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March 13-19, 2019 Vol. 20 Iss. 42

Donations will benefit Haywood students, residents Page 4 Chief ranger brings expertise to the Smokies Page 34

CONTENTS On the Cover: With drug addiction, mental illness and domestic violence rates continuing to rise, so do the caseloads of child welfare social workers across the region.

While some say they’ve seen a significant increase in the number of cases over the last few years, others say it’s the complexity of the cases and an ineffective case management system that’s putting more pressure on staff time. (Page 6)

News Consolidation reversal likely in Jackson ........................................................................3 Large donations will benefit Haywood students, residents ....................................4 Canton gears up for budget talks ..................................................................................5 Unexpected father of five looks for help ......................................................................8 Water system possible for Cashiers ..........................................................................10 Sign ups for Cherokee election continue ..................................................................11 WCU trustees approve chancellor candidates ......................................................12 Wayfaring strangers lack wayfinding signage ..........................................................13 Maggie Valley’s financial position strong ..................................................................14 Rep. Meadows’ defense of Trump angers many ....................................................15 Community Almanac ........................................................................................................19

Opinion Changing primaries could help system ......................................................................20

A&E NPR host bringing the word to the people ..............................................................24

Outdoors

Smoky Mountain News

March 13-19, 2019

New chief ranger brings expertise to most visited park ........................................34

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Consolidation reversal likely in Jackson Commissioners consider reinstating boards for health and social services

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See more The resolutions are online at www.jacksonnc.org/pdf/work-session/ march-12/attachment-6.pdf.

A consolidation timeline • 2012 — A state law is enacted allowing consolidation.

• Jan. 10, 2017 — Consolidation is first discussed when Commissioner Ron Mau, elected in November 2016, brings it up during a county work session.

• March 23, 2017 — Experts from the UNC School of Government travel to Jackson County to discuss the pros and cons of consolidation in a joint meeting of commissioners and members of the health and social services boards.

• Nov. 16, 2017 — Commissioners vote 3-2 to pursue consolidation of the health and social services departments in a special-called meeting.

• Jan. 29, 2018 — A public hearing on the proposed consoli-

The issue had a heavy presence in the 2018 elections, with Democratic candidates for the three open commission seats pledging to put the departments back the way they were should they regain a majority. include giving the state the ability to withhold funding in certain circumstances.

“We’re going to have this volunteer board putting taxpayer dollars at risk if we go this route,” said Mau. He also cited upcoming changes to Medicare and Medicaid as a reason to pause before making changes.

“Irregardless of what happens with HB 630, if we select good people to be on these boards, I personally feel that they will be more qualified to make those decisions than I would be,” countered Commissioner Gayle Woody. “I’m not a veterinarian. I’m not a physician. If we get people we like on those boards, I have every faith that they will make good decisions.”

Mau disagreed, stating his belief that taxpayers would rather have their tax dollars protected by someone they’d had the opportunity to elect rather than by someone on an appointed board.

dation draws 11 speakers, all opposed to consolidation.

Later that same evening, commissioners vote 3-2 to consolidate.

• May 7, 2018 — Commissioners vote 3-2 to approve appointments to a new board tasked with overseeing the consolidated department.

• June 11, 2018 — The consolidated board holds its first meeting, voting 8-3 to request a letter of explanation from commissioners regarding consolidation.

• July 10, 2018 — County Manager Don Adams tells the consolidated board that commissioners declined to author the requested letter. Board members take a new vote, requesting that one of the commissioners who supported consolidation explain the rationale at the board’s next meeting.

“I’m a taxpayer and I would rather have someone with expertise,” argued Woody.

The experienced professionals Woody spoke of could still be involved, said Mau. Even with commissioners serving as the health and social services boards, the county is required to have an advisory board in place for health, though not for social services. But, Woody pointed out, as of yet no such board has been appointed.

At the direction of commissioners, County Attorney Heather Baker drew up a pair of draft resolutions that, if enacted, would reinstate the volunteer boards, with those boards taking over from commissioners once the process of appointing members is complete. Commissioners discussed the resolutions during a work session Tuesday afternoon, March 12, which occurred after The Smoky Mountain News’ press deadline.

McMahan said it’s likely the resolutions will appear on the agenda for a vote March 19.

• Aug. 14, 2018 — The consolidated board votes to delay hiring a director for the new department until after the November 2018 election.

• Aug. 20, 2018 — Commissioners vote 3-2 to abolish the consolidated board, separate the departments and place themselves as the governing board over them.

• Oct. 1, 2018 — Despite stating in August that a public hearing was not required, commissioners hold a hearing on the August action, drawing 19 speakers, 16 of whom opposed the action. They vote 3-2 to reaffirm the decision.

• Dec. 3, 2018 — New commissioners are sworn in, flipping the board to a 3-2 Democratic majority. Democratic candidates had run on the promise that they would revert the boards and department to the way they were before January 2018.

Smoky Mountain News

lowing what the majority considered to be an act of rebellion in August by the board installed to oversee the new consolidated department. As a result of the consolidation, the county had to hire a new position to oversee the combined departments, a job with a salary range of $74,000 to $145,000. The consolidated board voted Aug. 14 to delay hiring that position until after the November elections, since there was a chance the situation could change afterwards.

Commissioners voted Aug. 20 to “unconsolidate” the departments and install themselves as the governing boards. They declined to hold a public hearing before the vote but hosted one after the fact on Oct. 1, drawing 19 speakers who were nearly all opposed to the move. In a 3-2 vote, the original decision was reaffirmed after the hearing concluded.

During the discussion Feb. 12, Mau raised his objections to reinstating the volunteer boards over health and social services.

“The environment DSS has operated in has changed greatly in the last eight months — is that a fair statement?” he asked Adams.

“Part of the process for me wanting to consolidate was to create a structure that made more sense. It wasn’t about how things are operating.”

Mau was concerned about the potential impacts of HB 630, also known as Rylan’s Law, which strengthens accountability measures for local social services departments.

Some of those accountability measures

March 13-19, 2019

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER he Jackson County Board of Commissioners will likely hold yet another vote on potential changes to its health and human services departments during a meeting scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday, March 19, at the Jackson County Administration Building in Sylva.

A 2012 state law allows North Carolina counties to combine their health departments and one or more human services departments into a single consolidated department, and for the past two years Jackson County’s leaders have been in a tugof-war to determine whether that power should be exercised locally. Votes have consistently fallen along party lines, with Republican commissioners voting in favor of consolidation and Democrats opposing it.

The issue had a heavy presence in the 2018 elections, with Democratic candidates for the three open commission seats pledging to put the departments back the way they were should they regain a majority. The election resulted in the board flipping from a 3-2 Republican majority to a 3-2 Democratic majority, and Democratic commissioners wasted no time in resurrecting the issue.

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

“I’d like to ask staff to start the process of looking at what would be necessary, and let’s bring that back up.”

Staff did just that, during the Feb. 12 meeting advising commissioners that the structure could be restored through a simple resolution, with two to three months for full implementation due to the need to wait for the state to approve some board appointments.

“It is not believed a public hearing is necessary because a public hearing was not

assumed necessary when commissioners assumed responsibility,” said County Manager Don Adams.

Commissioners voted to abolish the consolidated board, separate the departments once more and instate themselves as the governing board over the two departments fol-

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news

Large donations will benefit Haywood students, residents

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER substantial and somewhat surprising gift by two Haywood County natives has the potential to contribute to the community for generations to come.

“No one would’ve guessed that they were doing what they were doing over the years,” said Canton attorney Pat Smathers, of the charitable donations made by David and Irene Smathers during their life together.

“They were good, community-minded people who enjoyed their lifestyle, but they did not have a great, lavish lifestyle. There’s no doubt they lived frugally. I think only people who were either personally acquainted as confidantes, as their attorney or financial advisor, and family members would have any concept that they would have that kind of wealth.”

A March 7 press release issued by Smathers, who’s charged with administering the $6 million gift, explains that it’s to be broken up into three separate gifts of $2 million each.

One of them is a straight donation to The Broyhill Home, a residential facility on 90 acres in Clyde that serves foster children.

Established in 1971, the home is run by Baptist Children’s Homes of North Carolina.

Another $2 million will go into something called the Cruso Endowment.

“The Cruso Endowment was actually set up by David and Irene back in the 1990s,” Smathers said. “It is, for those who are familiar with estate planning, what’s called a CRUT [charitable remainder unitrust].”

Although it may have surprised some that Irene, who worked at the Waynesville Tannery, Dayco and Rays Department Store, and David, an engineer by trade, had that kind of money, it’s not surprising, said Smathers, that they chose to set up the endowment that will likely function in perpetuity.

“David was originally from Canton, and Irene was from the Bethel area, Cruso, in that area. David had moved away and I don’t think he really came back to Canton until he had retired,” he said. “He was very smart. He would have what I would call a ‘quirky engi-

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March 13-19, 2019

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neer’s mind’ and people who knew him knew he was very bright. He never threw anything away — he would keep things to be reused.

He was just a very bright guy.”

David passed away in 2009 and was joined by Irene in January of this year.

“She was equally sharp,” he said. “Her profession was different than his, but she was very much aware of what was going on up until her death, up in her 90s. Just a sweet lady, she would love to talk to people.”

Smathers said that several local nonprofits had long been receiving gifts from the endowment, which had about $160,000 in it before the $2 million gift hits the account.

Once it does and after the dust settles, Smathers said the Cruso Endowment would begin spending the interest the account accrues.

“As far as the Cruso Endowment, to meet Internal Revenue Service requirements, 5 percent must be spent every year,” he said.

“Based on current projections, spending 5 percent of the principal, which will continue to grow, that would be roughly $90,000 to $110,000 [in disbursements each year] depending on the investments made.”

“No one would’ve guessed that they were doing what they were doing over the years.”

— Pat Smathers, attorney

Those investments are chosen by the endowment’s fiduciary, the North Carolina Community Foundation, and are designed maximize return on the principal that will ultimately focus on eastern Haywood County within the limits of the Pisgah High School district.

“It has four purposes. The first purpose is to help economically disadvantaged people in that area for needs that are very general — food, clothing, shelter, fuel. Two is actually

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“Also part of it is for the maintenance of those things,” he said. “A lot of people want to build a garden, but nobody wants to pull the weeds.”

The funding isn’t intended to supplant town spending on such items, but instead augment it.

“Her intent was this was to enhance the current programs in the town of Canton — appearance and recreation,” he said. “To do that the Town of Canton has to spend the average of what they’ve spent for the last five years in recreation or beautification projects and appearance projects.”

Smathers said that he’ll help make disbursement decisions with Irene’s sister Doris Hall, and

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church construction, so I guess it could be an addition or whatever, but [Irene] was very clear in saying this is not to be used for operations of the church. It’s not to pay salaries, utility bills. Churches would be entitled to money if they were doing a program to help the needy, or the disadvantaged.”

The third area, Smathers said, is for “recreation” needs in the town of Canton.

“And that’s very broad,” he said. “It could be anything from parks to athletic fields, events, anything involving entertainment, and then the fourth purpose of it is for beautification and appearance enhancements in the town, and then again from parks to flowerbeds to statuary.”

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County Schools Foundation, which had already received more than $600,000 in gifts from David and Irene before the $2 million contribution.

Francis said he believes it’s the Haywood County Schools Foundation’s largest gift ever.

“We’re overwhelmed by the generosity of David and Irene,” said Hylah Birenbaum, president of the HCSF board. “This will not only help our high-performing school district continue to grow, but will also help with the little things — band uniforms, even — that contribute to a well-rounded educational experience.”

Smathers, too, lauded the gifts; as former mayor of Canton and current HCS board attorney, he’s well-placed to gauge the impact and the intent of David and Irene.

“They had wealth, they used it for what they determined were good purposes for their community and disadvantaged people, and that’s how they enjoyed their money — not spending it on themselves or trying to get in the newspaper trying or to feather their own nest,” he said. “They just knew, in their minds, the wealth didn’t go to their heads. It wasn’t necessarily for them.”

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Checking Up On Your Health Information These days there’s so much information about our health easily available to us. We can click on our smart phones or type searches into our browser and find articles and information in seconds. But we can also get overloaded and overwhelmed by information and not know what sites or resources to trust.

Here are some tips to make sure you get your health information from reliable sources.

Check the URL (the website) - If it ends in (.org) it’s a non-profit organization. If the address ends in (.gov) it’s a government sponsored page. If it ends in (.com) it’s a for-profit organization. For health information, start with sites that you know your local hospital or health department, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), CDC (Centers for Disease Control), and the NIH (National Institutes of Health).

What are they selling? Sites with advertising “pop-ups” that try and sell you supplements, detox or cleanses are annoying and less likely to be credible. Sites with a “shop” that try and sell you supplements, vitamins, minerals, etc. may also be questionable.

Evidence-based – Does the site promote evidence-based medicine and tests? Do they quote or feature educated and trained physicians and practitioners? Do they practice science-based medicine, or do they promote practices that are more questionable and that don’t have research or evidence?

Be a smart shopper and don’t follow hype when it comes to your health!

Smoky Mountain News

that they’ve together agreed not to delve into the principal so the fund can grow. Once Hall and Smathers are no longer able to serve in those roles, those decisions will be made by whomever is serving as Canton’s mayor.

The third $2 million gift creates something called the Smathers Education Endowment Fund.

The press release says it’s to “assist physically disabled students and to assist economically disadvantaged students with scholarships to attend college, giving preference for attendance at Haywood Community College.”

Other academic needs, like computers, are also a possibility, and social needs — like if someone needs a prom dress — could also qualify for funding.

“I think the way the money is designated is for the kids that may not have everything but could maybe benefit from the money,” said Haywood Board of Education Chairman Chuck Francis. “What a great opportunity for our kids to have the money to do things that they maybe wouldn’t have had otherwise.”

The Smathers Education Endowment Fund will be administered by the Haywood

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March 13-19, 2019

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER lthough it wasn’t a formal budget retreat, leaders in the Town of Canton met last week to begin identifying budget priorities for when that time does come.

“To sum up our retreat, it was infrastructure, recreation, and economic development,” said Canton Alderwoman Kristina Smith. “We have had wonderful wins the past few years, but our goal is long-term for Canton. That means our board is focused on ensuring we level up on infrastructure to serve our citizens and businesses for years to come, that we develop scalable recreational offerings and that we have open conversations about economic development ideas and opportunities.”

Canton’s property tax rate remains the highest of all four municipalities in Haywood County at 58 cents per $100 in assessed property value, but it also hasn’t changed since 2007, when it was increased by 5 cents just as the Great Recession began to be felt across Western North Carolina.

Thanks to inflation, that 58 cents in 2007 would today equal 71.8 cents, meaning Canton’s high-but-stable tax rate has in all practicality been decreasing in terms of actual purchasing power.

“I encouraged all the aldermen and alderwomen and town staff that I’m satisfied where Canton is going, especially with economic development and infrastructure,” said Zeb Smathers, Canton’s mayor since late 2017.

Smathers said he’s already looking forward to the financial impact of a major gift (see donation, page 4) made by a pair of eastern Haywood County natives that will,

over time, have a visible effect on Canton.

“It was a great start to the conversation, and I’m excited about the projects we’re looking at, ahead in the next year,” he said.

“The Cruso Endowment — that was the first time the board was able to become publicly aware of the opportunity that will provide the town of Canton as well as local churches, county schools, and the Broyhill Children’s home. But as it concerns the town of Canton, as time passes that will allow us access to money for specific recreation and beautification projects.”

As far as he can tell, Smathers also thinks that tax rate will remain stable yet again, for the 12th year in a row.

“Knock on wood, at this point I do not see any surprises,” he said. “I always worry about the surprises we don’t see. It’s early, budget books will go out in the coming weeks. There is no indication that our tax rate will increase whatsoever. That was not recommended by the town manager, nor was it brought up by any of the aldermen or alderwomen.”

A controversial proposal floated last year but shot down after public outcry won’t make a repeat appearance either — a vehicle registration fee that was intended to be used for street maintenance.

Smith — along with Alderman James Markey — was elected in November 2017.

It’s now her second go at crafting a budget and watching it in operation over the course of the fiscal year.

“From an infrastructure standpoint, this year we will see projects move forward,” she said. “From water and sewer infrastructure repair and replacement to road repaving and sidewalk updates.”

Smathers, Smith and Markey aren’t up for re-election this year, but two other board members are — Dr. Ralph Hamlett, and Gail Mull. Both told The Smoky Mountain News in January that they’d likely seek re-election this year.

news

Canton gears up for budget talks

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Complex child welfare cases costing counties Mental health, addiction driving wedge between families

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR ubstance abuse has had a number of unintended consequences on society from mental illness, unemployment, overcrowded jails, a backlogged court system, increased health care costs to homelessness, but one of the most devastating consequences is the separation of families.

“Substance abuse continues to play a big part in many neglect cases,” said Sheila Sutton, director of Swain County Department of Social Services. “Parents have a difficult time meeting their basic needs when they are dealing with addiction. Parents are having a hard time finding or keeping employment, finding affordable housing and maintaining it, and meeting the physical and emotional needs of their children.”

Gayla Jones, Haywood County’s Social Work Division director, said it’s a common misperception that DSS wants to take everyone’s kids away from them when in reality their job is to keep families together.

“Yes, there are cases in which parents are abusing methamphetamines and cannot keep their children safe at that time; however we do make efforts to allow those parents to come up with a plan that keeps their children safe. And if a safe plan cannot be made then we do remove children from those environments, again to keep them safe,” she said.

By North Carolina law, child welfare workers may only involuntarily intervene with families and children in cases where child maltreatment meets a statutory definition of abuse or neglect. When children are removed from the home, DSS struggles to find placement if there is no relative to take care of them. While counties have 50-plus children in foster care at a time, there are typically only a handful of foster homes certified in each county.

“Assessing child maltreatment is an exceptionally complex and detail-oriented process,” said Patrick Betancourt, director of Macon County DSS. “It is a process that often involves addressing co-occurring issues such as substance use/misuse, mental health needs, and family violence which are complex factors that are not easily resolved easily or quickly.”

As the drug epidemic rages on in Western North Carolina and child welfare cases involve more of these deeper issues, local resources are spread thin. Some of the local social services agencies are struggling to keep up with the increased child welfare caseloads.

DHHS guidelines suggest a Child Protective Services case be completed in 45 days, though there is flexibility. For children that enter foster care, DHHS suggests that reunification or permanent placement should be established within a year despite national data pointing more toward an 18 to 24 6 month timeline.

Smoky Mountain News

March 13-19, 2019

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“While NC DHHS guidelines suggest a Child Protective Services case be completed in 45 days, Macon County strives to be a county that frontloads its services as much as possible early on in a case rather than later when it becomes much more complex and costly to address parental and familiar needs,” Betancourt said.

MACON COUNTY It’s an issue Betancourt brought before commissioners last month as he was seeking two additional child welfare workers to better manage the growing caseloads. With a 37 percent increase in child welfare cases, Betancourt said 85-90 percent of the cases seen in Macon County involved some sort of substance abuse, significant mental health needs of parents and/or children and some type of family violence.

“The need for intervention in these families’ lives is great — and it’s not short term and it’s intense,” he told the board.

“Directors across the state are having the same problems. It’s burning our staff out at a tremendous rate. We could lose three of our child welfare staff because they are burned out on what they’re doing. We want to get them some relief.”

Children in foster care • • • •

Swain.....................................................44 Macon....................................................64 Jackson..................................................58 Haywood ..............................................106

Social work often tops the list for most stressful job and highest burnout rate because of the heavy workload and enormous pressure. Seeing these kinds of heartbreaking family situations day in and day out can take its toll on a person’s psyche.

Betancourt said Macon has been fortunate to maintain many of its staff members, some of which have been doing social work for 20 years. He attributes their longevity to their commitment to families, but also great supervisory support.

Macon commissioners approved the additional positions for child welfare, which brings the staff up to 12 social workers and two social work supervisors for child welfare.

Bettencourt said the new positions will allow his department to better meet the mandate of incredibly complex child welfare cases the agency is managing.

Macon County, which has 64 children in its legal custody, will now have five foster care social workers each carrying a caseload of about 13 children and one adoptions social worker. Child Protective Services social workers will be each carrying a caseload of about 15 families, but Betancourt said those numbers may change slightly daily depending on where cases are within the service continuum.

The N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services caseload standards consider active

“The impact on our child welfare budget cannot simply be attributed to one substance or another but rather the complex interplay of the multitude of substance misuse combined with severe mental health needs combined with family violence.”

— Patrick Betancourt, director of Macon County DSS

child welfare cases as the number of families being served in the CPS program area while the number of children being served in foster care program area.

“Anytime a child welfare case is open, social workers are required to navigate thousands of individual processes,” he said.

“Given the vast number of individual processes, there is a limited number of cases in which a worker can reasonably manage and still be effective at keeping children and families safe. Having adequate staffing assures that the families with whom the agency works have a social worker that can devote the necessary time needed to assist families in navigating the process of strengthening their families.”

SWAIN COUNTY Swain County has seen a significant decrease in its child welfare caseloads, but only because the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians began administering its own child and adult protective services on the Qualla Boundary in October 2015. While Swain had 431 families under child protective service investigations in 2013-14, that number dropped to 179 families in 2017-18.

The transition of services to EBCI forced Swain DSS to implement a reduction of workforce plan in 2015. Sutton said the department went from nine CPS and in-home caseworkers and one intake social worker, down to four social workers — two CPS and two inhome services social workers.

“We are meeting the needs of the community at this time with the number of staff we have,” Sutton said. “We currently have one full-time adoption social worker, one full-time foster home licensing social worker and three foster care case manager social workers, putting the count of our child welfare staff at 10.”

Sutton said Swain County does have a fairly high turnover rate for CPS social workers, though burnout might not be the only reason.

“We recognize that the stress of the job, secondary trauma, and increased state expectations will result in social worker vacancies at Swain DSS, despite our best attempts at diligent recruitment and retention,” Sutton said. “Unfortunately, Swain County is surrounded by Jackson, Macon and Haywood counties — they can offer a much higher salary for the same work and employees often take the opportunity to apply when vacancies come open.”

Statistics for Swain DSS for the following years: • • • • •

CPS Investigations In-Home Services Foster Children FY 13/14 .......................431 Families....................32 Families ............................44 FY 14/15 ...............................336 ..................................82 ...................................47 FY 15/16 ...............................441 ..................................56 ...................................57 FY 16/17 ...............................168 ..................................36 ...................................53 FY 17/18 ...............................179 ..................................39 ...................................45

JACKSON COUNTY

Social work often tops the list for most stressful job and highest burnout rate because of the heavy workload and enormous pressure.

HAYWOOD COUNTY

98,676 grandparents are householders responsible for their grandchildren who live with them. Of these: • 36,897 don’t have parents present • 62,875 are under age 60 • 57,331 are in the workforce • 24,570 are in poverty • 27,298 have a disability

SOURCE: www.grandfamilies.org. of their caseload.”

Betancourt agreed that more funding from the state Department of Health and Human Services would allow the counties to hire enough staff to manage the caseloads because right now the counties are bearing the burden. For example, the two new Macon County positions will cost the county $29,000 just for the last quarter of the 2018-19 fiscal year, but the county only expects to be reimbursed $4,000 from the state and federal oversight agencies.

Sutton said providing more preventative and early intervention resources for people dealing with mental illness, domestic vio-

NC FAST SYSTEM When discussing DSS challenges, Betancourt told commissioners about inefficiencies with the case management system currently being used.

In an effort to reform child welfare in 2017, DHHS chose to adopt a statewide enterprise system — NC FAST, or North Carolina Families Accessing Services through Technology — for all social services program areas. Since Macon was chosen as one of 11 counties to pilot using NC FAST for child welfare services in NC FAST, Betancourt and his staff have been using the system since March 2018. He said it’s been a huge frustration and has created a longer process for staff.

“NC FAST is an IBM Cúrum product specifically designed and built to be an economic services eligibility determination engine. Generally speaking, it can adequately determine Medicaid or Food and Nutrition Services eligibility with accuracy and reliability,” he said. “Determining economic services eligibility is not the same thing as capturing complex case management data and notes to ensure family safety.”

Jones said Haywood recently began the “roll out” of NC FAST and is already seeing inefficiencies in the system. However, she said she’s made it clear to her staff that they will continue to do their jobs and keep children safe no matter their struggles with entering information into NC FAST. “I will say though the stress that the system has put on social workers has been difficult to endure,” Jones added. “We are expected to roll out all of the other child welfare dis-

“The state is also placing specific timeframes on counties in order to find permanence for those children that are in foster care. So with the combination of both the time limitation placed by the state and time for treatment with the addicted parent we are definitely challenged as social workers.”

— Gayla Jones, Haywood County DSS

lence and substance would help cut down on the DSS caseloads. Rural counties like Swain also deal with a lack of infrastructure for working families — it’s hard to rebuild your life when you can’t find an affordable place to live and there’s little to no public transportation.

“We would like to see our county get more funding for resources to address the needs of our families. For example, Swain County needs intensive outpatient substance abuse treatment,” Sutton said. “There is a need for more in-patient substance abuse facilities.

We need more affordable housing and mental health providers. We would like to see a suboxone clinic that is less than 45 miles away. We would like to see more transportation options for families. We would like to see more resources for domestic violence victims

ciplines in July/August 2019.”

Swain DSS went live with NC FAST on Jan. 19, 2019 in CPS intake and assessments and Sutton anticipates the workload will become more demanding on social workers based on what she’s heard from neighboring counties who began using the program before Swain. For that reason, Swain hired a fulltime intake/NC FAST training position.

“They will have to find a balance between the requirements of doing their required mandate of working with families and keeping children safe, while at the same time documenting all their efforts in a system that doesn’t fully support the case management style social workers have grown accustomed to,” she said.

Abshire said Jackson isn’t scheduled to roll out NC FAST until July.

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Gayla Jones has been with the agency for 19 years. She said the county’s caseload has remained consistent for the last four to five years, but admits the cases have become more complex and time consuming for her staff. On average, Haywood has around 90-95 children in custody each month and currently has 106 children in foster care, which includes the 18-21 year-olds program.

“Often we are dealing with parents that have a multitude of issues,” Jones said. “For example, parents that have significant mental health issues as well as substance abuse.

These cases of course, take more time and effort to locate services and get the parents to buy into participation in services.”

Haywood County operates with one program manager over child welfare, six child welfare supervisors and 31 child welfare social workers. Jones said they have experienced high turnover rates in the last year for many different reasons, including relocations, taking higher paying positions or going back to school for an advanced degree.

To find solutions to the growing number of complex child welfare cases, the cause must first be identified. All of the DSS directors point to the prevalence of alcohol and drug abuse mixed with untreated mental health issues and family violence and each of those issues can fuel the others to create a endless cycle within the system.

“While opioid use has increased in Macon County — as it has in Western N.C. in general — our child welfare staff are involved in cases daily in which there is quite a bit of methamphetamine use and even a large number of cases in which alcohol misuse is prevalent,” Betancourt said. “The impact on our child welfare budget cannot simply be attributed to one substance or another but rather the complex interplay of the multitude of substance misuse combined with severe mental health needs combined with family violence.”

Jones agreed that drug-related cases are the most challenging for Haywood County as well. While social workers understand someone suffering from addiction will go through multiple relapses before they’re able to stay sober, they also understand the trauma children go through as a result of their parent’s addiction.

“Unfortunately in a child’s life, relapse after relapse can have an ongoing effect on them,” she said. “The state is also placing specific timeframes on counties in order to find permanence for those children that are in foster care. So with the combination of both the time limitation placed by the state and time for treatment with the addicted parent we are definitely challenged as social workers.”

DSS directors agree that caseload standards should be lowered given that some cases need more time and attention than others. Abshire said caseloads have not been re-evaluated since before 2007. She said it would be helpful to have more therapeutic foster homes in the area as well as mandated mental health for parents whose children are in care. Lastly, she said being able to maintain Medicaid benefits for parents once the children are removed from their homes would be beneficial so they can get services they need to get their children back.

Jones said she would like to see the state provide more extensive training for social workers in order to help them address a multitude of needs with the families they serve and he’d like to see the state and federal government provide more funding to the counties to help support social work staff.

