.

“The Democratic Party’s left them,” she said. “It has absolutely left them if you’re not a socialist. McDowell County was solid blue until 2012. That’s when the switch happened.

That’s pretty recent history. Even on my own executive committee, the majority are former Democrats, but the values of the Democratic Party do not align with their personal values.”

Wetzel has also witnessed the surge in McDowell’s Republican registrations over that time, and has a theory as to why, exactly, her party is growing there and across the state and region.

“President Trump ignited the nation.

More voters than ever before turned out to vote in support of him, regardless of who now is currently sitting in the White House,” she said. “He really ignited people who weren’t ever engaged before. We’re working to educate them, to have them understand the structure and how that they can plug in and how they can make a difference.”

But who’s igniting Democrats? Both Ballance and Wetzel intimated a disconnect between national Democratic Party messaging and the core beliefs of rural Democrats in a place like Western North Carolina. That discon-

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Saving our lifesavers: Donaldson pleads for help

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR comprehensive assessment of Haywood Emergency Management Services completed in 2019 suggested that aggressive shift schedules put employees at greater risk for sleep disorders, PTSD, anxiety, depression, substance abuse and suicide.

Since then, not much has been done to address the issue, so EMS director Travis Donaldson took his case directly to Haywood commissioners.

“They’re tired, they’re exhausted, they’ve been working two years of Covid now, and a very fast-growing call volume at this point,” Donaldson said of EMS employees during a Feb. 7 presentation.

Haywood EMS took over as the primary ambulance from the Rescue Squad in 1993, due to call volume and the Rescue Squad’s growing inability to staff the operation with volunteers. At that time, there were two ambulances working the 24/72 shift, and one ambulance on the day shift.

The “24/72” shift means 24 hours on, 72 off.

From 1994 to 2008, that grew to five ambulances on 24/72 shifts, one ambulance still on the day shift, and the addition of a quick response vehicle.

Beginning in 2008, Haywood EMS changed up the way shifts were scheduled in

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response to growing call volume, putting four ambulances on 24/48 shifts, with two remaining on the 24/72 shifts. The move was also a response to the onset of the Great Recession, because it takes fewer full-time employees to handle a 24/48 schedule.

From 2015 through the present, three ambulances remain on the 24/48 schedule, in addition to three on the 24/72 cycle and two on the day shift.

The grueling schedules can carry significant impacts over the course of a 30-year career.

A typical worker on an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. shift will spend 7.12 years at work during a 30-year career. Ambulance crews on the 24/72 shift will spend 7.89 years at work over that same 30-year career, but crews on 24/48 shifts spend a whopping 10.15 years at work.

“That’s a substantial increase, especially with the stressors and the job that these folks are doing,” Donaldson said.

Since 2015, call volume has continued to grow, spiking from 11,714 in 2018 to 13,008 in 2019. There was a slight dip in 2020, something Donaldson attributed to the

reluctance of people wanting to go to the hospital during the initial stages of the Coronavirus Pandemic, but calls for service snapped back in 2021 to 13,412.

“Factors driving this [are] overall population growth, an aging population and an increase in tourism that we’ve all seen over the past couple years,” said Donaldson.

On Feb. 4, Haywood County announced that a medic team on loan from the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency would be stationed in the county for the next several weeks. Their ambulance, capable of advanced life support, has Ohio mark-

ings and will work 12-hour daytime shifts.

A Haywood EMS survey of employees showed that only 17% wanted to stay on the 24/48 schedule.

To reduce the strain on employees, Donaldson proposed modifying shifts to 24/72 while also providing mental health and wellness training.

According to data provided by Donaldson, EMS would need seven new fulltime employees at an additional cost of $335,000 per year.

Commissioners seemed supportive of Donaldson’s ask — just as budget season gets underway — but Commissioner Kirk Kirkpatrick wondered about the feasibility of getting seven new employees in today’s workforce environment. Haywood EMS usually hires from its part-time pool, Donaldson said.

Currently, there are two openings at Haywood EMS, and Commissioner Jennifer Best opined that the county’s competitive benefits package might be enticing enough to lure EMS workers from other counties.

Brandon Rogers, who in addition to serving as a commissioner is also a reserve deputy in the Haywood County Sheriff ’s Office, said he understood and sympathized with first responders.

“No doubt we need to do something. I don’t like seeing the burnout,” Rogers said.

“I know the stress.”

February 9-15, 2022

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Republicans off to the races in NC-14

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pants country club Republicans would have no place in that Congress.

As some Republicans were busy needling each other, McKim became the first to name-check an eventual Democratic opponent, opining that it would be Buncombe County Commissioner Jasmine Beach-Ferrara.

Perhaps the most significant question — at least, to the organizers of the forum — was oriented around specific policies that would set young people up for success.

Honeycutt joked that as the father of three children in college, his checking account was “going the wrong way.”

Edwards thinks that building a wall on the nation’s southern border and balancing the federal budget would be a good start.

Sluder pushed broadband as a catalyst to economic development, but it was Burril who offered a surprisingly progressive solution.

“The federal government does not need to be making money on student loans,” he said, demanding an end to penalties, interest and garnishments and prompting the exploration of debt forgiveness through internships.

The Smoky Mountain Young Republicans, hosts of the forum, have plans for more.

Watch the NC-14 congressional forum in its entirety by visiting the Smoky Mountain Young Republicans Facebook page.

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Last week’s GOP congressional forum wasn’t hosted by the state party, some national media outlet or even a local county party — it was the work of a talented group of young people operating as the Smoky Mountain Young Republicans.

“We were just going to have a small town hall and it kind of grew into what it is now,” said Elias McKim, chairman of the SMYR. Reagan Bunch — named after America’s 40th president — is a Clay County native and SMYR vice chair who attends UNCWilmington. Bunch moderated the debate, presenting questions developed by the SMYR as well as those sourced from the audience.

“I think this was a really good starting place to build a foundation on where they stand,” she said.

The group’s secretary, Michael Lyons, said that he’s been involved since 2012 and that the SMYR currently counts about 30 or 40 members in a geographical jurisdiction that includes Cherokee, Clay, Graham and Macon counties. The SMYR plans to host at least one more primary or runoff forum, and is currently seeking to fill several leadership positions.

For more information, to get involved, or to make a donation supporting the Smoky Mountain Young Republicans, visit smokymtnyoungrepublicans.com.

February 9-15, 2022 Smoky Mountain News

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT complaining that much of the bill wasn’t POLITICS E DITOR related to infrastructure. O’Connell and he first Republican forum in the NC-14 Nevarez were the first to call for the elimicongressional race may have been light nation of large omnibus bills like the on specific policy proposals, but the Infrastructure Act, while Woodhouse eight declared candidates in the race to shamed the 15 Republicans who voted for replace Rep. Madison Cawthorn wasted no it. time introducing themselves to the GOP A softball question lobbed at candidates faithful in advance of the all-important May about whether Congress could or should 17 Primary Election.

Eight Republicans shared the stage Rod at a forum in Franklin on Feb. 5.

Honeycutt, Cory Vaillancourt photo Wendy Nevarez and Bruce O’Connell all declared their candidacies long before Cawthorn’s surprise Nov. 11 announcement that he’d seek election to a newly-drawn district instead of the old NC11 district that elected him in 2020. pass a nationwide constitutional carry law Since Cawthorn’s announcement, drew mostly predictable answers, but also retired financial services manager and drew the first shots of the campaign.

Asheville Airport Authority Chairman “Any time a question starts with, Matthew Burril, three-term Hendersonville ‘Should the federal government …’ my Sen. Chuck Edwards, Highlands real estate answer is traditionally going to be no,” said developer Ken McKim, former NC-11 GOP Woodhouse, in support of the right of Chair Michele Woodhouse and Buncombe states to determine their own gun laws.

County social worker Kristie Sluder have all Edwards, who along with Woodhouse is joined the field. perceived as one of the frontrunners in the Now, each of them are attempting to race, fired back. position themselves so as to appeal to the “I heard a statement up here a while ago various ideological and professional conthat I really have to disagree with,” he said. stituencies that make up Western North “I heard it’s the state’s right to control gun Carolina’s GOP electorate. laws. I adamantly oppose that statement. It Honeycutt, a retired Army colonel, gave is no right of any entity to control gun laws. the audience the choice between “ties and Our Second Amendment is guaranteed in suits or dog tags and boots.” Nevarez, the Constitution of the United States. Our through her answers on guns and abortion, right to bear arms shall not be infringed. fancies herself the most progressive.

It’s quite clear.”

O’Connell, operator of the Pisgah Inn, toutA similar “states rights” question was ed his history of standing up to the federal also pitched to candidates about abortion: government. Burril demonstrated a proif the landmark 1971 Roe v. Wade ruling is business, finance-oriented profile. Edwards overturned, should the federal government leaned heavily on his experience in the pass an anti-abortion law? Most candidates General Assembly. McKim thinks he’s the danced around the question, but Honeycutt most conservative — it says so on his cam— who’s served in combat zones across the paign signs. Woodhouse, who’s received a globe during his long career — said that few contributions from Cawthorn, sounds a there’s no asterisk on the Sixth lot like him, and Sluder brought a social Commandment. McKim proposed a constiservices perspective. tutional amendment, and Nevarez, the outOver the course of three hours, nearly lier, said that passing federal legislation 150 people in the Smoky Mountain Center would open a Pandora’s box. for the Performing Arts in Franklin heard Later, in another shot at Edwards, candidates agree on two main points — the O’Connell praised him but asked why he’d U.S. Department of Education must be disgamble the influence he carries in the N.C. solved, and the events of Jan. 6, 2021, were Senate to run in a race that, if he lost, not an insurrection and were not attributawould put the powerful Republican out of ble to Cawthorn and then-President Donald government for at least two years.

Trump.

Woodhouse also got in on the act with a Candidates also universally decried HR dig seemingly directed at Edwards when 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and she said that Republicans would take back Jobs Act that became law last November, the House and Senate in 2022 but pleated-

Smoky Mountain Young Republicans seek members

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Smoky Mountain News February 9-15, 2022

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Sylva begins budget discussions

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rate increase, raising taxes an average of $2 per month, per household.

One of Commissioner Mary Gelbaugh’s priorities is a cement pump track or a skateboard park.

“A pump track is a little bit more universal,” said Gelbaugh. “It could be used by rollerbladers, runners, bicycles or longboards. It’s a little bit more versatile to small children or to adults that just want to have a small track of entertainment.”

Commissioner Greg McPherson said he would like to see signs welcoming people into Sylva, similar to the Grindstaff Cove Road sign erected in 2019.

Official department budget requests will be turned into town staff by March 4 and on March 24 commissioners will hold another budget work session.

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Mayor Linda Sossamon’s first priority is the Scotts Creek Watershed plan, a plan that would allow Scotts Creek to be removed from North Carolina’s impaired waters list.

The estimated project cost is $423,000. The town budgeted for construction documents last year, and those are ready to go.

“The reason I like that [watershed plan] is because it’s a shovel ready project,” said Sossamon. “We already have the cost and everything.”

Sossamon would also like to see upgrades to Town Hall, as well as the

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Smoky Mountain News

BOARD PRIORITIES

February 9-15, 2022

BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER ith budget season in full swing, Sylva commissioners have begun discussing their priorities for how to spend taxpayer dollars in the 2022-2023 fiscal year.

A few items are already determined.

Allen Street slope repair, public restrooms and playground equipment at Bryson Park will all be possible through State Capital Infrastructure Funds, direct appropriations in the state budget. According to Town Manager Paige Dowling, Mayor Linda Sossamon worked closely with state representatives to secure this money.

There is $250,000 available for public restrooms in downtown Sylva. At the budget workshop, commissioners debated the best placement for the bathrooms. Dowling told the board that to secure the funding, they needed to decide on a location quickly.

Commissioners debated the merits of building the bathroom on Spring Street between Mill and Main streets, and at the old railroad depot. By the end of the discussion, most commissioners were in favor of a Spring Street location, as it would be more easily accessible to people on Main Street.

Budget requests from the public works department included a full-time maintenance technician at an annual cost of $57,000. At the workshop, Public Works Director Jake Scott noted how his department had consistently worked overtime throughout the year. Public works also needs to replace a truck for about $45,000, as well as salt spreader costing $7,000.

The police department will need to replace two vehicles this year to keep up with its vehicle replacement schedule.

However, the department is looking at hybrid and electric options for the upgrades.

