Smoky Mountain News | June 22, 2022

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June 22-28, 2022 Vol. 24 Iss. 04

New details emerge in bizarre Macon murder case Page 17 Book offers fresh look at famed Smokies advocate Page 30

CONTENTS On the Cover: As Western North Carolina grows and become more popular with visitors from around the nation, local towns and tourism offices have had to weigh the pros and cons of an increase in folks seeking a respite in the Smoky Mountains.

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News State puts the brakes on U.S.-19 flyover project ......................................................4 Neadeau named as interim Cherokee police chief ....................................................5 How Highlands is attempting to regulate its short-term rental industry ..............6 Tourism dollars create opportunity for Jackson ..........................................................9 Haywood TDA to award special project grants ......................................................10 Clampitt bill would establish TDA for Bryson City ..................................................12 N.C. House opposes Smokies parking fee................................................................14 ‘Climb Out of the Darkness’ ..........................................................................................15 Affidavits offers heinous details of alleged kidnapping, homicide ......................17 Community briefs ..............................................................................................................19

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Scott McLeod. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . info@smokymountainnews.com Greg Boothroyd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . greg@smokymountainnews.com Micah McClure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . micah@smokymountainnews.com Travis Bumgardner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . travis@smokymountainnews.com Jessica Murray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jessica.m@smokymountainnews.com Susanna Shetley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . susanna.b@smokymountainnews.com Amanda Bradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jc-ads@smokymountainnews.com Sophia Burleigh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sophia.b@smokymountainnews.com Scott Collier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . classads@smokymountainnews.com Kyle Perrotti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . kyle.p@smokymountainnews.com Holly Kays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . holly@smokymountainnews.com Hannah McLeod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . hannah@smokymountainnews.com Cory Vaillancourt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cory@smokymountainnews.com Garret K. Woodward. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . garret@smokymountainnews.com Amanda Singletary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . smnbooks@smokymountainnews.com Scott Collier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . classads@smokymountainnews.com Jeff Minick (writing), Chris Cox (writing), George Ellison (writing), Don Hendershot (writing), Susanna Shetley (writing)

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Election integrity is fundamental to our freedoms....................................................18 New and shiny isn’t always better ................................................................................19

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A&E Brothers Gillespie release new album, plot summer tour......................................20 I don’t get it: A Review of ‘The Ballad of Laurel Springs’......................................29

Outdoors

Smoky Mountain News

June 22-28, 2022

George Masa book pairs famed images with modern experiences ..................30 U.S. House passes ‘historic’ wildlife bill......................................................................31

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State puts the brakes on US-19 flyover project

Smoky Mountain News

June 22-28, 2022

Designer chosen for WCU Moore Hall renovation

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In a unanimous vote Friday, June 10, the Western Carolina University Board of Trustees selected Charlotte-based Jenkins Peer Architects to design renovation efforts at Moore Hall.

The firm was selected from a group of four finalists, of which three were located in Charlotte and one in Atlanta.

Completed in 1924, The Moore Building is WCU’s oldest building and originally served as a women’s dormitory. It most recently housed the university’s health and human sciences program but has been vacant since 2012, when the new HHS building opened on Little Savannah Road.

Obtaining the money to renovate it became one of WCU’s top legislative priorities, and university leaders were ecstatic when the state budget approved in November honored all the school’s funding requests. This included $35.5 million for the Moore renovation, expected to cover the entire project cost. The sum includes contingencies for “moderate inflation and unexpected circumstances,” said Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance Mike Byers.

Design and construction are expected to take 18-24 months, meaning that the renovated Moore Building will likely open in 2024. The building is expected to host classrooms, offices and academic programs including the Criminal Justice Department and the English Department.

- By Holly Kays, Staff Writer

would have on Lake Junaluska as well as surrounding municipalities.

Rep. Mark Pless (RHaywood) also voiced concern over the project and its impact on emergency service response times. Pless is a former EMT, and pressed DOT to heed stakeholder input that resulted in DOT issuing a revised, expedited timeline for the work.

Now that the project’s been pushed back, Howle said he’s appreciative of the communication with the DOT and Pless.

“Over the next 18 months and beyond, we look forward to continued communication and collaboration with the DOT in this project and any others,” Howle said. “The roadways within Haywood County are one of the most important aspects of maintaining our economy.”

Initially, the project came into being due to concerns over the deterioration of three bridges built in 1965. Higdon said that DOT will perform repairs on the bridges to ensure public safety until replacement occurs.

In the meantime, bridge work on Interstate 40 will begin, with some projects starting as soon as fiscal year 2023. Two bridges over Beaverdam Road, one over Incinerator Road and one over Champion Drive will be first, followed by one over Thickety Road in 2024. In 2027, two bridges over Coleman Mountain Road and one on the U.S. 74 West ramp over I-40 will begin.

The U.S. 19 bridge project now joins two other high-profile DOT projects, Waynesville’s South Main Street and U.S. 1923 east of Canton, in a holding pattern.

Girders supporting this bridge over Richland Creek, photographed in June, 2021, show significant rust and peeling paint. Cory Vaillancourt photo

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR much-needed, much-lamented bridge replacement project planned for U.S. 74 in Haywood County will be postponed, per a June 10 statement from North Carolina Department of Transportation Division 14 engineer Garrett Higdon.

“NCDOT has made this decision to allow for more funding to be reallocated to the upcoming I-40 bridges projects,” Higdon wrote in an email to local leaders. “The project will be redesigned to decrease the size and reduce overall cost. The Department is planning on having the redesign completed and project let by late 2023.”

When originally proposed back in 2021,

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the project prompted immediate ire from local governments, several of which passed resolutions asking DOT to expedite it; the project footprint lies more or less in the heart of Haywood County and would have snarled traffic for miles, for at least 15 months.

“We really think this is a broader challenge for the whole county, and we will be a part of that because we are in the center,” Ken Howle, executive director and CEO of the Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center, told The Smoky Mountain News at the time.

Howle said he was ultimately in favor of the project because it would rectify a dangerous right-hand merge, but like others in the county, he was concerned about the economic impact the traffic and resulting detours

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Neadeau named as interim Cherokee police chief JustDoOils.com

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13, after just under 11 months on the job.

“For almost a year, I gave this job everything I had, and now it is time for me to step back and spend more time with my family,” he said.

Taylor said he’s proud of his team and the work they’ve done to make the CIPD an agency that officers want to work for, pointing to the fact that the department of 67 sworn officers now has only four vacancies, whereas a year ago there were at least 12.

Community reporting and dedicated officers have cleaned up neighborhoods that used to be overrun with drugs, he said.

“I have learned a lot in this job, including the fact that while drug use drives a lot of our community’s crime, drug use is often a symptom of the deep-rooted trauma and violence kids experience in their own homes,” he said. “To make a long-term impact, we have to stop the cycle of violence against our most vulnerable family members, friends and neighbors.”

- By Holly Kays, Staff Writer

Heat Exhaustion Symptoms: Dizziness, thirst, headache, nausea, heavy breathing, weakness, cold and clammy skin, excessive thirst Action steps: Seek shade or air conditioning, sip cool water, if wearing tight clothing – loosen, if exercising or being active outside – STOP. If symptoms persist seek medical care.

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Action steps: Call 911 for immediate medical attention – this is a medical EMERGENCY. Move person to cooler area, loosen clothing and attempt to cool with towels soaked in cold water or a cool bath.

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Smoky Mountain News

hen Chief of Police Josh Taylor’s resignation becomes effective June 27, the Cherokee Indian Police Department’s Captain of Corrections Carla Neadeau will take the helm as interim police chief.

“I have every confidence that Chief Neadeau will maintain the momentum at the CIPD and we will continue to see a safer and healthier community,” Taylor said in a statement announcing the appointment.

Neadeau has been with the CIPD since 2009, serving as a supervisor for three years and a manager for eight years. She holds a master’s degree in business administration and is three classes away from earning her second master’s degree, this time in criminal law. She will be the first woman to lead the department.

“I have full faith that she will do everything in her power to ensure that our EBCI citizens are protected,” said Principal Chief Richard Sneed.

Taylor announced his resignation on June

June 22-28, 2022

Principal Chief Richard Sneed welcomes Carla Neadeau as interim police chief. EBCI photo

We typically acclimate to warmer temperatures and humidity by adjusting our exercise habits to cooler times of the day and drinking more fluid. But what if we have unexpectedly hot and humid days?

What if we’re more active than normal with walking, exercising or working outside, yard work or golfing? What if it’s an infant, child or an elderly person who may have difficulty communicating distress?

It’s important to pay attention to signs of possible heat exhaustion and heat stroke, particularly in children and the elderly, and take steps to prevent serious or fatal outcomes.

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OVERBOOKED:

June 22-28, 2022

How Highlands is attempting to regulate its short-term rental industry

Parking in downtown Highlands is getting tougher to come by as more people make their way to the mountains. Kyle Perrotti photo

BY KYLE PERROTTI N EWS E DITOR hort term rentals have existed in resort towns for decades, but as Airbnb and similar services have made them more popular around the country, Highlands has moved to ban most new STRs, leaving the community divided on what’s become a critical issue.

At the heart of many of these debates is the supply of housing, especially as workingclass people continue to have trouble finding homes to buy or even rent, with many getting purchased by second-home owners or investors whose only intent is to make money in the STR market.

The debacle in Highlands began last August when the town started hearing complaints from some residents that there were too many STRs, and an amendment to the town’s unified development ordinance was passed on May 19 that used zoning regula6 tions to prevent single-family dwellings from

Smoky Mountain News

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being used as STRs. On the heels of an N.C. Court of Appeals decision regarding Wilmington’s attempt to regulate STRs, the debate was reframed.

Adding to the turmoil is the fact that an error in noticing the public hearing has made the town begin its amendment process all over again, which will only prolong the headache.

When Wilmington moved to regulate STRs, town officials argued they were doing several things to make them safer and more tolerable in neighborhoods, including mandating one parking spot per bedroom and putting a list of emergency numbers inside each unit. It also instituted a lottery to determine what properties could be STRs. Preexisting STRs that didn’t win the lottery would have to cease those operations within a year, a mandate that they intended to enforce through a required registration of STRs. This case was taken to court in the matter of Schroeder v. City of Wilmington, and the

court of appeals eventually determined that while the city can regulate short term rentals through zoning, it can’t require people to register their properties.

A HEATED DEBATE IN HIGHLANDS Two citizens’ groups on different sides of the STR issue in Highlands have gained traction. Both wrote letters to The Smoky Mountain News that ran within a week of each other.

First, on May 25, came a letter from Cathy Henson, President of the Highlands Neighborhood Coalition, which favors the ordinance amendment. Henson’s letter called the amendment “a good first step in halting the unchecked proliferation of STRs in Highlands.”

The next week, SMN ran a letter from Jennifer Huff of Save Highlands, who is also the plaintiff in a lawsuit against the town, in which she claims the amendment “clearly vio-

lates the law.”

Henson and Huff also both spoke with SMN for this story.

Henson and her husband, who mainly live in Atlanta, have owned their Highlands home for almost two decades. While she said she doesn’t have neighbors as close as some, she has still had some issues.

“What you learn in this new world of short-term rentals is that sound travels,” she said.

Henson discussed the group she created about a year ago that now has a working board of five members, along with 75-80 members who stay in touch. While there are plenty of short-term rentals in bigger cities, Henson said she believes the concerns are different in small towns like Highlands.

“Cities are better equipped to absorb some of this,” she said. “The hardest hit communities are rural and historically for second homeowners.”

Huff is a retired Air Force officer whose

Save Highlands hired the law firm Allen Stahl + Kilbourne out of Asheville and filed a lawsuit against the town. Derek Allen, the lead attorney on the case, said the heart of his work with Save Highlands is to protect his clients’ collective right to continue to use their properties as they always have.

“It’s fundamental in a constitutional sense, at both the state and federal levels, that if you are engaged in the use of your property, and it’s not prohibited at that time, if an act or statute prohibits that use, it is allowed to continue as a valid nonconforming use,” he said.

Essentially, “valid nonconforming use” is a term used to describe properties that would be grandfathered in, meaning they could continue to be used in a way that would otherwise violate the new ordinance because it had been used in that manner before the amendment was passed. While the court of appeals determined in Schroeder v. City of Wilmington that a town can regulate STRs through zoning, they can’t require qualifying properties to register in any way.

“Our case is you can’t take away grandfathered rights,” Allen said.

“People had specifically bought houses for shortterm rentals and been told that’s fine. You can’t just wake up one day and say we can’t do this anymore.”

— Jennifer Huff

Allen claimed that Justus and Coward agreed with that point, and yet the town “ignored” their advice, even though it seemed like the two sides were close to an agreement.

“The planning board had crafted an ordinance that I think was pretty close to being legal … it didn’t go so far as to attack valid nonconforming uses,” he said.

A meeting was even scheduled by the attorneys’ clients to bring both sides together, which everyone took as a good sign.

“We were a day from having the meeting, and then all of the sudden it was off,” Allen said.

Allen said he is particularly interested in the historical element of short-term rentals, noting that people have come to the region to stay in residential properties to escape larger cities dating back as far as the 1890s. In addition, Allen recalled that when he was growing up in Greensboro, people would rent out their properties sporadically throughout the year during events that drew large numbers of visitors.

“It’s a fundamental property right,” he said. “If it’s yours, you can rent it.”

Even though the amendment had passed a vote, it was later pointed out that the town hadn’t properly noticed its ordinance change in accordance with state law. In a letter from Allen to Coward and Justus that was first reported by Highlands News, Allen makes his

case, citing the applicable general statute.

“Before adopting, amending or repealing any ordinance or development regulation authorized by this Chapter, the governing board shall hold a legislative hearing,” that statute reads. “A notice of the hearing shall be given once a week for two successive calendar weeks in a newspaper having general circulation in the area. The notice shall be published the first time not less than 10 days nor more than 25 days before the date scheduled for the hearing. In computing such period, the day of publication is not to be included but the day of the hearing shall be included.”

The letter cites other statutes and case law to make its point. In it, Allen notes that the town had its legal counsel draft a new ordinance “mere days before the [May 16] hearing” “Last year, the Town complied with N.C. Gen. Stat. § 160D-604(b) and Section 4.3.1 by submitting to the Planning Board its proposed draft amendments of the UDO,” Allen said. “The Planning Board did its part, considered the proposed ordinance taking into account public comment and submitted a revised ordinance to the Town on Feb. 1, 2022. The Town, however, scrapped its originally proposed ordinance and the revised version the Planning Board recommended.

Instead, the Town hired new legal counsel, had them draft a completely new ordinance, and only publicly revealed the new ordinance the evening of May 16, 2022, mere days before the hearing.”

On the evening of May 19, the town approved more restrictive ordinance amendments to the UDO. “The Town on the fly made the newly proposed ordinance substantially more restrictive by prohibiting — for the first time — vacation rentals in the R-2 district,” Allen said. “No previous draft ordinance contained this restriction. Property owners in R-2 had no notice that the Town planned to restrict their property. Because of these issues, the Town must resubmit the draft ordinance to the Planning Board per N.C. Gen. Stat. § 160D-604(b) and Section 4.3.2 before it can be validly adopted.”

Allen told SMN that one of the things he’s been working on is obtaining records of communications from town leaders that pertain to the improperly noticed public hearing.

“It’s wild that they would have missed that,” he said.

Rebecca Badgett, an attorney who has worked for the UNC School of Government advising local governments for five years and recently got a faculty position, co-wrote the book Regulation and Taxation of Short-Term Rentals. She talked about the Wilmington case and the precedent it set as it relates to Highlands’ case, particularly regarding grandfathered properties.

“We know that rental registries are prohibited,” she said. “A rental registry would be every year you have to turn in name and address to local government and say ‘hey, I’m running a short-term rental.’”

However, the argument becomes more nuanced when towns try to require a zoning permit to run an STR.

Smoky Mountain News

While the controversy surrounding the ordinance is in some ways complicated, the amendment itself is straightforward. Town manager Josh Ward said the board decided to investigate regulating short term rentals last August when it received a letter from concerned citizens who wanted to slow the proliferation of or outright ban STRs. After working with Town Attorney Jay Coward and Craig Justus, a well-known property rights attorney who works for the Van Winkle Law Firm in Asheville, the amendment was drafted. Justus said because Highlands is one of the first towns to attempt to use zoning to regulate short term rentals, he had to go off his 30-plus years of experience in land use to think of what might stand up in court. He was also aware that the issue isn’t isolated to Highlands and expects more towns may take up the cause.

“It’s that conflict that a lot of communities are facing between growing populations that don’t live there permanently and wouldn’t

THE LEGAL ARGUMENT

June 22-28, 2022

REINING IN RENTALS

provide ad valorem taxes but they’re spending money and providing a lot of revenue for businesses that pay ad valorem,” he said.

Ultimately, with the new ordinance completed, SMN was informed that Justus ceased his involvement with the town in the matter of STRs the same day he’d done his interview.

In an email, Justus confirmed that he is “no longer engaged” but offered no further details.

The board then sought a second opinion from Chad Essick and Bob Hagemann of Poynter Spruill — the very firm that represented Wilmington in its quest to regulate STRs. “They were up on that topic,” Ward said.

The amendment passed, 4-1, last month.

Ward said he believes the commissioners understand the fact that the long-term rental market is being hurt by the proliferation of STRs. “Long-term rentals for workers are very difficult to find,” Ward said. “People have to live off the mountain and commute up. I drive up here from Franklin.”

Mayor Patrick Taylor called the situation “frustrating” for homeowners who live in Highlands full time, as well.

“My overall concern will be what the longterm future and interest of Highlands looks like if we just simply have a situation where there’s an unlimited proliferation of shortterm rentals,” he said. “I live in a neighborhood myself, and I understand the desire to do short-term rentals. I understand many concerns about preserving the residential neighborhoods. If we only have short-term rentals, we lose a residential property that adds so much to the fabric of this community.”

He also discussed the dwindling supply of long-term rentals.

“It’s a real problem for the workforce in Western North Carolina and throughout the country,” he said. “[The town has] 70 employees and only maybe three live in the town limits.”

The one vote against the amendment was from Marc Hehn, who is in the third year of his first term on the commission. Hehn has a master’s degree in city and rezoning planning and was in local government in South Carolina for 45 years. He took issue with not only the amendment, but the process by which it was proposed and passed.

“I thought they’d made such drastic changes that it oughtta go back to planning board,” he said, also calling out the issue with not properly noticing the public hearing. “I think the public has a right to comment on the final draft.”

Hehn lamented the board’s action, as well as the mountain of legal costs associated with the lawsuit — especially considering there’s a chance the town may have to pay the plaintiff ’s fees, as well.

“This is hundreds of thousands of dollars we’re spending to push the envelope,” Hehn said.

Hehn said he thinks the two sides agree on more than they disagree on and that if a few of the more controversial items could be worked out, there could be a compromise.

“I think this could all get hammered out if people were willing to work together,” he said.

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husband still serves in the Air National Guard. While their main residence is in Charlotte, they also have two properties in Western North Carolina; one is a cabin in Jackson County and the other is a home in Highlands they bought in 2015 and renovated that they now list on VRBO. Huff said that “without warning,” the town listened to a “very small group of people” and went forward with action to ban STRs. “People had specifically bought houses for short-term rentals and been told that’s fine,” she said. “You can’t just wake up one day and say we can’t do this anymore.”

Huff, who was introduced to the area when she and her husband got married at Highlands’ Old Edwards Inn, said she loves the place as much as anyone else, but has concerns about property rights being taken away.

It seems Huff has quite a bit of support, if a GoFundMe she started to cover legal fees that has raised $174,000 is any indication.

“The GoFundMe account will be used to pay the retainer and legal fees of the law firm incurred in the prosecution of the litigation,” the page says. “All funds will be managed and disbursed by Highlands Area Vacation Rental Owners/Managers, LLC, established to manage the litigation. The treasurer of the LLC will be authorized to disburse payment of the GoFundMe funds to the law firm upon receipt of invoices for legal services rendered in the litigation.”

