SMN 06 25 14

June 25-July 1, 2014 Vol. 16 Iss. 04 www.smokymountainnews.com

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

Electrical fire triggers hospital evacuation Page 10 Local paddler takes a record-setting canoe plunge Page 28

As their star ascends, Balsam Range stays rooted in WNC

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524 Russ Ave., Waynesville, NC 28786 Sales: 828.452.5111 Service: 828.456.3591

June 25-July 1, 2014

Smoky Mountain News

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CONTENTS On the Cover Haywood County bluegrass group Balsam Range has rapidly risen into the national spotlight of the genre. In 2013, their record “Papertown” won the International Bluegrass Music Association’s award for Album of the Year. Their follow-up release, “Five,” was released June 17 on the Mountain Home record label. The band was the final act to play the Bele Chere music festival in Asheville (pictured) last summer, which ended after 35 years. Garret K. Woodward photo (Page 28)

News An NAACP summer organizer arrives in Haywood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Waynesville will soon raise its the property tax rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Real estate market is a puzzle with many pieces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Fire leads to the evacuation of Haywood Regional Medical Center. . . . . . . . . 10 New dental center strives to serve rural Western North Carolina . . . . . . . . . . 12 Ghost Town misses opening date, shoots for Fourth of July . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Bryson City gets a new logo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Lake Sequoyah will be drained, Highlands plans maintenance projects . . . . 16 The Pigeon Community Center will finally get roof repaired . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Presnell drops bill aimed at de-annexing Maggie Valley property . . . . . . . . . . 19 Another Jackson County community considers planning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

A&E The Get Right Band discuss music, life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Outdoors

June 25-July 1, 2014

NOC guide Brad McMillan sets waterfall record in a canoe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

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CONTACT WAYNESVILLE | 144 Montgomery, Waynesville, NC 28786 P: 828.452.4251 | F: 828.452.3585 SYLVA | 629 West Main Street, Sylva, NC 28779 828.631.4829 | F: 828.631.0789

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July

Highlands

Maggie Valley

• “July 4th Fireworks,” 11 a.m. until dusk July 4, in downtown Highlands. Cookout begins at 11 a.m. at the baseball field, with the 3rd annual Rotary Rubber Ducky Derby at 3 p.m. at Mill Creek, live music at 6 p.m. at Town Square and Pine Street Park, and patriotic sing-along at 8 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church. Fireworks at 9 p.m.

828.526.2112, www.highlandschamber.org.

• “Wheels Through Time Museum’s 12th Anniversary in Maggie Valley Fourth of July celebration,” 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 3-7, Maggie Valley. Rare and unique machines spanning more than 110 years of transportation history, dating back to very roots of motorized travel. www.wheelsthroughtime.com, 828.926.6266.

Sapphire Valley Glenville

Events Bryson City

Cashiers

• “Freedom Train” at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, 7:30 p.m. July 4, departure from Bryson City Depot to the Fontana Trestle and back just in time for the fireworks at Bryson City’s Freedom Fest. First Class, Crown Class and Coach Class seating available. All ticket purchases of any class include a meal.

800.872.4681.

• “Freedom Fest,” 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. July 4, downtown Bryson City. Fourth of July celebration featuring old-fashioned street festival with Firecracker 5K road race, music, dog show, watermelon eating contest, air guitar contest and more. Fireworks show at 10 p.m. www.greatsmokies.com.

• “NOC’s Sizzlin’ 4th of July,” July 4-6, Nantahala Outdoor Center, Nantahala Gorge.

NRC Family Whitewater Weekend, 828.232.7238, www.noc.com.

• “Singing In The Smokies” Independence Weekend Festival, July 3-5, at Inspiration Park, Bryson City. Hosted by Appalachian/gospel group The Inspirations, featuring live music from The Kingsmen, Troy Burns Family, Dixie Echoes, Chris Smith, Daron Osbourne, Evidence of Grace, and many more. $20 per day, per adult.

Children ages 12 and under free. www.theinspirations.com.

• “Fireworks Extravaganza,” July 4, at The Village Green in Cashiers. Live music at 6:30 p.m. by The Extraordinaires as part of the Groovin’ on the Green concert series.

Fireworks at dusk. www.mountainlovers.com.

Cherokee

• “Lake Glenville Fireworks,” 8:30 p.m. July 5, over the lake. www.cashiersareachamber.com.

Lake Junaluska • “4th of July Celebration,” July 3-6, Lake Junaluska. Parade, water ski show, concerts (featuring Balsam Range and the Lake Junaluska Singers) barbecue, fish fry, bluegrass dinner, bluegrass music, fireworks display and more. www.lakejunaluska.com/july4th, 800.222.4930.

• “Doug Stanford Memorial Rodeo, Ram Rodeo Series,” 8 p.m. July 4-5, Haywood County Fairgrounds, Lake Junaluska.

• “9th annual Yankee Doodle Dandy Day,” 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 4, Sapphire Valley track and recreation center areas.

Swimming, outdoor games and contests, inflated bouncy toys, live music, sports contests, food, pony rides and the Horsepasture River Ducky Derby.

Waynesville • “Stars and Stripes Celebration,” 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., July 4, in downtown Waynesville.

Shops, galleries and restaurants open, with live music and entertainment. “Kids on Main Patriotic Parade” at 11 a.m. and “Main Street Cookout” from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. www.downtownwaynesville.com.

• “39th annual Eastern Band of Cherokee Pow Wow,” 5 p.m. July 4, 10 a.m. July 5; and 7 a.m. July 6, Acquoni Expo Center (formerly Cherokee High School), Cherokee. $10 per day with a weekend pass for $25. www.visitcherokeenc.com.

June 25-July 1, 2014

Fontana Village Resort • “4th of July at Fontana Village Resort,” July 2-5, live music, corn hole and Pac Man tournaments, sunset cruise, documentaries, games. www.fontanavillage.com.

Franklin • “4th of July Parade and Celebration,” 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 4, in downtown Franklin.

Fireworks in the Park, 3 p.m. until dark July 4, Macon County Veterans Memorial Recreation Park. Live entertainment, bungee jump, corn hole tournament, the famous Plunger Toss and Bulls Eye Ball Drop. www.visitfranklinnc.com, 828.524.3161.

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news

NAACP get Haywood organizer Organization broadens scope, becomes N.C. refuge for liberals

BY J EREMY MORRISON N EWS E DITOR aywood County’s fledging chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is getting a little help this summer.

“I see myself as a booster pack,” said Sam Tyson. “A little summer energy.”

Tyson will serve as an NAACP Moral Freedom summer organizer in Haywood. The organization’s North Carolina chapter is dispatching such organizers around the state.

“The centerpiece initiative of this effort is an organizing campaign that places 50 highly trained Moral Freedom summer organizers in counties across the state to coordinate long-term, issue-based voter empowerment/registration campaigns and to support local efforts,” said Haywood County NAACP President Chuck Dickson, a local attorney.

Haywood’s summer organizer was introduced this month at the Pigeon Community Center in Waynesville. Tyson, a student at the University of North Carolina-Asheville, said he was looking forward to his summer station.

“Glad to be here in Haywood County, it’s a beautiful day,” Tyson said. “I need y’all, maybe y’all need me, we’ll see.”

The NAACP’s summer organizer program commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Mississippi Freedom Summer, during which people worked to register African-American voters in the South. As a senior in high school, Tyson was involved with a theatric production based on that summer in Mississippi.

“I got to know a fair number of the freedom riders personally,” he recalled.

This summer the NAACP’s organizers will have a few objectives. To start with, they’ll be trying to register 50,000 voters across the state. They will also be trying to get another 5,000 people to join the NAACP. The organizers’ work is described as

Smoky Mountain News

June 25-July 1, 2014

H

“issue based” and aims to build “a long-term transformative fusion movement in North Carolina.”

“NAACP is non-partisan,” Tyson said, “but we’ve got some important elections coming up.”

Haywood’s summer organizer said he will be working to educate people about various issues — education funding, voting laws, environmental and jobs issues — facing North Carolina. He will also be tailoring his duties to fit the community.

“I’m here to tailor my efforts to this community,” Tyson said. “What you tell me is what you’ll get. I’m gonna be all ears.”

During the local chapter’s introduction to their summer organizer, members wondered if the added energy might help them push their membership to the 100-member mark.

“I believe we can knock that out this summer,” Tyson told them.

Tyson arrives in Haywood full of statelevel energy. He relays tales of his ventures in

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Haywood NAACP President Chuck Dickson and member Walter Bryson cut cake and welcome summer organizer Sam Tyson. Jeremy Morrison photo

Across from Best Buy in Waynesville

“If they hadn’t been at the forefront of Moral Monday, I don’t think you would have seen the NAACP’s reemergence.”

— Chris Cooper, WCU political science professor

Raleigh.

“I was at Moral Monday two days ago,” Tyson told local NAACP members. “Just about everybody in our program was almost arrested.”

Haywood’s summer organizer has some familial roots dug into North Carolina’s activists community. His parents are deeply involved in the Moral Monday events — his dad is a speechwriter for the N.C. NAACP head Rev. William Barber — and his sister,

granddad and parents have all been arrested at demonstrations in Raleigh.

“I’m neck deep in this,” Tyson said.

The NAACP has spearheaded the demonstrations playing out regularly in Raleigh at the state legislative building in opposition to the direction the state’s Republican majority has veered. The organization has experienced somewhat of a rebirth due to its prominence in that conversation.

“If they hadn’t been at the forefront of Moral Monday, I don’t think you would have seen the NAACP’s reemergence,” said Chris Cooper, head of Western Carolina University’s Department of Political Science and Public Affairs.

Cooper said the state’s NAACP conference has become a home for individuals on the left of the political spectrum. The organization still focuses on issues of race, but has also broadened its umbrella.

“I think it’s really interesting to see how the left is rebuilding an old organization, and I can’t think of another example when that has happened,” Cooper said.

Cooper said that the NAACP and the Moral Monday movement have provided the left with a vehicle. Much like the Occupy Wall Street movement, only with structure.

“Whereas the Tea Party provides that for the right,” he said, “the NAACP has provided that for the left.”

That seems all the more obvious in NAACP chapters that have sprung up recently in Western North Carolina counties like Haywood and Jackson. The counties, as well as the membership of the new chapters, are predominantly white and focus on issues well outside the arena of race.

“That, I think, is what tells you this is more than about race now,” Cooper said of the new chapters. “It’s an organizational structure that the left can glob onto.”

Tyson recognizes the broadening of the NAACP’s scope. The evolution strikes him as exciting.

“I think it’s been great for the movement,” he said.

Tyson said the organization, of course, is still concerned with issues pertaining to race, but it also seeks to put energy into a host of other issues. He’s interested in finding out which particular issues are important to the Haywood community.

“Which sort of issues are setting the town on fire and which ones are not,” Tyson said.

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Waynesville leaders choose property tax hike over budget cuts

Board of Elections offices to relocate

Wednesday of the month at the Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub in downtown Franklin.

Those interested in an open exchange of ideas (dialogue not debate) are invited.

828.371.1020.

S

Preserving the past is forum topic

“What aspects of history are worth preserving and why?” will be the topic for the Franklin Open Forum at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 2, at the Rathskeller.

The Franklin Open Forum is a moderated discussion group that meets the first

Canton license plate office to close June 27 The Canton license plate office on Champion Drive will close at the end of business Friday, June 27, due to the expiration of the agency’s contract with the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles.

The DMV is reviewing applications to determine the operator and location of a new area plate agency. Routinely, it takes about four months to establish a new agency.

Until a new agency can be established, nearby vehicle registration services are available at the following locations: • Waynesville, 80 Waynesville Plaza, 828.452.1577.

• Asheville, 85 Tunnel Road, Suite 16B, 828.252.8526.

While Waynesville’s property taxes will go up from 40 to 43 cents this year — bringing in an extra $330,000 — the town’s overall budget is smaller.

Raising property taxes won’t fully offset a litany of losses to various revenue streams: lower sales tax collections, county budget cuts for trash hauling, the loss of liquor store profits, dwindling annual interest on investments, pending elimination of business license fees and reductions in telephone franchise charges — just to name a few. While some seem obscure, cuts in the fees and funds add up to nearly $1 million in annual revenue lost over a five-year period.

On top of the tax hike, the town is dipping into its reserves by more than $1 million, but the town’s overall budget will still be lower than last year.

Towns and cities statewide are facing similar challenges: 202 municipalities have raised property taxes in the past three years.

The mayor asked whether the outlook might be more rosy than Caldwell was letting on, although at the same time, Brown commended Caldwell for his approach.

Caldwell was unwilling to hedge his financial outlook for the town, however. A conservative budget — one that accounts for slightly more in expenses and slightly less in

revenue while hoping otherwise — offers a cushion against the unexpected.

“That is your only contingency,” Onieal said.

Towns and cities statewide are facing similar challenges: 202 municipalities have raised property taxes in the past three years. The town of Franklin is enacting a two-cent property tax increase this year.

Bryson City increased property taxes by two cents last year.

Waynesville’s tax rate isn’t exactly off the charts when compared to like-size towns, but it will be among the highest town property tax rate in the seven western counties.

“They aren’t trying to do the things we are trying to do. We are progressive and trying to do things,” Brown said of the comparison.

246-44

Special Occasions and everyday fashions.

New Items On Sale

Smoky Mountain News

The Haywood County Board of Elections will open its new offices at 63 Elmwood Way, Suite A, in Waynesville on Monday, June 23, 2014.

The new location in the Haywood County Auxiliary Services Facility will provide the Board of Elections with more than 1,500 square feet of additional space.

The Auxiliary Services Facility also houses Haywood County Recreation and Parks and Maple Leaf Adult Day Care.

828.452.6633.

Going up while coming down

June 25-July 1, 2014

By that, Brown apparently meant the town wouldn’t compromise its level of services or quality-of-life amenities in order to dodge a property tax increase, even if it is politically difficult to stomach. All four aldermen plus the mayor’s seat are up for election next year.

As aldermen pored over the budget, Onieal addressed the unspoken question of whether town employees could do without a 1 percent cost-of-living raise again this year, plus an additional 1 to 2 percent raise for high performers and career advancement.

Over the past five years, employees have seen a six percent raise, but that hasn’t kept pace with the real-world cost-of-living increase and inflation of 12 percent.

“I don’t want to suggest that we are not appreciative of everything you all have done for us,” Onieal said. “We are all grateful to have jobs. We are in far better shape than a number of people who have been drastically affected by the economy.”

In light of a huge jump in health insurance costs for employees, the town considered modest cuts in benefits but recognized the generous health coverage was a valued incentive for town employees.

Town leaders questioned whether they could tap savings to a greater degree, but the budget already calls for dipping into the town’s reserves to the tune of $1 million, and any more would be harmful, according to Finance Director Eddie Caldwell, who hopes to stave off the full hit to the fund balance as it is by penny pinching over the coming year.

Mayor Brown asked Caldwell if he was being overly cautious in the budget projections.

“Mr. Caldwell always budgets conservatively on the revenue side and quite high on the expense side,” Brown said.

news

BY B ECKY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER addled by a higher cost of doing business and hits to its bottom line, Waynesville aldermen were poised to pass a three-cent property tax increase this week, the town’s first in over a decade.

Nonetheless, the town’s total budget for the coming year will still shrink slightly — dropping from $30 million to $29.7 million.

A final vote by the town board was scheduled for Tuesday evening (June 24), but the writing was on the wall after a nearly three-hour budget workshop last week.

“Everybody wants to know about the threeEddie Caldwell cent property tax increase. I think we have effectively answered that question here tonight,” Mayor Gavin Brown said at the conclusion of the budget workshop.

Town aldermen looked for a way Gavin Brown around the property tax increase but came up empty-handed. They couldn’t find anything in the budget they were willing to sacrifice.

It reaffirmed what Town Manager Marcy Onieal told town leaders earlier this month: a property tax increase was the lesser of evils.

“We are the town of Waynesville and we have always done the right thing,” Brown said.

7

news

willing to pay $300,000 for an acre lot, then by definition, that’s what the lot is worth.

Signs of the pending bust were overlooked

FINDING FAULT

Over coming months, join The Smoky Mountain News as we explore the lasting and farreaching implications of the real estate boom and bust in the mountains. The summer-long series will examine what went wrong, what can be learned, and where we go from here.

Smoky Mountain News

June 25-July 1, 2014

BY B ECKY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER A Main Street law office without windows is an odd place for a such a good view.

But Waynesville attorney Frank Queen has had a front-row seat to the mountains from here, witnessing thousands of acres trade hands — land with scenic vistas, along creeks, in forests, behind gates, on farms, hugging cliffs and tucked in coves — during the real estate boom of the 2000s.

“Real estate never goes down. It is completely different than every other investment you have ever been involved in,” Queen said. “At least that’s what everybody Frank Queen thought. Only the Cassandras are the ones who said ‘This is terrible and it is going to end badly.’”

In hindsight, though, everyone should have realized the mountain development boom was following the classic recipe — particularly the smart lawyers with an unprecedented volume of real estate transactions flowing across their desk, carrying astronomical price tags.

“I think the 20,000-foot view of this is that it was a typical boom-bust cycle that has been going on in the market for as long as markets have existed,” Queen said. “Real estate was like any other kind of market. When supply and demand get out of balance, the market corrects itself. Whenever someone tells you ‘This time is different,’ proceed with caution.”

A block down the street from Queen, another of the top real estate lawyers in Haywood County watched the real estate bust unfold before his eyes. Only he didn’t see it coming either.

“I would sit right here and say, ‘The good thing about Haywood County is I have never 8 seen land prices drop,’” recalled Gavin

Brown, sitting at the board table where hundreds of real estate transactions went down.

“I thought Haywood County land prices were immune from any kind of disaster. Gavin Brown was dead wrong on that and here I am an experienced real estate lawyer. I was feeding the frenzy.”

Brown’s favorite parallel: the great Dutch tulip bulb mania of the 1630s. During its height, a single tulip bulb was worth as much as an entire farm, selling for 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman in the period.

One tulip bulb could change hands several times a day, traded up higher each time.

The craze even gave rise to a tulip futures market, with dealers buying and selling bulbs they never saw, solely on contract. Tulip auctions fueled the illusion.

The mounting frenzy became more and more disassociated with the intrinsic worth of tulips themselves. Speculators were eventually betting on a figment — the idea of a commodity that would keep on rising forever.

The tulip craze started out innocently enough. The newly introduced flower in Europe was desired partly for its beauty and partly as a status symbol among the wealthy.

The tipping point was when speculators who had no desire to actually own tulip bulbs got in the game, trading and betting on a presumptive rise in prices.

The same tipping point happened with the mountain development bust.

“Land in and of itself has intrinsic value.

You farmed it, you grazed it, you grew trees on it or you got water off it,” Brown said.

Trouble came when buyers got in the game who saw the mountains as a sort of stock market, buying lot and land with the intention of flipping it.

“Like in any other kind of financial crisis, it’s when you get derivative type investment,” Brown said.

Brown’s own file room is exhibit A in the real estate boom and bust. Thousands of file folders containing land transactions are

shelved by year on long metal racks. He walked back through time to the mid-2000s, proudly showing off the top years that consume row after row, each too long to span with his arms. Keep walking, and you get to 2009, but don’t blink. There’s hardly enough files to fill a single row.

The mark of the development boom and bust will remain on the landscape for decades to come. A vast inventory of lots carved out of mountain subdivisions — thousands of them waiting for buyers who don’t exist — could languish for a generation or more.

The no-lose proposition had a critical flaw: that demand was infinite and prices would always rise.

“Everyone assumes in this situation there is no risk. It is guaranteed. Most people never saw the risk. Everybody got carried away,” Brown said.

For the record, Queen personally thought the sale prices were “excessive.” But what trumpet could a small-town Main Street lawyer blow to alert America they were paying too much for mountaintop lots?

“Everybody in retrospect can see the bigview lot prices were outrageous. Everybody is a genius who didn’t buy one of those. But there are an equal number of people who bought and flipped them — and are geniuses because they sold in time,” Queen said.

The ones who decidedly aren’t geniuses — at least not anymore — are the developers caught with gobs of overpriced lots on their hands in mountain developments with not enough takers.

“They thought all they had to do was announce the damn thing and it would sell.

The only problem is there’s a zillion mountains and a zillion views,” Queen said.

Jay Coward, the top real estate attorney in Jackson County, isn’t so sure the real estate bust was a fait accompli, however.

Sure, the prices seemed insanely high.

“But how do you interpret it?” Coward said.

Buyers drive the market, and if they’re

There’s no one-size-fits-all, no good guys and bad guys, no singular character who should have wizened up to the havoc being wreaked in the real estate market.

“You can collectively point the finger at all of us,” Brown said.

But the blame game is rampant nonetheless.

“There is a great inclination when something big happens and people get hurt to say ‘It must be someone’s fault,” Queen said. “The fault is in the stars, that’s what Shakespeare said.”

However, Coward is quick to come up with a villain behind the bust.

“It was the toxic mess on Wall Street,” Coward said. “We didn’t know there were these crazy toxic loans out there that were going to bring the entire financial system to its knees.”

Coward said the market didn’t shrink, taper or even fizzle. It instantly “vaporized.”

“It was more like a tornado all of a sudden arrived. The storm came suddenly and you either were taken out or somehow managed to hunker down in a bunker and ride it out,” Coward said.

Coward thinks the developers caught mid-stride with a development and driven to bankruptcy would have succeeded if not for the external financial crash. That’s what spooked lot buyers, and what ultimately cased demand to dry up — not an actual slump in desirability of mountain land.

“I think the lots would have sold out if it weren’t for the recession. You would have had some filthy rich developers that made a bunch of money off Western North Carolina,” Coward said.

That image of the filthy rich developer, profiting hand over fist, makes them an easy Jay Coward scapegoat in the blame game, and the hapless lot buyers paying inflated prices as the victims.

But it’s not quite accurate, Queen said.

Developers were sitting on top when the house of cards tumbled down, but they didn’t build it alone.

“It is wrong to mistake effect with cause,” Queen said. “This isn’t a tragedy and there aren’t victims. It is people trying to get ahead with a no-lose proposition.”

The baby boomers who chased the dream of a mountain retirement, the speculators who bought and flipped lots to make an easy profit, the mountain farmers who sold their family land, even the laborers swinging hammers from dawn to dusk to feed the boom — they were all part of it.

GOING ONCE

The first explorers who laid eyes on the Smokies described the unfolding ridgelines as endless, more than man could ever fill up.

But in the height of the boom, the line of buyers seemed endless, with not enough mountains to go around — or so everyone believed.

SELLING OUT

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Smoky Mountain News

There’s another part of the equation of course: the mountain people who sold their land to developers in the first place.

Farms and mountainsides passed down for generations, staying within the same family since the days of early settlers, were sold in the blink of an eye. Land that lasts forever was traded in for cash with a far more fleeting nature.

Queen cautioned against quick judgments of those who sold out, however. His grandfather, Sam Queen, got a call from a man in the late 1960s wanting to sell 100 acres of his family land to send his daughter to college.

“They didn’t want to sell it to people they didn’t know, which was a peculiarity of mountain folk at the time. So they sold the land to us for what seems to be a ridiculous small sum of money now and even then wasn’t very much,” Queen said.

“If you asked that girl today, who is now retired, did they need their 100 acres out in rural Haywood County or did she need her college education and the life experiences and career that came from it? The conversation doesn’t go very far,” Queen said. “That is the story of economics. It is, ‘What were your needs at the time?’”

Certainly, selling land their forbearers had settled and farmed for generations for short-term gain was a hard choice.

“Yet you need a new car, and yet Waynesville attorney Gavin Brown can still be found in the stacks of property deed books at the you have children who need college educations, and yet…” Queen said. “So Haywood County Courthouse occasionally, but it’s you are sitting here on this thing and not nearly as crowded these days. Donated photo you have a need that can’t be met by this thing you are sitting on.”

Queen’s family still owns the farm passed people who in the past had come here and stayed in hotels,” Queen said. “There was down from his great-great-great grandfather obviously a demand that caused the develop- — with one exception. The big, old maple tree in the front yard isn’t there any more. His ers to reach out.”

Queen was one of the first eye-witnesses in grandfather cut it down one day when everythe real estate world to detect the new breed one else was gone.

“The family asked Sam what in the hell had of buyer now known as “half-backs.”

These are the retired middle-class factory he done. Why had he cut the maple tree out of workers from the north — from Ohio to New the front yard? He said ‘Let them that lives the York — who set out to retire in Florida but longest carry wood the furthest,’” Queen said. discovered the mountains en route, being “People’s minds are motivated by what they need to get by with today, and not necessarily “halfway back” home.

Halfbacks aside, the whole concept of a this mystical relationship or abstract notion.”

His grandfather lost the shade tree, but mobile retirement is new-fangled in human didn’t have to go nearly as far to haul firegeography.

“People are retiring to a place they didn’t wood anymore. work,” Queen said. “The fundamental driver for all of this is a demographic trend of N THE HORIZON boomers retiring.”

In particular, boomers with disposable If real estate lawyers are the bellwether of income, looking to spend their idyllic golden the bust, they are also the harbinger of the years somewhere other than the town they rebound. None would attest a comeback is on worked in their whole lives. They bought into the horizon, but Coward has seen real estate the mountain real estate craze, dreaming of transactions rise. that storybook retirement.

Coward will likely never be back to the Dreaming, after all, was half the fun. For level he was in the heyday. In 2008, he had 26 many mountain lot buyers in the 2000s, employees churning out real estate closings. retirement was years away, but with lots fly- By 2010, he had dropped to the staff to six. ing off the shelf, getting in on the ground Two years ago, weeks could pass without a floor was crucial — and besides, there was closing. Now, he is seeing activity every day. nothing to lose.

“People have regained some confidence “They always figured in the back of their but not to the point we are at a turn around,” mind it didn’t matter whether they actually Coward said. “It is out of the doldrums. It has retired here or not because nobody ever lost plateaued. It is no longer lifeless and cold on money in real estate. Everybody is a genius,” the operating table. It is beginning to breathe Queen said. again, but that’s about all.”

news

Courting buyers for mountain land tapped the region’s long-standing history of hosting wealthy Southerners escaping the summer heat. They came in droves in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Arriving by train from Atlanta, Savannah and the like, they settled in at countless resort hotels of the day for a three-month respite in the cooler climes of the mountains, the men periodically traveling to and from to conduct businesses back home.

Flash forward, and those are the same clientele who fueled the second-home and vacation-home market in the boom years.

It wasn’t all that hard for developers to connect the dots.

“Their advertising and marketing was to people of the hot South. They were the same

9

news

Fire causes electrical failure in Haywood hospital Hospital closed, patients evacuated until further notice

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER he campus of Haywood Regional Medical Center is full of cars coming and going, staff walking toward or returning from shifts and people in workout gear heading toward the Fitness Center. Staff members help an elderly woman in a wheelchair get in her vehicle after discharging her from care, and staff working with those still admitted move between stations.

All typical hospital scenes, except this one has a few extras: parked semis attached to portable emergency units, a stationary ambulance, an array of tan-colored tents, plenty of orange cones and a line of bright blue and pink portable toilets. And, underneath it all, a stretch of asphalt marked with white parking lines.

This is what the emergency room looks like when it’s forced to set up shop outside.

Each Carolina MED-1 unit holds 13 beds, four of which are ICU-level, and is capable of supporting minor surgery, X-rays, ultrasounds, IV hookups and lab work. “A pretty phenomenal” resource, according to HRMC Chief Executive Officer Janie Sinacore-Jaberg, but when the hospital closes, it’s a necessary one.

The trouble began at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 19, when smoke was detected near the power room of the hospital. A small fire inside was soon found to be the cause, and within minutes first responders were on scene and the flames extinguished.

“It was in a switch,” said Johnny Glance, Haywood County Fire Marshal.

“They have several switches that the power comes into from the outside, and it handles different things in the hospital, and one of the switches burned up.”

An abundance of departments showed up to respond to the small fire — Junaluska Fire Department, Maggie Valley Fire Department, Canton Fire Department, North Canton Fire Department, Clyde Fire Department, Crabtree-Iron Duff Fire Department, Haywood County Rescue Squad, Haywood County Emergency Medical Services, Haywood County Emergency Management, Haywood County Fire Marshal and Haywood County Sherriff ’s Office — but while the fire was quickly extinguished, its effects were not.

The fire had damaged the hospital’s main power switch. The emergency generator came on when the power went out, restoring electricity, but the air conditioning still wasn’t working. When you’re a facility dedicated to caring for people whose health is in a delicate situation, sweltering in the heat is not an option.

“Because of the electrical damage inside our main switch, we felt it was better to move 10 our patients,” Sinacore-Jaberg said in an

Smoky Mountain News

June 25-July 1, 2014

T

A mobile emergency center has been set up in the parking lot of the empty hospital to care for patients in need of emergency care. Holly Kays photo address to Haywood County’s elected officials at a June 23 Council of Governments meeting.

Within four hours of discovering the fire, HRMC had begun transferring its 62 patients in the main hospital to other facilities, sending about half to MedWest-Harris Regional Hospital in Sylva and half to Mission Health in Asheville. Some of these patients had been receiving care in the psychiatric wing, and they were sent to one of several medical facilities in the region,

“Duke LifePoint is 100 and a million percent committed to moving forward with this acquisition.”

— Janie Sinacore-Jaberg

according to HRMC spokeswoman Christina Deidesheimer.

“There are several regional facilities, to the best of my knowledge, that are capable,” Deidesheimer said.

Greg Shuping, emergency management director for Haywood County, oversaw the evacuation, which he termed “a historical event.”

“It’s a big deal,” Shuping said. “Especially in a community that only has one hospital.”

The response team took care to evacuate patients with serious conditions, such as those housed in the intensive care unit, first,

and the evacuation ended without injury.

The building did not suffer any structural damage, Sinacore-Jaberg said, and no foul play is suspected in causing the fire — likely, Sinacore-Jaberg said, it was caused by an “arcing of some kind.”

“Quick action really helped alleviate a lot of difficulties,” she said. “No one was injured.

No one was hurt. And that we need to thank God for.”

Still, there’s no question this was an unusual event, to say the least. Hospital evacuations are far from everyday occurrences, and Shuping doesn’t know of any hospital in the state that’s had a similar situation.

“The only one we can find is there’s this one little hospital down on the coast that’s got a census of like 20 people that evacuates every time there’s a big hurricane,” Shuping said.