“The complexity of our current cases can be very time consuming; however the mandated number of cases that a social worker carries has not been changed by the state,” she said. “Increased funding from the state to hire more staff would help give our workers the time needed to deal with the many facets

• 89,000 children live with a relative with no parent present • 225,493 children under 18 live in homes where householders are grandparents/other relatives • 177,662 of these children live with grandparents • 47,832 of these children live with other relatives

March 13-19, 2019

Jackson County has 17 child welfare workers, three supervisors and one program manager, but Abshire said they have enough positions to meet state standards — 10 cases for investigation, 10 for in home and 15 foster care children per social worker.

“We believe it should be eight for investigations and in home and 10 for foster care to be effective and meet all the federal and state mandates because each year we get more requirements for each program,” she said.

The department has had its highest turnover rate this year compared to the last five year. In 2018-19, the turnover rate has been 20 percent compared to 10 percent in 2017-18, 14 percent in 2016-17 and 19 percent in 2015-16.

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in the way of transitional housing, emergency sheltering, peer support, and group and individual counseling.”

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Jackson County DSS was also impacted when EBCI took over child welfare cases. DSS Director Jennifer Abshire said that transition makes it difficult to say whether cases are truly on the rise in Jackson County. However, she can say that foster care cases have increased drastically. Jackson County has 58 children currently in foster care, and Abshire said most are due to drug issues and domestic violence.

With only eight certified foster homes located in the county, many children have to be placed wherever a foster home is available in the state.

“Opioids are just one drug we are dealing with — meth is still an issue in Jackson,” she said. “Foster care caseloads have increased and that is a major financial impact.”

“This job is also very quick-paced and can often be stressful and you get some turnover due to that,” she said. “We also do have many workers and supervisors that have been with the agency 10-plus years as well. We have utilized some temp workers through an agency to help fill in those gaps when we have had vacancies to help support our staff this year.”

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Unexpected father of five looks for help

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR hen Chris Slagle’s partner of 26 years died unexpectedly four years ago, he bought a fixer-upper house in Maggie Valley with plans of healing from his heartbreak while pouring everything he had into restoring the old house on Fie Top Road.

The Asheville native knew his life would be changing, but he never imagined he’d soon be the sole guardian to five children when a friend found herself in a heap of legal trouble. At first he thought the mother’s runins with the law would be short term. Not wanting the kids to go into the foster care system and potentially be separated, he decided to keep them until their mother got out of jail.

Now it’s been nearly three years — the mother is still in jail and he is raising five children ages 2 to 11 all by himself in the house he never got around to flipping. As he’s discovered more truths about the children’s mother, he’s realizing she might not be released anytime soon.

“This was supposed to be a temporary thing, but I’ve had the children now for two and a half years,” Slagle said. “I’m willing to take care of them no matter what happens.

My father wasn’t there for me growing up, so I just couldn’t turn them away.”

While the transition has been difficult for him and the children, he’s making the best of the situation and trying to keep his head above water. The children are in school and/or daycare, they see a therapist regularly through Meridian Behavioral Health Services, the oldest children have mentors through Big Brothers Big Sisters and are getting health care and food assistance through Haywood County Department of Social Services. Their basic needs are met, but Slagle is still struggling with a few things.

“I’ve been struggling to keep everything afloat — if just one thing goes awry it could take me months to get caught up,” he said.

Slagle’s landed several jobs in the last two years but has had trouble keeping one that is flexible enough for him to still care for the

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children, especially if he has to call out for a couple of days if one — or all of them — get sick and have to stay home from school.

Trying to transport five kids around in his clunker sedan proves challenging with two car seats, and the house he had planned to fix up is not an ideal space for the children.

“The resources I had to renovate the house were gone after having the kids for four months,” he said.

HOW’D HE GET HERE? How Slagle found himself in such a situation is a long story — one that started when he met Eleanor Black through a mutual friend and business partner. Slagle and his husband were living in Houston when a mutual friend brought Black out to visit them in Texas with plans to start a business together.

“I remember just being struck by her — I knew she had had trouble in the past and had three kids she was teaching some sort of homeschool. I was impressed by her tenacity and focus on her kids,” Slagle recalled.

After his husband died suddenly of a heart attack, Slagle decided to move back

“I was an avid proponent of their mother at first, but as time has gone on I’ve learned I can’t trust her. With her longer history of criminal activity, I’m now doing it for the kids. They have some separation anxiety, but they’re doing OK considering.”

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How to help

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Slagle wants to continue to provide for the children, but he needs some support. His first priority is to find a job that will allow him to get out of the house, have flexibility with the children’s schedules and ideally would allow him to use one of his many artistic talents that he feels are just withering away.

He was working a third-shift mill job, which worked out well for a few months because he had someone to stay with the children at night and get them off to school. Circumstances changed and the person couldn’t be there at night anymore, which meant Slagle would take the kids to his mom’s house in Asheville after school before going to work overnight in Canton and then had to pick them up and return to Maggie Valley in the early morning before school. He eventually had to quit.

A close second priority is to either get his current residence renovated or to find more adequate housing for him and the kids. The old house isn’t well insulated, which means if he tries to heat the entire spread-out house, he can’t afford

— Chris Slagle

Chris Slagle of Maggie Valley is trying to care for five children after a friend of his ended up incarcerated for a series of theft and fraud charges in multiple states. Jessi Stone photo closer to Asheville to be near their friends and family. Black had also since returned to the Asheville area and the two kept in touch.

Slagle often agreed to babysit her three children to keep his mind off his grief.

“She had a boyfriend at the time and they would come by and drop the kids off because they would go work at fairs and festivals on the weekends — at least that’s what they told me they were doing,” he said.

Black and the boyfriend also lived with Slagle for a short time in West Asheville when she was pregnant with the fourth child. He said Black had prepared to have a midwife deliver the baby at home, but the midwife was out of town when she went into labor, which meant he had to help deliver the baby at his house.

Slagle started to get more suspicious of Black after the couple didn’t take the baby to be checked out at the hospital afterward. He said the newborn was delivered with the

To make a donation to Slagle and the children, visit www.gofundme.com/christopherwith5 or email slaglehome@gmail.com. the electric bill. In the winter Slagle has most of the house blocked off while only the kitchen, living room and his room are heated.

Getting out of the Fie Top house is easier said than done — it’s an investment property that needs a ton of work. Even if he could find a buyer, finding affordable rental property in Haywood County is also difficult. At the very least, the house needs some electrical work and more insulation, a good thorough cleaning and the fireplace needs to be repaired to give the family a chance at staying there.

Slagle said he went through Haywood County Department of Social Services to sign the children up for Medicaid and he

umbilical cord around its neck and wasn’t immediately breathing. The baby eventually began breathing, but it seemed strange to him the mother wouldn’t take the baby to be doctor to be sure everything was OK. “I knew at that point something nefarious was going on, but I didn’t really want to know or have to lie about it so she kept it from me and I continued to watch the kids,” he said.

Not long after that, Slagle bought the property in Maggie Valley and told Black he could no longer watch the children on a regular basis. He said he would watch them on occasion if she needed but she would have to pay him going forward.

Things started to unravel when Slagle had to go bail Black out of jail in Madison County in September 2016. He had had the kids for a few days in Maggie Valley when he got the call from Black. He figured it was for something petty

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does receive EBT benefits so he can purchase food.

He’s spoken to legal aid about his situation, but says no one seems to be willing to take on his case pro bono.

“They said there’s so many moving parts it would not behoove me to go it alone — there’s too much involved and we don’t know who their fathers are for sure, but nobody is stepping up to the plate,” he said.

Though he’s willing to go through the legal process, he is also concerned the children could be taken away from him and separated into different homes. As the county social services departments in the region have pointed out (see Child Welfare story, page 6), there is a shortage of foster care homes in the area and its unlikely one home would take in all five children.

“I worry about losing them altogether, but I also know I can’t go on much longer like this without more help,” he said.

“I went through a long period where I didn’t want to ask for help because I wasn’t used to needing it, but now I need it. I need a job and security so I can help them more.”

er, Slagle said the older three are having the hardest time adjusting. The more contact they have with their mother, the harder it is for Slagle to keep them on a forward path focused on school and their own wellbeing.

“I try to be as open as I can with them, but it’s hard,” Slagle said. “They go through periods where they idolize their mom. She brought them up to see her as the goddess, which is usually not a bad thing, but in this situation it’s been detrimental. I’m always the bad guy — they don’t understand that their mom was responsible for them being here.”

Black and past boyfriends have tried to call the law or social services on Slagle, accusing him of abuse and/neglect, but he says there’s absolutely no truth to it. Law enforcement and social services have been out to the house on several occasions to inspect the house, the conditions and the children, and everything has checked out.

He’s not certain who the fathers are of the children. A couple of different men have threatened to get custody, but none have submitted to a paternity test or attempted to take Slagle to court.

Despite the struggles, Slagle says the children are excelling at school, with the oldest child winning a summer program scholarship through Duke University and other special recognitions.

“The school has been phenomenal — the teachers and principal have a good mix of sternness and understanding with the kids,” he said. “The younger two are in daycare thanks to Southwestern Child Development Commission.”

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March 13-19, 2019

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for the kids. They have some separation anxiety, but they’re doing OK considering.”

Even when Black was taken back to New York to face her charges, Slagle tried to maintain communications between her and the children. She was released on early parole last year in New York and told Slagle she wanted to come get the children and take them back to New York for the Christmas holiday. However, she was once again pulled over in Asheville and arrested on an outstanding warrant out of Alabama. According to the Buncombe County Detention Center log, Black was arrested Dec. 30 and is still being held on a $20,000 secured bond. Her next court date is scheduled for April 1.

“For 26 years I led a pleasant and calm existence, but now life is totally different,” Slagle said. “I compare it to living in a Thomas Kinkade painting to now living in a (Salvador) Dali painting.”

Reality is finally sinking in for Slagle. He knows Black’s charges could keep her away from her children for some time, which means it’s probably time for him to look at getting a more permanent guardianship or custody agreement through the court to keep the kids.

“I’m trying to go through the court system now to get more secure legal footing,” he said.

Even though he feels like he knows the truth about the woman he once admired, it’s a much harder thing to make the children understand what their mother had been accused of doing and why she can’t be with them. While the youngest two weren’t old enough to have any memories of their moth-

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to sign up for county benefits and to register — maybe shoplifting or reckless driving — as a student at SUNY Cobleskill; receiving a but it was something more serious.

According to a report in the Johnson City non-driver’s ID under a fake name using other identification with the fake name and Press, Black, 36, was arrested Sept. 29, 2016, obtaining birth certificates for fake children. for stealing a food truck out of Johnson City, A bench warrant was issued for Black’s Tennessee, in July. At the time, she told authorities her address was Hightop Road in arrest in New York after she failed to appear in court.

Maggie Valley and used the name Rhonda While the charges against her in Proffitt. She was charged with one count of Tennessee were eventually dropped, New theft over $60,000.

York authorities brought her back to Black was pulled over in Mars Hill Schoharie County in November 2017. because the Suburban she was driving Slagle said Black’s New York mugshot matched the description of the vehicle used was a perfect example of her attitude toward to haul off the food truck. Turns out the Suburban was also stolen out of Madison County. She was extradited back to Tennessee and detained on a $50,000 bond.

According to a WLOS report, Black had also been using someone else’s identity when she received services at Mission Hospital in August 2016. The real Rhonda Proffitt realized her identify had been stolen when she went to the doctor in October and was asked how her baby was doing and began getting medical bills for OBGYN services that were not hers.

Slagle said he knew she had started a food truck business in Asheville but had no idea she had stolen the truck from Johnson City. Even Eleanor Black, known as the ‘Funny Face Fugitive’ to New York after getting caught, State law enforcement, is currently being held in Buncombe Slagle said Black didn’t County Detention Center. take responsibility.

“She had convinced law enforcement and any type of authority. me it was all her boyfriend,” he said.

Even when being charged with serious Still thinking Black could be released offenses, there she is crossing her eyes and from jail at any time, Slagle kept the four sticking her tongue out like it’s all a joke. He kids with him in Maggie Valley. says it’s no surprise given her family back“She had the fifth child in jail and the ground. Black’s father, Albert Victory, was county took custody of the baby,” he on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list recalled. “They set a court date within two for several years. After being convicted of days and I had one day to find a lawyer to killing a police officer in 1968, Victory help me get the fifth kid because the father escaped prison in 1978 and wasn’t recapleft the state when Eleanor was arrested and tured until Feb. 24, 1981 — Eleanor would pregnant. I told them (the court) I might be have been around 1 year old at the time. the father — my intent was to keep them all “That’s the kind of environment she grew together until she got out of jail. The lawyer up in,” Slagle said. helped me get the baby conditionally if I agreed to never let Eleanor see the baby unsupervised.”

OVING FORWARD But Black wouldn’t be getting out of jail anytime soon. Slagle would soon discover After Slagle got custody of the baby in she had warrants out for her arrest in several court, he said he continued to travel to states, including New York.

Johnson City for six months to pick up According to The Daily Gazette in breast milk from Black for the baby and for Schoharie County, New York, Black was her to see the children. At the time he was known as the “Funny Face Fugitive” after still convinced his guardianship over her five sticking her tongue out and making a face children would be temporary. when she posed for her mugshot. Her 18 “I was an avid proponent of their mother charges, including felonies, stemmed from a at first, but as time has gone on I’ve learned I series of cases dating back to 2012. can’t trust her,” he said. “With her longer She was accused of using a fake identity history of criminal activity, I’m now doing it

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Water system possible for Cashiers Public meetings likely for summertime

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER s the Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority prepares for a $9.5 million sewer expansion project in Cashiers, another big change is under discussion for the plateau — the potential of offering a public water utility.

“Water and sewer in that area has been a limiting factor in economic development for that area for years, and it still impedes that,” said Commissioner Mickey Luker in an Oct. 9, 2018, county work session when the concept was first discussed.

The idea was discussed once more last week, during a March 7 work session held in Cashiers. Last year TWSA commissioned a study from McGill Associates to investigate what type of water system would be the best fit should one be implemented, how much the various alternatives would cost to build and operate, and how many customers would be required to break even.

The report found that the recommended option — a system supplied using groundwater from distributed wells — would cost an estimated $11.77 million, with $5 million of that required in the first of three phases.

That first phase would provide a capacity of 35.2 million gallons per year.

Though costs reflected in September 2018 study were somewhat lower, updated projections from TWSA put the estimated annual cost for phase one at $299,000, with 250 customers required to achieve an average customer cost of $100 per month.

Currently, the county has just 10 customers on the small system it keeps in Cashiers.

“In order for it to be self-sufficient, there’s going to need to be a significant amount of customers coming online,” said County Manager Don Adams.

That’s not to say that the county’s low customer count is due to lack of consumer interest. Far from it. The county acquired its

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TWSA Executive Director Dan Harbaugh (standing) updates Jackson County Commissioners on research into the potential for a Cashiers water system. Holly Kays photo current water system, which consists of two wells that draw from the same sourcewater, in order to supply the set of county buildings on Frank Allen Road. Upon taking ownership, it retained the 10 customers that were already tapped into the system but has not allowed any new customers to join.

“I don’t really call this is a water system,” said Adams. “This is a well and a pump and a pressure tank. To call it a water system is not really an accurate reflection of what this is.”

Harbaugh agreed.

“In discussing a future system, part of that is going to be not just this central well, which may become a core for that system, but additional wells that would have to be acquired or installed so you have enough wells to meet the state requirements and to meet the needs of your customers,” he said.

All that will cost money. Harbaugh believes that, should the county and TWSA decide to move forward, some of the cost could be met through grants and zero-inter-

est loans, but local funds would also be needed.

“We have mechanisms to try and reduce the overall initial burden, but we can’t solve the problem,” said Harbaugh. “It still has to be a partnership.”

Harbaugh told commissioners that, should all involved decide to move forward, he’d be asking the county to supplement operating shortfalls until enough customers joined the system to make it self-sufficient.

Customers are the main wild card in this equation. To make a good decision on whether to pursue a Cashiers water system, the county and TWSA will need an accurate assessment of how many people might be willing to tie on to such a system.

“It’s not something we’re putting on the next agenda,” said Adams. “It’s something that in the next year there are items I think the board is going to have to solve. One being to go through and survey the community to see if there’s enough need or requests for water.”

Sewer plant construction to start soon Construction will likely start this summer on a new wastewater treatment plant in Cashiers that will nearly double the community’s capacity to handle sewage.

TWSA will operate the new plant, to be constructed along the Horsepasture River, in conjunction with the existing 200,000-gallon-per-day plant on the Chattooga River. Due to impairment on the Chattooga, state regulations would not allow TWSA to discharge any additional treated wastewater on that river — thus the planned Horsepasture facility. The first phase of construction will cost $9.5 million and result in a facility able to handle 125,000 gallons per day, with plans for a three-phase buildout that would yield a total capacity of 496,000 gallons per day.

“We have slipped a couple of months from where we hoped to be,” TWSA Director Dan Harbaugh said of the updated construction timeline.

Last year, TWSA was aiming to start construction in February.

The current plan of a summertime start would put the new plant online sometime in late 2020 or early 2021 after an 18-month construction period. Currently TWSA is working on soil borings, validating foundation plans and designing the heavy-duty bridge needed to support tanker trucks going across the river.

The 496,000-gallon capacity possible by the end of the third phase would vastly increase sewer availability in Cashiers, but Harbaugh warned commissioners that even that might not be enough for generations to come. To plan for growth, he said, it’s essential to get the Chattooga clean enough so that it can one day handle additional treated wastewater.

“The thing this community doesn’t realize is that even though I’m going to be gone and all you will be gone, at some point in the future this may not meet the needs of the community 75 years from now,” he said.

As Cashiers has seen in recent years, wastewater capacity is

The next step would be to schedule public meetings to hear input from the community. Harbaugh said those meetings would likely happen between May and September, when seasonal residents are in town. In his experience, said Harbaugh, it’s extremely unlikely to get advance commitments from the full number of customers necessary for a break-even system, but the goal would be to get 30 to 40 percent of that minimum number signed up. It’s also important to keep in mind that the existing customer base might not provide all 250 customers — new construction could add to that number.

“We’ll never get 100 percent of 250 customers to begin with, but we should have a proper mix of residential customers and commercial customers to generate an equivalent cash flow soon,” he said.

If TWSA does pursue a water system in Cashiers, it won’t necessarily rely on free choice alone to reach its target of 250 customers.

“We have some claws in what we can do as far as expanding service area,” said Harbaugh.

For example, TWSA could charge an availability fee — in that scenario, owners of newly constructed buildings located near existing water lines could choose whether to tie on or not but would be charged a fee if they decided not to.

The county also has some tools at its disposal. It could create a special service district to help fund the project.

If created, a water system would have benefits beyond the obvious boon of providing customers a reliable water supply and thereby spurring economic growth in Cashiers. It would be designed to support fire protection as well.

“Once that fire protection system is in place, you’ll see insurance rates go down,” said Harbaugh.

A water system could also be good news for greenways, added McMahan.

“The majority of that greenway (in Cullowhee) is constructed on the easement for the sewers,” he said. “So it makes sense if we’re talking about putting water lines or sewer lines in the ground and the easement is purchased for those, wherever they may run, that also may be a decision that we have.”

essential for growth. Since the recession, Cashiers’ economy has been stymied by a lack of available capacity, even though that capacity is largely unused. During the housing boom, various developers bought sewer allocation to go with the homes they hoped to build and then sell in the wealthy area, but after the bust those houses were never built and the allocation never used.

However, TWSA could not disburse additional allocation without having additional capacity, making it difficult for businesses to expand or locate in the area.

With plans for the new plant underway, TWSA has found itself with some extra capacity to release, as the state has allowed it to allocate the 10 percent reserve it had previously been required to set aside for emergencies. The organization has received 20-some applications for those 20,000 gallons and awarded 10 of those applications, said Harbaugh. It also amended its rules to make it easier for people holding unused allocation to transfer it to those who need it.

“We’re not at a stopping point right now,” he said. “We’re in good shape.”

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Cherokee election filing continues

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BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ith the deadline to register getting nearer, the list of people running for tribal office in this year’s elections is getting longer. As of press time Tuesday, 29 people were signed up to run for 14 offices, with an additional four people signed up to run for three school board seats.

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Who’s running?

With several days remaining in the sign-up period, a substantial number of candidates have already put their names forward for tribal office.

The list is still unofficial at this point, with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Board of Elections still needing to complete background checks and certify that candidates meet legal requirements to run. The Primary Election will be held Thursday, June 6, and the General Election will be Thursday, Sept.

5. Candidates can sign up to run through 4 p.m. Friday, March 15.

Paula “Cricket” Brown Wojtkowski, Sam “Frell” Reed and Chelsea Saunooke. They will all face incumbents Bo Crowe and Jeremy Wilson.

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• Principal Chief: Teresa McCoy, Richard Sneed, Carroll “Peanut” Crowe, Phillip Ellington, Gary R. Ledford.

• Vice Chief: Alan “B” Ensley, Frank “Pete” Taylor, Ben Parker.

• Big Cove Tribal Council: Fred Penick, Richard French.

• Yellowhill Tribal Council: Tom Wahnetah, Rose Shell-Maney, David Wolfe.

• Snowbird/Cherokee County Tribal Council: Adam Wachacha, Janell Rattler, Bucky Brown.

• Birdtown Tribal Council: Albert Rose, Boyd Owl. • Big Y/Wolfetown Tribal Council: Bo Crowe, Bill Taylor, Tony Cabe, Jess “Fonzie” Sneed, Jeremy Wilson, Paula “Cricket” Brown Wojtkowski, Sam “Frell” Reed, Chelsea Saunooke.

• Painttown Tribal Council: Tommye Saunooke, Dike Sneed, Lisa Taylor.

• Yellowhill School Board: Jennifer Thompson.

• Big Y School Board: Sharon Bradley, Tara Reed-Cooper.

• Painttown School Board: Regina Ledford Rosario.

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Notable observations include: • The list of candidates for principal chief now includes five people. Gary R. Ledford, a U.S. Air Force veteran and 2007-12 director of public safety for the tribe is the most recent person to throw his hat in the ring. Ledford will run against Teresa McCoy, incumbent Richard Sneed, Carroll “Peanut” Crowe and Phillip Ellington.

• Vice Chief Alan “B” Ensley now has competition in his quest for a first elected term to that office. He will run against Frank “Pete” Taylor and Ben Parker.

• Thus far, all incumbent Tribal Council members are running for re-election, save one. Big Cove Rep. Perry Shell has not yet filed to run, though he has until 4 p.m.

Friday, March 15, to do so.

• Despite having the most registered voters of any district, Birdtown is currently tied with Big Cove for the fewest candidates for Tribal Council. Incumbents Albert Rose and Boyd Owle are the only ones to have officially filed so far, but former candidate Ashley Sessions has announced her intention to do so. Sessions was declared winner of the seat now held by Rose following a recount of votes in the 2017 election, but following a protest from Rose the Board of Elections determined the count to be unreliable and ordered a runoff election, which Sessions lost. Rose was then sworn into the seat.

• Wolfetown/Big Y has by far the most candidates for its two Tribal Council seats.

Former Chairman Bill Taylor, who suffered a definitive loss in his 2017 re-election bid, will look to reclaim his old seat. Also in the mix are Tony Cabe, Jess “Fonzie” Sneed,

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WCU trustees approve chancellor candidates UNC Board of Governors expected to take action this spring

According to the university, 58 people applied for the job. A 20-member search committee developed the job description, advertised the position, sifted through applications and interviewed contenders. The

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER he second go-around in the search for the next chancellor of Western Carolina University is nearing completion with the Board of Trustees’ unanimous vote March 1 to approve a list of three names for consideration.

The names, which are confidential, now go to Interim UNC System President Dr. Bill Roper. Roper will choose one of the three names and submit that nomination to the UNC Board of Governors, whose members will make the final decision on the appointment. Jason Tyson, director of media relations for the UNC System, said that final candidate interviews will be held soon with a vote on the final pick likely during a special-called meeting in April or May and the new chancellor formally introduced at the meeting scheduled for May 20 to 22, though that timeline is certainly not set in stone.

search committee held off-campus interviews with the top 10 candidates Jan. 31 through Feb. 2, selecting a handful of finalists for on-campus interviews later in February before submitting the final three to trustees.

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Provost Allison Morrison-Shetlar has been serving as chancellor since January 2018, when Chancellor David O. Belcher left his post following a battle with brain cancer.

Belcher passed away on June 17, 2018.

The university had hoped to have a new chancellor in place for the fall 2018 semester, with the search committee embarking on an energetic effort to gather community input on what qualities the new chancellor should possess and choose the best candidates to fill Belcher’s decidedly large shoes. The search followed a similar process to that used this go-around, with trustees approving a list of three potential chancellors in June 2018 and sending those names to then-President Margaret Spellings. That round was also confidential.

Spellings submitted her pick to the board of governors, but following a reportedly contentious closed session meeting July 12, the board failed to vote on the selection

and the candidate withdrew from consideration. At the time, Chairman Harry Smith said the board wanted to review the chancellor search process to “refine and improve it,” implying that this should be done before WCU resumed its chancellor search.

However, after a two-month hiatus the search process relaunched in September, using the same process as the previous search.

In the midst of all this, Spellings abruptly resigned her post in October 2018, less than three years into her tenure. She did not give any specific reason for leaving, saying in a press conference that “times change and those changes demand new leaders and new approaches.”

The Board of Governors appointed Roper as the interim president, and he has served in that capacity since January. The board has not held any formal meetings on choosing his replacement, but the system does have a current policy in place for selecting presidents.

WCU is optimistic that this round of the chancellor search will yield a leader who can arrive prior to the start of the fall 2019 semester.

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Wayfaring strangers lack wayfinding signage

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An illustration shows the size, shape and scale of wayfinding signs that will one day — maybe soon — dot Haywood County. Cory Vaillancourt photo

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rication process by the end of 2018,” said Collins.

That hasn’t happened because many of the signs violate one of DOT’s rules for placement.

“Once you get your site plan done and everything DOT has to physically look at everything and make sure they’re in the right place and everything because they have certain guidelines they follow with wayfinding signage, and once they approve the sites, there’s a document I have to take to the county commission to get approval,” Collins said. “At this point, there are a few locations that DOT wasn’t happy with, so they asked the contractor to go back in and re-site them, so we are waiting on DOT approval to move forward,” According to state guidelines, “Wayfinding signs are generally located within a few blocks of the destination, and not further than 2 miles from the destination.”

That doesn’t make much sense in rural counties like Haywood, where most towns and attractions are more than 2 miles apart.

Even getting in to Maggie Valley via Interstate 40 requires a drive south on U.S. 276 of several miles, meaning motorists would have no idea about Maggie Valley’s attractions until they were already practically in the town itself.

“The signs they laid out, they went way outside of the municipalities,” said Doyle Ward, a traffic engineer in the DOT’s 14th district office.

According to Collins, the TDA continues to wait on approval from DOT, but that was news to Ward, who said that the last thing he recalls is that the DOT was waiting for a new submission of sites that don’t violate DOT placement policies from the TDA.

March 13-19, 2019

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER n the ever more competitive battle to lure motoring tourists to Haywood County — and to keep them in the county once they’re here — a plan by the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority to install custom wayfinding signage remains at a dead stop, with no signs they’ll be up any time soon.

“It’s been talked about for a number of years,” said Lynn Collins, executive director of the Haywood TDA. “Obviously, we would like to have had it done by now.”

Last year, a committee of town managers, a representative from Lake Junaluska and a representative from the Downtown Waynesville Association came up with the idea to install nearly 40 signs in various locations around the county that would direct motorists into the county, or to another town within the county.

The handsome, custom-designed signs were to be phased in and differentiated by zip code, with Canton signs bearing a rendering of a black bear, Clyde signs topped with a cardinal, Waynesville signs displaying a Plott hound and Maggie Valley signs featuring an Elk. “So far, we’ve paid the contractor, I think it’s $24,000,” said Collins. “That was for the design concept, the placement, doing all the research, securing a fabrication vendor, and doing the work with the North Carolina Department of Transportation — all the paperwork, and everything else involved with that.”

Collins said the TDA had allocated about $115,000 for fabrication of the first batch of signs, and estimated they’d cost between $4,000 and $6,000 per sign.