Both Huff and Henson indicated they may be willing to work with the other side but they also both believe that feeling hasn’t been reciprocated.

“We’ve said from the beginning we want to sit down and talk this out. If you want to hire a mediator, let’s do that,” Huff said. “But we have been ignored over and over again.

We said that obviously we want to be good stewards and good neighbors, so if there’s a [STR] guest that’s being a bad neighbor we want to know.”

“If there were a way to carve out exceptions for granny who needs to rent a room to pay her taxes, I’d be all for that, but it’s different when it’s investors,” Henson said.

S EE R ENTALS, PAGE 8 7

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R ENTALS, CONTINUED FROM 7

Highlands Town Hall.

“The sticking point is that a permit looks an awful lot like a registry, in theory,” Badgett said. “What is different with a zoning permit is that operational regulations are tied to it, so there are some standards they have to follow, so it makes it closer to land use laws that are allowed.”

Smoky Mountain News

June 22-28, 2022

A POTENTIAL TREND Badgett thinks more towns are going to start considering STR regulations, especially in the wake of the Schroeder decision that clarified that they can be regulated through zoning.

“I think I’m going to be following more towns regulating STRs, and what comes from that we’ll see,” she said.

While the Highlands Chamber of Commerce didn’t have figures readily available for how many STRs exist within its jurisdiction, multiple sources estimated the number to be around 300. Either way, like Highlands, other counties across the region have seen a sharp increase in revenue generated via occupancy taxes from STRs. Jackson County TDA Executive Director Nick Breedlove said in a normal year, STRs make up 20-30% of revenue but that they are now “trending upward toward 55%.”

“In May 2022, the most recent report we have, we show 1,101 available listings on Airbnb and VRBO. In May 2021, that figure was 842 listings, and in May 2020 that figure was 706 listings. That data comes from analytics firm AirDNA, who compiles statistics for us,” he said. “That does not consider independently listed STR’s by owner or those managed by third party vacation rental firms like Bear Lake Reserve, Landmark Vacation Rentals, or Sundog Vacation Rentals. It’s tough to estimate the total inclusive number of those, but I would estimate it is in the range of 1,500 total.”

Haywood County Tourism Development Authority Executive Director Lynn Collins said that according to their tracking service, there were 899 short term rentals in Haywood County in February 2021. In February 2022, that number increased to 1,344. Two months later, in April 2022, it showed continued growth to 1,528.

There have been frequent conversations among the TDA board about the phenomenon as it relates to the affordable housing shortage, Collins said.

“In general, they have had conversations about if these houses were not short-term rentals would they be anything that would be considered affordable housing,” she said. “I think the general opinion would be no, but that’s not to say across the board that it would be that way.”

A UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE

Hannah Banks has been a real estate broker for Highlands Sotheby’s International Real Estate since 2020. She’s also run a maid service since 2011 that largely services STRs in Highlands and the surrounding area.

Perhaps most importantly, Banks, 37, has 8 lived in the area her whole life. She said her

“I literally have people call me and say, ‘I can’t find anybody to clean my rental.’ I’m like, ‘well, you’re probably not going to, because everybody that’s good is booked, and that’s it.’”

— Hannah Banks

home has changed dramatically in ways that disadvantage local people.

“The problem that we have in this area is there is nowhere for working class people to live,” she said.

Banks, who now lives in Franklin, said half of the people she’s worked with who’ve turned property into at least part-time STRs have been second-home owners and half have been investors. She talked about one investor she’s working with now who has some lofty ambitions.

“He wants to do a huge, tiny-home vacation rental community,” she said. “I’m really trying to talk him into doing at least part of that long-term rentals, because they’re for the working-class. People can’t afford to live up here.”

Beyond the issue with housing inventory, Banks pointed out something no one else interviewed by SMN did. As more homes become STRs, there may not be enough people around the area willing to provide necessary services as she does with her maid business.

“I literally have people call me and say, ‘I can’t find anybody to clean my rental,’” she said. “I’m like, ‘well, you’re probably not going to, because everybody that’s good is booked, and that’s it.’”

At this point, Banks only accepts new clients that don’t have a high turnover rate on their properties.

“There are always properties that need turnovers on the weekends where someone leaves in the morning, and someone else comes in the afternoon. See, all my staff comes from off the mountain,” she said.

“The new investors and the STR owners are gonna have a hard time finding landscaping in addition to housekeeping and other things,” she added. “There’s different groups on Facebook, like ‘What’s Happening in Highlands’ and people come in and say, ‘how does anybody get anything done around here?’” she added.

Banks said many investors who’ve bought property don’t consider that, including the one she’s been working with recently.

“He wants to take those modern container kinds of tiny homes and just put a bunch of them in one little park,” she said. “Well, that’s a great idea, but you’re not gonna find anybody that can service a hundred tiny homes. Good luck with that. You’re gonna end up losing money unless you build some housing for some people that can work and take care of it.”

Even though Banks gets some of her business as a broker from investors and she does-

n’t oppose STRs as strongly as some, she would still rather see more people who buy property with the intention of living in and interacting with the community.

“It’s an attractive place for investors to come, but I would rather people that are invested and care about this area to buy property instead of just buying something to make money,” she said.

Like many in Highlands, Banks ultimately just hopes the two sides can find a middle ground and come back together as a community.

“I think with the STR thing, they need to figure out a middle ground,” she said. “Let the people who’ve been doing it for years keep it. But I think especially in town, maybe you can restrict some, or at least make guests stay longer. Instead of two or three nights, do a week or two or something. I mean, there’s surely there’s something that they can do.”

And in the meantime, Banks hopes she can use her job to help local folks just looking to survive.

“I wanna deal with the locals,” she said.

“I’m a local, and I’m related to like everybody around here. I want to help locals find what they want, but everything is just so far out of everyone’s price range.”

“How is all this gonna affect the people that live here all year, not just the summer people, cause we kind of get left out,” she added “And a lot of the planning and thinking of what this town should be like, no one asks us … I don’t know what the answer should be, but I just know that I think that they need to do something different.”

Cory Vaillancourt and Hannah McLeod contributed reporting to this story.

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However, because that money went unused during the fiscal year ending June 30 — applications for this cycle of funding are not due until Aug. 1 — that money is being rolled over into FY 2022-23. An additional $250,000 will be allocated in the upcoming fiscal year, for a total of $750,000 available in FY 2022-23 for capital projects through the tourism fund. This money is available for the current project cycle and an anticipated cycle beginning in the new calendar year.

“I looked at our fund balance reserve policy, three to six months of reserves above and beyond the LGC-mandated 8%, our current cash balance and investments, and determined this figure would likely be a good appropriation considering all those factors,” said Breedlove.

“With the increased taxes collected, we realized we’ve already done a great job at advertising our destination and now it’s time to invest those funds back into the community for projects that benefit the residents and visitors alike.”

— JCTDA Director Nick Breedlove

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Complimentary refreshments from Sylva’s City Lights Cafe Sponsored by: The Smoky Mountain News | Hosted by: SMN’s Cory Vaillancourt

Smoky Mountain News

Future fiscal year allocations will depend on anticipated occupancy tax collections.

“We have an excess in general fund balance this fiscal year and last fiscal year due to conservative budgeting and primarily an exponential increase in demand for leisure travel during COVID-19,” said Breedlove. “Many mountain towns also experienced this significant lift. We’re hopeful to make an annual allocation that goes toward these larger projects to benefit the community. With the increased taxes collected, we realized we’ve already done a great job at advertising our destination and now it’s time to invest those funds back into the community for projects that benefit the residents and visitors alike.”

Project applications are due to the JCTDA by Aug. 1 and will be considered by its board prior to going before the board of county commissioners. Funding agreements will tentatively be decided on Oct. 20.

This fiscal year, the JCTDA has collected over $2 million, with May and June rental collections still outstanding. According to Breedlove, by the end of the fiscal year the JCTDA could collect over $2.5 million, which would represent $62.5 million in accommodations sales in Jackson County in fiscal year 2021-22.

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June 22-28, 2022

BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER his summer, the Jackson County Tourism Development Authority is in the process of accepting applications for its first round of Tourism Capital Project funds. The TCPF gives community stakeholders the chance to apply for money made from room tax dollars in the county to fund projects that better the community for tourists and residents alike.

“This has been a conversation that’s been going on since about 2012,” JCTDA Director Nick Breedlove told the Jackson County Commission in February.

Legislation permitting some tourism bureaus to expend up to one third of their total revenues on tourism-related expenditures comes from North Carolina House Bill 96, which passed in 2011. According to the legislation, tourism-related expenditures are those designed to increase the use of lodging, meeting, or convention facilities in the county or to attract tourists or business travelers to the county. The term includes tourism-related capital expenditures.

Capital projects include things like convention and conference centers; arenas and stadiums; sports facilities; performing arts venues; museums; parks; greenways; trails; public art; visitors centers and wayfinding signs.

The idea for this type of spending is that by funding capital projects, tourism bureaus increase the demand for accommodations, local spending and visitor satisfaction, thereby bringing more money into a county.

“The use of visitor-paid occupancy taxes on capital projects to benefit our local residents and the community is a great thing. I am strongly in favor of reinvesting dollars back into our towns and communities,” said Breedlove.

JCTDA began developing the application for capital projects in 2020 with research into best practices in other destinations. The application was reviewed by JCTDA’s Product and Experience Development Committee, Visitor Experience Committee, Magellan Strategy Group and the county’s legal and finance teams.

“One of our goals is to fund projects that have a useful lifespan of 10 or more years, or new construction, expansion or renovation that have a total cost of at least $25,000; or a major maintenance or rehabilitation project with a cost of more than $25,000,” said Breedlove.

When Breedlove presented the TCPF to the Jackson County Commission in February, Commissioner Gayle Woody asked whether the county could apply for these funds in order to complete projects.

According to Breedlove, the county can apply for funds, with the appropriate county department acting as the applicant.

During the 2021-22 fiscal year, the JCTDA allocated $500,000 for the TCPF.

Tues. · July 12 · 7 pm | Jackson Co. Library news

Tourism dollars create opportunity for Jackson

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Haywood TDA will award

special project grants this week

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR he biggest knock against North Carolina’s city- and county-based Tourism Development Authority system is that while it does collect and spend room occupancy taxes to market specific cities and counties as travel destinations — driving Western North Carolina’s tourism-based economy — it does almost nothing for residents of those destinations who have to bear the brunt of soaring housing costs due to short-term rentals, overcrowded attractions and excess demand on infrastructure like roads and water systems.

Since the Haywood County TDA’s inception in January 1984, it has collected exactly $29,980,815 in room occupancy tax revenue through March 2022. By the end of this fiscal year on June 30, collections will likely have topped $3 million in one year for the very first time, and will have eclipsed the $30 million all-time mark.

Now, for the first (and possibly only) time, the TDA is giving some back.

On May 2, outgoing TDA Executive Director Lynn Collins told Haywood County commissioners that the TDA was having such a good year that the board had decided to appropriate $500,000 from fund balance towards a “one-time special project fund” for capital projects.

Application guidelines published by the TDA say the fund’s purpose is to “encourage creation or expansion of capital projects that will showcase Haywood County’s unique offerings and will attract visitors from outside a 50-mile radius, generating overnight stays and creating economic/destination impact for the zip code and Haywood County.”

All five ZIP codes recognized by the TDA as destinations — Canton, Clyde, Lake Junaluska, Maggie Valley and Waynesville — are eligible for the grants, which give preference to shovel-ready projects and carry a 50% match requirement.

Studies and maintenance projects are not eligible for funding, but things like greenways, parks, cultural attractions and facility enhancements are.

When the application period closed on April 29, nine applications had been received, including one each from Canton, Clyde and Maggie Valley, one from the county itself, two from Waynesville and three from Lake Junaluska.

“Lake Junaluska is the largest tourism entity in Haywood County, and we’re also the number one recreational location,” said Ken Howle, executive director and CEO of the Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center. “We applaud the TDA’s efforts to invest back into projects that not only enhance tourism, but will also improve the 10 quality of life in Haywood County.”

Smoky Mountain News

June 22-28, 2022

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Although the stated goal of the grants is to continue augmentation of area attractions that drive this tourism juggernaut, most if not all of the projects do carry some public benefit because they’re generally available for public use — for those who can afford to live in Haywood County, and if the lines aren’t too long.

Berm Park is proving a popular attraction despite being only 25% complete. Holly Kays photo

CHESTNUT MOUNTAIN PARK RETAIL AND VISITOR CENTER The Town of Canton seeks to develop a mixed-use retail establishment on frontage adjacent to Chestnut Mountain Park that it would lease out to concessionaries.

According to the one-time project fund application completed by Town Manager Nick Scheuer, the space could potentially house a taproom, restaurant, retail, restrooms and maybe even a visitors center for the park, offering bike and fishing equipment rentals.

The facility itself would consist of four or more 40-foot shipping containers, provided by retailers and situated on an elevated platform. Submitted with the application are photos of the Smoky Park Supper Club, an Asheville restaurant known for its innovative and attractive use of such containers.

When the one-time project fund application was completed in April, Chestnut Mountain Park had only been open for a week and was about 25% complete. Scheuer said the park was averaging 150 users a day, which he expects to grow in the coming years as the park nears 100% completion.

“Chestnut Mountain has quickly become one of the shining beacons to attract attention to Canton and Haywood County,” said Zeb Smathers, Canton’s mayor. “It brings people from inside and outside the county to Canton. With the TDA’s help, we hope to get them into other places in Haywood County as well, especially our downtown area.”

The town has requested $200,000 toward the total $450,000 project cost.

Groundbreaking would occur almost immediately and be completed by Dec. 1 of this year.

HAYWOOD COUNTY BIKE PARK Canton isn’t the only local government looking to capitalize on the increasing popularity of bicycling in Western North Carolina’s mountains. In 2021, as part of Haywood County’s 10-year recreation master plan, surveys showed that residents were clear about wanting more trails of all kinds, especially for bikes.

The county’s $150,000 one-time project fund request is but a small part of a projected $1.9 million project that would create something known as a pump track — a series of banked turns designed to be ridden without pedaling but rather through the up-and-

down motion of the rider. Pump tracks are simple, cheap, and accessible for riders of all skill levels.

Upon completion, the project would total around 2 miles of track, but would also feature restrooms, a playground, a pavilion and a walking path around the perimeter. It would also be the only Red Bull certified pump track in North Carolina outside of Gastonia.

The county has already committed more than $500,000 toward the project and has a pending $500,000 request from the state’s Parks and Recreation Trust Fund.

Groundbreaking at the site — formerly a landfill — would take place sometime in 2023, with a projected completion date in 2025 or 2026.

TRAIL SYSTEM AT HAYWOOD COMMUNITY COLLEGE Although Haywood County is also known for hiking trails, there aren’t many familyfriendly opportunities near the Town of Clyde.

Currently, the trail system located on the campus of Haywood Community College measures around 2 miles, but with a successful application to the TDA one-time project fund it will double in length to almost 4 miles.

Composed of a multi-use natural surface, the new trail would make an ideal venue for both community events and regional or state cross country meets. Another concrete sidewalk would be added to the network to allow for better access to trails from a campus parking lot.

All in all, the trail system could be linked to the Hellbender Regional Trail System as

well as Chestnut Mountain Park to provide a more expansive, extensive destination for locals and visitors. The expanded trail system would also allow for future expansion of the existing disc golf course. According to the application, HCC would provide in-kind marketing support to publicize the expanded trail system.

The Town of Clyde is requesting just over $66,000 as part of the $137,000 projected cost, and would complete work by this coming November.

LAKE JUNALUSKA OVERLOOK AND CONNECTOR TRAIL The Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center has long been known as one of the best destinations for walkers and runners in Haywood County, with a 3.5-mile lakeside trail that provides significant recreational opportunities with views unparalleled in the region.

To that end, the Lake Junaluska Assembly has also developed a phased plan to improve pedestrian access between the Terrace Hotel, the Susanna Wesley Garden and the former World Methodist Museum, now called the Warren Center.

Phase 1 of the project would create an overlook that would become a new destination for Haywood County residents and visitors, who could then continue along the connector to the Susanna Wesley Garden and arrive at the Warren Center.

Once upgrades to the Warren Center are complete, the venue will be able to accommodate weddings, conferences, proms and other events for up to 240 people.

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“We want to create a seamless experience where the Warren Center can be used in conjunction with the Wesley Garden. There’s already $1.1 million committed to the project and that will create a new and unique space in Western North Carolina,” said Howle.

The funding request is for $100,000 to go toward a $250,000 total project cost. The project could be completed as soon as winter, 2023 with a spring or summer opening in 2024.

LAKE JUNALUSKA OUTDOOR RECREATION AREA DEVELOPMENT

LAKE JUNALUSKA STUART AUDITORIUM IMPROVEMENTS

File photo

Lake Junaluska, so the economic impact is far and wide. The ongoing preservation and enhancement of that facility benefits everyone in Haywood County.”

If granted, the funds from this application would preserve the historic nature of the facility while also integrating modern technology. That would include refurbishment of the stage, restoration of the deck overlooking the lake, replacement of broken windows, doors, lights and seats and an update to the bathrooms.

Painting and staining would also be carried out, as well as the relocation of A/V equipment to the floor from the crow’s nest.

The application says that the Assembly will invest more than $40,000 annually toward marketing the venue to audiences more than 50 miles away.

Like the recreation improvements, the Stuart Auditorium project would likely be completed by spring, 2024.

tions as well as landscaping that meets the town’s appearance standards.

The project has also been designed to compliment an NCDOT pedestrian project that will provide an enhanced crosswalk and pedestrian island that will safely link the satellite parking lot to the fair grounds.

The total cost of the project is $250,000.

The town’s application estimates groundbreaking and completion would all take place during the month of August.

SULPHUR SPRINGS PARK IMPROVEMENTS Located on the town-owned former grounds of the historic White Sulphur

MAGGIE VALLEY FESTIVAL GROUNDS PARKING LOT The Maggie Valley Festival Grounds has become a victim of its own success, so to speak, especially in regard to parking. This summer, there are 21 scheduled events that will take place over 45 days and bring thousands of visitors — and tourism dollars — to the Valley.

As visitors swarm the summer slate of events, it’s become harder and harder for them to find convenient access to the grounds.

But back in 2021, the town acquired a 1.03-acre parcel across the street for $185,000. Since then, it’s been used to provide additional town-owned parking spaces; however, the lot is unpaved — which means it’s often muddy, disorganized and crowded.

If the TDA grants the Town of Maggie Valley’s $125,000 one-time project fund request, the lot would include 90 paved parking spots and two fast electric charging sta-

The Sulphur Springs springhouse is in dire need of repair. File photo Springs Hotel, Sulphur Springs Park is a small parcel of open ground owned and maintained by the Town of Waynesville. It’s also the purported location of the last shots fired east of the Mississippi River during the Civil War. The only part of the hotel that remains is the spring house, a dilapidated gazebo that houses the natural spring. Recently, the town’s historic preservation commission ramped up efforts to enhance the site by committing $4,500 to its restoration. The town

has also received a $17,500 grant from the Mib and Phil Medford Endowment fund.

The town’s $22,000 one-time project fund request would rehabilitate the spring house, restore the stream bank, replace an existing culvert with a historically accurate footbridge, provide interpretive signage and construct a simple outdoor amphitheater that could be used for cultural or educational events.

Work would take a year, culminating in 2023.

RICHLAND CREEK GREENWAY

The Town of Waynesville has been eager to capitalize on the transition of the former Bi-Lo grocery store on Russ Avenue to apartments because of the potential to emphasize a section of Richland Creek that’s both popular for trout fishing and a part of the town’s greenway plan.

That plan would create a multi-use trail from Balsam Road through Hazelwood and Frog Level up through Recreation Park to Lake Junaluska.

Waynesville’s special project fund request would create a 12-foot wide greenway along the banks of Richland Creek that will serve not only the forthcoming residents of the Mountain Creek apartments, but also the general public by connecting Russ Avenue to West Marshall Street, the dog park and the all-abilities playground recently constructed with the help of Kiwanis.