HELPING HOSPITALS According to Lucretia Stargell, spokeswoman for Harris Regional Hospital, the process went smoothly on the receiving end.

“It’s been very calm. It’s been very collegial,” Stargell said.

On Friday, Harris Hospital received 30 patients from HRMC, with that number ebbing and flowing in the days since. As of Monday, Harris Hospital had received two intensive care patients total from Haywood, and had 10 currently admitted patients..

When the evacuation first started, the influx of patients put Harris Hospital’s census far upwards of average, with 70 of its 86 beds filled. On an average day, Stargell said, a few more than 50 beds would be filled, with that number usually rising to 60 or so when

flu season hits. However, thanks to a lot of hard work and collaboration with HRMC physicians, the influx went smoothly.

“It does appear that everyone is focused on the patient, and that seems to be the top priority. Patient care is the top focus, so everyone is doing what they need to do to make sure that the patient is cared for without disruption,” Stargell said. “Everyone just kind of jumped in and did what they needed to do to care for that number of patients.”

Harris Regional Hospital gave emergency credentials to about 30 Haywood County physicians who normally practice at HRMC, allowing them to work in the hospital and care for Haywood patients whose cases they can then follow the whole way through.

Normally, the credentialing process takes weeks, but it can speed up in emergency cases like this.

“Seventy [patients] is a large number, but it was very manageable because of the contributions from the Haywood staff, and our staff was prepared,” Stargell said.

Stargell said the hospital has also seen an increase in emergency room visits, though it’s hard to quantify what portion of the visits can be attributed to the Haywood hospital closure.

“Our [emergency department] volume at Harris is up,” she said. “It is difficult to say, though, how many of those are Haywood patients using our ED specifically because of the event at Haywood.”

By Sunday, HRMC had fully transitioned to a mobile emergency room, though the hospital encouraged people in need of emergency care to visit urgent care centers in Hazelwood and Canton if possible. That’s not always possible,

EFFECTS ON THE BUYOUT

It’s not all closed

Macon County Commission Vice Chairman Ronnie Beale is one of 25 county officials from across the nation selected to attend the 11th annual County Leadership Institute, a rigorous five-day f program offered through the National Association of Counties (NACo) in partnership with Cambridge Leadership Associates.

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mitment to develop collaborative and innovative solutions for local issues.

The costs for this year’s program, which will be held in Washington, D.C., from June 1-5, are underwritten by corporate and non-profit sponsors, meaning there will be no cost to Macon County taxpayers for Beale to attend.

“It is a tremendous opportunity for me, both personally and professionally,” said Beale, who received the NCACC’s 2013 Outstanding County Commissioner of the Year Award. “County commissioners have to work with so many different groups every day as we work to improve the quality of life for our citizens, and this course will provide me with the training and tools I need to be an even more effective leader for the citizens of Macon County.”

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Smoky Mountain News

Macon commissioner chosen for leadership program

Michael A. Brown, MD

June 25-July 1, 2014

Status quo is not in the hospital’s future, however. HRMC is currently at the tail end of a buyout deal with Duke LifePoint Healthcare. The company has agreed to a price tag of $26 million, but there’s still time to back out.

According to Sinacore-Jaberg, that’s The main hospital building at Haywood Regional not going to happen.

Medical Center is the only facility affected by the fire “Duke LifePoint is 100 and a miland subsequent electrical issues. Other buildings, lion percent committed to moving including the Health & Fitness Center, Outpatient forward with this acquisition,” she Care Center, Homestead Hospice and doctors’ pracsaid. “This did not scare them. They tices, are still open and running. went through [Hurricane] Katrina.

The hospital is encouraging people to maintain They know these kinds of things their normal workout routines and to keep their happen.” appointments unless a physician advises them othThe sale is slated to be final by late erwise. fJuly or early August, but that timeframe will likely get pushed back a bit — though not because of the fire and evacua- to put a finger on and will depend on exactly how long the hospital stays closed. There’s tion, Sinacore-Jaberg said.

Initially, the timeline had called for Duke the insurance, which Sinacore-Jaberg said LifePoint’s purchase of HRMC as well as will take care of some of the loss, perhaps all WestCare in Sylva and Bryson City to be offi- of it or perhaps just a minimal amount. And cial by late March, so the buyout is already there’s the cost of repair, which will depend on what exactly the damage is assessed. lagging behind the initial target.

Until some of those questions are “It’s not even because of this, but we still have some documents we have to get answered — principally, the cause-andapproved, so that might change our timeline repair question — the hospital will stay a little bit, but they are still committed to closed, revenue will continue to slip away and patients will continue to be funneled to moving forward,” Sinacore-Jaberg said.

The closure will likely change the final neighboring hospitals.

“If you pray,” Sinacore-Jaberg said, dollar amount the county sees from the sale.

HRMC is a public hospital, a status that “please pray that we get through this very dates back to a publicly-backed construction quickly.”

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bond in the 1970s. When the sale is complete, the county will receive the money paid, less any outstanding debts and expenses.

The total payout to the county had been estimated somewhere in the neighborhood of $8 million, but the closure will likely have a negative impact on that number.

“Right now they have no one staying in the hospital, so there’s no income,” said Haywood County Commissioner Mike Sorrells. “It’s going to impact. We just don’t know how much of an impact it will be.”

Whether it’s out-of-pocket repair expenses or lost revenue due to closed doors, the hospital is likely to lose money as a result of the fire. If that’s the case, the hospital will have to tap what cash it has on hand to cover the loss, which in turn would whittle away at the sum the county gets back.

But there are a lot of moving parts at work that make specific figures hard to pin down.

There’s the lost revenue itself, which is hard

news

though, and the mobile center has remained quite busy, Sinacore-Jaberg said.

“When you need us,” she said, “you need us.”

As of press time, that’s still the status, and there’s no clear timeline for moving forward.

The hospital has electrical engineers looking at the switchboard, trying to figure out what went wrong, and the hospital’s doors will remain closed until that question is answered and its answer returned with a solution.

“We have lots of testing to continue,” Sinacore-Jaberg said. “The one thing I will promise you is that until I am perfectly sure that all of these electrical issues have been [addressed], we will stay as we are.”

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news

ECU opens dental center in Sylva School hopes to offer rural North Carolina better service

East Carolina University’s dental center in Sylva strives to serve an area that currently lacks in available dental care.

Services offered range from general dentistry, to root canals to digital radiography and 3-D/cone beam imaging.

The facility is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. To make an appointment, call 828.586.1200. of the art.”

ECU has a number of service learning centers like the one in Sylva in rural areas throughout the state. The centers are staffed with university faculty and fourth-year dental students and general dentistry residents, allowing them to hone their skills while providing much needed care to underserved areas.

The centers are a cornerstone of the school’s mission.

“Our model is completely different than any other dental school in the country,” said Scholtz.

ECU’s dental school was created with a specific purpose in mind. It strives for a solution to a problem — combating the dearth of dentists in rural areas.

“We were established to address that shortage,” Scholtz said.

By dispatching its students to the various service learning centers, the school is hoping that some of the students will choose to put down roots in underserved areas. In fact, the school seeks out such students when selecting applicants.

And ECU has garnered a reputation for this approach, attracting about 400 applicants for the school’s 50 slots. The students are drawn to the institution’s mission.

“They come to our dental school with the ECU has a number of service learning intent of going back to rural areas to practice,” centers like the one in Sylva in rural Scholtz said. areas throughout the state. The That’s what attracted Rebecca Ferguson. She’s centers are staffed with university a fourth-year ECU student now stationed in faculty and fourth-year dental students Sylva. and general dentistry residents.

“I really like ECU’s mission,” she said. “I thought that was a really innovative way to about the success of the school’s mission. “I address the access to care problem in North feel pretty confident that some of the stuCarolina.” dents will stick around in these rural and Ferguson is closer to home now than she underserved communities.” was at ECU’s home base in Greenville. She Ferguson, familiar with the allure of her grew up in Waynesville, where her dad has a current station in Sylva, is guessing that the dental practice. beauty of rural North Carolina will snag a few Students in the ECU dental program rotate of her compatriots. through several of the school’s service learning “I have a feeling that a lot of students, centers before their education is finished. Sylva once they see how beautiful Sylva is, they’ll be is Ferguson’s first rotation, but she plans to tempted to come back,” she said.

Smoky Mountain News

June 25-July 1, 2014

BY J EREMY MORRISON N EWS E DITOR There’s a new option for dental care in the region.

“We call it a community service learning center,” explained Michael Scholtz, assistant dean for extramural clinical practices at East Carolina University’s School of Dental Medicine.

This spring, the Greenville-based ECU opened a service learning center — a university outpost where students provide dental care to rural communities — in Sylva. The center, which serves Medicaid patients and also offers payment plans and sliding-scale rates, has a formal ribbon cutting June 27.

“I’m glad that they picked Sylva,” said Paula Carden, director of Jackson County Department of Public Health. “They seem to be doing well. I think they had a waiting list when they opened, some 300 people.”

The county’s health department shut down its own dental facility as ECU set up shop in Sylva. The new facility, Carden said, is better equipped to serve the community’s needs.

“It’s much better than what we could provide ‘em,” she explained. “It’s bigger, it’s state

More information

return westward when she’s done with school.

“I would like to come back to the mountains,” she said. “I don’t know if it’ll be Waynesville, or maybe Sylva, or maybe somewhere farther west.”

That’s ECU’s plan. It is hoped that students will choose to locate themselves postgraduation in the rural areas they have become acquainted with. As the school is only a few years old — with current fourthyear students making up the first class — it is not yet known how such a plan will play out.

“The proof will be in the pudding, as they say,” said Scholtz, adding that he’s optimistic

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Even our storytelling is an

outdoor adventure.

Smoky Mountain News

BY J EREMY MORRISON N EWS E DITOR host Town in the Sky, the seemingly ever-limping amusement park in Maggie Valley, did not open on June 20 as planned. Delays in running new water lines to the park’s upper levels have stalled the opening.

“We were all ready,” said park owner Alaska Presley. “We were really disappointed.”

While the park’s attractions and staff may have been ready for the announced opening date, work on the water lines was not done.

The job is taking longer than expected due to an obstacle on the mountain.

“They ran into a solid rock and they couldn’t blast it and so they couldn’t get around it,” Presley said.

In addition to the continuing work on the water lines, there is also work to be done to a washed-out evacuation road underneath the park’s chair lift. That work will need to be completed in time for a July 2 inspection. All that will need to go smoothly for a — Presley’s hoping — July 4 opening date.

This isn’t the first time Ghost Town has failed to open on schedule. In addition to delayed openings, the park has had a multitude of other problems in recent years.

Since Presley purchased it at auction in 2012 — after decades of decline, changings of hands and bankruptcy for the park — Ghost Town has failed inspections, opened with limited attractions and seen an actor shot with a projectile during a staged gunfight.

“It’s just been tough,” she said.

Presley, who has a long history with the park, said it’s been more challenging than she expected to get Ghost Town up to snuff.

The owner has had to repair and refurbish much of the park — she estimates work done this year at around $1 million.

“Stuff that I never dreamed that I’d have to do,” Presley said.

A week before the park opened, Ghost Town’s owner sounded psyched. She was ready for June 20 and hoping the park would prove to be a big-deal attraction for Haywood County.

“I’m excited about getting opened up,” Presley said as she sat in the park’s base-level A-frame, in a small office behind the gift shop.

From that office on opening weekend, Presley could see visitors arrive, ultimately to be disappointed. Feeling bad about the park’s closure, she tried to make it up to one car load.

“Gave’em a guided tour,” Presley said, “so they’re not disappointed.”

The owner said that, considering the rough go the park’s had in recent years, she usually finds the response from the public to be encouraging.

“I’ve really been surprised that I’ve not met with any bad vibes,” Presley said.

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New logo pulls into Bryson

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER A new logo will soon chug onto the marketing landscape of Bryson City following the Swain County Tourism Development Authority and the Swain County Chamber of Commerce’s approval of a design meant to emphasize the town’s most unique aspect — the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad.

“It’s fresh, it’s new and it has that subtle play on what we have that no one else has,” said Karen Wilmot, the chamber’s executive director.

Formerly, Bryson City’s logo had featured a mountain skyline, but the city’s marketing leaders began to think twice about that design after talking it over at a January board retreat.

They took the idea for change to the next step after attending the North Carolina Governor’s Conference on Tourism in March, which featured internationally known marketing expert Roger Brooks.

TDA and chamber board members attended a workshop with Brooks in which they brainstormed Swain’s assets — hiking, waterfalls, scenery.

“He said ‘No, no, no, no, everybody in the mountains has that stuff,” TDA chairman Brad Walker said. “’What is the one thing you have that nobody else has?’ And we said, ‘Well, the train’ and he said ‘Jump on that.’”

The TDA and chamber asked Charles and Ellen Snodgrass of Deep Creek Arts to design the new logo. The company occupies the chamber’s permanent creative line item, which allocates $10,000 for the year. Deep Creek Arts has not yet sent the invoice for the project, but Wilmot expects the price

tag to fall somewhere between $1,000 and $2,000.

“No one knows our brand and product like Charles and Ellen Snodgrass,” Wilmot said. “Quite frankly, we’d be crazy not to utilize their expertise.”

The new logo was approved by what Wilmot termed an “uncontroversial” vote from first the TDA and then the chamber board, and it will soon start appearing in a spectrum of marketing venues, including print versions of “Our State” magazine, the Little Green Book of American Parks, the Blue Ridge Parkway Association Guide and “North Carolina Sportsman Magazine.”

Online, its appearances will include websites for “Outside Magazine,” “Roadrunner

General session prayer delivered in Cherokee language

and culture.

Wolfe was named a Beloved Man by the tribal council in April 2013, an honor which has not been bestowed by the Eastern Band in more than 200 years. He has received numerous honors over the years for his cultural knowledge including the North Carolina Folk Heritage Award in 2003 and the Brown-Hudson Folklore Award from the North Carolina Folklore Society in 2010.

“Jerry Wolfe is a well-respected and tremendous leader for our people, which he has demonstrated through his life’s work,” commented Michell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band. “It is a great honor for him, and for our tribe, to open a session of the North Carolina Senate in the Cherokee language.”

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828.456.7407 Magazine,” the Blue Ridge Parkway and Bryson City’s Trip Advisor page.

But it won’t stand alone.

“The board didn’t just see it as a freestanding logo,” Wilmot said. “It was a proposal that showed it fit into our existing campaign, which is ‘Have a big vacation in a small town.’”

That’s a campaign that includes all of what Bryson City has to offer, which includes fishing, hiking, scenery and all other assets in addition to the railroad. The ads in which the logo appears will speak to the whole package.

“A logo is always designed to compliment your existing campaign,” Wilmot said. “We felt strongly that we like the existing campaign that we have because we do want potential visitors to know there are so many things to do here, but at the same time spotlight that which is truly unique.”

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June 25-July 1, 2014 Smoky Mountain News

A tribal elder of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians delivered the opening prayer in the Cherokee language at the N.C. Senate session June 19. Jerry Wolfe, was a natural choice to deliver the prayer.

Widely recognized for his service to the Eastern Band, Wolfe is a Navy veteran who was aboard a ship both during the D-Day invasion at Normandy and the Japanese surrender that ended World War II. The 89year-old is also a fluent speaker of the Cherokee language and a tribal traditionalist steeped in the knowledge of tribal history

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Chamber, TDA approve train-themed logo

Retiring Soon?

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Highlands to undertake $2.5 million project on Lake Sequoyah

Canary Coalition plans sing-along The Canary Coalition is holding its annual gathering at 6:30 p.m. on July 2 at the Sylva Public Library.

The event will be a sing-along featuring Songs of the Movement with musicians including Ian Moore on fiddle, Peter Friedman on guitar, Mike Rogers on percussion and Stella Moore and Avram Friedman as vocalists.

Light food and beverages will be provided.

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ake Sequoyah will disappear for a few months in the coming year as Highlands plans to drain the reservoir to complete a pair of projects there. Combining $1.6 million in grant money from the Environmental Protection Agency with another $950,000 of town funds, Highlands plans to install a new intake valve in a deep part of the lake and complete some much-needed maintenance on the dam itself.

“We think that we need to do this all at one time rather than do [the valve installation] one year, drain the lake and then go back and work on the dam,” said Highlands Mayor Patrick Taylor. “There’s no immediate danger of that dam failing, but after 80 years we need to go back now and do some important maintenance work before it becomes a crisis.”

The dam was built in 1926, and no major repair work has been done since. It’s still a sturdy construction, but when the town won a $1.6 million grant to install a water intake valve in Lake Sequoyah, it seemed a good time to take care of dam maintenance, too.

“These repairs to the dam need to happen at the same time so we only have to pull the lake down once,” said Lamar Nix, the town’s engineer.

The town relies on water funneled from intake valves on Big Creek, which feeds Lake Sequoyah, and in an arm of the lake itself. In times of drought, though, that might not be enough. Then there’s the constant struggle to make sure that intake valves remain free of sediment and, therefore, functional.

There has been talk of dredging the area

L

June 25-July 1, 2014

CuRvE gets ARC grant The nonprofit community group known as the Cullowhee Revitalization Endeavor (CuRvE) has been awarded an Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) grant from the Southwest Commission to fund ongoing efforts for improved recreational amenities along the Tuckaseegee River where it passes through the Cullowhee community.

CuRvE’s projects focus on a 3.5-mile portion of the river from the Lena Davis Landing upstream to the newly constructed Locust Creek River Access Area close to N.C. 107.

The grant will provide funds for CuRvE to hire a river consultant to create a plan for in-stream water activities and a landscape architect to create a series of drawings to help visualize the possibilities for a riverpark and completed greenway. The organization has also been working closely with N.C. DOT on an improved design for the new bridge that will constructed over the Tuckaseegee River this fall.

CuRvE is currently finishing up work on a previous grant from the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area.

The Lake Sequoyah dam will get some much-needed maintenance when Highlands drains the lake this summer to install a new water intake valve. Donated photo near the Big Creek valve, Taylor said, but “that has not come about and this new intake at Lake Sequoyah will be helpful in making sure we have plenty of water capacity.”

The grant, plus the $450,000 required match, will allow Highlands to place a new valve in a deep, relatively sediment-free part of the lake. That way the town will gain a new water source and one that will hopefully need less maintenance than its counterparts.

While the water is down, the dam will get some attention, too. Though the project has not yet gone out to bid, Taylor expects to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $500,000

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to refinish the concrete walls, replace the plugs and install a drain valve so the town can drain the lake when necessary rather than having to pump it. The town has received clearance from the Army Corps of Engineers and hopes to draw down the lake in October to finish the project by May 2015.

The draw-down might cramp the style of those used to recreating on the lake or seeing the view as they drive past on U.S. 64, but Taylor believes the result will be worth it.

“These two projects are critical things that should be done,” he said. “It’s important we do them now.”

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Pigeon Center rebounds from the downward spiral of a leaky roof

BY B ECKY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER he Pigeon Community Center in Waynesville has once again been rescued from the brink.

Haywood County has pledged $47,000 to fix a severely leaky roof and structural problems with the building, in effect saving a suite of programs offered through the community center for minorities and lowincome populations.

An all-black school during the segregation era, the building went dormant before being turned over to the Pigeon Community Development Club 13 years ago. The vision at the time was a gathering place for the black community and programs for underserved populations.

It hosts an after school program and summer youth day camp, adult computer classes, a food assistance pantry, community socials and monthly senior meal nights.

“It is more than just a building to us,” said Lin Forney, who attended kindergarten in the school and is now the director of the Pigeon Community Center. “It has a history for the community as a place for gathering — and really just pride I guess, to have a building that we as a community remember being in as our school.”

The African American demographic in Haywood County is incredibly small — just 1.2 percent of the population in a county that’s 96.7 percent white, according to the most recent U.S. Census.

Being so acutely in the minority makes it all the more important to have a place where the black community feels accepted and can affirm their shared identity with friends and neighbors.

“It’s a population that has its own history and culture,” Forney said.

The Pigeon Center serves more than the African-American community in Waynesville, however. Today, kids in the summer and after-school program are white, black and Latino — with just about an even mix of all three.

“We serve a population that may not get services in other places or may not feel comfortable getting services from other places.

We serve a population that is marginalized really,” Forney said.

Smoky Mountain News

June 25-July 1, 2014

T

WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS The Pigeon Center has struggled finan18 cially, however, with barely enough money

to remain open, and not nearly enough to pay for the big-ticket maintenance jobs a building of its age requires.

Over the past two years, a leaky roof has led to rapid deterioration of the building.

Buckets and tubs to collect drips are never far from reach. Walls are spotted with mold.

Ceilings are crumbling in places. Rain even spills through light fixtures during downpours.

“The worst fear was that the ceiling would collapse in places, and it did. That was the worst fear realized,” said Forney.

As damage worsened, the price tag for repairs mounted, becoming more and more out of reach for the financially-strapped Pigeon Community Club.

Meanwhile, the center was forced to cancel its after school program this year. And it hasn’t been able to hold its computer classes for adults lately either.

“Everything has been put on hold,” Forney said.

Even its summer day camp program —

Asking participants to pay more would defeat the whole mission.

“Our purpose is to serve those who can’t afford the other services that are out there,” Forney said.

STEPPING UP Haywood County commissioners pledged $35,000 last year to fix the roof. But Forney said the problem was worse than expected and they couldn’t find anyone to do the job for that amount. Months went by with no clear resolution, until the county was alerted a few weeks ago to just how dire things had become.

The county intervened to help bring about repairs. County Maintenance Director Dale Burris found a roofer within the $35,000 budget the county had already allocated and handled the hiring and oversight of the job directly rather than passing the money through the Pigeon Center.

But in the process, county maintenance

The Pigeon Center gives children a fun, safe place to go after school while their parents work and houses other community programs as well. File photo

which typically serves 60 kids — was at risk due to the state of the building. Luckily, the program will go on, but summer enrollment is lower than normal due to the uncertainty.

“People haven’t gotten that sense we are open yet,” Forney said.

Tuition for the summer program is $350, with a sliding scale for those able to pay more. It includes two hot meals a day, reading and math tutoring — and a safe place to spend the day with adult supervision.

Tuition isn’t enough to cover the cost of the program, however. The shortfall for the summer program ranges from $5,000 to $10,000 a year — which the Pigeon Center raises in donations from churches, businesses and individuals.

workers found a structural crack in the rear wall of the building that must be fixed, too.

The county has chipped in another $12,000 to cover that job.

“It gives them an opportunity to continue what they’re trying to do down there,” said Commissioner Mike Sorrells. Sorrells said the Pigeon Center has been a big asset, and fills a role the county appreciates.

And, Sorrells added that technically, the building still belongs to the county, even though the Pigeon Community Club was granted free long-term use of it.

“It’s still county property, and we have to take care of our property,” Sorrells said.

Next, however, was figuring out what to do about repairs inside the building. Enter a

Another day, another roof to fix The Pigeon Center isn’t the only leaky roof on Haywood County’s fix-it list.

Another roof scourge is the so-called “old hospital” — a hulking, abandoned, four-story brick building in Waynesville that was originally built as a hospital in the 1950s and later became an office building for the Department of Social Services. It’s now empty, and the county is willing to unload it for cheap to be rid of the maintenance headache.

But with no taker on the horizon yet, the county is shelling out $164,000 to get the roof replaced in coming months.

coalition of about a dozen local churches.

“We have the manpower at these different churches representing several denominations to go in and make the repairs,” said Teressa Spencer, director for ministries with Long’s Chapel United Methodist, who helped organize the consortium.

The joint efforts of the county and church groups to fix up the building will help get the Pigeon Center back on its feet.

Sybil Mann, a supporter and advocate for the center, said she was grateful for the county’s role in finding a solution to the building woes.

“Because of the county stepping up to the plate you have these other groups ready to help out,” Mann said.

Mann said the Pigeon Center serves a niche not otherwise being served in the community, and the cause is therefore a good one.

“It is an investment in Haywood County, not just because of the positive influence the Pigeon Community Center has on the lives of the children in the summer program,” Mann said. “But it allows parents to work, so it has positive economic ramifications for our county.”

This wasn’t the first time the Pigeon Center has been saved thanks to generosity of community organizations and donors.

The Pigeon Center has needed outside support not only for building upkeep, but also to underwrite its programming over the years.

The budget for the Pigeon Community Development Center is about $75,000 a year right now. But it is barely getting by. The budget needs to be more like $125,000, Forney said.

The budget covers building overhead, utilities and insurance; Forney’s part-time salary and small stipends for three summer program teachers. The money comes from fundraising, donations and grants; the town of Waynesville also kicks in $5,000 to go toward utilities.

Volunteers play a large role in carrying out the center’s mission, helping with everything from lawn mowing to after-school tutoring. The Pigeon Center gets no financial aid for its summer or after-school program through the state or federal government.

Budget woes this year mean

F

the summer students won’t get to go on field trips to the Martin Luther King Center in Atlanta or Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro. But perhaps more crushing, the end-of-summer Carotids amusement park field trip is being canceled, which reached kids who would otherwise never get that kind of experience, Forney said.

Maggie’s town hall but hosts some functions typical of community centers, including a library, polling place during elections, a playground and senior meals.

Meanwhile, the old Hazelwood school has been turned into the Folkmoot Friendship Center, serving as the headquarters, offices and dorms for the acclaimed international folk dance and music festival.

The building was leased to Folkmoot at no cost for the past decade, but none other than a chronically leaky roof led the county to deed it — lock, stock and barrel — to Folkmoot.

Folkmoot was reluctant to put more and more money into a building it didn’t technically own. It has $1 million invested over the past decade into building improvements, repairs and maintenance. The county didn’t want the liability, however, so gave it to Folkmoot.

In Canton, a former all-black school is being transformed into a community center, thanks to private philanthropic investment by the famous Gladys Knight, whose husband is a Canton native.

In Macon County, an old school has recently been converted into the Cowee Heritage Center, hosting a farmers market, concert series, art classes and other community programs.

A COMMON TRAJECTORY: SCHOOL TURNED CENTER Old schools aren’t suitable for very many things once they’re no longer wanted for a school. Their most common reincarnation is as a community center. It’s a natural trajectory — given their long-standing, iconic status as a focal point and gathering place.

In Haywood County, the old Fines Creek and Cruso serve as community centers now.

Their arrangement with the county is the same as with the Pigeon Community Club.

The county still owns the buildings but grants long-term use to the community clubs.

“The county is giving them the space, but they are supposed to maintain the interior and exterior of the buildings,” said Haywood County Manager Ira Dove.

The roster of old schools also includes the old Maggie Valley school, which is now

Smoky Mountain News

there,” DeSimone said.

DeSimone also said that the town services Maniscalco is not currently receiving are not being given because he requested they be stopped.

In 2012, the town board voted 3-2 to send a letter to Raleigh expressing support of deannexation, but no such bill was introduced and the property remained in Maggie Valley. In the interim, a mostly new board was elected, four of whom do not support de-annexation.

In the mix, too, is an assortment of charges leveled against Maniscalco in 2013, including five misdemeanors and three felonies for presenting falsified papers to support his case for de-annexation.

Maniscalco eventually took a plea deal for one consolidated misdemeanor of the four common law uttering charges, a crime that involves knowingly presenting false documents. However, he maintains that he is innocent and took the deal only because mounting a defense would cost far more than the $100 fine he ended up paying.

According to Presnell, the legal history is irrelevant and the de-annexation should happen.

“The town has not stepped up to their end of the bargain,” Presnell said in a previous interview with the Smoky Mountain News. “When you annex someone, you have to provide services to them, and if you don’t that’s not fair.”

Presnell did not return calls requesting comment after pulling the bill.

June 25-July 1, 2014

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER Rep. Michele Presnell, R-Burnsville, has pulled a bill she introduced last month to de-annex a 3.5-acre property from the town of Maggie Valley following pushback from local leaders.

“I went to each one of the people on the House Government Committee, including the two cosponsors of that bill, and brought them all the information,” said Maggie Valley Mayor Ron DeSimone. “No editorial, no comments about it, just the facts regarding the person and regarding the issue. I think all of them realized they didn’t know all the information, and in light of that information they were not willing to advance that.”

The bill in question would have deannexed a property that is home to Joe Maniscalco, 77. On the grounds that his steep and narrow road prevented the town from providing the services his property taxes should pay for, Maniscalco has been trying to get his property removed from town limits ever since it was annexed in 2009, one of 130 homes occupying a total 166 acres to be absorbed.

Last month, however, a lightning fire at Maniscalco’s home necessitated a response from the local fire department, which DeSimone said was accomplished without trouble.

“The police cars and fire department had no trouble whatsoever getting up

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Presnell pulls Maggie Valley de-annexation bill

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BY J EREMY MORRISON N EWS E DITOR Jackson County may have another community planning project on the horizon. Glenville residents have approached the county about possibly embarking on such a journey.

“That’s very initial-stages,” said Jackson County Planning Director Gerald Green, explaining that the county is currently discussing the concept with a handful of Glenville residents. “Right now, there’s probably 10 or 12 exploring it.”

Jackson currently has several community planning areas. Presently, they are working with the Cullowhee community on such a mission, which may eventually result in zoning regulations if county commissioners sign off on plans hatched via a series of community input sessions.

The community of Glenville is a stretch down N.C. 107 from Cullowhee. It’s a lakeside haunt with many high-end properties.

“They just want to, I think, maintain the character of their community,” Green said of the Glenville effort.

Jackson County Chuck Wooten said he recognized the possible need for planning in the Glenville area.

“In many ways, the Glenville area has some of the same characteristics of the Cullowhee area, a lot of growth over the last several years without any guidelines to guide

the growth,” Wooten said. “We have emphasized to the local organizing committee that they need to be as inclusive as possible with any conversations about asking for assistance in developing some planning guidelines.”

Carolyn Franz, president of Friends of Lake Glenville, is involved in the early conversations with the county about community planning.

She said that those interested in the concept — a cross-section representing residents, businesses and churches — are taking the long view.

“It’s all about a goal, and the goal is to build a better community,” Franz said. “You solve problems and you look long term and you come up with a vision for your community.”

Green said that the county has only begun the conversation with the Glenville residents.

More meetings are planned with the residents, where the group will grapple with issues such as defining what the boundaries of the Glenville community are.

“If this moves forward, we have suggested they identify a small, manageable area to start with and expand the area if interest exists,” Wooten explained.