“We would be requesting to try to upgrade our fleet at the normal schedule but do it in a more environmentally conscious way with the hybrid option,” said Assistant Police Chief John Thomas.

The whole setup for a hybrid police car would cost $50,000, about the same as the cost of a new, non-hybrid police car purchased last fiscal year.

Thus far the town has received $436,296.80 in American Rescue Plan Act money, and by July 1, it will have received a total of $872,594. Town staff recommended using the money to pay salaries retroactively, thereby freeing up money that can be used however commissioners decide, instead of having to use the funds in a manner restricted by ARPA guidelines.

Commissioner David Nestler asked that the money still be separated within the general fund for purposes of clearly showing the public how the money will be used. Town staff agreed, saying that would be easy to do.

The town will likely need to budget more money for the sidewalk project to happen alongside the N.C. 107 expansion. Sylva has already allocated $70,000 within the 20192020 and 2021-2022 budgets and has committed a total of $170,000.

A few items are already determined. Allen Street slope repair, public restrooms and playground equipment at Bryson Park will all be possible through State Capital Infrastructure Funds, direct appropriations in the state budget.

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Allen Street.

Community Table. Town Hall needs an air purification system. According to Sossamon, the Community Table has had difficulty accepting food donations due to lack of storage space. The organization has been approved for grant money that could purchase more storage space, including additional freezers and refrigerators. However, the building does not have adequate support in the floors or space to accommodate the new equipment.

“I do think that since it is our building, we need to double check and maintain those things,” said Sossamon. “She feeds a lot of people through there.”

Commissioner David Nestler said implementing the Scotts Creek Watershed Plan was also at the top of his list for budget priorities. He also listed public restrooms, Pinnacle Park plans, Bryson Park upgrades and Allen Street repairs as priorities.

Assessing zoning districts was also on Nestler’s list, though he said this may be more of a time commitment than a budget commitment.

“I’m so glad you brought that up, that’s something that I meant to do,” said Dowling.

She said would also like to work this year to get the zoning map to match the existing districts.

Nestler brought up a plan to provide lowcost internet to all residential households in Sylva by having the town pay the base rate for all units in the city limits. He said that if the town provided the service, it could be paid for with a one-and-a-quarter cent tax

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Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

Careless book banning is seldom a good idea R

A party adrift after Trump’s tenure To the Editor: Almost from the moment World War II ended, we have watched in horror as one dictator after another forced their people into submission, never imagining such a calamitous circumstance could occur in the United States of America.

The thought of that improbability is no more. Visions of our own leaders cowering under their desks in our own Capitol (the “People’s House”) a little over one year ago alerted us not just to the possibility but the likelihood that we face a genuine threat from inside our own country.

We have viewed, ad nauseam for over a year, the replay of what amounted to a presidential coup or (at the very least) a failed attempt to undermine the electoral process which many members of Congress seemed to embrace even as it put their own lives in grave danger.

The former president sabotaged public confidence in our electoral process by making it clear long before the election was even held that he would not accept the results if he lost (one of the very few promises he kept). His futile attempt to subvert the certification of the Electoral College results incited the deadly

have involved the community, the teachers who are in the classroom every day, the school system’s own media/library professionals and others — Superintendent Bill Nolte said he made the decision to ask the teacher to assign a different book. He cited the book’s profanity and sexual innuendo as the primary reasons.

This book is on recommended reading lists across this country for high schoolers, and for good reason. I mean, no disrespect to administrators or school board members who may not read much, but the protagonist in this novel wants to discuss — in the form of letters — his concerns about race with Martin Luther King Jr., the assassinated pacifist preacher who disavowed violence as he tried to right wrongs during the Civil Rights era.

OK, so there’s some vulgar words.

Editor Anyone reading this column or this book remember how many cusswords they knew by age 15? Yeah, about all of them, I’d say.

Speaking of sexual innuendo, ever read “The Scarlett Letter” or “To Kill a Mockingbird?” Aren’t these books still read in high schools? I remember discussing the Nathaniel Hawthorn classic in 11th grade and was duly impressed that my wise, elderly Black English teacher, Mrs. Jackson, was able to deftly deflect the silly questions regarding Hester’s transgressions from a class of unruly 16- and 17-year-olds while keeping the discussion focused on the book’s larger themes of sin, guilt and redemption. That’s called getting an education, exploring new ideas and discussing important questions about life, dignity,

Scott McLeod

emoving the book “Dear Martin” from a 10th-grade English class at Tuscola High School likely didn’t prevent students in that class from having a deep, meaningful discussion about race in America and their own attitudes about this issue. Hopefully the teacher found some other book that inspired students to have this kind of discussion, because it’s one today’s young Americans need.

More important for students, parents, faculty and taxpayers, the decision to pull the book reflected badly on the current leadership of the Haywood County school system.

Banning a book is almost never a good idea, and the way this incident went down proves that point.

I will, however, stick up for the parent who lodged the complaint despite disagreeing with him about the merits of this book. If a parent has a problem with what is happening with their child’s education, they should ask for answers and go up the ladder — teacher, principal, administrator, school board member — until they are satisfied. That’s the process, that’s how public school systems work.

The book’s author, Nic Stone, said as much. “I don’t fault the parents at all,” Stone told The Smoky Mountain News.

“We’re all just trying to do our best when it comes to raising our kids. I would just hope that they would be willing to read beyond the first chapter just to see what’s actually in there.”

And that’s the problem with, essentially, banning the book from the entire classroom instead of giving that particular student a different reading assignment. Did anyone at the administrative level “read beyond the first chapter just to see what’s actually in there” before making the decision?

Instead of using this parent’s grievances against the book to open a larger, wide-ranging discussion — one that could

retribution, honesty, honor and other themes. This is how the best teachers prepare students to succeed in life.

The removal of the book really hit home with teachers and parents. That’s how we heard about it — and from some parents who are also teachers — who were outraged that this happened in the system where they work. Many felt it was a slap in the face to teachers, that it reflects a larger problem in this school system about how classroom professionals are treated by administrators. The backlash from education professionals was plentiful and heartfelt. Many were reluctant to offer public criticism.

School administrators, principals and teachers have tough jobs. They make dozens of decisions a day they hope will help the students they are charged with educating. I understand that there is an inclination to err on the side of caution when some potentially controversial matter must be dealt with. It’s tough balancing the need to protect students from a dangerous world with the desire to prepare them for what they will encounter as they go through life, a point the book’s author — a mother of two teen boys — also made.

I suspect none of the students will forget that school leaders banned the book they were supposed to read in 10th grade English. Neither will parents and teachers throughout Haywood County. The superintendent — and let’s not forget the elected school board — lost the trust of many by making this decision.

Children are growing up faster than ever, and our schools have an important role to play in helping them face life’s difficult challenges. Despite the overused idiom, ignorance is not bliss. Never was.

(Scott McLeod can be reached at info@smokymountainnews.com)

LETTERS attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Trump’s activities surrounding the insurrection present religious leaders and Trump’s Christian following quite a dilemma. They have to decide whether or not to endorse Trump’s coup attempt, stand behind the “Big Lie,” and foster his commitment to antidemocratic practices, which include an armed attempt to overthrow the U.S. government.

Their alternative — obviously — is to recognize the true results of the election, support the orderly transfer of power in our constitutional democracy and thereby acknowledge “God’s President” was a liar, a scam artist and a major player in the attempt to overturn a free and fair election he lost by over seven million votes. Their decision is still pending.

For the rest of us, the nightmare is not over. We have every reason to be concerned. I defer to Barton Gellman who succinctly declared in The Atlantic: “Technically, the next attempt to overthrow a national election may not qualify as a coup. It will rely on subversion more than violence, although each will have its place.” If laws presently being pursued by Republican legislatures across the U.S. are passed, ballots cast by voters will not decide the presidency in 2024. Votes could be discarded, the winner could be declared the loser

and the loser certified president-elect. That will mark the end of American democracy.

In a functioning democracy — which many of us are old enough to recall having lived in — a grandstanding, opportunistic, narcissistic demagogue like Trump would have been long since judged a once-in-a-lifetime kind of miscreation and deemed most

certainly unworthy of the exalted office of President of the United States. His ridiculous and corrosive lies distorting and demeaning everything that we once valued in America and cherished by freedom-loving citizens around the globe would be enough to disqualify and bar him from any political consideration.

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The nostalgia of football and Snoop Dogg

However, somehow, for reasons yet to be clearly defined, Trump has managed (and in a relatively short period of time) to transform a once highly valued and principled political party into some kind of unethical, discredited, nonsensical cult.

Whether America and American democ-

racy can (in a world as chaotic, unpredictable and demanding as ours) weather and outlast Donald Trump’s unparalleled assault on our way of life remains to be seen.

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certainly involved explicit language and innuendos that were perhaps a bit too mature for us, but when I reflect upon it, it seems quite innocent. Further, I didn’t even grasp most of the innuendoes anyway. I just liked the beat and feeling cool with my high school sister.

One day my dad got into the Geo Storm to move the vehicles around and unfortunately for us girls, we’d forgotten to remove the cassette tape from the player. My dad was introduced to Snoop’s distinctive voice, which blared from the speakers the moment he turned over the ignition.

Needless to say, when he walked back into the house, we got into some trouble for listening to the music, especially my sister because she was older and was being a “negative influence” on little ol’ me.

This year we’re hosting a small get together for the Super Bowl. We’ve got the menu planned and the football-shaped plates purchased. All adults in attendance were born during the aforementioned timeframe, so we’re calling it a 1990s hip-hop party as well. As a recent meme said, “A lot of these Gen Z kids are about to find out who their parents really are as soon as the beat drops at the Super Bowl halftime show.” It’s going to be a lively afternoon.

The world can feel very heavy right now if we let it, but there is still light and joy and silly fun to be had. During tumultuous times such as these, it’s even more important to be with friends, laugh, watch sports, listen to music and reminisce on days gone by.

This year’s Super Bowl matchup involves the Rams and the Bengals, and even though Kurt Warner no longer plays football and the Rams are now in LA, there is still some nostalgia to them being in the Super Bowl. I have no allegiance to either team, so I’m rooting for the Rams simply because my mom used to be a fan.

Moreover, my dad is going to be in attendance at our soiree so for old times sake, we may even play a little Gin and Juice while pregaming. But, now I have a seventhgrader and I don’t really want him or his little brother listening to those lyrics. Funny how those full circle moments happen in life. My parents always said, “One day when you have kids you’ll understand.” Boy, were they right.

(Susanna Shetley is a writer, editor and digital media specialist for The Smoky Mountain News, Smoky Mountain Living and Mountain South Media. susanna.b@smokymountainnews.com)

February 9-15, 2022

y mom was a tiny Southern lady who graduated salutatorian of her senior class and never said a cuss word in her life, minus the one time someone cut her off in traffic and I heard her whisper the word for a female dog. But underneath that seemingly demure exterior was a fierce and funny woman, a lady that held multiple degrees, could make some mean fried peach pies and started a successful tour company after she’d retired from 35 years of teaching.

Despite her known accolades, she had one interesting characteristic that few knew about. She loved professional football and followed it religiously. During our daily talks, she’d fill me in on stats and which teams were leading. In her Columnist latter years, she had crushes on three quarterbacks: the Manning boys (Eli and Peyton) and Kurt Warner. If the Colts, Giants or Rams were playing, you better believe she was glued to the television. This was also the hey-day of the Tom Brady/Peyton Manning rivalry and if the Patriots beat the Colts, I left my mom alone for a couple days so she could grieve.

Super Bowl LVI is this Sunday. The Big Game always makes me think of my mom.

If one of her favorite quarterbacks were leading his team, she would jump around the room like a little nervous firecracker during all four quarters. The rest of us would watch her, shaking our heads in amusement and dishing out another plate of queso dip and chicken wings.

I can get into a football game, especially the Super Bowl, but admittedly, I also enjoy the commercials and the halftime show. It’s a known fact that some years the halftime show is lackluster at best, but that is not the case this year. If you were born anytime between 1974-ish and 1982-ish then you are probably very excited about this year’s musical lineup, which includes Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem and Kendrick Lamar. I was born in 1979, so I’m one of those people looking forward to this year’s halftime show.

During the early 90s when my sister was a sophomore and I was in seventh grade, we loved cruising around in her cherry red Geo Storm and blasting Snoop Dogg‘s infamous “Gin and Juice” album. Some of the lyrics

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A&E

Smoky Mountain News

Pouring a cup of community Coffee shop becomes Canton staple

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD ARTS & E NTERTAINMENT E DITOR ike many recent businesses opening in downtown Canton, it’s usually a story of someone deciding to take a chance on a quiet town — a community full of potential that many have either disregarded or overlooked.