“We had actually hoped to be in the fab-

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Maggie Valley’s financial position strong

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER unicipal budget season is well underway, and in at least one Haywood County town, the discussion isn’t about rising costs or decreasing revenue — it’s about what to do with a burgeoning balance sheet.

We don’t know what we’re going to do with that yet,” said Maggie Valley Alderman Mike Eveland. “We’ve got a month and a half, and we need to know the exact numbers.”

He’s talking about fund balance — a state mandated savings account of sorts for municipal governments. Maggie Valley’s fund balance is roughly $2.7 million dollars right now, versus a yearly budget of roughly $2.4 million.

Small towns, like Maggie Valley, often maintain a fund balance approaching 100 percent of their budgets, in case of a disaster or emergency. Maggie Valley has exceeded that goal by more than 10 percent, or $236,532 according to a presentation by Town Manager Nathan Clark last week.

“For a town like ours, it’s super healthy,” said Dr. Janet Banks, who like Eveland is a Maggie Valley alderman. “We’re to be commended for keeping our fiscal nose to the grindstone and it allows us to do things that we would not ordinarily be able to do.”

That presents the town with three more

Smoky Mountain News

March 13-19, 2019

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MARCH 20-23

or less overlapping courses of action — continue to collect fund balance at the current rate, cut taxes to decrease the stockpile slowly over time, or spend some of it.

“I don’t think we’re ready to do a tax cut,” Eveland said. “That would not be in our best interest at this time, but maybe if that trend continues … “ Banks agreed with Eveland on the tax cut; the recent countywide property revaluation took many municipalities by surprise with lower assessed taxable values, and another revaluation is already on the horizon. In the event it comes in lower, again, towns would need to cut expenses or raise revenues to maintain revenue-neutral budgets.

Eveland said he didn’t want to “kneejerk” a tax cut based on favorable numbers, and then have to raise taxes again down the road.

Additionally, commercial development in Maggie Valley has been nearly nonexistent — only six new commercial buildings have come to the Valley since 2005, and empty storefronts still line Soco Road, along with abandoned hotels.

But another attractive option for addressing the excess might be to close out the town’s revolving debt.

Since fiscal year 2014, Maggie Valley has shed almost 90 percent of its debt, going from owing more than $775,000 to less than $95,000.

“That might be a consideration,” Eveland said. Alternately, he thought the town could purchase some new vehicles with the money to avoid having to finance them — and thus accrue more debt — in the future.

“I would be happy to do that,” said

Maggie Valley Debt FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018 FY 2019

$775,622 $678,180 $829,167 $691,063 $297,204 $93,981 Source: Town of Maggie Valley

Banks, who noted other upcoming concerns, like a new server for the town’s website and a long-desired veterans memorial.

This year’s budget process could end up

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been mentioned as a possible candidate.

Banks said she’d run unless she’s selected for a position with the N.C. League of Municipalities in May.

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WOW will welcome new members

Shelton House needs volunteers Saturday The Shelton House and the Museum of NC Handicrafts is calling all volunteers to help with

All Jackson County Republicans are invited to attend the Jackson County Republican Convention on Friday, March 29, at the Jackson County Senior Center in Sylva.

Registration for the convention will be open at 5 p.m., the precinct meetings begin at 5:30 p.m. and the convention starts at 6:30 p.m. A buffet dinner will be served. All Republican elected officials and candidates have been invited.

FUR volunteers have come up with a way for an individual, group or business to easily contribute to the support of FUR of WNC (Feline Urgent Rescue) and the cats and kittens residing in the sanctuary and foster homes. Sponsor the FUR Resale store for just a month.

“In a slow sales month paying the rent takes a lot of the profit,” said Maggie Hickle, store coordinator. “And those profits from this store go directly to the care of the cats and kittens in the sanctuary and foster homes.”

The FUR resale store is located in The Big Red Barn Trading Post at 79 Branner Avenue in Waynesville. The store sells and accept donations of gently used furniture, home décor items and kitchen accessories as well.

For more information to sponsor the restore or help with donation pick ups, contact Maggie Hickle at 828.422.2704. Donations of food and other cat supplies are always welcome.

To learn more about FUR of WNC, visit www.furofwnc.org.

a Spring Clean Up Day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Saturday, March 16, at 49 Shelton St., Waynesville.

Drinks and snacks will be provided. Sign up to volunteer by emailing dannehl@sheltonhouse.org.

Macon EDC seeks award nominations The Macon County Economic Development Commission and Certified Entrepreneurial Community Leadership Team have announced that nominations are now being accepted for the 2019 Up & Coming Business Award.

The award recognizes the Macon County business that exemplifies excellence in growth, innovation and impact on the community.

Nominations are open to Macon County for-profit businesses under current ownership between three and 10 years as of April 1, 2019.

Online nominations for the award are now being accepted with finalists to be announced at Entrepreneur Networking Night IX, scheduled for April 9 at Lazy Hiker Brewing Company in downtown Franklin. The winner will be named at the BizWeek 2019 Banquet on April 11 at Bloemsma Barn.

Information on both events is available at www.maconedc.com. To submit a nomination, visit www.maconedc.com. The deadline for nominations is March 27.

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The March Swain County Democratic Party Whittier-Cherokee precinct meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 26, at the Chestnut Tree Inn (formerly the Holiday Inn) Hwy 19 South, 37 Tsalagi Rd., Cherokee.

The agenda will include preparing for the Swain County Democratic Party Convention on March 30, update on EBCI Constitution and priorities for 2020. All are welcome. For questions, contact Brenda Donargo at 828.488.1118.

The Whittier-Cherokee precinct met recently to elect officers and delegates to the County Convention. New Precinct officers are Chair Brenda Donargo from Whittier, Vice Chair Salina Lee from Cherokee and Secretary Mary Herr from Cherokee.

The precinct’s main goal for 2020 is to get people out to vote. In the 2018 midterm election, only 39 percent of the registered voters in the Whittier-Cherokee precinct voted while all of the other precincts in Swain County had at least 50 percent or more.

Jackson GOP to hold convention

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Swain Dems to hold precinct meeting

The Haywood County Republican Party will hold its 2019 Convention and Annual Precinct Meetings on March 23 at Lake Junaluska’s Harrell Center Auditorium.

Registration begins at 10 a.m. and closes promptly at 11 a.m. The precinct meetings will be held 11 to 11:45 a.m. and the convention begins at 1 p.m. Convention business includes adopting or amending a written Plan of Organization; the election of Haywood County Republican Officers and Executive Committee and the election of delegates and alternate delegates to the district and state conventions.

For more information, contact Chairman Kenneth Henson at chairmanHCGOP@gmail.com or 828.246.9696.

The agenda for the convention includes the election of eligible delegates and alternates to the district and state conventions. The speaker for the county convention will be Michael LaPaglia, who will be seeking office of NC Secretary of State in 2020.

For dinner reservations (requested) and for additional information, call Jackson County Republican Chair Ralph Slaughter at 828.743.6491.

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Women of Waynesville, a nonprofit organization that supports the needs of women and children in Haywood County, invites all interested women to attend an open house and membership drive event.

The event will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, March 28, at Room 1902, 1902 S. Main St., Waynesville, and will give prospective members an opportunity to learn more about WOW and its mission before making the decision to join.

Since forming in 2012, WOW has helped raised more than $200,000 for Haywood County charities, including Haywood Pathways Center, Habitat for Humanity, Mountain Projects, Girls on the Run of WNC, Pigeon Community Multicultural Development Center, Big Brothers Big Sisters, KARE, REACH, Haywood County Schools Foundation, Make a Wish Foundation of WNC, and Meals on Wheels.

WOW also provides much needed volunteer services for community events and provides financial assistance for women in emergency situations when resources aren’t available through other government or nonprofit agencies.

The event is free to attend and food and drink will be provided. For more information about WOW, visit www.womenofwaynesville.org, follow us on Facebook or email womenofwaynesville@gmail.com.

Haywood GOP to hold convention

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Constituents of color: Meadows defense of Trump angers many

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER ichael Cohen’s recent testimony to the House Oversight and Reform Committee took an unexpected dive deep into America’s racial divide, and Western North Carolina’s Congressman Mark Meadows jumped right in to it.

That led to relentless lampooning of the four-term Republican, culminating in his buffoonish portrayal on a recent episode of Saturday Night Live, but Meadows’ constituents of color aren’t laughing.

“Racism in this country is real — racial terror and violence is in the warp and weft of the fabric of America. It’s the foundation upon which the nation is built. Currently, America is experiencing the uglier sides of overt racism and it has been given permission to drink from that poison by our president,” said Carmen Ramos-Kennedy.

“Meadows is just one of the latest examples of racist denialism — deny, deny, deny that racism actually exists and that some people, lots of them, are racist.”

Although Ramos-Kennedy said she was speaking only for herself she’s also the interim president of Buncombe County’s NAACP branch, and like other people of color in Meadows’ sprawling district, she’s upset with the way Meadows handled the Cohen hearing, and is unsure about the path toward solutions.

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March 13-19, 2019

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t began with a series of bombshell accusations by President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, on Feb. 27. Cohen will serve three years for a variety of illegal acts while in the employ of Trump over a decade.

“I am ashamed that I chose to take part in concealing Mr. Trump’s illicit acts rather than listening to my own conscience,” Cohen told

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the committee in his opening statement. “He is a racist, he is a con man and he is a cheat.”

Strong words, but Cohen spent more than five hours trying to back them up, just as Republicans on the Dem-chaired committee tried to shoot them down.

In defense of Trump against the racism claim, Meadows introduced a former Trump organization and Trump administration employee, a black woman named Lynne Patton.

“You made some very demeaning comments about the president that Ms. Patton doesn’t agree with,” he told Cohen. “She says that as a daughter of a man born in Birmingham, Alabama, that there is no way she would work for an individual who is racist.”

As Patton stood silently behind him, Meadows doubled down on his defense of Trump, stating that he’d “talked to the president over 300 times” and never heard a racist word come out of his mouth, directly contradicting racist comments about African– Americans Cohen attributed to Trump.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Michigan, later in the hearing took Meadows to task for parading Patton before the committee.

“Just to make a note, Mr. Chairman, just because someone has a person of color, a black person, working for them, does not mean they are not racist,” Tlaib told committee chair Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD).

“It is insensitive. The fact that someone would actually use a prop, a black woman, in this chamber, in this committee, is alone racist in itself.”

Meadows immediately asked for Tlaib’s comments to be stricken from the record, and Cummings attempted to help Tlaib walk back her comment calling Meadows a racist, but she clung tight to calling what Meadows had just done “a racist act.”

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Sylva resident Kelly Brown is one of many people of color upset by Rep. Mark Meadows’ recent actions before a House committee. Cory Vaillancourt photo During the emotional exchange between Meadows, Tlaib and Cummings, Meadows got choked up and wore a dour grimace when he cited his close friendship with Cummings and revealed that he had people of color in his own family.

Once Cummings was able to restore order, the controversy largely subsided for the rest of Cohen’s hearing, but its reverberations are still being felt across the country, and across Meadows’ district. eadows’ performance during the Cohen testimony is problematic in a number of ways, say AfricanAmericans in his congressional district like Sylva resident Kelly Brown.

“I don’t disagree with any of the things Michael Cohen said. We have allowed a platform for hate in America. I think that has been elevated over the past few years with this president, and I don’t think that’s okay,” Brown said. “I think the American people deserve much better than what we’re receiving.”

As a convicted felon, Cohen’s credibility was called into question throughout the hearing, especially in regard to his claims of Trump’s racism. Many, though, believe him.

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“Yes,” said Walter Bryson, head of Haywood County’s NAACP and pastor at Shiloh AME Zion Church in Asheville.

“From my opinion, [by] the way he talks, the way he treats people.”

Both Bryson and Ramos-Kennedy reflect the opinions of many in their communities who, like Tlaib, were aghast that Meadows’ defense of Trump included Patton.

“He brought in an actual black person — Lynne Patton, a former 45 Organization employee. While she stood motionlessly behind Meadows at the hearing, he was absurdly declaring that employing a black person somehow absolved a white man from racist acts,” said Ramos-Kennedy. “If you have a black friend, a black employee or black family member there is no way you can be racist? Please.”

Brown’s opinion seemed to center on the theatrics of it all.

“Using a black person as a puppet is not fair or OK, and I’m really upset that she [Patton] allowed that also,” he said. “I hope that none of my friends are ever using me as a puppet in that way, ‘Well, I got a black friend named Kelly, so I’m OK and I’m not a racist.’ If you only quantify me as your friend because I’m your

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response to Tlaib also prompted suspicion from Bryson.

“There’s been this old saying, ‘A hit dog will holler,’” he said. “If you were telling the truth why would you get upset about it? As long as you know you’re telling the truth, you shouldn’t be offended about what other people say or think about it.”

Ramos-Kennedy called it ‘galling.’

“With little concern, if any, about actual racism, Meadows, like way too many others, is more concerned about being called a racist. His complete meltdown at the idea that someone could call him out on a racist act is a prime example,” she said.

Unfortunately, that type of response is typical, according to Forney; when people feel threatened by claims of racism, they immediately retreat to a defensive position that often makes things worse.

“In this situation, it seems like that’s the first thing to happen,” she said. “It’s like ‘Look, I have a black person in my life and

African-American voters; in the wake of the Cohen testimony, videos again surfaced of Meadows on the campaign trail a few years ago offering to send then-President Barack Obama “home” to Kenya.

Despite the national coverage of Meadows’ comments at the Cohen hearing, what many outside of North Carolina don’t know is that Meadows’ district also contains the Qualla Boundary, home to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, who constitute 1.5 percent of his constituency.

Trump has consistently demeaned and maligned Democratic Massachusetts Senator and 2020 presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren over her claims of Cherokee ancestry. Regardless of the veracity of those claims, he’s derided her as “Pocahontas” and mocked her with a reference to the Trail of Tears. He’s also the first president since Ronald Reagan to visit the Tomb of President Andrew Jackson, vilified by many as the architect of the forced removal of many WNC Cherokee to Oklahoma on that Trail.

Since Meadows’ first campaign in 2012, the ECBI’s political apparatus has given him more than $15,000.

There’s also a small Asian community in Meadows’ district, and the Latinx community has grown to almost 6 percent, but the racial makeup of Meadows’ district has people like Forney unconvinced that his conduct during the Cohen testimony will hurt him electorally.

“Honestly, I doubt it, because the people who may have voted for him in the begin-

ning either did not know his record, or did not care about it in this aspect enough to sway their vote originally,” she said.

She won’t vote for Meadows in 2020 if he runs again, nor will Bryson. Brown was unequivocal.

“Never have, never will,” he said. “That’s a solid one for me. No.” Therein, Brown said, lies the problem — people of color can’t vote for Meadows any less than they already are, which is to say, barely at all. His Cohen testimony, Brown said, probably won’t lose him any votes, and his district’s minority population is so small as to be electorally inconsequential.

So if that community is stuck with Meadows, at least for now, what could he have done better, and what can he do in the future to mend fences?

“I think he could have done it better by not trying to come to the defense of the president,” Forney said. “And from where I’m sitting, I don’t know how much defense is really available.”

As a pastor, Bryson said there was little else that could be done other than resorting to the Bible.

“I just pray for him,” he said. “That’s the only thing we can do because America is in dire straits with all these things that are happening – this racism, and bigotry, things of that nature. Not only America, but the world is in trouble.”

Rep. Meadows declined to comment on this story when reached by The Smoky Mountain News; Rep. Tlaib did not return calls for comment, either.

they’re here because I’m not racist.’ Though you may have a black person in your life, that doesn’t mean that you can’t be or are not racist. It’s not a this-or-that kind of thing.” he comments of Brown, Bryson, Forney and Ramos-Kennedy show serious concern amongst Meadows’ constituents of color over his ability to represent them in Congress.

“Everybody that’s of color seems like they have their agendas against him, and regardless of whether you say you have black family members or whatever, that doesn’t mean you are what you say you are,” said Bryson. “The Bible’s always said that you can tell a tree by the fruit it bears. If you say you love me, you would show me sometimes that you love me.”

Meadows, though, is locked into a gerrymandered WNC district that the Cook Political Report calls a plus-14 for Republicans; there’s only been one serious challenger to Meadows since he took office in 2013 — Democrat Phillip Price, last year — but Meadows still won that race by more than 20 percentage points during an election that saw Democratic gains nationwide.

Meadows’ district is also more than 90 percent white, with less than 4 percent

T

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Perhaps the most damaging statement by Meadows is the one that he may have thought would be the most redeeming — his assertion that his nieces and nephews are people of color.

“All of my kids are biracial,” said Bryson.

“Although they’re biracial, some of the families, they really didn’t care about us at first, but they grew and changed to love us. But before, just because you’re saying that you’ve got blacks in your family, I’ve seen where people disowned their kids or whatever because of a biracial relationship.”

Bryson and Ramos-Kennedy each cited late South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond’s example.

“When Strom Thurmond was 22 years old he had a child with his family’s 16-yearold black maid, Carrie Butler,” said RamosKennedy. “Though he met his daughter behind closed doors, he never acknowledged her publicly as his in the 78 years he lived after her birth. He was openly segregationist and opposed every single civil rights bill that came up during the 1960s and 1970s.”

In addition to his “black friends,” his 300 slur-free dialogues with Trump and his family’s ethnic diversity, Meadows’ manner of

March 13-19, 2019

Rep. Mark Meadows (left) introduces former Trump administration employee Lynne Patton Feb. 27. C-SPAN photo

news

black friend, then we’re really not friends.”

Meadows’ appeal to Cummings was yet another, similar version of the ‘my black friend’ defense, according to Brown.

“He even extended to go on the record and say to Elijah Cummings during the hearing ‘You’re my friend too.’ Well, what does that mean? Is Elijah Cummings just Mark Meadows’ friend because he’s black? Or is he a true genuine friend? Those are two different things,” said Brown.

Then there’s the claim by Meadows that he’d spoken with Trump many times and never heard him say anything racist.

Haywood County resident Tausha Forney, who works in community service in Waynesville’s historic African-American neighborhood, isn’t buying it.

“I giggled at it, because it’s not enough.

It’s just not enough,” said Forney. “I have had interactions with people over 300 times — [racism] is something that’s super sly, super sneaky.”

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Community Almanac Youth ministry sees success, growth It’s official: Increased numbers of middle and high school students are choosing to experience personal and spiritual renewal at Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center’s Winter Youth Retreats.

According to program organizers, more than 1,750 participants took part in the five winter weekend retreats, an increase of 30 percent over last year, and the highest number since 2015.

Retreat participants choose activities such as skiing or snowtubing, or taking part in mission projects at food pantries, clothing closets, nursing homes and litter cleanup initiatives. They also play group games, see special entertainers such as illusionists, improvisation groups and comedians, and take part in worship services featuring high-energy bands and guest speakers.

Recent youth ministry revitalization efforts have centered around the infrastructural and physical transformation of Shackford Hall, the home of youth events at Lake Junaluska. Upgrades to the historic building’s auditorium include a custombuilt stage set, programmable LED lighting and new audio equipment. Physical updates to Shackford Hall included the reconstruction of its front and side porches. The building’s exterior will receive a fresh coat of paint this spring.

To learn more about youth and young adult events at Lake Junaluska, visit lakejunaluska.com/youth.

Kiwanis grants available The Waynesville Kiwanis Club recently announced the availability of unrestricted grants for 2019.

The primary mission of the Kiwanis Club of Waynesville is to support the youth of Haywood County.

The resources to support the Unrestricted Grants come from fundraising projects, including a Spelling Bee each spring, a BBQ fundraiser in the fall and U.S. flag service on national holidays.

Unrestricted grants range from $500 to $3,000 and must meet the following criteria: serve youth and children in the Haywood County community and provide tangible, long-lasting items such as equipment and supplies. The awarded grants must strive to maximize the impact of these funds on the children of the community.

All applications must include a budget detailing the cost of the items requested for the project. To obtain an application, email w.strickhausen@gmail.com or call Wilson Strickhausen at 828. 456.5183. The deadline is April 7.

Rotary responds to safe sleep needs When the Rotary Club of Haywood County learned there were just nine Pack ‘n Play cribs remaining in the supply at Haywood County Health and Human Services, members took it as a challenge to help ensure the safety of infants in the community.

The HHSA Pack ‘n Play initiative began in 2016 as a response to co-sleeping deaths in Haywood County.

Fifty-two percent of children in the county live in poor or low-income homes. Some parents simply can’t afford

a crib, so their infant winds up sharing a bed with them, exposing the baby to the risk of death.

HHSA staff identify parents in need and supply them with a free Pack n’ Play, as well as education on safe sleeping methods. HHSA relies solely on grants and donations to provide these vital safe infant sleep spaces.

Pet food donations needed

Smoky Mountain News

“lower cholesterol levels, helping fight depression and may even help protect against heart disease and stroke” according to AgingInPlace.org. Cat and dog food donations are requested to help fill this need for Haywood County seniors and their critters.

“Food insecurity for seniors is a real issue, and we don’t want them to compromise their own nutrition by sharing their meal with a pet.” said Program Supervisor Steffie Duginske.

To inquire about donating pet food, volunteering, referring a senior in need, or making a general donation, contact Duginske at 828.356.2442 or steffie.duginske@haywoodcountync.gov.

Community Foundation awards $90,000 The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina recently approved two focus area grants totaling $90,000 to support regional projects in Early Childhood Development and Food and Farming.

Region A Partnership for Children was awarded $50,000 for Promoting Collaborative Leadership for School Success, a program to support community-wide collaboration to provide more effective early literacy programming in Haywood and Jackson counties.

Funding will broaden the effort to include Swain County and will continue the collaboration and data sharing.

YMCA of Western North Carolina, was awarded $40,000 to purchase a new box truck for its Healthy Living Mobile Market that serves Buncombe, McDowell, Madison, Haywood and Henderson counties.

Fashion donations needed for REACH REACH of Haywood is planning its “Spring into Fashion” Social and Luncheon, taking place this year on Thursday, May 9, at Laurel Ridge Country Club.

Last year, the event’s silent auction alone raised enough money to transition eight at-risk families from our emergency shelter into safe new homes. That’s why this year REACH hopes to build on that success, and is seeking donations of gently-used accessories for the silent auction. REACH is looking for special pieces such as vintage jewelry, couture scarves, statement necklaces, luxury handbags, and other unique treasures.

Donations can be dropped off at 627 N. Main St. in Waynesville by Friday, April 15.

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• Maggie Valley will celebrate its 45th birthday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 13, with a scavenger hunt starting at the Maggie Valley Town Hall pavilion.

• The HOPEful Living Cancer Support group is announcing a new group facilitator.

Dodi Christiano is a licensed professional counselor who has extensive experience working with cancer survivors. The support group is free and meets from 4 to 5:30 p.m. once per month on the third Tuesday of the month at the Haywood Regional Fitness Center.

703.609.9107 or email dchristiano@yahoo.com.

ALSO:

• The Center for Domestic Peace in Jackson County is hosting a Phantom Gala to raise money to provide domestic violence services.

A Phantom Gala means community members don’t have to get dressed up for a fancy event to support a worthy cause; all they have to do is pledge a donation.

Checks are payable to Center for Domestic Peace, 26 Ridgeway St., Sylva, or donate online at www.bit.ly/cdpdonate.

Pathways event raises $7,000

• The Clean Slate Coalition will host its fifth annual fundraising benefit “Spring Fling” from 7 to 10 p.m.

Saturday, March 23, at Comfort Inn & Suites in Sylva. There will be a silent auction, cash bar, raffles and dancing. Tickets cost $40 in advance, $50 at the door or $75 for couples.

RSVP by March 18 to 828.586.3939.

An “Empty Bowl” fundraiser recently hosted by Haywood Pathways Center raised $7,230 to help support the nonprofit.

About 250 people were in attendance to sample soups from different restaurants and take home a handcrafted pottery bowl. Money will be used to support Pathways as it provides services to those experiencing hunger and homelessness. The organization already has plans to hold the event again next year.

Potters that donated included Mud Dabbers, Becca Irvin, Village Potters, Gibson Branch Farms, Steve Biggerstaff/Frog Level Studio, Different Drummer, Susan Balentine, Joan Kennedy, HCC’s Professional Crafts: Clay, Glazed Over, Cathey Bolton/Art on Depot, Kaaren Stoner Design Studio and Beth Thrift.

Restaurants involved included Cold Mountain Restaurant at Springdale Country Club, Mountain Favors, LLC, The Patio Bistro, Firefly Taps & Grill, Lenoir’s Creek Beef & Bakery, Bogart’s Restaurant and Haywood Pathways Center.

• Ronnie Evans, the author of Frankie - A Life Cut Short, recently donated $2,000 from his book proceeds to REACH of Macon County.

From the beginning, Evans pledged all proceeds to help victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse to honor his cousin Frankie Bullock, whose 1963 murder in Macon County was never solved.

Many people know that Haywood County Meals on Wheels and volunteers deliver nutritious meals to seniors in Haywood County, but they may not know that the program can also deliver pet food along with a meal to those who have furry four legged companions.

The benefits of seniors having a pet has been researched and finding show improved physical and mental health benefits that long term, could include

20

Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

Changing primaries could help system E

Young people want tolerance To the Editor: In America today we are experiencing tremendous growing pains and challenges to the way things have been, coupled with certainty that the future will not be like the past.

These two factors promote fear: when the order one has known begins to break down; and when one does not know what the future order will be. Donald Trump is playing people’s fears masterfully. His slogan, “Make America Great Again,” reminds his base that they used to have a certain order that they preferred over what is coming at them.

Strangely enough, he has manipulated evangelical Christians into tolerating his many flaws in exchange for the appointment of “evangelical” Supreme Court justices. This is supposed to result in enacting their political/religious beliefs into laws or striking down laws that are against their rigid beliefs.

Evangelicals would do well to ask themselves why today’s young people are increasingly expressing their preference for no religious affiliation. They would also be wise to remind themselves that America is a nation that has provided religious freedom in a way that few societies have ever done (the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United

Carolina’s Twilight Zone Republicans. Tillis’ choice of the medium for his message appears to have upset them as much the vote itself. As the Lee County GOP chair put it, “It looks like you’re putting yourself in opposition to the president.”

That didn’t stop Barry Goldwater when it was time to tell Richard Nixon he had to go.

Skeptics say, of course, that Tillis figures he’s less likely to lose a primary than next year’s general election. Since he defeated incumbent Senator Kay Hagan, the Democrats have elected a governor, an attorney general and a Supreme Court justice and broken the Republican supermajority in the General Assembly. They’re on a roll and Tillis knows it. To vote against Trump Guest Columnist on anything would give him a little bit of cover with the independents, if not with the Democrats. In his case, it’s probably worth the risk of being “primaried,” though it would take a lot more than the issue of the wall “emergency” to have Democrats singing kumbaya with him. Tillis’ record on recommending and confirming far-right judges — as with the Thomas Farr nomination that it took another Republican to block — is dreadful. Only four members of Congress have gotten more help from the NRA. “Tillis is continuing to do what he’s always done — present himself to the public as a modern, affable and seemingly reasonable conservative, while at the same time doing virtually everything in his power to advance the agenda of the far right” wrote Rob Schofield in The Progressive Pulse, a North Carolina blog.

Martin Dyckman

very member of Congress is required to swear loyalty to the Constitution, not to the president. But most of the Republicans seem to have it the wrong way. They’ve debased themselves to Donald Trump so thoroughly that you have to wonder when, if ever, they will remember their oaths.

Would they let him disregard the results of the next election should he lose it?

That would be as essentially unconstitutional as upholding his “emergency” order to spend money on the border wall or anything else the Congress specifically rejected. But Mark Meadows and most of the other Republicans in the House voted to let Trump get away with doing just that. So much for “conservative principles.”

Pump them full of truth serum and most would probably admit that they know it’s wrong, even dangerous, but they can’t afford to abandon their president for fear of the wrath of his hard-core voters. They might try to rationalize that he’s good for their party, which begs the question of how bad he is for the country.

“He serves his party best who serves his country best,” said President Rutherford B. Hayes. But that was long before Fox “News” and Twitter.

Trump’s GOP toadies rationalize that they have a very real fear of being dumped in the party primaries if they go against their dear leader. That may be true, but it begs another question: Is public office worth the price of personal disgrace? Of undermining and devaluing the Constitution?