Wooten told county commissioners about the early conversations at a recent meeting.

He said that any community planning in Glenville would have to wait until the planning project in Cullowhee wrapped up, meaning the conversation won’t be given the county’s full attention until sometime in 2015.

“We’ve also suggested that a petition may be the best way to demonstrate to the commissioners that there is serious interest in asking them to undertake this planning project,” Wooten said.

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Smoky Mountain News

HCC students work the web for HART

Haywood Community College’s Computer Information Technology class of 2014 students recently completed a web content management system for Haywood Arts Regional Theatre. By applying what they learned throughout their time at HCC, the students were able to put their skills to work on a live hands-on community project.

“We wanted a clean, elegant, informative look,” explains HART Executive Director Steve Lloyd. “I really like what these students have done. It is a fabulous job. They should be proud of the fact that people will be looking at it for years to come.”

The new HART system was a capstone project for students Brian Hall, Shawn Votaw, and Diane Houston and they recently unveiled the finished project to HART representatives.

Houston said she walked away from the experience having learned new skills.

“I know the importance of listening to every detail of what a client wants. I also learned to appreciate who you are working with and how important it is to work as part of a team,” she said.

Senior Life Solutions offers psychiatric help

Swain County Hospital offers Senior Life Solutions, a program that facilitates intensive outpatient psychiatric care for adults and seniors with Medicare. The program, which is located inside Swain County Hospital, is available to individuals through physician or self referral.

Patients experiencing symptoms such as depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, suicidal thoughts, social withdrawal, disorientation, hallucinations, feelings of worthlessness, interpersonal conflicts, deterioration of daily living skills, and other psychiatric symptoms

that disrupt daily life could benefit from participating in the program.

Individuals in the program have access to psychiatric appointments with licensed clinical social workers as well as monthly appointments with psychiatrist Dr. James Greene, who also serves as medical director of the program.

“This program is truly a resource for the community that cannot be found elsewhere,” said Lacy Webster, RN, program director.

The program begins with three-hour treatment sessions up to three days per week, with treatment time lessening as symptoms improve. Follow-up care is provided. Free transportation is also available to program participants dependent upon location and appointment times.

828.488.4044.

Nurse team to assist disadvantaged mothers

SCC engineering program hits 100 percent employment rate Jeanette White, coordinator of Southwestern Community College’s Civil Engineering Technology program, keeps getting calls from employers looking for graduates who are ready to work. There’s just one issue: all of White’s graduates already have jobs or are continuing their education at a four-year school.

“Our program still has a 100-percent employment rate,” White said. “We are very fortunate that a lot of employers are looking for us to produce more graduates. It’s a wonderful field with a wide range of employment possibilities. We just need

An initiative to educate first-time, lowincome mothers in Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties on how to raise healthy, school-ready children with a focus on the critical first two years of the child’s life is being launched by the Southwestern Child Development Commission.

The Nurse Family Partnership will employ four nurses with B.S. degrees, one Masters level nursing supervisor and administrative support staff. Each nurse will provide home visits to approximately 25 mothers throughout pregnancy and through their child’s second birthday.

The new initiative is being funded by a $150,000 grant from the Community Foundation from WNC. The Brown Family Fund, the Wasson-Stowe Charitable Fund and the MAC Mountain Fund partnered with CFWNC to fund this grant. Significant funding is also being provided by the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, The Evergreen Foundation and the NC Department of Health and Human Services.

Chamber recognizes business leaders The Haywood County Chamber of Commerce recently held its annual dinner and 2013-14 award presentations. Varying distinctions were bestowed on the county’s business community.

Old Town Bank was awarded Business of the Year.

Jennifer Jacobson of Wells Funeral Homes & Cremation Services, was named Volunteer of the Year. Travis Hyatt of Haynes Heating & Cooling received Young Professional of the Year Award. Bella Evans and Josh Brant with BBT were the Ambassadors of the Year. And Wells and Kathy Greeley of Wells Funeral Homes and Cremation Services were named Entrepreneur of the Year.

The Chamber also recognized Rulers of Recognition, volunteers who helped the chamber with new initiatives during the past year: Ron Leatherwood, chair for EDC Taskforce; Dr. Laura Leatherwood, chair of the EDC Structure and Model Committee; Bruce Johnson, chair of the EDC Finance Committee; Nyda Bittmann-Neville, chair of the EDC Marketing

Committee; Ken Flynt, Workforce Development Initiative; Scott McLeod, Gateway to the Smokies Half Marathon; Ken Howell, Gateway to the Smokies Half Marathon.

Jackson chamber gets new assistant director Kelly Donaldson, 42, of Cullowhee, began work June 9 as the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce and Visitor’s Center new assistant director.

Donaldson’s addition is a part of a restructuring plan by the Jackson chamber ‘s board of directors to plot a fresh new path for future growth in the area.

“Kelly will bring a new skill set and level of professionalism that our merchants, citizens and visitors will adore,” said Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Julie Spiro. “We’re excited about the potential for growth within our chamber and community. Kelly will provide an invigorating level of staff support, event planning, growth of commerce, and visi-

more students.”

White’s graduates are currently employed with the North Carolina Department of Transportation as well as private civil engineering, surveying and construction firms throughout the area.

According to U.S. Labor Department figures, Civil engineering technicians’ median annual wage was $47,560 in May 2012.

In SCC’s program, students become proficient in surveying technology using the latest surveying instrumentations, including the use of a robotic total station.

828.339.4427.

LOCAL FORD DEALERSHIP WINS AWARD Ken Wilson Ford was recently awarded the 2013 President’s Award by the Ford Motor Company. The award honors dealerships that have excelled in automotive retailing. The Canton dealership is no stranger to the President’s Award.

Wilson has racked up a wall full of the awards, dating back to 1999. The President’s Award was established in 1998. Dealers become eligible through survey responses from customers regarding their sales and service satisfaction. In addition to the President’s Award, the dealership also recently won the 2013 Partners In Quality Award, an award presented by Ford Motor Credit, the finance arm of the company.

tor and community service to the chamber.”

Donaldson comes from serving seven years as editor at the Crossroads Chronicle in Cashiers. Previously, he worked seven years as a sports editor in Gainesville, Ga., Morganton, and Brevard. He also has experience in marketing, public relations, photography, fundraising and graphic design.

Donaldson has been a member of the board of directors for the Cashiers Area Chamber of Commerce, (2010-12); the Greater Cashiers Area Merchants Association (2012-present); the Fishes and Loaves Food Pantry (2012-present); the Cashiers Preservation Foundation (2011-12); and several others, including Relay for Life and Make-A-Wish.

“We as a board decided to make an aggressive and proactive move to increase our value and presence in the community,” said Jackson Chamber Board President Thom Brooks, of Southwestern Community College. “We are proud to have one of the best Chamber Executive Directors in the state in Julie Spiro.

Kelly will give her the assistance and support she needs to fully execute the goals of the chamber, our citizens and our visitors.

This is a move to propel ourselves into the future with a level of stability and vision unlike anything we’ve planned before.”

Business notes

• Mission Hospital was recently named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals by Truven Health AnalyticsTM. The study has been conducted annually since 1993 and this is the sixth time that Mission Hospital has been recognized.

• The Haywood County Community Foundation awarded a $1,000 grant to the Good Samaritan Clinic, a local healthcare provider for low-income families and individuals.

• Haywood Community College’s Foundation Board of Directors has four new members: James Caldwell, an IT employee of Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort; Terry McCracken, retired from Haywood County Schools; Dean McMahon, retired from First Citizens Bank; and Clifton Metcalf, retired as vice chancellor for Advancement and External Affairs at Western Carolina University.

• Highlands Dermatology has opened a second office in Franklin, which will be served by Dr. Paul S. Cabiran, who specializes in general and surgical dermatology, including the diagnosis and treatment of pre cancerous and cancerous skin lesions and a Paul S. Cabiran wide-variety of other skin conditions.

• Justin Hall is now the Jackson County market leader for BB&T. The Southwestern Community College graduate and former New Century Scholar originally found employment with BB&T as a result of attending SCC’s Job Fair in 2008, and he returned to the job fair last month to help interview prospective employees for the company.

• A statewide initiative to increase the num-

• The Alpha Beta Gamma honor society at Southwestern Community College recently inducted new members, including Rachael Cook of Franklin, Lisa Miller, Jamee Pelcher and Wayne Jenkins of Franklin; Elizabeth Hammer and Christopher Bullock of Sylva; Tennie Brown of Bryson City; Claire Hammond of Cullowhee; and Tessa Sutton of Maggie Valley.

• Webster Enterprises of Jackson County, is improving its accounting systems thanks to a $8,955 grant from the Evergreen Foundation.

Mikaela Messer

Hunter Sluder • The South of Philly sub shop, located in the Quin Theatre shopping center, was recently purchased by Brian and Leigh Anne Holt. The new owners, from Charlotte, plan to continue current operations and also offer new items.

• Haywood Community College’s Investment Club recently announced the winners of the 2013-14 Stock Market Contest. Winners include Bill Johnson in first place, William Cozzens in second place and Annette Caldwell in third. Shauna Britt won in the faculty/staff category.

• Former Jackson County Schools Superintendent Charlie McConnell was recently honored by the Sylva Rotary Club, which donated $15,000 to Southwest Community College for a scholarship in the McConnell’s name. McConnell spent his post-retirement years working with SCC’s New Century Scholars program.

- Fairies - Gnomes - Houses - Furniture

Come Build Your Garden Today

Red Barn Garden Center

• Dwayne Vigil, a 2003 Forest Management Technology graduate, was named Haywood Community College’s outstanding alumnus for 2014. Vigil is currently the Haywood County forest ranger for the North Carolina Forest Service and has also served as the Haywood County assistant ranger and a Swain County smoke chaser.

• The Haywood Regional Medical Center (HRMC) Foundation awarded two student scholarships in May. Mikaela Messer, a senior at Tuscola, and Hunter Sluder, a senior at Pisgah High School, each received a $1,000 scholarship to attend college.

Have Flown In

1856 Dellwood Rd, Waynesville

(828) 926-1901 OPEN MON-SAT:

9:30-5:30 & SUN: 11-5 • Western Carolina University students recently donated more than $12,000 worth of food and merchandise to the Community Table in Sylva by donating items that they purchase at the campus Courtyard C-Store or designating a portion of unspent money from their campus dining meal plans to the organization.

Great store –

great stuff

• Dr. David Franks will be closing his private practice in Franklin July 4 and joining the Angel Medical Center Hospitalist physician team. Hospitalists are physicians who provide inpatient-focused care while a patient is in the hospital.

• The Franklin Health and Fitness Center recently introduced Crossfit FHFC. Crossfit is a core conditioning program that focuses on weight lifting, cardiovascular conditioning, gymnastics, Olympic lifting and other modalities.

• Haywood Community College’s 2014 Creative Writing Contest recently named three student winners. Eddie Parsons claimed the fiction category with “Of Blight and Beauty.” Dylan Brown won the poetry category with “Someone with O.C.D: A Slam Poem.” The Non-Fiction category was claimed by Mark Page, with his work “An Escape from Reality.”

• William C. Morgan has been selected by the Canton Board of Aldermen to serve as the town’s attorney. Morgan is a member of the Brough Law Firm, based in Chapel Hill.

Smoky Mountain News

• Southwestern Community College automotive students recently got some hands-on experience with a Chevy Volt. Smoky Mountain Chevrolet of Franklin donated the car to SCC for a day so that students could get some experience with the electric vehicle.

• The Cashiers Valley Rotary Club recently donated $3,000 to Southwestern Community College — $2,500 to the school’s Student Success Campaign, and $500 to the New Century Scholars program.

SummerFairies

June 25-July 1, 2014

• The Fish and More Pet Store on Main Street in Sylva has been sold. The new owner, Aleisha Messina, plans to continue selling pets and pet supplies, as well as offering UHaul rentals.

• The Hennessee family was honored last month by WestCare at a reception held at Harris Regional Hospital. The reception honored the family’s generosity, and remembered family member Dot McDonald, who recently passed away and was an avid supporter of the spiritual care and chaplaincy program at WestCare, helping to establish the program in the 1980s.

• Haywood County residents should have 4G LTE cellular services by the end of 2014, U.S. Cellular and King Street Wireless announced recently. The expansion of 4G coverage comes as U.S. Cellular aims to expand access to 93 percent of its customers nationwide.

news

• Western Carolina University students captured honors at the 2014 Southern Regional Model United Nations Conference including the Distinguished Delegation Award, the second highest achievement for a delegation’s overall performance. At the conference, which was held in Charlotte, participants were assigned to represent a country and then debated other country representatives, drafted written policy resolutions, negotiated with allies and adversaries, compromised over conflicts and navigated the parliamentary rules of procedure.

ber of nurses with bachelor’s degrees, an effort launched six years ago at Western Carolina University, reached a major milestone as leaders from three Western North Carolina community colleges and several mountain area hospitals recently celebrated the program’s first graduating class. The six graduating students are all currently employed as nurses at hospitals in the region.

From jewelry to scarves to mail box covers & so much more!

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Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

All that talk of the tourists? True that

T

Get facts about teacher pay, performance

To the Editor: Having lived in North Carolina for a year, I’ve noticed that low teacher salaries are a hot topic. (For the record, I teach in a private school where we earn even less than the public sector). But I follow the debate with interest because the rhetoric is flung around thickly.

Here’s a quote that was highlighted in an article in the June 18 issue of The Smoky Mountain News: “If given the choice, would you enroll your child in a state that is 48th in per pupil spending?”

What is implied by that question (Which is actually NOT a question but an assertion masquerading as a question)?

You have to spend a lot of money to educate a child well? Money is the number one predictor of good education?

What don’t we know?

• Whether all 50 states actually spend close to the same. What if N.C. truly is 48th in spending but the variance among state budgets is pretty narrow?

• Whether the quality of students graduating from secondary schools and universities is a problem.

• What the end product (i.e., students) is like in states that spend the most.

• What the difference in dollars goes to in states that spend more.

ing that craft beer is another leg of the tourism industry that will pay significant benefits. I had always assumed that this was true, that the explosion of breweries in this region and Asheville’s designation for several years as Beer City USA would attract tourists.

But this was the first time I’d sat down at a table and tossed back a cold one with someone who proved these people right. Perhaps there are thousands of other couples just like those I met this past Sunday. That’s a refreshEditor ing thought, almost as refreshing as that cold IPA from the Wedge under a sunny summer sky. Almost.

Scott McLeod

rue story. My wife Lori and I were enjoying a delicious, refreshing IPA at the Wedge Brewery on Sunday afternoon, rewarding ourselves after a brutal trail run in the mid-day heat at Bent Creek (brutal, at least, by my estimation; Lori and our dog, Django, were just loping along the entire time, well ahead of me). The brewery in the Asheville River Arts District was relatively crowded and the sun was blazing, so we shared a shaded table with a couple about our age who invited us to sit after making friends with Django.

We soon found out they were from the Charleston area, he an engineer with Boeing and she a public school secretary.

More interesting, however, is why they decided to come to the mountains for a long weekend: beer.

“We’re here trying to hit all the breweries we can,” he said.

They were staying at a bed and breakfast in Waynesville, the Windover Inn. From that location, they had traveled west to Nantahala Brewery in Byrson City and then had visited all three breweries in Waynesville. They were leaving on Monday, but Sunday afternoon had taken them east to Asheville to partake in a few of the locally crafted beers its breweries had to offer.

We talked about beers and breweries and restaurants, got some tips on beaches and breweries in Charleston, and traded stories about work and children. Very enjoyable afternoon.

The fact that this couple with money and time had chosen to visit our mountains specifically because of its reputation for craft brewers is what really hit home for me. I’ve been hearing people talk about this kind of visitor for a couple of years, tout-

••• Rolf Kaufman is one of those men I’ve always found fascinating. A German who came to the U.S. as a child, he ran the Wellco shoe company in Waynesville before retiring and is still a civic leader extraordinaire in Haywood County.

Along the way, he became the most dedicated Folkmoot USA board member the festival will ever have. He is both the conscience and the heart of our organization (I have been on Folkmoot USA Board for years), someone all of us who take part in the Folkmoot looks to for inspiration. He speaks several languages, has served on the board of the international organi-

LOOKING FOR OPINIONS The Smoky Mountain News encourages readers to express their opinions through letters to the editor or guest columns. All viewpoints are welcome. Send to Scott McLeod at info@smokymountainnews.com., fax to 828.452.3585, or mail to PO Box 629, Waynesville, NC, 28786.

• What ‘per pupil spending’ actually includes. What goes into that figure? Does more money go directly to teacher salaries?

And if so, is there a correlation between better-paid teachers and quality education as measured again by the end product?

Here are some facts to consider: • The city of Washington, D.C., spent an average of $29,349 per student in 2010-11, and 81 percent were not proficient in either reading nor math.

• North Carolina spent $8,433 per pupil during the 2012-2013 school year.

• The average among all 50 states was $11,068 for the same 2012-2013 window.

Here’s what I would ask those making the case that we are in trouble in N.C.: • What does the average home-schooling family spend per pupil?

• How much is the average private school tuition?

• What about online schools that are

zations of folk dance troupes (CIOFF), travels on his own dime to those conferences to help recruit groups to Folkmoot, is our unofficial historian, and has faithfully attended nearly every board and committee meeting it was possible for him to attend over the last 30-plus years. By any standard it is a remarkable record of dedication.

Those efforts just earned Rolf some well-deserved recognition. The Raleigh News and Observer named him the Tar Heel of the Week. Every Sunday for as long as I can remember, the Raleigh newspaper has chosen someone who has served others to receive this honor. You can read the article about Rolf by plugging this link into your browser: www.newsobserver.com/2014/06/21/3951562/he-helps-folkmoot-take-root-in.html.

On Thursday, June 26, Folkmoot is holding an open house to celebrate taking ownership of the Folkmoot Friendship Center, the old Hazelwood Elementary School. After a couple of years of negotiations and legal legwork — and support from the Haywood County School Board and the Haywood County Commissioners — the building now officially belongs to the festival. The open house is from 4:30 to 8 p.m., and we would love to show off the building to anyone who can attend.

As for me, I’ll be celebrating the school’s acquisition and congratulating Rolf on his recognition by the state’s best newspaper for his decades of service to Folkmoot.

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

growing in both accessibility and quality?

Here’s the bottom line for any issue: You can’t have a useful discussion without taking time to flesh out hidden assumptions and facts!

Thanks for your paper. We read it each week and enjoy keeping up with local issues.

Maria Cochrane Balsam

Please be smart about black bears To the Editor: Thank you for Holly Kays’ excellent article covering the recent shooting of a bear in Maggie Valley, leaving behind three orphaned cubs.

This was a needless tragedy, and I fear that others may feel emboldened to take things into their own hands and kill bears that they consider to be problematic instead of taking the proper steps to prevent such problems.

Bears are intelligent wild animals. They live to eat, and they won’t pass up a free meal if people provide one. Such meals come in the form of garbage, birdfeeders (including suet and hummingbird feeders), grills, pet food, etc.

The man in this story had a birdfeeder that had brought the bear onto his porch twice during the night before he killed her. If he had only removed the feeder, it may have ended right there, but he didn’t. That is beyond irresponsible. It is reckless and selfish.

He is not the only one — I’ve heard plenty

LETTERS

of other people say something to the effect that “I love my birds, so don’t tell me to put away my birdfeeder.” One couple that disregarded such advice ended up with the bear invading their house on two separate occasions, doing considerable damage to the kitchen. Had they been home, they might have shot the bear like the man in this story did. So whose fault is it?

I’m sorry that this man won’t be prosecuted, as he deliberately left a bear attractant out in a potentially dangerous situation.

A bear is just going to be a bear. As our members tell many people, it is up to us humans to change our behavior in order to peacefully coexist with the bears and other wild animals with whom we share our mountains. I hope people will follow the advice included in Holly’s article in order to prevent similar problems and tragedies in the future.

Cynthia Strain Highlands Chairwoman of the B.E.A.R. (Bear Education and Resources) Task Force

A lesson in equality and economy 101 To the Editor: We continually hear the myth about how the rich are greedy, but what we don’t hear is

tasteTHEmountains

LETTERS 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 A TASTE OF NEW ORLEANS 67 Branner Ave., Waynesville, 828.246.0885. 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., 7 days a week. Curtis Henry opened A Taste of New Orleans to cater to the locals and become the place that’s always open that you can rely on for different, flavorful dishes every day. Serving Cajun, French and Creole Cuisine in a lovingly restored space, Curtis looks forward to serving you up a delicious dish soon.

AMMONS DRIVE-IN RESTAURANT & DAIRY BAR 1451 Dellwwod Rd., Waynesville.

828.926.0734. Open 7 days a week 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Celebrating over 25 years.

Enjoy world famous hot dogs as well as burgers, seafood, hushpuppies, hot wings and chicken. Be sure to save room for dessert.

The cobbler, pie and cake selections are sure to satisfy any sweet tooth.

BLUE ROOSTER SOUTHERN GRILL 207 Paragon Parkway, Clyde, Lakeside Plaza

NOW OPEN!

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 hand-cut, 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

BREAKING BREAD CAFÉ 6147 Hwy 276 S. Bethel (at the Mobil Gas Station) 828.648.3838 Monday-Thursday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday & Saturday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. closed Sunday. 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 & 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. We are now open for dinner on Friday and Saturday nights by customer request, so come join us and find out what all the talk is about.

BRYSON CITY BAKERY AND PASTRY SHOPPE 191 Everett St., Bryson City. 828.488.5390 Offering a full line of fresh baked goods like Grandma used to make. Large variety to choose from including cakes, pies, donuts, breads, cinn-buns and much more. Also serving Hershey Ice Cream. Open seven days a week, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

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

CLASSIC

Pretzels Smoothies

American Faire

& More!

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

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Hot Dogs Ice Cream

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.

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

June 25-July 1, 2014

Soda Shop

at the old Wal-Mart. 828.456.1997. Open Monday through Friday. Friendly and fun family atmosphere. Local, handmade Southern cuisine. Fresh-cut salads; slow-simmered soups; flame grilled burgers and steaks, and homemade signature desserts.

Blue-plates and local fresh vegetables daily.

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

opinion

Flame Grilled Steaks Burgers and Sandwiches

Smoky Mountain News

Salads and more Join us on Thursday nights for live

www.CityLightsCafe.com FRIDAY • JUNE 27 • 7 P.M. The Freestylers CATERING & GROUP LUNCHES/DINNERS AVAILABLE Call: 828.587.2233 DOWNTOWN SYLVA • NC

Bluegrass/String Band performances.

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how greedy a high school dropout can be or the union workers who want more money or even those on welfare who want more benefits. In reality, they are all driven by greed.

Our rich buy and build all those things that provide jobs. The rich invest their money, which allows industry and manufacturing to grow. Confiscate more money from the rich and it goes into a government hopper where it inevitably disappears in wasteful and massive government bureaucracies.

Government does not create jobs, only a free market does.

And the rich don’t keep their money under a mattress; they invest it to help our country grow.

Borrowing from an article by Michael Shermer in Scientific American who makes the point, confirmed by the federal government and economists, that the pie we all take a portion from is actually a much larger pie, so the relative size of our portion has actually grown.

For example, a report by the Federal Reserve showed that during 2013 the net worth of American households actually grew 14 percent with an increase of $10 trillion to an astounding $80.7 trillion; one huge pie indeed.

President Obama’s comments about lack of economic mobility were incorrect because in fact during the period between 1987 and 2005 almost half of the public moved into a higher income tax bracket. However, of those in the top income tax brackets, almost 60 percent moved into a lower tax bracket.

We are faced with a number of other myths and one is that the rich are extremely rich, but when this myth was examined it was found that while most believed the rich had annual incomes of $2 million, it was found that the rich have incomes of only $169,000.

All in all, the American dream is still alive and we are doing quite well thank you, regardless of the envy we hear from people who quit high school and blame the rich.

While we do have our share of poverty and we certainly need to help those who cannot help themselves, the vast majority of those so-called poverty-stricken people still manage to own a huge flat screen television and expensive cell phones.

In final analysis, the liberal view of taking from the rich to give to the poor only results in destroying the work ethic of many who then become dependent, while those with political connections just get fatter off the backs of the workers. Remember when Hillary Clinton complained that they were flat broke when Bill left office, having only $12 million income?

The people who we really need to be worrying about now are the retired folks who built this country and worked hard to put money away for their retirement but now see their savings wiped out by inflation. With every minimum wage increase, we have another round of inflation.

Bob Wilson Franklin

828.452.313 303 South Main Street, Waynesville NC

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tasteTHEmountains

SERVING BREAKFAST & LUNCH LOCALLY ROASTED ORGANIC COFFEE & ESPRESSO

452.3881 OPEN DAILY MAIN STREET WAYNESVILLE WWW.CITYBAKERY.NET

Smoky Mountain News

June 25-July 1, 2014

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are hand shaped. Lunch: Fresh salads, panini sandwiches. Enjoy outdoor dinning on the deck. Private room available for meetings.

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 11:30 a.m. to 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 familystyle 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 6 p.m., and dinner is served starting at 7 p.m. So join us for mile-high mountaintop dining with a spectacular view. Please call for reservations.

THE CLASSIC WINESELLER 20 Church Street, Waynesville.

828.452.6000. Underground retail wine and craft beer shop, restaurant, and intimate live music venue. Kitchen opens at 4 p.m .Wednesday through Saturday serving freshly prepared small plate and tapas-style fare.

Enjoy local, regional, or national talent Live each Thursday, Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m. www.classicwineseller.com. Also on facebook and twitter.

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 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday 8 a.m. to 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

6306 Pigeon Road Canton, NC

(828) 648-4546

Hours:

MON-SAT: 7 A.M.-9 P.M. SUN: 8:30 A.M.-3 P.M.

jukeboxjunctioneat.com 26

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.

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.

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.

FRANKIE’S ITALIAN TRATTORIA 1037 Soco Rd. Maggie Valley.

828.926.6216 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Monday-Saturday. Father and son team Frank and Louis Perrone cook up dinners steeped in Italian tradition. With recipies passed down from generations gone by, the Perrones have brought a bit of Italy to Maggie Valley. frankiestrattoria.com

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.

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

Open 7 days a week at 5 p.m. Located in the historic Hooper’s Drugstore, Guadalupe Café is a chef-owned and operated restaurant serving Caribbean inspired fare complimented by a quirky selection of wines and microbrews. Supporting local farmers of organic produce, livestock, hand-crafted cheese, and using sustainably harvested seafood.

HERREN HOUSE 94 East St., Waynesville 828.452.7837.

Lunch: Wednesday - Saturday 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday Brunch 11 a. m. to 2 p.m.

Enjoy fresh local products, created daily.

Join us in our beautiful patio garden. We are your local neighborhood host for special events: business party’s, luncheons, weddings, showers and more. Private parties & catering are available 7 days a week by reservation only.

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

Lunch Sunday noon to 2:30 p.m., dinner nightly starting at 4:30 p.m. World-famous prime rib, steaks, fresh seafood, gorgonzola cheese and salads. All ABC permits and open year-round. Children always welcome.

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

JOEY'S PANCAKE HOUSE 4309 Soco Rd Maggie Valley.

828.926.0212.

Winter hours; Friday through Sunday and Mondays, 7 a.m. to noon. Joey’s is a family style restaurant that has been serving breakfast to 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.

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tasteTHEmountains

UPCOMING EVENTS

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

Monday through Saturday. Serving breakfast, lunch, nd dinner. The restaurant has a 1950s & 60s theme decorated with memorabilia from that era.

FRIDAY, JUNE 27TH Karaoke w/Chris Monteith

LOS AMIGOS 366 Russ Ave. in the Bi-Lo Plaza.

828.456.7870. Open from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for lunch and 5 to 10 p.m. for dinner Monday through Friday and 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Enjoy the lunch prices Monday through Sunday, also enjoy our outdoor patio.

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

NEWFOUND LODGE RESTAURANT 1303 Tsali Blvd, Cherokee (Located on 441 North at entrance to GSMNP).

828.497.4590. Open 7 a.m. daily.

Established in 1946 and serving breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. Family style dining for adults and children.

PASQUALE’S 1863 South Main Street, Waynesville. Off exit 98, 828.454.5002. Open for lunch and dinner seven 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 indoor, outside on the patio or at the bar.

Reservations appreciated.

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83 Asheville Hwy. Sylva Music Starts @ 9 • 631.0554 PATIO BISTRO 30 Church Street, Waynesville.

828.454.0070. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Breakfast bagels and sandwiches, gourmet coffee, deli sandwiches for lunch with homemade soups, quiches, and desserts. Wide selection of wine and beer. Outdoor and indoor dining.

RENDEZVOUS RESTAURANT AND BAR Maggie Valley Inn and Conference Center 828.926.0201 Bar open Monday thru Saturday; dining room open Tuesday thru Saturday at 5 p.m. Full service restaurant serving steaks, prime rib, seafood and dinner specials.

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.

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Burgers to Salads Southern Favorites & Classics -Local beers now on draft-

Live Music ITALIAN

MEDITERRANEAN

STEAKS • PIZZA CHICKEN • SEAFOOD SANDWICHES

SID’S

OPEN FOR LUNCH & DINNER 7 DAYS A WEEK 1863 S. MAIN ST. WAYNESVILLE 828.454.5002 HWY. 19/23 EXIT 98

117 Main Street, Canton NC

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

Open seven days a week. Monday-Friday 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Saturday 3 p.m.-11 p.m., Sunday 4 p.m.-10 p.m. Family-owned for 30 years. Serving hand-tossed pizza made to order, pasta, subs, gourmet salads, calzones and seafood. Also serving excellent prime rib on Thursdays. Dine in or take out available. Located across from the Fire Station.

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.

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. The recipes have been in the family for 50 years (don't ask for the recipes cuz’ you won't get it!) Each Pizza is hand tossed and made with TLC. You're welcome to watch your pizza being created.

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ON MAIN

828.492.0618 • SidsOnMain.com Serving Lunch & Dinner

236-50 246-69

Lunch is Back!

11:30 A.M.-2:30 P.M. DINNER NIGHTLY AT 4 P.M. MONDAY-SATURDAY

Weekly Drink Specials Classic local American comfort foods, craft beers & small batch bourbons & whiskey.

Prime Rib Thursdays.

