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Western North Carolina’s Source for Weekly News, Entertainment, Arts, and Outdoor Information

June 24-30, 2015 Vol. 17 Iss. 04

Park rangers kill wrong bear following attack Page 5 Smokies superintendent settles into leadership Page 40

CONTENTS

STAFF

On the Cover: Tacachia, Bolivia is a tiny village in a little-known country, but it’s a wellknown place to many in Western North Carolina thanks to a children’s home there founded by a Waynesville couple. Kory Wawanaca Children’s Home is undeniably changing the lives of parentless children in Bolivia, but it’s also making a difference back in the U.S. (Page 6) Holly Kays photo

News Shining Rock charter school announces change in location ..........................4 Park rangers kill wrong bear following attack ....................................................5 Legislature weakens voter ID requirement ........................................................10 Maggie mayor may have competitor in election ..............................................11 Candidates call for a Canton comeback ..........................................................12 Schools feeding more students for free ............................................................14 Jackson approves code enforcement audit contract ......................................15 Rep. Meadows ousted from chairmanship ........................................................17 Hearing demands answers about poaching sting ..........................................19 Roller derby a big hit in Swain, Haywood ........................................................23

Opinion Symbols matter, and so does removing them ..................................................24

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A&E Stecoah Valley Center bridges past, present .................................................. 28

Outdoors Smokies superintendent settles into park leadership ....................................40

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June 24-30, 2015

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June 24-30, 2015

Smoky Mountain News

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news

Shining Rock charter announces change in location for coming school year

BY B ECKY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER new charter school slated to open in Haywood in August has been scrambling the past few weeks to find somewhere to put kids and teachers after its initial facility plan fell through.

Shining Rock Classical Academy planned to put modular buildings on property on the outskirts of Waynesville to house the school its first few years. But school leaders pulled the plug on the Ratcliffe Cove location due to higher-than-expected costs and delays to ready the site, according to school leaders.

The school is now hunting for a new long-term, permanent site. In the meantime, it has found a temporary home for the first half of the school year. Shining Rock will lease classroom space in a building at Lake Junaluska Assembly for $6,250 a month.

“Yay! It’s unanimous. We have a home,” Board President Tara Keilberg said at a charter school board meeting Monday night where the vote was taken to approve the Lake Junaluska lease.

Keilberg said she was thankful to Lake Junaluska.

“It’s an ideal location with a great deal of green space and I think families will be happy to bring their children to school there,” Keilberg said.

The school had been under the gun to find a facility as quickly as possible. The state Office of Charter Schools requires facilities to be ready two weeks before the first day of school.

Further, new charter schools don’t get a dime of state funding — which they need to pay teachers — until they have secured a building occupancy permit.

The school had effectively run out of time to get the Ratcliffe Cove site ready for the start of school — they had to grade a parking lot; run water, sewer, phone, cable and electric lines; haul in the modulars; and get them set up as classrooms. Before it could even begin the site work, however, the school still had to secure an erosion control permit from the state.

Smoky Mountain News

June 24-30, 2015

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The board has known for at least four weeks that the site was unlikely to be ready for the start of the school year, according to a review of public records.

The charter school board had hired a Realtor four weeks ago to begin finding alternative sites, according to its board minutes.

Shining Rock had also informed the N.C. Office of Charter Schools in late May that the site would likely not be ready in time due to “construction issues,” but did not share this with parents.

Concerns over the site were not shared with parents or disclosed publicly until the board announced last Wednesday (June 17) on Facebook that the site had fallen through.

Amber Dodd, a parent who plans to send her fifth-grader to Shining Rock in August, said the site hiccup gave her pause when she heard about it for the first time last week through the school’s Facebook post.

“I thought ‘OK, I have my child signed up for a school that I don’t even know where it is going to be,’” Dodd said.

But she remains excited about the alternative that Shining Rock offers and plans to stick with it.

“It concerned me slightly, but I figured if they have come this far they will get it together before school starts,” Dodd said.

But another parent who was on the fence about sending her kids to Shining Rock has now decided not to, with the limbo over a facility one of the factors.

“There are too many unanswered questions and unknowns now,” said Nicole Chouinard, a parent of two children at Junaluska Elementary. “I wasn’t one of those parents who hated their school. In fact, I love it.”

Among the many challenges of starting a new charter school, getting a building ready can be the hardest.

“It is extremely difficult to find a facility,” said Helen Nance, chair of the N.C. Charter School Advisory Board.

Three charter schools slated to open in the state last year were unable to because they lacked a facility as the start of school drew near, according to the state charter

“As the classes continue to fill up, we realize that we may need more room.

As such, we are searching for a few additional classroom spaces should we need them. I don’t anticipate that being a problem.”

— Tara Keilberg, board president

gave them was enough to placate them,” Butler said. “They replied by saying, essentially, ‘Have Shining Rock keep doing what they are doing.’ That was encouraging.”

Some areas that needed improvement were in limbo due the lack of a facility, such as school safety or insurance requirements, and can now be quickly rectified. Other areas where the school was lacking have since been accomplished, such as additional staff hires.

Charter school hopefuls have to spell out their primary facility plan and identify backup

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All new charter schools are required to submit a “Ready-To-Open” report in late May. While the state can pull the plug on schools that don’t seem ready to open, the report is aimed at helping schools realize what areas they are still lacking in the countdown to August.

The N.C. Office of Charter Schools does an analysis of each school’s readiness, based on the report. Shining Rock was deemed “ready” in three areas, “emerging” in seven areas and “insufficient” in four areas. School Director Ben Butler was on hand last week when those analyses were discussed at the N.C. Charter School Advisory Board in Raleigh.

“They asked about the struggles we are having with our current property. What we

options when submitting their initial application to the state.

While Shining Rock’s primary plan was to lease property for modulars, the backup options listed in its application hadn’t been vetted ahead of time.

One of the backup options listed was Long’s Chapel Methodist Church, but Senior Pastor Dr. Chuck Wilson said Long’s Chapel was never an option and was surprised to learn it had been listed as one.

“That must have been brainstorming from their perspective. It was never brought to the table with Long’s Chapel,” Wilson said.

The same is true for Haywood Christian Academy, which was also listed as a backup option in the initial application. Shining Rock had not actually contacted Haywood Christian Academy before listing them as an option in their application, according to the school headmaster Blake Stanberry.

But school leaders pointed out the difficulty of identifying facility contingency plans without knowing what student interest would be and in an application that’s due nearly two years before the school would open.

“It is, of course, challenging to speculate on real estate possibilities almost two years in advance,” Shining Rock’s application stated.

The building at Lake Junaluska is in some ways better than the original site, according to the school’s Facebook post. The building currently houses the Roots in Education after-school program and summer camp. It is largely ready to go — save putting up a few partitions to carve more classrooms out of the space.

It will also be far less expensive. Shining Rock will pay Lake Junaluska $6,250 a month, which is almost half what it would have paid for the modular set-up on the property near Waynesille.

The building could be a little cramped, however, depending on final student count.

That could lead Shining Rock to lease space at a satellite location to house a couple of the grades.

“As the classes continue to fill up, we realize that we may need more room. As such, we are searching for a few additional classroom spaces should we need them. I don’t anticipate that being a problem,” Keilberg said.

Jack Ewing, Executive Director of Lake Junaluska, said they look forward to having the students and families of Shining Rock at Lake Junaluska this fall.

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Right bear likely taken down by shots, however

finding a suitable pen to hold it in. “But I think the general public values the life of a bear, especially since it wasn’t the right bear.”

Smokies Superintendent Cassius Cash said the park was compelled to act swiftly in light of a serious attack that posed a threat to human safety.

“Though extremely rare and regrettable, we recognize that an uninvolved bear was euthanized through this process,” Cash said in a press release.

New protocols will likely be developed going forward, given such quick turn-around time on the DNA analysis, Cash said.

If any more bears are trapped this week, the park hopes to hold them while waiting on the DNA test.

“At the time we weren’t confident how long it would take and whether we could hold an animal that long,” Soehn said.

Lea was glad to hear the park has reconsidered its strategy.

“We don’t need more innocent bears being executed,” Lea said.

Violent, unprovoked bear attacks are

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June 24-30, 2015

Noted physicians and celiac disease researchers are still searching for an explanation as to why some people seem to be sensitive to gluten but do not have celiac disease. Various theories have been proposed: the health of our gut bacteria, when foods are introduced to infants, breast feeding, type of birth, and even a “hygiene hypothesis” that speculates that our environment has become too clean.

(Source: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/09/26/226510988/doctors-saychanges-in-wheat-do-not-explain-rise-of-celiac-disease )

What’s the bottom-line? Talk to your board certified physician. If you suspect you have a sensitivity to gluten make sure you get tested for celiac disease and for wheat allergy BEFORE going gluten-free or wheat-free!

Smoky Mountain News

BY B ECKY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER bear euthanized following an attack against a backpacker in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was not the right bear, park rangers learned late last week.

DNA tests have concluded a bear trapped and killed by park rangers isn’t in fact the same one that attacked a camper in the remote Hazel Creek area of Swain County on June 6. The area remains closed and the search for the right bear continues.

However, it’s likely that the bear involved in the attack is already dead, according to park spokesperson Dana Soehn.

Rangers had shot and wounded another bear early in their search. But it ran off and they haven’t been able to find it — or its body. DNA recovered from a bullet that went through the bear was deemed a likely match, but was only 65 percent conclusive due to the limited DNA on the bullet.

That’s posing a conundrum for “Though extremely rare and rangers: do they keep looking or give up? regrettable, we recognize that an Wildlife biologists strongly suspect the bear that was shot but uninvolved bear was euthanized got away was the right one based through this process.” on the likely DNA match from the bullet. If it crawled off and died — Cassius Cash, GSMNP superintendent somewhere, it would be pointless to keep looking.

But likewise, it’s hard to give up when extremely rare. Rangers hoped to find and kill there’s still a slight chance the bear is still out the bear for fear it posed a risk to other there, Soehn said. The area remains closed campers and hikers.

They staked out the Hazel Creek area with and the search continues out of an “abuna plethora of traps and cameras and posted dance of caution,” Soehn said.

Each day that passes without another bear hidden snipers in the woods, particularly sighting in the area or around the backcoun- around the campsite. Bears are territorial, so try campsite where the attack occurred rein- rangers believed it would just be a matter of forces rangers’ belief, however, that the bear time before it showed back up.

“There is a very high likelihood that a bear they initially shot was the right one, and it has involved in the attack would return to the since died from its gunshot.

“Toward the end of the week we will make a same spot. The likelihood that a bear not decision, I hope, to reopen the area,” Soehn said. involved would stumble into that scene is far This week was the first time the public less,” Soehn said.

Right on cue, a bear wandered back into learned that rangers had shot at and hit another bear, in addition to the one that was the campsite the very next night after the trapped and killed. Previous reports from the attack. That’s the one that rangers shot at and park were focused on the bear that was hit it before it ran off.

They tracked it, but a thunderstorm came trapped and killed. It’s only after DNA testing came back — revealing it was the wrong one up, and they lost the trail, Soehn said.

The following day, another bear came into — did the park announce that rangers had the campsite. That was the one that was shot and wounded the other bear.

Bill Lea, a renowned black bear photogra- caught in a trap and euthanized.

The June 6 bear attack involved a teenager pher from Franklin who has spent years observing bears in the wild, questioned why who was sleeping in a hammock. The bear bit the park had to indiscriminately shoot bears him on the head and dragged him away. His on sight. In particular, he doesn’t understand father sleeping nearby woke to sounds of his son why the bear that was trapped was immedi- screaming and fought the bear off by beating it ately euthanized, rather than held in captivity repeatedly, even jumping on the bear’s back.

The teenager is expected to make a full pending the DNA results.

“Granted it is a lot of work,” Lea said of recovery, but will likely be left with facial hauling the bear out of the backcountry and scars. His eyes were not injured.

news

Wrong bear killed by rangers following Smokies attack

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pretty much the only way to help kids whose parents can’t take care of them.

The problem is, Bolivians tend to have an inherent mistrust of foreigners working in their country, said Victor Quispe Ballesteros, a Bolivian tour guide with an excellent command of English who has worked with Brown since her first volunteer trip to the country.

“The Bolivian people, they believe a lot in foreigners, but just for money,” Quispe said.

“If somebody would want to work here, no.

This is very difficult to believe.”

It took some doing for Brown to convince people there — in both the church and the government — that she was in it for the long haul when starting the home as a young, single woman. Now the married mother of two with twins on the way, Brown’s life situation has changed, but her commitment to Bolivia hasn’t. Kids in tow, Brown, 34, still spends months out of every year in the country, working with volunteer groups and liberally dispersing hugs to the kids.

Kory Wawanaca is a place bent on proving that the commitment is real. That purpose extends beyond Brown.

“I think part of coming here the first time was realizing I just need to be there,” said Amy Jicha, a Waynesville native who made her second volunteer trip to the home this spring. “I need to be available and fun and loving and accept whatever hug is coming my way. Even passively being available makes a huge difference.”

A NEW CHAIN Seven-year-old Deysi claims a spot in Waynesville resident Amy Jicha’s arms. Holly Kays photo

June 24-30, 2015

THE GOLDEN CHILDREN Bolivian orphanage fosters international bond with Western North Carolina

Smoky Mountain News

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER t’s 6:30 in the morning when 24 hours of travel ends with the plane’s landing in Bolivia, but even through the grogginess it’s not hard to see that we’ve arrived somewhere far, far away from Miami. Snow-crested mountains rise over the outstretched plateau. Drivers crowd the security exit, shouting “Taxi?! Taxi?!” At 13,323 feet above sea level, the air is thin and dry, with any activity more strenuous than a walk on flat ground leaving you gasping for breath.

But the trek wasn’t over. From La Paz we were headed to a children’s home in Tacachia, a town so tiny it doesn’t even show up on Google Maps. Getting there would involve a day of altitude adjustment in La Paz, three hours in a Jeep traversing 15 miles of steep and skinny dirt roads and rec6 onciliation with the fact that the village’s

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lack of running water would mean outhouses and no showers for the next four days.

“It’s not an easy place to get to,” Kory Wawanaca Children’s Home founder Carrie Blackburn Brown rightly said.

But despite the village’s remoteness, fingers of American influence gestured that others had been here before us. The kids, 14 of them aged 7 to 11, proudly spout off the scanty English they’ve picked up from other volunteer groups. They wear clothes featuring Star Wars, Winnie the Pooh and Tinker Bell. Little Iker, 8, can frequently be heard singing Justin Bieber: “Baby, baby, baby oh.”

In homes throughout this village of 100 people, Brown tells me, bars made by Hazelwood Soap Company might still be keeping kids clean. The Waynesville Rotary Club brought them down during a mission trip a few years ago.

“We all want connection with each

other, and for some reason Waynesville, North Carolina, and Tacachia, Bolivia, have been connected,” Brown said. “There is a connection, and why not take advantage of a connection?”

The connection didn’t just come about spontaneously, of course. It happened because, just about 10 years ago, Brown, of Waynesville, started building a children’s home in Tacachia. Shortly afterward, they constructed a second one in La Paz for their teenage charges.

PROVING THE COMMITMENT The kids who live at Kory Wawanaca — the name means “golden children” in the indigenous Aymaran language — are there because of court order. Maybe their parents are dead. Maybe there has been physical or sexual abuse in the home. Maybe their parents simply can’t afford to take care of them. There are a lot of reasons a kid might end up there, but they all involve some kind of trauma.

In Bolivia, there’s not a lot of help out there for kids without a home. There’s no foster system — in fact, in the cultural context of Bolivia, with its poverty and high child labor rate, Brown believes such a thing would be dangerous — and the state-run orphanages are basically holding tanks to provide food and shelter rather than homes to prepare children for a future. Regulations make international adoption nigh impossible, so privately run homes like Kory Wawanaca are

Every bit of presence adds up toward the larger goal of restoring the innocence and self-confidence that life has tried to steal from the kids at the home. They live like brothers and sisters, attending the village school together — Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. — and they spend lots of time outside hiking, playing in the river and working in the garden. Crime is rare in this remote and tight-knit community, as are the destructive influences found in the city.

“I think this is a microcosmic way of looking at how investing in a person and sustaining that can actually change their life.”

— Amy Jicha, Waynesville

Every year, six or seven volunteer groups come through, the lion’s share from North— Carolina. They’ve done a lot of the construction work in the homes, facilities that kids and staff use every day. But Brown is quick to say that their personal impact on the kids is just as, if not more, important.

“They understand you don’t know them from anybody, and they’re like, ‘Why do you care?’” Brown said. “They feel that love. And these kids, who their own mothers should

S EE BOLIVIA, PAGE 8

news Deysi Quenta, 7, brings empty washtubs down the stairs after finishing her laundry. Above: Eliza Sease (top) works on painting the new dormitory with Carrie Blackburn Brown (right) and Tara Dempsey. Holly Kays photos

Building a home

long as she went back to Bolivia with it.

With no plan other than to just show up, Brown promptly booked a one-way flight to La Paz.

A timeline of Kory Wawanaca

OCT. 2005

2003

FEB. 2005

SPRING 2005 When Brown got back to the U.S., she’d decided what to do: save up $10,000 to take to Bolivia with a two-year commitment. She’d reached the $5,000 mark when her dad got a check in the mail — from someone who had no knowledge of Brown’s plan — for $5,000 more. It was hers, the note said, as

FEB. 2006 The money ran out, so Carrie went home to fundraise. There, she discovered she no longer had to be a lone wolf.

“A lot of people were like, ‘Why waste your time working? We want to be a part of it,’” she said.

Donations, especially from the Waynesville and Asheville areas, rolled in. The children’s home wasn’t a formal organization at that point, so the money went to Brown’s personal account. She ate a lot of beans and rice during that time, she said, to avoid touching the donated dollars.

2009 Brown married her husband Gavin in January, and instead of traditional wedding gifts they requested donations toward a new children’s home in the city. The school in Tacachia only went to fifth grade, and Brown wanted her teens to go somewhere where they could work toward college readiness, play a sport or learn a hobby.

“It was another God moment, because when it came time to buy a piece of land, almost to the penny of how much it cost us to buy a piece of land was how much we got from our wedding,” Brown said.

2011 The first teenagers moved into the new home in La Paz, which Gavin took on as a personal project, while volunteer groups came through to work on the unfinished sections.

The two homes aren’t isolated — the teens go out to Tacachia for retreats and to celebrate Christmas, and younger kids stay at the La Paz home when they need to travel to the city for court dates or medical attention — but on a day-to-day basis they operate separately.

Today, Kory Wawanaca has 25 kids in its family, with room for more to join.

THE FUTURE

Smoky Mountain News

Brown’s church, Central United Methodist in Asheville, started planning a three-month trip to Bolivia starting in February. They started “pressuring” Brown to come along as a translator, but she said no. She’d already been back for a month the year before, and she didn’t have the $750 she’d need to return.

“I said, ‘OK God, fine, if you want me to go back to Bolivia so bad, I need $750 and I don’t want to lose my job,’” Brown recalls.

The next day, she took a cold call from a woman who needed someone to stay with her teenage children for 10 days. The job would pay exactly $750. When the hotel where she worked announced that someone would have to take a voluntary threemonth layoff — the exact three months Brown would be gone — she knew “I wouldn’t be coming back to my stable life, that there would be something more.”

So, she paid attention during the three-month stay, observing the country’s social and economic problems through the lens of what she might do to help.

Four children came to stay at the home. Three eventually went back with their parents, but the fourth, Jonatan, is now 13 and has lived at Kory Wawanaca longer than anywhere else.

The transformation is phenomenal, Brown said.

“He peed himself and at night he would scream because he didn’t want to go to bed. I guess he was scared of his dreams.

He stuttered really bad and you could barely understand him,” she said. “Now he’s all ‘I-love-yous’ and hugs and really stable and just a really cool, nice kid.”

June 24-30, 2015

Carrie Blackburn Brown, who eventually founded Kory Wawanaca Children’s Home, graduated from Appalachian State University with degrees in dance and Spanish and a general desire to spend a few months abroad volunteering.

The Peace Corps was out, obviously, because two years was too big a commitment. Instead, she followed the advice of her church’s missions minister and spent seven months volunteering at the front desk of a health clinic near La Paz in the South American country of Bolivia.

One and done. When her commitment ended, she returned to the United States, rented an apartment, got a job and set her sights on eventually enrolling in a graduate counseling program.

For a while, it seemed like things were going nowhere.

Brown was young, a woman and a foreigner — it seemed like no one was taking her seriously. Then, she got a call from the Bolivian leadership of the United Methodist Church.

“They were saying they didn’t have a Methodist children’s home and thought that would be a great thing,” Brown said.

“Me being young and naïve, I thought me and my $10,000 could build a children’s home.”

The Methodist church gave Brown a piece of land for the project, a mountainside tract in the tiny village of Tacachia.

Juan Mamani, the aging survivor of Bolivia’s days of indigenous slavery “Me being young who had donated the and naïve, I property, laughed when he saw Brown, because thought me and he’d been waiting 20 my $10,000 could years for someone to use the land. build a children’s “I never thought it would be a little white home.” girl,” Brown remembers — Carrie Blackburn Brown him saying, “but I’m getting old and I’ll have to take what I can get.”

Brown and two helpers headed back to get started. The remote town had no running water, electricity or telephone, and they had no idea how to build anything. It would take trial and error, a willingness to look foolish and legwork to find the right people to hire, but eventually the work began.

2008

Kory Wawanaca’s legal commitment to the kids ends at age 18, but long-term Brown hopes to launch — or support someone else in launching — a transitional program to help graduates navigate a trade school or university and learn how to live on their own.

“I hate telling my story sometimes because I hate feeling like I’m tooting my own horn,” Brown said. “But I want to tell the story because if you know me at all, you know how impossible any of this was for me to do. The fact that it’s done is a 7 true testimony to what we can do if we trust in God.”

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The joy of cooking

BY HOLLY KAYS say no. Pretty soon, all but the shiest of the STAFF WRITER children were following me around, clamorhat last full day in Tacachia, I didn’t ing for a turn. Even the shy ones joined in have energy for much besides sinking eventually. I made cookies, french fries, cake into my wooden chair while waiting — even an empanada. Of course, I couldn’t for the onslaught of elementary-aged kids “eat” all of these myself. Each child instructto join us for pre-dinner playtime. ed me as to who should have the honor of I’d been up since 5:30 a.m. for a strennibbling at their cooked selves, and I delivuous summit hike to watch the sun rise ered these culinary creations to volunteers, over 22,000-foot Illimani and then walked home staff and construction workers straight back to the work project for throughout the open-air dining room. hours of concrete mixing and pouring, all The kids’ faces cracked into flawless done by hand with buckets and shovels. smiles as the recipients cuddled, tickled There’d been lunch in there somewhere, and kissed them — smiles that transferred but it was now 4 p.m., and no part of me their joy to my heart, that squeezed my felt capable of anything more than sitting exhaustion down to occupy only the for several eternities. periphery of my being.

But something about the kids of Kory I stayed in Bolivia for just 10 days, and Wawanaca never failed to wipe away my in Tacachia for four of those. It choked me exhaustion — or at least demote its importance — no matter how tired I was when they ran up the stairs to grab our hands and pull us into a circle for pre-meal prayers and songs. With little Deysi holding my hand, keeping eye contact throughout the words to “Jesus Loves Me,” or Iker, a sweet and young-for-hisage 8-year-old, jumping into my arms shouting “hermano!” (“brother” in Juan Quenta, 9, is too proud of his Noah’s Ark craft to let Spanish — he hadn’t Wendy Mamani, 7, steal the spotlight. Holly Kays photo quite gotten the distinction between the feminine and masculine “It choked me up to see these kids, forms of the word down), whose young memories are nothing could matter more than the present peppered with nightmares and the moment.

That last night, ache of parental rejection, capable though, I was wondering of such pure expressions of joy.” how true that sentiment would hold.

See, I’d set a rather dangerous precedent up to see these kids, whose young memoearlier in the week when I decided to disries are peppered with nightmares and the patch a monkey-like boy who’d lodged himache of parental rejection, capable of such self on my lap by “making” him into french pure expressions of joy. It overwhelmed me fries. It’s one of the few tricks I have when it to know that they’d give me, a short-timer, comes to entertaining kids, but it definitely the honor of eliciting their laughter. worked. The game involves pretending to When our team rolled out of Tacachia, wash, peel, cut, fry and, finally, eat the we left behind a retaining wall made of unfortunate “sack of potatoes.” Inevitably, hand-mixed mud and rocks gathered from each step in the process involves some the riverbed, a snazzy-looking two-stall brick degree of tickling, and the kids loved it. It outhouse, some new pieces of sidewalk and a wasn’t long before every mealtime ended freshly painted dormitory. I was proud of with a line of kids following me around, the time, sweat and — to a small degree — wanting me to make them into various blood that went into putting them there. kinds of food. My Spanish expanded as I figBut for me, the essence of Tacachia, the ured out the words I’d need to prepare true meaning of my time there, was in the everything from cookies to pizza to cake. faces of the children — their thrill at being It was the best kind of fun, but this hugged and touched, the smiles that night I just didn’t know if my arms had any seemed to permeate their whole bodies, strength left to tote kids around the dining the pure joy of being that covered the hall. After dinner, I stayed put rather than abuse and violence and tragedy of their seek out any potential takers to experience stories before Kory Wawanaca. my skill in imaginary cooking.

It’s the joy that I’ll most remember, But they sought me out, and I couldn’t because in that joy, I saw God. 8

Smoky Mountain News

June 24-30, 2015

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The volunteer group — plus Bolivians Ariel and Mari Chambi — celebrate the end of a strenuous summit hike. Holly Kays photo BOLIVIA, CONTINUED FROM 6 have felt that way about them, a back has been turned on them, so they need that extra feeling of love. So much has been taken away from them.”

Juan Quenta, 8, agrees. He likes it when the volunteers come, he said, because they make him smile.

“I like to see the volunteers, because when I see them, I feel happy,” agreed Rosi Caravallo, 9.

“It’s like having relatives come visit,” said Brown, known to the kids as “Mama Carolina.” “It’s fun. You might get to go for ice cream that you don’t go for on a normal basis.

You might get to play a game you don’t usually play with Mom.” But the kids take in the attitude of the volunteer groups, too. Most notably, Brown remembers, last Christmas the teens came to her asking to forgo any Christmas presents coming their way so they could give Christmas to children in one of the poor neighborhoods of La Paz. And watching them “give Christmas,” she said, was like watching mini versions of her volunteer groups. The kids played the same games, interacted with the community in the same way as the Americans who’d come to serve them time and time again.

“We’re creating a new chain,” she said.

“We’re breaking the chain of abandonment and abuse and we’re creating a new chain of volunteerism and servanthood and love.”

INTERNATIONAL SERVICE, LOCAL IMPACT All important things, but why go to Bolivia when there are plenty of hurting kids a lot closer to home?

For one thing, Brown said, it’s important to realize that all poverty isn’t the same. In Bolivia, the poorest country in South America, the per capita income was $2,870 in 2014, according to the World Bank, compared to $53,000 in the U.S. That means that poverty in Bolivia is generally more severe than poverty in America, but it also means that a donated dollar

Eat a pig, help a kid Kory Wawanaca’s biggest fundraiser of the year, a pig-pickin’ barbeque event called Hog Wars, will be held in Waynesville this year on Saturday, Sept. 19.

The day will include bluegrass music, a chance to learn about the home and, of course, plenty of meat pitting eastern-style barbeque against western at the event, to be held at the First United Methodist Church of Waynesville. The goal is to raise $30,000 to support the home over the coming year.

Contest entry is $750. Carrie Brown, 828.231.8661 or carolinacarrie@hotmail.com. www.kwchildren.com.

stretches further there. Kory Wawanaca’s yearly budget is about $175,000, covering everything from salaries to facilities to food to travel — and the organization provides a home for 25 kids.

But it’s also true that service abroad and service at home are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they often go hand in hand.

“There are people on the side of the streets here that are just like people on the side of the streets back home, but because this (Bolivia) is out of the norm for me, I’m hyper-aware of my surroundings, and I see it very clearly,” said Eliza Sease, of Waynesville, at the end of her third mission trip to Bolivia. “When I go home, it’s like it smacks me in the face again.”

Jicha agrees. But she also points out that spending time in Tacachia reinvigorates her professionally. A domestic violence investigator in Haywood County, she said it’s sometimes easy to get discouraged, to look at a dysfunctional home situation and dismiss any hope for the future based on the overwhelming odds against a happy ending.

“I think this is a microcosmic way of looking at how investing in a person and sustaining that can actually change their life,” she said.

It can change a whole church community, too. It’s done that for Waynesville First

TELLING THE STORY

than funding a far-off international project.

“I think it’s important to realize the world is a big place,” he said.

FURTHERING THE BOND Siblings Mari and Ariel Chambi are just beginning to realize how big it is. They’re spending the summer in Waynesville, their first-ever venture beyond the border of their native Bolivia. She was pretty nervous, Mari said, about the plane ride and three-month removal from the familiarity of language and food and family, but she was never scared.

Because while America is a foreign land for the Chambis, who are staying with the Brown family, this little corner of it also has little pockets of home.

“When we’re in the house, it’s like we’re with family and in Bolivia,” Mari said in

ing — to which they must reply “provecho” — but here people wander away without saying anything.

“It’s a big difference,” Ariel said, but on the whole, Mari said, Waynesville is “much better than I imagined.”

Mari and Ariel have been working with the home since 2010, after the Methodist church sent their father Germán on a twoyear preaching assignment to the Tacachia area. Since then, Kory Wawanaca has become part of the family identity. It’s what they talk about around the dinner table. It’s where they spend their free time.

“My family’s life has changed a lot,” Ariel said, since their introduction to Kory Wawanaca. Germán is now the home’s executive director. Ariel, 24, had wanted to be a pastor, but he now hopes to stay in Tacachia rather than traveling where the church

June 24-30, 2015 “When I was starting this, it was people from Waynesville and Asheville who said, ‘You should do this and we’re behind you,’ so I feel like it is their home,” Brown said. “They were there from the beginning.”

Bolivia has seen tons of ministries and non-profits open their doors there over the years, but most of those go defunct within a few years when funding to operate the new buildings runs out. Were it not for the individual donors and churches that support it, that would be Kory Wawanaca, because the home gets nothing from the Bolivian government or the United Methodist Church as a whole.

It is the volunteers who have hugged kids, hauled rocks, mixed cement and mailed checks who will ensure the home remains to give generations more of helpless children a home and a future.

“I feel like we were just taking seriously what all of our mentors in Waynesville told us all these years,” Brown said of herself and her husband, “so now it’s your responsibility to take care of this home, because it’s your ‘fault’ that we have a children’s home here.”

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Smoky Mountain News

Brown’s certainly changed her mind about short-term missions since starting the home, she said, admitting that once upon a time she would rather have collected the money that would have gone toward airfare and accommodations than had groups come over. But these days, that’s the furthest thing from the truth, and not only because Left: Deysi gives bunny ears of the personal impact vol(orejas del conejo) to Emanuel unteers have on her kids. as Wendy tries to scale the “There are a million slide backward. The road from gazillion wonderful causes Tacachia to La Paz is long, out there, but why do we slow and dangerous in wet give to what we give to? weather. See more photos by Because there’s some kind of viewing this story at connection,” she said. www.smokymountainnews.com.

Coming to Tacachia proHolly Kays photo vides that connection.

Former volunteers are her biggest donor base, her most enthusiastic cheerleaders. They’re the reason she’s able to meet her budget every year.

