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May 29-June 4, 2019 Vol. 20 Iss. 53

Former SRCA director was fired after complaint Page 6 Macon County Schools pleads for more resources Page 14

CONTENTS On the Cover: A celebrated writer and proponent of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s formation whose family life was nothing if not complicated, Horace Kephart left a permanent mark on the region that is still vigorously discussed nearly 100 years later. In their new book Back of Beyond: A Horace Kephart Biography, authors George Ellison and Janet McCue use carefully researched personal letters, published works, newspaper articles and more to create the first full-length biography of a man who lived a very private life despite his status as a public figure. (Page 32) Kephart, a skilled marksman, stands with a pistol in his hand beside a timber rattlesnake nailed to the wall of the cabin. WCU Hunter Library Special and Digital Collections photo

News Primary election nears in Cherokee ..............................................................................4 Lack of bids delays SCC shooting range work ........................................................5 SRCA director fired amid harassment complaint ......................................................6 Swain on track to pass status-quo budget ................................................................9 School works to empower male students ................................................................10 Marquee Maggie mayoral matchup expected ..........................................................10 Curriculum director proposed for Jackson Schools ..............................................12 Macon Schools pleads for more resources ............................................................14

Opinion Memorial Day is more than flags and speeches ....................................................18

CORRECTION

Smoky Mountain News

May 29-June 4, 2019

In a May 22 story about Canton’s opioid lawsuit, a quote by Alderwoman Gail Mull was incorrectly attributed to Alderwoman Kristina Smith. SMN regrets the error.

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Primary election nears in Cherokee Voters share their thoughts

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER arly voting is now over in Cherokee, with polls to open for the Primary Election on Thursday, June 6, in what has already been an eventful election season.

Voters will cast their ballots to narrow the field of candidates running for principal chief, vice chief, Tribal Council and school board, with the top two candidates for each seat progressing to the General Election, slated for Thursday, Sept. 5. After June 6, the number of candidates will drop from 54 to 34 — two candidates apiece for principal chief and vice chief, 24 candidates for 12 Tribal Council seats and six candidates for three school board seats.

An informal survey of potential voters at the Food Lion in Cherokee indicated that, while the election is certainly in the public eye, many people are reticent to share their thoughts on the matter publicly. Of about 15 enrolled members The Smoky Mountain News approached, the majority declined to be interviewed.

One man, wearing a tribe-issued polo, said that because he works for the tribe he has to “play it neutral.” Another woman said she shouldn’t say anything, as she tends to “run her mouth” when she gets going on politics, while a group of three tribal members, one of whom was wearing a T-shirt promoting a candidate for chief, said it was “too political” to comment on. A couple more people were in a hurry to pick up groceries and get going on their Memorial Day weekend and didn’t want to stop to talk to a reporter, while a few more said they weren’t registered to vote. Another woman said she couldn’t be interviewed, as she speaks only

May 29-June 4, 2019

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Cherokee and little English.

However, four more people were happy to give their thoughts on the upcoming election.

“There’s a lot of things that they promise they gonna do, but the administration that they’re in, they don’t never get anything done,” said Willard Lossiah, 69, of Big Cove.

“They don’t never see any changes, and I’d like to see the changes if they say they’re going to do something.”

Lossiah said he definitely plans to vote but hasn’t yet decided who he’ll support.

That choice will largely depend on which candidates come by to see him before the election — in Cherokee, personal visits to potential constituents are an important part of any campaign.

“I always wait until the voting day, and I don’t ever vote until late in the evening,” said Lossiah. “And if anybody hasn’t talked to me I guess they don’t get my vote, and if they lose maybe it might be that one vote that could have won it for them.”

Cory Brady, 31, of Yellowhill, had a similar perspective. Like Lossiah, she hasn’t decided who to vote for, and she hasn’t had any visits from candidates.

“None of them’s really come and talked to me yet,” she said.

Birdtown voter Estefan Welch, 30, said he’s definitely planning to vote, and that he’ll be voting for change. He doesn’t think the current Tribal Council spends the people’s money wisely, and he wants new councilmembers. But when asked if there was any candidate in particular that he was excited to vote for, he didn’t name any Tribal Council candidates. Rather, he said, he was looking forward to voting for James “Bud” Smith for vice chief and Teresa McCoy for principal chief.

A 60-year-old voter from Big Cove who declined to give his name also mentioned

“And if anybody hasn’t talked to me I guess they don’t get my vote, and if they lose maybe it might be that one vote that could have won it for them.”

Smoky Mountain News

— Willard Lossiah

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Clusters of campaign signs are a common sight along Qualla Boundary roadways. Holly Kays photo

Go vote Polls will be open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Primary Election Day Thursday, June 6, with polling places available in each community.

The principal and vice chief offices, all 12 Tribal Council seats, and school board seats for Big Y, Painttown and Yellowhill are on the ballot. The top two vote-getters for each seat will proceed to the General Election Sept. 5. There will not be a Primary Election for Snowbird/Cherokee County Tribal Council or for the three school board seats, as no more candidates have signed up to run for those offices than will fit on the General Election ballot.

Voter registration is currently closed, but it

McCoy as a promising candidate, and he echoed Welch’s concern about the current Tribal Council’s spending habits.

“I’m glad Teresa (McCoy) gets to run because I think they’re scared of her. That’s why they were trying to keep her from running, the way I see it,” he said. “The same way with (former Principal Chief Patrick) Lambert when he was running. I think he’s trying to get stuff straightened our around here with the corruption. That’s why they got rid of him.”

For McCoy, the road to candidacy has

will reopen on June 10. To register, tribal members 18 and older should bring their enrollment card, an identification photo, a physical address and a mailing address to the election board offices located in Suite 140 of the Ginger Lynn Welch Building between 7:45 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

Election results are displayed at www.livestream.com/accounts/10717024 as they are tabulated. The Smoky Mountain News has complied a voters guide at www.smokymountainnews.com/news/item/26702-a-voters-guide-to-cherokee-s-2019-tribal-elections.

Candidates who wished to be added to it can email reporter Holly Kays at holly@smokymountainnews.com.

been a difficult one, and a challenge to her placement on the ballot is still pending.

Of the 55 candidates who signed up to run for chief, vice chief, Tribal Council and School Board during election filing, only 52 were initially certified to run by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Board of Elections. Mary Crowe and Teresa McCoy, who signed up to run for principal chief, were not certified initially, and neither was Sharon Bradley, who signed up to represent Big Y/Wolfetown on the school board.

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BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER lanned improvements to the Southwestern Community College firing range aimed at reducing noise pollution and lead buildup will have to wait after bids for the project came in nearly double the estimated cost.

“The size of the project is sometimes a concern and a challenge,” SCC President Don Tomas told the Jackson County Commissioners during a May 14 work session. “We get it over $500,000, it’s probably a different story, but that’s not what we want to do. What we want to do is what we need to do to make sure we meet the goals of commissioners with the contamination and the noise.”

The current year budget, approved in June 2018, had included $287,000 for the project, which would have resulted in backstop improvements aimed at reducing lead buildup and various changes to reduce noise — planting cypress trees, adding two firing lanes to reduce range times, an electric target system and a raised berm with a wall.

SCC put the project out to bid but didn’t get any responses back, so they bid it again, this time receiving just one response — a flat $500,000. Because that offer was much more than the school had planned to spend, the project went through a third round of bidding, again with no response.

Contractors are busy right now, and a medium-sized project like this can be hard for them to get to, said Tomas.

“I’m not in favor of authorizing $500,000 right now,” said Chairman Brian McMahan. “I think at best we ought to see if we could break it down to do just the backstop. That’s something that’s necessary no matter what happens.”

Lead has been a known issue at the shooting range since 2014, when it was found that 60 tons of the toxic metal had

accumulated in the clay backstop over the range’s 30 years of operation. That revelation spurred multiple rounds of testing and mitigation that have at this point cost the county about $500,000. Replacing the backstop would prevent such a buildup from occurring again and make it easier to clean out the used bullets.

The sound issue, meanwhile, came to commissioners’ attention in 2017 after they received complaints from residents living near the range. While commissioners were

Following appeal hearings, the election board certified Bradley but declined to certify McCoy and Crowe. McCoy appealed that decision to the Cherokee Supreme Court, which overturned the election board’s decision and ordered it to certify McCoy. The day after that certification transpired, tribal member Robert Osley Saunooke filed a protest to McCoy’s certification for election. His protest used much of the same argument the election board had used in its initial denial of certification — namely, the charge that McCoy had “defrauded the tribe” when she accepted an honorarium and travel compensation from the University of Alabama in 1996 for a trip

in which the tribal government had already paid for her time and travel expenses.

Defrauding the tribe is one of the disqualifications for candidacy listed in tribal law and in the tribe’s Charter and Governing Document.

On May 17 the Cherokee Supreme Court granted a petition from McCoy to prevent the election board from holding a separate hearing on Saunooke’s protest, but Saunooke in turn protested that decision, on May 20 filing a motion to intervene as a party in the case and have the court dissolve its May 17 order. As of press time, the court had not yet entered its ruling on Saunooke’s petition.

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May 29-June 4, 2019

sympathetic to the complaints, they also pointed out most if not all of the residents who complained moved there after the range began operations and that the facility is essential to law enforcement regionwide.

More than 25 agencies use the range to train and certify their officers, said Curtis Dowdle, dean of public safety training for SCC. Commissioner Ron Mau asked May 14 if building an indoor shooting range would fix the noise issue. Dowdle replied that while an indoor range would work fine for handguns, it wouldn’t cut it for rifles and shotguns.

“I can’t pay my instructors enough or their hearing to handle it, as well as their bodies,” he said. “We can’t do that to our recruits either.”

In addition, he said, night rifle qualifications are now required.

“I wish we had better news, but we’ll create some options and we’ll come back,” said Tomas.

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Smoky Mountain News 5

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Former charter school director fired following sexual harassment complaint

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of stories on Haywood County’s public charter school, Shining Rock Classical Academy. The following story includes offensive language and sexual content that may not be suitable for all readers.

ana Pusser felt a heavy burden lifted off her shoulders last Friday after tendering her resignation and returning her professional belongings to Shining Rock Classical Academy.

When she accepted a teaching position at the public charter school at the beginning of 2018, she saw it as an opportunity to use her experience in public and private education to help a new school develop and grow, but on Friday she was quick to say she’d never return to teaching again — not after the sexual harassment and gender discrimination she says she endured at SRCA. “I won’t teach again. I guess there’s a part of me that’s glad I tried administration, but I know now it’s not for me,” she said. “I’m sad this was my experience — it’s hard to think about that maybe I wasn’t hired for the right reasons and to know I was devalued, disrespected and my boundaries were violated.”

Pusser said the harassment she experienced was at the hands of former SRCA School Director Nathan Duncan, who was terminated in February 2019 following an internal investigation into the formal grievance Pusser filed against him. The grievance outlined numerous allegations against Duncan for inappropriate comments, lewd language and unwanted touching.

While Pusser thought the alleged harassment and discrimination was the worst part of it, she also suffered emotionally and physically from the stress she endured after she filed the grievance. Not only did she have to remain silent among her curious colleagues as the internal investigation played out, but she said she experienced retaliation from fellow administrators Josh Morgan, the current interim school director, and Tara Keilberg, the school’s finance director who was also a founding board member of SRCA. “She was nasty to me and told me I’d done the wrong thing,” Pusser said of Keilberg’s reaction to her grievance. “I think she didn’t want the castle to crumble because she had conflated the success of Shining Rock with the success of Duncan. She was an ostrich putting her head in the sand.”

Duncan is the second school director Shining Rock has had since opening its doors in 2015. After the first director Ben Butler left abruptly in the fall of 2017, the SRCA board wanted to be thorough in its search for the next leader by conducting public interviews and allowing parents to ask the final candi6 dates questions.

Smoky Mountain News

May 29-June 4, 2019

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Duncan’s background seemed best suited for the job — he helped found the Academy at Trails Carolina in Hendersonville and had master’s degrees in educational leadership and international relations. His enthusiasm and bold ideas convinced the board he was the perfect fit for SRCA’s mission of providing experiential outdoor education along with a rigorous curriculum.

On the surface Duncan appeared to be everything the school needed, Pusser said, but the facade slowly started to deteriorate.

“He had everyone fooled,” she said.

Because personnel issues are not a matter of public record, no one knew the reason why Butler left and no one knew what had led up to Duncan’s termination. Not knowing anything going on behind the scenes, the SRCA board’s decision to fire Duncan only a year later had many parents and teachers wondering what went wrong.

Now that Pusser is no longer employed with SRCA, she said it was time for her to come forward with what she says happened.

According to her, Interim Director Josh Morgan told her it would be inappropriate for her to share the internal personnel issue with other employees or to go public. She did consider that stance — speaking out could create more discord within the struggling school community and distrust among SRCA parents. She thought about Duncan’s family

“There were so many reasons to stay quiet, but in my time away it became clear to me that I had to move from victim to advocate. I had to speak the truth because silence protects the abusers.”

— Dana Pusser

and the possible impact it could have on his children. But ultimately, she knew she wasn’t responsible for the consequences of Duncan’s actions.

“I told Anna (Eason — former SRCA board chairwoman) how grateful I was for how the board handled the situation,” Pusser said. “It was hard to watch parents lambast the board — they handled it admirably, but I let her know that this was a part of my healing and finding peace of mind and finding integrity. The weight of this secret is not mine to hold. I’m speaking out in my personal capacity because I feel it’s important to me.”

Nathan Duncan (right) is pictured along with Bonnie Brown during a Q&A session with Shining Rock Classical Academy parents during the search process for a new school director.

Duncan was given the job in January 2018. File photo

JOINING SRCA Pusser’s first experience with Shining Rock was as the stepmom of two students.

Following the school director search she and her husband attended the Q&A session with Duncan before he started the position.

During her initial conversation with him they discussed her own experience in education.

Pusser, 37, has an undergraduate degree in history with a minor in Spanish. She also has a master’s degree in teaching from Converse College in South Carolina. Her work with Outward Bound, an outdoor education program, is what brought her to Western North Carolina. She also taught at a public elementary school in Greenville, South Carolina, as well as Claxton Elementary in Asheville. Before joining SRCA she was as a second-grade teacher at Carolina Day School in Asheville for four years.

“When I mentioned my background he said he wanted to talk, which led me basically to propose how I could contribute as part of the team because I have a passion and love for education and wanted to help make the school a better place,” she said.

She didn’t want to be a classroom teacher — she wanted to work in administration to help create a positive culture at SRCA that included restorative justice, responsive classrooms and other new approaches she had learned during her time at Carolina Day. While Duncan told her he didn’t have an open administration position yet, he encouraged her to join as a teacher until he could create the ideal position for her. Pusser began

teaching fourth grade at SRCA during the spring semester of 2018.

“The harassment started when I was a teacher. In April in my fourth-grade classroom he came in to talk to me. I had mentioned my 12-year-old stepdaughter wanted to go to West Point Military Academy and his response was that, ‘She was going to have to f___ a lot of people.’ I just had a look of shock on my face and then he said he knew several people who went there and ‘that’s what females have to do to get ahead there.’”

She knew it was inappropriate and wrong but wasn’t really sure what to do or who she should tell as a brand-new teacher. Maybe she was overreacting. Maybe it was all just a bad joke.

JOINING LEADERSHIP

It didn’t take long for Duncan to create an Associate Director of Culture position tailored for Pusser. She said he went through the normal process of posting the job and conducting interviews but said he told her the job was hers no matter who else applied. The announcement of her promotion to the new position was announced in May. On May 21, 2018, Pusser said Duncan invited her to join him at his wife’s family home at Lake Junaluska after school to discuss what her new job would entail and other school-related issues. Hindsight is 20/20 and looking back she wishes she would have just said no.

“I felt the pressure of following the direction of my boss as a new administrator. We drove separately, and I guess I assumed his

Shining Rock Classical Academy opened in 2015 and is Haywood County’s first public charter school. File photo

“I told Anna [Eason] how grateful I was for how the board handled the situation. It was hard to watch parents lambast the board — they handled it admirably, but I let her know that this was a part of my healing and finding peace of mind and finding integrity. The weight of this secret is not mine to hold. I’m speaking out in my personal capacity because I feel it’s important to me.”

— Dana Pusser

able confidence that something would happen, but I didn’t continue to share with her because I got a much icier reception from Tara, like it was an unwelcome complication,” she said.

The only thing that came out of it, according to Pusser, was that Keilberg told her she had a “big sister talk” with Duncan and felt that it wouldn’t happen again — but it did.

That’s when she decided to file a formal grievance with the board of directors. She said she couldn’t risk Duncan doing this to other teachers or students.

“It was really hard for me to speak the truth knowing the personal and professional impacts it would have, but I did it for all the other teachers and other students there,” she

education law and represents a number of charter and independent schools across the state, began conducting interviews with Pusser, Duncan and other administrators. By Feb. 14, the grievance committee — made up of three board members — met to hear Hostetler’s findings and recommendations.

Pusser said the lawyer found her allegations to be credible and found Duncan’s denial of the incidents to not be credible. Morgan also corroborated the allegations as did statements from Pusser’s therapist.

The board acted swiftly — by 3 p.m. that day Pusser said the board was finalizing Duncan’s terms of separation.

Though the board acted professionally and appropriately, Pusser said she was retali-

ated against during the investigation.

“Josh (Morgan) was very afraid he would get in trouble once the investigation was started with the attorney because he realized he’d known for months and I believe he didn’t want to jeopardize his position,” she said. “I underestimated how calculating he was — I naively thought we were friends. Once the investigation started he told me it was the right thing to do with the grievance but then said, ‘this conversation didn’t happen’ because if he became head of school it would become obvious he had a conflict of interest.”

On Feb. 7, Pusser said Keilberg sent her an email saying she was changing the process for reporting absences among administrators.

Up until that point, Pusser said it wasn’t uncommon for people in leadership positions to email the others saying they were going to stay home and work if they didn’t feel well or had another personal reason.

Now, Keilberg wanted her to have a more formal process, but the email was only sent to her and not Morgan or Duncan.

She said Keilberg also tried to make it appear that Pusser was only filing the grievance because she was unhappy with her evaluation from Duncan. During that time, Pusser said a policy was changed that would require administrators to hold a principal’s license, which is something Pusser doesn’t have and Morgan does. Even though she knew the change could leave her without a job in the future, she said she supported that decision because it was what was best for the school.

Morgan called a leadership meeting Feb. 11 after the grievance was filed in an attempt to delegate duties and make sure everyone was on the same page. Pusser said Keilberg was visibly upset and told Morgan she was so angry with her that she couldn’t sit through the meeting.

“She said she was angry with me and asked to leave the meeting because she didn’t know if she could speak to me. Her only concession, all she would say is ‘I wouldn’t trip you if you were walking down the stairs.’”

Meanwhile, rumors were swirling around school as to why Duncan had been absent, but Pusser had to remain quiet. Amid all the turmoil following the board decision and Duncan’s departure, Pusser said she took a personal day on Friday, March 1, because of all the stress. That same night she had a medical episode while at home. Her husband, who is a doctor, described the episode like she was having a stroke with temporary paralysis and respiratory blockage. A doctor’s appointment with another physician confirmed the episode was stress induced and advised her to take time off, which is when she went on FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) leave from SRCA. She said she had no plans to return, especially after Morgan told her she wouldn’t be returning to her original position. She said she was told she could return and only do classroom evaluations. Her stepchildren will also not be returning to SRCA. “There were so many reasons to stay quiet, but in my time away it became clear to me that I had to move from victim to advocate. I had to speak the truth because silence protects the abusers,” she said.

Smoky Mountain News

Making the decision to come forward with allegations against Duncan wasn’t an easy one for Pusser, but she felt like she didn’t have any

said. “Thank God I have resources to take the risk of losing my job. What if this had happened to a young inexperienced teacher relying on her own salary or a shy individual — it haunted me there could be other victims of his behavior. If he would say that about my own kid I don’t know where the limits are.”

Pusser said she outlined all the incidents that she had been writing down since April into her formal grievance letter that she sent by certified mail to Eason on Feb. 3, 2019. On Feb. 6, she said Keilberg informed Morgan about the grievance and Pusser was told to only communicate with Morgan. Duncan was placed on leave. On Feb. 8, Eason called a special meeting of the board of directors to discuss the grievance in a closed session and that’s when the investigation got underway.

SRCA’s lawyer David R. Hostetler, a Raleigh-based attorney who specializes in

May 29-June 4, 2019

SPEAKING UP

other choice once she had exhausted all of her internal avenues. She had been telling Morgan about her allegations of sexual harassment for several months. While he allegedly encouraged her to speak up, Pusser said he actually had an obligation to tell someone according to the rules outlined in SRCA’s handbook.

“I kept him updated in real time — he knew the full extent of everything that was happening and he had a responsibility as an employee to come forward if he was aware of inappropriate behavior,” she said.

Then she went to Finance Director Tara Keilberg since she also acts in an human resources role for the school. She said she didn’t tell her everything but told her about the comments about her stepdaughter and the incident at the house at Lake Junaluska.

“I do know I told her enough to signal alarm bells. I told her enough to have reason-

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wife or someone else would be there but it was just the two of us,” she said.

She said he showed her around the house and then took her to the kitchen where he had stocked the fridge with hard ciders since he knew she was on a gluten-free diet. At that point, she knew she needed to leave because she felt uncomfortable but she didn’t know how to leave without making it awkward.

“I drank one cider because I felt like that’s what I was supposed to do. He drank much more quickly than me and we were discussing nothing pertaining to work,” she said. “He made several sexually charged comments that made me uncomfortable. He suggested I would need to have lots of sex with my husband now, because I wouldn’t have time soon with the job.”

The topic of difficult parenting conversations came up and Pusser said Duncan made reference to her having to soon talk to her stepdaughter about how to shave her private parts.

“The comments made me incredibly uncomfortable and intimidated. I left as quickly as I felt comfortable enough to do so,” she said.

Allegedly, over the next few months there continued to be inappropriate comments from Duncan about her stepdaughter — how she had “hit the gene pool lottery” and that she was going to have sex with a lot of boys and break a lot of hearts.

“In the months following he wanted to hire (my stepdaughter) as a babysitter and I kept saying no,” Pusser said.

Aside from the inappropriate comments, Pusser said he treated her differently than the other administrator Josh Morgan, who was her equal counterpart. She said she was given menial tasks like stocking the coffee bar, picking out window dressings and organizing fire drills.

“The more I shut down his advances the more menial tasks he’d give me,” she said. “He absolutely treated me patronizing — he didn’t value my education and contributions.”

Pusser said the situation didn’t improve with time, claiming there were unsolicited comments about her body and her clothing even when students were around. It got to the point where she’d try to find excuses not to have to get up from her desk to give him a hug — she’d try to be busy when he came in the room or have her lap full of things or be on the phone. Pusser claims he’d start by saying “In a total nonsexual way ... “ and then proceed to say something inappropriate.

“Then he started asking for side hugs behind closed doors. I never said yes and he’d do it anyway. He pulled me in to where my face was up against his beard and held me there until I broke the contact,” she said. “I had a panic attack one morning at home getting dressed for work. I love to be creative with style — I like to express myself through my outfits — but trying to avoid the unwanted attention from him seemed impossible. I was trying to figure out what I could wear that felt like me but that wouldn’t invite comments.”

S EE DIRECTOR, PAGE 8 7

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Foundation to help victims of gun violence In memory of Riley Howell, the Riley Howell Foundation Fund has been established at The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina with the intent of supporting families affected by gun violence.

Initial advisory board members will be Natalie Henry-Howell, Riley’s mother; Scott Pritchard, his uncle; Kevin Westmoreland, the father of Riley’s longtime girlfriend Lauren; and friend of the family Rachel Feichter.

On April 30, 2019, Riley was in class at UNC Charlotte. Seven minutes in, shots rang out and in a split-second decision, he chose to try and disarm the shooter. In the service of protecting others, Riley was killed. He was posthumously awarded the Civilian Medal of Valor from the CharlotteMecklenburg Police Department for his actions as well as the Reserve Officers Training Corps Medal for Heroism from the United States Army Cadet Command.

“I didn’t intend to give Riley to the world, but now that he belongs to everyone, we hope his willingness to put others first can be an inspiration,” said advisory board president Natalie Henry-Howell. “His altru-

Smoky Mountain News

May 29-June 4, 2019

Apply for nonprofit grants

by June 13 Grace Church in the Mountains will be holding its Annual Parish Fair on Saturday, July 27. Proceeds from the sale of items donated to the fair will provide funding for local nonprofits.

Grant applications can be found at www.gracewaynesville.com or may be emailed or mailed to those organizations interested in this grant opportunity.

Interested organizations may also pick up an application at the church office. Completed grant applications are due back to the Outreach Committee, Grace Church in the Mountains, 394 N. Haywood Street, Waynesville, before June 13.

istic nature was fundamental to his character. If thinking of Riley sparks any one of us to reach out and care more about others, to help rather than be indifferent or cause harm, then his legacy can be remarkably meaningful.”

The Riley Howell Foundation Fund will provide financial support to charitable organizations that serve other victims and families affected by similar tragedies, both those in immediate need and in an ongoing capacity. That need can take the form of grief counseling, funeral expenses, domestic care, as well as longer term health and wellness coverage, among many other services.

The advisory board is currently curating a list of initial recipient organizations that align with its mission and values. It plans to announce these organizations in July 2019.

Tax-deductible donations can be made online at the foundation fund’s website, rileyhowellfoundation.org, or through CFWNC’s website at https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/1443146.