Then there’s Thom Tillis, North Carolina’s junior senator.

He announced — in a Washington Post op ed, of all places — that he would vote against the “emergency.” That promptly drew primary opposition threats from some of North

States).

Early Christians were persecuted for their beliefs. That is not happening in America.

But, are evangelicals not getting dangerously close to persecuting those who believe differently from them? Are they not being intolerant of others’ beliefs? Could they continue toward persecution of others because of their beliefs? Or will the influence of those who prefer no particular religious doctrine offset their political/religious extremes?

America is rapidly becoming the “melting pot” of the world. She has long been the bastion of individual rights and freedoms. A writer (currently unknown to this writer) once remarked that, “Tolerance of the intolerable may be wiser than meeting rage with rage.”

This appears to be one of America’s great challenges — to promote acceptance of different races, mixed races and religions. That is referred to as tolerance. Donald Trump turns people against others with his “religion” of intolerance.

I am not an expert on the Bible, the Koran or the Torah. Neither do I profess to know the Wiccan belief or any other with great depth.

But, I do know I will not follow a god that allows people to exclude others because of their race or their beliefs.

Here are the lines of a great pop song titled Superman written by a famous singer from Mount Airy, North Carolina, named Donna

But for whatever reason, Tillis is one of the few Republicans who’s on the proper side of Trump’s spurious “emergency.” Others would be too, if they didn’t have the excuse of possible primary opposition.

Primary elections, once seen as a progressive reform, have become the most polarizing force in American politics. It’s because primaries tend to be dominated by the more extreme wings in both major parties. That’s how North Carolina got Rep. Mark Meadows and why New York has Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It wouldn’t be possible or even advisable to get rid of the primaries. But there is a way to make them a healthy force rather than a destructive one.

That’s to replace the separate party primaries with the socalled “top two” system, best known for versions of it that California and Louisiana use. Everyone runs, regardless of party, on the same ballot. The two leading candidates advance to the general election.

On occasion both will be from the same party, to the despair of the other party’s professionals. But it means also that every voter gets a meaningful say in the outcome. That’s more than can be said now of today’s general elections, especially those in gerrymandered districts. The broader the base of voters, the less that any candidate has to gain — and the more to lose — by catering to the extremes rather than to the middle.

If the Republicans truly resented being primaried, they’d be pushing for top-two reform. Their failure to do so means that the primary system is just another convenient excuse for acting like cheap politicians rather than as patriots.

(Martin Dyckman is a former journalist who has written several books on Florida politics. He lives in Western North Carolina. dyckmanm@bellsouth.net)

LETTERS Fargo: “Now, let’s go through this one more time.

You do your thing and I’ll do mine. But, honey baby, we got to draw the line if your hang-up starts messin’ with mine. All I can do is the best I can to change the ways that you can’t stand. If it ain’t good enough for Superman he ain’t good enough for me.”

Our constitution provides religious freedom to all, much like Donna Fargo sings about in Superman. But, our Constitution does not, and should not, provide the room for one religious group to dominate another politically. Tolerance is necessary. Evangelicals might want to re-consider their legislative agenda. Evangelicals must be willing to bend rather than break. Young people are not migrating to their camp. Young people want tolerance. Change. Change. Change.

Dave Waldrop Webster

Where is Willie’s scooter?

To the Editor: Willie is a graduate of WCU and has a degree in sociology. He was told by his instructors he had wonderful opportunities ahead of him. Sure enough the only job he

could find paid $7.50 an hour. Gradually he has increased his income as he changed jobs.

Willie had several beers upon graduation and was pulled and charged with DWI. He lost his car and was ordered to pay a fine and do community service. Willie could not pay the fines due to low income and the fines grew.

In order to get around, Wille got a moped and kept his low paying job. He was then stopped on his moped and charged with DWI. He had a blood test and is still waiting for the results six months later! The state took Willie’s moped and he was reduced to public transportation and a bicycle. It is possible for Willie to get a good job now but he needs his driver’s license.

Recently I visited the District Attorney’s office to learn that should he pay his fines he should be able to get his license. I was referred to the Clerk of Court where I learned Willie must pay over $1,300 to get his license back.

Then I began looking into Willie getting his moped back. I asked the sheriff about its location and was referred to the Sylva Police who said to check with the Clerk of Court.

I return to the Clerk of Court to find they have no record of where Willie’s moped is located and referred me to a local car repair shop to locate it. The shop had no record of the vehicle and informed me that the state

S EE LETTERS, PAGE 21

Learning to live with intention

Susanna Barbee

E

takes the vehicles when a person is charged with DWI and sells the vehicles at auction.

“Let me see if I understand this,” I said. “Before a person is convicted of an offense their possessions can be taken and sold. Is that justice?” And in Willie’s case no one knows where his scooter is located, if it has been sold or whatever. This is an example of not a justice system but instead a penal system. Things must change.

By the way, has anyone seen Willie’s moped?

Ron Robinson Cullowhee

A little knowledge can go a long way To the Editor: If you haven’t researched or assisted a foreigner in easing through the maze of the Immigration and Naturalization Service regulations, you missed a portion of your life that you should cherish. My contacts have been sparse after assisting a Korean in obtaining his Green Card (resident and work status approval) in the early ‘80s. These were the good old days when each alien not qualified for specific work had to have a sponsor (me) to guarantee his/her self-sufficiency by putting up my own assets.

Do you believe that an alien who doesn’t speak more than 10 English words can read and interpret the U.S. Constitution for an examiner? I don’t either, but it happened to us, thank goodness.

On our third trip to the INS Office (not saying where) we rang the bell; the same examiner who had served us two times finally understood the purpose of the Constitution bit — it was to give the examiner time to look into the alien’s background to determine if he is bona fide and not an enemy of the U.S. Mine was true as gold.

What does this happening have to do

with our current immigration crisis? Well, almost everyone is watching the left hand without using the right. Most of the current aliens by contacts with the media state that they want to work. So why don’t we help them while helping ourselves; there is a program designed for those who This program has been working for years and begins with employer farmers, ranchers, timber crews, contacting INS, informing them of their needs. Then the INS recommends and guys like me do the paperwork, I-765, to assist them in obtaining an EAD, employment authorization document, to work for said employer. He has to furnish quarters and some meals to all his aliens.

Sounds easy and can be if our INS contacts employers to determine their cooperation.

So, how may we help clear up this current mess at the border, save a few lives and clothes, and make employers happy.

Well, I tried a congressman, but my epistle might not have reached his desk; it’s still on his aide’s sideboard, who is in the Caribbean on a siesta. I believe that some want to help with this elementary program but don’t have the clout or the energy to tackle our alphabet agencies.

By the by, this program is not new; they were using it when I was in college, for farmers whom I knew. It’s weird — employers who have a need, workers who actually want to punch a card, and law enforcement folks who want the peace, but the holdup is the form I-765.

It’s difficult to conceive, with all the money being wasted, the lives lost, the suffering of the aliens in the caravan that these bureaucracies cannot see at least one solution outside the box.

Do we know more about the INS operations now? We know that regulations have no effect when not read or heeded.

Are the persons dealing with this large problem immune to help? Likely, many are terminal. And if the marchers could concentrate on something positive, many aliens could be assured of better lives.

K.G.Watson Maggie Valley 21

Smoky Mountain News

@SmokyMtnNews

LETTERS, CONTINUED FROM 20

March 13-19, 2019

becomes more intense, overwhelming or time-consuming than other areas. They get so obsessed with a work project, family time suffers or they’re so focused on a relationship issue, work suffers.

The best tactic is to measure all of life’s arenas in terms of progress or happiness as opposed to time spent.

Here’s a quick weekly strategy to help all of us. Life can be loosely delineated into 10 distinct categories: health, family, friends, intimate relationship/marriage, mission/work, finances, adventure, hobby, spirituality and emotion. Every Sunday night, complete the simple task of rating each category on a sale from 1 through 10, assess your scores and develop goals in each other.

As with anything in life, shouldn’t we measure where we are so we can know how to improve?

As Burchard puts it, “If you aren’t consistently measuring the major arenas of your life, then you couldn’t possibly know what the balance you seek is or is not.”

I just finished this chapter, so I’ve only utilized the strategy once so far, but it was very telling and eye opening for me. It’s a very simple, yet effective check-in. Humans are smart and creative. We can come up with goals for every category, but we need to follow through with them to feel the results. That’s the key.

As a single mom, the work-life balance has become even more complicated because it’s mired with mom guilt. I already feel guilty about my children having to adjust to a new normal, so then when I do things for myself, in an attempt to find balance, I feel even guiltier. Time and therapy have helped with this, and now, Burchard’s is proving to be extremely beneficial and motivating during the healing process.

Strange how sometimes the universe knows what we need more than we do.

From a box full of food, supplements and teas to better my wellness, a book ended up being the item that’s leaving the most impact and affecting more realms of my life than any other.

There’s a quote that says, “Create the life you love.” I think we forget we actually have control over our lives. We stumble into each day reacting to this or that instead of living with intention and implementing behaviors that lead to a bigger, fuller life, a life we’ll reflect upon with honor and pride.

In this chaotic world with stimuli at our every point of vision, we’ve got to slow down and speed up simultaneously. Slow down so you can listen to the universe but speed up the frequency of habits and actions that give you what you really want.

It’s a cool thing to be in the driver’s seat, so find your path and enjoy the ride.

(Susanna Barbee can be reached at susanna.b@smokymountainnews.com)

opinion

ver had a life-changing book fall into your literal hands? This happened to me recently.

I order my favorite rare, organic products through an online company called Thrive Market. I’m offered a free gift with each order. About five months ago, I received powdered collagen, which has since become all the rage with folks trying to preserve their skin, hair, bones and joints. Now, I’m hooked on it.

The next month I received a free book called High Performance Habits: Columnist How Extraordinary People Become That Way by Brendon Burchard. I thought it looked boring and not nearly as flashy or trendy as the powdered collagen. I tossed it atop a pile of books on the floor and moved on. Weeks later, it caught my eye. I picked it up and flipped through the first few pages.

Hmmmmm … it piqued my interest immediately. I can be a sucker for inspirational literature, but often get bored a few chapters in. I decided to give this book a try, reading one chapter each morning before starting my day.

And now, halfway through the text, I’m still engaged.

Burchard offers a multitude of advice and strategies with the overarching theme being habits and actions result in high performance, as opposed to natural talent or sheer passion. I could go on offering a slew of tips and advice I’ve learned from the book, but instead, I want to focus on a singular section that focuses on work-life balance, a concept that impacts most everyone.

Work-life balance is a conundrum that eludes many of us, and through this book I’ve learned it’s all about perception.

Burchard says our biggest mistake is trying to spend equal time on work and “life” when in fact it’s not about quantity at all.

We’re routinely searching for more time to relax, exercise, travel or be with loved ones, but the interesting thing is, we actually spend approximately the same amount of time in all arenas, but what are we doing with those hours?

For instance, you typically spend 30 percent of a week working, 30 percent sleeping and the other 30 percent on life. The problem comes when we’re not intentional about this final 30 percent. Watching TV, scrolling through social media, piddling around the house, merely co-existing with people we love and other similar behaviors do not equate to deliberate living.

Burchard does a great job clarifying the problem. When people feel “out” of balance, it’s because one area of their life

tasteTHE mountains Whatever the Occasion, Let Us Do the Cooking!

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

March 13-19, 2019

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

Real New Yorkers.

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Taste the Mountains is an ever-evolving paid section of places to dine in Western North Carolina. If you would like to be included in the listing please contact our advertising department at 828.452.4251 BLUE ROOSTER SOUTHERN GRILL 207 Paragon Parkway, Clyde, Lakeside Plaza at the old Wal-Mart. 828.456.1997. Open Monday through Friday. Friendly and fun family atmosphere. Local, handmade Southern cuisine. Fresh-cut salads; slow-simmered soups; flame grilled burgers and steaks, and homemade signature desserts.

Blue-plates and local fresh vegetables daily.

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

BOGART’S 303 S. Main St., Waynesville. 828.452.1313.

Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Carry out available. Located in downtown Waynesville, Bogart’s has been long-time noted for great steaks, soups, and salads. Casual family atmosphere in a rustic old-time setting with a menu noted for its practical value. Live Bluegrass/String Band music every Thursday.

BOOJUM BREWING COMPANY 50 N Main Street, Waynesville.

828.246.0350. Taproom Open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday & Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., Sunday 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Gem Bar Open Tuesday through Sunday 5 p.m. to 12 a.m. Enjoy lunch, dinner or drinks at Boojum’s Downtown Waynesville restaurant & bar. Choose from 16 taps of our fresh, delicious & ever rotating Boojum Beer plus cider, wine & craft cocktails. The taproom features seasonal pub faire including tasty burgers, sandwiches, shareables and daily specials that pair perfectly with our beer. Cozy up inside or take in the mountain air on our back deck.”

BOURBON BARREL BEEF & ALE 454 Hazelwood Ave., Waynesville, 828.452.9191. Lunch daily 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; dinner nightly at 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Closed Sunday and

Monday. Wine Down Wednesday’s: ½ off wine by the bottle. We specialize in handcut, all natural steaks from local farms, incredible burgers, and other classic american comfort foods that are made using only the finest local and sustainable ingredients available.

you have a big appetite, but sure to ask your waitress about our family style service.

CHEF’S TABLE 30 Church St., Waynesville. 828.452.6210.

From 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday dinner starting at 5 p.m. “Best of” Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator Magazine. Set in a distinguished atmosphere with an exceptional menu. Extensive selection of wine and beer. Reservations honored.

CHURCH STREET DEPOT 34 Church Street, downtown Waynesville.

828.246.6505. 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Mouthwatering all beef burgers and dogs, hand-dipped, hand-spun real ice cream shakes and floats, fresh handcut fries. Locally sourced beef. Indoor and outdoor dining. facebook.com/ChurchStreetDepot, twitter.com/ChurchStDepot.

DELLWOOD FARMHOUSE RESTAURANT 651 Dellwood Rd., Waynesville.

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

You’ll be glad you did! Closed Wednesdays.

FERRARA PIZZA & PASTA 243 Paragon Parkway, Clyde.

828.476.5058. Open Monday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday 12 to 8 p.m. Real New Yorkers. Real Italians. Real Pizza. A full service authentic Italian pizzeria and restaurant from New York to the Blue Ridge. Dine in, take out, and delivery. Check out our daily lunch specials plus customer appreciation nights on Monday and Tuesday 5 to 9 p.m. with large cheese pizzas for $9.95.

FIREFLY TAPS & GRILL 128 N. Main St., Waynesville 828.454.5400. Simple, delicious food. A must experience in WNC. Located in downtown Waynesville with an atmosphere that will warm your heart and your belly! Local and regional beers on tap. Full bar, vegetarian options, kids menu, and more.

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

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

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

CITY LIGHTS CAFE Spring Street in downtown Sylva.

828.587.2233. Open Monday-Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tasty, healthy and quick. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, espresso, beer and wine.

Come taste the savory and sweet crepes, grilled paninis, fresh, organic salads, soups and more. Outside patio seating. Free Wi-Fi, pet-friendly. Live music and lots of events.

Check the web calendar at citylightscafe.com.

THE CLASSIC WINESELLER 20 Church Street, Waynesville.

828.452.6000. Underground retail wine and craft beer shop, restaurant, and intimate live music venue. Kitchen opens at 4 p.m.

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

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

828.926.1820 Winter hours: Wednesday through Sunday 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Family Style at Country Vittles is not a buffet.

Instead our waitresses will bring your food piping hot from the kitchen right to your table and as many refills as you want. So if

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

Tuesday through Thursday. 5 to 9:30 p.m.

Friday and Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday. Frogs Leap is a farm to table restaurant focused on local, sustainable, natural and organic products prepared in modern regional dishes. Seasonal menu focuses on Southern comfort foods with upscale flavors.

Reservations accepted. www.frogsleappublichouse.com.

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

Open 7 days a week at 5 p.m. Located in the historic Hooper’s Drugstore, Guadalupe Café is a chef-owned and operated restaurant serving Caribbean inspired fare complimented by a quirky selection of wines and micro-

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HARMON’S DEN BISTRO 250 Pigeon St., Waynesville 828.456.6322. Harmon’s Den is located in the Fangmeyer Theater at HART. Open 5:309 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday (Bistro closes at 7:30 p.m. on nights when there is a show in the Fangmeyer Theater) with Sunday brunch at 11 a.m. that includes breakfast and lunch items. Harmon’s Den offers a complete menu with cocktails, wine list, and area beers on tap. Enjoy casual dining with the guarantee of making it to the performance in time, then rub shoulders with the cast afterward with post-show food and beverage service. Reservations recommended. www.harmonsden.harttheatre.org HAZELWOOD FARMACY & SODA FOUNTAIN 429 Hazelwood Avenue, Waynesville.

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

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

J. ARTHUR’S RESTAURANT AT MAGGIE VALLEY U.S. 19 in Maggie Valley. 828.926.1817.

Open for dinner at 4:30 to 9 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. World-famous prime rib, steaks, fresh seafood, gorgonzola cheese and salads. All ABC permits and open year-round. Children always welcome.

Take-out menu. Excellent service and hospitality. Reservations appreciated.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

828.926.1616. maggievalleyclub.com/dine.

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

MAGGIE VALLEY RESTAURANT 2804 Soco Road, Maggie Valley.

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

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

PIGEON RIVER GRILLE 101 Park St., Canton.

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

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

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

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

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

Open seven days a week. Monday-Friday 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Saturday 3 p.m.-11 p.m., Sunday 4 p.m.-10 p.m. Family-owned for 30 years.

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

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

Tucked away inside Waynesville Inn, the Tap Room Bar & Grill has an approachable menu designed around locally sourced, sustainable, farm-to-table ingredients.

WAYNESVILLE PIZZA COMPANY 32 Felmet Street, Waynesville.

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

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

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

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Smoky Mountain News

WEDNESDAY 5-9 P.M.

RENDEZVOUS RESTAURANT AND BAR Maggie Valley Inn and Conference Center 70 Soco Road, Maggie Valley 828.926.0201 Home of the Maggie Valley Pizzeria. We deliver after 4 p.m. daily to all of Maggie Valley, J-Creek area, and Lake Junaluska.

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

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

Check out our events and menu at rendezvousmaggievalley.com

March 13-19, 2019

JOEY’S PANCAKE HOUSE 4309 Soco Rd Maggie Valley.

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

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

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

Breakfast served all day!

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

OPEN SATURDAY & SUNDAY, 9AM-4PM CALL FOR MORE INFORMATION 2804 SOCO RD. • MAGGIE VALLEY 828.926.0425 • Facebook.com/carversmvr Instagram- @carvers_mvr

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

34 CHURCH ST. WAYNESVILLE 828.246.6505 twitter.com/ChurchStDepot

facebook.com/ChurchStreetDepot

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Smoky Mountain News

Bringing the word to the people Frank Stasio of ‘The State of Things’

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF WRITER n terms of journalism and media in North Carolina, very few names are as recognizable as that of Frank Stasio. Host of the WUNC (North Carolina Public Radio) weekday program “The State of Things” (based out of the American Tobacco Historic District in Durham), Stasio and his platform have become a beacon of light for politics, culture, history and societal dialogue across the Tar Heel State.

On a recent visit to Western North Carolina, Stasio swung into the studios of Blue Ridge Public Radio (BPR) in downtown Asheville for a pair of on-air programs, and also to meet the people and see the places that make up the natural and artistic beauty of our own backyard.

It’s all in an effort to give a face to his signature voice, a move many journalists — near and far — are also aiming to do nowadays, a conscious decision to get more involved in our communities, to sincerely and genuinely ask what more can, well, be asked from us as journalists, and also from the general public, too.

Following a live episode of “The State of Things” last Thursday at BPR, Stasio sat down with The Smoky Mountain News to catch up about not only where we’re at as a society, but also what underreported issue is currently of the utmost importance in our state.

Frank Stasio at the WUNC studios.

Ben McKeown photo

I

Smoky Mountain News: In the digital age of fake news and social media, what has remained the professional and social responsibility of a journalist, and what has changed, in this landscape?

Frank Stasio: I mean, there’s a long answer to that. But, the short answer is that you’re always reflecting some form of truth. But, there’s a foundation under your question, which is — every fact doesn’t always add up to truth. And yet, we’re always responsible for reporting the truth as we knew it fact-by-fact.

Was it 2018 or 2017? Was it March or February?

Those facts matter. Getting those wrong is a mistake, and if you do it deliberately it’s unethical. To that extent — making sure facts are objectively true and verifiable as reported — that’s always been our responsibility. But, storytelling is much deeper and more complicated than that. Storytelling is always about using facts in service of a larger image, to create a story, and that story is going to be received in many different ways. And that’s where the subjectivity — both of the storyteller and the listener — is important. Journalists have always had a responsibility for understanding how sto-

“What do you do when you really care about how it comes out, but know that everybody out there has a right to their opinion and needs to have the best amount of information to form their own judgment, and that my deeply held opinions and passions might just be wrong and misplaced?

All of that has to be brought to the table.”

— Frank Stasio, WUNC

ries work and how their facts are going to work to serve a certain set of images.

SMN: So, how do we navigate that now?

FS: Because we speak truth to power, this often leads people to think we’re biased. If one party happens to control the apparatus, then it would look like you’re “anti-that party” because your scrutiny, your gaze falls on them in the way they’re conducting themselves. And it feels to somebody else thinks you’re picking on them.

SMN: And they don’t agree with you, so then “you must be wrong.”

FS: Right, “you must be wrong” or you’ve got an ax to grind. “Why did you accuse this individual of holding a closed meeting? Because they’re a member of ‘that party,’ you must have

something against ‘that party.’” Well, no, they’re in power and they’re responsible and accountable to us, and when they’re not, we have to call them on it. So, what happens is that the people who like you say you’re objective and the people who don’t say you’re biased. Every journalist needs to care about how it comes out.

So, what do you do then? That’s the big question. What do you do when you really care about how it comes out, but know that everybody out there has a right to their opinion and needs to have the best amount of information to form their own judgment, and that my deeply held opinions and passions might just be wrong and misplaced? All of that has to be brought to the table. My awareness of all of that and my deep respect for every listener out there, whether I vote the same way that they do or not. My respect for their ability to come up

with a better answer than I have is what guides the way I put those facts together and shape the conversation of a story.

SMN: What is the most underreported topic in the state?

FS: I think the whittling away of democracy over the past eight years. In terms of the ways in which voting laws have changed that have actually repressed the vote. Gerrymandering.

These things have been found by the courts to repress the vote, and when you repress the vote, you’re limiting democracy. I think that’s a very scary proposition, to see that we’re willing to give up or whittle away at democratic institutions. You can’t report on that enough — to raise the alarm that we’re losing something very valuable, at least as the courts see it. And the courts have found that this is true. And that’s democracy — if you take that away, and our chances are very slim for a good future.

Editor’s Note: To listen to the entire conversation, visit www.youtube.com/smokymountainnews.

To listen to “The State of Things” from WUNC (www.wunc.org) in Western North Carolina, tune into Blue Ridge Public Radio weekdays at noon by flipping the FM dial to 107.9 or 88.1 (Asheville), 101.5 (Brevard), 99.1 (Bryson City), 103.1 (Hendersonville), 90.5 (Mars Hill), 98.3 (Waynesville/Hazelwood) or stream it at www.bpr.org.

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

Haynes conjures rock spirit through symphony

A

Editor’s Note: Though the “Dreams & Songs: A Symphonic Journey” March 16 show is sold out, tickets are still available for March 17 by going to www.warrenhaynes.net and clicking on the “Shows” tab. To listen to the entire audio of this interview, go to YouTube and search: “Warren Haynes Garret K. Woodward.”

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LIVE MUSIC

March 13-19, 2019

rguably the hardest working man in rock-nroll, guitar legend Warren Haynes has never been one to shy away from testing his own boundaries, blurring the lines between the knowns and unknowns of music — especially when performed live.

“I always learn the most when I’m forced into a situation that is completely different from what I’m used to,” Haynes recently told The Smoky Mountain News.

“Anytime you get out of your comfort zone, you always wind up discovering new doors that you can open.”

And with those sentiments, the 58-year-old Warren Haynes.

Western North Carolina native will present his latest collaboration, “Dreams & Songs: A Symphonic Journey,” which will be held March 1617 at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in downtown Asheville.

Americana/bluegrass group Ol’ Dirty Bathtub “It will be a balance of will perform at 9 p.m. Saturday, March 16, in The songs, interpretation, instruGem downstairs taproom at Boojum mental music, songs that Brewing in Waynesville. don’t depend too much on There will be a special performance of traditional improvisation, songs that West African music with Master Kora player Sean depend completely on Gaskell at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 14, at improvisation, and everythe Macon County Public Library in Franklin. where in-between,” Haynes said. “The intent is to cover all Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will host a “St. the bases of what music Patrick’s Day Celebration” with Positive Mental means to me and all the differAttitude (reggae/rock) 3 p.m. Sunday, March 17. ent aspects of music that I Sponsored by the American Bladesmith Society, enjoy equally.” the “Great Smoky Mountain Hammer-In” will be Backed by the Asheville held March 21-24 at Haywood Community Symphony, Haynes will be College in Clyde. joined by a slew of iconic musical talent, including There will be a barbecue and craft beer tasting Oteil Burbridge, Jeff Sipe, with UpCountry Brewing from 7 to 9 p.m.

John Medeski, Jasmine Saturday, March 16, on the Great Smoky Muhammad, Greg Osby and Mountains Railroad, departing from Bryson City.

Edwin McCain. The ensemC ble will perform songs from adding an orchestra to a song,” Haynes the catalogs of Haynes’ own Gov’t Mule, noted. “I also wanted to make sure that we The Allman Brothers Band and The left plenty of room for improvisation, which Grateful Dead. is a huge part of that music. In a similar “More than anything, I wanted to pick songs that I felt would marry to a symphony vein, I went through an enormous amount of songs I thought would work and which t in a way that would elevate the songs to ones would not work. I’m not someone who another place and didn’t just sound like

CASUAL FINE DINING WITH

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thinks all pop music or rock music sounds good being interpreted by a symphony — it has to be certain individual choices.”

Within that carefully-constructed group, both Burbridge and Sipe come up through the universally cosmic school of the late Colonel Bruce Hampton and his improvisational powerhouse band, The Aquarium Rescue Unit. Hampton was someone who also made a deep impression on Haynes, showing all three of the musicians (and countless others) the endless possibilities of not only their craft, but also life in general — a melodic torch continuing to glow with this symphony project.

“The Colonel had such a beautiful philosophy about what music is, can be, and should be. And that’s carried over for all of us,” Haynes reminisced. “We all learned so much from being not just onstage with the Colonel, but just being around him in everyday life — how you listen to music, how you view music, and how you allow yourself to knock down the barriers that tend to get in the way [where] musicians can limit themselves from a creative standpoint.”

This year will also mark the 25th anniversary of Haynes’ rock juggernaut Gov’t Mule, a sonically innovative band that was carved out of the traditions and attitudes at the heart of rock-n-roll.

“For a band that never had any expectations of even doing a second album, much less a tenth album, it’s pretty amazing when I look back at how far we’ve come — it was organic,” Haynes said. “We always took one step at a time and never really knew what was going to happen until it was upon us. The band has gone through a lot of changes and adapting, but the spirit that we started with is still completely intact. And all the new directions we’ve grown in, and continue to grow into, are one that’s we’re very proud of, and in some ways inevitable.”

Even though he’s regarded as one of the greatest six-string aces in the history of American music, Haynes is constantly absorbing new and interesting things about his beloved guitar. It’s part of the wisdom and lore that resides at the core of Haynes himself — never stop learning, never stop evolving.

“For me right now, I’m kind of going back into a phase where I’m thinking about a lot of instrumental music, writing instrumental music, exploring the jazz roots a bit, but I’m also re-traveling down this whole country-soul Muscle Shoals path that’s been in and out of my life from the very beginning,” Haynes said. “I’ve been writing a lot of songs that are somewhere between my solo albums ‘Man in Motion’ and ‘Ashes & Dust.’ So, the guitar is influencing the songs, and the songs are influencing my guitar playing — I’m curious where it’s all going to end up.”