The $87,781 request is just under half of the project’s estimated $175,563 cost.

Groundbreaking would take place 90 days from the grant award, and work would be completed by next July.

More funding has been requested ($800,000) for the nine projects than is available from the TDA, meaning the TDA’s fiveperson special project fund committee will have to make some tough choices on which applications will be successful, and which will not. Announcement of the grant recipients is expected to take place soon.

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Smoky Mountain News

Constructed in 1913, the Stuart Auditorium is an iconic structure on the banks of the lake that has played home to thousands of concerts, gatherings and speakers — including First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and hometown favorites Balsam Range — for more than a century. That being said, it’s also desperately in need of some critical upgrades that will carry it through another century, or more.

The third of three applications by the Lake Junaluska Assembly seeks to address these upgrades by requesting $100,000 towards a total project budget of $250,000.

“There’s probably 4,000 people in the last three days that have been in Haywood County to attend an event in the auditorium,” Howle said. “Of those guests, only 25% stay in

Increasingly, residents are demanding greenways as recreational options.

June 22-28, 2022

The Lake Junaluska Assembly also has a plan to improve its outdoor recreation amenities.

“The recreation area at Lake Junaluska is beloved by people that come not only to enjoy conferences but also while they visit other parts of Haywood County,” Howle said.

“It also contains a unique feature — mountain lakes are rare, and so improving our recreation facilities around the lake is a good investment for everyone.”

The plan includes replacing the shuffleboard courts with an open-air pavilion suitable for rental by groups holding family parties, class reunions or other events.

A series of amenities near the pavilion would include new shuffleboard courts and other family-friendly attractions like cornhole, bocce or ping-pong. The mini golf course would also get a much-needed update, as would pedestrian walkways with access to the site.

Lake Junaluska is unique among the special project fund applicants in that it is not a municipality, but is a designated zip code that both collects and spends room occupancy tax revenue. It’s also open to the public as a historic and unique institution well-known to generations of visitors and residents.

The Lake Junaluska Assembly is requesting $100,000 for the recreation project, which has a total cost of $700,000. It would open in phases, with completion projected for the spring of 2024.

June 22-28, 2022

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Buncombe TDA bill would bolster community spending

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR bipartisan Senate bill that would address persistent outcry from Asheville residents over the negative impacts of tourism could reflect a new way of looking at the room occupancy tax revenue collected by North Carolina’s tourism development authorities.

“The reason I’ve taken an interest in this is I’ve heard from the community overwhelmingly in support of reallocating part of occupancy tax to building infrastructure in Buncombe County,” said Sen. Chuck Edwards (R-Henderson), author of the bill.

Currently, the Buncombe County TDA is authorized to use 75% of the money it receives to market tourism in the county and cover administrative expenses. The 25% remainder is appropriated to something called the Tourism Product Development Fund.

If S914 becomes law it would trim the 75% authorization somewhat, to 66%, with the 33% remainder being split between two funds — the Tourism Product Development Fund and a new one, called the Legacy Investment From Tourism (LIFT) fund.

The product fund was established when the Buncombe TDA was first authorized in 1983 — in the same House bill as Haywood County, among others.

Its purpose is to invest in projects that increase the number of occupied beds in hotels, motels and other lodging facilities.

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Past recipients of product funding include the Asheville Community Theater, The Center for Craft and Asheville Art Museum, the WNC Nature Center and the John B. Lewis Soccer Complex at Azalea Park.

The newly created LIFT fund would provide grants or loans to non-profits pursuing projects that balance the needs of visitors and residents, according to the bill.

“I believe it is a very noble gesture from the hoteliers and the tourism industry in Buncombe County to use money that would ordinarily go towards promoting their businesses to help address infrastructure needs in Buncombe County, but I wouldn’t expect by itself it will solve any particular problem,” Edwards said.

Sen. Julie Mayfield (D-Buncombe) said the bill has been in the works for quite some time.

“I have been working on this issue since I got elected to [Asheville City] Council [in 2015] and appointed to the TDA board in 2016,” Mayfield said. “I requested to be the council member on the TDA board so I could figure out how to more equitable in sharing the resources the occupancy tax brought into our community.”

She said she quietly pushed for change while working on the TDA board.

“In 2019 there was an active effort between myself and a couple of TDA board members to craft new language that would do what this bill does,” she said. “We were 95%

We wi Help You put it together!

“The TDA and tourism ... are entities that are with us and never going away. We can fight it, or figure out how to coexist more happily.”

— Sen. Julie Mayfield

benefit that tourism dollars bring to our community, I think the city will develop a different relationship with tourism,” she said. “My feeling about the TDA and tourism all along is these are entities that are with us and never going away. We can fight it, or figure out how to coexist more happily.”

The General Assembly is currently nearing the end of its short session, but Edwards expressed optimism that it would soon pass.

“I’m confident that we’re going to be able to get this done in the short session,” he said.

“There’s no guarantee because there are competing interests in Senate and House leadership in how to address occupancy tax issues, but I’ve been working this bill for about a year now and feel pretty good about its chances.”

Mayfield agreed with Edwards’ assessment on the bill’s chances of becoming law, but wouldn’t rule out further efforts to expose the community to the positive aspects of the region’s booming tourism industry.

“I know and I agree that this bill does not go as far as many people think it should go in terms of sharing occupancy tax revenue,” she said. “I view this as the step we can take now to make some change — and it is a real, significant change — but my view is, we’re not finished and there’s more we should seek to do in terms of more equitable revenue sharing of the occupancy tax.”

The Haywood County TDA spends its money in similar fashion to the Buncombe County TDA, with 75% directed towards marketing and 25% towards events and capital improvements. Haywood’s TDA has no real equivalent to the LIFT fund. However grants from a “one-time special projects fund” totaling $500,000 are set to be announced this week (see HAYWOOD, p. 10).

Last year, the Buncombe TDA projected 9% revenue growth, for a total of $27 million.

By comparison, Haywood County’s TDA is on track to collect more than $3 million for the first time this year.

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in agreement on that and the intention was to get that into the legislature in 2020, and then of course COVID hit and everything went to hell in a handbasket.”

Mayfield believes the bill has a real chance to make lasting change.

“I think that is exactly why it is there, and I do. If people in our community can see in a more concrete way than they do now, the

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The stories flowed easily from friends, pastors and family members of the late Conrad Burrell on Tuesday afternoon at Southwestern Community College.

They spoke of his service to citizens, his dedication to family, his overall kindness, friendliness and attention to detail. Each one of the five speakers at a ceremony to dedicate a section of N.C. 107 in his honor shared a story of how Burrell helped not just them, but all citizens in Western North Carolina.

The N.C. Board of Transportation unanimously adopted a resolution this spring dedicating N.C. 107 between Moody Bridge Road and Old Cullowhee Road as the Conrad G. Burrell Highway.

On Tuesday afternoon, NCDOT staff unveiled the signs along the highway 8 miles from the college campus where everybody gathered in the building named for Burrell.

“His determination has made all of Western North Carolina a better place because of his long-term, unquestionable commitment to service,” said Brian

McMahan, chairman of the Jackson County Board of Commissioners. “When I think of Conrad, I think of a man who loved these old mountains, who loved the people of these old mountains and loved all that he did.”

Burrell, who passed away in 2019, lived a life full of public service, specifically to the citizens of Jackson County. He served as Register of Deeds for 24 years. He served on the N.C. Board of Transportation, the Jackson County Board of Commissioners, SCC Board of Trustees, the Rotary Club of Sylva and other boards as well.

The highway naming application packet included letters from Glenn Ubertino of the Cashiers Chamber of Commerce; Don Thomas of Southwestern Community College; and Mike Wade of the Sylva Rotary Club. The Jackson County Board of Commissioners unanimously requested the highway dedication.

The speakers Tuesday included Thomas; McMahan; Burrell’s friends Jimmie Stewart and Johnny Phillips; Burrell’s daughter Karen Burrell Herron; all preceding a long benediction from Burrell’s nephew Rev. Dennis Burrell.

“I could go on and on with stories, but the point is that my dad always included me in his life,” Herron said. “He was an incredible dad.

He always taught me what a good man is.”

Know Your

June 22-28, 2022

long-simmering feud between city and county governments over TDA revenue will finally be settled, if a bill entered

by Rep. Mike Clampitt (R-Swain) can make it t through the General Assembly. n “There’s been a real lack of cooperation e between Bryson City, Swain County, and the w county TDA,” Clampitt said. “There was a - lot of friction there between the three groups t and the bottom line is, I asked them to work o together in the past and they all continued - to blame each other.”

According to Clampitt, the Swain County s TDA board has never issued any direct paye ments to Bryson City.

- Clampitt’s bill would give the Bryson City l Board of Aldermen the ability to levy their l own 2% occupancy tax above and beyond s Swain County’s current 4% levy. If and when - that happens, the board would then appoint s members to a new joint entity, the Bryson City/Swain County Tourism Development d Authority. . As opposed to the current nine-member n board, the new entity would consist of five e voting members, including the director of the Swain County Chamber of Commerce, two members appointed by Swain County Commissioners, and two members appointed by the Bryson City Board of Aldermen.

Both Swain County and Bryson City would also appoint two more non-voting advisory members as well.

o s

Per the bill, the new Bryson City/Swain County Tourism Development Authority would segregate the proceeds it receives from Bryson City and the rest of Swain County into two separate accounts. Each account must use at least two-thirds of the proceeds to promote travel and tourism, and the remainder for tourism-related expenditures, in their respective jurisdictions.

“Promoting travel and tourism” in this case means advertising, marketing or engaging in similar types of promotional activities intended to put heads in beds. “Tourismrelated” expenditures are “designed to increase the use of lodging facilities, meeting facilities or convention facilities,” according to the bill. The term is understood to include capital expenditures as well.

Leaders in the Town of Bryson City support the bill, says Clampitt, who calls it a win-win for the county and the city because the county doesn’t have to pony up money for city projects, and city projects will finally get their due.

Clampitt said that the bill has made it through the House’s local government committee and is currently in the finance committee. With the end of the General Assembly’s short session looming, Clampitt is optimistic the bill will move quickly, but can’t guarantee it will pass.

If it doesn’t, there’s still a possibility that it could pass in the next session, whether or not Clampitt is there; he faces Transylvania Democrat Al Platt in November’s General Election. The newly-drawn 119th House District contains the whole of Swain, Jackson and Transylvania counties.

According to davesredistricting.org, it is 54.5% Republican.

Swain County Board of Commissioners Chairman Ben Bushyhead did not return a call for comment.

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Clampitt bill would establish TDA for Bryson City

71 North Main Street Waynesville 13

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N.C. House opposes Smokies parking fee

BY HOLLY KAYS OUTDOORS EDITOR he N.C. House of Representatives last week condemned the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s controversial proposal to enact a parking fee with passage of a resolution that calls on Congress to block the plan.

The resolution, introduced by Rep. Mike Clampitt, argues that the proposal is a “clear attempt to circumvent the historical understanding and agreements for a fee-free Park and would be a significant blow to the public’s trust.” Parking fees would create a “significant impediment and detrimental burden” for citizens wishing to visit the park and represent “a threat to tourism in North Carolina, particularly small businesses that rely on visitors to the Park.”

“I understand what they’re trying to do, have a funding source and relieve the shortcomings on the federal government’s end, funding the park as it should be, but the bottom line is no one should have to pay, I think, for visiting any of the national parks,” Clampitt said.

Especially, he believes, the Smokies.

About 85% of park lands were purchased from logging companies, but the remaining property was purchased from 1,200 landowners. People were evicted from their homes and communities to make way for the park, forced to surrender their land and leave behind their cemeteries.

“It’s just morally wrong to charge people to park and be part of the park and enjoy it,” Clampitt said. “It’s just morally wrong to do that.”

The resolution concludes with a resolve to urge Congress to take action in preventing the proposed parking fee or “any further fee

June 22-28, 2022

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for the use of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park” and a proclamation of the General Assembly’s “earnest desire” to see the park remain “freely accessible to all North Carolinians and continue as the naturally wild and fee-free unit of the National Park Service that it has been in the past.” All members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation, as well as park administrators, are to receive a copy of the resolution.

The House passed Clampitt’s resolution by a voice vote on Tuesday, June 14, just one day after he introduced it. A video of the vote from N.C. Tribune reporter Colin Campbell recorded a robust yay vote with just a smattering of nays. The resolution is now in the Senate Committee on Rules and Operations.

“Hopefully the Senate will concur, and we’ll get it from both sides of the house in the General Assembly,” Clampitt said. “If not, we’ll just send it from the House side.”

Clampitt said he has been communicating with Sen. Thom Tillis’ office about the resolution and urging him to seek additional funding for the national park. Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s office did not return a request for comment on the resolution and the fee proposal.

The park put forth its “Park it Forward” proposal in April in response to years of skyrocketing visitation and stagnant federal funding. Over the past decade, visitation has increased by 57% to clock in at a whopping 14.1 million for 2021, even as staffing levels fell by 10%.

Though other large national parks draw less than half their budget from federal appropriations and spend $15 per visitor, the Smokies relies on congressional funding for 80% of its budget, spending just $2 per

would fund our parks properly,” hiking guide author and hike leader Danny Bernstein wrote on her blog Hiker to Hiker.

“But the park needs the money because your taxes are not doing it.”

However, county governments surrounding park lands are universally opposed to the proposal. Clampitt’s resolution references resolutions from the Swain County and Graham County commissioners opposing the proposed fee as well as a letter to Smokies Superintendent Cassius Cash that Haywood County Commission Chairman Kevin Ensley signed on behalf of the board.

“We formally oppose the imposition of fees on local residents for any GSMNP access not directly associated with the use of amenities or a commercial purpose … We are aware that there are significant discrepancies between the federal funding afforded the Smokies versus the other National Parks, and request that you also consider pursuing additional funding from the Federal Government for the park based on visitation levels and, at minimum, at the equivalent funding levels provided to other National Parks,” the letter reads.

On the Tennessee side of the park, Blount County has passed its own resolution opposing the fee, and Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters, along with the mayors of Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge Sevierville and Pittman Center, signed a letter to Smokies Superintendent Cassius Cash expressing concerns about the fee and requesting that, if it is enacted, residents of surrounding counties be exempt or “at the very least” be able to purchase a lifetime pass for a “nominal fee.” Cocke County Mayor Crystal Ottinger said she has also signed on to a joint letter opposing the fee.

WCU navigates pandemic fallout as enrollment shows signs of recovery

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER

While nothing is certain until census day in September, transfer and full-time freshman enrollment for the upcoming fall semester at Western Carolina University appears strong and on par with pre-pandemic levels, Chancellor Kelli R. Brown told the WCU Board of Trustees June 10.

“We are in a better and brighter place,” Provost Richard Starnes told the Academic Affairs and Personnel Committee June 9. “That’s not to say we are without challenges, but they are becoming much more the normal variety.”

The fall enrollment forecast was welcome news to trustees, but university leaders offered multiple caveats to go with it. Retention is still low, students are struggling with the fallout from years of remote instruction, and university employees are leaving in record numbers. Even if next fall marks a permanent return to pre-pandemic enrollment numbers, the overall headcount will stay low for a while following graduation of larger cohorts.

“The number of students that we have that stop coming and stop responding to emails in some classes is kind of troubling to me,” said Starnes. “Again, what I’m hearing from my provost colleagues across the system is we’re not alone.”

“Quite a literature” is developing around the question of how to re-engage students in higher education, Starnes said, and the 14 university has an “ethical mandate” to do everything it can to

Smoky Mountain News

visitor. The disparity is largely attributable to the fact that the Smokies, which continually ranks as America’s most-visited national park, does not charge an entrance fee. A complicated legal history involving deed restrictions in Tennessee’s 1951 transfer of Newfound Gap Road and Little River Road to National Park Service ownership and a 1992 federal law prevents the park from doing so, resulting in a free park whose porous borders meld seamlessly with the communities around it.

The lack of an entrance fee also means that the park’s budget does not increase proportionately with the number of people visiting, resulting in what Smokies staff say is an increasingly unsustainable situation.

“Our facilities and our resources are strained, and for years we’ve been applying a lot of Band-Aid fixes to meet our needs,” Management Assistant Dana Soehn said during an April 14 virtual meeting discussing the proposal. “We’ve shifted our donation dollars to support operational needs. We’ve chased grant monies, we’ve chased project dollars, but with this extreme demand for visitor services in our park and the use, we simply can’t meet the needs without drastically cutting services or access to the park.”

The park received 3,766 correspondences on the proposal during a public comment period that closed in May, likely the most ever for a planning process in the Smokies.

While those comments have not yet been compiled and made available, they are likely to include ample input from supporters of the proposal. An April 13 Facebook post asking Smoky Mountain News readers their opinion drew mixed results, with 16 people in favor and 18 opposed.

“In an ideal world, our government

help students stay in school through graduation. WCU has received a grant from the UNC System office to reach out to students who have halted their pursuit of a degree.

“I think we have to realize that we have two classes of students who did at least a significant portion of their high school at a distance environment, and whether or not their instruction was the same as it would have been in the classroom, there is a readiness issue,” Starnes said.

Faculty are telling him that students seem to be less prepared “in the sense that they forget how school works,” Starnes said. In response, WCU is revamping its introduction to college course, designed for undeclared majors and typically executed as an introduction to life at WCU, to focus on basic concepts like how to take notes and the importance of attending class.

Retention of first-time, full-time freshmen stands at about 76%, around the same as last year, while prior to the pandemic that figure sat north of 80%.

“We have slipped,” Starnes said. “I think that’s true for a lot of regional comprehensives and I think it’s more intense at institutions that have an access mission, as we do.”

WCU is now mapping out a strategy to combat those faltering retention rates and to go beyond efforts to retain first-time, fulltime freshmen, working to ensure that older students return as well.

Students aren’t the only one with lagging retention rates.

“The Great Resignation has been felt in pronounced ways in Cullowhee,” Starnes said. “We are a people business, and we cannot sustain high-quality academic programs, support networks and campus services for our students without high-quality people.”

Faculty Senate President Laura Wright read off statistics on faculty resignations during the Trustees’ meeting June 10, telling the board that the data left her deeply concerned. During the 2021-22 academic year, 31 faculty members voluntarily left their positions. For the previous four academic years, the average was just 14, with a high-water mark of 24 in 2018-19.

“That’s pretty stunning,” she said.

WCU is not the only school struggling with enrollment and staff retention amid the pandemic. Across the UNC System, voluntary turnover increased 68% for the period from July 2021 to January 2022 compared to the four-year average for that interval.

If WCU wants to keep students in school, it must figure out how to keep dedicated faculty and staff on campus as well, Wright said.

“Faculty and staff retention, mental health and compensation are all so necessary to be recognized and addressed as a real component in student engagement, retention and mental health,” Wright said. “If we want students to engage, stay and be happy, faculty, staff and students are intimately and intricately connected. We’re a holistic system. If one part is in jeopardy, the whole organism is going to suffer.”

‘Climb Out of the Darkness’

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Smoky Mountain News

“It was terrifying,” said Klepac. “It literally felt like my brain changed as soon as I gave birth.”

However, Klepac is not alone. According to Postpartum Support International, over 15% of all people who get pregnant will experience postpartum mood disorders following the birth of a child. Up to 10% will experience depression or anxiety during pregnancy.

On Saturday, June 25, a gathering will be held at Bridge Park in Sylva to raise awareness about the mental health of new families.

“Climb Out of the Darkness” is a community walk and international fundraiser operated

by Postpartum Support International for survivors, providers and members of the community to come together.

“The climb is an opportunity to build community, for survivors to come together, for folks to come that are still struggling,” said Klepac. “The hope is that they will be able to access resources that they need while they are there. There will also be a

Celebrating 20 Years

June 22-28, 2022

On June 25, families across the globe and in Sylva will be participating in the annual “Climb Out of the Darkness” event to raise awareness of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders like postpartum depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder and psychosis. The event will symbolize the collective rise out of the darkness, increase awareness of maternal mental illness and raise funds to support Postpartum Support International, a non-profit organization founded to help support parents worldwide.

