Smoky Mountain News | July 6, 2022

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

July 6-12, 2022 Vol. 24 Iss. 06

SBI investigates Jackson jail death Page 15 Jackson County author wins French literary award Page 22

CONTENTS On the Cover: Gary Carden is one of the most well-respected authors in Western North Carolina. Enjoy Carden’s journey back to The Liar’s Bench as he recalls a difficult childhood and how he came into his own as a man of the written word.

Carden has relished a long career as a writer but seems to have also enjoyed slowing down a bit. Cory Vaillancourt photo

News Pisgah Legal opens Waynesville office..........................................................................4 State budget goes to Gov. Cooper................................................................................6 Special project grants awarded by Haywood TDA....................................................7 Vecinos spearheads services hub for low-income WNC residents ..................14 SBI investigates Jackson’s fourth jail death since 2014 ......................................15 Tribes voice joint opposition to recognition for Lumbee, other tribes................16 Mountain Credit Union Partners with MANNA Food Bank ..................................17 Community briefs ..............................................................................................................19

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

CONTACT

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WAYNESVILLE | 144 Montgomery, Waynesville, NC 28786 P: 828.452.4251 | F: 828.452.3585

A modest proposal to eliminate abortions..................................................................20 Being intentional about a life reset ..............................................................................21

SYLVA | 629 West Main Street, Sylva, NC 28779 P: 828.631.4829 | F: 828.631.0789 INFO & BILLING | P.O. Box 629, Waynesville, NC 28786

A&E Jackson County author wins French literary award ................................................22 A well-told history of the Lakota Sioux ........................................................................29

Outdoors

Smoky Mountain News

July 6-12, 2022

Research yields recommendations to stem wildlife deaths on I-40 ..................30 Dry conditions expand in N.C. ......................................................................................34

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Pisgah Legal opens Waynesville office, offers program to help working families get cash and healthcare

BY KYLE PERROTTI N EWS E DITOR s Pisgah Legal Services continues to grow and better serve its clientele, a key challenge has simply been getting word of its ability to help low-income households out to the public.

The nonprofit covers the 18 counties that make up Western North Carolina, but sometimes the seven westernmost counties can be a bit tougher to navigate, considering they are the most rugged, and some are sparsely populated and offer few resources.

However, that problem may have been slightly alleviated as a new office has opened within Mountain Projects’ Waynesville building.

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Smoky Mountain News

July 6-12, 2022

NEW DIGS

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In addition to bolstering Pisgah Legal Services’ presence in the western counties, the nonprofit also hopes it will ease the burden that can fall on clients who have to drive long distances amid record-high gas prices.

Staffing the Waynesville office is Jessi Stone, Regional Director of Health and Economic Opportunity for the western counties. Stone, who was previously The Smoky Mountain News’ news editor, has been on the job about five months, the last two of which she’s spent in her new digs.

Stone, who noted Pisgah Legal Services is also looking at setting up offices in Sylva and Franklin, said that while she spends plenty of time traveling around Western North Carolina, her new spot gives her the opportunity to do something she couldn’t when working from home.

“Now I can have office hours here,” she said. “People can call and make an appointment, and they can bring in documents.”

“I can do evening hours too if someone needs an appointment after 5,” she added.

If someone doesn’t have time for a long meeting, they can drop off forms for Stone to scan remotely so she can work without them having to be present.

“I can call them when their return is

ready or if I have questions during the process,” she said.

The new office builds on an existing partnership between Pisgah Legal Services and Mountain Projects.

“It’s good to be in the same building as our grant partner,” she said. Their intake people see clients, and they can send people to me for taxes or healthcare, and it’s a built-in trust network. If Mountain Projects refers them to us, then I’m right here in the building.”

In a release sent out by Pisgah Legal Services, Mountain Projects Executive Director Patsy Davis conveyed her excitement.

“It’s good to be in the same building as our grant partner. Their intake people see clients, and they can send people to me for taxes or healthcare, and it’s a built-in trust network. If Mountain Projects refers them to us, then I’m right here in the building.”

— Jessi Stone

“Anything Mountain Projects can do to get nonprofits to work together and serve people with multiple problems from the same office location is something I really believe in,” Davis said.

TAX SERVICES As inflation continues to climb past its current 40-year high, Pisgah Legal Services is also offering free help for families with a

Jessi Stone

household income below $58,000 per year that can get them money they are due from the federal government, with some folks receiving upward of $15,000.

In the news release, Pisgah Legal Services Executive Director Jim Barrett said there’s no reason to leave money on the table.

“Even if you earn little or no money and don’t usually file taxes, you may be eligible for thousands of dollars in child tax credits,” he said. “There are two special tax credits available to working families that could add up to thousands of dollars. The Child Tax Credit pays up to $3,600 per child and the Earned Income Tax Credit is worth up to $6,700.”

But that’s only if someone files a tax return. The IRS estimates that nearly 9 million people don’t file taxes each year, meaning local residents could be missing out on these income-boosting tax refunds. On top of that, about 20% of North Carolinians who qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit don’t claim it.

Stone wanted to make it clear that while those who’ve already filed aren’t able to file again, if someone hasn’t filed, they might not know what they’re missing out on.

“There’s a lot of single moms out there with young kids, and maybe they hadn’t had a job that they had a W2 with or enough earned income to file taxes, but they can get those child credits and that can be money to pay for childcare,” she said.

Barrett said something similar in the release.

“Maybe folks are working seasonal, parttime, temporary, or gig jobs and don’t make enough that they are required to file taxes,” he said. “They may be missing out on thousands of dollars in flexible cash payments for themselves and their families. Congress created these credits to help them make ends meet. Pisgah Legal doesn’t want them to leave that money on the table. Our trained staff and volunteers will fill out the paperwork with them at no cost.”

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tax advocates also living in Sylva and Hayesville, there are ample opportunities for folks to find someone in their area to work with, especially considering they can make house calls.

“We have an elderly lady that hasn’t done her taxes in years in Bryson City, and she can’t get out,” Stone said. “We have a tax credit advocate who can go out to her.”

Along with possibly allowing folks to get a good chunk of change, filing taxes may also make them eligible for health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Pisgah Legal Services Chief Operating Officer Jaclyn Kiger echoed much of what Stone said. Kiger, who has been with the nonprofit for 12 years and has been in her current role for three, said it’s important for folks to come in and see if the staff can help with taxes, even if they feel like there may not be any extra benefit to them. You don’t know what you don’t know.

“Even the earned income credit can be very significant for lower income families,” Kiger said.

In addition, Kiger said there are plenty of people who may still be able to receive stimulus payments that were authorized during the pandemic, even if they were initially ineligible to receive them since they hadn’t filed taxes.

“We’re also focusing on families who haven’t received the child tax credits which can be up to $3,600 per child,” she said.

“This could literally be thousands of dollars.”

“Another reason we were really hoping to get the message out about tax prep services is that we can file taxes at any point,” she added, “People think ‘oh, if I didn’t file by April 15, I missed out.’”

But those people have to file if they want to see any of that money.

“The way this works is the system is designed for those who are already in it,” Kiger said, adding that Pisgah Legal’s employees will look at each case individually and determine what’s in the client’s best interest — in other words, they aren’t there to police people who’ve skipped out on taxes before; they’re just there to help.

“All of our services are free, and everything is confidential … Perhaps you haven’t filed, and you’ve done something wrong; we

won’t pressure anyone to file, we want to help you understand your situations.”

Kiger also highlighted the importance of getting as many people as possible the healthcare they need.

“We’ve seen how important quality health care coverage can be,” she said. “We had someone who ended up in the hospital after enrolling in January for the first time.

They did not have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars. We believe that’s a very important part of ending poverty.”

When someone falls ill or has an accident, it can remove that household income, which may lead to an out-of-control spiral that can be destabilizing or even devastating.

“So many of my clients who were facing evictions needed help accessing quality affordable healthcare,” Kiger said. “Housing is health and health is housing. In many ways, they’re related.

Kiger also made a point of noting how society benefits when everyone has access to affordable health care options.

“When more people have healthcare, the costs are lower for everybody,” she said. “We aren’t having those uncovered costs and people relying so heavily on the safety net and using the ER for what should be preventative and routine care with a primary care provider. It allows people with chronic health conditions to manage them and avoid the extreme results. That allows more people to work because they’re able to manage their chronic health conditions.”

Like Stone, Kiger also wanted to reiterate that anyone is welcome to come and see if Pisgah Legal Services has any programs they could benefit from.

“Our services are free, and we have very well-trained staff and volunteers who are available right now,” Kiger said. “We have appointments, and we would be glad to meet with you and talk about your options, and at the end of the day make sure you’re aware of what’s out there. You may be eligible for thousands of dollars, and we want to help you get that.”

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Smoky Mountain News

Jim Barrett

Hatched: How Nine Little Chicks Cracked My Shell

July 6-12, 2022

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DELIVERY WILL BE: Wednesday, July 20 Franklin 11-11:45 @ Seays Farm & Garden Sylva 12:45-1:30 @ Bryson Farm Supply Lake Junaluska 2:30-3:15 @ Junaluska Feed Center Asheville 4:15-5 @ Southern States

To make an appointment with the Waynesville office, call Jessi Stone at 828.210.3429 or learn more at pisgahlegal.org/taxes.

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Special project grants awarded by Haywood TDA

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR lthough the indirect benefits of the unprecedented tourism boom that’s enveloped Haywood County over the past few years are readily apparent in the form of increased sales taxes and steady work for hospitality industry professionals, locals are finally about to get something out of it besides soaring housing costs and crowded attractions.

Back in May, TDA Executive Director Lynn Collins told Haywood County commissioners that the TDA had decided to appropriate $500,000 in fund balance towards a “one-time special projects fund” open by application to the five zip codes from which the 4% room occupancy tax is collected.

Unlike the TDA’s 1% fund, the special project grants carry a public benefit by investing in projects that not only serve to maintain or increase “heads in beds” but also demonstrate enhancements in quality of life for permanent residents of Haywood County.

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

On June 30, the Haywood TDA announced the recipients of those grants; because the funding requests totaled $800,000 not every project could be funded, so there were some winners, and some losers.

Smoky Mountain News

July 6-12, 2022

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Haywood TDA one-time special project fund grants APPLICANT REQUEST AWARD PROJECT Town of Canton................................$200,000 .......................$0 ..................................Chestnut Mountain Park retail and visitor center Town of Clyde ..................................$66,088 .........................$66,088 .........................Trail system at Haywood Community College Lake Junaluska Assembly................$100,000 .......................$0 ..................................Lake Junaluska outdoor recreation area development Lake Junaluska Assembly................$100,000 .......................$0 ..................................Lake Junaluska Stuart Auditorium improvements Lake Junaluska Assembly................$100,000 .......................$100,000 .......................Lake Junaluska overlook and connector trail Town of Maggie Valley .....................$125,000 .......................$96,131 .........................Maggie Valley Festival Grounds parking lot Town of Waynesville.........................$22,000 .........................$0 ..................................Sulphur Springs Park improvements Town of Waynesville.........................$87,781 .........................$87,781 ........................Richland Creek Greenway Haywood County ..............................`$150,000.......................`$150,000 ......................Haywood County Bike Park TOTAL:..............................................$800,869........................$500,000

The Winners TRAIL SYSTEM AT HAYWOOD COMMUNITY COLLEGE The 2-mile trail system located on the campus of Haywood Community College will nearly double in size, thanks to a TDA special project funding award of $66,088.

When work is completed, hopefully in November, the multi-use natural surface trail will become one of the very few free, familyfriendly offerings near Clyde. According to the Town of Clyde’s grant application, it is hoped that the new trail will attract community events and regional or state cross country meets. Another concrete sidewalk will also be

added to the trail network to allow for better access to trails from a campus parking lot.

In addition to the potential community and athletic events associated with the trail, the expansion could serve as an important link between several other attractions, like the Hellbender Regional Trail System, Canton’s Chestnut Mountain Park and Lake Junaluska.

Total cost of the project is estimated at $137,000.

MAGGIE VALLEY FESTIVAL GROUNDS PARKING LOT Maggie Valley’s Festival Grounds are booming — making it difficult for some to find parking during the 20 or so events sched-

uled for the heart of the summertime season.

That should change in pretty short order, after the Haywood TDA granted the town $96,131 toward paving 90 new spots.

In 2021, the town spent $185,000 to acquire a 1-acre parcel directly across Soco Road from the Festival Grounds. It’s being used for parking already, but parking spaces are unmarked and the parcel is sometimes muddy after heavy rains.

The TDA grant will go a long way toward tidying up the situation, but not quite all the way — the town’s request was for $125,000, but the TDA only funded just over 75% of that request.

Initially, the grant application said that there would also be two fast electric vehicle chargers as well as landscaping compliant

The Maggie Valley Festival Grounds will benefit from a portion of the one-time special projects fund. Haywood TDA photo

RICHLAND CREEK GREENWAY What a difference a few years make — when the Bi-Lo grocery store on Russ Avenue was in operation, its adjoining parking lot was a constant source of pollution and runoff for an otherwise pristine stretch of Richland Creek.

Now that the Mountain Creek apartments are being constructed the pollution and runoff will be reduced tremendously, and thanks to the Haywood TDA, a 12-foot greenway along the banks will connect Russ Avenue to Marshall Street.

The short stretch is expected to bolster trout fishing in the area and is also a critical segment of the Town of Waynesville’s Greenway plan, which once complete would create a multi-use trail from Lake Junaluska down through Recreation Park into Frog Level and Hazelwood.

The $87,781 grant is less than half of the project’s estimated $175,563 cost.

Groundbreaking is expected in the next 90 days, and work should be complete by next July.

HAYWOOD COUNTY BIKE PARK

A bipartisan Senate bill intended to help build infrastructure in Buncombe County using room occupancy tax funds sailed through the General Assembly last week, changing the way Buncombe looks at the community that supports its tourism industry.

Initially co-sponsored by Sens.

Chuck Edwards (R-Henderson), Warren Daniel (R-Avery) and Julie Mayfield (DBuncombe), the bill creates a Legacy Investment From Tourism (LIFT) Fund in addition to the pre-existing Tourism Product Development Fund.

Together, the two funds will now claim 33% of room occupancy tax revenues after operating expenses.

Previously, the Tourism Product Development Fund received 25% of room occupancy tax revenues.

The proceeds from the LIFT fund will provide grants or loans to non-profits proposing projects that “[balance] visitor and resident needs,” according to the bill.

Edwards, who is the Republican nominee for the NC-11 congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Madison Cawthorn, called the bill a “noble gesture” on the part of the tourism industry. Mayfield, seeking reelection to her District 49 seat, told The Smoky Mountain News the bill doesn’t go as far as she’d hoped, but that it’s a good step.

Haywood County’s Tourism Development Authority has no equivalent fund; however, it did just recently award $500,000 in grants to six projects that all carry some public benefit.

The Losers LAKE JUNALUSKA OUTDOOR AND CONNECTOR TRAIL As part of a phased plan to improve pedesRECREATION AREA AND STUART trian access between the Terrace Hotel, the Susanna Wesley Garden and the former AUDITORIUM IMPROVEMENTS World Methodist Museum (now called the LAKE JUNALUSKA OVERLOOK

Warren Center), the Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center will create a brand-new destination for visitors — a trail

Although Lake Junaluska was successful with one of its grant applications, two others fell by the wayside.

SULPHUR SPRINGS PARK IMPROVEMENTS Similar to the situation with Lake Junaluska, Waynesville was successful with one grant application, but saw another application rejected.

Sulphur Springs Park, located on the former grounds of the historic White Sulphur Springs Hotel, is a small parcel of open ground owned and maintained by the Town of Waynesville. The only part of the hotel that remains is the spring house — actually, a dilapidated gazebo that houses the natural spring.

Of late, the town’s historic preservation commission has redoubled efforts to enhance

the site with a $4,500 commitment to its restoration, along with a $17,500 grant from the Mib and Phil Medford Endowment fund.

The town’s $22,000 one-time project fund request would have provided for the rehabilitation of the spring house, along with stream bank restoration, signage and a small outdoor amphitheater for cultural or educational events.

CHESTNUT MOUNTAIN PARK RETAIL AND VISITOR CENTER Unique among the nine grant applications was the Town of Canton’s — namely, because it was rejected, making Canton the only TDA zip code not to come away with at least some of the TDA’s $500,000 of special project funding.

Canton made the biggest ask — $200,000 for continued improvements to what has rapidly become the crown jewel of Haywood County’s outdoor recreation attractions, Chestnut Mountain Park.

The money would have been used for a mixed-use retail establishment on frontage adjacent to the park that the town would then lease out to concessionaries.

According to the application completed

by Town Manager Nick Scheuer, the project would have resulted in the construction of an elevated platform upon which retailers would have placed four or more 40-foot shipping containers, offering bike and fishing equipment rentals, a taproom, restaurant, retail, restrooms or even a visitor center for the park.

Although the Haywood TDA did spend the $500,000 that it said it would, Collins told Haywood County Commissioners on May 2 that the TDA may decide to designate more funding for special projects in the future.

When asked about the future of the Chestnut Mountain Park project, Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers said the town would likely continue to pursue it.

“My understanding is yes, but in a different way,” Smathers said, “and I’m hopeful we’ll get the chance to reapply.”

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Smoky Mountain News

connecting them all, as well as a new overlook.

Executive Director and CEO Ken Howle told The Smoky Mountain News that the goal was to create a “seamless” experience for guests.

Once Warren Center upgrades are complete, the venue will be able to accommodate conferences, proms and weddings for up to 240 guests. The $100,000 grant from the Haywood TDA is part of a $250,000 project budget.