“We had people say, ‘Oh, we’ve sat on Main Street and didn’t see a single car pass by all morning,’ and wondering why we’d open something here,” Russ Grimmett recalled.

“But, then other business owners in town, the mayor and aldermen all said, ‘This is what Canton needs.’ So, we went on that, rather than the corporate naysayers.”

Opened in June 2019, Papertown Coffee has become a beloved spot of sorts on Main Street in the longtime blue-collar mountain town. It’s a social hub — more so a beehive — of people, conversations and interactions, all of which bring a strong sense of connectivity to a place that, like the rest of the world, has felt a little disconnected over the past two years.

“And we really feel that connection to the community,” Grimmett said. “Even during the shutdown, when we were just doing mobile togo orders, all of these people were buying gift certificates or buying whatever they could to support us — it was pretty amazing.”

Alongside his partner, Liz Rhine, the couple bounced around the United States for several

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Russ Grimmett and Liz Rhine. Above: A delicious latte from Papertown Coffee. years before ultimately landing in Haywood County. Rhine grew up in Lincolnton, with Grimmett hailing from Charlotte. From there, they put roots down in “The Triangle” (Raleigh/Chapel Hill/Durham), Seattle, Washington, and Morganton.

The couple met at a coffee shop in “The Triangle.” At the time, Grimmett was a drink trainer, with Rhine one of his employees.

Grimmett also competed in several barista

competitions, where he perfected the craft of the latte among other coffee specialties.

Eventually, Grimmett shifted his focus into the more technical side of the coffee industry, doing equipment service in Seattle, then around the Southeast. As this was all going on, Rhine was on the road constantly as the tour manager for juggernaut Americana/roots act Mandolin Orange (now known as Watchhouse).

“She was away a lot and we both decided we wanted to start a business together,” Grimmett said. “We thought about all sorts of ideas for a company, but coffee made the most sense since I’d been in this industry for 15 years and she’d been in it on and off for about the same amount of time.”

Initially, Grimmett and Rhine were looking to launch a coffee shop somewhere in the Asheville area. But, a friend of the family, Kristina Smith Proctor, who is now on the Canton Board of Aldermen, suggested they look into the town.

“There were a lot of empty buildings in downtown and the place we found seemed perfect for what we were trying to do,” Grimmett said. “So, we just started to roll the ball downhill — you either catch up or you fall over.”

Grimmett remembers those first days on Main Street, whether it was renovating and retrofitting the building or simply being a new presence in the downtown business corridor.

“The most encouraging thing was just really talking to people in the community,” Grimmett said. “I’d be out in front of the building painting and somebody would walk by and ask what was happening. It was those people who really gave us the confidence that this was going to work out — that we would go all in on this.”

Reminiscing about opening day back in 2019, Grimmett can’t help but chuckle thinking about all the last-minute details the couple was scrambling to get done before the coffee was ready to brew, the front door soon to be unlocked “I was still writing the menu on the chalkboard an hour before we were supposed to open,” Grimmett said. “And being someone who used to work on the service side of coffee, there are so many parts of the whole operation that most people don’t even realize. It’s all of those little things that you might not think about, but it all adds up. But, we opened and were slammed with business — community support from day one.”

So, what is it about coffee the couple finds so alluring?

“Coming from the technical side, I have more of an analytical mind, where I’m fascinated by the process and science behind coffee, where you’re aiming to create the pinnacle of the product,” Grimmett said. “Liz comes from more of the artistic and social side of coffee, where it’s about blending together the business and the community. But, now that we’re back open, just seeing everybody every day I think has been the best part for her.”

With Papertown Coffee now approaching its third year of operation, plans are already in the works to expand next door, which would include an onsite roastery and more food options in terms of small plates and grab-n-go items.

“We love seeing people come in and try something new or unexpected with coffee, where they’ll say, ‘I didn’t know coffee could taste like this,’” Grimmett said. “We’re always changing up what we’re serving and what we want to present to our customers — it’s exciting for us.”

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

I got love that ain’t gonna change, I got love that won’t fade away

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HOT PICKS Acclaimed lead singer/guitarist for jam-band legends Perpetual Groove, Brock Butler will be hosting a special solo weekend showcase from 8 to 11 p.m. Feb. 1112 at Nantahala Brewing in Sylva.

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Popular regional rock act Andrew Thelston Band will hold a special month-long residency every Saturday evening in The Gem downstairs taproom at Boojum Brewing in Waynesville.

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February 9-15, 2022

City Lights Bookstore will host a conversation with authors Heather Newton and Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 17, at the shop in downtown Sylva.

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Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host an “Emo Night Dance Party” at 9 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 12.

4 5

Currahee Brewing (Franklin) will host Isaac Corbin (soul/roots) at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 12.

to make the 4 p.m. screening on-time. Pull into the Biltmore Avenue parking garage and walk briskly uphill to the theatre, but not before dropping my last dollar bill in the hands of a homeless man.

“One ticket to ‘Licorice Pizza,’ please,” you tell the face behind the mask behind the glass of the box office. Slid the credit card

Smoky Mountain News

t’s was right around the third drink of the evening when I had the sneaking suspicion an existential crisis was going to rear its head before the night was through.

Monday night at the “Open Jam” at One World Brewing in West Asheville. I was flying solo, as I do most of the time. Sitting at the bar counter alone, I sipped the locally made raspberry seltzer and tried to assimilate myself into normalcy, or into whatever that even means anymore in this time and space, in these unknown waters of people and protocol we navigate with an air of cautious optimism.

Sipping the bright red liquid, I stood out like a sore thumb amid the IPA and porter throngs of Asheville cool kids out on the town, always chasing that “moment,” for FOMO (fear of missing out) is a real and tangible feeling that lurks in the underbelly of this thriving mountain metropolis.

I sat there and wondered how different my life would be if I didn’t ignore that girl that really liked me several years ago or maybe tried a little harder to rope in the one that got away. Was she really that into me? Was I even aware of what was actually going on? How come it never seems to come together like two puzzle pieces in a lost sea of confusion and by chance romance?

Maybe I wouldn’t be alone on Monday, Feb. 7, 2022, two days after my 37th birthday, which is already in the rearview mirror of my thoughts and actions, all while I subconsciously prepare for the 38th goround that fiery ball of energy and light hovering high and mysteriously above us each time we, well, wake up and do it all over again.

Shit, Valentine’s day is exactly a week from today. The music ends so the band can take a quick smoke break. The inundation and undulation of sound and spectacle has ceased, at least for the time being, as now you’re just left with nothing to see and hear, which parlays itself into the usual company on a lonely Monday night: your own thoughts.

Taking a big pull of the red beverage, I think of the film I just exited at the Fine Arts Theatre in downtown Asheville — “Licorice Pizza,” the latest from famed director Paul Thomas Anderson.

Bolt down Interstate 40 from Waynesville

I leave the theatre with a little bit of a kick in my step. I feel the urge to call a close friend and tell her about the film, to compare our differing, respective interpretations of the mesmerizing work. The conversation shifts to swapping stories about our own high school experiences and exploits, and how dusty those memories seem nowadays, like yearbooks full of signatures and photographs forgotten in the closet of our mind. I feel the urge to text an old friend, and do so.

There’s a lightness of being when in the presence of timeless cinema, more so when you exit the theatre to a blood-orange sunset overtaking Western North Carolina. I stood on the corner of Biltmore Avenue and Aston Street, just to take in the fading beauty of light for a moment or two. Button up my coat and slowly walk back to the truck.

It’s was right around the third drink of the evening when I had the sneaking suspicion an existential crisis was going to rear its head before the night was through. I sipped the locally made raspberry seltzer and tried to assimilate myself into normalcy, or into whatever that even means anymore in this time and space.

Shit, Valentine’s day is exactly a week from today. And that’s OK. All of it.

Existential crisis, be damned. It’s all good, for right when that sneaking suspicion of personal evaluation amid the greater universe rears its head, you then start to see the clarity and splendor of your own path — the flaws, the faults, the passion, the purpose.

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

arts & entertainment

This must be the place

through the small hole, get the ticket in return. Find a seat in the darkness of the upstairs screening room. Besides myself, three other scattered couples and some random dude way in the back row.

Set in California’s San Fernando Valley in 1973, the film is, in essence, a love letter by PTA to “The Valley” of his youth, a physical and emotional landscape rapidly changing in the 21st Century world of shifting culture and high-end real estate.

The main plot is about an ambitious teenage boy chasing relentlessly after an older woman. He’s trying to run away from being a kid, always aiming to prove to others his worth through haphazard business ventures and the like. She’s trying to run away from a boring life in suburbia that seems to be creeping around the corner. Cue a series of trials and tribulations, whether on their own or together.

Soaking in the cinematic beauty of the film, memories begin to flood my field-ofvision. Thoughts of my own early ambitions and aspirations, and how one didn’t care to be purposely naïve, especially in matters of the heart. You want that girl? Well, figure out a way to get her attention. You want to succeed? Prove it.

Now, at 37, the outer shell (of the heart, of the soul) is hard, and it sometimes weighs heavy, whether it be around the holidays or my birthday last week, or Valentine’s Day next week. Experiences of love lost and love found are like layers of sticky lacquer coating your shell with each passerby lover, each passing season.

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On the beat arts & entertainment

Perpetual Groove singer to play Sylva Brock Butler.

The Whisnants.

Smoky Mountain News

February 9-15, 2022

Franklin welcomes The Whisnants The Whisnants will hold a special performance at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 12, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

In 1970, around the old upright piano in John and Betty Whisnants’ house, a family began singing in the Appalachian foothills of Morganton. The voices of children blended with their parents as the sound of a gospel song filled the house.

And, from that time forward, they were known as The John Whisnant Family.

Passing the leadership of the group onto Jeff (John & Betty’s son) and Susan in 1990, a new era of The Whisnants began. The current line-up of the trio is Jeff and Susan, Aaron Hise and their sons Austin and Ethan.

With over 40 years of traveling behind

them, the group has celebrated 13 number one songs (spanning from 2001 to 2013), with the first single for 2014, “He Can Move That Stone,” being nominated as a Top 10 Favorite Song in the Singing News Fan awards (2014).

In 2003, the ballad “What You Took From Me” was ranked number one on the Singing News Top 40 Year End Chart as the most played song on radio, with “Even In The Valley” doing the same in 2004. As well, they have been nominated for “Trio of the Year” 10 times and received numerous other individual nominations.

Tickets are $18 per person. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to smokymountainarts.com or call 866.273.4615.

Interested in learning the dulcimer?

The Pic’ & Play Mountain Dulcimer Players will be resuming in-person jam sessions at the St. John’s Episcopal Church basement fellowship hall in Sylva.

The group welcomes all beginners and experienced dulcimer players, including mountain (lap) dulcimer and hammered dulcimer players. Songs played include traditional mountain tunes, hymns, and more modern music. The group meets at 1:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Saturday of every month in the basement of St. John’s.

For more information, call Kathy Jaqua at 828.349.3930 or Don Selzer at 828.293.0074.

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Acclaimed lead singer/guitarist for jamband legends Perpetual Groove, Brock Butler will be hosting a special solo weekend showcase from 8 to 11 p.m. Feb. 11-12 at Nantahala Brewing in Sylva.

Formed in Savannah, Georgia, in 1997, P-Groove has remained at the apex of live improvisation and layered sonic landscapes, this realm where traditional rock

music intersects with the modern era of digital technology. It’s a dance of cat and mouse between the musicians onstage and those in the audience — an ebb and flow of energy and purpose from both sides of the microphone.

Admission is $5 per person, per night (at the door). Both shows will be all ages.

828.641.9797 or nantahalabrewing.com.

Thelston residency at Boojum Popular regional rock act Andrew Thelston Band continues a special month-long residency every Saturday evening in The Gem downstairs taproom at Boojum Brewing in Waynesville.

Featuring an array of special guests and musical themes, the showcase will continue with Alma Russ (Feb. 12), a Beatles set with Walker Astin (Feb. 19) and a Fleetwood Mac set with Carrie Morrison (Feb. 26).

All shows begin at 9 p.m. Free and open to the public.

Andrew Thelston.

On the beat

• Blue Ridge Beer Hub (Waynesville) will host a semi-regular acoustic jam with the Main Street NoTones from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursdays. Free and open to the public. For more information, click on blueridgebeerhub.com.