Interested donors can also mail a check to: CFWNC, 4 Vanderbilt Park Drive, Suite 300, Asheville, NC 28803. Include ‘Riley Howell Foundation Fund’ in the memo.

To learn more about the foundation fund and Riley’s life, visit the website, or email info@rileyhowellfoundation.org.

Rabies vaccine clinic coming A low-cost vaccination clinic will be held for all dogs, cats, and ferrets four months or older in Haywood County this week.

The clinic will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m. May 29 at Waynesville Middle School; May 30 at Bethel Elementary School and May 31 at Riverbend Elementary.

It is suggested that cats be left inside your vehicle during this clinic and let the veterinarian administer the vaccine there.

The cost is $9 per vaccination. The veterinarians will also offer $9 vaccinations in their office during clinic days.

A previous rabies vaccination certificate is required for a three-year vaccination.

828.456.5338.

DIRECTOR, CONTINUED FROM 7

PUBLIC’S RIGHT TO KNOW Personnel records are not considered public record under North Carolina’s Public Records statutes. However, other states like Georgia and Florida do allow public inspection of personnel records of public employees like teachers, police officers and municipal employees. While some argue that public employees should have some expectation of privacy in their positions, others argue that their salaries are being paid with taxpayer money and therefore their records should be accessible.

These issues can come into play when a law enforcement officer is accused of unnecessary force or when a county manager is being investigated for embezzlement. In the case with SRCA — a publicly funded charter school — many believe the community has a right to know why the school’s top administrator was terminated.

While SRCA’s board of directors can not speak specifically to Pusser’s allegations or Duncan’s termination, the board did respond to a request for a statement to include with this story.

“Shining Rock Classical Academy’s mission is to inspire learning through community, environment, and values. In order for the

school to achieve this ideal learning environment within Haywood County, the SRCA board’s enduring focus and highest priority is to ensure the security and safety of all community members, including students, staff, and stakeholders. Integrity is a fundamental principle within the SRCA community.

Moreover, it is our responsibility to protect all members of our school community; in addition, we must abide by confidentiality requirements, board policy, and the law.

Consequently, the SRCA board, administration, and other employees are not at liberty to comment publicly on any grievances or personnel matters.

We remain grateful for the support of parents, students, and faculty and look forward to the future of SRCA.” The Smoky Mountain News attempted to reach out to Duncan to allow him to comment for this story, but the last known cell phone number for him has been disconnected and his whereabouts are unknown.

SRCA is in the process of hiring a new school director as well as a marketing director. According to the job opening listed on Indeed.com, the position would include creating a marketing and communications plan, promote and strengthen the school’s brand, oversee fundraising efforts and work with the media. The position will pay $38,500 to $45,000.

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Former SRCA Board Chairwoman Anna Eason welcomes Nathan Duncan to the team in January 2018. File photo

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Smoky Mountain News

BY J ESSI STONE - N EWS E DITOR d n preparing the proposed budget for 2019-20, Swain County continues to hold o the line on the county’s low property tax - rate, but it will mean that some funding l requests and county needs will have to wait - another year.

County Manager Kevin King recently prew sented commissioners with a proposed $17.6 - million budget, which is about $246,000 more n than last year’s budget of $15.2 million. King - proposed maintaining the current property tax rate of 36 cents per $100 of assessed value.

It’s a tight budget just like it has been for e the last several years. King told commissiono ers $245,000 had to be transferred from the county’s fund balance to the general fund in order to balance the budget, which is why he wasn’t able to incorporate any of the county personnel committee’s recommendations this year.

“There’s no other way to get additional operational revenue unless you’re ready to do a major tax increase,” he told the board last week.

The county has been struggling for years to offer competitive pay for its employees in order to keep a high quality of services for residents and to better retain the employees they have. While commissioners especially want to increase pay for longtime employees and for low-paid positions like detention center officers at the county jail, the budget simply hasn’t allowed for it. The budget only includes a one-time $500 bonus for all employees.

Members of the personnel committee still

took the time to go over their recommendations to the board though, during its regular meeting last Thursday.

“We know it won’t be this year, but we’re trying to look to the future,” said Brent Jones with the health department.

The committee requested to add a policy that would allow employees with 20 years of service to retire at 60 years old and continue to receive health insurance through the county until they are 65 years old. Secondly, the committee wanted to change the health insurance deductibles to make it the same cost whether you have single coverage or dependent coverage.

In addition to increasing pay for sheriff office employees and 911 dispatchers, the committee wants to adopt a new salary step plan to give a 2 percent increase each year.

Jones said he thought a step plan would help the county retain its more experienced employees who will provide better services to residents.

“I think it will be vitally important to Swain County’s future,” he said. “You’ll have better employees, more longevity and you’re not spending as much on training for them to leave for another county.”

Commissioner Kevin Seagle, who is also a part-time employee with the building inspections department, said he agreed with the idea of the step program even if it’s just a small increase each year.

“It helps people know where they’ll be in five to 10 years and it’s a disservice to the community by continuing to train people and then lose them,” he said.

Because a majority of the pay raises county employees receive are cost of living increases, Jones said they have longtime employees who are making just a few thousand more a year than employees who’ve only been with the county for five years. New employees are starting at higher pay because of the COLA bumps and it’s not fair to the veteran employees, he said.

Commissioner Kenneth Parton said he attended a couple of the personnel committee meetings to discuss some of these issues.

While they didn’t see eye-to-eye on every issue, he does see the benefits of retaining quality employees.

Though salaries might not be as competitive as they’d like to be, he said the county benefits of retirement and health insurance should

point step plan and reinstated a three-step program.

“We were trying to move the people with longevity further up the scale,” he said. “It used to be more political — people would just come before the board and ask for a raise and it would get approved or not so things got a little off kilter.”

King pointed out the county also offers longevity pay and employees get a $1,000 check on their five-year anniversary and another $1,000 on their 10-year anniversary plus 1.5 percent of their salary.

Commissioner Roger Parton asked King to provide the board with projections of what it would cost to implement the committee’s recommendations.

King also informed the board that the county’s water and sewer enterprise fund showed a deficit this year, which prompted the state to send the county a warning letter.

Now King has to go to Raleigh soon and explain why and give testimony as to how the county plans to make it more sustainable.

“We have to look at ways to make the fund more sustainable, which is to either increase the waste fee or you can try to incorporate (the cost) into the millage rate,” King said.

Commissioners would have to increase the tax rate by take 4.5 cents to make the fund sustainable, which means people with a $100,000 valued home would pay about $60 a year while people with a million-dollar house would have to pay $400 a year. Now everyone pays a flat $75 annual fee.

“We’re gonna get dinged on it every year until we get it fixed,” he said.

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Sheriff Curtis Cochran has been lobbying commissioners for years to increase pay for his detention officers. File photo

be considered as well since many in the private sector don’t get those kinds of benefits.

“There’s already benefits of being a county employee — have retirement and insurance — that means something,” he said. “And we usually hire within the county government so there’s opportunities to move up.”

Parton said training and retention is a problem for every business and that perhaps the county should require employees to repay the cost of training if they leave within a certain amount of time.

Seagle agreed and said he remembered signing a document when he started working for the county that agreed he would repay his classes if he didn’t stay for a certain period of time.

“If someone didn’t want to pay back their schooling cost, it would cost more to try to recoup that cost in court,” he said.

Sheriff Curtis Cochran said they discussed that option during last year’s budget process but that the county’s attorney didn’t think such a contract would have any validity.

Perry Schuler with the county recreation department said they do appreciate the COLA each year but that it hasn’t kept up with the rate of inflation.

“Yes, it’s a raise but you have to look at inflation. We’re getting more money but it’s taking more money to pay bills and buy groceries,” he said. “I love the step program if you can afford it.”

Commission Chairman Ben Bushyhead said he thought the county already had a pay step program in place.

King said they did away with the 10-

Billy Case, CCIM (828) 508-4527 | billycase@naibeverly-hanks.c com

9

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Marquee Maggie mayoral matchup expected

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER ith municipal candidate filing little more than a month away, the race to replace outgoing Maggie Valley Mayor Saralyn Price will likely involve two current members of the town’s board of aldermen.

“It’s game on,” said Alderman Dr. Janet Banks. “I am off and running.”

Banks, a Democrat, told The Smoky Mountain News in January that she was hoping to replace Franklin Mayor Bob Scott of Franklin as the district’s representative in the N.C. League of Municipalities and that if she wasn’t selected, she’d consider a run for mayor of Maggie Valley.

She wasn’t chosen for the position, so on May 27 Banks confirmed that she would forego re-election to her board of alderman seat in favor of mounting a mayoral campaign.

If she loses, she’ll be off the board.

Her likely opponent, Alderman Mike Eveland, told SMN May 28 that he’d “probably” run Janet Banks for mayor. If he loses, he’ll return to his post as alderman until that term expires in two years.

Eveland is registered as unaffiliated.

Whether or not Eveland joins the race, competition is expected to be vigorous in Maggie Valley because the jurisdiction is home to so few registered voters, making campaigning a very manageable endeavor.

In 2015, Saralyn Price won her mayoral campaign as a write-in with 233 votes. Trailing her was Justin Phillips with 84 votes and Jasay Ketchum with 27.

Four years before that, Ron DeSimone won Maggie’s mayoral race with 215 votes, besting Roger McElroy by 74 votes.

In addition to Banks, Alderman Phillip Wight’s term will also expire this year; Wight said months ago it was still too far out to decide if he’d run for reelection, but with Banks’ recent announcement, that means there will be at least one and maybe two seats available on the board of aldermen.

Municipal candidate filing begins at noon on Friday, July 5 and runs through noon on Friday, July 19. The deadline to register to vote is 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 7. Early voting starts on Wednesday, Oct. 16 and ends on Saturday, Nov. 2; times, dates and locations for early voting will vary by city and county. Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 5.

For more information on voter registration, polling places absentee ballots and more, visit 10 www.haywoodcountync.gov/173/.

Junaluska Elementary works to empower male students

Smoky Mountain News

May 29-June 4, 2019

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Carter Hollifield, (front row from left) Mason Rathbone, Trent Decker, Brooks Barbee, Henry Blackburn, August Menck, Tanner Justice, Dylan Douville, Levi Jackson, Aiden Harris, Jacob Davis, (second row from left) Katy Robinson (teacher), Lisa Ourada (running buddy), Connor Willis (running buddy), Cameron Nixon (teacher), Becca Brown (teacher), Alex Masciarelli (principal).

BY S USANNA S HETLEY STAFF WRITER emale empowerment is all the rage right now. From school-age programs like Girls on the Run to the #MeToo movement, the advocacy for equal rights and femrespect is paramount. As a woman, I’m happy to see our gender being supported and heard.

But as the mom of two boys, I’m intentionally and delicately raising my children to be the best, most honorable men they can be.

We have to be careful not to inadvertently demean boys and men under the guise of building up women.

In fact, I think our society’s choices when it comes to raising boys are equally as important as those involving girls. While we want future women to feel emboldened, we also want them to have confident partners who stand beside them in supportive and reverent ways.

My boys attend Junaluska Elementary School and over the past several years, I’ve watched their female friends participate in a program called Girls on the Run. It’s a wellestablished fitness program with the following mission: “We inspire girls to be joyful, healthy and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running.”

My 10-year-old son enjoys running and has participated in a number of competitive

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races, including a youth triathlon. He’d make comments about how cool it would be if there was a running club for boys. You can imagine his excitement when we received paperwork this year about a new program at his school called Let Me Run. Let Me Run is a Charlotte-based nonprofit with a mission to inspire boys to be themselves, be active and to belong. The curriculum encourages boys to develop their psychological, emotional and social health, along with their physical health. At the end of the season, the team runs a 5K race together.

This program was sponsored and excellently managed by two young Junaluska teachers, Becca Brown and Cameron Nixon.

Every Tuesday and Thursday when I picked up my son, Ms. Brown and Mr. Nixon were all smiles. Their positive attitude and commitment to the program were the backbones of Let Me Run. Despite being worn out and drenched with sweat, not once did my child say he didn’t want to attend the next practice.

Coach Brown said, “We had such a sweet group of kids this year. I’m really glad they were able to be part of our very first Let Me Run team. The boys grew so much and it was amazing to see their hard work pay off at the 5K.” According to a 2016 study by the Institute to Promote Athlete Health & Wellness of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the Let Me Run program significantly

improves boys’ attitudes and behaviors associated with healthy masculinity, increases vigorous physical activity levels, improves social competence and reduces screen time on school days. The two-season evaluation also demonstrated abilities to better express emotion, show affection, build friendships and connect with others.

Along with Let Me Run, Junaluska holds a Band of Brothers night organized and facilitated by school counselor Joy Sollie. This event focuses on the importance of brotherhood and sticking together. Some of the sessions include team building, commitment, sportsmanship and anger management.

Junaluska Elementary was the only school in Haywood County to implement the Let Me Run program in 2019, but other schools will hopefully follow suit in coming years. As a mom, it makes me happy to see their school implement an array of programs to empower all students. Both the children and adults appear to grow and learn throughout these experiences.

“Let Me Run was far more rewarding than I ever thought it could be,” said Coach Nixon.

“Several of the boys latched onto the idea that pushing yourself and giving your best is an awesome way to live. I even saw this carry over into the classroom. For me, the program was an incredibly wholesome and humbling experience.”

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Curriculum director proposed for Jackson Schools

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BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER n the last few years, Jackson County has poured significant investment into its public schools, including $9 million in much-needed repairs to roofs, heating and water systems; new teaching positions paid for through local funds; security upgrades; and, in the last budget year, six school counselor positions, four school resource officers and one juvenile crime detective.

During a budget presentation to county commissioners May 22, Superintendent Kim Elliott, Ph.D., thanked the board for its continued support of the school system and made her case for another new position in the coming fiscal year.

“It’s important that we make a huge impact this year in student performance,” she said.

While the school system’s performance improved slightly in the 2018 N.C. School Report Card results, it’s still near the bottom of the pack when compared to the state’s other 114 school districts. In 2018 it ranked 75th out of 115 school districts compared to 77 out of 115 in 2017.

To improve performance, Elliott is planning to take $200,000 from the school system’s fund balance, akin to a savings account, for programming, tutors and extending current employee contracts. She’s also asking commissioners for $88,000 to add a curriculum coordinator position to the payroll, as well as additional employment for teachers, staff and tutors.

“This person is not an administrator,” said Elliott. “They’re going to work elbow-toelbow with teachers. We have a very small class size thanks to the three teachers that you provided last school year. By maintaining those three teachers I have met (state) statute.

But what I cannot do is have somebody that is well qualified to work elbow-to-elbow with teachers to look at curriculum in a way that it

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BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ackson County’s proposed budget for 2019-2020 won’t require an increase from the current property tax rate of 0.38 cents per $100 of value, and at $65 million it clocks in at 0.78 percent higher than the 2018-19 approved budget and 2.01 percent lower than Don Adams the amended 201819 budget.

Education accounts for the largest share of the proposed spending, at 26 percent, followed by public safety at 23 percent, human services at 22 percent and general government at 18 percent.

However, noted County Manager Don Adams in his presentation to commis-

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“I will tell you that our class size is good.

Therefore, I don’t need to ask for that additional teacher. One teacher makes a huge difference for 29 students. I’m looking for a bigger impact.”

— Kim Elliott, Jackson County Schools Superintendent

has not been examined before. We owe that to our fine teachers.”

Elliott also asked for a 2 percent increase in operations funding and told commissioners that in a future budget year — though not this one — she’d be asking for a one-time bonus for employees at a district-wide cost of $189,141. Teachers would receive $400 apiece and staff, $250.

The curriculum director proposal met with pushback from commissioners.

“I know you go into really hard work to plan this budget, but I feel I wouldn’t be true to myself and my basic beliefs in education not to question the money for the curriculum coordinator,” said Commissioner Gayle Woody, a former art teacher in the school system, “when one of my gut beliefs is teacherstudent interaction is the most important thing for student success.”

“I too am a teacher at heart,” said Elliott.

“I will tell you that our class size is good.

Therefore, I don’t need to ask for that additional teacher. One teacher makes a huge difference for 29 students. I’m looking for a bigger impact.”

The curriculum coordinator position, she said would affect the district’s more than 3,000 students by working with the teachers who teach them.

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But how, asked Woody, would that be different from the lead teachers already employed in the schools? Isn’t it their job to ensure curriculum is being followed? Not always, Elliott replied — some lead teachers work as teacher coaches while others work as interventionists with small groups of students.

“Right now some lead teachers do both jobs, and many of them only work with students, so teachers don’t have that elbow-toelbow person,” she said.

“I’m still unclear what this person is going to be doing,” replied Commissioner Ron Mau. “Me too,” said Woody.

Elliott told commissioners that getting this position in place will be important to improving test scores. Neighboring counties have this position — in fact, they have at least two such positions.

“They all have at least two, and some have d C more,” she said.

“Swain doesn’t because I talked to them d this morning and they didn’t,” said S Commissioner Boyce Deitz. “They may have J e hired one since I got off the phone.”

Henderson and Haywood counties definitely do, though, said Elliott, and their test scores p are higher. Commissioner Mickey Luker saw w the logic, seeing the position as one that would f t bring consistency across the district.

“That makes total sense to me,” he said. i “I know it’s worked in two other places, v and I know that our teachers are just as good a or better than those other two places,” Elliott said. “I’m only asking for one. If it works I i may need to dip into fund balance and ask a you for a second one, but I want to see if it a works before coming in with a major plan.” I If it’s working, she said, that should be t apparent when the test results for the 2019- D b 2020 school year are released.

B UDGET, CONTINUED FROM 12

contracted work the TDA pays for and consider bringing some of those tasks in-house.

• Improve safety at Fairview Youth Complex. The baseball park at Smoky Mountain High School has some acute needs, but the budget proposal for this year promises only $50,000 to address electrical issues on the property that have caused a safety concern. There may also be an opportunity this year to look at addressing issues with the concession stand, said Adams, but with contractors as busy as they are in the current economy, it seems unlikely that the county could finish the entire job in the upcoming fiscal year even if it tried.

• Employee insurance fees will rise.

Hospital and dental contributions will

increase by 23.11 percent for employees.

• Code enforcement fees will increase.

Base fees will increase by 60 percent for light commercial, 20 percent for large commercial and 17 percent for new single-family structures. Inspectors are having to provide more inspections under those base fees, so the department director felt it was appropriate to raise the rates, said Adams.

• Fund capital maintenance at Southwestern Community College. The proposed budget includes $431,000 for capital outlay at SCC. Costs would include HVAC replacement in Founders Hall, vehicle repair, forklift purchase, bridge installation, carpeting at Holt Library and re-roofing gazebos.

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sioners May 21, much of the spending in the human services sector is reimbursed from other sources.

Goals in the recommended budget include: • Homeless shelter funding will be $130,000, but a manager is still needed. The current manager for the county’s coldweather shelter will not be continuing in the new budget year. The proposed budget would fund those services at a similar level to that provided in the current budget year, but commissioners will have to participate in ongoing conversations to determine which entity should manage the services.

One group, HERE in Jackson County, responded to a request for proposals earlier this year, and commissioners are in conversation with that organization to determine if the partnership would be a good fit. The shelter typically opens in November.

• Build new parks in Whittier and Dillsboro. The budget includes $750,000 for new parks, with Whittier as the priority.

However, it’s not certain those funds will be spent entirely in the next budget year, as contractors are currently quite busy. There’s no guarantee the county will be able to get someone to do the work immediately.

• Get to work on facilities improvement. In the coming budget year, schematic

be created in the sheriff ’s office allowing the sheriff to hire law enforcement officers on a part-time basis.

• Expand Tourism Development Authority staffing. The Tourism Development Authority wants to add a new sales and marketing manager position, which will be funded through occupancy tax revenues rather than through property taxes. The position will work to bring in overnight visits during the shoulder seasons, when they’re most needed, TDA director Nick Breedlove told commissioners. The typical staff for a county Jackson’s size includes five to six people, he said, but as of now he is the TDA’s only employee. Over the coming years he plans to look at some of the

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design for the proposed Animal Rescue Center at the Green Energy Park will be done, and project construction will begin.

Schematic design for the Jackson County Justice Center is expected to begin at the end of the fiscal year.

• Continue efforts to establish career pathways for county workers. All employees will receive a one-step pay increase this year, for a total price tag of $411,000. Some position titles and pay grades will be adjusted to improve retention and ensure employees in various positions have an opportunity to advance.

• Add new positions. New positions will include three new public works employees, a new front office person for animal control and a new Seniors Health Insurance Information Program counselor. Two parttime positions in the Parks and Recreation Department and the Green Energy Park will become full-time, and a new line item will

May 29-June 4, 2019

A public hearing on the proposed budget will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 4, in Room A201 of the Jackson County Justice and Administration Building. Anybody is welcome to speak for three minutes or less on any aspect of the budget.

Two work sessions will be held between the budget hearing and the budget adoption scheduled for June 18. Those work sessions will be 1 p.m. Thursday, June 6, and 1 p.m. Tuesday, June 11.

To view the entire budget and budget message, visit www.jacksonnc.org/financedepartment.

Mon.-Fri. 9-6 | Sat. 9-5 Closed Sun.

*Terms and Conditions apply.

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news

Macon schools pleads for more resources Mental health issues plaguing young students

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR ngela Phillips painted a painfully realistic picture of what it’s been like inside her second-grade classroom at Cartoogechaye Elementary for the last few years.

“The mental health issues and the lack of proper parenting is making our job virtually impossible,” she told the Macon County Board of Commissioners last week. “I will say this bold statement and maybe it’s wrong, but if I had a child or grandchild entering Macon County Schools right now I’d be very hesitant. I’d be very concerned seeing what I’ve seen.”

During a recent county budget workshop, Phillips described for commissioners the many challenges she and other teachers are up against as state funding cuts and societal issues play out in a school setting. With 27 years of experience teaching second grade, Phillips knows her job is more than academics — teaching kids to tie their shoes, dealing with tears, bloody noses and upset tummies — it all comes with the territory.

one to love them and listen to them and give them instruction,” she said. “The children that have the ability to learn and are from a home that is stable don’t get the instruction they deserve because my time is so taken up with just problems.”

She never thought she’d see so many second-graders with mental health issues because of the trauma they’re going through at home. In her early teaching years, she said she might have one-fourth of the students going through major issues at home, but now it’s more like three-fourths of the class.

“Academics is taking a backseat to the

Smoky Mountain News

May 29-June 4, 2019

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However, she said the issues kids were dealing with 20 years ago are nothing compared to what they’re going through nowadays. How are teachers supposed to make curriculum a top priority when they have 7-year-olds crying their eyes out because their dad was arrested last night or falling asleep at their desk because they weren’t able to sleep in their noisy house the night before, Phillips asked.

“We have children not getting the proper love and instruction they need from birth,” she said. “We had a mother of a child in my class get a DUI while in the car rider line — that’s a pretty big obstacle for kids to overcome. If they’re sad, worried or scared, education is not happening.”

When she started teaching, Phillips said she had an average of 18 students in her classroom with a full-time teacher’s assistant. Now she has 25 students at a time and only has a TA for an hour and a half each day, which means the TA is rarely there when she actually needs her for any type of emergency.

Phillips said she can’t adequately meet the needs of 25 students without a full-time TA, especially with all the issues many of them are going through.

“We need people — they don’t need another game or screen — they need some-

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For appointments please call 828.586.7654

mental health issues and other problems when it should be my number one priority,” Phillips said.

Phillips’ testimony was important for commissioners to hear as they try to meet the needs of the Macon County school system within the limits of the 2019-20 county budget. In the proposed budget presented to commissioners May 14, County Manager Derek Roland expressed satisfaction with the amount of local funding Macon provides to the school system.

According to figures published by the Office of the State Superintendent for fiscal year 2017-18, local fund-

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The Macon Middle School Science and STEM-E clubs also took a trip to the Raleigh area recently. They started the three-day visit with a hands-on engineering presentation by Dr. Laura Bottomly of the NCSU College of Engineering, followed by a campus tour and meal with some current NCSU students.

The second day took them to the NC Zoo in Asheboro followed by more looking around the NCSU campus and Q&A time about life on a big campus, in a big city. The final day focused on the annual NCSU Engineering Open House. In between making ice cream with liquid nitrogen and handling 3-D printed prosthetics, they were able to interact with students from every engineering discipline and see the career possibilities and educational paths of each.

state not to fund the early college as much as it has in the past and could be facing a $75,000 shortfall. The county budget also doesn’t fund the system’s STEM coordinator position of $75,000 or the bonus pay the school board requested for its custodial and clerical employees, which would cost $96,000. With only about $1.3 million in fund balance, the school system can’t afford to keep absorbing the rising costs.

“Without these provisions the school system will be forced to utilize $170,000 of fund balance to maintain our current level of service,” Baldwin said. “We anticipate that overall costs will increase again in fiscal year 2020-21.”

Commissioner Ronnie Beale asked if Phillips had expressed her concerns at the state level to Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin.

“When you can’t afford teacher assistants you pay for it dearly later,” he said.

“I did but I can’t talk about it without crying,” she replied. “I was not pleased (with the response).”

Commissioner Gary Shields said he understood the importance of the STEM coordinator position — STEM skills are essential for workforce development. The school system wants to continue to grow their program by integrating STEM into the curriculum much earlier.

“The program is a turning point for all these young people — it’s generating energy with the young people and will create a more qualified worker,” he said.