Completion is still 18 to 24 months off, but once it’s done the new connector trail and overlook will only add to what’s already considered the most walkable community in Haywood County.

The first application, for improvements to lakeside recreation facilities and activities, would have garnered $100,000 toward a $700,000 project that would have replaced the shuffleboard courts with an open-air pavilion suitable for rental by groups holding class reunions, family parties and other events.

Included in the proposal were another series of amenities near the pavilion, including new shuffleboard courts and other family-friendly diversions like cornhole, bocce or ping-pong. The mini golf course was in line for an update, as were pedestrian walkways with access to the site.

The second, improvements to the iconic Stuart Auditorium, would have provided $100,000 toward a $250,000 slate of improvements designed to bring the 109-year-old venue into the 21st century while yet maintaining the historic nature of the space.

The facility, which has hosted everyone from Eleanor Roosevelt to Balsam Range, needs refurbishment of the stage, restoration of the outdoor deck, updates to the bathrooms and a punch list of minor items like broken windows, doors and lights.

Relocation of A/V equipment to the floor from the crow’s nest was also a high priority.

Howle told SMN on July 1 that the Lake had already been moving on the projects anyway, and will continue to do so.

July 6-12, 2022

When it was completed in 2021, Haywood County’s 10-year recreation master plan demonstrated that residents wanted more trails, especially for bicycles.

To that end, the county put forth a $1.9 million project that would turn a former landfill into what’s called a pump track, which is a series of banked turns designed to be ridden without peddling but rather through the up-and-down motion of the rider. Pump tracks are cheap, simple to build and are accessible for riders of all skill levels.

The Haywood TDA grant of $150,000 may seem like a drop in the bucket, but the county has already committed $500,000 toward the project. Both will go a long way in helping the 2-mile pump track — the only Red Bull-certified pump track outside of Gastonia — take shape, along with amenities like a playground, pavilion, restrooms and a walking track.

Another $500,000 may be coming from the state’s Parks and Recreation Trust Fund (PARTF) once awards are announced next month. As it stands now, groundbreaking should take place sometime next year, with completion in 2025 or 2026.

The Lake Junaluska Assembly didn’t get everything it requested, but will still see some improvements funded by the Haywood TDA. File photo

Buncombe TDA bill becomes law

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with the town’s appearance standards, but due to the shortfall, the town will either have to pony up the remaining $29,000 or make some cuts to the $250,000 project.

According to the town’s grant application, groundbreaking and project completion would all take place during the month of August.

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State budget goes to Gov. Cooper

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR oth chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly approved the state’s $28 billion fiscal year 2022-23 budget last week, but as Gov. Roy Cooper nears the halfway point of his final term, he’ll now have to decide whether or not to veto the proposal, which does not include what’s become his signature issue — Medicaid expansion.

“North Carolina is emerging from the pandemic stronger than before, and we will sustain that only if we invest in a strong foundation for our people: A quality education, good jobs and infrastructure, and access to affordable healthcare,” Cooper said in a May 11 press release attached to his own budget proposal, which included Medicaid expansion.

The House and the Senate each passed their own proposals for expansion, but ultimately could not agree on which to advance.

Expansion aside, the proposed budget represents a 7.2% increase from the previous biennium, increasing the rainy-day fund’s balance to nearly $5 billion and setting aside an additional $1 billion in anticipation of a recession.

State employees will see a 3.5% pay increase, teachers 4.2% and non-certified public school employees either 4% or a raise to $15 an hour, whichever is greater. Entrylevel teachers will also see an increase in starting salary. Overall, education spending is up nearly 7%.

In the wake of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, North Carolina legislators pushed for a dramatic increase in school safety spending, including an additional $32 million in grants to support safety equipment and training as well as students in crisis. School resource officer spending will increase by more than $40 million, and an additional $15 million has been earmarked for elementary and middle school SROs. A series of threats to the state’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities this past February, including Fayetteville

Smoky Mountain News

July 6-12, 2022

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Gov. Roy Cooper will now have to decide whether to veto the budget, which does not include Medicaid expansion.

Cory Vaillancourt photo

In Canton, at least $8 million will go toward repairing damaged buildings and the town’s playground. The appropriation is separate from a $9 million previous allotment intended for repair of water infrastructure damaged un the flood.

State University and Winston-Salem State University, prompted an additional $5 million in funding for cybersecurity and bomb threat prep at the state’s HCBUs. More than $880 million has been set aside for water and wastewater infrastructure projects, alongside $250 million to cover possible project cost overruns due to inflation. There’s also a small $5 million increase in the GREAT grants program for rural broadband.

One element of Cooper’s proposed budget did make it into the General Assembly’s proposal, a $1 million appropriation to the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina to identify megasites that could host advanced manufacturing facilities.

Public safety spending is also on the rise,

increasing nearly 4% over the last budget. An additional 13 magistrates, 11 assistant district attorneys and more than 130 judicial support and clerk positions will be funded if the budget’s approved.

On the local level, there was much anticipation over how much state funding Haywood County and the Town of Canton would receive to aid in the recovery from historic flooding that took place in August, 2021.

The scale of the damage was initially estimated at more than $300 million, including private property. The Town of Canton suffered catastrophic losses to major infrastructure including police, fire and town hall.

Given the town’s relatively small annual budget, replacing the multi-million-dollar

An optometrist member to begin servHaywood commissioners ing •upon appointment. Requirements for the position are that the candidate have seek HHS board qualifications as an optometrist and reside in Haywood County. Current and retired applicants optometrists are encouraged to apply. The

Board meets the third Tuesday of each month (except July and December) at 6 p.m. at Health and Human Services. For more information about the duties and authorities of the HHSA Board, visit: https://www.haywoodcountync.gov/261/Health-HumanServices-Agency-Board .

The application deadline for all three positions is 5 p.m. on July 29, 2022.

Application forms may be downloaded from the “How Do I … Submit Volunteer Board or Committee Application” section of the county website at haywoodcountync.gov/9/How-Do-I or picked up from the County Manager’s office from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, at the Haywood County Courthouse, third floor, 215 North Main St., Waynesville.

Completed applications may be returned to the County Manager’s Office or attached to an email to Amy Stevens, Deputy Clerk to

The Haywood County Board of Commissioners is seeking applicants to fill the following positions on the Haywood County Health and Human Services Agency Board of Directors: • A veterinarian member, to begin serving upon appointment. Requirements for the position are that the candidate have qualifications as a veterinarian and reside in Haywood County. Current and retired veterinarians are encouraged to apply. The candidate will be filling a four-year term that begins upon appointment. Upon expiration of the initial four-year term, first-term members are eligi8 ble to reapply for a second four-year term.

candidate will be filling a four-year term that begins upon appointment. Upon expiration of the initial four-year term, first-term members are eligible to reapply for a second fouryear term.

• An engineer member, to begin serving upon appointment. Requirements for the position are that the candidate have qualifications as an engineer and reside in Haywood County. Current and retired engineers are encouraged to apply. Upon expiration of the initial four-year term, first-term members are eligible to reapply for a second four-year term.

The Health and Human Services Agency

facilities would have resulted in substantial property tax increases, however Haywood County’s Rep. Mark Pless said in a release that he’d worked to secure more than $23 million.

At least $8 million will go toward repairing damaged buildings and the town’s playground. The appropriation is separate from a $9 million previous allotment intended for repair of water infrastructure damaged un the flood.

Another $5 million is set for use on debris removal, mostly outside the town’s municipal boundaries.

Yet another $5 million has been lined up to help farmers affected by the flood, which came just as many summer crops were ripening in the fields; famously, thousands upon thousands of green peppers littered streets and riverbanks from just south of Canton through Clyde. The money will be administered through the state’s Agricultural Crop Loss Program.

There’s also another $5 million for bridges and roads destroyed in the flooding.

The funding is earmarked for private roads and bridges not covered by previous reimbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Unrelated to the flood, an additional $5 million was appropriated to a separate crop loss program for a freeze that affected crops last April, and $150,000 has been allotted for baseball and softball facilities in Bethel.

As part of the state’s overall public safety spending, Pless said that some of the funding would result in an additional assistant district attorney for the 43rd prosecutorial district as well as another assistant clerk for the Superior Court in Haywood. Since 2020, the judicial system has been hobbled by a backlog of cases due to COVID-19 shutdowns in the court system.

Pless also secured $3 million for a wastewater treatment plant in Yancey County.

“Our office is pleased with the appropriations for these important projects and positions,” said Pless. “We have been working hard this session to listen to the needs of the district and secure funding based on those needs and suggestions. While we did not secure all of our requests, we will continue to advocate for them in future budgets.”

the Board of County Commissioners, at amy.stevens@haywoodcountync.gov.

For more information, contact the County Manager’s Office at 828.452.6625.

Waynesville VFW hosts community food drive VFW Post 5202 in Waynesville will host a community food drive from 10 a.m. until noon on Saturday, July 9.

During the food drive, there will also be a cookout, and anyone bringing five canned food items or more will get a free hot dog or hamburger.

The drop-off location is at 216 Miller St. in Waynesville. For mor information, call 828.456.9346 or send an email to vfwrg5202@yahoo.com.

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M ONDAY-F RIDAY 7:30-5:00 • WAYNESVILLE P LAZA 828-456-5387 • WAYNESVILLETIRE . COM With an iconic observation tower and sweeping views, Clingmans Dome is a popular destination within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. NPS photo

Tribal Council to consider supporting Clingmans Dome name change

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Ingles Nutrition Notes written by Ingles Dietitian Leah McGrath WHAT’S THE UNIT PRICE? If you’re a savvy supermarket shopper, you probably already know what the unit price is. This is the cost or price per unit of a specific item. The unit price is displayed on the shelf tag underneath the item along with other information like the total price and the product code. The unit referred to could be per ounce, per pound or per piece ( as in packaged fruit or vegetables). When you are in a section of the store with multiple types of similar products from different manufacturers, comparing the unit price can help you figure out which is the best deal. It’s easy to get distracted by packaging and claims on packaging, so comparing products based on the unit price can help you save money.

Smoky Mountain News

rising to the rank of brigadier general. The resolution also refers to a manuscript that Guyot published titled “The Earth and Man: Lectures on Comparative Physical Geography in its Relation to the History of Mankind,” in which he “links continent locations, topography and climate to the superiority of certain races.”

“The name Clingman is not derogatory in and of itself, but the history shows the act of changing the name of Kuwahi to Clingman’s Dome was racist and the racist action should be acknowledged and corrected,” the resolution states.

The resolution goes on to cite numerous examples of instances in which other mountains and landmarks named for Western figures have been rechristened with indigenous names or names that honor indigenous history. These include restoring the traditional name of Uluru to the Australian landmark previously called Ayers Rock and the U.S. government’s 2015 decision to adopt the indigenous name of Denali for the Alaskan mountain previously known as Mount McKinley.

Last month, the National Park Service announced that Mount Doane in Yellowstone National Park would now be called First Peoples Mountain to honor the many tribes with significant cultural and historical ties to the land. Gustavus Cheyney Doane, who the 10,656-foot mountain was previously named for, was the military general who led the 1870 massacre of a band of Piegan Blackfeet people.

As submitted, the resolution calls for an application to be prepared requesting that the U.S. Board on Geographic Names consider the name change. Tribal Council would have the opportunity to review and approve the application prior to its submission.

The resolution appears on Tribal Council’s July 14 agenda. Should the body approve it, it would go to Principal Chief Richard Sneed’s desk for a signature prior to becoming effective.

July 6-12, 2022

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER uring its July 14 meeting, the Cherokee Tribal Council will consider a resolution that calls for Clingmans Dome, the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, to revert to its traditional Cherokee name of Kuwahi, which means “mulberry place.”

At 6,643 feet, Clingmans Dome is the park’s highest point and the third highest mountain east of the Mississippi, with a summit observation tower offering spectacular 360-degree views that on clear days can stretch past 100 miles. It’s a popular destination for the park’s millions of visitors and the starting point for the 1,175-mile Mountains-to-Sea Trail.

According to the resolution introduced by tribal members Mary Crowe and Lavita Hill, it’s also a sacred place to the Cherokee people, saddled with a name that pays homage to a racist figure in American history.

“The history of the renaming of Kuwahi to ‘Clingmans Dome’ shows that the name of Clingman was designated by a proponent of scientific racism (Guyot) on behalf of an avowed racist (Clingman), in an action that was disrespectful to Cherokee people, culture, history and tradition,” the resolution states.

According to the resolution, Kuwahi was a place of special significance to the Cherokee, visited by medicine people to pray and seek guidance from the Creator, referenced in oral teachings and stories, and used as a refuge by Cherokee seeking to evade removal during the Trail of Tears.

It was renamed Clingmans Dome following the 1859 surveying expedition of geographer and professor Arnold Guyot in reference to Thomas Clingman, who at the time was a U.S. Senator representing North Carolina. Not only did Clingman, who lived most of his adult life in Buncombe County, lack any substantial ties to the Cherokee people, he was an avowed racist who left the Senate in 1861 to fight for the Confederacy,

Leah McGrath, RDN, LDN Ingles Market Corporate Dietitian

@InglesDietitian Leah McGrath - Dietitian Ingles Markets… caring about your health

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July 6-12, 2022

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PLEASED TO BE HERE Storytellers like Gary Carden help preserve Appalachian lore.

Cory Vaillancourt photo, Micah McClure photo illustration

Smoky Mountain News

Gary Carden Returns to The Liar’s Bench

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR

W

hen the snakes around here want to go somewhere they put their tails in their mouths and contort themselves into the shape of a bicycle tube and roll like a wheel until to stop they straighten out tail-first and stick themselves in a tree which then swells with venom and a man cut one down once and had lumber enough not only for his house but also a barn and a chicken coop however his wife wanted him to paint it all red and the turpentine in the paint drew out the venom from the wood and caused the lumber to shrink back to regular size and he managed to get the 10 cows out of the barn but the chickens did not survive.

That’s exactly the type of tongue-in-cheek banter you’d hear outside barber shops or post offices across much of rural America in the early 20th century.

It was called “the liar’s bench.”

Long before the internet, social media was an in-person affair.

Ardent greybeards gathered at the liar’s bench most days, duping tourists with stories of milk snakes or puke buzzards and befuddling naïve young schoolchildren with make-work errands, just for a laugh.

In the 1940s, Jackson County native Gary Carden was one of those children, rushing off to the hardware store to retrieve a boardstretcher or to exchange lefthanded nails for righthanded ones.

Eight decades later, Carden is still preserving this great American tradition of storytelling, infusing it with the regional canon of Appalachian lore — a body of work that is rapidly disappearing amid a culture in the throes of transition.

But the stories and songs of the Smokies don’t just live inside his head. He still sees his grandfather in the front yard sharpening an axe, sparks flying through the crisp evening air. He still smells his granny’s breakfasts cooking on the stove. He still hears the noonwhistle at the papermill blow, and thinks of the father he never knew and the mother who left and never came back.

“I

“I’ve been dreaming lately sometimes. It’s a pleasant dream. I come out here and blow out the street lights and they go out all over the holler and the pavement rolls up and the dirt comes back and the trees grow up and I’m back home.”

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— Gary Carden

S EE CARDEN, PAGE 12

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“My poor old granddaddy went to the bank for the first time in his life and borrowed money for me to finish that year,” Carden said. “You know, he was worried about me. He still thought I was strange, but he said, ‘Finish it up and I’ll pay for it.’”

In 1958 Carden taught school for a year in Waynesville, which he said was “awful.”

Again, fate intervened during a chance meeting with a football coach who was home doing grad work at Western. The man recruited Carden to a Cartersville, Georgia, high school where he taught English and drama for five years and met his first wife.

Not long after they married, she began acting strangely. He’d come home in the evening only to find her hiding in the closet, behind the clothes.

She’d get in their car and drive it off until Carden would get a phone call from some stranger, hours later, saying she’d run out of gas in some godforsaken place and to come get her.

One night, he woke to find a pistol pointed at his head, his wife deliberating whether to kill them both, or just herself.

The final blow came on a Thanksgiving Day outside Culberson, Georgia, 10 miles southwest of Murphy.

“There’s nothing there but a steep hill and a bridge and a general store and a phone

July 6-12, 2022

’ve been dreaming lately sometimes,” Carden says, sitting on the side porch of the house where he was raised and still lives. “It’s a pleasant dream. I come out here and blow out the street lights and they go out all over the holler and the pavement rolls up and the dirt comes back and the trees grow up and I’m back home.”

Born somewhere in Sylva in 1935 — nobody seems to remember where, exactly — Carden has watched the town grow up around him. His earliest memories are of standing up in the passenger seat of Uncle Albert’s car as they cruised around a Main Street that had two-way traffic and no telephone poles.

“He was a ladies’ man,” Carden said of Albert. “He would drive up to Maple Springs and there was a little dark room up there with a jukebox in it, and people would dance there in the dark. I would show out at the drop of a hat, and he had girls that would ask me to sing and I would sing and they’d clap their little hands.”

Carden has no memory of his father, who ran a service station in Moody Bottom called Hap’s Place until he was murdered by a wood alcohol addict in 1936. Carden’s mother left when he was two.

“She was one of those Blanton’s Business College people, and she was going to become a secretary and then get a room and get a job and then come and get me and we were going to live in Knoxville,” he said. “She never came back.”

Carden was raised by his paternal grandparents in Sylva and busied himself with the popular entertainment of the day — comic books and radio dramas.

During high school, Carden’s grandfather tried to get him to take over the oil truck he used to deliver fuel to rural mountain homesteads, telling him he was a “queer young’un” and that he was going to have a hard time making a living.