• Boojum Brewing (Waynesville) will host karaoke at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, trivia at 7 p.m. on Thursdays, a special residency

by The Andrew Thelston Band (rock/soul) at 9 p.m. every Saturday in February, and semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.246.0350 or boojumbrewing.com.

ALSO:

• The Classic Wineseller (Waynesville) will host Bob Zullo (guitar/vocals) Feb. 19. All shows begin at 7 p.m. Limited seating.

Reservations are highly recommended.

828.452.6000 or classicwineseller.com.

• Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.369.4080 or coweeschool.org.

• Elevated Mountain Distilling Company will host an Open Mic Night 7 to 9 p.m. on Wednesdays and semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public.

828.734.1084 or elevatedmountain.com.

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.

828.454.5664 or froglevelbrewing.com.

• Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host “Lovesick Karaoke w/Joel” at 7 p.m. Feb. 12 and semi-regular live music on the weekends. All events are free and begin at 2 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Innovationbrewing.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.

828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host Trivia

• Nantahala Brewing (Sylva) will host “Jazz Night” 7 p.m. on Thursdays, “Paint & Pour” w/Isaac Corbitt Feb. 10, an intimate solo performance by Brock Butler (lead singer of Perpetual Groove) Feb. 11-12 ($5 at the door) and Shane Meade Trio (rock/soul) Feb. 18. All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.641.9797 or nantahalabrewing.com.

• Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Shows begin at 8 p.m. Free and open to the public. rathskellerfranklin.com.

• Satulah Mountain Brewing (Highlands) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.482.9794 or satulahmountainbrewing.com.

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• Southern Porch (Canton) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends.

828.492.8009 or southern-porch.com.

• The Ugly Dog Pub (Cashiers) will host semiregular live music on the weekends.

828.743.3000 or theuglydogpub.com.

• The Ugly Dog Pub (Highlands) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends.

828.526.8364 or theuglydogpub.com.

• Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host Rock Holler Feb. 11, Genepool Feb. 12, “Live Karaoke in the Smokies” Feb. 17, “Phatt Phriday” Mardi Gras Celebration Feb. 18 and Outlaw Whiskey Feb. 19. All shows begin at 8 p.m. Free and open to the public.

828.538.2488.

Smoky Mountain News

• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. All events begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.

• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host Aly Jordan (singer-songwriter) Feb. 11, Scott James Stambaugh (singer-songwriter) Feb. 12 and Twelfth Fret (Americana) Feb. 18. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.

828.538.0115 or mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.

February 9-15, 2022

• Currahee Brewing (Franklin) will host Isaac Corbin (soul/roots) 8 p.m. Feb. 12. Free and open to the public.. 828.634.0078 or curraheebrew.com.

Time w/Brandon and Sunny 6:30 p.m. Feb. 9 and Kyle Travers of Travers Brothership (rock/soul) Feb. 18. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.

arts & entertainment

• Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva) will host an open mic from 8 to 10 p.m. every Thursday.

Free and open to the public. 828.631.1987 or balsamfallsbrewing.com.

• Valley Tavern (Maggie Valley) will host the “Hillbilly Jam” showcase weekend w/DJ Jason Wyatt Feb. 24 and Mile High Band Feb. 25. Both events begin at 6 p.m.

828.926.7440 or valley-tavern.com.

• Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends and an “Emo Night Dance Party” at 9 p.m. Feb. 12. 828.456.4750 or facebook.com/waternhole.bar.

• Whiteside Brewing (Cashiers) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends.

828.743.6000 or whitesidebrewing.com.

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On the wall arts & entertainment

Woodford’s most recent collection of paintings, “Black in Black on Black,” highlights the tremendous bond within the African American community with a focus on the empowerment that comes from being connected. Her works are supported by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Woodford will be in the exhibit gallery at WCU to discuss her work from 2 to 5 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 27, and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Monday, Feb. 28. Both events are free and open to the public.For more information, visit her website at annstree.com. For more information, click on mhc.wcu.edu or call 828.227.7129.

“Cat Take Ye Breath” by Ann Miller Woodford.

February 9-15, 2022

African American art showcase at WCU

Smoky Mountain News

On the street

Artwork by artist and author Ann Miller Woodford are currently on display in “Ann Miller Woodford: The Artist as Storyteller” at the Mountain Heritage Center’s exhibit gallery in Hunter Library on the campus of Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.

This first-ever retrospective exhibition of Woodford’s work spans 60 years, tracing an artistic development from childhood to the present day. The exhibit is on display through March 4.

The Mountain Heritage Center is free and is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and open Sundays in February from 2 to 5 p.m. Masks are required for entry.

Woodford uses her artistic talents to turn family stories, southern heritage and social justice concerns into conceptual works of art.

Each illustration invites viewers to follow Woodford on her journey through life, connecting with her through the stories they tell.

Viewers can expect to be inspired, challenged and motivated by the themes presented in her works.

• Haywood County Arts Council (Waynesville) is currently seeking one or more gallery interns with a passion for the arts and interest in learning about the administration of a small nonprofit. Send cover letters and resumes to HCAC Executive Director Morgan Beryl at director@haywoodarts.org.

• “Thursday Painters” group will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursdays at The Uptown Gallery in Franklin. Free and open to the public. All skill levels and mediums are welcome. Participants are responsible for their own project and a bag lunch. For more information, call The Uptown Gallery at 828.349.4607 or contact Pat Mennenger at pm14034@yahoo.com. franklinuptowngallery.com.

ALSO:

• A “Foreign Film Series” will be held at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva. Each month, on the second and fourth Friday, two movies from around the globe will be shown.

This program is in the Community Room and is free of charge. Masks are required in all Jackson County buildings. To find out what movie will be shown and/or for more information, please call the library at 828.586.2016. This event is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Jackson County Public Library. The Jackson County Public Library is a member of Fontana Regional Library. fontanalib.org.

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Open call for vendors Artisans, crafters and food vendors are invited to submit their application for the Greening Up the Mountains Festival, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Saturday, April 23, in Sylva.

Greening Up The Mountains Festival is the premiere spring festival for Western North Carolina, attracting thousands of visitors and locals alike. Sponsored by the Town of Sylva, the festivities will once again

take place in historical downtown Sylva.

This year’s festival seeks artisans and crafters selling their own handmade products. Arts, crafts and food vendors from the expanded Southern Appalachian area are encouraged to apply.

Please visit greeningupthemountains.com to review the 2022 Vendor Policies and download your application. Applications will be accepted through March 15.

For more information, email greeningupthemountains@gmail.com.

On the stage Ready to try theater?

The Haywood Arts Regional Theater in Waynesville is offering a wide variety of classes in the theater arts for all ages, young and old. Whether you are just starting out or want to hone your skills, HART has opportunities for you.

Learn more about acting with Acting Classes available for K-2, Grades 3-5, middle/high school, adults, and seniors.

Musical Theatre Dance and Advanced Beginner Tap are available for teens and adults so you can learn about Musical Theatre Dance.

And classes are rounded off with Improvisation classes and Musical Theatre Group Voice for teens and adults. Spring

courses have begun this week, with 12 weeks of courses through May 13, with a week off March 28-April 1 and spring break April 11-15. HART also offers payper-class with just a $15 drop-in fee.

HART is also offering free workshops in Stage Management April 2, 9 and 16.

There will also be a Lighting Workshop on March 19.

You can learn more about these opportunities and sign up for classes and workshops by visiting harttheatre.org and viewing the Kids at HART classes and camps page. Masks will be required for all courses.

For more information, contact Artistic Director Candice Dickinson at 646.647.4546 or email candice@harttheatre.org.

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On the shelf

Jeff Minick

M

We first meet a boy named Marc when he is in fifth grade (in “Where There’s a Will …” he’s advanced to seventh grade.) Like most guys his age, Marc has his problems in school as well as with his friends and his parents. He faces bullying and taunting from classmates. In the second book he’s facing a “bummer summer” when he has to spend his vacation days in a camp with a kid who enjoys tormenting him, and in “Where There’s A Will…,” the book I read, Marc has to deal with the issues of envy and ego in regard to a newcomer at school.

Enter Uncle Jake.

Jake is a former Navy SEAL who spends his summers with the family and acts as Marc’s guru, coach, and mentor. In each of these books, Uncle Jake teaches Marc the importance of a healthy diet, strenuous exercise, work, and orderliness. He also brings to “the program” the practices of virtue, willpower, and frugality, lessons he learned from his SEAL training.

Inspired by Uncle Jake, Marc writes out and tried to follow the “Warrior Kid” code, which contains such precepts as these: • The Warrior Kid wakes up early in the morning.

• The Warrior Kid studies to learn and gain knowledge and asks questions if he doesn’t understand.

• The Warrior Kid trains hard, exercises, and eats right to be strong and fast and healthy.

• The Warrior Kid treats people with respect, doesn’t judge them, and helps out other people whenever possible.

• The Warrior Kid stays humble, controls his ego, and stays calm. Warrior Kids do not lose their tempers.

At one point in “Where There’s a Will,” when Uncle Jake wants Marc to improve his time in the mile run, he asks him “Do you know what will is?” and then answers the question himself: “Will is determination.

Will is resolve. Will is when you hear that little voice and you feel like you are going to break, but instead of listening to that little voice you dig deep and KEEP GOING. Understand? That’s will. YOU KEEP GOING.” There’s more to the Warrior Kid code, but you get the idea. The indefatigable Uncle Jake has but one ambition; he is intent on turning his nephew into a man. No, not just a man. A good man, a man worthy of that title. A man who lives by a code of honor, who understands and practices such concepts as willpower, duty, respect for others and ourselves, and goodness.

Many boys desperately need and deserve such books. The “Way of the Warrior Kid” books are tools for our male adolescents showing them the way to maturity and responsibility. Jon Bozak’s illustrations for this series, the situations in the stories faced by so many young people, and Marc’s comments, which are so typical of young people his age, all enhance the message of these stories.

Moreover, Jocko Willink’s “Warrior Kid” series offer such lessons not just for younger readers, but for adults as well. For those who have stumbled off The Path, these books might serve as a compass to regain our True North. Sometimes we need the basics like Marc’s Warrior Kid code to guide us back when we have lost our way.

(Jeff Minick reviews books and has written four of his own: two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust On Their Wings,” and two works of nonfiction,“ Learning As I Go” and “Movies Make the Man.” minick0301@gmail.com)

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IN STOCK AT

‘Where We Live’ series returns The “Where We Live: History, Nature, and Culture” lecture series will resume with author Deena Bouknight at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 21, at the Cowee School in Franklin.

Bouknight’s latest book, “Light Fracture,” is about the worst earthquake on record to ever affect the East Coast, has as its bookend first and last chapters the setting of Wayah Bald as it operated in the late 19th to early 20th century.

Bouknight, who resides in Franklin, is a career writer and journalist, having contributed for 30-plus years to local, regional, national, and international publications. She has written three Southern fiction novels, “Broken Shells,” “Playing Guy” and “Light Fracture.” She has also contributed to, and ghostwritten, several nonfiction books.

Masks are required for the health and safety of all. The lecture series is designed to give people an opportunity to learn more about our local area, from many different angles, and to enjoy a pleasant, informative evening together.

Smoky Mountain News

“One of the reasons I wrote “Way of the Warrior Kid” was I couldn’t seem to find books for my own children that encouraged them to embrace the characteristics that I value: to be disciplined, to work hard, to face fears, to be strong and smart and healthy, and to stand up for themselves and what is right — like warriors.”

Willink’s assessment — along with my friend’s recommendation — are both spoton. Chapter books like the ones in this series, written for kids in upper elementary school and perhaps early middle school, particularly for boys, in our day are practically non-existent. Here are fictions designed to help make men out of boys.

Here’s the basic plot to each story:

February 9-15, 2022

any readers of The Smoky Mountain News, particularly younger adults, are probably familiar with Jocko Willink, a former Navy SEAL officer who is now renowned as a podcaster, speaker, and author. My sons and some other young men I know — and women too, for that matter — listen to his podcasts, and are inspired and learn from them.

Though I had heard of Mr. Willink, I’d never read his books or listened to the podcasts. Recently, however, an editor who is also a “phone friend,” the mother of a sixth-grade daughter, suggested I take a look at the series of books Writer Willink has written, primarily for boys, titled the “Way of the Warrior Kid.” I headed off to my public library, picked up his “Way of the Warrior Kid III: Where There’s a Will … ” (Jocko Publishing, 2019, 207 pages), and began reading.