They also tell the story to others.

“My mom loves Kory Wawanaca and has never been here,” Sease said, but she talks about the home so much her mother feels like part of the community. “You can’t go here and not be excited about it and not talk about it.”

Eric Follie, a high school “They understand you don’t know them from anybody, and they’re teacher who attends FUMC, like, ‘Why do you care?’ They feel that love. And these kids, who is another one of those supporters who’s never seen their own mothers should have felt that way about them, a back Bolivia. He grew up with Brown, and as a military vet has been turned on them, so they need that extra feeling of love. he’s witnessed what life can So much has been taken away from them.” be like in poor countries. So, when Brown launched a — Carrie Blackburn Brown child sponsorship program five years ago, he and his family took on 8-year-old Jonatan, who is now Spanish. “Everything is calm, everything is directs. Mari, 22, is a psychology student who 13. They send a check every month, and his normal. But when we leave the house, we’re in hopes to eventually work with the home too.

In the U.S., they’re interning with FUMC, kids, 8 and 10, write letters back and forth. Waynesville.”

He hopes to one day send his kids to Bolivia And Waynesville is definitely different hoping to learn something about church to meet their pen pal. than both La Paz and Tacachia for more rea- organization that they can take back home.

“I think it’s neat to be part of this young sons than the frequent rain and lush vegeta- But they’re also here in response to a mountman’s life, even if it’s just financially and in tion. Drivers are respectful and will actually ing curiosity about this place that all the volletters every now and then and Christmas wave you across the road rather than nearly unteers to Kory Wawanaca would talk about and birthday gifts,” he said. “I think it’s running you over. Everything is more organ- — and a desire to further the bond between important. We’re so blessed here it’s a good ized, and people follow the rules. Doors stay the two places.

“Someone who hasn’t seen my country thing to be able to share that around.” unlocked, and possessions remain in place.

And because of Carrie and the The manners are different, too. For example, can’t understand me like you can,” Mari Waynesville-Tacachia pipeline, to Follie it in Bolivia the polite thing to do is to say “gra- explained. “If I go to your country, I can feels more like supporting a local ministry cias” to each person at the table before leav- understand you.”

MORE THAN MONEY The link between the two places is about a lot more than money. It’s about making the theory of international family and a borderless body of Christ a reality, Brown said. As Kory Wawanaca’s kids start graduating from high school, she’d love to give them all a chance to come to the U.S. and see the place that’s been part of their lives for so long.

“I say I wish I could just win the lottery and I’d never have to fundraise again,” Brown said, “but if I never had to fundraise again then there’d be no reason to keep people a part of it and connect it.

“I think one of the greatest treasures we have is the connection.”

After all, it’s because of that connection that Kory Wawanaca even exists.

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United Methodist, where Brown goes, and it’s also done that for Pine Forest United Methodist Church in Wilkesboro, where Kory Wawanaca’s board chair Frank Farrell attends.

“Our church was a very inward-focused church prior to coming here,” Farrell said. “I think one of the byproducts of being involved in Kory Wawanaca is we got more involved in mission work both locally and internationally.”

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Legislature weakens voter ID requirement

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR n an unexpected turn of events, the North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation last Thursday that will allow people to cast a ballot in 2016 even if they don’t have an acceptable form of identification.

The decision is a significant modification to the voter ID law passed by the Republican majority in 2013. Rep. Joe Sam Queen, DSen. Jim Davis Waynesville, who opposed the legislation in 2013, said the new provision would allow voters without a photo ID to cast a ballot as long as they sign an affidavit stating that they have a reasonable excuse.

The acceptable exceptions include a lack of Rep. Joe Sam transportation, disabiliQueen ty or illness, lost or stolen photo ID, or a lack of a birth certificate or other documents to obtain a photo ID. “It’s a very good step forward for our voters so they shouldn’t be discouraged from trying to vote,” Queen said. “I was glad to support it. We want voters to vote because that’s the only way to fix what’s wrong — at the ballot box.”

Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, a proponent of the 2013 Voter ID laws, said he was comfortable with the new compromise. He said people without proper photo ID can cast a provisional ballot but will still have to show some kind of proof that they are who they say they are — whether it’s the last four digits of their Social Security number or other documentation.

“I think it loosens up the requirement to ensure people who may show up at polls without an ID can cast a provisional ballot that can be quickly evaluated,” Davis said. “I’m OK with that — the goal is to ensure everyone entitled to vote is able to vote.”

The North Carolina Board of Elections recently held public hearings throughout the

I

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The event is a contest/demonstration

state to gather public input on its proposed rules to enforce the new voter ID laws. The Western North Carolina hearing was held in Sylva and the room was packed. Roger Turner, voting rights coordinator for the Jackson County Democrats, said the Sylva meeting had more people than the meeting held in Raleigh. While he would like to think that the Legislature made the change to the

“I don’t know how much of a win it is — it’s more about the Legislature protecting themselves in court.”

— Roger Turner, Jackson County Democrats voting rights coordinator

law after hearing all the negative feedback from the public, he said he knows better.

“You can wax about how grassroots efforts helps these kinds of things, but I think it has to do with the lawsuits that are pending,” Turner said. “I don’t know how much of a win it is — it’s more about the Legislature protecting themselves in court.”

Queen said the court challenges regarding the constitutionality of these types of laws in North Carolina as well as other states definitely played a major role in the Legislature’s decision to weaken the voter ID burden.

Turner said the new modification makes North Carolina’s voting laws similar to South Carolina’s, which is a safer bet legally. While the change is welcomed, Turner worries that it may still be too late to prevent any more confusion when it comes to Election Day. “You still have to be a pretty involved person to understand what’s going on these days with voter ID laws,” he said. “I’m afraid there’s going to be a lot of confusion for people. We’re going to have to prepare and have well trained precinct workers at the polls.”

Turner would like to form a voter rights task force to continue to follow these issues and educate the public on the laws so that they are prepared for the 2016 elections.

of amateur radio operators that involves setting up radios, computers, living quarters, radio towers, public education and demonstration areas without the use of external power. The demonstration is an educational opportunity for the public to learn of the potential assistance amateur radio can provide during loss of communications for extended periods of time. www.KW4P.org or W4WNC1@gmail.com.

Maggie mayor may have competitor in election

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Filing information • For municipal elections in Haywood County, candidates may file for office beginning July 6 through July 17 • Visit the Haywood County Board of Elections Office between 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday though Friday • Filing fees: Canton and Clyde, $5; Maggie Valley and Waynesville, $10 Matthews’ loss meant that Wight — on most occasions — was alone in his dissention. Wight doesn’t have a problem with speaking up when he disagrees with the board, but his isolation is also making him think hard about whether he wants to run for re-election this year.

“You start to feel like you’re not making a difference,” Wight said. “So I’m discouraged about running again.”

Since Banks ran in 2013 to complete the unfinished term left vacant by Phil Aldridge, she will have to run again this year for a four-year term. She said she is considering running again but hasn’t made up her mind yet. So far, no other names have surfaced as potential candidates.

Improving the aesthetics along Soco Road through Maggie Valley has been a major priority for Mayor Ron DeSimone and the Board of Aldermen. Jessi Stone photo DeSimone said he has decided to run for a second term as mayor so he can continue with his plan to improve Maggie Valley. Since being elected, he said he has worked to make Maggie Valley a regional team player, improve the curb appeal of the town corridor, create a winter tourism season and support a comprehensive plan to improve economic development.

DeSimone and Wight aligned themselves during the election four years ago, but Wight is now one of DeSimone’s most vocal critics.

Wight agrees that Maggie Valley is moving in a positive direction but said it’s despite DeSimone, not because of him.

When asked if he had considered running for the mayor’s seat, Wight said he had thought about it but didn’t think he had the available time needed to devote to the office.

DeSimone said being mayor does require a big time commitment. He serves on seven boards, including the Haywood County Economic Development Commission where he heads up the effort to expand broadband capabilities in Haywood County.

DeSimone said he doesn’t dwell too much on whether everyone gets behind his ideas initially. In his experience, the support usually comes along as an idea turns into an actual plan that can be implemented. For example, he said he had a difficult time getting people on board for a winter festival in

Maggie Valley, but once he got a committee going, he said the support followed and the inaugural WinterFest was a huge hit that will hopefully continue to grow.

“In Maggie Valley we’re trying to change a mindset,” DeSimone said. “People may not initially get behind it, but when you can start to show them we’re moving in a positive direction, it’s starting to get momentum.”

Right now the focus is on effort to create a town center. The board spent $25,000 to hire an engineering and design team to facilitate the town center planning process. Maggie Valley will never be able to create a typical downtown like Waynesville, but the idea is to create an aesthetically appealing town center that is pedestrian- and biker-friendly from the festival grounds to town hall.

“That’s a joke,” Ketchum said of the town center plan, adding that the concepts being presented were too expensive and unrealistic considering the four-lane highway running through the center of town.

The town has attempted to create these types of master plans before, but nothing ever came of them because of a lack of funding.

DeSimone said this time would be different.

“Several people have mentioned that a master plan has been done before, but on the other hand, we probably have the best team on board right now to make it happen,” he said.

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BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR he political dynamics in Maggie Valley have definitely changed in the last two years.

Board of Aldermen meetings are no longer a free for all — no arguing or fist pounding from board members and no yelling and disrespectful behavior from the audience.

Perhaps the lack of drama is why the meeting room is no longer packed full of people waiting to voice their opinions; or perhaps residents are happy with the direction the town is going and don’t feel like they need to interject.

Jasay Ketchum, a regular at the monthly board meetings, says people aren’t participating in the meetings anymore because the board doesn’t take their input into consideration before making decisions.

“We need to be on board and up front with everybody,” he said.

Ketchum also said decisions are being made behind closed doors instead of at the public meetings. He said the board goes into closed session too often and that too much discussion was going on at the board’s monthly workshops, which are held at 9 a.m. the Wednesday before the regular meeting.

“Why go to the meetings? It doesn’t do any good,” he said. “I didn’t realize how much they were doing there at the workshop meetings — I’m going to make a point to start going to those.”

These are a few of the reasons why Ketchum is seriously considering running against Mayor Ron DeSimone in the November election.

Ketchum, a retired X-ray technician, has lived in Maggie Valley for 25 years and has been attending town meetings for just as long. He has complained to the board on several occasions about his subdivision not receiving services even though Woodland Village was forced into annexation years ago.

DeSimone was elected as mayor in 2011 with the promise of giving the residents and business owners of Maggie Valley a voice after ousting longtime mayor Roger

McElroy. He has supported and helped implement several important changes in the town and plans to run for a second term to keep the momentum going. While he feels like the town is moving in a good direction right now, DeSimone’s first couple of years in office were rocky.

It wasn’t until the 2013 elections in Maggie Valley that the tide began to turn toward more peaceful politics. After a board resignation in 2012 left the aldermen without a fourth member, every important vote taken ended up in a 2-2 split vote with DeSimone and Alderman Saralyn Price on one side and Aldermen Mike Matthews and Phillip Wight on the other. The deadlock prevented the board from appointing someone to fill the vacancy and the stalemate continued for another year until the election.

Janet Banks filled the empty seat and Matthews lost his seat to Mike Eveland.

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Aldermen consider another run

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Candidates call for a Canton comeback

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR fter two years of getting a feel for Canton politics, two Canton aldermen hope to continue their work for another four years.

Gail Mull and Ralph Hamlett were both elected to the Canton Board of Aldermen in 2013 to serve two-year terms in order to begin staggering the board elections in Canton. Both candidates plan to run for a full four-year term in the November election.

Filing for municipal elections begins July 6 and ends July 17. This year’s election is Nov. 3.

A self-proclaimed “unlikely politician,”

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“I hear a lot positive feedback. Often times people will come up to me on the street or in the grocery store and tell me there’s a new feel in Canton and they like it.”

Smoky Mountain News

June 24-30, 2015

— Ralph Hamlett, Canton aldermen

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Mull said she enjoyed her first two years more than she thought she would.

“I feel like we have a good, cohesive board and did some good things,” she said.

“But I guess we’ll find out what the public opinion is in November.”

Hamlett, a professor at Brevard College, said he also feels very optimistic about the current board and the progress being made in Canton. He said the two years really served as a learning curve for the entire board, but now with a unified vision in place, he wants to see projects come to fruition.

“I hear a lot positive feedback. Often times people will come up to me on the street or in the grocery store and tell me there’s a new feel in Canton and they like it,” he said. “What I’m told is that people have noticed a difference, but we’ll see in November how they really feel.”

Prior to the 2013 election, the mayor and the board members were all up for election at the same time. With the potential for complete turnover every four years — which is what happened when the entire board decided not to run again in 2013 — staggered terms were implemented.

Not only did Canton start out with a completely new board in 2014, but it also started out with a new town manager — Seth Hendler-Voss. Hiring new leadership after longtime Town Manager Al Matthews retired was a long and arduous process, but board members seem pleased with their choice.

Hendler-Voss has brought a youthful

and progressive leadership style and a renewed since of energy to the town. He has been instrumental in addressing some of Canton’s top concerns — reviving downtown, revamping Canton’s Labor Day celebration and making economic development a top priority.

“He is so innovative and such a hard worker,” Mull said of Hendler-Voss. “We could not have done everything we’ve done without him.”

Mull said all of the projects the town is working on basically boil down to improving the town’s economic development. The board is trying to draw more people to Canton with its 109th annual Canton Labor Day Celebration, trying to attract more businesses by requiring downtown commercial building owners to better maintain their structures and responding to the needs of residents by making upgrades to parks and recreation facilities.

While looking to the future, Mull said the board also was trying to be thankful for what the town already has, which is a paper mill that employees more than 1,000 people.

“I’ve lived here my entire life — 67 years — and I’ve seen good times and bad times,” Mull said. “The mill (Evergreen Packaging) is the most positive thing we have going for us. Many small towns would give anything to have something like that, so we can’t forget that.”

Mull and Hamlett are ready to throw their hats in the ring again, but board members say they haven’t heard of anyone else who might be thinking about running against them. If Mull and Hamlett are reelected, it will be an indicator that voters approve of the direction the board is moving. If they are replaced — and depending on who replaces them — it could derail the current progress.

Mayor Mike Ray has been on the disagreeing side a few times in the last two years, but he can only vote in the event of a tie. Ray ran unopposed in 2013 and began his third term as mayor with a completely new board.

It’s not that Ray opposes what the board wants to do, but he sometimes opposes the way the board wants to do it. Alderwoman Carole Edwards often sides with Ray on issues, which can lead to a 3-1 vote.

However, if Mull or Hamlett are replaced, the vote could begin swinging the other way.

Hamlett said every member of the board is intelligent and offers his or her own perspective on issues. As he often says, “the board can disagree without being disagreeable.”

“I think overall the board works well together,” Mull said. “We may disagree on how to get there, but we all have the same goals — it’s just a matter of everyone coming to a consensus. You’re never going to agree on everything.”

BY KATIE R EEDER SMN I NTERN When his restaurant doors are open, Chris Chagnon keeps busy, playing the role of owner, chef and greeter.

He knows almost everyone who sits down, and he darts from the kitchen to the door, welcoming people as they wander in, often asking if they enjoyed their last meal.

The business is Andolini’s Italian Bistro and it recently opened in Maggie Valley. The location has already been abuzz, Chagnon said. But he’s not new to the culinary scene, having opened 19 other restaurants, in Maggie Valley and other parts of the country. And he’s gained loyal customers all along the way.

“It’s all repeat business,” he said.

“One couple will come in, and then before you know it they’re bringing their neighbors, and their neighbors are bringing their neighbors.”

John and Frances Derrick were regular customers at Country Vineyard, one of the restaurants Chagnon used to own, but they were excited to try out this new spot.

“Everything we’ve ever eaten [here] has been good,” John said.

Andolini’s is set up to build relationships and loyalty with its customers. Even

their Facebook page hosts contests two to three times a week for people to try to win a free meal. The restaurant also offers lunch cards, which allow diners to get a free lunch after they get 10 stamps on their card.

Already the owner of the plaza where Andolini’s stands, Chagnon said he wanted to open a restaurant there, citing the property needed a good place for people to enjoy a meal.

“Restaurants are good draws, and Maggie is a great dining destination,” he said. “Look at all the restaurants we have here. There’s a lot of them — everything you can think of. You can dine around the world here.”

Chagnon said the Southern European atmosphere combined with classic Italian cooking gives diners a unique experience.

The dishes are of the utmost quality, with produce bought fresh from the nearby farmer’s market.

“It’s little stuff like that that makes the big difference,” he said.

Andolini’s is open Wednesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. It is located at 2507 Soco Road. For more information call 828.944.0770 or follow them at www.facebook.com/andolinisbistro.

news

Maggie Valley welcomes new restaurant

“One couple will come in, and then before you know it they’re bringing their neighbors, and their neighbors are bringing their neighbors.”

— Chris Chagnon, Andolini’s Italian Bistro

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news

Schools feeding more students for free Federal program aids more low-income families

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ree lunch is becoming a more common phenomenon around Western North Carolina as school systems start adopting a new federal program aiming to increase kids’ access to food in high-poverty areas.

“There’s a lot of families that may not qualify for free and reduced lunch, might be 40 cents off of meeting that federal income level required, and it’s very expensive if they have several kids they have to buy lunch for, so a lot of times they’ll just pack,” said Allison Francis, director of the child nutrition program for Haywood County Schools. Haywood enrolled in the program last year, when it first became available.

“I think we’re hitting a lot of those kids that may not qualify but could benefit from the program,” said Francis.

Two Haywood County schools — Central Elementary School and Central Haywood High School — offer free breakfast and lunch under the Community Eligibility Provision.

In 2015-16, schools in Macon, Swain and Jackson counties will join the list. Jackson County’s school board recently voted to implement the program in Smokey Mountain Elementary School, Blue Ridge

June 24-30, 2015

F

School, Blue Ridge Early College and the School of Alternatives. In Macon, Union Academy and East Franklin Elementary School will participate. And Swain West Elementary will also participate.

The schools’ food service directors are excited to start offering free meals to the students in their poorest schools. They anticipate that the program will take away the stigma from having to sign up as a Free and Reduced Lunch student and get rid of issues with parents turning in the paperwork.

Reduced paperwork is also expected to be a benefit on the administrative end.

“We’re constantly for the first two months of school doing tons of paperwork,” said Laura Cabe, nutrition director for Jackson County.

“That’s really when I want to be out in the schools,” she added, “especially when we’re doing new things like this, and that will free up more time.”

All that sounds pretty rosy, but there’s a risk to adopting the program.

“It is one of those programs that ‘sounds’ like a real winner but can have dire financial consequences if things don’t go as planned,” said Kim Terrell, nutrition director for Macon County Schools. It’s because of those potential consequences that she waited a year before trying out the program.

Eligibility for the program is based on the percentage of students who directly qualify

DISCOVER BURLINGAME

Getting a free lunch The following schools in The Smoky Mountain News’ coverage area will be offering free breakfast and lunch to all students in the coming school year through the Community Eligibility Provision, a program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

HAYWOOD COUNTY • Central Elementary School • Central Haywood High School JACKSON COUNTY • Blue Ridge Early College • Blue Ridge School • School of Alternatives • Smokey Mountain Elementary School MACON COUNTY • East Franklin Elementary School • Union Academy

Smoky Mountain News

SWAIN COUNTY • Swain West Elementary School

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for free and reduced lunch. That means that they’re part of a food assistance program like SNAP or TANF (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or Temporary Assistance for Need Families), enrolled in Head Start or Pre-K Even Start, or they’re a migrant, homeless or runaway. Schools with at least 40 percent of students who directly qualify can enroll in the program.

But local districts aren’t rushing to sign up all schools at 40 and above. That’s because school districts don’t get complete reimbursement for meals provided through the program, so deciding which schools to enroll is a carefully calculated process.

“The point is just to break even,” Cabe said. “That’s what we want.”

The federal government multiplies the percent of students who directly qualify for free and reduced lunch by 1.6, and the resulting number, up to 100, determines what percentage of the food costs are reimbursed at

the free rate. The rest are reimbursed at the paid rate, which is a whole lot less. If the program loses money, then the school system has to pick up the tab.

Cabe is hopeful that the four schools Jackson has selected will have the numbers to make it work. The percentage of students there who directly qualify ranges from 57 to 65 percent, which is pretty high. The magic number — the percentage at which all food costs can be claimed at the free rate — is 62.5 percent.

But schools can decrease their costs by increasing the number of students who eat the meals. That’s what Cabe is hoping to see happen in the Jackson County schools using the program next year. Currently, 27 percent of students eat breakfast at school and 60 percent buy school lunch.

Participation has definitely increased at Haywood County schools using the Community Eligiblity Provision, Francis said.

At Central Elementary, about 82 percent of students eat breakfast, and 87 percent buy lunch. That lunch stat is up from 81 percent before Haywood adopted the program.

Numbers have shot up at Central Haywood High as well. Breakfast participation has increased 11 percent, from 55 to 66 percent, and lunch has gone up 9 percent, from 75 to 84 percent.

Francis has nothing but good things to say about the program as it stands now.

Paperwork has decreased, more kids are getting food and she hasn’t had to shoulder any increased staffing costs. But both Central Elementary and Central Haywood have direct qualification rates around 60 percent, which means about 96 percent of their costs are reimbursed at the free rate.

Francis said she’d be cautious about implementing the program in any more of Haywood County’s schools.

“The rest of our schools are closer to the 50 [percent] range, so the possibility of losing a lot of money at these sites is just too risky,” she said.

Cabe knows it’s a risk, but she’s hopeful of seeing success.

“We’ll see what happens,” she said, “but I’m really confident we can make this work.”

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Invited guests include Lt. Gov. Dan Forest and Principal Chief Michell Hicks of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Grammy award-winning musician and TV host David Holt will serve as master of ceremonies.

A coin exchange, where the public can trade their cash for $10 rolls of new Blue Ridge Parkway quarters, will take place after the ceremony.

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Smoky Mountain News

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The Smoky Mountain News that “the planning department has always had that responsibility (to enforce the ordinance)” and that he’s “not sure why a statement was made to the contrary.”

The upshot is that since 2011, nobody has been enforcing the ordinance that outlines restrictions for construction on steep slopes. And that’s apparently not the only oversight present in Elders’ department.

Commissioners had also learned that Elders failed to collect affidavits from builders exempt from needing a general contractor’s license since affidavits were first required in 2011.

All that has commissioners wanting to know what’s really going on.

“These things have bothered me personally,” said Commissioner Vicki Greene. “You put trust in people. You trust that they’re doing their job and you end up questioning that trust.”

Benchmark, which Jackson County identified through the N.C. Association of County Commissioners, expects to start work in midJuly, bringing a team of three up from Charlotte for two days. A report would be issued within four months, possibly sooner, and the team would present the results to commissioners during a public meeting.

Elders has certainly been in hot water over the discovery of the lapse in steep slope and contract license requirement enforcement, but what about Wooten, whose job it is to oversee the department heads?

When asked, both McMahan and Greene voiced a vote of confidence in the county manager.

“At this time, no, I don’t have any concerns,” McMahan said. “I feel like Mr. Wooten has done his job.”

Though Greene affirmed that it is the county manager’s job, when county commissioners adopt policies, to “assure (commissioners) those policies are being adhered to, that they are being administered correctly,” she agreed with McMahan.

“I can’t say that I do have any concerns about how Chuck was doing his job in relation to this,” she said.

June 24-30, 2015

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER uestions about how well the Jackson County Permitting and Code Enforcement Department has been executing its responsibilities prompted commissioners to unanimously approve a fixed $15,350 audit contract last week with the national firm Benchmark Planning.

According to the scope of work, Benchmark’s audit of the department will include a review of its structure, workflow, software system, reporting requirements and staff training.

“We’ve had questions raised about whether our code Tony Elders enforcement office is doing their job,” said Commission Chairman Brian McMahan. “Are they enforcing standards? Are they filling out applications and doing inspections and all the things that come along with that job? Are they doing what they’re supposed to be doing? The audit should give us a good picture of that.”

The questions arose during fallout from the departure of the county’s former planning director, Gerald Green, last month.

Green, who took a job as executive director of the Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission, had told The Smoky Mountain News that job dissatisfaction had been part of his reason for leaving. He’d felt that his role was not appreciated by county management and that his responsibilities had been siphoned off to the code enforcement department, which was created in 2011, shortly after Green’s arrival. The new department’s director Tony Elders was given the responsibility of permitting and enforcing the ordinances that Green had helped create.

Except, apparently, the mountain hillside development ordinance.

According to Green, County Manager Chuck Wooten had told him that Elders’ department would be in charge of enforcing the ordinance. Wooten denied that, telling

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Jackson approves audit contract for code enforcement office

@SmokyMtnNews 15

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Cashiers cell tower application pulled

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BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER week after a contentious planning board meeting discussing the merits of a proposed new cell tower in Cashiers, the company has informed Jackson County that it will be pulling its application.

But that doesn’t mean the issue is dead.

The company plans to file a new application later on, after commissioners vote on a draft ordinance that would replace current regulations on cell towers. The vote is expected later this summer.

During the planning process for the proposed tower, Charlotte-based Crown Castle said in an emailed statement, “it became

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Be heard A public hearing on the proposed cell tower ordinance is planned for 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, July 9, at the Jackson County Administration Building. A public hearing for June 25 that had been planned to discuss Crown Castle’s tower application has been cancelled, as the application was pulled. www.jacksonnc.org/planning.html.

tion building and will take a final vote in one of the meetings following that hearing.

A public hearing tomorrow (June 25) to take input on Crown Castle’s application has been cancelled following the application withdrawal.

Cashiers currently has one cell tower, located right in the village, but the lease is set to expire in September.

According to County Manager Chuck Wooten, Crown Castle has arranged with the current leaseholder to extend the contract until the forthcoming application can be discussed.

The tower as proposed in the original application, though shorter than the existing one, would improve Cashiers’ cell service over what’s there currently, a consultant hired by the county concluded.

However, the application had met Rick Barrs expresses his opposition to the proposed strong opposition from Rick Barrs, who owns property adjacent to the cell tower to the planning board. Holly Kays photo proposed site. The proposed tower would be just 140 feet from his property line, impeding his eventual plans apparent there are some concerns with the to build a group of cottages there, he said. current ordinance and that a new ordinance Meanwhile, property owner Mark Zachary, under consideration may address those who has held a lease with Crown Castle for issues.” two years while they tried to decide where Sarah Thompson, chair of the Jackson to locate the tower, said the site was chosen County Planning Board, said it’s likely for its overall maximization of coverage and Crown Castle favors the proposed ordidistance from existing houses in the area. nance because it more clearly spells out the Due to topography, he said, the proposed processes and standards than the current tower would have very little visual impact to one does.

Barrs’ property anyway.

“Our intent was to both make it easier to The planning board had voted to recomget cell coverage to the areas of the county mend approving the application but recomthat need it while also making it a smoother mended that Barrs and Zachary discuss process for the companies wanting to prochanging the tower’s location. They also vide that service,” Thompson said. asked that Zachary consider a higher tower.

The new ordinance would also give the At 120 feet, the tower would be high final decision-making authority on cell enough for the planned Verizon antenna to tower applications to a different body. provide excellent coverage, but any other Under the current ordinance, the planning antennae on the tower would just shoot board reviews applications, but it’s the into the trees. The county’s ordinance county commissioners who sit as a quasirequires that cell towers allow at least six judicial body to make the final call. Under different carriers to house antennae on the new ordinance, the planning board them in order to minimize the need for conwould sit as the quasi-judicial body. In a struction — Crown Castle had requested an quasi-judicial hearing, witnesses are sworn exemption to this requirement. in and evidence presented just like in a reg“While they were filing under the curular courtroom. rent set of rules, I think we gave them a lot Commissioners have planned a public to think about,” said Scott Baker, the hearing on the new ordinance for 5:30 p.m. board’s vice-chair.

Thursday, July 9, at the county administra-

Rep. Meadows ousted from chairmanship

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR .S. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Cashiers, recently paid the political price for not toeing his party line.

Meadows was removed as chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations last Saturday by Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform, for voting against a party-line motion on June 11.

“This action is the consequence of my no vote, but it’s a price I gladly pay,” Meadows said in a phone interview Tuesday from his Washington, D.C., office. “I made a commitment to the people of Western North Carolina to represent them and listen to them and side with them when voices here in Washington, D.C., conflict with the voices in Western North Carolina.”

Meadows was one of 34 Republican congressmen who went against House Speaker John Boehner’s directive and voted against a trade deal that would give President Obama expanded powers. This was the second time Meadows has challenged Boehner’s leadership — Meadows voted against Boehner for House Speaker back in January.

Chaffetz’s action to remove Meadows

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from his chairmanship occurred just one day after Meadows was in Haywood County leading a Congressional field hearing regarding an undercover sting to target bear poaching. Meadows was serving in his capacity as subcommittee chairman at the hearing on June 19 as he questioned wildlife officers about the tactics used during Operation Something Bruin.

After hearing numerous complaints from hunters in his region, Meadows called for the hearing to get to the bottom of the investigation. Meadows said he is determined to represent his constituency and make sure hunters weren’t entrapped by government agencies.

“The great thing about people of Western North Carolina is that they are salt of the earth people. And when you stick up for people who are your friends and neighbors they appreciate it,” he said.

Meadows will continue to serve on the committee and will continue to work on the Operation Something Bruin investigation

“I made a commitment to the people of Western North Carolina to represent them and listen to them and side with them when voices here in Washington, D.C., conflict with the voices in Western North Carolina.”

— Mark Meadows, R-Cashiers

behind the scenes.

“This was more about (Republican) leadership trying to punish me for bucking their directives more than my work on the committee,” Meadows said. “They know I’ve been one of the most active members on the subcommittee.”

Since the field hearing, Meadows has already been working with committee staff to follow up on requests for additional documentation from federal and state agencies.

His staff is sending out a letter to the U.S. Forest Service and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission to request documentation about the agencies’ procedures and tactics they employed and money they spent on the investigation. It’s documentation the agencies have agreed to give and they will have 30 days to respond to the letter.

With six other committee assignments, including two subcommittees for transportation and two for foreign affairs, Meadows said he doesn’t have time to feel sorry for himself.

“It really puts it in perspective to know in the last few days I’ve had to make two phone calls — one to someone who lost their sister in the Charleston shooting and another to someone who lost a sister to a drunk driver,” Meadows said. “So if all I lost was a subcommittee assignment, I still consider myself a blessed man.”

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Hunters claim entrapment, wildlife agents defend sting

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U.S Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Cashiers, listens to testimony at at congressional field hearing held June 19 at the Haywood County Historic Courthouse. Becky Johnson photo Meadows said. “Moreover, if we find things that weren’t handled properly, we can improve the system and make sure mistakes like this don’t happen again.”

Rusty McLean, a Waynesville attorney who represented the largest number of hunters charged in the operation, said the wildlife agents concocted and enabled the crimes in order to punish them.

“This is unconscionable,” McLean said.

“The function of law enforcement is the prevention of crime and the apprehension of

criminals. That function does not include the manufacturing of crimes.”

Most of those charged ultimately had their cases dismissed due to a lack of evidence, found not guilty or had their charges reduced to misdemeanors. But Meadows acknowledged that hunting offenses were indeed committed by some.

“There were some cases where real crimes were committed and these people need to be punished,” Meadows said.

Meadows also laid out ground rules for

PROTECTING WILDLIFE Operation Something Bruin was a joint operation of four state and federal agencies: U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission and Georgia Wildlife Commission.