“I was a lousy driver. I did terrible things.

I tore the doors off of the oil truck. I spilled gas. I did everything I could do to really upset him, and it wasn’t working out very well,” Carden laughed. “I read comic books. I had imaginary friends. I was just a strange young man and that’s all there was to it.”

Fate would intervene when Carden’s principal, a man named Galloway, asked him where he was going to attend college after graduation. Galloway told Carden that he could find him a vocational rehabilitation scholarship to attend Western Carolina University, if his grandfather would let him.

His grandfather told him that if he wanted to pursue higher education, he could “graduate” to a neighboring cornfield.

“He always said, ‘You got bad blood Gary Neil, you got it from your mother. You’ll never amount to anything,’” Carden said.

“And my granny had a little litany — ‘Marriage can’t help you. Education can’t help you. You can’t do anything. You’re doomed. You got bad blood.’”

Carden persisted and ended up as a day student at Western, commuting from Sylva to Cullowhee until he was able to move into the dorms and take a job washing lunch trays in the chow hall.

Initially interested in teaching, Carden gravitated towards the theater department and became a drama major, much to the chagrin of his grandfather.

“I’d been coming home to get my clothes washed and every time I did, I told him what I was doing and the fact that I was in plays and the fact that I had friends and the fact that I was writing and that I edited a literary magazine,” Carden recalled. “I think he still didn’t understand it. I was a little something different than he expected.”

During his senior year, Carden lost his scholarship because the vocational rehab program didn’t approve of his major. The situation appeared dire until an unlikely hero emerged.

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Carden’s life has been touched by tragedy, but after a long and fruitful career as an actor, a singer, a teacher, a writer and a spinner of yarns, he’s now ready to return to the liar’s bench, one more time.

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11

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“I started The Liar’s Bench to rescue old and lost beliefs, customs, language, diction, everything that is sliding away — bring it back!

Make it respectable again! Do you know about that snake that rolls down the hill with his tail in his mouth?”

— Gary Carden

July 6-12, 2022

Gary Carden stands near the grave of his father some time in the late 1930s. Donated photo CARDEN, CONTINUED FROM 11

Smoky Mountain News

booth and when we topped out that hill, I looked at the speedometer and it was 55, and it went to 60, 65, 70, and it just kept climbing,” he said. “I looked at her and she winked at me and we hit the bridge. She meant to kill us both. She didn’t succeed.”

Lying there in a daze with the windshield wrapped around his face, Carden could hear the faint strains of a hymn being sung from a big-tent revival across the street. Eventually, two men came over.

“They’re dead,” one said.

“No, the man moved a little,” said the other.

The two men walked down to a phone booth and called the funeral home. Workers dragged Carden and his still-unconscious wife from the wreck, and laid them out on the road. Carden mustered up the strength to ask the workers to take them to the hospital.

“Sir,” one said, “we’re not allowed to haul living people.”

After the divorce, Carden began working for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, telling his stories in a much more impactful way — as a grant writer. He reckons he spent about 15 years there.

“I loved it,” he said. “Unemployment was really bad. When the tourists came in the summer, the economy was good, but when they left, Cherokee was an abandoned place for the winter. None of that’s true anymore.

12 The casino changed all that. Hell, bingo

changed all that, but back when I worked there, they got a new school, a hospital, a library. And they loved me.”

Sort of. For the longest time, they called him “Unake.”

“It means ‘White man,’ but it loses something in translation,” Carden said. “It’s an insult.”

Once, during a particularly dry spell during which Carden’s grant applications hadn’t exactly been bringing home the funding the Cherokee expected, he got it into his mind that he wanted an Indian name. When they announced it during tribal council, everyone laughed. Later, he found out it meant something on the order of, “huge thunder, no rain.” all it a tragicomedy if you like, but Gary Carden’s life has been filled with the sort of accolades that place him among the pantheon of Appalachian literary giants.

He won the Appalachian Writers Association Book of the Year award for a 1999 collection of stories called “Mason Jars in the Flood.”

Emmy Award-winning documentarian Neal Hutcheson called Carden the “chief inspiration” for his 2005 PBS documentary, “Mountain Talk,” which focused on the unique Appalachian dialect that Carden’s teachers tried to rid him of nearly all his life.

Also an accomplished playwright, Carden has seen his work performed across the country, including “The Prince of Dark Corners,” which became a feature film on PBS.

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Want to go?

Join Gary Carden and friends Randy Flack, Paul Iarussi and Jon Zachary for The Liar’s Bench — an evening of stories and songs, history and folklore — on Tuesday, July 12 at the Jackson County Library at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Reservations are encouraged but not required. Seating is limited, as are complimentary refreshments from City Lights Café. Special guest Neal Hutcheson. Call 828.586.2016 to reserve your seats today.

Sponsored by The Smoky Mountain News.

In 2012, after a career that also featured stints teaching at Brevard College and LeesMcRae College in Banner Elk, Carden was given the prestigious North Carolina Award for Literature.

Carden’s latest project, however, hearkens back to the days of the The Liar’s Bench, a regular performance event he curated in Cullowhee some years back that evokes all of the drama, the wit and the wry humor of a bygone era.

“Originally there was a little bench or a couple of chairs in every little community in Western North Carolina and in other states, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia. It’s where people sat and talked to each other.

They were usually what my grandmother called loafers, the community’s ne’er-do-

wells, people that have no purpose in life,” he said. “There’s an old guy and maybe a World War I veteran sitting there and people remembered a Confederate that used to sit at one in Sylva. They just sat there and talked to each other, and they stopped people and told them things.”

Told them things — lies, mostly, in the style of Mark Twain or Harold Felton, who wrote of Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe.

The concept of the liar’s bench isn’t uniquely Appalachian, or American, but the stories told in rural America seem to hold a particular flair.

“I started The Liar’s Bench to rescue old and lost beliefs, customs, language, diction, everything that is sliding away — bring it back! Make it respectable again! Sing the old songs,” he says, with trademark theatrical flourish. “Do you know about that snake that rolls down the hill with his tail in his mouth?”

Nowadays, Carden mostly spends his time in that house his grandfather built a century ago, entertaining visitors when they come and talking to a cat named Priscilla when they don’t.

“Haunted” isn’t quite the right word to describe the atmosphere of the place; crammed with books and photos and mementoes, there’s literally a story everywhere you look.

He remembers crawling into Uncle Albert’s bedroom at night to retrieve the stack of comic books that he’d then spend hours reading.

He remembers where his grandfather’s coffin sat during his wake.

He remembers gazing at a portrait of his mother, stashed away in the attic — one of few keepsakes he had of her until she eventually did come back, later in his life. His grandparents wouldn’t let her in the house, so she stood out in the street, calling to him. They walked around for a while together, mother and son, sorting it all out, and then she was gone.

He thinks that one day, he too will haunt this house, fading into the sepia-toned fabric of an Appalachia that barely exists anymore.

“I’m a part of the story, you know. I’m here,” Carden said. “For a long time, I wanted to leave. For a long time, I tried to leave but I’m past that now. I’m pleased to be here. This is where I’ll finish up.”

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July 6-12, 2022 Smoky Mountain News 13

July 6-12, 2022

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Vecinos spearheads services uninsured and low-income residents ecinos, a free and charitable clinic providing bilingual primary and behavioral health care in Western North Carolina, is leading a $5.6 million effort to better serve the region’s uninsured and lowincome residents by bringing multiple health and social services under one roof.

On Friday, the clinic finalized the purchase of a 15,000-square-foot building near downtown Franklin that will become the Community Health Hub, home to medical, dental and behavioral health care, domestic violence counseling, legal services and community advocacy — all offered on a bilingual basis.

“The uninsured and low-income population in Western North Carolina, in particular the Spanish-speaking population, faces significant barriers to accessing health care,” said Marianne Martinez, Vecinos’ executive director. “The Community Health Hub will allow our neighbors to conveniently receive coordinated and streamlined, high-quality services for free in their language.”

Vecinos’ focus since its founding in 2004 has been on serving farmworkers, but the clinic increased its community outreach in 2020 in response to COVID-related health care needs. The experience led Vecinos to change its charter to expand its mission and inspired the Community Health Hub concept.

In addition to Vecinos, named for the Spanish word for “neighbors,” coalition

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partners utilizing the Community Health Hub will include: Blue Ridge Free Dental Clinic, which will continue providing dental care at its clinic in Cashiers and add four dental operatories at the Franklin location; 30th Judicial District Domestic ViolenceSexual Assault Alliance in Waynesville; El Centro Comunitario of Macon County, a Hispanic community advocacy group; and Asheville-based Pisgah Legal Services, which provides legal services to low-income people.

Dogwood Health Trust in Asheville provided a temporary bridge loan to finance the cost of the building purchase. The coalition is launching a $5.6 million capital campaign to repay the loan and fund required renovations to the facility. The projected opening date for the Community Health Hub is early 2024.

Vecinos and Blue Ridge Free Dental Clinic are members of the North Carolina Association of Free and Charitable Clinics (NCAFCC), a network of 72 clinics offering high-quality primary, specialty and behavioral health care, pharmacy and other services to uninsured and underserved residents at little or no cost to patients.

“Free and charitable clinics play a vital role in North Carolina’s health care safety net and are on the forefront of innovations like the Community Health Hub,” said CEO Randy Jordan. “This initiative shows how

Vecinos finalized the purchase of a 15,000-square-foot building near downtown Franklin.

Donated photo

clinics are collaborating with each other and other partners to expand access to health care and other services for the underserved and historically marginalized members of our communities.”

Vecinos will keep its current clinic and

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July 6-12, 2022 Smoky Mountain News

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER or the fourth time in eight years, a person has died while incarcerated at the Jackson County Detention Center.

On Sunday, June 26, Eddie Columbus Taylor, 45, was found unresponsive in his cell, said Chief Deputy Matthew Wike. Staff attempted life-saving measures and called 911, but Taylor passed away.

In a 911 call placed at 8:38 a.m. that day, a male voice, ostensibly an employee at the detention center, reports a “1018 nonresponsive” to dispatch. When asked if the person is breathing at all, the caller states that there is no breathing and no pulse. The call lasts only 57 seconds, with dispatch asking for the man’s age, assuring the caller that EMS is on the way, and hanging up.

Taylor was arrested on Friday, June 10, on charges of Failure to Appear/Fictitious Info to Officer and Child Support Purge.

His home address was listed as the Best Western in Dillsboro, and he was being held on a $21,253.40 secured bond.

At the Jackson County Sheriff ’s Office’s request, the State Bureau of Investigations is investigating Taylor’s death. SBI files are never made public. Rather, the case file will be submitted to District Attorney Ashley Welch, who will determine whether criminal charges are appropriate.

“It’s difficult to offer up a timeline on any investigation as there are too many variables that differ from one investigation to the next,” said SBI Public Information Director Angie Grube.

The Jackson County Sheriff ’s Office has said that, due to the ongoing investigation, it will not be releasing additional information about the circumstances surrounding

Taylor’s death. The agency has not published any press release or public announcement about Taylor’s death, which was first reported by The Southern Scoop.

Taylor’s death comes mere months after Jackson County shelled out $725,000 to settle a wrongful death lawsuit that followed the 2019 suicide death of Melissa Middleton Rice. State law requires jailers to visually check on all inmates at least twice per hour and to lay eyes four times per hour on inmates who are suicidal, mentally ill, intoxicated, violent or erratic.

Earlier that day, Rice had tried to set herself on fire using a cigarette lighter and a one-dollar bill and her ex-husband had filed a restraining order that stated she had threatened suicide. Despite this, Rice was given the twice-hourly check and left alone in the jail’s booking room, where she was able to strangle herself off-camera with a telephone cord. Welch opted not to file charges, but Rice’s family initiated a civil lawsuit.

The jail has seen two other suicide deaths in the past eight years. Charles “Chuckie” Moose died on Nov. 21, 2014, and Steve Ross perished on March 13, 2015.

The same two detention officers were on duty in both instances and did not perform visual checks as often as required by law, public records showed, with gaps as large as 106 minutes. The SBI investigated Ross’s death, though not Moose’s, and Welch declined to file charges. The officers in question were suspended without pay for five days but then returned to work.

Jackson’s jail death record is abnormal compared to the rest of The Smoky Mountains News’s coverage area. Since November 2014, Haywood County has seen one jail suicide. Swain County has reported two inmate deaths, in 2018 and 2020, neither by suicide. Neither Swain nor Macon has seen any inmate suicides in the past eight years. At this point, Taylor’s manner of death remains unknown.

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Four inmate deaths have occurred in the Jackson County Detention Center since 2014. File photo

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Cherokee tribes voice joint opposition to recognition for Lumbee, other tribes Vice Chairman Albert Rose speaks to the gathering at Tri-Council. EBCI photo

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER uring their annual Tri-Council session held Thursday, June 23, the three Cherokee tribes agreed unanimously to a resolution opposing state and federal recognition of groups they say erroneously claim Cherokee identity.

“The Tri-Council of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes does hereby oppose federal or state recognition of the Lumbee Tribe, the Chickamauga Tribe, MOWA Band of Chocktaw, Wolf Creek Cherokee Tribe and any other recognition effort from a group claiming Cherokee identity that seeks to avoid or circumvent the Department of Interior office’s federal

July 6-12, 2022

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acknowledgement process,” the resolution reads.

Held each year in June, Tri-Council is a gathering of the tribal councils for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Cherokee Nation and United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians. This year’s Tri-Council was held at The Venue in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and hosted by the United Keetoowah Band.

The group passed a total of three resolutions, all by unanimous vote. The first requests that museums, media and other entities refer to living Cherokee people by their tribal enrollment and/or affiliation, while the second supports President Joe Biden’s nomination of Roselyn Tso, a citizen

of the Navajo Nation, to serve as the next director of the Indian Health Service. The recognition resolution was the third, last and most-discussed item on the agenda.

“There is a war on our identities right now, and just us having to go to D.C. and educate our senators and congressmen about who we are, this is going to be huge what we’ve done today,” EBCI Vice Chairman Albert Rose said of the approved resolution.

The EBCI has for years opposed recognition of the Lumbee Tribe in particular. The 55,000-member tribe is centered in Pembroke, North Carolina. Though it has enjoyed state recognition since 1885, the tribe has so far failed to secure federal recog-

nition — and the funding and benefits that would come along with it.

Over the years, the tribe has tried numerous times to claim federal status through congressional legislation. In January 2020, EBCI Principal Chief Richard Sneed testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States, together with Lumbee Chairman Harvey Godwin Jr., on a bill seeking to do just that.

Sneed argued that the Lumbee had little to no support in the historical record for their tribal and individual identity and that granting the tribe federal recognition would draw federal resources away from impoverished tribes in desperate need of them.

“After that particular congressional meeting, I said to my fellow elected officials and to our lobbyist Wilson Pipestem, it cannot be just us fighting this fight,” Sneed told TriCouncil. “It’s too easy for the members of Congress to dismiss us as, ‘Well this is about money,’ money being gaming.”

It is about money, Sneed said, but not casino money. While the EBCI is more fortunate, hundreds of the country’s 573 federally recognized tribes are completely dependent on Indian Health Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs funding. With annual increases of 2-3% those appropriations don’t even keep pace with healthcare inflation or inflation overall. If recognized, the Lumbee would become the country’s nineth-largest tribe, but there is no guarantee that federal funding for Indian Country would increase accordingly.

Following the January 2020 hearing, Sneed said, the EBCI built a coalition of almost 60 tribes opposed to federal recognition for the named groups.

“There was one piece missing, and that piece missing was Resolution Three that just passed today,” said Sneed. “So I applaud everyone here today — the chiefs, the council members. We must stand together.”

Distillery foreclosure auction heats up

BY KYLE PERROTTI N EWS E DITOR he foreclosure auction for Maggie Valley’s beloved Elevated Mountain Distillery kicked off on May 24, and although it could have been over quickly if there was no interest, it’s still ongoing with three bidders intent on one-upping each other.

The company’s owner, Dave Angel, signed a Small Business Administration loan for almost $1.1 million to pay for the property and equipment back in July of 2016.

According to court documents, the last payment he made on the loan was in April 2021.

Ultimately, First Citizens Bank, which had merged with original lender Entegra Financial Corp. in late 2019, demanded a payout of $1,156,598 — an amount that included the principal due, along with interest, late fees and “miscellaneous” fees. Angel was served with foreclosure papers on May 2 of this year.

The tax value of the building is listed at $583,600, and although the first bid, placed by Ken Wells, was just $383,197, the most recent bid, also placed by Wells, was $546,981 and the next bid would have to be at least 16 $574,330.

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Wells, who made his money as a developer and contractor in Key West, Florida, lives in Maggie Valley seasonally.

He told The Smoky Mountain News last month that he sees the property as an investment and hopes to rent it to someone who will continue to use it as a distillery.

After Wells’ first bid, a bid came from the owners of BearWaters Brewery in Canton who indicated they would possibly move all brewing operations into that location.

However, they have not placed a bid since June 2.

Another person who has continued to bid is Mark Cahill, who lists a Florida address on his paperwork but told The Smoky Mountain News last month that he kept a second home near Maggie Valley for years that he only recently just sold.

The other interested party is Micheaux Resource Management, which operates out of Indian Trail in the Charlotte area and had its bids signed by Frankie Wood.

Wood has spoken about developing the dormant Ghost Town in the Sky property, as well as several other properties in the area for about three years. Currently, Micheaux owns a 205-acre property off Hall Top Road valued at about $900,000.