The county’s next budget workshop will be held at 4 p.m. Monday, June 3, at the county courthouse.

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The Experimental Design/STEM_E class of Macon Middle School swept all three awards in a recent 2019 STEM-E Workshop and Competition in Cherokee.

Teagan Stevens, Israel Jackson and Samantha Rowland won first place and a $500 prize for their investigation of wind turbine design. Brittany Kohlman, Callie Roper, Taylie Payne and Zachary Pazar took second place and $300 for their replication and experiment involving the mirrors on the new James Webb telescope set to be deployed next year. Hannah Dromm, Kaira Watford, and BriAnna Campbell won third place and $200 for investigation of golf ball action.

of their low tax bases and because much of the county is occupied by national forest and national park. For example, Swain received $1.6 million last year for small schools; $162,000 for being a low-wealth county and $577,000 from the federal government in impact aid funding.

“Because Swain, Clay, Graham and Cherokee receive that money, they can use it to pay for teachers’ salaries. We don’t so ours has to come out of local funds to retain teachers,” Baldwin said.

The state does provide funding to pay teachers based on their ADM (Average Daily Population), but those calculations aren’t always accurate. If Macon County ends up with more students than anticipated or students enroll after the tenth day of school, the school system would have to find additional funding to hire more teachers in order to keep class sizes within state-mandated limits.

Baldwin anticipates needing four more kindergarten through third-grade teachers to meet the class size requirements, which mandate K-3 classrooms not have more than 22 students. Highlands School, a geographically isolated K-12 school, is projecting 25 firstgraders and 24 kindergartners for 2019-20, which means two first-grade classes and two kindergarten classes and a TA for each class.

However, he said the county’s recommended budget does not fully fund the TA salaries and supplement the system needs.

As Phillips pointed out, more full-time teacher assistants are needed in kindergarten through second-grade classrooms instead of a

29-hour position that rotates between classrooms during the day.

“The 29-hour people are great but they’re there until they get a 40-hour a week job,” she said.

Baldwin also predicts adding a kindergarten class at Cartoogechaye, a first and second-grade class at South Macon, and a firstgrade class at East Franklin. Meanwhile, Nantahala School — the county’s other isolated K-12 school — will only have about 10 students in each class.

“Because of our number of schools in Macon and because students don’t come in perfect blocks of 18, we face some unique problems,” Baldwin said.

When it comes to teacher salaries and local supplements, Baldwin said Macon is still falling behind and has to compete not only with other western counties but also with Rabun County School system across the Georgia state line.

“There are 115 districts in the state — 101 of them have higher supplements than Macon County,” he said.

Transylvania County offers a $4,160 annual supplement; Haywood offers $2,624; Jackson offers $975 and Macon offers $964.

The average salary of a teacher in Rabun County is about $4,070 more than the average teacher in Macon County. With Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp proposing to increase teacher salaries by $3,000 in the coming year and another $2,000 in 2021, Baldwin said it’s going to be much harder for Macon to recruit and retain quality teachers.

The school system is also expecting the

May 29-June 4, 2019

Macon students win at STEM competition

The school system requested nearly $8.8 million from the county to cover operating expenses for 2019-20, but the proposed budget recommends $7.8 million — the same amount budgeted during the 2018-19 budget.

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ing accounted for 23.2 percent of total per pupil expenditures in the Macon County School System with an average of 4,325 students. At this level, Roland said local funding in Macon was well above the seven-county region of 20.7 percent. He said Macon County’s average teacher pay is $51,700 — $1,460 above the regional average.

“While information from the State Superintendent’s Office only includes FY 1718 figures, one can assume that the $1,257,000 or 15 percent increase in local funding provided to the School System since FY 17-18 will allow us to improve upon our position in the west, in terms of local educational funding levels, for the coming fiscal year,” Roland wrote in his budget message.

Superintendent Dr. Chris Baldwin said the school system appreciated the increase in local funding last year from the county, the system is still going to experience a funding shortfall for 2019-20 if county funding levels don’t increase over last year.

The school system requested nearly $8.8 million from the county to cover operating expenses for 2019-20, but the proposed budget recommends $7.8 million — the same amount budgeted during the 2018-19 budget.

For capital outlay, the school system asked for $2.4 million and the budget includes $1.15 million. The budget also allocates $472,590 for teacher supplemental pay though the school system requested $627,085.

“At the time of this budget message it appears that the state budget will have no adverse impact on the School System from FY 18-19-FY 19-20, thus, an increase in local funding should not be needed to maintain the current level of service,” Roland reported.

However, Baldwin said the information presented in the budget don’t offer a complete and accurate picture of the local and state funding situation in the region. When comparing per pupil funding with other counties in the region, it does appear to be above average — with only Haywood County funding about 1.2 percent more per student.

Swain and Graham counties provide 17.4 percent local funding for their respective school systems; Clay funds 15.8 percent; Cherokee funds 23.8 percent; Jackson funds 22.9 and Haywood funds 24.4 percent. Baldwin said counties like Swain and Graham receive more state and federal funding for schools because

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Smoky Mountain News May 29-June 4, 2019

news

Education

Smoky Mountain News

basketball coach at Tuscola High School. The school will begin the search for a new athletic director immediately.

Clapp named Kenan Fellow Amanda Clapp, a science teacher at the Catamount School, the laboratory middle school operated by Western Carolina University in partnership with Jackson County Schools, has been named a Kenan Fellow for 2019-20.

A Sylva resident, Clapp is one of 27 educators across the state chosen for the fellowship and one of six Kenan Fellows in Western North Carolina who will work to make connections between their classrooms and authentic science, technology, engineering and math (also known as “STEM”) practices in the workplace as part of the WNC STEMwork project.

The Kenan Fellows Program was established in 2000 as a K-12 education initiative of the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology and Science at North Carolina State University. Participating educators receive a $5,000 stipend for their work.

For more information about Clapp’s participation in the STEMwork project, contact her at agclapp@wcu.edu.

WCU athletic program awarded Western Carolina University’s Athletic Training Program was honored as recipient of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s Commissioner’s Choice Award during a ceremony held May 2 at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill.

The award was presented in recognition of the patient care and sports medicine services that have been provided by the program’s students and faculty at state cross country and wrestling tournaments since the program’s inception in 2004.

WCU’s athletic training students also serve NCHSAA institutions regularly through their clinical education experiences by providing services to middle school and high school athletic teams with prevention, evaluation and rehabilitation.

College prep at the library

Learn how to earn your GED

Students awarded HCC merit scholarship

A free workshop will teach you everything you need to know to make your college experience a success from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 11, at Waynesville Library Auditorium.

Speaker Laura Misner will cover choosing a career and a college, understanding the financial aid process, online/hybrid program options for working adults, scholarships and grants, understanding student loans, avoiding scams and overpaying and finally, free resources and assistance.

Presented by the N.C. College Foundation. No registration is required. Sponsored by the Friends of the Library.

College and Career Readiness at Haywood Community College will be having a special orientation on how to earn your High School Equivalency (GED) or Adult High School Diploma from 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesday, June 12, at the Waynesville Library Auditorium.

This orientation will give you an overview of how the High School Equivalency or Adult High School Diploma is earned. A short survey and individual participants plans will be given on how to complete the High School Equivalency or Adult High School Diploma. Presented by College and Career Readiness at HCC and sponsored by the Friends of the Library. Registration is required.

Call 828.356.2507 or email Kathleen.Olsen@haywoodcountync.gov.

Four Haywood County high school seniors were awarded the Pop and Marj Kelly Merit Scholarship at Haywood Community College.

Amyia Deitz and Thomas “Zeke” Long of Pisgah High School and Parker Montgomery and Sarah Simmons of Tuscola High School were each awarded $10,000 for two years. This competitive scholarship requires applicants to submit an essay, as well as a list of their community and extracurricular school activities. In addition, recipients are required to have a minimum grade point average of 3.5.

Deitz plans to take nursing. For Long, HCC will be the first step on his path to becoming a mechanical engineer. At HCC, Montgomery will take college transfer classes then pursue a degree in nursing. Simmons will study nursing at HCC then transfer to Western Carolina University to get a bachelor’s degree in nursing.

Registration for fall semester is underway now.

For more information, visit haywood.edu or email hcc-advising@haywood.edu.

Fiber student wins national scholarship Haywood Community College professional crafts fiber student Nandita Vyas was recently awarded the Dendel Scholarship from the Handweavers Guild of America in the category of textile design.

This award is a national student design competition among college students enrolled in a textile program in the United States, including graduate students. Vyas is the seventh HCC student in the past eight years to be awarded this $3,000 scholarship.

Vyas is from Raleigh and spent nine years working as an architect after completing undergraduate studies at UNC-Chapel Hill and graduate studies at Georgia Tech. She left the corporate world to start a business with her partner, which gave her the freedom to explore possibilities for her future.

“I took a lot of art classes as an undergraduate,” Vyas explains. “I’ve always had the urge to make things with my hands. The architectural side of me is inspired by how each thread in weaving interacts to make a whole.”

Shaw Ford endows new scholarship Continuing a longstanding tradition of supporting Southwestern Community College, Andy Shaw Ford of Sylva has committed to endowing a new scholarship for the Automotive Systems Technology program at SCC. “The people of Andy Shaw Ford have been long time supporters of SCC,” said Dr. Don Tomas, president of SCC. “We are excited to be able to give more opportunities to future students of our Automotive program because of the generosity of Larry Hinton and his team.”

The Andy Shaw Endowed Scholarship Fund will support one Automotive student per school year once it is fully funded at SCC. Candidates for this scholarship will have an upcoming GPA of at least 2.5 and maintain a GPA of 3.0 or better within the Automotive Systems Technology Curriculum.

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Tuscola athletic director resigns Coach Ann Gardner, athletic director at Tuscola High School, announced her resignation as the school’s athletic director on Thursday, May 9.

Gardner, who has been the school’s athletic director for the past year, is resigning to pursue an administrative degree.

“We appreciate the hard work and effort that Coach Garner spent leading our athletic department,” said Todd Trantham, principal of Tuscola High School. “We wish her the best of luck as she begins a new season in her career.”

Gardner will continue her teaching responsibilities and coaching duties as the head women’s

HCC grad named ‘Outstanding Alumni’ Darrell Honeycutt, 2012 Haywood Community College automotive systems technology graduate, was named Outstanding Alumni of the Year Award recipient for 2019.

Honeycutt is program manager in the College’s Business & Industry Department and is an automotive instructor. He teaches students on the main campus as well as students at Pisgah High School through the Career and College Promise Program. He’s found his teaching career to be very fulfilling.

“I really enjoy the interaction with students, passing my knowledge on and helping them achieve their goals to get a great job. I try to incorporate soft skills into what I teach to make the students more employable and successful.”

Rotarians read to kindergartners Members of The Rotary Club of Franklin recently went back to kindergarten, if only for a portion of an hour, to read from one or more books to the classes in the Franklin area as well as Nantahala School.

Ten Rotarians visited 14 classes in five schools and donated 77 books to the classes. The project started with the kindergarten teachers choosing several books they wished to add to their classroom collections. The Rotary Club then ordered the books and organized Rotarians to visit the classrooms.

“I had a wonderful time today with the kiddos,” commented Bobbie Jo Ramsdell.

Other Rotarians who participated in the project were Debbie Tallent, Susan Parrott, Susie Perry, Mike Norris, Don and Sandy Herrell, President Janet Greene, Fred Drexler, Tom Coley, Mocon County Schools Superintendent Chris Baldwin and Lee Berger, Community Service chair.

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Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

Memorial Day is more than flags and speeches M

chiatrists until 1980, but during my years in Fayetteville — 1970-78 — we all knew it was real and that many dads suffered terribly. Some of my friends feared their fathers, and, when they got to their teen years, physically brawled with them.

Most people experienced the Vietnam War through television and new stories, but kids growing up in this neighborhood had very close ties to that conflict. When my mom and dad split up and my mother married a Vietnam vet who was one of those who did not make it back in one piece, I got to experience first-hand some of the trauma those guys dealt with. Simply put, it was hell. And so for a short while he made our lives a Editor part of that hell.

That marriage ended — thankfully — and mom married another Vietnam vet. This one, James, never got a full night’s sleep after the war, and you’d find him up at all hours. But he was kind and generous, a great stepdad. Then he started having strokes and other debilitating problems we later learned were linked to his exposure to Agent Orange. He never complained, but he spent his last few years completely bed-ridden due to the after-effects of his service to this country.

James was also Hispanic. My kids knew him as “Abuelo.”

Scott McLeod

y wife, Lori, and I recently attended the wedding of my nephew in Fayetteville. While there, we wandered around downtown for a couple of meals and I was reminded of how the city’s affiliation with the monster military machine of Ft. Bragg defines this Southern town.

Fort Bragg is the largest U.S. Army base by population, with more than 52,000 active duty soldiers. The base also has more than 12,000 reservists, almost 9,000 civilian employees and 63,000 active duty family members. Throw in almost 100,000 retirees and their family members, and you begin to get the scope of the military’s impact. All told, the census bureau pegs the metropolitan area’s population at about 375,000.

Being a military kid myself, I never really had a hometown or a homeplace. We just moved too much. I was 10 when we got to Fayetteville, so the eight years I spent there until college meant it was where I spent some very impressionable years.

At the time the whole affiliation with the military was just normal, especially in the neighborhood we lived in, which was very close to the base. My father was retired Navy, but so many of my buddies had fathers still in active duty or recently retired — or they lived in single-parent homes because their fathers had died in action in Vietnam.

Still others lived in single-parent homes because dad couldn’t cope with the skeletons he brought back from the war and mom had to escape with the kids to save the remnants of her family. PTSD wasn’t officially recognized by psy-

One of the characteristics of military cities like this is that they have a very international flavor. The moms among my friend group were from Germany, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, England, Puerto Rico and elsewhere.

I was reminded of that when we wandered around Fayetteville while attending that wedding. Back when the South was not very diverse, this little city was a place of many languages and a very multi-cultural place. On-base schools and neighborhoods were integrated very early. It was normal, and I think it helped me become an adult who accepted, embraced and appreciated this country as a melting pot.

When I think of the military service of my father, my father-in-law, my stepfather and my brother, it is linked to this country’s attitude toward immigrants and those seeking a better life for their families. When our soldiers fight against tyrants and totalitarian regimes abroad, the message from our politicians on down to those on the front lines is that we won’t abide those who trample on the rights of those who can’t defend themselves.

Those who served often continue their fight long after they retire their uniform, and often those later battles have nothing to do with valor and citations. For many it’s just trying to survive from one day to the next. Just as we honored their military service on Memorial Day, let’s make sure we continue to support their struggles afterward while keeping the dream of freedom alive to those who seek it.

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

Evangelical fingerprints all over abortion bills L

men, this is your answer. Again and again they have proven themselves to be wildly out of touch with American society and more likely to bend to the wishes of those who line their pockets than the people they are supposed to represent.

This is also very obviously the work of evangelical Christians.

With their large swaths of money to finance candidates around the country, Guest Columnist and their self-righteous belief that they can impress their ideals on everyone in our society, evangelical Christians have destroyed the political landscape of the United States.

They took the words “in God we trust” and used them as a weapon to ensure that everyone is this nation adheres to their antiquated and narrow-minded ideals of how a person should be, who a person should be, and what a person can do. Unfortunately the brunt of this burden falls on females, minorities and the poor.

Hannah McLeod

iving outside the United States makes it easier to ignore the day-to-day whirlwind of political and social bull that pervades our society. The back and forth, the focus on optics instead of outcome, the now-fasterthan-24-hour news cycle. My days here in Costa Rica are centered around making sure everyone gets fed, that the house runs smoothly, and whether or not there is good surf. Presence is a must.

So when the news filtered in about the Alabama abortion bill, I was shocked (not really surprised, it is the U.S. after all) and dismayed, it was close to dinner time and I had more pressing matters to consider. But slowly it did settle in. The fact that yet again a group of old white men could decide what thousands of American women could do with their bodies.

The bill is outright disgusting and illogical, not even permitting exemptions for rape or incest. It is now true that a woman who gets an abortion in Alabama after being raped could serve a longer prison sentence than the man who raped her. If anyone wonders why so many young people tend to attack the older generation, especially old, white, wealthy

Even those wealthy conservatives without particularly strong Christian beliefs can usually get behind these sorts of bills because they help to keep poor folks where they are.

Difficult access to expensive healthcare means young people can’t always get the birth control options they need, only perpetuating the cycle of poverty with early, unwanted pregnancies. In turn those people on top stay on top, making millions off the working class.

It is the coalition of conservative evangelical Christians who put Trump in power and continue to prop him up, despite the outwardly horrible person he is, in return for the conservative judges they get appointed to lifetime positions around the country. It is a dangerous bargain that they are willing to accept.

So yes, we should be angry at the old wealthy men making decisions about young women’s bodies. But it is of equal importance to understand who it is putting them in power, where their base comes from.

It is a particular kind of evil to think that you can control the bodies, beliefs or actions of other people when they are not causing you direct harm. In a “free” country like ours people should have the right to choose how they

live their life. If you don’t like abortion, don’t get an abortion, if you don’t like gay marriage don’t marry someone the same sex as you, if you don’t want a gun don’t buy one (though the system of legality needs serious updating), if you don’t like transgender people, don’t change your gender, etc.

But everyone should be free to choose, so why try and tell someone else what they can do with their body? Just because your god or your book tells you something is wrong does not mean that the people around you believe the same, that they have the same needs or priorities.

Evangelism is something we should have left behind years ago as a society, especially the sneaky, forceful kind of American evangelical Christians. Unfortunately it is still alive and rampant and is causing physical harm to millions of people in this country. It is time to live up to the bare minimum of the label of our country and grant people the basic freedoms which are their right, uninhibited by the religious beliefs of one wealthy group.

(Hannah McLeod is from Waynesville and is a graduate of Appalachian State University currently living in Costa Rica. mcleodh828@gmail.com)

LOOKING FOR OPINIONS: The Smoky Mountain News encourages readers to express their opinions through letters to the editor or guest columns.

All viewpoints are welcome. Send to Scott McLeod at info@smokymountainnews.com., fax to 828.452.3585, or mail to PO Box 629, Waynesville, NC, 28786.

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Trump threatens our ideals

Why deny health coverage?

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about four pages or so if the essay is double-spaced.

On the day students were supposed to read their drafts aloud in small groups for peer review, more than half the class brought in drafts that were a fraction of the target length. Some struggled to eke out more than a skinny paragraph or two. Some protested that they had nothing in their lives interesting enough to write about. I was used to that.

Mike’s draft was twelve pages, more than three times what I asked for. After I broke the class into groups of three or four, he approached me at my desk in front of the room.

“I wrote way too much,” he said, almost embarrassed. “Once I started, I couldn’t get stopped. I don’t know if it’s any good, or if it’s a good idea for me to read this to other people. I mean, I don’t know if I can anyway. Would you look at it?”

I took his draft and sent him back to his group to help his group members with their drafts. Then I read it. Then I left the classroom briefly to regroup outside in the overbearing early September sun while the students took turns reading their drafts. I could feel rivulets of sweat streaming down my back. Evidently, summer was not leaving without a fight. I read Mike’s draft again, about a patrol he led through a village in a much hotter place, surveying the damage after a bomb had exploded in that area.

They entered what was left of a home and found what was left of the people there. They had “clean up” duty, the things they saw and had to do unimaginable, unspeakable.

I ask my students to “make sense” of their stories for the reader. What was the sense of this one? Mike wanted his readers to know that he went to Iraq to serve the country that he loved, and that when he went, he was one man. He was back now, a different man, he wasn’t sure exactly how or why. He didn’t even who he was now, or what to do with these stories except to write them down. Maybe that would help, or maybe it wouldn’t. He didn’t know.

I had him in two or three other classes over the next two years. During that time, he grew his hair out very long. He grew a bushy beard before it became fashionable to wear one. He wore tie-dye Tshirts and headbands to keep his hair out of his eyes. It was as if he were trying to disappear inside a new version of himself.

He bought himself a guitar and played it between classes out on the grassy bank between Oaks Hall and Bradford Hall. I let him play a couple of songs he had written in class. He sang about the friends he made in Iraq who didn’t come back. He sang about his pain and his anger, about his pride in having served and the confusion he felt now. He wrote about coming back and finding a world no longer familiar. He wrote about the people he left behind, the beliefs he left behind, the part of himself that he left behind. He brought back a bunch of pieces of his life, and he was still trying to put them together when our time together ran out and he moved on to wherever he moved on to.

On Memorial Day, we honor those brave men and women who sacrificed everything for their country. We owe a debt that we can never repay. I don’t know how we can repay Mike either, or all the other veterans who came back, all of them with their own stories, except to say thank you and to offer a prayer. Heal well. Sleep well. Be well. Keep in touch.

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

Smoky Mountain News

To the Editor: Many people in our Western North Carolina counties are in a health care coverage void. Through no fault of their own they are among 530,000 persons in the state who are caught in a coverage “gap” between Medicaid and Medicare. That gap is created when their income level, either too high or too low, disqualifies them from both programs unless NC legislators adopt Medicaid “expansion.” Until then, most people in this gap can’t afford routine doctor visits where health conditions could be treated before they become emergencies.

We see these persons every day. They are construction workers, early childhood educators, home health care aides, cashiers and service workers in restaurants, retail, hotels and the entertainment industry. These are people who feed their families and pay rent by juggling up to four jobs.

Their employers don’t provide health care coverage and when there’s a health crisis, the emergency room is their only option. They live on the margin of our communities and it seems that certain legislators aim to keep them in that place.

This needs to change! Democrat and Republican legislators know that the solution is to pass legislation that provides “clean” Medicaid expansion.

This means no special requirements — no fees, no reporting, no extra hurtles that have been judged to be illegal or impractical in other states.

Many of our representatives and senators know Medicaid expansion is the most fair and appropriate solution. It has already been adopted by 37 other states. Our hospital administrators, doctors and other health professionals agree they will be better able to care for lower income North Carolinians through clean Medicaid expansion legislation.

Why are Reps. Michelle Presnell, R-Burnsville, and Kevin Corbin, RFranklin, and Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, denying health care coverage to these people in WNC? Paul Smith Mars Hill

wish I knew where Mike is. I haven’t seen or heard from him in 10 years at least. I like to think of someone reading this column, connecting some dots, and then sending him a link, or maybe scissoring it out of the paper and mailing it to him. I like to think of him waiting to get his teeth cleaned at the dentist, picking up the paper and reading this column that is for him, because the memories I have of the stories, the essays, the poems, the short stories and the songs he wrote in my classes haunt me sometimes. He shared his stories with me, and the least I can do his share his story with you. Well, at least part of his story. I wish I knew the rest.

Or at least I think I do.

On this Memorial Day, as we are getting ready to head out for a big party at our Columnist friends’ house — a celebration of their daughter’s graduation from high school — I can’t get Mike out of my head. My first impression of him was not so different from the first impression I’ve had of the many veterans who have taken my English classes over the years. Quiet, punctual, clean cut, but something kaleidoscopic about the eyes, something hard to pin down. Restlessness? Vigilance? Tension? Remorse?

Incipient panic?

Most often, I just couldn’t get a handle, as I often could with other students, whose emotional life was usually less complex, less unsettled. When you can read what a student is thinking or feeling, you have a great advantage in knowing where to push the conversation. An angry student will need to be calmed. A motivated student will need to be guided. A lazy student will need to be challenged.

But what happens when a student’s eyes are flashing so much so fast that reading them feels like flipping through a 500-page novel in five seconds?

It seemed odd to think of Mike — or many of the students I’ve had over the span of 30 years in the classroom as “veterans.” A great many of them seemed barely old enough to shave. Some were not yet old enough to buy beer without a fake ID, an affront that became the source of many an argumentative paper on the drinking age.

Mike didn’t say much in class those first few weeks. He got to class on time and left as soon as it was over, answering roll call and saying little or nothing else. No questions. Not much participation in small groups. He was attentive, taking copious notes. No spacing out. No checking his phone. No doodling or other nonsense.

I knew from the introductory autobiography I had them write as a way for me to get to know them a little bit, while also getting a snapshot of their writing level, that he had served two tours in Iraq and had not been back home long before enrolling in school. He wasn’t sure about a major yet. That was about it. Clean writing, but nothing special.

Their first major essay was a narrative. I asked them to write a story about themselves, something honest, specific and focused, something with a point. I wanted to teach them about developing a thesis, while also teaching them to use vivid sensory details to transport their readers into the time, space and circumstances of their story. I asked for about a thousand words, give or take, which is

May 29-June 4, 2019

To the Editor: Thank you for publishing Norman Hoffman’s diagnosis of our president’s obvious disorder. Hoffman’s approach is logical, analytical, factual, clinically professional — done with clear objectivity. Donald Trump is a threat to everything that makes us proud Americans.

Voters, wake up!

Diane Davis Waynesville

A prayer for Mike and all who served

opinion

To the Editor: You don’t have to look far to see that many in North Carolina — approximately 500,000 — are struggling from an absence of adequate, high quality health insurance. This is why Haywood Regional, as part of its mission of “Making Communities Healthier,” is supporting bipartisan ETTERS efforts by Gov. Roy Cooper and legislators from both parties in the General Assembly to expand Medicaid. If North Carolina were to expand Medicaid, access to affordable insurance coverage would become available to the most vulnerable in North Carolina, including many in rural communities like ours.

Currently, many uninsured North Carolinians are reliant on emergency rooms in hospitals for their health care needs. Instead, our state should expand insurance coverage to allow these individuals and families access to appropriate care through a primary care physician. This will help them get the care they need at the right time and in the appropriate setting, which will improve health outcomes and build a stronger North Carolina.