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On the beat arts & entertainment

released his first solo album “Kora Music of West Africa” in 2012. His primary teachers are Moriba Kuyateh and Malamini Jobarteh (passed in July 2013). He has opened for headliner acts such as Oliver Mtukudzi and the Black Spirits.

Gaskell will also perform in the Macon County Public Schools April 28-29 through the Arts Council’s Artists-in-the-Schools Program. Learn more about him at www.seangaskell.com.

Admission is by donation. This event is cosponsored by the Arts Council and the Macon County Public Library; contact the Council at 828.524.ARTS or arts4all@dnet.net.

Celtic concert in Bryson City The 11th annual Celtic concert with Bean Sidhe will be held at 7 p.m. Friday, March 22, at Smoky Mountain Community Theatre in Bryson City.

Bean Sidhe (pronounced Banshee) plays traditional Celtic tunes and ballads using acoustic instruments covering a broad range of folk music from Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales.

The group started out of a desire to study and explore the uplifting traditional music that came to America with our ancestors. It’s an attempt to keep alive the musical heritage that influenced much of our contemporary music, especially bluegrass and country.

Tickets are $10 each. For information, call 828.736.3921, 828.488.8227 or check out the theatre’s Facebook page: SMC Theatre.

Waynesville gets in the tub Sean Gaskell.

March 13-19, 2019

Master Kora performance There will be a special performance of traditional West African music with Master Kora player Sean Gaskell at 7 p.m.

Thursday, March 14, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin.

Gaskell has mesmerized audiences across the U.S., Gambia, and Senegal with his heart rendering performances that spotlight the West African Kora. The Kora is a 21-string harp whose roots stretch back to the mid1700s and feature traditional songs that praise leaders of high political status and those who helped expand the Mande Empire.

Gaskell, having studied the Kora over multiple visits to its homeland in Gambia,

Popular Jackson County Americana/bluegrass group Ol’ Dirty Bathtub will perform at 9 p.m. Saturday, March 16, in The Gem downstairs taproom at Boojum Brewing in Waynesville.

The show will kickoff the brand new “Brews & News Music Series,” which will be presented monthly by Boojum Brewing and The Smoky Mountain News.

“We’ve always had energy when playing on someone’s porch, but on several occasions lately we have been able to replicate it live,” said ODB guitarist Jerad Davis. “And that’s what makes this fun — people dancing, rooms getting hot, creating an atmosphere that is as fun for those listening as it is for us onstage. That’s why we do it. And that fuels the passion and creativity. It’s a double positive feedback loop.”

Admission is $5 at the door. The band’s new album “Pack Mule” is now available for purchase. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/oldirtybathtub.

Bean Sidhe.

NYC orchestra with WCU Concert Choir Western Carolina University’s Concert Choir and student musicians will join with the Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra for two concerts on campus that are free and open to the public.

A Wednesday, March 20, performance will feature Poulenc’s “Gloria” and a Thursday, March 21, presentation will be Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” and Brahms’ “Academic Festival

Overture.” Part of the ongoing Artist-inResidence Program, a collaboration between WCU music students and professional players, both shows are at 7:30 p.m. in the recital hall of the Coulter Building.

This year’s residence orchestra is a nonprofit organization based out of the Washington Heights neighborhood in New York City under musical director Chris Whittaker. WCU’s Concert Choir is an auditioned group of singers from a variety of majors across campus.

For more information, contact the School of Music at 828.227.7242.

Diane E. Sherrill, Attorney

Smoky Mountain News

Is a Will Enough?

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On the beat

• Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva) will host Colby Deitz (Americana/indie) March 15, Jim Elenteny (singer-songwriter) March 22 and DJ Steve’s Dance Party March 23. All shows are free and open to the public. www.balsamfallsbrewing.com.

• Blue Ridge Beer Hub (Waynesville) will host an acoustic jam with Main St. NoTones from 6 to 9 p.m. March 14 and 21. Free and open to the public. www.blueridgebeerhub.com.

• Boojum Brewing Company (Waynesville) will host a bluegrass open mic every Wednesday, an all-genres open mic every Thursday, Ol’ Dirty Bathtub (Americana/bluegrass) 9 p.m. March 16 and Dottie (Americana/indie) 9 p.m.

March 23. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.boojumbrewing.com.

ALSO:

• City Lights Cafe (Sylva) will host The Freestylers March 23. All shows are free and begin at 7 p.m. www.citylightscafe.com or 828.587.2233.

• The Haywood County Arts Council (Waynesville) will host Bean Sidhe (Celtic) from noon to 6 p.m. March 16. www.haywoodarts.org.

• Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host Clinton Roberts March 15, Old Sap (Americana/old-time) March 16 and Trippin Hardie March 23. All events are free and begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.innovation-brewing.com.

• Isis Music Hall (West Asheville) will host ilyAIMY (indie/folk) 7 p.m. March 13, The Ethan Jodziewicz Group (jazz/funk) 7 p.m.

March 14, James Maddock (Americana/folk) 7 p.m. March 15, Rich Nelson Band w/Annabeth Berry (classic rock) 9 p.m.

March 15, The Black Feathers (folk/rock) 7 p.m. March 16, Seth Walker (Americana) 9 p.m. March 16, Mixtapes (classical) 6 p.m.

presented by

• The Macon County Public Library (Franklin) will host the “Sounds Like Fun: Cabin Fever Community Choir Series” from 1:15 to 2:45 p.m. March 16 and 23. Learn by ear. No music to read. RSVP at sandidonns@gmail.com.

• Mad Anthony’s Taproom & Restaurant (Waynesville) will host JC Tokes March 23. All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m.

• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host the “Stone Soup” open mic night every Tuesday, Heidi Holton (blues/folk) March 16, Kate Thomas (singer-songwriter) March 22 and Somebody’s Child (Americana) March 23. All shows are free and begin at 7 p.m. www.mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.

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

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

• Salty Dog’s (Maggie Valley) will have Karaoke with Jason Wyatt at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays, Mile High (classic rock) 8 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays, and a Trivia w/Kelsey Jo 8 p.m. Thursdays.

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

• Soul Infusion Tea House & Bistro (Sylva) will host a “St. Patrick’s Day Celebration” w/Nick Prestia (singer-songwriter) 5:45 p.m., Center of Motion 7 p.m. and The Fuzzy Peppers 8:15 p.m. March 16 (admission is $5), and Alma Russ (Americana/old-time) 7 p.m. March 23. 828.586.1717 or www.soulinfusion.com.

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

• The Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host an “Open Mic Night” on Mondays, karaoke on Thursdays, Humps & The Blackouts March 15, EDM w/DJ Bent-It March 16, “St. Patrick’s Day Celebration” w/The Talent 2 p.m. March 17 and DJ Kountry March 23. All events at 10 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.456.4750.

Smoky Mountain News

• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will have an Open Mic night March 13 and 20, and a jazz night with the Kittle/Collings Duo March 14 and 21.

All events are free and begin at 8 p.m. There will also be a “St. Patrick’s Day Celebration” with Positive Mental Attitude (reggae/rock) 3 p.m. March 17. www.innovation-brewing.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host an open mic night at 6:30 p.m. every Thursday, Gopher Broke March 16, Heidi Holton (blues/folk) March 22 and The Ramcats March 23. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

BREWS & NEWS MUSIC SERIES

March 13-19, 2019

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host Heart Hunters March 16, Ed Kelly & Steve Goldman w/Melissa March 22 and AcousticEnvy March 23. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. www.froglevelbrewing.com.

March 17, The Currys (Americana/folk) 7:30 p.m. March 17, Ken Chapple w/Another Country (bluegrass) 7:30 p.m. March 19, Pumpkin Bread (folk/acoustic) 7 p.m. March 20 and Anthony Wayne Vibe (jam/world) 8:30 p.m. March 20. www.isisasheville.com.

arts & entertainment

• Andrews Brewing Company (Andrews) will host the “Lounge Series” at its Calaboose location with Heidi Holton (blues/folk) March 15, Trevor Pattillo March 16, Alma Russ (Americana/folk) March 22 and Andrew Chastain (singer-songwriter) March 23. All shows are free and begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.andrewsbrewing.com.

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On the street

arts & entertainment

On the table ‘Wee-Bit-O’Irish in the Mountains’ In celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, the “A Wee-Bit-O’Irish in the Mountains” evening will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday, March 16, at the Currahee Brewing in Franklin.

Dinner supplied by Rockin Rollie Pollies. Only $8 for shepherd’s pie, Irish soda bread, Guinness cake and tea.

Entertainment starts at 7 p.m. Music by William Green, Tenor at The Atlanta Opera Company, who will be performing traditional Irish and Scottish music. Irish dance instructions and demonstrations by Kinsey Brooke.

The event will be a fundraiser for Breacan Clann, Living History Group for The Scottish Tartans Museum and Heritage Center, Inc. For more information, call 828.524.7472.

March 13-19, 2019

All aboard the BBQ, craft beer train There will be a barbecue and craft beer tasting with UpCountry Brewing from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, March 16, on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, departing from Bryson City.

Board the GSMR and enjoy a steam train ride along with craft beer tastings, and your own basket of Southern-style barbecue goodness with hand-pulled pork slider, a couple pork ribs, and chicken drumstick accompanied by baked beans, house-made coleslaw, and apple cobbler.

Tickets start at $79 and include a souvenir tasting glass for three samples of finely crafted beer selections. Adults-only and family friendly seating.

For more information and/or to purchase tickets, call 800.872.4681 or visit www.gsmr.com.

Smoky Mountain News

Bosu’s tastings, small plates

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Now under new management with Stephanie Strickland and Genevieve Bagley, Bosu’s Wine Shop in Waynesville will continue to host an array of wine tastings and small plates.

• Mondays: Free tastings and discounts on select styles of wine that changes weekly.

• Thursdays: Five for $5 wine tasting, with small plates available for purchase from Chef Bryan’s gourmet cuisine in The Secret Wine Bar. • Saturdays: There will be a free wine tasting from 1 to 5 p.m.

Dog friendly patio and front garden open, weather permitting. For more information, call 828.452.0120 or visit www.waynesvillewine.com.

Craft beer, gourmet dinner at Mad Anthony’s

WCU celebrates Women’s History Month

The Lagunitas Brewing “Beer Dinner” will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 18, at Mad Anthony’s Taproom & Restaurant in Waynesville.

Four craft beer selections will be paired with four chef-created courses prepared by Chef Matt Kuver. All attendees will receive a gift pack from the brewery.

Tickets are $60, which includes tax and gratuity. Only 50 tickets available. Tickets are available for purchase at Mad Anthony’s. For more information, call the taproom at 828.246.9249.

• Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub (Franklin) will host a “St. Patrick’s Day Beer Trail” with multiple local craft breweries at 6 p.m. Saturday, March 16.

• There will be a special St. Patrick’s Day celebration at 6 p.m. Saturday, March 16, at Harmons’ Den Bistro at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.

Patrons will hear old Irish stories, mythologies, and legends surrounding the Emerald Isle, and hear some amusing passages from St. Patrick’s personal diary.

Patrons will learn about Irish customs, traditions, and a little bit about “As Gaeilge” the country’s national language.

There will also be some Irish cuisine prepared by Chef Christy Bishop. Live music

by Arnold Hill. To RSVP, call 828.456.6322.

ALSO:

• The “Pint & Pollinator Tour” is a partnership between Waynesville businesses Leap Frog Tours and Spriggly’s Beescaping. This new and educational experience will run every from 1 to 4 p.m. every Friday in February and March. The journey includes stops at the Asheville Museum of Science, Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center and Whistle Hop Brewing Company. The tour is open to all ages and is family friendly, with tickets at $85 per adult and $75 per child. For further details and to reserve your tickets, visit www.leapfrogtours.com and click on “tours,” or call 828.246.6777.

• A free wine tasting will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. March 16 and 23 at Papou’s Wine Shop in Sylva. www.papouswineshop.com or 828.631.3075.

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

The Women’s History Month celebration continues at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.

The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in commemorating March as Women’s History Month in recognition of women’s contributions to the nation.

• March 19: Part two of the PBS documentary will be shown at 4:30 p.m. in Classroom 130 of the Bardo Center. “Women

Writers: A Literary Celebration,” an “open mic night” featuring the writings of women authors and poets, will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Star Atrium of the center.

• March 26: The conclusion of “Makers: Women Who Make America” will be shown at 4 p.m. in the recital hall of the Coulter Building, followed by a 5:30 p.m. panel discussion of women faculty on “Sharing Our Stories.”

A collaboration between WCU’s School of Music and English Department, all campus events are free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Allison Thorp, WCU’s director of choral activities, at athorp@wcu.edu or 828.227.3259.

The circus comes to town

uted to area elementary schools, pre-schools, day care centers, fast food, convenience stores, salons and large employers. The first 100 adult tickets sold online are only $12.50 at www.gardenbroscircus.com.

The “Garden Bros Circus” will perform at 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 20, at the Great Smokies Arena located at Haywood County Fairgrounds, 758 Crabtree Rd., Waynesville.

This year’s show is packed with breathtaking special effects, concert style sound and lighting and three rings bursting with excitement.

The very best performers from over 22 countries make up this action jammed, fast paced 100 minute performance in a Theatrical European three-ring setting, featuring the Chinese acrobats, daring aerial artists, elephants, six motorcycles in the Sphere of Fear, racing camels performing with the largest and smallest horses on earth, contortionists, and the funniest clowns and jugglers as seen on “America’s Got Talent.”

The “Kids Fun Zone” will feature: ride an elephant, a camel, a circus pony, a giant slide, or a bouncy house and the whole family can get their face painted like Spiderman. Come hungry because there’s plenty of food.

Free children’s tickets have been distrib-

• To honor and celebrate the region’s multicultural heritage, Southwestern Community College’s diversity committee will sponsor its inaugural Cultural Fusion Festival on Wednesday, March 27, on the college’s Jackson Campus in Sylva. The event’s theme is “How We all Got Here,” and it will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

ALSO:

• Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Center is currently hosting an exhibit to commemorate World War I and the centennial of the end of hostilities in the “war to end all wars.” “I Want You! How World War I Transformed Western North Carolina” is on display in the museum’s first floor gallery, located in Hunter Library. It features wartime images and artifacts, as well as examples of propaganda used to build support for the war effort. 828.227.7129.

On the wall

pricing starting at $499

Trailer Center

Macon youth art showcase

‘Great Smoky Mountain Hammer-In’ Sponsored by the American Bladesmith Society, the “Great Smoky Mountain Hammer-In” will be held March 21-24 at Haywood Community College in Clyde.

The Hammer-In brings Master Bladesmiths, forging enthusiasts and knife collectors from across the U.S. to demonstrate

The Macon County Art Association will be hosting a student art exhibition in celebration of March as “Youth Art Month” at the Uptown Gallery in Franklin.

This month is designated for promoting art and art education in the U.S. and what better way than to showcase the artwork created by K-12 grade students from the Macon County Schools?

The artwork may also be viewed from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday March 5-30.

An “Art Reception” will be held for the budding young artists from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 15, at the Uptown Gallery. The public is welcome and refreshments will be served.

their skills and to learn the art and science of hand forged knife making. Demonstrators for the Hammer-In will converge from multiple states including Kentucky, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

Master Bladesmiths will give demonstrations and hold classes on a number of topics ranging from coal and gas forging to fabrication of handles and guards and engraving.

The public is invited to experience knife making in the time-honored tradition of the American Bladesmith Society. Knife show, “Battle of the Bladesmith” and auction are open free to the public Saturday, March 23.

The “Battle of the Bladesmith” is a competition used as a conceptual base of the popular reality show “Forged in Fire.”

Competitors will include local residents Charlie Ellis and Matthew Shirey as well as Stephen Fowler of Georgia and Curtis Haaland of Tennessee.

For more information, call 828.400.7815 or email khall@hallenergyconsulting.com.

Smoky Mountain News

Quality Trailers, Quality Prices

The Haywood County Arts Council is proud to present its 2019 student art exhibition, “Young at Art,” which will be displayed at HCAC’s Gallery & Gifts showroom in downtown Waynesville.

The display features works by art students at Bethel Middle School, Canton Middle School, Waynesville Middle School and Tuscola High School. The exhibit will run through March 30.

Over 50 two-dimensional and threedimensional art works are included in this exhibition. The public is invited to view the art work and then vote for their favorite art piece. A special “Student Artist’s Reception” will be held at 5:30 p.m. Friday, March 22, at the Gallery & Gifts showroom.

The winner of the “The People’s Choice Award” will be announced at the reception.

Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Monday, Tuesday and Thursday through

March 13-19, 2019

Enter your favorite cat photos now “FUR” Feline Urgent Rescue’s third annual “Cat Photo Contest.”

“Everyone’s cat has its own personality so we’ve created six categories for submission,” said Bonnie Smith, co-event coordinator. “You can even submit a photo in each because sometimes our cats have multiple personalities.”

The CATcategories for 2019 are: CatAerobics, Best Cat-Accessories, Sleeping Beauty, Best Whiskers, Friends FURever and I Fits; I Sits. There will also be a Best in Show.

There is a $15 per photo registration fee.

Instructions can be found at www.furofwnc.org under “Coming Events” and at FUR’s resale store inside The Big Red Barn Trading Post at 79 Branner Avenue in Waynesville.

Mail your 5x7 photos along with applicable fees and entry forms to Tony Dapore Photography, 527 Coyote Hollow Road, Waynesville, NC 28785 or email them to tonydaporephotography@gmail.com.

Payment for these entries can be made

through PayPal on FUR’s website. Deadline for submission(s) is March 25.

First and second place photos in each division will receive a ribbon. Prizes will be awarded to each first place winner and Best in Show. Any photos entered into the contest may be used in FUR promotions, publicity or the upcoming calendar.

“Since we could be using the winning photos in other media, be sure they are of the highest quality,” said Tony Dapore. “They must be JPG and 800 pixels minimum on the long side.”

Voting will take place on Saturday, April 13, at FUR’s “Wet Your Whiskers” wine tasting event in the Daniel & Belle Fangmeyer Theatre at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre (HART) in Waynesville. Winners need not be present. Look for more information regarding this event on FUR’s website and in our area news publications.

Money raised for FUR this evening will help to fund the cat sanctuary where homeless, abandoned cats and kittens have a safe place to thrive. FUR can operates only by donations, fundraisers and volunteers.

For more information, visit www.furofwnc.org, call 844.888.CATS (2287) or email furofwnc1@gmail.com. FUR is also on Facebook at www.facebook.com/furofwnc.

Saturday. They’re closed on Wednesdays and Sundays.

arts & entertainment

Do you have a photogenic feline?

‘Young at Art’ student exhibition

financing available, ask for details

HaywoodBuilders.com 828-456-6051 | 100 Charles St. | Waynesville

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arts & entertainment

On the wall ‘Adult Hand Built Clay’ series The Haywood County Arts Council will host an “Adult Hand Built Clay” series with Amy Dapore of Our Summerhouse Pottery from 12:30 to 3 p.m. March 19, 26 and April 2, 16 at HCAC’s Gallery & Gifts showroom in downtown Waynesville.

A perfect class for those adults wanting to see what clay is all about. Ideal for beginners and above. Come and be as creative as you like — any project can be fine-tuned to meet your artistic taste.

Example projects: bowls, plates, mugs, succulent planters, and more. This is a

handbuilding class (not potter’s wheel) where you will learn construction techniques to make your projects successful.

Class size is limited to six students; first come, first served. Those students currently enrolled have preference in enrolling in the next session of classes. One make-up class per session is included in the tuition, and expires after the next consecutive session.

All supplies and firing fees are included in the tuition. Deposits will be returned only if cancellation is made prior to two weeks before the beginning of the class, and after that date if seat is filled.

Reservations must be made through the Our Summerhouse Pottery website: www.oursummerhousepottery.com.

Smoky Mountain News

March 13-19, 2019

HCC Professional Crafts faculty exhibition, talk

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Haywood Community College is currently hosting a Professional Crafts Faculty Exhibition in the Mary Cornwell Gallery on campus in Clyde.

Through April, the public is invited to view the exhibition 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.

There will be a talk with the artists at 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 27. All of the faculty members are working craft artists and this exhibition offers a rare occasion to see their work on display together.

The HCC professional crafts program offers options in clay, fiber, jewelry and wood. These programs provide both handson, intensive study and business training.

Focusing on all aspects of becoming an independent craft professional, students sharpen their technical and artistic skills in their • The “Comic Book Illustration & Story Development” class with James Lyle will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. March 16, 30 and April 6, at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville. Cost is $20 for HCAC members, $25 for non-members per class. For more information and/or to register, viist www.haywoodarts.org.

• “The Luck of the Art” celebration will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, March 16, in downtown Waynesville. The event is part of the “Winter Arts Smokies Styles” series. Enter to win a “Pot of Gold,” take photos with the roving leprechaun, collect trinkets, and take part in several art demonstrations, refreshments, entertainment and more around downtown.

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

chosen medium while creating a marketable line of production work, plan a studio and become familiar with the craft market.

Mandatory coursework includes photography of finished pieces for gaining entrance into craft shows, creating a business plan, and designing and building a studio tailored to fit production needs.

For more information about the Professional Crafts programs of study, please visit creativearts.haywood.edu, email hcc-advising@haywood.edu, or call 828.627.2821. For more information about the Professional Crafts Faculty Exhibition, call 828.565.4240 or email clschulte@haywood.edu.

This showcase draws particular attention to the importance of language in Meredith’s work, bringing together paintings that incorporate Cherokee syllabary, reference Cherokee oral histories, and pair foundobject text with visual imagery. www.facebook.com/americameredithart.

• The Haywood County Arts Council (Waynesville) will host a jewelry demonstration with Ilene Kay from noon to 2 p.m.

Saturday, March 16. For more information, visit www.haywoodarts.org.

ALSO:

• The Western Carolina University Fine Art Museum at Bardo Arts Center is pleased to present the School of Art and Design Faculty Biennial Exhibition 2019, which will be on display through May 3. All WCU Fine Art Museum exhibitions and receptions are free and open to the public. arts.wcu.edu/biennial or call 828.227.3591.

WCU Juried Undergraduate Exhibition

Western Carolina University’s annual Juried Undergraduate Exhibition is one of the longest-running Catamount art traditions.

For emerging artists, this exhibition is an extraordinary opportunity to share their artwork with a larger public and to enhance their skills in presenting artwork in a professional gallery setting. Their work is reviewed by an outside art professional who has the challenge of making selections from the many talented students who submit an application.

The WCU Fine Art Museum is pleased to showcase 29 works in this year’s exhibition, which will be on display through March 22.

Created by undergraduate students from a variety of disciplines, the works on view encompass a range of mediums, including photography, sculpture, ceramics, digital animation, graphic design, book arts, painting, drawing and printmaking.

Exhibiting students include Abigail Mosher, Alison Kabrich, Annabela Cockrell, Brandi Swisher, Casey Sweet, Christen Ray, Dustin Newton, Elijah Troutman, Elizabeth

Stone, Elliott Suess, Grace Woodard, Hallie Sholar, Heather Warriner, Joel Basnett, Katherine Coyne, Katy Milke, Matthew Harris, Lindsey Turner, Luke Webb, Mitch Foust, Sarah Kunkleman, Starkim Noble, Taylor Short, Thaddeus Prevette, Victoria Alexander, Tyler Martino, Zachary Alexander and Zoe Koval.

This year, the exhibition is juried by Lee Walton, Associate Professor of Art at UNC Greensboro. Professor Walton holds a Master of Fine Arts from the California College of Arts. He directs both the Graduate Program and the Interdisciplinary Arts and Social Practice program at UNC Greensboro. He has been commissioned by museums, institutions and cities, both nationally and internationally, to exhibit, lecture, and lead participatory public events.

The reception and awards ceremony for the 51st Annual Undergraduate Exhibition will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, March 21, at the Fine Art Museum.

For information, call 828.227.ARTS or visit arts.wcu.edu/51st.

• There will several local artisans on display at the Waynesville and Canton libraries through March. Artists at the Waynesville Library will include Patty Johnson Coulter (painter), Linda Blount (painter), Jason Woodard (painter) and Mollie HarringtonWeaver (painter). Artists at the Canton Library will include Russell Wyatt (photographer) and Ashley Calhoun (painter). For more information, visit www.haywoodarts.org.

of “America” and asks visitors to reflect on the values, definitions, and assumptions attached to this concept. The exhibition will be on view through May 3 at the Bardo Arts Center. Regular museum hours at the BAC are Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Thursdays until 7 p.m. For information, call 828.227.ARTS or visit bardoartscenter.wcu.edu.

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

• The Western Carolina University (Cullowhee) Campus Theme, the “Defining America” exhibit brings together artists with different perspectives on the concept

• Haywood Community College (Clyde) Continuing Education Creative Arts will host “Introduction to Bladesmithing” March 18-19, as well as the “Great Smoky Mountain Hammer-In” March 21-24. For more information about any of these classes, visit creativearts.haywood.edu or call 828.565.4240.

• Mad Batter Food & Film (Sylva) will host a free movie night at 7:30 p.m. every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. For the full schedule of screenings, visit www.madbatterfoodandfilm.com.

On the stage

very particular and exasperated writer/director: she’s brash, vulgar and unschooled. But, she convinces him to let her audition for the part of Wanda, with the director/writer reading the part of Severin von Kushemski.

Much happens during this dynamic reading, as lightning flashes and thunder crashes outside. Vanda shows astonishing insights into the novel and her character, and she performs what is in effect a terrific audition.

They both become caught up in the characters they are reading. The balance of power is reversed, and the actress establishes dominance over the director, which is similar to what occurs in the novel.

The play contains loads of cheek and a hint of the erotic which will keep audiences on the edge of their seat as the question arises, “who is in charge here?” The play contains adult material.

For reservations, call 828.456.6322 or visit www.harttheatre.org.

‘Jungle Book’ onstage

Kristy Lewis, former owner of the Sports Page Restaurant in Highlands will be catering the dinner. Price for dinner and the show is $37.50. For season subscriber there is no charge: it’s part of the 2018-19 subscription package. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

There is no Sunday matinee. The HCP box office opens 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. beginning Thursday, March 14, at the PAC. Stop by or call 828.526.8084 for tickets or visit www.highlandscashiersplayers.org.

Adapted from Disney’s beloved animated film and the works of Rudyard Kipling, “The Jungle Book Live” musical will hit the stage at 7 p.m. March 15-16 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

“The Jungle Book Live” features a host of colorful characters and your favorite songs from the movie, including “The Bare Necessities” and “I Wanna Be Like You.” Banished by the ferocious tiger, Shere Khan, a human boy named Mowgli and his panther friend, Bagheera, are on the run in the deepest parts of the jungle.

On their journey, the two meet a sinister snake named Kaa, a herd of elephants and a giant bear named Baloo, who teaches them the swingin’ musical rhythms of the jungle.

A live, one-act stage production, it is presented by the Overlook Theatre Company.

Tickets are $12. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, visit www.greatmountainmusic.com or 828.524.1598.

The popular Highlands Cashiers Players dinner theatre will return at 7 p.m. March 2123 and 28-30 at the Highlands Performing Arts Center.

This year the event will be held in a much more spacious area than in the past — upstairs in the PAC auditorium, so plays will take place on the main stage.

The four short humorous plays that will be presented between dinner courses are directed by four different directors: longtime HCP director Donna Cochran, and new directors Lynleigh McLain, Jamie Thomas and Todd Lipphardt.

DOWNTOWN FRANKLIN Catch the Shamrock Shuttle Around Town for Free!

Food & Drink Specials Awesome Participating Businesses: Currahee Brewing Co. Lazy Hiker Brewing Co. The Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub and Root + Barrel Kitchen Motor Co. Grill Mulligan’s Bar & Grille Mixers Bar & Nightclub

For more information go to 2019 St. Patrick's Beer Trail on Facebook

Ready for ‘Godspell Jr.’?

Kids at HART will hold a special production of “Godspell Jr.” at 2 p.m. March 16-17 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.

A group of disciples help Jesus Christ tell different parables by using a wide variety of games, storytelling techniques and a hefty dose of comic timing. An eclectic blend of songs, ranging in style from pop to vaudeville, is employed as the story of Jesus’ life dances across the stage. Dissolving hauntingly into the Last Supper and the Crucifixion, Jesus’ messages of kindness, tolerance and love come vibrantly to life.