Each agency had a turn to make a statement at the hearing, in which they defended their role

S EE B RUIN, PAGE 21

Hearing demands answers about bear poaching sting Rep. Mark Meadows holds hearing on ‘Operation Something Bruin’

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RATIONALE BEHIND THE INVESTIGATION The operation was originally portrayed as a way to put a stop to organized poaching rings that sell bear parts, but critics claim wildlife agents concocted this story line to justify an undercover operation.

“There is no instance of any bear part being sold. There was no evidence of organized poaching,” said Allyn Stockton, an attorney from Georgia who has defended some of the hunters charged in the investigation. “There was not the problem that was portrayed — it was more of a solution in search of a problem.”

Bear gallbladders are considered an aphrodisiac in Asian medicine, but demand that once drove poaching for gallbladders has waned.

“With the advent of drugs like Viagra, there is not really a market for bear gallbladders anymore,” Stockton said.

Wildlife agencies were grilled extensively on what evidence — if any — they had of a black-market trade on bear gallbladders based in the mountains.

“You were uncovering gallbladders that were being prepared to ship. You were hearing these gallbladders were being apprehended in other states as they were going out of the country. Is that what you are telling me?” Duncan asked the officers.

Gordon Myers, executive director of the N.C. Wildlife Resource Commission, said the agency had “compelling information” that such activity was occurring.

“Were these anonymous tips?” Duncan asked. “Or did you have someone come in and do an interview and they told you specific instances?”

“I do not know the source of the information,” Myers responded.

“Anyone can call in anonymously,” Duncan said. “There are

Smoky Mountain News

BY KATIE R EEDER SMN I NTERN recurring theme emerged in a congressional oversight hearing last week aimed at shedding light on the questionable tactics and motives of wildlife agencies behind the now-infamous undercover poaching sting known as Operation Something Bruin: where is the line between personal freedoms and governmental oversight?

U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Cashiers, called for the field hearing to get to the bottom of widespread complaints by hunters that state and federal agents overstepped at best — and engaged in outright deceit and trickery at worst — during an undercover investigation of alleged bear poaching rings from 2009 to 2013.

“The reason it raised my sensitivity was I heard a number of different stories that I guess just didn’t seem like America,” said Meadows, a member of the U.S. House Government Oversight committee.

The hearing, held in Haywood County, was the first time the four state and federal wildlife agencies involved in the

joint operation addressed the grievances against them.

Meadows was joined by U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan, R- South Carolina, and Rep. Doug Collins, R- Georgia, who were equally disturbed at the way the operation played out.

During the four-year investigation, undercover agents were deployed to infiltrate hunting circles in Western North Carolina and upstate Georgia. The operation has been widely condemned by hunters, with concerns ranging from the undercover agents’ misconduct and manipulation of court proceedings to shaky rationale for conducting the investigation in the first place.

June 24-30, 2015

BY B ECKY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER ore than 100 hunters and their supporters packed the historic Haywood County courthouse last week for the latest installment in the ongoing saga over Operation Something Bruin.

The multi-year undercover sting targeted bear hunters, allegedly to bring down poaching circles. But hunters claim they were the victims of entrapment in an overzealous dragnet.

The hunters have repeatedly spoken out, challenging the merits of the undercover sting and accusing wildlife officers of an unjustified fishing expedition. But this time, the stakes were higher. The hunters had landed an audience with the U.S. Congress — namely in the form of a field hearing by the House Congressional Oversight Committee.

“I hope we can shed some light on how this state and federal operation was held,” U.S. Congressman Mark Meadows, RCashiers, said at the outset of the hearing.

Meadows said he’s been hearing complaints for two years about strong-arm tactics of wildlife officers — including coercion, entrapment, trumped-up charges and shaky rationale for launching the probe in the first place.

“I do believe some of the conduct of Something Bruin needs to be examined,”

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Congressional hearing puts spotlight on Operation Something Bruin

the hearing at its outset.

“This is an honest-to-goodness congressional hearing and we have to treat it like one,” Meadows said.

Only invited panelists were allowed to testify — one panel representing the hunters and one representing the four state and federal agencies that partnered in Something Bruin.

The audience sported what was likely the highest concentration of camouflage, caps and work boots ever witnessed at a congressional hearing. Some in the audience were simply spectators wanting to catch the hoopla, but the vast majority were there in a show of solidarity.

“They were railroaded,” said Bryant Helton from Swannanoa, who made the trip to support hunters he felt were wronged.

“People’s rights were violated,” said Michael Stiles from Cherokee County, who described himself as a concerned hunter and fellow sportsman.

The hunting attire dominating the crowd made the suit-and-tie government agents all the more easy to spot.

Also on the scene were TV and newspaper reporters from half a dozen outlets.

Security was tight at the historic courthouse for the hearing. A portable metal detector was posted at the front door, and more than a dozen Waynesville police and Haywood sheriff ’s deputies were stationed in the hallways, on the stairs and around the perimeter of the main assembly room.

S EE POACHING, PAGE 20 19

POACHING, CONTINUED FROM 19

Smoky Mountain News

June 24-30, 2015

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people out there who do not want bears killed, period. And they will raise allegations at the drop of the hat to stop it from happening.”

Duncan posed the same question to the other agencies.

“What evidence was there?” Duncan asked.

“I don’t have specific evidence. I just know there were reports of that,” said Tony Tooke, regional forester with the U.S. Forest Service’s southern region.

“Sounds like hearsay,” Duncan replied.

The wildlife agencies also claimed they were getting reports from the hunting community that bears were being hunted out of season, caught in traps, lured with bait piles and exploited by unregistered private hunting guides.

Wildlife — like bears — are shared public resources but were being illegally depleted by those violating hunting rules, according to Tooke.

“The operation sought to end illegal conduct that denied others access to the benefits of public land,” Tooke said. “Law-abiding citizens, which include hunters, forest visitors and anyone else who supports wildlife conservation — all of these deserve access to these rich and valued pubic resources.”

Luis Santiago, an attorney for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said that agency also received reports and tips from the public about illegal bear hunting.

But Meadows was troubled that a major multi-year undercover investigation had been launched on the basis of tips and hunches. He wanted to know concretely rather than anecdotally how many tips there were and what they consisted of.

“You both said you got numerous phone calls. How many are numerous?” Meadows asked.

Tooke said he didn’t know if the number was documented.

Santiago didn’t know either.

“I don’t have that information. I would have to go and check on that,” Santiago said.

“So you are saying you think you got anonymous tips, but don’t know how many,” Meadows said.

Meadows put it on the list of follow-up information the agencies needed to produce.

“If you can let me know the number of tips you got from the public and when you got them,” he instructed.

Tooke said officers did investigate these concerns and make their own observations about possible ongoing illegal activity.

The source of tips aside, it’s the role of the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife to protect shared natural resources from exploitation, Tooke and Santiago said.

Santiago said pressure from poachers and the commercialization of black bear parts could lead to declining bear populations. Santiago’s reference to declining bear populations didn’t square with the data on the ground.

“How do you reconcile that with the North Carolina Wildlife Commission biologist who says that, quote, ‘The bear population is the highest it’s been in 100 years?’”

20 Meadows asked.

Hunters in the audience guffawed at the notion of declining bear populations, which are indeed at an all-time high in recent history.

Santiago clarified that he said the bear populations could decline if poaching continued.

“It may eventually have a negative impact in its population,” Santiago said.

But Meadows was not satisfied, saying what “may” happen is not a reason to launch an investigation of this scale.

“Why look in Western North Carolina?”

Meadows asked. “Because that could be true all over the United States, and we’re seeing an increase in population here.”

“My guess is that this was the result of the information received from the field by the different investigating agencies,” Santiago responded.

WAS IT WORTH IT? Many people have also questioned whether the scope of the investigation was justified considering that the majority of

“I don’t want to assign ill motives to anybody without good reason. But they basically moved those down to magistrates court to load them up,” Stockton said.

As a result of Operation Something Bruin, 55 people were accused of wildlife violations in North Carolina and Georgia — the majority of which were misdemeanors. Most of those charges were dismissed by local judges.

Some cases, however, have been moved to federal court, where there’s been a mix of not-guilty verdicts and convictions. But the charges are still largely misdemeanors.

“What Operation Something Bruin is in a nutshell is probably the largest mass misdemeanor operation in the history of law enforcement,” Stockton said. “I’ve never seen so much invested in a crime which our society and our laws hold at the lower end of the spectrum.”

Stockton said he’s seen death penalty cases that don’t get this amount of law enforcement.

Georgia attorney Allyn Stockton, who defended several hunters charged in Operation Something Bruin, speaks at the field hearing. Becky Johnson photo those charged were found not guilty or had their charges dismissed or reduced to misdemeanors.

Some defendants have also raised concerns about unfair prosecution. Some hunters who had their charges dismissed in state court were then recharged with federal crimes and taken to federal court in hopes of getting convictions there.

But after a string of not-guilty verdicts in federal jury trials, prosecutors worked in concert with agents to steer cases away from jury trials and instead have them heard before a magistrate judge who would be more likely to dish out convictions and jail time.

“I think law enforcement officers knew where they could get the most bang for their buck,” Stockton said, an insinuation tantamount to judge shopping.

“So you are saying they saw people getting off in a jury trial and said, ‘Well, let’s just do away with the charges that would entitle them to a jury trial and move them to a magistrate judge where they would get a verdict that’s more favorable?’ Is that what you are saying?” Meadows asked.

Some critics of the operation have said it cost as much as $2 million, but it is unclear where that number came from or if it was simply tossed out on conjecture and then repeated. None of the agencies reported a figure this high.

Santiago said the Fish and Wildlife Service spent less than $10,000 in material costs, not including the salaries of those involved in the investigation. Meadows questioned whether that number included everything the Fish and Wildlife Service put into the investigation, and Santiago said he would have to research what exactly the $10,000 included.

“So you prepared your testimony for this hearing, you didn’t get that number?”

Meadows asked.

Meadows also questioned the breakdown of the $70,352.23 figure Tooke reported for the Forest Service. The agency kept itemized receipts of the spending, but Tooke did not have those with him at the hearing.

Meadows said he wanted those sent to him.

For the state agencies, Myers said expenses came out to less than $12,000 for the

Wildlife Commission. Major Stephen Adams with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources said the agency had no direct costs besides the salary of the undercover officer, the supervisory oversight and what they spent in the takedown phase, which he estimated amounted to less than $5,000.

‘LESS THAN VOLUMINOUS’

RESPONSES Prior to the hearing, Meadows sent lengthy public records requests to the state and federal agencies. The requests asked for “all documents and communications referring or relating to Operation Something Bruin” going back to January 2009.

The letters asked the agencies to provide all the information by June 3, in advance of the hearing.

Meadows thanked the N.C. and Georgia wildlife agencies for cooperating.

But he was frustrated by a perceived lack of cooperation from the federal agencies. He criticized Tooke and Santiago for their agencies’ “less than voluminous” responses.

Santiago said aspects of the investigation are still pending and that prevented them from turning over related documents.

Meadows remained skeptical.

“I got no documents from you,” Meadows replied to Santiago. “Are you saying there is not one, single document you could have sent this committee that is not involved in an ongoing investigation?” he asked Santiago.

Santiago said the agency was still reviewing the documents to see what it could release without jeopardizing the investigation.

“Let me tell you what I’m concerned about,” Meadows began, holding up a letter from the Forest Service in one hand and from the Fish and Wildlife Service in the other hand. “How can I get two letters with the exact same wording, except for one sentence, within one day apart? How can I do that if there’s not a coordinated effort to make sure we didn’t get information? How does that happen, Mr. Santiago?”

“I cannot answer that,” Santiago responded.

“Mr. Tooke?” Meadows continued.

“We know that the committee has requested documentation,” Tooke said. “I think we have provided one or two.”

Meadows balked at this statement, pointing out that the Georgia agency has provided 40 gigabytes of data when complying with the request.

“Forty gigabytes and you provided two documents? One of which was just a list of federal charges. Would you say that that is really trying to be open and transparent, Mr. Santiago?” Meadows demanded.

Santiago began an explanation, but Meadows interrupted, asking for a yes-or-no answer.

“Was it open and transparent?”

Meadows asked.

“All I can say is that we have ongoing investigations and there …” Santiago started to say.

Frustrated, Meadows interrupted again and asked if Santiago was willing to send any documents that are

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A Haywood County courtroom is packed to the brim with hunters and other community members wanting to listen to the congressional hearing proceedings. Becky Johnson photo

cult questions.

“They pale in comparison to the questions that I’ve gotten by email, phone call,” he said.

“I face these people in the grocery store, and time and time and time again, I’ve been asked ‘Well, what are you going to do about it?’”

In a follow-up interview, Meadows emphasized this need to address people’s concerns and make sure the full story was told.

“It was about letting the voice of the people be heard,” he said.

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not tied up with ongoing investigations.

“Can I have all the other documents?”

Meadows asked. “Mr. Santiago, are you willing to agree to that?”

Both Santiago and Tooke agreed to send any requested documents to Meadows once reviews of them are completed as long as the documents are not related to ongoing investigations.

At the hearing’s conclusion, Meadows acknowledged that he had asked some diffi-

in protecting wildlife and natural resources.

“We are committed to doing our part to make sure we have sustainable populations of wildlife for the public to enjoy for generations to come,” said Tony Tooke, regional forester with the U.S. Forest Service. “Law-abiding citizens that include ethical hunters and forest visitors all deserve access to these rich and shared public resources.”

It’s undeniable that some rogue hunters were putting out bait to lure and shoot bears, as well as illegally trapping them, said Luis Santiago, special agent in charge for U.S. Fish and Wildlife.

“The people who do this are poachers, not hunters. They are not the hunters who have led the conservation successes we have seen over the last century,” Santiago said.

Allegations of entrapment are unfounded, according to Chris Myers, the director of the N.C. Wildlife Commission. He also defended undercover agents who shot bears illegally in the course of the operation.

He said it was necessary for agents to partake in the illegal hunting activities when they were along on hunts in order to maintain their cover. The collateral damage was unfortunate but worth it, he said. The handful of bears shot by undercover agents would ultimately save the lives of more bears in the long run.

for as low as

June 24-30, 2015

The conservative Meadows has always championed a limited government philosophy and government accountability to citizens. He said he couldn’t let allegations of government abuse go unchecked on his watch.

“For me, it is really about lack of trust in our government and hearing people’s concerns,” Meadows said after the hearing.

“They have to have an advocate and that

advocate needs to make sure they listen intently without passing judgment.”

Meadows emphasized that the hearing was not a denigration of law enforcement.

“I want to thank them for the role they play in not only protecting wildlife but the people they serve,” Meadows said.

However, Meadows said he was troubled by accounts from those arrested about the “extremely aggressive fashion” wildlife officers used, more akin to a raid on violent drug dealers than mountain old-timers accused of misdemeanor hunting violations.

“They swarmed the house like a SWAT team,” said Tony Smith, a hunter in Haywood County who was ultimately found not guilty of all his charges. “The conduct of the officers at our house was outrageous. They grabbed me by the arms and pulled me out of the house. They pushed past me wearing assault rifles and bulletproof vests. I was terrified because I was at home alone with my 9-yearold daughter.”

Smith said he repeatedly asked the agents to bring his daughter outside to him, but was ignored. Instead, his daughter was left inside with armed agents while the house was searched.

“They took you outside and you kept asking ‘just let my daughter come out?’”

Meadows asked.

“They never did acknowledge me asking for my daughter,” Smith replied.

“So they ignored you?” Meadows asked.

“Yes sir,” Smith asked.

“This SWAT team kind of swooping down, do you think that was disproportionate to the crimes that you were even charged with?” Meadows asked.

“Yes sir,” Smith answered.

“What kind of lasting effect did that have on your family?” Meadows asked.

“It has hurt our reputation in the community,” Smith said.

B RUIN, CONTINUED FROM 19

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Roller derby a big hit in the mountains

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Members of the Balsam Mountain Junior Roller Derby team practice for an upcoming bout. Katie Reeder photo

THE RULES OF THE GAME Games, called bouts, and are divided into jams that can last up to two minutes.

During a jam, each team has five skaters – one jammer and four blockers — on the track. One of these blockers can be designated as the pivot, meaning this skater can switch positions with the jammer.

The skaters race around the track as each team’s jammer tries to pass members

from the opposing team, which is how a team scores points.

Skaters must play offense and defense

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Smoky Mountain News

This physicality of the sport was another highlight for Hornbuckle, who said he likes to make hits on the track.

“You don’t get to do it a lot,” he said.

Smith and Bryant are excited to see their teams growing. They believe the sport teaches skaters valuable lessons that extend beyond the track.

“It teaches them how to fall down and get back up,” Bryant said. “It’s something you use in real life.”

Smith said roller derby feels empowering for many women, noting the physically demanding nature of the sport. She hopes the girls she coaches will gain self-confidence and learn they are capable of more than they may think.

“It’s a good feeling to do something you didn’t think you were going to be able to do,” she said.

Shackelford said the sport always brings new expectations for skaters, expectations that keep her excited to learn more and that teach her about dedication – even if that means being willing to fall, something she said was one of the challenging parts of roller derby.

“When you get hit, you just get back up and get back going,” she said.

Both the Lil’ Nemesisters and the Balsam Mountain team want to keep growing. The teams encourage new players to join whether or not they have any prior skating experience.

Bryant said she hasn’t met anyone who is willing to learn whom she can’t teach to skate. By the end of the first practice, most people are even ready to slide on their knees – provided they are wearing kneepads.

Although the Lil’ Nemesisters is an allfemale team, Smith said there are still ways for males to participate by becoming a referee or a non-skating official. Referees skate along the track and watch for penalties while the non-skating officials keep track of the points and run the penalty box, where players go if they have been called for a violation.

The Lil’ Nemesisters practice from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Sunday and from 5 to 6 p.m.

Wednesday at the Swain County Recreation Building in Bryson City. Contact Mary Smith for more details at 828.371.6252.

The Balsam Mountain team practices 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday and Thursday nights at the Smoky Mountain Sk8way in Waynesville. Call 828.246.9124 for more details.

June 24-30, 2015

BY KATIE R EEDER SMN I NTERN o hitting, punching, elbowing or tripping people — and definitely no biting or yelling at the referees. Fourteenyear-old Autumn Pine, or “Fall Out Girl” as she’s known on the track, will quickly tell you there are rules to roller derby.

“Everybody thinks you can punch and kick people,” she said. “But it’s not like that.”

Roller derby is all about strategy, said Katy Shackelford, one of Pine’s teammates whose skater name is “Anne E. Archy.”

The sport is gaining popularity as more skaters strap on kneepads, wrist guards, elbow pads and helmets to hit the track.

The Women’s Flat Track Derby Association lists roller derby as the fastest growing sport in America.

This trend seems to hold true in Western North Carolina, especially in the junior leagues. Pine and Shackelford’s team — the Lil’ Nemesisters — sprang up in Swain County just a year and a half ago under the Smoky Mountain Roller Girls.

Once only open to girls ages 11 to 17, the team recently started allowing 10-year-olds to play, one of the team’s coaches, Mary Smith, noted.

Smith said only four or five girls came to the first practice. She said some of them didn’t know how to skate in the beginning and had to hold onto each other’s arms.

“We’ve kind of been the bad news bears of roller derby,” she said.

With a roster of 18 skaters, the team has come a long way since then and recently won its first bout. Pine and Shackelford have also experienced individual success on the track, each earning awards for their play in some bouts.

Another local team, Balsam Mountain Junior Roller Derby in Haywood County, has grown as well. What began as an allgirls team for ages 11 to 17 in 2012 now boasts a co-ed junior team and even a Minis team that has skaters as young as 4 years old, Coach JoLynn Bryant said.

Bryant said this expansion came in response to popular demand.

“They’re sitting on the sidelines going, ‘I want to skate,’” she said.

Some of the boys on the co-ed team admitted they were initially surprised by how good their female teammates were, but 10-year-old Sebastian Hornbuckle said he likes seeing what the girls are capable of.

However, Chloe Alvarez said the girls know what they’re getting into when they sign up for a co-ed team.

“If you’re in roller derby, you sign up for the fact that it’s going to be hard,” she said.

“Boys play hard, and you have to be ready for that.”

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Local youth teams growing, building self-confidence

simultaneously as blockers try to keep the other team’s jammer from getting through while also trying to clear a path for their own jammer. It often looks like chaos, Smith said.

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Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

Symbols matter, and so does removing them

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African Americans.

As the child of parents from North and South Carolina who were born in the 1920s and 30s, I witnessed in my home how complicated racism is. My father was the son of a textile mill worker in a tiny South Carolina town, and my mom spent her pre-teen years doing farm work in eastern North Carolina. They both grew up when racism was the norm, when poorly educated white Southerners seldom rose above that Editor kind of thinking.

And yet they both did. When I was 11, my brother and I brought a Confederate flag home from our tip to Six Flags Over Georgia. I think it was because it was the cheapest thing we could find, plus we were both going crazy about Southern music like the Allman Brothers and The Marshall Tucker Band. We hung it in our shared bedroom.

I remember my mother telling me that some people would think us racist for doing so, but she didn’t stop us.

Until that time that aspect of what the flag stood for had not even occurred to me. I was too young to understand the intersection between Southern pride and racial tensions. A 100-and-something-year-old war long over was still causing problems? I didn’t get it.

Scott McLeod

omplicated. Ignorant. Entrenched. It’s easy to come up with words to describe the state of race relations in this country and especially in the South, but some come to mind more easily than others after what happened in Charleston last week. Dylann Storm Roof attended Bible study with black congregants of Emanuel AME Church in Charleston and then summarily gunned down nine of those in the group.

And once again we in this country are forced to confront the ugly reality of racism, compelled to search for ways to turn tragedy into change.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is leading efforts to remove the Confederate flag — a particularly pernicious symbol of our ignominious racial history — from statehouse grounds. Her call for the flag’s removal comes with the support of most of the state’s leading politicians, signaling what at this point appears to be a sea change in attitudes.

One lawmaker said his Christian faith and its call for love and inclusiveness trumped his respect for tradition and history. Our attitude toward symbols — like the Confederate flag — don’t get to the heart of the matter, but symbols do matter.

Emanuel AME is itself a strong symbol of defiance to slavery and racism. In 1909, Booker T. Washington spoke there, as did Martin Luther King in 1962. The church has been burned because it served as a gathering place for

Relationship – and innocence – lost, just like that

M

that he was black. It certainly was not the first thing I told her, or the second, or the third. I probably mentioned that he had recently bulked up in the weight room and had gained about 20 pounds of muscle. I surely told her that even though we spent a lot of time at the disco in Galax, Virginia, neither one of us could dance a Columnist lick. We laughed at each other without mercy. It didn’t occur to me to mention that he was black right away because I didn’t know it mattered. But it did.

“Wait a minute,” she said. “He’s BLACK!” “Yeah, why?”

“There is not a chance in hell that he will be allowed in our church,” she said. “There has never been a colored to set foot in that church, and there never will.”

She was angry, but she could see that I was in shock — and we both felt that everything was crumbling in that very instant, our few months together falling like numbers off a calendar until there was nothing left — so she

Chris Cox

any years ago, in a time and a place that seems so far away to me now, I courted a young lady and fancied I was in love. We were really just kids playing at being grown-ups, but we believed we were destined to spend eternity together.

We had even been playing around with the idea of marriage, and one night we began talking about plans — where, when, and how, right down to the kind of band we’d get to play at the reception. She ticked off her bridesmaids one, two, three, four — just like that — and wanted to know who I would have standing up there with me on my side of the aisle. It was all completely ridiculous, but we got caught up in the spirit of it like two kids playing house.

I named a couple of friends she already met and knew, and then there was my brother, and another friend named Steve that she had not yet met.

“You’ll absolutely love him,” I said. “He’s one of the funniest guys I know. We used to crack each other up riding up and down the roads all hours of the night looking for something to get into.”

She had a million questions. Where did he live? What did he do for a living? Did I have any pictures? What did he look like?

I cannot remember exactly how I told her

This kind of innocence had a reckoning for me in junior high school. Ricky was a friend, in my homeroom, and also black. Six or seven of us were “kicking” paper footballs around at our desks one morning before the bell rang. I offhandedly said something to him that ended with the word “boy.” Again, I was ignorant to the connotation, but Ricky was not. He ran over to my desk, grabbed me by collar, mad as hell, and said his father told him to never let a white person call him “boy.” The other guys separated us, but I was shaken.

No googling answers back then, so I talked to both my parents about what had happened. They explained how denigrating the word “boy” was to blacks in the South, how it symbolized a long history of being treated like an inferior just because of the color of one’s skin, how young punk Southern white boys would use the word to talk to men twice, three times their own age. I went to the encyclopedias we had and did some research on civil rights, slavery and the Civil War, a history lesson that began to open my eyes to many things.

Racism remains a particularly pernicious evil and removing its symbols won’t erase the problem. But just as the Confederate flag is symbolic for so many, so the act of removing it is an equally symbolic act. It matters, and I hope it happens.

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

Once I got started, I softened and Pretty soon she’d be telling me could not stop. I wish I backped-aled. A little. had been kinder, more “I mean, if he’s about HER black friends from understanding, and less your friend, I’m sure school (“we’ve fallen out of self-righteous, less he’s a great guy,” she angry. She was just said. “I mean, I’m touch”) or reminding me that telling the truth, just sure I would like him. repeating what she had Maybe we could her favorite singer was black, or heard all of her life. Her invite him out to dinassuring me that every race has experience had not prener sometime. Or — pared her for this conI know — we could “good ones” and “bad ones.” tingency. have like a party the But I was relentless. I weekend after the was probably more disappointed than angry, wedding and invite him to that!” but anger is so much easier to translate, espeI could see that she was genuinely excited cially at that age. Pretty soon she’d be telling me by this idea. I was still trying to get my feet about HER black friends from school (“we’ve back underneath me. I felt numb, and hardfallen out of touch”) or reminding me that her ened, like concrete. But I could feel outrage beginning to seep into the cracks where I could favorite singer was black, or assuring me that every race has “good ones” and “bad ones.” still feel something. It was quiet for a minute I could not stand it anymore, so I made or two, until the cracks widened enough for everything to pour in — disgust, pity, sadness, some excuse to go home early. I jumped in my car, started and revved it a couple of times, anger — and I was suddenly flooded. then pushed a cassette into the tape deck out I knew what I wanted to say, but didn’t of habit while she stood in the driveway, arms know exactly how to say it. I was still going folded. back over the past several months since we “There’s got to be some way for us to talk had met. How had this topic never come up? about this,” she said, as I backed out, and When you live in a small town in the South maybe there was, but by the time I got 50 feet and might very well go days at a time without down the street and looked into the rearview seeing a single black person, well, there is mirror, she was already gone for good. that. And when you’re young and you think you’re in love, you don’t venture far out of that (Chris Cox is a writer and teacher who little cocoon for a while. There’s that. But still. lives in Haywood County. His most recent “Let me be as clear about this as I can,” I book, The Way We Say Goodbye, is available said, puffing up. “I will never step foot in any in local bookstores and at Amazon. church where Steve is not welcome.” jchriscox@live.com.)

tasteTHEmountains Taste the Mountains is an ever-evolving paid section of places to dine in Western North Carolina. If you would like to be included in the listing please contact our advertising department at 828.452.4251 APPLE ANDY'S RESTAURANT 3843 Soco Road, Maggie Valley.

828.944.0626. 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Wednesday and Thursday. 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Friday and Saturday. Serving the freshest homemade sandwiches, wraps, and entrees such as country fried steak and grilled flounder. Full salad bar and made from scratch sides like potato salad, pinto beans and macaroni and cheese. www.appleandys.com APPLE CREEK CAFE 32 Felmet St., Waynesville.

828.456.9888. Monday-Friday 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Home to an extensive build your own sandwich menu as well as specialty salads, soups burgers and more. With local ingredients and made-from-scratch recipes using a variety of good-for-you ingredients Apple Creek Cafe is sure to become favorite lunch spot.

BLUE ROOSTER SOUTHERN GRILL 207 Paragon Parkway, Clyde, Lakeside Plaza at the old Wal-Mart. 828.456.1997.

Open Monday through Friday. Friendly and fun family atmosphere. Local, handmade Southern cuisine. Fresh-cut salads; slowsimmered soups; flame grilled burgers and steaks, and homemade signature desserts.

Blue-plates and local fresh vegetables daily.

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

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

828.452.1313. Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Carry out available. Located in downtown Waynesville, Bogart’s has been long-time noted for great steaks, soups, and salads. Casual family atmosphere in a rustic old-time setting with a menu noted for its practical value. Live Bluegrass/String Band music every Thursday. Walking distance of Waynesville’s unique shops and seasonal festival activities and within one mile of Waynesville Country Club.

BOURBON BARREL BEEF & ALE 454 Hazelwood Ave., Waynesville, 828.452.9191. Lunch served 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Dinner nightly from 4 p.m.

Closed on Sunday. We specialize in handcut, all natural steaks, fresh fish, and other classic American comfort foods that are made using only the finest local and sustainable ingredients available. We also feature a great selection of craft beers from local artisan brewers, and of course an extensive selection of small batch bourbons

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SUNDAY, JUNE 28

Somebody’s Child 298-06

Hot Dogs Ice Cream

June 24-30, 2015

Soda Shop

828.586.1985 • CLOSED MONDAYS

438 Skyland Drive • Sylva

Exit 85 to Skyland Dr., two blocks from McDonalds

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tasteTHEmountains and whiskey. The Barrel is a friendly and casual neighborhood dining experience where our guests enjoy a great meal without breaking the bank.

BREAKING BREAD CAFÉ 6147 Hwy 276 S. Bethel (at the Mobil Gas Station) 828.648.3838 Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturaday & Sunday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Chef owned and operated. Our salads are made in house using local seasonal vegetables. Fresh roasted ham, turkey and roast beef used in our hoagies. We hand make our own eggplant and chicken parmesan, pork meatballs and hamburgers. We use 1st quality fresh not pre-prepared products to make sure you get the best food for a reasonable price. We make vegetarian, gluten free and sugar free items. Call or go to Facebook (Breaking Bread Café NC) to find out what our specials are.

June 24-30, 2015

BRYSON CITY CORK & BEAN A MOUNTAIN SOCIAL HOUSE 16 Everett St.,Bryson City. 828.488.1934.

Open Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday and Sunday brunch 9 a.m. to 3p.m., Full Menu 3 to 9 p.m. Serving fresh and delicious weekday morning lite fare, lunch, dinner, and brunch. Freshly prepared menu offerings range from house-made soups & salads, lite fare & tapas, crepes, specialty sandwiches and burgers. Be sure not to miss the bold flavors and creative combinations that make up the daily Chef Supper Specials starting at 5pm every day. Followed by a tempting selection of desserts prepared daily by our chefs and other local bakers. Enjoy

craft beers on tap, as well as our full bar and eclectic wine list.

CATALOOCHEE RANCH 119 Ranch Dr., Maggie Valley.

828.926.1401. Family-style breakfast seven days a week, from 8 to 9:30 a.m. – with eggs, bacon, sausage, grits and oatmeal, fresh fruit, sometimes French toast or pancakes, and always all-you-can-eat. Lunch every day from 12 till 2 p.m. Evening cookouts on the terrace on weekends and Wednesdays (weather permitting), featuring steaks, ribs, chicken, and pork chops, to name a few. Bountiful family-style dinners on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, with entrees that include prime rib, baked ham and herb-baked chicken, complemented by seasonal vegetables, homemade breads, jellies and desserts. We also offer a fine selection of wine and beer. The evening social hour starts at 6pm, and dinner is served starting at 7pm. So join us for milehigh mountaintop dining with a spectacular view. Please call for reservations.