Angel, who is the spokesman for Wood’s group, Ghost

Town in the Sky, LLC, said Micheaux is an investment team backing his bid to keep operating out of the building — although he would have to form a new LLC and rebrand since Elevated Mountain Distilling Company is in default on its SBA loan.

“It won’t be me as sole owner as it has been in the past,” Angel said.

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Mountain Credit Union Partners with MANNA Food Bank JustDoOils.com

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Through the eight-day campaign, the food drive received an enormous amount of food, donated mainly by Mountain Credit Union members and staff. A sizeable monetary donation was also collected.

United Christian Ministries dedicates newest pantry addition

tains all the refrigerators and freezers, as well as the fresh fruits and vegetables. Attendees learned about UCM’s partnership with WalMart and Food Lion, who donate fresh foods each week to UCM. UCM also receives food donations from churches, local farms, and individuals. They also purchase food from MANNA and local suppliers. Food is distributed to Jackson County residents in need. In 2021, over 76,000 pounds of food was given out.

United Christian Ministries provides food pantry, personal items and financial assistance to Jackson County residents in need.

Their mission is to be a voice for and a help to people with urgent physical, economic, social, or spiritual needs. More information on UCM is available on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and at www.ucmhelp.com.

United Christian Ministries of Jackson County held an open house on Wednesday, June 15, to formally dedicate the pantry addition and to allow local community agencies to tour the facility. The food pantry is 100% staffed by volunteers who work with two staff members, Karen Johnson (Executive Director) and Joyce Pope (Director of Outreach).

Agencies were able to tour both sections of the pantry. The first section contains dried goods, shelf-stable foods, diapers, paper products and toiletry items. The newest part of the pantry was added in 2021, and con-

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food will provide over 3,500 meals.

“We couldn’t do the work we do if it weren’t for organizations like Mountain Credit Union,” said Jake Deuterman, Food Sourcing Administrative Associate at MANNA Food Bank. “This donation will help us provide 3,523 meals to our neighbors throughout Western North Carolina.”

Franklin Branch Manager Cody Rogers had a substantial impact on this campaign.

“I appreciate the hard-working staff and generous members of Mountain Credit Union. Our entire team did a great job rallying their members to give during the eight days of our food drive.” Rogers said. “This is what ‘People Helping People’ looks like.”

Mountain Credit Union currently has seven branch offices located throughout Western North Carolina and serves anyone who lives, works, worships, or attends school in Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Swain or Transylvania counties of North Carolina. For more information, please visit mountaincu.org.

July 6-12, 2022

arlier this month, Mountain Credit Union partnered with MANNA Food Bank to provide meals that will help end food insecurity in the 16 counties of Western North Carolina.

From June 1-8, all seven Mountain Credit Union branches accepted donations of nonperishable food items. Various canned, bottled, boxed and bagged foods were collected.

Through the eight-day campaign, the food drive received an enormous amount of food, donated mainly by Mountain Credit Union members and staff. A sizeable monetary donation was also collected.

After gathering the food and money from the different branches, representatives from the credit union took the collection to MANNA Food Bank, where employees weighed it. Through the efforts of Mountain Credit Union staff and members, the donation amounted to 1,468 pounds of food and $575 in monetary donations. Every dollar donated helps provide four meals for people across Western North Carolina facing hunger, and along with the 1,468 pounds of

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Smoky Mountain News July 6-12, 2022

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Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

Local shop lifts up customers and creators For Haley Gaylord and Chelsea Ramsey, opening their own small business was not an early career choice. But opening the successful, eclectic and unique Soul Sisters Depot just felt right. Surrounded by family members running their own businesses, the pair started selling their items while holding full-time jobs and raising children. Going to craft shows, local markets, and hosting trunk shows kept snowballing until it only made sense to consider a brick-and-mortar storefront.

Ramsey said they realized opening their own business would allow them to make more money and make them happier. The pair already had proven their resilience.

“We took a leap of faith,” said Gaylord. “Our roots are here. We want to raise our kids here, so we are invested and dedicated to this community.”

Originally opening Soul Sisters Depot in Clyde in September 2020, that leap of faith was a big test of whether their venture could succeed.

It was the most challenging time, even for wellSoul Sisters Depot owners established businesses. But Haley Gaylord, left, and the new business owners Chelsea Ramsey have embraced it, bringing their found success with their five children with their eclectic shop. Michelle Harris photo laptops for remote learning to work every day during the height of the pandemic.

For almost two years, Soul Sisters Depot had a following at their Clyde location but realized early this year the business had to move. In April, the pair had a chance to use all their scavenged, found objects, such as old doors and car parts, in cool vintage displays to create their Soul Sisters Depot vibe at their new Frog Level location.

At the new location, foot traffic picked up.

Gaylord and Ramsey often notice multigenerational shoppers, seeing grandmas, moms and daughters come together to shop. Popular items at the shop include funny, funky graphic tees, bell bottoms and lots of items made by local artisans, such as candles, jewelry, and pocketbooks.

While Gaylord and Ramsey knew it was the right time to start their own business and had all the items they wanted to sell lined up, they didn’t really know all the ins and outs of how to run a business. Hearing about Haywood Community College’s Small Business Center (SBC) in the community, they knew they could find help and resources to answer all their questions. Through the Small Business Center, Gaylord and Ramsey learned about receiving funding for small businesses due to the pandemic and benefited from these funds.

As small business owners, another daunting task is where to begin to build a website. HCC SBC Director Ashley Swanger connected Gaylord and Ramsey to a project working with Western Carolina University students to design a website for the business. Creating a website will add a whole new dimension to Soul Sisters Depot.

“It is obvious that the shop is a part of both Haley and Chelsea,” Swanger said. “They create a space that is part retail, part therapy. They lift people up and hold space for those who come in, whatever their needs may be on that day. Their space renews the soul from sharing celebrations to listening to challenges to helping you find that outfit that makes you shine.”

See what Soul Sisters Depot is all about by visiting their 240 Depot Street location.

Jackson Public Library hosts PTSD seminar The Jackson County Public Library is hosting a free mental health seminar facilitated by VAYA Health at 1 p.m. on July 14. This program is in the Community Room and is free of charge, but registration is required.

This seminar explores information related to traumatic events and experiences. Through classroom conversation and exercises, participants learn ways to support individuals who may have

experienced a traumatic event, which may lead to posttraumatic stress disorder. Resiliency methods will be employed as methods to treat and heal the invisible scars. Please call the library at 828.586.2016 to register. If you’re not able to attend this event, or you’d like to see what else they have to offer, feel free to visit vayahealth.com/calendar/ to sign up for free webinars offered by Vaya Health.

For more information, please call the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva at 828.586.2016.

This event is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Jackson County Public Library.

REACH to host volunteer training REACH of Haywood County (domestic violence/sexual assault/elder abuse prevention and intervention non-profit) is holding a Volunteer Training Day Saturday, from 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., on July 23 at the REACH office, 627 N. Main St., Waynesville.

Lunch and snacks will be provided for all participants. Volunteers can offer help in several areas. They can answer general information and

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crisis calls from the community (with staff backup) on the Helpline after hours and weekends (one or more shifts per month). Able-bodied volunteers can provide assistance at the Within Reach Resale Store in Hazelwood. Others can assist as a Friend of REACH on fund raising, special events and client assistance committees.

The morning training will be general information about REACH, domestic violence and sexual assault, with DVDs and interactive scenarios. After lunch, training will be about resources. From 2:30 p.m. onward, training will be specifically for Helpline volunteers. Participants may be excused from the later afternoon session if not training for the Helpline. For further information and to register, contact Buffy Queen, REACH Community Educator, 828.456.7898, or BQreach@aol.com by July 20, as notebooks and certificates will be prepared for all participants. For more information or to donate to REACH, their website is reachofhaywood.org, or look for them on Facebook.

Virgil Lusk and WNC’s Reconstruction The Western North Carolina Civil War Roundtable will continue its 2022 series of programs on Monday, July 11, at 7 p.m. with Dr. Steven Nash speaking about Reconstruction in the mountains after the Civil War. The program will take place at the Haywood County Library in Waynesville at 678 S. Haywood St. It is free and open to the public.

Dr. Nash will highlight Virgil Lusk, a Buncombe County native who first served as a Confederate cavalry officer and later as a Republican state and federal prosecutor. Notably, Lusk prosecuted suspected Ku Klux Klan members. His transition from Confederate soldier to Republican leader highlights many of the things that made western North Carolina’s postwar reconstruction both unique and emblematic of this critical period in our history.

Steven E. Nash is Professor of History at East Tennessee State University. He earned his master’s degree in history from Western Carolina University in 2001 and his PhD from the University of Georgia in 2009. He is the author of “Reconstruction’s Ragged Edge: The Politics of Postwar Life in the Mountain South” (UNC Press, 2016), which received the Weatherford Award for Nonfiction from Berea College and the Appalachian Studies Association, and the co-editor of “Southern Communities: Identity, Conflict, and Memory in the American South” (UGA Press, 2019). He also serves as president of the Mountain History and Culture Group, the non-profit support group for the Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace State Historic Site in Weaverville.

The WNC Civil War Roundtable meetings will continue at 7 p.m. on Aug. 8 on Zoom with Dr. Chris Graham of the American Civil War Center talking about the North Carolina Jacket and the Confederate supply system. Live programs will resume on September 12 with Michael K. Shaffer speaking about the battles of New Hope and Picketts Mill, Georgia.

More information on these programs can be found at wnccwrt.com

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Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

A modest proposal to eliminate abortions

Pless and Clampitt are too partisan To the Editor: Behind the backs of local government in Haywood County, N.C. GOP Reps. Mark Pless and Mike Clampitt tried to push through Bill H998. This bill required “Boards, Charters, City Councils, Counties, County Commissioners, Educations Boards,” etc., to be partisan, i.e., show the candidates party affiliation (D or R) after their name.

This bill apparently pertained only to Haywood County. The true reason, despite all the other claimed reasons, would be to make it easier for the uninformed GOP voters to vote straight GOP. Therefore the GOP voters would not need to research the candidates background, education, position on issues, etc. Currently the largest number of registered voters in Haywood County are unaffiliated.

However, the number of Republican registered voters (55%) is somewhat larger than the number of Democratic voters 45%. I believe that is the reason Madison Cawthorn won the election by 5 points in the last primary in Haywood County. Despite his inexperience, education, lies, his background and his snafus, too many Republicans voted for him because they did not do any research. So, my point is, I believe if all elections in Haywood County were partisan the Democratic candidates have the odds stacked against them because too many Republican voters do not keep current on candidates, nor do they want to be bothered to keep current.

Then Pless and Clampitt both tried to interfere and dictate to local governments

can do in the U.S. is taking a pregnancy to term. Likewise, the anti-abortion movement doesn’t care about babies. The U.S. has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world. Of 36 developed countries only three have higher infant mortality rates than the U.S. To my knowledge, no anti-abortion leader or movement has championed either maternal health or childcare.

Once you are born, there seems to be no “sanctity” of life.

The states trying to outdo each other in passing the most restrictive pregnancy laws tend to be the same states who kill adults via capital punishment. If human life is so sacred, what gives the government the right to Guest Columnist decide whether someone should be killed?

Mother Nature is the most prolific abortionist that laws cannot stop. About 15% of known pregnancies end in a miscarriage. Given that many miscarriages occur before the woman realizes she is pregnant, the natural abortion rate is probably closer to 20% — one in five conceptions.

On a positive note, I have a modest proposal that would eliminate the need for abortions performed by people. Since the Supreme Court ruling makes it clear that the government

Norman Hoffman

I have a modest proposal to solve the abortion dilemma, but first we need to understand the background.

All six of the so-called “conservative” Supreme Court justices are current or former members of the Federalist Society, founded in 1982 by right-wing lawyers who desire to eliminate any right not explicitly stated in the Constitution. This not only subjugates women, but also opens the flood gates to take away many of what we tend to consider our rights. The “right” to privacy, to marry whom you chose, access to contraception and school integration could all be eliminated using the same arguments for striking down the Roe vs. Wade precedent.

In the emotionally-charged reaction to the abortion issue, these larger implications of the Court’s majority position are likely to be overlooked. Almost no “right” is explicitly spelled out in the Constitution. There is no explicit right to private ownership of guns. The meaning of bearing arms as part of a militia is dependent on the interpretation of the Supreme Court. What the Court gives, the Court can take away.

Also, let’s be clear, the anti-abortion movement never was and is not all about the “sanctity” of human life. It is based on politics and power related to women. The so-called “pro-life” proponents have never shown interest in life post-birth. The United States has the highest maternal death rate in the developed world. One of the most life-threatening things a woman

LETTERS about controlling local zoning laws. This was a well-kept secret which surprised local governments. Is this dictatorship or is this working with local government? They should both be ashamed of wanting to control local government. One would think they both should be working on non-partisan issues.

A prime example might be looking at the DMV rules and regulations. If you go to the DMV for anything that requires a notarization, they will charge you $15. They will not let you take the paperwork elsewhere to have it notarized for free. The DMV will not allow a title in the name of two people to use “or” rather than “and” between the two names.

Thus, when one of the two people dies, you are required to pay $65 (plus a notary fee) to have a new title issued in the survivor’s name because DMV will not allow “or” to be used between the two names. Both of these DMV regulations need to be changed.

Pless and Clampitt need to pay attention to issues like this and stop trying to dictate laws that pertain to only the GOP. Ron Rookstool Maggie Valley

Will Merrick Garland defend the constitution?

To the Editor: The question on the minds of many Americans, will Merrick Garland follow the endless trail of irrefutable evidence and charge Donald Trump and his co-conspirators for the crimes for which they are clearly guilty, or will

can take charge of a person’s body when pregnancy would be involved, the simple solution is to require every post-puberty male to have a reversable vasectomy.

Medical science has reached the stage where a valve could be inserted into the vas deferens instead of cutting the tube and removing a section as is done with a permanent vasectomy. Thus, the reversable vasectomy would eliminate all teen pregnancies and “accidents” among adults. When a man and his partner wished to have children, he would simply have the valve opened during the time they wished to conceive children. As a hedge, sperm could be stored prior to the reversable vasectomy as an additional precaution.

Having had a vasectomy decades ago, I can attest to the fact that the procedure done by a properly trained surgeon is virtually painless. There is the admonition to abstain from strenuous physical activities for a few days. A vasectomy has no effect on sexual performance. In fact, without the worry of pregnancy, partners might enjoy a more fulfilling relationship.

I am sure the men of the United States (especially those in the anti-abortion movement) would be more than willing to step up for a reversable vasectomy given the peace of mind it would afford. Additionally, it would save women from having deal with the abortion question.

(Dr. Norm Hoffman is a semi-retired clinical psychologist living in Waynesville. wncfacts@gmail.com.)

he let them off the hook? Whether the attorney general chooses to restore the independence and integrity of the Department of Justice or not by charging the former president for inciting a deadly attack on the Capitol in a failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election and prevent the peaceful transfer of power, Merrick Garland’s actions will mark a lifechanging crossroad for our republic.

The morning after the election in November 2020, Donald Trump, instead of conceding an election he lost by 7 million votes, strolled to the mike and did what he does best — he lied. He said, “we won and we won big,” calling the results of the election “a fraud on the American people.” He purposely gave birth to the Big Lie, the cock-and-bull story he and his devoted followers trumpet to this day.

Donald Trump exploited America’s growing divisions over class, race, gender and religion for political purposes. That’s deplorable, but it’s not against the law. Inflaming a mob to attack the Capitol, an act the former president of the United States perpetrated (and which is no longer in dispute) is.

The events surrounding January 6 forced Americans (and citizens around the globe) to recognize and understand how vulnerable democracy really is and how very close we came to losing it.

Men who remembered their oath to protect and defend died that day (or soon after because of it). Men and women who didn’t flinch in the line of duty were injured, some with life-long wounds because of one man who chose to incite a hoard in a futile attempt to overturn an election he knew he lost.

Speaking to the investigative committee, J.

Michael Luttig (a retired, conservative federal judge) said Trump’s attempt to overturn the vote brought the nation to the edge of a “revolution within a constitutional crisis and that Trump and his allies are laying the groundwork to try again in 2024,” adding, “they are a clear and present danger to American democracy and I don’t speak those words lightly.”

The Republican Party continues to be an accomplice in Trump’s wrongdoing: denying, defying, obstructing and preventing (by any means available) the January 6 committee from completing its duty. History will record, as Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) (speaking to her Republican colleagues) so eloquently and forcefully phrased, “There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.”

Cheney also spoke of those who “honored their oath of office” January 6, and did their duty. I would remind my fellow veterans (who are choosing to remain silent even as our republic teeters on the brink of collapse) we took that same oath. I took it five times in my Navy career, serving under presidents Eisenhower to Carter. “We take our oath to defend the United States Constitution,” Representative Cheney stated, “and that oath has to mean something.” Yes, I agree, it does.

By his actions (confirmed many times over by his own words), Donald Trump grossly and continuously abused the power of his office. I don’t know what Merrick Garland is going to do but his choices seem clear.

Choosing not to prosecute Trump would signal that presidents are above the law and would be a transparent invitation to future presidents to do whatever they want. To not prosecute ends democ-

Being intentional about a life reset

Susanna Shetley

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has faced such a momentous challenge given no other president has ever instigated a coup d’etat against the United States of America.

Whatever Merrick Garland decides will surely have consequences well beyond our lifetime ... and the world is watching.

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racy in America as we know it.

Merrick Garland must defend democracy and that means upholding the rule of law by “following the facts wherever they lead, by holding all January 6 perpetrators, at any level, accountable under the law,” as Merrick Garland stated and promised to do.