This year’s Climb will be the first climb ever held in Sylva and marks the 10th anniversary of The Climb worldwide. Learn more at tinyurl.com/2sj2kax4.

walkthrough town and we’ll have activities for all ages.”

Klepac found out about and got involved with PSI the hard way. When the anxiety came on following the birth of her child, she had increasingly scary thoughts that someone was going to harm her baby.

This created an extreme sense of fear.

“That was very confusing,” said Klepac.

“I thought you were supposed to feel joy and all these incredible feelings, and I did feel those feelings, after the really scary feelings subsided a tiny bit. But it was like they were coexisting. I remember thinking, ‘I feel a sense of joy and heartbreak at the same time.’”

Finding the right help took time. Klepac is a mental health provider, and when she started to research her symptoms, she came across PSI. There, she found educational materials for what she was experiencing, resources and eventually connected virtually with a maternal mental health psychiatrist.

After more than seven months of dealing with her symptoms, in addition to caring for a newborn, Klepac was diagnosed with Postpartum Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, a severe form of postpartum anxiety.

“If I had not discovered the resources provided by PSI, I may still be struggling with this debilitating disorder,” said Klepac.

However, PSI doesn’t just provide resources for people experiencing postpartum and perinatal mood disorders, it also provides training and resources for mental health providers to be able to give those patients the support they need.

“Part of my work has been trying to work with the local providers,” said Klepac. “I can offer mental health services to families that are in the same situation at this point, but it’s important for providers to have the training that PSI can provide around these specific mental health disorders.”

New families can also use PSI to connect with social support groups that meet daily in a virtual setting.

The Climb is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, but this will be the first time a team has organized an event in Sylva.

“I found The Climb through my healing process,” said Klepac. “I heard about it and heard there was one in Asheville. It was only virtual because of COVID when I found out about it, so this will be my first experience going to one in person and also hosting one. But I thought Asheville is a little far for folks that live really far out west here, and so I’d love to have one here. I have a really great planning team that’s helping me as well.”

For the first annual event, the Sylva team’s number one goal is to get members of the community to show up. All funds raised will go towards supporting the North Carolina state chapter of PSI. “We just really want people to feel welcome and know that this is a space they can come to and seek support and community,” said Klepac.

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BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER Brit Klepac gave birth two-and-a-half years ago.

Throughout her pregnancy, she was mentally and physically healthy, but almost immediately after bringing her child into the world, she started experiencing severe anxiety.

OPEN WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY: 9-4 FROG LEVEL • DOWNTOWN WAYNESVILLE

66 COMMERCE STREET • (828) 452-6200

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MCSO affidavits offer strange and heinous details of alleged kidnapping, homicide

BY KYLE PERROTTI N EWS E DITOR man currently in the Macon County jail on charges of kidnapping and assault may soon be charged with murder if search warrants related to the case are any indication.

Probable cause affidavits for the warrants, signed by several different judges on different dates over the last four weeks, form a narrative that plays out over several days and details multiple kidnappings as well as murder and the subsequent burning of a corpse — all predicated on one man’s delusional belief his girlfriend had been murdered.

Once the dust settled and the search warrants were executed, four people were arrested. For Derek McCrackin, Jessica Smith, and Lenor “Lenoka” Wilson, charges ranged from first-degree kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon to disturbing human remains. But at the center of the case is Christopher Shields, a man with an extensive criminal record.

At this time, the name of the woman believed to be the victim will not be printed due to the fact that the remains were unidentifiable and DNA results are pending. In addition, Macon County Sheriff Robert Holland said murder charges can’t be brought until those results confirm the victim’s identity.

Macon County deputies were first alerted there may have been a homicide when a relative of the victim called the sheriff ’s office in Rabun County, Georgia, on May 19. That relative said the victim had been missing for a while and that he had just heard she’d been murdered at Shields’ house in the Otto community. A Rabun County Sheriff ’s captain passed along to Macon County Sheriff ’s deputies the names of three women the man believed witnessed the murder.

The next day, Rabun County received another 911 call from the man, this time saying that a woman was actively “getting away from Chris Shields and his house.” After law enforcement tracked her down, the woman and several Macon County Sheriff ’s detectives quickly met at the Otto Fire Department. “[She] told detectives that she was at Chris Shields’ residence in the shed on Wednesday 5/18/22 and that she saw a female’s body lying on the floor inside the shed,” the probable cause affidavit reads, adding that she said Shields was a “violent person” with a bad temper who always carries a gun.

She said Shields thought the victim had killed his girlfriend and cut up her body, adding that Shields went to the victim’s house, “punched her in the face, then dragged her to his truck and took her to his 16 residence and tied her to a chair in the shed.”

Smoky Mountain News

June 22-28, 2022

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Chris Shields’ residence in the Otto area.

Shields’ residence is located a few miles up South Tryphosa Road, a winding gravel road off Highway 441 lined with woods, hay fields and the occasional home. In front of Shields’ house are a few old vehicles and behind it is a large shed — the shed where he allegedly killed his victim. The woman who met with law enforcement at the Otto Fire Department noted that the body she saw was a female wearing jeans and black flip flops. She also said she saw blood coming from underneath the body.

Detectives, including Capt. Dani Burrows, who heads up MCSO’s criminal investigation division, paid Shields a visit.

When they arrived, Shields and another woman were across the road from his house working on a truck. The deputies introduced themselves and said they were looking for the victim, to which Shields replied he’d seen her about a week prior. He recommended they check the Rabun County Jail.

“Captain Burrows told him she was not in jail,” the affidavit reads.

Shields gave them permission to look inside the shed. Two detectives proceeded while two stayed back with the woman.

Shields popped the padlock off the shed and welcomed them inside. The detectives didn’t see blood on the floor, but they did notice a little bit on some bedsheets.

A witness and several MCSO detectives met at a nearby church. The witness said she was present when the victim was shot and that she “began to freak out.” “[She] told Mr. Shields she needed to leave, and then he pushed her against the wall on the bed and kept her from leaving,” the affidavit reads, also noting that he threatened to shoot her.

The affidavit says the woman told detectives that McCrackin and Smith came to the shed and that Shields told them they were going to help him bury the victim, whose body they allegedly loaded into the back of his truck. They then drove to a property off nearby Mulberry Road owned by a Bashey Arizona McCracken that WLOS reported had a “homeless encampment” on it. The woman said that was where Smith and McCrackin were “forced” to help burn the body.

Finally, the woman admitted that messages regarding the alleged crime had been exchanged on Facebook, prompting the

search warrant to obtain her data from that company. Not long after, items were seized from Shields’ house, including cigarette lighters, a cup, cigarette butts, cell phones, gloves, a shovel, a pitchfork, a battery pack, a flashlight, a gas can, a hoodie, a hair clip and “various metallic objects.”

The next day, another warrant was executed that allowed swabs to be taken from items inside the shed. In addition, more items, including Shields’ truck, were seized.

In the back of the truck were shovels and a black flip flop matching the description of the one the victim was last seen wearing.

On June 1, a search warrant was executed that allowed deputies to take a cell phone “with heavy damage to the screen” found in the area off Mulberry.

Another search warrant signed and executed June 8 begins with the same narrative but elaborates on how the case developed. It details the strange motive likely behind the homicide, saying that Shields believed the victim had killed his girlfriend and “chopped up the body and scattered her remains across several counties in North Carolina.”

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The “Book Pantry” has opened at Crabtree United Methodist Church, 5405 Crabtree Road in Haywood County adjacent to the 24/7 outdoor food pantry in the church’s upper parking lot. The Book Pantry is similar to a little free library, where readers borrow a book or books and return a book or books, if possible. A limited selection of fiction, non-fiction, spiritual and children’s materials has been provided and will be monitored on a weekly basis to add new materials.

Donations of books are also welcome.

The Book Pantry has been made possible through a gift from the family of the late Nina Small, a member of the Crabtree congregation. Through her professional career as a reading specialist, Mrs. Small instilled the love of reading in many children and Crabtree UMC is pleased to honor her in this way. Additional funds were provided by the Crabtree United Methodist Women, Crabtree United Methodist Men and Mr. and Mrs. Fred Patton.

For more information, contact Carla Woody, chair of the Mission Outreach Committee, at 828.627.3666. other men were out of town “on a job” on May 16 when Shields allegedly kidnapped first the two women from their home just a few miles away from his. Then, on May 19 when they returned, there was some kind of altercation between Shields and the three other men that ended with Shields kidnapping two of them and assaulting one by kicking him in the face. The victim’s boyfriend presented photographic evidence of the damage left from the kick to the face.

More information was gathered from an interview with Wilson. During that conversation, Wilson told detectives that Shields handed her a shotgun and instructed her to not let the victim and another woman present leave. Although she was eventually allowed to leave by Shields, she said she didn’t try to contact law enforcement. She was subsequently charged with two counts of first-degree kidnapping for holding the women against their will.

Shields is currently being held at the Macon County Detention Center on $750,000 bond.

While Sheriff Holland wouldn’t comment regarding any future charges that may be taken out against Smith, he did say that he requested the DNA identification of the victim be expedited.

“The family of the woman we believe to be the victim has been cooperative in allow us to collect DNA samples,” he said.

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M O L LY ’ S Been Canned

Molly would like to thank the wonderful community for making the fundraiser at Frog Level Brewery for the Vision for Animals Foundation a woofing success.

More than $2500 was raised. Thank you dog lovers. Many licks and sniffs to all of you.

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Shields was apparently also told even more graphic details by someone he thought may have some knowledge as to his girlfriend’s whereabouts.

“The story was also told that, when [Shields’ girlfriend’s] body was chopped up, it did not kill her and they took the body to Lenoka Wilson to get her sewed up and put back together and she was alive, but then died so they burned the body,” the affidavit reads. “[Another woman] supposedly performed some type of séance over the body as it was being burnt.”

Sheriff Holland said they located Shields’ girlfriend, who was alive and well.

On May 26, detectives interviewed the woman Shields believed performed the séance, whom he’d also allegedly kidnapped.

“Chris Shields kidnapped them by forcing them by gun point with a rifle and they got inside Chris Shields’ truck. Chris Shields then took [that woman] and [the victim] to his residence … and put them inside a shed,” the affidavit reads.

That woman alleged that Shields and Smith had assaulted and threatened her in a variety of ways, claiming that Smith had held her at knife point, an allegation that led to Smith getting charged with first-degree kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon.

Another interview was conducted with the victim’s boyfriend, who said he and two

Book pantry opens at Crabtree UMC

June 22-28, 2022

Any Haywood County property owner who needs help removing Tropical Storm Fred-related debris from their property is invited to call 828.356.2022 to request assistance.

Through the gracious efforts of Baptists on Mission, volunteers will be conducting a one-time sweep of stormrelated debris from July 22-24, 2022.

Volunteers with Baptists on Mission have been in Haywood County from day one helping flood survivors and are continuing to provide much-needed assistance with this special effort.

Do I qualify for this debris removal assistance opportunity?

I can agree with these statements : • I am the property owner or have the property owner’s permission to remove debris.

• The debris is flood-related and not from another project.

• The property is NOT in the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.

Each site will be evaluated by Baptist on Mission team members to confirm eligibility for this debris pick-up event.

If you believe you qualify for this FREE assistance and would like to have your clean-up needs considered, please call 828.356.2022 Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to register.

The deadline to call for assistance is 5 p.m. Monday, July 11. This will allow time

to evaluate and schedule the cleanup projects for the event weekend.

Residents of the Cruso area can also expect to see road signs going up this week with the phone number to call to inquire about this event.

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One-time flood debris removal opportunity coming in July

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Community Almanac

Smoky Mountain News

Lake Junaluska’s Independence Day Celebration weekend Lake Junaluska’s Independence Day Celebration weekend will be full of family-friendly fun with fireworks, floating wish lanterns, a parade, family square dance and concerts including performances by GloryWay and the internationally acclaimed bluegrass group Balsam Range.

Many events are free, and lodging is still available at Lake Junaluska’s hotels for guests who want to spend the entire holiday weekend at the lake relaxing and enjoying the festivities.

The weekend begins with an enchanting display of Floating Wish Lanterns on the lake on Friday, July 1. Staff and volunteers will place the lanterns on the water starting at 8:45 p.m. in honor and in memory of loved ones. The lanterns are biodegradable and will be gathered from the lake after the event as soon as conditions allow. Visit lakejunaluska.com/lanterns to learn more about how to have a loved one’s name placed on a lantern.

The festivities continue Saturday, July 2, with a morning devotion by the lake and a full day of friendly competition, including a Round Robin Tennis Tournament, Closest to the Pin Golf Competition, a decorated kayak/canoe/paddleboard flotilla contest, and porch decorating contest. At 1 p.m., a free outdoor concert at the lakeside tent will feature Blue Ridge Big Band. The day also features a story time for kids and a reading of the Declaration of Independence by Ashley Calhoun at 3 p.m.

Then on Sunday, July 3, the Summer Worship Series service at the lakeside tent begins at 9 a.m.

The visiting preacher for the service will be the Rev. Dr. Audrey Warren, a Theologian In Residence at Lake Junaluska who is a senior pastor of First UMC of Miami, Florida, and leader of Fresh Expressions movements. The GloryWay quartet will share music at the worship service and later perform a concert in Stuart Auditorium at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 and will be available soon on itickets.com and at the door.

Also on July 3 at 7 p.m., tethered RE/MAX hot air balloon rides and face painting will take place, weather permitting, at the field next to the open-air Nanci Weldon Memorial Gym. The evening concludes on July 3 with a free community fireworks display that begins at approximately 9:30 p.m. Hundreds of colorful fireworks will be shot from the dam and reflected on the lake.

On Monday, the Fourth of July, festivities include a parade at 11 a.m. The parade begins at Lambuth Inn, proceeds along North Lakeshore Drive and ends at the open-air Nanci Weldon Memorial Gym. From 12 to 2 p.m. at the gym will be food trucks and music by Whitewater Bluegrass with a family square dance. Then at 7:30 p.m., Balsam Range takes the stage at the historic Stuart Auditorium for a Fourth of July concert. Tickets are $40 each and can be purchased online at itickets.com.

HCC hosts boating safety courses

Sylva’s Fireworks Festivities

Haywood Community College’s Department of Arts, Sciences, and Natural Resources and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission will offer a boating safety course June 12-13, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on the HCC campus in Walnut Building 3300, room 3322. Participants must attend two consecutive evenings to receive their certification.

These courses are offered as a community service and are free of charge. There are no minimum age requirements; however, written exam must be completed without assistance. Additional boating safety classes will be held at HCC on August 9-10, and September 20-21.

Pre-registration is required. Anyone interested in taking a boating safety course must register online in order to attend any session. Course registration may be completed at www.ncwildlife.org.

Sylva's eighth annual Fireworks Festivities will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, July 4, 2022, at Bridge Park.

The Jackson County Chamber of Commerce is proud to welcome the Crocodile Smile Band to the stage for a performance from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m., and a second set from 8:15 to 9:30 p.m.

They are one of the southeast's finest bands. They will perform classic hits, pop favorites, R&B, and beach music.

Fireworks are organized by the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce and should begin at dark immediately after the concert, approximately 9:30 p.m. The fireworks are visible from various locations throughout downtown Sylva and the immediate surrounding areas.

"We could not possibly have fireworks in Sylva

without the help and support of our friends at the Town of Sylva, Jackson County Permitting Office (Tony Elders and Doug Painter), Jackson County Commissioners, and the Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department," said Chamber Executive Director Julie Donaldson. "Most importantly, the fireworks this year and the last seven years have been provided by our friends, members and partners/sponsors in the community.”

In addition to music and fireworks, the Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department will be providing children's activities from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., including an inflatable bounce house, 38foot obstacle course, inflatable basketball shooting challenge, and a mini all-star shooting challenge.

Food trucks will be on site including Great Smokies Tropical Sno Cones, South of Philly on the Go, Ruthie's Famous Kettle Corn, Little Jimmy's Italian Ice, Chili Chomper, Harvest Moon Crepes, Dogs on Wheels, and Innovation Brewing. The

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Sylva Social District has been approved for that day as well, according to Main Street Sylva Association Director Bernadette Peters.

Waynesville Elks Lodge Annual Charity BBQ It’s that time of year that the Elks ask for donations from the community to add to their silent auction. All proceeds from the BBQ and auction go into a charity account that gets redistributed into the county throughout the year, where it is needed the most. Donations need to be turned into the Elks Lodge by June 22. Contact Nece Hedges at 400-9477 to turn in donations.

• Saturday, June 25 • Food served 11 a.m. until it’s gone • Pulled pork with fixings $13 a plate • Live music outdoors • Sound Investment (60s and 70s band) 1-3 p.m.

• Gene Pool 4-8 p.m.

• Silent Auction all day

Pride of the Mountains Marching Band will take its talents international Western Carolina University’s Pride of the Mountains Marching Band will perform in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Ireland on March 17, 2024.

“It all came about because POTM has had memorable performances all over the U.S., but has never performed internationally,” said Jack Eaddy, WCU’s director of Athletic Bands. “Performing in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade is a chance-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our students and we’re honored to represent our university, community, region and nation on an international stage.”

Jude Hahn, a sophomore flute player from Albemarle, was stunned when she learned of the band’s upcoming trip.

The band performed in the 2019 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade after being chosen to lead the parade in 2014. It also marched in the 2011 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California.

Brandon Rice, a rising senior from Irmo, South Carolina who plays the electric violin, performed in the last trip to New York City.

“To say that the Pride of the Mountains Marching Band is going international sounds surreal, like a dream you’ve always dreamed of, but you never thought was going to happen,” Rice said. “For us to be able to fly out of the country and march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, it’s going to be not only legendary for the people in Ireland, but also for us because we’re a massive band from the small town of Cullowhee, North Carolina.”

Eaddy sees it as an opportunity for the students to experience something they otherwise may have never experienced.

The goal, Eaddy said, is for the entire 500plus member band to go to Ireland. To help make that possible, an announcement of the band’s fundraising efforts will be forthcoming.

Opinion Election integrity is fundamental to our freedoms A Smoky Mountain News

s I was re-reading last week’s issue of The Smoky Mountain News and about the Juneteenth celebrations in the mountains, I started thinking about the upcoming July 4 holiday and of the freedoms Americans take for granted. As a white man I won’t presume to know what Juneteenth means to Black Americans, but there’s little doubt that their experience of being an American is much different from mine.

Since emancipation and since the new laws enacted because of the Civil Rights movement, though, one common thread we can now all embrace is the very basic act of voting.

It’s heartbreaking to realize that our Black brothers and sisters — until 60 years ago — were still fighting for the basic rights we white men have had since the founding of the republic some 250 years ago. Our democracy, imperfect as it is and has been, at least now upholds that basic right to vote for every one of its citizens.

Sort of. This past weekend in Texas, the state Republican Party endorsed a measure calling President Joe Biden’s election illegitimate. Here’s an excerpt from the Texas Standard: On Thursday, the Republican Party of Texas Permanent Platform Committee advanced a resolution claiming the 2020 election “violated” the Constitution.

“We reject the certified results of the 2020 Presidential election, and we hold that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States,” part of the resolution says.

Thanks to all for keeping Jackson clean To the Editor: We are so blessed in Jackson County to have many dedicated individuals and community groups who have taken responsibility to “Keep Jackson County Clean and Green.”

During our recent “Cleaning Up the Mountains” campaign we had great participation from individuals who have partnered to pick up roadside litter in their own communities. Mike and Norma Clayton started this campaign years ago and continue to be leaders in this effort. Maggie Carlton leads the group in Cashiers with a team of regular volunteers from the Cashiers Chamber of Commerce and Vision Cashiers. Adam Tebbugge from Tuckasegee is sharing on social media and also worked with his community to pick up litter along Caney Fork Road and Jennifer Copper is recruiting student groups from WCU. I have seen several student groups along N.C. 107 and in Webster picking up litter and that demonstrates their positive engagement with our community. Trout Unlimited has picked up litter along the Tuckasegee River several times this spring. The Village of Forest Hills had a community pick-up as did the Democrat Women of Jackson County, who picked up litter along Skyland Drive. Mike Parker with the EBCI Division of Commerce organized a group to pick up litter from the top of Soco Gap down Highway 19.