MARGARITA MONDAYS: $6 margaritas TINI TUESDAYS: $6 house specialty martini's WINEDOWN WEDNESDAYS: 1/2 price bottles ($60 and under) THROW DOWN THURSDAYS: $2 domestic beers $3 specialty beers

Smoky Mountain News

ORGANIC BEANS COFFEE COMPANY 1110 Soco Road, Maggie Valley.

828.668.2326. Open 7 days a week 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Happily committed to brewing and serving innovative, uniquely delicious coffees — and making the world a better place. 100% of our coffee is Fair Trade, Shade Grown, and Organic, all slow-roasted to bring out every note of indigenous flavor.

Bakery offerings include cakes, muffins, cookies and more. Each one is made from scratch in Asheville using only the freshest, all natural ingredients available. We are proud to offer gluten-free and vegan options.

SATURDAY, JUNE 28TH Mile High Band

June 25-July 1, 2014

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

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

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

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Lunch: 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. • Dinner Nightly at 4 p.m. • CLOSED ON SUNDAY 454 HAZELWOOD AVENUE • WAYNESVILLE Call 828-452-9191 for reservations 246-08

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Smoky Mountain News

All for one, one for all

Behind the curtain of Balsam Range

Haywood County bluegrass/gospel group Balsam Range just released their new record, “Five,” which is a follow-up to their IBMA Album of the Year winner, “Papertown.” Garret K. Woodward photo

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF WRITER art Pruett has won a Grammy and played the Grand Ole Opry stage, but his biggest concern on this day is sinkholes.

“Where is it? Canton?,” he asked a coworker.

Director of erosion control for Haywood County, Pruett sits at his desk, which is covered in paper, maps and books. After a heavy midday rain, two sinkholes have emerged in downtown Canton. Pruett puts a plan into motion, workers head for the door.

“Sinkholes, mud, sediment and landslides,” he lists off his specialties. “This position keeps me grounded, no pun intended. I enjoy what I do for Haywood County. I enjoy environmental protection, and I think I’m on the frontlines of protecting the resources our community offers.”

This is a far cry from Pruett’s other occupation — banjoist for nationally acclaimed bluegrass group Balsam Range. On the heels of winning the International Bluegrass Music Association award for Album of the Year for their record “Papertown” last year (the biggest honor in the industry), the quintet just released the follow-up, “Five.”

“When you’re doing what I have to do at the level I have to do it, you have to be on point,” Pruett said. “If I get to the stage, dressed well, do my performance well, banjo in tune, good songs, and if all the pieces fit together correctly, that’s where I get the satisfaction. It’s not just fun for me, but it must be fun for the crowd, where we leave them with a warm, Appalachian smile.”

Alongside Pruett in Balsam Range are Buddy Melton (fiddle/vocals), Darren Nicholson (man-

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dolin/vocals), Tim Surrett (bass/dobro/vocals) and Caleb Smith (guitar/vocals). Since their inception in 2007, the group has rapidly risen into the stratosphere of 21st century bluegrass.

Amid their numerous number-one singles, accolades and Grand Ole Opry appearances, they also won the 2011 IBMA Song of the Year award for “Trains I Missed.”

And though Balsam Range continues to flourish and push further out into the world, the boys always have one foot firmly planted in Western North Carolina, firmly in the ancient mountains of their forefathers, where nothing replaces hard work and nobody is too good for their hometown. It’s those traits deeply instilled in the band being radiated from the stage and making a connection with people on the other side of the microphone.

“Music is a very powerful thing, it speaks to people, it’s the universal language, and there’s a responsibility with that when you get to the level we’re at,” Melton said. “People connect to your music and they tell you their life story, and it brings awareness to what we’re doing. We’re impacting people’s lives and they’re impacting ours — that’s a pretty special thing.”

BLUEBERRIES AND ‘DADDY’ LLOYD From an early age, Marc Pruett has had a love of all things geological and scientific.

“My college degree is in geology and biology — I have followed science all of my life,” the 62-year-old said. “My dad was an old rock hound. I never saw him at a ball game, but he sure did drag us around to emerald, ruby and

sapphire mines, and because of that, I developed an appreciation for earth history and geomorphic processes.”

And as that interest in rocks grew, so did Pruett’s other love — music. Coming from a family of pickers and singers, he was influenced early on by the bass guitar ringing out of his father’s fingers and the soulful harmonies echoing from his mother’s voice.

“There was always a family appreciation for music, the mountains, and what they both stood for,” Pruett said.

Pruett fondly remembers running around the deep mountains of Haywood County as a child. Sitting shotgun in his grandfather “Daddy” Lloyd Pruett’s Jeep, they’d roam the old logging roads, hike the trails, pick the blueberries, fish the streams, all in an effort to soak in the essence of the beauty surrounding them.

“This was before the commoditization of land, where you go onto large tracts of land and squirrel hunt or fish, where it was an honor system as long as you didn’t abuse it,” he said. “I think all of those memories and images give way to a beautiful sense of place.

Grandpa and dad taught us how to appreciate the beauty of the land here and to protect it, and that’s something that really has stuck with me my whole life.”

Entering adulthood, Pruett continued to pursue his two passions. He eventually found work for Haywood County as an erosion control officer. And all the while, he would spend

his weekends playing music around the South with innumerable acts or within his own group, beloved regional act The Marc Pruett Band.

His talent on the banjo was obvious, and with hard work and patience, he soon found himself at the door of numerous opportunities, the biggest of which being his time playing with bluegrass legend Ricky Skaggs — a position that led to the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album for “Bluegrass Rules!”

That balancing act of working a full-time job and playing music is something Pruett has kept going for decades. With two kids currently in college, he looks at all of his work as vital to his family.

“The band definitely gives a little bit deeper level of security for my family,” he said.

“I’ve always had to work two jobs. With my kids in college it can be a challenge, and with this economy the way it is, I’m thankful to have work because the desire to work is a prayer that needs to be answered, and it has been in my case.”

These days, beyond his 40-hour-a-week county gig, he plays upwards of 150 shows a year with Balsam Range — a show number that becomes more demanding and flexible with each new bar of success achieved by the band.

“If you could see it from my side, I’d love to have a cot to rest on right now, and if you look at my hand, you can see my Starbucks cup of coffee,” he chuckled. “My job and my music keep my mind occupied in positive ways that keeps me thinking, keeps me active in many ways — I need to keep moving my hands, moving my fingers.”

BUILDING THE SOUND

Grandpa and dad taught us how to appreciate the beauty of the land here and to protect it, and that’s something that really has stuck with me my whole life.”

— Marc Pruett

Across the ridge from Pruett’s office, down a quiet back road outside of Canton and up a winding dirt driveway, Caleb Smith is busy in his basement workshop building custom highend guitars for an array of clients.

“When I’m in here, in my workshop making guitars, this is all I do, all I think about and focus on,” he said. “The band, my family, my house, my garden, I don’t think about it — this is my release when I’m in here.”

As of last count, Smith had 40 guitar orders waiting in the wings. For 2014, he expects to complete over a dozen. He spends countless hours constructing the wood bodies.

It’s a longtime passion of his that he’s been able to mold into a bountiful career.

“It can get crazy,” he said. “You’re talking to clients all week, finishing up all kinds of details, meeting deadlines, having to push deadlines back.”

With three kids, Smith is grateful to be able to make a living being his own boss. With Balsam Range out on the road every weekend, he cherishes the time during the week he can put off working on a guitar and enjoy his family. But, that also doesn’t mean there aren’t sacrifices made in the name of music.

“My daughter is 14 years old and is going to high school this year. I look back on the last five years or so and wonder if I should have done something different, if I should have

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Between their work ethic, camaraderie and passion for music and live performance, Barnett feels the sky is the limit for Balsam Range and their mainstream appeal.

“As far as I can see it, the future is wide open for Balsam Range. I’m sure they will keep putting out great records and taking their unique musical vision to the public with high-energy live shows,” he said. “All the guys are very unique and gifted artists as individuals, but having worked with them both live and in the studio I can tell you that there is a special energy and chemistry that happens when they all get together. Every time the guys from Balsam Range step in front of the microphones, they are all true professionals in every sense of the word.”

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to be a dad right when you’re graduating from high school,” Darren said. “So, what are you going to do? I ended up having to go into banking, doing personal financing and things like that to survive.”

As weekday-working banker, Nicholson used his free time on weekends to play music and be able to make a supplemental income through live shows around Western North Carolina and beyond. The live performance bug bit him as he soon found himself touring and playing around the country with Alecia Nugent, a bluegrass star in her own right.

Every weekend, Nicholson would drive from Haywood County to Nashville, either to record or jump in the van and play some shows.

At age 19, Nicholson made his first APTURING appearance on the Grand Ole Opry stage. then on, his career expanded, with IGHTNING TRIKES WICE From HE AGIC numerous IBMA awards, a Grammy nomination and many more live performances at the Entering Canelos Mexican Family Heading into the Crossroads Opry. One might say he lived a full life and Restaurant in Canton, mandolinst Darren Studios in Arden this past winter, career before the idea of Balsam Range even Nicholson and his 13-year-old son Taylor Balsam Range aimed to top the entered his head — a notion that can be wander over to the elaborate salsa buffet, quality and precision of applied to the other members of the band. scoop up a few small sample cups and head “Papertown.” While some groups “When Balsam Range started, I figured for a table. would enter the recording studio I’d already done the most I could do in my “He’s the greatest thing that ever hapapprehensive about how to followcareer,” he said. “When we started Balsam pened to me,” Nicholson said, hugging his up such a successful album, Range, I thought we were an OK band that son. “I love him to death.”

Balsam Range looked at it as just could book some local gigs, and then it kept Growing up, Nicholson attended Enka another day on the job in their “It’s amazing to look at our band progressing. No one is more surprised by High School in a community straddling the musical careers, where the goal is our success than we are.”

Haywood and Buncombe County line. to better yourselves as musicians and see that it’s still the same When he’s not working with Balsam Playing music from a very early age, he knew and not worry about critics, label five guys it has been since day even then that he wanted to make a career of Range, Nicholson also fronts a solo group expectations and their own voices that bears his name. Before he arrived at the it. By his freshman year of high school, he in their heads. one. It makes people believe in restaurant, he found out the song “Like My was playing shows around the area every “[With winning Album of the Dog,” from his new solo record “Things Left weekend. That rigorous lifestyle made him Year] nothing really changed, you and in what you’re doing.”

Undone,” hit number one on the Sirius XM want to take a break from performing until though we did sit with this record — Caleb Smith Radio’s “Bluegrass Junction” channel. he was out of high school, in an effort to a little longer than in the past,” “You just got to keep your fingers said bassist/dobroist Tim crossed that people like what you’re been home more and not out on the road,” Surrett. “We’ve always done just the doing, and hopefully they’ll continue he said. “But, my wife and kids understand best we can and do the best songs to like it,” he smiled. that this is what I do to make a living.” possible. We’ve had some high profile And with the accolades, Now 36, Smith has been a musician for reviews on it already, and so far it has Nicholson said that the toughest part the majority of his life. Raised in been very positive. Now we just have of the band growing is learning the Waynesville, he was always surrounded by to sit back and see what happens.” word “No.” In the beginning, Balsam music. His immediate family and relatives all The album, “Five,” is the group’s Range was playing around Western played, with pickin’ sessions occurring at all fifth record in almost eight years North Carolina and they were able to family gatherings. together. Five albums completed, five play any show that was asked of Picking up the banjo at age 7, he already members in the band or five strings them. Now, with the national recoghad interest in the music of his homeland. on a banjo, however you interpret it, nition, the phone is ringing off the But, it was when he watched a how-to video the record name seems to fit wherevhook for them to make appearances, by legendary guitarist Tony Rice that everyer its placed. Whatever the case, the play benefits and simply be everything changed — guitar was now his instru13-song album (with original selecwhere at once. ment of choice. Smith’s progression was tions and others from songwriters “It rubs a lot of people the wrong seamless with his father, an accomplished like Milan Miller, Mark Bumgarner way when we have to decline a show,” guitar player in his own right, showing him and Mark Winchester) is filled with “It’s like a marriage, where there he said. “You want to play all of the chord progressions and finger positions. bluegrass, gospel and folk melodies. shows because you care about everySmith bounced around numerous groups There’s barn-burning pickin’ and are things you need to sit down, body, but if we played all the shows throughout his youth. Before Balsam Range, four-part vocal harmonies (as well as we are asked to play, we’d never have he was founding member of the group talk about and work out.” an accappella number), poignant any time for our families.”

Harvest, which led to him winning Male hard-working lyrics and tear-jerking — Darren Nicholson, on the band’s Though at its heart, Balsam Vocalist of the Year and Guitar Player of the ballads. It’s the sights and sounds of decision-making process Range will always be five friends who Year for the Power Grass music awards.

Southern Appalachia, its history and love playing music together, the band Following high school, he found work in its people — it’s the epitome of has become a business, with money and enjoy his youth, perhaps catch a football a nearby plant making laminate countertop Balsam Range. decisions being made. game or just hangout with his friends. items, but the swing shifts and tiring labor “Each one of these guys is a top-tier “We’re trying to work and provide for The youngest member of Balsam Range, took its toll. He left the plant and began vocalist and musician. They have diverse our families,” Nicholson said. “We all have Nicholson, 30, was a teenager when Taylor building homes. But, the economy and hous- musical tastes and backgrounds and aren’t our obstacles and issues we work through. ing market eventually tanked and he needed afraid to step out of the box a bit,” said Scott was born. He had to forego college aspiraWe have business meetings, figure out goals new sources of income, which resulted in his Barnett, recording engineer at Crossroads. “I tions and a scholarship to the University of and find out ways to achieve them. It’s like a newfound love at the time of guitar building. believe it’s their ability to tastefully and intu- North Carolina at Greensboro in order to marriage, where there are things you need to work and provide for his family.

It was also around that period, 2007, that he itively blend gospel, jazz, country and other “You have all these grandiose plans to do starting jamming out with a handful of local genres with traditional bluegrass that makes this and that, then you find out you’re going S EE BALSAM RANGE, PAGE 30 29 musicians, a group of folks who’d soon call them such a powerful group.” themselves Balsam Range.

“It’s amazing to look at our band and see that it’s still the same five guys it has been since day one.

It makes people believe in you and in what you’re doing,” he said.

“Last year, when we’re nominated at the IBMA’s for Album of the Year, Entertainer of the Year and Song of the Year it was surreal to be nominated and surrounded by your heroes. It’s crazy to think how far we’ve come. I mean, when we first played a show together, we didn’t even have a name.”

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BALSAM RANGE, CONTINUED FROM 29

FINDING A BALANCE

sit down, talk about and work out.”

When asked if Balsam Range is hitting a career ceiling, whether or not the group would let the band seep more into their free time and family obligations, Nicholson said family and friends will always come first, but that doesn’t mean they would put a cap on their success.

“We all want to see how far we can go with this,” he said. “You don’t want to suffocate it, but you’ve got to learn and say ‘no,’ to pick and choose what’s best for our families.

As long as Balsam Range is moving forward and in a positive direction, we’ll keep going.”

Standing in the lobby of the Waynesville Recreation Center on a recent evening, Tim Surrett just dropped off his young son for a swimming lesson. He takes a seat in a nearby booth and gazes through the window at the pool. Between his hectic schedule with Balsam Range and his full-time working for Crossroads, his time with his son is precious.

“I’m trying to look ahead. I’m not good at that, but I’m learning,” he said. “This year I missed his sixth birthday and that is just unacceptable to me. It’s tough you know? He cries when I leave for the road and says, ‘Daddy, why don’t you quit the band?’ and I tell him, ‘If I do we’ll have to move’ and then he says not to do that.”

Surrett is no stranger to life on the road.

He’s spent decades in several groups roaming America and beyond. Before Balsam Range, he was most notable in the gospel act The Kingsmen Quartet where he won multiple awards for Gospel Musician of the Year.

His work with the quartet also led to a place in the Southern Gospel Hall of Fame. And throughout the years, he has shared the stage with industry legends like Vince Gill, Ralph Stanley, Tony Rice and Brad Paisley.

“I was a full-time musician for 28 years.

When I was younger, I was gone all the time,

FARMER FIDDLER

Smoky Mountain News

June 25-July 1, 2014

Pulling into the parking lot of a Tractor Supply Company in Clyde, fiddler Buddy Melton pops the tailgate of his truck down and takes a seat. An engineer for the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources Public Water Supply Section (the department covers 19 counties), Melton just finished another full day of work.

He sits on the tailgate and takes a break for a moment. Soon, he’ll get ready to travel to Highlands for a Balsam Range show that evening — show two of five that weekend.

“It’s exciting. It’s hard to believe looking back at where we started and to see it materialize in the way it has,” he said. “‘Papertown’ was a benchmark as to where we’re at. We’re really proud of this new album and what the future holds.”

The de facto leader of Balsam Range, Melton started playing fiddle in college. He performed with bluegrass/gospel group Jubal Foster, an act that had some success, but not enough in the tank to keep it going. Melton also performed with bluegrass legends David Holt and Doc Watson before he found himself jamming in Nicholson’s kitchen. With the rapid success of Balsam Range, Melton can only pinch himself to see if it’s real.

“I remember going to the IBMA awards prior to playing music and just as a fan, and watching folks I admire up onstage winning awards,” he said. “You never dream you’d be up there one day going through the same process.”

But, the awards and accolades received by Balsam Range almost never happened, with the band at the mercy of the heavens when Melton was severely injured in a farming accident in early 2012. Owner of a 300-acre farm in Crabtree, Melton was kicked in the face while loading cattle. He suffered brain trauma, with surgeons wondering if he’d survive, let alone be the same again after recovery.

“The accident changed me drastically. I went through life without any major glitches, never been in a hospital. You think you’re somewhat invincible, you see people suffer and you feel for them, but when you personally go through something like that it’s a reality check,” he said. “You realize life is precious, life is short, and you need to take advantage of every opportunity that comes you way.”

Though Melton admits there are certain oddities that remain from his accident, for the most part he’s made a positive recovery.

30 He was able to take the stage to perform at

“You realize life is precious, life is short, and you need to take advantage of every opportunity that comes you way.”

— Buddy Melton, on recovering from a life-threatening accident

the album release for “Papertown” only a handful of months after he was one foot in the grave.

“You’ve just got to put it all behind you, take what you have and move forward,” he said. “The accident definitely changed my outlook on life and Balsam Range. It doesn’t take long to realize this is a special thing the five of us have — I’m grateful for it all.”

That “special thing the five of us have” is the key to Balsam Range. Since their inception almost eight years ago, it’s been the same exact five members — a rarity in bluegrass, which is a genre of revolving-door bands and musicians.

“Most bluegrass bands have the shelf life of a banana,” Melton said. “For us to stay together this long is truly unique. I look at a band like Blue Highway, with 11 albums and 20 years together, as an inspiration for us.

We still work, and there’s no reason we can’t reach the number they have.”

Each time Balsam Range hits the stage Melton is humbled by the supportive and encouraging audiences. He’s also thankful for the mere fact that he knows exactly what the other four members will give — passion, professionalism and a peace of mind that their band is a fruitful endeavor.

“We are five guys with similar needs and wants, similar families and goals. We have talent and are focused. We communicate openly and honestly, with each trying to keep it successful, with each able to put on different hats at different times,” he said. “We will play the Grand Ole Opry on a Saturday night, then get up for work on Monday morning.

You have to switch those hats, be focused and know you have a limited time to get it all done and do you get it done? We do.”

“This all started out as a jam session in Darren’s kitchen, and nobody is more shocked than we are at the success.”

— Tim Surrett

where my family didn’t expect to see me until Christmas,” the 50-year-old said. “And having a kid changes everything — it’s a whole new ballgame.”

With the success of Balsam Range taking off, doors keep opening for bigger and better opportunities. Recently, the group played the role of backup band on a solo record by John Driskell Hopkins, the bassist/cofounder of the wildly popular Zac Brown Band. Since then, there has been talk of a tour with Brown, which could mean an opening slot for Balsam Range in front of tens of thousands of new fans every night.

“Zac has talked to John about an opening slot,” Surrett said. “I don’t know if that’ll happen, but if it did, it’d be hard to turn something like that down.”

Surrett looks at Balsam Range coming about in a perfect storm, a musical era where string music and the idea of something different than mainstream modern country is being sought after by a growing legion of fans. The Avett Brothers, Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers are now top-tier headlining acts (with Old Crow Medicine Show and The Infamous Stringdusters not far behind), so who knows what could lie down the road for Balsam Range?

Thinking about the Album of the Year and Song of the Year awards, Surrett felt amazed and humbled to be honored, but also in awe of being appreciated by musicians he’s always looked up to.

“When we won Song of the Year we were at the Ryman Auditorium (Grand Ole Opry) performing and there is Ricky Skaggs sitting in the front row waving at us because he used to work for years with Marc — it’s weird, very weird, but nice.”

Surrett, like the rest of the group, has never taken his career for granted. And it’s the cornerstone of never getting too big for their britches than keeps Balsam Range on the level and aware of the fact of how lucky they are to get to do what they truly love — play music.

“You read these stories about your favorite musicians getting sick of touring and the audience screaming for them, and I think, ‘My God, how lucky are you?’,” he said. “Yes, touring is physically and mentally taxing, but when you get out there and make that connection with the crowd, there’s no substitute for it. I don’t know what that sickness is, but I have it and always had it.”

Though bluegrass is a popular genre, Surrett said Balsam Range members are by no means rock stars, but just regular guys going to work day by day and hitting the stage night after night.

“The band definitely makes other things possible, but we aren’t ‘rich’ by any stretch,” he said. “If you love this kind of music, it’s easy to think the big names are superstars, but that’s just not the case. I can walk around Walmart and nobody will recognize me.

Sliding out of the lobby booth, Surrett gets ready to pick up his son from the pool.

At a nearby table, a rec center employee looks at Surrett with an inquisitive glance.

“Hey, you look familiar,” said the female employee.

“Who? Him? He’s a reporter for The Smoky Mountain News,” Surrett responded.

“No, not him. I know he works for the paper. I’m talking about you, I know you,” she countered.

“I’m just the oldest guy with the youngest kid in the county,” Surrett chuckled.

“And the bassist for Balsam Range,” this reporter piped up.

“Yeah, Balsam Range. That’s it. You play bluegrass,” she smiled. “Balsam Range — y’all play some great music.”

This must be the place

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

Pool Memberships Now Available!

— Silas Durocher

Bring your Family and Enjoy Summer at the Pool!

and sipping tasty beverages, Silas convinced me to move to Asheville to play with him once again.

The Get Right Band.

SMN: What do you want folks to feel leaving your show?

JM: When people leave our show, we want them to feel like they had a chance to have some weight lifted off of them, even if only temporarily. That’s what we feel when we play music, and that’s what we hope for our audience The “Week of Rock” music series will run at 8 — to get lost in the experience, p.m. June 27-July 5 at Nantahala Brewing in to get right.

Bryson City.

Donated photo

HOT PICKS 1 2 3 4 5

The Ram Rodeo Series will be held at 8 p.m.

July 4-5 at the Haywood County Fairgrounds in Waynesville.

SMN: What has a life playing music taught you about being a human?

SD: It’s so easy to get caught The “Stecoah Artisans Drive About Tour” will be up in the rat race and the daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 27-28. routines of life. Music, and the lifestyle of being a touring musi“The Civil War: A Musical Experience” will be cian, keeps us really connected held at 7:30 p.m. June 26-27 at the Franklin to the fun and the spontaneous.

High School Fine Arts Center.

We’re always going on adventures on the road — seeing new Darren & The Buttered Toast will perform at 9 cities, checking out new beachp.m. June 28 at the Water’n Hole Bar & Grill in es, meeting new people — it Waynesville. teaches us to keep things fresh.

JG: We’ve only got a short pened. It was kind of like being struck by a life and we should spend it doing the things bolt of lightening — the connection was so we love. Music is what we love, so that’s deep and so intense. And I haven’t put the what we do. guitar down for a minute since. Music is everything to me. It’s a way to express Editor’s Note: The “Week of Rock” celebramyself, to connect with other people, to let tion will run June 27-July 5 at Nantahala go of stress. It’s therapeutic, it’s challenging Brewing Company in Bryson City. All shows are and loving. It’s really how I self-identify. free and begin at 8 p.m. Performers include Freeway Revival on June 27 (country SMN: How did y’all come about? rock/blues), Guy Marshall June 28 Jesse Gentry: Fate brought us together. (folk/Americana), The Wilhelm Brothers June Silas and I met in the tiniest of towns in 29 (Americana), Dogwood Winter June 30 rural Maryland in late middle school. Silas (bluegrass/string), Husky Burnette July 1 coerced me into quitting my band at the (blues/rock), The Get Right Band July 2 time to join his band, and from there, a (rock/reggae), Mangas Colorado July 3 (newmusical brotherhood was formed. After grass/Americana), Jordan Hallquist & The many years of playing together, followed by Outfit July 4 (singer/songwriter) and The Black several years apart, during which I was living Arts Ensemble with Artimus Pyle (of Lynyrd in the Virgin Islands swimming with turtles Skynyrd) July 5 (southern rock/rock).

828-452-9633

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SMN: What’s it like being an aspiring musician in the 21st century?

J.C. Mears: Technology is really both an advantage and a disadvantage. More people than ever have the ability to record and put their music out there, which is great for the artists putting out music. But with the saturation of the music industry, the value that people put on music is decreasing. And that makes it harder to make a living doing this.

So, that means there has to be a stronger focus by musicians on the business side of things, marketing and booking.

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Smoky Mountain News

Smoky Mountain News: When did you start playing music?

Silas Durocher: I started playing music when I stubbed my toe on my dad’s old acoustic guitar in our basement under a pile of stuff. I was 12 years old. I pulled it out, strummed it once, and the heavens parted and everything became clear. I say it like that to be funny, but it’s pretty much what hap-

ED HEATOL! O P

June 25-July 1, 2014

It’s a sound that immediately turns your head.

Sitting at a table within the 5 Walnut Wine Bar in downtown Asheville one lazy, sunny Appalachian afternoon, a trio of musicians took to the floor and eased into the subtle ambiance of the cozy space. With a V8 blend of genres spilling out of the speakers, The Get Right Band has a main thread of rock-n-roll running through it, adding in one part reggae, one part blues, a dash of jazz and a pinch of pop sensibilities.

Led by singer/guitarist Silas Durocher, the ensemble also includes bassist Jesse Gentry and drummer J.C. Mears. Alongside their 2013 album “Shake” and a recent successful national tour, the group was also selected as an On The Verge pick by Relix magazine.

Their follow-up record, Bass Treble Angel Devil, will be released on Aug. 16.

The band will be performing at 8 p.m.

Wednesday, July 2 as part of the “Week of Rock” at Nantahala Brewing Company in Bryson City.

Watching them perform you think two things: “Who the hell are these guys?” and “Why aren’t they playing sold-out arenas?”

With such an embracing tone, the band cuts across the musical spectrum, where you sit and look around the room and see the feet of hipsters, tourists, young couples and older folks tappin’ along to the sound.

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31

arts & entertainment

On the beat Singing In The Smokies returns to Bryson

The Inspirations.

The Singing In The Smokies Independence Weekend Festival will run from July 3-5 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, Chris Smith, Daron Osbourne, Evidence of Grace, and many more.

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.

Chamber music series returns to Waynesville

Smoky Mountain News

June 25-July 1, 2014

The Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival, one of the longest running chamber music festivals in the United States, presents its 45th season to the listeners of Western North Carolina.

The five-week festival will perform concerts on June 29, July 6, 13, 20 and 27 at the

32

Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville. There will also be performances on July 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29 at the Kittredge Theater in Swannanoa.

The first concert will feature Grammynominated group The Enso String Quartet.

All performances begin at 7:30 p.m.

Ticket prices are $21.40 for individual tickets and $80.25 for a series ticket. www.swannanoachambermusic.com or 828.452.0593 or chamber@warren-wilson.edu.

Registration available for Dulcimer U at WCU Registration is ongoing for Western Carolina University’s 15th annual Dulcimer U Summer Week, a gathering that brings dulcimer virtuosos and students to the WCU campus in Cullowhee for six days of classes and concerts.

This year’s conference, set for July 13-18, will feature an instructional staff of nationally recognized performers. Classes will include Dulcimer Building with Bob Magowan, Caregiving and Comfort Using the Mountain Dulcimer with Lorinda Jones, From Player to Teacher with Joe Collins, and Mountain Dulcimer Ensemble with Larry and Elaine Conger.

The schedule for July 17 includes a 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 $335 per person. On-campus accommodations and meal packages are available for an additional $339 for single-occupancy rooms and $289 for double-occupancy rooms. www.dulcimeru.wcu.edu or 828.227.7397.

Carolina Dusk, ‘Sugar’ Barnes to play June 26

Carolina Dusk and “Sugar” Barnes will perform as part of the Summer Music Series at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City.

Carolina Dusk will play June 26, with Barnes July 10. Both shows begin at 6 p.m.

With their wide variety of foot-tapping rhythms, wild-eyed Southern storytelling and upbeat attitude, Carolina Dusk showcases their contagious excitement for wordplay and for new perspectives on familiar things.

The series is every second and fourth Thursday. Refreshments will be provided by the Friends of the Marianna Black Library.

Free.

828.488.3030 or www.fontanalib.org/brysoncity.

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On the beat

• Dave Desmelik and The Spontaneous Combustion Jam will be at BearWaters Brewing Company in Waynesville. Desmelik will play at 7 p.m. June 28. The jam runs from 8 p.m. to midnight every Monday, with all players welcome. 828.246.0602 or www.bwbrewing.com.

ALSO:

• Nitrograss and The Rough and Tumble will perform as part of the Outdoor 76 concert series in downtown Franklin. Nitrograss will play June 26, with The Rough and Tumble July 3. All shows begins at 7 p.m. and are $5 per person. 828.349.7676 or www.outdoor76.com.

• Country/blues band The Jackson/Taylor Band and the 4th of July fireworks extravaganza with The Extraordinaires will perform at Groovin’ on the Green at the Village Commons in Cashiers. The Jackson/Taylor Band will play June 27, with The Extraordinaires July 4. All shows begin at 6:30 p.m. Free. www.mountainlovers.com.

• Friday Night Jazz! with The Kittle & Collings Duo will be from 6 to 9 p.m. June 27 and July 4 at Lulu’s on Main. www.mountainlovers.com.