Granted, no previous attorney general

media always makes me shop unnecessarily because inevitably the ads are exactly things that I want or have been thinking about buying. Worst of all, the polarizing news coverage and corresponding commentary can be atrocious. The internet knows how to dig its claws deep into the human psyche.

We have to be deliberately resistant.

Reading and writing: Both reading and writing are escapes for me. Reading allows me to fall into another world and someone else’s life for a while. I love nonfiction books, but I’ve been leaning more toward fiction this summer. Writing has always been an outlet for me. It’s different from reading because typically I’m writing about my own life or creating something from my own brain. Regardless, it puts me in the flow, and I always feel rejuvenated afterward.

Cleaning and organizing: One of my favorite self-help authors is Gretchen Rubin. She wrote the Happiness Project and another book called Outer Order, Inner Calm. It is proven that when your outer world is more organized and structured, your inner world feels more relaxed and calm. With five kids and a busy life, our home and cars can get very disorganized and messy, which always makes me agitated. One of my goals this summer has been to clean out and clean up. Even if it’s a small drawer or cabinet, the feeling of accomplishment is significant.

Meditation and visualizing: Lastly, I’m working to meditate and visualize more. For about a year, I’ve been reading and learning about manifestation and the law of attraction. People can call it “woo woo” if they want, but the strategies are working for me.

No one can deny that everything is made up of energy, so it makes sense that the energy we put out is consistent with the energy we receive. Meditation and visualization not only help me to emit stronger, higher frequency energy, they also allow me to imagine the life I want to live. Step one of manifestation is creating a clear mental picture.

If we can’t even imagine it, the universe cannot give it to us.

It’s been a wonderful summer so far, and I plan to continue on this same path. I have a tattoo on my inner forearm that says, ‘One life, one story.’ Even though I have a daily reminder, I still have to be intentional about creating a story I’m proud to tell.

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

July 6-12, 2022

tend to live on a deeper plane than some, and it’s admittedly an exhausting place to be. I feel the word mindfulness should refer to when the mind is full of every thought and feeling, as opposed to when the mind is free and living in the moment. Nonetheless, my primary goal this summer has been to live more lightly and mindfully, to realize that life is fleeting and finite and that worrying and overthinking is not conducive to a full and joyful existence.

Remember how Columnist people were calling the COVID-19 pandemic The Great Reset? Similarly, I have decided this summer is The Great Susanna Reset. It’s been a long five years, personally and externally in the world. Much of the change in my life has been wonderful, but there has also been grief and loss.

After years of growth and transitioning, it’s time for a reset. I’ve given myself a few challenges to ensure that I stay on course.

These are my methods. Whatever yours are, it’s always helpful to routinely reevaluate one’s life and try to find ways to introduce gratitude and contentment.

Be more playful: Women can be serious multitaskers, so it’s sometimes hard for us to be playful. If, like me, you can forget what play looks like, watch a group of kids or teens. They know how to play and have fun. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working to put down my adult agenda and have some fun with all the kids in our household. We’ve been playing tennis, paddle boarding, throwing baseball, playing foursquare, cornhole, cards and board games. We’ve been watching lots of movies and taking long walks with our dog. At some point in life, “fun” for many adults turns into sitting around drinking wine or cocktails and rehashing the day. There’s nothing wrong with that, per se, but that is not the definition of play. Periodically, adults need to be reminded what play feels like and the lasting rewards that come along with it.

Rethink social media and internet news: No matter which social media channel I visit, I feel irritated afterward. It’s nearly impossible to not compare one’s life to that of others, whether they’re people in your own realm or celebrities. Further, social

COLLEGE BOUND?

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

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Smoky Mountain News

Over the hills and far away Jackson County author wins French literary award

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD ARTS & E NTERTAINMENT E DITOR or someone who rarely comes down from his mountaintop cabin in the backwoods of Western North Carolina, writer David Joy will put aside his eternal quest for solitude and silence for one thing only — France.

“You know, I tend to not travel anywhere. I don’t go on vacation. I don’t come off this mountain unless I have to,” Joy said. “But, France is the one exception. I’ll go anytime they ask. I’ve been twice [in 2022]. In all, I’ve spent about a month over there this year.”

This past week, Joy found himself at a wellregarded book festival outside of Paris. And it was there he was honored with the “Prix SaintMaur En Poche,” which is the award for “Best Foreign Novel of the Year.” It’s a recognition he received for “When These Mountains Burn,” a whirlwind work of grit, darkness and chaos on the fringes of society — all signature traits of the heart of Joy’s growing catalog.

“It was an incredible honor, in that you’re traveling halfway around the world to meet readers who are just genuinely excited to have you and speak with you about your work,” Joy said. “I’ve been blessed to build a very faithful readership over there. And it’s just always really rewarding to know that people get what you’re trying to do, that they value your work — that’s not something I’ve ever really felt at home.”

F

Smoky Mountain News: In regards to France, what are your thoughts on why your books are so well-received in that country and by its people? What is it about Southern Appalachian liter-

ature and culture is so fascinating to these folks an ocean away?

David Joy: First and foremost, there’s just a very rich tradition of literature and art [in France]. It’s essential to them, culturally. But, on top of that, they’ve always been really interested in America. And I think they’ve grown tired of the typical New York City portrayal of America that has filled popular cinema and literature for decades.

They want stories set outside of that place, and so the American South and Appalachia are places that intrigue them. Plus, we’ve just always had a lot of really great writers coming out of those places. So, there’s that.

But, I think they also have a willingness as readers to go to darker places. They don’t need feel-good books or happy endings. For writers like me that’s helpful, in that those aren’t the types of books I’m writing. I think the places I want to go with a story are places that scare a lot of American readers. We tend to not deal well with uncomfortability.

The French, on the other hand, seem to be a people who love engaging with difficult ideas and stories. They like being challenged by something new.

SMN: For someone like yourself who enjoys peace and privacy at home and deep in the woods, what is it about France that makes it so easy and enjoyable for you to regularly leave Western North Carolina and head over there?

DJ: The big thing is that they just appreciate my work. They get what I’m trying to do and they’re genuinely excited to see me and talk with me about my work. You know, I can have

an event here at home and there might be four or five people show up, and [yet] there’s never a bookstore I go to [over] there [in France] where it’s not packed to the gills.

I go to festivals [in France] and there’s not time to eat because I’m signing books from the moment I sit down until the time they close the doors. I mean, how could you not relish in that? Everything I’ve ever wanted to feel as an artist I get to experience there — it’s honestly overwhelming.

“I think the places I want to go with a story are places that scare a lot of American readers.”

— David Joy

SMN: As a writer and a human being, that is it about the French people and culture that remains very close to your heart?

DJ: I think there are a couple things that really stand out, and one is their passion for literature and art. They are genuinely excited to talk about books. And they want books that challenge them, that take them into new places with new people and new ideas. They read a pile more books than us anyways, but they tend to be much more courageous readers than Americans.

Like I said earlier, they don’t need a happy ending. But, I absolutely love their willingness to engage in difficult conversations. You can be sitting at a table and they’ll be yelling at each

other, fiercely debating some topic. And when they walk away at the end of the night they haven’t lost one speck of respect for the other person. They have a capacity for discourse and dialogue that sadly we’ve lost in this country — I love that.

SMN: As someone now embraced by the French, what moment sticks out and is forever chiseled on the walls of your memory?

DJ: It’s honestly hard to say. There was a really incredible meal in Pau with an independent bookstore owner, whose family has owned that store since the early 1700s; a hike through the mountains outside Lourdes, where I found a French version of jewelweed, touch-me-nots, and it just felt like home; caught a 100-pound wels catfish that was a little over five feet long on the Tarn in Albi.

[One time], I spoke to a crowd of about 500 in this lavish hall in Lyon, the walls lined with gold, the ceiling painted, chandeliers sparkling everywhere. Lots of food, lots of wine, lots of countryside. Smiles, laughter, conversation.

I’ve loved all of it, and it’s all meant the world to me. It never escapes me how fortunate I am to have built a readership there. If you can’t be loved and celebrated at home, there’s not a place in the world better than France.

Editor’s Note: David Joy is the author of “When These Mountains Burn” (winner of the 2020 Dashiell Hammett Award), “The Line That Held Us” (winner of the 2018 Southern Book Prize), “The Weight of This World,” and “Where All Light Tends to Go” (Edgar finalist for Best First Novel).

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

Cataloochee Divide Trail. (photo: Garret K. Woodward)

ucked in the corner booth at a dive bar in Maggie Valley on Monday afternoon, I slid across the vinyl seating across from the young couple. They’d already ordered a couple drinks, mozzarella sticks and some fried grouper bites. Some Lynyrd Skynyrd song was blasting from the front bar.

I ordered a Budweiser draft, soon pulling out a piece of blank paper and pen. The purpose of the rendezvous was to go through and finalize the order of events for the couple’s wedding just down the road from the bar this Saturday. Friends and loved one arriving from all corners of the country, descending upon Haywood County to celebrate the nuptials of this particular branch of their family tree.

My role in all of this? Wedding officiant.

About a year ago, in the midst of the pandemic, we were all having some tailgate beers in the parking lot of the newspaper one Friday after work. Soon, the conversation hovered over the topic of their wedding. It was mentioned that they’d yet to find an officiant.

“Well, if y’all ever need an officiant, I’m your dude. I’ve done a few weddings over the years” I suggested in a simple matter-of-fact tone, the subject of conversation eventually transitioning into another topic.

And it wasn’t much longer after that interaction when the bride-to-be (who works in our office) approached me and asked if I was serious about being an officiant. Of course, I replied. To which, she and her fiancé had talked it over and felt I’d be the ideal candidate for the gig. Sold. Count me in. What time and where? I’ll be there.

For someone like myself, a 37-year-old bachelor (never married, no kids), I still find

Concerts on the Creek will continue with The JackTown Ramblers from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, July 8, at Bridge Park in Sylva.

T

Popular regional rock/reggae act Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday, July 9, at Lazy Hiker Brewing in Franklin.

1 2 3

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

Thursday, July 7, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin.

Americana/folk duo Bird in Hand will perform at 6 p.m. Friday, July 8, at Mountain Layers Brewing Company in Bryson City.

4 5

There will be a special stage production of “The Music Man” at 7:30 p.m. July 8-9, 14-16, 21-23, 28-30 and at 2 p.m. July 10, 17, 24 and 31 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.

myself fascinated and mesmerized by the power and allure of a wedding. The setting and the people. The vibrant nature of the swirling souls all milling about, those in attendance crossing paths with beloved familiar faces not seen in many moons. The memories made that will be forever cherished in the hearts of those who never forgot.

Thus, I’m an eternal hopeless romantic still chasing after that horizon of whatever femme fatale may be standing out there — somewhere, anywhere. It’s not that I’m constantly wandering and pondering the idea of marriage or even the notion of a lifelong companion. It’s just remained elusive, where, for many years now, I’ve been roaming the road of life at my own pace and in

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July 6-12, 2022

Distance makes the heart grow stranger when the stars go out of view

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This must be the place

my own time, observing the beauty around me as the world flies by with a reckless abandon.

And while sitting on the vinyl seating in that dive bar booth, I listened intently to the couple speak at length about how they met and how, well, everything led to the events of this upcoming weekend. Journalistic curiosity got the best of me as I asked questions about the who, what, where, when, why and how of their budding romance, onward to a life soon to be spent together.

It was inspiring to hear their story and to first-hand see the admiration and solidarity each had for the other. Even my sometimes jaded, cynical heart softened a little bit, which is a feeling I’ve been experiencing again lately, this idea of maybe giving a partnership or relationship (or whatever it may be) another shot in the great unknowns of the cosmos.

For several years now, I have purposely avoided the dating scene in this area. Sure, if someone of interest would cross my path, then perhaps I’d make it a point to meet up and see where it goes. But, for the most part, I’ve been more focused on enjoying the life that I’m trying to create and build for myself, with whatever “companion” being a complement to that emerging existence (and vice versa).

But, during the shutdown and pandemic, like many of us out there reading this, I found myself having to sit still and be left alone with my thoughts. No distractions of people, places and things to derail my intent. Living by myself (and having a career that involves being pretty much alone most of the time), I took that downtime and really tried to come to some conclusions about the “Where to from here?” of my mid-30s onward.

Earlier on Monday, before I ventured to the dive bar in Maggie Valley, I went for a jog/hike up the Cataloochee Divide Trail.

About a mile and a half in, there’s a clearing on the ridge that overlooks Cataloochee Valley. That’s where I usually stop and take a moment to breathe deeply and exhale any and all worry in my daily life.

I’ve run that section of trail dozens of times. Every single trek is as different and unique as the next, whether it’s what’s going on in my mind or the weather, the changing of the seasons/vegetation or just how my physical body feels when disappearing into the depths of Mother Nature like baseball players in Iowa cornfields.

This most recent excursion, I threw on running shoes and took off down the Cataloochee Divide, only to immediately be hit with heavy raindrops from above. An afternoon storm was rolling in fast over the valley, the edge of the front now high above my running route. No matter, push ahead and embrace the rollicking freedom of self, all while splashing through mud puddles — happy and carefree.

Hit the ridge, look out over the vast mountains to the west. Smile in gratitude, only to turn around and bound back down the trail to the truck. Muddy running shoes and wet clothes. And it is in these moments when the heart it light, optimistic and, most of all, open and vulnerable to whatever lies just around the corner.

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

828.452.4251 susanna@mtnsouthmedia.com

23

On the beat arts & entertainment

be what it is without this town,” said guitarist Miller Watson. “It’s also really cool to see the similarities in bluegrass music and reggae and how they took shape from the development of African banjo. It’s also nice to bring a touch of reggae to these mountains.”

Free and open to the public. facebook.com/pmamusic.

‘An Appalachian Evening’

Americana, folk at Mountain Layers Tyler Ramsey. (photo: Bill Reynolds)

Orchard Coffee welcomes Tyler Ramsey

July 6-12, 2022

Acclaimed singer-songwriter and former member of Americana/indie juggernaut Band of Horses, Tyler Ramsey will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, July 15, at Orchard Coffee in downtown Waynesville.

Tickets are $25 per person and are available for purchase at the shop. There are a limited number of tickets. This show will sell out. 828.246.9264 or orchardcoffeeroasters.com.

PMA returns to Lazy Hiker Popular regional rock/reggae act Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday, July 9, at Lazy Hiker Brewing in Franklin.

“Our music is full of inspiration from these mountains. Water, mountain landscapes, nature, trails. They all take part in the inspiration process for us. We are proud to call Sylva home and our sound could not

Jackson County Americana/folk duo Bird in Hand will perform at 6 p.m. Friday, July 8, at Mountain Layers Brewing Company in Bryson City.

The road less traveled has always been the way for husband-and-wife duo Bird in

Chatham Rabbits.

Bird in Hand.

Hand. Bryan and Megan Thurman call the Great Smoky Mountains of Western North Carolina home and the region is directly reflected in their music. Bird in Hand is upbeat and new while still rooted in the traditions of American folk.

The two have played all over the Appalachian region, as well as across the country, and share an onstage chemistry that demands attention. They need to be seen live to understand the meaning of “Appalachian Thunder Folk.”

You can find their debut EP, “Due North,” online at birdinhandmusic.com.

The show is free and open to the public. mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.

The “An Appalachian Evening” series will continue at the Stecoah Valley Center in Robbinsville.

The annual summer concert series offers an ever-changing schedule of bluegrass, folk and old-time mountain music by award-winning artists. Rich in cultural heritage, the series continues to be a favorite with locals and visitors alike. All concerts will begin at

7:30 p.m. in the air-conditioned Lynn L. Shields Auditorium.

Performers include Chatham Rabbits July 9, Appalachian Roadshow July 16, The Jeff Little Trio July 23, Aubrey Eisenman & The Clydes July 30, The Wildmans Aug. 6, Nu-Blu Aug. 13, Pretty Little Goat Aug. 20 and The Kruger Brothers Aug. 27 828.479.3364 or stecoahvalleycenter.com.

Smoky Mountain News

Chamber music returns to Waynesville

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The Chamber Music Society of the Carolinas (CMSC), formerly the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival, returns to Waynesville after a two-year absence.

Concerts will be held at 4 p.m. July 17 and 31 at First United Methodist Church in Waynesville.

Works by Beethoven, Haydn, Dvorak, Mozart, Chopin and modern artists will all be featured. The society has been a premier chamber music festival in the Carolinas for 45 years. Internationally acclaimed musicians from all over the world have come to the mountains of North Carolina each year.

In past seasons, performers included the winner of the gold medal at the International Van Cliburn competition in Dallas, a silver medalist of the Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow, Grammy Award winners and Grammy-nominated ensembles.

Taking place in small venues, the festival creates an intimate interaction between performers and audiences. The Chamber Music Society of the Carolinas is a program of Warren Wilson College.

Season and individual tickets are available online or at the church. Students will be admitted with no charge. Single tickets will be $30, with tickets for both concerts $50.

For more information, click on cmscarolina.com, email chamber@warren-wilson.edu or call 828.400.6465.

The JackTown Ramblers.

Concerts On The Creek The 13th season of Concerts on the Creek will continue with The JackTown Ramblers from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, July 8, at Bridge Park in Sylva.

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

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

These concerts are organized and produced by the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce, the Town of Sylva and the Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department.

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

On the beat

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

• Boojum Brewing (Waynesville) will host karaoke at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, trivia at 7 p.m. on Thursdays and Sohchatoa July 9. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.246.0350 or boojumbrewing.com.

• Concerts On The Creek (Sylva) will host The JackTown Ramblers (bluegrass/jazz) July 8 and Summit Church Band July 15 at Bridge Park in Sylva. All shows begin at 7 p.m.