Expanding access to insurance coverage is also critical to maintaining the viability of community and rural hospitals and the communities they serve.

Now is the time to address this critical need impacting our family, friends and neighbors. I hope that you will join us and encourage Sen. Jim Davis, RFranklin, Rep. Michele Presnell, R-Burnsville, and Rep. Joe Sam Queen, DWaynesville, to support efforts to expand Medicaid in North Carolina, including “N.C. Health Care for Working Families” (HB 655) which is currently under consideration in the North Carolina General Assembly.

Rod Harkleroad, CEO, Haywood Regional Medical Center Maurice Phillips, Board Chair, Haywood Regional Medical Center

Chris Cox

HRMC leaders support HB 655

19

tasteTHE mountains

LUNCH · CATERING TAKEOUT & DINNERS TO GO Scratch Kitchen Scratch made using the freshest ingredients.

Sandwiches featuring house roasted meats, fresh salads, sides & baked goods.

Gluten Free & Vegan Options Monday-Saturday 10:30-2:30

1196 N. MAIN STREET WAYNESVILLE

828-452-5187

May 29-June 4, 2019

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Whatever the Occasion, Let Us Do the Cooking!

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.

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.

Smoky Mountain News

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”

20

Meetings, Events, Parties & More

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.

CITY LIGHTS CAFE Spring Street in downtown Sylva.

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

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

Check the web calendar at citylightscafe.com.

THE CLASSIC WINESELLER 20 Church Street, Waynesville.

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

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

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

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

Instead our waitresses will bring your food piping hot from the kitchen right to your table and as many refills as you want. So if you have a big appetite, but sure to ask your waitress about our family style service.

FERRARA PIZZA & PASTA 243 Paragon Parkway, Clyde.

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

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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.

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.

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 Tuesday through Sunday. World-famous prime rib, steaks,

Voted

BEST BREAKFAST in Haywood County!

Local WNC Gift Sets for Father's Day!

Sun.–Thurs. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

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

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

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

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

Open 7 days a week ALL YEAR! 7am - noon | 828.926.0212 4309 Soco Rd., Maggie Valley

Customize Your Gift Basket with Local Western North Carolina Craft Items ORDER ONLINE CityLightsCafé.com pick up at the café!

3 E JACKSON ST. • SYLVA, NC

www.CityLightsCafe.com

tasteTHE mountains fresh seafood, gorgonzola cheese and salads. All ABC permits and open year-round.

Children always welcome. Take-out menu.

Excellent service and hospitality.

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.

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.

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. 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. kaninis.com

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.

MOUNTAIN PERKS ESPRESSO BAR & CAFÉ 9 Depot St., Bryson City. 828.488.9561.

Open Monday through Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. With music at the Depot. Sunday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Life is too short for bad coffee. We feature wonderful breakfast and lunch selections.

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 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.

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

Open seven days a week. Monday-Friday 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Saturday 3 p.m.-11 p.m., Sunday 4 p.m.-10 p.m. Family-owned for 30 years. Serving hand-tossed pizza made to order, pasta, subs, gourmet salads, calzones and seafood.

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

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

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

WAYNESVILLE PIZZA COMPANY 32 Felmet Street, Waynesville.

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

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

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

Closed Tuesday

Sunday 12-9 p.m.

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

MON.-SAT. 11AM- 8 PM

34 CHURCH ST. WAYNESVILLE 828.246.6505 twitter.com/ChurchStDepot

THANK YOU, HAYWOOD COUNTY,

FOR VOTING US

#1 BURGER! facebook.com/ChurchStreetDepot

Carver's

MAGGIE VALLEY RESTAURANT since 1952

Daily Specials: Soups, Sandwiches & Southern Dishes

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

Breakfast : Omelets, Pancakes, Biscuits & Gravy!

Breakfast served all day!

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

Real New Yorkers.

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828-246-6996 429 Hazelwood Avenue Waynesville Monday, Tuesday Wednesday Thursday, Friday Saturday Sunday Brunch

7:30am to 8pm Closed 7:30am to 8pm 8am to 8pm 9am to 3pm

AT BEARWATERS BREWING Tue-Thurs 12- 9 p.m • Fri-Sat: 12- 10 p.m.

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Smoky Mountain News

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.

Southern-inspired 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.

May 29-June 4, 2019

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.

Hand-tossed 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.

Bagels, wraps, soups, sandwiches, salads and quiche with a variety of specialty coffees, teas and smoothies. Various desserts.

20 Church Street Downtown Waynesville

classicwineseller.com MONDAY - SATURDAY

10:00AM - 6:00PM

21

22

A&E

Smoky Mountain News

Whole lotta highway (with a million miles to go) A conversation with Marty Stuart

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF WRITER hen you find yourself in the presence of Marty Stuart, you find yourself in the presence of the entire living, breathing history of country and bluegrass music.

Hailing from the small rural town of Philadelphia, Mississippi, the legendary singer/musician took off for the open road at age 12, performing with various groups throughout the Southeast. By the time he was 14, he had secured a position in bluegrass forefather Lester Flatt’s band.

After Flatt’s passing in 1979, Stuart played alongside acoustic music icons Vassar Clements (fiddle) and Doc Watson (guitar), only to then land in Johnny Cash’s backing band. By the late 1980s, Stuart himself became a popular country star with hits of his own.

But, Stuart never did stray too far from the beloved traditional county and bluegrass music of his youth, something he’s circled back to in recent decades as his trademark hair has slowly transitioned from black to silver.

In recent years, Stuart has turned a lifelong dream into a reality. Known as the Congress of County Music, Stuart broke ground this spring on the museum in his native Philadelphia. In it will be not only his legacy as an artist and performer, but also a mindboggling collection of county and bluegrass memorabilia from his extensive travels.

And through it all, Stuart remains — a musical star and, more importantly, a man truly humbled by the life he’s been able to live.

He’s always maintained that to find longevity in the music industry, you need to “stay close to the source,” meaning those who came before you — either remembered by you and me or simply forgotten by time itself, but all forever cherished within songs immortal.

W

Smoky Mountain News: Is this museum a culmination of everything for you?

Marty Stuart: Yeah. I call it my “Hillbilly Presidential Library.” It’s a cultural center, a museum, performance center, and the subtitle of not only my 40-something years of traveling, but pretty much the entire culture of traditional country music. It’s probably the largest private collection in the world. I think 20,000 [or more items]. It’s crazy. I’ve got the insurance bill to prove it. [Laughs].

It started in my bedroom as a kid, then my mom and dad’s house, then a little warehouse, then three warehouses, and now it’s becoming a cultural center. I always saw the importance of those treasures in my mind. When I was a kid in Lester Flatt’s band, when they’d throw away their ties, I’d say, “Can I have that?” or a

set list or guitar picks. It was a pure love of that music and those people — the master architects of it.

SMN: How big is Philadelphia, Mississippi?

MS: I think the county is about 30,000 or 40,000 people now. But, this thing that’s important to me about Mississippi, when you drive across the state line, it says, “Welcome to Mississippi — The Birthplace of America’s Music.” And you and I both know everything that’s come from there — it’s staggering.

In the north part of the state, you have the spiritual home of rock-n-roll, which is Elvis’ birthplace in Tupelo. Across the way in the delta, you have the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale and the B.B. King Museum. Down in the central state, where I’m from, is

“If I have something in front of me that knows more about me than I know about it, then I’m fine.”

— Marty Stuart

Meridian, and that’s where they just put in this $65 million Mississippi Arts & Entertainment Experience, and the little Jimmie Rodgers Museum is down there. So, the spiritual home of country music will be Philadelphia, Mississippi, and the Congress of Country Music.

SMN: What do you think about the road from being that kid in that bedroom in Philadelphia to where you are today?

MS: It’s crazy, because the first two records I ever owned in my life was a Flatt & Scruggs record and a Johnny Cash record. The only two jobs I ever had in my life was with Lester Flatt and Johnny Cash. And the girl that I love and married is [country singer] Connie Smith, who came to my hometown when I was 11. It kind of all came to me, then I went out and got it, and made a full circle back home with it.

SMN: You turned 60 last year. What’s your thought process now?

MS: Numbers don’t apply. I could care less about the number, just so long as I feel good. I mean, every guitar I got is older than me. But, it’s about feeling good and it’s about having hope. If I have something in front of me that knows more about me than I know about it — which I try to keep all the projects I can that do that — then I’m fine. You know, all of my friends are lifers. Merle Haggard told me one time, “You’re a lifer, takes one to know one.”

Where are we going to go? [Laughs].

Editor’s Note: If you would like to listen to the entire audio of this conversation, go to YouTube and search: “Marty Stuart Garret K. Woodward”

Marty Stuart. (photo: Alysse Gafkjen)

Want to go?

Country and bluegrass musical icon Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 1, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

Tickets start at $28 per person. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, call 866.273.4615 or click on www.greatmountainmusic.com.

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

Ode to my grandfather, ode to soldiers past and present

T

Thanks to all of you out there who served and continue to serve our country, for it you who keeps the flame of freedom and compassion burning bright, even in the darkest of times.

Editor’s Note: If you would like to watch the entire hour-long Frank Kavanaugh interview about his time at Pearl Harbor and serving in World War II, go to YouTube and search: “Frank Kavanaugh & Pearl Harbor 12-1-94.”

Join Us!

We Host Author Readings and Events.

Visit our website or give us a call for updated listings.

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Smoky Mountain News

HOT PICKS 1 2 3 4 5

GKW: How do you see the world these days?

PW: I have hope. These terrorists today are just something I don’t get. You can’t beat them when they just go and kill themselves. They claim acts of terror, where you didn’t ever used to claim things like that. They want to. I think the mass of people in the world, in a way, are better today. Back in the Depression, nobody had anything, and maybe weren’t able to help others. But, nowadays, people try and do help each other, a lot.

GKW: I always think the good of humanity will prevail.

PW: I think so, too. I think the good will win. In fact, I think there’s more good than evil in the world today. Especially in civilized countries. So many people now are against Islam, but actually it’s a religion that isn’t like the way the terrorists portray it. I’ve read a lot about Islam. I’ve read the Koran. They are a very peaceful religion. For hundreds of years, Christians and Muslims got along. America is better today, in a lot of ways. Just like the Muslims have these extremists, we as Americans have these school shootings and violence. But, it doesn’t define us as a people. The violence is a minority.

COMPLETELASERCLINIC.COM [828] 482-5030 ASHEVILLE & MURPHY OFFICES

May 29-June 4, 2019

he first time I was aware that my grandfather, Frank Kavanaugh, served in the military was being nine years old in 1994 and watching him talk on the local North Country TV channel, Home Town Cable.

At the time, my late grandfather was 74 years old. He sat on the couch in his home in Rouses Point, New York, my late grandmother sitting quietly on her recliner behind the view of the camera. “Fred” was questioned by local personality Bob Venne about what it was like to be a 21-yearFrank old Army soldier stationed Kavanaugh, at Pearl Harbor on the 1941. morning of Dec. 7, 1941.

Stated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as “a date which will live in infamy,” he declared war on Japan following the attacks on the U.S. military base in Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941. The Featuring The Milk Carton Kids, Calexico, Yonder attack sparked America’s Mountain String Band, and more, the third annual involvement in World War Cold Mountain Music Festival will take II. And there was my mothplace May 31 and June 1 at the Lake Logan er’s father, front and center Conference Center. at one of the biggest turnCountry and bluegrass musical icon Marty Stuart & ing points in the history of His Fabulous Superlatives will perform at 7:30 p.m. mankind.

Saturday, June 1, at the Smoky Mountain That interview was realCenter for the Performing Arts in Franklin. ly one of the only times Fred ever talked about his Thomas Rain Crowe will present the collected time in WWII, which poems of Yvan Goll he edited, titled The Inner included stops all over the Trees, at 6:30 p.m. Friday, May 31, at City Lights Pacific Theatre, most Bookstore in Sylva. notably the Battle of The Groovin’ on the Green summer concert series Guadalcanal. will host Andrew Scotchie & The River Rats Like many of “The (blues/rock) at 6:30 p.m. Friday, May 31, at The Greatest Generation” who Village Green in Cashiers. fought in that war, most we’re simply grateful to The Cherokee Gourd Artists Gathering will be held have survived it, walking from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, May 31, at the away with a true sense of Cherokee Indian Fairgrounds. what not only freedom means, but also the crucial of interviewing veterans of all wars and conimportance of taking a righteous stand flicts. Even as a kid, way before I became a against evil in the name of all that is good journalist, I would randomly start a converand just in this universe. sation with any and all folks who adorned Watching that Home Town Cable seghats that would state they were veterans of ment set fire to my lifelong love and passion

arts & entertainment

This must be the place

WWII, Korean War or Vietnam.

I still provoke those conversations, which is something I picked up from father, who has never met a stranger, especially a veteran (my dad also served in the Army during Vietnam, with his father, Frank Woodward, serving in the European Theatre in WWII, most notably at the Battle of the Bulge).

It’s important to sit and learn from those rapidly aging and disappearing veterans.

They saw the worst sides of humanity, and yet have so much wisdom and humility to dispense, just so long as you take the time to engage with them.

In my 12 or so years as a professional journalist, the people and stories I look forward to the most are the ones where I get to sit down and immerse myself in the life and times of an American veteran.

Back in 2016, I did an interview for The Smoky Mountain News with WWII veteran and Canton native Paul Willis. He faced combat in the hedgerows of Normandy and was involved in skirmishes in Brittany, Luxembourg, the Hurtgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge and the Rhine River.

And it was during the Battle of the Bulge where he received the Purple Heart for injuries sustained (he also was awarded the Bronze Star). Willis passed away in 2018 at age 97.

You can read our entire conversation by going to Google and searching “Veteran reflects on World War II, life and poetry.”

Below is a piece of that sit-down chat with my friend, who I miss very much…

AVAILABLE FOR PRIVATE EVENTS 743 HAYWOOD RD • WEST ASHEVILLE

ISISASHEVILLE.COM 828.575.2737

23

On the beat arts & entertainment

Cold Mountain Music Festival

Andrew Scotchie & The River Rats.

May 29-June 4, 2019

Groovin’ on the Green The Groovin’ on the Green summer concert series will host Andrew Scotchie & The River Rats (blues/rock) at 6:30 p.m. Friday, May 31, at The Village Green in Cashiers.

Other performers will include The Wobblers (R&B) June 7, Zuzu Welsh Music (blues/rock) June 14, Porch 40 (rock/jam) June 21, Andalyn (rock/Americana) June 28, Continental Divide (Motown/beach) July 5, Hurricane Creek (rock) July 12, Hi-5 (rock) July 26, The Currys (country/blues) Aug. 2, Eat a Peach (classic rock) Aug. 9, Americana Jones (roots) Aug. 16, Andrew Beam (classic country) Aug. 23 and Mac Arnold & Plate Full O’Blues (blues) Aug. 31.

Coolers are welcome but food and beverage vendors will be on site as well. Dogs must

Smoky Mountain News

Junior Appalachian Musicians Camp

24

Preserving and perpetuating bluegrass, old-time, mountain and string music for generations to come, the Junior Appalachian Musicians (JAM) summer camp will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

July 15-19 at the First United Methodist Church in Waynesville.

JAM is designed to acquaint area young people, grades 4 through 8, with their mountain cultural heritage through instruction in mountain music and exposure to mountain dance, songs and stories.

The JAM after-school program takes place every Tuesday from 3:30 to 5 p.m. throughout the school year.

JAM Camp is an extension of that program for five days in mid-summer. In addition to mountain instrument classes, daily sessions in mountain dance (clogging, buck

be on a leash and under the control of their owners at all times.

A new policy is in place this year with setting up for Groovin’ On the Green concerts.

Tents must be set up next to the path at the very back of the event lawn. Chairs may be set up in the lawn anytime the day of the concert, however no chairs may be set up within the wings of the Commons until after 4:30 p.m.

For a full schedule visit the concerts page at www.villagegreencashiersnc.com.

The Village Green is a 13-acre privately conserved public park in the center of Cashiers. For more information about this and other events in the park call 828.743.3434, email director@cashiersgreen.com or visit The Village Green website. dancing and flat footing) and in mountain songs and stories will be offered. Robby Robertson, Travis Stuart, Maddy Mullany and Cary Fridley are the instructors.

The cost of Jam Camp is $95. The Harmon Foundation and Smoky Mountain Folk Festival are sponsoring this fun summer camp.

To register, call the Haywood County Arts Council at 828.452.0593. The registration deadline for JAM Camp is June 29.

For more information about Junior Appalachian Musicians program (JAM), as well as other programs or events, visit the Haywood County Arts Council website at www.haywoodarts.org or at www.facebook.com/haywoodarts.

The mission of the Haywood County Arts Council is to promote artists, art education, and innovation in art. This project receives support from the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.

Kat Wright.

The third annual Cold Mountain Music Festival will take place May 31 and June 1 at the Lake Logan Conference Center.

The festival will feature top-notch national and regional acts, with styles ranging from Americana to soul, folk to indie-rock, singer-songwriter to bluegrass.

Friday’s schedule will be The Travelin’ Kine (4 to 5 p.m.), Joe Lasher (5:30 to 6:30 p.m.), Ruby Velle & The Soulphonics (7 to 8:15 p.m.) and The Milk Carton Kids (8:45 to 10 p.m.).

For those camping and staying in cabins, the Friday after-party (sponsored by Wicked Weed Brewing) with Ol’ Dirty Bathtub will be held at Boojum’s Cave around 10:15 p.m.

Saturday’s schedule will be Logan Ledger (1:30 to 2:30 p.m.), Driftwood (2:45 to 4 p.m.), J.S. Ondara (4:15 to 5:15 p.m.), Kat Wright (5:30 to 6:45 p.m.), Yonder Mountain String Band (7:15 to 8:45 p.m.) and Calexico (9:15 to 10:30 p.m.).

Gates will open at 10 a.m. on both days. The event will raise funds and awareness for Lake Logan and Camp Henry.

The festival will also include food trucks, craft beer vendors, a kid’s area, and more all in one of the most pristine settings imaginable. The centerpiece of the 300-acre property is a mile-long lake sur-

rounded by the Shining Rock Wilderness Area of Pisgah National Forest.

There are also lodging options, including cabins and camping onsite. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, visit www.coldmountainmusic.org.

Up-and-coming on the Americana/indie act Grizzly Goat will be kicking off the Cold Mountain Music Festival during a special pre-festival performance at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 30, in

Calexico.

the Queen Auditorium at the Folkmoot Friendship Center in Waynesville.

Tickets for the Grizzly Goat show are $10, with all proceeds going to continued programming at Folkmoot. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, call 828.452.2997 or visit www.folkmoot.org.

Tickets can also be purchased at the door day of show.

• Andrews Brewing Company (Andrews) will host the “Lounge Series” at its Calaboose location with George Ausman (singer-songwriter) May 30, Heidi Holton (blues/folk) May 31, Rachel Stewart (singer-songwriter) June 1, Chris West (singer-songwriter) June 6 and Knotty Gs June 7. All shows are free and begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.andrewsbrewing.com.

• Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva) will host Shane Meade & The Sound May 31, Trippin’ Hardie album release party June 1 and JR Junior June 7. All shows start at 8 p.m. 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. May 30 and June 6. Free and open to the public. www.blueridgebeerhub.com.

ALSO:

• Boojum Brewing Company (Waynesville) will host a bluegrass open mic every Wednesday, an all-genres open mic every Thursday and Porch 40 (rock/jam) 9:30 p.m. June 1. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.boojumbrewing.com.

• Chevelle’s Restaurant & Bar (Murphy) will host Steel Creek Band June 1. All shows begin at 9 p.m.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host an open mic night at 6:30 p.m. every Thursday, John R. Miller (singer-songwriter) May 30, The Corbitt Brothers May 31, Ashley Heath (Americana/folk) June 1, Dirty Dave & Dusty John June 7 and Andalyn (pop/rock) June 8.

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

• Legends Sports Grill (Maggie Valley) will host music semi-regularly on weekends.

828.926.9464 or www.facebook.com/legendssportsgrillmaggievalley.

• Mad Anthony’s Taproom & Restaurant (Waynesville) will host Randy Steele 5 p.m.

June 2. All shows are free and open to the public. 828.246.9249 or www.madanthonys.bar.

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host The Realtorz May 31 and Randy Steele 3 p.m.

June 2. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. www.froglevelbrewing.com.

• Nantahala Brewing (Bryson City) will host Amongst The Trees June 1, The Log Noggins June 7 and Samantha Grey June 8. All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.nantahalabrewing.com.

• Groovin’ on the Green (Cashiers) will host Andrews Scotchie & The River Rats (blues/rock) May 31 and The Wobblers (R&B) June 7. Show begin at 6:30 p.m. Free and open to the public.

• Nantahala Outdoor Center (Nantahala Gorge) will host Somebody’s Child (Americana) June 1. All shows are free and open to the public. www.noc.com.

• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will have an Open Mic night May 29 and June 5, and a jazz night with the Kittle/Collings Duo May 30 and June 6. All events are free and begin at 8 p.m. www.innovation-brewing.com.

• Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host Nikki Forbes June 1 and Dottie the Band June 8. All events are free and begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.innovation-brewing.com.

• Isis Music Hall (West Asheville) will host Lawn Series w/Rahm & Friends (world) 6

Cherokee Bluegrass Festival The Cherokee Bluegrass Festival will return June 6-8 at the Holiday RV Village and Campground in Cherokee.

The three-day event begins at noon Thursday, June 6, and goes until 10 p.m. daily.

Open stage will be 11 a.m. to noon.

Performers include Rhonda Vincent & The Rage, Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, Sideline, Dailey & Vincent, The Grascals, Carolina Blue, Mike Snider, The Crowe Brothers, and much more.

Happy Holiday RV Village and Campground has over 400 hookups, including water, electric, and bathhouses. This is in the heart of The Cherokee Indian Reservation. Please bring lawn chairs with no high back chairs or rockers allowed. No pets or alcoholic beverages allowed in concert area. Security will be on duty. This is a family show.

Shows go on rain or shine under a large tent, with tickets available at the gate. Daily ticket prices are $40 for adults in advance, then $45 at the gate. A three-day adult ticket is $90 in advance and $95 at the gate. Children ages 7-15 are $15 per day or $45 for three days in advance and $50 at the gate. Children under age 7 are free when accompanied by parents.

For more information on the festival schedule and/or to purchase tickets, click on www.adamsbluegrass.com.

• The Paper Mill Lounge & Theatre (Sylva) will host Dillon Streuber 8 p.m. May 31 and INoLonger 8 p.m. June 8. 828.508.0554 or www.thepapermilllounge.com.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• The Ugly Dog Pub (Cashiers) will host Bluegrass Thursdays w/Benny Queen at 6:30 p.m. and Andalyn (pop/rock) 9 p.m. June 14.

• The Ugly Dog Pub (Highlands) will host

Bluegrass w/Nitrograss Wednesdays at 7 p.m and Arnold Hill (Americana) 9:30 p.m.

June 29 • The Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host an “Open Mic Night” on Mondays, karaoke on Thursdays, semi-regular music on Fridays and Saturdays. All events at 10 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

828.456.4750.

Smoky Mountain News

• Currahee Brewing (Franklin) will host Somebody’s Child (Americana) 6 p.m. June 8.

Free. www.curraheebrew.com.

• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host the “Stone Soup” open mic night every Tuesday, Heidi Holton (blues/folk) June 1 and Twelfth Fret (Americana/folk) June 8. All shows are free and begin at 7 p.m. www.mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.

Rhonda Vincent.

May 29-June 4, 2019

• Concerts on the Creek (Sylva) will host Jonah Riddle & The Carolina Express (bluegrass/gospel) May 31 and Arnold Hill Band with special guest Chris Pressley (country/rock) June 7. Shows begin at 7 p.m. at Bridge Park. Free and open to the public.

p.m. May 29, Asher Leigh & Laura Boswell (singer-songwriter) 7 p.m. May 29, Lawn Series w/Pimps of Pompe (hip-hop/jazz) 6 p.m. May 30, Kate Kelly & Sister Ivy (folk/jazz) 7 p.m. May 30, Julian Pinelli (bluegrass/instrumental) 8:30 p.m. May 30, Andalyn (pop/rock) 7 p.m. May 31, Kate Lee & Forrest O’Conner w/The Wildmans (Americana/folk) 8:30 p.m. May 31, Heather Mae & Crys Matthews w/Joe Stevens & JJ Jones (singer-songwriter) 7:30 p.m. June 2, Wyatt Easterling & Joe Newberry (acoustic) 6 p.m. June 2, Tuesday Bluegrass Sessions w/Darren Nicholson Band 7:30 p.m. June 4 and Michael Gulezian (folk/rock) 7 p.m. June 5. For more information about the performances and/or to purchase tickets, click on www.isisasheville.com.

arts & entertainment

.

On the beat

• Whiteside Brewing (Cashiers) will host Doug Ramsey (rock/soul) May 31. All shows start at 5:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

828.743.6000 or www.whitesidebrewing.com.

25

arts & entertainment

On the beat Jonah Riddle & The Carolina Express.

Saturday, June 1 All day until 6pm at the pool 10am - 3pm in the gym

Fun and Games for Kids of All Ages!