Frankly, the book blew me away.

I’ll explain why momentarily, but first allow me to include this brief portion of an online interview regarding Willink’s first book in this series, “Way of the Warrior Kid: From Wimpy to Warrior the Navy SEAL Way”:

arts & entertainment

Making boys into men the Jocko Willink way

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Outdoors

Smoky Mountain News

How best to protect existing old growth and allow new old growth tracts to develop is a key discussion surrounding the plan’s release. Steven McBride photo

Decade in the making Forest Service releases long-awaited Pisgah-Nantahala forest plan

BY HOLLY KAYS OUTDOORS EDITOR decade after convening the first meetings to discuss the impending process, the U.S. Forest Service has released a semifinal version of the plan that will govern management of the 1.04-million-acre Pisgah and Nantahala national forests for the next 15 to 20 years.

Now, the conservation, recreation and wildlife groups that have dedicated countless hours to helping the Forest Service shape the plan are combing through the hundreds of

A

pages of materials released Jan. 21 to form their opinions on the resulting documents ahead of the March 21 deadline for formal objections.

Though everyone still has plenty of research left to do, in interviews collected over the two weeks following the plan’s release, representatives of wildlife-centric groups tended to have fewer criticisms of the plan than representatives of groups that focus more on environmental preservation.

“I think the main takeaway is that the Forest Service was provided a lot of really

Read the plan A trove of planning documents is available at bit.ly/22forestplan. It’s a lot to read through, but start with the reader’s guide for a look at the plan’s overall themes and an overview of the included documents. In addition to the plan itself, the set of documents includes a final environmental impact statement, draft record of decision, maps and several appendices.

good input from the public and stakeholder groups and had a really good chance to make a plan that would move all interests forward together, and I think through a lack of specificity and an emphasis on internal Forest Service discretion, they’ve missed that opportunity so far,” said Josh Kelly, public lands biologist for MountainTrue and a member of both the Stakeholders Forum for the Nantahala and Pisgah Plan Revision and the Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Partnership.

Others were more blunt.

“I don’t think it’s good at all,” said Hugh Irwin, senior conservation specialist for The Wilderness Society and also a member of both the Stakeholders Forum and the Forest Partnership. “I’m not pleased with it.”

“They didn’t lift up the protected areas.

They only lifted up the logging side of the equation,” said Will Harlan, leader and organizer of Friends of Big Ivy, an organization whose creation led to the formation of the larger coalition I Heart Pisgah. Where wilderness is concerned, said Harlan, the plan is “a big step back.”

Recreation outfitter and hunter David Whitmire, who chairs the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Council and is a member of the Stakeholders Forum, had a more positive view. He can see his group’s comments reflected in the plan, he said.

“When you look at it from a high view, a lot of this stuff, it looks great,” he said. “But the devil’s in the details.”

Other groups say that the plan will allow levels of timber harvest out of sync with the protections it offers other interests, but Whitmire worries that it in practice it won’t allow for the level of timber harvest he believes the forest needs to support species that depend on young and open forest habitat.

Manley Fuller, who represents the N.C. Wildlife Federation on the Forest Partnership, listed several areas of the plan he considers praiseworthy. The species of conservation concern list is a “pretty good list,” he said, and he commended objectives that will increase the use of prescribed fire, boost prioritization of exotic invasive species control and place exceptional N.C. Natural Heritage Areas in a protected non-timber base category.

“We appreciate that they have incorporated a number of the recommendations of the Partnership into the revised plan,” said Fuller.

Overall, said Forest Supervisor James Melonas, the plan is organized around four themes: connecting people to the land, sustaining healthy ecosystems, providing clean and abundant water, and partnering with others. It aims to correct a shortage of both old growth and young forest habitat on the forest landscape while also serving a variety of recreational, ecological and economic interests.

“We feel like it strikes the right balance in terms of recommending the highest quality areas for wilderness, also making sure that we are increasing the amount of work that we’re doing to create young forest that’s really important for wildlife habitat as well as designating an old growth network and increasing

that network by about 50,000 acres,” Melonas said. “We feel really good about the fact that the plan really advances all those different interests and the needs for the forest.”

DECISIONS ABOUT WILDERNESS Since the planning process kicked off a decade ago, the central tension has played out between people who want to see massive increases in timber harvest to create needed young forest habitat on the landscape and those who want more areas in protected classifications like congressionally designated wilderness, where natural conditions prevail and logging is not allowed.

At the end of the process, that’s still the case.

“I feel like some folks are making this out to be this simple dichotomy of preservation versus active restoration when in fact, we have a lot of multiple uses on the landscape,” said lead planner Michelle Aldridge. “And there’s space in that for all of this important work.”

The final plan places 542,865 acres — more than half of the forest — in the “matrix” management area, where logging projects may be approved. However, it also designates 265,000 acres, a quarter of the forest, as the Old Growth Network that aims to, over time, produce a spine of very old trees spanning all ecosystems and elevations present across the forest.

In addition to maintaining the 93,000 acres Congress currently designates as wilderness areas or wilderness study areas, the plan recommends an additional 49,000 acres for congressional wilderness designation — in many instances these lands overlap the Old Growth Network.

Congressionally designated wilderness areas are used for primitive recreation, with natural forest conditions allowed to prevail and active management techniques like timber harvest and prescribed fire not typically used.

The federal legislation creating the wilderness system prohibits mechanized equipment on those lands, recognizing them as places where “the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”

Of the 14 areas recommended for wilderness designation, seven are extensions adjacent to existing wilderness areas at JoyceKilmer Slickrock, Southern Nantahala and Shining Rock, and four — 8,335 acres at Snowbird in the Unicoi Mountains, 3,222 acres at Craggy in the Black Mountains, 7,044 acres at Harper Creek on the Eastern Escarpment and 5,681 acres at Lost Cove, also on the Eastern Escarpment — are federally designated Wilderness Study Areas.

The three remaining areas — 6,319 acres in the Bald Mountains, 7,872 acres at Mackey Mountain in the Black Mountains and 2,655 acres at Unicoi Mountains/Upper Bald River in the Hiawassee and Unicoi Mountains — represent standalone tracts slated to receive Forest Service recognition of their wilderness characteristics for the

F

comes from a similar place — many areas that the Wilderness Society had hoped to see either recommended for wilderness or placed into some other protective classification are assigned to the matrix area, where timber harvesting can take place. In addition to parts of Craggy/Big Ivy, Irwin’s list of disappointing omissions includes the Black Mountains and some areas surrounding the Southern Nantahala Wilderness and portions of Tusquitee Bald.

“There’s basically over 100,000 acres of priority conservation areas, including these mountain treasures of old growth and state natural areas, that were put into timber management,” he said.

“It’s interesting to me that one of the most popular areas, the Black Mountains, and a very worthy area as well, was passed over for (wilderness) designation, and one of the areas that was the least asked for but also worthy was recommended, and that would be the Bald Mountains,” said Kelly.

“There seemed to be a disconnect between what the public wanted and what the Forest Service was willing to recommend.”

Aldridge said the Forest Service consid-

The new plan assigns each part of the forest to one of 17 different management areas.

USFS map

DESIGNATIONS In addition to recommended wilderness, the final forest plan designates 29 patches for an Old Growth Network totaling 265,000 acres — more than any of the alternatives published with the draft plan in 2020.

Timber production is not allowed within the Old Growth Network, and management will promote development of old trees within the network, which spans multiple management areas and covers the spectrum of elevations and ecological zones represented on the forest landscape.

While much of the land contained in the Old Growth Network currently holds old growth, that’s not true of all of it.

Aldridge says many of the 265,000 acres currently contain old growth but that, over time, the network should provide a spine of very old trees across the landscape.

“Ultimately this network will enable the development of growth characteristics across a landscape scale for all ecosystems and elevations,” she said.

While the network is larger in acreage than previous iterations, it elicited criticism from several organizations with an interest in the plan. As Aldridge said, not all acres included in the network contain old growth. Conversely, pockets of pristine old growth exist outside the network and are part of the matrix management area, where logging is allowed.

“Many of the acres that have been designated are designated more out of convenience because of the management areas they fall in than out of their quality as old growth,” said Kelly, pointing out that much of the Old Growth Network is located in areas designated as wilderness or recommended wilderness, where logging isn’t allowed anyway.

Kelly, who has spent a considerable amount of his professional career inventorying old growth trees in the PisgahNantahala, said he was disappointed to see that multiple areas of old growth trees that he and Mountain True had previously documented and communicated to the Forest Service were not included in the Old Growth Network — in many cases, he said, those patches were placed into the loggingeligible matrix area.

“The designated old growth network is established to ensure old growth conditions develop and persist into the future,” reads the final environmental impact statement associated with the plan. “It does not account for all the pockets of old forest that may exist on the Nantahala and Pisgah NFs.”

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• Designated old growth network – A network of large, medium and small patches that will either perpetuate or evolve towards old growth conditions over time. They may include existing old growth or younger forest that does not yet qualify as old growth.

• Early-successional habitat – A vegetative condition characterized by little to no tree canopy cover and abundant herbaceous or woody ground cover.

• Ecosystem —A spatially explicit, relatively homogeneous area that includes all interacting organisms and non-living elements world within its boundaries.

An ecosystem is commonly described in terms of its composition, structure, function and connectivity.

• Management area – A land area identified within the planning area that has the same set of applicable plan components. A management area does not have to be contiguous.

• National Wilderness Preservation System – All lands covered by the Wilderness Act and subsequent wilderness designations, regardless of the department or agency having jurisdiction.

• Old growth forest — Forest with old trees and related structural attributes, displaying characteristics of the later stages of stand development such as tree size, accumulation of large dead woody material, number of canopy layers, species composition, degree of soil disturbance and ecosystem function.

Old growth is not necessarily virgin or primeval and can develop over time following human or natural disturbances.

• Prescribed fire – Any fire intentionally ignited by management actions in accordance with laws, policies and regulations to meet specific objectives.

• Tier 1 objective: Goal based on recent Forest Service budgets and capacity.

• Tier 2: Goal reflecting what is possible with the help of partners and their resources.

• Wilderness study area – One of the areas selected by the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service from an inventory of undeveloped national forest lands as having apparent high qualities for wilderness, or lands possessing the basic characteristics of wilderness and designated by Congress for further study to determine whether they should be recommended for the National Wilderness Preservation System.

Smoky Mountain News

ered all areas suggested for wilderness recommendation but made its final decision with the context of public support, the area’s features, how designation would contribute to the national wilderness system and the tradeoffs between managing an area as wilderness versus in another manner.

For example, she said, the Forest Service ultimately decided against recommending the Black Mountain area for wilderness because it had extensive exposure to surrounding development — including a gravel quarry, agricultural properties, a golf course and road noise from the Blue Ridge Parkway — and its long, narrow shape limits the core interior area offering isolation from the outside world. Additionally, some commenters were concerned about financial impact if wilderness designation impacted their ability obtain permits for galax gathering or foot races.

“When we think about which areas to

DEBATING OLD GROWTH

Key definitions

February 9-15, 2022

ent needs, different community priorities.”

While Harlan was excited about Craggy’s Forest Scenic Area designation, he expressed overall disappointment with the plan, calling the Craggy Scenic Area the “one bright spot” in the extensive set of documents.

For one thing, he’d hoped to see the entire 16,000 acres that the Forest Partnership proposed make it into the Scenic Area designation, but more than 4,000 of those acres are instead designated as matrix.

“These highest-logging-priority areas in Craggy include 1,500 acres of old-growth forest, the headwaters of the Ivy River — the drinking water source for the towns of Weaverville and Mars Hill — and the Snowball Trail, one of the most popular trails along the Blue Ridge Parkway,” said Harlan.

Irwin’s disappointment with the plan

recommend for wilderness, we’re looking for opportunities for unconfined recreation or an area that is untrammeled and has a high degree of naturalness,” said Aldridge.

“So we consider all of the different wilderness characteristics when we think about each area. Those were the factors that led us to not recommending the Black Mountains area.”

outdoors

first time. While the plan recommends these areas for wilderness designation and will manage them as though they’ve already received it, an act of Congress is required to bestow the designation.

The plan also includes a special designation for 11,501 acres at Big Ivy and Craggy Mountain in the Black Mountains, designating that area — which includes Brush Fence Ridge, Point Misery, North Fork Ivy Creek, the Craggies and Walker Cove — as the Big Ivy Craggy Mountain Forest Scenic Area.