For more information and/or to purchase tickets, visit www.harttheatre.org.

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

ALSO:

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SIGN UP FOR MEMBERSHIP BY MARCH 31ST AND THE INITIATION FEE IS WAIVED COMPLETELY !

New Young Executive Membership Contact Membership Director, Caitlin Noland for more info 828-926-4831

Smoky Mountain News

HCP dinner theatre

Saturday, March 16, 6pm-11pm

March 13-19, 2019

The final production of the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre winter studio season, the David Ives play “Venus in Fur” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. March 15-16, 22-23 and at 2 p.m. March 24, at HART in Waynesville.

The show scheduled to follow it, “Constellations,” has been postponed due to unforeseen circumstances, until September.

“Venus in Fur” is an adaptation of the 1870 novel “Venus in Furs” by the Austrian author Leopold von Sacher-Masoch and happens to be the novel that inspired the term “masochism.” The play, with is a play within a play, begins with Novachek, the director of a new play, on the telephone lamenting the inadequacies of the actresses who have showed up that day to audition for the lead character, Wanda von Dunayev.

Suddenly, at the last minute, a new actress called Vanda Jordan bursts in. At first it’s hard to imagine that she will please this

arts & entertainment

HART presents ‘Venus in Fur’

1819 Country Club Drive Maggie Valley, NC

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Books

Smoky Mountain News

Jennie Churchill was anything but a prude rs. Patrick Campbell, famed Victorian actress, was renowned for her sharp wit. On hearing about a sexual relationship between two contemporaries, she supposedly remarked, “My dear, I don’t care what they do, so long as they don’t do it in the street and frighten the horses.”

In Victorian England, such discretion among the upper classes was not the better part of valor but of love and lust.

Affairs were commonplace and were ignored so long as the participants practiced Writer prudence. Country estates were often the stage for these assignations; some homeowners even went so far as to make sure that doorknobs and hinges were well oiled so that latenight “visitors” to certain rooms would remain undetected.

“The love that dare not speak its name,” a euphemism for homosexuality, was also tolerated, again as long as the practitioners kept their involvement hidden from the public eye.

John Fowles’ novel The French Lieutenant’s Woman and William Manchester’s first part of his biography of Winston Churchill, The Last Lion, reveal both the large number of prostitutes in Victorian London and the discretionary sexual practices of the upper classes. The strict sexual code we regard as Victorian might have held sway in the halls of Windsor Palace and in middle-class homes, but not in the manor houses and apartments of the wealthy and powerful.

In That Churchill Woman (Ballantine Books, 2019, 389 pages), historian and novel-

Jeff Minick

M

ist Stephanie Barron brings us one of these upper-class women. Jennie Jerome Churchill was American born, mother to Winston Churchill, wife to the cold and erratic Lord Randolph Churchill, and lover of many men, possibly including the Prince of Wales. In an age of severe social constraint, Jennie forged her own path, becoming a writer, an architect in her husband’s political machinations, and a promoter of Winston’s political and literary ambitions. A witty, luminous guest at banquets and dances, the beautiful Jennie lit up baronial halls, flirted with abandon, and skillfully navigated the waters of high society.

Barron brings Jennie Churchill and her glittering world to life in this fine historical novel.

Her sketches of the Prince of Wales, Jennie’s friends, the young Winston and his brother Jack, the increasing insanity of her husband Randolph — a condition most likely brought on by either a brain tumor or syphilis —and the various relatives who bring their influence to bear on Jennie: each of these people come alive in That Churchill Woman.

Here is the deep love Jennie felt for her father, later separated from his wife; the sadness and guilt she experienced from childhood over a beloved sister’s death — both had contracted rheumatic fever; her pregnancy with Winston that probably brought about

Singleton’s new short story collection George Singleton will present his new short story collection Staff Picks at 3 p.m. Saturday, March 16, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva.

In the tradition of Donald Barthelme, T. C. Boyle, Flannery O’Connor, and Raymond Carver, Singleton creates lingering, darkly comedic tales by drawing from those places where familiarity and alienation coexist. A remarkable and distinct effort from an acclaimed chronicler of the South, Staff Picks reaffirms Singleton’s gift for crafting short story collections that both deliver individual gems and shine as a whole.

To reserve copies of Staff Picks, call City Lights Bookstore at 828.586.9499.

WCU Spring Literary Festival Western Carolina University’s annual Spring Literary Festival has a long and storied history of hosting local and national writers and showcasing established and emerging literary talent, all part of an open-to-the-public community celebration.

her sudden marriage with Randolph.

But it is Jennie’s love affair with Austrian Count Charles (Karl) Kinsky that lies at the heart of this book. When she meets Kinsky, Jennie is still devoted to her husband, but the physical love between them has either dimmed or disappeared entirely. The younger Kinsky, dashing, handsome, and a fine horseman, falls in love with her from their first meeting. Initially, Jennie takes a different view of their affair: It was vital to teach Kinsky her one rule: Pleasure was delightful, but love was never allowed. Love was misery. Love destroyed lives. The value of an affaire was that both parties were free — neither could trap or ruin the other. They could part ways at any moment without hard words or hurt feelings.

Eventually, Jennie does come to love Kinsky and tells him so. That ardor pulls her inexorably toward him, as love does in so many other cases. Yet too many barriers prevent them from marriage or living together: her duty toward her husband and her devotion to her sons, his duty to his position and estate in Austria, long physical separations, and the explosions in their social circles that would surely occur were she to leave Randolph.

By the time Randolph dies, Kinsky is mar-

The 17th annual festival, to be held Thursday, March 21 to Thursday, March 28, will provide opportunities for audience members to interact with a variety of local, regional and nationally acclaimed authors.

The festival schedule is as follows: n Thursday, March 21: 7:30 p.m. Fiction writer Cristina Henriquez, author of The Book of Unknown Americans, the 2018-19 WCU One Book (UC Grand Room). n Monday, March 25: Noon. Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poets Series featuring Ricardo Nazario-Colon, author of Of Jibaros and Hillbillies, with student poets (UC Theater); 4 p.m. Fiction writer Diane Cox McPhail, author of the novel The Abolitionist’s Daughter (UC Theater); 7 p.m. Army veterans and writers Laurie Jean Cannady, author of the memoir Crave: Sojourn of a Hungry Soul, and Tom Baker, author of the novel The Hawk and the Dove (UC Theater). n Tuesday, March 26: 4 p.m. Fiction writer Michael Croley, author of Any Other Place (UC Theater); 7:30 p.m. Fiction writer Silas House, author of Southernmost, Clay’s Quilt, The Coal Tattoo, and A Parchment of Leaves (UC Theater). n Wednesday, March 27: 4 p.m. Nonfiction writer Jason Howard, author of A Few Honest Words: The Kentucky Roots of Popular

ried, and their affair is ended. Yet on the occasion of Jennie’s second marriage, this time to a man, George Cornwallis-West, who is Winston’s age, the count sent her “a card bordered in black. It consisted of only three words in French: Tourjours en deuil. Always in mourning.”

After Randolph’s funeral, Jennie tells her son for the first time of the death of her sister so long ago and of her guilt for living when her sister died. Because Winston is grieving his beloved father, who had often dismissed him as inept and stupid, Jennie shares with him the advice given her by her father after her sister’s death. “… Your grandfather told me something then that I ought to tell you now. Live twice as hard. For the ones who are denied life. Don’t apologize to the world for the days you’ve been given. Use them.”

That Barron poured herself into this story may be seen in the Acknowledgments at the end of That Churchill Woman, where she writes of the numerous books, letters, and documents she used to prepare herself for this task. Her novel reflects this research, providing, as it does, a time machine into a bygone era. One reminder: That Churchill Woman is fiction. We have no proof, for example, that Lord Randolph was gay, and the love between Kinsky and Jeannie, while real, may have lacked some of the drama and deep feelings described here.

“With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.” So wrote Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With The Wind.

Jennie Jerome Churchill kept both courage and her reputation firmly in hand.

An excellent book about an amazing woman.

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

Music, and co-author of Something’s Rising: Appalachians Fighting Mountaintop Removal (UC Theater); 7:30 p.m. Poet A. Van Jordan, author of Rise, M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A, Quantum Lyrics, and The Cineaste (UC Theater). n Thursday, March 28: 4 p.m. Nonfiction writer Bryant Simon, author of The Hamlet Fire: A Tragic Story of Cheap Food, Cheap Government, and Cheap Lives (UC Theater); 5:30 p.m. Literary Festival Reception (UC Illusions); 7:30 p.m. Fiction and nonfiction writer Marilynne Robinson, author of Housekeeping, Gilead, Home, and Lila (UC Grand Room).

For the past several years, sponsors of the Spring Literary Festival have been WCU’s Visiting Writers Series; the English Department; the Office of the Chancellor; the Office of the Provost; the Division of Student A airs; Campus Theme, and the College of Arts and Sciences.

This year, the project received support from the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.

The festival reflects Western Carolina’s commitment to providing the best humanities education possible to its students and to bringing the best of the arts to the mountains. All events are free and open to the public. Authors will sign works after each reading.

For more information, call 828.227.7264, email info@litfestival.org or visit www.litfestival.org.

Folk School ‘Literary Hour’ books March 13-19, 2019 Smoky Mountain News

The NC Writers’ Network-West (NCWNWest) will sponsor “The Literary Hour” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 20, at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown.

At this event, NCWN-West members will read at the Keith House on the JCCFS campus. This month’s featured readers will be, poet and author Natalie Grant, poet Joan M. Howard, and poet Mary Ricketson. n Grant has spent much of her life in Western North Carolina and most of her career as the only high school language arts teacher at a rural k-12 school. She writes both fiction and poetry and is inspired by the landscape of her mountain home, its people, and the many storytellers in her family.

Currently, Grant is writing short stories and a volume of poetry entitled The Language of Bones. Her educational background includes an MFA in creative writing from the University of the South’s School of Letters, an MA in English from Western Carolina University, and a BA in History and English from Berea College. Grant is also a representative for NCWN-West. n Howard, whose poetry has been published in POEM, The Road Not Taken: The Journal of Formal Poetry, the Aurorean, Lucid Rhythms, Victorian Violet, the Wayfarer and other literary journals. She published the book Death and Empathy: My Sister Web, in 2017. Her latest book is: Jack, Love and the Daily Grail, from Kelsay Publications.

Howard is a former teacher with an MA in German and English literature and is a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network. She enjoys birding and kayaking on the beautiful waters of Lake Chatuge near Hiawassee, n Ricketson, inspired by nature and her work as a mental health counselor, has poetry published in Wild Goose Poetry Review, Future Cycle Press, Journal of Kentucky Studies, Lights in the Mountains, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Red Fox Run, It’s All Relative, Old Mountain Press, Whispers, and Voices. Her chapbook is, I Hear the River Call my Name, and she has two full length collections, Hanging Dog Creek, and Shade and Shelter. Her new book, Mississippi: The Story of Luke and Marian, is forthcoming, 2019, from Kelsay Books.

Currently, Ricketson is using her own poetry to present empowerment workshops, combining roles as writer and her helping role as a therapist. Ricketson’s poems and activities relate with nature, facilitate talk about a personal path, and focus on growth in ordinary and unusual times. She writes a monthly column, Women to Women, for The Cherokee Scout, is a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor, a representative for NCWN-West, and an blueberry farmer.

“The Literary Hour” is held on the third Thursday of the month unless otherwise indicated. This reading is free of charge and open to the public.

For more information about this event, contact Ricketson at maryricketson311@hotmail.com.

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Outdoors

Smoky Mountain News

Teams embark on the search for lost hiker Susan Clements in October 2018. As chief ranger, Hendy will lead such operations in the future, among other duties. NPS photo

‘Leader of leaders’ New Smokies chief ranger brings impressive career to America’s most visited park

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER fter decades roving the backcountry of some of the largest parks in the Western United States, Lisa Hendy is returning to her home state of Tennessee to serve as the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s first female chief ranger.

At least, that’s the headline picked up by news outlets across the country, and it’s true.

Hendy will start her new job April 8, and it will be the first time a woman has served that role in the Smokies. But to Hendy, it’s not about gender. It’s about her ability to do the job, and do it well.

“I don’t think much about it,” Hendy said of the “first female” tagline. “I’ve worked really hard my whole career to get where I’m at, and it’s like, whatever — if that’s what people want to focus on that’s fine, but that’s not what makes me qualified for this job.”

Explaining what does make her qualified for the job takes more than a sentence or two to explain, because Hendy has amassed a considerable amount of experience over her 26 years with the National Park Service.

Hendy grew up on Lookout Mountain near Chattanooga, Tennessee, and as a kid spent most of her time disappearing to play in the woods surrounding her home. As a teenager she started hiking and backpacking — it was the Smokies, she said, that provided her “first real outdoor adventure” — and then she went to Auburn University to study criminal justice.

“I didn’t want to get stuck in a city,” she said. “I was talking to a professor at one point, and he suggested I look into a land

A

management agency.”

Hendy took his advice and in 1993 secured her first Park Service job as an intern at Yosemite National Park. She never looked back, in the 26 years since earning distinction with increasingly responsible roles at some of the country’s most complex national parks.

From 1993 to 2004, she worked summers at Rocky Mountain National Park and spent a season in Yellowstone National Park before moving to Grand Canyon National Park, where she spent eight years. In 2012, she left for a position as emergency manager at Yosemite, in 2016 moving yet again to take her current position as chief ranger of Big Bend National Park in Texas.

Her service over the years has earned her a pair of impressive accolades from the agency she represents. The first was the 2007 Intermountain Region Exemplary Service Award for saving a life at Grand Canyon.

“The Exemplary Service Award came from an incident where there was a park employee whose wife — a very young woman in her 30s — collapsed and her heart stopped,” said Hendy. “We responded and were able to revive her. She is living quite a healthy life raising their kids to this day.”

In 2011 she received yet another honor — the prestigious Harry Yount National Park Ranger Award, one of the highest recognitions a park ranger can receive for excellence in protecting resources and serving visitors.

“At the time I was a field ranger, which is a prime time in your career when you have an opportunity to participate in all the different things rangers do,” said Hendy.

The Yount Award is a peer-nominated

of her work unit. Her experience there led to honor that recognizes all-around service the emergency manager job at Yosemite and rather than hinging on one specific instance, ultimately to her first chief ranger job at Big as does the Exemplary Service Award. Hendy Bend. It’s the leadership team in the Smokies, was nominated by someone at the local level, selected as a regional winner and then sent on she said, that has led her to return to her native Appalachians. to the national level for consideration — and “The biggest thing honestly is the manageultimately chosen as the single nationwide ment team there,” she said. “At this level, all recipient for 2011. the parks are beautiful and as an employee of “I was doing a lot of cool backcountry the Park Service you can’t lose. You’re going to work, canyoneering trips, solo trips in kayaks and the normal eight-day patrols we would do amazing places. What you start looking for is what you’re going to learn there, what people on foot in the backcountry,” said Hendy. you’ll be working with.”

“They’re all solo, so it requires an amount of As chief ranger, Hendy will be over all 80 prowess in the wilderness to be able to do that employees in the Resource and Visitor effectively.”

Protection Division, which provides law Hendy’s prowess comes from experience, enforcement, wildland fire operations, emerbut also through continuous professional gency medical services, search and rescue development. She earned a master’s degree in biomechanics and exercise physiology from Utah I can’t have my thumb on everybody.

State University and holds certifications as a We have to empower them to lead paramedic, structural firefighter, wildland firefightamongst themselves. er, aviation manager and — Lisa Hendy technical and swiftwater rescuer, as well as a federoperations, backcountry operations and emeral law enforcement commission and several gency communications dispatch for the park. leadership roles for incident management The key to successful leadership, she said, is teams. She has served on the Intermountain ensuring that employees have the tools and Special Events and Tactics Team, National training they need to make their own deciSearch and Rescue Working Group, Pacific sions and then trusting them to do their jobs West and Intermountain Incident well.

Management Teams, National Drowning “The Park Service doesn’t lend itself to Prevention Advisory Board and National micromanaging in most places because Preventative Search and Rescue Working they’re so spread out,” she said. “I have the Group, and is a lead instructor for National same situation here in Big Bend. It’s an hour Technical Rescue Training. drive to where some of our rangers are workAs Hendy became increasingly competent ing and the Smokies is like that too. I can’t at the practical skills necessary to stay safe and assist visitors in the backcountry, she also have my thumb on everybody. We have to empower them to lead amongst themselves. gained experience in leading others to do the I’d like to be a leader of leaders rather than a same. By the end of her 10 years at Rocky leader of followers.”

Mountain, she was leading small teams on Hendy said she wants to foster a positive, search and rescue missions and helping train collaborative culture, something she’s had the other seasonal employees. During her eight good fortune to experience in the other parks years at Grand Canyon, Hendy led a remote where she’s spent her career. ranger station located at the bottom of the “I was blessed right out of the canyon before being promoted to supervisor

Hike Rough Creek

gate being treated as a peer and an equal,” she said. At Rocky Mountain, she was for a long time the only woman on the crew, and the men treated her like one of the guys “almost to a fault,” she said — when they loaded up with a 55-pound pack to march up the mountain, they’d of course expect her to do the same. Hendy had “great supervisors” in the Grand Canyon, and for a while at least half of the people on her shift

Hikers gather at the Thru Hiker Chow Down. Donated photo of Tears Historic Trail at 2 p.m. Thursday, March 21.

Franklin is located 110 trail miles north of Springer Mountain, Georgia, the southern terminus of the A.T. The town was designated an A.T. Community in 2010 by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, making it the first of 49 towns to receive that designation.

For a full schedule of A.T. Celebration events, visit www.discoverfranklinnc.com/at110.

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were female. While things got “a little tougher” at Yosemite, overall Hendy said she’s been “very well supported” as a female working in what is still a male-dominated field.

“I don’t think that culture exists everywhere, and I’ve definitely seen it in places where it’s more challenging,” she said. “The real issue is speaking to that culture and trying to figure out where’s the root of it … you’ve got to get at the root of where is this

coming from and how do we address it from there.”

In anticipation of her relocation to the Smokies, Hendy’s keeping busy reading up on a variety of reports and documents, including the park’s backcountry management plan and founding documents. But as she learns more about the park she’ll soon help lead, she’s staying excited about the adventure to come — and not just because she’ll be living amid deciduous trees again for the first time in two decades.

Unlike the other parks where she’s spent her career, the Smokies is reasonably close to the places where people live, making it more accessible for a diverse population of visitors.

“The ecosystem is one part of it, but part of the fun of that is being able to work with a much more diverse visitor base and being able to see all those folks coming up,” she said.

For law enforcement, that lays down a challenge to ensure that they’re relating to different groups of people in a way that resonates with and makes sense to them.

That’s not to say that Hendy hasn’t had experience working with diverse cultures. Other parks she’s worked had have seen heavy foreign visitation — at the right time of year, she said, about two-thirds of the campsites in the Grand Canyon are occupied by people speaking a language other than English. The remote nature of many western parks, however, means that visitors from the U.S. represent a more homogenous population.

“It’s not just about how amazing the ecosystem is but how fun it is that there’s this incredibly diverse group of people that are getting to enjoy it,” Hendy said, “and what that means for management, and how do we make that attractive to people of all kinds of cultures and backgrounds.”

March 13-19, 2019

Lisa Hendy will start her new job as chief ranger of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on April 8. Donated photo

5.5-mile hike concluding by 4 p.m.

Space is limited, with no pets allowed.

Pack lunch, water, warm clothing and rain gear. Free for HWA members with a $5 donation requested from nonmembers.

RSVP by March 22 to Christine O’Brien at christine.haywoodwaterways@gmail.com or 828.476.4667, ext. 11.

Appalachian Trail season is kicking off in Franklin, with the town celebrating the trail and its thru hikers with a month-long observance from the first day of spring until Earth Day, March 20 through April 22.

Ongoing services for hikers during that time include: n A free hiker breakfast of all-you-can-eat pancakes and bacon at the First Baptist Church of Franklin at 7:15 a.m. March 14 to April 14. Van pickup is available, and the church offers to take a photo of each hiker and mail it to a friend or loved one along with a note from the hiker.

828.369.9559. n Macon County Transit provides a shuttle leaving from Winding Stair Gap and Rock Gap, Monday through Friday, through May 25. Pickup at Winding Stair is at 9:30 a.m.

12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.; pickup at Rock Gap is at 9:45 p.m., 12:45 p.m. and 3:45 p.m.; and the shuttle leaves Franklin at 9 a.m., noon and 3 p.m. Fee is $3. 828.349.2222. n Veterinarian Dr. DeWandeler will be on site at selected A.T. Celebration events in Franklin, offering complimentary physical exams, treats and belly scratches to all thru-hiking dogs. n Outfitter services at Three Eagles and Outdoor 76 are available for technical needs, with plenty of restaurants and breweries

downtown for hikers to re-fuel themselves.

The celebration includes a variety of events as well, including a Flix, Foods and Brews event at Outdoor 76 March 29, the Thru-Hiker Chow Down March 30, the Currahee Brewing Hiker Bash April 6, the AT110 HikerFest April 13 with Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub and Gooder Grove Hostel and the Outdoor Music Jam and Gear Exchange at Lazy Hiker Brewing Company April 20. The Macon County Public Library will also host a full schedule of outdoors-centric events in its Walking with Spring series, the first of which will be a documentary about the National Trial

outdoors

Explore the Rough Creek Watershed with a guided hike Saturday, March 23, and learn about the watershed ecology that drives the place.

Eric Romaniszyn, executive director of the Haywood Waterways Association, will lead the hike. The Rough Creek Watershed is located just north of Canton, an 870-acre area first settled by pioneers in the 1800s.

By the early 1900s most settlers had left and Canton designated it a protected area. The watershed contains a diverse plant and animal community similar to what is found in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

The hike is part of Haywood Waterways’ “Get to Know Your Watershed” series of outdoor recreation events. The group will meet at the Lower Trail Junction parking lot at 9:30 a.m. with the moderate-to-strenuous

It’s A.T. season in Franklin

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Runners take off at the start of the Valley of the Lilies 5K in 2018. WCU photo

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Registration is underway for the ninth annual Valley of the Lilies Half Marathon and 5K, slated for Saturday, April 6, in Cullowhee.

The half marathon will begin at 8 a.m., taking runners on a 13.1-mile journey through the Western Carolina University Campus, along the Tuckseigee River and around the Cullowhee community. The 5K run/walk will start at 8:15 a.m. Packet pick-

up will be available 3 to 8 p.m. the preceding day or 6:30 to 7:30 a.m. the day of.

Advance registration is $60 for the half marathon and $25 for the 5K, with fees increasing to $80 and $30 day-of. Proceeds will support WCU students in the School of Health Sciences and Department of Campus Recreation and Wellness with professional development and travel.

Register at www.runsignup.com.

Conquer Blackrock The ninth annual Assault on BlackRock trail race will be held Saturday, March 23, with all proceeds benefiting the Sylva Police Department’s K-9 fund.

This challenging course involves a 7-mile round trip from the Pinnacle Park parking area in Sylva to the top of Blackrock, an elevation gain of about 2,700 feet. Runners who complete the trek in 101 minutes or less will win a belt buckle, with prizes for top finishers and T-shirts for the first 100 entrants. $25 for online registration at www.ultrasignup.com or $30 day of.

Outdoors store opens on WCU campus Western Carolina University once more has an outdoors store on campus following the closure of Blackrock Outdoor Company.

Bryson City Outdoors, which offers a variety of outdoors gear as well as a craft beer taproom, opened its campus store Jan. 11 in Noble Hall. The taproom offers seating for 45 people and BCOutdoors offers a

Greenhouse gas inventory released The Greenhouse Gas Inventory requested by a recent executive order from Gov. Roy Cooper has now been released by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality.

The inventory contains a detailed accounting of greenhouse gases from human activity in key source categories from 1990 to 2017 and projects the state’s emissions from 2018 through 2030 based on forecasted changes in fuel use, land use, population, historical trends

series of special event nights, including “WHEEopardy” at 7 p.m. Tuesdays and a team trivia at 7 p.m. Wednesdays.

Ben King, a 2011 WCU alumnus founded Bryson City Outdoors in 2013 and is now one of three partners operating a home store on Main Street in Bryson City and now the outpost in Cullowhee. Winter hours are noon to 10 a.m. Monday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.

828.736.4480. and other factors.

Cooper’s executive order aimed to reduce emissions from 2005 levels by 40 percent before 2025. In 2017, statewide net reductions were down 23.7 percent from 2005 levels, and by 2025, emissions are forecasted to decline 31 percent from 2005 levels based on current state and federal policies.

A draft report was released for public comment in December. The final version reflects changes based on public feedback and other updates since the draft version. It is available at deq.nc.gov/energy-climate/climatechange/greenhouse-gas-inventory.

National Park visits up despite shutdown Undeterred by the shutdown, Smokies visitors stop for photos at Newfound Gap.

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Holly Kays photo

noted the recent opening of a new section of the Foothills Parkway, which has drawn more visitors to the park overall. The statistics show 66,063 visits to Foothill Parkway West this January compared to 1,756 visits in January 2018.

The Blue Ridge Parkway, meanwhile, saw a decrease from last January overall but an increase within the Pisgah District.

Throughout the 469-mile roadway, 508,236 people visited in January compared to 528,791 in January 2018 — a 3.9 percent

decrease. However, much of the negative pull came from the Virginia portion of the park, which saw a 52.4 percent decrease in visitation. The North Carolina Highlands District saw a 5.8 percent increase and the North Carolina Pisgah District — which covers Buncombe County and west — saw a 22 percent increase. This increase occurred in the portion of the road between junctions with N.C. 694 and N.C. 191. Junctions north and south of that portion saw decreases in visitation.

According to recently released statistics from the National Park Service, the Blue Ridge Parkway logged its lowest visitation since 2014, when it recorded 13.9 million visitors compared to the 14.7 million it welcomed in 2018.

The intervening years have brought between 15.1 million (2015) and 16.1 million (2017) visitors to the park. Lower visitation last year bumped the Parkway from its title of most visited site in the National Park System, which it yielded to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in California. The two parks have been trading places as numbers one and two since 1979.

According Leesa Brandon, public information officer for the Parkway, weather and maintenance-related closures are the primary factors affecting visitation. Extraordinarily wet weather in 2018 combined with the government shutdown that extended from Dec. 22 well into 2019 could have dampened visitation last year.

“Last year we had entire sections of the Parkway (more so at the northern end in Virginia) that were closed due to weather for an entire month at a time,” said Brandon.

“We also had a full closure around the Linn Cove Viaduct in early spring last year, which caused a detour in the Boone/Blowing Rock areas of the Parkway.”

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March 13-19, 2019

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BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER espite a government shutdown that lasted most of the month, visitation in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was markedly higher this January than in the same month last year.

According to park statistics, 496,743 people visited the park in January 2019, compared to 320,864 visits in January 2018 — a 54.8 percent increase. The 2019 figure is high compared to other recent January stats as well. Park statistics show 382,161 visits in January 2017 and 379,730 in January 2016.

The government shutdown lasted from Dec. 22, 2018, through Jan. 25, 2019.

During that time, the park was still accessible to visitors but services such as bathrooms and visitor information were not available much of the time. Some roads also saw more closures due to lack of staff to quickly clear them following weather events.

Park spokesperson Dana Soehn said she’s still examining the data to determine why the numbers came through so much higher.

“I suspect low gas prices and mild weather conditions likely play the biggest role,” she said.

Soehn said she’s looking into how often Newfound Gap Road was closed during that time compared to other years and also

Parkway visitation falls in 2018

Brian K. Noland & Catherine Proben RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL PROFESSIONALS

74 N. Main Street, Waynesville bknoland@beverly-hanks.com • 828.734.5201 cproben@beverly-hanks.com • 828.734.9157

beverly-hanks.com

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outdoors

Western NC gears up for Earth Month A month-long celebration of the planet is coming up in March, and a collective effort called WNC for the Planet is seeking participation from additional organizations — and attendees for its Kickoff Party noon to 2 p.m.

Sunday, March 31, at New Belgium Brewing in Asheville.