• Craig Summers & Lee Kram, Tarnished Rose, Johnny Rhea and Craig Summers (solo) will perform at Frog Level Brewing Company in Waynesville. Summers & Kram play June 26, July 3 and Tarnished Rose June 27, Rhea June 28 and Summers (solo) July 5.

Thursday shows begin at 6 p.m., with weekend performances starting at 7 p.m. Free.

828.454.5664 or www.froglevelbrewing.com.

• The Freestylers will perform on June 27 at City Lights Café in Sylva. Free. www.citylightscafe.com or 828.587.2233.

• Appalachian bluegrass band Mountain Faith and The Dashboard Blues Band will perform

F E AT UR ING CHEF TONY O’NE AL

• Darren & The Buttered Toast and Anthony Wayne OMB will perform at the Water’n Hole Bar & Grill in Waynesville. Darren & The Buttered Toast play June 27, with Wayne June 28. All shows begin at 9 p.m. 828.456.4750.

• Appalachian/modern country group The Buchanan Boys will perform as part of the Western Carolina University summer concert series at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 8, at the Central Plaza in Cullowhee. Free. www.wcu.edu.

• Mountain High Dulcimer Group and The Johnny Webb Band will perform as part of the Friday Night Live concert series at Town Square in Highlands. Mountain High Dulcimer Group will play June 27, with Webb July 4. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free.

• Old-time string group Lonesome Sound and oldies group The Elderly Brothers will perform at the Bryson City Train Depot. Lonesome Sound plays June 28, with The Elderly Brothers July 5. Both shows are free and begin at 6:30 p.m. www.greatsmokies.com.

• Singer-songwriter Randy Flack, and southern rock bands Fastgear and Crosstrax will perform at Fontana Village Resort. Flack will play June 26, with Fastgear June 27 and Crosstrax June 28. All shows begin at 7 p.m. www.fontanavillage.com.

• The Canary Coalition will hold its annual gathering at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 2, at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva.

Event will include a sing-along, Songs of the Movement, with Americana/string music fiddler Ian Moore and friends. Light food and beverages provided. Free.

• Singer/songwriter Jacob Johnson will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 28, at The Classic Wineseller in Waynesville. $10 minimum purchase on food, drink or merchandise.

828.452.6000 or www.classicwineseller.com.

• A-36 Band, The Boomers, AM Superstars, Running Wolf Band, Will Hayes Band, Eastern Blue Band and Amazing Grace Ministries will perform as part of the Music on the River concert series at the Oconaluftee River Stage in Cherokee. A-36 Band will play June 27, with The Boomers June 28, AM Superstars June 29 and July 3, Running Wolf Band June 30, Will Hayes Band July 1, Eastern Blue Band July 2, and Amazing Grace Ministries July 4-6. All shows begin at 8 p.m. Free.

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Smoky Mountain News

• The Summer Live Music Series will continue with Jerry’s Bones, Tellico, Dillian N’ Ashe, Ron Neill, Playing on the Planet, Red Honey and Corn Bread Fred at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in the Nantahala Gorge. Jerry’s Bones will play on June 27, with Tellico June 28, Dillian N’ Ashe July 2, Neill July 3, Playing on the Planet July 4, Red Honey July 5 and Corn Bread Fred July 6. Live music, barbecue and craft beer. All performances are free and begin at 6 p.m. www.greatsmokies.com.

• The Jazz Cats will perform at 6 p.m. June 28 at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva.

Sponsored by the Jackson County Arts Council. As part of the evening, 10 percent of dinner sales at the Mad Batter in Sylva will also be donated to the council. www.jacksoncountyarts.org.

A L OH A ISL A ND F L AVOR

June 25-July 1, 2014

• Gem City (gospel) and The Lisa Price Band (variety) will perform as part of Pickin’ on the Square at the gazebo in downtown Franklin.

Gem City will play on June 28, with Price July 5. All shows begin at 6:30 p.m. Free.

828.524.2516 or www.franklin-chamber.com.

at Concerts on the Creek at Bridge Park in Sylva. Mountain Faith will play June 27, with The Dashboard Blues Band July 4. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. Free. 828.586.2155.

arts & entertainment

• Dustin Martin & The Ramblers, Johnny Hayes & The Love Seats and The Sawyer Family will perform at No Name Sports Pub in Sylva. Martin will play June 27, with Hayes June 28 and The Sawyer Family June 29. All shows begin at 9 p.m. Free. 828.586.2750 or www.nonamesportspub.com.

33

arts & entertainment

On the wall Open call for WNC artwork

Haywood arts council gets new director

Local artists and artisans in Western North Carolina are invited to submit up to four original works of art for the annual community art exhibit at Swain County Center for the Arts. Artwork for this eight-week exhibit will be received in the lobby of the Center for the Arts between 8 and 11 a.m. Monday, July 28, or earlier by appointment. No artwork can be accepted after July 28. All artwork submitted must be available for display through the end of September and can be priced to sell.

The center is equipped to show almost anything that can be hung on the wall or large sculptures that sit on the floor. There are cases with locked glass doors where items such as pottery, jewelry, baskets, carvings or small paintings can be displayed. The artwork can be done in any medium of any appropriate subject. Artwork for the wall should be ready to hang with wire attached. Works on paper should be framed under glass or Plexiglas or they can be matted and shrink-wrapped without a frame.

Each piece you submit should have a 3â&#x20AC;? x 5â&#x20AC;? card or piece of paper attached with your name, address, and phone number. Also, identify the artwork by title, the medium you used to create it, and the price if you wish to sell it.  828.488.7843 or www.swain.k12.nc.us/cfta.

The Haywood County Arts Council recently hired Jodi John Pippin as their new part-time executive director as of June 2014.

Pippin is a member of the Western Art Agencies of NC collaborative group, which meets regularly to discuss the arts and its impact in Western North Carolina. She has experience in grant writing, event planning, marketing, graphic design and the Grassroots Arts Program of the North Carolina Arts Council.

Jodi John Pippin The Haywood County Arts Council participates in the Grassroots Arts Program through the distribution of sub-grants to local arts organizations in Haywood County.

Pippinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s background is in cultural anthropology, architecture and fine arts.

She also works as a professional artist and musician, bringing her passion for the arts into her work.

Previously, Pippin served as the executive director of the Iredell Arts Council in Statesville for the last four years. She and her family are currently relocating to the area. www.haywoodarts.org.

Cullowhee Mountain ARTS programs

There will be a handful of youth arts programs held throughout July as part of the Cullowhee Mountain ARTS summer series.

Held in the School of Art and Design on the Western Carolina University Campus, these camps allow young artists to explore a multitude of media and techniques while working toward an overall goal.

A Puppet Making and Performance class will be held from 9 a.m. to noon June 30-July 3. In this workshop, campers will learn to mold clay into their own puppet character.

After decorating and clothing their puppet, the group will collaborate with their instructors to make up a story for their puppets. The puppet show will be performed on the last day for

family and friends. Cost is $120 per child, with all materials included.

Invent your own superhero during the You Are The Hero class from 9 a.m. to noon July 8-9. Using clay to create this threedimensional character and bring it to life with its own personality strengths and weaknesses, characters will â&#x20AC;&#x153;performâ&#x20AC;? in a twodimensional backdrop created by the campers using markers or watercolors. Pictures of the characterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s performance will create a storybook for each child to take home. Cost is $60 per child, with all materials provided.

The outer space class Jetpacks will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 10-11. This educational experience begins with discussing the space race and moon landings.

Students will design their own exploration devices inspired by jetpacks. Inventors will be encouraged to consider how their jetpack will actually work, using the variety of materials available. Cost is $95 per child, with all materials included. www.cullowheemountainarts.org or 828.342.6913.

June 25-July 1, 2014

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On the wall

The application deadline for the “New Haywood Studio Tour” has been extended until June 30.

Scheduled for noon to 5 p.m. Oct. 25-26, the tour is for all artists who either reside in Haywood County or have a working studio in Haywood County. For artists that have access issues, limited parking or have too small a studio, the tour will include “cluster studios” — a working studio hosting other artists. Artists may arrange for their own • The next Art League of the Smokies meeting will be held at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, July 1, at Swain County Center for the Arts in Bryson City. The DVD “ACRYLICS, The Watercolor Alternative” with Charles Harrington will be shown. The screening and meeting is sponsored by Swain County Center for the Arts and Swain County Schools. 828.488.7843 or www.swain.k12.nc.us/cfta.

• A landscape-painting workshop for beginners with Jon Houglum will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 27-28 at the Historic Cowee School in Franklin. $200 per person, with a $100 deposit due prior. 828.369.7274 or houglumfineart2@frontier.com.

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media and other mediums will be displayed.

Free. www.haywoodarts.org.

• The films “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and “Grand Budapest Hotel” will be screened at The Strand at 38 Main in Waynesville.

“Beasts of the Southern Wild” will be shown June 27-28, with “Grand Budapest Hotel” July 4-6. Screenings are at 7:45 p.m. on Fridays and 2 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. on Saturdays. Tickets are $6 per person, $4 for children. Saturday morning cartoons will also be show at 10 a.m. June 21 and 28.

828.283.0079 or www.38main.com.

• The films “Muppets Most Wanted” and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” will be shown in the Central Plaza at Western Carolina University. “Muppets Most Wanted” will be screened on June 26, with “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” July 3. All films begin at 9:30 p.m. Free. corelli@wcu.edu or 828.227.3618.

• The Come Paint with Charles Kidz Program will be at 5 p.m. June 26 at the Charles Heath Gallery in Bryson City. $18 per child. Materials and snacks included. 828.538.2054.

• The Cullowhee Mountain Arts Summer Faculty Exhibition will run through July 25 in the Fine Arts Museum at Western Carolina University. The exhibit features the work of over 23 artists, from ceramics to printmaking, painting to mixed media. www.wcu.edu.

• The Haywood County Arts Council will celebrate its artist members will a special exhibit from July 2-26 at Gallery 86 in Waynesville.

Painting, watercolor, glass blowing, pottery, jewelry, encaustic, wood furnishings, mixed

• The Stecoah Artisans Drive About Tour will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 27-28.

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

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.

246-04

June 25-July 1, 2014

• The Mountain Artisans Arts and Crafts Show will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 28-29 in the Ramsey Center at Western Carolina University. Local and regional artisan vendors and demonstrations. 828.524.3405 or www.mountainartisans.net.

“cluster” or the steering committee will assist in pairing hosts who have space with artists who need to cluster. Each artist should apply individually and pay the fee.

Each artist in a cluster will be listed at the host studio address.

All work displayed and/or sold on the tour must be original and made by the artist.

No kits, copied projects, or resale items. A reception and exhibition for all artists will be held at from 6 to 9 p.m. Oct. 23 at Frog Level Brewing Company in Waynesville. The tour is the project of a committee of Haywood County artists. haywoodstudiotour@inbox.com.

arts & entertainment

Call for Haywood artist studios

Fresh. LOCAL. Yours.

Smoky Mountain News

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Visit your local Farmer’s Markets.

To learn more about your local farmer’s markets, visit

mountainwise.org

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On the street

arts & entertainment

On the stage ‘Pippin’ to hit Highlands stage The stage production “Pippin” will be performed July 3-20 at the Highlands Playhouse. Showtimes are at 8 p.m.

Tuesday-Saturday and at 2 p.m. on Sundays.

With music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, “Pippin” tells the story of a young prince on a search for meaning and significance in his life. It features lively 70’s style pop music, magic, acrobatics and dancing. Drinks will be served on the patio an hour prior to the performance and doors open 30 minutes before.

Tickets are $32.50 for adults and $15 for children.

828.526.2695.

Smoky Mountain News

June 25-July 1, 2014

‘Oklahoma!’ rolls into Franklin “Oklahoma!,” the first musical written by the dynamic duo Rodgers and Hammerstein, will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. June 27, 28 and July 5 and at 4 p.m.

June 29, July 4 and 6 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

The production will be presented by an actor’s guild based in Atlanta, and under the direction of Broadway veteran Robert Ray. Oklahoma! tells the story of Curly McLain, a handsome, loveable, and bowlegged cowboy, and his romance with farm girl Laurey Williams. Curly must contend with an evil ranch hand and a

• “A Grand Night for Singing” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. June 27, 28 and July 5 and at 3 p.m. June 29 and July 6 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville. Broadway musical cabaret featuring music from numerous classic productions. $24 for adults, $20 for seniors and $12 for students, with $8 discount Sunday matinees tickets for students. www.harttheater.org.

ALSO:

• “The Civil War: A Musical Experience” will be held at 7:30 p.m. June 26-27 at the Franklin High School Fine Arts Center.

The production will be performed by The Overlook Theatre Company. Advanced tickets available at the Franklin Chamber of Commerce and The Motor Company Grill. $10 per person. www.franklinchamber.com.

The Pow Wow attracts dancers and drummers from across the nation.

Donated photo

39th annual Pow Wow returns to Cherokee The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ Pow Wow will be held July 4-6 at the Acquoni Expo Center.

The event features world-champion dancers and drummers competing for prizes.

Vendors from across the country will offer food and arts and crafts items.

The Pow Wow opens at 5 p.m. Friday, July 4, with a grand entry at 7 p.m. and a fireworks show at 10 p.m. The event continues at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 5, with the grand entry at 1 p.m. and 7 a.m. Gates open at noon Sunday, July 6, with grand entry at 1 p.m.

Admission is $10 per day with a weekend pass for $25. www.visitcherokeenc.com.

Wheels Through Time celebrates 12 years Wheels Through Time Museum will celebrate its 12th anniversary and the 4th of July

holiday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 3-7 in Maggie Valley.

The museum houses hundreds of rare and unique machines spanning over 110 years of transportation history, dating back to very roots of motorized travel. The collection of all-American motorcycles and automobiles now totals over 360 historic machines, and museum attendance has soared over the past several years.

During the anniversary weekend celebration, Wheels Through Time staff will be holding demonstrations and exhibitions of dozens of rare motorcycles and automobiles.

Various military vehicles will also be on display and ready for exhibition, including two rare HarleyDavidson Air Force machines recently discovered in rural Arkansas. www.wheelsthroughtime.com or 828.926.6266.

• The Ram Rodeo Series will be held at 8 p.m.

July 4-5 at the Haywood County Fairgrounds in Waynesville. Live rodeo, with vendors and numerous events.

ALSO:

• The BBQ and Brews Dinner Train will be at 7 p.m. June 28 at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad Depot in Bryson City. Slow-cooked barbecue and craft beer tastings by Heinzelmannchen Brewery. $69 per person.

800.872.4681.

MOUNTAIN TWO HOUSES PLUS ACREAGE

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traveling peddler for the heart of the woman he loves. Curly will be played by television and film actor Brad Thomason, who has been seen on TV shows such as “The Sopranos” and “Law and Order.” He also appeared in the hit film “Remember the Titans.” Laurey will be played by Camilla Zaepfel, who recently completed her Master of Fine Arts degree at the Boston Conservatory. She has worked at The Alliance, Lyric, and Legacy Theaters in Atlanta and also at the Highlands Playhouse.

Tickets are $10 for students, $15 for adults.

866.273.4615 or www.greatmountainmusic.com.

CAMPGROUND ON THE RIVER Residence w/20 RV sites plus tents campground on the river.

MLS#545955 • $495,000

STREET DANCE Friday Night, June 27th 6:30-9 p.m.

Main St. • Waynesville

in front of the Historic Court House

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Featuring Mountain Music & Dance Band: Whitewater Bluegrass Dance Team: Dixie Darlin’s Special Guest: The Trantham Family Dance Caller & Emcee: Joe Sam Queen

Paid for in part by

HCTDA www.visitNCsmokies.com downtownwaynesville.com 828-456-3517

147 WALNUT ST. • WAYNESVILLE, NC

828-550-1302 • www.alainmiller.com

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Books Book examines alcohol and the writer’s life L

Smoky Mountain News

Hemingway’s rum leads us to the tropics and the Gulfstream that he so loved, and Faulkner’s tangled, smoky sentences taste of bourbon and branch water).

It is true that so many of these writers either died or suffered a diminution of their talent as a result of their boozing. A few —

Jeff Minick

et’s begin by noting the continuing biographical interest in writers and drinking.

In my own collection are Tom Dardis’s The Thirsty Muse; Kelly Boler’s A Drinking Companion: Alcohol & The Lives of Writers; physician Donald W. Goodwin’s Alcohol and the Writer; Kaylie Jones’s Lies My Mother Told Me; Donald Newlove’s Those Drinking Days and Kingsley Amis’s Everyday Drinking, with its introduction by another renowned boozer, Christopher Writer Hitchens. I also own various biographies of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Wolfe, Millay and others, all devotees of the cult of Bacchus.

In nearly every one of these the accounts of writers and drinking, the authors summons the usual suspects for examination: Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Eugene O’Neill, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Carson McCullers, John Kennedy Toole, Raymond Carver, John Cheever (the list here is far from complete).

These biographers cover everything from the childhood traumas of their subjects to their genetic dispensation toward alcoholism.

Some even get around to the idea that a few of their subjects simply enjoyed drinking, if for no other reason than it signaled respite, the end to a day of trying to create flesh and blood from ink and paper.

(One side-note: Have others noticed that the prose of some famous authors reflects their preferred choice of hooch? Fitzgerald’s style has the sharp, lovely clarity of a martini,

The Trip To Echo Springs: On Writers And Drinking by Olivia Laing. Picador, 2014, 339 pages.

Raymond Carver, John Cheever, Eugene O’Neill — did sober up and wrote some of their best work in their later years. But the greater number by far of these authors — Nobel Prize winners, Pulitzer recipients — composed their best stuff in their drinking days, albeit in the

Senehi to read from new drama Writer Rose Senehi will discuss her newest novel Dancing on Rocks at 3 p.m. Saturday, July 5, at Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville.

The book weaves through a network of memories, secrets and mutual dependencies twisting through this isolated community of 112 at the foot of Chimney Rock State Park. This portrait of a small North Carolina mountain town reveals how, by sticking together over the generations, the shopkeepers, innkeepers and park people have kept this iconic village alive.

828.456.6000 or www.blueridgebooksnc.com.

Applicants sought for library board The Haywood County Board of County Commissioners is seeking applicants to fill one position on the Haywood Community Public Library Board of Trustees. The position will be for a six-year term.

Application forms may be downloaded from the Online Services section of the county website at www.haywoodnc.net or picked up

early stages of their dissipation.

In The Trip To Echo Springs: On Writers And Drinking (Picador, 2014, 339 pages, $26) — Echo Springs is a euphemism for a liquor cabinet from Tennessee Williams’s play “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ” — Olivia Laing travels by rail, air and roadway around the United States, seeking out the lives of American writers renowned both for their books and their capacity for liquor. She searches for John Cheever in New York, Tennessee Williams in Key West and New Orleans, Hemingway in Key West and Fitzgerald in the various towns where he wrote while Zelda, his wife, was treated for emotional and mental problems.

Like her predecessors in biography, Laing dissects her subjects psychologically, looking at their childhoods and at the other wounds inflicted by life: failed marriages, missed opportunities, attacks by critics, sexual confusions. She includes medical information on alcoholism, ruminates on Alcoholics Anonymous, and analyzes, some unsuccessfully, the links between the bottle and the literary life.

Laing seems particularly fascinated by Tennessee Williams. Because I knew so little about his personal life — I have seen his major plays and was aware that he had lived in poverty for years, that his mother was domineering, that he was gay — Laing’s comments on Williams, largely sympathetic, kept my interest. Her ramblings across America as she followed the peregrinations of the famous playwright helped somehow make him come to life on the page, reminding the reader that Williams lived life as a nomad, with his habitations ranging from small apartments and hotel rooms in his youth to more lavish quarters following his success. By revisiting these places, Laing imaginatively recreates the playwright himself.

from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the county manager’s office at Haywood County Courthouse in Waynesville. Completed applications may be returned to the County Manager’s Office or attached to an email to Candace Way at ecway@haywoodnc.net.

The deadline for applications is 5 p.m. Thursday, July 10.

828.452.6625.

New book examines role of Paul the Apostle Author Dr. Harold Littleton, Jr. will present the second volume in his Founders of the Faith series, Paul: A Would Be Apostle, at 3 p.m. Saturday, June 28, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva.

The novel takes a look at the impact Paul had on shaping the Anti-Semitic mindsets that have lasted centuries. Littleton grew up in South Carolina where his parents imbued in him a commitment to public service and social responsibility through their careers of education and health care. His teaching career includes appointments at Meredith College in Raleigh, UNC-Charlotte, Mars Hill College, Gardner-Webb University and Western Carolina University.

He is currently an adjunct professor in the Department of Religious

37

What I find refreshing about The Trip to Echo Springs, as opposed to some of the other books on alcoholism and writers, is Laing’s relative lack of condemnation of those alcoholic writers. Certainly she disapproves of their extreme drinking, but she seems, more than others addressing this subject, to understand why they so loved alcohol.

At the end of her book, Laing reiterates the benefits of recovery from alcoholism.

After examining a short story by Raymond Carver, who spent the last years of his life sober, she writes: “I mean we all carry something inside us that can be rejected; that can look silver in the light. You can deny it … You can despise it so much you drink yourself half to death. At the end of the day, though, the only thing to do is to take a hold of yourself, to gather up the broken parts. That’s when recovery begins. That’s when the second life — the good one — starts.”

Carver himself left a poem, “Gravy,” describing this “gathering up,” a poem mentioned in passing when Laing visits Carver’s grave in Port Angeles, Wash. This poem underlines Laing’s point about recovery.

No other word will do. For that’s what it was.

Gravy.

Gravy, these past ten years.

Alive, sober, working, loving, and being loved by a good woman. Eleven years ago he was told he had six months to live at the rate he was going. And he was going nowhere but down. So he changed his ways somehow. He quit drinking! And the rest?

After that it was all gravy, every minute of it, up to and including when he was told about, well, some things that were breaking down and building up inside his head. “Don’t weep for me,” he said to his friends. “I’m a lucky man.”

I’ve had ten years longer than I or anyone

Studies and Philosophy at UNC-Asheville.

The Founders of Faith series is a proposed trilogy that will focus on New Testament characters using recent archaeological discoveries and scholarship.

828.586.9499.

Poetry series continues The Conversations with Poetry series will continue with “I Hear America Singing” and “Odes to Everyday Objects” at the Haywood Public Library in Waynesville.

“I Hear America Singing” will be held on June 26. As a lead-in to Fourth of July festivities, the presentation will take a closer look at American poets, particularly Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes.

“Odes to Everyday Objects” will be held on July 10. Too often, we think of poetry being only about lofty subjects such as love and death.

Poetic language transforms the mundane into the sublime, regardless of the topic. The presentation will take a closer look at poets such as Pablo Neruda who immortalized common objects with lyrical odes.

All events run from 4 to 6 p.m. The five-part series, run by poet/educator Michael Beadle, will run every Thursday except for July 4.

38

Smoky Mountain News

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER t wasn’t until Brad McMillan got his canoe on the water that the moment hit him. He’d been preparing for this for a long time, both mentally and physically, and he’d just watched his three friends in kayaks descend the falls before him.

But once in the water, he struggled to keep the calm of that preparation. Nothing makes the idea of running a 70-foot-high waterfall more concrete than, well, pushing off to run a 70-foot-high waterfall.

“It was terrifying,” said McMillan, 27. “I was completely calm in the time leading up to me getting there and getting geared up and getting prepared to go run it, and then watching the other three guys go first I was still pretty calm. Every once in a while I’d get a little spike in my heart rate just thinking about it. Once I got my boat down to the water I started freaking out that I was really about to do that.”

If successful, McMillan’s run on Alabama’s DeSoto Falls would set a world record for the height of a waterfall run in an open canoe. If something went wrong, though, it could go really wrong. Broken bones, concussions or worse could all be waiting at the bottom. But as he prepared to steer toward the edge McMillan pushed those images out of his mind, concentrating on one thing only: moving the boat along the correct line.

“I just told myself that I’ve gotta clear all that from my head and just think about what I need to do to make this work,” McMillan said.

A deep breath, a few strokes and a heart-jolting freefall later, and McMillan was 10 feet below the water and surging back toward the surface. It had worked.

“It was pretty cool just looking back up after I ran that waterfall,” McMillan said, “looking back up at it and seeing how big it was and seeing how far I just fell.

It was pretty wild.”

The venture earned McMillan a place in the record books, edging out the previous title set by Jim Coffey for running 60-foot La Cascada de Truchas on the Alseseca River in Mexico. Coffey had held the record for just six months, but his run bested the record set 20 years previously by Steve Frasier, who ran a 55-foot waterfall on the Elk River in North Carolina.

Nabbing the world record felt pretty good, McMillan said, but it was nothing compared to the satisfaction of walking away from DeSoto unscathed, knowing that he had what it took to conquer it. With all that distance of air between him and the churning water below, his only injury was a tiny bump on the chin.

But it was the process of acquiring those skills that was the real story, a tale with far more plot than the 10 seconds or so it took to descend from the top of the falls to the churning water below.

When McMillan became a world record holder on April 8, 2014, he already had a 20-year paddling career behind him. He started rafting at age 7 and got his first kayak at age 12. When he turned 19, the Valdosta, Ga., native began working summers as a guide with Nantahala Outdoor Center, moving north four years later to work there fulltime. Over the past three years, he’s transitioned to raft repair, about the same time that he began to take up canoeing. When he’s not at NOC, he’s in Idaho, or Washington, or Austria, or any other of a number of places, competing in paddling races. Suffice it to say, McMillan has a spent a good chunk of his life on the water.

“I live and work on the Nantahala River, so I’ve got a great training ground right there. At work I can take an hour off for work and go paddle every day of the week,” McMillan said.

I

Outdoors

Downward row NOC guide canoes to world record waterfall run

McMillan nears the edge of Alabama’s DeSoto Falls in search of a record-breaking run (top). McMillan hurtles down the falls toward a soft landing in the churning water below.

Donated photos

He’s on the water six to seven days a week, and with a flexible work schedule, he can build his hours around the water’s behavior, taking off when paddling is prime.

“I feel that that has been a huge part of me being able to progress as a paddler,” he said.

Of course, running a few practice falls helps, too. Last summer, McMillan and his canoe took a trip out west, conquering a 25-foot waterfall while paddling the Green Truss of the White Salmon River, then a 30-footer on the Little White Salmon River in Washington and finally a 45-footer on the White River in Oregon. The excursion started out as a just-for-fun venture, but eventually it gained a larger purpose.

The goal: to work up to a world record.

“I have a friend of mine that went and ran [DeSoto] last spring, so 2013,” McMillan said. “He’d run a number of other really pretty big waterfalls and he said that one was the softest 70-footer probably in the world.”

The “softer” a waterfall is, the more the water folds in on itself and the more aerated it is. That means that the water doesn’t stop a falling boat quite as quickly as it otherwise would, giving the paddler’s body more time to catch up with the boat’s halt.

Otherwise, McMillan said, “It’s going to be a harder impact. The boat will just stop and you kind of continue going, and that’s

F

Franklin man inducted to A.T. Hall of Fame

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Appalachian Trail Hall of Famer, Rufus Morgan. Donated photo

168 S. Main St. • Waynesville, NC 828-246-9400 Mon.-Fri. 9-5 • Sat. by appt. only

Tour the far west farms

www.CooksAbbeyCarpetandFlooring.com

A two-day tour will give the agri-interested a chance to see how folks in Graham and Cherokee counties make a living from the land.

The Far West Farm Tour “Find Your Adventure” annual summer event will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. June 27-28, showcasing 42 farms in the two counties. Participants on these self-guided tours will get to see agriculture in action and learn how locally produced foods can affect communities and individual lives. $20 per carload for a two-day pass. Tickets available at www.southernappalachianfamilyfarms.com. charlie@southernappalachianfamilyfarms.com or 828.389.8931.

Bow season will be here before you know it.

Make a one stop shop at Bowed Up Outdoors for guns ammo archery and various sporting accessories.

We are fully stocked with the complete line of Mathews bows for the upcoming 2014 season Including the new Mathews Chill X

1370 Soco Road Maggie Valley NC 28751 246-39

828.926.3244

Smoky Mountain News

“I’ve been paddling for nearly 20 years, and I feel like everything that I’ve done before that point was training to be able to successfully complete that drop,” he said.

“It’s not really thinking about the bad and the risk, I guess, of the drop. You definitely think about that before you do it, but I knew that I was capable of running that waterfall successfully and not getting hurt.”

As for a next step, though, that’s still an open question. McMillan’s got the next hurdle pinpointed, but he’s still working through the risk-reward analysis of it. The top of the falls is no time to think about what could go wrong, but the planning stage is.

“I would love to step it up and run an even bigger waterfall,” he said, “but it’s just kind of asking yourself at what point is it too tall.”

But regardless of what form the next challenge will take, McMillan said, he definitely has his sights set on something. For now, he’s got a full slate of kayaking races out West — he was in Idaho when The Smoky Mountain News caught up with him — to keep him busy, but he’s got that adrenaline junkie thing going, demanding that the next big run come soon.

And really, McMillan said, that feeling of terror laced with accomplishment is the goal, bigger than any record book entry that might result along the way.

“A world record’s cool, but if somebody beat it today I wouldn’t have my feelings hurt,” he said. “It was just cool to run that huge waterfall and be scared for a little bit.”

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June 25-July 1, 2014

when bones break and bad stuff happens.”

That can be an even harder outcome to prevent in a canoe, because canoes generally have a lot more volume and surface area than do kayaks. A typical kayak is about 90 gallons in volume, while canoes are usually in the 120- to 150-gallon range.

“You’ve got a lot more boat that you’re trying to plug in through the water as opposed to just stopping when you hit the pool,” McMillan explained.

To give himself the best shot at plugging through, McMillan used his Blackfly Option canoe, a rotomolded polyethylene boat with a pointed bow well-suited for plowing through water.

With the boat, the practice and the drive, all McMillan had to do was wait for the rain. More rain means more water, which means an easier landing at the bottom of the falls.

The day before the record-breaking run, several inches of water dumped on the West Fork of the Little River, which feeds DeSoto Falls. McMillan saw the rain coming and immediately adjusted his schedule, stuffing in some work hours before heading to Chattanooga for an overnight and from there to Mentone, Ala. By the time the group arrived at DeSoto, the rain was finished and the river was running high.

Conditions looked great, and the three kayakers took the plunge before turning the show over to McMillan.