Harlan hopes that recognition within the forest plan will lead to national recognition for Craggy and Big Ivy via designation as a National Scenic Area. Like wilderness, that designation requires an act of Congress. The United States currently holds 10 National Scenic Areas, of which four are in the Southeast and none are in North Carolina.

“Craggy is the crown jewel of Appalachia, and it would be the ideal first National Scenic Area for North Carolina,” said Harlan. “What’s great about the National Scenic Areas is they’re somewhat flexible, and they can accommodate differ-

Source: definitions paraphrased from plan glossary and in-text explanations.

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Smoky Mountain News February 9-15, 2022

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STORY, CONTINUED FROM 21

“We’re increasingly getting development, and so some people may say, ‘Oh, well, we’ve got plenty of early successional habitat. Why do you want to have early successional habitat in the national forest?’” said Fuller. “Well, the early successional habitat that was available in a farm or ranch type situation with grazing animals and stuff like that, that’s different than if it’s a big development or a golf course complex.

We want to see and believe that there can be a mosaic of habitat types within the national forest, which is critical to maintaining our

1,200 acres logged annually to its Tier 2 objective of 3,200 acres to make the needed difference in young forest availability. Even though 3,200 acres a year sounds like a lot of logging, over 40 years — a typical rotation for a commercial tree farm — that’s only 128,000 acres, or 12% of the entire forest, while logging 1,200 acres annually would harvest 4.6% of the forest over 40 years. Throughout the planning process, Whitmire and others advocating for young forest creation have been calling for a young forest habitat proportion of 10-12%.

“If we don’t get to Tier 2 as soon as possible, we’re going backwards,” Whitmire said.

However, others involved in the forest planning process, including Harlan, say that the model the Forest Service used to describe the natural range of variation on the forest landscape — and, therefore, the proportion of it that should be young forest — contains inaccuracies that result in overly aggressive young forest goals.

“It erroneously prioritizes a whole bunch of creation of young forest and therefore justifies their timber harvest,” Harlan said. “Their manipulation of the model has resulted in a quarter million acres of forest that should be headed toward old growth instead of in the timber base.”

UNTIED TIERS As the sun hits the horizon, it shoots color through the sky from a viewpoint on the Pisgah Ranger District. USFS photo

Active management techniques like timber harvest and prescribed fire will gain big under the new plan compared to the current one. Between 20,000 and 40,000 acres could receive prescribed fire treatments each year, and 1,200 to 3,200 acres could be logged — up from the 650 annual acres harvested now. According to Fuller, the fire goals especially are good news for the for-

The plan is final, but it’s not done.

“It’s kind of like having a house under contract,” said Melonas. “We’re moving toward closing, but we have to go through due diligence.”

The Forest Service’s Jan. 21 plan publication kicked off a 60-day period in which anybody who submitted substantive comments on the draft can file a formal objection to the revised document. From there, the regional forester will verify objectors’ standing, take requests from the general public to participate as “interested persons,” and finally review and resolve the objections. The Forest Service expects to be operating under the new plan by the middle of the year.

That adoption will end the decade-long process to determine how the PisgahNantahala will be managed for the next generation, but it won’t end the involvement of the people and organizations who became intimately involved with the issues as the plan progressed. The plan sets boundaries and direction for the entire forest, but much will still be determined at the project level as management activities are proposed, debated and decided upon by the district ranger.

“We’re wanting to go from this plan phase to building up our individual memberships in the geographic areas or counties to support the district rangers and to monitor the district rangers so we know these objectives are going to be met,” said Whitmire of the FWCC. The plan itself is not set in stone either.

After the last plan was adopted in 1987, an extensive set of amendments was approved in 1994. After the plan goes into practice, amendments could be considered to address shortcomings or new conditions that arise following its adoption.

The future is unknown, but one thing is certain — the Pisgah-Nantahala contains some of the most breathtaking sections of the storied Southern Appalachians, and some of the most important areas for recreation, biodiversity, wildlife and other values. While they hold differing opinions about how to accomplish it, everyone involved with the plan recognizes the urgency of stewarding these lands well.

“It’s really important,” said Fuller, “that we do an excellent job of managing these public lands.”

23

Smoky Mountain News

FIRE AND LOGGING

wildlife diversity and our natural heritage.”

Overwhelmingly, trees in the PisgahNantahala are in late middle-age, first sprouting up in the early-to-mid 1900s as the logging industry cooled down and fire suppression policies caused a reduction of wildfires but a build-up of fuels on the forest floor. Wildlife advocates — especially those with an interest in game species like deer and turkey — have pressed the Forest Service to release a plan that would open large amounts of young forest habitat and diversify the ages of trees in the forest.

“Without a strong forestry program to create young forest, wildlife has a dim future as far as a lot of wildlife species that require that,” said Whitmire. “That’s a lot of the good game, a lot of the songbirds. A lot of different species require young forest, and it’s very underrepresented. The last 20 years have proved that to us. It had critical effects on our population.”

Kelly agreed with Fuller’s positive view of the fire goals, though he reiterated his concern that high-value conservation lands are included in the area allocated to logging-eligible management areas. He pointed out that the area for timber production is much larger than that which exists in the current plan.

But Whitmire still wonders if it will be enough.

“I just worry with all the layers that’s within matrix, do we have a sustainable footprint?” he said.

Certainly, said Whitmire, the forest will have to reach past the Tier 1 objective of

HOUSE UNDER CONTRACT

February 9-15, 2022

analysis and public comment for that particular project. Essentially, the decision would lie with the district ranger — and depending on who is in that position at the time, that could be a problem, said Fuller.

“There may need to be some fine-tuning of that, if there were areas that as part of previous projects that had been identified as old growth,” he said. “There may be a few areas that were missed. I don’t know that’s a fact, but I’ve heard people speculating about that.”

Whitmire, meanwhile, said the Forest Service has the right idea in not spending too much time and energy inventorying and mapping relatively small areas of old growth in a forest that, from his point of view, is largely protected from logging due either to protective designations like wilderness or logistical inaccessibility.

“I like the idea from the project level of not having three or four trees trying to be hooked together in a patch somewhere, because the reality of it is there was a big gain in the old growth network,” he said.

Within the plan, each management objective includes both a Tier 1 goal and a Tier 2 goal — the first being a description of what the Forest Service believes it can accomplish with its current resources and the second being what it hopes to accomplish, so long as it gets outside funding to do so.

The tiered strategy was a hit when Aldridge unveiled it to the Stakeholders Forum in February 2020 along with the draft plan.

But some people, including Kelly and Harlan, are disappointed that the final document doesn’t take a cross-objective approach to move between tiers. For example, the forest could reach Tier 1 timber goals and move on to Tier 2 while still falling short of Tier 1 in other areas, like aquatic systems, soil or facilities. They would prefer to see interests advance together.

“The whole point of the tier system was that if you meet certain objectives, you move to Tier 2,” said Harlan. “But those tiers are supposed to be coupled together. If you meet your timber harvest goal for Tier 1 and you also meet your water quality goals and conservation goals across the tiers, then you move to Tier 2 and you can do additional logging.”

In the final plan, that’s not how it works.

“Probably the biggest disappointment would be using the idea that collaborators provided for Tier 2 management, but without ensuring that all the interests could move forward into Tier 2 together rather than some interests going and some interest not,” Kelly added.

Whitmire had a ready opinion on that perspective.

“I think that’s being obstructionist there, myself,” he said. “If I had to wait for

the Forest Service to meet all their Tier 1 objectives before I go to Tier 2, it ain’t going to happen.’

Tier 2 goals, by definition, aren’t possible without outside resources, like grants.

Achieving those goals will require pursuing and seizing often ephemeral opportunities.

“Think about it,” said Aldridge. “If road maintenance money arrived tomorrow, but we hadn’t yet completed all of our plan activities for non-native invasives, we’re not going to pause on our road maintenance until we get our non-native invasive work done. If we have the opportunity to do more, we’re going to do those things, whether that’s more fish passages or sustainable trails or whatever the case may be.”

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Kelly said these inventoried old growth areas located outside the network total about 12,000 acres. On a 1-million-acre forest, said Harlan, that’s just not a significant amount of acreage to subtract from the logging base.

“Why not protect these special areas, these old growth areas?” he said.

Any determinations as to whether an old growth patch not placed in the network could be cut for timber harvest would be made at the project level, based on expert

est.

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Sign up for sports in Jackson County

Register for any of the above at rec.jacksonnc.org. For more information, contact Andrew Sherling at 828.293.3053, ext. 6.

It’s time to sign up for spring athletics at the Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department, with registration for several activities open through Feb. 28.

■ A volleyball league for women age 14 and up is now forming, with a league maximum of eight teams. There is a team fee of $200 with a roster size of 12 players per team. A mandatory coaches meeting will be held at 6 p.m.

Tuesday, March 8, at the Cullowhee Recreation Center. Games will be played Tuesday nights at the rec center starting March 15.

■ Youth volleyball clinics are coming to the Cullowhee Recreation Center Thursdays March 3 through April 7. Clinics for grades three through five will be 5:30-5:30 p.m. and grades six through eight will be 6:45-7:45 p.m., with a limit of 20 participants per age group. Cost is $45.

■ Tiny Tumblers, a gymnastics class for ages 3-6, will be held on Tuesday afternoon starting March 15. A class for 3-year-olds will be held 3-3:45 p.m. and 4-6-year-old classes 4-4:45 p.m. Classes are limited to the first eight participants, with a cost of $30.

Perfect your kayak roll

Donated photo

Kayak rolling lessons are available 5:306:30 p.m. Wednesdays through March 30 at the Waynesville Recreation Center.

The program helps whitewater kayakers and canoeists improve on and stay sharp with their roll in a comfortable environment throughout the winter. It’s also an opportunity to learn how to roll for those who don’t yet know how. A certified instructor will be at the pool to assist on a first-come, first serve informal basis. It’s not a time for freestyle or playboating maneuvers — the session is strictly for rolling practice.

Ten spots are available each night, with advance registration required by contacting 828.456.2030 or ahood@waynesvillenc.gov.

Free for rec center members or daily admission for non-members. Participants must be at least 7 years old and provide their own gear. Bring kayaks through the side pool door, not the front door.

February 9-15, 2022

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Learn how to use your personal telescope or check out the night sky using in-house telescopes during an event starting at 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 11, on the fifth-floor terrace of the Apodaca Science Building at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.

At 6 p.m., members of the public are invited to bring their telescopes and get pointers from professional astronomers on how to use them.

At 7 p.m., astronomy faculty will show the moon and other highlights of the winter night sky using in-house telescopes.

The event is free but will be cancelled in case of bad weather or overcast skies. Participants should wear a mask and practice social distancing if a crowd is present. Masks are required indoors on the WCU campus. Enrique Gomez, 828.227.2719.

HWA director moves on After 18 years at the helm of Haywood Waterways Association, Eric Romaniszyn is leaving his position as the organization’s executive director.

After 18 years, I decided it was time for a change, and I will be going back to the science side of aquatic work,” he said in an announcement published Feb. 4. “I’ve met and worked with many great folks over the years, and it truly is amazing to see all that we accomplished. I am very proud of what we’ve done together, which made this decision that much tougher.”

Romaniszyn’s last day will be Friday, Feb. 11, but he will assist HWA past that date in navigating the hiring process and transitioning to a new executive director. With his new employer based out of Hendersonville, Romaniszyn will remain in the area, retain his HWA membership and attend events.

Volunteers are wanted for a communitywide effort to reduce consumption of single-use plastic bags, with a sew-a-thon planned for Friday, Feb. 11, at the Haywood County Library in Waynesville — or on your living room couch.

A novelty in the 1970s, plastic shopping bags are now an omnipresent product found in every corner of the world.

Produced at a rate of up to one trillion bags per year, they are showing up from the darkest depths of the ocean to the summit of Mount Everest to the polar ice caps.

Being so widespread, plastic bags are inten-

sifying some major environmental challenges.

A group led by Outdoor Mission Community and area churches will spend Feb. 11 sewing cloth bags out of repurposed materials to distribute free at local grocery stores, with the goal of sewing 1,000 cloth bags to give away on Earth Day, April 22. A centralized pickup and drop-off location for fabric and instructions for at-home sewers is set up at the Sunset Inn at Lake Junaluska.

Volunteers do not need to be experienced seamstresses, tailors or crafters to participate — cutters, folders and distributers are needed too. To join in, call or text Jamie Shackleford at 336.583.9932, or check out the “Bring Your Own Bag Haywood” page on Facebook.

Learn to grow blueberries & so much more!