Sponsored by

WAYNESVILLE

PARKS AND RECREATION

828.456.2030

or email rlangston@waynesvillenc.gov

Smoky Mountain News

May 29-June 4, 2019

550 VANCE STREET • WAYNESVILLE

26

Concerts on the Creek The 10th season of the Concerts on the Creek summer music series continues with Jonah Riddle & The Carolina Express (bluegrass/gospel) at 7 p.m. Friday, May 31, at Bridge Park in Sylva.

The Town of Sylva, Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department and Jackson County Chamber of Commerce team up to produce the Concerts on the Creek series at the Bridge Park gazebo in Sylva from 7 to 9 p.m. every Friday from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Concerts on the Creek events are free and open to the public with donations encouraged. Bring a chair or blanket and enjoy the shows. Occasionally, these events will feature food truck vendors as well.

The other performances are as follows: • June 7: Arnold Hill Band with special guest Chris Pressley (country/rock) • June 14: Summer Brooke and Mountain Faith (bluegrass/gospel)

• June 21: Shane Mead & The Sound (Americana/folk) • June 28: The Rewind Band (classic hits/rock) • Thursday, July 4: Fireworks & Festivities, The Carolina Soul Band (soul/R&B/beach/classic hits) • July 5: Hot Trail Mix (progressive bluegrass) • July 12: The Darren Nicholson Band (bluegrass/classic country) • July 19: Geoff McBride & Scott Baker (classic hits/soul) • July 26: Dashboard Blue (rock/classic hits) • Aug. 2: Andrew Scotchie & The River Rats (rock/blues) • Aug. 9: Tuxedo Junction (classic hits) • Aug. 16: Mama Danger (folk/newgrass) • Aug. 23: Troy Underwood (Americana/folk) • Aug. 30: Maggie Valley Band (Americana) For more information, call the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce at 828.586.2155 or visit www.mountainlovers.com. Follow the Concerts on the Creek Facebook page for series updates.

Bryson City community jam A community jam will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 6, at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City.

Anyone with a guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dulcimer, anything unplugged, are invited to join. Singers are also welcomed to join in or you can just stop by and listen. The jam is facilitated by Larry Barnett of the Sawmill Creek Porch Band.

The community jams offer a chance for musicians of all ages and levels of ability to share music they have learned over the years or learn old-time mountain songs. The music jams are offered to the public each first and third Thursday of the month — yearround. This program received support from the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment of the Arts.

828.488.3030.

On the street

On the wall

Cherokee Bonfire & Storytelling The Cherokee Bonfire & Storytelling will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 25 at the Oconaluftee Islands Park in Cherokee.

Sit by a bonfire, alongside a river, and listen to some of Cherokee’s best storytellers. The bonfire is free and open to the public. There will be no bonfire events in September.

For more information, call 800.438.1601 or visit www.visitcherokeenc.com.

Want to learn to dance?

ALSO:

• Vendors and demonstrators are wanted for the second annual Mountain Heritage Fest in Cruso. This great day of barbecue, crafts, and music will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, July 13, at the Cruso Community Center. Vendor spaces are $10 for a 10x10 space and demonstrators can participate for free.

All spaces are outdoors. Visit www.crusonc.com/fest, call Levi at 828.400.7323 or email crusoquiltshow@gmail.com.

‘Icons in Transformation’ exhibit

Known for its transformative power, the mountains appeal to art lovers, nature enthusiasts, and truth seekers alike.

828.456.6029.

The Grace Church in the Mountains will be hosting an internationally acclaimed art exhibition titled “Icons in Transformation” through June 16 at the church in Waynesville.

This exhibit toured cathedrals and museums in Europe and the United States and more than 150,000 people witnessed the powerful exhibit.

The artist, Russian emigre Ludmila Pawlowska, was born in exile. Following the death of her mother, she found inspiration in the Orthodox monasteries’ traditional spiritual icons. She shares her abstract impressionist masterworks using ancient icon methods and techniques.

Henri Mattise, one of the first to appreciate the significance of the Russian tradition in the development of contemporary art, said, “the artist’s soul emerges in…icons…(and) it is through them that we should learn to understand art.”

Grace Church in the Mountains welcomes

Waynesville art walk, live music

the artist and her work by hosting a variety of cross-cultural and intergenerational opportunities. Visit www.gracewaynesville.com for an extensive calendar of events including a community gala, docent-led tours, workshops and more.

The public is welcome to view the art, hear expert speakers, and join icon writing workshops, while surrounded by the iconic beauty of the Appalachian Mountains.

Smoky Mountain News

• “Yoga and Art” with Sarah Kunkleman will be at 5 p.m Friday, May 31, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin.

Join Kunkleman for a yoga class and closing reception for her artwork showcase. If possible, bring a mat. Refreshments will be provided.

work of John Julius Wilnoty. Littlejohn and her fellow tribal members in the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians are surrounded not only by stories but by the mountains, rivers and seasons that inspired them centuries ago. Stories are an important part of Cherokee culture, used to instruct, amuse, warn and dream.

• Saturday, June 22: 10 a.m. to noon. Betty Maney, Cherokee Baskets. Maney makes white oak baskets, pottery, Cherokee dolls, and a variety of beadwork pieces. In addition to being a talented crafts person and demonstrator, she also excels as an educator in hands-on workshops.

• Saturday, June 29: 3 to 5 p.m. Joshua and Lauren Adams, wood carvers. Joshua is part of a long lineage of Cherokee woodcarvers, starting with his great aunt and uncle James and Irma Bradley.

Joshua also had the privilege to study under renowned Cherokee artist Dr. James Bud Smith and was directly influenced by legendary Cherokee artists Amanda Crowe and John Julius Wilnoty.

For more information, visit www.haywoodarts.org.

May 29-June 4, 2019

There will be several dances classes offered throughout the month of June at Dance Tonight Haywood, located on Main Street in Canton.

Classes include a four-week Argentine tango workshop (7 to 9 p.m. Mondays), four-week salsa workshop (7 to 9 p.m.

Tuesdays), swing dance night (7 to 9 p.m.

Wednesdays) and four-week blues dancing workshop (6 to 8 p.m. Thursdays).

For more information on pricing or to register, text or email your information to 828.316.1344. The dance studio is located just above the V Salon at 61 Main Street in Canton.

The Haywood County Miniature Cherokee Baskets Arts Council (HCAC) in

by Betty Maney.

Waynesville has announced its June line up of Cherokee Artist Demonstrations.

• Friday, June 7: 6 to 9 p.m. Opening reception.

Matt Tooni, Cherokee flutist will set the mood of our opening reception with traditional Cherokee music.

• Saturday, June 8: 10 a.m. to noon. Nathan Bush. From the Snowbird Community, Bush is a historic interpreter at the Oconaluftee Indian Village.

Since 2015, he has demonstrated the traditional art of hammered copper.

• Saturday, June 8: 1 to 3 p.m. Potter Tara McCoy. While attending high school on the Qualla Boundary, in Cherokee, McCoy learned pottery, finger weaving, beadwork, silverwork, and other arts with jewelry making being her favorite. She is now an avid Cherokee potter.

• Saturday, June 15: 10 Activity Guide, provides activities for famia.m. to noon. Jody Lipscomb, mixed media and Cherokee language. Lipscomb published lies visiting Cherokee. She describes herself as “self-taught and culturally inspired.” her poems and articles in regional outlets • Saturday, June 15: 1 to 3 p.m. like Cherokee Writers, Cherokee Heritage Storyteller Kathi Littlejohn. She will be Trails and the Cherokee One Feather. Her telling the stories that are featured in the art most recent book, a Cherokee Family

arts & entertainment

HCAC Cherokee Artist Demonstrations

“Art After Dark” will continue from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, June 7, in downtown Waynesville.

Each first Friday of the month (MayDecember), Main Street transforms into an evening of art, music, finger foods, beverages and shopping as studios and galleries keep their doors open later for shoppers.

Participants include Burr Studio, Cedar Hill Studios, Earthworks Gallery, Haywood County Arts Council’s Gallery & Gifts, The Jeweler’s Workbench, Moose Crossing Burl Wood Gallery, T. Pennington Art Gallery, Twigs and Leaves Gallery and The Village Framer.

It is free to attend Art After Dark. www.waynesvillegalleryassociation.com. 27

arts & entertainment

On the wall

Cullowhee Arts workshop series

• The Cherokee Gourd Artists Gathering will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, May 31, at the Cherokee Indian Fairgrounds. Gourd artists from the United States and Canada gather to collaborate on gourd art, which will be for sale. Watch them work carving, painting and sculpting. Classes are available for a fee. www.visitcherokeenc.com.

• The graduating class of Haywood Community College’s Professional Crafts program will exhibit their best work at the 2019 Graduate Show. The show will be held through June 23 at the Southern Highland Craft Guild Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Asheville. The Folk Art Center is open daily from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. For more information, call 828.627.4673 or visit creativearts.haywood.edu.

Smoky Mountain News

May 29-June 4, 2019

ALSO:

Cullowhee Arts announces its eighth annual Summer Art Workshop Series that will be held at Western Carolina University’s School of Art and Design.

This annual event features three weeks of Visual Art Workshops offered in ceramics, fiber, mixed media, painting, printmaking and photography.

Artists from the United States and beyond come to learn concepts and techniques taught by artist-instructors bearing national and international reputations.

“During the five-day workshops, we have ‘Lunch and Learn’ each day where the artist-instructors of that week share slidepresentations of their current work. Each Thursday afternoon students attend a ‘Museum Talk’ where the visiting instructors make comments and offer insight to

Waynesville Art School summer camps Registration is currently underway for summer art camps at Waynesville Art School.

• Art Sparklers camps for 7 to 9 year olds will be offered from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. daily on June 3-6, June 24-27 and July 22-25. Cost is $110 for a four-day session or $35 single day camp enrollment.

the exhibits at the WCU Fine Art Museum,” explains Cullowhee Arts Executive Director Norma Hendrix. “There are several group dinners and also evenings students try the local cuisine and enjoy art conversations over dinner. The workshops end with wrapup critiques and a studio stroll where everyone visits the studios and see the art that has been made during the week.”

Workshop dates: Week 1: June 16-21, Week 2: June 24-28 and Week 3: July 1-3, (three-day workshops): Cost includes tuition, lunches and two group dinners; focused & concentrated learning with access to WCU Art Studios and facilities.

Studios are open 7 a.m. to 10 pm. On campus lodging available.

Details and registration at www.cullowheemountainarts.org.

• Shining Minds camps for 10 to 13 year olds will be offered from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. daily on June 10-13, July 8-11 and July 29-Aug. 1. Cost is $110 for a four-day session or $35 single day camp enrollment.

• Kinder Artists camps for 5 to 6 year olds will be offered from 10 to 11 a.m. daily on June 17-20, July 15-18 and Aug. 5-8. Cost is $45 for a four-day session or $15 single day camp enrollment.

To register, call 828.246.9869 or visit www.waynesvilleartschool.com.

• “Talk About Art” with Melba Cooper from 10 a.m. to noon Thursday, May 30, at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville.

Cooper will guide a class in using art criticism models for talking about and making aesthetic evaluations of art. She will lead you through a format developed by Eugene Kaelin at the University of Florida. The purpose will be to engage more deeply with a work of art and allow it to “speak in the moment.”

• Vendors and demonstrators are wanted for the second annual Mountain Heritage Fest in Cruso. This great day of barbecue, crafts, and live music will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, July 13, at the Cruso Community Center. Open call for crafters and demonstrators. Vendor spaces are $10 for a 10x10 space and demonstrators can participate for free. All spaces are outdoors. For more information and applications, visit www.crusonc.com/fest, call Levi at 828.400.7323 or email crusoquiltshow@gmail.com.

• The Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville is looking for a new identity for the annual Haywood County Studio Tour.

Submissions will be accepted through Aug. 1. The contest is open to everyone. Visit

• The Weekly Open Studio art classes will resume from 2 to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville, Instructor will be Betina Morgan. Open to all artists, at any stage of development, and in the medium of your choice. Cost is $20 per class. There will also be a Youth Art Class from 4 to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays. Cost is $10 per class. Contact Morgan at 828.550.6190 or email bmk.morgan@yahoo.com.

• The Haywood County Arts Council will offer its latest exhibit, “Elemental: Wood, Metal, Glass & Clay” through June 1 at the HCAC Gallery & Gifts showroom in downtown Waynesville. Participating artists from around Western North Carolina include potter, wood workers, glass artists, metal workers and fiber artisans. 828.452.5362 or visit www.haywoodarts.org.

• The Museum of the Cherokee Indian has recently opened a major new exhibit, “People of the Clay: Contemporary Cherokee Potters.”

It features more than 60 potters from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Cherokee Nation, and more than one hundred works from 1900 to the present. The exhibit will run through next April.

• A “Beginner Step-By-Step” adult painting class will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Thursdays at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. There is also a class at 6:30 p.m. on the last Wednesday of the month at Balsam Fall Brewing in Sylva. Cost is $25 with all supplies provided. To RSVP, contact Robin Arramae at 828.400.9560 or wncpaintevents@gmail.com.

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

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Winner will be selected by the Haywood Arts Council Studio Tour committee. For more information, call 828.452.0593, email info@haywoodarts.org or visit www.haywoodarts.org.

Lee Ensley 828.342.1796 Patty Ensley 828.421.0146 548 STEPHENS ROAD, SYLVA NC

828.944.0004 3073 Soco Road | Maggie Valley Wed - Sat 10am to 5pm ◆ Sun 10am to 3pm

On the table

With the theme, “Left Bank Paris 1920: A Champagne Supper Club with Laurent Perrier,” there will be a special dinner held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 12, at Old Edwards Inn and Spa in Highlands.

The Roaring 20’s in Paris were known as the crazy years. Flappers sipped champagne and danced The Charleston at hot-jazz clubs, extravagant celebrity parties echoed the optimism of the day, and the literati idled away the evening hours at supper clubs and speakeasies along the city’s Left Bank.

In an immersive atmosphere reminiscent of this decadent, carefree era, Atlanta Chefs Jeb Aldrich of Tiny Lou’s and Pat Pascarella of White Bull will join Chris Huerta of Madison’s Restaurant and Camille Cox of Laurent Perrier for a fun Paris-style pop-up at The Farm at Old Edwards.

Kukuly & The Gypsy Fuego will fill the air with the vibrant sounds of French jazz throughout the evening. Slip into something

saucy and come lose yourself in the fun, jazzy atmosphere of this delicious evening. Feel free to add a 20’s era flare to your attire or accessories.

Cost is $165 per person including champagne with courses. Exclusive of taxes and gratuities. Limited seating.

Call 828.787.2635 or 828.787.2916 to book. For more information, click on www.oldedwardsinn.com/champagnedinner.

• The “Uncorked: Wine & Rail Pairing Experience” will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, June 8, at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City. Full service all-adult first class car. Wine pairings with a meal and more. 800.872.4681 or visit www.gsmr.com.

ALSO:

• A free wine tasting will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. June 1 and 8 at Papou’s Wine Shop in Sylva. www.papouswineshop.com or 828.631.3075.

On the stage

• “Calendar Girls” continues at Highlands Performing Arts Center at 7:30 p.m.

May 30-31 and June 1 and at 2:30 p.m. June 2. For tickets, call the box office at 828.526.8084 or visit www.cashiersplayers.org.

ALSO:

• The MusicWorks! Studio Recital will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday, June 1, in the Bardo Arts Center at Western Carolina University. Annual dance recital featuring

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ning musical. Jason Robert Brown composed the music and lyrics and Marsha Norman wrote the book for the show.

The story focuses on Francesca, an Italian war bride, and is set in 1965 in a small Midwestern town. Francesca has been married for eighteen years and has had a quiet life, but now the family is away at a state fair and a stranger has arrived seeking directions.

The chance encounter will change both of their lives forever.

HART’s production is being directed by Dwight Chiles and will feature some of the theatre’s most talented performers, including: Kristen Hedberg as Francesca, and Dominic Aquilino as Robert, supported by Leif Broderson, Annelise Taylor Henry, Tyler Ledbetter, Emily Warren McCurry, Strother Stingley, Christine Caldemeyer and Georgia Reichard.

Harmons’ Den Bistro at HART is open for dining before all performances. Reservations can be made for the show and the bistro by calling the HART Box Office from 1 to 5 p.m.

Tuesday through Saturday at 828.456.6322 or by clicking on www.harttheatre.org. students of all ages performing to selections from some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters.

• There is free comedy improv class from 7 to 9 p.m. every Thursday 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.

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@Smoky MtnNews

Smoky Mountain News

The Broadway musical “The Bridges of Madison County” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. May 31 and June 1, 6-8, and at 2 p.m.

June 2 and 9 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.

The show is based on the bestselling novel

by Robert James Waller that became a hit film and was later adapted into a Tony Award win-

of vegetables, gardens plants, hanging baskets and more!

May 29-June 4, 2019

HART presents ‘Bridges of Madison County’

Wonderful Selection

arts & entertainment

Old Edwards Inn champagne dinner

29

30

Smoky Mountain News May 29-June 4, 2019

arts & entertainment

Books

Smoky Mountain News

31

Sense of place is crucial to Hewson’s novels ome novelists display a real talent for capturing a place in words and then bringing that “little postage stamp of native soil,” as William Faulkner called it, to their readers.

Pat Conroy’s Charleston novels evoked that historic city’s streets and buildings, the odor of its tidewater marshes and estuaries, the sounds of the city’s church bells, the ferocious heat of its summers, the taste of oysters and shrimp.

In his Dave Robicheaux suspense novels, James Lee Burke takes us into the heart of Writer Louisiana, its bayous and cotton fields, its music, its mix of Catholicism and age-old superstitions, its cool dawns and blazing noondays, the mingled smells of brackish water, boiled crawfish and wild flowers. In The Yearling, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings writes of the backwoods of Florida in its pretourism days, of green pastures, of scruffy pines and magnolia, of fetter-bush and sparkleberry, of sunrise “like a vast copper skillet being drawn to hang among the branches.”

Then there’s British author David Hewson.

In his Nick Costa series, Hewson brings alive the city of Rome. As Costa and his buddies in the police department work to bring criminals to justice, we follow them through Roman streets and alleyways that are as alive and vivid on the page as I remember them from a visit to the Eternal City four years ago.

Here are the fragrances of seared veal and various sauces drifting from taverns and homes, the tangle of traffic and the clamor of car horns, the scent of incense and candles in the ancient churches, the dusky evenings when natives and tourists stroll along the Tiber or sip wine in outdoor cafes, the exuberance of the Italians themselves.

In his latest novel, Devil’s Fjord (Crème de la Crime, 2019, 283 pages), Hewson snatches us out of sunny Italy and deposits us on the bleak shores of the Faroe Islands, a self-gov-

Jeff Minick

S

erning archipelago that is part of today’s Kingdom of Denmark. Here Hewson recreates the rough terrain, the cliffs and rugged hills, the sudden storms that can slam a boat into the rocky shore, rooftops made from turf that sprout flowers and require mowing, the stink left by the grind — grindadrap in Faroese —

when fishermen drive a pod of whales to the beaches and kill them for the meat and blubber.

So how does this guy, who is neither Italian or Faroese, do it? How does he conjure up these settings and make them as real to us

as our own backyards?

Research and talent are at play here, of course, but Hewson and other writers like him also possess the eyes of an artist, employing words and sentences as their palette and brush to bring landscape and weather, flora and fauna, to the page. In Devil’s Fjord we feel as if we are on a tour of these islands as well in the midst of a crime novel. In addition, we learn some of the dark myths of this strange place, the techniques used in the grind to kill a pod of whales, the desperate poverty and the fierce pride, the struggle for sustenance, the abandonment of the old ways of life and the islands themselves by the young people seeking a different world.

Here, too, we encounter men and woman who hid their thoughts from outsiders and their tears from each other, who value independence above security, who wear masks when in the public square, who are stoics one and all in the face of death and catastrophe.

Now to the story: Tristan and Elsebeth Haraldsen are newcomers to the tiny island village of Djevulsjord. Tristan has experienced some minor heart problems, and he and his wife have bought a cabin near the town, seeking peace and quiet in Tristan’s semiretirement from the police department in Torshavn. They are in their fifties, childless, still very much in

love with each other, ready for a new adventure. Tristan holds a part-time position as a District Sheriff for fishing, a post that includes supervising the grind.

The couple faces exclusion from this tight community, but when two adolescent brothers, Jonas and Benjamin, run away and disappear into the folds, tucks and caves of the hills around the town, Tristan and Elsebeth find themselves involved in the thick of the search for them. Hanna Olsen, another police officer who is in many ways also an outsider, becomes their ally in this search, while Aksel Hojaard, their superior, exhibits a cold indifference as to whether the boys are found.

As Tristan, Elsebeth and Hanna deepen their investigation, they enter into the darker recesses of Djevulsjord. They discover that Tristan’s predecessor died from a terrible accident. The grandfather of Benjamin and Jonas lost his own son to a mysterious fall from the cliffs. Hanna’s brother, a drug addict who had supposedly visited the island at about the same time that accident occurred, has also disappeared. A prominent member of the community, the merciless Dorotea Thomsen, has the villagers at her mercy, lending them money and demanding extravagant favors in return. A wealthy artist, an advocate of animal rights who despises the cruelty she finds in the whale killings, threatens Tristan for his supervision of the grind, but then hands Elsebeth vital information regarding the boys and a mysterious man roaming the mountains above her shack.

To say more about Devil’s Fjord might reveal too much of the story, though I am compelled to add that the last five pages of this novel were shocking, like some crack to the skull we never see coming. In a story filled with convoluted events, Hewson deftly adds one final twist, stunning his readers with the sickening realization that evil still lurks in the streets and hillsides of Djevulsjord.

In an “Author’s Note,” Hewson writes “This story comes from the imagination and in no way is a depiction of life in the real Faroe Islands.”

Let us hope that is the case.

(Jeff Minick is a writer and teacher.

Minick0301@gmail.com)

Crowe’s Yvan Goll Collection Thomas Rain Crowe will present the collected poems of Yvan Goll he edited, titled The Inner Trees, at 6:30 p.m. Friday, May 31, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva.

Goll is one of the most important, but neglected, European writers of the 20th century. Because he wrote in several languages, and was not claimed by any country, his work is not well known here.

This book includes translations spanning 60 years, which have been out of print for decades. The translators include Kenneth Rexroth, Robert Bly, W.S. Merwin, Galway Kinnell, William Carlos Williams, Kenneth Patchen, Paul Zweig and Nan Watkins.

Crowe is an internationally-published and recognized author and translator of more than 30 books, including the multi-award winning nonfiction nature memoir Zoro’s Field: My Life in the Appalachian Woods.

To reserve copies The Inner Trees, call City Lights Bookstore at 828.586.9499.

ALSO:

• The “Library-Con” will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 1, at the Haywood County Public Library in Waynesville. Special guest of honor will be Chris Kennedy, award-winning science fiction and fantasy author/publisher. Featuring local authors and artists, super-heroes, comic book swap-meet, live gaming demos and more. Families welcome. Prizes. Free admission. 828.356.2511.

32

Outdoors

Smoky Mountain News

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER orace Kephart has been dead for 88 years, but his name and his story still pull an undercurrent through Western North Carolina.

Kephart is acclaimed as the father of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, an outdoorsman gifted with an adventurous soul, and the author of such staples of regional literature as Our Southern Highlanders and Camping and Woodcraft. He’s derided, too, as a man with a severe drinking problem, a shirker of family responsibility and an outsider who profited off of sometimes less-thanflattering depictions of the locals.

Love him or hate him, the pull of that story is undeniably foundational to what the Great Smokies region has become today. But it wasn’t until his 42nd year on earth that Kephart first visited the Smokies, after his former life in St. Louis fell apart and very nearly ended — until the mountains saved him.

“He got the release that he wanted, but it didn’t come in quite the way he had envisioned,” said George Ellison, a Bryson Citybased writer and co-author of the newly released book Back of Beyond: A Horace Kephart Biography.

H

WRITING KEPHART Ellison, 77, is no stranger to the Kephart story. In fact, it’s the Kephart story that brought him to Western North Carolina in the first place.

In the 1970s, Ellison was an English professor at Mississippi State University in the midst of researching a piece about Kephart that would eventually be published as the introduction to the 1976 edition of Our Southern Highlanders. In the course of his research, he traveled to WNC in 1973 to get a firsthand look at the place Kephart had called home for nearly three decades. Within months, he and his wife Elizabeth decided to move there themselves. It would be a muchneeded change of pace, they thought, a chance for Ellison to refocus his career on nonacademic writing and Elizabeth to put her energies into painting.

Kephart has remained in the background — or the foreground, even — of Ellison’s life ever since.

The studio where he writes and Elizabeth paints is a second-floor unit that overlooks Bryson City’s Main Street, in a building that’s right beside the property where the Cooper House — Kephart’s home from 1910 onward — once stood.

“I think that probably was the happiest period of his life,” mused Ellison, sitting before the studio window below which flowed the weekday comings and goings of modernday Bryson City.

It’s an assessment that’s come at the conclusion of five years spent researching the life of a man who was at once a public figure and an intensely private individual. Ellison tackled the task together with Back of Beyond co-

Kephart and an unidentified man dress in traditional attire for the Eagle Dance.

Horace Kephart Family Collection/GSMA photo

The story behind the man First-ever Horace Kephart biography explores a complex man and momentous life author Janet McCue, 69, working to synthesize the resulting mounds of research into a 460-page book that is the first full biography of Kephart ever written. The book is edited by Frances Figart, interpretive products and services director for the Great Smoky Mountains Association, which published the book.