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

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

CITY BAKERY 18 N. Main St. Waynesville 828.452.3881.

Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday 8 a.m. to

Locals Love Apple Creek Café!

3 p.m. Join us in our historic location for scratch made soups and daily specials.

Breakfast is made to order daily: Gourmet cheddar & scallion biscuits served with bacon, sausage and eggs; smoked trout bagel plate; quiche and fresh fruit parfait. We bake a wide variety of breads daily, specializing in traditional french breads. All of our breads are hand shaped. Lunch: Fresh salads, panini sandwiches. Enjoy outdoor dinning on the deck. Private room available for meetings.

CITY LIGHTS CAFE Spring Street in downtown Sylva.

828.587.2233. Open Monday-Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Tasty, healthy and quick. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, espresso, beer and wine. Come taste the savory and sweet crepes, grilled paninis, fresh, organic salads, soups and more.

Outside patio seating. Free Wi-Fi, pet-friendly.

Live music and lots of events. Check the web calendar at citylightscafe.com.

THE CLASSIC WINESELLER 20 Church Street, Waynesville. 828.452.6000.

Underground retail wine and craft beer shop, restaurant, and intimate live music venue.

Kitchen opens at 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday serving freshly prepared small plate and tapas-style fare. Enjoy local, regional, or national talent live each Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m. www.classicwineseller.com.

Also on facebook and twitter.

CORK & CLEAVER 176 Country Club Drive, Waynesville.

828.456.7179. Reservations recommended.

4:30-9 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Tucked away inside Waynesville Inn, Cork & Cleaver has an approachable menu designed around locally sourced, sustainable, farm-to-table ingredients. Executive Chef Corey Green prepares innovative and unique Southern fare from local, organic vegetables grown in Western North Carolina. Full bar and wine cellar. www.waynesvilleinn.com.

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

828.926.1820 Open Daily 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., closed Tuesday. Family Style at Country Vittles is not a buffet. Instead our waitresses will bring your food piping hot from the kitchen right to your table and as many refills as you want. So if you have a big appetite, but sure to ask your waitress about our family style service.

FROGS LEAP PUBLIC HOUSE 44 Church St. Downtown Waynesville 828.456.1930 Serving lunch 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; Dinner 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. 5 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday. Frogs Leap is a farm to table restaurant focused on local, sustainable, natural and organic products prepared in modern regional dishes. Seasonal menu focuses on Southern comfort foods with upscale flavors. www.frogsleappublichouse.com.

JOEY'S PANCAKE HOUSE 4309 Soco Rd Maggie Valley.

828.926.0212. Joey’s is a family style restaurant that has been serving breakfast to

Welcome back. To 1932.

Come take a wagon ride with us, back to the beginnings of the Ranch. In celebration of our 82nd season, we’ll be serving up “Way Back When” dinners in an authentic re-creation of Mr. Tom o and Miss Judy’s first primitive fishing camp. Just call us for reservations, then come join us on June 26 for mountain trout and mountain music. And Cataloochee Ranch enjoy old-fashioned hospitality a mile high.

Smoky Mountain News

1 19 R anch D rive, M aggie Valley , NC 2875 1 | www.C ataloochee R anch.com | ( 828) 926-1401 298-103

APPÉTIT Y’AL N L BO

Salads • Sandwiches Daily Specials and more!

Menu items made fresh to order Enjoy our house-made desserts!

Monday - Friday 10:30 - 3:00

32 Felmet Street off N. Main St. in Waynesville

To Go Orders:

828-456-9888 26

828-456-1997 blueroostersoutherngrill.com

— Real Local People, Real Local Food — 207 Paragon Parkway, Clyde, North Carolina Monday-Friday Open at 11am

tasteTHEmountains the locals and visitors of Western North Carolina since 1966. Featuring a large variety of tempting pancakes, golden waffles, country style cured ham and seasonal specials spiked with flavor, Joey's is sure to please all appetites. Joey & Brenda O’Keefe invite you to join what has become a tradition in these parts, breakfast at Joey’s.

JUKEBOX JUNCTION U.S. 276 and N.C. 110 intersection, Bethel. 828.648.4193. 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Monday through Saturday; Sunday 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Serving breakfast, lunch, nd dinner. The restaurant has a 1950s & 60s theme decorated with memorabilia from that era.

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

828.586.3555. Open Tuesday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Wednesday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Hand-tossed pizza, steak sandwiches, wraps, salads and desserts. All made from scratch. Beer and wine. Free movies with showtimes at 6:30 and 9 p.m. with a Saturday matinee at 2 p.m. Visit madbatterfoodandfilm.com for this week’s shows.

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

828.926.1616. maggievalleyclub.com/dine.

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

PASQUALE’S 1863 South Main Street, Waynesville. Off exit 98, 828.454.5002. Open for lunch and dinner, 7 days a week. Classic Italian dishes, exceptional steaks and seafood (available in full and lighter sizes), thin crust pizza, homemade soups, salads hand tossed at your table. Fine wine and beer selection. Casual atmosphere, dine indoors, outside on the patio or at the bar.

Reservations appreciated.

RENDEZVOUS RESTAURANT AND BAR Maggie Valley Inn and Conference Center 828.926.0201 Open Monday-Thursday

TAP ROOM SPORTS BAR & GRILL 176 Country Club Dr. Waynesville 828.456.5988. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. Enjoy soups, sandwiches, salads and hearty appetizers along with a full bar menu in our casual, smoke-free neighborhood grill.

TOP RAIL WRITERS NIGHT RESTAURANT 67 Branner Avenue, Waynesville.

828.246.0053 Lunch served from MondaySaturday 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dinner served Tuesday-Thursday 5 to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 5 p.m. to midnight. Top Rail serves delicious Louisiana food while providing a friendly music venue for musicians of all ages. Feel at home no matter where you’re from. Greeting all customers at the door with a smile.

VITO’S PIZZA 607 Highlands Rd., Franklin.

828.369.9890. Established here in in 1998. Come to Franklin and enjoy our laid back place, a place you can sit back, relax and enjoy our 62” HDTV. Our Pizza dough, sauce, meatballs, and sausage are all made from scratch by Vito.

Located in beautiful downtown Sylva: 617 W. Main St. Sylva NC 828.586.3555

Check out upcoming movies at: 298-06

MON.-SAT. 8 A.M.

Summertime — and the livin’ is easy on our patio!

1863 S. Main Street • Waynesville 828.454.5002 Hwy. 19/23 Exit 98

3 E JACKSON ST. • SYLVA, NC

www.CityLightsCafe.com

LUNCH & DINNER 7 DAYS A WEEK

www.pasqualesnc.com

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Serving the freshest homemade sandwiches, wraps, and entrees with a full salad bar.

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner & Dessert

3483 SOCO RD. MAGGIE VALLEY

Over 250 different wines, olive oils and balsamics.

828.944.0626

Open Late!

Open Wed & Thur 11-7 Fri-Sat 7-7

DOWNTOWN SYLVA • NC 298-69

www.EvolutionWineKitchen.com

OUR CUSTOMERS

Say It ALL

“Best restaurant in the Waynesville Area.”

D.B. - Customer

“The ABSOLUTE best kept secret in WNC.” Jim B. - Customer

“Inviting Atmosphere, excellent food & service.”

Veronica C. - Customer

www.MadBatterFoodandFilm.com

VOTED BEST STEAK & DINNER MOUNTAINEER READERS’CHOICE AWARD

Smoky Mountain News

LUNCH, DINNER & SUNDAY BRUNCH Our food is scratch made, with local & organic ingredients when possible.

& More!

Open for Breakfast

ITALIAN CUISINE

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FREE MOVIES THURS. FRI. & SAT.

Pretzels Smoothies

MEDITERRANEAN

WE ARE NOW

TWIN MAPLES FARMHOUSE 63 North Hill Street, Waynesville.

828.452.7837. Open for Sunday brunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Located just two blocks from downtown Waynesville, Twin Maples is available for weddings, receptions, family reunions, birthday parties, showers, luncheons, corporate meetings and retreats.

PHILLYS, PIZZAS, WRAPS, & STEAKS

NOW OPEN

11 Memory Lane • 828-454-6769 Game Room • Next to the pool

SMOKY MOUNTAIN SUB SHOP 29 Miller Street Waynesville 828.456.3400.

Open from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. A Waynesville tradition, the Smoky Mountain Sub Shop has been serving great food for over 20 years. Come in and enjoy the relaxed, casual atmosphere. Sub breads are baked fresh every morning in Waynesville. Using only the freshest ingredients in home-made soups, salads and sandwiches. Come in and see for yourself why Smoky Mountain Sub Shop was voted # 1 in Haywood County. Locally owned and operated.

FOOD FILMS FUN

Soda Shop Hot Dogs Ice Cream

11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m and Sunday 7:30 a.m to 9 p.m. Full service restaurant serving steaks, prime rib, seafood and dinner specials.

June 24-30, 2015

PAPERTOWN GRILL 153 Main St., Canton. 828.648.1455 Open 7 days a week 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Serving the local community with great, scratch-made country cooking. Breakfast is served all day. Daily specials including Monday meatloaf, chicken and dumplings on Thursdays and Friday fish.

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2014

454 HAZELWOOD AVE. WAYNESVILLE | 828-452-9191 Lunch 11:30am - 2:30pm | Dinner Nightly starting at 4pm | Closed Sundays 27

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A&E

Smoky Mountain News

The Art of Preservation

Stecoah Valley Center bridges past, present

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF WRITER eading down N.C. 28, between Bryson City and Robbinsville, is a flat stretch of highway, unusual to the continuous curves on this mountainous route. It indicates a valley, and just past a quaint diner, is a side road to your left, where a sign with an arrow points you in the right direction. You’re in the creative heart of Graham County. You’re at the Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center.

“We’re not in the middle-of-nowhere, we’re actually the center of everywhere here,” said Beth Fields.

As the executive director of the center, Fields and her colleagues lead the charge in the preservation and perpetuation of Southern Appalachian traditions in the county. Cruising down Schoolhouse Road, one immediately becomes immersed within the 500-resident community of Stecoah, only to end up on the 10-acre grounds of the center.

What was once a K-12 school, the 1926 natural stone structure has become a hub of artists, music and public programs for visitors from near and far.

“Our mission is to serve the community and also restore the property,” Fields said. “Our purpose is to preserve Southern Appalachian culture.”

After it came to life in 1926, the school burned down a year later, only to be rebuilt and reopened in 1927. In 1994, due to consolidation of schools within the district, it Beth Fields closed. A few of years of abandonment turned into the county purchasing the property, to which it become the nonprofit artisan organization you see today.

“It really is a central place for people to come, especially for people from outside,” Fields said. “We have a large second-home population and this place is busy in the summer, and year-round, too, because we also have winter programs and an after-school for the children of Graham County.”

At the core of the center is their summer concert series, “An Appalachian Evening,” which brings in some of the largest names in bluegrass, roots and Americana music. The 10week Saturday night series has become an institution for musicians and music lovers, with sellouts and pack houses in the 325-seat auditorium not uncommon. Alongside a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, tickets have remained competitive to be able to

Want to go?

H

Acclaimed bluegrass group Balsam Range performing during “An Appalachian Evening” series at the Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center. www.stecoahvalleycenter.com

“You can tell when a place is loved and cared for, and you feel taken care of here, and in this community.”

— Beth Fields, Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center executive director

keep the series successful and engaging as it enters its 18th year.

“What I think makes us unique is how intimate the shows are,” Fields said. “And we’ve been very fortunate to be able to make it affordable to come to a show, to be able to sustain the bands we have here.” “‘An Appalachian Evening’ has been an amazing platform to expose new people to mountain culture the right way,” said Darren Nicholson, mandolinist for 2014 IBMA “Entertainer of the Year” group Balsam Range.

“Where better to hear the finest musicians these mountains have to offer than in one of the prettiest places on earth? We appreciate all the hard work the people at the Stecoah Valley Center do to preserve our folk heritage in every facet — it’s one show I look forward to every year.”

Atop that, the center is also a big proponent of the Junior Appalachian Musicians (JAM) program that puts string instruments and instruction into the hands of area youth.

“Kids would learn how to play music by sitting on the porch and listening to pickers, but that tradition, like weaving and quilting, is waning,” Fields said. “And with JAM, we give them a sense of where they come from, a boost of self-esteem when they get up in front of people and play. We’re making sure these traditions are staying alive, and thriving, for future generations — it’s important.”

With the schoolhouse now restored, the next step in the master plan is to work on the nearby gymnasium, expand the playground,

move the outdoor pavilion and also incorporate a handful of interpretive stations along the center’s nature trail. Add that to their numerous art classes, a theater program and artisan gallery, and the property is well on its way to having its ultimate dreams come to fruition.

“We’ve grown every year, not just in our programs, but in the people who come through the door, too,” Fields said. “Everybody in the

“An Appalachian Evening,” a summer concert series, will return to the Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center, just outside of Robbinsville.

Performers will include The Special Consensus June 27, Buncombe Turnpike July 4, Town Mountain July 11, The Snyder Family Band July 19, The Walking Roots Band July 25, Balsam Range Aug. 1, Mac Arnold & Plate Full O’Blues Aug. 8, The Jeff Little Trio Aug. 15, Henhouse Prowlers Aug. 22 and The Kruger Brothers Aug. 29.

Season tickets are $150, with separate show ticket prices varying. www.stecoahvalleycenter.com or 828.479.3364.

community is able to get to know each other, able to come together and work together towards progress.”

Fields noted that total attendance last year for “An Appalachian Evening” was 2,510, with the center tallying 15,500 visitors. Compare that to the 500 folks in Stecoah, and the 8,800 people in the entire county, and you have a location that not only uplifts those it serves, it also remains as a beacon of culture and tradition for all lucky enough to step in its light.

“Stecoah is a tightly-knit place, with the center able to be a bridge between the old locals and the new ones,” Fields said. “You can tell when a place is loved and cared for, and you feel taken care of here, and in this community.”

Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center. www.stecoahvalleycenter.com

Art tour, classes The “Stecoah Artisans Drive About Tour” will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 26-27. Attendees visit and explore numerous galleries and artisans. For more information on the tour, and on the numerous children and adult programs offered year-round at the center, click on www.stecoahvalleycenter.com.

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great-granddaughter of Horace Kephart, will offer presentations on Horace Kephart

Saturday, June 27th • 3 p.m.

3 EAST JACKSON STREET • SYLVA

828/586-9499 • citylightsnc.com

Helping You Find Your Next Rental Home

50

% OFF

“So we ask, ‘Do you like it?’ ‘Does this wine make room for more happiness in your life right now?’”

Application fee with offer code SMN2015

Call or click for available properties

828-456-6111

www.selecthomeswnc.com

— Maleah Pusz, Bosu’s co-owner

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the students were learning at WCU. They wanted to know what’s new in the paper, how we track down story leads, and what I have found to be the most interesting aspects of my profession.

“Wine invites you to pause and reflect on the beauty of just here and just now,” Pusz said. “Sacraments are passed through tradition not because we know what they mean, but because they allow us to become new each time. Who you become as a result of experience or education can change. In fact, we’re all changing all the time. White zinfandel drinkers become Riesling fans become fruit-forward merlot guzzlers become dusty Chianti sippers become Riesling fans again.”

Two hours later, I found myself exchanging contact information with everyone at my table. I truly did (do) look forward to crossing paths with them again. Perhaps even write a feature about the farm, which is planning to open a winery in the near future. The room was filled with laughter and hearty conversation — the exact reasons I think God gave us wine. And as I stood up to leave, I looked down at the name cards all around the table, all those faces I did not know before tonight. All friends were strangers at one time, I thought.

“It’s a very spiritual thing when I write a name down on a place card. It’s a prayer that the person is able to attend, that they have a great time, and feel as much a part of a family as we do to them,” Pusz said.

Editor’s Note: For more information about Bosu’s Wine Shop, upcoming tastings, and more, click on www.waynesvillewine.com.

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Fly Fishing the South

Smoky Mountain News

HOT PICKS 1 2 3 4 5

George Ellison & Libby Kephart Hargrave

June 24-30, 2015

fixed my hair in the rearview mirror and exited the truck.

Heading up the steps, I was already five minutes late when I reached for the doorknob. Leaving the heat of a sizzling Thursday afternoon last week in downtown Waynesville, I entered the cool air of Bosu’s Wine Shop.

“Well, there you are,” smiled Maleah Pusz.

Co-owner of Bosu’s, Pusz stands proudly in the center of the room, surrounded by three tables full of curious and jovial souls from Haywood County and beyond. This evening was the 23rd annual “Noble Zin” tasting. “Zin” as in zinfandel, with eight wines ready to be tested, discussed and, most of all, enjoyed.

“So we ask, ‘Do you like it?’ ‘Does this wine make room for more happiness in your life right now?’” she said. “We offer the best kinds of signposts we’d appreciate on that journey or this one, all the while knowing that what we provide is as necessary as water, but as rudimentary as rain.”

Located on Miller Street, tucked away under a row of trees heading The “Week of Rock” celebration will run at 8 p.m. towards Frog Level, the June 26-July 4 at Nantahala Brewing Company in shop has been an iconic Bryson City. space of celebration between the business and The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ 40th the community for over two annual Pow Wow will be held July 3-5 at the decades — a two-way street Acquoni Expo Center. of friendship and support.

Bluegrass/country legend Ricky Skaggs will “There’s something difperform at 7:30 p.m. July 3 at the Smoky Mountain ferent here in Haywood Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

County in how we treat each other,” Pusz said. “Though The “Art Uncorked” paint and wine-tasting event we are a community of will be held at 5:30 p.m. June 26 at the Charles natives and transplants, Heath Gallery in Bryson City. there is this cohesiveness that is found nowhere else.”

The “Singing In The Smokies” Independence Seeing as I was a bit Weekend Festival will run from July 2-4 at tardy to the tasting, it was Inspiration Park in Bryson City. easy to find my seat. It was one of the vacant chairs “Ok, everybody is here — welcome to towards the back of the room. I sat down our ‘Noble Zin’ tasting,” Pusz said with her and scanned the crowd. A lot of older folks, trademark cheerfulness, one that is as where white hair and well-earned wrinkles authentic in style and grace as the bottles dotted my field of vision. It appeared I was stacked on the wine shelves. the youngest taster there, and by many Bosu’s co-owner Tony Gaddis then years. But, the last three remaining seats at popped open the first bottle, walking the table would soon be filled. A young couaround each table, introducing the vineple and their friend/neighbor suddenly yard and what to expect when the liquid entered the shop.

Bookstore

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BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

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arts & entertainment

This must be the place

hit your palette. Coming into their second year of ownership, Pusz and Gaddis are seamlessly filling the big shoes of previous owner Robert “Bob” Dune. It is a friendship of the utmost sincerity and pure intent, where the duo act as plate spinners with what needs to be attended to at every juncture of the tasting. It is that attention to detail and customer service that will ultimately propel Bosu’s into the next 23 years of operation.

“Wine should be fun and it should remain sacred. We exist because we believe the pleasure and joy in sharing wines exists without sacrifice,” Pusz said. “That is, without sacrificing exactly who you are and where you are at the moment, you join the table. The experience is sacred, yes, yet you arrive to receive it exactly as you are.”

And with that, I started opening up to those sitting nearby. The younger couple runs an organic farm just south of Canton.

Their friend runs a coffee roastery in Whittier. And the older gentleman to my immediate right was a professor of communications at Western Carolina University. I was intrigued about how the farm was going, what Whittier is up to these days, and what

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Two locations to serve you ASHEVILLE 252.3005

WAYNESVILLE 251.9721

www.hunterbanks.com

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On the beat arts & entertainment

Nantahala Brewing pours ‘Week of Rock’ The “Week of Rock” celebration will run at 8 p.m. June 26-July 4 at Nantahala Brewing Company in Bryson City.

Performers include The Liz Nance Trio (Americana/bluegrass) June 26, Franklin’s Kite (rock) June 27, Sol Driven Train (AfroCaribbean) June 28, Buchanan Boys (rock) June 29, Dogwood Winter (roots/soul) June 30, The Get Right Band (funk/soul) July 1, Zero Chiefs (rock/funk) July 2 and Jamie Kent (singer-songwriter) July 3.

The “Week of Rock” will conclude with the “Music on Tap” celebration on July 4. Performers include Positive Mental Attitude (funk/rock) at noon, Through the Hills (Americana/bluegrass) 4 p.m. and Owner of the Sun (Americana) 8 p.m.

Other activities include craft beer releases, cornhole, and more.

Free. www.nantahalabrewing.com or 828.488.2337.

Owner of the Sun will play during Nantahala Brewing’s ‘Week of Rock’ series on July 4. Garret K. Woodward photo The Enso String Quartet.

Juergen Frank photo

Smoky Mountain News

June 24-30, 2015

The Inspirations.

RICKY SKAGGS TO PERFORM JULY 3 IN FRANKLIN Bluegrass/country legend Ricky Skaggs will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 3, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. A 14-time Grammy winner, Skaggs has numerous No. 1 hits on the country and bluegrass charts throughout his long and bountiful career. Tickets start at $25. 866.273.4615 or www.greatmountainmusic.com.

Medieval, Renaissance recital at WCU

The faculty of the Mountain Collegium Music Workshop will perform a recital of medieval, renaissance, baroque and contemporary music on early and folk instruments at 8 p.m. Thursday, July 2, at the Cullowhee Baptist Church adjacent to the campus of Western Carolina University.

The musicians and their instruments include Lisle Kulbach, Holly Maurer, Gail Ann Schroeder (violas da gamba); Valerie Austin, Jody Miller, Patricia Petersen, Gwyn Roberts and Anne Timberlake (recorders); Erik Schmalz (sackbut); Lorraine Hammond and John Maschinot (harp and folk instruments); Robert Bolyard (voice and viola da gamba); and Jack 30 Ashworth (harpsichord and viola da gamba).

Donated photo

Inspirations present ‘Singing In The Smokies’

Chamber music series celebrates 46 years

The “Singing In The Smokies” Independence Weekend Festival will run from July 2-4 at Inspiration Park in Bryson City.

Hosted by Appalachian/gospel group The Inspirations, the event will also feature live music from The Kingsmen, Troy Burns Family, Dixie Echoes, The Chuck Wagon Gang, The McKameys and Smoky Mountain Reunion.

Tickets are $20 per day, per adult. Children ages 12 and under are free.

For a full schedule of events, click on www.theinspirations.com.

The Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival presents its 46th season to the listeners of Western North Carolina.

The five-week festival will perform concerts at 7:30 p.m. July 5, 12, 19 and 26 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre. There will also be a show on Aug. 2 at the First United Methodist Church. Both venues are in Waynesville. All events are at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $25 for individual tickets and $100 for a series ticket.

Students 25 and under are admitted free with appropriate student ID. www.swannanoachambermusic.com or 828.452.0593.

The summer Mountain Collegium Early Music and Folk Music Workshop at WCU offers classes in recorder, viol, voice and other early instruments as well as classes in folk, Appalachian, Celtic, Sephardic and contemporary music. The teaching organization’s site can be found at www.mountaincollegium.org.

Admission to the concert is free, but donations to the Gerald R. Moore Mountain Collegium Scholarship are accepted.

404.314.1891 or recorder96@gmail.com.

Dulcimer U returns to WCU Registration is ongoing for Western Carolina University’s 16th annual Dulcimer U Summer Week, a gathering that brings

mountain dulcimer virtuosos and students to the campus in Cullowhee for six days of classes and concerts.

The year’s conference, set for July 1924, will feature an instructional staff of nationally recognized musicians and performers, including hosts Larry and Elaine Conger. A variety of classes will be held during the week, and participants will get to choose the group that is best for them based on their ability level and the skills they wish to improve.

Special classes will include “Dulcimer Building” with Bob Magowan, “Caregiving and Comfort Using the Mountain Dulcimer” with Lorinda Jones, “Learning to Teach the Mountain Dulcimer” with Judy House and Joe Collins, “Exploring our Dulcimer Heritage” with Aubrey Atwater, and “Mountain Dulcimer Ensemble” with the Congers.

The schedule for July 23 includes a mountain dulcimer concert featuring the instructional staff playing “in the round.”

The show, which is open to the public, begins at 7 p.m. in the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center. Tickets, priced at $10 for the public and $5 for WCU faculty, staff and students, are available by calling the Bardo Arts Center box office at 828.227.2479 or www.bardoartscenter.wcu.edu.

Registration that includes all confirmed classes, materials, staff concerts and other events is $350 per person. On-campus accommodations and meals packages are available for an additional $349 for singleoccupancy rooms and $299 for double-occupancy rooms. www.dulcimeru.wcu.edu or 828.227.7397.

On the beat • Andrews Brewing Company will have Heidi Holton (blues/Americana) June 26, Pierce Eden & The Dirty Work (Americana/folk, $5) June 27 and Mangas Colorado (Americana/bluegrass, $5) July 4. All shows are free, unless otherwise noted. www.andrewsbrewing.com.

• BearWaters Brewing (Waynesville) will have Pabulam June 27, Calvin & The Funk July 3 and The Blue Ribbon Healers 6 p.m. July 4. All shows are at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.bwbrewing.com or 828.246.0602.

ALSO:

Alabama will play Harrah’s July 2. Donated photo Country superstars Alabama will perform at 8 p.m. Thursday, July 2, at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort.

They reeled off 21 straight No. 1 singles, a record that will probably never be equaled in any genre. They brought youthful energy and a rocking edge that broadened country's audience and opened the door to self-contained bands from then on, and they undertook a journey that led, 73 million albums later, to the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Alabama is best known for southern anthem staples like “Dixieland Delight,” Song of the South,” “Mountain Music” and revered for love ballads like “When We Make Love” and “Feels So Right.”

Tickets start at $75. Ages 21 and over. www.harrahscherokee.com.

• Big Wesser BBQ (Nantahala Outdoor Center) will have Tellico June 26, The Pioneer Chicken Stand Band June 27, Grits & Soul (bluegrass/folk) July 3 and Playing on the Planet (indie) July 4. All shows begin at 6 p.m. www.noc.com.

• Bogart’s (Waynesville) will have live bluegrass/string music at 6:30 p.m. on Thursdays. 828.452.1313.

• Boojum Brewing Company (Waynesville) will have an open mic night at 8:30 p.m. on Mondays in their downtown taproom. Free.

828.246.0350 or www.boojumbrewing.com.

• The Bryson City Train Depot “Music in the Mountains” concert series will have The Lonesome Sound (bluegrass/Americana)

June 27. Free. www.greatsmokies.com.

• Canton Recreation Park will have “Pickin’ in the Park” from 7 to 10 p.m. on Fridays. www.cantonnc.com or 828.648.2363.

• Classic Wineseller (Waynesville) will have Joe Cruz (piano/pop) June 26 and The Jazz Cats Trio June 27. All shows begin at 7 p.m.

828.452.6000 or www.classicwineseller.com.

arts & entertainment

Alabama brings hit country to Harrah’s

• The Concerts on the Creek (Sylva) series at Bridge Park Pavilion will have the 96.5 House Band (classic rock/pop) June 26 and Dashboard Blue (rock/classic pop) July 3. All shows are free and begin at 7 p.m. www.mountainlovers.com.

• Eaglenest (Maggie Valley) will host American Pride at 8 p.m. July 3. $15. www.maggievalley.org.

• Friday Night Live (Highlands) summer concert series will have Southern Highlands June 26 and Johnny Webb Band July 3. All shows are free and begin at 6 p.m. www.highlandschamber.org.

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will have Chris Minick (singer-songwriter) June 25, Hunter Grigg (singer-songwriter) June 26 and Bobby G June 27. All shows are free and begin at 7 p.m., unless otherwise noted.

828.454.5664 or www.froglevelbrewing.com.

June 24-30, 2015 Smoky Mountain News

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arts & entertainment

On the beat

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• Groovin’ on the Green (Cashiers) summer concert series on the Village Commons will have Mangas Colorado (Americana/bluegrass) June 26 and Erica Nichole (country) July 10. All shows are free and begin at 6:30 p.m. www.facebook.com/gcamaevents. • Holly Springs Baptist Church (Franklin) will have its Blue Ridge Gospel Weekend June 27-28. Performances by Blue Ridge, Aaron Wilburn and Rob Mills Family. www.franklinchamber.com. • Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will have an Open Mic night June 24 and July 1, a jazz night with the Kittle/Collings Duo June 25 and July 2, The Vanguardians (progrock/fusion) June 27 and Bird In Hand (Americana/folk) with Rye Baby (bluegrass/folk) July 4. All events begin at 8 p.m. www.innovation-brewing.com.

ALSO:

• Lazy Hiker Brewing Company (Franklin) will have Nitrograss (Americana/bluegrass) at 8 p.m. June 27. www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

Smoky Mountain News

• Papertown Country Music & Dance Parlor (Canton) will have live music and dancing from 7 to 10 p.m. on Saturdays. Admission is $8. 828.736.8925. • The Pickin’ on the Square (Franklin) summer concert series will have Charlie Horse (Americana/variety) at 7:30 p.m. June 27. An open mic starts at 6:30 p.m. Free. www.franklinnc.com. • The Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub (Franklin) will host David Spangler July 3, Pam McCall July 10 and DJ Justin Moe 9 p.m.

July 11. All shows are at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.rathskellerfranklin.com. • The Rendezvous at the Maggie Valley Inn will have The French Broads (Americana) at 3 p.m. June 28, Stone Crazy (rock/pop) 6 p.m. July 3, Ashli Rose (singer-songwriter) 4 p.m. July 4 and SmokeRise (southern rock) 3 p.m. July 5. 828.926.0201.

• Macon County Public Library (Franklin) will host Marshall Ballew (Americana) at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 1. The event will be a 20th century journey through the American songbook, from ragtime to jazz, blues to gospel. Free. www.reverbnation.com/marshallballew.

• Saturdays On Pine (Highlands) summer concert series will have Porch 40 (rock/funk) June 27 and Fritz Beer & The Crooked Beat (Americana) July 4 in Kelsey-Hutchinson Park. All shows are free and begin at 6 p.m. www.highlandschamber.org.

• The Maggie Valley Opry House will have legendary banjoist Raymond Fairchild at 8 p.m. nightly through October. Admission is $12. www.raymondfairchild.com or 828.926.9336.

• The Stompin’ Ground (Maggie Valley) is now open for live mountain music and clogging at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

828.926.1288.

• Marianna Black Library (Bryson City) will hold community music jam from 6 to 7:30 p.m. July 2. Anyone with a guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dulcimer, anything unplugged, are invited to join. Singers are also welcomed to join in or you can just stop by and listen. Free. 828.488.3030.

• Stuart Auditorium (Lake Junaluska) will have 2014 IBMA “Entertainer of the Yearâ€? Balsam Range (bluegrass/Americana) at 7:30 p.m.

July 2. 800.222.4930.

• Mountain Joy Ministries (Waynesville) will have the Caldwell Family “Singing in the Fieldâ€? at 4 p.m. June 27. 828.734.7188 or www.mountainjoyministries.com. • The “Music on the Riverâ€? concert series (Cherokee) will have A36 Band June 26, David Lambert June 27 and Amazing Grace Ministries July 3-5. All shows are free and begin at 7 p.m. 800.438.1601 or 828.359.6490. • No Name Sports Pub (Sylva) will have Humps & The Blackouts (psychobilly) June 26, The French Broads June 27 and Open Mic with Scott of Porch 40 June 30. All shows are free and begin at 9 p.m. 828.586.2750 or www.nonamesportspub.com. • O’Malley’s Pub & Grill will have karaoke June 26 and Somebody’s Child (Americana) June 28. www.facebook.com/omalleysofsylva.