The Sylva Herald has helped us by cover-

Biden received about 7 million more votes than Donald Trump. Biden also won 306 Electoral College votes to Trump’s 232. Numerous election audits have found no evidence of widespread fraud or vote tampering.

Despite these facts, many are still unconvinced of the legitimacy of the 2020 election.

Here’s a quote from the Texas Standard from one of the GOP convention attendees: “There’s no way in hell Biden got 81 million votes,” said Mary Jo Bloomquist, a resident of Granbury. “Are you kidding me?”

Editor I’ve spent my life reporting in mostly small communities. In each of those towns and counties I’ve known and worked with employees of the local boards of elections, people of both major political parties. I’m acquainted with election volunteers. These are people who would consider it against their personal moral code of conduct to in any way participate in voter fraud. I suspect that’s the same in most communities throughout this country. You work or volunteer as an election official because you recognize it as one of the most important civic duties of our republic, one of the basic rights that sets this country apart. You’re not there to sway the outcome of an election.

Mistakes happen, but a grand scheme by an organized

Scott McLeod

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LETTERS ing the litter campaign in the newspaper and urging participation. Allison Outdoor Advertising has run ads on their digital billboards as a public service. The Print Shak made our banner and updates the dates of each campaign. Westley Grindstaff from DOT gave us 700 garbage bags. Nick Breedlove from the TDA donated funds to purchase grabbers. A great debt of appreciation goes to Chad Parker, Sylva’s Public Works Director and Kim Shuler, Solid Waste Coordinator. If anyone needs bags, gloves, grabbers or vests please contact Kim at 586.2437. Our efforts are ongoing, feel free to pick up litter any time!

We live in such a beautiful place — Jackson County — and yet I tell people all the time our greatest treasure is our people. We literally had folks picking up litter from one end of our county, Soco Gap, to the other end, the Cashiers area, and in between. Thank you to all who participate in our ongoing efforts to keep Jackson County Clean and Green.

Gayle Woody Jackson County Litter Task Force

Congress should fulfill the Second Amendment To the Editor: In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and yet another mass shooting in America I am trying to make sense of the Second Amendment. It states: “A well regulated

cabal to overturn the 2020 election? Thankfully, that did not happen. Not in the USA. At least not yet. As has been reported in many media outlets, some GOP leaders who still doubt the results of the 2020 election are recruiting volunteers to monitor voting sites throughout the country. In some states GOP leaders who still doubt the 2020 election results are setting up systems that will allow them to challenge future election results they don’t like.

I’m hopeful all of this will be for naught. We’ve been reminded by the January 6 hearings that Donald Trump knew he had lost but refused to listen to the truth and deliberately tried to get state leaders and Vice President Mike Pence to do his bidding to illegally overturn the results.

As we mark our independence during these summer weeks, let’s remember that we are Americans first, not members of a political party. We have more in common as human beings than we disagree about as members of one political party or another.

Many Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and independents lost their elections in 2020. After various recounts and some very tight races, all of them — except one — accepted defeat and carried on with their lives. For the good of the country, Trump should do the same and quit crying foul. If he doesn’t, I fear the fights after our next national election in 2024.

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

Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.” It is difficult to disagree with those words if we study them and determine what they mean.

Still, three words beg for clarity: Militia, regulated and infringed.

By definition a militia is a military force

that is raised from the civilian population to supplement a regular army in an emergency.

Please don’t tell me that gun owners in America today are a form of militia. I own five firearms. Still, I have no connection to any organization that makes up a legal militia as referred to in the Second Amendment. I do not belong to the U.S. Navy Reserve or the National Guard. Who would call me to duty in an emergency?

How are firearms regulated at all today in

the spirit of the Second Amendment? I contend they aren’t “well regulated.” I also contend that the United States Congress must act soon to develop a formal militia rather than continuing to allow individuals to believe they belong to a militia that doesn’t even exist.

How could a militia be well regulated?

• Register all firearms with the newly established militia.

• Ban new sales of assault weapons.

• Disable privately owned assault weapons or store them in a legal armory.

• Levy taxes on firearms (much like vehicles are now).

• Require gun owners to insure each firearm.

• Require all firearms sales to be recorded with the appropriate agency.

• Develop/enforce stringent background checks.

As we begin to fulfill the letter and spirit of the Second Amendment there may be other steps we decide to take. Clearly, this will address the term “infringed.” That definition is: to break off, break, impair, violate.

The Second Amendment is established law. It provides the right to bear arms. It also paves the way to establish a militia. And, it requires the militia to be “well regulated.”

Congress, do your job!

Dave Waldrop Webster

New and shiny isn’t always better

Susanna Shetley

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Smoky Mountain News

and washed and dried our clothes, swimsuits and towels perfectly. While down there, my boyfriend asked what I thought about buying one of those for our home. I can be very particular about certain purchases, but one of my purchasing values is “ease of use,” and our elite washer and dryer at home drives me insane. The stackable was easy to use and made me happy.

While on vacation, we found the exact model, bought it, and it’s already been delivered to our house. The delivery people hauled off our Samsung units to a blaring good riddance.

Similarly, we have a new behemoth of a Samsung fridge in our kitchen, which we loathe. We do not plan on keeping this fridge. It’s too bulky, it doesn’t cool well, collects mold and leaks. In contrast, we have a 1980s fridge downstairs in our rec room that has probably been there since the debut of “Miami Vice.” We keep our canned drinks in that fridge and they are always icy cold.

This same philosophy goes with cars. I know next to nothing about cars, but even I can make some sense when you lift the hood of an older car compared to a modern “innovative” car.

It seems that newer, shinier and more advanced isn’t necessarily better. I believe in living a high frequency life. By that I mean living at a higher vibration, which involves creating boundaries for myself, embracing joy and gratitude, taking care of my health, traveling, doing what’s best for me emotionally and other similar actions.

Living a high frequency life doesn’t necessarily mean buying the crème de la crème in terms of appliances, cars or technology.

Our new kitchen is going to feel high frequency because it will be more in line with who we are as individuals. We’re tearing down two interior walls and creating an exterior wall full of windows to add space and bring in more natural light. We are adding an island and making more flow within the room. The kitchen is the heart of our home and a gathering place for friends and family, so we want to create a kitchen that makes us feel calm, relaxed and is large enough to fit everyone.

With that being said, there will be a good ol’ stackable washer and dryer behind a sliding door, and I am overjoyed about that. Every time I do a load of laundry I will be grateful that in lieu of keeping up with the Joneses, we chose an item we can trust and one that will clean our clothes to boot.

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

June 22-28, 2022

n my adult life I’ve noticed an emotional pattern when it comes to appliances.

When I have an antiquated appliance, it seems to work well and is a non-issue, but when I have a new, fancy appliance, I often feel annoyed and frustrated.

We are currently renovating our small, dated kitchen, so we’ve had time to assess the original layout and determine why the builders designed it as such. In 1971 when the home was built, the plans put the washer and Columnist dryer in a closet in the kitchen, most likely because the plumbing and electrical were already in place.

The washer and dryer from the 1970s tucked nicely into the small nook, but then the homeowners before us purchased two high-end Samsung laundry appliances with all the gadgets, techy buttons and sensors.

They did not tuck nicely into the small nook, so they jut out awkwardly and can no longer be concealed by closet doors.

Not only are the appliances an eyesore for anyone entering the kitchen, but we have lived in the house less than two years and during that span we’ve replaced the heating element in the dryer three times.

Further, our clothes smell musty a large percentage of the time when we pull them from the dryer.

Meanwhile, we have an older, simplistic washer and dryer in our Maggie Valley rental cabin and they work amazingly well.

Knock on wood, but they were there when I bought the place and in the five years I’ve owned the cabin, they have not failed me.

As part of the kitchen renovation, we’ve made decisions about all kinds of things including appliances, cabinets, colors, flooring, backsplash, lighting and fixtures. If you’ve ever built a home or renovated a room, you know what I’m talking about. It’s an exciting but overwhelming process.

We kept going back and forth about the washer and dryer. Should we leave them in the kitchen because that’s where the hookups are or should we figure out a way to move them to another part of the house?

The only other option was to move them downstairs, which would mean going up and down stairs to do laundry, which could become a problem eventually.

When we were on vacation last week at Folly Beach, our beach cottage had a very basic stackable washer and dryer with very clear dials and buttons. It held large loads

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Smoky Mountain News

American pastoral

— Aaron Gillespie, guitar, Brothers Gillespie

[from]. Then, boom, something happens, and it shifts; it completely turns everything around.

But, you don’t ever want that pastoral to die. You never want that to go away. You want to continue working and striving for it. I mean, things aren’t great. But, at the end of the day, we’ve all got to learn to do what we can to make it better for ourselves, to make it better for everyone else that we’re around — our communities, friends, families, and whatnot.

(From left) The Brothers Gillespie are Chance Kuehn, Clay Gillespie, Davis Gillespie, Aaron Gillespie and Zack Edwards.

Brothers Gillespie release new album, plot summer tour

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD ARTS & E NTERTAINMENT E DITOR ithin its upcoming sophomore album, “American Pastoral,” rising Haywood County-based Americana/rock act The Brothers Gillespie has cultivated a vast, vibrant landscape of sonic and lyrical textures.

At its core, the album encompasses the emotional sentiments and cultural climate of our modern society, one which continues to wrestle with its identity in the 21st century, especially in a post-pandemic world. The 19song rock odyssey careens across the entire musical spectrum, making additional stops in the alt-country, indie, soul, psychedelic, grunge and folk realms.

Regardless of its intent on this latest release, the band itself remain a steadfast, hardnosed rag-tag bunch of genuinely talented musicians, each as hungry and determined as the next to prove themselves in studio, but more so onstage — the setting by which The Brothers

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“This is our ‘American Pastoral,’ you know? For our band, you’re bearing your art. You’re bearing your [music], wanting to give it to people and use it as something that you can make a living [from]. Then, boom, something happens, and it shifts; it completely turns everything around.”

Gillespie have truly defined and set themselves apart from local and regional counterparts.

Real talk? It’s this deep, perhaps renewed, sense of self, that passion and purpose at the foundation of The Brothers Gillespie that will only nurture and yield the fruits of the honest labor put forth by this quintet.

Smoky Mountain News: Why the title “American Pastoral”? From the first listen, it’s definitely a sonic landscape of where we are — not only as a country, but as a society. The album starts out very sad and pessimistic, but there’s this weird optimism that you come to by the end of it.

Aaron Gillespie (guitarist): Exactly. We were in the thick of the pandemic [writing and recording songs] and I suggested [the name for the album]. I had just read the book “American Pastoral” by Philip Roth.

[The book] is the story of a guy who grows up living the “American Dream” in the 1940s and 1950s. Superstar athlete. He’s got everything going for him. Marries the beauty queen and has a kid. It’s pastoral.

But, then Vietnam comes around [in the 1960s] and things happen that shift the whole lifestyle and the landscape of their lives. And then they have to kind of learn to recover from

Want to go?

The Brothers Gillespie will perform from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 24, at New Belgium Brewing in Asheville. The show is free and open to the public.

Aside from numerous concerts to held around the Southeast, the group will also hit the stage in Western North Carolina on July 7 at Isis Music Hall in Asheville and Aug. 26 at 185 King St. in Brevard.

For more information about the band’s summer tour and/or to be informed on the release of its latest album, “American Pastoral,” click on brothersgillespie.com or facebook.com/thebrothersgillespie. it and pick up the pieces — to continue their pastoral.

SMN: It’s symbolic of where we’re at.

AG: Yeah. I mean, it mirrored [our modern times] with me because — for a lot of us — this is our “American Pastoral,” you know? For our band, you’re bearing your art. You’re bearing your [music], wanting to give it to people and use it as something that you can make a living

SMN: With the pandemic, there were a lot of shifts in perspective. It’s like when you’re swimming in the ocean, and you think you know where you are. And then when you pop up, you’re nowhere near where you thought you were.

AG: That’s a great analogy, because midway through recording the album, there was kind of a turning point, where we saw what it could be or where we wanted it to be and where it was going [musically and lyrically].

We started looking and paying attention to things that were made during [previous] pandemics or during times of strife, the “what came after” of art, music and culture. That was our mindset while we recorded “American Pastoral” — what can we create during this time of chaos?

And so, being in the band during “all this” has been a crazy experience, just knowing that everyone was kind of in that situation.

Everyone’s trying to keep the ball rolling in the ways they can. It’s going to be crazy to see what comes out of this.

Like many people, we had the mentality that if we can make it through this, we can make it through most anything. I feel if your band was able to survive the pandemic, then I think you’re in a pretty good spot where you can do things.

And that’s how I feel about us, where some good did come out of [the shutdown]. We got more justified in our intent. We’re not giving up. We are going to do this. And really the great thing is that now we’re on the cusp of releasing the album and getting back on the road — we can do this.

HOT PICKS

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

Stecoah Valley Center (Robbinsville) “An Appalachian Evening” live music series will kick off with Darin & Brooke Aldridge at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 25.

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A stage production of Robert Harling’s tender story, “Steel Magnolias,” will be held at 7:30 p.m. June 24-25, 30 and July 1-2, and at 2 p.m. June 19, 26 and July 3, at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.

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Bill’s Barber Shop in Johnson City. (photo: Garret K. Woodward)

There’s no simple explanation, for anything important any of us do

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Can't Be Woken Up or Not Moving Slow or Absent Breathing Snoring, Coughing, Gurgling or Choking Sounds

Poet and naturalist Brent Martin will present his new book, “George Masa’s Wild Vision,” at 6 p.m.

Thursday, June 23, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva.

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Cold or Clammy Skin

The “Stecoah Arts & Crafts Drive About Tour” will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 24-25 at featured studios in Bryson City, Stecoah and Robbinsville.

Extremely Small Pupils

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Concerts on the Creek will continue with The Rewind House Band (oldies/variety) from 7 to 9 p.m.

Friday, June 24, at Bridge Park in Sylva.

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Discoloration of Lips and Nails

CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY! THEN Give Breaths & Use Naloxone

NALOXONESAVES.ORG

Smoky Mountain News

optimism for what may or may not lie around the corner once he gets deployed.

The “high and tight” dude gets up, pays, tips and leaves, the old bell ringing above the door for the coming and going of the day’s customers. The gentleman ahead of me jumps into the chair. “It’s been a while since I’ve gotten a haircut, so just keep it short on the sides and trim down the top a little bit,” the elderly voice chirps, his eyes looking into the mirror and up at the barber behind him.

“It’s my birthday this week. I’ll be 81,” the gentleman says to make small talk. I put down the magazine I’m browsing through and wish him a happy birthday from my chair against the wall.

The gentleman makes more small talk, about his simple life and the daily routine he has found himself in for decades since he retired. He’s alone now, but his head is still held high, for nothing is guaranteed in life, especially time and one’s amount allotted in our respective existence.

About a half-hour later, I emerged from the barber shop with a fresh haircut, arguably the finest trim I’ve ever received. I think about the events of the last few days. I think of the 16-hour drive of endless thoughts, the musty motel room and restless sleep. I think of the “high and tight” kid and what the future holds for him, and the 81-year-old gentleman and his trusty, daily routine.

There’s a kick in my step with the fresh trim. The Friday morning sunshine cascades down upon my current location. Head around the corner and hop back into the truck. Crank the engine and put the truck in drive, but not before taking a deep breath and exhaling it with genuine sense of gratitude for the knowns and unknowns in this universe.

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

Dizziness or Disorientation

June 22-28, 2022

ith the Mason-Dixon Line in the rearview mirror, I pushed the accelerator down and proceeded to make my way up Interstate 81 North towards the Pennsylvania/New York border.

Thursday evening and it was still about two hours or so until I crossed into the city limits of Binghamton, New York. Find a cheap motel for $59 just off the highway in nearby Johnson City. Grab the toiletry bag, acoustic guitar, small cooler of cold beers and a half-eaten sandwich. Toss everything on the desk in the room and lay out on the bed.

Earlier in the day, I found myself walking into the ICU on the fifth-floor of the University of Virginia hospital in Charlottesville. A longtime, dear friend had been in a tragic car accident and wasn’t expected to survive. By chance, I was passing through the area en route to my native Upstate New York (aka: the North Country).

I held her hand, retold some tall tales from our high school days back in the Adirondack Mountains of our youth, told her I loved her, and said goodbye. By the time I hit the Mason-Dixon Line, the process had begun to harvest her organs for donation and take her off of life support.

And there I was, in this musty motel room with harsh hand soap and an A/C unit in the corner that hummed in an odd tone, more annoying than actually cooling. But, no matter. Turn on the TV atop the dresser. Pop the top of the Budweiser tallboy. Take note of the face in the mirror across the room.

Nod to yourself. Salute yourself with the drink held high. It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions today — she was “one of the good ones,” and now she’s gone. Send another f text message of solidarity, hope and compassion to her husband. Type away wildly on the laptop about the nothing and everything

of what transpired this afternoon, the sentiment of “why do bad things happen to good people” as one subconsciously takes inventory of their own lot in life.

Sip the Budweiser and flip the channels until “Star Wars: A New Hope” appears on the screen. Tuck another pillow behind your head and straight your back up against the headboard. Watch and observe Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Hans Solo, ObiWan Kenobi, Chewbacca and R2D2.

The mind keeps drifting to earlier today, where I can’t seem — or won’t ever be able to — shake what was seen, felt, heard and experienced in that ICU room. Toss and turn in a jumbled kind of sleep, in and out of a dreamlike state and moments of concentration on the glowing TV still left on in the midnight hour.

Soon, the morning sun emerges and creeps through the slight opening in the curtains just above the A/C unit in the corner.

Another day upon us, onward into the impending knowns and unknowns of Friday, and with gusto. Grab the toiletry bag, acoustic guitar, cooler of cold beers and a half-eaten sandwich.

Toss everything back into the truck and adjust the rearview mirror. Crank over the engine and pull into the nearby coffee shop drive-thru. Back to the North Country once again, just about five hours left in the 16hour one-way drive from Waynesville to Plattsburgh.

Before merging back onto the highway, a small building is noticed to the left. Bill’s Barber Shop. With a friend’s wedding tomorrow afternoon and my niece’s birthday party on Sunday, why not grab a quick trim and clean up the neck line? Best to look presentable upon rolling back into your hometown amid familiar faces from your past, from the starting line of where it all began.

Grabbing a chair against the wall, I was third in line for a haircut. At the front of the priority list was a young guy, early 20s, who needed a “high and tight” buzz, seeing as he’ll “be shipping out soon for Army training.” His eyes are bright and focused, but also with a hint of nervousness and cautious

HOW TO SPOT IT AND WHAT TO DO

arts & entertainment

This must be the place

SIGNS OF AN OPIOID OVERDOSE

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June 22-28, 2022

arts & entertainment

On the beat

‘An Appalachian Evening’ The “An Appalachian Evening” series will return to the Stecoah Valley Center in Robbinsville.

The annual summer concert series offers an ever-changing schedule of bluegrass, folk and old-time mountain music by award-winning artists — quality entertainment for the entire family. Rich in cultural heritage, the series continues to be a favorite with locals and visitors alike. All concerts will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the air-conditioned Lynn L. Shields Auditorium.

Performers include Darin & Brooke Aldridge June 25, Buncombe Turnpike July 2, Chatham Rabbits July 9, Appalachian Roadshow July 16, The Jeff Little Trio July 23, Aubrey Eisenman & The Clydes July 30, The Wildmans Aug. 6, Nu-Blu Aug. 13, Pretty Little Goat Aug. 20 and The Kruger Brothers Aug. 27 For more information and/or to purchase tickets, call 828.479.3364 or click on stecoahvalleycenter.com.

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

• Friday Night Live (Highlands) will host Southern Highland Band (bluegrass) June 24 and Silly Ridge (bluegrass) July 1 at Town Square on Main Street. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. highlandschamber.org.