“He certainly is a man of contradictions,” said McCue. “He is sometimes portrayed as this lonely figure, but he had this wonderful circle of friends who were amazingly supportive of him. He was often indebted yet he was incredibly generous with his friends when he had money. I think that those sorts of contradictions make him an interesting person to try to research.”

Released this spring, the book comes with endorsements from multiple best-selling regional authors. Serena author Ron Rash said that it is “so well written and informative that one reads it with the pleasure of a riveting novel and an admiration reserved for the finest scholarship,” and Cold Mountain author Charles Frazier called it “a great contribution to the history and culture of the Southern Appalachians.”

While Kephart was a prolific writer, he often kept silent when it came to his personal life. Before Back of Beyond, the only real biographies of Kephart were Ellison’s introduction to Our Southern Highlanders and Jim Casada’s introduction to another Kephart

book, Camping and Woodcraft. Neither were full-length treatments of the man’s life.

“What I think our book does is pull together all the information that’s in scattered sources, some of it in his own writing, some of it in archives, some of it in published pieces, and make that into a coherent story about a very interesting man who played a pivotal role in establishing an exquisite park,” said McCue. In addition to Kephart’s own work and contemporary newspaper articles, the biography relies heavily on personal letters from Kephart, his friends and family. The information is scattered in geography as well as in form — McCue’s travels while researching the book included St. Louis, Missouri; Brown University, in Rhode Island; and Cornell University and the Rockefeller Archive Center, both in New York. Both McCue and Ellison looked at the archives found at Western Carolina University and in Asheville’s Pack Memorial Library.

It was a collaborative partnership — McCue took on much of the traveling and brought her research skills as a retired librarian to bear on the project. Ellison, meanwhile, contributed his deep understanding of the Great Smokies region and its people. And they both worked on the writing.

Several readers “steeped in Kephart history” read the manuscript for factual errors, said Figart, while she read and edited each

chapter to create one consistent narrative draft. Two separate proofreaders gave the manuscript a final look before publication.

That process took a little over a year.

“It’s probably pretty evenly distributed between the two of us,” said McCue of the writing. “In fact, George (Ellison) was noting as was I that it’s hard for us to tell whose writing is whose anymore.”

NEAR DISASTER At 40 years old, the direction of Horace Kephart’s life seemed pretty well set. He was the director of the St. Louis Mercantile Library, a prestigious position that offered him the opportunity to oversee an outstanding collection of books in an elegant new building. He was married to Laura Mack Kephart, whom he’d met while a student at Cornell University, and the two had six children together.

But in 1903 and 1904, things veered badly off course. Kephart began to spend more and more time in the woods, camping, away from his job and his family. The confidence of the library’s board of directors, once so supportive of him, began to erode. In fall 1903, they demanded his resignation, and in January 1904, he gave it. At some point in 1903 Laura and the kids moved back to be with her family in Ithaca, New York, while Kephart remained behind, renting a room

Knob, lived for a stint in a logging camp in eastern Tennessee, and returned to Ohio in 1908 to visit his father when he fell ill, dying on Oct. 28 of that year.

After his father’s death, Kephart traveled to Ithaca, where he apparently attempted to reconcile with his wife Laura, living with the family for about six months before leaving again — it would be the last time he’d attempt to live with his wife and children. From there he headed down to Georgia, living with some friends he’d met during his time in Hazel Creek.

In 1910, Kephart returned to the Smokies for good, and this time as a resident of Bryson City proper rather than as the occupant of a backwoods cabin. For the rest of his life, he lived in a boardinghouse — the Cooper House on Main Street — which stood where the Edward Jones Investments building is now, and he wrote in a top-floor room nearby, overlooking the Tuckasegee River. Over the coming years, Kephart saw increasing success as an outdoors writer, and he developed an increasing awareness of

“It was a big undertaking, one beset with discouragements of all sorts; but we’ve won!” he wrote in a Sept. 1928 letter to his daughter-in-law Pauline Maisch Kephart. “And now congratulations are coming in from all over the U.S. Within two years we will have good roads into the Smokies and then — well, I’ll get out.

— Horace Kephart

SEEKING ‘THE BACK OF BEYOND’

George Masa/Kephart Family Collection/GSMA photo

the value of the mountains where he lived — and the threat they were posed by an ever-rising population and ever-diminishing frontier.

“Kephart sought his frontier but also realized that, like its western counterpart, it would soon disappear,” the authors wrote. “As he prophesized in Our Southern Highlanders, the leviathan, the ominous ‘snort of a locomotive,’ symbolized the destruction to come.”

In the 1920s, Kephart shifted his focus from merely chronicling the story of the Smokies to shaping that story. Perhaps his most enduring legacy is his role in securing the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park — over a period of years, Kephart fought for the park through writing, through outdoors excursions and through countless trips to meet with the movers and shakers of the political realm. And in May 1926, President Calvin Coolidge signed a bill that allowed park administration to begin as soon as 150,000 acres of land had been purchased.

It was a bittersweet victory for Kephart.

“It was a big undertaking, one beset with discouragements of all sorts; but we’ve won!” he wrote in a Sept. 1928 letter to his daughter-in-law Pauline Maisch Kephart. “And now congratulations are coming in from all over the U.S. Within two years we will have good roads into the Smokies and then — well, I’ll get out.”

Kephart didn’t live to see the inevitable, however.

It wasn’t until 1934 that North Carolina and Tennessee transferred land deeds to the federal government, triggering Congress to authorize development of public facilities. Kephart, however, died on April 2, 1931, at the age of 68, following a car accident east of Bryson City.

A COMPLEX LIFE More than 100 years after his midlife move to the mountains, Kephart is still a controversial figure.

S EE KEPHART, PAGE 34

Smoky Mountain News

Kephart left St. Louis to spend the summer with his parents in Dayton, Ohio, and Mt. Gretna, Pennsylvania — to recover from his breakdown, and to plan his next move.

“Through the years Kephart’s explanations as to why he decided upon the Smokies as his initial destination varied,” Ellison and McCue wrote in The Back of Beyond. “As articulated with verve in Our Southern Highlanders, he was looking for ‘a strange land and a people that had the charm of originality’ — a ‘back of beyond’ where he could ‘begin again’ and see ‘with my own eyes what life must have been like to my pioneer ancestors.’”

In late July or early August 1904, Kephart left the train station in Dayton and got off some 50 miles west of Asheville, in Dillsboro. From there he walked up Dicks Creek and established a camp. By wintertime, he’d secured permission to live in an old copper mine cabin up Hazel Creek, which was his home for the next three years or so. Kephart’s father Isaiah, who like his son was a romanticizer of the wilderness, was doubtless a “co-conspirator” in the venture, coming to visit his son a year after the move.

Today, Kephart is strongly associated with the Smokies and particularly with Swain County, but his initial arrival wasn’t a permanent move. He took extended trips up to the Hall Cabin on Big Chestnut

Kephart sits atop the first Mount Kephart. The name was later moved to another mountain after it was discovered that the peak was already known as Mount Collins in Tennessee.

May 29-June 4, 2019

inghouse with shouts that burglars were about to enter it, and the next night the same thing happened. The following morning Kephart headed to Marre’s Saloon and handed the bartended a suicide note, promptly leaving to go end his life on the East Bridge. The bartender called the police, who arrested Kephart and had him transported to the hospital.

The episode was front-page news in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

It was against this backdrop of professional and personal collapse that Kephart remade himself into the icon still remembered today.

From 1910 onward, Kephart lived in a boardinghouse that stood to the left of the brick N.C. Clampitt Hardware building. Holly Kays photo

outdoors

in a boarding house and trying to make a go of it as a writer.

As Kephart told The Asheville Times in a piece published April 3, 1931, after eight years at the library he had burned himself out, and the next four years he did “nothing of consequence.” Then came his resignation and a nervous breakdown.

“I suffered insomnia for years,” the article quotes him as saying, “but that was nothing. When I began to hear voices I was afraid.”

The voices came to him during a spring 1904 camping trip he took with some friends to a hunting lodge about 50 miles south of St. Louis. He woke up at 1:30 in the morning, shouting that Sicilian workmen had surrounded the lodge, intending to blow it up with dynamite. The outburst scared his friends, who strove to get him home as quickly as possible when his agitation continued into the next day.

But once in town, Kephart’s condition only got worse. The following night he woke the entire board-

The building where Kephart wrote from a room overlooking the Tuckasegee River, just around the corner from his residence in Bryson City, still stands today. Holly Kays photo

33

outdoors

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Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) TO LEARN MORE: NC Harm Reduction Coalition: 828.476.1465 or 910.228.9322 or Haywood County Health & Human Services 828.0356.2292

KEPHART, CONTINUED FROM 33 To some, he’s the father of a priceless jewel — the Smokies, a bastion of biodiversity and an economic driver for the entire region. He’s a talented writer, a dedicated chronicler of early 1900s mountain culture, an authority on camping and hunting and all things wilderness whose unique contribution to the world will not soon be forgotten.

To others, he’s the instigator of a massive government overstep that ripped land from under the feet of poor families. He’s an opportunist who used local people who were unlikely to read or protest what he’d written to drive his writing career, an alcoholic outsider who left his wife to raise six children on her own.

“If everyone examines his or her own life, it feels very complex, and I think it’s hard to imagine the complexity of others’ lives,” said Figart.

The book is a reminder of that, showing clearly how even iconic figures like Kephart, long dead, were real people, with intricate and complicated lives. Too often, said McCue, we reduce historical figures to a single adjective, flat pictures with objective titles.

“What we tried to do in the Back of Beyond was broaden our understanding of who Kephart was and talk about the various facets of his life and how they all played out with each other and played an important part in his contributions to the local region, as well as the national audience,” she said.

Of all people, Laura Kephart perhaps had the most right to cling to Kephart’s flaws rather than to his strengths. But to her children, she “always believed, and made us believe, that her husband was the most talented man alive,” Kephart’s daughter Lucy wrote in 1931. Though “insurmountable obstacles” prevented them living “under one roof,” Laura wrote in that same year, Kephart was “the only man in my life.”

“Horace fought a terrible fight and won a marvelous victory,” she continued. “I have more than most women for which to be thankful.”

As for many people, Kephart’s abandoning his family is still a problem for McCue. But that doesn’t take away from his many accomplishments, and it doesn’t stop her from identifying with him in other ways.

Like Kephart, McCue is a librarian by profession, and like Kephart, Cornell is an important place in her personal history.

Kephart attended grad school there, working in the library while a student, and McCue, now retired, spent 35 years as a librarian at the university. Like Kephart, she believes that “librarianship offers a better field for mental gymnastics than any other profession.”

Also like Kephart, the Smokies hold a special place in McCue’s heart — her interest in him began with a backpacking trip there in the 1970s.

Ellison has never been a librarian, but he began his career in academia, and he’s always been a writer and an outdoorsman.

“People ask me, ‘Why do you have interest in this guy who’s a drunk, left his family

Meet the authors An extended release party to celebrate publication of Back of Beyond: A Horace Kephart Biography will be held in Bryson City June 7-9, with events including book signings, guided walks and more. n Friday, June 7, a reservations-only evening event will be held at 5:30 p.m. at the Fryemont Inn. Following a cash bar and light hor d’ouvres, guests will have dinner at 6:30 p.m. with the authors, Kephart scholars and memJanet McCue bers of the Kephart family. A program will follow dinner. n Saturday, June 8, will begin with a 9:45 a.m. ceremony at Kephart’s grave in the Bryson City Cemetery. The authors will sign books at the Swain County Visitors George Ellison Center from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and in the Fryemont Inn lobby during a wine and cheese reception 5 to 6:30 p.m. Kephart’s great-granddaughter Libby Kephart Hargrave will lead a walking tour of Bryson City at 1:30 p.m. A reservations-only dinner at 7 p.m. will be held at Fryemont with the authors, Kephart scholars and members of the Kephart family. n Sunday, June 9, will begin at 10:30 a.m. with a guided waterfall hike led by Libby Kephart Hargrave and Butch McDade. The authors will sign books 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Swain County Visitors Center, and the weekend will conclude with a 2 p.m. brewery gathering.

For the full schedule of events, visit www.horacekephart.com.

and his wife? What’s with you?’” said Ellison. “I say, ‘Well unfortunately those kinds of things are part of everyday life.”

Kephart’s accomplishments, meanwhile, are much less so.

“He helped found a truly significant thing in American culture, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, used by millions of people every year,” said Ellison. “As Kephart said, he wanted to help save them for the benefit of others, and that’s exactly how it worked out, despite the hardships of the local people who have gotten removed from the park.”

MUSING ON MODERNITY Kephart was right about the roads and the people that would come with the formation of the national park, though it’s hard to say whether he knew just how right he would be.

The park, which today comprises

522,487 acres, contains a total of 384 miles of roads, 238 miles of which are paved. There are 342 structures, 10 developed campgrounds, 11 picnic areas, more than 100 backcountry campsites and 850 miles of backcountry trails. The Smokies boasts the highest visitation of any national park, topping 11 million for the first time in 2016.

“Even though he knew it would be a park that would be close to major centers of population, I don’t think anybody really imagined the future and the number of visitors and the amount of car traffic, the fact that there are helicopter tours over the Smokies, that drones can give you a birds-eye view,” said McCue. “I don’t think he would have imagined the specifics, and I think he would be somewhat dumbfounded by the number of people who visit the Smokies.

“And yet I think he would also be proud.”

For a Kephart enthusiast, there’s a romantic appeal in imagining his reaction were he alive today, looking at the story that unfolded as the result of his actions nearly 100 years ago.

“Everything I know about him is that he would have been a pleasure to be around and discuss things,” said Ellison.

Ellison likes the idea of sitting around with Kephart, grabbing a beer and talking shop — the mechanics of writing, of interviewing, of stortytelling.

Figart postulates that Kephart, had he lived longer, would have been true to his words, moving out with the advent of the roads to a more rural retreat.

“If Kephart were alive today, I wager he’d be living over in the most unpopulated recesses of East Tennessee, where I live, away from the crowds,” said Figart. “He’d have already gotten out.”

Meanwhile, McCue thinks that — even with the park in existence and the roads built — Kephart might have stayed in Bryson City.

“Frankly I don’t think Bryson City has changed that much, so I think he’d be very comfortable,” she said. “If he could get the barbershop to rent him a room on the top floor overlooking the Tuckseigee River, I think he’d be fine.”

In terms of population, Swain County changed quite a lot between Kephart’s arrival in 1904 and the launch of his efforts to create the park in the 1920s. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county had a population of 8,401 in 1900 but grew to 13,224 by 1920. In the same period of time, Bryson City’s population doubled to 886 people.

Today, Swain County’s population is little changed from 1920, reported as 13,921 in the 2010 census. In 1927, social scientist Ellen Engelmann Black estimated Bryson City’s population at 1,500 — in the 2010 census, it was reported as 1,455.

“He would be rather proud of what went into establishing the national park, but he would question some of the things that have grown up around modern life,” Ellison mused. “I think he would have adapted. He would have been glad it is what it is.”

A course aimed at bringing female landowners together with land management professionals to learn about pollinators and native species will be held 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, June 13, at the Mountain Research Station in Waynesville.

Women Owning Woodlands: Managing for Pollinators and Native Species will cover the importance of pollinators and native species, how to create and enhance pollinator habitat, and financial and technical assistance programs. The day will include classroom sessions as well as a field tour.

The workshop, offered through N.C. State Cooperative Extension, is supported

by Renewable Resources Extension Act

outdoors

Learn how to use pollinators and native species

funding with sponsorship by Women of Waynesville. Cost is $10, with lunch and materials included. Register by Friday, June 7, at reporter.ncsu.edu/index.html.

Laurel Kays, lekays@ncsu.edu.

A young swimmer gets comfortable in the water. Donated photo

Decision-making tool available for dairy farmers

Learn to swim

A new web-based tool is available to help dairy producers evaluate various scenarios using different levels of coverage through the new Dairy Margin Coverage program.

The DMC is a voluntary risk management program authorized in the 2018 Farm Bill that offers financial protection to dairy producers when the difference between the all milk price and the average feed price falls below a certain dollar amount selected by the producer. It replaced the Margin Protection Program for Dairy. Signup for the program opens June 17.

The tool, developed in partnership with the University of Wisconsin, is available at www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/farm-bill/farm-safety-net/dairy-programs/dmc-decision-tool/index.

Swim lessons will be offered at the Waynesville Recreation Center beginning Monday, June 3.

Lessons will be held Mondays and Wednesdays. A Level 1 starting point class for ages 4 to 12 will have sessions from 8 to 9

a.m. or 9 to 10 a.m. A Level 2 stroke class for ages 5 to 12 will be held from 10 to 11 a.m. $40 per person covers eight classes, with space limited. Register at the rec center. Luke Kinsland, lkinsland@waynesvillenc.gov or 828.456.2030.

NEW LISTING

The annual Spring Fling at the Waynesville Recreation Center will offer a day of free fun, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 1.

Admission to the rec center will be free all day 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., and the gym will hold games and inflatables for children. Waynesville Kiwanis, which is hosting the event, will have refreshments for sale.

Rhett Langston, 828.456.2030 or rlangston@waynesvillenc.gov.

Bridge projects proposed on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Walk to Hazelwood shopping, restaurants and coffee shop. This Affordable condo is located on second floor and is well maintained and offers open floor plan, 2-bedroom, 1-bath, approximately 840 sq ft, and all appliances, almost new (1 year old Carrier) HVAC. This home is perfect to live in or have as an investment!

MLS# 3506650 $89,750

Boating fatalities abnormally high in 2018 On the heels of a year when more people died from boating accidents in North Carolina than in any other year since 1990, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is urging caution on the water.

A total of 35 people lost their lives last year, of whom 29 were not wearing a life vest. The 35 fatalities included two on the French Broad River, one on Fontana Lake, one on the Cheoah River, one on the Green River and one on the Linville River.

To prevent tragedies, boaters should wear personal flotation devices, appoint a designated driver, assign an adult to supervise children, swim only in designated swimming areas and throw flotation devices to drowning people rather than going in after them. The Wildlife Commission offers free boater safety courses, listed at www.ncwildlife.org/boating/marina-resources/boating-education-courses.

The #1 Listing & Selling Team In Haywood County

Noland-Proben Team

Smoky Mountain News

Comment is open through June 1 on a draft environmental assessment for two bridge improvement projects on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Ashe and Alleghany counties.

The first project is Project 2A16 and includes rehabilitation of Big Pine Creek

Bridges Nos. 3 and 6, and Brush Creek Bridge No. 1, all in Ashe County. The emphasis will be maintaining the bridges’ historic character as much as possible. The second project is Project 2D17 and involves replacement of a larger historic bridge, Laurel Fork Bridge, in Alleghany County. The new bridge would be designed with consideration given to the location’s historic character.

The planning document and a portal for comments are online at www.parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome.cfm?projectID= 82234.

May 29-June 4, 2019

Free day offered at Waynesville Rec Center

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

Nature, science camps offered at WCU A pair of camps exploring nature and science will be offered this summer at Western Carolina University.

Max Lanning, science teacher at Swain County High School and a WCU alum, will lead both camps. n Nature Exploration Camp will be held June 24-28 for rising sixth and seventh graders. Campers will explore the natural world through field trips and activities throughout the region, including visits to the Highlands Biological Station, Great Smoky Mountains National Park and

Help hellbenders

May 29-June 4, 2019

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission wants to hear about hellbender sightings, part of agency biologists’ ongoing effort to learn more about where the giant salamanders live and how their populations are faring.

In North Carolina, the 16-inch aquatic salamanders are found only in fast-moving, clean mountain streams in the western region. Once common, the creatures have disappeared throughout much of their habitat due to declining water quality and habitat degradation, and to a lesser degree due to

Nantahala National Forest. Activities will include hiking, birdwatching, snorkeling, collecting salamanders and insects and more. Cost is $279 with lunch provided daily. n Science Laboratory Camp will be offered July 8 to 12 for rising sixth through ninth-graders. Students will explore laboratory science through activities and experiments in biology, chemistry, geosciences and more on WCU’s campus, including DNA extraction, water quality testing, geographic information systems, chemical reactions and more.

Cost is $199 with lunch provided.

Learn more of www.camps.wcu.edu or call 828.227.7397. persecution from anglers who mistakenly think that hellbenders hurt the trout population. While they may occasionally go after a trout on a line, hellbenders mainly eat crayfish and are not poisonous, venomous, toxic or harmful to humans.

Hellbenders are listed as a species of special concern in North Carolina, meaning that taking, possessing, transporting, selling or attempting to do any of the above to a hellbender is a Class I Misdemeanor punishable by a fine and up to 120 days in jail.

Report hellbender sightings to lori.williams@ncwildlife.org or call the Wildlife Interaction Helpline at 866.318.2401.

Experience a casual, relaxing atmosphere

Open to the Public, 7 Days A Week!

Smoky Mountain News

Friends of the Smokies to offer overnight experience Registration is open for Friends of the Smokies’ 2019 “Overnight Experience,” which will take place June 25-26 in Gatlinburg.

In the first day, attendees will embark on an easy, guided afternoon hike in the Twin Creeks area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Day two will offer a choice between two guided hikes: a moderate 5.4-mile hike highlighting recently completed restoration work along the way to Rainbow Falls, and a strenuous 15-

mile adventure across the southern exposures of Roundtop and Little Roundtop mountains to a section of the Smokies that few visitors ever experience.

A surprise guest will speak about the current state of the park, with lodging and meals provided at The Buckhorn, East Tennessee’s classic country inn that features stunning views of Mount LeConte. $300 per person. Register at www.hike.friendsofthesmokies.org.

Get outdoors at the Cradle

perfect for all walks of life, from families to golf groups to ladies who lunch. We pride ourselves on using fresh ingredients from our gardens and supporting local farmers. The details are priority.

Daily hours: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Call 828-926-4848 Winter Menu Includes Hot Soups & Snacks for reservations.

1819 Country Club Drive Maggie Valley, NC

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

36

Laurel Falls. Donated photo

find us at: facebook.com/smnews

National Get Outdoors Day at the Cradle of Forestry in America will offer a day of skills teaching and demonstrations by Western North Carolina’s outdoors community on Saturday, June 8.

A variety of guided activities and crafts will be offered, as well as self-guided scavenger hunts, a junior forester workbook, a “mission” through the Agents of Discovery App and the everpresent hiking trails.

Admission to the Cradle will be free for the event. The Cradle of Forestry is located along U.S. 276 in the Pisgah National Forest near Brevard.

Hike Panthertown A pair of guided hikes in Panthertown Valley in the Nantahala National Forest will provide a scenic way to celebrate National Trails Day on Saturday, June 1.

Participants will meet at 9:30 a.m., with hikes offered from the Salt Rock Gap and Cold Mountain Gap trailheads. As always, the trails are open for anyone wishing to hike, bike, run or simply explore.

Group size is limited, so RSVPs are appreciated to friends@panthertown.org.

Learn how to camp A program teaching the basics of camping will be offered 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, June 5, at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education near Brevard.

The program is part of the center’s Outdoors Skills Series and is titled “Camping 101.” It is free and open to ages 12 and older. Registration is required at www.ncwildlife.org/learning/education-centers.

outdoors

Stargaze the Smokies A stargazing event 8 a.m. Friday, May 31, will offer a view of the night sky at the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center at Purchase Knob in the Haywood County portion of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The event will begin with an indoor presentation on what can be seen in the night sky during May, with the Astronomy Club of Asheville leading the stargazing opportunity afterward at this high-elevation site, which offers a 260degree unobstructed view of the sky.

The event is free, but space is limited.

Register to receive one of 44 parking permits at www.eventbrite.com/o/astronomy-club-ofasheville-20250065100 or by calling 828.497.1907.

See sunset from Chimney Rock

A telescope points toward the unobstructed view offered at Purchase Knob. NPS photo

Explore Rattlesnake Lodge Friday morning hikes with Blue Ridge Parkway rangers are back for the season, with the first one of 2019 scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday, May 31, near Tanbark Tunnel at milepost 374.4.

The group will meet at the dirt pull-off by the tunnel’s southern entrance and then take a moderate, 1.5-mile roundtrip hike to the old site of Rattlesnake Lodge. Parkway rangers will lead the way as hikers explore the lush forest that thrives there today and learn what life was like at Dr. Ambler’s mountain retreat.

Hikes are offered at 10 a.m. Fridays through the end of October at various locations along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Western North Carolina. Hikers should always bring water, good walking shoes and clothing for changeable weather. 828.298.5330, ext. 304.

VOLUME 1

May 29-June 4, 2019

A Year from the Naturalist’s Corner

Watch day turn into night from the top of Chimney Rock during Park in the Dark, 7:30 to 10 p.m. Saturday, June 8.

The evening will start with a musical introduction by Doug Elliot at 7:45 p.m., who will talk about Friends of Chimney Rock State Park’s work to support the park. At 8:15 p.m., the elevator and Outcroppings Trail will open.

Guests will get to stargaze with the Astronomy Club of Asheville from atop the rock, eat s’mores while listening to campfire stories and check out multiple nocturnal animal encounters. The night will conclude with a spooky campfire story and harmonica performance.

The event is a fundraiser for Friends of Chimney Rock State Park. Cost is $20 for adults, $8 for children 5 to 15 and free for children 4 and under. Purchase tickets by June 6 at www.chimneyrockpark.com.