32

• Oconaluftee Visitors Center (Cherokee) will have an old-time music jam from 1 to 3 p.m.

July 4. All skill levels welcomed. www.greatsmokies.com.

• Tipping Point Brewing (Waynesville) will have James Stinnett (singer-songwriter) June 26, ‘Round the Fire (Grateful Dead tribute) 8:30 p.m. July 3 and Kevin Fuller (Americana/folk) July 10. All shows are free and begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.tippingpointtavern.com. • The Ugly Dog Pub (Highlands) will have Porch 40 (rock/funk) June 27, Molly Stevens (singer-songwriter) July 3 and Fritz & The Crooked Beat (Americana) July 4. www.theuglydogpub.com. • The Village Green (Cashiers) will have the Smoky Mountain Brass Quintet as part of the Highlands-Cashiers Chamber music at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 24. 828.526.9060 or www.highlandschamber.org. • The Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will have Pabulum June 26, Humps & The Blackouts (psychobilly) June 27 and a local metal showcase July 4. All shows are free and begin at 9 p.m.

On the beat STRING QUARTET TO PERFORM IN HIGHLANDS The Serafin String Quartet will open the 34th annual HighlandsCashiers Chamber Music Festival at the Bascom Center for the Visual Arts in Highlands. There will be a performance at 6 p.m. June 28 ($213 per person, includes champagne reception and dinner) and 5 p.m. June 29 ($107 per person, includes champagne reception and art exhibition). They will also hold a free concert at 7:30 p.m. June 30 at Buck’s Coffee Café in Highlands. www.serafinquartet.org. Donated photo

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Smoky Mountain News

Sunday, June 28: 7 p.m.

THE MALPASS BROTHERS

In an effort to include as many campers as possible, officials of the Haywood County Arts Council have announced an extension of the registration deadline for JAM Camp 2015 to June 29.

The camp will be held from July 13-17 at Canton Middle School. The programs include daily instruction in guitar, banjo and fiddle at all skill levels and string band instruction for beginning, intermediate and advanced students along with sessions in mountain dance, songs and stories.

The Junior Appalachian Musicians Program (JAM) is an after-school offering for students in grades 4 and older throughout Haywood County. Sponsored by the

Haywood County Arts Council, JAM introduces young people to the music, the instruments, the dance and the cultural heritage of the mountains and encourages participation and support from the surrounding community to maintain and elicit pride in its rich Appalachian heritage.

Cost is $75, with limited financial assistance available along with “loaner” instruments as needed. To register, call the Haywood County Arts Council at 828.452.0593. The 2015-2016 JAM after-school program year will also begin in October with registration scheduled for mid-September.

JAM receives additional financial support from the N.C. Arts Council and is affiliated with Junior Appalachian Musicians, Inc., a nonprofit organization based in Independence, Virginia. www.haywoodarts.org.

June 24-30, 2015

A state-of-the-art entertainment facility, Eaglenest will have its grand reopening at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 27, in Maggie Valley.

The celebration and open house will feature a performance by Michelle Leigh. The event is free with a donation to CarePartners Hospice. Barbeque will be served during this family-friendly evening of music and festivities.

Eaglenest Entertainment is a music venue with two stages; one is a newly renovated indoor auditorium seating 800, while the other is a large outdoor stage with a capacity of 3,500. The venue will feature regular performances by Leigh, a regionally well-known country and rock artist who has been tapped to be the host band. In addition, national acts such as Shooter Jennings, Gene Watson, and Billy Bob Thornton are slated to perform at Eaglenest in the coming months.

Eaglenest’s managers intend for the venue to be a strong force not just in the music world, but also for the community at large. All proceeds from the open house event will benefit CarePartners Hospice, a program that exists to bring comfort, reduce fears, and make a difference in the lives of patients facing life-limiting illness, as well as their loved ones.

828.926.5000 or www.maggievalleyeaglenest.com Free.

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arts & entertainment

CHEROKEE

FOURTH OF

JULY in Southern Appalachia

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF WRITER

othing says summer more than the 4th of July, and in Western North Carolina, we celebrate Independence Day with gusto. Between majestic fireworks, sizzling hot dogs and hamburgers, cotton candy, games, live music and craft demonstrations, there’s a little of bit of everything for any and all.

So, grab your lawn chair, sunglasses and adventurous spirit, and enjoy this special day.

Smoky Mountain News

June 24-30, 2015

N

and the “NRC Family Whitewater Weekend” will run at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in the Nantahala Gorge. Free. www.noc.com.

• “Singing In The Smokies” Independence Weekend Festival will run July 2-4 at Inspiration Park. Hosted by Appalachian/gospel group The Inspirations, the event featuring live music numerous groups. $20 per day, per adult. Children ages 12 and under free. www.theinspirations.com.

• “Freedom Train” at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad will depart at 7:30 p.m.

July 4 at the Bryson City Depot. All ticket purchases of any class include a meal.

800.872.4681 or www.gsmr.com.

CANTON • “4th of July Celebration” begins at 6 p.m.

July 5 at Sorrells Street Park. Music, dancing, food and craft vendors. Fireworks at dusk.

Free. www.cantonnc.com or 828.648.2363.

BRYSON CITY • “Freedom Fest” begins at 8 a.m. July 4 in downtown with the Rotary International “Firecracker 5K.” Riverfront Park will hold children activities will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with live music all day until 9 p.m.

Fireworks show begins at 10 p.m. Free. www.greatsmokies.com/freedomfest.

• “NOC’s Sizzlin’ 4th of July” will be July 3-5

• “Fireworks Extravaganza on the Green” begins at 6:30 p.m. July 4 at the Village Green Commons. Farmer’s market, community activities and live music. Fireworks begin at dusk. Free, with donation to the Cashiers Community Fireworks Fund. www.villagegreencashiersnc.com.

Sat. July 4th Gates at 6pm

FONTANA VILLAGE RESORT

the Lake Junaluska Singers The “Star Spangled Salute” kicks off with a parade at 11 a.m. July 4. Children’s activities, barbecue, live music, and more. Fireworks at 9:30 p.m. www.lakejunaluska.com/july4th or 800.222.4930.

MAGGIE VALLEY

• “4th of July at Fontana Village Resort” will be July 3-5. The event features an array of family activities and live music throughout the three-day celebration. Fireworks at 10 p.m. July 4. www.fontanavillage.com.

• “Backyard 4th Celebration” will be from 6 to 11 p.m. July 4 at the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds. Fireworks at dusk. Free.

828.926.0866 or www.townofmaggievalley.com.

FRANKLIN

ROBBINSVILLE

• “An Evening of Red, White & Blues” concert with Mac Arnold & Plate Full O’Blues will be at 7:30 p.m. July 3 at the gazebo in downtown. There will also be a 3D projection of 4th of July imagery to be displayed on the clock tower at dark. www.townoffranklinnc.com.

• The “4th of July Parade and Celebration,” 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 4, in downtown. Parade starts at 10 a.m. with activities thereafter.

• The “Fireworks in the Park” will be a daylong celebration beginning at 1 p.m. July 4 at the Macon County Veterans Memorial Recreation Park. The event features community activities and live music. Fireworks at dusk. www.visitfranklinnc.com or 828.524.3161.

HAYESVILLE • “Fourth of July” celebration with Enchanted Music from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on the Hiawassee Square. Fireworks at the Brasstown Valley Golf Course on N.C. 76 at dusk. www.ncmtnchamber.com.

HIGHLANDS • “July 4th Fireworks,” 11 a.m. until dusk July 4, in downtown. Cookout, Rotary Rubber Ducky Derby at Mill Creek, live music, patriotic sing-along, and more. Fireworks at 9 p.m. Free. www.highlandschamber.org.

LAKE GLENVILLE • “Fireworks on Lake Glenville,” 7 p.m. July 3. www.cashiers411.com.

CASHIERS

Backyard

• “4th of July Fireworks” will be held at dusk on July 4 at the Acquoni Expo Center. The Cherokee bonfire will be at 7:30 p.m. at the Oconaluftee Island Park Bonfire Pit. www.cherokeesmokies.com.

LAKE JUNALUSKA • “4th of July Celebration” will be July 2-5 at the Lake Junaluska Conference & Retreat Center. There will be a concerts by 2014 International Bluegrass Music Association “Entertainer of the Year” Balsam Range and

• “Graham County Heritage Festival,” 11:30 a.m. to 11:15 p.m. July 3 and 9 a.m. to 11:15 p.m. July 4, Courthouse Square. Local bluegrass, lumberjack competition, motorcycle show, children’s activities, heritage demonstrations, and more. Friday opens with a veteran’s ceremony and parade. Free. www.grahamcounty.net or www.townofrobbinsville.com.

SAPPHIRE VALLEY • “10th annual Yankee Doodle Dandy Day,” 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 4, Sapphire Valley track and recreation center areas. Swimming, outdoor games, live music, children’s activities, food, pony rides, Horsepasture River Ducky Derby, and more. www.sapphirevalley.com.

• Concerts of the Slopes (Sapphire Valley Resort) will have the Highlands/Sapphire Men’s Chorus “A Patriotic Salute to America” show at 7 p.m. July 3. Tickets are $5. www.sapphirevalley.com.

SYLVA • “Fourth of July Celebration,” 4 to 10 p.m. July 4, downtown. Live music by Darren Nicholson & Friends with Grammy winner David Holt and The Business at the Bridge Park Pavilion.

There will also be an array of children’s activities, with fireworks at dusk. Free.

828.586.2155 or www.mountainlovers.com.

WAYNESVILLE • “Stars and Stripes Celebration,” 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 4, in downtown. Shops, galleries and restaurants open, with live music and entertainment. “Kids on Main Patriotic Parade” will be at 11 a.m. Activities include the “Main Street Cookout” and a performance by the Haywood Community Band. Free. www.downtownwaynesville.com.

Fireworks TOWN OF begin MAGGIE VALLEY’S at dark!

Free Admission

celebration

CELEBRATE INDEPENDENCE DAY in throwback style at Maggie Valley Festival Grounds

3374 Soco Rd. Maggie Valley, NC 28751 34

Alcohol free event - Coolers will be checked

For Details call 828-926-0866 or Visit townofmaggievalley.com

On the street

Cataloochee hosts ‘Way Back When’ dinner The “Way Back When” trout dinner will be held at 5:30 p.m. Friday, July 3, at the Cataloochee Ranch in Maggie Valley.

The dinner showcases a hearty meal, music, storytelling and atmosphere of a

• The Maggie Valley Swap Meet & Car Show will be held June 26-28 at the Festival Grounds.

For a full schedule of events, click on www.maggievalleyswapmeet.com or 423.623.2723.

ALSO:

• The Taste of Local Flavors will be from all day Thursday, July 2, at Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. Hosted by Mad Batter owner/head chef Jeannette Evans, the fundraiser will showcase culinary dishes made with locally grown produce, meats,

eggs and cheeses. Proceeds go to the Jackson County Farmer’s Market, who will also have vendors onsite during the tasting.

The Mad Batter itself will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. the day of event. www.jacksoncountyfarmersmarket.org.

Enjo Enjoy y an A Appalachian ppalachian D Dinner inner b before efore the concert concert Or make it a memorable memorable ‘Dinner W With ith TThe he Band Band’’

For Information and Tick ke ets, visit StecoahV hV Va alleyCenterr..com 828-479-3364

• The Mountain Street Dance will be from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Friday, June 26, in front of the Historic Courthouse in downtown Waynesville.

Old-fashioned mountain music and clogging.

Free. www.downtownwaynesville.com.

Smoky Mountain News

• The H Bar M Rodeo will be from 5 to 10 p.m.

July 3-4 at the Haywood County Fairgrounds in Lake Junaluska. Bull and bronco riding, barrel racing, roping, and more. www.haywoodcountyfairgrounds.org or 828.400.1704.

1930s Appalachian trout camp. Enjoy a wagon ride across the ranch property amid the authentic re-creation of Mr. Tom and Miss Judy Alexander’s first fishing camp.

Tickets for the event also includes food and beverage. The dinner will also be held July 17 and 31; Aug. 14 and 28; and Sept. 4 and 25.

828.926.1401 or 800.868.1401 or www.cataloocheeranch.com.

June 27 The Special Consensus July 4 Buncombe Tu urnpik ke July 11 Town Mountain July 18 Snyder Family Band July 25 The Walk a ing Roots Band August 1 Balsam Range August 8 Mac Arnold & Plate Full O’Blues August 15 The Jeff Little Trrio August 22 The Henhouse Prowlers August 29 Kruger Brothers

June 24-30, 2015

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ 40th annual Pow Wow will be held July 3-5 at the Acquoni Expo Center.

The event features world-champion dancers and drums competing for prizes. Vendors from across the country will offer food and arts and crafts items.

Dance competitions are open to participants in five groups and several categories including Traditional, Grass, Fancy, Straight, Jingle and Buckskin. There will also be Northern and Southern Singing prizes and a Hand Drum special. Age groups include “Golden Age” contestants (age 50+), men and women (age 18-49), teens (13-17), Junior (6-12), and tiny tots (under age 5). Specials include Men’s Fancy and Straight, Women’s Jingle, Old Style Fancy Shawl, Cowboy/girl and two Junior specials.

The Pow Wow opens at 5 p.m. Friday, July 3, with a grand entry at 7 p.m. The event continues at 9 a.m. Saturday, July 4, with the grand entry at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Gates open at noon Sunday, July 5, with grand entry at 1 p.m.

800.438.1601 or www.visitcherokeenc.com.

Stecoah.

Stecoah.

Summer r.

Summer.

G reat Music.

Music.

Great

arts & entertainment

Cherokee Pow Wow turns 40

• The second annual Disney theme night will be from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. June 25 at the Canton pool. Normal hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m.

Sunday. Admission is $3. The “American Block Party” theme night will be June 30 and July 2. 828.648.2363.

35

June 24-30, 2015

arts & entertainment

On the wall Documentary focuses on Cherokee preservation The film “First Language: The Race to Save Cherokee” will be screened at 3 p.m.

Saturday, June 27, at the Waynesville Public Library.

Around 14,000 Cherokee remain in their ancestral homeland in the mountains of North Carolina, but few among them still speak their native language, and no children are learning the language at home. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is now fighting to revitalize the language and come to terms with their native heritage in the context of the modern United States.

The documentary is about current efforts to revitalize the Cherokee language, a vessel of knowledge and identity for the Cherokee people. The Cherokee Indians of North America were once the dominant power in what is now the Southeastern United States.

The creeks, valleys and mountains of Southern Appalachia are reflected in their traditions, and in the rhythm of their speech.

Recognizing the imminent loss of their most powerful vessel of knowledge, identity, and world view, the Eastern Band of Cherokee are now taking extraordinary steps in a fight to preserve the language, including the establishment of a total immersion Elementary school. First Language documents a community coming to terms with a

heritage that predates the United States by thousands of years.

A film by The NC Language and Life Project, it was produced by Danica Cullinan and Neal Hutcheson. www.facebook.com/racetosavecherokee.

Art After Dark in Waynesville

Cullowhee arts and crafts festival Several of the top artisans and crafters in the Southeast will display their goods at the 26th annual Mountain Artisans Summertime Art & Crafts Show from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 27-28 in the Ramsey Center at Western Carolina University.

The two-day event features more than 100 exhibitors, authentic hand crafters who carry on the Southern Appalachian tradition of arts and crafts. The items displayed for sale include fine art, woodworking, pottery, weavings, paintings, blacksmith items and gourd art. Heritage crafts such as shaker brooms, pine needle baskets and folk dolls are available, along with quilted wall hangings and heirloom fabric items.

Admission is $4 for adults, with children under age 12 admitted free.

The show is produced by Doris Hunter of Mountain Artisans Show Promotions in Macon County.

828.524.3405 or www.mountainartisans.net or www.mountainlovers.com.

Art After Dark will continue from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, July 3, in downtown Waynesville.

Enjoy a stroll through working studios and galleries on Main Street and Depot Street.

Festive Art After Dark flags denote participating galleries, such as Haywood County Arts Council’s Gallery 86, Earthworks, Burr Studio, Jeweler’s Workbench, Twigs and Leaves Gallery, TPennington Art Gallery, The Mahogany House, Grace Cathey Sculpture Garden and Gallery, Cedar Hill Studios and the Village Framer. www.downtownwaynesville.com.

MountainEats.com

Smoky Mountain News

Let your smartphone be your guide!

• Find restaurants nearby • Read descriptions and explore menus • View photos and interactive maps It’s that simple!

An online dining directory for Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee ADVERTISING INQUIRIES: 866.452.2251 36

On the wall • There will be a garden lecture by sculptor Carl Peverall at 10 a.m. Friday, June 26, at the Dovecote Porch & Gardens in Cashiers.

Peverall will unveil new works and also discuss his creations. Free.

• An “Arts & Antiques Market” will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 4 at the Hidden Valley Farm in Clyde. Local art, vintage finds, jewelry, woodcrafts, jams, furniture, home/garden items, and more. Rain or shine. 828.450.2232.

• The film “Insurgent” will be screened at 9 p.m. Wednesday, June 24, in the Central Plaza at Western Carolina University. Rain location is the UC Theater. www.wcu.edu.

• The “Art Uncorked” paint and wine-tasting event will be held at 5:30 p.m. June 26 at the Charles Heath Gallery in Bryson City. $35 per person, which includes all materials, hor d’oeuvres and wine. 828.538.2054.

ALSO:

• The “Stecoah Artisans Drive About Tour” will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 26-27.

Attendees visit and explore numerous galleries and artisans. www.stecoahvalleycenter.com.

• “Serena” (June 25), “Jupiter Ascending” (June 26), “Pitch Perfect” (June 27), “Danny Collins” (July 2) and “Big Hero 6” (July 3) will be screened at the Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. Screenings are free and begin at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. There is also a 2 p.m. matinee on Saturdays. www.madbatterfoodandfilm.com.

• The “Landscapes in the Plein Air Style” class with John Guernsey will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 29-July 2 at The Bascom in Highlands. Learn how to apply the aspects of plein air painting to your studio landscapes. To register, 828.787.2881 or blove@thebascom.org.

• The film “Jurassic Park” will be screened during “Family Movie Night” at 8:30 p.m.

June 26 at the Caboose at the corner of Mitchell and Everett streets in Bryson City. www.greatsmokies.com.

• The “Come Paint with Charles Kidz Program” will be at 4 p.m. June 25 at the Charles Heath Gallery in Bryson City. $20 per child. Materials and snacks included.

828.538.2054.

• “The Wrecking Crew” will be screened at 7 p.m. June 24-27 at The Strand at 38 Main in Waynesville. A 4 p.m. showing will also happen on June 27. “American Sniper” will run at 7 p.m. July 3-5, 7-8 and 10. A 4 p.m. showing will also happen on July 4. There will be a free showing of “Strange Magic” at noon and 2:30 p.m. June 27. “Princess Bride” will also be shown for free at 10 p.m.

June 26-27. www.38main.com or call 828.283.0079.

On the stage Coalition wants you to ‘Wake-Up’

“Anything Goes” will hit the stage through July 11 at the Highlands Playhouse.

The hilarious musical features music and lyrics by the legendary Cole Porter, including such hit songs as “Delovely,” “Anything Goes” and “Let’s Misbehave.” The show stars playhouse veteran Heidi Spoon as nightclub singer Reno Sweeney, playhouse Artistic Director Bill Patti as gangster Moonface Martin, and Broadway veteran Mark Chmiel as Lord Evelyn Oakleigh.

Show times are 8 p.m. WednesdaySaturday. There will also be a 2 p.m. showing Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $32.50.

There will also be an “Eat for a Cause” July 1 at the Lakeside Restaurant in Highlands. Fifteen percent of all sales will be donated to the playhouse.

828.526.2695 or www.highlandsplayhouse.org.

The Canary Coalition will host its “Wake-Up” event from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

June 30 at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva.

There will be a high-energy sing-along, silent auction and a special live performance by acclaimed actress Barbara Bates Smith as “Granny D,” the 90 year old woman who walked across America to raise public awareness about the need for campaign finance reform.

The Canary Coalition is a nonprofit grassroots organization with a focus on air pollution and climate change. The organization is currently working on an array of legislative and regulatory public policy initiatives.

To donate items for the auction, call 828.246.1186 or donnadupree44@yahoo.com.

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Smoky Mountain News

‘Anything Goes’ at Highlands Playhouse

KICK OFF THE FOURTH WITH A BANG

June 24-30, 2015

• The Blue Ridge Artists & Crafters Association Freedom Arts & Craft Show will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 4-5 at the Haywood County Fairgrounds in Lake Junaluska. www.bracaorg.com or 828.550.0639.

arts & entertainment

• “Superhero Training” will be at 10:30 a.m.

Wednesday, July 1, at the Waynesville Public Library. Create your own superhero identity/costume and go through the training course. Refreshments provided.

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Books

Smoky Mountain News

Bronte sisters part and parcel of the magic of Haworth

Jeff Minick

Haworth, West Riding of Yorkshire, England.

It’s 4:30 in the morning, Sunday June 18, and I stood a few moments ago on the cobbled street outside the Old White Line Inn. I slept poorly; the gentleman in Room 12 across the hall wakened me with ursine snoring, and “nature’s soft nurse” left the room. Grabbing my computer bag, I headWriter ed to the hotel lobby, where only the ticking of the clock in the hall interrupts the stillness.

Workmen laid the cobbles on the street I just mentioned in 1755. It is an ancient thoroughfare, and up and down this hill have passed Norman knights, Anglo-Saxon warriors, Viking raiders, Celtic traders, Roman legionaries, and heaven knows who else. Not another human soul is on this street so early this damp morning, and as I linger here, drumming up the ghosts of a Roman soldier or a medieval monk takes little imagination.

As a native told me yesterday, Haworth is magical, and after two days here, I am inclined to agree with him.

Haworth (pronounced Ha-worth) sits atop a steep hill here in the Moors. The buildings are made of millstone grit, a workable stone used for construction in nearly all the buildings in the surrounding valleys and hills. The locals even made their rooftops from this stone, with the roof tiles about an inch thick.

Wherever you go in Haworth, you either climb or descend; to make the haul from the railway station a mile away left me in a sweat.

By day, the streets of Haworth are lively with tourists, but by six in the evening they belong to the locals, who jam the pubs up and down the street with thumping karaoke music, louder catcalls and oaths, and raucous laughter.

Just down the street on this wet morning roosters have begun crowing, and soon the sheep will begin bleating and rummaging about for breakfast.

In the summer, steam trains run hourly from Keighly (pronounced Keithlee) to Haworth. One of these trains was used in the

film “The Railway Children.” It was a fine sight to sit in the window of my room of the hotel, hear the shriek of the whistle, and watch the clouds of steam rise through the treetops beyond.

The tourists come to Haworth both to see the town and to visit Bronte country. For it was to Haworth that the Rev. Patrick Bronte, an Anglican priest, brought his wife and six children 1820. In this town, ridden by diseases like cholera and consumption, they lived and died. All but one of the children is buried inside the parish church along with their parents. And here, of course, three women, no more than girls really, produced some of the great novels and poetry of English literature.

Yesterday Mr. Johnnie Briggs of Bronte Walks fame gave several of us a walking tour of the town and the Bronte legacy. A congenial man with the beef-red face common among older males of the town, and one of the best guides I have ever encountered, Mr. Briggs fired questions at us, asking how many children we had, whether we wrote letters,

• Author Dr. Steven Harvey will host a writing class on Saturday, June 27, at the Writers Circle Studio in Hayesville.

Harvey will teach a three-hour class, “The Mnemonics of Memoir.” This class is for those people who want to write true stories about themselves and their lives. Harvey is the author of three collections of essays and a memoir called The Book of Knowledge and Wonder. He was a teacher of English for many

what did we think of the portrait of the young Patrick Bronte (“Dashing!” several of the women proclaimed). His questions always had a purpose. In wishing to know, for instance, when any of us had last written a letter, and then specifically a love letter, he lamented the lack of letter writing in our electronic age and then commenced to explain the importance of the Bronte’s letters.

During the tour we visited the cemetery, the school built by Patrick Bronte beside the church, the edge of the moor behind the parsonage where Emily, Charlotte, and their siblings used to play, and a bit of the town. The Bronte legacy is deeply embedded in the town’s history. The bookshop nearest the church once served as post office for the town, and Mr. Briggs explained that the desk in that shop was the very one from which the manuscripts of the Bronte sisters novels were delivered into the world. “Rub your hand on that desk, and you’re touching history,” he said.

(After the tour, I found the shop, chatted with the owner, and then rubbed the desk, laugh-

years at Young Harris College. He currently is the senior editor for River Teeth Magazine, and he teaches in the Ashland University MFA program. 828.389.4441.

• The “Lets Talk About It” book discussion series will kickoff at 4 p.m. Thursday, June 25, at the Waynesville Public Library. The first book to be discussed will be Time’s Witness by Michael

ing at myself but feeling pleased as well).

I learned too much from Mr. Briggs to deposit all that information in this piece. One more example must suffice. In the cemetery, half of the gravestones, the ones closest to the church, were embedded in the ground with their edges nearly touching one another, while the other markers were all upright. Beneath the large markers lying on the ground deep pits were dug, and as family members died, their casket would be placed atop those below and the slab replaced.

What the folk of that time did not understand is that the slabs kept oxygen from the earth, and the slowly rotting flesh was close to the water supply. When the government issued reports pointing to this arrangement as a source of disease and death, Patrick Bronte insisted on upright tombstones, and he planted trees in the cemetery to speed the process of decomposition.

The Bronte children lost their mother shortly after moving to Haworth. Patrick Bronte — or Pat, as Mr. Briggs called him — was devastated and never remarried. In their childhood in this parsonage on the Moors, the Brontes practiced the talents that led to the gifts they gave to the world. They created imaginary kingdoms, wrote letters and plays, and had the run of the Moors that figure so prominently in Wuthering Heights. As adults, the Bronte girls served as governesses and teachers without much success. It was at the peak of their frustration with their lives — their brother was an alcoholic and laudlum addict, and their father was losing his sight (later regained through a risky operation) — that Charlotte, Anne, and Emily decided to write their novels and submit them under male pseudonyms.

The rest is literary history.

A final note: For several years now, I have taught Wuthering Heights to AP English Literature. Each time I go back over this book, each time we discuss it in class, I am astounded that such a work could come out of the heart and mind of one so young.

Malone. He is a Tar Heel native who writes of the mythical town Hillston, North Carolina, where Malone “unravels the town’s deepest secrets, crimes and injustices.” Leading the discussion will be Lynn Salsi, who herself has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in literature. Refreshments will be provided.

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The “Every Hero Has a Story” summer reading program will be held at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City.

The library will provide villain themed activities for each age group. Third to fifth graders will be at 11 a.m. Monday, June 29, and will participate in a villain scavenger hunt and create their own minions.

Kindergarten to second grades will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday, June 30. They will listen to a few superheroe stories and make their own superhero sock puppets. Preschoolers will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 1, and will create their own superhero capes and masks.

Teens will participate in a villain match up at 3:30 p.m. Thursday July 2, and will also create minions and shrunken heads.

828.488.3030 or www.fontanalib.org/brysoncity.

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LEGO Club in Bryson City There will be a LEGO Club meeting at 4 p.m. Thursday, June 25, at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City.

The library will provide Legos and Duplos for ages 3 and up, the only thing area children need to bring is their imagination. All area children are invited join in and let their creativity shine.

828.488.3030.

Find us at: facebook.com/smnews

Smoky Mountain News

Faustine Wilson, daughter of the late Victoria Casey McDonald, will present McDonald’s last novel Living in the Shadow of Slavery at 3 p.m. Saturday, June 27, at Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville.

The book continues the story of her great grandmother, Amanda, whose story began in the novel, Under the Lights of Darkness. As a slave of William Holland Thomas, Amanda faces uncertain times now that the Civil War has ended and all slaves have been declared free. Having never known freedom, she and her family must make difficult decisions on how best to survive in this new existence.

Wilson will also discuss a bit of the history of slavery in western North Carolina and the legacy of Victoria. Wilson is the owner of Survival Pride Clothing in downtown Sylva.

McDonald was a preacher, teacher, storyteller, historian and author of four books. www.blueridgebooksnc.com.

June 24-30, 2015

Tribute to McDonald at City Lights

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Smoky Mountain News

Here for the long haul New Smokies superintendent settles into park leadership

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER sked what a typical day for the head guy at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park looks like, new Smokies superintendent Cassius Cash laughs.

“Wow, let’s look at the calendar,” he says.

Since starting the job in February, he’s kept pretty busy. As it turns out, when you’re the new superintendent of an 800-square-mile national park spanning two states, a lot of people want to meet with you. Staff want to hear from you. There’s a litany of issues to become familiar with, an endless inventory of park sites and experiences to log.

“Being a superintendent is not just walking on the trail with a bluebird on your shoulder, whistling,” Cash said. “You have to have stamina, and a lot of people want your time.”

He’s trying to give it as much as possible.

“One of the things I take pride in is being able to build collaboration and relationships, and I think that’s one of the main reasons I was hired for this job,” he said.

A

MAKING TIME FOR FACE TIME Almost immediately after starting work Feb. 9, Cash scheduled four open houses — two in Tennessee, two in North Carolina — to meet with locals invested in the park. He spends about 70 percent of his time now in meetings with people both inside and outside the park and the other 30 percent “actually seeing what I’m working to preserve.” He worked three days in North Carolina over the past week, interviewing with The Smoky Mountain News, meeting with staff, touring areas of the N.C. side of the park he hasn’t gotten to yet, meeting with elected officials and hearing concerns from the Nantahala Southern Off Road Bicycle Association, based in Bryson City.

It’s not his first visit to the North Carolina side since February, and he’s turned some heads with his excursions over the state line.

Earlier this summer, Cash traveled to Cherokee for a performance of “Unto These Hills.” People were quick to tell him they’d never seen a Smokies superintendent come to that kind of event before, he said.

“It’s a big organization to get to know, a lot of little towns, so I really appreciate that he gets out and makes himself available,” said Tom Sutton, Bryson City’s mayor. “Not everybody does that.”

In the four months Cash has been around, Sutton said, he’s met him three times. By contrast, Sutton said, he never met the previous superintendent during the two years their

Cassius Cash has been working hard to get acquainted with the people and places of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park since coming on as park superintendent in February. Holly Kays photo respective positions as mayor and superintendent overlapped.

TELLING THE STORY It’s going to be a major goal of his time as superintendent, Cash said, to make the paper reality of two states, one park true in practice as well. He looks to his time in Boston — his only National Park Service job before coming to the Smokies — as evidence that he has what it takes.

In Boston, too, Cash dealt with division.

He was superintendent of both the Boston National Historical Park and the Boston African American National Historical site — one park highlights the country’s founding and growth, with emphasis on sites leading up to the Revolutionary War, while the other remembers the African American community of 19th-century Boston, which birthed leaders in early struggles for equality such as the Abolition Movement, the Underground Railroad and the Civil War. The areas told two different sides of parallel stories, Cash said, but often people who

visited one left having learned nothing about the other. So, he spearheaded the effort to build a visitor center highlighting both, uniting their message.