• Boojum Brewing (Waynesville) will host karaoke at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, trivia at 7 p.m. on Thursdays, Pride Party Drag Show 10 p.m. June 24, Pleasantly Wild June 25 and The Get Right Band (rock/soul) July 1. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.246.0350 or boojumbrewing.com.

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host Life Like Water (Celtic/jam) June 24, Blackwater Voodoo Band June 24, Gin Mill Pickers 3 p.m. June 26 and Elysium Park Band 5:30 p.m. June 28. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.454.5664 or froglevelbrewing.com.

• Concerts On The Creek (Sylva) will host The Rewind House Band (hits/oldies) June 24 and Darren Nicholson Band (Americana/country) July 1 at Bridge Park in Sylva. All shows begin at 7 p.m. Everyone is encouraged to bring a chair or blanket.

These events are free, but donations are encouraged. 828.586.2155 or mountainlovers.com.

Smoky Mountain News

Darin & Brooke Aldridge.

• Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center (Franklin) will host Chatham Rabbits (Americana/folk) 5 p.m. July 16. Tickets are $15 for adults, $7.50 for children.

828.369.4080 or coweeschool.org/music.

• First United Methodist Church (Franklin) will host Mountain Voices (chorus) at 7 p.m.

June 30. Free and open to the public.

Donations accepted to support Mountain Voices.

• Fontana Village Resort Wildwood Grill will host Wesley Earwood (singer-songwriter) 6 p.m. June 25 and Sister Ivy 6 p.m. July 9.

Free and open to the public. 800.849.2258 or 24 fontanavillage.com.

ALSO:

• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will host Tim McWilliams (singer-songwriter) June 23 and Open Mic Night June 30. All shows begin at 7 p.m. Free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.

• Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host “Music Bingo” with Hibiscus Sunshine at 7 p.m. every Wednesday, Divas On Tap 8:30 p.m. June 25 and Buffalo Kings 2 p.m. July 3. All events are free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host The Maggie Valley Band (Americana/indie) June 25 and Natti Love Joys (reggae/soul) July 2.

All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.

828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host Trivia Night at 6:30 p.m. every Wednesday, Old Time Jam 6:30 p.m. every Thursday and The Maggie Valley Band (Americana/indie) June 24. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless other-

wise noted. Free and open to the public.

828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Marianna Black Library (Bryson City) will host Somebody’s Child (Americana) 7 p.m.

June 23. Free and open to the public.

828.488.3030 or fontanalib.org/brysoncity.

• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host Open Mic Night w/Ivor Sparks every Wednesday, Scott James Stambaugh (singersongwriter) June 24, Steve Heffker (singersongwriter) June 25 and George Ausman 5 p.m. June 26. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.538.0115 or mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.

• Pickin’ On The Square (Franklin) will host Outlaw Whisky (country/oldies) June 25 and Appalachian Smoke (country/bluegrass) July 9. All shows begin at 6 p.m. at the Gazebo in downtown. Free and open to the public. franklinnc.com/pickin-on-the-square.html.

• Quirky Birds Treehouse & Bistro (Dillsboro) will host Shane Meade (indie/soul) 7 p.m.

June 29. Free and open to the public.

828.586.1717 or facebook.com/quirkybirdstreehouse.

• Saturdays On Pine (Highlands) will host The Swingin’ Richards July 2 at KelseyHutchinson Park on Pine Street. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. highlandschamber.org.

• The Scotsman (Waynesville) will host The Carter Giegerich Trio (Celtic/bluegrass) from 2 to 5 p.m. every Sunday and Eireann’s Call (Celtic/rock) June 30. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.246.6292 or scotsmanpublic.com.

Bryson City community jam A community jam will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 7, 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 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.

The music jams are offered to the public each first and third Thursday of the month — spring, summer, fall.

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.

• SlopeSide Tavern (Sapphire) will host McIntosh & The Lionhearts June 23 and West Fork Fiasco June 30. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public.

828.743.8655 or slopesidetavern.com.

• Stecoah Valley Center (Robbinsville) “An Appalachian Evening” live music series will include Darin & Brooke Aldridge June 25, Buncombe Turnpike July 2, Chatham Rabbits July 9, Appalachian Roadshow July 16, The Jeff Little Trio July 23, Aubrey Eisenman & The Clydes July 30, The Wildmans Aug. 6, Nu-Blu Aug. 13, Pretty Little Goat Aug. 20 and The Kruger Brothers Aug. 27. All show begin at 7:30 p.m. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, call 828.479.3364 or click on stecoahvalleycenter.com.

• Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host Blake Robinson June 23, GenePool June 24, Carolina Freightshakers (rock/oldies) June 25, Curtis & Kim Jones (Americana/folk) June 30, Arnold Hill (rock/jam) July 1 and Caribbean Cowboys (oldies/variety) July 2. All shows begin at 8 p.m. Free and open to the public. 828.538.2488.

• Valley Cigar & Wine Co. (Waynesville) will host Bridgett Gossett (singer-songwriter) 3 p.m. June 26 and Darren Nicholson (Americana/bluegrass) 6 p.m. June 30. Free and open to the public. 828.944.0686 or valleycigarandwineco.com.

• Valley Tavern (Maggie Valley) will host The Lads of Asheville June 25, Twisted Trail 3 p.m. June 26, The Loudes June 30, Andrew Thelston (rock/jam) July 1 and Sound Investment 3 p.m. July 3. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.926.7440 or valley-tavern.com.

On the beat arts & entertainment

Harrah’s Cherokee welcomes Kansas

Kansas.

Classic rock legends Kansas will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 25, at Harrah’s Cherokee Resort Event Center With a legendary career spanning nearly five decades, Kansas has firmly established itself as one of America’s iconic classic rock bands. While Kansas sold-out arenas and stadiums globally in the 1970s and 1980s, the band continues to remain popular decades later, releasing the No. 10 Billboard-charting progressive rock album “The Absence of Presence” in 2020.

Tickets start at $42.50 per person. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, click on caesars.com/harrahs-cherokee.

Americana, indie at Lazy Hiker The Maggie Valley Band will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, June 24, at the Lazy Hiker

The 13th season of Concerts on the Creek will continue with The Rewind House Band (oldies/variety) from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, June 24, at Bridge Park in Sylva.

Everyone is encouraged to bring a chair or blanket. These events are free, but donations are encouraged. Dogs must be on a leash. No alcohol, smoking or coolers are allowed in the park. Food trucks will also be available.

This week, Concerts on the Creek welcomes special guest Professor Whizzpop to entertain the children in attendance with bubbles, balloons, and magic.

These concerts are organized and produced by the Jackson County Chamber of

Professor Whizzpop.

Smoky Mountain News

Concerts On The Creek

June 22-28, 2022

The Maggie Valley Band.

Brewing taproom in Sylva. The group will also play at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 25, at Lazy Hiker Brewing in Franklin.

A blend of old-time mountain, Americana and psychedelic folk music, the Haywood County group is fronted by siblings Whitney and Caroline Miller. The duo has gone through several changes since they first set out on their melodic adventure several years ago.

But, what remains is the unbreakable bond of sisterhood, something that’s become a stronghold — and strong suit — in what it will take to break into the next level of their promising careers.

The show is free and open to the public. For more information, call 828.349.2337 or click on lazyhikerbrewing.com.

Commerce, the Town of Sylva and the Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department.

For more information, call the chamber at 828.586.2155, visit mountainlovers.com or Concerts On The Creek’s Facebook page.

25

arts & entertainment June 22-28, 2022

On the street

On the stage

Cherokee Nation Powwow

HART presents ‘Steel Magnolias’

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ 47th annual Powwow will be held July 1-3 at the Acquoni Expo Center.

The event features fireworks of another kind, which means a three-day explosion of authentic Indian music, dancing, food, and festivities. Dance competitions kick off the excitement with over $150,000 in prize money.

This action-packed celebration includes colorful regalia, jawdropping dances, and music made to move you. Experience authentic tribal foods, browse traditional Indian crafts, and get an insider’s look at a rich, ancient culture.

Admission is $15 daily. Please note that this event is cash only. Children 6 and

A stage production of Robert Harling’s tender story, “Steel Magnolias,” will be held at 7:30 p.m. June 24-25, 30 and July 1-2, and at 2 p.m. June 19, 26 and July 3, at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.

Have you ever tried to pick a magnolia blossom only to find it turns brown and bruises easily? “Steel Magnolias” is the true essence of southern ladies: beautiful and fragile as a magnolia on the outside, but tough as steel on the inside.

HART is bringing to life six such beautiful magnolias, transforming the Fangmeyer Theatre into Truvy’s beauty salon in Natchitoches, Louisiana. This poignant true story became iconic in 1989 with an all-star film after debuting off Broadway two years prior.

It is often hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time and depicts women we all know and love in our own circles of family and friends. “Steel Magnolias” has something for men and women alike.

For men, it is a peek into the mystique of the beauty parlor where they are not allowed

• The Cherokee Summer Carnival will kick off from 5 to 10 p.m. Thursday, June 30, at the Cherokee Indian Fair Grounds. Familyfriendly fun with a variety of vendors, food, games, karaoke, and literally dozens of carnival rides. The gates open at 5 p.m. on weekdays and 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. visitcherokeenc.com.

ALSO:

• The Sweet Corn Festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. July 2-3 at Darnell Farms in Bryson City. Food trucks, live music, vendors, bounce houses, kids activities, corn eating contests, and more. hotheadevents@gmail.com.

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

828.631.3075.

• “Take A Flight” with four new wines every Friday and Saturdays at the Bryson City Wine Market. Select from a gourmet selection of charcuterie to enjoy with your wines.

828.538.0420.

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

A stocked catch out pond with Rainbow, Brook, Brown & Golden trout.

WE RECYCLE WASTE WOOD STUMPS • LIMBS • BRUSH

• A stage production of the beloved tale “Alice in Wonderland” will be held on select dates throughout this spring at the Mountainside Theatre in Cherokee. The production is an original work by Havoc Movement Company that will be joining the Cherokee Historical Association for the spring season. cherokeehistorical.org/alice-in-wonderland.

ALSO:

The “Unto These Hills” stage production will be held at 8 p.m. nightly throughout the summer at the Cherokee Mountainside Theatre.

This decades-old acclaimed outdoor drama traces the Cherokee people through the eons, through the zenith of their power, through the heartbreak of the Trail of Tears, finally ending, appropriately, in the present day, where the Cherokee people, much like their newly rescripted drama, continue to rewrite their place in the world — a place based on traditional Cherokee values and modern sensibilities.

To purchase tickets, go to visitcherokeenc.com and click on the “Events” tab.

KID FRIENDLY! WE HAVE FISHING RODS & BAIT 26

• “Footloose: The Musical” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. June 24-25, July 1-2 and 8-9 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. smokymountainarts.com.

‘Unto These Hills’ outdoor drama

Wine Shop in downtown Waynesville. waynesvillewine.com.

Smoky Mountain News

• “Flights & Bites” will be held starting at 4 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays at Bosu’s

under are free.

For more information and a full schedule of events, call 828.497.7128, email dtramper@gmail.com or click on visitcherokeenc.com.

but can gain a greater understanding of the women in their lives. For women it is that space where they have always been allowed to express their true feelings and in this neighborhood salon, they all share a powerful bond of friendship.

To make reservations, call the HART Box Office at 828.456.6322 or go to harttheatre.org to make reservations online.

HART Box Office hours are from 1 to 5 p.m.

Tuesday-Saturday.

NO LICENSE, NO LIMIT

OPEN 10AM - 6PM: April, May & OctoberWEEKENDS ONLY June & July7 DAYS A WEEK

828.349.9034

4175 Tellico Rd., Franklin, NC

TELLICOTROUT.COM

On the wall

• WNC Paint Events brings you “Paint & Sip.” This is a two-hour event, and you leave with your painting. Anyone 21 and up are welcome. Events will be held at the following locations once a month: 828 Market on Main (Waynesville), Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva), BearWaters Brewing (Canton), Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) and the Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub (Franklin). wncpaint.events.

HaywoodBuilders.com 100 Charles St. WAYNESVILLE

Bookstore Poet and naturalist,

BRENT M ARTIN will present his new book George Masa's Wild Vision THURS., JUNE 23 at 6PM

arts & entertainment

• “Living With Pride,” an exhibit dedicated to the Southern Appalachian LGBTQIA+ experience, will run through June 26 at Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville. The showcase will present contemporary works that celebrate the unique, diverse sense of pride and some of the challenges the LGBTQIA+ community faces while seeking equality. The artwork expresses authentic, diverse viewpoints from the LGBTQIA+ experience unique to Southern Appalachia and Western North Carolina. For more information, click on haywoodarts.org.

FREE

ESTIMATES

828/586-9499 • more@citylightsnc.com 3 EAST JACKSON STREET • SYLVA

ALSO:

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

Special events will be held when scheduled.

Mountainmakersmarket.com.

• Farmer’s Market (with artisans) will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays through October at 117 Island Street in Bryson City. Stop by the old barn by the river for local, homegrown produce, as well as baked goods, jellies and preserves, authentic crafts, and more. Food truck, picnic tables and live music. Leashed pets are welcome. Outdoor event. 828.488.7857.

Smoky Mountain News

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

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

June 22-28, 2022

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

27

June 22-28, 2022

arts & entertainment

On the wall ‘Cultivating Collections’ exhibit at WCU Western Carolina University will showcase its newest exhibition, “Cultivating Collections,” through July 29 in the Fine Art Museum at the Bardo Arts Center in Cullowhee.

In this multi-year series, student researchers work closely with the museum’s curator to gather information about the artwork in the permanent collection and determine future collecting directions.

This year’s exhibition highlights three areas of the collection — vitreographs, glass, and works by Black artists. The pieces on view convey the stories of bold innovators and speak to the importance of Western North Carolina in the history of glass and printmaking.

The “Cultivating Collections” series began in 2019 with WCU students enrolled in Exhibition Practicum, an annual course designed to familiarize students with the intricacies of museum spaces. Students developed an exhibition from start to finish by interviewing artists, selecting works for display, and writing labels about the museum’s objects.

Since 2019, students have continued this curatorial work, focusing each year on a new area of the collection, which includes over 1,800 works in a wide range of media by artists of the Americas.

Input from students brings a fresh perspective to the museum’s holdings and unlocks the potential for the museum to create a more diverse and inclusive collection.

This year’s exhibition showcases the combined curatorial efforts of 19 students who participated in the 2021 and 2022 Exhibition Practicum classes.

“Cultivating Collections” through July 29, with “Cultivating Collections: Glass” on

Open call for art grants Smoky Mountain News

The Haywood County Arts Council (HCAC) in Waynesville is now accepting applications for grants funded by the Grassroots Arts Program and has over $27,000 in funds to award.

Since 1977, the North Carolina Arts Council’s Grassroots Arts Program has provided North Carolina citizens access to quality arts experiences. Using a per capita based formula, the program provides funding for the arts in all 100 counties of the state through partnerships with local arts councils. HCAC serves as the North Carolina Arts Council’s partner in awarding grants to local organizations for arts programs in Haywood County.

In November 2021, the North Carolina General Assembly passed a state budget that included an additional $10 million in funding for the Grassroots Arts Program. The source 28 of the additional funds was from the

extended view through Dec. 9. Regular museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and until 7 p.m. on Thursday.

For information, call 828.227.ARTS or visit bardoartscenter.wcu.edu.

Want to learn food photography?

Hunting Boy Wood Carving.

Stecoah Drive-About Tour The annual “Stecoah Arts & Crafts Drive About Tour” will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

June 24-25 at featured studios in Bryson City, Stecoah and Robbinsville.

With their studios open to the public, the self-guided driving tour highlights artisans who have built a livelihood with their creative talents. Media include pottery, beeswax lanterns and pillar candles, original paintings and drawings, fiber, quilts, photography, artisan cheeses and more.

The tour includes: Gallery Zella, Local Handmade Pottery, and Stecoah Artisans Gallery, Wehrloom Honey & Essentials, Junk N Style, and Hunting Boy Wood Carving.

For more information, click on stecoahvalleycenter.com.

American Recovery Act Plan.

“With this large infusion of additional funds, the North Carolina Arts Council made several temporary amendments to the guidelines that increased eligible organizations and projects” said HCAC Executive Director Morgan Beryl. “This is great news for Haywood County nonprofits who do some kind of art programming but aren’t necessarily considered arts organizations.”

Projects must occur between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023.

“In particular, HCAC is interested in seeing applications that are multicultural in nature and benefit communities of color and underserved and underrepresented populations,” Beryl noted.

Grant application requirements and the application can be found on HCAC’s grant webpage: haywoodarts.org/grants-funding.

The application form is a fillable PDF. Applicants should download, fill out and email the final application to director@haywoodarts.org with the subject line: “Grassroot

(photo credit: Jon Page)

The Jackson County Public Library will be hosting Asheville journalist/photographer Jon Page at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, June 25, at the Lazy Hiker Brewery & Mad Batter Kitchen in Sylva.

Page will be talking about and demonstrating food photography techniques from his recent book “The Craft Brewery Cookbook.” Page is currently an assistant editor of Craft Spirits Magazine, which is a digital publication from the American Craft Spirits Association.

Previously, he was the managing editor of All About Beer Magazine. As well, his writing and photography has been featured

in numerous publications, including All About Beer Magazine, Bay Nature, Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine, Oakland Magazine and Wildlife in North Carolina.

Space is limited for this free class. To register, either call the library at 828.586.2016 or email Allyson Coan at acoan@fontanalib.org to register. City Lights Bookstore will also be on hand with copies of Page’s book for sale.

This event is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Jackson County Public Library. The Jackson County Public Library is a member of Fontana Regional Library (fontanalib.org).

Application — Organization Name.”

All applications must be provided via email no later than 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, July 30, 2022. Hard copies will not be accepted.

Waynesville art walk, live music “Art After Dark” will continue from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, July 1, 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 artisan studios and galleries keep their doors open later for local residents and visitors.

Participants include Metzger’s Burl Wood Gallery, TPennington Art Gallery, Twigs & Leaves Gallery, Haywood Handmade Gallery, Jo Ridge Kelley Fine Art, Sun Sohovich Art Gallery Studio, Green Hill Gallery, Curatory Gallery, and The Corner Station.

Metzger’s Burl Wood Gallery.

As well, there will be a torn watercolor paper collage demonstration with artist Margaret Roberts at Twigs & Leaves Gallery during “Art After Dark,” with a repeat demonstration from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Saturday, July 2.

It is free to attend Art After Dark. Other dates include Aug. 5, Sept. 2, Oct. 7, Nov. 4 and Dec. 2. For more information, click on facebook.com/galleriesofhaywoodcounty.

On the shelf

Author, Pagan priestess, & Reiki Master,

Jeff Minick

S

as well. In early 20th century, two women from Atlanta come to open a formal school in Tates Valley. Pearl, young and pregnant, asks her husband Abel, “Why do they want to set up a school here?”

“It’s charity, Pearl. They’re missionaries.”

“I thought missionaries only went to primitive places, like… China, or South Dakota.”

Abel has a way of half-smiling at me that makes me feel a bit stupid, and he did it then.

“They reckon we is primitive.”

SATURDAY

JUNE 25TH 1-3 P.M.

Learn how to combat negativity inward and outward, cope with difficult times, and share a positive perspective with the people round you. Talk to Lisa, she will make things seem a lot better.

Your Hometown Bookstore since 2007

Magazines & Newspapers 428 HAZELWOOD Ave. Waynesville • 456-6000 MON-FRI 9-5 | SAT 9-3

RETAIL HOURS MON-SAT 10-6

AREA’S BEST

SELECTION

‘Staying Upbeat in an Offbeat World’ Author Lisa Wagoner will read from her latest work, “Positive Pagan: Staying Upbeat in an Offbeat World,” from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 25, at Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville.

The book shows you how to combat negativity inward and outward, cope with difficult times, and share a positive perspective with the people around you.