Everyone is encouraged to bring a chair or blanket. These events are free, but donations are encouraged. 828.586.2155 or mountainlovers.com.

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

828.369.4080 or coweeschool.org/music.

• Currahee Brewing (Franklin) will host Dave Dexter 7 p.m. July 9. Free and open to the public. 828.634.0078 or curraheebrew.com.

• Friday Night Live (Highlands) will host The Foxfire Boys (Americana) July 8 and Leadfoot Lily (Americana) July 15 at Town Square on Main Street. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. highlandschamber.org.

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host Gin Mill Pickers July 8 (Americana), Aphelyon July 9, Ross Hollow July 15 and Natti Love

• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will host an Open Mic Night every Wednesday, The Wilder Flower July 7 and Shain Lyles July 14. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.

• Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host “Music Bingo” w/Hibiscus Sunshine every Wednesday, Shane Meade (soul/indie) July 8, Calico Bear 2 p.m. July 10 and Jason Lyles July 15. All events begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.

ALSO:

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host Urban Soil (reggae/soul) July 8, Positive Mental Attitude (reggae/soul) July 9 and Breeze Cable (singer-songwriter) July 16. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.

828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.

otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.

828.538.0115 or mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.

• Nantahala Brewing (Sylva) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.641.9797 or nantahalabrewing.com.

• Nantahala Outdoor Center (Nantahala Gorge) will host Brown Mountain Lightning Bugs July 8, The Log Noggins (rock/indie) July 9, Blue July 15 and Eddie Clayton July 16. All shows behind at 5 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. noc.com.

• Orchard Coffee (Waynesville) will host Tyler Ramsey (Americana/indie) at 8 p.m. July 15.

Tickets are $25 per person and are available for purchase at the shop. 828.246.9264 or orchardcoffeeroasters.com.

• Pickin’ In The Park (Canton) will host Steve Jordan & Mountain Tradition July 8 and Running Wolfe & J. Creek Cloggers July 15.

Shows are 6 to 9 p.m. at the Canton Rec Park located at 77 Penland St. Free and open to the public. cantonnc.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host Trivia Night at 6:30 p.m. every Wednesday, Old Time Jam 6:30 p.m. every Thursday and semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.

828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Pickin’ On The Square (Franklin) will host Appalachian Smoke (country/bluegrass) July 9 and Friends (blues/country) July 23. All shows begin at 6 p.m. at the Gazebo in downtown. Free and open to the public. franklinnc.com/pickin-on-the-square.html.

• Marianna Black Library (Bryson City) will host a Community Jam 6 p.m. July 7 and Dusk Weaver (Americana/folk) 7 p.m. July 14.

Free and open to the public. 828.488.3030 or fontanalib.org/brysoncity.

• Quirky Birds Treehouse & Bistro (Dillsboro) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public.

828.586.1717 or facebook.com/quirkybirdstreehouse.

• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host Open Mic Night w/Ivor Sparks every Wednesday, Bird In Hand (Americana/folk) July 8, Scott James Stambaugh (singersongwriter) July 9, Woolybooger (blues/folk) 5 p.m. July 10, Kate Thomas (singer-songwriter) July 15, Twelfth Fret (Americana) July 16 and Mountain Gypsy (Americana) 5 p.m.

July 17. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless

• Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Shows begin at 8 p.m. Free and open to the public. 828.369.6796.

We Would Love To Host Your Next Event!

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• The Scotsman (Waynesville) will host The Carter Giegerich Trio (Celtic/bluegrass) from 2 to 5 p.m. every Sunday and semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.246.6292 or scotsmanpublic.com.

• SlopeSide Tavern (Sapphire) will host Skies Of Avalon July 21. All shows begin at 6 p.m.

Free and open to the public. 828.743.8655 or slopesidetavern.com.

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

• Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host Jay Dee Gee July 7, GenePool July 8, The UpBeats July 9, Cliff Williamson July 13 and Tricia Ann Band July 14. All shows begin at 8 p.m.

Free and open to the public. 828.538.2488.

• Valley Tavern (Maggie Valley) will host Keil Nathan Smith (singer-songwriter) 6:30 p.m.

July 7, The Blake Ellege Band July 8, The Early Worm Band 3 p.m. July 10, Bridget Gossett (singer-songwriter) July 14, The Loudes July 15 and Mile High (classic rock) 3 p.m. July 17. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.926.7440 or valley-tavern.com.

• Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 9:30 p.m.

828.456.4750 or facebook.com/waternhole.bar.

• Whiteside Brewing (Cashiers) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends.

828.743.6000 or whitesidebrewing.com.

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CASUAL FINE DINING WITH LIVE MUSIC COVERED PATIO

• Saturdays On Pine (Highlands) will host Back Porch Orchestra (blues/rock) July 9 and The Wobblers (Americana/indie) July 16 at Kelsey-Hutchinson Park on Pine Street. All

shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. highlandschamber.org.

July 6-12, 2022

• Fontana Village Resort Wildwood Grill will host Sister Ivy 6 p.m. July 9, Doug Wilhite 5 p.m. July 15 and Granny’s Mason Jar 6 p.m.

July 16. Free and open to the public.

800.849.2258 or fontanavillage.com.

Joys (reggae/soul) July 16. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.454.5664 or froglevelbrewing.com.

arts & entertainment

• Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva) will host an open mic from 8 to 10 p.m. every Thursday.

Free and open to the public. 828.631.1987 or balsamfallsbrewing.com.

828.349.9034

4175 Tellico Rd., Franklin, NC

TELLICOTROUT.COM

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arts & entertainment

On the table Jenna Kranz.

Cooking class at Jackson library Jenna Kranz from Uncomplicated Kitchen will host a special class on how to make “no cook” herb sauces at 1 p.m.

Tuesday, July 12, at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva.

Patrons will make and learn an affordable pesto, a zippy tzatziki, and ways to customize and adapt them to the herbs you have on hand. This program is in the Atrium and is free of charge. Sign-up is required as space is limited.

“Uncomplicated Kitchen is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Western North Carolina. We work to improve food security through educational outreach,” Kranz said.

“Our mission is to teach community members how to plan meals, shop for ingredients, and cook healthy, simple and affordable recipes. We bridge the gap between the food people have access to and the tools and knowledge they have to prepare nutritious meals for themselves and their families.”

For more information and/or to register, call the library at 828.586.2016. This event is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Jackson County Public Library.

The Jackson County Public Library is a member of Fontana Regional Library (fontanalib.org).

July 6-12, 2022

p

’s BenjcFhriends Liari Free

Gary Carden

$ Smoky Mountain News

In partnership with the Japanese Outreach Initiative at Western Carolina University, the Marianna Black Library will be hosting a Japanese “Chopstick Challenge” from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Monday, July 18, in the auditorium of the library in Bryson City.

Nanaka Okamura, JOI Coordinator, started Japanese Calligraphy at the age of six. She is a certified master of Japanese Chopsticks and will be leading this free workshop. Children are welcome to participate if they are old enough to sit calmly by themselves.

Okamura came to the US last July and has been teaching Japanese culture (such as Japanese Calligraphy, origami, seasonal events, manner, etc.) and the Japanese language to people in the community here in Western North Carolina.

Look for more events at the library through July and August. Space is limited. Please reserve your spot at https://forms.gle/KhwtvzkUVYUDc4R7A or contact the library at 828.488.3030.

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

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

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Join us for an evening of stories and songs, history and folklore from Western North Carolina’s Great Smoky Mountains. Storyteller extraordinaire and mountain lore authority Gary Carden will present the story of the orphan trains.

Featuring:

Randy Flack SINGER/SONGWRITER

Paul Iarussi BALLADEER/GUITARIST

Jon Zachary COLLECTOR AND PERFORMER OF PECULIAR OLD SONGS

special guest

Neal Hutcheson EMMY AWARD-WINNING FILMMAKER AND AUTHOR OF “POPCORN SUTTON: MOONSHINER”

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

On the street arts & entertainment

Front Street Arts & Crafts The annual Front Street Arts & Crafts Show will showcase some of the finest regional artisans from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Saturday, July 16, in downtown Dillsboro.

Dozens of booths will display and have for your perusal the handmade craftsmanship of regional fine artists and crafters intermingled with the sounds of family entertainment.

Vendors will line Front Street offering a choice of many handmade items, including soaps, baskets, pottery, jewelry, bird houses, and much more. There will also be a performance by the J. Creek Cloggers (11 a.m.), as well as live music from singer-songwriter Suzie Copeland (noon and 1 p.m.) and jazz/pop trio We Three Swing (2 p.m.).

The arts and crafts show is free and open to the public, with a small parking fee that includes a shuttle from Monteith Park directly to the festival itself. You can even bring your dog (on a leash).

For more information, call 828.506.8331 or click on visitdillsboro.com.

• “Peach Jam” will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, July 16, at Darnell Farms in Bryson City. Food trucks, live music, vendors, bounce houses, kids activities, pie eating contests, and more. For more information, email hotheadevents@gmail.com.

July 6-12, 2022

• Professor Whizzpop will host an underwater exploration learning workshop with magical fun mixed in at 11 a.m.

Monday, July 11, at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City.

Whizzpop travels all over the country delighting thousands of children with his delightful humor and magic alike. This is for all ages.

Come early to get a seat. Free and open to the public.

ALSO:

• “Flights & Bites” will be held starting at 4 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays at Bosu’s Wine Shop in downtown Waynesville. waynesvillewine.com.

Smoky Mountain News

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

828.631.3075.

ION OF STA IAT TE OC

STERS RE FO

• “Uncorked: Wine & Rail Pairing Experience” will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on select dates at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City. Full service all-adult first-class car. Wine pairings with a meal, and more. 800.872.4681 or gsmr.com.

NATIONAL A SS

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

Educational classes and other events are also available. 828.538.0420.

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arts & entertainment

On the wall • Southwestern Community College Swain Arts Center (Bryson City) will host an array of adult workshops, including “Paddle Fans” 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, July 8, “Letterpress Printing” 1 to 3 p.m.

Wednesday, July 13, and “Cherokee Language Printing” 9 to 11 a.m. Thursday, July 14. southwesterncc.edu/ scc-locations/swain-center.

• “Drive-In Movie Night” will screen “Sing 2” at 7:45 p.m. Thursday, July 7, at Darnell Farms in Bryson City. Concessions available onsite. Free and open to the public.

828.488.2376 or darnellfarms.com.

• Southwestern Community College Swain Arts Center (Bryson City) will host an array of children’s workshops, including “Printmaking for Kids” 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday, July 11, “Model Railroading for Kids” 1 to 3 p.m. Monday, July 11, “Mushroom House Kids Class” 2 to 3:30 p.m. Friday, July 15. southwesterncc.edu/scc-locations/ swain-center.

July 6-12, 2022

ALSO:

• Haywood County Arts Council (HCAC) will host the following events onsite at the Haywood Handmade Gallery in downtown Waynesville: an “Artist Interview Series” with HCAC members Nancy Gamon & Dennis Corso 5 to 6 p.m. July 8, “Fused Glass Flower Garden” class 5 to 7 p.m. July 15 and a “Garden Harvest Basket & Wine Tasting” class 5 to 7 p.m. July 22. haywoodarts.org.

• “Art After Dark” will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. each first Friday of the month (MayDecember) in downtown Waynesville. Main

On the stage Street transforms into an evening of art, music, finger foods, beverages and shopping as artisan studios and galleries keep their doors open later for local residents and visitors. Dates include Aug. 5, Sept. 2, Oct. 7, Nov. 4 and Dec. 2. facebook.com/ galleriesofhaywoodcounty.

Michael Aquilino and Emily Drake.

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

Mountainmakersmarket.com.

• A “Foreign Film Series” will be held at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva.

Each month, on the second and fourth Friday, two movies from around the globe will be shown. This program is in the Community Room and is free of charge.

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

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

828.488.7857.

HART presents ‘The Music Man’ There will be a special stage production of “The Music Man” at 7:30 p.m. July 8-9, 14-16, 21-23, 28-30 and at 2 p.m. July 10, 17, 24 and 31 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.

The audience will be transported to River City, Iowa, where you’ll meet a slew of incredible characters, from a School Board turned Barbershop Quartet to the Gossiping Pick-aLittle Ladies to an All Boys Marching Band.

“The Music Man” would be nothing without the Music Man himself: Professor Harold Hill, played at HART by Dominic Michael Aquilino. Hill is a traveling salesman who promises to save your town from the big trouble it’s in by forming a Boys Marching Band.

The only trouble is, “Professor” Hill knows nothing about music and the local Librarian, Marian Paroo, played at HART by Emily Dake, has a library full of reference books and a great knowledge of music that could expose him. Add this town of quirky Iowans and you have a night full of entertainment and delight.

Tickets range from $14 to $36 per person.

You can purchase tickets by clicking on harttheatre.org or calling HART’s Box Office at 828.456.6322.

• “Footloose: The Musical” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. July 8-9 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. 866.273.4615 or smokymountainarts.com.

ALSO:

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On the shelf

INTERESTED

‘George Masa’s Wild Vision’

landscape the photographer so loved and worked to interpret and protect. The book includes 75 of Masa’s photographs, accompanied by Martin’s reflections on Masa’s life and work.

Martin is the author of three chapbook collections of poetry and “Hunting for Camellias at Horseshoe Bend,” a nonfiction chapbook published by Red Bird Press in 2015.

His poetry and essays have been published in the North Carolina Literary Review, Pisgah Review, Tar River Poetry, Chattahoochee Review,

Eno Journal, New Southerner, Kudzu Literary Journal, Smoky Mountain News, and elsewhere.

Martin has recently completed a two-year term as Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet for the West. He is also the author of “The Changing Blue Ridge Mountains: Essays on Journeys Past and Present.” He lives in the Cowee community in Western North Carolina, where he and his wife, Angela Faye Martin, run the Alarka Institute.

Books will be available at the reading for purchase and signing.

Thomas Crowe

rending fashion that stays with you. This, then, from the part of the story depicting Paha Sapa’s relationship with Crazy Horse:

Poet and naturalist Brent Martin will present his new book, “George Masa’s Wild Vision,” at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 7, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin.

In the book, Martin explores the locations Masa visited, using first-person narratives to contrast, lament, and exalt the condition of the

Paha Sapa has only eleven rather uneventful years of his own to remember, while Crazy Horse thought himself to be thirty-four years old this summer when he poured all his memories into Paha Sapa’s aching brain, and — somehow, despite his will not to — Paha Sapa’s vision saw forward another year or two to Crazy Horse’s death by bayonet. Crazy Horse’s memories are tinged red with memory-emotions of violence, near insanity, and a constant strangeness. Paha Sapa, the adopted son of Limps-aLot hopes to be a holy man like his respected tunkasila, but Crazy Horse, the son of another holy man, has always wanted to be heyoka, a dreamer and servant for the Thunder Beings.

With this kind of intimate portrayal and personalizing, Simmons has brought this history’s legendary characters theatrically to life.

But this isn’t a book about Crazy Horse, it is a book about Black Hills (Paha Sapa) as we follow him through his youth and then his elderly years. While this is a big book of almost 500 pages, I couldn’t put it down.

Maybe I was overdue for a good fiction read, but I think that I have also been impressed

by Simmons telling of this important tale and the manner in which he has told it — right up until the end when he writes: Sometime in 1937, Paha Sapa moved to a remote place deep within the Black Hills and built a small but comfortable home there. After World War II, word got out among the Ikce Wicasa that there was an old man in the Black Hills with the name Black Hills and somehow the legend grew and then young men and women traveled from many reservations — even Cheyenne, Crows and Blackfoot from Wyoming and Montana. When members of tribes from California and Washington state began visiting the old man — tribes Paha Sapa had never even heard of — he laughed and laughed. Many of those who visited Paha Sapa in those last decades remember that one of his favorite phrases was Le anpet’u waste! ‘This is a good day.’

(Thomas Crowe is a regular contributor to The Smoky Mountain News and author of the multi-award-winning non-fiction nature memoir “Zoro’s Field: My Life in the Appalachian Woods.”)

HISTORY?

Don't miss Author John Ross' discussion of his newest book, Through the Mountains: The French Broad River and Time.

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American descent from the eyes of a boy who has clairvoyant qualities as a “dreamer,” a savant and headed on the path at an early age to becoming a medicine person for his people.

In the spirit of “The Time Machine” by H.G. Wells, not only are we privy to the years and actions around 1876, but we are also transported forward in time to 1943 and to the construction of the Mount Rushmore project on which Paha Sapa is working in his elder years and not at all happy with the monumental sculptures of the faces of the four American presidents that he sees as a desecration of a sacred landscape. In the back and forth of this novel set in two separate time frames, we get Custer’s very intimate letters from the Black Hills to his wife back home in the East. We get a whole chapter devoted to Paha Sapa’s remarkable vision quest experience. We get up close and personal time with Crazy Horse and his conversations with Paha Sapa. And we get Paha Sapa’s vision of Crazy Horse’s death as well as the visionary experience of his tribe’s demise and white colonization. Oh, yes, and there is an intriguing Paha Sapa love story!

Simmons has truly done his homework for this book, as evidenced by the lengthy acknowledgements section at the end of the book. His grasp of the Lakota language is used extravagantly throughout, lending a kind of credibility, authentication and focus to the Native American point of view. “In listing the names of animals, the words rattle in Paha Sapa’s aching skull: sintehahla, itignila, anunkasan, hitunkala, sung manitu tanka, sung mahetu, pispia ....” And there are many such examples of Simmons’ interest and knowlege of the Sioux dialect giving credence to the ethnic foundation for his book.