Cash, the Smokies’ first African-American superintendent, believes the same attitude of unity will be vital in his new park.

“The way this park is told today is that on the Tennessee side we talk about the natural resources, and on the North Carolina side we talk about the families that once homesteaded here,” Cash said, but in reality each side has lived both natural and human histories. “We need to tell the story in a wholistic way from both sides.”

BEST OF BOTH WORLDS Cash is big into the storytelling aspect of the Park Service’s mission, but he’s also a resource-oriented guy, spending 18 years in various leadership positions with the U.S. Forest Service before starting with the Park Service in 2010. In college, he studied biology and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, and he

later supplemented that education by studying wildlife management at Oregon State University as a non-degree-seeking student.

“Cultural resources has become a new love of mine, but coming to the Smokies allowed me to come back to my first love, which is natural resources, so I get the best of both worlds,” Cash said.

A self-described “functional introvert,” Cash is an avid hiker, savoring time alone in the mountains to recharge. So he’s very happy to live in the land of many hiking trails, and a focus of his time in the Smokies will be to get others out enjoying them as well.

“My priority in how we move forward is, ‘What does the second century of service look like?’” Cash said.

The National Park Service will turn 100 years old next year, a milestone presenting new challenges to the park’s sustainability. As yearly visitation swells past 10 million a year — more than any National Park Service unit except the Blue Ridge Parkway and Golden Gate National Recreation Area — how do you balance resource protection with visitor enjoyment? On the flip side, how do you get a kid growing up in the center of an urban landscape — Cash’s situation as a child — to a place where they can enjoy and eventually become a steward of America’s best idea?

It’s going to demand creativity.

“You never grow from being comfortable, so it’s going to take some effort from myself and staff to go into communities that we traditionally haven’t gone into,” Cash said.

One commitment he’s made to that end thus far is to hike 100 miles of park trails in 2016, getting groups of people to join him on the adventure who represent demographics that haven’t traditionally frequented the park.

Hiking seemed a natural mode of sharing the park’s message for Cash, both because of his own affinity for the sport and because it’s treks in the woods that have formed the basis of bonding time with his daughters, 13 and 19.

“My 13-year-old can set up anybody’s tent and can out-hike me now, but that wasn’t episodic in how we introduced her to that,” he said. “It was consistent.”

Similar consistency in purpose and execution will be necessary to push the Park Service mission toward success in the future.

GIVING IT TIME But on the whole, Cash shies away from making any sweeping declarations about what will define his time as superintendent or what changes he’ll be chasing over the coming years.

“I’m very intentional about resisting the temptation to make big decisions right now,” he said. With just four months on the job, it would be “premature to say what the next steps are.” Instead, he’s focusing on hearing from his staff, hearing from the communities and getting a good feel for the park and its issues before trying to work on any kind of plan.

Learn to grow year-round with hoop houses Gardeners who want the summer growing season to last longer can catch an upcoming presentation on hoop houses, an inexpensive, do-it-yourself greenhouse that offers potential for year-round production.

Patryk Battle of Living Web Farms will discuss planting schedules, dealing with extreme weather and best varieties for year-round production at 5 p.m. Tuesday, June 30, at the Waynesville Library Auditorium.

Free, with signup required at 828.356.2507. Sponsored by Friends of the Library.

The gardens of the Macon County Master Gardener Association will be on display at an open house 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, June 27, at the Environmental Resource Center on Lakeside Drive in Franklin.

From perennials to herbs, from a butterfly garden to a meditation garden, the gardens will offer a varied display of carefully tended plants, and local artists will be there as well, painting, drawing and photographing the gardens throughout the morning.

828.349.2046.

Tennessee thing with North Carolina shoved to the side.

Cash acknowledges that the perception exists, and also that it will take more than a day’s work to overcome it.

“I hear that comment,” he said of the perception in North Carolina, “but I guess the only thing I can do is be there and show up.”

He plans to respond to invites, get into the nitty-gritty of learning the resources, learning the community and working toward unity.

“This park cannot move forward without the support of our community, and the communities over in North Carolina are just as important as the ones in Tennessee, so that’s one of the things I’ll have to show more than talk about.”

A Memphis native, Cash is excited to be back in what he considers his home region and expects to stay around for the long haul to drive that point home.

“My family loves it as much as I do,” he said. “It feels right.”

Zahner lecture series kicks off the summer with Robert Frost talk Highlands Biological Foundation’s series of free natural history- and conservation-themed lectures is starting up again for the summer with a talk titled “Turning the Poet Out of Doors: A Naturalist’s Guide to the Poetry of Robert Frost” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 2.

Peter White, biology professor at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, will outline Frost’s status not only as a poet but as an accurate and detailed scientific observer. White will elucidate the science behind Frost’s poems in this presentation.

The Zahner Conservation Lecture Series — named for the contributions of Highlands residents Robert and Glenda Zahner to land conservation on the Highlands Plateau — features free lectures every Thursday through Sept. 3 at 6:30 p.m. at Highlands Nature Center on Horse Cove Road in Highlands. Check The Smoky Mountain News outdoors calendar for listings of future lectures. www.highlandsbiological.org or 828.526.2221.

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Smoky Mountain News

For instance, when asked about problems such as increased traffic and road damage in Cataloochee Valley or the expansion of elk herds beyond park borders — and the damage they can cause to farms and gardens — he had to take a raincheck on giving a definitive opinion.

But he made it clear that he expects to become familiar with all these kinds of issues before too much time expires, and that he expects to engage with communities around the park about them.

“I think the support of our gateway communities for this park is ummatched,” Cash said. “A lot of folks love this park.”

That was his immediate impression upon arriving in the Smokies, and he believes it will be key to addressing a long-standing issue between park communities — the disconnect between the North Carolina and Tennessee sides of the park. There’s long been a sentiment in North Carolina towns that they’re seen as the lesser of two regions, that “The Smokies” is heralded as a

A program illuminating the life of Horace Kephart, adopted son of the Smokies who chronicled the disappearing mountain culture of the early 20th century and championed the creation of the Great Smoky Horace Kephart.

Mountains Donated photo National Park, will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday, June 27, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva.

Bryson City naturalist and historian George Ellison, also a columnist for The Smoky Mountain News, will start off with his program, “A Room of One’s Own,” looking at the places in WNC most closely associated with Kephart, while Kephart’s great-granddaughter Libby Kephart Hargrave will present “Horace Kephart: His Way Back,” taking an intimate look

June 24-30, 2015

Open house planned for Macon gardens

into the life of Kephart, discussing his wife Laura, his parents and his children.

Free. 828.586.9499.

outdoors

Registration is now open for the 2015 Cullowhee Native Plant Conference at Western Carolina University, a four-day event featuring more than a dozen plant walks and workshops and a demonstration of how drones can aid in environmental conservation mapping.

The oldest and largest native plant conference in the Southeast, the event — held Wednesday, July 15, through Saturday, July 18 — features a Ila Hatter shows conference-goers how to make a drinking cup variety of day-long field from a tulip-poplar leaf. Holly Kays photo trips, workshops, lectures and native plant vendors. www.nativeplantconference.wcu.edu.

The deadline to register for the conferBobby Hensley, 828.227.3066 or hensence is Saturday, July 11. Register at ley@wcu.edu.

Program to revive Kephart in Sylva

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Smoky Mountain News

June 24-30, 2015

It’s hard to say what ’s more explosive: The dancing, the regalia, or the fireworks.

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Cause of hiker’s death still unknown

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The National Park Service is still waiting on the results of an autopsy looking into the cause of hiker Jenny Bennett’s death in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park earlier this month, but investigators have ruled out a bear attack and do not suspect foul play.

Bennett, an accomplished offtrail hiker who had recently finished a novel Jenny Bennett. Donated photo set in the park, was reported missing June 7 and found off-trail in the Greenbrier area of the park the following day. She was a respected outdoorswoman and valued member of the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club, and her friends from that organization were eager to talk about Bennett’s life and unique contributions to the world for the article reporting her death that appeared in the June 10 issue of The Smoky Mountain News.

The autopsy report is expected back within 10 weeks.

— By Holly Kays, staff writer

Queen honored for environmental advocacy The N.C. League of Conservation Voters named Rep. Joe Sam Queen, D-Waynesville, as its 2015 Representative of the Year in the organization’s annual Green Tie Awards.

The awards honor N.C. legislators who have stepped up, spoken out and carried water for environmental issues at the General Assembly.

Queen fit the bill, the organization decided, having stood staunchly against fracking Rep. Joe Sam Queen. in North Carolina and advocated for more stringent fracking rules to safeguard against health and environmental impacts.

“We appreciate his continued advocacy to keep our air and water clean – not just within his district – but for all of North Carolina’s citizens,” said a League of Conservation Voters press release.

Become a Junior Ranger Thursdays • Guided Hike to Chasteen Creek Waterfall. A moderate 3-mile roundtrip hike to Chasteen Creek Falls will parallel Bradley Fork, starting off from the Bradley Fork Trailhead in Smokemont Campground at 10 a.m.

• Stream Splashers. Kids will search a mountain stream for salamanders, damselflies and other critters in a 1.5-hour program at 3 p.m. in the Oconaluftee River next to the Mountain Farm Museum, which is adjacent to Oconaluftee Visitor Center. (Starts June 27.)

• Find Your Park. Kids will discover how the National Park Service, which turns 100 years old next year, got started in a 45-minute program at 5 p.m. in the Tree Cookie Area adjacent to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center.

Mondays • Welcome Home! Kids will hear the story of the elks return on the porch of Oconaluftee Visitor center in a 45-minute program starting at 2 p.m.

Tuesdays • Salamanders! Kids will explore salamander habitats in search of the amphibians in a 1.5hour program starting at 10 a.m. in the Mingus Mill Parking Area.

• Stream Splashers. Kids will search a mountain stream for salamanders, damselflies and other critters in a 1.5-hour program starting at 2 p.m. in the Oconaluftee River next to the Mountain Farm Museum, which is adjacent to Oconaluftee Visitor Center.

• #findyourpark. Look into National Parks across the country with a ranger in a 1-hour program beginning at 3 p.m. on the Oconaluftee Visitor Center porch.

Wednesdays

Sundays A young ranger gets sworn in. NPS photo • From Snout to Tail…Everything But • Animal Defenses. Kids will learn about how animals big and small fend off those larger than themselves in a 45-minute program beginning at 2 p.m. on the Oconaluftee Visitor Center porch.

• Mammal Mania! Kids will get a chance for some hands-on discovery of animals in the park in a 45-minute program on the Oconaluftee Visitor Center’s south porch at 4 p.m.

Fridays • Be a Blacksmith. Kids ages 10-12 will learn enough about blacksmithing to create their own items to take home in a 30-minute program at the Mountain Farm Museum adjacent to Oconaluftee Visitor Center, at 10, 10:30, 11 and 11:30 a.m.

• Batteries Not Included. Children will discover how kids had fun in the pre-electricity days, even

the Squeal! Kids will learn about the mountain farmer’s “best friend” at the Mountain Farm Museum adjacent to Oconaluftee Visitor Center in a 45-minute program at 5 p.m.

• Smoky Mountain Elk. Kids will learn about the history of elk in the park and watch their nighttime arrival at the Palmer House in Cataloochee Valley in a 45-minute program starting at 5:30 p.m.

• Night Hike. Kids will learn about the wonders found only when the sun goes down during a 1hour hike from Bradley Fork Trailhead in Smokemont Campground at 8:45 p.m. RSVP four days in advance to 828.497.1904.

Monday-Friday Feeding time! Kids will help park staff close up the Mountain Farm Museum, next to Oconaluftee Visitor Center, for the evening — even helping to feed the pigs and chickens — in a 30-minute program starting at 6 p.m.

An open dialogue about bears will come to Cashiers at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 30, at the Village Green Commons.

Bill Lea, a nationally recognized nature photographer and author from Franklin known for his work with black bears, will lead the discussion in the program titled “The Bear Necessities.” Lea, who has also authored multiple books, has had more than 7,000 photos published in venues including National Geographic books, Audubon calendars and three consecutive front covers of Field & Stream — a first in the magazine’s more than 100-year history.

The Village Nature Series is a free speaker series at The Village Green Commons, bringing experts in one evening a month during the summer to talk about issues of natural or cultural heritage in a one-hour program. Co-hosted by Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust and The Village Green. www.villagegreencashiersnc.com/events/ village-nature-series.php.

Outer space coming to Bryson City A family-friendly program explaining the solar system we call home with hands-on activity will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 27, at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City.

“Our Solar System,” presented by the University of North Carolina Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, will answer questions such as how big the solar system is and how we know while also allowing participants to create a solar system model, hold a space rock and look through a telescope.

Suitable for all ages. 828.488.3030.

June 24-30, 2015

• Neighbors or Nuisances? Learn about three small animals found in the park and decide whether they are friend or foe in a 45-minute program beginning 11 a.m. on the Oconaluftee Visitor Center porch.

• Pack Your Day Pack. Kids will learn the knack of what to pack before hitting the trail in a 45minute program starting at 1 p.m. on the Oconaulftee Visitor Center porch.

Saturdays

A chat with a black bear expert

outdoors

A lineup of summer programs in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will give young park-lovers the chance to earn their credentials as Junior Rangers.

Kids ages 5-12 can pick up a Junior Ranger booklet for $2.50 at any park visitor center, and after completing the activities in the book they’ll get a bona fide Junior Ranger badge.

Check out these summer offerings on the N.C. side of the park:

taking home a “buzz button” of their own, in a 30-minute program at the Mountain Farm Museum, adjacent to Oconaluftee Visitor Center at 10, 10:30, 11 and 11:30 a.m.

• Leave No Trace! Kids will learn how to minimize their impact in the great outdoors in a 45minute program beginning at 12:30 p.m. on the Oconaluftee Visitor Center porch.

MOUNTAIN STREET DANCES ntain Mu Friday Night, June 26 6:30 - 9:00 pm Main Street Waynesville

M ou

sic & Clogging

Main Street

Sorry, no animals allowed at downtown events.

DowntownWaynesville.com 828.456.3517 298-130

Sponsored in part by Haywood Co. TDA VisitNCSmokies.com 800.334.9036

Our dance classes are full of women laughing and growing stronger in body, mind, and soul. Come let your guard down, try something new, and just dance.

First class is free!

84 N. Main St. Waynesville

Smoky Mountain News

BAND: Eddie Rose & Hwy 40 DANCE TEAM: Green Valley Cloggers SPECIAL GUEST: The Trantham Family Band DANCE CALLER & MC: Joe Sam Queen Concessions by Tuscola Band Boosters

Come Dance With Us! waynesvillebellydance.com

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outdoors

Fish free July 4 Anglers can celebrate Independence Day by taking a friend along July 4.

The Fourth of July will be a free fishing day in North Carolina, with everyone in the state — resident and non-resident — permitted to fish any public body of water that day without buying a license.

All anglers will have to abide by other fishing regulations, however, such as size, creel and lure restrictions.

Weekly fishing report launches for Jackson

June 24-30, 2015

Anglers seeking trout in the waters of Jackson County have a new tool in their arsenal with the launch of a weekly fly-fishing report and forecast earlier this month.

“We kind of brought this back by popular demand,” said Julie Spiro, executive director of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce, which is organizing the report.

The chamber had previously published a fishing report provided by a local guide but discontinued the service when that person was no longer able to put in the time.

The report, available from a link at www.mountainlovers.com/fly-fishing, gives information about river stocking, productivity, species and effective baits and flies in the Tuckasegee, Chattooga and

Whitewater rivers, as well as listing the best fishing times for the coming week based on the lunar cycle.

A rotating roster of five fishing outfitters will volunteer to compile the report.

These anglers are Shannon Messer of Blackrock Outdoor Company, Matt Cantler of Brookings Outfitters, Alex Bell of AB Fly Fishing Service, Kyle Fronrath of Fontana Guides and The Outpost at Barkers Creek.

Free admission to new fishing museum The Fly Fishing Museum of the Southern Appalachians in Cherokee is celebrating its first month of operation with free admission during June.

The museum houses a collection of boats, rods and flies representing the evolution of Appalachian fly-fishing throughout the years. Exhibits also highlight the lives of people who have made especially significant contributions to the sport.

A gift shop, run by the Cherokee Chamber of Commerce, is also housed in the building.

Located at 516 Tsali Blvd. in Cherokee between the Welcome Center and Unto These Hills box office. Open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. www.ffmsa.weebly.com

Multisport festival coming to Lake Logan Registration is open for the Lake Logan Multisport Festival, an annual event with an array of challenging races that last year drew more than 1,000 athletes to Haywood County.

The event, set for Aug. 8-9, will include a half-ironman, international triathlon, sprint triathlon and aquabike races. The half-iron, which made its debut at the event last year, is hands-down the most grueling event, featuring a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run.

Register at www.setupevents.com through Aug. 5.

An athlete awaits the start of the swimming leg of last year’s Lake Logan event. Holly Kays photo

Snorkel the Pigeon River A snorkeling trip on the West Fork of the Pigeon River in Haywood County will offer a first-hand glimpse of the diversity of fish and aquatic ecosystems living in the river during the Saturday, July 11, excursion.

The outing, held from 2 to 5 p.m., will be led by Eric Romaniszyn, executive director of Haywood Waterways Association, and Shannon Rabby, natural resource instructor at Haywood Community College.

The snorkeling trip is part of Haywood Waterways’ “Get to Know Your Watershed” series of outdoor hikes and paddle tours. The organization works to maintain and improve Haywood County’s waterways through education, public events and partnerships.

Free, with masks, snorkeling equipment and refreshments provided. Wetsuits and wool clothing recommended. Space is limited, so RSVP by Wednesday, July 8, to Christine O’Brien at christine.haywoodwaterways@gmail.com or 828.476.4667.

Bike towards recovery in Haywood A weekly bicycle ride aimed at helping people recovering from physical or mental injury get back into a fitness routine has launched in Haywood County through a partnership of Bicycle Haywood N.C., the Blue Ridge Bike Club and MountainWise.

The Health on Wheels rides start at 10 a.m.

Thursdays from the Canton Recreation Park and typically involve less than 10 miles of biking on flat terrain. Riders stop to regroup incrementally

to ensure nobody gets left behind.

“This is a great way for those who have lost touch with an exercise routine or are re-gaining strength that was lost from overcoming a chronic illness to get back into shape and socialize with locals who have gone through similar circumstances, all while getting to see our beautiful Smoky Mountains on wheels,” said Melissa Rockett, regional intervention lead for MountainWise.

Riders must supply their own equipment and sign a liability waiver. Michele Trantham, mttrantham@hotmail.com, or Melissa Rockett, mrockett@mountainwise.com.

Canton riverbank gets a makeover

Smoky Mountain News

A much-used riverbank in the Canton Recreation Park is now a lot more stable, thanks to a protection project recently completed by Haywood Waterways Association and the town of Canton.

The Pigeon River courses past the

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Canton Recreation Park.

Donated photo

Canton rec park, but scrambling down the bank to reach the water was difficult and caused erosion. The section hosts the annual Kids in the Creek program put on by Haywood Waterways.

“There’s good diversity of river habitat,

which enables the kids to see a great diversity of fish and other aquatic animals,” said Eric Romaniszyn, Haywood Waterways’ executive director. “Every year I was concerned about what the kids were doing to the river bank as they went up and down, as well as the risk of injury to the students or tearing our waders.”

So, Haywood Waterways and Canton started stabilizing the bank with old concrete sidewalk slabs, getting volunteers from Boy Scout Troop #316 to reroute a stormwater drainage ditch away from the project area. A grant from the Pigeon River Fund of the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina paid for the work.

Sediment, which the project will reduce, is Haywood County’s number one pollutant. Dirt washing off into streams and rivers clogs intake pipes, smothers habitat for aquatic organisms and can fill reservoirs and reduce game fish populations.

828.476.4667 or info@haywoodwaterways.org. www.haywoodwaterways.org.

WNC Calendar COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS • The Maggie Valley Swap Meet & Car Show will be held June 26-28 at the Festival Grounds. For a full schedule of events, click on www.maggievalleyswapmeet.com or 423.623.2723.

• “Brown Bag at the Depot” – an opportunity to gather with neighbors – is at noon every Friday at Sylva’s newest park at the corner of Spring and Mill Street along Railroad Ave. For info, contact Paige Dowling at townmanager@townofsylva.org.

• Canton Pool is open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. They will host a “themed” family nights from 5:30-8:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 648.2363.

• Bingo will be held at 5:45 p.m. every Thursday through Sept. 3 in the pavilion next to Maggie Valley Town Hall. $50 coverall prize each week. Sponsored by the Maggie Valley Civic Association. For info, call Beverly Stone at 926.7630.

• Cherokee storytellers will spin tales of days gone by from 7-9 p.m. every Friday and Saturday from June 29July 4 at Oconaluftee Islands Park, adjacent to the Island Indian Art Market. Free. Free. Marshmallows for roasting will be provided. 800.438.1601 or travel@nccherokee.com; or contact Frieda Huskey at 359.6492 or friehusk@nc-cherokee.com.

• Oconaluftee Indian Village, which replicates 18thcentury Cherokee Life, is open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Monday through Saturday through Oct. 17 in Cherokee.

More info at visitcherokeenc.com.

• Graceann’s Amazing Breakfast is 8-10 a.m. every Tuesday in the Sapphire Room at the Sapphire Valley Community Center. $8.50 for adults; $5 for children.

Includes coffee and orange juice. 743.7663.

• There will be a free tasting and cooking demonstration from 5-7 p.m. every Saturday at Country Traditions in Dillsboro. Try a wide variety of wines while a gourmet chef prepares delicious treats that are available for purchase. Free. www.dillsborowineandgourmet.net.

• “What is the most important thing you have learned in your life so far?” will be the topic for the Franklin Open Forum to be held at 7 p.m. Monday, July 6, at Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub, located Downtown at 58 Stewart Street, Franklin. Those interested in an open exchange of ideas (dialog not debate) are invited to attend. 828.371.1020.

• “A Lost Cmmunity: A Glimpse of Judson Before the Lake” will be the program at the monthyl Swain County Genealogical and Historical Society meeting at 6:30 p.m. July 2 at 200 Main St., Bryson City. The presenter will be Kathy Thomas Greene.

BUSINESS & EDUCATION • A free workshop offering basic training for anyone seeking a job is from 1-3 p.m. on June 29 at the Waynesville Library Auditorium. Covers Internet job searching, how to create a winning resume and job interview skills and strategies. To register, contact Kathy Olsen at 356.3507 or kolsen@haywoodnc.net.

• “Veterans Employment Initiative for Small Business Owners – Employing North Carolina’s Military and Veterans,” a program presented by Haywood Community College’s Small Business Center, is scheduled for 9-10 a.m. on June 29 at HCC’s 1500 Building Auditorium. For info or to register, visit SBC.Haywood.edu or call 627.4512.

• The Appalachian Food Pantry School is now accepting applications for this year’s courses, which run on Tuesdays from July 21-Aug. 11 at a location to be determined. Co-sponsored by MANNA Food Bank and the

Visit www.smokymountainnews.com and click on Calendar for: ■ Complete listings of local music scene ■ Regional festivals ■ Art gallery events and openings ■ Complete listings of recreational offerings at regional health and fitness centers ■ Civic and social club gatherings MountainWise Public Health Partnership; funded by the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina. More info and online registration available at www.wncfpc.org.

FUNDRAISERS AND BENEFITS • A spaghetti dinner fundraiser for CARENET – a benevolent ministry to Macon County residents in crisis – is scheduled for 5-7 p.m. on Saturday, June 27, at the Resurrection Lutheran Church in Franklin. Tickets: $8 for adults, $4 for children; under 5 eat free. Takeouts available.

• The Canary Coalition’s second-annual “WAKE-UP” event is scheduled for 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 30, in the Jackson County Public Library’s Community Room in Sylva. Live performances by Barbara Bates Smith and Music of the Movement. Silent auction. To donate auction items, contact Donna Dupree at 246.1186 or donnadupree44@yahoo.com.

• “Eat for a Cause” July 1 at the Lakeside Restaurant in Highlands. Fifteen percent of all sales will be donated to the playhouse. 526.2695 or www.highlandsplayhouse.org.

• Videos are being accepted through July 1 for Sarge’s feline event on July 16. Videos should be under three minutes. Entry fee is $10 per video; it’s a donation to Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation. Submit to sargescatevent@gmail.com.

• A Taste of Local Flavors fundraiser is scheduled for July 2 at Mad Batter Food and Film in Sylva. Head chef Jeannette Evans serves special dishes made from locally grown produce, meats, eggs Event raises funds and support for the Jackson County Farmers Market. Mad Batter is open daily from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. and from 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Farmers Market is open from 9 a.m.-noon every Saturday at Bridge Park. Info: jacksoncountyfarmersmarket@gmail.com or www.jacksoncountyfarmersmarket.org.

HEALTH MATTERS • The Red Cross will hold a blood drive from 1-6 p.m. on June 24 at Veteran’s Building in Robbinsville.

• A seminar on hospice/end-of-life care is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Sunday, June 28, at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Franklin.

• The American Red Cross will hold a blood drive from 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. on July 1 at Taylor Motor Company in Waynesville. To make an appointment, download the Red Cross Blood Donor app, visit redcrossblood.org or call 800.RED.CROSS (800.733.2767).

• The American Red Cross will hold a blood drive from 1:30-6 p.m. on July 7 at Oak Grove Baptist Church in Clyde. To make an appointment, download the Red Cross Blood Donor app, visit redcrossblood.org or call 800.RED.CROSS (800.733.2767).

• The American Red Cross will hold a blood drive from 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. on July 7 at Drake Enterprises in Franklin. To make an appointment, download the Red Cross Blood Donor app, visit redcrossblood.org or call 800.RED.CROSS (800.733.2767).

Smoky Mountain News

• The American Red Cross will hold a blood drive from 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. on July 8 at Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. To make an appointment, download the Red Cross Blood Donor app, visit redcrossblood.org or call 800.RED.CROSS (800.733.2767).

• The American Red Cross will hold a blood drive from 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on July 8 at Cashiers Glenville Recreation Center in Cashiers. To make an appointment, download the Red Cross Blood Donor app, visit redcrossblood.org or call 800.RED.CROSS (800.733.2767).

• The American Red Cross will hold a blood drive from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on July 9 at WestCare Health in Sylva. To make an appointment, download the Red Cross Blood Donor app, visit redcrossblood.org or call 800.RED.CROSS (800.733.2767).

RECREATION AND FITNESS • Bubble soccer will be offered from 7-9 p.m. on Thursday nights from June 25-July 30 at Cullowhee Recreation Center and from 7-9 p.m. on Wednesdays from June 24-July 8 at the Cashiers/Glenville Recreation Center. Ages 18-older. $1 entry fee per night. Info: 293.3053, 631.2020 or jenniferbennett@jacksonnc.org.

• A 25-minute, full-body workout class is held at 5 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at Waynesville Recreation Center. Cost is daily admission or membership. For info, call 456.2030.

• Summer aqua fitness classes will be offered by Western Carolina University’s Office of Continuing and Professional Education from 12:10-12:55 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday through July 30 in the Reid

45

All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted.

Gymnasium pool in Cullowhee. $35. For info or to register, call 227.7397 or go to conferences.wcu.edu.

• A new lunchtime fitness class will be held from noon-1 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Waynesville Recreation Center. Melissa Tinsley is the instructor. 456.2030.

POLITICAL CORNER • A Faith and Freedom Rally in support of Congressman Mark Meadows is scheduled for June 30. For reservations, call 743.6491.

• Swain County Commissioners will hold a public hearing regarding the proposed 2015-16 budget at 6 p.m.

June 25 at the Swain County Administrative Building in downtown Bryson City.

• Swain County Commissioners’ Ad Hoc Animal Care Ordinance Committee will host a community input meeting from 7-9 p.m. on July 2 at the Alarka Community Center in Bryson City.

THE SPIRITUAL SIDE • “Hometown Nazareth: Where Jesus Was a Kid,” will be hosted from 9 a.m.-noon through June 25 at Cullowhee United Methodist Church and St. David Episcopal Church. For ages two through 12. Info at 293.9215, or register your child at: www.groupvbspro.com/vbs/hl/ CullowheeUMC/gpgs/Home.aspx

‘TIS THE SEASON FOR SUMMER SPORT CAMPS Basketball Camp •••••••••••••••• June 29 - July 2 • 3rd to 9th grade Full and half day options 828-456-2030 academy7@live.com

British Soccer Camp •••••••••••••••• July 20-24 • ages 3-14 Half day & full day options

828-456-2030 or dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov Registration information: www.challengersports.com

Innovative Basketball Training Summer Camp •••••••••••••••• July 6–9 • Children ages 6 to 12 9 a.m.-Noon daily • Limited space • $100/per Registration: July 6, 8-9 a.m. 828-246-2129

Shooting and Dribbling Basketball Camp •••••••••••••••• July 27-30 • 4th - 11th grade 9am-1pm Limited space academy7@live.com

WAYNESVILLE

PARKS AND RECREATION 828.456.2030

or email dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov

298-75

wnc calendar

y k n u F Fun &

298-100

• Vacation Bible School with the theme “Bible Blast to the Past” will be held from 5:30-8:30 p.m. through June 26 at First United Methodist Church of Sylva. For info, call the church office at 586.2358.

• The Asheville Astronomy Club presents “Solar Gazing” at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, June 24 at Macon County Public Library. 524.3600. View the sun up close through a specially designed telescope.

• The Rev. Grace Imanthiu and Dr. Marcia McFee will speak as part of the Summer Workshop Series at 10:45 a.m. on June 28 at Lake Junaluska Assembly’s historic Stuart Auditorium. Childcare available. www.lakejunaluska.com/summer-worship.

• A junior forester program entitled “Finding Your Way in the Forest” will teach boys and girls ages 8-12 how to use a map and compass from 10:30-12:30 p.m. on June 24 at the Cradle of Forestry in American in Pisgah Forest. $4 per youth; $2.50 per adult; adults with America the Beautiful and Golden Age passports admitted free. Registration required: 877.3130.

• The Rev. Susan Henry-Crowe will speak as part of the Summer Workshop Series at 10:45 a.m. on July 5 at Lake Junaluska Assembly’s historic Stuart Auditorium. Childcare available. www.lakejunaluska.com/summer-worship.

AUTHORS AND BOOKS • The “Let’s Talk About It” series, a book discussion exploring the question of who we are through the eyes of mystery writers, will start with a session from 4-6 p.m. on Thursday, June 25, at the Waynesville Library.

The first book to be discussed will be “Time’s Witness”

by Michael Malone; it’s available for pick-up starting June 11; see Teresa Glance between 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Clocks by

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Smoky Mountain News

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• Teen Cupcake Wars will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 25, at Marianna Black Library in Bryson City. Open to grades sixth through 12th.

488.3030.

• A Lego Club meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Thursday, June 25, at Marianna Black Library in Bryson City. 488.3030. Legos and Duplos provided for Ages 3-up.

• The “Come Paint with Charles Kidz Program” will be at 4 p.m. June 25 at the Charles Heath Gallery in Bryson City. $20 per child. Materials and snacks included. 538.2054.

• “Living in the Shadow of Slavery,” the last novel of the late Victoria Casey McDonald, will be presented by the author’s daughter, Faustine Wilson, at 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 27, at Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville.

• A special program called “Our Solar System,” presented by the University of North Carolina Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, will be held at 2 p.m.

Saturday, June 27, at The Marianna Black Library in Bryson City. 828.488.3030.