————————————————————————————————————————————————

Smoky Mountain News columnist Don Hendershot’s first collection of columns

A Year from the Naturalist’s Corner VOLUME 1

DON HENDERSHOT FOREWORD BY THOMAS RAIN CROWE

— George Ellison, naturalist and author

Available at Blue Ridge Books 428 HAZELWOOD AVE. WAYNESVILLE

Smoky Mountain News

“Whether in the field observing the natural world directly — with exceptionally sharp eyes — or at his desk recording experiences in the easygoing informative manner readers of his weekly Naturalist's Corner columns have learned to anticipate, Don Hendershot is the real deal. This selection of his columns in book form is long overdue.”

828.456.6000 · BLUERIDGEBOOKSNC.COM ————————————————————————————————————————————————

P U B L I S H E D B Y T H E S M O K Y M O U N TA I N N E W S 37

38

WNC Calendar

Smoky Mountain News

COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS • Rabies vaccinations will be offered for $9 each from 5-6:30 p.m. on the following dates and locations: May 29 at Waynesville Middle School; May 30 at Bethel Elementary School; May 31 at Riverbend School. Info: 456.5338.

• A US 441 Gateway District Planning Council special meeting is set for 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 30, at the Qualla CDC. • Library Con is from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on June 1 at the Waynesville Branch of Haywood County Public Library.

Live gaming demos, cosplay workshops, costume fashion show trivia contest. Special guest of honor: Chris Kennedy, award-winning science fiction/fantasy author and publisher. Local guest creatives: Eric S. Brown (horror and science fiction author) and James E. Lyle (comic book artist). 356.2511.

• The 32nd annual National Cancer Survivors Day Celebration will be observed at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 2, at the Waynesville Inn Pavilion. Food, music, survivor crafts and a butterfly release.

• The Jackson County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. on June 4 at the Justice and Administration Building, 401 Grindstaff Cove Road, Room A201, in Sylva. Purpose is to receive public comment on consideration of the proposed Fiscal Year 2019-20 Budget. Copy is available at the County Manager’s Office, Finance Office, Jackson County Public Library in Sylva and Cashiers Library.

• Village Green is hosting open houses this summer for visitors to see progress on its construction project in Cashiers. Dates are June 12, June 26 and July 3. Info: 743.3434, courtney@cashiersgreen.com or www.VillageGreenCashiersNC.com.

• Bingo will be held at 6:30 p.m. on June 13 in the Maggie Valley Pavilion next to town hall. Sponsored by the Maggie Valley Civic Association.

• Grant applications are being accepted from local nonprofits for grants that will be provided by Grace Church in the Mountains. Proceeds from a July 27 Parish Fair go toward supporting these grants.

Application: www.gracewaynesville.com. Info: 456.6029.

• The Haywood County Arts Council is accepting submissions for a Studio Tour Logo Contest through Aug. 1.

Info and application: haywoodarts.org/logo-contest.

BUSINESS & EDUCATION • An online selling series for small business owners will be offered on May 30 at Haywood Community College’s Public Services Training Facility, room 9105, in Clyde.

Topics are “Selling Online Today” from 9 a.m.-noon; “Selling on Shopify” from 1-4 p.m.; and “Selling on Amazon” from 5-8 p.m. Speaker is Nick Hawks, an education specialist trained by eBay. Info and register: SBC.Haywood.edu or 627.4512.

• Registration is underway for a Bone ID course that will be offered June 3-5 at Western Carolina University.

Registration fee: $199. For info or to register: bones.wcu.edu or 227.7397.

• A program entitled “Going to College without Going Broke” is set for 6-7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 11, in the Waynesville Library Auditorium. Presented by the N.C. College Foundation.

• College and Career Readiness at Haywood Community College will have an orientation on earning your High School Equivalency or Adult High School Diploma from 2-4 p.m. on Wednesday, June 12, in the Waynesville Library Auditorium. Registration required: 356.2507 or Kathleen.Olsen@haywoodcountync.gov.

All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted.

• Registration is underway for a workshop on organizational change entitled: “Pathways, Ideas and Tips for Effective Organizational Change” that will be offered by Western Carolina University’s Office of Professional Growth and Enrichment from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Monday, June 17, at WCU Biltmore Park in Asheville.

Registration: $279 (includes catered lunch). 10 percent discount through May 10 with promo code: EC2019. Info and to register: pdp.wcu.edu or 227.7397.

• Registration is underway for a Grant-Writing Certificate program that will be offered by Western Carolina University’s Office of Professional Growth and Enrichment. Program is from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on June 1821 at WCU’s campus in Cullowhee. Registration: $449. pdp.wcu.edu or 227.7397.

FUNDRAISERS AND BENEFITS • The Strand will host a Shining Rock Classical Academy fundraiser at 6:30 p.m. on June 11. A special showing of “Into the Spiderverse”, will be shown at The Strand in downtown Waynesville with all proceeds going to SRCA. Visit www.38main.com for pricing & tickets.

283.0079.

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.

• “Breastfeeding A-Z” class will be offered from 7-9 p.m. on 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.

• Registration is open for the 2019 Walk to End Alzheimer’s, which is Sept. 21 at Pack Square Park in Asheville. http://act.alz.org/Asheville or 800.272.3900.

RECREATION AND FITNESS • An hour yoga class is offered at 9 a.m. on Wednesdays at the Maggie Valley Wellness Center. $15 for a single class, or $55 for a package of four classes.

944.0288 or maggievalleywellness.com.

• A summer adult volleyball league organizational meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 29, at the Waynesville Recreation Center. 456.2030.

• Yoga and Art with Sarah Kunkleman is set for 5 p.m. on Friday, May 31, in the Macon County Public Library Meeting Room. www.facebook.com/events/819411478430026.

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

SPIRITUAL • Lake Junaluska will host a Summer Worship Series at 10:45 a.m. on June 9, 16, 23, 30; July 7, 14, 21, 28 and Aug. 4. Spirited services led by internationally known preachers in Stuart Auditorium. This year’s theme is “Psalms for Our Time.”

• 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.

• The Junaluskans Flea Market will take place from 811:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 8, at the Nanci Weldon Memorial Gym in Lake Junaluska. Early bird shopping for $5 from 7:30-8 a.m. Proceeds support integral projects for the Lake Junaluska community.

• Waynesville Yoga Center will present “Yoga + Hike Series: Bear Pen Gap Hike with Tara Scarborough” from 8-11 a.m. on Saturday, June 1. $30 each or $107 for the three-hike series. Register: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com.

• Ticket reservations are being accepted for two fundraisers that will benefit the Cashiers-Highlands Humane Society this summer: Bark, Beer & Barbeque on Thursday, June 20, at The Farm at Old Edwards; and Pawsitively Purrfect Part on Monday, Aug. 19, at Country Club of Sapphire Valley. Cost for each event: , $195 per person, $390 per couple or $1,800 for a table of 10. To request an alert once tickets are available, call 743.5769 or write shannon@CHhumanesociety.org.

• Waynesville Yoga Center will present Buti Yoga from noon-1 p.m. on Saturday, June 1. $14. Register: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.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.

• Waynesville Yoga Center will present Yoga for Chronic Pain Workshop with Jay MacDonald and Alex Moody from 2-4 p.m. on Saturday, June 1. Cost: $35 in advance or $40 day of. Register: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com.

• Registration is underway for Guided Personal Retreats, on July 22-24, Sept. 16-18 and Oct. 21-23 at Lake Junaluska. Lakejunaluska.com/retreats or 800.222.4930.

VOLUNTEERS & VENDORS • Signups are underway for vendors and demonstrators wanting to participate in the second annual Mountain Heritage Fest, which is from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday, July 13, at the Cruso Community Center.

Vendor spaces: $10. Info and applications: www.crusonc.com/fest, 400.7323 or crusoquiltshow@gmail.com.

HEALTH MATTERS • National Cancer Survivors Day 2019 will be observed at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 2, at the Waynesville Inn. Food, crafts and music by Bobby and Blue Ridge Tradition.

• 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 Friends of the Haywood County Public Library will present “Reading Women’s Lives: Conversations from Fiction” featuring a discussion of “Nervous Conditions”

by Tsitsi Dangarembga from 4-6 p.m. on June 13 at the Waynesville branch of the Haywood County Public Library. Book is available at the library. Discussion will be led by Dr. Peg Downes.

• “Your Amazing Newborn” class will be offered from 79 p.m. on July 11, Sept. 5 and Nov. 7 at Haywood

• Waynesville Yoga Center will present Community Yoga from 2:30-3:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 2. Donations.

Register: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com.

• Waynesville Yoga Center will present Hot Stone Restorative Yoga with Sara Lewis from 4-5 p.m. on Sunday, June 2. $14. Register: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com.

• Learn to Meditate the Easy Way from 5:30-6:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 2, at the Waynesville Yoga Center. $14.

Register: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com.

• Yoga Basics Series with Jake Gilmore is scheduled for 6:45-7:45 p.m. on Thursday, June 6, at Waynesville Yoga Center. Register: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com.

• Waynesville Yoga Center will present Sunset Yoga from 7-8 p.m. on Sunday, June 9, at Waterrock Knob with Tara Scarborough. $14. Register: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com.

• Buti, Hoops + Bubbles will be offered through the Waynesville Yoga Center from 6-7:30 p.m. on Friday, June 14, at Folkmoot Friendship Center in Waynesville. $20. Register: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com.

• Sylva Yoga is offering a variety of donation-based classes through late May. Complete listing and registration info: www.sylvayoga.com.

• Throughout June, Dance Tonight Haywood offers weekly classes on Argentine Tango (Mondays), Salsa (Tuesdays), Swing (Wednesdays) and Blues (Thursday) at 61 ½ Main Street in Canton. RSVP Text your name and email to 316.1344.

AUTHORS AND BOOKS • Thomas Rain Crowe will present the collected poems of Yvan Goll he edited, titled The Inner Trees, at 6:30 p.m. Friday, May 31, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva.

KIDS & FAMILIES • Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva will host a video game night on Wednesday’s this summer from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Play Smash Bros. & Mario Cart on the big screen. Free. 586.3555.

• A Kids Fishing Day is scheduled for 9 a.m. on June 1 at Cliffside Lake on the Nantahala District, the Haywood County Test Farm Pond in Waynesville, Cullowhee Creek on Jackson County Park and Recreation property and at Lake Powhatan in the Pisgah District. Children 15under fish free. Info: 524.6441 or rmmcclure02@fs.fed.us (Cliffside event); 329.3472 or Tanya.Poole@ncwildlife.org (Haywood event); 293.3053 (Cullowhee event); or 877.3265 or loriestroub@fs.fed.us (Powhatan event).

• Women’s Introduction to Fly Fishing will be offered for ages 12-up from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on June 1 at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

• Nature Nuts: Frogs and Toads will be offered to ages 4-7 from 9-11 a.m. on June 3 and June 17 at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard.

Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

• Eco Explorers: Canids will be offered to ages 8-13

from 1-3 p.m. on June 3 and June 17 at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

• Outdoor Skill Series: Camping 101 will be offered to ages 12-up from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on June 5 at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard.

Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

• Professor Whizzpop will perform a magic & comedy show at 6:30 p.m. on June 8 at Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. $1. 586.3555.

• Registration is underway for summer youth swim programs that will be offered in June and July at Reid Gym on Western Carolina University’s campus in Cullowhee. Led by retired WCU professor Mike Creason. Info: swim.wcu.edu, 227.7397 or 293.5364.

• Smoky Mountain Sk8way is enrolling participants for its Summer Camp, which is for ages 6-14 years old.

Games, art and crafts, learning and group activities. $35 a day or $150 per week. Nine weeks. For info or to enroll: www.smokymountainsk8way.com or 246.9124.

• Registration is underway for the Junior Appalachian Musicians Camp, preserving and perpetuating bluegrass, old-time, mountain and string music. Camp is from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on July 15-19 at the First United Methodist Church in Waynesville. Cost: $95. Sign up: www.haywoodarts.org or www.facebook.com/haywoodarts.

A&E

SUMMER CAMPS • Registration is underway for afternoon art classes this summer for all ages. Kinder Artists camps for 5-6 year-olds is from 10-11 a.m., June 17-20, July 15-18 and Aug. 5-8. Cost: $45 for four days or $15 for single-day camp. Art Sparklers Camps for 7-9 year-olds will be from 10 a.m.-noon on June 3-6, June 24-27 and July 22-25. Cost: $110 for four days or $35 for single-day. Shining Minds camps for 10-13 year-olds are from 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on June 10-13, July 8-11 and July 19-Aug. 1. Cost: $110 for four days or $35 for single-day. Info: 246.9869 or WaynesvilleArtSchool.com.

• Registration is underway for Discovery Camp with weekly camps available June 10-Aug. 16 at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville. Open to pre-K through rising eighth graders. Register: www.ncarboretum.org/education-programs/discovery-camp.

• Registration is underway for a summer volleyball camp that will be offered to rising third-through-12th graders from 9 a.m.-noon on June 17-20 at the Waynesville Recreation Center. Cost: $85 before June 1 or $100 after. Register or get more info: amymull@bellsouth.net.

• Western Carolina University’s forensic anthropology program is accepting high school students for a summer day camp course that will run from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on June 17-21 in Cullowhee. Title: “Tales for the Dead: An Introduction to Forensic Anthropology. Registration fee: $299. For info or to register: bones.wcu.edu or 227.7397.

• Bosu’s Wine Shop in Waynesville will host five for $5 Wine Tasting from 5 to 9 p.m. on May 30 and June 6.

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

• A free wine tasting will be held from 1-5 p.m. on June 1 and 8 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 June 1 and 8 at Papou’s Wine Shop in Sylva. www.papouswineshop.com or 631.3075.

SUMMER MUSIC

• The Concerts on the Creek will host Arnold Hill Band w/Chris Pressley (rock) at 7 p.m. on Friday, June 7 at Bridge Park in downtown Sylva. Free and open to the public. Occasionally there are food trucks onsite.

586.2155 or www.mountainlovers.com.

• Mad Batter Food & Film in downtown Sylva will host a live drag show at 9 p.m. on June 7. $5. 586.3555.

• The third annual Cold Mountain Music Festival will take place May 31 and June 1 at the Lake Logan Conference Center. The festival will feature top-notch national and regional acts, with styles ranging from Americana to soul, folk to indie-rock, singer-songwriter to bluegrass. The festival will also include food trucks, craft beer vendors, and a kid’s area. See www.coldmountainmusic.org for bands and times.

• The Broadway Musical “The Bridges of Madison County” opens at HART on May 17 at 250 Pigeon St. in Waynesville. Performances at 7:30 p.m. on May 31, June 1, 6, 7 and 8; and at 2 p.m. on May 19, 26, June 2 and 9. Reservations: 456.6322, www.harttheatre.org.

• National Get Outdoors Day at the Cradle of Forestry in America will offer skills teaching and demonstration on Saturday, June 8. Activities, crafts, self-guided scavenger hunts, junior forester workbook, hiking trails and more near Brevard.

• Registration is underway for two basketball shooting and dribbling camps that will be offered from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on June 24-27 and July 15-18 at the Waynesville Recreation Center. Led by former Appalachian State University coach Kevin Cantwell.

Cost: $150 per person; deposit of $25 required.

Register or get info: 456.2030 or academy7@live.com.

• The 2019 “Art After Dark” season will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. the first Friday of the month in downtown Waynesville. Main Street transforms into an evening of art, music, finger foods, beverages and shopping as artisan studios and galleries keep their doors open later for local residents and visitors. www.waynesvillegalleryassociation.com.

• Registration is underway for a pair of summertime nature/science camps offered by Western Carolina University for rising sixth-ninth graders. Nature Exploration Camp is from June 24-28; explore the natural world through field trips and activities in the

• The “Uncorked: Wine & Rail Pairing Experience” will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, June 8,

FOOD & DRINK

ON STAGE & IN CONCERT

• Tickets are on sale now for “Lakeshore Goes Broadway,” which will be presented at 6:30 p.m. on July 16-17, in the Harrell Center Auditorium at Lake Junaluska Conference & Retreat Center. Tickets: $50; available at Bethea Welcome Center. www.lakejunaluska.com/singers.

• Tickets are on sale now for a concert featuring Paul Saik at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 3, at Lake Junaluska.

Tickets: $18. Lakejunaluska.com/associates or 800.222.4930.

• Highlands Performing Arts Center will have the fulllength play “Calendar Girls” by Tim Firth on May 2326 and May 31-June 2. Highlandscashiersplayers.org.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host an open mic

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

Smoky Mountain News

• Registration is underway for the Cashiers-Highlands Humane Society’s Critter Camp, which is offered from June 17-21, July 15-19 and Aug. 5-9. Camp hours: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Fun, immersive experiences with animals at no-kill shelter for rising first-graders through sixthgraders. $300 per child for each week. 743.5752 or info@CHhumanesociety.org.

• The Taste of Scotland and Celtic Festival is Thursday through Sunday, June 13-16, in Franklin. The Gathering (formerly Clan Dinner) is 6-9 p.m. on Thursday, in Tartan Hall, First Presbyterian Church; Dance, food, music and movie from 5:30-10 on Friday; Opening ceremony at 10 a.m. followed by vendors, food, souvenirs and entertainment on Saturday; Kirkin O’ the Tartans ceremony at 10 a.m. on Sunday.

• The MusicWorks! Studio Recital is set for 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 1, in the Bardo Arts Center at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.

• Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives perform at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 1, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Tickets start at $28. www.greatmountainmusic.com or 866.723.4615.

• Groovin’ on the Green (Cashiers) will host Andrews Scotchie & The River Rats (blues/rock) May 31 and The Wobblers (R&B) June 7. Show begin at 6:30 p.m.

Free and open to the public.

• The 23nd annual Cherokee Voices Festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 8, at The Museum of the Cherokee Indian. Elders and millennials will be sharing traditional Cherokee culture through dance, music, storytelling, food and cultural arts demonstrations. Free www.visitcherokeenc.com.

• The Cherokee Bonfire & Storytelling will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 25 at the Oconaluftee Islands Park in Cherokee. 800.438.1601 or www.visitcherokeenc.com.

• The Concerts on the Creek will host Jonah Riddle & Carolina Express (bluegrass/gospel) at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 31 at Bridge Park in downtown Sylva. Free and open to the public. Occasionally there are food trucks onsite. 586.2155 or www.mountainlovers.com.

• The Cherokee Gourds Artists Gathering is from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Friday, May 31, at the Cherokee Indian Fairgrounds. Demonstrations and art for sale. www.visitcherokeenc.com.

• The Cherokee Bluegrass Festival will be held from noon-10:30 p.m. from Thursday through Saturday, June 6-8, at Happy Holiday RV Village and Campground, 1553 Wolfetown road in Cherokee. Rain or shine under a large tent. Tickets: $40 daily in advance; $45 at the gate; $90 three-day in advance; $95 at the gate. Tickets and full lineup: www.adamsbluegrass.com. Info: 706.864.7203 or 497.9204.

• Up-and-coming on the Americana/indie act Grizzly Goat will be kicking off the Cold Mountain Music Festival during a special pre-festival performance at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 30, in the Queen Auditorium at the Folkmoot Friendship Center in Waynesville. Tickets for the Grizzly Goat show are $10, with all proceeds going to continued programming at Folkmoot.

452.2997 or www.folkmoot.org. Tickets can also be purchased at the door day of show.

May 29-June 4, 2019

• Registration is underway for a pair of two residential camp programs scheduled for this summer at Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute in Rosman: Astro Camp, for ages 11-14, from Aug. 4-9; and Camp Above and Beyond, for grades 9-12, from June 16-28.

For info, scholarship opportunities and to register: www.pari.edu or 862.5554.

SPECIAL EVENTS & FESTIVALS

at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City.

Full service all-adult first-class car. Wine pairings with a meal and more. 800.872.4681 or www.gsmr.com.

wnc calendar

• Intro to Fly-Fishing will be offered to ages 12-up from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on June 4, 18 and 25 at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard.

Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

region. Cost $279 (lunch provided). Science Laboratory Camp is from July 8-12 and explores laboratory science through activities and experiments in biology, chemistry, geosciences and more. Cost: $199 (lunch provided). Info: camps.wcu.edu or 227.7397.

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wnc calendar

night at 6:30 p.m. every Thursday. www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Pub 319 (Waynesville) will host an open mic night from 8-11 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. 482.9794 or www.satulahmountainbrewing.com.

• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host an open mic night every Thursday. All shows are free and begin at 7 p.m. www.mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.

• Boojum Brewing Company (Waynesville) will host a bluegrass open mic every Wednesday and an all-genres open mic every Thursday. All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.boojumbrewing.com.

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

283.0079 or www.38main.com.

• The Classic Wineseller (Waynesville) will host live music on Fridays and Saturdays. All shows are free and begin at 7:15 p.m. 828.452.6000 or www.classicwineseller.com.

• Boojum Brewing Company (Waynesville) will host a bluegrass open mic every Wednesday and an all-genres open mic every Thursday. All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.boojumbrewing.com.

May 29-June 4, 2019

CLASSES AND PROGRAMS • A beginning knitting class will be offered as a three-part series at 10 a.m. on Wednesdays, May 29, June 12 and June 26 at the Dillsboro Masonic Lodge.

Instructor: June Wiggins of Dogwood Crafters Co-Op. Cost: $3 for the series. Register: 586.2248.

• Encouraging art classes for beginning through advanced adults are offered by the Inspired Art Ministry at the following times and dates: Drawing classes from 1-4 p.m. on Mondays; painting classes from 1-4 p.m. on Tuesdays. Info: 456.9197, charspaintings@msn.com or www.iamclasses.wbs.com.

• The Weekly Open Studio art classes will resume from 2 to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville, Instructor will be Betina Morgan. Open to all artists, at any stage of development, and in the medium of your choice. Cost is $20 per class. There will also be a Youth Art Class from 4 to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays. Cost is $10 per class.

550.6190 or bmk.morgan@yahoo.com.

Smoky Mountain News

• The “Travels and Tall Tales” lecture series continues

• The Weekly Open Studio art classes will resume from 2 to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville, Instructor will be Betina Morgan. Open to all artists, at any stage of development, and in the medium of your choice. Cost is $20 per class. There will also be a Youth Art Class from 4 to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays. Cost is $10 per class.

Contact Morgan at 828.550.6190 or email bmk.morgan@yahoo.com.

• “Talk About Art” with Melba Cooper from 10 a.m.noon on Thursday, May 30, at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville. Cooper will guide a class in using art criticism models for talking about and making aesthetic evaluations of art. She will lead you through a format developed by Eugene Kaelin at the University of Florida. The purpose will be to engage more deeply with a work of art and allow it to “speak in the moment.”

• A summit focused on thinking beyond cars as transportation will be held from 2-5 p.m. on Friday, May 31, at Sierra Nevada Brewing in Mills River. RSVP: bit.ly/2WH3fyx.

• Registration is underway for a Bladesmithing Basics class that will be offered from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday, June 1, at Jackson County Green Energy Park in Dillsboro. Cost $200. Led by Brock Martin from WarFire Forge. Preregistration required: www.JCGEP.org or 631.0271.

• Haywood County NAACP will have a meeting to reflect on the pilgrimage to Montgomery, Ala., from 46 p.m. on Saturday, Jun 1, at the Pigeon Community Multicultural Development Center in Waynesville.

• Learn how to make macramé plant hangers from 24 p.m. on Thursday, June 6, at the Waynesville Library.

Registration required: 356.2507 or Kathleen.olsen@haywoodcountync.gov.

• The Haywood County Arts Council will feature Cherokee Artist Demonstrations by flutist Matt Tooni (6-9 p.m. on Friday, June 7); historic interpreter Nathan Bush (10 a.m.-noon on Saturday, June 8); potter Tara McCoy (1-3 p.m. on Saturday, June 8); mixed media artist and Cherokee language speaker Jody Bradley Lipscomb (10 a.m.-noon on Saturday, June 15); and storyteller Kathi Littlejohn (1-3 p.m. on Saturday, June 15).

• Registration is underway for an Armor Construction: Gothic Gauntlet Class, which will be led by Brock Martin of WarFire Forge from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, July 20-21, at the Jackson County Green Energy Park in Dillsboro. Cost: $390, materials included. Preregistration required: 631.0271. Info: www.JCGEP.org.

• Haywood County Libraries are holding a kick-off event for its Adult Summer Reading program from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Monday, June 3, at the Waynesville

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Library and from noon-4 p.m. on June 3 at the Canton Library. Program runs through Aug. 30. Info: www.haywoodlibrary.org or 452.5169 (Waynesville) or 648.2924 (Canton).

ART SHOWINGS AND GALLERIES • Grace Church in the Mountains is hosting “Icons in Transformation,” a traveling exhibition of icons by artist Ludmila Pawlowska, from 1-3 p.m. on Wednesdays and from 3-5 p.m. on Saturdays from through June 16.

• The Museum of the Cherokee Indian has recently opened a major new exhibit, “People of the Clay: Contemporary Cherokee Potters.” It features more than 60 potters from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Cherokee Nation, and more than one hundred works from 1900 to the present. The exhibit will run through April 2020.

• The Haywood County Arts Council will have an Elemental: Wood, Metal, Glass, Fiber & Clay Exhibition through June 1 at the gallery, 86 N. Main Street in Waynesville. 452.0593.

• Haywood Community College’s Professional Crafts Students will have a “Graduate Show” to exhibit their best work through June 23 at the Southern Highland Craft Guild Folk Art CenterInfo: 627.4673 or creativearts.haywood.edu.

• An exhibition entitled: “Ebb and Flow, Bloom and Fade: Dynamic Rhythms From Hambidge Fellows” is on display through June 16 in the Bunzl Gallery at The Bascom in Highlands. Info: www.thebascom.org.