Affairs of the Heart

————————————————————————————— 120 N. Main St. • Waynesville 828.452.0526 • affairsoftheheartnc.com

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Scan the sky

Oust plastic bags from Haywood

Picture Frames

Fun

A telescope reveals a close-up view of the moon.

Learn how to establish and maintain a blueberry patch with during an online seminar scheduled for 6-7:15 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15, via Zoom.

Offered by the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service, the seminar is geared toward people who are new to growing blueberries or desire to brush up on the basics. Participants will learn about site selection and preparation, soil and plant fertility needs, spacing, weed control, cultivar selection, pruning and harvesting, as well Dr. Bill Cline, NC State University as common disease and insect probBlueberry Specialist, sharing tips on lems with possible control options. how to prune blueberries. Donated photo Sign up at macon.ces.ncsu.edu or contact Christy Bredenkamp at 828.349.2049 or clbreden@ncsu.edu.

Wildlife Service to release red wolves in eastern N.C. A collared red wolf surveys its domain at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. USFWS photo

that it was scrapping the plan in response to resulting court decisions and public comments.

Now, the agency says it is in the midst of a renewed effort to recover the wild red wolf — the only wolf species that exists only in the U.S. and the most endangered wolf in the world. The effort will include an emphasis on community and partner engagement, according to a press release.

“We are committed, more than ever before, to working with our partners — the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, landowners, and other stakeholders — to identify ways to encourage and facilitate a coexistence between people

A Haywood Early College student was one of three winners in a statewide art contest focusing on climate change.

More than 60 K-12 students participated, creating visual art using climate graphs and data for the N.C. Climate Education Network contest. Bucky Matthews was named the winner of the high school division.

The panel of judges included staff from the N.C. Sea Grant, N.C. Climate office at N.C. State University and the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality.

Contest submissions are now closed, but the NCCEN will accept submissions for this art activity through 2022 and display the art on its website. bit.ly/3KW8IuL.

and red wolves,” said Catherine Phillips, the Service’s Assistant Regional Director in the South Atlantic-Gulf and Mississippi Basin Regions.

The agency recently hosted an informational meeting and listening session between partners, stakeholders and eastern N.C. community members to foster that spirit of cooperation. A red wolf recovery hotline is now available at 855.496.5837 to take input from conservation partners interested in aiding red wolf recovery. Learn more about red wolves and how to participate in their recovery at fws.gov/southeast/wildlife/mammals/red-wolf.

— By Holly Kays, outdoors editor

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is preparing nine red wolves for release into the world’s only wild population of the critically endangered species — an act that will boost the total wild red wolf population by about 60%. The nine wolves include a family group and two breeding pairs that will play a critical role in population recovery.

Red wolves once inhabited areas from southern New York to central Texas, as well as the entire Southeast, but by the 1970s they’d been driven to near extinction due to overhunting and habitat loss. They were listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 1973, and reintroduction efforts played out over the following decades with varying degrees of success.

While the current wild population in eastern North Carolina climbed as high as 150 in 2008, a series of hotly contested management decisions by the FWS coincided with a marked decline in the wolf population. Now, the FWS estimates that there are only 15 to 17 wild red wolves, of which eight have collars and are trackable. The planned release of nine new wolves is the result of a court order.

In 2018, the FWS released a proposed red wolf management plan that would cease management of the red wolf population on private lands, meaning that outside of small areas in two of the five counties where the wolves resided, hunters and landowners could kill the animals with no repercussions. In November, the agency announced

Haywood student wins climate art contest

Explore High Falls Hike to High Falls on a guided hike with the Waynesville Parks and Recreation Department Saturday, Feb. 19.

High Falls, fed by the West Fork Tuckasegee River, includes a two-section free fall over a looming cliff below Lake Glenville. The hike is 4 miles roundtrip and covers moderately difficult terrain. The group will leave Waynesville at 10:45 a.m. and return at 3:30 p.m.

To register, contact MaShon Gaddis at mgaddis@waynesvillenc.gov or call 828.456.2030.

February 9-15, 2022 Smoky Mountain News 25

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February 9-15, 2022

Join the Backyard Bird Count

You can pick up a free copy of The Smoky Mountain News at 500 locations across Westren NC! But you can also have it delivered to your mailbox.

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Puzzles can be found on page 30 These are only the answers.

The Great Backyard Bird Count will return this year, with experienced and novice birders alike encouraged to spend at least 15 minutes birdwatching between Feb. 18 and Feb. 21 — and several events at the Highlands Nature Center and N.C. Arboretum are planned to help meet that goal.

■ Birders of all skill levels are welcome to take an easy morning stroll 9-10 a.m., Feb. 18-19, meeting at 111 Lower Lake Road at the Highlands Biological Station. The group will receive an introduction to the Great Backyard Bird Count and take a walk around campus to search for feathered friends. On Saturdays, guest leaders from the Highlands Plateau Audubon Society will participate as well. Weather-dependent, masks encouraged. Loaner binoculars available. Register at highlandsbiological.org.

■ Bring along the little ones for a bird scavenger hunt at the Highlands Botanical Garden Feb. 29-21. Stop by the Valentine Meadow at 888 Horse Cove Road 1-4 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 19, for a bonfire, hot drinks and bird-themed fun.

■ The N.C. Arboretum is offering a variety of bird-themed activities and presentations this month in conjunction with the Great Backyard Bird Count. An introduction to eBird and the N.C. Bird Count is now streaming, and a live look at bird sites from mountains to coast will premier 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 19 via the Arboretum’s Facebook page. The Arboretum’s adult education programs and ecoEXPLORE program for kids will also focus on birds this month.

Learn more about these opportunities at ncarboretum.org/lovebirds.

The Great Backyard Bird Count has been going on since 1998, encouraging participants to count birds for as little as 15 minutes or for as long as they wish over one or more of the four days, completing those counts in their backyard or anywhere in the world. Each checklist submitted helps researchers learn more about how birds are doing and how to protect them. Apps like Merlin Bird ID and eBird help participants identify the birds they see and can be used to submit results.

Learn more at birdcount.org.

Chimney Rock Groundhog says early spring coming to WNC According to untrained non-meteorologist Pumpkin the Groundhog, spring is on the way for Western North Carolina.

Pumpkin, who recently joined Chimney Rock State Park’s cadre of animal ambassadors, made his first-ever Groundhog Day prediction Wednesday, Feb. 2. The day’s cloudy skies prevented him from seeing his shadow, contradicting the prediction of the ever-famous Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania. New England and the midAtlantic might be in for six more weeks of winter, but Pumpkin sees warmer days coming soon to Chimney Rock.

Following his weather prognostication, Pumpkin predicted that the L.A. Rams would win the Super Bowl on Feb. 13.

Chimney Rock groundhogs thus far have a

Pumpkin the Groundhog enjoys a snack following his prediction. Donated photo 68% success rate in predicting the outcome.

Pumpkin, who has brain damage caused by a parasite, is not capable of surviving in the wild. He recently arrived at Chimney Rock from a rehabilitation center in New York.

WNC Calendar COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS • The Jackson County Farmers Market meets every Saturday November through March 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and April through October 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Bridge Park in Sylva, 110 Railroad St. Fresh, locally grown seasonal vegetables, locally produced meat, eggs, fresh bread and pastries, coffee, foraged mushrooms, flowers, starter plants for the garden, honey, jams and jellies, local artisans and more. Special events listed on Facebook and Instagram.

• St John the Evangelist Catholic Church will host a free food distribution with MANNA FoodBank Mobile Express from 3 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10. St John’s is located at 234 Church St, Waynesville. There is no paperwork to fill out, no forms and no ID required. For more information, contact MANNA HelpLine at 800.820.1109 or Catholic Charities, Western Region Office at 828.255.0146.

• Live Forgiven Church will host a curbside grocery giveaway at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 13, at 45 Crown Ridge Road, Sylva. Contact foodministry@liveforgiven.life

BUSINESS & EDUCATION • SCC will hold a Healthcare Job & Career Fair from 1 to 4 p.m. Feb. 10, at the Burrell Building on SCC’s Jackson Campus in Sylva. For more information about this event and SCC’s career services, contact Michael Despeaux at 828.229.4212 or m_despeaux@southwesterncc.edu • Haywood Community College will host a community conversation with Pratt & Whitney from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15, in the Charles M. Beall Auditorium, Hemlock Building on the main campus.

Following the presentation, those in attendance can tour the HCC Regional High Technology Center.

828.620.1707 or email cataldo.perrone@prattwhitney.com. RSVP or submit questions at https://pwutc.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/sv_8emlwngatumg fda.

• Where We Live: History, Nature, and Culture will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 21, at Cowee School in Franklin. Author, Deena Bouknight, will be the speaker.

• SCC will hold a general career fair featuring employers from all sectors from 1 to 4 p.m. Feb. 24 at the Burrell Building on SCC’s Jackson Campus in Sylva. For more information about this event and SCC’s career services, contact Michael Despeaux at 828.229.4212 or m_despeaux@southwesterncc.edu • Western Carolina University’s Educational Leadership Programs will be hosting Equity in Education Summit from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. on Friday, March 25, at the Crest Center in Asheville. The registration fee for the summit is $100 and includes a light breakfast and lunch. For more information about the conference, contact Jess Weiler at jrweiler@email.wcu.edu. learn.wcu.edu/equity-summit or call 828.227.7397.

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makersmarket.com.

n All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted. n To have your item listed email to calendar@smokymountainnews.com to request a link, call 828.488.1234.

• The 2022 Haywood Democratic Party precinct organizing meetings will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 19, via Zoom. To ensure security, participants MUST preregister by Thursday, Feb. 17. The pre-registration link can be found at haywooddemocrats.org. For additional information, contact haywooddemocrats@gmail.com or 828-452-9607.

• The Annual meeting for the Swain County Democratic Party Bryson City 2 precinct will take place at 10 a.m.

Saturday, Feb. 19, via Zoom. This is the annual meeting where BC2 precinct officers and delegates will be elected for the county convention in March. For more info or to request a link, call Ginger Gaither (828) 736-3470.

VOLUNTEERS & VENDORS • Artisans, Crafters, and Food Vendors are invited to submit their application for the Greening Up the Mountains Festival to be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 23. Visit the festival’s website www.greeningupthemountains.com to review the 2022 Vendor Policies and download an application.

Applications will be accepted through March 15. For more information greeningupthemountains@gmail.com.

HEALTH AND WELLNESS • Swain County Caring Corner Free Clinic is open Thursday’s 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Restoration House (Bryson City United Methodist Church). Office hours are Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9 a.m. to noon. 828.341.1998 to see if you qualify to receive free medical care from volunteer providers.

• “Enhancing Mental Health with Alternative Treatments (Color, Music and Nutrition)” will be held from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Feb. 16, at the Macon County Public Library. This is a free event facilitated by the Vaya Health GERO team, designed for both care providers and recipients. Registration is required.

Please register here or call Macon County Public Library at 828.524.3600.

• The Waynesville Recreation Center will hold an open house for home school parents to learn more about the up-coming programs to be offered from 1 to 3 p.m. Feb. 23. Parents can drop in any time during those hours to discuss topics including physical education, hiking, kayaking, outdoor education and more.

AUTHORS AND BOOKS • “Books & Brews” with beloved Jackson County author/historian Dave Waldrop will be held at 7 p.m.

Feb. 9 and 23 at Innovation Brewing in Sylva. Free and open to the public.

FOOD AND DRINK • The “Sweetheart Market” will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 12, at Darnell Farms in Bryson City. Free and open to the public.

• Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host a “Chocolate & Wine Pairing” event from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10.

Presented by the Bryson City Wine Market. Cost is $35 per person. To make your reservation, call 828.538.0420 or 828.538.2488.

• “A Valentine’s Celebration” dinner will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 12, at The Classic Wineseller in Waynesville. Dinner by master chef Michelle Briggs and live music from Nathan Hefner (piano/vocals). Limited seating. Cost is $72.99 per person (plus tax and gratuity). To make your reservation, call 828.452.6000. Credit cards required for reservations. classicwineseller.com.

• Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) will now host a monthly brunch at the Rivers End Restaurant, as well as a special Valentine’s Day weekend.

• “Flights & Bites” will be held starting at 4 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays at Bosu’s Wine Shop in downtown Waynesville. For more information on upcoming events, wine tastings and special dinners, click on waynesvillewine.com.

• A free wine tasting will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. every Thursday and 2 to 5 p.m. every Saturday at The Wine Bar & Cellar in Sylva. 828.631.3075.