• Ten authors who’ve written about Appalachian will gather for “Writers on the Rock” featuring presentations, discussions and autographs from 1-4 p.m. on June 28 at Chimney Rock State Park. Authors are Ken Butcher, Sheri Castle, Julia Nunnally Duncan, Tommy Hays, Carol Heilman, Cindy McMahon, Ann B. Ross, Randy Russell, Susan Snowden and Evan Williams. www.fountainheadbookstore.com or www.chimneyrockpark.com.

• A Family Nature Activity is offered from 3-4 p.m. every Tuesday through Aug. 15 for ages four and older at Highlands Nature Center. $1 per person; Salamembers are free. 526.2623.

• “Turning the Poet Out of Doors: A Naturalist’s Guide to the Poetry of Robert Frost,” part of the Zahner Conservation Lectures, is set for 6:30 p.m. on July 2 at Highlands Nature Center. Dr. Peter White, a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, is featured. 526.2623.

SENIOR ACTIVITIES • An informational seminar on Long-Term Care Planning is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Wednesday, June 24, at the Haywood County Senior Resource Center.

Planning purposes only; no attempts will be made to sell insurance. Free. 356.2800.

• An AARP Smart Driver Course is scheduled for 12:30-5 p.m. on June 26 at the Macon County Senior Center. $15 for members; $20 for nonmembers.

Register by calling 349.2058.

• Senior Sale Day is on the third Friday of every month at the Friends of the Library Used Bookstore. Patrons 60 and older get 20 percent off all purchases.

Proceeds benefit the Sylva Library.

• Haywood County Senior Resource Center is considering the formation of a weekly cribbage group starting in July. If you’re interested, contact Michelle Claytor at mclaytor@mountainprojects.org or 356.2800.

KIDS & FAMILIES • “A Week in the Water,” a weeklong series of handson classes focused on the art and skill of fly-fishing for ages 8-15, is set for 9 a.m.-noon through June 26, at Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Pisgah Forest. 877.4423 or lee.sherrill@ncwildlife.org.

• Creative Chemistry: Get messy with the states of matter is at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 24, at the Canton library! Young chemists will explore solids, liquids and gases through experimentation of chemical reactions. Students will also make connections between chemistry and cooking as they create edible treats. For children ages 5-10. Sign-up required: 648.2924.

• A junior forester program entitled “Exploring Ecosystems” will teach boys and girls ages 8-12 how to find connections in forests and wetlands from 10:30-12:30 p.m. on July 8 at the Cradle of Forestry in American in Pisgah Forest. $4 per youth; $2.50 per adult; adults with America the Beautiful and Golden Age passports admitted free. Registration required: 877.3130.

• Stop by the Macon County Public Library to sign up for its “Every Hero Has a Story” summer reading program. Every child who registers receives a coupon to the Fun Factory. Children who read at least 15 minutes a day for seven days straight will get a prize from the library; children who accomplish this for seven consecutive weeks get a $15 certificate to the Fun Factory. Program runs through Aug. 22.

• A series of swim classes will be offered through the summer for children ranging from six months to teens at Western Carolina University’s Reid Gymnasium pool in Cullowhee. An adult must be in the pool with children from six months to three years old. Cost is $75 for ages six years and up; $44 for ages six months to five years old. More info at swim.wcu.edu.

• Book Buddies for ages 0-3 is from 9:30-10:15 a.m. on Tuesday at Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville.

• Page Pals for ages 3-5 is from 10:30-11:15 a.m. on Tuesday at Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville.

• Story time and kids can make their own piece of art from 10 a.m.-noon every Saturday during the Family Art event sponsored by the Jackson County Arts Council at the Jackson County Farmers Market located at the Community Table, downtown Sylva. On the first Saturday of each month, there is a scavenger hunt with prizes. 399.0290 or www.jacksoncountyfarmermarket.org.

• A Teen Advisory Group meets at 4 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month to discuss YA books and teen program events. http://haywoodlibrary.libguides.com/teen or 648.2924.

KIDS MOVIES • “Puss and Boots” will be shown at 10 a.m. on June 24-25 at the Cherokee Phoenix Theatre. Free.

Phoenixtheatres.com or 497.7384.

• “Rio 2” will be shown at 10 a.m. on June 24-25 at the Cherokee Phoenix Theatre. Free.

Phoenixtheatres.com or 497.7384.

• An animated superhero movie about carrier pigeons will be the family movie shown at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 30, at Marianna Black Library in Bryson City. For info, including movie title, call 488.3030.

• Art After Dark is from 6-9 p.m. on the first Friday of every month in Downtown Waynesville and Historic Frog Level. Stroll through participating galleries.

Waynesvillegalleryassociation.com.

• Family movie time, 4 p.m. Mondays at Jackson County Public Library. Call for title of movie. 586.2016.

• Tickets are currently available for Folkmoot USA Festival 2015, which is set for July 16-26, at FolkmootUSA.org. 452.2997.

• “Jurassic Park” will be screened during “Family Movie Night” June 26 at 8:30 p.m. at the Caboose at the corner of Mitchell and Everett St. in Bryson City. www.greatsmokies.com.

• “Strange Magic” will be shown at noon and 2:30 p.m. on June 27 at The Strand at 38 Main in Waynesville. Free. www.38main.com or 283.0079.

• Family movie time Thursdays, 3:45 p.m. at Albert Carlton, Cashiers Community Library. Free with popcorn. Call for title. 743.0215.

A&E FESTIVALS AND SPECIAL EVENTS • Mountain street dances with mountain music and clogging are scheduled for the following Friday nights: June 26, July 10, July 24 and Aug. 7 in downtown Waynesville. downtownwaynesville.com or 456.3517.

Sponsored in part by Haywood County TDA. No animals allowed.

• “Way Back When” trout dinner will be held at 5:30 p.m. Friday, July 3, at the Cataloochee Ranch in Maggie Valley. Featuring food and storytelling of a 1930’s Appalachian trout camp. Purchase tickets at 926.1401 or 800.868.1401 or www.cataloocheeranch.com.

• The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ 40th annual Pow Wow will be held July 3-5 at the Acquoni Expo Center. World-champion dancers and drums compete for prizes. Vendors from across the country will offer food and arts and crafts items. Event starts at 5 p.m.

Friday, July 3, with a grand entry at 7 p.m.

800.438.1601 or www.visitcherokeenc.com.

JULY FOURTH CELEBRATIONS • The Graham County Heritage Festival is July 3-4 in Robbinsville. Free. Local bluegrass and country bands,

lumberjack competition, motorcycle show, fireworks and more. For info, contact Teresa Garland at visitrobbinsville@gmail.com or 479.3250.

• Mac & Plate Full O’ Blues will perform the blues during “An Evening of Red, White & Blues” at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, July 3, at the gazebo on the square in downtown Franklin. 524.2516 or www.townoffranklinnc.com.

• 3D Projection Mapping will be performed at the Evening of Red, White & Blues starting at dark on July 3 in downtown Franklin. www.TheEventProjectionist.com.

• Nantahala Outdoor Center’s “Sizzlin’ Fourth of July” weekend is July 3-5 and features family-friendly outdoor events and music. More info at noc.com/events.

• The “Singing In The Smokies” Independence Weekend Festival will run from July 2-4 at Inspiration Park in Bryson City. Hosted by Appalachian/gospel group The Inspirations, the event will also feature live music from The Kingsmen, Troy Burns Family, Dixie Echoes, The Chuck Wagon Gang, The McKameys and Smoky Mountain Reunion. Tickets are $20 per day, per adult. Children ages 12 and under are free. www.theinspirations.com.

• The Village Green (Cashiers) will have the Smoky Mountain Brass Quintet as part of the HighlandsCashiers Chamber music at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 24. 526.9060 or www.highlandschamber.org.

• July 4 is free fishing day in North Carolina. From 12:01 a.m.-11:59 p.m., everyone in the state can fish in any public body of water without purchasing a fishing license. Anyone 16 or older needs a fishing license all other days of the year. Call the N.C. Wildlife Commission at 888.248.6834 or visit www.ncwildlife.org.

• The Depot in Bryson City will have the annual Freedom fest celebration on Saturday July 4 from 10

• Fireworks to be held at the Franklin Recreation Park on Saturday, July 4 at dusk. www.franklinnc.com.

ON STAGE & IN CONCERT

• Stars & Stripes celebration is scheduled for 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday, July 4, on Main Street in downtown Waynesville. Shops, galleries and restaurants will be open; live music and entertainment. A Kids on Main patriotic parade is at 11 a.m. Main Street cookout from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. More info at www.DowntownWaynesville.com or 456.3517. No animals allowed.

• The Concerts on the Creek (Sylva) series at Bridge Park Pavilion will feature fireworks at dark and a performance by Darren Nicholson & Friends featuring David Holt (bluegrass) from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and the The Business (rhythm & blues) from 6:30-9:30 on July 4. Free. www.mountainlovers.com.

a.m. to 10 p.m. Great food, music, fireworks and more. www.greatsmokies.com.

wnc calendar

• “The Croods” is showing for free at 10 a.m. June 30-July 2 at Cherokee Phoenix Theatre.

PhoenixTheatres.com or 497.7384.

• The Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival opens its 34th season with performances featuring Serafin String Quartet on Sunday and Monday, June 28-29, at the Bascom Center for the Visual Arts. The Sunday performance is at 6 p.m., includes a champagne reception and gourmet wine dinner; tickets are $213 per person. The Monday performance is at 5 p.m., includes a champagne reception and art exhibition; tickets are $107 per person. Tickets available by calling 526.9060 or writing hccmf@frontier.com.e Info on Serafin String Quartet at www.serafinquartet.org.

They will also hold a free concert at 7:30 p.m. June 30 at Buck’s Coffee Café in Highlands. www.serafinquartet.org.

• The Americana fiddle music of Alma Russ will be featured at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 25, as part of the Marianna Black Library’s Summer Music Series.

Free. 488.3030.

• The Celts (traditional Irish music and instrumentation) will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, June 26, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Tickets start at $25 each. For tickets or info, visit www.GreatMountainMusic.com or 866.273.4615.

• Dancing with the Stars: Live! will be presented on Saturday, June 27, at Harrah’s Cherokee Event Center.

All-Stars champion Melissa Rycroft will be featured dancing alongside Witney Carson, Valentin Chmerkovskiy, Artem Chigvintsev and Keo Motsepe.

For tickets and more info, visit www.dwtstour.com.

• Caldwell Family Singing in the Field is scheduled for 4 p.m. on June 27. Presented by Mountain Joy Ministries. 734.7188; www.mountainjoyministries.com.

June 24-30, 2015

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wnc calendar

• Marshall Ballew (Americana, multiple styles) performs at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 1, in the Meeting Room of the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. Info on Ballew at reverbnation.com/marshallballew.

• The Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival Program is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on July 3 at the Performing Arts Center in Waynesville. $25 per individual or $80 for season pass. 452.0593 or haywoodarts.org.

• Balsam Range is in concert at 7:30 p.m. on July 2 at Stuart Auditorium at Lake Junaluska.

800.222.4930.

• “Anything Goes” will hit the stage through July 11 at the Highlands Playhouse. Show times are 8 p.m.

Wednesday-Saturday and an additional showing at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $32.50.

• Singer songwriter Marshall Ballew will perform at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 2, in the Jackson County Library Community Room. Free. He performs on a variety of stringed instruments, including guitar, banjo, fiddle, dobro, Hawaiian guitar, and tiple.

• Legendary country music band Alabama performs at 8 p.m. on Thursday, July 2, at Harrah’s Cherokee Event Center. Tickets available at Ticketmaster.com.

• The faculty of the Mountain Collegium Music Workshop will perform a recital of medieval, renaissance, baroque and contemporary music on early and folk instruments at 8 p.m. on Thursday, July 2, at Cullowhee Baptist Church. Free; donations to the Gerald R. Moore Mountain Collegium Scholarship accepted. Info about the organization available at www.mountaincollegium.org. For concert info, contact Jody Miller at 404.314.1891 or recorder96@gmail.com.

• American Pride will perform at 8 p.m. on July 3 at EagleNest Entertainment in Maggie Valley. Tickets: $15.

Smoky Mountain News

June 24-30, 2015

• Fourteen-time Grammy Award-winner Ricky Skaggs will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, July 3 at Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

Tickets start at $25 each. Tickets and info available at GreatMountainMusic.com or call 866.273.4615.

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• Larry Patton will perform from 7-10 p.m. on Friday, June 19, at Fontana Village Resort.

Fontanavillage.com.

• Bubonik Funk band (funky, soulful) will perform as part of the 2015 Summer Concert Series starting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 25, at WCU’s Central Plaza.

Bring blankets or chairs. For info, contact Francis Ann Ortiz at 227.2612 or faortizpineda@wcu.edu.

• Bogart’s Live Bluegrass/String Band is at 6:30 p.m. every Thursday at 303 S. Main Street in Waynesville.

452.1313.

• “Music on the River” concert series will feature A36 Band from 7-9 p.m. on June 26, at the Oconaluftee River Stage in downtown Cherokee. Free.

800.438.1601, 359.6490 or travel@nc-cherokee.com.

• Papertown Country Music & Dance Parlor is from 710 p.m. on Saturdays at 61-1/2 Main Street in Canton. $8. 736.8925.

• The Concerts on the Creek (Sylva) series at Bridge Park Pavilion will have 96.5 House Band (classic hits) at 7 p.m. on June 26. Free. www.mountainlovers.com.

• Music and Clogging is held from 8-10:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays at the Stomping Ground at 3116 Soco Road in Maggie Valley. 926.1288.

• Randy Flack will perform from 7-10 p.m. on Friday, June 26, at Fontana Village Resort.

Fontanavillage.com.

• Tickets are now on sale for “An Appalachian Evening” summer concert series featuring bluegrass, blues, folk and old-time mountain music. The series starts on June 27 in Stecoah. Season tickets are $150.To purchase tickets, visit: www.stecoahvalleycenter.com/secure.

• Mangas Colorado (folk rock) will perform as part of the Groovin’ On the Green in Cashiers at 6:30 p.m. on June 26, at Village Commons in Cashiers. Free. Family friendly. visitcashiersvalley.com.

• The Maggie Valley Opry House will have legendary banjoist Raymond Fairchild at 8 p.m. nightly through October. Admission is $12. www.raymondfairchild.com or 926.9336.

OUTDOOR MUSIC • Pickin’ in the Park is from 7-10 p.m. on Fridays at the Canton Rec Park. Free. Cantonnc.com or 648.2363.

• Friday Night Live (Highlands) summer concert series will have Southern Highlands from 6 to 8 p.m. June 26 at the Town Square. www.highlandschamber.org.

• “Music on the River” concert series will feature David Lambert from 7-9 p.m. on June 27, at the Oconaluftee River Stage in downtown Cherokee. Free.

800.438.1601, 359.6490 or travel@nc-cherokee.com.

• The Bryson City Train Depot “Music in the Mountains” concert series will have Lonesome Sound Bluegrass (gospel, folk, Americana) at 6:30 p.m. June 27. Free. www.greatsmokies.com.

• Saturdays On Pine (Highlands) summer concert series will have Porch 40 (Progressive Southern Funk Rock) from 6 to 8 p.m. June 27 in Kelsey-Hutchinson Park. www.highlandschamber.org.

• The Pickin’ on the Square (Franklin) summer concert series will have The Band ‘Charlie Horse’ (Variety) at 7:30 p.m. June 27. Free. www.franklinnc.com.

• The Pickin’ on the Square (Franklin) summer concert series will have open mic at 6:30 p.m. June 27. Free. www.franklinnc.com.

• Soco Creek Band will perform from 7-10 p.m. on Saturday, June 27, at Fontana Village Resort.

Fontanavillage.com.

• The Concerts on the Creek (Sylva) series at Bridge Park Pavilion will have Dashboard Blue (rock, rhythm & blues, beach) at 7 p.m. on July 3. Free. www.mountainlovers.com.

• Aaron Tracy Band will perform from 7-10 p.m. on Friday, July 3, at Fontana Village Resort.

Fontanavillage.com.

• Chillbillies will perform from 7-10 p.m. on Saturday, July 4, at Fontana Village Resort. Fontanavillage.com.

• Saturdays On Pine (Highlands) summer concert series will have Fritz & the Crooked Beat from 6 to 8 p.m. July 4 in Kelsey-Hutchinson Park. www.highlandschamber.org.

CLASSES AND PROGRAMS • The “Art Uncorked” paint and wine tasting event will be held at 5:30 p.m. June 26 at the Charles Heath Gallery in Bryson City. $35 per person, which includes all materials, hor d’oeuvres and wine. 828.538.2054.

• The “Stecoah Artisans Drive About Tourâ€? will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 26-27. Attendees visit and explore numerous galleries and artisans. www.stecoahvalleycenter.com.

• Artisans 26th annual “Summertimeâ€? Art & Craft Show is scheduled for 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, June 27-28, at Western Carolina University’s Ramsey Center in Cullowhee. Featuring works of 100 regional craftsmen. Background music performed live

by Franklin guitarist Ronnie Evans. Admission is $4 for adults; free for children under 12. Concessions available. Info at www.mountainartisans.net or call 524.3405. • The Malpass Brothers perform at 7:30 p.m. on June 28 at The Strand Theater in Waynesvile. 38main.com or 283.0079. • The “Landscapes in the Plein Air Styleâ€? class with John Guernsey will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 29-July 2 at The Bascom in Highlands. Learn how to apply the aspects of plein air painting to your studio landscapes. To register, 828.787.2881 or blove@thebascom.org. • An evening pottery wheel class for beginners will be taught by Hank Shuler and Lydia Patillo from 6-8:30 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays through June 25 at the Cowee Pottery School at the Macon County Heritage Center. $150. www.coweepotteryschool.org, 524.7690 or coweepotteryschool1@gmail.com.

FILM & SCREEN • “Insurgentâ€? will be shown as an outdoor movie at 9 p.m. on June 24 at Western Carolina University’s UC Theatre in Cullowhee. • “Serenaâ€? will be shown on June 25 at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. at the Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. www.madbatterfoodandfilm.com. • “The Wrecking Crewâ€? movie will be shown at 7 p.m. on Thursday through Saturday, June 25-27, at The Strand in Waynesville. A matinee is also scheduled for 4 p.m. on • “Princess Brideâ€? will be screened for free at 9:30 p.m. on June 26 and 27 at The Strand at 38 Main in Waynesville. www.38main.com or call 283.0079.

• “Pitch Perfectâ€? will be shown on June 27 at 2 p.m., 6:30, and 8:30 p.m. at the Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. www.madbatterfoodandfilm.com.

• “Danny Collinsâ€? will be screened at the Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva on July 2 at 8:30 p.m. www.madbatterfoodandfilm.com. • A classic movie starring Steve McQueen and Jacqueline Bisset will be shown at 2 p.m. on Friday, July 3, in the Meeting Room of the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. Description: An all-guts, noglory San Francisco cop becomes determined to find the underworld kingpin that killed the witness in his protection. Runtime: 1:54. 524.3600. • “American Sniperâ€? will run at 7 p.m. July 3-5, 7-8 and 10 and 4 p.m. on July 4 at The Strand at 38 Main in Waynesville. www.38main.com or 283.0079.

ART SHOWINGS AND GALLERIES

• A new art museum gift shop named “FAMShopâ€? is open from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on Monday through Friday in the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center on Western Carolina University’s campus in Cullowhee.

Features wide variety of works created by students, faculty, staff members, alumni and friends of WCU. New exhibits are also on display nearby at the Fine Arts Museum Galleries. Admission is free; donations accepted. For more info, call 227.3591 or write ddrury@wcu.edu. • An exhibit commemorating the life of Horace Kephart and his impact on the region is on loan from Western Carolina University for a display in Asheville from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday through

• “Reptile and Amphibian Weekâ€? is through June 27 at the Arboretum in Asheville. Programs are as follows: 9 a.m.-noon on Wednesday, June 24 – “Leapin’ Lizards;â€? 7-10 p.m. on Thursday, June 25 – “Amphibians After Dark;â€? 9 a.m.-noon on Friday, June 26 – “Snakes and their Habitats;â€? 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday, June 27 – “Box Turtle Day.â€?

Ncarboretum.org. • A bird walk along the greenway is set for June 24.

Meet at the Macon County Public Library parking area at 8 a.m. Sponsored by Franklin Bird Club. 524.5234.

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• A birds of prey program titled “Masters of the Skyâ€? will be presented by Balsam Mountain Trust at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, June 24, at Marianna Black Library in Bryson City. 488.3030. • The “Snakes Alive!â€? program featuring Ron Cromer is scheduled for 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on June 25 in the Community Room of the Jackson County Public Library

~ Judy Actual Patient

Smoky Mountain News

• Garden sculptor Carl Peverall will unveil his new works of art at 10 a.m. on June 26 at Dovecote in Highlands. Atmospheric stone sculptures. mpdargan@dargan.com or 743.0307.

Outdoors

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June 24-30, 2015

• Flea Market at the Fairgrounds is from 7 a.m.-2 p.m. on July 4 at the Haywood County Fairgrounds in Waynesville. www.haywoodcountyfairgrounds.org or 400.1704.

• Zoltan Kollat and Silvia Cabrera Williams present a show of oil and wax paintings from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Monday through Saturday in June at Burr Studio in Waynesville.

• • • • • • • • • •

• A screening of “First Language: The Race to Save Cherokeeâ€? is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 27, at the Waynesville Library. www.facebook.com/racetosavecherokee. Tom Belt, coordinator of WCU’s Cherokee Language program, will lead a discussion and answer questions. Free.

Sponsored by Friends of the Library.

• A movie for grown-ups will be shown at 2 and 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 2, in the Macon County Public Library Meeting Room in Franklin. Movie is Rated R, stars Michael Keaton and Emma Stone and runs 1:59.

Description: A washed-up actor who played an iconic superhero battles his ego and attempts to recover his family, his career and himself. 524.3600.

• A course on how to hand-build wacky teapots will run from 1:30-5:30 p.m. Sundays in June at the Macon County Heritage Center north of Franklin. $98.

Taught by Hank Shuler. www.coweepotteryschool.org, 524.7690 or coweepotteryschool1@gmail.com.

Pharmacist and nutritionist Bill Morris focuses on a holistic approach and specializes in: • Fibromyalgia

• “Jupiter Ascendingâ€? will be shown on June 26 at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. at the Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. www.madbatterfoodandfilm.com.

• A class on how to hand-build appetizer trays will be taught by Maria Greene from 6:30-8 p.m. on Tuesdays through June 30 through the Cowee Pottery School at the Macon County Heritage Center. $42. www.coweepotteryschool.org, 524.7690 or coweepotteryschool1@gmail.com.

• The Blue Ridge Artists & Crafters Association Freedom Arts & Craft Show will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 4-5 at the Haywood County Fairgrounds in Lake Junaluska. www.bracaorg.com or 550.0639.

298-117

wnc calendar

• There will be a garden lecture by sculptor Carl Peverall at 10 a.m. Friday, June 26, at the Dovecote Porch & Gardens in Cashiers. Peverall will unveil new works and also discuss his creations. Free.

June 30 at the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources office.

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wnc calendar

in Sylva. Free; limited to first 150 people with tickets, which can be picked up at 10 a.m. 586.2016. Cosponsored by Friends of the Jackson County Public Library.

• The annual Stewartia hike with Jack Johnston is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Friday, June 26, from Queen Branch Property between Franklin and Bryson City on Highway 28. Opportunity to see rare native mountain camellia, Stewartia ovata. Free; registration required.

Contact Sharon Burdette, sburdette@ltlt.org or 524.2711, ext. 305.

• “Project WILD: Aquatic,” a free workshop using the Aquatic WILD activity guide for ages 18 and up, is set for 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Friday, June 26, at Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Pisgah Forest. Field investigations, activities on fish conservation, angling and more. 877.4423 or lee.sherrill@ncwildlife.org.

• An annual picnic and snorkeling day will be hosted by the Tuckaseigee Watershed Association from 3-5 p.m. on Saturday, June 27, at Darnell Farm. Wet suits, snorkels and masks provided. 488.8418 or rogerclapp@WATRnc.org.

• A birding outing to High Hampton in Cashiers is scheduled for June 27. Joint trip presented by Highlands Plateau Audubon Society and Highlands Cashiers Land Trust. 404.558.1085.

• Nantahala Outdoor Center’s Nantahala Games are June 27-28. Competitions will be held for freestyle, downriver and slalom racers with family-friendly games and activities on site. Live music at 6 p.m. by Pioneer Chicken Stand band. More info at noc.com/events.

June 24-30, 2015

• Haywood County Amateur Radio Club hosts its annual Field Day from 2 p.m. June 27 to 2 p.m. on June 28 in the vacant field in front of the historic Shook House in downtown Clyde. Contest/demonstration of amateur radio operators. All licensed ham operators invited to attend and participate. www.KW4P.org.

• An introduction to Tenkara, a form of traditional Japanese fly fishing, is scheduled for 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday, June 27, at Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Pisgah Forest. For ages 14-up. 877.4423 or lee.sherrill@ncwildlife.org.

• “Level III: Backyard Bird Photography,” a program on camera settings, equipment, techniques and more, is set for 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturday, June 27, at Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Pisgah Forest.

For ages 14-up. 877.4423 or lee.sherrill@ncwildlife.org.

• Naturalist and historian George Ellison and Libby Kephart Hargrave will present two programs on Horace Kephart at 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 28, at the Western Office of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources in Asheville. Free. Reservations required by calling 296.7230, ext. 221, or writing Lorraine.norwood@ncdcr.gov.

Smoky Mountain News

• “The Bear Necessities” – an open dialogue about

Visit www.smokymountainnews.com and click on Calendar for: ■ Complete listings of local music scene ■ Regional festivals ■ Art gallery events and openings ■ Complete listings of recreational offerings at regional health and fitness centers ■ Civic and social club gatherings bears with nature photographer and author Bill Lea – is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 30, in a program presented by Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust.

Free. Julie.hitrust@earthlink.net or 526.1111.

• “Introduction to Fly Fishing: Lake Fishing,” a class covering the basics of fly-fishing on a local lake, is scheduled for 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Tuesday, June 30, at Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Pisgah Forest.

For ages 12-up. 877.4423 or lee.sherrill@ncwildlife.org.

• “Introduction to Fly Fishing,” a class covering the basics of fly-fishing, is scheduled for 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Thursday, July 2, at Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Pisgah Forest. For ages 12-up. 877.4423 or lee.sherrill@ncwildlife.org.

• “Women’s Introduction to Fly Fishing,” a class covering the basics of fly-fishing, is scheduled for 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Friday, July 3, at Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Pisgah Forest. For ages 12-up. $20 registration fee is fully refundable upon class attendance. 877.4423 or lee.sherrill@ncwildlife.org.

• A “Birding in Alaska” program by birders, authors and artists John and Cathy Sill of Franklin will be presented by the Highlands Plateau Audubon Society on July 6 at Hudson Library in Highlands.

• “A Week in the Water” – a weeklong series of hands-on classes that focus on the art and skill of fly-fishing – is scheduled for 9 a.m.-noon on Monday through Friday, July 6-10, at Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Pisgah Forest. For ages 8-15. 877.4423 or lee.sherrill@ncwildlife.org.

• A Solarize WNC Forum is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 7, at the Ken Blankenship Wing of the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. Free info session to make a clear, profitable path for solar and energy efficiency adoption. Presented by the Canary Coalition.

631.3447, info@canarycoalition.org or www.cleanenergyfor.us/clean-energy-for-wnc.

• “Advanced WILD – Mountain Streams” – an opportunity to learn techniques used to study mountain streams and the wildlife that inhabit them – is scheduled for 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Wednesday, July 8, at Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Pisgah Forest.

Suitable for formal and non-formal educators; CEU & EEC credits available upon completion. For ages 18up. 877.4423 or lee.sherrill@ncwildlife.org.

• Storybook Science is offered from 2:30-3 p.m. each Wednesday through Aug. 15 for all ages at Highlands Nature Center. Free. 526.2623.

• Animal Feeding Time is from 11-11:30 a.m. on Fridays through Aug. 15 for all ages at Highlands Nature Center. Free. 526.2623.

• Featured Creature is from 11:30 a.m.-noon on Saturdays through Aug. 15 for all ages at Highlands Nature Center. Free. 526.2623.

• Visitor Center Programs will be presented at 10 a.m. on Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays at the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center in Asheville. www.nps.gov/blri or 298.5330, ext. 304.

• A Botanical Garden Tour is offered for all ages from 10:30-11:30 a.m. every Monday through Aug. 15 at Highlands Nature Center. Free. 526.2623.

• At 7:30 p.m. every Saturday, the Blue Ridge Parkway presents an evening campfire program at the Mount Pisgah Campground. www.nps.gov/blri or 298.5330, ext. 304.

COMPETITIVE EDGE • Whitewater weekend featuring family-friendly games as well as freestyle, downriver and slalom races is scheduled for June 27-28 at the Nantahala Outdoor Center. Races are on both days; live music is set for the first evening and an awards ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. on June 28. $5 registration onsite from 9-10 a.m. at Big Wesser BBQ & Brew.

• A 5K run/walk is scheduled for 8 a.m. on July 4 at the Preserve at Rock Creek in Sapphire. All proceeds benefit the Cashiers-Highlands Humane Society. $20 registration through June 26 or $25 on race day. Mail to 10 W. Whitetail Drive; Sapphire, NC 28774.

800.259.3551 or carole@preserveatrockcreekNC.com.

• A 5K Open Water Swim is set for July 12 at Lake Chatuge in Hiawassee, Ga. Special prices for groups or teams of 20 or more. Register at active.com. Info: 389.6982

FARM & GARDEN • A botanical exploration of Blue Valley is from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on June 25. Presented by Highlands Biological Foundation. $15 for members; $35 for new members. 526-2221 or www.highlandsbiological.org.

• The Macon County Master Gardener Association will have an open house from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on June 26 at the Environmental Resource Center in Franklin. Local artists will draw, paint and photograph gardens at the ERC.

• A garden tour entitled: “Pollinators and the Plants that Need and Feed Them” is scheduled for 10:3011:30 a.m. on June 28 at the Highlands Biological Station. Free. 526-2221 or www.highlandsbiological.org.

• “Hoop Houses for Year-Round Production,” a program presented by Patryk Battle of Living Web Farms, is set for 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 30, at the Waynesville Library Auditorium. Sign-up required: 356.2507. Learn how to manage a planting schedule, deal with extreme weather and determine the best varieties for year-round production. www.livingwebfarms.org.

• A plant clinic for anyone with gardening questions is available by calling the Haywood County Extension Master Gardners at 456.3575 from 9 a.m.-noon and 1-4 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays through September.

MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDES • Weekly Women's Mountain Bike Rides: Every Tuesday at 6pm during Daylight Savings Time. Rides start at 6pm and alternate weekly between Tsali and the WCU Trails. For Tsali rides, meet in Tsali parking lot. For WCU rides meet in parking lot at Picnic Area near softball fields. nantahala.area.sorba@gmail.com or 488.1988.

• Weekly Group Mountain Bike Ride at Tsali: Every Wednesday at 6pm during Daylight Savings Time.

Meet in Tsali parking lot and be ready to ride at 6pm.

Open to everyone. nantahala.area.sorba@gmail.com or 488.1988.

OUTDOOR CLUBS • The Jackson County Poultry Club will hold its regular meeting on the third Thursday of each month at the Jackson County Cooperative Extension Office. The club is for adults and children and includes a monthly meeting with a program and a support network for those raising birds. For info, call 586.4009 or write heather_gordon@ncsu.edu.