• 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.

• New artist and medium will be featured every month at the Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. 356.2800.

FILM & SCREEN • “Intelligent Lives” – a documentary about three young adults with intellectual disabilities who challenge perceptions of intelligence in high school, college and the workforce – will be shown on May 29 at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva.

Refreshments and transition resources available at 5 p.m.; film starts at 6 p.m. followed by a panel discussion. Info: 586.2311, ext. 1922 or ataylor@jcps.mail.org.

• “Apollo 11”, a documentary will be shown at 7:30 p.m. on June 1 and at 6:30 p.m. on June 7 at Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. Free. 586.3555.

• 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 topic: 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

MUSIC JAMS AND GROUPS • Golden Aires singing group practices at 9:15 a.m. every fourth Wednesday of the month at Jackson County Department on Aging/Senior Center in Sylva.

Secular and religious music. Performances given at area nursing homes. Musical instruments also welcome. 586.5494.

• Old-time music jam from 1-3 p.m. the first and third Saturday of the month at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on U.S. 441 outside Cherokee. November through April is just the third Saturday. 497.1904.

• A community music jam will be held from 6-7:30 p.m. on the first and third Thursday of each month at the Marianna Black Library in Downtown Bryson City.

Anyone with a guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dulcimer – anything unplugged – is invited to join.

Singers and listeners are also welcome.

• Cruso Circle Play & Jam, 7 p.m. every Tuesday, Cruso Community Center and Friendship Club in Cruso. www.facebook.com/crusocircleplayjam.

• Karaoke is held at 7 p.m. every other Friday at the American Legion Post 47 in Waynesville. Open to all members and their guests. 456.8691.

• Men Macon Music, canella singing, meets at 5:30 p.m. every Monday in the Chapel of First Presbyterian Church, 26 Church St., Franklin. Visitors welcome.

524.9692.

• Mountain Dulcimer Players Club meets from 2 to 4 p.m. on the first and third Sundays of each month at the Bryson City United Methodist Church. Knowledge of music not required, tablature method used. 488.6697.

• The Franklin Early Music Group meets every Monday at 9 a.m. at the First Presbyterian Church. 369.5192.

• The Nikwasi Dulcimer Players meet every Thursday afternoon from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at First United Methodist Church in Franklin. All are welcome.

524.1040 or 524.2294.

Outdoors

• The Tuckaseigee Water & Sewer Authority Finance Committee will hold a Called Meeting at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 30, at the TWSA Main Office, 1246 W. Main Street in Sylva. Meeting will review the staff-recommended fiscal year TWSA Budget as assigned by the TWSA Board.

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with Alan French at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 30, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. Topics extend from Russia through Nordic Countries.

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• Volunteer work days for the Trails Forever program are held every Wednesday, May through August, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. For details and to volunteer: 497.1949 or adam_monroe@nps.gov.

• Blue Ridge Parkway rangers will lead a moderate, 1.5-mile round-trip hike to the old site of Rattlesnake Lodge at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 31. Meet at the dirt pull-off by the southern entrance of Tanbark Tunnel, Milepost 374.4. Info: 298.5330.

• A Trail Crew Work Day is set from 8:45 a.m.-1 p.m. on June 1 in DuPont Forest. Meet at High Falls Access Area. Contact: llbmwb@gmail.com.

• The Nantahala Gorge BioBlitz is at 9 a.m. on Saturday, June 1, at the Big Wesser restaurant at Nantahala Outdoor Center. Work with expert naturalists to document a portion of the Nantahala National Forest. Bring lunch, snacks, water, closed-tied shoes, sunscreen and raingear. RSVP required: www.mountaintrue.org/2019-bioblitz-nantahala-gorge.

• A trail rehabilitation day is scheduled for Saturday, June 1, at Max Patch. Part of National Trails Day. Meet at 8:15 a.m. in Asheville for carpool. Register: www.carolinamtnclub.org/eventform.cfm. Info: pmcurtin@hotmail.com.

• Friends of Panthertown will celebrate National Trails Day with informal guided hikes at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 1, from the Salt Rock Gap and Cold Mountain Gap trailheads in Panthertown Valley. RSVP: panthertown.org.

• “In Search of Blue Ghosts Twilight Tour” is set for 8:30-10:30 p.m. on Tuesday through Saturday evenings, through June 1, at the Cradle of Forestry in America. Tickets are $10 for ages 4-12 and $10 for 13-up. Register: cradleofforestry.com/event/blueghost-tour.

• The Franklin Bird Club will have a bird walk along the Greenway at 8 a.m. on June 5. Meet at Salali Lane.

Franklinbirdclub.com or 524.5234.

• “Park in the Dark” – a fundraiser for Friends of Chimney Rock State Park – is set for 7:30-10 p.m. on Saturday, June 8, at Chimney Rock. Hands-on activities, nature stations, storytelling around the campfire, s’mores and more. Cost: $20 per adult, $8 for ages 515 and free for kids 4-under. Purchase required by June 6: ChimneyRockPark.com.

• The Franklin Bird Club will have a bird walk along the Greenway at 8 a.m. on June 12. Meet at the Macon County Public Library parking area.

Franklinbirdclub.com or 524.5234.

• “On the Water: Davidson River” program for ages 12-up from 9 a.m.-noon on June 12 at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

• A “Snorkeling in the Stream” program for ages 8-up is scheduled for 9 a.m.-noon on June 13 at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

• A “Casting for Beginners: Level 1” program for ages 12-up is scheduled for 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on June 13 and

• Backpacking course, will be offered by Landmark Learning on June 24-28, Aug. 12-16 and Oct. 21-25. www.landmarklearning.org.

FARM AND GARDEN • Registration is underway for the “Managing for Pollinators & Native Species” workshop, which will be offered from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. on Thursday, June 13, at Mountain Research Station, 265 Test Farm Road in Waynesville. Registration required by June 7. Cost: $10 – includes lunch and materials.

Go.ncsu.edu/wow_pollinator_waynesville.

FARMERS MARKETS • The Swain County Farmer’s Market is held from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. every Friday through October at the barn on Island Street in downtown Bryson City. 488.3848 or www.facebook.com/SwainCountyFarmersMarket.

• Jackson County Farmers Market runs from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesdays at Bridge Park in downtown Sylva. jacksoncountyfarmersmarket@gmail.com or www.jacksoncoutyfarmersmarket.org.

• The ‘Whee Farmers Market is held from 3-6 p.m. on Tuesdays through the end of October at the entrance to the village of Forest Hills off North Country Club Drive in Cullowhee. 476.0334 or www.thewheemarket.org.

• Haywood Historic Farmers Market is on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon at the HART Theater parking lot and Wednesdays from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the First Baptist Church overflow parking lot beside Exxon. waynesvillefarmersmarket.com or haywoodfarmersmarket@gmail.com.

• The Original Waynesville Tailgate Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon at 171 Legion Drive in Waynesville. 456.1830 or vrogers12@att.net.

• Franklin Farmers Tailgate Market runs 8 a.m. to noon, on East Palmer Street across from Drake Software. 349.2049 or www.facebook.com/franklinncfarmersmarket.

• “Locally Grown on the Green,” the Cashiers farm stand market for local growers, will be held from 3-6 p.m. every Wednesday at the Village Green Commons on Frank Allen Rd. next to the Cashiers post office. info@villagegreencashiersnc.com or 743.3434.

HIKING CLUBS • Carolina Mountain Club will have a 7.5-mile hike with a 1,800-foot ascent on Sunday, June 2, at Mount Noble Lookout Tower. Info and reservations: 845.656.5528 or hkassell@gmail.com.

• Carolina Mountain Club will have a five-mile hike with a 500-foot ascent on Sunday, June 2, at Twin Falls. Info and reservations: 857.756.3815, 508.308.6103 or billsnow123@gmail.com.

Smoky Mountain News

• The Franklin Bird Club meeting will feature a presentation entitled “Bird Communication: Sound, Color and Dance” by Dr. Olga Milenkaya at 7 p.m. on June 10 at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin.

Franklinbirdclub.com or 524.5234.

• A “Tackle Rigging for Fly Fishing” program for ages 12-up is scheduled for 9 a.m.-noon on June 15 at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard.

Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

May 29-June 4, 2019

• A birding excursion in the Balsams is scheduled for 8 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday, June 2, on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Led by Kevin Burke. For the Great smoky Mountains Association. $20 for members; $40 for nonmembers. Sign up: https://bit.ly/2Hz1I79 or 865.436.7318, ext. 349.

• A “Kids Introduction to Fly-Fishing” program for ages 12-up is scheduled for 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on June 14 at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard.

Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

wnc calendar

• Great Smoky Mountains National Park will host a stargazing event at 8 p.m. on Friday, May 31, at the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center at Purchase Knob in Haywood County. Rain or shine.

Registration required in advance: www.eventbrite.com/o/astronomy-club-of-asheville20250065100 or 497.1907.

June 27 at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

• Carolina Mountain Club will have an 11.5-mile hike with a 3,000-foot ascent on Wednesday, June 5, from Hyatt Ridge to Enloe Creek Trail. Info and reservations: 208.550.2070 or sallye_sanders@yahoo.com.

• Carolina Mountain Club will have a six-mile hike with a 1,000-foot ascent on Wednesday, June 5, from Buckeye Gap to Bearpen Gap. Info and reservations: 337.5845 or laurafrisbie@gmail.com

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PRIME REAL ESTATE Advertise in The Smoky Mountain News

ANNOUNCEMENTS

MarketPlace information: The Smoky Mountain News Marketplace has a distribution of 16,000 every week to over 500 locations across in Haywood, Jackson, Macon, and Swain counties along with the Qualla Boundary and west Buncombe County. For a link to our MarketPlace Web site, which also contains a link to all of our MarketPlace display advertisers’ Web sites, visit www.smokymountainnews.com.

Rates:

■ Free — Lost or found pet ads.

■ $5 — Residential yard sale ads, ■ $5 — Non-business items that sell for less than $150.

■ $15 — Classified ads that are 50 words or less; each additional line is $2.

If your ad is 10 words or less, it will be displayed with a larger type.

■ $3 — Border around ad and $5 — Picture with ad or colored background.

■ $50 — Non-business items, 25 words or less. 3 month or till sold.

■ $375 — Statewide classifieds run in 170 participating newspapers with 1.1+ million circulation. Up to 25 words.

■ All classified ads must be pre-paid.

Classified Advertising: Scott Collier, phone 828.452.4251; fax 828.452.3585 classads@smokymountainnews.com

Great Smokies Storage NEW UNITS

UNDER

CONSTRUCTION

waiting list is filling up-call today to save your spot!

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HOOPER FAMILY REUNION July 13th. Covered Dish Luncheon at Noon in Senior Citizen & Activity Center, Hiawassee, GA. Bring Photos for Discussion on Family History. Any Questions Text Barbara @ 706.581.2016.

AUCTION 2-DAY EQUIPMENT AUCTION Trucks, Trailers, Shop Tools, Excavating Equipment, Farm Equipment, Personal Property Friday June 7, 2019 10:00a.m. & Saturday June 8, 2019 10:00a.m.

2875 Island Ford Road, Crumpler, N.C. Brochure or Information Col. James R. Jimmy Boyer NCAL#1792, Call 336.572.2323 or Email: boyerrealty@skybest.com BoyerRealtyandAuction.com BANKRUPTCY AUCTION Of KT Engine Development Inc., Online Only, Begins Closing 5/23 at 12pm, Engine Refurbishing & Diagnostic Machinery, Engine Parts, Tools, & More, ironhorseauction.com, 800.997.2248, NCAL 3936 PUBLIC AUCTION Saturday, June 1st @ 10am, 201 S. Central Ave, Locust, NC. Selling Vehicles, Box Trucks, Mowers, New Tools & Industrial Items. www.ClassicAuctions.com 704.791.8825 NCAF#5479

AUCTION

PAINTING

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JAMISON CUSTOM PAINTING & PRESSURE WASHING

AUCTION: Historic Manteo, NC Home-Gardens. 400 Uppowoc Av. Tax Val $703K. WILL SELL at or above $325K! June 15. Mike Harper 843.729.4996 (NCAL# 8286) www.HarperAuctionAndRealty.com for details.

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EMPLOYMENT MAD BATTER ROSCO - BOTH A BLUETICK AND A REDTICK COONHOUND, IT WOULD APPEAR! HE'S A HANDSOME BOY WEIGHING IN AT NEARLY 60 LBS. ROSCO LOVES PEOPLE AND ENJOYS OUR DOGGY PLAY GROUPS. HE IS A SUPER GOOD DOG--THE SHELTER STAFF GAVE HIM RAVE REVIEWS.

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EMPLOYMENT

LONG’S CHAPEL U.M.C. In Waynesville NC, Seeks Someone Who Loves Jesus and is Willing to Share His Love Through Leading Our First Impressions/ Hospitality Ministry. A Part-Time Role (10-20 Flexible Hours a Week) that will Assist the Church in Arranging Volunteer Servants, Coordinating Community Events, and Enhancing the Guest Experience for Sunday Morning Worship Services. Please Email: Lori.Prickett@LongsChapel.com with Letters of Interest and Resumes.

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Laboratory School, The Catamount School, is seeking an Exceptional Children (EC) Teacher/ Coordinator for the 2019-2020 school year. The Catamount School is a school for 6th, 7th & 8th Graders in Jackson County. If interested or for more info visit: jobs.wcu.edu/postings/9927 or call 828.227.2990 BEWARE OF LOAN FRAUD. Please check with the Better Business Bureau or Consumer Protection Agency before sending any money to any loan company.

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May 29-June 4, 2019

SQUEAKY - BIG HANDSOME FLUFF BALL CAT ABOUT SIX YEARS OLD. HE HAS GORGEOUS LONG LOCKS WHICH WILL REQUIRE A LITTLE UPKEEP, AND HE DOES APPRECIATE BRUSHING. HE'S PLAYFUL AT TIMES, BUT MOSTLY CURIOUS AND LOVES TO EXPLORE, ESPECIALLY IF HE CAN FIND A TINY SPACE IN WHICH TO CRAM HIMSELF. SQUEAKY HAS A SENSE OF HUMOR!

In Beautiful Downtown Sylva is Hiring for Kitchen Staff, Servers and Franklin Food Truck.

Please apply in Person (Main St.) Mon.- Fri. Between 2p.m. & 4p.m.

EMPLOYMENT 20 PEOPLE NEEDED!!

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& Junie

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Find Us One mile past State

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on the right side, across from Frankie’s Italian Restaurant

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madelyn.niemeyer@nestrealty.com | 828.782.3257 NestRealty.com/Asheville

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(828) 712-5578

lakeshore@lakejunaluska.com

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www.LakeshoreRealtyNC.com Conveniently located in the Bethea Welcome Center

Hansen & Hansen Mary Roger (828)

The Strength of Teamwork The Reputation for Results

400-1346

(828)

400-1345

71 N. Main St., Waynesville (828) 564-9393

smokymountainnews.com

Call:

43

WNC MarketPlace

Michelle McElroy BROKER ASSOCIATE

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 • 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 • Billy Case- billycase@beverly-hanks.com • Laura Thomas - lthomas@beverly-hanks.com • Lourdes Lanio - llanio@beverly-hanks.com

(828) 400-9463 michelle@beverly-hanks.com Haywood County Real Estate Expert & Top Producing REALTOR®

Catherine Proben Cell: 828-734-9157 Office: 828-452-5809

cproben@beverly-hanks.com

74 N. Main St., Waynesville, NC

828.452.5809

• George Escaravage - george@IJBProperties.com ERA Sunburst Realty - sunburstrealty.com • Amy Spivey - amyspivey.com • Rick Border - sunburstrealty.com • Pam James - pjames@sunburstrealty.com

www.smokymountainnews.com

May 29-June 4, 2019

Jerry Lee Mountain Realty

Jerry Lee Hatley- jerryhatley@bellsouth.net Keller Williams Realty - kellerwilliamswaynesville.com • The Morris Team - www.themorristeamnc.com • Julie Lapkoff - julielapkoff@kw.com

Lakeshore Realty

• Phyllis Robinson - lakeshore@lakejunaluska.com

Mountain Dreams Realty- maggievalleyhomesales.com Mountain Home Properties mountaindream.com • Cindy Dubose - cdubose@mountaindream.com

Jerry Powell

McGovern Real Estate & Property Management

• 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

Cell: 828.508.2002 jpowell@beverly-hanks.com

74 N. Main St., Waynesville

828.452.5809

• Rob Roland - rroland33@gmail.com

The Smoky Mountain Retreat at Eagles Nest

KAREN HOLLINGSED

• Tom Johnson - tomsj7@gmail.com • Sherell Johnson - sherellwj@aol.com

BROKER ASSOCIATE

(828) 734-6222

Weichart Realtors Unlimited

KHOLLINGSED@BEVERLY-HANKS.COM

• Marsha Block - marsha@weichertunlimited.com

WNC Real Estate Store

TO ADVERTISE IN THE NEXT ISSUE 44

828.452.4251 | ads@smokymountainnews.com

DRIVE WITH UBER. No experience is required, but you'll need a Smartphone. It's fun and easy. For more information, call: 1.800.655.7452 WORK FROM ANYWHERE You have an Internet connection.

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REAL ESTATE ANNOUNCEMENT LEASE TO OWN 1/2 Acre Lots with Mobile Homes & Empty 1/2 Acre + Lots!

Located Next to Cherokee Indian Reservation, 2.5 Miles from Harrah’s Cherokee Casino.

For More Information Please Call 828.506.0578

PUBLISHER’S NOTICE

Christie’s Ivester Jackson Blackstream

• Jeff Baldwin - jeff@WNCforMe.com

EMPLOYMENT

74 N. Main St. Waynesville, NC

828.452.5809

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.

GATED, LEVEL, ALL WOODED, 5+acre building lots, utilities available in S.E. Tennessee, between Chattanooga and Nashville. www.timber-wood.com Call now to schedule a tour 423.802.0296.

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HOMES FOR SALE BRUCE MCGOVERN A Full Service Realtor, Locally Owned and Operated mcgovernpropertymgt@gmail.com McGovern Property Management 828.283.2112.

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WANTED TO RENT WANTED - HOUSE TO RENT Need 2 or 3 Bedrooms. Furnished. June 25th - Sept. 30th.

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FOR SALE

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CROSSWORD

HART-HEALTHY VERSE ACROSS 1 Pasture 6 Boots out 12 Part of a picket fence 16 Driver’s navig. aid 19 Lauder of perfumery 20 “Chicago” actress Henshall 21 At this point 22 50 Cent’s genre 23 Start of a riddle 26 L.A.-to-Denver dir.

27 “Was -- das?” (German question) 28 Close by 29 Sports deal 31 Author -- de Cervantes 35 Poker payoff 36 Riddle, part 2 39 “Raging Bull” director Martin 41 German for “eight” 43 Dresser sections 44 Riddle, part 3 47 “Our Town” actor Erwin 48 Phnom -- (capital of Cambodia) 49 “Dies --” (Mass hymn) 50 Halt 51 Soap star Emma 56 Ukrainian capital 58 Hidden stash 62 Follows 64 Riddle, part 4 71 Clears of stuffiness 73 Stood for 74 Mesa’s kin 75 Riddle, part 5 78 Morsels 79 “-- mind?!” (“Excuse me?!”)

80 Roll spread 82 Belief 83 Alphabet opening 86 “I’ve had -- to here!”

90 “Big Love” actress Mireille -92 Paella veggie 93 Riddle, part 6 102 Slayer of Medusa 104 Monetary unit of Iran 105 Dumbfound 106 End of the riddle 108 Baseball two-bagger: Abbr.

110 Slushy frozen drink 111 “8 Simple Rules” actress Katey 112 “-- Fideles” 114 “Gloria in excelsis --” 115 Labor org. for dockworkers 116 Riddle’s answer 124 Actor Cruise 125 Tuning knob 126 Cheapest in a line of products 127 Delay leaving 128 Ending for Japan 129 Alluring 130 Gossipy meddlers 131 In reserve DOWN 1 Hardly any 2 Suffix with book 3 Plane landing guess 4 Suffix with book 5 Most moist, as a lawn at dawn 6 Lead-in to “while” 7 Bulge (out) 8 People: Prefix

9 Spotted cat 10 Fey of “Mean Girls” 11 Person on a quest 12 Hebrew underworld 13 Zodiac cat 14 Bark noise 15 Salver for serving Earl Grey, say 16 Most terrific 17 Gratify in a servile way 18 Goes faster 24 Napping 25 Volcano in E. Sicily 30 Uncooked 31 AOL rival 32 Here, to Henri 33 Weed B -- (Ortho product) 34 Suffix with press 35 Tip of an ink-filled implement 37 End of a college URL 38 “It’s so cold!”

40 Look for 42 Roman 201 45 Heat: Prefix 46 Part of MIT: Abbr.

50 Sofa variety 51 Rough guess 52 Soul singer India.-53 Artist Chagall 54 Make sum mistakes?

55 Replay effect, in brief 57 Prospect 59 PC program 60 Filly’s sibling 61 Beating organ 63 Chop -- (Chinese-style dish) 65 Bronze-hued 66 Data, in brief 67 Taken illicitly

68 Move away from nursing 69 Really dislike 70 Make leave 72 Certain boxing win, for short 76 Opposite of “day,” in French 77 Leased car, e.g.

81 Partners of aahs 83 Highly pertinent 84 Cow-bison hybrids 85 Poker or canasta 87 Long, angry speech 88 As a joined group 89 Gp. with putters 91 Fixed charge 93 Little tykes, to Scots 94 Czech sci-fi play of 1921 95 Belief 96 Historic section of a city 97 Blue Jays’ city 98 Go -- tear 99 Die dot 100 WWW access enabler 101 Comrade of Fidel 103 Salty body 107 At dawn, e.g.

109 Artist’s cap 113 Sour plum 114 Video store offerings 117 Whopper 118 Send via a phone line 119 Genetic helix 120 007 creator Fleming 121 -- Lankan 122 Hobbit foe 123 Bill the “Science Guy”

ANSWERS ON PAGE 40

smokymountainnews.com

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45

(Editor’s note: This article first appeared in The Smoky Mountain News in June 2004) he destiny of a given region is largely determined by its geology, topography, flora, and climate. That’s certainly been the instance here in the southern mountains, where logging and mining have been supplanted as the major industries by recreation and ecotourism. A prime example of this transition exists in the southwestern tip of North Carolina.

The Murphy Marble Belt (MMB) is a long, lens-shaped mass of marble and related sedimentary materials up to three miles wide that extends in a crescent from northwestern Georgia into Cherokee and Swain counties in North Carolina. This lens also contains talc, limestone, soapstone, and calcareous soils. The first two materials are still mined at the Nantahala Talc and Limestone Co. in the Nantahala Gorge. But it was marble that was once the linchpin of the area’s mining interests.

Some extraction of marble took place in Swain and Cherokee counties during the 19th century. But it wasn’t until the arrival of the railroad from Asheville in the 1890s that moving the excavated blocks became economically feasible on a large scale.

The Kinsey Quarry was opened southwest of Murphy by the Notla Marble and Talc Co. in 1900. In 1902 the Regal Marble

Co. opened a number of quarries in Cherokee County, providing employment for 30 men. This company was purchased by the Columbia Marble Co., which moved into new headquarters located near Marble in 1931. A modern plant was built there, with machinery installed for cutting and finishing the marble.

The MMB in North Carolina produced two types of marble: regal blue Columnist and sterling gray.

These are crystalline in texture, being primarily limestone that has been metamorphosed into marble.

Examples of both types can be observed throughout Cherokee County in various homes, public buildings and walls. The most evident structure is the very handsome Cherokee County Courthouse.

Marble quarried from the Georgia portion of the MMB was used for the statue in the Lincoln Memorial. I have also been told that marble mined in the Nantahala Gorge was used, in part, in the construction of the state courthouse in Raleigh.

Then, in the latter half of the 20th centu-

George Ellison

T

BACK THEN

River makes as it enters the lower portion of the Nantahala Gorge (where the power plant and raft put-in areas are presently situated.) Keith theorized that the river originally ran northward from the Georgia line directly through a water gap (just east of present Topton) into the Talula Creek watershed in present Graham County, and on into the Little Tennessee below where Fontana Dam was built.

The situation represents a textbook instance of stream piracy, whereby a small creek eating back westward through the soft, limestone strata of the MMB in the lower gorge captured the original Nantahala, causing it to change course and flow back to the east, thereby creating the The town of Marble got its name from various mar- dramatic Nantahala Gorge as we ble quarries in the community. Donated photo know it today. More recent geologists have not, to my knowledge, challenged Keith’s theory.

Accordingly, like the marble mines that marble mined down in the Georgia tip of the flourished not so long ago, the whitewater MMB. setting upon which the rafting industry is At about the time the marble industry dependent is an outgrowth of geological was phasing out, the whitewater industry processes that took place millions of years arrived on the scene. And it, too, was based ago in the MMB. From hard marble blocks on geology of the MMB. to soft rubber rafts in less than a single genIn 1907, Arthur Keith of the U.S. eration.

Geological Survey observed the abnormal, (George Ellison is a naturalist and writer. almost right-angled bend to the east that the He can be reached at info@georgeellison.com.)

Nantahala ry, the marble industry declined and ultimately ceased to exist in southwestern North Carolina. It was apparently more feasible in economic terms to extract and transport

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Smoky Mountain News May 29-June 4, 2019