Wagoner provides techniques that are designed to help you develop a core of positivity that stays with you through every experience — be it good or bad.

Wagoner is a Pagan priestess and a Patheos Pagan channel blogger and manager of the Of Wand & Earth metaphysical shop. She presents at various events, including Mystic South, Sacred Space Conference, and Rota Psychic Expo. She is also a certified Reiki Master in both Usui and Celtic traditions.

For more information, call the bookstore at 828.456.6000 or visit blueridgebooksnc.com.

Smoky Mountain News

A much greater change comes some years later with the advent of The Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The government buys up the houses and farms owned by many of these people, resettles them, and returns their land to forests and natural meadows. Even later, further change introduces the descendants of this extended family to communes of hippies and then to drugs.

Meanwhile, through all these developments the spirit of the murdered woman hovers over the valley.

With these jumps forward in time and with its wide variety of characters, “The Ballad of Laurel Springs” might cause some readers confusion. In my case, I had to keep flipping back to previous chapters to recollect a relationship or an incident from the past.

But that’s not why the novel left me a little puzzled.

The blurb on the book’s jacket describes The Ballad of Laurel Springs as “an unforgettable portrait of women fighting to make a safe place in the world for themselves and the people they love.” It’s true that several of these women are in bad marriages — I lost track of the number of them who got pregnant before they entered into wedlock — and that only a few of the men appear in a

favorable light.

Yet I am not convinced these women are “fighting to make a safe place in the world for themselves.” One of them, for instance, is essentially raped by an strange-acting high school boy, Jeremiah. Twenty years later, when she is a wife and mother, and Jeremiah returns as a grown man to attend his father’s funeral, she in turn seduces him. When she goes home and her husband asks her how she ripped her skirt, she offers some excuses, but then tells him Jeremiah had raped her, which results in the husband and a friend murdering and burying the falsely accused assailant. In a later episode, a young teacher, who claims her husband is showing little interest in her, has sex with one of her students at the high school — he has just graduated — then confesses everything to her husband. When the boy later comes to their house, beating on the door, begging to see her, and provoking the husband with insults, we witness another betrayal that ends in violence.

Consequently, I just didn’t understand exactly what Beard wanted readers to take away from this book.

Then I glanced at the cover letter the publisher had sent with my review copy and read, “‘The Ballad of Laurel Springs’ considers: violence against women over the course of several generations, the link between violence and the folk songs made popular by Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Nick Cave, and others and how disrespect against women is built into the culture as evident in our songs.”

That sentence brought a little sunshine through my fog, but I still don’t fully understand what Janet Beard is getting at here. If one point to the novel is to show the connection between violence against women and misogynistic folk songs, then why are so many of the females in the story singing these very songs? And if we’re supposed to see these women “fighting to make a safe place in the world for themselves and those they love,” then why are they themselves at times mistreating, betraying, and abusing men?

It seemed to me that several of these women disrespected themselves more than the men did. As a Tennessee woman once said to me, “I’m just plain bumfuzzled.”

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

will be signing her book

Positive Pagan: Staying Upbeat in an Offbeat World

June 22-28, 2022

ometimes a book I’ve read, particularly a novel, will leave me mystified, which is not always a good thing.

In “The Atomic City Girls,” which I reviewed for Smoky Mountain Living, Janet Beard takes her readers off to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a new town founded as part of the Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb. She lets us see this topsecret project through the eyes of several young women, primarily June Walker, who are Writer hired to work there.

“The Atomic City Girls” is a fine historical novel blending real figures with fictional characters.

In her latest work of fiction, “The Ballad of Laurel Springs” (Gallery Books, 2021, 288 pages), Beard returns to the hills of Eastern Tennessee, this time to the community of Tates Valley. When the story opens, the year is 2019, and we meet Grace, a fifthgrader assigned a language arts project at school which involves writing a family story. Grace’s young Aunt Dee tells her a tale of ancestral love and murder that occurred over a century earlier and involves the folk song, “Pretty Polly,” and that’s the story Grace researches and writes.

From there we slide back in time to 1907, and as the subsequent chapters of “The Ballad of Laurel Springs” move us into the future, we learn more about the tangled history of Grace’s family tree, a saga of love and death haunted by “Pretty Polly” and other folk songs. The murder of a young pregnant woman at the beginning of this story hangs over these folks, and the secrets they keep as the years pass live with them like ghosts.

The outside world affects these families

LISA WAGONER

arts & entertainment

I don’t get it: A Review of ‘The Ballad of Laurel Springs’

20 Church Street

WAYNESVILLE

828.452.6000

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Outdoors

Smoky Mountain News

Wild Vision George Masa book pairs famed images with modern experiences

BY HOLLY KAYS OUTDOORS EDITOR he 1900s were just a few years along when a young man named Masahara Iizuka stepped on American soil for the first time. Around 26 years old, he’d arrived in California to pursue a career in engineering, having studied the subject at Meiji University back in Tokyo.

More than 100 years later, few people have heard of Masahara Iizuka, who never did become an engineer. But many people know the name George Masa, the identity Masahara later adopted. They also know his work — spectacular photos of the Southern Appalachians, a wild region on the cusp of change.

“It was just interesting to think about how intimate he was with a place like that,” said Brent Martin, author of the newly released book “George Masa’s Wild Vision: A Japanese Immigrant Imagines Western North Carolina.”

“I think that’s something most people would get from his photographs, is he was able to convey a certain intimacy with the landscape,” he added. “I really developed an appreciation of that, revisiting those places.”

In “George Masa’s Wild Vision” Martin, a poet, essayist and outdoorsman based in Cowee, pairs creative nonfiction inspired by visits to Masa’s old haunts with Masa’s crisp

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The Sawtooth Mountains and Mt. LeConte spread out from the view at Charlies Bunion.

George Masa/Donated photo

black-and-white landscape photography from the 1920s and 1930s. It’s an experiential ode, not a biography. Martin sees the work as an “interlude” between the 2019 Horace Kephart biography by George Ellison and Janet McCue — which also included research on Kephart’s dear friend Masa — and the Masa biography on which McCue and Paul Bonesteel, creator of the 2002 film “The Mystery of George Masa,” are currently collaborating, expected to publish in 2023.

“For me, it was more about, where are these places now? Where do these photographs take us? Where is the journey?”

Martin said. “These places, 100 years later, where has it gone?”

ART AS ADVOCACY George Masa first came to North Carolina in 1915, landing a job in the laundry room of the new Grove Park Inn. Nobody knows how he learned photography or accessed the equipment and darkroom space needed to hone the skill, but by 1918 he had left the inn to join Pelton Studios in Asheville as a partner, taking over the photography business a year later and renaming it Plateau Studios.

Despite his origins on the opposite side of the globe, his broken English, and the growing anti-Asian sentiment of the day, Masa found camaraderie with a blossoming com-

munity of people who loved the mountains and his camera and been. Lockdown was over, and fought to preserve them. Masa was a frebut the pandemic was not — the fears and quent hike leader with the Carolina Mountain tensions that accompanied life in 2020 are Club and fast friends with Horace Kephart, present throughout Martin’s voyage. with whom he worked to advocate for and “It was impossible not to think about explore the national park, and to define the America 100 years after George Masa and southern route of the Appalachian Trail. think about his life 100 years ago and what Photography was Masa’s livelihood, but was going on in the South, and juxtaposing even as he paid the bills with promotional those two worlds as part of the book,” Martin shots, news photography and film processing, said. “That was sort of my journey with the he kept his artistic side alive with long disapbook.” pearances into the mountains. He always The first essay, about Martin’s hike to lugged his big box camera along, coming back Masa Knob in July 2020, is printed alongside with spectacular images of the most rugged a photograph Masa took in the 1920s of two and hard-to-photograph places east of the companions looking east from Newfound Mississippi.

Gap. Today, one of the park’s most popular “He was creating art, but he was creating overlooks, Newfound Gap boasts an enoradvocacy at the same time,” said Martin. “I mous parking lot, concrete sidewalks and the guess photographers are still doing that today, two-tiered stone Rockefeller Memorial honorto what effect I don’t know, but I think his ing the biggest donor toward the park’s creimages were pretty important for that George Masa sets up his camera during a era, for the outcome 1931 trip to what is now the Shining Rock of places like Mt. Wilderness. GSMA photo Mitchell and like Chimney Rock.”

When Masa arrived in Asheville, the vast swaths of land now protected in the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests were still in private ownership.

The push to establish the Great Smoky Mountains National Park had yet to begin, and Benton MacKaye had not yet proposed the Appalachian Trail.

“The landscape was in the midst of a great transition then, and it was one based on resource extraction,” said Martin. “I think Masa and Kephart and many other people in the Southern Appalachians at the time were in the midst of the realization that this is going, ation. When Masa was there, it was a gravel going, gone — so how do we work like hell to pullout on an unpaved road so primitive it get the park established and work like hell to wasn’t passable by car. Masa and Kephart get a national forest system stitched together? tried but got stuck. The had to walk to a nearAnd they did.”

by Champion Fiber lumber camp to get help.

“We’re in the midst of global chaos today, but I rest in a sanctuary of wildly diverse and AST AND PRESENT indifferent forest,” Martin writes as the narraWhen Martin first began talking with Hub tive takes him to nearby Charlies Bunion.

City Press founders John Lane and Betsy Teter “After 10 or so minutes, the crowd subsides about doing a Masa book, it was 2019 and the and I ease out to the outcrop. My view is to the north. Mount Kephart lies just to the COVID-19 pandemic had not yet changed west. To the southwest, Masa Knob, diminudaily life the world over. He signed the contive in comparison to the higher, more promitract to produce the book shortly before locknent Mount Kephart, lies softer, more rounddown set in. ed, and unobtrusive. Just to the When restrictions lifted that summer, southeast are the Sawteeth, a Martin started going everywhere that Masa

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Smokies comprises only one chapter of Martin’s 139-page book. As Martin began to research, he realized that Masa’s images were far more wide-ranging than he’d originally thought, capturing wild places from Chimney Rock and Mt. Mitchell to Shining Rock, the Nantahala River Valley, Highlands Plateau and Mt. Oglethorpe in Georgia. The chapter divisions reflect this diversity.

Blasting debris “For me it was, thank God there’s a from the road cut deadline, because I is visible down could have just kept on the slope and into with this book forever,” the ravine in said Martin.

Masa's 1929

image of Cullasaja Falls.

George Masa/Donated photo

CHANGE

Smoky Mountain News

Masa’s life was prolific but short. He died of tuberculosis in 1933, one year before the park was established, at about 51 years old.

Neither he nor Kephart, who died two years earlier, saw their life’s work come to fruition.

Despite his enormous contributions to the Smokies and the Southern Appalachians as a whole, Mesa narrowly avoided landing in the “dustbin of history,” Martin wrote.

The second edition of “Guide to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park” did not credit him, his photographs were often hijacked, and getting a Smokies peak named after him took nearly three decades.

He was never buried in the park, next to Kephart, as he had desired.

“As much as Masa was loved by his close friends and hiking companions, one cannot help speculating upon the persistent and rising anti-Japanese sentiments at the local and national levels when considering such rejections then, and in later acknowledging his contributions to the Smokies park movement,” Martin wrote.

Martin thinks that Masa would be shocked to see how Western North Carolina has changed in the last 100 years. Indeed, Martin, who moved here two decades ago, is shocked by how much it’s changed in the last 20 years.

“It feels like a big wave is washing over this place right now,” he said.

Masa, Kephart and their companions may have had a similar feeling as they watched the timber companies bring acre upon acre of virgin forest to the ground.

The park was their answer to the crisis of their day, which makes Martin wonder who will become the Masas and Kepharts of the 2020s and how they will address the crises facing the mountains now.

“There are some things that make a person optimistic to live here. At the same time, I can’t help but wonder what this place is going to be,” he said. “It’s just changed so much.”

Lauded as a “historic game-changer” for wildlife conservation in the United States, the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act last week passed the House of Representatives in a 231-190 vote.

If it becomes law, RAWA, also called H.R 2773, will amend the PittmanRobertson Wildlife Restoration Act to provide an additional $1.4 billion in dedicated funding each year to improve habitat, recover wildlife populations and restore infrastructure for both natural systems and outdoor recreation opportunities.

Of the $1.4 billion, North Carolina will receive up to $25 million, with Native American tribes receiving $97.5 million.

The money is to come from the general fund.

“Recovering America’s Wildlife Act is the most important piece of wildlife legislation in the past 50 years,” said Tim Gestwicki, CEO of North Carolina Wildlife Federation. “Wildlife in our state and across the country are in crisis, and this bold, bipartisan bill will tackle the problem at scale without new taxes or regulations.”

From mountains to coast, North Carolina is home to more than 1,500 nongame fish and wildlife species and over 6,000 plant species. RAWA funding would help implement Congressionally

mandated state wildlife action plans, which identify more than 12,000 wildlife and plants that need conservation assistance nationwide. Currently, North Carolina gets about $1 million each year for this purpose through state and tribal wildlife grants. Species such as pollinators, frogs, turtles, songbirds, shorebirds, freshwater mussels and oysters often receive neither the attention nor funding they need for recovery.

The bill had 194 cosponsors, of whom 42 were Republican and 152 were Democrat, but many Republican supporters dropped off in the final vote. Only 16 of the 231 aye votes came from Republicans.

Of North Carolina’s 13 House representatives, 10 signed on as co-sponsors — five Republicans and five Democrats. All five N.C. Republicans ultimately voted against the bill, however. N.C. 11 Rep. Madison Cawthorn voted no and was one of three N.C. representatives not listed as a cosponsor. His office did not return a request for comment on the vote.

The legislation now goes to the Senate.

A similar bill introduced there in July 2021 has 35 cosponsors — 18 Democrats and 16 Republicans with one Independent. N.C. Sens. Thom Tillis and Richard Burr are among them.

Follow the bill’s progress at congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/housebill/2773.

— Holly Kays, outdoors editor

June 22-28, 2022

record-breaking 14.1 million visits logged last year alone. For the first mile or so of Martin’s hike, a “constant stream of hikers” passed by, the trailhead crowded with families, groups of friends and one large group from a boys’ outdoor camp. Charlies Bunion is full of “numerous visitors drinking in the view and snapping smart-phone photos.”

It’s a striking comparison, Martin said — on one side, the lonely landscape of the past, capturable only through the skillful hands of an artist devoted enough to lug a cumbersome, heavy set of equipment to the ends of the earth. On the other, a well-traveled icon, photographed hundreds of times per day at the push of a button.

Some places, though, have taken the opposite journey. Three Forks, for example, a nearly inaccessible spot in the eastern part of the park that is still “one of the wildest places in the East,” is even wilder today than it was when Masa went there, Martin wrote. Unable to find the old manway Masa used, Martin and his wife failed on their first attempt to reach it.

“When we finally made it to Three Forks on our second attempt, I felt a sense of timelessness like I had never experienced before — the forest primeval, untouched by senseless modern human hands,” Martin wrote. “The place was fairy tale-like in its appearance, Jurassic in its feel.”

It was a startling contrast to Newfound Gap, now one of the most visited national park viewpoints in the country.

While Masa is known mainly for his photography of the mountains that would one day become a national park, the

CENTURY OF

U.S. House passes ‘historic’ wildlife bill

outdoors

jagged length of ridgetop outcrop that Masa captured in power and light. His wish for his final resting place to be next to his close friend Horace Kephart was never realized, but perhaps this is close enough.”

The isolated mountains that Masa roved in the early 1900s are now home to the country’s most popular national park, with a

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outdoors

Jackson Library goes to the birds Stretch your wings June 29-30 with a pair of programs at the Jackson County Public Library ‘s Community Room exploring the world of birds.

■ At 3 p.m. Wednesday, June 29, the Balsam Mountain Trust will visit for an installation of the Summer Learning Program’s Wild Wednesdays series focused on birds and owls.

Register for the program at the Youth Services Desk on the library’s first floor, download the Read Squared app or visit fontanalib.org/summer.

■ Learn about backyard birding at 6 p.m.

Thursday, June 30, with a program from avid birder Tim Carstens. The session will cover local birding hotspots, species to find in Jackson County, and strategies to better find, observe and identify birds. A librarian at Western Carolina University 1990-2016, Carstens is now retired and spends time indulging his passion for birdwatching and bird photography.

Both programs are free and co-sponsored by the Jackson County Public Library and Friends of the Jackson County Public Library.

828.586.2016.

Meet the birds of the Blue Ridge Bird the Blue Ridge Parkway starting 8 a.m. Wednesday, July 6, with expert birder Howard Browers.

The group will meet at the Balsam Gap overlook and take a trip to see high-elevation birds. Cost is $10, with registration required at bit.ly/haywoodrec. Loaner binoculars available.

Kennedy to speak at NOC ladies night

June 22-28, 2022

The Nantahala Outdoor Center’s annual Not Your Average Ladies Night returns 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Tuesday, July 5, at the NOC Outfitters Store in Bryson City.

Cathy Kennedy, daughter of NOC founders Payson and Aurelia Kennedy, will speak during this event that will also include a VIP shopping experience, food, drinks, prizes and camaraderie.

Kennedy will talk about her first memories at NOC as a teenager, the myriad positions she’s filled at the company, the transition to motherhood and her hopes for the future of women in the outdoors industry.

Free. noc.com.

Get to know

Maggie. Between the Blue Ridge

and Great Smoky Mountains rests one of the best golf courses in North Carolina

The project is the result of prolonged collaboration from a variety of groups and organizations.

Hansi Johnson/Outdoors for All Old For photo

Ribbon-cutting planned for Old Fort trails The first phase of the Old Fort Trails Project in the Pisgah National Forest will open on Sunday, June 26.

The Old Fort Gateway Trails includes 6 miles of new multi-use trails and are part of a 42-mile trail expansion planned in the area. A ribbon-cutting event will be held at 1:30 p.m. at the trailhead, located at 1500 State Road 1227 (Curtis Creek Road) in Old Fort, with the trails opening for hiking, biking, running and horseback riding at 2 p.m.

The new trails are the product of collaboration between Camp Grier’s G5 Trail Collective, Eagle Market Streets Development Corporation - CDC, People on

the Move Old Fort and the U.S. Forest Service Grandfather Ranger District, known as the Catawba Vale Collaborative.

Members of the Collaborative will gather at Hillman Beer for cold drinks to celebrate the ribbon-cutting, starting at 4 p.m.

The Old Fort Trails Project aims to improve local health and wellness, grow the local economy and build community. These first 6 miles represent the most accessible trails in the planned system. A $490,000 grant from Dogwood Health Trust funded construction, with additional support for commercial real estate development awarded to Eagle Market Streets Development Corporation.

SUP on Lake Glenville

Smoky Mountain News

A stand-up paddleboarding adventure for women will meet 10 a.m. Friday, July 1, at the Cashiers/Glenville Recreation Center before heading out to Lake Glenville.

The outing is part of a summer series of various on-the-water events offered through Jackson County Recreation and Parks. Cost is $30. Register at jcprd.recdesk.com/community/program.

Waynesville Waterpark reopens INITIATION FEE

SPECIALS

1819 Country Club Drive, Maggie Valley

M AG G I EVA LLEY C LU B . CO M

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Join today for access to our beautiful amenities.

Contact Caitlin Bledsoe at 828-926-4831 for information.

golf | fish | hike | raft | dine | play | stay

The Waynesville Recreation Center Waterpark will reopen for the summer Friday, June 24.

Through the summer, hours will be 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fridays and 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturdays. Hours may change when school resumes in the fall due to a nationwide lifeguard shortage that continues to challenge pool staffing.

The lap pool will remain open 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturdays. Lap swim and aquatic exercise hours are 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturdays, with recreational swim beginning at 11 a.m. Monday through Saturday.

828.456.2030 or lkinsland@waynesvillenc.gov.

Western Carolina University has named its Environmental Health Program in the College of Health and Human Sciences as its first Community Engaged Program.

Administered by WCU’s Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning, the designation was created for programs that align expertise and research with public service initiatives and community investment. Students are expected to participate in serving community needs while meeting academic goals. Selected programs receive a $2,500 stipend in their first year, recognition at an annual awards event, and a Community Engaged Program insignia for their efforts.