• The Macon County Poultry Club meets the third Tuesday of each month at the Macon County Cooperative extension office in Franklin. Meetings are free and open to the public. For more information call 369.3916.

• The North Carolina Catch program, a three-phase conservation education effort focusing on aquatic environments, will be offered through May 15. The program is offered by the Waynesville Parks and Recreation Department. Free for members; daily admission for non-members. 456.2030 or tpetrea@waynesvillenc.gov.

• An RV camping club, the Vagabonds, camps one weekend per month from April through November. All ages welcome. No dues or structured activities. For details, write lilnau@aol.com or call 369.6669.

298-107

Great Smokies Storage 10’x20’

92

$

20’x20’

160

$

ONE MONTH

FREE WITH 12-MONTH CONTRACT

828.506.4112 or 828.507.8828 50

• Registration is underway for a snorkeling trip of the West Fork Pigeon River on July 11. Free. Shannon Rabby and Eric Romaniszyn will lead the trip. To register, RSVP by Wednesday, July 8, to Christine O’Brien at Christine.haywoodwaterways@gmail.com or 476.4667.

Conveniently located off 19/23 by Thad Woods Auction

Puzzles can be found on page 54.

These are only the answers.

PRIME REAL ESTATE Advertise in The Smoky Mountain News

ARTS & CRAFTS

MarketPlace information: The Smoky Mountain News Marketplace has a distribution of 16,000 every week to over 500 locations across in Haywood, Jackson, Macon, and Swain counties along with the Qualla Boundary and west Buncombe County. For a link to our MarketPlace Web site, which also contains a link to all of our MarketPlace display advertisers’ Web sites, visit www.smokymountainnews.com.

Rates:

AUCTION

■ Free — Lost or found pet ads.

■ $5 — Residential yard sale ads, ■ $5 — Non-business items that sell for less than $150.

■ $15 — Classified ads that are 50 words or less; each additional line is $2.

If your ad is 10 words or less, it will be displayed with a larger type.

■ $3 — Border around ad and $5 — Picture with ad or colored background.

■ $50 — Non-business items, 25 words or less. 3 month or till sold.

■ $300 — Statewide classifieds run in 117 participating newspapers with 1.6 million circulation. Up to 25 words.

■ All classified ads must be pre-paid.

CLASSIC-CARS TRACTOR RV AUCTION, 1973 Camaro restored, 1972 Monte Carlo clean, 1993 PREVOS RV Angola Coach extranice, FORD 3000 Diesel tractor.

ONLINE BIDDING JUNE 24-JULY 7. www.HouseAuctionCompany.com.

252.729.1162. NCAL#7889.

LAND-HOUSE AUCTION Yadkin & Surry Counties: 25+/Acres Divided & Country-Lots Boonville area. Remodeled Country Home & Residential-Lots in State Road & Elkin - ONLINE BIDDING JUNE 18 to 30, www.HouseAuctionCompany.com.

252.729.1162.

NCAL#7889

Classified Advertising: Scott Collier, phone 828.452.4251; fax 828.452.3585 classads@smokymountainnews.com

AUCTIONSouthampton County/City Of Emporia. Tax Seized Aviation Equipment. Online June 22-28. Sedley, VA. www.graycoservices.com.

804.943.3506 Gray Auctions Co. VA#1104 for Virginia Auction Co. VA#662.

WAYNESVILLE TIRE, COO

INC.

CONSTRUCTION/ REMODELING ACORN STAIRLIFTS. The Affordable Solution to your stairs! **Limited time -$250 Off Your Stairlift Purchase!**Buy Direct & SAVE. Please call 1.800.211.9233 for FREE DVD and brochure. SAPA ALL THINGS BASEMENTY! Basement Systems Inc. Call us for all of your basement needs! Waterproofing, Finishing, Structural Repairs, Humidity and Mold Control.

FREE ESTIMATES! Call 1.800.698.9217 DAVE’S CUSTOM HOMES OF WNC, INC Free Estimates & Competitive rates. References avail. upon request. Specializing in: Log Homes, remodeling, decks, new construction, repairs & additions.

Owner/Builder: Dave Donaldson.

Licensed/Insured. 828.631.0747 or 828.508.0316 FIND THE RIGHT CARPET, Flooring & Window Treatments.

Ask about our 50% off specials & our Low Price Guarantee. Offer Expires Soon. Call now 888.546.0135 SAPA HAYWOOD BUILDERS Garage Doors, New Installations Service & Repairs, 828.456.6051 100 Charles St. Waynesville Employee Owned.

‘LEFTOVERS’ SALE! From Estates: Eugene Eubanks II, Caridad Ruiz, Valeria Neely (All Deceased)

R

DI

SC OV ER E

ATR

PE

Serving Haywood, Jackson & Surrounding Counties

ALLISON CREEK Iron Works & Woodworking. Crafting custom metal & woodwork in rustic, country & lodge designs with reclaimed woods! Design & consultation, Barry Downs 828.524.5763, Franklin NC

Offering:

MAJOR-BRAND TIRES FOR CARS, LIGHT & MEDIUM-DUTY TRUCKS, AND FARM TIRES.

Service truck available for on-site repairs

298-125

LEE & PATTY ENSLEY, OWNERS

MON-FRI 7:30-5:00 • WAYNESVILLE PLAZA

828-456-5387

Thurs., June 25th, 7:00 p.m.

At Dodie’s of Sylva, 482 W. Main Street Downtown Historic Sylva, Auctioneer: Col. Dodie Allen Blaschik, NCAL# 3410, Ph# 828.586.3634 Website: dodieallen.com Features: Furnishings, Tools, Elegant Glass, Silver Plated, Sterling & Gold Items, Complete Sets of China, Books, Decorator & Household Items, Classic Fashions & ‘You Name It’ Come Early To Preview - 828.586.3634 - Dodie

The Sale with the Woman’s Touch!

CONSTRUCTION/ REMODELING SAFE STEP WALK-IN TUB. Alert for Seniors. Bathroom falls can be fatal. Approved by Arthritis Foundation. Therapeutic Jets. Less Than 4 Inch Step-In. Wide Door.

Anti-Slip Floors. American Made.

Installation Included. Call 800.807.7219 for $750 Off. SULLIVAN HARDWOOD FLOORS Installation- Finish - Refinish 828.399.1847.

PAINTING JAMISON CUSTOM PAINTING & PRESSURE WASHING Interior, exterior, all your pressure washing needs and more.

Specialize in Removal of Carpenter Bees - Cedar or Log Homes or Painted or Siding!

Call or Text Now for a Free Estimate at 828.508.9727

CARS A-1 DONATE YOUR CAR For Breast Cancer! Help United Breast Foundation education, prevention & support prgrams FAST FREE PICKUP- 24hr Response Tax Deduction 855.306.7348 SAPA TOP CASH FOR CARS, Call Now For An Instant Offer. Top Dollar Paid, Any Car/Truck, Any Condition. Running or Not. Free Pick-up/Tow. 1.800.761.9396 SAPA

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES INVESTORS NEEDED NEW INVENTIONS!!!

‘Today’s Ideas are Tomorrow’s New Products’ Have sold one of my inventions on QVC on Jan. 15th, 2010. Need funding to pursue Licensing Agreement on other products. Products are protected by Patents and Provisional Patents. Please visit: www.inventionsunlimitedinc.com Contact Charles Melanson anytime: 828.276.5364 or email: cm1inventor31@yahoo.com

R

WNC MarketPlace

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES ADVERTISE YOUR BUSINESS And reach 1.7 million readers with a classified ad in 100 N.C. newspapers! A 25-word ad is only $375.

Call this newspaper or 919.516.8009 for details.

EMPLOYMENT DRIVERS: Dedicated Truck Driving Careers16K in 90 Days! Avg. $1,200 Weekly, Great Home Time.

Experienced & Recent CDL Grads Call U.S. Xpress Today: 866.742.8037

DRIVERS - QUALITY HOME TIME? Earn Over $1,250+ per Week + Monthly Bonuses! Excellent Benefits. No-Touch! CDL-A 1yr. Exp. 855.454.0392 AVERITT EXPRESS Start Pay: 40 to 43.5 CPM + Fuel Bonus! Get Home EVERY Week + Excellent Benefits. CDL-A req. Recent T/T School Grads Welcome.

Call Today: 888.602.7440 OR Apply @ AverittCareers.com. Equal Opportunity Employer - Females, minorities, protected veterans, and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

ATTN: CDL DRIVERS Avg. $55k/yr. $2k Sign-On Bonus.

Get The Respect You Deserve. Love your Job and Your Truck. CDL-A Req. 877.258.8782. www.drive4melton.com

AVIATION CAREERS BEGIN HEREGet started by training as FAA certified Aviation Technician. Financial aid for qualified students. Job placement assistance. Call Aviation Institute of Maintenance.

877.300.9494.

ATTN: DRIVERS $2K Sign-On Bonus. We Put Drivers First! Earn $55K/yr + Bonuses.

Family Company. Beautiful Trucks CDL-A Required 1.888.592.4752 www.drive4melton.mobi SAPA

JOIN OUR TEAM! Guaranteed pay for Class A CDL Flatbed Drivers! Regional and OTR. Great pay/benefits/401k match.

Call Today 864.649.2063. www.jgr-inc.com EOE

June 24-30, 2015 www.smokymountainnews.com

EMPLOYMENT

LUKE AND HIS SISTER LEIA ARE BEAUTIFUL FLUFFY KITTENS ABOUT 8 WEEKS OLD. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR JUNE SPECIAL -ADOPT ONE FOR $50 OR BOTH FOR $80 AND HAVE YEARS OF FUN!

FERRIS A BIG, HANDSOME BLACK AND TAN COONHOUND ABOUT TWO YEARS OLD. $75 ADOPTION FEE SPECIAL, WHICH INCLUDES A SESSION WITH A PROFESSIONAL TRAINER TO START THINGS OFF ON THE RIGHT PAW.

CENTER SUPERVISOR KNEEDLER CHILD DEVELOPMENT WCU CAMPUS Must Have BS Degree in Early Childhood Education or Related Field and Administrative Level III Credentials, Basic Computer Knowledge, 2-3 Years Supervisory Experience and Good Judgment Skills. This is an 11 Month Position with Benefits.

Applications Will be Taken at Mountain Projects, 2251 Old Balsam Rd., or 25 Schulman St,. or You May Go to Our Web Site: www.mountainprojects.org and Fill Out an Application on line. Pre-Employment Drug Testing is Required. EOE/AA. FTCC Fayetteville Technical Community College is now accepting applications for the following positions: Early Childhood Education Instructor. Computer Information Technology Instructor. Physics Instructor.

Collision Repair and Refinishing Technology Instructor. Emergency Medical Science Instructor. For detailed information and to apply, please visit our employment portal https://faytechcc.peopleadmin.com Human Resources Office. Phone: 910.678.8378 Internet: http://www.faytechcc.edu.

CRC Preferred Employer. An Equal Opportunity Employer GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAIN RAILROAD IN BRYSON CITY Is Now Hiring for the Following Seasonal Positions: Concessionaire, Cook, On-Board Sales, First Class Server, Property Maintenance Worker and Train Cleaning Attendant. Earn Train Passes, Retail & Food Discounts and More! Qualified Applicants Must Successfully Pass a Background Check. Applications are available at the Bryson City Depot or @ www.gsmr.com/jobs HIGH-TECH CAREER With U.S. Navy. Elite tech training w/great pay, benefits, vacation, $ for school. HS grads ages 17-34.

Call Mon-Fri 800.662.7419

Jerry Smith

EMPLOYMENT

EMPLOYMENT

HARRIS TRUCKING Co. Now Hiring. Regional Drivers. Home Weekly. Assigned NEW Equipment.

Paid Orientation. Up to .45+ Per Diem. Great Benefits. Call 1.800.929.5003. Apply at: www.harristrucking.com

AVIATION GRADS Work With Jetblue, Boeing, Delta, And Others- Start Here With Hands On Training For FAA Certification.

Financial Aid If Qualified. Call Aviation Institute Of Maintenance 1.866.724.5403 SAPA

HEADSTART CENTER SUPERVISOR - Haywood County-Two PartTime Positions Available- Must have an AA in Early Childhood Education, (BS in Early Childhood or related field preferred), Admin Levels I & II, 2 yrs. supervisory experience, have a good working relationship with staff and families and be able to work a flexible work schedule. Candidate must also have good judgment/problem solving skills, the ability to work with diverse populations and be able to multitask. Computer skills helpful.

This is a 25 hours/week and a 9 month position. Some benefits apply.

Early Head Start Teacher- Jackson County- An Associate Degree in Early Childhood Education is required for this position. Candidates must have the ability to work well with families and coworkers, 2 years’ experience working with birth – 3 years and have good judgment/problem solving skills. Prefer someone with Infant/Toddler CDA credentials and basic computer skills.

This is a 10 month position with full time benefits.

Head Start Preschool Assistant Teacher- Jackson County--Must have AA Degree in Early Childhood Education, have the ability to assume the responsibilities of the teacher when absent, computer skills, work well with staff members, have good judgment, time management and problem solving skills, 2 yrs. experience in child care helpful. This is a 10 month position with full time benefits.

Applications will be taken at Mountain Projects, 2251 Old Balsam Rd, Waynesville, NC 28786 or 25 Schulman St, Sylva, NC 28779 or you may go to our website www.mountainprojects.org and fill out an application on line. Pre-employment drug testing required. EOE/AA.

CAN YOU DIG IT? Heavy Equipment Operator Career!

We Offer Training and Certifications Running Bulldozers, Backhoes and Excavators. Lifetime Job Placement. VA Benefits Eligible!

1.866.362.6497

SFR, ECO, GREEN

828-734-8765 jsmith201@kw.com

147 WALNUT STREET • WAYNESVILLE

298-116

2562 Dellwood Rd. Waynesville

(U.S. Hwy. 19)

Between Russ Ave. & Maggie Valley kellerwilliamswaynesville.com 214-64

828.506.7137

aspivey@sunburstrealty.com

www.sunburstrealty.com/amy-spivey

298-14

52

EMPLOYMENT DRIVER TRAINEES Paid CDL Training! Stevens Transport will cover all costs! No Experience Needed! Earn $800 per week!

Local CDL Training!

1.888.748.4137 drive4stevens.com

NEED MEDICAL BILLING TRAINEES Doctors & Hospitals need Medical Office Staff! NO EXPERIENCED NEEDED! Online Training gets you job ready! HS Diploma/GED & Computer needed.

Careertechnical.edu/nc.

1.888.512.7122

FINANCIAL BEWARE OF LOAN FRAUD. Please check with the Better Business Bureau or Consumer Protection Agency before sending any money to any loan company.

SAPA DELETE BAD CREDIT In Just 30-Days ! Legally remove judgments, collections, charge offs, medical bills, etc. Free to start! A+ Rated W/BBB Call Now! 855.831.9712 SAPA REDUCE YOUR PAST TAX BILL By as much as 75 Percent. Stop Levies, Liens and Wage Garnishments. Call The Tax DR Now to see if you Qualify 1.800.396.9719 SELL YOUR STRUCTURED Settlement or Annuity Payments for CASH NOW. You don't have to wait for your future payments any longer! Call 1.800.316.0271.

SOCIAL SECURITY Disability Benefits. Unable to work? Denied benefits? We Can Help! WIN or Pay Nothing! Contact Bill Gordon & Associates at 1.800.371.1734 to start your application today!

FURNITURE COMPARE QUALITY & PRICE Shop Tupelo’s, 828.926.8778.

HAYWOOD BEDDING, INC. The best bedding at the best price!

533 Hazelwood Ave. Waynesville 828.456.4240

LAWN & GARDEN HEMLOCK HEALERS, INC. Dedicated to Saving Our Hemlocks. Owner/Operator Frank Varvoutis, NC Pesticide Applicator’s License #22864. 48 Spruce St. Maggie Valley, NC 828.734.7819 828.926.7883, Email: hemlockhealers@yahoo.com

PLANTS/SHRUBS DAY LILIES AND BOXWOOD At Farm Located South of Franklin Off 441 at Addington Bridge Rd., to Middle Skeenah Rd., on Whispering Meadows Rd. Open on June 26th, July 4th & 11th.

For more info Call Doyle Chamber in Brevard at 828.884.4584.

FOR SALE BORING/CARPENTER BEE TRAPS No Chemicals, Poisons or Anything to Harm the Environment.

Handmade in Haywood County. 1 for $20, 2 or More for $15 each.

828.593.8321 CHAMPION SUPPLY Janitorial supplies. Professional cleaning products, vacuums, janitorial paper products, swimming pool chemicals, environmentally friendly chemicals, indoor & outdoor light bulbs, odor elimination products, equipment repair including household vacuums. Free delivery across WNC. www.championsupply.com 800.222.0581, 828.225.1075.

OXYGEN CONCENTRATOR InogenOne - Regain Independence.

Enjoy Greater Mobility. NO more Tanks! 100% Portable Long-Lasting Battery. Try it RISK FREE! For Cash Buyers Call 1.800.359.1044 SAPA SCOTTISH TARTANS MUSEUM 86 East Main St., Franklin, Open 10am- 5pm, Mon - Sat. Come & let us find your Scottish Connection!

828.584.7472 or visit us at: www.scottishtartans.org.

HEAVY EQUIPMENT SAWMILLS From only $4397.00- MAKE & SAVE MONEY with your own bandmillCut lumber any dimension. In stock ready to ship. FREE Info/DVD: www.NorwoodSawmills.com.

1.800.578.1363 Ext.300N

REAL ESTATE ANNOUNCEMENT

PUBLISHER’S NOTICE All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Fair Housing Act which makes it illegal to advertise “any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, or an intention, to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination� Familial status includes children under the age of 18 living with parents or legal custodians, pregnant women and people securing custody of children under 18 This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All dwellings advertised on an equal opportunity basis.

LEASE TO OWN 1/2 Acre Lots with Mobile Homes & Empty 1/2 Acre + Lots!

Located Next to Cherokee Indian Reservation, 2.5 Miles from Harrah’s Cherokee Casino.

For More Information Please Call 828.506.0578 MOUNTAINS OF NC Won't last at this price! 2-story hand-crafted cabin on 1.68 acres.

Only $69,900. Needs work.

828.286.1666.

FOR SALE BY OWNER Ranch Style Home, 3/BR 1/BA, Unrestricted, 1.76 Acres, Creek/ Waterfall, Privacy, Workshop, 1 Mile from Hwy 23/74 Near Dillsboro. Large Deck w/ Covered BBQ Pitt, Garden Spot, Hardwood Floors. $149,500 For more info 828.508.3653 or 828.508.3654

VACATION RENTALS CAVENDER CREEK CABINS Dahlonega, GA. GAS TOO HIGH? Spend your vacation week in the North Georgia Mountains! Ask About Our Weekly FREE NIGHT SPECIAL! Virtual Tour: www.CavendarCreek.com Cozy Hot Tub Cabins! 1.866.373.6307 SAPA FLAGLER BEACH FLORIDA Oceanfront Vacation Rentals Tripadvisor Award, Furnished Studio, 1-2-3 BR’s, Full Kitchen, WiFi, TV, Pool. Seasonal Specials 1.386.517.6700 or www.fbvr.net

STORAGE SPACE FOR RENT CLIMATE CONTROLLED STORAGE UNITS FOR RENT 1 Month Free with 12 Month Rental. Maggie Valley, Hwy. 19, 1106 Soco Rd. For more information call Torry

828.734.6500, 828.734.6700

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Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Lifestyle Properties — vistasofwestfield.com Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Great Smokys Realty — BHHSGreatSmokysRealty.com

Committed to Exceeding Expectations

• Eugene L. Strickland — Gene@4Smokys.com

Marilynn Obrig

Beverly Hanks & Associates

Residential Broker Associate

• • • • •

(828) 550-2810

mobrig@Beverly-Hanks.com

www.Beverly-Hanks.com

• George Escaravage — gke333@gmail.com

Commitment, consistency, results.

ERA Sunburst Realty — sunburstrealty.com • Amy Spivey — sunburstrealty.com Haywood Properties — haywoodproperties.com • Steve Cox — info@haywoodproperties.com

Carolyn Lauter Broker/ABR

Keller Williams Realty

1986 SOCO ROAD, HWY 19 • MAGGIE VALLEY, NC 28751

828.734.4822 Cell • www.carolynlauter.com carolyn.lauter@realtyworldheritage.com

298-01

298-115

James R. ‘Randy’ Flanigan Broker, Licensed Auctioneer, RealtorŽ

MAINSTREET REALTY

kellerwilliamswaynesville.com • Ron Kwiatkowski — ronk.kwrealty.com

Mountain Home Properties mountaindream.com • Sammie Powell — smokiesproperty.com

Main Street Realty — mainstreetrealty.net McGovern Real Estate & Property Management • Bruce McGovern — shamrock13.com

Experienced in auctions, conventional listings and vacation home sales.

101 S. Main St. Waynesville

Randy@Mainstreetrealty.net Cell:706.207.9436 Office:828.456.2227

Realty World Heritage Realty realtyworldheritage.com • Carolyn Lauter realtyworldheritage.com/realestate/viewagent/7766 • Martha Sawyer realtyworldheritage.com/realestate/viewagent/7769

RE/MAX — Mountain Realty

NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS Offering 1 & 2 Bedroom Apartments, Starting at $400 OFFICE HOURS: Tues. & Wed. 10:00am - 5:00pm & Thurs. 10:00am- 12:00pm 168 E. Nicol Arms Road Sylva, NC 28779

Phone# 1.828.586.3346 TDD# 1.800.725.2962 Equal Housing Opportunity

MOUNTAIN REALTY Steve D. Mauldin smauldin61@charter.net

828.734.4864 MOUNTAIN REALTY 26 North Main Street Waynesville, NC 28785

828.564.9393 sMauldin.REMAXagent.com

find us at: facebook.com/smnews

• • • • • • •

remax-waynesvillenc.com | remax-maggievalleync.com Brian K. Noland — brianknoland.com Mieko Thomson — ncsmokies.com The Morris Team — maggievalleyproperty.com The Real Team — the-real-team.com Ron Breese — ronbreese.com Dan Womack — womackdan@aol.com Catherine Proben — cp@catherineproben.com

smokymountainnews.com

NICOL ARMS APARTMENTS

Section 8 Accepted - Handicapped Accessible Units When Available

beverly-hanks.com Michelle McElroy — beverly-hanks.com Marilynn Obrig — beverly-hanks.com Mike Stamey — beverly-hanks.com Ellen Sither — beverly-hanks.com Brook Parrott — beverly-hanks.com

Emerson Group

maggievalleyselfstorage.com GREAT SMOKIES STORAGE Conveniently located off 19/23

by Thad Woods Auction. Available for lease now: 10’x10’ units for $55, 20’x20’ units for $160.

Get one month FREE with 12 month contract. Call 828.507.8828 or 828.506.4112 for more info.

Haywood County Real Estate Agents

June 24-30, 2015

20 - 40 ACRES $0 DOWN, From $128/MO Owner Financing.

Money Back Guarantee Near El Paso TX Beautiful Mountain Views FREE Color Brochure 1.800.939.2654 SAPA

BRUCE MCGOVERN A Full Service Realtor shamrock13@charter.net McGovern Property Management 828.283.2112.

WNC MarketPlace

67 ACRES IN CULLOWHEE Near WCU. Includes 2/BR 2/BA, 1600 sq. ft. House with Separate Workshop. Very Private, Long Range Views, Ideal for Family Compound, Several Potential House Sites. Priced to Sell $387,500. For More Details, www.918gapbranch.blogspot.com or Call 828.586.0165

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HOMES FOR SALE

The Seller’s Agency — listwithphil.com • Phil Ferguson — philferguson@bellsouth.net

TO ADVERTISE IN THE NEXT ISSUE 828.452.4251 | ads@smokymountainnews.com

53

www.smokymountainnews.com

June 24-30, 2015

WNC MarketPlace

Super

54

CROSSWORD

69 Have a go at 70 Reply to “You are not!”

ACROSS 72 Spoiled stars’ prob1 Boat docks lems 8 Mere penny 73 Running back Smith 15 Stair face 75 Pro at PR 20 Generally 78 Crude abode 21 Infused with carbon 79 “Hud” actress dioxide Patricia 22 Cosmetics queen 80 Morales of film and TV Lauder 23 Holiday tree brighten- 84 Pinocchio, for one 86 Rosary’s nonreligious ers 25 Figure skating cate- relative 88 Like a spud-slicing GI gory 89 Aide to Santa 26 Baby blues, say 90 Some small batteries 27 Detroit loc.

91 Holiday tree topper 28 By way of 92 Really mad 29 - Babies 95 Film director Martin 30 Info on a library slip 98 Alternative to drapes 31 Thing swung on a 102 Merit court 103 Spanish province 34 Undermined capital 38 Federal case, so to 104 Cellular stuff speak 105 Rick’s love in a 1942 39 Countrified film 40 See 42-Across 106 Farmland unit 41 German’s “one” 42 With 40-Across, head- 110 Cleaned up some leaves wear for doing laps 111 What eight of this 46 William Tell wielded puzzle’s answers have one 115 Saw wood 50 Nine-footer with 88 116 Capital of New Jersey keys 53 Game with a cue stick 117 Paying to stay at 118 Disburdened 54 “Cat on - Tin Roof” 119 Like mustard 55 Bakery treat 120 Post-Trojan War tale 56 Atypical pets 57 Taco sauce brand 59 Everyone, in German DOWN 1 Knight’s club 61 Topic in question 2 White-faced 62 Beddy-bye clothes 65 Gravity-defying party 3 Seldom seen 4 Pupil site decoration HOLDING THE LINE

5 Greek letters 6 “Nashville” director Robert 7 Arab, e.g.

8 Unduly quick 9 Slender fish 10 Force to rise 11 Shutting in 12 Fuel gas 13 Court divider 14 Grid stats 15 Annul 16 Sci-fi’s Asimov 17 Smell awful 18 Uncanny 19 Turn to 000 24 Did perfectly 29 Secret taste-test label 30 Strike mark 31 Defreeze 32 Conception 33 Fisher’s net 34 Tinfoil, e.g.

35 Irish money 36 BP gas brand 37 Painter Frida 40 Instructed jointly 42 Uses a divan 43 Belt’s place 44 Acquire, as debt 45 Stroll 47 Be worthy of 48 Kids’ writer Silverstein 49 Bacall’s first hubby 50 - monster 51 Chiles - (Mexican dishes) 52 Gist 55 Blatz brewer 58 West Virginia’s state flower, for short 60 Fudd of cartoondom 62 California’s - Beach 63 Osaka’s land

64 Smarmy smile 66 Pouty face 67 Epps of TV’s “House” 68 Smarmy 71 Barber’s cut 74 Some minors 76 Boxing combo 77 H’wood type 81 Wise soul 82 Some Snapple products 83 Cruise stop 85 Big brand of nonstick cookware 86 Joking types 87 Cowshed site 90 It’s faster than adagio 92 Laid down the lawn?

93 “The Queen” star Helen 94 Seventh- - stretch 95 Ward of TV 96 Fidel of Cuba 97 Sounded off 98 Poorer 99 Donald’s first wife 100 “Zorba the Greek” novelist Kazantzakis 101 John - (tractor maker) 105 Lacks entity 106 Play units 107 Greek letters 108 Artist Magritte 109 Irritable 111 Fuel additive brand 112 Mr. Capote, to his pals 113 Weed B - (lawn care product) 114 In - case

answers on page 50

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Answers on Page 50

The naturalist’s corner

BY DON H ENDERSHOT

Color on high occasionally see The Smoky Mountain News’ Garret K. Woodward’s Facebook posts about hitting the trails around WNC for a mind-clearing run and my knees twinge with the memories of similar sorties and the sad recognition that without surgery those days are lost.

But recently, in dire need of some mind cleansing, I jumped in my Rav4 and pointed it toward Richland Balsam on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was one of those hot and humid evenings where the sun plays peek-a-boo with thunderheads, mist and fog roil up from the valleys, wind turns the leaves over, shadows race up mountainsides and the light changes like a 4-year-old choosing ice cream flavors.

Color immediately began pervading every field of vision. Oranges shouted out from the roadsides in the form of flame azaleas — some fading, some still deep in radiant glow — joined by impatient Turk’s-cap lilies that could wait no longer. Red fire pinks could be seen still blazing here and there from the green shoulders. Bright yellow primrose as well as lavender and white phlox also played as the shadows danced

I

with the sunlight.

But the biggest display was undoubtedly the mountain laurel, Kalmia latifolia, and it was in its glory. It could be found in every stage of flower — from dense rosy pink buds waiting to burst to spent creamy yellow blossoms ready to give up the ghost. It could be seen individually, in small clumps and/or dense colonies covering large areas of rocky outcroppings. And it was found in almost any size from two to three feet high to small tree size.

Mountain laurel, known to some in the mountains as ivy, can be found in the eastern U.S. from Maine all the way to Louisiana and Florida.But it truly thrives in the acidic soil of the Southern Appalachians. Individual flowers are about an inch across, usually white, sometimes pale to rosy pink with dark rose-colored spots inside. They are found in dense fist-sized clusters (corymbs) at the ends of the branches. The Cherokee called mountain laurel spoonwood, as they used the wood for making spoons. But it should be noted that all parts of the plant — flowers, leaves, branches, etc. — are highly toxic.

Mountain laurel is monoecious, meaning there are male (staminate) and female (pistillate) flowers on the same plant. It has a

Mountain laurel. Donated photo rather unique strategy when it comes to pollination. The stamens are bent and as they grow, a spring-like tension is created. When a pollinating insect (quite often a bumblebee) lands on a blossom, it triggers the release of the stamen, which catapults its pollen onto the insect. When the insect visits a female flower the pollen is rubbed off on the pistil. Mountain laurel also spreads by underground rhizomes.

In the “did you know” department, mountain laurel is the state flower of

Pennsylvania and Connecticut. It was adopted in Pennsylvania by Gov. Gifford Pinchot — yes that Pinchot of Biltmore and U.S. Forest Service fame — in 1933.

The mountain laurel; the light show; the other wildflowers; the cool mountain air all worked their magic. When I nosed around at Richland Balsam and headed home, the load was somehow lighter. Sometimes the best cure for inside clutter is outside space.

(Don Hendershot is a writer and naturalist. He can be reached a ddihen1@bellsouth.net.)

June 24-30, 2015

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Whether you need to get to the doctor, work, class the gym or a summer adventure Haywood Public Transit is you source for flexible, appointment based transportation.

We have handicap seating and can accommodate your wheelchair or service animal too. We offer services locally as well as to and from Asheville.

June 24-30, 2015

Are you over 65 or disabled? You may be eligible for discounts or even a free ride.

Call us for details.

BRUCE DONLEY has been here

has been with us for 15+ years. He works on our local routes in the county and can always be found with a smile on his face and a positive attitude.

PAUL GROOMS

5 years. His favorite part about being a driver with us is meeting new people. Bruce primarily drives our Haywood Buncombe connection routes.

Smoky Mountain News

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Since 1990 - Getting you there is what we do.

Operational Hours Mon-Fri 6am - 5:30 pm Reservations are required — Call 24 hours in advance

828.565.0362 All trips are coordinated with others while in the general area.

We are not a last minute taxi service! Wheelchair Services are available.

EOE Haywood Public Transit will not discriminate against anyone based on race, color, gender, religion, or natural origin.

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