But in the end, it is the quality of this award-winning author’s ability to tell a proper historical story in a delicate and heart-

July 6-12, 2022

Having grown up in these Cherokee hills, I became interested in things native from an early age. This interest, spawned by my boyhood friends over on the Snowbird Reservation, has continued throughout my life and until today.

So, when a friend recommended the novel “Black Hills” by Dan Simmons (Little Brown & Co., 2010) to me, I went to the Sylva Library and checked it out through interlibrary loan.

Not having any expectations, boy was I surprised! For myself and for early American history buffs, I found this to be an amazing read.

Told in an intimate and personal fictionWriter al account of much of the history of what went down in the Black Hills of South Dakota between the Lakota Sioux and the U.S. Army during the 1870s and focusing in on Gen. George Armstrong Custer and the battle of the Little Big Horn, we experience a kind of time-travel back to those days and that era through the character of Paha Sapa (which is Lakota for “black hills”), a Lakota boy eleven years old and his first-hand account of Native American life, traditions, and hardships at the hands of the U.S. government and the following colonization.

In a book that almost reads like a filmscript, we get to hang out with such notable First Nation people as Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Black Elk, Kicking Bear, Red Cloud, Little Big Man, Standing Bear, Crow Dog and other well-known names of First Nation warriors and chiefs from that time.

Simmons transports us back into the fray and the finesse of what it was to be of Native

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Asheville 828-274-8822 Waynesville 828-407-4034 Sylva 828-586-9333 Reynolds Mountain 828-785-5825

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Outdoors

Smoky Mountain News

Symbolic of the risk–reward situation that bears must face when there is a critical need for them to search for food, security, dispersal or breeding, a female bear looks for the best opportunity to cross as her cubs surround her at the guardrail on I-64 in Virginia near the top of Afton Mountain where the Shenandoah National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway meet.

Bridget Donaldson, Virginia Transportation Research Council photo

Plans for safe passage Research yields recommendations to stem wildlife deaths on I-40

BY HOLLY KAYS OUTDOORS EDITOR fter more than three years of research and analysis, a group focused on ending wildlife-vehicle collisions in the Pigeon River Gorge has released a report outlining its

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recommendations for keeping them safe from traffic.

“Here is a document that serves as longterm planning document for both the Tennessee and North Carolina Department of Transportation, and thankfully they’re both fully engaged and energized by this work,” said Jeff Hunter, senior program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association.

“Can we do everything? Can you do everything in any endeavor? Perhaps not, but at least now we have an evidence-based

A visualization from the report shows wildlife death and detection rates through the Pigeon River Gorge.

Wildlands Network/NCPA graphic

approach to mitigating wildlife-vehicle collisions in this nationally significant landscape adjacent to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.”

The recommendations released last week were the result of research funded by Safe Passage: The I-40 Pigeon River Gorge Wildlife Crossing Project and completed by NCPA and Wildlands Network. The 86-page report explains the results of the multi-faceted research effort required to understand how many animals are dying during road crossings, where those crossings are occurring and how existing road structures correlate to success in safely navigating the gorge. The research focuses on large animals — specifically bear, deer and elk — because they are easiest to study and pose the most danger to human motorists.

THE RESEARCH The research area is a 28-mile portion of Interstate 40 that parallels the Pigeon River and is often bordered by sheer rock walls on the opposite side. The entire area is a wildlife hotspot, with the road cutting through an otherwise remote region that’s home to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Pisgah National Forest and Cherokee National Forest.

To find out how wildlife use the area, researchers set up a series of camera traps.

They established 66 wildlife cameras to monitor 33 400-meter road segments — choosing only segments that did not contain a continuous cut rock cliff — and also set up cameras at 21 roadway structures such as bridges and culverts. Additionally, they fit 13 elk with GPS collars to better understand their movement patterns.

Meanwhile, they sought to understand the magnitude of the wildlife mortality problem.

To do this, they compiled information about wildlife deaths contained in crash report data

Top priority Years of research have informed the following list of highest-priority wildlife road crossing projects recommended for the Pigeon River Gorge.

North Carolina projects: 1. Wilkins Creek Overpass: Construct an overpass over I-40 between Wilkins Creek Box Culvert A and the NCDOT Rest Area. Pursue land acquisition or conservation easements to stabilize the area for wildlife.

2. Single Tunnel Overpass: Construct an overpass extending the existing Single Tunnel land bridge across the rest of I-40.

3. Cold Springs Creek Exit Culverts: Replace the existing culverts on both the entrance and exit ramps with larger structures to facilitate better terrestrial and aquatic wildlife passage.

4. Groundhog Creek: Replace the three small existing culverts with a larger structure suitable for all target species.

Tennessee projects: 1. Waterville Bridge: Add a wildlife-friendly shoulder along the underpass road when the bridge is replaced and consider a future wildlife and pedestrian overpass in this area.

2. Naillon Branch: Replace the existing culvert with a larger structure suitable for all our target species or construct an elkfriendly overpass. Pursue land acquisition or conservation easements to stabilize the area for wildlife.

3. Laurel Hollow: Replace the existing culvert with a larger structure (culvert or small bridge) suitable for all our target species. for 2001-2020. Then from September 2018 through December 2021, researchers conducted weekly driving surveys to augment numbers obtained through crash data.

Over the 20-year period, researchers recorded 336 incidents of wildlife-vehicle collisions, and all indications are that this is an undercount. In 2020, for example, researchers documented 50 wildlife-vehicle collisions — but only one of those was reflected in agency crash reports.

“We could talk about numbers all day,” said Hunter. “The fact of the matter is we know we have a problem.”

Of the 336 dead animals, 304 records contained enough information for further analysis.

Of the 304, the largest number — 55% — were bear, this despite the fact that deer was the most-recorded species on the 66 roadside cameras, accounting for 78% of sightings. Of the cameras set up at the 21 road structures, 86% detected one or more of the target species, with 76% detecting deer, 67% bear and 19% elk.

“I think one of the really interesting findings is that a lot of our mortality is associated with the existing structures,” said Hunter. “It was somewhat counterintuitive until we started peeling back the layers.”

Race Lake Logan

The data showed that the probability of an animal getting hit on the road was higher — not lower — when closer to road structures like bridges and culverts that researchers thought they could potentially be using to help them cross more safely.

The researchers surmised this was because road structures tend to be built in places where the grade is a little gentler or the landscape a little more open.

“That’s where the highway engineers built their interchanges, at the path of least resistance where it was easier to engineer these things, and so the wildlife are compet-

“We could talk about numbers all day. The fact of the matter is we know we have a problem.”

— Jeff Hunter

The lackluster performance of existing road structures leads to the final section of the report — a list of recommendations for new and overhauled road structures that aim to drastically reduce wildlife mortality over the decades to come.

“The encouraging thing to me is as this report goes out, there’s a cultural shift that’s taken place at the (DOT) agency in North

BIRD HOUSE SIGNS!

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different styles to choose from

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Smoky Mountain News

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CUTE COLLECTION of

July 6-12, 2022

ing for the same places where our roads are, because that’s where the least-cost path is,” said Hunter.

The researchers found that wildlife do sometimes use these structures to cross the highway, “but even with structures available along the roadway, wildlife sometimes chose to cross at highway grade, as evidenced by nearby mortality hotspots,” the report says.

This is likely because the location of the structures is right, but the construction is wrong for usefulness as wildlife crossings.

“When this highway was first built decades ago, wildlife wasn’t being considered,” said Dr. Liz Hillard, senior wildlife biologist for the Appalachian Region at Wildlands Network, and lead author of the report. “We now know how detrimental roads are to wildlife and have a tremendous opportunity to use our research to influence positive conservation outcomes on the ground by connecting wildlife habitat.”

Carolina,” said Hunter. “They’re excited about doing this kind of work.”

Hunter points to the planned replacement of five bridges along that stretch of I40 as evidence of that enthusiasm. When the Safe Passage group was mere months into its research, the NCDOT announced it would be replacing the aging structures, leading to a collaborative process with wildlife advocates to ensure the new bridges would include features aimed at allowing large wildlife to cross safely.

Construction is now underway on the first of the five, at Harmon Den. The bridge will include a two-lane underpass made specifically for wildlife, the first such structure in the state.

Safe Passage has previously submitted detailed recommendations for these bridge projects, but the new report highlights the group’s seven overall priorities for the project area — four in North Carolina and three in Tennessee. Bridges aren’t the only items on the list.

In North Carolina, the top four are an overpass between Wilkins Creek and the rest area, an overpass extending the existing Single Tunnel land bridge across the rest of I-40, and new culverts at Cold Spring Creek and Groundhog Creek that will better serve wildlife. In Tennessee, the top goals are a wildlife-friendly shoulder and potential wildlife/pedestrian overpass at Waterville Bridge, and replacement of the culverts at Naillon Branch and Laurel Hollow.

It’s an ambitious list, and Hunter is quick to note that many “ifs” surround its completion.

“This requires feasibility studies by the agency,” he said. “We’re the biologists who made the recommendations, but we’re not highway engineers.”

The gorge contains plenty of unstable geology, so proper engineering analysis will be key to determining if the group’s desired solutions can be implemented. The second challenge will be securing funding. Building a wildlife overpass, for example, costs significantly more than building a basic traffic bridge. However, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes $350 million for pilot projects to reduce wildlife mortality on roads. With a collaborative group already in place to hash out these issues, Hunter is optimistic that Safe Passage could be a competitive candidate for some of those dollars.

“Without collaboration, without partnership, this would not be possible,” said Hunter.

out for more spotted lanternfly and report any finds,” said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler.

Native to northern China, the spotted lanternfly was introduced to Korea in 2004, The first established presence of the invawhere it became a major pest. It was first sive spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) detected in the United States in 2014, in has been confirmed in North Carolina.

Berks County, Pennsylvania. Since then, it has Initial surveys indicate that the pest’s been found in 12 states, including four detecknown distribution is within a 5-mile radius in tions in North Carolina, though all of those Forsyth County near Interstate 40 in were dead adults.

Reproducing infestations Report sightings of the have been found throughout invasive spotted lanternfly at Pennsylvania as well as in ncagr.gov/slf. Donated photo portions of Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, New Jersey, New York, Virginia and West Virginia.

Spotted lanternfly poses a serious threat to the state’s wine and grape industries and can feed on and cause damage to over 70 plants species, including apples, roses and other landscape plants, said Dr. Bill Foote, director Kernersville and extending to the Guilford of the NCDA&CS Plant Industry Division. Early County line, the N.C. Department of detection and rapid response is critical to Agriculture and Consumer Services reports. control the pest, and concentrated surveys are Survey efforts are ongoing. continuing in the initial Forsyth County disThe insect was detected last year near the covery area to determine if the pest is in addiNorth Carolina-Virginia line, and since then tional locations, and treatments took place the DACS has ramped up surveillance in the last week to catch the mated females before state. they begin laying eggs.

“Members of our Plant Industry Division If you see a suspect spotted lanternfly in and the N.C. Forest Service are moving quickly North Carolina submit a picture through the to eradicate this brightly colored pest, and we online reporting tool at ncagr.gov/slf. ask members of the public to be on the look-

outdoors

The 16th annual Lake Logan Multisport Festival is just a month away, with three tri-sport events coming up in Haywood County Aug. 6-7.

The weekend will kick off Saturday, Aug. 6, with a half-ironman race that includes a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride and 13.1-mile run. Then, Sunday, Aug. 7, will offer an international triathlon race — a 1,500-meter swim, 24-mile bike ride and 10-kilometer run — as well as the shorter sprint triathlon, featuring a 500-meter swim, 12-mile bike ride and 5-kilometer run. All events include aquabike and relay categories as well.

If you’re not competing, get up early to watch the athletes swim across the mountain lake before switching into biking and running gear. Anyone driving N.C. 215 and the Bethel area that weekend should plan for delays as they share the route with racers.

Learn more or sign up at gloryhoundevents.com/event/lake-logan-multisport-festival.

Spotted lanternfly arrives in N.C.

Years

Affairs of the Heart

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outdoors

Become a Master Gardener The 2022 Master Gardener class is now forming in Haywood County, with applications

accepted for a 13-week course starting Thursday, Aug. 4.

Training sessions will be held on 13 consecutive Thursday mornings plus one local

field trip to be held on a Saturday morning.

Topics will include soils and fertilizers; lawns and weeds; woody ornamentals; landscaping with native plants; vegetable gardening; pesticide selection and use; insect and disease problem diagnostics; plant identification; integrated pest management; and plant propagation.

Graduates of the program become Master Gardener Volunteers who help the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service provide research-based information to Haywood County residents about lawn, garden and landscape care, with an emphasis on environmental stewardship.

Course cost of $150 covers materials and fees. Candidates must be full-time Haywood County residents and agree to volunteer at least 40 hours in various activities in the 12 months after the class. For more information, contact 828.456.3575 or mgarticles@charter.net.

Serve the Smokies Help the Great Smoky Mountains National Park stay in shape with Smokies Service Days, a series of park-led “worktogethers” on weekends throughout the year.

Volunteers will help park staff complete much-needed work across the park, including invasive plant removal, structural fire prevention and cemetery clean-ups. Each

■ Campground Cleanup 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 10, at Cataloochee Campground. Limited to 15 participants, ages 10 and up.

■ National Public Lands Day, 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 24, at Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont. Limited to 10 participants, ages 12 and up.

■ Fire Prevention in Daisy Town, 9 a.m. to

Volunteer sweep away debris during a structure fire prevention project. Donated photo

Tip a glass to volunteers

July 6-12, 2022

Mainspring Conservation Trust will hold an appreciation happy hour for its volunteers 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 14, at Lazy Hiker Brewery in Franklin.

In addition to toasting their efforts with a cold one, Mainspring will announce its volunteer of the year. RSVP to Rachel at rnewcomb@mainspringconserves.org.

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service day also offers optional enrichment activities with park staff to learn more about the park’s history and biodiversity.

The project schedule for 2022 is: ■ Independence Day Cleanup 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, July 9, at Chimneys Picnic Area. Limited to 15 participants, ages 10 and up.

■ Green Thumb Gardening and Fantastic Fencing, 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, July 30, at Oconaluftee Visitor Center. Limited to 15 participants, ages 12 and up.

■ Campground Cleanup 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Aug. 13, at Smokemont Campground. Limited to 15 participants, ages 10 and up.

■ English Ivy Pull 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Aug. 27, at Elkmont. Limited to 20 participants, ages 16 and up.

Flower arranging class offered Flower grower Meg Thurman will teach a flower arranging class at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 14, in the Atrium at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva.

Thurman is one of the owner/operators of Snake Song Shop, Farm and Co-op and has grown flowers for years. Her arrangements and general aesthetic have been on display throughout the Sylva area.

Free, with space limited. Hosted by the Jackson County Public Library and co-sponsored by Friends of the Jackson County Public Library. Call 828.586.2016 to register.

greatsmokiesstorage.com Celebrate native plants

434 Champion Drive, Canton, NC 28716 21 Hollon Cove Rd, Waynesville, NC 28786 32

noon Saturday, Oct. 15, at Elkmont.

Limited to 15 participants, ages 15 and up.

■ “The Deep Creep” costumed cleanup 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 29, at Deep Creek Picnic Area. Limited to 15 participants, all ages.

■ Veterans Day Cemetery Cleanup, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12, at Whaley-Plemmons Cemetery. Limited to 25 participants, all ages.

Registration is required, with more information about each activity provided closer to the date. Tools and safety gear will be provided, but volunteers should bring their own water and bagged lunch. To register, email grsm_volunteer_office@nps.gov and enter “Smokies Service Days” in the subject line. Include the date and activity you wish to register for, the number of people in your group and the age of each volunteer.

The Cullowhee Native Plant Conference is returning this year, with a full menu of field trips, lectures and walks planned for July 20-23 at Western Carolina University.

Since it was first held in 1984, the conference has been an annual highlight for all

manner of plant enthusiasts, drawing plant lovers and plant experts from across the country to learn about and celebrate Western North Carolina’s native plants.

Conference registration is $145. A new virtual option allows viewing of select sessions via Zoom. Learn more or register at nativeplantconference.wcu.edu.

outdoors

Dr. C. Rhett Jackson works on a stream project. Donated photo

Trace the changes to mountain streams algal-dependent waterways. This causes fish, amphibian and macroinvertebrate communities to become more like those found in the Piedmont. Best Management Practices developed for forestry and agriculture could greatly reduce these negative impacts — but the question is how to encourage these practices in areas with few local tax resources.

The lecture is the second installment in this year’s Zahner Conservation Lecture Series, with free talks held every Thursday at 6 p.m. through Sept. 8. The July 14 lecture is sponsored by Kim and Rich Daugherty. For a full schedule, visit highlandsbiological.org.

, ÔÔ × × (Just not the one you’ve been in for a year)

Go back in time on the Bartram Trail

Join Plastics Free July A documentary calling attention to the problems associated with plastics will be screened at 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 12, at the Canton Branch of the Haywood County Public Library as part of the global Plastics Free July effort.

“The Story of Plastic” is a 90-minute documentary that reveals the facts behind the increase in plastics production, the pollution it causes and the fact that most types of plastics cannot be recycled. The proliferation of plastic has become one of the world’s — and the region’s — most press-

ing environmental problems.

As a follow-up to the screening, a Plastic Reduction Resource Fair will be held 6-7 p.m. Tuesday, July 26, at the library.

Representatives from area organizations dealing with plastic will be available to answer questions and give updates on the issues they cause.

The events are sponsored by WNC Climate Action Coalition and Outdoor Mission Community. For more information about the film showing or for a link to watch it online, contact jennifer.stuart@haywoodcountync.gov. plasticfreejuly.org.