Soon, he was sitting at the base, staring up at the roaring falls above, knowing that he’d done something to be proud of.

outdoors

Franklin has a hall-of-famer following the induction of Rev. Rufus Morgan into the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame earlier this month.

Morgan started a 43-year career in constructing and maintaining the trail in 1940, founding the Nantahala Hiking Club in 1968. Before the official club launched, Morgan was known as a one-man hiking club, clearing and tending his 55-mile portion of the A.T. and supporting the Appalachian Trail Conference, now known as the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. In 1965, the ATC named him an honorary life member in recognition of his 29 years of service on the ATC Board of Managers, and the Rufus Morgan Shelter on the A.T. in North Carolina was completed in his honor. www.atmuseum.org.

facebook.com/smnews 39

outdoors

Fish at the fore of Highlands program

Celebrate the Fourth on Bear Lake An Independence Day canoe trip from the Jackson County Recreation Department will give participants a chance to explore Bear Lake.

Meet at the Bear Lake boat ramp at 10 a.m., where the day will begin with lessons on canoe safety and strokes, as well as self-rescue. The rest of the day will be devoted to exploring the lake.

All equipment provided, though participants lighter than 40 pounds will have to provide their own life jacket. Register through June 30. $25. Jennifer Bennett, 828.293.3053 or jenniferbenett@jacksonnc.org.

Get a glimpse of the creatures that live beneath the waters of a swift-moving mountain river with a program offered 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, June 27, in Highlands.

Using electro-shock sampling techniques, participants in the Fish Foray will explore the abundant, often unseen fish at Pine Street Park in this joint program of the Highlands Biological Station and the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee, led by LTLT’s Jason Meador.

This foray is part of the Highlands Biological Station’s series designed to complement lecture topics from the Thursday night Zahner Lecture Series with hands-on activity. $15 members; $20 non-members.

Register online at www.highlandsbiological.org/forays. 828.526.2221

Free fishing on the 4th Independence Day will be free of fishing fees in North Carolina. From 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. July 4, public bodies of water in North Carolina will be open to everyone, resident and non-resident, with or without a fishing license. All other fishing regulations, such as size limits, creel limits and lure restrictions, will still apply.

The annual July 4 free fishing day has been offered in North Carolina since 1994.

Interactive fishing maps are online at www.ncwildlife.org/fishing/wheretofish.aspx

Lecture to uncover mysteries of minnows Minnows will get the main stage in the next installment of the Zahner Conservation Lecture Series at 6:30 p.m.

June 26 at the Highlands Nature Center.

Dr. Mollie Cashner, Assistant Professor at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, will discuss a strate-

gy called nest association that minnows use to reproduce. In this phenomenon, up to seven species of minnows share a large nest built by another species. Cashner’s talk will cover the diversity of nest associates, nest types and plenty of other ground as well.

The Highlands Biological Foundation holds these talks weekly in the summer,

Dr. Mollie Cashner. Donated photo with lecturers speaking on a variety of topics. The July 3 lecture is titled “Temperate Mountain Grasslands: A Climate-Herbivore Hypothesis for Origins and Persistence.” www.highlandsbiological.org or 828.526.2221.

Summer program gets kids out in the woods A summer nature series at Cradle of Forestry will give children ages 4 to 7 a chance to explore the natural world while exploring a variety of naturerelated themes.

Woodsy Owl’s Curiosity Club is held Thursdays from 10:30 a.m. to noon and 1:30 to 3 p.m. through August 4, with the ultimate mission of teaching children how to care for their public land.

Cradle of Forestry is an interpretive center run by the National Forest Service, located on U.S. 276 four miles south of the Blue Ridge Parkway about 40 minutes from Waynesville. $4 per child per program; half-price admittance to Cradle of Forestry, $2.50, for accompanying adults. Reservations required. 828.877.3130.

June 25-July 1, 2014

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July 3 DWA Red Carpet Rollout July 8 Haywood Chamber Ribbon Cutting

Mountain Realty Come visit us at our Smoky Mountain News

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3073 Soco Road Maggie Valley, NC 828-926-9225 866-926-9225

Visitors are invited to check on the progress of the American chestnut restoration effort at Cataloochee Ranch in Haywood County with self-guided and guided tours this summer.

The American chestnut, once a staple of Southern Appalachian forests, was wiped out in the early 1900s when a blight arrived from Asia, killing almost all mature chestnuts.

In 2007, Cataloochee Ranch planted American chestnut. File photo its orchard of chestnuts, which are hybrids of Chinese chestnuts and America chestnuts. The variety is backcrossed to include just enough of the Chinese chestnut species to be blight-resistant but genetically similar to the American chestnut.

The orchard has been inoculated with the blight, and any trees that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t show resistance to it are then thinned out. The remaining trees will then be intercrossed,

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outdoors

American chestnut restoration showcased at Cataloochee

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with the hope that progeny show high levels of blight resistance.

Self-guided tours offered anytime.

Guided tours offered Wednesday at 11 a.m. for $15, with lunch included. Reservations at 828.926.1401.

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Smoky Mountain News

BY BY-PASS Y-P -PASS A POWER POW EQUIPMENT 1318 SULPHUR SPRINGS RD NC 28786 W AYNESVILLE, YNESV Y WAYNESVILLE, (828) 452-5346 *Offer valid 5/1/2014 through 7/31/2014. Subject to approved credit on John Deere Financial Installment Plan. 1Fixed Rate 0.0% for +*)('&%$#")! ***) ) ( ( &%) '& #)'&) * ) & ) * ) %' #)'& ) #) &) % '&)%') ' ) % ) & & & ) & ) #)%$ ) $ # )' ) )' )(' ) & ) '$&) )' ) '&% ) ( ( &%#")2$1,500 OFF or Fixed Rate of 0.0% for 60 months on 5D/5E 45-75 hp Tractors. 3$2,000 OFF or Fixed Rate of 0.0% for 60 months on 5E 85-100 hp Tractors. Some restrictions apply, so see your ) ' ) '( % ) % #) & )'%$ ) & & & )' % '&#") )'& ) %) % % & ) ) #"

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outdoors

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Bookstore

Charles Dodd White: FRI. JUNE 27 • 6:30 P.M. Reading from

A Shelter of Others

————————————————————————

Dr. Harold Littleton, Jr.: SAT. JUNE 28 • 3 P.M. Reading from

Paul: A Would Be Apostle

3 EAST JACKSON STREET • SYLVA

828/586-9499 • citylightsnc.com

LTLT adds new outreach position The Land Trust for the Little Tennessee has added a new position to handle fundraising, marketing and communications for the conservation nonprofit.

Molly Phillips, the new advancement coordinator for LTLT, has more than 10 years of experience in non-profit development and fund-raising.

“Developing private support for LTLT is critical as we continMolly Phillips ue to build a strong regional conservation non-profit to serve the people in this area,” said LTLT Deputy Director Sharon Taylor. “Molly’s experience, as well as her love of this area and passion to help keep it as beautiful as it is now for the next generation, makes her a great member of our team.”

Smoky Mountain News

June 25-July 1, 2014

Kim DeLozier.

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Book signing planned at Oconaluftee A recently retired Great Smoky Mountains National Park wildlife biologist will hold a book signing for his twovolume set chronicling his strangerthan-fiction years on the job, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, July 3, at Oconaluftee Visitor Center.

Kim DeLozier’s years on the job included contact with “an extraordinary bear, hormonally-crazed elk, homicidal wild boars, hopelessly timid wolves, and 9 million tourists, some of whom are clueless”— all great fodder for a two-volume set, Bear in the Back Seat I & II. The Great Smoky Mountains Association is bringing him back to meet his readers.

Located on U.S. 441 at the main N.C. entrance to the park outside Cherokee.

SmokiesInformation.org or 888.898.9102, ext. 222 or 254.

Horse exhibition to benefit Panthertown Donated photo

A horse exhibition hosted by Friends of Panthertown from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Saturday, June 28, will raise money for conservation and trail maintenance in Panthertown Valley, a national forest recreation area near Cashiers.

The day begins with a 10 a.m. guided hike to Maidenhair Falls in the Bald Rock area. It’s a strenuous but beautiful trail, and group size is limited, so those wanting to join should arrive early to check in. Live music, demonstrations and children’s activities will continue through noon, and a silent auction in the barn will go from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The main event will begin at noon and run through 1:30 p.m., when an exhibition at Bald Rock Equestrian Arena will showcase more than a dozen different breeds. Guests will be able to meet the horses up close in the half hour before and after the exhibition. $10 donation per vehicle. No dogs.

Lunch available for purchase. 828.269.4453, friends@panthertown.org or www.panthertown.org.

outdoors

James Council gives a child a horse ride.

Fly Fishing the South

246-66

Two locations to serve you ASHEVILLE 252.3005

WAYNESVILLE 251.9721

www.hunterbanks.com

JULY 19 • 8 AM CLASSROOM AT THE FUN FACTORY FRANKLIN, NC

Choose your own adventure hiking trip An overnight hiking experience July 8-9 led by trail guide author Danny Bernstein will give participants a chance to explore the Greenbrier area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park with Friends of the Smokies.

The trip will begin Tuesday with an easy hike in the historic Little Greenbrier community, followed by a reception and dinner with park rangers. The group will sleep at The Buckhorn Inn near Gatlinburg and join one of two hikes Wednesday. A strenuous 12-mile hike will follow the Cove Mountain Trail, and a moderate 6.5-mile hike will go around Albright Grove Loop. $190 single occupancy rate for Friends of the Smokies members, with double occupancy rates and private cottages available. Space is limited. outreach.nc@friendsofthesmokies.org or 828.452.0720.

TO REGISTER CALL: JIM SOTTILE (FORMER DETECTIVE NYPD)

828-349-0322

246-22

WWW.PISTOLINSTRUCTORNC.COM

June 25-July 1, 2014

Smokies elk get new tracking collars

Smokies Sunday programs focus on elk Sunday afternoons are all about the elk at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Mark Haskett photo

Manicures & Pedicures Pamper Yourself Before the Big Day! A weekly summer program at 3 p.m. on Sundays through Aug. 3 on the porch of the Oconaluftee Visitor Center at the main entrance to the park on U.S. 441 will share the story of the return of the elk to the park, which disappeared for more than a century before their reintroduction. The 45-minute program is called “Welcome Home.”

At 5:30 p.m. on Sundays through Aug.

3, a junior ranger program at the Palmer House in Cataloochee Valley will teach young people about the connection and balance necessary in nature to ensure survival for elk and other species. Learn about elk history through show and tell activities. The 45-minute program will end with an invitation to stay and watch elk come into the fields.

At The Waynesville Inn Golf Resort & Spa

Smoky Mountain News

Biologists will get a boost in monitoring Smokies elk populations, thanks to a $13,720 grant Friends of the Smokies received from Charter Communications, Inc. The grant money purchased 15 radio collars and two receivers to track and monitor the large mammals.

After more than a century of absence, elk were reintroduced to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2001. Today, the herd numbers at least 120 animals. This donation helps provide much-needed collars to fit the calves and five adult females per year along with any nuisance animals.

Information gained from the use of radio telemetry equipment has been vital in making short and long-term management decisions regarding bears, elk and bats within the Park, and continues to be an integral part of ongoing wildlife monitoring and management efforts. www.friendsofthesmokies.org.

• OPEN TO THE PUBLIC •

828-456-3551ext 6

www.BalsamSpa.com 243-222

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WNC Calendar

Smoky Mountain News

COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS • Canary Coalition annual Gathering at the Public Library, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 2, Jackson County Public Library, 310 Keener St., Sylva, featuring “WAKE UP! Time, a sing-a-long of Songs of the Movement.

• Franklin Open Forum, topic: “What aspects of history are worth preserving and why?” 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 2, Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub, 58 Stewart St., Franklin. Franklin Open Forum is a moderated discussion group to exchange ideas (dialog not debate).

371.1020.

• Smoky Mountain Model Railroaders work session, 7 to 9 p.m. every Tuesday and public viewing session from 2 to 4 p.m. the second Sunday of the month, 130 Frazier St., in the Industrial Park near Bearwaters Brewery, Waynesville. The group runs Lionel-type 3rail O gauge trains. http://smokymountainmodelrailroaders.wordpress.com.

• Adopt a cat during the month of June and qualify for a special July 1 drawing for cat goodies from Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation. Black cats at Sarge’s are 50 percent off during the June and cats or kittens are buy one get one half price. All of Sarge’s cats have been spayed or neutered and are current on vaccinations.

246.9050.

• P.A.W.S. Adoption Days first Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the front lawn at Charleston Station, Bryson City.

BUSINESS & EDUCATION

All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted.

• American Red Cross Blood Drive, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Saturday, July 12, Crabtree United Methodist Church, 5405 Crabtree Road, Clyde. David Woody, 627.3666.

• American Red Cross Blood Drive, 3:30 to 8 p.m.

Monday, July 14, High Street Baptist Church, 73 High St., Canton. 800-REDCROSS. • American Red Cross Blood Drive, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Tuesday, July 15, Longs Chapel Church, 175 Old Clyde Road, Waynesville. Carol Honeycutt, 627.2808.

• American Red Cross Blood Drive, 2 to 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday, July 29, Town of Canton Armory, 71 Penland St., Canton. Alexis, 550.8520.

Jackson • American Red Cross Blood Drive, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Thursday, July 10, MedWest Harris, 68 Hospital Drive, Sylva. Melissa Southers, 586.7130.

• American Red Cross Blood Drive, 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Thursday, July 24, Cashiers Community at Cashiers Fitness Center, 355 Frank Allen Road. 743.2856.

• American Red Cross Blood Drive, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Tuesday, July 29, Southwestern Community College, 447 College Drive, Sylva.

Macon • American Red Cross Blood Drive, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Friday, July 11, Angel Medical Center, 120 Riverview St., Franklin. Barbara Hall, 369.4166.

• Business After Hours, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 26, Main Street Inn & Bistro on Main, 270 Main St., RSVP, visitor@highlandschamber.org, 526.2112.

• American Red Cross Blood Drive, 12:30 to 5 p.m.

Thursday, July 17, Franklin Community at First Baptist Church, Iotla St., Franklin. 800.RedCross.

• Webinars: Roger Brooks International, “The Art of Branding a Community—Revisited,” and “The Power of Selling Experiences Over Places,” 1 to 3 p.m. Friday, June 27, Best Western River Escapes Inn & Suites 248 WBI Drive, Dillsboro. www.visitsmokies.org.

Swain

• The Jazz Cats, 6 p.m. Saturday, June 28, Community Room, Jackson county Library Complex, Sylva. 507.9820 or www.jacksoncountyarts.org.

FUNDRAISERS AND BENEFITS • Fish Fry Dinner, 11 a.m. Friday, June 27, Pigeon Community Center, 450 Pigeon St., Waynesville.

Includes fish, baked beans, Cole slaw, hush puppies, drink and dessert. Eat in or carry out, $8. Call 452.7232 to place large orders.

• Friends of Panthertown Bald Rock Horse Exhibition and Silent Auction, 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 28, Bald Rock equestrian community, Sapphire. Free admission, but $10 donation per car for parking. Lunch available or bring your own picnic. No dogs. 269-HIKE (4453), www.panthertown.org.

• Fundraiser Saturday, June 28, at Mad Batter, Main Street, Sylva. Ten percent of dinner sales that day will go to the Jackson County Arts Council. 507.9820, www.jacksoncountyarts.org.

• American Red Cross Blood Drive, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Cherokee Indian Hospital, 268 Hospital Road, Cherokee.

Sally Penick, 497.9163 ext. 6498.

• American Red Cross Blood Drive, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Monday, July 21, Swain County Hospital, 48 Plateau St., Bryson City. Melissa Southers, 586.7130.

HEALTH MATTERS

• Bishop Kenneth Carter, guest preacher, 10:45 a.m.

Sunday, June 29, Summer Worship Series, historic Stewart Auditorium, Lake Junaluska; Holy Communion, 9 a.m., Memorial Chapel. 800.222.4930, www.lakejunaluska.com/summer-worship.

• The Rev. Dr. James Howell, guest preacher, 10:45 a.m.

Sunday, July 6, Summer Worship Series, historic Stewart Auditorium, Lake Junaluska; Holy Communion, 9 a.m., Memorial Chapel. 800.222.4930, www.lakejunaluska.com/summer-worship.

• Taize Service of Prayer and Song, 8 p.m. Monday, June 30, Memorial Chapel, Lake Junaluska, 800.222.4930, www.lakejunaluska.com/summer-worship.

• Pope Francis and His Chosen Patron, St. Francis of Assisi Retreat with Fr. John Quigley, Sunday, July 6 – Friday, July 11. Living Waters Catholic Reflection Center, Maggie Valley. 926.3833, catholicretreat.org.

• Painting Workshop/Retreat with Fr John Quigley Friday, July 11 – Sunday, July 13. Living Waters Catholic Reflection Center, Maggie Valley. 926.3833, catholicretreat.org.

• Letting the Holy Spirit Enliven Us Fruitfully with Fr. Michael Crosby, OFM Cap. Monday, July 28 – Aug. 3.

Living Waters Catholic Reflection Center, Maggie Valley.

926.3833, catholicretreat.org.

SENIOR ACTIVITIES • “Eat Smart, Move More, Weigh Less,” 15-week program. 11 a.m. to noon Fridays, Jackson County Department on Aging, Senior Center, 100 County Services Park, Sylva. $30 per person for the 15 week series. $20 reimbursement if at least 12 classes are completed. Sign up by June 30. 586.4944. Melissa McKnght, 587.8288.

• “Fitness and Aging,” seminar 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 25, Department of Aging/Senior Center, 100 County Services Park, Sylva. 586.4944.

• “Mastering Your Energy” with Laura Elliott, 7 p.m.

Tuesday, July 1, Community Room, Jackson County Public Library. 586.2016.

• “The Health Benefits of Yoga” with Marilyn Davis, RYT, 1 p.m. Wednesday, July 2, Board Room, Department of Aging/Senior Center, 100 County Services Park, Sylva. 586.4944 or stop by the Senior Center to RSVP.

RECREATION & FITNESS • Drop-in yoga: beginners, 10 a.m. Mondays; beyond beginners, 4 p.m. Wednesdays, Lake Junaluska Kern Building Fitness Center. $10 per person, per class. No registration required. Taught by Rumi Kakareka, a certified yoga instructor with 20 years’ experience.

703.966.7138 or rkakareka@me.com.

• American Red Cross Blood Drive, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Tuesday, July 1, Taylor Motor Company, 524 Russ Ave., Waynesville. 800.REDCROSS. • American Red Cross Blood Drive, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Wednesday, July 9, Senior Resource Center, 81 Elmwood Way, Waynesville. 800-REDCROSS.

• Stand Up Paddle Board YOGA, 9 to 10:30 a.m.

Saturdays, Fontana Lake. 342.6444, www.brysoncitystandup.com/sup-yoga.

Haywood

THE SPIRITUAL SIDE • “Quest for Truth,” 5:30 to 8 p.m. June 26-27 and 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. June 28-29, Our Savior Lutheran Church, 785 Paragon Parkway, Clyde, for children ages 3-12. Stories, games, crafts, and a meal each day.

456.6493.

• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome seminar, 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 25, MedWest Haywood Health & Fitness Center.

Katherine, 452.8883 or medwesthaywood.org/seminar.

• Summer tennis clinics: junior players (8 and older), 1 to 2:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday through August, Lake Junaluska tennis courts. $20 per session. Adult clinics, semi-private ($30 split between two) and private lessons ($20 per lesson) available.

Rumi Kakareka, certified tennis instructor, 703.966.7138, rkakareka@me.com, or www.lakejunaluska.com/tennis.

BLOOD DRIVES

• Weekly yoga classes, Maggie Valley Wellness Center.

All classes (except chair) are $12 per drop in or $40 for four classes.

KIDS & FAMILIES • Nature Nuts: Raising Trout, 9 to 11 a.m. June 27, N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education, 1401 Fish Hatchery Road, Pisgah National Forest. For ages 4-7. Register, 877.4423, /ncpaws.org/reservations/pisgah/CalendarView.aspx.

• Eco Explorers: Stream Investigation, 1 to 3 p.m. June 27, Davidson River, Pisgah National Forest. For ages 8 to 13. Sponsored by N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. Register, 877.4423 or ncpaws.org/reservations/pisgah/CalendarView.aspx.

• “Dinosaur Discovery,” 11 a.m. Wednesday, June 26, Marianna Black Library, Bryson City. Presented by North Carolina Museum of Natural Science. For pre-K through fifth graders. 488.3030.

• Create duct tape masterpieces, 3:30 p.m. Thursday,

Visit www.smokymountainnews.com and click on Calendar for: n Complete listings of local music scene n Regional festivals n Art gallery events and openings n Complete listings of recreational offerings at regional health and fitness centers n Civic and social club gatherings June 26, Marianna Black Library, Bryson City. For teens.

488.3030.

• Family Art at the Market, 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, June 28, Jackson County Farmers Market. Papermaking with local artist Frank Brannon. jacksoncountyfarmermarket.com.

• Pottery wheel classes for kids, 10 a.m. to noon, Mondays, June 30 to July 21; 6 to 8 p.m. Mondays, June 30 to July 21; and 6 to 8 p.m. Thursdays, July 3-24, Pincu Pottery, Bryson City. For children ages 10 and up. $113. Register, 488.0480 or email pincupottery@gmail.com.

• It’s All Art: Teen Arts and Craft Program, 4 p.m.

Tuesday, July 1, Jackson County Public Library, Sylva.

586.2016.

• Hands in Science: Children’s Science Program.

Growing Crystals, 11 a.m. Wednesday, July 2, Jackson County Public Library, Sylva. 586.2016.

• Experimental Times: Teen Science Program, 3 p.m.

Wednesday, July 2, Jackson County Public Library, Sylva.

586.2016.

• Woodsy Owl’s Curiosity Club, 10:30 a.m. to noon and 1:30 to 3 p.m. Thursdays, Cradle of Forestry.

Summer nature series for children ages 4-7 years old. $4 per child for each program. 877.3130.

• Family nature activities, 3 to 4 p.m. Tuesdays, Highlands Nature Center, Highlands. For ages 4 and older. www.highlandsbiological.org or 526.2623. $1 per person.

Summer Camps • Lake Junaluska and Roots in Education Day Camp, 7:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, through Aug. 15, Wilson Children’s Complex, 21 Shackford Hall Road, Lake Junaluska. Fullday and halfday, drop-in.

Angel Benson. 400.4841, rootsineducation@gmail.com or stop by Wilson’s Children’s Complex, 21 Shackford Hall Road (near the pool) at Lake Junaluska.

• Western Carolina University’s Division of Educational Outreach is hosting numerous camps for children this summer: www.wcu.edu/academics/edoutreach/conted/campsand-programs-for-kids/.

• Western Carolina University’s Athletics is hosting a sports camp for children this summer: www.catamountsports.com/camps/wcar-camps.html.

• Summer Day Camp for elementary school children, ages 6 to 12, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Aug. 8, Cullowhee United Methodist Church. 293.9215, www.cullowheeumc.org/summer-camp-2014/.

• Cullowhee Mountain ARTS Summer Youth ARTS Series, 2, 4 and 5-day art camps for ages 5 – 12, Western Carolina University’s Bardo Arts Center and the School of Art and Design. Details at www.cullowheemountainarts.org or 342.6913.

• 22nd annual Crossfire Basketball Camp, 1 to 4:30 p.m. June 30 to July 3, Waynesville Recreation Center.

For boys and girls age 6 to 12. $75 per person. 4562030 or email recathletics@townofwaynesville.org.

• Haywood County Arts Council Jam Camp, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, July 8 – Friday, July 11, Canton Middle School, 60 Penland St., Canton. Classes in mountain instruments, mountain dance (clogging, buckdance, flat-footing and square dance) and mountain songs and storytelling. $75. For students in grades 4th through 8th. Register at Haywood County Arts Council, 452.0593.

• Children’s Story time, 11 a.m. Friday, June 27, Jackson County Public Library, Sylva. 586.2016.

• Children’s Story time, 3:30 p.m. Friday, June 27, Jackson County Public Library, 586.2016.

• Summer Reading Program “Fizz, Boom, Read,” through June 27, Macon County Public Library. www.fontanalib.org, 524.3600.

• Dinosaur Discovery, 10 a.m. Friday, June 27, Macon County Public Library, Franklin. www.fontanalib.org, 524.3600.

• Children’s Story time, 2 p.m. Saturday, June 28, Jackson County Public Library, Sylva. 586.2016.

• Children’s Story time, 11 a.m. Tuesday, July 1, Jackson County Public Library, Sylva. 586.2016.

ECA EVENTS

• Innovative Basketball Training Summer Basketball Camp, 9 a.m. to noon, July 7-9, Waynesville Recreation Center, Waynesville. For boys and girls ages six to 13. Directed by Coach Derek Thomas. $125 per person. Register from 8 to 9 a.m. July 7 at the Waynesville Recreation Center. 246.2129 or 456.2030.

Extension and Community Association (ECA) groups meet throughout the county at various locations and times each month. 586.4009. This month’s meetings, listed by date, include:

• Puppet-making camp, July 14-18, Highlands Playhouse, for children ages 9 to 12. $250. 526.2695.

• 9:30 a.m. Thursday, July 3 – Christmas in July and White Elephant Gift, Potpourri ECA, Conference Room of Community Service Center, Sylva.

• Summer Soccer Day Camp, July 14-18, Swain County Recreation Park, for players age 5 to 18. Half day or full day sessions. scline@sclinesoftware.com, 736.0455, or www.ncsoccer.org/recreation/recCamps/.

• 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 8 – Christmas in July, Kountry Krafters ECA, Tuckasegee Wesleyan Church, Tuckasegee.

• Waynesville Recreation Center Basketball Camp with instructor Kevin Cantwell, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 14-17, Waynesville Recreation Center, Waynesville. For boys and girls in third through ninth grades. $150, $25 registration deposit to Kevin Cantwell, academy7@live.com.

• British Soccer Camp, full-day, half-day, July 21-25, Waynesville Recreation Center. Boys and girls ages 3 to 14. Register, www.challengersports.com, 456-2030 or email dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov.

• Summer Writing Adventure for Swain County rising freshmen students, 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and noon to 3 p.m. (one session only required), Aug. 4-8. Breakfast and lunch provided. Ziplining, caving, underground boat riding followed by classroom writing instruction where students write about their adventures. Register

by June 25. Sonya Blankenship, 488.3129 ext. 240 or email at sblankenship@swainmail.org.

Literary (children)

• “Read With Me,” 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday, June 26, July 10 and July 24, Swain Middle School Cafeteria. Program to encourage parents and caregivers of children birth through age 9 to read actively with children each night.

• Paws to Read, 3:30 p.m. Thursday, June 26, Jackson County Public Library, Sylva. 586.2016.

• Art Story time, for children birth to 7 years old, 10 a.m. Thursday, June 26, Macon County Public Library, Franklin. www.fontanalib.org, 524.3600.

• Dinosaur Discovery: State Natural History Museum Exhibit, 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 26, Jackson County Public Library, Sylva. Open to First 150 People.

586.2016.

• Heritage Action Event, 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 25, Jackson County GOP Headquarters (South) Highway 64 East Laurel Terrace, Unit #8, Cashiers.

Ginny Jahrmarkt, Box547@aol.com.

• State Line Young Republicans Independence Weekend Pig Pickin’ and Meet the Candidates, July 5, Clyde. Details on Facebook.

• State Line Young Republicans, formerly Haywood Young Republicans, 6 p.m. Monday, July 7, Organic Beans Coffee, Maggie Valley.

Others • Haywood County NAACP, 2 p.m. Saturday, June 28, 2:00 p.m., Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, 24 Sanctuary Hill, Canton.

September 6 Balsam Range 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

A&E FESTIVALS, SPECIAL & SEASONAL EVENTS • “Where’s Paws,” through June 26, Jackson County merchants. For children of Jackson County in observance of the 125th anniversary of the founding of Western Carolina University. www.facebook.com/WCU125.

• Waynesville Street Dance, 6:30 to 9 p.m. Friday, June 27, Main Street, Waynesville, featuring Whitewater Bluegrass and the Dixie Darlin’s clogging team. Joe Sam Queen will call and Tuscola High Band Boosters will sell hot dogs, drinks and more.

• 39th annual Eastern Band of Cherokee Pow Wow, 5 p.m. Friday, July 4, 10 a.m. Saturday, July 5; and 7 a.m. Sunday, July 6, Acquoni Expo Center (formerly Cherokee High School), Cherokee. $10 per day with a weekend pass for $25. visitcherokeenc.com/events/detail/39th-annual-4thof-july-powwow/#sthash.ZlXc1zSj.dpuf.

Smoky Mountain News

• Summer Science Fun Club: Physics, with Kelley Dinkelmeyer, physics instructor at HCC, 1:30 p.m.

Thursday, June 26, Haywood County Public Library, Waynesville. Learn how the world works and use mathematics to describe it. For children ages 9 to 16.

Register at 452.5169.

GOP

June 28 The Kruger Brothers July 5 Town Mountain July 12 The Freight Hoppers July 19 Snyder Family Band July 26 The Special Consensus kest e ers August 2 The Bank August 9 The Jeff Little Trio August 16 Mac Arnold & Plate Full O’Blues August 23 The Henhouse Prowlers August 30 Lindsay Lou & The Flatbelly ys

June 25-July 1, 2014

• The Jackson Soil and Water Conservation District Camp WILD (Wilderness, Investigating, Learning, Discovery) for rising 7th graders in public, private, charter or home schools. Hiking, swimming, snorkeling, and learning about the environment. 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. most days, July 28 through Aug. 1, Jackson County Recreation Center parking lot in Cullowhee. $25, register with Jane Fitzgerald, 586.5465 or email janefitzgerald@jacksonnc.org.

POLITICAL GROUP EVENTS & LOCAL GOVERNMENT

S Stecoah. tecoah.

Summer Summer. mmerr.

G Great reat Music.

Music.

wnc calendar

• Highlands Nature Center Day Camps now taking registrations for five different camps. “WOW! – a World of Wonder” (ages 4-6), “Amazing Animals” (ages 7-10), “NatureWorks” (ages 8-11), “Mountain Explorers” (ages 10-13), and “Junior Ecologists” (ages 11-14). Most camps offered more than once during the summer; sessions run from Tuesday to Friday each week. 526.2623 or, visit summer camps webpage at www.highlandsbiological.org.