“Community engagement permeates every corner of the Environmental Health Program,” said Jennifer Cooper, associate director for the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning. “By incorporating service learning into their curriculum, a community focus into their scholarship and volunteer opportunities

into the mission of their student organization, the program has proven that it values connecting with the community and investing in the region.”

The Environmental Health Program is a

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Environmental health students take readings from a nearby creek. WCU photo bachelor’s degree path that prepares students to identify and reduce people’s exposure to pollutants and protect human health from biological, chemical and physical hazards. For more information about community engagement and service learning at WCU, contact servicelearning@wcu.edu or 828.227.7184.

Two environmental nonprofits are recruiting volunteers to help sample water quality in the region.

■ MountainTrue is launching a microplastics sampling program in the far western region. Volunteers

will receive a quart jar and be asked to collect a water sample from an assigned site, dropping the jar off at a designated drop-off location. MountainTrue will then process the samples in a lab using a vacuum filtration system and microscope. To volunteer, contact Kaiya Pickens at wrointern@mountaintrue.org.

■ The Watershed Association of the Tuckasegee River is looking for volunteers to take monthly water quality samples in various locations of the Tuckasegee watershed. Volunteers will take the samples in bottles provided by the N.C. Department of Water Resources, label them appropriately, and keep them on ice until their return to the drop-off location in Dillsboro by noon on the day of the sampling. To volunteer, contact Ken Brown at kenbrown@waternc.org or 828.506.0137.

g*

in At Clos

* $250 awarded at closing of Mortgage Eliminator. No cash value

8 Locations Serving you in Western North Carolina 1700 Russ Avenue, Waynesville, NC · 452-2216 219 Haywood Street, Asheville, NC · 252-8234 1453 Sand Hill Road, Candler, NC · 667-7245 3270 Hendersonville Road, Fletcher, NC · 684-9999 746 East Main Street, Franklin, NC · 524-4464 8005 NC Highway 141, Murphy, NC · 837-0460 30 Highway 107, Sylva, NC · 586-0425 3533 US 441 North, Whittier, NC · 497-6211

Local Decisions | Local Offices | Local people | Local Commitment

Smoky Mountain News

A series of on-farm symposiums exploring the theme “Farm Fresh for Health” will kick off 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 25, at Winding Stair Farm and Yonder Community Market in Franklin.

Geared toward healthcare professionals, the series will address the real and perceived barriers that influence what we eat and ultimate health outcomes. Each symposium will introduce key strategies to combat these issues and highlight examples from the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project and general community. Sessions will include farm tours, hands-on activities and facilitated discussion about how to use Farm Fresh for Health tools at participants’ healthcare practices. A local food partner will cater a farm-to-table meal on each date.

“We want to make the healthy choice the easy choice for our patients,” says Dr. Brian Asbill, Chief Health Officer of LoveLife! and former president of ASAP’s board of directors. “Changing culture and environment so that people are nudged to make better food choices, move more, and take part in health-promoting activities, is so important.”

Subsequent sessions are planned for 3 to 8 p.m. Thursday, July 14, at Perry’s Berry’s Vineyard and Winery and Fonta Flora Brewery in Morganton; 4 to 8 p.m.

Thursday, July 28, at KT’s Orchard and Apiary in Canton; and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 27, at Hendersonville Farmers Market and Homemade Pasta Noodles in Hendersonville.

Presented by ASAP, the series is possible through support from Dogwood Health Trust. For more information or to sign up, visit asapconnections.org.

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June 22-28, 2022

Volunteer for water quality

Series explores farm-fresh health

outdoors

Environmental program aims for community engagement

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outdoors

The historic Ravenel property includes the original home built in 1913 and spectacular mountain views. Donated photo

Biological Foundation holds fundraising soiree Festivities for the Highlands Biological Foundation’s annual summer soiree will commence at 6 p.m. Monday, July 18, on the historic Ravenel property.

Formerly called Wolf Ridge, the home was built by the Ravenel family in 1913 and is now co-owned by Diane and Ray McPhail and Karen and Will Stoltz. The Ravenel family is known for donating Sunset Rock to the town in 1914, and that popular spot

is now owned by the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust.

The soiree is HBF’s biggest fundraiser of the year, with proceeds supporting the organization’s work to educate the community about the unique biodiversity on the Highlands Plateau through programming and outreach at Highlands Nature Center.

Tickets are $250. To register, visit highlandsbiological.org or call 828.526.2221.

Get the skinny on recycling June 22-28, 2022

Learn more about the recycling process in Jackson County — and some tips on composting — 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 28, at the Jackson County Public Library.

The county’s Recycle and Reduction Coordinator Kim Shuler will deliver the program, explaining Jackson County’s general recycling process and providing resources for recycling at your home, office or community. She’ll also discuss how to start composting.

Free. Sponsored by the Jackson County Public Library and Friends of the Jackson County Public Library. 828.586.2016.

Smoky Mountain News

When life throws you a financial challenge, you’ve proven you have what it takes to ace it. Now it’s time to tackle your retirement savings at AceYourRetirement.org

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Puzzles can be found on page 38 These are only the answers.

Smokies seeks info on old homesites documents that the park can use to identify The Great Smoky Mountains National these locations. Librarian-Archivist Michael Park is looking for help in identifying and documenting former homesites in the park.

Family members Volunteer-in-Park stand outside the Frank March is leading Jim Kirkland home. the effort in conjunction Donated photo with Park Archeologist Allison Harvey. March estimates that there are more than 2,400 homesites in the park, of which 70% have been identified.

Records associated with the purchase of 1,200 farms between 1920 and 1940 when the park was created are in the park’s Collections Preservation Center, but because the Aday will scan the materials and then history of European habitation in the park return the original documents to their owndates to the 1790s, many of these pre-20th ers. For more information, contact Aday at century homesites are not documented.

865.448.2247 or The public is encouraged to bring any michael_aday@partner.nps.gov. historic photos, hand-drawn maps or other

WNC Calendar COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS • The Jackson County Farmers Market meets every Saturday November through March 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and April through October 9 a.m.-noon at Bridge Park in Sylva, 110 Railroad St. Special events listed on Facebook and Instagram.

• Cowee School Farmer’s Market will be held from Wednesdays from 3 to 6 p.m., at 51 Cowee School Drive in Franklin. The market has produce, plant starts, eggs, baked goods, flowers, food trucks and music. For more information or for an application, visit www.coweeschool.org or call 828.369.4080.

• “Art After Dark” will be held from 6-9 p.m. each first Friday of the month (May-December) in downtown Waynesville. For more information, go to facebook.com/galleriesofhaywoodcounty.

FUNDRAISERS AND BENEFITS • FUR’s 5th annual “Wet Your Whiskers” fundraiser will be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 25, at the Wells Event Center at 33 Events Center Way, just off N. Main Street in Waynesville. Learn more or purchase your tickets at www.furofwnc.org. For more information about FUR, visit the website or call Syd at 847.826.5431.

• Sylva First United Methodist Church Open Door will hold a free meal and music at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 29.

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

KIDS & FAMILIES • Toddler’s Rock takes place at 10 a.m. every Monday at the Macon County Library. Get ready to rock with songs, books, rhymes and playing with instruments. For more information visit fontanalib.org or call 828.524.3600.

n All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted. n To have your item listed email to calendar@smokymountainnews.com • Quilt Art by the Shady Ladies will be presented from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon-4 p.m.

Sunday, June 24-26, at the Folkmoot Center in Waynesville. Admission is $5, there will be a raffle quilt and boutique. For more information find the Shady Lady Quilting Group on Facebook, or visit folkmootusa.org.

• Mountain Art and Craft Show will be help from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. June 25 and 26 in downtown Highlands. For more information call 828.318.9430.

• The Cherokee Summer Carnival will be held from 510 p.m. Thursday, June 30, at the Cherokee Indian Fair Grounds. Gates open at 5 p.m. on weekdays and 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. For a full schedule of carnival dates, events and activities, go to visitcherokeenc.com.

• The Sweet Corn Festival will be held from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. July 2-3 at Darnell Farms in Bryson City. For more information, email hotheadevents@gmail.com.

• Boojum Brewing (Waynesville) will host karaoke at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, trivia at 7 p.m. on Thursdays, Pride Party Drag Show 10 p.m. June 24, Pleasantly Wild June 25 and The Get Right Band (rock/soul) July 1. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

828.246.0350 or boojumbrewing.com.

• Elevated Mountain Distilling Company (Maggie Valley) will host an Open Mic Night 7-9 p.m. on Wednesdays and semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 828.734.1084 or elevatedmountain.com.

• First United Methodist Church (Franklin) will host Mountain Voices (chorus) at 7 p.m. June 30. Free and open to the public. Donations accepted to support Mountain Voices.

• Fontana Village Resort Wildwood Grill will host Wesley Earwood (singer-songwriter) 6 p.m. June 25 and Sister Ivy 6 p.m. July 9. Free and open to the public.

800.849.2258 or fontanavillage.com.

• Waynesville Art Schoo will host Teeny-Tiny House (ages 8-14) summer camp from 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m. June 20-24. Registration is required, $275. wayesvilleartschool.com.

• Friday Night Live (Highlands) will host Southern Highland Band (bluegrass) June 24 and Silly Ridge (bluegrass) July 1 at Town Square on Main Street. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. highlandschamber.org.

• Waynesville Art School will host Pirates, Sea Monsters and Mermaids (ages 8+) from 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m. June 27 through July 1. Registration is required, $115. waynesvilleartschool.com.

• Marianna Black Library (Bryson City) will host Somebody’s Child (Americana) 7 p.m. June 23. Free and open to the public. 828.488.3030 or fontanalib.org/brysoncity.

A&E

• Paint and Sip at Waynesville Art School will be held every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 7-9:30 p.m.

To learn more and register call 828.246.9869 or visit PaintAndSipWaynesville.com/upcoming-events.

Registration is required, $45.

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

• Mountain Street Dances will be held June 24, July 8, July 22, Aug. 8 and Sept. 30 in downtown Way.

• Pickin’ On The Square (Franklin) will host Outlaw Whisky (country/oldies) June 25 and Appalachian Smoke (country/bluegrass) July 9. All shows begin at 6 p.m. at the Gazebo in downtown. Free and open to the public. franklinnc.com/pickin-on-the-square.html.

• Quirky Birds Treehouse & Bistro (Dillsboro) will host Shane Meade (indie/soul) 7 p.m. June 29. Free and open to the public. 828.586.1717 or facebook.com/quirkybirdstreehouse.

• Saturdays On Pine (Highlands) will host The Swingin’ Richards July 2 at Kelsey-Hutchinson Park on Pine Street. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. highlandschamber.org.

• The Scotsman (Waynesville) will host The Carter Giegerich Trio (Celtic/bluegrass) from 2 to 5 p.m. every Sunday and Eireann’s Call (Celtic/rock) June 30. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.246.6292 or scotsmanpublic.com.

Smoky Mountain News

• SlopeSide Tavern (Sapphire) will host McIntosh & The Lionhearts June 23 and West Fork Fiasco June 30. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public.

828.743.8655 or slopesidetavern.com.

• Stecoah Valley Center (Robbinsville) “An Appalachian Evening” live music series will include Darin & Brooke Aldridge June 25, Buncombe Turnpike July 2, Chatham Rabbits July 9, Appalachian Roadshow July 16, The Jeff Little Trio July 23, Aubrey Eisenman & The Clydes July 30, The Wildmans Aug. 6, Nu-Blu Aug. 13, Pretty Little Goat Aug. 20 and The Kruger Brothers Aug. 27. All show begin at 7:30 p.m. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, call 828.479.3364 or click on stecoahvalleycenter.com.

• Valley Cigar & Wine Co. (Waynesville) will host Bridgett Gossett (singer-songwriter) 3 p.m. June 26 and Darren Nicholson (Americana/bluegrass) 6 p.m. June 30. Free and open to the public. 828.944.0686 or valleycigarandwineco.com.

• Sylva First United Methodist Church will host an “Open Door” free food and music event at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 29. 77 Jackson St.

35

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

Complete listings of local music scene Regional festivals Art gallery events and openings Complete listings of recreational offerings at health and fitness centers n Civic and social club gatherings

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

• The Mountaintop Rotary Art & Craft Show will be held 10 a.m.-5 p.m. June 25-26 in downtown Highlands at K-H Founders Park. For details, please visit mountaintopshow.com or call 828.318.9430

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

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

• Take a trip around the world with 4 different wines every Friday 11 a.m.-8 p.m. and Saturday 11a.m.-6 p.m. at the Bryson City Wine Market. Pick from artisan Charcuterie Foods to enjoy with wines. 828.538.0420.

• Cooking classes take place at the McKinley Edwards Inn from 6-8:30 p.m. on Thursday nights. To reserve your spot call 828.488.9626.

ON STAGE & IN CONCERT • “Footloose: The Musical” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. June 24-25, July 1-2 and 8-9 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, call 866.273.4615 or click on smokymountainarts.com.

• A stage production of the beloved tale “Alice in Wonderland” will be held on select dates throughout this spring at the Mountainside Theatre in Cherokee. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, click on cherokeehistorical.org/alice-in-wonderland.

CLASSES AND PROGRAMS • Dogwood Crafter Co-op will host a class on designing and transferring original rug hooking pattern from 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. June 22, at the Dillsboro Masonic Lodge. Master rug hooker Claudia Lampley will show participants how to design a simple mat and how to transfer the pattern to a backing. Cost is $30, register

by June 15. To register, call Dogwood Crafters at 828.586.2248.

FILM & SCREEN • A “Foreign Film Series” will be held at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva. Each month, on the second and fourth Friday, two movies from around the globe will be shown. This program is in the Community Room and is free of charge. To find out what movie will be shown and/or for more information, please call the library at 828.586.2016.

Outdoors

• Women’s stand-up paddleboard sessions are offered beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 25, at Wolf Lake.

The group will meet at Cullowhee Recreation Center.

Cost is $30 per person. Registration is required either in-person at the recreation center in Cullowhee or Cashiers, or online at jcprd.recdesk.com/community/program. Youth under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

• Nature and Nurture: The Voorhees Family Artistic Legacy will be on display at the Baker Visitors Center through Sept. 5. For more information call 828.665.2492 or visit ncarboretum.org.

• Mountain Camelia expert Jack Johnston will lead a walk along the Chattooga River at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 25. Cost is $45 for each excursion, offered through Alarka Expeditions. Register at www.alarkaexpeditions.com/apcoming-events.

• A gourd painting program will be held at 10 a.m.

Thursday, June 23, at the Macon County Library.

Registration required, call 828.524.3600.

• A series of on-farm symposiums exploring the theme “Farm Fresh for Health” will kick off 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Saturday, June 25, at Winding Stair Farm and Yonder Community Market in Franklin. Subsequent sessions are planned for 3-8 p.m. Thursday, July 14, at Perry’s Berry’s Vineyard and Winery and Fonta Flora Brewery in Morganton; 4-8 p.m. Thursday, July 28, at KT’s Orchard and Apiary in Canton; and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, at Hendersonville Farmers Market and Homemade Pasta Noodles in Hendersonville. For more information or to sign up, visit asapconnections.org.

• Dogwood Crafter Co-op will host “Make a Poplar Bark Basket” from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. June 29, at the Dillsboro Masonic Lodge. Craftsman Joe Williams will show participants how to turn one piece of poplar bark into a basket. Cost is $30, register by June 20. To register call Dogwood Crafters at 828.586.2248.

• Learn how to backpack with an overnight trip from REI, with an excursion planned for June 25-26 in the Sam Knob/Black Balsam area. Cost of $275 includes transportation, gear, dinner, breakfast, hot beverages and trail snacks. Space limited. Sign up or view other outdoor offerings at rei.com/events.

Market WNC PLACE

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Real Estate Announcements

Billie Green - bgreen@beverly-hanks.com Brian K. Noland - brianknoland.com Anne Page - apage@beverly-hanks.com Jerry Powell - jpowell@beverly-hanks.com Catherine Proben - cproben@beverly-hanks.com Ellen Sither - esither@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 John Keith - jkeith@beverly-hanks.com Randall Rogers - rrogers@beverly-hanks.com Susan Hooper - shooper@beverly-hanks.com Hunter Wyman - hwyman@beverly-hanks.com

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TO ADVERTISE IN THE NEXT ISSUE

828.452.4251 ads@smokymountainnews.com June 22-28, 2022

WNC MarketPlace

37

SUPER

CROSSWORD

COMMAND LINES ACROSS 1 Several 5 Utah town on the Colorado 9 Arafat's PLO successor 14 -- Rica 19 A quarter of twenty 20 Oscar winner Bancroft 21 Unwilling 22 Recon info 23 Absence of muddled thoughts 25 Jazz fusion pianist Chick 26 Poker-faced 27 Capital of Turkey 28 Mail opening 30 "I -- Rock" (1966 hit) 32 Hastens, old-style 33 Rescue squad VIP 34 2005 Donna Andrews mystery novel 38 Chicken chow -40 Joe Biden's party: Abbr.

41 Bodily blinker 42 Top-shelf 43 Make repairs 48 MYOB part 49 Sound systems 50 Agnus -- (prayer) 51 Spy spoof of old TV 55 Saddle-making tools 57 Campsite hookup users, in brief 60 "The L Word" actress Kirshner 61 Sirs' counterparts 65 "Sheesh, no need to be so critical!"

71 Boulevard 72 Town in east-central New York

73 Attack like a cat 74 Means of thwarting software piracy 76 Futilely 77 Amazement 78 Linda Ronstadt's "-Easy" 79 Grain holder 81 Alternative to People 85 Unvarnished 88 Remus' twin 93 Winners' signs 94 Digital entertainment periodical 97 Place for keeping bees 100 Used a rocker, e.g.

101 Call to a ewe 102 -- dixit (claim with no evidence) 103 Discover via unpleasant personal experience 109 Guided 110 TV's Swenson 111 Lead-in to nuptial 112 -- Field (Mets' home) 113 Language of Libya 115 Really militant sort 117 Claims 119 Option lists that might include the starts of seven answers in this puzzle 122 Plant stem 123 River to the Rio Grande 124 Many 4WD autos 125 "Quo Vadis" emperor 126 Weight allowances 127 Like white, wet weather 128 He and she, e.g.

129 Big dino

DOWN 1 Colts' and Broncos' gp.

2 Light bulb wire 3 Day's end, poetically 4 Not potent 5 Olympic skiing champ Phil 6 Actor Ryan 7 Ortiz of the screen 8 Mattress supporter 9 Metal-industry giant 10 Illegal booze 11 Tavern 12 Anxiety-free 13 SeaWorld whale, once 14 Counterpart to trans-, gender-wise 15 At no cost, slangily 16 Emotion-hiding types 17 Group beliefs 18 Milano of "Mistresses" 24 "Cool, dude!"

29 "I wanna!"

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mecca 62 States openly 63 Old-time lawyer and senator Chauncey 64 At least one 66 Les -- et les autres (both, in French) 67 Gumshoes 68 Literary finale 69 California wine county 70 Adore, on a candy heart 75 Lubricants 80 A Gershwin 82 Not too hard to get around 83 Designer Saarinen 84 Make excited 86 Ready to hit the baseball 87 Most tired 89 Israeli gun 90 Cosmetic accentuating the kisser 91 Not behind a firewall, say 92 Ovule, e.g.

94 Oom- -95 Partook of humble pie 96 Miffed 97 It hasn't been seen before 98 Fiesta target 99 Bergman of film 100 Rocker Tyler 104 Snares 105 Type of fit 106 Forgo 107 -- -craftsy 108 Holiday tuber 114 Bowed 116 Green-lights 118 -- -friendly 120 "Obviously!"

121 Chicago White --

ANSWERS ON PAGE 34

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38

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June 22-28, 2022

WNC MarketPlace

Great Smokies

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June 22-28, 2022

WNC MarketPlace

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Smoky Mountain News June 22-28, 2022