The kickoff will include a costume contest and hands-on fun for all ages in addition to the chance to learn more about activities throughout the month. A volunteer cleanup of Haywood Road will be held beforehand, 10 a.m. to noon, with a volunteer breakfast at Zia before heading out.

WNC for the Planet is made up of local nonprofits, universities and businesses seeking to celebrate Earth Month in April rather than Earth Day alone. The effort launched last year and was well received by the community, with more than 1300 volunteer hours contributed across 50 different service projects, said Anna Zanetti, N.C. director for Friends of the Smokies, which is a member of WNC for the Planet.

Once again, Earth Month will feature service opportunities and educational programs for people of all ages and walks of life, with events including trail work days in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, French Broad River cleanups, trail building in the Highlands of Roan and native habitat restoration.

“Collaborate rather than compete was our goal for the first year of WNC for the Planet. Given that more than 20 nonprofits took part in the collective last year, we are really looking forward to year two,” said Michael Craft, Asheville Community Ambassador at New Belgium Brewing. “This partnership, enthusiasm for our environment, and collaborative spirit is just another reminder of how lucky we are to call Western North Carolina our home.”

For a full listing of events, visit www.wncfortheplanet.org. Participating environmental organizations include Asheville GreenWorks, Bee City USA, Blue Ridge Forever, Conserving Carolina, Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, MountainTrue, Riverlink, Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy.

To join them, contact wncfortheplanet@gmail.com.

Clean up the mountains

Smoky Mountain News

March 13-19, 2019

An organizational meeting for a weeklong effort to make Jackson County a little cleaner will take place 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, March 16, at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva.

The Jackson County Solid Waste Department is holding a litter cleanup week — “Cleaning Up The Mountains” — March 31 to April 6. During the preliminary meeting, participants will pick up materials such as bags and safety vests, receive instructions and choose which roads and communities to pick up.

Emily Burnett, emilyburnett@jacksonnc.org or 828.586.6818.

INDOOR FLEA MARKET AT THE OLD ARMORY Saturday, March 16 • 7 a.m. to 2 p.m

The forest floors of Western North Carolina come alive with flowers in the springtime, and a six-week course kicking off at 9 a.m. Friday, March 22, will provide the chance to experience it firsthand.

Local horticulturist and native plants expert Adam Bigelow will teach the class, held 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays through April 26 at various woodland locations in the region. Students will learn basic techniques

for identifying wildflowers with ID guides and keys, putting this knowledge into use while gently walking among the flowers and learning the stories of plants as well as their names, benefits, uses and relationship to each other, the forest and us. $150 for the series or $40 for a single day, with additional sessions offered throughout the year. Space limited. Contact Bigelow at bigelownc@gmail.com to sign up.

Hear the Needmore story Learn the story behind the Needmore Game Lands in Swain and Macon counties during a talk at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 18, at Cowee School near Franklin.

Paul Carlson, former director of Mainspring Conservation Trust, will present “The History and Context of the Needmore Tract,” also bringing his skills as a forester and historian to bear.

828.349.1945 or www.coweeschool.org.

A public listening session on development of North Carolina’s Clean Energy Plan will be held 1 to 3:30 p.m. Thursday, March 14, at The Collider in Asheville.

The session is one of several held across the state to offer updates from the stake-

holder workshop process and give attendees a chance to comment. The Clean Energy Plan is part of Gov. Roy Cooper’s Executive Order 80, which addresses the impacts of climate change and the state’s transition to a clean energy economy.

Additional listening sessions are scheduled in June. For information on the plan, public sessions and future workshops, visit deq.nc.gov/cleanenergyplan.

Help with 4-H

For more info, call the Old Armory at 828.456.9207

WAYNESVILLE

PARKS AND RECREATION

38

Walk among the wildflowers

Comment on the N.C. Clean Energy Plan

44 Boundary St., Waynesville The flea market will be held the third Saturday of each month. To sell items, booths are $10 each.

828.456.2030

Adam Bigelow. SMN photo

or email rlangston@waynesvillenc.gov

Volunteers are needed for the 4-H Shooting Sports Club in Macon County.

Club leaders can be any adult in the community who is interested in working with young people on basic shooting skills and safety. Often the trained coordinator takes the lead — leaders don’t have to be expert marksmen.

The club begins archery on March 26. Contact Tammara Talley at 828.349.2046 or tammara_cole@ncsu.edu.

@SmokyMtnNews

WNC Calendar COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS • The Jackson County Department of Public Health is seeking input from the community: http://health.jacksonnc.org/surveys. Info: 587.8288.

• The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality will hold a public listening session on the development of the state’s Clean Energy Plan from 2-4:30 p.m. on March 19 at the Collider in Asheville.

Deq.nc.gov/cleanenergyplan.

• Safe Kids Jackson County and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office will hold an “Operation Medicine Drop” from 9 a.m.-noon on March 23, at the Recreation Center in Cullowhee. Drop off unused, unwanted or expired prescriptions. www.poisonhelp.hrsa.gov, 800.222.1222 or 587.8225.

• The annual State of the Air Briefing and Press Conference is set for 8:30-11:30 a.m. on Friday, March 29, at the Land of Sky Clean Vehicles Coalition in Asheville. 734.7434.

• The Jackson County Public Library in Sylva will host a recipe swap that will be a quarterly event consisting of a recipe gathering, the making of a cookbook, and finally a potluck dinner using the recipes gathered. If anyone has a recipe they would like to participate with, please email the recipe to Danielle Duffy at dduffy@fontanalib.org or bring your recipe to the reference desk on the second floor of the Library. The deadline for recipe submission is March 30. Once the library has all of the recipes, the spring version of the cookbook will be put together. Each participant will receive a copy of the cookbook. Each participant will bring their dish and everyone will share food, fellowship, stories, and community at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 4, at the library. 586.2016. or www.fontanalib.org.

• The Waynesville Kiwanis Club is accepting applications for unrestricted grants ranging from $500-$3,000 with a deadline of April 7. Proposed projects must serve youth and children in Haywood County and provide tangible, long-lasting items such as equipment and supplies. Include budget detailing. For application: w.strickhausen@gmail.com or 456.5183.

• An event calendar has been launched to announce various events and volunteer days inspired by and leading up to Earth Day 2019 (April 22): http://WNCfortheplanet.org.

• Volunteers will be available to assist with federal and state income tax preparation and filing through April 12: From 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays at the Jackson County Department of Aging and from 2:30-6:45 p.m. by appointment on Tuesdays at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva. Outside of appointments, help is available on first-come, first-serve basis. Library appointments: 586.2016. Info: 293.0074 or 586.4944.

• Signups are underway for the state’s only preliminary round of “The Apollo Next Giant Leap Student Challenge” – a nationwide drone and robotic challenge - which will be held on May 4 at Southwestern Community College in Sylva. Signup deadline is March 31. Winner advances to the regional round in July in South Carolina. Info: www.southwesterncc.edu/stem.

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

BUSINESS & EDUCATION • Western Carolina University’s interim chancellor will serve as keynote speaker for the High Impact Leadership program at 10 a.m. on Friday, March 15, at WCU Biltmore Park in Asheville. Topic: “Transformative Leadership in Action.” Info: pdp.wcu.edu or 227.7397.

All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted.

• The UNC Asheville Visiting Writers Series will host a Southern Appalachian Studies Conference Keynote Discussion featuring Wiley Cash, Ron Rash and Lee Smith at 4 p.m. on March 16 at Lipinsky Auditorium in Asheville. English.unca.edu.

• Registration is underway for a “Social Listening” course that will be offered by Western Carolina University’s Office of Professional Growth and Enrichment from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on Friday, March 22, at WCU Biltmore Park in Asheville. Instructor is Scott Rader, Ph.D., associate professor of Marketing and Entrepreneurship. Cost: $119. Register: pdp.wcu.edu or 227.7397.

• A Beginning Bladesmithing class will be offered from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, March 23-24, at Green Energy Park in Dillsboro. Led by Brock Martin of WarFire Forge. Cost: $300. Learn and refine good technique in blacksmithing. Preregistration required: 631.0271 or www.JCGEP.org.

• Balsam Mountain Business Matters meets on Tuesday, March 26 at 10 a.m. Great opportunity to network with other business owners. Meeting is held in the clubhouse of Vantage Pointe Homes at Balsam Mountain located at 17 Wilkinson Pass Ln in Waynesville. lgaddy@balsammountainapartments.com.

• Southwestern Community College’s Swain Center will hold an open house from 4-6 p.m. on Thursday, March 28, at 60 Almond School Road, in Bryson City. SCC’s Outdoor Leadership program, Nantahala School for the Arts and College and Career Readiness are housed at the Swain Center. www.southwesterncc.edu or 366.2000.

• Registration is underway for a “Lean Thinking” workshop, which is offered by Western Carolina University’s Office of Professional Growth and Enrichment from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on Friday, March 29, at WCU Biltmore Park in Asheville. Early bird registration is $249 before Feb. 28. After, it’s $279. For info or to register: pdp.wcu.edu or 227.7397.

• Registration is underway for the Western Carolina University’s Office of Professional Growth and Enrichment’s “Creativity in the Digital Age” workshop, which is set for 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday, March 30, at WCU’s Biltmore Park instructional site in Asheville. Registration: $39. For info or to register: conferences.wcu.edu or 227.7397.

• Registration is underway for a seminar entitled “Marketing Your Business” that will be offered by Haywood Community College’s Small Business Center from 5:30-8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 2, at HCC’s Regional High Technology Center in Waynesville. Part of the “Are You Ready to Start a Business series. Room 3021. Register or get more info: SBC.Haywood.edu or 627.4512.

• Registration is underway for Boating Safety Courses that will be offered from 6-9 p.m. on April 3-4 at Haywood Community College, Building 3300, Room 3322, in Clyde. Preregistration is required: www.ncwildlife.org. Additional offerings: May 15-16 and June 26-27.

• Registration is underway for a seminar entitled “How To Find Your Customers” that will be offered by Haywood Community College’s Small Business Center from 5:30-8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 16, at HCC’s Regional High Technology Center in Waynesville. Part of the “Are You Ready to Start a Business series. Room 3021. Register or get more info: SBC.Haywood.edu or 627.4512.

Smoky Mountain News

• Tickets are on sale for the Swain County Chamber of Commerce’s Membership Banquet, which is set for 6-9 p.m. on Thursday, April 18, at the Fryemont Inn in Bryson City. Tickets: $35 per person at the Chamber office or by calling 488.3681.

• Registration is underway for a seminar entitled “Financing Your Business” that will be offered by Haywood Community College’s Small Business Center from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 23, at HCC’s Regional High Technology Center in Waynesville. Part of the “Are You Ready to Start a Business series. Room 3021. Register or get more info: SBC.Haywood.edu or 627.4512.

• Registration is underway for an “Intro to Content Marketing” course that will be offered by Western Carolina University’s Office of Professional Growth and on Friday, May 3, at WCU Biltmore Park in Asheville.

Instructor is Scott Rader, Ph.D., associate professor of Marketing and Entrepreneurship. Cost: $119. Register: pdp.wcu.edu or 227.7397.

FUNDRAISERS AND BENEFITS

39

Visit www.smokymountainnews.com and click on Calendar for: ■ Complete listings of local music scene ■ Regional festivals ■ Art gallery events and openings ■ Complete listings of recreational offerings at regional health and fitness centers ■ Civic and social club gatherings free hand massage, customized with their choice of an essential oil. RSVP if possible, by calling/texting 246.2256.

• “Nourishing You” – an introductory “Yoga for Cancer” class, is offered from 1:30-2:30 p.m. on Fridays at the Haywood Breast Center in Waynesville. Taught by Kim Mulholland, Mindful Yoga for Cancer Duke Integrative Medicine Trainer. Info: 452.8691 or MyHaywoodRegional.com/YogaforCancer.

• Registration is underway for “Bowl for Kids’ Sake,” which will have two sessions from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday, March 16, at Sky Lanes in Asheville. $50 per person or $300 per team. Proceeds go to Haywood County Big Brothers Big Sisters. Pirate theme. Info: 273.3601.

• Southwestern Community College’s Therapeutic Massage program is offering sessions through its student-run clinic to the public throughout the spring semester. Massages range from 30-75 minutes and cost between $10-30. Appointments: http://tinyurl.com/ycl4pmu9 or 339.4313.

• A Luck of the Irish Fundraiser is set for Saturday, March 16, at Bear Waters Brewery in Canton. 452.2997.

• “Breastfeeding A-Z” class will be offered from 7-9 p.m. on April 11, July 18, Sept. 12 and Nov. 14 at Haywood Regional Medical Center in Waynesville.

Focusing on techniques for proper latching and comfortable positions for a baby and mom to get started.

Pre-registration required: MyHaywoodRegional.com/ParentClasses or 452.8440.

• Submissions are being accepted for the Feline Urgent Rescue’s third annual Cat Photo Contest, which is set for Saturday, April 13. Submission deadline is March 25. Registration fee: $15 per photo. Instructions: www.furofwnc.org.

• Tickets are on sale now for the “Wet Your Whiskers” fundraiser for Feline Urgent Rescue of WNC. Scheduled for 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 13 at the Fangmeyer Theatre at HART in Waynesville. Wine/craft beer tasting. Tickets: $35. Sponsorships: $125. Cat photo contest. Info: www.furofwnc.org, www.facebook.com/furofwnc, 844.888.CATS (2287) or furofwnc1@gmail.com.

• REACH is seeking donations of gently used accessories for its silent auction at the “Sprint into Fashion” Social and Luncheon, which is on Thursday, May 9, at Laurel Ridge Country Club. Donations accepted through Friday, April 15, at 627 N. Main St. in Waynesville.

456.7898.

VOLUNTEERS & VENDORS • Women of Waynesville, a nonprofit organization supporting needs of women and children in Haywood County, will hold an open house and membership drive from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, March 29, at Room 1902, 1902 S. Main Street in Waynesville. 550.9978 or womenofwaynesville@gmail.com.

• Feline Urgent Rescue is seeking volunteers and sponsors. Info: 422.2704, www.furofwnc.org, www.facebook.com/furofwnc or 844.888.CATS (2287).

• Haywood Hospice is seeking volunteers to help with reception duties, grief groups, working directly with patients, running errand and other support. A training session is set for at 9 a.m. on March 25. Info: 452.5039.

HEALTH MATTERS • “Aroma(touch)” class will be held Wednesday, March 20 at 6:30 p.m. at Mad Batter Food & Film in beautiful downtown Sylva. Come learn the importance of aroma and touch in your health. Each participate will receive a

• A “Preparation for Childbirth” class will be offered from 7-9 p.m. on Thursdays from June 6-27, Aug. 8-29 and Oct. 3-24 at Haywood Regional Medical Center in Waynesville. Pre-registration required: MyHaywoodRegional.com/ParentClasses or 452.8440.

• The International Essential Tremor Foundation support group meets at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, March 20, at the Jackson County Senior Center, Room 135, in Sylva.

Learn coping skills and available products to help. If interested: 736.3165 or teddyk1942@gmail.com.

• Learn breathing techniques that will help your health and stress levels from 2-3 p.m. on Thursday, March 21, at the Waynesville Library. For adults only. 356.2507.

• A Community Acupuncture Clinic is held on the third weekend of each month at 461 Moody Farm Road in Maggie Valley. Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday and 1-4 p.m. on Sunday. Sliding scale cost is $35-$55.

Offered by Barbara Dennis, a Licensed Acupuncturist and Registered Nurse.

• “Your Amazing Newborn” class will be offered from 79 p.m. on April 4, July 11, Sept. 5 and Nov. 7 at Haywood Regional Medical Center in Waynesville.

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

RECREATION AND FITNESS • The High Mountain Squares will host their “Gold and Shamrock Dance” from 6:15-8:45 p.m. on Friday, March 15, at the Robert C. Carpenter Community Building in Franklin. Western-style square dancing, mainstream and levels. 787.2324, 332.0001, 706.746.5426 or look up the group on Facebook.

• Registration is underway for a St. Patrick’s Day Golf Tournament that will be hosted by Lake Junaluska Golf Course at 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 17. Three-person

wnc calendar

scramble format. $30 per person, includes green fee and cart fee. Register: 456.5777or ctcarswell@lakejunaluska.com.

• Yoga on the Greenway is set for 10:30 a.m. on Friday, March 29, at the Macon County Public Library’s Meeting Room in Franklin and the adjacent Greenway in Franklin. Beyondbendingyoga.com.

SPIRITUAL • St. Andrews Episcopal Church will host Evening Lenten programs at 6 p.m. on March 20 and 27, April 3 and 10, with supper at 5:30 p.m.

• Registration is underway for Guided Personal Retreats, on March 18-20, July 22-24, Sept. 16-18 and Oct. 21-23 at Lake Junaluska.

Lakejunaluska.com/retreats or 800.222.4930.

• Registration is underway for Lake Junaluska’s Summer Youth Events, which run from June 15-July 14. Morning and evening sessions with worship, guest preachers and workshops for sixth-through-12th graders. www.lakejunaluska.com/summeryouth or 800.222.4930.

• Registration is underway for Music & Worship Arts Week, which is from June 23-28 at Lake Junaluska.

Multi-generational educational event including arts, praise and renewal. For ministry leaders or those who want to sing, dance or act all week.

Musicartsweek2019.wordpress.com.

• Registration is underway for Native American Summer Conference, which is June 28-30, at Lake Junaluska. Speakers, Bible study and workshops.

Lakejunaluska.com/sejanam or 800.222.4930.

POLITICAL

March 13-19, 2019 Smoky Mountain News

AUTHORS AND BOOKS

• The Jackson County Democratic Party will meet at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 19, at party headquarters at 500 Mill Street in Sylva.

• The Swain County Democratic Party meeting is set for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 19, at the United Community Bank, 145 Slope Street in Bryson City.

488.1118.

• The UNC Asheville Visiting Writers Series will present three local authors at 7 p.m. on March 20 at Karpen Hall. Featured are poets Nikole Brown and Jessica Jacobs and novelist Kevin McIlvoy.

English.unca.edu.

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

452.0593 or bmk.morgan@yahoo.com.

• The “Coffee with the Poets and Writers” (CWPW) will feature storyteller Knute Rarey and writer Bob Grove at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 20, at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville. The event is free and open to the public. An open mic will follow the presentation. glendabeall@msn.com.

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

• The North Carolina Writers’ Network-West will sponsor The Literary Hour at 7 p.m on the third Thursday of the month. at the Keith House on the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown. This reading is free of charge and open to the public. This month’s featured readers will be, poet and author Natalie Grant, poet Joan M. Howard, and poet Mary Ricketson.

• Cookin’ the Books will be held at noon on the last Wednesday of the month at the Waynesville Public Library. A book club focused on cookbooks. All members choose a recipe from the book and bring it to share. The group will discuss the good and bad aspects of the chosen cookbook. 356.2507.

KIDS & FAMILIES • The “Garden Bros Circus” will perform at 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 20, at the Great Smokies Arena located at 100 McClean Lane in Waynesville. www.gardenbroscircus.com.

• The Swain County Democratic Party will hold its Almond precinct meeting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 26, at SCC’s Swain Center, 60 Almond School Road, in Bryson City. 488.1118.

• The Jackson County Republican Convention and Precinct Meetings will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, March 29, at the Jackson County Senior Center in Sylva. Convention speaker will be Michael LaPaglia, candidate for N.C. Secretary of State in 2020.

743.6491.

• Registration is now open for a new PGA Junior League golf team forming at Lake Junaluska Golf Course for ages 17-under. Season runs from through July 31. Registration fee: $190. Includes team practice sessions, matches, merchandise. Register: pgajrleague.com/sign-up. Info:

WAYNESVILLE TIRE, INC. Authorized Motor Fleet Management Maintenance

• A “Nature Nuts: Racoons” program will be offered to ages 4-7 from 9-11 a.m. on March 20 at the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Online registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

• An “Eco Explorers: Owls” program will be offered to ages 8-13 on March 20 at the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Online registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

• Unify March Madness basketball event is scheduled for 6 p.m. on March 28 at Franklin High School. Joins and benefits Franklin High School students with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team.

Info: penny.moffitt@macon.k12.nc.us, 342.9449, sherri.houston@macon.k12.nc.us or 524.6467.

• • • • •

www.lakejunaluska.com/golf, 456.5777 or ctcarswell@lakejunaluska.com.

• George Singleton will present his new short story collection Staff Picks at 3 p.m. Saturday, March 16, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva. To reserve copies of Staff Picks, please call City Lights Bookstore at 586.9499.

• Canton Book Club meets at 3:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month, at the Canton Library.

648.2924.

• The Macon County Republican Party will have its convention and precinct meetings starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 16, at the Carpenter Community Building on Highway 441 in Franklin. Registration starts at 12:30 p.m. www.macongop.com or maconrepublicans@gmail.com.

40

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

Tires Brakes Alignment Road Service Tractor Tires

M ONDAY-F RIDAY 7:30-5:00 • WAYNESVILLE P LAZA 828-456-5387 • WAYNESVILLETIRE . COM

KIDS FILMS • “Captain Marvel”, will be shown at 7 p.m. on March 13,15-17,20,22-24 and 27 & 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on March 16-17 & 23-24 at The Strain on Main in Waynesville. See website for times & tickets.

283.0079.

A&E SPECIAL EVENTS & FESTIVALS • “The Luck of the Art” celebration will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, March 16, in downtown Waynesville. The event is part of the “Winter Arts Smokies Styles” series. Enter to win a “Pot of Gold,” take photos with the roving leprechaun, collect trinkets, and take part in several art demonstrations, refreshments, entertainment and more around downtown.

heritage, Southwestern Community College’s diversity committee will sponsor its inaugural Cultural Fusion Festival on Wednesday, March 27, on the college’s Jackson Campus in Sylva. The event’s theme is “How We all Got Here,” and it will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

FOOD & DRINK • Bosu’s Wine Shop in Waynesville will host five for $5 Wine Tasting from 5 to 9 p.m. on March 14 and 21.

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

• A free wine tasting will be held from 1-5 p.m. on March 16 and March 23 at Bosu Wine Shop in Waynesville. 452.0120 or www.waynesvillewine.com.

• A free wine tasting will be held from 2-5 p.m. on March 16 and March 23 at Papou’s Wine Shop in Sylva. www.papouswineshop.com or 631.3075.

• In celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, the “A Wee-BitO’Irish in the Mountains” evening will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday, March 16, at the Currahee Brewing in Franklin. Dinner supplied by Rockin Rollie Pollies.

Only $8 for shepherd’s pie, Irish soda bread, Guinness cake and tea. Entertainment starts at 7 p.m. Music by William Green, Tenor at The Atlanta Opera Company, who will be performing traditional Irish and Scottish music. Irish dance instructions and demonstrations by Kinsey Brooke. The event will be a fundraiser for Breacan Clann, Living History Group for The Scottish Tartans Museum and Heritage Center, Inc. For more information, call 524.7472.

• The Lagunitas Brewing “Beer Dinner” will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 18, at Mad Anthony’s Taproom & Restaurant in Waynesville. Four craft beer selections will be paired with four chef-created courses prepared by Chef Matt Kuver. All attendees will receive a gift pack from the brewery. Tickets are $60, which includes tax and gratuity. Only 50 tickets available. Tickets are available for purchase at Mad Anthony’s. For more information, call the taproom at 246.9249.

• Leap Frog Tours and Spriggly’s Beescaping will offer the “Pint & Pollinator Tour” from 1-4 p.m. every Friday in March. $75 Tour starts at Asheville Museum of Science and ends at Whistle Stop Brewing Company.

Cost: $85 for adults; $75 for children. Tickets include educational talks, seed bombs, museum admission, one drink and transportation. Leapfrogtours.com or 246.6777.

• The 17th annual Spring Literary Festival is set for March 21-28 at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. Featuring fiction writers, poets and nonfiction writers. For a complete schedule and list of featured writers and poets: www.litfestival.org, 227.7264 or info@litfestival.org.

• Mad Batter Food & Film host free live music on every 2nd and 4th Tuesday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Located in beautiful downtown Sylva. 586.3555.

• To honor and celebrate the region’s multicultural

• There will be a special performance of traditional

ON STAGE & IN CONCERT

Puzzles can be found on page 46 These are only the answers.

• The final production of the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre winter studio season, the David Ives play “Venus in Fur” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. March 15-16, 22-23 and at 2 p.m. March 24, at HART in Waynesville. 456.6322 or www.harttheatre.org.

• Kids at HART will present the Stephen Schwartz musical “Godspell Jr.” at 2 p.m. on March 16-17 at HART in Waynesville. Structured on a series of parables primarily based on the Gospel of Matthew.

Tickets: $13 adults, $7 kids. Reservations: 456.6322 or www.harttheatre.org.

• Adapted from Disney’s beloved animated film and the works of Rudyard Kipling, “The Jungle Book Live” musical will hit the stage at 7 p.m. March 15-16 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. A live, one-act stage production, it is presented by the Overlook Theatre Company. Tickets are $12. www.greatmountainmusic.com or 524.1598.

• There will be a special St. Patrick’s Day celebration on Saturday, March 16, at Harmons’ Den Bistro at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville. Patrons will hear old Irish stories, mythologies, and legends surrounding the Emerald Isle, and hear some amusing passages from St. Patrick’s personal diary. Patrons will learn about Irish customs, traditions, and a little bit about “As Gaeilge” the country’s national language. There will also be some Irish cuisine prepared

by Chef Christy Bishop. Live music by Arnold Hill. To RSVP, call 456.6322.

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

Highlandscashiersplayers.org.

• Darren Nicholson & Marc Pruett will perform on Thursday, March 21, at Folkmoot in Waynesville.

452.2997.

• Southern Storytellers Series will feature Bob Plott on Thursday, March 28, at Folkmoot in Waynesville.

452.2997.

CLASSES AND PROGRAMS • The “Comic Book Illustration & Story Development” class with James Lyle will be held from 2 to 4 p.m.

March 16, 30 and April 6, at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville. Cost is $20 for HCAC members, $25 for non-members per class. www.haywoodarts.org.

• Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation will be holding a variety of classes throughout March at the Haywood County Animal Shelter. For a complete class listing with details, visit www.sargeanimals.org.

• Haywood Community College’s Workforce Continuing

• Watercolor classes are set for 1:30 p.m. every third Saturday at the Creative Thought Center on Pigeon Street in Waynesville. Cost: $25 or $20 if you bring your own equipment. theHouseArtist@gmail.com.

• Registration is underway for entries for the Appalachian Women’s Museum’s second annual “Airing of the Quilts” that will be on display from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday, May 4, at 100 W. Hometown Place between Sylva and Dillsboro. $10 suggested donation per quilt. Online registration: www.appwomen.org/quilts. Info: 421.3820 or cabeck@ncsu.edu.

• The Jackson County Public Library is holding Craft Therapy from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month. An evening of up-cycle crafting.

586.2016 or dduffy@fontanalib.org.

• The Dave Drake Studio Barn offers a variety of ceramic and raku classes by appointment as well as weekly drawing, writers and community knitters groups. Info: 787.2865.

• Second Saturday Markets take place from 6-8 p.m. at Folkmoot in Waynesville. A gathering place for friends of all ages, markets feature vendors, live music, ballroom dance lessons for $5, and a homemade meal for $10. Beer and wine are available for purchase and tables will be set up for participants to play board and card games that they bring from home. Info: 452.2997 or info@folkmoot.org.

• The “Comic Book Illustration & Story Development” class with James Lyle will be held from 2 to 4 p.m.

March 16, 30 and April 6, at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville. Cost is $20 for HCAC members, $25 for non-members per class. For more information and/or to register, click on www.haywoodarts.org.

• DIY @ The Library will present a “Make Your Own Butter!” program from 2-3 p.m. on Thursday, March 14, in the Waynesville Library Auditorium. Registration required; adults only: 356.2507 or Kathleen.olsen@haywoodcountync.gov.

• The Waynesville Gallery Association with DWA and Haywood TDA are sponsoring “The Luck of the Art” from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on March 16 at 101 N. Main Street in Waynesville. 452.2550. Downtown Waynesville guests will visit local businesses and enter a “Pot of Gold” contest. Music, art demonstrations and fun. 452.2550.

• A Gourd Birdhouse Workshop is scheduled for 1-3 p.m. on March 23 at the Uptown Gallery in Franklin.