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wnc calendar

Jim’s Sew & Vac Repair & Service GET TO KNOW

YOUR SERGER

Beginner’s Class with Barbra Merkle

July 19th $20 per person Must register by July 16th

110 DEPOT ST. WAYNESVILLE | 456-9314 ORECK, BISSELL & DYSON WARRANTY REPAIRS

246-75

MON - FRI 9 AM - 5 PM |

Nutrition Facts serving size : ab out 50 p ag es Am ount per Serving Calories 0 % Daily Value * Tot al Fat 0g

0%

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100%

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100%

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100%

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100%

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June 25-July 1, 2014

* Percent Weekly values b ased on Hayw ood, Jackson, M acon, Sw ain and Buncom b e d iet s.

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• NC State Natural History Museum’s Dinosaur Exhibit, 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 26, Community Room, Jackson County Public Library, Sylva. Limited to first 150 people to get tickets. Tickets dispersed at 5:30 p.m. at the Youth Services desk in the library. Free.

586.2016.

Hosted by Appalachian/gospel group The Inspirations, featuring live music from The Kingsmen, Troy Burns Family, Dixie Echoes, Chris Smith, Daron Osbourne, Evidence of Grace, and many more. Tickets, $20 per day, per adult. Children ages 12 and under free. www.theinspirations.com.

• HCC’s Appalachian Music Program offers following classes beginning in July in the college’s new Music and Recording Arts Studio: Introduction to Sound Recording/Engineering, 6 to 7:30 p.m. July 7 – Sept.

17; The 7 Absolutes Your Musical Career Requires, 6 to 7:30 p.m. July 8-Sept. 16; Mandolin for Beginners, 6 to 7:30 p.m. July 9-Sept. 17; and Clogging 101, 6 to 7:30 p.m. July 1-Sept. 18. Online music classes include: Introduction to Guitar or Music Made Easy, which are available monthly. Register for online music classes at 565.4241. Register for Appalachian Music program classes at 627.4669, 564.5091 or email bapinkston@haywood.edu.

• Wheels Through Time Museum’s 12th Anniversary in Maggie Valley Fourth of July celebration, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 3-7, 62 Vintage Lane, Maggie Valley, North Carolina. Rare and unique machines spanning more than 110 years of transportation history, dating back to very roots of motorized travel. www.WheelsThroughTime.com, 926.6266.

• Cherokee Bonfire and Storytelling, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Thursday through Saturday nights, through Aug. 30, Oconaluftee Island Park, US 19 and 441 N. • Bingo, 5:45 p.m. Thursdays, through Sept. 5 in the Pavilion next to Maggie Valley Town Hall. Cash prizes.

• The Shelton House, at the corner of Shelton and Pigeon Streets in Waynesville and home to the Museum of North Carolina Handicrafts, has opened for its 35th season. www.sheltonhouse.org, 452.1551.

• Game Day, 2 p.m. third Saturday of the month, Papou’s Wine Shop, Sylva. Bring cards, board games, etc. 586.6300.

LITERARY (ADULTS) • Conversations with Poetry, with Michael Beadle, local poet and educator, 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday, June 26, “I Hear America Singing,” a closer look at American poets, particularly Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes, and July 10, “Odes to Everyday Objects,” which takes a closer look at poets such as Pablo Neruda who immortalized common objects with lyrical odes, Waynesville branch of the Haywood Public Library auditorium. 452.5169, www.haywoodlibrary.org, beadlewriter@yahoo.com.

• Friends of the Jackson County Main Library Book Store “Summer Bag Sale,” begins Thursday, June 26, 536 W. Main St., Sylva. Two-week sale. $1 per bag of books, cassette tapes and VHS tapes. Open July 4.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO CELEBRATE

• Charles Dodd White will present his new book, “A Shelter of Others,” at 6:30 p.m. Friday, June 27, City Lights Bookstore, Sylva. 586.9499.

INDEPENDANCE DAY

• Charles A. Van Bibber, will read from “Valentine’s Day: A Marine Looks Back,” at 3 p.m. Saturday, June 28, Blue Ridge Books, 152 S. Main St., Waynesville.

456.6000, www.blueridgebooksnc.com.

IN STYLE! Smoky Mountain News

• Dr. Harold Littleton Jr. presents the second volume in his Founds of the Faith series, “Paul: A Would Be Apostle,” at 3 p.m. Saturday, June 28, City Lights Bookstore, Sylva. 586.9499.

Garden Flags Decor Signs & More!

Lake Junaluska Bookstore and Cafe 710 North Lakeshore Dr. 828-454-6777 Across from the Terrace Hotel in the Harrell Center

OPEN MON-SAT 8 A.M.-6 P.M. 46

www.lakejunaluska.com/bookstore

• Author Rose Senehi will read from her newest novel, Dancing on Rocks, at 3 p.m. Saturday, July 5, Blue Ridge Books, 152 S. Main St., Waynesville. 456.6000, www.blueridgebooksnc.com.

• Recently-retired Great Smoky Mountains National Park wildlife biologist Kim DeLozier will sign copies of his books, Bear in the Back Seat I and II, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, July 3, at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center, near Cherokee. SmokiesInformation.org or 888.898.9102, Ext. 222 or 254.

FOURTH OF JULY EVENTS • 4th of July at Fontana Village Resort, July 2-5, live music, corn hole and Pac Man tournaments, sunset cruise, documentaries, games. www.FontanaVillage.com.

• “Singing In The Smokies” Independence Weekend Festival, July 3-5 at Inspiration Park, Bryson City.

• 4th of July Celebration, July 3-6, Lake Junaluska.

Parade, water ski show, concerts (featuring Balsam Range and the Lake Junaluska Singers) barbecue, fish fry, bluegrass dinner, bluegrass music, fireworks display and more. www.lakejunaluska.com/july4th, 800.222.4930.

• 4th of July Parade and Celebration, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, July 4, downtown Franklin. 4th of July Fireworks in the Park, 3 p.m. until dark, Friday, July 4, Macon County Veterans Memorial Recreation Park.

Live entertainment, bungee jump, cornhole tournament, the famous Plunger Toss and Bulls Eye Ball Drop. www.VisitFranklinNC.com, 524.3161.

• 9th annual Yankee Doodle Dandy Day, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, July 4, Sapphire Valley track and recreation center areas. Swimming, outdoor games and contests, inflated bouncy toys, live music, sports contests, food, pony rides and the Horsepasture River Ducky Derby!

• Freedom Train at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 4, departure from Bryson City Depot to the Fontana Trestle and back in time for fireworks at Bryson City’s Freedom Fest. First Class, Crown Class and Coach Class seating available. All ticket purchases of any class include a meal.

800.872.4681 • Freedom Fest, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, July 4, downtown Bryson City. Fourth of July celebration featuring music, dog show, watermelon eating contest, air guitar contest and more, plus a fireworks show at 10 p.m. www.greatsmokies.com.

• Doug Stanford Memorial Rodeo, Ram Rodeo Series, 8 p.m. July 4-5, Haywood County Fairgrounds. www.coyneclients.com/chrysler/ram_rodeo_smpr_0314/ • 39th annual Eastern Band of Cherokee Pow Wow, 5 p.m. Friday, July 4, 10 a.m. Saturday, July 5; and 7 a.m. Sunday, July 6, Acquoni Expo Center (formerly Cherokee High School), Cherokee. $10 per day with a weekend pass for $25. visitcherokeenc.com/events/detail/39th-annual-4thof-july-powwow/#sthash.ZlXc1zSj.dpuf.

• NOC’s Sizzlin’ 4th of July, July 4-6, Nantahala Outdoor Center, 13077 Highway 19 West, Bryson City.

NRC Family Whitewater Weekend, 232.7238. Free.

ON STAGE & IN CONCERT • “The Civil War: A Musical Experience,” 7:30 p.m.

June 26-27, Franklin High School Fine Arts Center.

Performed by The Overlook Theatre Company.

Advanced tickets at the Franklin Chamber of Commerce and The Motor Company Grill. $10 per person. www.franklin-chamber.com.

• Jazz Cats, 6 p.m. Saturday, June 28, Jackson County Public Library in Sylva. www.jacksoncountyarts.org.

• Bluegrass group The Maggie Valley Band, 7:45 p.m.

Thursday, June 26, The Strand, 38 Main, Waynesville. $12. www.38main.com or 283.0079.

• Carolina Dusk, 6 p.m. Thursday, June 26, Marianna Black Library, in Bryson City. 488.3030 or visit www.fontanalib.org/brysoncity.

• ‘An Appalachian Evening’ concert with The Kruger Brothers, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 28, Stecoah Valley Center, Schoolhouse Road Robbinsville. Tickets, $25

wnc calendar

Past Awards 2012

Not your cookie-cutter newspaper…

First Place First Place First Place First Place First Place First Place Second Place

General News Reporting News Feature Writing Education Reporting Investigative Reporting Sports News Reporting General Excellence for Websites Education Reporting

2011 First Place First Place First Place Second Place Second Place Third Place Third Place Third Place Third Place Third Place

Education Reporting Investigative Reporting Appearance and Design General Excellence General Excellence for Websites News Feature Writing Education Reporting News Enterprise Reporting Headline Writing News Coverage

2010

2013 NC Press Association News, Editorial and Photojournalism Contest

to our award-winning staff!

News Enterprise Reporting

SECOND PLACE News Enterprise Reporting Becky Johnson SECOND PLACE News Feature Writing Garret K. Woodward SECOND PLACE Profile Feature Garret K. Woodward SECOND PLACE Special Section Garret K. Woodward, Travis Bumgardner, Micah McClure THIRD PLACE Education Reporting Caitlin Bowling, Becky Johnson, Andrew Kasper THIRD PLACE General News Reporting Becky Johnson THIRD PLACE Investigative Reporting Becky Johnson, Andrew Kasper THIRD PLACE General Excellence for Websites Travis Bumgardner THIRD PLACE Best Niche Publication Garret K. Woodward, Travis Bumgardner, Micah McClure, Emily Moss

Media and the Law Award Andrew Kasper

COVERING HAYWOOD, JACKSON, MACON & SWAIN COUNTIES

828.452.4251

www.smokymountainnews.com

First Place Second Place Second Place Third Place

News Enterprise Reporting Community Service Investigative Reporting Appearance and Design

2008 First Place First Place Second Place Third place

Community Service News Enterprise Reporting General News Reporting Investigative

2007 First Place Second Place Second Place

Community Service News Enterprise Reporting Profile Writing

2006 First Place First Place Third Place Third Place Third Place

General News Reporting Sports Columns Investigative Reporting News Enterprise Reporting Criticism

2005 First Place Second Place Third Place

General News Reporting Investigative Reporting Editorial Writing

2004 First Place First Place Second Place Second Place Second Place Third Place

Smoky Mountain News

Congratulations

FIRST PLACE Andrew Kasper

2009

June 25-July 1, 2014

…not your average staff

First Place General News Reporting First Place Education Reporting First Place Investigative Reporting Second Place Feature Writing Second Place News Enterprise Reporting Second Place Editorials Second Place Serious Columns Second Place News Coverage Third Place News Feature Third Place A&E Reporting Third Place Sports Feature Writing Third Place General Excellence for Websites Media and Law Award Duke Divinity Award

General News Reporting Investigative Reporting Investigative Reporting Sports News Reporting Lighter Columns Serious Columns

47

wnc calendar

adult, $10 for students, K-12, plus tax. 479.3364, www.stecoahvalleycenter.com.

• Little Shop of Horrors, through June 29, Highlands Playhouse. $32.50 for adults and $15 for children up to 12. Tickets at 526.2695 or at the Box Office, 362 Oak St., Highlands.

• 14th season of Tom Dooley: A Wilkes County Legend, 8 p.m. Saturday nights in July; show closes July 26, Forest’s Edge Amphitheatre off Hwy 421 North, Historic Fort Hamby Park, 1534 South Recreation Road, Wilkesboro. Presented by Bleu Moon Productions.

Jackson, Haywood, Macon and Swain county residents pay half price, $7.50, by presenting their driver’s license at the gate when purchasing tickets. www.bleumoonproductions.com, 336.838.4278.

• “Grand Night for Singing,” featuring the music of Rogers and Hammerstein, 7:30 p.m. June 27-28 and July 5; and at 3 p.m. June 29 and July 6, HART Theater, 250 Pigeon St., Waynesville. $24, adults, $20, seniors, and $10, students. Special $8 discount tickets for students for Thursdays and Sundays. Box Office hours: 1 to 5 p.m.

Monday-Saturday. 456.6322 or www.harttheatre.org.

NIGHT LIFE • Dustin Martin & The Ramblers, 9 p.m. June 27; Johnny Hayes & The Love Seats, 9 p.m. June 28; The Sawyer Family, 9 p.m. June 29, No Name Sports Pub in Sylva. Free. 586.2750 or www.nonamesportspub.com.

• Craig Summers & Lee Kram, June 26, July 3; Tarnished Rose, June 27; Johnny Rhea, June 28; and Summers (solo) July 5, Frog Level Brewing Co., Waynesville. Free.

454.5664 or www.froglevelbrewing.com.

• Friday Night Jazz! with The Kittle & Collings Duo, 6 to 9 p.m. June 27, Lulu’s on Main, Sylva. www.mountainlovers.com.

•The Freestylers, June 27, City Lights Café, Sylva. Free. www.citylightscafe.com, 587.2233.

• Darren & The Buttered Toast, 9 p.m. June 27; and Anthony Wayne OMB, 9 p.m. June 28, Water’n Hole Bar & Grill in Waynesville. 456.4750.

• Oklahoma!, 7:30 p.m. June 27, June 28, and July 5, and 4 p.m. June 29, July 4 and July 6. Broadway-scale production directed by Robert Ray. 866.273.4615, GreatMountainMusic.com.

• Guy Marshall, June 28 and The Wilhelm Brothers, June 29; Nantahala Brewing Company in Bryson City.

488.2337 or www.nantahalabrewing.com.

• HART Theatre auditions for The Odd Couple, 6:30 p.m. June 29-30, HART, 250 Pigeon St., Waynesville.

Show runs Aug. 22 through Sept. 7.

• Dave Desmelik, 7 p.m. June 28; The Spontaneous Combustion Jam, 8 p.m. Mondays, BearWaters Brewing Company in Waynesville. 246.0602 or www.bwbrewing.com.

• Lake Junaluska Singers, 7:30 p.m. July 3 and 4, and Balsam Range, 7:30 p.m. July 5, Stuart Auditorium, Lake Junaluska. $17.50 for all three concerts, general admission seating, or $20 per concert for reserved seating. Tickets at Bethea Welcome Center, www.lakejunaluska.com, or 452.2881 • Unto These Hills outdoor drama, 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, through Aug. 16, Mountainside Theater, Cherokee. General admission tickets, $20 for

June 25-July 1, 2014

adults, $10, children ages 6-12 and free for children under age 5. Reserved tickets available at 866.554.4557 or www.visitcherokenc.com.

• Pippin, 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 2 p.m.

Sunday Matinee, July 3-20, Highlands Playhouse. $32.50 for adults, $15 for children. 526.2695 or stop

by Box Office, 362 Oak St., Highlands.

• Eric Hendrix & Friends, 7 p.m. July 5, City Lights Café, Sylva. www.citylightscafe.com or 587.2233.

• Live Music, 7:45 p.m. Thursday, June 26, The Strand, 38 Main St., Waynesville. www.38main.com, 283.0079.

• Singer-songwriter Randy Flack, 7 p.m. June 26; southern rock band Fastgear, 7 p.m. June 27; and Crosstrax, 7 p.m. June 28, Fontana Village Resort. www.fontanavillage.com.

FOOD & DRINK • Patron Party, 6 to 11 p.m. Thursday, June 26, The Country Club of Sapphire Valley. Karl Lundgren –prepared five-course meal paired with specialty wines. $500 per person, which includes one preferred seating ticket for the Sunday event. www.tasteoftheplateau.org.

• “Way Back When,” dinners at Cataloochee Ranch to celebrate its 80th anniversary: June 27, July 11, July 18, Aug. 1 and Aug. 15. $31.95 per person.

Reservations, 926.1401 or 800.868.1401. Meet at ranch house at 5:30 pm, rain or shine, to board the wagon ride to the camp. www.cataloocheeranch.com.

• Taste of the Plateau, 6 to 11 p.m. Sunday, June 29, at the Summit Charter School. Fundraiser for Summit Charter School Foundation. Small plate specialties, pared carefully with a variety of wines. Live music, silent auction. $125 per person. www.tasteoftheplateau.org.

• Western North Carolina Alliance Wild Foods/Mushroom Hunt and Tasting, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, June 28, with Alan Muskat, aka “The Mushroom Man.” $75 for WNCA members, $90 for nonmembers (includes one-year membership to WNCA), food and drink. Space is very limited. Register at www.notastelikehome.org/special_events.php). Isabelle Rios, Isabelle@WNCA.org, 258.8737, ext. 201.

ART/GALLERY EVENTS & OPENINGS • “Stecoah Artisans Drive About Tour,” 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 27-28. Visit numerous galleries and artisans. www.stecoahvalleycenter.com.

Make Smoky Mountain Living part of your life.

• Haywood County Arts Council’s “Mountain Made” exhibit, featuring local crafters and artisans, through June 28, Gallery 86, 86 N. Main St., downtown Waynesville.

• Sylva artist James Smythe, featured artist at the Rotunda Gallery, Jackson County Courthouse, during June.

• Call to artists who live in Haywood County or who have a working studio in Haywood County for The New Haywood Art Studio Tour, Oct. 25-26. Deadline to apply is June 30. Tour will also include “cluster studios” – a working studio hosting other artists. Details at HaywoodStudioTour@inbox.com.

• “FLORA: Contemporary Botanical Prints from the FAM’s Littleton Studios Vitreograph Archive,” through Sept. 5, Fine Art Museum, John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center, WCU. 227.3591 or fineartmuseum.wcu.edu.

• “North Carolina Art Educators” exhibit, through July 18, Fine Art Museum, John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center, WCU. Features works of art by educators throughout North Carolina who link children with the world of art. 227.3591 or fineartmuseum.wcu.edu.

• “A Lasting Legacy,” a new exhibit featuring the creative work of local women from the late 19th century, Jackson County Historical Society’s display area in the Jackson County Public Library Complex in Sylva.

Through July. 227.7129.

• Haywood Community College’s Professional Crafts department 2014 Graduate Show, through Sept. 14, Southern Highland Craft Guild Folk Art Center, Mile Post 382, Blue Ridge Parkway, near Asheville.

565.4159.

• Cullowhee Mountain Arts Summer Faculty Exhibition through July 25 in the Fine Arts Museum at Western Carolina University. Features 23 artists, from ceramics to printmaking, painting to mixed media. www.wcu.edu.

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• Climatic Contours, an exhibition of large scale paintings, by Craig Voligny, through Sept. 7, North Carolina Arboretum, 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way Asheville. www.ncarboretumregistration.org.

• Call to artists to submit artwork for an eight-week Community Art Exhibit at Swain County Center for the Arts. Artwork received from 8 to 11 a.m. Monday, July 28, in the Art Center lobby or earlier by appointment.

No artwork received after July 28. Details, www.swain.k12.nc.us/cfta.

• Artists get two festivals for the price of one: Dillsboro’s 125th Birthday Fall Festival, Sept. 6, and Dillsboro Fine Arts & Crafts Fair COLORFAIR, Oct. 4. www.visitdillsboro.org, 506.8331, Jackson County Chamber of Commerce or Town Hall in Dillsboro.

• Call to artists to apply for entry in the 6th annual 2014 Cashiers Valley Leaf Festival, Oct. 10-12, Cashiers Valley. www.visitcashiersvalley.com or e-mail info@visitcashiersvalley.com or 743.8428.

CLASSES, PROGRAMS & DEMONSTRATIONS • Cullowhee Mountain Arts Summer Faculty Exhibition, through July 19, Fine Arts Museum, WCU. fineartmuseum.wcu.edu.

• “Come Paint with Charles Kidz Program,” 5 p.m.

June 26, Charles Heath Gallery, Bryson City. $18 per child. Materials and snacks included. 538.2054.

• Adult Movie, 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 30, Jackson County Public Library, Sylva. 586.2016.

• “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” 9:30 p.m.

Thursday, July 3, Central Plaza at Western Carolina University. Free. corelli@wcu.edu or 828.227.3618.

• “Grand Budapest Hotel,” 7:45 p.m. Friday, July 4 and 2 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. Saturday, July 5, The Strand, 38 Main, Waynesville. Tickets, $6 per person, $4 for children. 283.0079 or www.38main.com.

• Teen movie based on Nicholas Sparks book, 1 p.m.

Friday, June 27, Marianna Black Library, Bryson City.

488.3030.

• Saturday morning cartoons, 10 a.m. June 28, The Strand, 38 Main, Waynesville. 283.0079 or www.38main.com.

• Family movie about a machine that makes clouds rain food, 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 1, Marianna Black Library, Bryson City. 488.3030.

Outdoors

OUTINGS, HIKES & FIELDTRIPS • French Broad River Trips, 5-Day Trip: 4-Day Trip: July 12-15 (Asheville Outdoor Center to Paint Rock, Tenn.); 2-Day Trips: July 12-13 (Asheville Outdoor Center to Marshall). Contact WNCA Assistant French Broad Riverkeeper Kirby Callaway, 258.8737, ext. 212.

Registration at http://wnca.org/paddle/french-broadfloat-trips/.

• Little Tennessee Land Trust annual Stewartia Hike with Jack Johnston, 9 a.m. Wednesday, June 26, various sites to see native Stewartias. Meet at 9 a.m. at Queens Branch. Sharon Burdette, 524.2711 ext. 305 or sburdette@ltlt.org.

• Landscape-painting workshop for beginners with Jon Houglum, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 27-28, Historic Cowee School in Franklin. $200 per person, with a $100 deposit due prior. 369.7274 or houglumfineart2@frontier.com.

• Join Blue Ridge Parkway rangers for a moderate, one-mile evening hike, 7 p.m. Thursday, June 25, Mountains-to-Sea Trail from the Folk Art Center. Meet at Folk Art Center parking area at Milepost 382.

298.5330, ext. 304.

• Mountain Artisans Arts and Crafts Show, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 28-29, Ramsey Center at Western Carolina University. Local and regional artisan vendors and demonstrations. 524.3405 or www.mountainartisans.net.

• Nantahala Hiking Club, Stewartia hike, Friday, June 27. Meet at 10 a.m. at Queen’s Branch property. Led by Jack Johnston. DavidLippy04@aol.com, 369.1951.

• Art League of Highlands-Cashiers monthly meetings, 4:30 p.m. June 30, The Bascom in Highlands. Guests welcome. www.artleagueofhighlands.com.

• Summer ARTS Series, through July 26, Western Carolina University in the Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center. Details, www.cullowheemountainarts.org or 342.6913.

• Adult pottery pot class, 7 to 9 p.m. June 27, July 25 and Aug. 22, Pincu Pottery, Bryson City. $25 per person. Register, 488.0480 or email pincupottery@gmail.com.

FILM & SCREEN • Muppets Most Wanted, 9 p.m. June 26, Central Plaza at Western Carolina University. Free. corelli@wcu.edu or 227.3618.

• Beasts of the Southern Wild, 7:45 p.m. Friday, June 27 and 2 p.m. matinee, 5 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. Saturday, June 28, The Strand, 38 Main, Waynesville. 283.0079, www.38main.com.

• Children’s Movie, 1 p.m. Monday, June 30, Jackson County Public Library, Sylva. 586.2016.

• Teen Movie, 3 p.m. Monday, June 30, Jackson County Public Library, Sylva. 586.2016.

• Kebari Fly-Tying 101, 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, June 28, N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education, 1401 Fish Hatchery Road, Pisgah National Forest. Ages 14 and older. 877.4423, ncpaws.org/reservations/pisgah/CalendarView.aspx.

• Blue Ridge Parkway rangers evening stroll, 7 p.m.

Thursday, July 3, near Asheville. Meet at the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center at Milepost 384. 298.5330, ext.

304.

• Blue Ridge Parkway rangers easy, two-mile round trip hike back to Independence Day 1776. Meet at the Sleepy Gap Parking Area at Milepost 397.3. 298.5330, ext. 304.

• Highlands Plateau Audubon Society beginners birding walk, 7:30 a.m. Saturday, July 5, to Tessentee Preserve. Meet behind Highlands Town Hall public restrooms parking lot to carpool.

PROGRAMS & WORKSHOPS • Assistant professor Dr. Mollie Cashner, 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, June 26, Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Road, Highlands. Program: “Nest Association in North American Minnows: A Colorful Conundrum.”

Presented by the Zahner Conservation Lecture Series. www.highlandsbiological.org, 526.2221.

• Twilight Firefly Tour, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, June 28, Pink Beds Picnic Area, about 20 miles southeast of Waynesville, Highway 276 South. Presented by the Cradle of Forestry. $6 adults, $3 children. www.cradleofforestry.com/site/, 877.3130.

• Hummingbirds, 1 to 4 p.m. Monday, June 30, The North Carolina Arboretum, 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way, Asheville. $31 member/$41 non-member. www.ncarboretumregistration.org.

• Zahner Lecture Series presents “Temperate Mountain Grasslands: A Climate-Herbivore Hypothesis for Origins and Persistence,” a lecture by Travis Knowles, associate professor of Biology at Francis Marion University, and Director of Wildsumaco Biological Station in Ecuador, 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 3, Highlands Nature Center, Highlands. Free. www.highlandsbiological.org or 526.2221.

• Learn to canoe, 10 a.m. Friday, July 4, Bear Lake boat ramp, with Jackson County Parks and Recreation. Learn the basics then explore Bear Lake by Canoe.

Participants under 40 pounds must provide own lifejackets, all other equipment provided. Register by June 30 at Cullowhee Recreation Center or Cashiers/Glenville Recreation Center. $25 per person.

Jennifer Bennett, 293.3053 or jenniferbennett@jacksonnc.org.

• Learn to canoe, 3 p.m., 5 p.m. or 7 p.m. Saturday, July 5, Lake Glenville. Ralph J. Andrews Campground at Lake Glenville. Register in advance for one of (3) 1.5 hour sessions. Register by July 1 at Cullowhee Recreation Center or Cashiers/Glenville Recreation Center. Equipment provided. Participants under 40 pounds must provide own lifejackets. Free. 293.3053.

• “Coyote Population Dynamics and Behavior in Urbansuburban Habitats,” 7 p.m. Monday, July 7, Highlands Civic Center, with Dr. Chris Mowry of Berry College.

Presented by Highlands Plateau Audubon Society.

COMPETITIVE EDGE • Firecracker Bryson City 5K, 8 a.m. start, Friday, July 4, Swain County Administration Building/Riverfront Park, Mitchell Street. Advanced registration closes June 30. www.runbrysoncity.com.

FARM & GARDEN • Macon County Soil and Water Conservation Service will provide information to landowners during the Cowee Farmers Market, 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 1, old Cowee School, off N.C. 28N in Franklin.

Coweefarmersmarket.com.

• Registration is open through Friday, July 11 for the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference, July 16-19, Western Carolina University. Register at nativeplantconference.wcu.edu, Bobby Hensley, WCU associate director of continuing education, at hensley@wcu.edu.

• Volunteer workdays at The Cullowhee Community Garden, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Wednesday afternoon and Saturday morning. More information at thecullowheecommunitygarden@gmail.com or 586.8994.

• Haywood County Plant Clinic, 9 a.m. to noon MondayFriday, Haywood County Extension Center on Raccoon Road, in Waynesville. Master Gardeners available to answer questions about lawns, vegetables, flowers, trees, and ornamental plants; disease, insect, weed, or wildlife problems; soils (including soil test results) and fertilizers; freeze and frost damage; and cultural and chemical solutions to pest problems. 456.3575.

• Dendro for a Day Workshop, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. or noon

HIKING CLUBS • High Country Hikers, based out of Hendersonville but hiking throughout Western North Carolina, plans hikes every Monday and Thursday. Schedules, meeting places and more information are available on their website, www.highcountryhikers.org.

• Carolina Mountain Club hosts more than 150 hikes a year, including options for full days on weekends, full days on Wednesdays and half days on Sundays. Nonmembers contact event leaders. www.carolinamountainclub.org • Nantahala Hiking Club based in Macon County holds weekly Saturday hikes in the Nantahala National Forest and beyond. www.nantahalahikingclub.org • Mountain High Hikers, based in Young Harris, Ga., leads several hikes per week. Guests should contact hike leader. www.mountainhighhikers.org.

• Smoky Mountain Hiking Club, located in East Tennessee, makes weekly hikes in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park as well as surrounding areas. www.smhclub.org.

• Benton MacKaye Trail Association incorporates outings for hikes, trail maintenance and other work trips. No experience is necessary to participate. www.bmta.org.

• Diamond Brand’s Women’s Hiking Group meets on the third Saturday of every month. For more information, e-mail awilliams@diamondbrand.com or call 684.6262.

BIKE RIDES • A weekly bike ride in Waynesville meets Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. at Rolls Rite Bicycles on the Old Asheville Highway. Beginner to intermediate rides led by Bicycle Haywood advocacy group. Eight- to 12-mile rides.

276.6080 or gr8smokieszeke@gmail.com.

• A weekly bike ride meets in Bryson City on Wednesdays around 6 p.m. Depart from the East Swain Elementary school in Whittier on U.S.19 off exit 69 from U.S. 23-74. All levels. 800.232.7238.

• A weekly bike ride in Sylva meets Tuesday at 6 p.m., departing from Motion Makers bike shop for a tough 25-mile ride up to the Balsam Post office via back roads and back into Sylva. 586.6925.

• A weekly bike ride in Franklin meets Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., departing from Smoky Mountain Bicycles at 179 Highlands Road. Geared for all levels. 369.2881 or www.maconcountycycling.blogspot.com.

• A weekly bike ride in Franklin meets Tuesday at 6:15 p.m. at Macon Middle School on Wells Grove Road.

Ladies and beginners’ ride. 369.2881 or www.maconcountycycling.blogspot.com.

• A weekly bike ride in Franklin meets Saturdays at 8 a.m., departing from South Macon Elementary School.

369.2881, www.maconcountycycling.blogspot.com.