Smoky Mountain News

Learn about the legacy of the Bartram Trail at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 14, at the Macon County Public Library.

Brent Martin, executive director of the Blue Ridge Bartram Trail Conservancy, will present on the trail’s history and the travels of naturalist and artist William Bartram through the Southern Appalachians in the spring of 1775. Martin will also give an overview of the trail today, as well as current issues and projects.

Martin is a writer and the former regional director for The Wilderness Society. He currently runs an eco-tourism business, Alarka Expeditions, with his wife Angela, and recently released a new book, “George Masa’s Wild Vision: A Japanese Immigrant Imagines Western North Carolina.”

July 6-12, 2022

Find out how mountain development impacts valley streams during a lecture at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 14, at the Highlands Nature Center in Highlands.

Dr. C. Rhett Jackson, John Porter Stevens Distinguished Professor of Water Resources at the University of Georgia, will present “Unpaved Roads, Ditches, Missing Riparian Buffers, Fertilization: Why Many Mountain Streams Aren’t Cold, Clean, and Pristine.”

He’ll discuss how low-density rural development in the Blue Ridge Mountains has shifted rural valley streams from wide, complex, shady, cold, clear, leaf litterdependent streams, to narrow, simple, sunny, warm, turbid, nutrient-subsidized,

GET BACK TO A BETTER PLA P CE > VISITNC.COM 33

outdoors

The U.S. Drought Monitor releases new drought maps each Thursday. USDM map

July 6-12, 2022

Dry conditions expand in N.C. The most recent drought map, released Thursday, June 30, showed dry conditions blanketing the state as North Carolina’s second-driest June on record drew to a close.

While the June 23 map showed 69 of North Carolina’s 100 counties facing some level of drought or dryness, only one county — Hyde County — escaped designation in the June 30 map. Moderate and severe

drought is thus far restricted to the eastern part of the state, with all of Western North Carolina designated as abnormally dry.

The map was created based on observations through 8 a.m. June 28.

Thunderstorms over the weekend did return some moisture to the mountains, and that rainfall will be reflected in the next drought map, to be released July 7 at ncdrought.org.

Turkey harvest falters from pandemic highs

In 2022, hunters statewide harvested 20,576 birds, including 1,777 taken during youth season.

This numbers is 4% below the three-year average but well above the 18,730 birds harvested in 2019. The mountain region saw the largest decrease in harvest, with a 13% reduction from the three-year average, compared to 10% for the piedmont and 6% for the coastal region.

For more wild turkey harvest statistics, visit bit.ly/3nvjlvc.

The 2022 turkey harvest came in considerably lower than the record-breaking totals of the past two years yet remained strong compared to pre-2020 levels, according to recently released numbers from the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.

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Consultants wanted for Parkway planning efforts

Smoky Mountain News

The Blue Ridge Parkway is looking for consultants to lead the creation of comprehensive strategic plans for economic development in the 29 counties and dozens of

34

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

towns and cities along the Blue Ridge Parkway corridor in Virginia and North Carolina.

Proposals are due by 4 p.m. Friday, Aug.

5, with any questions about the two requests for proposal to be submitted by 2 p.m. Friday, July 15.

Two grants from the U.S. Economic Development Administration will fund the strategic planning work, which will engage community leaders along the Parkway to determine realistic and effective strategies to enhance tourism and related economic development along the corridor. The project timeline will likely range from nine to 15 months.

Learn more at brpfoundation.org/gatewaycommunityrfp.

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

• The Jackson Arts Market takes place from 1-5 p.m. every Saturday at 533 West Main St. in Sylva with live music and an array of local artists. Babyl Ben Jacobs will play music July 9, David Cheatham will play music July 16.

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

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

• “Peach Jam” will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Saturday, July 16, at Darnell Farms in Bryson City. Food trucks, live music, vendors, bounce houses, kids activities, pie eating contests, and more. For more information, email hotheadevents@gmail.com.

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

KIDS & FAMILIES • Storytime takes place at 10 a.m. every Tuesday at the Macon County Library. For more information visit fontanalib.org or call 828.524.3600.

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

SUPPORT GROUPS • Highlands Mountain View Group holds open A.A. meetings in Highlands at the First Presbyterian Church, 471 Main St., at 5:30 p.m. on Monday and at noon on Wednesday and Friday. The Cashiers Valley Group holds open meetings at the Albert Carlton Cashiers Community Library at 7 p.m. Tuesday, 5 p.m. Friday and Sunday, and at 9 a.m. Saturday. Zoom meetings are available at noon on Monday, at 7 p.m. Monday and Wednesday and at 9 a.m. Saturday (ID# 921 817 2966, password CVG2020). For more information, please visit www.aawnc80.org or to speak with a member of AA 24/7 at 828.349.4357.

• The SHARE Project and RISE Resources in Support of Empowerment bring you Smart Recovery Friends and Family at 6:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of every month in the Haywood Regional Health and Fitness Center Upstairs Classroom.

• Free support meeting for families and friends who are struggling in their relationships with loved ones in addiction. Meetings provide concerned significant others the tools needed to effectively support loved ones without supporting the addictive behavior. These tools help family and friends better cope with loved one’s situation and regain peace of mind. Meetings take place

Smoky Mountain News

n All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted. n To have your item listed email to calendar@smokymountainnews.com from 6-7:30 p.m. every other Thursday at RISE, located at 926 East Main St. in Sylva. More information at www.risewnc.org or 828.477.4136.

Friends (blues/country) July 23. All shows begin at 6 p.m. at the Gazebo in downtown. Free and open to the public. franklinnc.com/pickin-on-the-square.html.

• Saturdays On Pine (Highlands) will host Back Porch Orchestra (blues/rock) July 9 and The Wobblers (Americana/indie) July 16 at Kelsey-Hutchinson Park on Pine Street. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. highlandschamber.org.

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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 health and fitness centers n Civic and social club gatherings

FOOD AND DRINK

A&E

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

Special events will be held when scheduled. mountainmakersmarket.com.

• The Cherokee Summer Carnival will take place from 5-11 p.m. on weekdays and 3-11 p.m. on weekends, June 30 - July 9. For vendor information, call 843-3853180.

• “Flights & Bites” will be held starting at 4 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays at Bosu’s Wine Shop in downtown Waynesville. For more information on upcoming events, wine tastings and special dinners, click on waynesvillewine.com.

their own project and a bag lunch. 828.349.4607 or pm14034@yahoo.com.

• A free wine tasting will be held from 6-8 p.m. every Thursday and 2-5 p.m. every Saturday at The Wine Bar & Cellar in Sylva. 828.631.3075.

• A “Foreign Film Series” will be held at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva. Each month, on the second and fourth Friday, two movies from around the globe will be shown. This program is in the Community Room and is free of charge. To find out what movie will be shown and/or for more information, please call the library at 828.586.2016.

• Take a trip around the world with 4 different wines every Friday 11 a.m.-8 p.m. and Saturday 11a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Bryson City Wine Market. Pick from artisan Charcuterie Foods to enjoy with wines. 828.538.0420 • Cooking classes take place at the McKinley Edwards Inn from 6-8:30 p.m. on Thursday nights. To reserve your spot call 828.488.9626.

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

• Theresa Forman Art Trunk Show will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 9, at Acorns in Highlands. For more information call 828.787.1877.

• Ali & Bird Jewelry Trunk Show will take place from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. July 1 through July 11, at Acorns in Highlands. For more information call 828.787.1877.

• Carringer Farms and Marie’s Custom Ornaments Trunk Show will take place from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Saturday, July 23 at Acorns in Highlands. For more information visit www.oldedwardshospitality.com/calendar-of-events • Front Street Arts & Crafts Show will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 16, in Dillsboro. For more information call 828.506.8331 or visitdillsboro.com.

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

• Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center (Franklin) will host Chatham Rabbits (Americana/folk) 5 p.m. July 16.

Tickets are $15 for adults, $7.50 for children.

828.369.4080 or coweeschool.org/music.

ON STAGE & IN CONCERT • “Footloose: The Musical” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. July 8-9 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, call 866.273.4615 or click on smokymountainarts.com.

• The Chamber Music Society of the Carolinas will take place at 4 p.m. Sundays July 17 and 31, at First United Methodist Church in Waynesville. Season and individual tickets are available online or at the church. For more information visit cmscarolina.com or call 828.400.6465.

• A stage production of the beloved tale “Alice in Wonderland” will be held on select dates throughout this spring at the Mountainside Theatre in Cherokee. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, click on cherokeehistorical.org/alice-in-wonderland.

CLASSES AND PROGRAMS • Southwestern Community College Swain Arts Center will host “Paddle Fans,” an adult workshop, from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday, July 8, in Bryson City. For more information visit southwesterncc.edu/scc-locations/swain-center.

• Fontana Village Resort Wildwood Grill will host Sister Ivy 6 p.m. July 9, Doug Wilhite 5 p.m. July 15 and Granny’s Mason Jar 6 p.m. July 16. Free and open to the public. 800.849.2258 or fontanavillage.com.

• Southwestern Community College Swain Arts Center will host “Letterpress Printing,” an adult workshop, from 1-3 p.m. Wednesday, July 13, in Bryson City. For more information visit southwesterncc.edu/scc-locations/swain-center.

• Friday Night Live (Highlands) will host The Foxfire Boys (Americana) July 8 and Leadfoot Lily (Americana) July 15 at Town Square on Main Street. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. highlandschamber.org.

• Southwestern Community College Swain Arts Center will host “Cherokee Language Printing,” an adult workshop, from 9-11 a.m. Thursday, July 14, in Bryson City.

For more information visit southwesterncc.edu/scclocations/swain-center.

• Marianna Black Library (Bryson City) will host a Community Jam 6 p.m. July 7 and Dusk Weaver (Americana/folk) 7 p.m. July 14. Free and open to the public. 828.488.3030 or fontanalib.org/brysoncity.

ART SHOWINGS AND

• Pickin’ In The Park (Canton) will host Steve Jordan & Mountain Tradition July 8 and Running Wolfe and J. Creek Cloggers July 15. Shows are 6 to 9 p.m. at the Canton Rec Park located at 77 Penland St. Free and open to the public. cantonnc.com.

• Pickin’ On The Square (Franklin) will host Appalachian Smoke (country/bluegrass) July 9 and

GALLERIES • Artists in Residence at Lake Junaluska will host the second annual Associates Art Show from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday, July 30, on the Kern Center porch.

Musicians from the lake will also be there to entertain.

• “Thursday Painters” group will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursdays at The Uptown Gallery in Franklin. Free and open to the public. All skill levels and mediums are welcome. Participants are responsible for

FILM & SCREEN

Outdoors

• Brent Martin will present his new book about George Masa during a reading at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 7, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. To purchase the book or view updated information about events, visit alarkaexpeditions.com.

• The annual Zahner Conservation Lectures will take place at 6 p.m. Thursdays from July 7 to Sept. 1. To view the full lecture lineup, visit highlands biological.org.

• A screening of “The Story of Plastic” will take place at 6 p.m. Tuesdays, July 12 and 26, at the Canton Branch of the Haywood County Public Library. For more information or for a link to watch it online, contact jennifer.stuart@haywoodcountync.gov. plasticfreejuly.org.

• Hike Hemphill Bald to Polls Gap with Haywood County Recreation at 9 a.m. July 13. Registration required, cost is $10. haywoodcountync.gov/222/programs or 828.452.6789 • Hike Sheepback to Purchase Knob with Haywood County Recreation at 9 a.m. July 16. Registration required, cost is $10. haywoodcountync.gov/222/programs or 828.452.6789 • Brent Martin will present his new book about George Masa Sunday, July 17, at Yonder Market in Franklin. To purchase the book or view updated information about events, visit alarkaexpeditions.com.

• Hike Fork Ridge Overlook to Waterrock Knob with Haywood County Recreation at 12:30 p.m. July 17.

Registration required, cost is $10. haywoodcountync.gov/222/Programs or 828.452.6789 • Hike the Flat Creek Trail with Haywood County Recreation at 10 a.m. July 20. Registration required, cost is $10. haywoodcountync.gov/222/Programs or 828.452.6789 • The Highlands Biological Foundation’s annual summer soiree will take place at 6 p.m. Monday, July 18, on the historic ravens property. Tickets are $250. To register, visit highlands biological.org or call 828.526.2221.

FARM AND GARDEN • Flower grower Meg Thurman will teach a flower arranging class at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 14, in the Atrium at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva.

Free, with space limited. Call 828.586.2016 to register.

Market WNC PLACE

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July 6-12, 2022

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WNC MarketPlace

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McGovern Real Estate & Property Management • Bruce McGovern - shamrock13.com RE/MAX Executive - remax-waynesvillenc.com remax-maggievalleync.com • The Real Team - TheRealTeamNC.com • Ron Breese - ronbreese.com • Landen Stevenson- landen@landenkstevenson.com • Dan Womack - womackdan@aol.com • Mary & Roger Hansen - mwhansen@charter.net • David Willet - davidwillet1@live.com • Sara Sherman - sarashermanncrealtor@gmail.com • David Rogers- davidr@remax-waynesville.com • Judy Meyers - jameyers@charter.net

Rob Roland Realty • Rob Roland - RobRolandRealty.com

Smoky Mountain Retreat Realty • Tom Johnson - tomsj7@gmail.com • Sherell Johnson - Sherellwj@aol.com

TO ADVERTISE IN THE NEXT ISSUE

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July 6-12, 2022

828.452.4251 ads@smokymountainnews.com WNC MarketPlace

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SUPER

CROSSWORD

THREE-TO-FIVE FIRST NAMES ACROSS 1 Jason's ship 5 Categorized 12 Schoolboys 16 Actor Ayres 19 Coffee bit 20 Sea cow 21 "Orinoco Flow" singer 22 Yes, to Yvette 23 Pigeonhole the 16th president?

25 Toy-package span 27 1950s politico Stevenson 28 -- -CIO 29 Cut all ties with the star of "Our Miss Brooks"?

31 Sniff the singer of "Coca Cola Cowboy"?

35 Barber's stuff 36 Color shade 37 Senator Cruz 38 -- -bitsy 39 Investigate the director of "Stand by Me"?

43 Barber's stuff 45 Positive vote 46 Writer Blyton 47 Bathe the star of "Caroline in the City"?

53 Didn't include 58 Gate joint 59 Light hit 60 Berg material 62 Bride in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" 63 Hank in the Basketball Hall of Fame 64 Floats in the breeze 67 Make a genetic replica of the star of "The Wolf Man"?

70 Jules Verne captain 72 According to 73 Dawn goddess

74 Boxer Frazier 75 Muscle jerks 76 Mistreat the director of "Splash"?

79 In districts 81 Holy Fr. woman 82 Broadcaster 83 Rumpus 84 Stable feed 85 Pungent pizza topping 87 Quaint street lighter 90 Trample the playwright of "Travesties"?

94 "Me neither" 96 "-- so sorry!"

97 "-- so sorry!"

98 Extort money from the star of "The Europeans"?

103 Rational 105 Prefix related to birds 108 Helps out 109 Whirlpool site 110 Spill hot coffee on baseball's "Iron Man"?

114 Kidnap the star of "Madam Secretary"?

118 Mil. jets' site 119 Indistinct 120 Candy -- (hospital helpers) 121 Contradict the inventor of the cotton gin?

125 Certain pipe shape 126 Provided 127 Retired academics 128 Ladder rung 129 Certain pipe shape 130 Mimicked 131 Halter's cousin 132 Former times DOWN 1 Something super-fun 2 Software instruction file,

often 3 Like houses with pitched roofs 4 Hoops' Shaq 5 Roman 950 6 Chou En- -7 Yearly records 8 Hit resulting in an out and an RBI 9 Absolut rival, for short 10 Sushi roll fish 11 Forest lairs 12 Do not disturb 13 Resident of "la-la land" 14 Batik worker 15 Gilbert of "The Conners" 16 Soho setting 17 Actor Levy 18 Hot dog 24 Mae West's "Diamond --" 26 Intro painting course, say 30 Self-love 32 Be inclined 33 Tingly feeling 34 1974 CIA spoof flick 40 Lubes again 41 Glass edge 42 Piaf of song 43 Phone game, maybe 44 Another time 45 Phone game, maybe 47 Gab, informally 48 African land 49 Infatuates 50 Capital of Canada 51 Moms 52 Sgt., say 54 Flawlessly 55 African land 56 Ballot caster 57 Bedtime hour 61 Delights in 65 Relief sound 66 "Alice" waitress

67 Cape -68 Era upon era 69 Capital of Canada?

71 Law school beginner 73 Like amatory literature 77 Marvelous 78 Radio spots 79 Electric jolt 80 Dimwit 84 "Let's see ..."

86 "Says You!" broadcaster 88 "Eat -- Chikin" (Chick-FilA slogan) 89 Pickle or cure 91 Acorn sources 92 Be inclined 93 Finished 95 Levied, as a tax 98 Droopy-eared hound 99 Diminutive 100 Channel swimmer Gertrude 101 Morales of film and TV 102 McKellen of movies 103 "On Language" columnist William 104 Even though 105 A lot like 106 Wood overlay 107 Composed and ready for printing 111 "The Alienist" novelist Carr 112 "As -- care!"

113 Crooner Cline 115 Women's Open org.

116 Hurdle 117 "Yeah, right" 122 Tall bird 123 164-nation commerce gp.

124 Au courant

ANSWERS ON PAGE 34

38

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July 6-12, 2022

WNC MarketPlace

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July 6-12, 2022

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Smoky Mountain News July 6-12, 2022