Info: 349.4607.

• Master potter Katherine Maloney will hold a workshop on making clay animals to adorn pottery from 15 p.m. on Saturday, March 23, at the Cowee Pottery School in Franklin. Cost: $50 per person. Part of the Guest Potter Workshop Series. contact@coweepotteryschool.org.

• A Basic Cake Decorating class will be offered from 2-3:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 28, at the Waynesville Library Auditorium. Registration required: 356.2507 or kolsen@haywoodnc.net.

• One Heart Singing’s winter term is through April 10 at 89 Sierra Lane in Franklin. No audition or need to read music. Try two sessions before committing. Meets from 6:30-8 p.m. on Wednesdays. Info: 524.3691 or 360.1920.

Smoky Mountain News

• The Highlands Cashiers Players dinner theater is set for Thursdays through Saturdays, March 21-30, at Highlands Performing Arts Center on Chestnut Street in Highlands. Four short humorous plays and meal catered by Kristy Lewis, former owner of the Sports Page Restaurant in Highlands. Price: $37.50. Tickets: 526.8084 or highlandscashiersplayers.org.

• A variety of dance classes ranging from foxtrot and waltz to rumba and cha cha – as well as East Coast Swing and Salsa – are taught at multiple times and days weekly at Folkmoot Center and Waynesville Wellness. $10 per activity per person. No partner or experience necessary. For dates and times, and to RSVP, 316.1344 or dancetonightwaynesville@gmail.com.

March 13-19, 2019

• Western Carolina University’s Concert Choir and student musicians will join with the Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra for two concerts on campus that are free and open to the public. Wednesday, March 20, performance will feature Poulenc’s “Gloria” and a Thursday, March 21, presentation will be Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” and Brahms’ “Academic Festival Overture.” Both shows are at 7:30 p.m. in the recital hall of the Coulter Building. 227.7242.

Education Creative Arts Department is offering a series of clay courses through May in Clyde. For a complete listing and details, visit creativearts.haywood.edu, call 565.4240 or write clschulte@haywood.edu.

wnc calendar

West African music with Master Kora player Sean Gaskell at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 14, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. Gaskell will also perform in the Macon County Public Schools April 2829 through the Arts Council’s Artists-in-the-Schools Program. Learn more about him at www.seangaskell.com. Admission is by donation.

524.ARTS or arts4all@dnet.net.

41

wnc calendar

• Registration is underway for a Viking Axe Making Class that will be offered from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, April 13-14, at Green Energy Park in Dillsboro. With Brock Martin of WarFire Forge.

Cost: $380; materials included. Preregistration required: 631.0271. Info: www.JCGEP.org.

ART SHOWINGS AND GALLERIES

• Tickets are on sale now for “Great Art on Screen” – a series of 90-minute documentaries featuring some of the worlds’ greatest artists presented by The Highlands Performing Arts Center and The Bascom: A Center for the Visual Arts. Upcoming topics: Caravaggio on Friday, April 5; Klimt & Schiele on Friday, May 10; and Monet on June 7. All shows at 5:30 p.m. at Highlands PAC, 507 Chestnut Street in Highlands. Tickets: $16; available at www.highlandspac.org or at the door.

• The All-Macon K-12 Art Exhibit will be featured through March 30 at the Uptowwn Gallery in Franklin.

Students’ reception is from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on March 15. Info: 349.4607.

• Haywood Community College is currently hosting a Professional Crafts Faculty Exhibition in the Mary Cornwell Gallery on campus in Clyde. Through April, the public is invited to view the exhibition 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday. There will be a talk with the artists at 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 27. 565.4240 or clschulte@haywood.edu.

• The exhibit “Outspoken: Paintings by America Meredith” will be on display through May 3 at the Fine Art Museum Gallery B in the Bardo Arts Center at Western Carolina University. The WCU Fine Art Museum is free and open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday. Free parking is available on site. www.facebook.com/americameredithart.

• The Western Carolina University Fine Art Museum at Bardo Arts Center is pleased to present the School of Art and Design Faculty Biennial Exhibition 2019, on display through May 3. All WCU Fine Art Museum exhibitions and receptions are free and open to the public.

For further information, visit arts.wcu.edu/biennial or 227.3591.

March 13-19, 2019

• The Western Carolina University Fine Art Museum at Bardo Arts Center will have a yearlong exhibition on “Defining America” through May 3 in Cullowhee. Info: 227.ARTS or bardoartscenter.wcu.edu.

• The Haywood County Arts Council and Haywood County Public Library are presenting works from the following artists at the following locations through March: Russell Wyatt and Ashley Calhoun at the Canton Library and Patty Coulter, Linda Blount, Jason Woodard and Molly Harrington-Weaver at the Waynesville Library.

• Through April 26, Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Center is hosting an exhibit to commemorate World War I and the centennial of the end of hostilities. “I Want You! How World War I Transformed Western North Carolina” is on display in the museum’s first floor gallery in Cullowhee.

227.7129.

Smoky Mountain News

• Entries are being accepted for The Bascom’s 2019 Member Show: “Rhythm Systems: Nature and Geometry.” Exhibition will be on display from June 15July 21. www.thebascom.org or 787.2878.

FILM & SCREEN • The Second Tuesday Movie Group meets at 2 p.m. in the Waynesville Library Auditorium. For info, including movie title: 452.5169.

• “Green Book”, will be shown at 7:30 p.m. on March 14 at Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. Free.

586.3555.

• “The Crimes of Grindelwald”, will be shown at 6:30 p.m. on March 15 and 7 p.m. March 16 at Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. Free. 586.3555.

• A documentary entitled “Trail of Tears National Historic Trail” will be presented at 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 21, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. Nps.gov/trte.

• The 1959 adventure “Third Man on the Mountain” will be shown at 2 p.m. on Friday, March 22, at the 42 Macon County Public Library in Franklin. 524.3600.

Outdoors

• A recreational racing program for skiers and snowboarders of all abilities will run from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on non-holiday Saturdays through the end of the season. Cost: $10 for two runs or $20 for unlimited pass.

Lift ticket or season pass required. Register: www.nastar.com.

• The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission will close approximately 1,000 miles of hatchery supported trout waters to fishing 30 minutes after sunset through 7 a.m. on April 6. www.ncwildlife.org/enews.

• An “On the Water: Little River” program will be offered to ages 12-up from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on March 15 at the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard.

Online registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

• The Highlands Plateau Greenway will hold its monthly work day from 9 a.m.-noon on Saturday, March 16, on the Greenway Trail. If interested: highlandsgreenway@nctv.com or 342.8980.

• A preliminary meeting for “Cleaning up the Mountains” – Jackson County’s litter cleanup week – is set for 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on March 16 at Jackson County Public Library’s Community Room in Sylva.

Pick up materials, receive instructions and make community and road choices for the week of March 31April 6. Info: 586.6818 or emilyburnett@jacksonnc.org.

• A “Fly-Tying for the Beginner” program will be offered to ages 12-up from 9 a.m.-noon on March 18 at the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Online registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

• Learn about Needmore Game Lands in Swain and Macon Counties in a talk at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, March 18, at Cowee School near Franklin. Paul Carlson, former director of Mainspring Conservation Trust, will present “The History and Context of the Needmore Tract.” 349.1945 or www.coweeschool.org.

• A “Tackle Rigging for Fly-Fishing” program is open to ages 12-up from 9 a.m.-noon on March 19 at the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Online registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

• “Tackle Rigging for Fly Fishing” will be offered to ages 12-up from 9 a.m.-noon on March 19 at the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Online registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

• Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation’s annual meeting is set for 6-8 p.m. on Wednesday, March 20, at the Shelton House Barn. Guest speaker is Kristen Limbert, senior director of operations at the APSCA Behavioral Rehabilitation Center (BRC). Refreshments at 5:30 p.m. 246.9050 or www.sargeanimals.org.

• The Blue Ridge Parkway will have a work day from 9 a.m.-noon on March 21 at the Linville Falls Campground near milepost 316.4. Info: BLRI_Volunteers@nps.gov.

• Registration is underway for the “Spring Wildflowers

of Southern Appalachia” classes, which will be offered

by Adam Bigelow from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on Fridays from March 22-April 26. Learn how to identify wildflowers while walking among them. Single day rates are $40, or $150 for the entire series. bigelownc@gmail.com.

• Haywood Waterways Association will lead a hike through the Rough Creek Watershed on Saturday, March 23, in Haywood County. Led by Eric Romaniszyn, executive director. He’ll discuss watershed ecology. $5 donation for nonmembers; free for members. RSVP by March 22: Christine.haywoodwaterways@gmail.com or 476.4667, ext. 11.

• A “Casting for Beginners: Level I” program will be offered to ages 12-up from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on March 25 at the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard.

Online registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

• A “Fire Making & Shelter Building” program will be offered to ages 12-up from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on March 25 at the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard.

Online registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

• A “Reading the Water” program will be offered for ages 12-up from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. on March 27 at the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Online registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

a.m. on April 20 at Lake Junaluska.

Lakejunaluska.com/run or 800.454.6680.

• Registration is underway for the annual Greening Up the Mountains 5K Run, which is set for 9 a.m. on Saturday, April 27, at Mark Watson Park in Sylva. www.greeningupthemountains.com. Registration ends April 24. Info: 293.3053, ext. 7 or jeniferpressley@jacksonnc.org.

FARM AND GARDEN • The Asheville Community Supported Agriculture Fair is set for 3-6 p.m. on Thursday, March 14, at New Belgium Brewing in Asheville. Meet area farmers, browse local CSA programs and products.

Asapconnections.org.

• Local farmers can stop by the Cooperative Extension Office on Acquoni Road from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. every fourth Friday to learn about USDA Farm Service Agency programs in the 2014 Farm Bill. Info: 488.2684, ext. 2 (Wednesday through Friday) or 524.3175, ext. 2 (Monday through Wednesday).

• The Macon County Poultry Club of Franklin meets at 7 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month at the Cooperative Extension Office on Thomas Heights Rd, Open to the public. 369.3916.

HIKING CLUBS

• Flix, Food & Brews is set for 5 p.m. on Friday, March 29, at Outdoor 76 in Franklin. 349.7676 or www.facebook.com/Outdoor76NC.

• Nantahala Hiking Club will take a moderate, fivemile hike with an elevation change of 400 feet on Saturday, March 16, on the N.C. Bartram Trail. Info and reservations: 524.5298.

• A Thru-Hiker Chow Down is set for noon-3 p.m. on Saturday, March 30, at the Lazy Hiker Brewing Company in Franklin. Chili-dog lunch with homebaked goods and fresh fruit for thru hikers.

Lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Nantahala Hiking Club will take an easy, two-mile birding hike with little elevation change on Sunday, March 17, in the Tessentee Farms area. Info and reservations: 369.7352.

• Registration is underway for a “Leave No Trace Master Educator course, which will be offered by Landmark Learning later this year in Cullowhee.

Frontcountry/basecamp training is set for April 29May 3 while Backpacking will be from June 24-28, Aug. 12-16 and Oct. 21-25. www.landmarklearning.org.

• Sons of the American Legion in Waynesville will have a Turkey Shoot at 9 a.m. every Saturday on Legion Drive.

• Volunteers are being sought to help re-pot native azaleas from 9 a.m.-noon on Tuesdays through Thursdays at the Southern Highlands Reserve in Lake Toxaway. For info, and to schedule a shift: anorton@southernhighlandsreserve.org.

• An easy cycling ride aiming to help people ease into a healthier lifestyle through cycling is offered in the Canton area, typically covering 8-10 miles. Road bikes are preferred, and helmets are required. Nobody will be left behind. A partnership of Bicycle Haywood N.C., the Blue Ridge Bike Club and MountainWise. For specific start times and locations: mttrantham@hotmail.com.

COMPETITIVE EDGE • The ninth annual Assault on BlackRock trail race is set for Saturday, March 23, at 2110 Fisher Creek Road in Sylva. Seven miles. Cost: $25 to preregister or $30 on race day. Info and register: Register: https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=62168.

• Registration is underway for the ninth annual Valley of the Lilies Half-Marathon and 5K, which is set for Saturday, April 6, at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. Advance registration (by March 8): $40 for the half marathon, $20 for 5K. Starting March 9: $60 for half marathon and $25 for the 5K. Sign up: http://runsignup.com. Registration: http://halfmarathon.wcu.edu.

• Registration is underway for Friends of the Lake 5K Race, Walk & Kids Fun Run, which will be held at 9

• Carolina Mountain Club will have a three-mile hike with a 956-foot ascent on Sunday, March 17, at Wildcat Rock Trail. Info and reservations: 777.5806 or bevmacdowellhappy@gmail.com.

• Carolina Mountain Club will have a seven-mile hike with a 1,050-foot ascent on Wednesday, March 20, at Moore Cove Falls Figure-8 Loop. Info and reservations: 692.0116, 696.6296 or bbente@bellsouth.net.

• Nantahala Hiking club will take a moderate fourmile hike with an elevation change of 100 feet on Saturday, March 23, to Lower Whitewater Falls.

Reservations and info: 743.1079.

• The Nantahala Hiking Club will take a moderate-tostrenuous seven-mile hike with an elevation change of 1,300 feet on Saturday, March 23, on the Bradley Fork/Smokemont Loop. Info and reservations: 456.8895.

• The Nantahala Hiking Club will take an easy, 1.2mile hike on Sunday, March 24, on Lakeside Drive Trail. Info and reservations: 369.7352.

• Carolina Mountain Club will have a 10-mile hike with a 1,400-foot ascent on Sunday, March 24, at Fawn Lake. Info and reservations: 450.0747 or danny@hikertohiker.com.

• Carolina Mountain Club will have a 10.5-mile hike with a 3,300-foot ascent on March 27 on the Jerry Miller Trail. Info and reservations: 380.1452 or desraylet@aol.com.

• The Nantahala Hiking Club will take a moderate four-mile hike with an elevation change of 1,050 feet on Saturday, March 30, up Scaly Mountain on the Bartram Trail. Info and reservations: 524.5298.

• Carolina Mountain Club will have a nine-mile hike with a 1,100-foot ascent on March 30 at Kagle Mountain. Info and reservations: 704.877.7804 or waltersharon204@gmail.com.

• Carolina Mountain Club will have a five-mile hike with an 830-foot ascent on March 31 on Ox Creek Road. Info and reservations: 713.4660 or beccabanner@gmail.com.

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Sealed bid proposals for the Jackson County’s Community Services Building Renovations, in Sylva, NC 28779, will be received in Conference Room A227 in the Jackson County Justice Center, 401 Grindstaff Cove Road, Sylva, NC 28779 by 2:00 PM EST on Wednesday, April 10th, 2019. All bid proposals will be opened and read aloud in Conference Room A227 at 2:00 PM EST on April 10th, 2019. Bidders are encouraged to arrive early at facility due to the fact that security may delay entry.

This project consists of renovating an approximate 30,000 square foot facility located at 538 Scotts Creek Road, Sylva, NC 28779. This project is for sitework, building renovations, and hazardous material abatement of the Jackson County Community Services Building.

The County reserves the right to reject any bid for failure to comply with all bidding requirements or of the Contract Documents; however, it may waive any minor defects or informalities at its discretion. The County reserves the right to reject any bid received after the designated closing time. The County further reserves the right to reject any and all proposals or to award the Contract which in its judgment is in the best interest of the County.

All Bidders are required to submit a 5% Bid Security with their bid. Upon award of the contract, a separate performance and payment bond in the amount equal to one hundred percent (100%) of the contract price will be required. All proposals shall be lump sum single prime contract.

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PRE-BID MEETING A non-mandatory, but highly recommended, pre-bid meeting will be held for interested bidders on site on March 25, 2019 at 2pm in the main lobby of the Community Services Building at 538 Scotts Creek Rd, Sylva, NC 28779. Potential general contractors, abatement contractors and building subcontractors are encouraged to attend.

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Hours:

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BIRDIE - A YOUNG ADULT PUREBRED GREAT PYRENEES FEMALE. SHE IS SUPER SWEET, AND APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN VERY WELL CARED FOR BEFORE SHE WAS FOUND WANDERING. SHE APPEARS TO BE CRATE TRAINED AND POSSIBLY HOUSE TRAINED, AND WAS MOST LIKELY A COMPANION DOG RATHER THAN A WORKING DOG.

DOROTHY AND HUBERT - TWO OF A LITTER OF FOUR KITTENS ABOUT SIX MONTHS OLD. THEY ARE ALL FRIENDLY AND AFFECTIONATE, AND AS SOON AS THEY ARE SPAY/NEUTERED, WILL BE READY TO MOVE TO THEIR NEW HOMES. THEY'LL ALL BE WONDERFUL COMPANIONS FOR THEIR ADOPTIVE FAMILIES.

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828.452.5809 44

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Call:

ALEX SMITH GARDEN DESIGN Is seeking Full-Time Gardener/ Landscaper for Scaly Mountain, NC Location. Experience desirable, but not required. Must be a Team Player and have a Positive Attitude. Must be able to Work Outside in All Kinds of Weather and be able to Lift at least 40lbs. Competitive Pay & Benefits. Driver’s License and Clean Driving Record Desired.

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Haywood Co. Real Estate Agents Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices/Great Smokys Realty - www.4Smokys.com Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate- Heritage • Carolyn Lauter - carolyn@bhgheritage.com Beverly Hanks & Associates- beverly-hanks.com • Ann Eavenson - anneavenson@beverly-hanks.com • Billie Green - bgreen@beverly-hanks.com • Michelle McElroy- michellemcelroy@beverly-hanks.com • Marilynn Obrig - mobrig@beverly-hanks.com • Steve Mauldin - smauldin@beverly-hanks.com • Brian K. Noland - brianknoland.com • Anne Page - apage@beverly-hanks.com • Brooke Parrott - bparrott@beverly-hanks.com • Jerry Powell - jpowell@beverly-hanks.com • Catherine Proben - cproben@beverly-hanks.com • Ellen Sither - ellensither@beverly-hanks.com • Mike Stamey - mikestamey@beverly-hanks.com • Karen Hollingsed- khollingsed@beverly-hanks.com • Steve Mauldin- smauldin@beverly-hanks.com • Jerry Powell - jpowell@beverly-hanks.com • Mike Stamey - mstamey@beverly-hanks.com

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• Bruce McGovern - shamrock13.com RE/MAX Executive - remax-waynesvillenc.com remax-maggievalleync.com • Holly Fletcher - hollyfletcher1975@gmail.com • The Real Team - TheRealTeamNC.com • Ron Breese - ronbreese.com • Landen Stevenson- Landen@landenstevenson.com • Dan Womack - womackdan@aol.com • Mary & Roger Hansen - mwhansen@charter.net • Judy Meyers - jameyers@charter.net • David Rogers - davidr@remax-waynesvillenc.com • Marsha Block- marshablockestates@gmail.com Rob Roland Realty - robrolandrealty.com

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smokymountainnews.com

CAVALIER ARMS APARTMENTS

March 13-19, 2019

All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Fair Housing Act which makes it illegal to advertise “any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, or an intention, to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination” Familial status includes children under the age of 18 living with parents or legal custodians, pregnant women and people securing custody of children under 18 This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All dwellings advertised on equal opportunity basis.

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REAL ESTATE ANNOUNCEMENT

WNC Real Estate Store

• Jeff Baldwin - jeff@WNCforMe.com

TO ADVERTISE IN THE NEXT ISSUE 828.452.4251 | ads@smokymountainnews.com 45

WNC MarketPlace March 13-19, 2019 www.smokymountainnews.com 46

SUPER

CROSSWORD

NAME IN THE CENTER ACROSS 1 Symphony, e.g.

5 Sing like Bing 10 Pampers product 16 Mensa stats 19 Scheme 20 Big artery 21 Flowery 22 Almond, e.g.

23 31-day period honoring TV’s Joy? [actor] 25 Greek letters 26 With 47-Down, Christmas evergreen 27 Fall back into illness 28 Place with a lot of refuse-disposal chambers? [swimmer] 30 Old space station 31 Slash 32 Ovine noise 34 And others, in a list 35 Brutes of fantasy 36 Smears gunk on rugged mountain ranges? [hockey player] 40 Shows up 41 Sequence in heredity 42 Robber, e.g.

43 Bat hangout 46 Finals, e.g.

48 Seven-figure income earned in a Nebraska city? [actor] 54 Scheme 57 DVD- -59 Little barks 60 “The King --” 61 Guilty feeling 64 One doing penance 68 Olympic speed skater Eric

70 Ethyl ender 71 Prohibition of quick insights? [investor] 74 Suffix with journal 75 Item in a file cabinet 77 Ideal conditions 78 Imply 80 Field of study 81 Sikorsky of aviation 83 Dir. from N.D. to La. 85 “Not -- goes by ...”

86 Promise to marry a cute marsupial? [painter] 91 Novelist Hermann 94 Waikiki necklaces 95 Rene of “Get Shorty” 97 Poland’s Lech 101 Sounded like a kitten 105 Pale-colored wall paneling for a room? [writer] 107 Final, e.g.

108 2004 Chevy debut 111 Storm center 112 Demolition stuff 113 -- -cone (icy treat) 114 Products applied to back-of-the-neck sunburns? [actor] 117 City in north-central California 119 Adding result 120 “Finally!”

121 “C” grade ... or what eight answers in this puzzle have?

124 Draw upon 125 Fix, as Fido 126 Less-played half of a 45 127 Morales of movies 128 As stated in 129 Lorne of “Bonanza” 130 A bit off 131 Old-time comic Ed

DOWN 1 Sphere 2 Childishly silly 3 Herald, as a new era 4 Shut tightly 5 College locales 6 Perches 7 Sarah -- Jewett 8 Hitter Mel 9 “I’ll pass” 10 One capful, perhaps 11 Often-purple flowers 12 Major worry 13 Argentine plain 14 Web biz 15 Relax 16 Apprise 17 Apple or pear relative 18 Emphasis 24 Flower cluster 28 Ricochet 29 Animal park 30 Soup enhancer 32 Apiary insect 33 Guthrie with a guitar 37 Saying 38 In that case 39 “Mr. St. Nick” actress Ortiz 40 Animator’s frame 43 -- terrier 44 Roadie’s tote 45 Hindu trinity member 47 See 26-Across 49 Wolflike carnivores 50 China’s Chou En- -51 “And how!”

52 Ukrainian port city 53 Fifteen times six 54 Quick-to-build home 55 Poe maiden 56 Brunch fare

58 Line of Apple computers 62 Actress -- Dawn Chong 63 Elfish sort 65 “Tsk tsk!”

66 Kabuki sash 67 “Platoon” site, in brief 69 Ovum 72 Black crows 73 “Point taken” 76 Patriotic women’s gp.

79 Some Scots 82 F followers 84 Program 87 Unoriginal 88 Actress Meyers 89 Swift sleds 90 Pale-faced 92 Hoodwinks 93 South Carolina river 96 Holy Mlle.

98 Euphoria 99 Desert of the southwest U.S. 100 -- -Z (total) 101 Botch the job 102 Pretext 103 Not as cold 104 Big bird 105 Relax 106 Disagreeing 108 Following 109 Think a lot of 110 Tickle pink 115 Snake tooth 116 To be, to Voltaire 117 1,502, in old Rome 118 Duck variety 121 Exec’s deg.

122 Suffix with journal 123 Cousin

ANSWERS ON PAGE 40

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SUDOKU

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The naturalist’s corner

BY DON H ENDERSHOT

Bated breath am sure I’m not the only one hoping the Lake Junaluska eagles are successful this nesting season. It seems, by all appearances, we should have an answer in just a few short weeks.

Jeff Gresko of Maggie Valley was observing the nest on Feb. 26 and watched as the birds swapped places … the male (from size difference I felt I could see from the photo) flew into the tree; the female left the nest and the male moved onto the nest. I believe this is a pretty solid indication incubation is underway. I also observed the female (I believe) on the nest this past Saturday, March 9.

I believe if the pair is successful, there will be chicks in the nest by the first week of April, probably sooner. I was observing the eagle during the first week of January and saw the male attempt to copulate. Mrs. Eagle was having nothing to do with it and left the tree, but hormones were surely rising.

Bald eagles generally begin laying eggs five to 10 days after successful copulation.

Bald eagles usually lay from one to three eggs — two is the most common number

I

C U LT U R E

ADVENTURE

FOOD+DRINK

The Lake Junaluska eagles swapping place on the nest. Jeff Gresko photo reminder from one of last year’s columns regarding the Lake J eagles from Bryan Tompkins, who monitors eagles across Western North Carolina for U.S. Fish & Wildlife.

“Tompkins said Fish & Wildlife encourages people to get out and witness the awe and beauty of these impressive raptors in their natural habitat — but to do so in a

responsible way. According to Tompkins the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Bald Eagle Management Guidelines calls for a 600-foot buffer around active eagle nests. ‘It is especially important to keep from agitating eagles or flushing eagles from the nest when they are still sitting on eggs. During cold days, just a few minutes away from the nest is enough to impact incubation. Bald eagles are especially sensitive during this period.”‘ I understand these eagles are nesting in an urban environment and from past conversations with Kelley there are records of backyard nests in the Piedmont being successful.

But with last year’s nest failure, I think it would be prudent to err on the side of caution.

Here is a great website to learn about bald eagles and their sensitivity to human activity www.fws.gov/southeast/pdf/factsheet/bald-eagle-natural-history-and-sensitivity-to-human-activity-information.pdf (Don Hendershot is a naturalist and a writer who lives in Haywood County. He can be reached at ddihen1@bellsouth.net)

March 13-19, 2019

MUSIC

and on rare occasions clutches of four have been reported. The female lays the eggs one at a time with a day or two between each egg. Incubation normally lasts around 35 days. So if Feb. 26 was the first day of incubation (most likely it was earlier) 35 days would take us to April 2.

What Gresko observed at the nest is normal for bald eagles. The female certainly spends more time incubating but the male occasionally relieves her and even has a “brood patch.” A brood patch is a bare place (devoid of feathers) on the belly. The bare skin transfers heat more efficiently making it easier to keep the egg(s) warm. After chicks hatch, it’s 10 to 14 weeks before they fledge (develop flight feathers and are capable of flight.)

A lot of resources out there put North Carolina with Southeastern states regarding nesting chronology. I have learned through emails with Christine Kelley of North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission that while this holds true for coastal North Carolina and the Piedmont, the mountains of Western North Carolina align more with the chronology of northern states like Maine, New Hampshire, the Dakotas, etc.

This means laying and incubation could

begin from early February to late March; hatching of chicks from March to mid-May and fledging from mid-May to July. I would assume our eagles would be on the early end of this chronology.

As we wait with bated breath, this is a good time to remind everyone this is a critical time for nesting success. Here is a

Smoky Mountain News

MAGAZINE READ, SUBSCRIBE & LEARN MORE

smliv.com

47

BUILT FORD TOUGH

2018 FORD F-150

2018 & 2019 FORD MUSTANG

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March 13-19, 2019

0% APR for 72 mos. w/Ford Credit Financing Not all buyers will qualify for Ford Credit financing. 0% APR financing for 72 months at $13.89 per month per $1,000 financed regardless of down payment (PGM #20994). Vehicle must have arrived at dealer at least 61 days prior to the sale date. Not available on Shelby GT350 & Bullitt. Residency restrictions apply. For all offers, take new retail delivery from an authorized Ford dealer’s stock by 4/1/19. See dealer for qualifications and complete details.

2019 FORD EXPLORER

Smoky Mountain News

2018 FORD ESCAPE 0% APR for 60 mos. w/Ford Credit Financing

0% APR for 60 mos. w/Ford Credit Financing

Not all buyers will qualify for Ford Credit financing. 0% APR financing for 60 months at $16.67 per month per $1,000 financed regardless of down payment (PGM #20978). Residency restrictions apply. For all offers, take new retail delivery from an authorized Ford dealer’s stock by 4/1/19. See dealer for qualifications and complete details.

Not all buyers will qualify for Ford Credit financing. 0% APR financing for 60 months at $16.67 per month per $1,000 financed regardless of down payment (PGM #20978). Vehicle must have arrived at dealer at least 61 days prior to the sale date. Residency restrictions apply. For all offers, take new retail delivery from an authorized Ford dealer’s stock by 4/1/19. See dealer for qualifications and complete details.

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48