• A weekly bike ride in Franklin meets Sundays at 9:30 a.m., departing from the Franklin Health and Fitness Center. 369.2881, www.maconcountycycling.blogspot.com.

MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDES • Weekly mountain bike ride at Tsali, 6:30 p.m.

Wednesdays. Hosted by Nantahala Area SORBA. Social ride, so all skill levels are welcome and encouraged to come. Meet in the Tsali parking lot. www.facebook.com/NantahalaAreaSORBA). Andy, 488.1988.

• Montohly ‘Girlz Ride’ at Tsali, last Friday of every month. Sponsored by Nantahala Area SORBA. Meet at 6:30 p.m. in Tsali parking lot. All skill levels welcome.

Social and snacks provided after the ride. 506.115, www.facebook.com/NantahalaAreaSORBA.

Smoky Mountain News

• Art League of the Smokies meeting, 6:15 p.m.

Tuesday, July 1, Swain County Center for the Arts in Bryson City. The DVD “ACRYLICS, The Watercolor Alternative” with Charles Harrington will be shown.

• Blue Ridge Parkway rangers moderate, two-mile round trip hike, 10 a.m. Friday, June 27, from Craggy Gardens Picnic Area to Craggy Bald. Meet at the Craggy Gardens Picnic Area parking lot at Milepost 367.6. 298.5330, ext. 304.

• Fish Foray, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, June 27, Highlands Biological Station, with the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee. Register, www.highlandsbiological.org/forays/, 526.2221.

until 4 p.m. Saturday, June 28, Haywood Community College. 627.4522. Rain or shine.

June 25-July 1, 2014

• Exploring Watercolor C, 1 to 4 p.m. Friday, June 27, The North Carolina Arboretum, 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way, Asheville. $47 member/$57 non-member, www.ncarboretumregistration.org.

• “Beyond Identification: The Ecology of Wildflowers,” with plant ecologist Tim Spira Thursday, 7 p.m.

Thursday, June 26, Meeting Room, Macon County Public Library. 524.3600.

wnc calendar

• “Fly Over,” photography collection of WWII Warbirds, by local Candler photographer, Barbara Sammons, Main Meeting Room at the Canton Public Library, 11 Pennsylvania Avenue, Canton. 648.2924. Through Aug. 1. www.barbarasammons.com.

49

PRIME REAL ESTATE

INSIDE

Advertise in The Smoky Mountain News

ANNOUNCEMENTS

MarketPlace information:

THE MAGGIE VALLEY SWAP MEET And Car Show is coming June 27, 28 and 29th to the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds. A swap meet, car show and craft show.

Come as a spectator or vendor.

Contact Rodney Buckner at 423.608.4519 www.maggievalleyswapmeet.com

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:

THE SOUTHEASTERN GAS & PETROLEUM EXPO Is coming July 18 - 19th to the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds.

Gas station items, toys, tags/plates, old signs, gas pumps, etc. Come as a spectator or vendor. Contact Rodney Buckner at 423.608.4519. www.southeasterngasandpetroleum.com

n Free — Residential yard sale ads, lost or found pet ads. n Free — Non-business items that sell for less than $150. n $12 — Classified ads that are 50 words or less; each additional line is $2. n $12 — If your ad is 10 words or less, it will be displayed with a larger type. n $3 — Border around ad and $5 — Picture with ad. n $50 — Non-business items, 25 words or less. 3 month or till sold. n $300 — Statewide classifieds run in 117 participating newspapers with 1.6 million circulation. Up to 25 words. n All classified ads must be pre-paid.

Classified Advertising:

ARTS AND CRAFTS

Scott Collier, phone 828.452.4251; fax 828.452.3585 | classads@smokymountainnews.com

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

WAYNESVILLE TIRE, COO

INC.

R

DI

SC OV ER E

ATR

PE

Serving Haywood, Jackson & Surrounding Counties

AUCTION

Offering:

MAJOR-BRAND TIRES FOR CARS, LIGHT & MEDIUM-DUTY TRUCKS, AND FARM TIRES.

Service truck available for on-site repairs LEE & PATTY ENSLEY, OWNERS

MON-FRI 7:30-5:00 • WAYNESVILLE PLAZA

828-456-5387

246-52

HARPER’S AUCTION COMPANY Friday June 27th @ 6:00 p.m.

Join Us; We will have some Great Deals up for Grabs!

Yamaha Portable Grand Keyboards, Craftsman Tools, Tiffany Style Lamps, Lots of Glass, Furniture and much more...

47 Macon Center Dr. Franklin, NC 828.369.6999.

Remember, If you can not join us we offer online bidding at: harpersauctioncompany.com Debra Harper, NCAL #9659, NCFL #9671.

TAX SEIZED RESTAURANT Equipment Auction: Grills; sinks; deep fryers; prep tables; racks; Hobart/Scotsman, more! Monday, June 30th @ 10am. Boone, NC. Details: RogersAuctionGroup.com 800.442.7906. NCAL685

AUCTION TAX SEIZURE AUCTION Saturday, June 28 @ 10am. 201 S. Central Ave. Locust, NC. (15 miles East of Charlotte). Vehicles, Trucks, Cars, Tools, Mechanic's Shop, Funeral Home, Hearse, Limos, Horse Items, Buggies, Wagons. 704.791.8825 ncaf5479. www.ClassicAuctions.com

BUILDING MATERIALS HAYWOOD BUILDERS Garage Doors, New Installations Service & Repairs, 828.456.6051 100 Charles St. Waynesville Employee Owned.

CONSTRUCTION/ REMODELING

AUTO PARTS DDI BUMPERS ETC. Quality on the Spot Repair & Painting. Don Hendershot 858.646.0871 cell 828.452.4569 office.

CARS DONATE YOUR CAR, Truck or Boat to Heritage for the Blind. Free 3 Day Vacation, Tax Deductible, Free Towing, All Paperwork Taken Care Of. 800.337.9038.

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

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

GREAT MONEY FROM HOME With Our Free Mailer Program.

Live Operators On Duty Now! 1.800.707.1810 EXT 901 or visit www.pacificbrochures.com SAPA

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

AIRLINE JOBS START HERE Get Trained As FAA Certified Aviation Technician. Financial Aid For Qualified Students. Housing And Job Placement Assistance. Call Aviation Institute Of Maintenance.

1.844.210.3935. SAPA

SULLIVAN HARDWOOD FLOORS Installation- Finish - Refinish 828.399.1847.

CAMPERS, RV’S & LOTS FOR SALE RV & LOT $37,500 36’ Coachman with 2 Slide-Outs.

Sits under a Pole Barn - Provides Covered Porch & Back Patio.

Deck with Mountain Views, 3 miles from Harrah’s Cherokee Casino, NC. In Campground with Amenities, $1074 per year.

Includes Pool, Laundry Room, Water/Sewer etc. State Tax$94/yr 352.397.8531 or 352.293.6055

EMPLOYMENT

AVERITT EXPRESS New Pay Increase For Regional Drivers! 40 to 46 CPM + Fuel Bonus! Also, Post-Training Pay Increase for Students! (Depending on Domicile) Get Home EVERY Week + Excellent Benefits. CDL-A req. 888.362.8608 Apply @ AverittCareers.com Equal Opportunity Employer - Females, minorities, protected veterans, and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

BE A NAME, NOT A NUMBER $$$ Up to 50 cpm $$$ BCBS + 401k + Pet & Rider. Full Benefits + Quality Hometime. Orientation Sign-On Bonus. CDL-A Req. 877.258.8782. www.addrivers.com

R

EXPERIENCED HEAVY EQUIPMENT Mechanics needed to work in the Fayetteville N.C. area. Need selfstarters to diagnose and repair various types of Heavy Diesel Construction Equipment. Applicants must furnish their own tools. Excellent benefits and competitive wages. EOE. Contact Charles Rose 252.813.0193 or email crose@barnhillcontracting.com 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

MILAN EXPRESS OTR CDL Class A DRIVERS. Home Weekly, Annual Increases & Bonuses. No Hazmat. Vacation/Paid Holidays.

Great Benefits. www.drivemilan.com 731.426.8328 or 731.423.8337

DRIVERS: Local/Regional/OTR. New Enhanced Pay Package, Based on Exp. Excellent Benefits. Consistent Miles. Daily/Weekly/Bi-Weekly Hometime. CDL-A 1yrs OTR Exp. 855.842.8498.

PETS HAYWOOD SPAY/NEUTER 828.452.1329

Prevent Unwanted Litters!

The Heat Is On! Spay/Neuter For Haywood Pets As Low As $10.

Operation Pit is in Effect!

Free Spay/Neuter, Microchip & Vaccines For Haywood Pitbull Types & Mixes!

Hours:Tuesday-Friday, 12 Noon - 6 pm. 182 Richland Street, Waynesville

TRACE IS SUPER-PLAYFUL, FRIENDLY AND ENTHUSIASTIC! HE LOVES TO PLAY FETCH, AND IS VERY SMART AND EAGER TO LEARN. TRACE IS A NICE SIZE AT JUST UNDER 25 LBS.

LORETTA - A young, sweet

old, female Beagle. She is tricolored and weighs about 22 lbs. She is as sweet as her name. She gets along with people and other dogs. She is housebroken and knows how to use a doggie door. She is a calm, relaxed dog. Call 828.586.5186.

LOOMIS - A 3 year old, male, Terrier mix. He is black with some white and brown. Loomis weighs about 24 lbs. He is energetic and likes to play. He is a dominant dog, therefore should probably be an only dog.

Call 828.586.5186.

AMBER LOVE - A six month old, 20 lb., Rat Terrier mix. Very energetic, loves to play. Call 828.293.5629 MICHAEL - A sweet, Mastiff mix. Tan with a black muzzle. He is a lover. Call 1.877.273.5262.

HOLLY - A 14 week old, 24 lb., Basset hound mix. She is friendly with a great personality.

Call 828.293.5629.

SHIRLEY - A 2-3 year old, sweet long-haired, Collie-looking dog.

She is shy of other dogs. Call 1.877.273.5262.

bulldog mix. She weighs about 34 lbs, is black and tan.

828.506.1013.

PEPPER - A 2 year old black and white hound that looks like a German Shorthaired Pointer.

He has a docked tail. He is an outdoor dog, weighs 47 lbs., good with animals and people.

Very trainable. 828.506.1013. .

MICHAEL - A sweet, Mastiff mix. Tan with a black muzzle. He is a lover. Call 1.877.273.5262.

TIGGER - A mixed, brindle Hound. He is a 7-9 month old male, 47 lb. dog. He is dog door trained, crates well, rides in a car well, quiet. Call 507.3248.

hair cat â&#x20AC;&#x201C; black, I was born in spring/summer 2013, and I LOVE to run around the house and play.

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m curious about everything and love to explore, and also like to play, chase, and wrestle with other cats. I can be quite talkative at times, and I love getting your attention. I like to get my head and back rubbed, but donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t particularly like to be picked up. Adoption fees vary; if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re interested in me, please contact Pam at: adoptions@ashevillehumane.org.

KALI - Domestic Shorthair cat â&#x20AC;&#x201C; brown tabby & white, I was born in spring/summer 2013 and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a sweet little girl who was surrendered to AHS along with 4 other cats when our owner became ill and could no longer care for us. My left eye has a

246-10

10-5 M-SAT. 12-4 SUN.

ON DELLWOOD RD. (HWY. 19) AT 20 SWANGER LANE WAYNESVILLE/MAGGIE VALLEY 828.926.8778

9L V X D O 7R X U D W V K D P U R F N F R P

9L O O D J H V R I 3 O R W W & UH H N

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Dog and cat spay/neuter trip is June 30th. Register in advance at ARFâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s adoption site in Sylva 1-3 on Saturdays. Spaces are limited, so donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wait to register.

You shouldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;nt bring your animal to registration. Do bring address documentation and income documentation if you wish to apply for free Cullowhee dog or Sylva cat spay/neuters or other low-income discounts. For more information, 1.877.273.5262.

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3 U L Y D W H :R R G H G $ F UH V Z L W K % D E E O L Q J & UH H N V

ARF (HUMANE SOCIETY OF JACKSON COUNTY) Holds rescued pet adoptions Saturdays from 1:00 - 3:00 (weather permitting) at 50 Railroad Avenue in Sylva. Animals are spayed/neutered and current on shots.

Most cats $60, most dogs $70.

Preview available pets at www.a-r-f.org, or call foster home.

MONKEY - Domestic Medium -

BEST PRICE EVERYDAY

scar from an old injury; it does not require any treatment or attention, but does limit my sight and has a â&#x20AC;&#x153;cataractâ&#x20AC;? appearance. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a little shy at first, but after just a few minutes of gentle reassurance I am all purrs! Adoption fees vary; if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re interested in me, please contact Pam at: adoptions@ashevillehumane.org.

PEANUT - Hound Mix dog â&#x20AC;&#x201C; brown, black, & white, I am about 2 years old, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a sweet girl who likes to explore. I love to follow my hound nose while on walks, but I am smart and know several basic commands. I would love a family that can provide me some exercise and guidance. Iget along with other energetic dogs.

Adoption fees vary; if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re interested in me, please contact: adoptions@ashevillehumane.org.

ASHEVILLE HUMANE SOCIETY 828.761.2001, 14 Forever Friend Lane, Asheville, NC 28806 Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re located behind Deal Motorcars, off Brevard & Pond Rd.

/ L F H Q V H G 5 H D O ( V W D W H % UR N H U

PFJRYHUQSURSHUW\PJW#JPDLO FRP

Jerry Smith 828-734-8765 jsmith201@kw.com 246-27

2562 Dellwood Rd. Waynesville

(U.S. Hwy. 19)

Between Russ Ave. & Maggie Valley kellerwilliamswaynesville.com 214-64

Cleaner, Clearer and Healthier water at every tap in your home

An EcoWater Water System can remove

Lease to Own

Bad Taste & Odors Iron/Rust Sediment/ Silt Bacterias Harmful Chlorine Balance pH

smokymountainnews.com

SWEETIE A PRETTY BOY WITH LONG BLACK HAIR AND OBVIOUSLY VERY SWEET! FOR THE MONTH OF JUNE, ALL ADULT BLACK CATS ARE HALF PRICE, SO YOU CAN ADOPT SWEETIE FOR JUST $25!!!

SWEET CAROLINE - A 2 year

June 25-July 1, 2014

HIGHLANDS-CASHIERS HOSPITAL Positions now available: Clinical Coordinator and Certified Nursing Assistants.

Benefits available the first of the month following 60 days of full-time employment. PreEmployment screening required.

Call Human Resources.

828.526.1376, or apply online at: www.highlandscashiershospital. org

WELDING CAREERS Hands on training for career opportunities in shipbuilding, automotive, manufacturing and more. Financial aid for qualified students.

Job placement assistance. Call Tidewater Tech Norfolk 888.205.1735.

Pet Adoption

WNC MarketPlace

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Responsible for organizational and fiscal management of wellestablished non-profit organization, grant writing, regulatory compliance, and advocacy. Master's degree and previous experience in non-profit management as well as experience with individuals with I/DD preferred. Send Resume and Letter of Interest to: The Arc, 407 Welch Street, Waynesville, NC 28786.

Your Local Big Green Egg Dealer

EMPLOYMENT WANT A CAREER Operating Heavy Equipment? Bulldozers, Backhoes, Excavators.

"Hands On Training" & Certifications Offered. National Average 1822 Hourly! Lifetime Job Placement Assistance. VA Benefits Eligible.

1.866.362.6497 WANT TO DRIVE A TRUCK No experience. Company sponsored CDL training. In 3 weeks learn to drive a truck & earn $40,000+.

Full benefits. 1.888.691.4423

246-07

EMPLOYMENT

828.452.3995 | americanwatercareinc.com

find us at: facebook.com/smnews

51

WNC MarketPlace

LAWN AND GARDEN

FINANCIAL

FINANCIAL

INJURED? IN A LAWSUIT? Need Cash Now? We Can Help! No Monthly Payments to Make. No Credit Check. Fast Service and Low Rates. Call Now for more info 1.866.386.3692. www.lawcapital.com (Not available in NC, CO & MD) SAPA

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

NICOL ARMS APARTMENTS NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS Offering 1 & 2 Bedroom Apartments, Starting at $400 Section 8 Accepted - Handicapped Accessible Units When Available

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

BEWARE OF LOAN FRAUD. Please check with the Better Business Bureau or Consumer Protection Agency before sending any money to any loan company.

SAPA

FURNITURE COMPARE QUALITY & PRICE Shop Tupelo’s, Give us a call 828.926.8778.

HAYWOOD BEDDING, INC. The best bedding at the best price!

533 Hazelwood Ave. Waynesville 828.456.4240

REAL ESTATE ANNOUNCEMENT 134.6± ACRES, 3-acre Fishing Pond, Beautiful Views! 2,200' Fronting Beaver Island Creek, Development Potential.

ABSOLUTE AUCTION: Saturday, June 28. For more information Terms online: countsauction.com or call us directly at: 800.780.2991 NCAF#7314, NCLB#181898

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. Our readers are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised in this newspaper are available on an equal opportunity basis.

REAL ESTATE ANNOUNCEMENT NC MOUNTAIN FINAL CLOSEOUT Save over 60% on these properties with waterfront, stunning views, EZ access, wooded, level building site and more 2.57acs 15,900 or 1.84acs 23,900. 1.866.738.5522 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

HOMES FOR SALE BRUCE MCGOVERN A Full Service Realtor shamrock13@charter.net McGovern Property Management 828.283.2112.

MOUNTAIN HOME - F.S.B.O. Located in Sylva, NC. 3/BR 2/BA, Heat pump, Gas Fireplace, Oversized Double Garage & Finished Outbuilding. For more information please call 828.586.8242 or 561.386.7672

HOMES FOR RENT UNFURNISHED SAFE, CLEAN & QUIET 2/BR 1/BA In Clyde. All Appliances, Large Eat-In Kitchen, Deck & Close to Elementary School. $690/mo.

Lease & Deposit. No Pets/Smoke.

For more information please call 828.246.0918 or 828.734.9419.

COMM. PROP. FOR SALE APARTMENT COMPLEX FOR SALE 14 - 2/BR Units. Excellent Rental History. Sylva Area. Call Broker, Robert A. Kent, NC Broker Lic. #274102, The R.A. Kent Co., LLC 828.550.1455

LOTS FOR SALE 2 TRACTS AVAILABLE IN CLYDE #1 - 2.819 Acres, Has Great Building Lot, City Water, Has 2 1/2 Story Building. Property Near HCC. $62,750. #2 - Available in the Fall. Has 3 Acres and House. For more info call 828.627.2342.

246-43

www.smokymountainnews.com

June 25-July 1, 2014

Great Smokies Storage

52

10’x20’

92

$

20’x20’

160

$

ONE MONTH

FREE WITH 12-MONTH CONTRACT

828.506.4112 or 828.507.8828 Conveniently located off 19/23 by Thad Woods Auction

Puzzles can be found on page 54.

These are only the answers.

VACATION RENTALS

STORAGE SPACE FOR RENT Convenient Location 19/23 Between Clyde and Canton

5 x 10 = $35 10 x 10 = $40 10 x 20 = $85 • NO CONTRACTS •

NC MOUNTAINS Near Lake Lure. New log cabin on 1.59 acres, huge covered porches, vaulted ceiling, EZ to finish. $74,900, add'l acreage available.

828.286.1666

Call Brian

828.342.8700 MEDICAL CANADA DRUG CENTER Is your choice for safe and affordable medications. Our licensed Canadian mail order pharmacy will provide you with savings of up to 90 percent on all your medication needs. Call Today 1.800.265.0768 for $25.00 off your first prescription and free shipping. SAPA

NORTH CAROLINA BEAT THE HEAT & Head to the Mountains! Book your vacation now. Pets welcome!

Weekly & Monthly rentals. Best rates. Foscoe Rentals 1.800.723.7341 www.foscoerentals.com. SAPA

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 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.

FOR SALE 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.

FOR SALE: Two Crypts at Eye Level.

Located at Garrett Hillcrest New Mausoleum. $8,000/obo. For more info call 828.454.0247 HOME MISC. ITEMS FOR SALE Char-Broil Commercial T-22D gas grille, seldom used $100. Sphinx 10x13 area rug by Oriental Weavers/Regal Tradition in good cond. $75. Ping-pong roll away with paddles, almost new $35. Wood frame mirror 3x4’, exc. cond. $35.

Wrought Iron single bed headboard and foot board $45. Contact # 843.697.2627. Pictures available, located in Waynesville.

LOOKING TO TRADE - MACON CO. New in box N.E.F. 20ga. pump shotgun for good riding lawn mower. Interested persons call 828.332.3295.

Haywood County Real Estate Agents

WANTED TO BUY

Beverly Hanks & Associates — beverly-hanks.com

I WANT TO PURCHASE Minerals and other oil/gas interests. Send details to PO Box 13557, Denver, CO 80201.

SAPA

NOTICES BEWARE OF LOAN FRAUD. Please check with the Better Business Bureau or Consumer Protection Agency before sending any money to any loan company.

SAPA

PERSONAL

mainstreetrealty.net

The Real Team

JOLENE HOCOTT • LYN DONLEY MARLYN DICKINSON

Real Experience.

Real Service. Real Results.

828.452.3727

www.The-Real-Team.com

MOUNTAIN REALTY 1904 S. Main St. • Waynesville

kellerwilliamswaynesville.com • Ron Kwiatkowski — ronk.kwrealty.com

Mountain Home Properties — mountaindream.com

A UNIQUE ADOPTIONS, Let Us Help! Personalized Adoption Plans. Financial Assistance, Housing, Relocation And More. Giving The Gift Of Life? You Deserve The Best. Call Us First!

1.888.637.8200. 24 hour HOTLINE.

• Bruce McGovern — shamrock13.com

246-12

Main Street Realty — mainstreetrealty.net McGovern Real Estate & Property Management

Preferred Properties • George Escaravage — gke333@gmail.com

Prudential Lifestyle Realty — vistasofwestfield.com Realty World Heritage Realty realtyworldheritage.com • Carolyn Lauter realtyworldheritage.com/realestate/viewagent/7766/

• Thomas & Christine Mallette realtyworldheritage.com/realestate/viewagent/7767/

Residential and Commercial Long-Term Rentals 230-49

Keller Williams Realty

• Sammie Powell — smokiesproperty.com

www.selecthomeswnc.com

info@mainstreetrealty.net

Haywood Properties — haywoodproperties.com

RE/MAX — Mountain Realty • • • • • • • • •

remax-waynesvillenc.com | remax-maggievalleync.com Brian K. Noland — brianknoland.com Connie Dennis — remax-maggievalleync.com Mark Stevens — remax-waynesvillenc.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

|

ERA Sunburst Realty — sunburstrealty.com

MAKE A CONNECTION. Real People, Flirty Chat. Meet singles right now! Call LiveLinks. Try it FREE. Call now 1.888.909.9978 18+. SAPA

Full Service Property Management 828-456-6111

(828) 452-2227 • (800) 467-7144 (828) 456-6836 FAX

Michelle McElroy — beverly-hanks.com Marilynn Obrig — beverly-hanks.com Mike Stamey — beverly-hanks.com Ellen Sither — esither@beverly-hanks.com Jerry Smith — beverly-hanks.com Billie Green — bgreen@beverly-hanks.com Pam Braun — pambraun@beverly-hanks.com

• Steve Cox — info@haywoodproperties.com

HOTELS FOR HEROS – To find out more about how you can help our service members, veterans and their families in their time of need, visit the Fisher House website at www.fisherhouse.org SAPA

M Street Realty

101 South Main St. Waynesville, NC 28786

• • • • • • •

June 25-July 1, 2014

MEDICAL GUARDIAN Top-rated medical alarm and 24/7 medical alert monitoring. For a limited time, get free equipment, no activation fees, no commitment, a 2nd waterproof alert button for free and more - only $29.95 per month. 800.983.4906 SAPA 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.

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54

INDEPENDENCE DAY

CROSSWORD

76 Certain 7 20% 77 More handy 8 “The Wizard of Oz ACROSS 78 Plummer of because ...”

1 Bothers persistently “Pygmalion” 9 Stair parts 7 Novel events 80 - about 10 Mil. rank 13 Ending of ordinals 83 Krone earner 11 Those ones 16 Cleopatra’s snake 84 “Twice-Told Tales” 12 Like a good war plan 19 Underscore author [1804] 13 Hands down 20 Webcam from Apple 91 Running late 14 - and error 21 Shrunken Asian lake 92 Wee bit 15 Ho Chi Minh’s capital 23 “Old Uncle Ned” song- 93 Playground retort 16 Hit man writer [1826] 94 Post-A trio 17 Appear 25 Allergies may congest 97 Grand - wine 18 “Qué -?” them 98 Early tourney match 22 Oil, for short 26 - mode (with ice 101 “Lord Jim” actor 24 Big devotee cream) Peter 29 Decree 27 - Reader (eclectic 103 Certain shoe mender 30 Ewe’s bleat bimonthly) 107 “Sing Along” leader 31 “Can’t - friends?”

28 One of a White House [1911] 32 Analogy words pair [1998] 111 Tennis star with 21 33 Fine sand in a 30 “Ain’t No Sunshine” Grand Slam doubles titles riverbed singer [1938] [1962] 37 Formerly known as 34 Counts up 114 See 40-Down 39 Consume 35 Liqueur flavorers 115 Lupino of films 40 With 114-Across, paid 36 Lean and muscular 116 Racy reading by the day 38 Have dinner 117 Big name in TV talk 43 Work unit 41 Long-eared equine [1943] 44 Of yore 42 Second-string squad 122 Center or tackle 45 Join together 46 Calf’s place 123 New York city or 47 Big house 47 Extol tribe 48 Port in Brazil 50 Baseball owner called 124 Out of bed 49 Santa - wind “The Boss” [1930] 125 Young boy 50 Acquisition 54 Filmmaker Kazan 126 Former jet to JFK 51 Olden toilers 57 Stick through 127 One gazing 52 Pond critter 58 Former Toyota 128 - alla Scala (opera 53 Humdrum 59 Mussolini of Italy house) 54 Drops off 62 Sand bits 55 Many August babies 65 “What - thinking?!”

DOWN 56 Memo start 66 Epoch 1 Twisty shape 60 Unanimously 69 Hit film whose title 2 Acquires 61 Readily available describes eight celebri3 Latticework frame 63 Debtor’s note ties in this puzzle 4 Little flower leaves 64 Scott of legal novels 74 ND-to-LA dir.

5 Volcanic stuff 66 Magical glow 75 Sailor’s cry 6 Lao- 67 Isolated valley

68 Charlotte Brontë’s “Jane -” 70 Singer Basil or Braxton 71 Jekyll and 72 Designer Oscar de la 73 Green stone 78 Yellowfin tuna, on menus 79 Inseparable friends 81 Bit of resistance 82 Get sour 84 “30 Rock” network 85 Ireland’s - Lingus 86 Longtime senator Strom 87 TV’s Linden 88 Take - view of (frown on) 89 Motel unit 90 “It wasn’t my fault!”

94 Most brazen 95 Less cloudy 96 Anhalt article 98 Readily bent 99 Give gas to 100 Where trapezists connect 102 Newton-John of song 104 Uruguay’s Punta del 105 Gap-filling wedges 106 Some whales 108 Squiggle over an “n” 109 Sauna wood 110 Doc network 111 - -mell (disorderly) 112 Tenor solo 113 Lease topic 118 “The Crying Game” star 119 Disloyal type 120 Great anger 121 “That’s - -brainer”

answers on page 52

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Answers on Page 52

The naturalist’s corner

BY DON H ENDERSHOT

A wet and wonderful weekend Thanks to the generosity of a friend, my family and I spent a long weekend on Fontana Lake. The small “fishing” cabin near Prince’s Boat Dock is not the Ritz but it has all the comforts of home and a lot more character than the Ritz.

Many of you who follow the “Naturalist’s Corner” might know that I am a “lake rat” from the Delta of northeast Louisiana. I spent much of my misspent childhood and adolescence in a shotgun shanty on Horseshoe Lake at the edge of the Beouf River Swamp. All I have to do is open the door to the Fontana cabin and I’m nearly bowled over by the nostalgia that pours out.

Now, of course, that nostalgia is mine.

But on these excursions, and others into nature, I can see nostalgia working its way into Izzy’s (12) and Maddie’s (8) psyche.

They don’t see it. I didn’t see it when I was 12. But I watch them chasing fireflies, or collecting the tiniest of toads (some with the stub of a tadpole tail still attached,) or trying to corral a fence lizard, or paddling a kayak, or listening to the hurried call of a whip-

poor-will in the darkening dusk and I see it creeping in.

Some of us had a longer weekend than others. Izzy was taking a writing course at UNCA and had to be over there Monday through Friday. But when I got off work Thursday morning Maddie and I loaded up and headed for the lake. Since I was a bit sleep-deprived we didn’t get into the water.

We went down and kicked around on the dock till a thunderstorm sent us back to the cabin. Maybe it was the cool breeze and darkening clouds, but as we started to the cabin we saw hundreds of tiny toads hoping about. By tiny, I mean less than a half-inch in length. The numbers were startling but created a great biology lessons. Those creatures in the wild that offer no or little parental care produce large numbers of offspring and only a small percentage make it to adulthood. On the other hand those creatures that care for and nurture their offspring have fewer but there’s a greater chance for survival.

After the thunderstorm and a short nap we went back down to the dock to watch night fall. A whip-poor-will, right across the channel, shook the tranquil setting with its loud incessant rapid-fire whip-poor-will -

Splash down! Maddie (left) Izzy (right) whip-poor-will – whip-poor-will! When we got back up the steps to the yard it was nearly dark and the yard would erupt in a bluegreen flash, then go black only to erupt again in about 10 seconds. The synchronous firefly, Photinus, carolinus, was holding

court. These bugs are nearly done with their annual display but they were still in full force last weekend.

The next morning we hit the lake in our kayaks. Maddie was paddling a small sit-on boat and she never missed a stroke.

After about a half-hour of paddling we hit the water. We went for another longer paddle that afternoon and got to watch a green heron catch its dinner.

Izzy and Mom arrived late Friday afternoon and we were in the water again till nearly dark. In fact, until we left Fontana Sunday afternoon, if it wasn’t night or meal time the kids were in the lake. I think I see gill slits developing.

(Don Hendershot is a writer and naturalist.

He can be reached a ddihen1@bellsouth.net.)

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