• “Uncorked: Wine & Rail Pairing Experience” will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 12 (and other select dates), at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City. Full service all-adult first-class car. Wine pairings with a meal, and more.

800.872.4681 or click on gsmr.com.

ON STAGE & IN CONCERT • Voices in the Laurel will host its annual Valentines Concert at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 13, at Long’s Chapel United Methodist Church. Tickets are available online at Voicesinthelaurel.org for $12 or at the door for $15.

• Nantahala Brewing (Sylva) will host “Standup Comedy Night” at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19.

828.641.9797 or nantahalabrewing.com.

ART SHOWINGS AND GALLERIES • The Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host “Paint-APint” night at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 2, and “Paint & Sip” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10. innovation-brewing.com.

• “Thursday Painters” group will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursdays at The Uptown Gallery in Franklin. Free and open to the public. All skill levels and mediums are welcome. Participants are responsible for their own project and a bag lunch. 828.349.4607 or pm14034@yahoo.com.

POLITICAL CORNER • The Swain County Democratic Party Whittier-Cherokee precinct will be having its annual organizational meeting at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 12, via zoom. The group will elect delegates to the county convention. For more information or the zoom link, email maryherr2017@gmail.com or call 828.497.9498.

• The annual meeting for the Swain County Democratic Party Alarka precinct will be held at 10 a.m. Feb. 12, via zoom. The group will elect officers and delegates for the county convention in March. For more information or

27

A&E

• Mountain Makers Craft Market will be held from noon to 4 p.m. the first Sunday of each month at 308 North Haywood Street in downtown Waynesville. Over two dozen artisans selling handmade and vintage goods.

Special events will be held when scheduled. mountain-

Outdoors

• An online Q&A session for a new program funding efforts to reduce flooding in North Carolina is coming up at 9 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 10. Applications are now being accepted. Learn more at ncagr.gov/SWC/watershed/StRAP.html

Visit www.smokymountainnews.com and click on Calendar for: n n n n

Complete listings of local music scene Regional festivals Art gallery events and openings Complete listings of recreational offerings at health and fitness centers n Civic and social club gatherings • Kayak rolling lessons are available 5:30-6:30 p.m.

Wednesdays through March 30 at the Waynesville Recreation Center. Ten spots are available each night, with advance registration required by contacting 828.456.2030 or ahood@waynesvillenc.gov. Free for rec center members or daily admission for non-members.

Participants must be at least 7 years old and provide their own gear. Bring kayaks through the side pool door, not the front door.

• Learn how to use your personal telescope or check out the night sky using in-house telescopes during an event starting at 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 11, on the fifth-floor terrace of the Apodaca Science Building at Western Carolina University. The event is free but will be cancelled in case of bad weather or overcast skies. Masks are required in doors on the WCU campus. Enrique Gomez, 828.227.2719.

• Volunteers are needed to help with The Plunge supporting Haywood Waterways Association on Saturday, Feb. 12, at Lake Junaluska. Volunteers will report by 9 a.m. and will be done around 2:30 p.m. Sign up with Christine O’Brien at 828.476.4667, ext. 11, or Christine.haywoodwaterways@gmail.com. To sign up for the plunge itself, visit tiny.cc/HWA10thPlunge.

• Haywood Waterways and Lake Junaluska Assembly will host The Plunge from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 12, at the Lake Junaluska Aquatics Center Pool, with onsite registration and check-in starting at 10 a.m. Cost is $25 for adults or $10 for youth under 18, or free by raising sponsorships. All proceeds benefit Haywood Waterways’ Kids in the Creek program and environmental education programs. Sign up or learn more at tiny.cc/HWA10thPlunge. Reach Haywood Waterways at 828.476.4667 or info@haywoodwaterways.org.

• Learn how to establish and maintain a blueberry patch with during an online seminar scheduled for 67:15 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15, via Zoom. Sign up at macon.ces.ncsu.edu or contact Christy Bredenkamp at 828.349.2049 or clbreden@ncsu.edu.

• The Great Backyard Bird Count will return this year, with experienced and novice birders alike encouraged to spend at least 15 minutes birdwatching between Feb. 18 and Feb. 21 — and several events at the Highlands Nature Center and N.C. Arboretum are planned to help meet that goal. Learn more at www.birdcount.org • Expand your gardening knowledge ahead of growing season with a pair of virtual classes offered at 1 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 17, through Haywood County Cooperative Extension. Registration is $10 and ends Feb. 12. Sign up at haywood.ces.ncsu.edu or email mgarticles@charter.net.

• Hike to High Falls on a guided hike with the Waynesville Parks and Recreation Department Saturday, Feb. 19. The group will leave Waynesville at 10:45 a.m. and return at 3:30 p.m. To register, contact MaShon Gaddis at mgaddis@waynesvillenc.gov or call 828.456.2030.

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ACCOUNTING TECHNICIAN FT HAYWOOD COUNTY Perform a wide range of adminisWUDWLYH DQG RI¿FH VXSSRUW activities for the Finance Department. Responsible for payroll preparation.

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ASSISTANT FINANCE OFFICER: HAYWOOD COUNTY Mountain Projects Inc. is seeking a full time Assistant )LQDQFH 2I¿FHU WKDW ZLOO be responsible for asVLVWLQJ ¿QDQFLDO PDWWHUV This position performs complex professional and managerial administrative work in planning, organizing, and executing WKH ¿QDQFLDO GXWLHV RI WKH organization. Two year degree in Business Administration or Accounting preferred. Experience with multi-funded QRQSUR¿W RUJDQL]DWLRQV

News Editor We are looking for a newsroom professional who can write, edit copy, handle air-traffic control with incoming information, plan out the weekly print edition, manage some of our social media accounts and take charge of some of our e-newsletters.

The Smoky Mountain News takes pride in producing high-quality journalism for Western North Carolina readers. This is a fulltime position in a family-owned, diversified media company headquartered in Waynesville, NC. For more information or to apply send a query or resume to Scott McLeod at info@smokymountainnews.com.

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Paraprofessional will participate in the care of residents by providing guidance, supervision, medication and prompting as needed. High School diploma, driver’s license, documentation required.

Interested person my contact 828-778-0260 for more information.

THE JACKSON COUNTY DEPARTMENT Of Social Services is recruiting for an Administrative Assistant. This person assists the director in carrying out administrative DFWLYLWLHV RI KLV RI¿FH DQG performing personnel duties. This position performs a variety of administrative functions, such as serving as secretary to the DSS Board and agency Leadership Team.

This includes preparing minutes, coordinating

and making agendas for meetings under the supervision of the director. This person keeps all employees personnel ¿OHV VFDQQHG DQG ZRUNV closely with the Human Resources Department with the County. Work usually requires considerable organizational and analytical responsibility.

Minimum education and experience required is completion of high school RU HTXLYDOHQW DQG ¿YH years of progressively responsible secretarial or clerical/administrative experience including one year of administrative or RI¿FH PDQDJHPHQW H[perience. Starting salary is $34,637.49, depending on experience. The application for employment is available online at www. jcdss.org. Applications may be dropped off or mailed to the Jackson County Department of Social Services at 15 *ULI¿Q 6WUHHW 6\OYD RU the NC Works Career Center. Applications will be taken until February 14, 2022.

THE JACKSON COUNTY DEPARTMENT Of Social Services is recruiting for a Child Support Agent II. The primary purpose of this position is to perform line-level Child Support

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29

SUPER

CROSSWORD

EATING WITH A SPOONERISM ACROSS 1 Uncertainty 6 Home to the Taj Mahal 10 Sporty Mazda 15 Pats gently 19 Mistake 20 Co. bigwigs 21 Tunesmith Harold 22 Opera solo 23 Denim pants that rise up to the navel?

25 Illusions a postman performs with his letters?

27 Astrologer Sydney 28 Small dent 29 Discusses at length, with "over" 30 Bet taker who's great with scissors?

35 Weed-nixing tools 37 -- B'rith 38 "-- afraid of that" 39 Baffle a lecherous fellow?

44 Actor Crystal playing a high-ranking policeman?

48 Ship spars 49 Margarine, quaintly 50 Pants lines 51 Ump relative 52 Ridicule 53 Busy crawler 54 Phone bug 55 Violent guys on a Greek island?

60 "Can -- witness?"

62 Abbr. on a bank door 63 Eagle's nest 64 Make anew 65 Add cornstarch to spiced tea?

69 Sitarist Shankar 73 Appeals 75 Debt memos

76 Involving warships 77 Bloated dancer?

82 Genetic helix 84 Sugar suffix 85 Florida Air Force Base 86 Realty unit 87 Uses logic 89 Kingly Norse name 90 Seismic event 93 Romantic song sung with an audience watching?

96 What might result in an octuple bogey?

98 Arizona tribe 99 Oscar -- Renta 100 Currency unit of 11-Down 101 Solution to rinse partially closed eyes?

105 Akron native 109 Sale caveat 111 Olive-green songbird 112 Supermarket vehicles within easy reach?

114 Comic Foxx being shamelessly bold?

119 Longish skirt 120 Kellogg's waffles 121 City in central Poland 122 Beast of Borden 123 Plumlike fruit 124 Tending to ooze 125 Comply with 126 Ford fiasco DOWN 1 Cotillion star 2 Mine metal 3 Net address 4 Cowboys' neck cords 5 "Go ahead, I'm listening" 6 Sour-tasting 7 Transmission lubricants 8 "Hellboy" star Perlman 9 Beast of burden

10 First lady Eisenhower 11 Persia, now 12 Dismounts from a horse 13 -- Aviv 14 Patriotic songs 15 Lectern spot 16 Shoe part 17 BMX vehicle 18 Give lip to 24 Pantry item 26 Scraping file 28 Belittle, informally 30 Ottawa-based TV network 31 Disconnect, as a door 32 Sullied 33 Barn hooter 34 Eloise creator Thompson 36 Ump's cry 39 Ump's cry 40 Musical period since the 1950s 41 Balm additive 42 Deborah of "Quo Vadis" 43 Huge spans 45 Greek cheese 46 Lamb's call 47 Bratty kid 48 Encountered 51 Proof of purchase 52 -- -fi 53 Make public 55 Public health agcy.

56 "Drop Dead Fred" star Mayall 57 Infants' cries 58 "Isn't -- little old for her?"

59 Jackie's "O" 61 Best-of list countable on one hand 62 Closed hand 65 Actor Danson 66 Possesses 67 -- Valley, San Francisco

68 70 town 71 72 74 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 87 88 90 91 92 93 94 95 97 98 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 110 113 114 115 116 117 118

Mongrel dog "Anne of Green Gables" Feudal tenants Dot in la mer Actor Cariou Skylab org.

Lowly worker Aptly named hybrid fruit Custard tart Deer cousins "Annabel Lee" poet Wildlife lair Arrest Enter hostilely again Europe, Asia and Africa Pear relatives Hagen of the stage Like fugitives --'wester (storm type) --Pen Lah-di- -Talk to God Command ctrs.

Actress Spacek Fluster Previous to Zellweger of Hollywood Resistance units Salute -- -Chinese Pooch in "Garfield" Knock off Get mellow Slo- -- fuse Knock off Ar-tee linkup Fizzle out Costa -- Sol

ANSWERS ON PAGE 26

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30

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February 9-15, 2022

WNC MarketPlace

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WAYNESVILLE OFFICE 74 North Main Street | (828) 634 -7333 2BR, 2BA, 1HB | $800,000 | #3823658

2BR, 1BA $175,000 | #3825314

Brookfield | 3BR, 2BA $205,000 | #3823389

Stoney Ridge | 2BR, 2BA $319,000 | #3824694

3BR, 2BA $319,000 | #3825735

3BR, 1BA, 1HB $325,000 | #3822457

3BR, 2BA $325,000 | #3798056

The Mountain Condominium | 3BR, 2BA $345,000 | #3825359

Lake Junaluska Assembly | 4BR, 2BA, 1HB $565,000 | #3806518

Lake Junaluska Assembly | 6BR, 3BA $735,000 | #3794892

3BR, 2BA, 1HB $775,000 | #3796518

Masters Landing | 3BR, 3BA, 1HB $799,999 | #3802835

Fontana Lake Estates | 4BR, 4BA, 1HB $1,590,000 | #3798629

Smoky Mountain News

February 9-15, 2022

Get details on any property in the MLS. Go to beverly-hanks.com and enter the MLS# into the quick search.

CALL TODAY (828) 634-7333 32