Play trivia with The Smoky Mountain News

Play trivia with The Smoky Mountain News

Bar trivia is a cherished tradition for many in Western North Carolina, but such quiz nights are one of the many causalities of the COVID-19 closures that have swept our nation and the world at large.

The Smoky Mountain News hopes to fix that with a new virtual trivia night that will launch at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 22, and repeat weekly via Zoom as the crisis continues.

To play, create a Zoom account and then form a team. Each team should choose a leader to collect email addresses from all team members — be sure to sign up with the same email address you used to create your Zoom account — and then register the team at bit.ly/smntrivia. You will be able to edit the list of team members after you originally submit it, but the deadline to sign up is 6 p.m. Wednesday. Don’t wait till the last minute, though — trivia is capped at 100 people, with spots given on a first-come, first-served basis.

When you sign up, you’ll receive an invite with information for logging into the meeting. Staff writer Cory Vaillancourt will be your trivia host, greeting you promptly at 7 p.m.

Trivia will consist of five rounds of 10 questions each. As each round begins, the questions will be posted at www.trivia.smokymountainnews.com under the “Questions” tab, and you’ll be invited to a breakout room that includes only your team members. You’ll have 10 minutes to read that round’s questions, talk out your answers, and have your team leader enter them on the Google form for that round. Google forms for each round will also be located on the trivia website.

Cory will score the responses and then invite all the groups back together. He’ll read out each question with its correct answer, and then list the team rankings. After that, it’s on to the next round!

Trivia is our free gift to you, our Western North Carolina community, but we do take tips! Donate to The Smoky Mountain News at www.smokymountainnews.com, and help us continue to provide you with free, quality journalism (and trivia too!) through this crisis and beyond.

Rep. Queen to hold town hall

Rep. Joe Sam Queen, D-Waynesville, will hold an online town hall meeting about education at 4 p.m. April 24 with special guest Jen Mangrum.

The town hall meeting is for everyone is Queen’s 119th district of Haywood, Jackson and Swain counties. To view the meeting online, call 312.626.6799 and enter the pin 928.323.059.66#. To submit questions or concerns for Queen to address, email joesam@joesamqueen.com or text 910.632.0707.

Forest Hills, meanwhile, is continuing to meet as normal, arranging seating so as to comply with social distancing but not imposing any other restrictions.

In Haywood County, Canton canceled its March 26 and April 9 meetings but will conduct its April 23 meeting in person, with social distancing and hygiene measures in place.

Waynesville conducted its March 24 meeting normally, held its April 14 meeting via Zoom, and canceled its April 28 meeting. Maggie Valley has also moved to electronic meetings, canceling its regular April 14 meeting and replacing it with a virtual meeting held April 21.

Franklin canceled both its April 6 and April 14 meetings, replacing them with a special called meeting April 13. The town did not allow any public attendance at the meeting but provided a livestream of the proceedings. People wishing to offer public comment were invited to send their questions and comments via email to be read during the meeting.

Bryson City held its first meeting since the COVID-19 crisis broke on April 16, but because its normal meeting room is too small to facilitate any kind of social distancing, the town board used the county government’s much larger meeting space, which is able to accommodate up to 20 members of the public while observing social distancing guidelines. Staff writer Cory Vaillancourt and News Editor Jessi Stone contributed to this report.

HAYWOOD COUNTY CARES

ABOVE: Heidi Lowe works for the Haywood County Health and Human Services agency.

We’re In This Together

Heidi Lowe is a Medical Laboratory Technician who has worked at the Haywood County Health and Human Services Agency for 18 years. She says she knew from an early age that she wanted to have a career in the medical profession and because of her mother recalling having lab work as a child, she realized her passion for laboratory testing. Her initial career plan was to work in a private laboratory but this all changed after her clinical rotation at the health department.

“I immediately knew public health was my calling and where I was meant to be. I truly enjoy helping and caring for others so being stuck inside a lab with no patient contact was not for me. I am so proud and honored to be able to serve the community I love and grew up in, especially during these uncertain times.”

For more information on Covid-19 in Haywood County visit: www.haywoodcountync.gov/684/Coronavirus-Covid-19-Information www.haywoodcountync.gov