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August 22-28, 2018 Vol. 20 Iss. 13

Jackson abolishes consolidated health, DSS agency Page 4 Nitty Gritty Dirt Band to headline Canton Labor Day Page 22

CONTENTS

STAFF

On the Cover: With a grant from the Cherokee Preservation Foundation, Kathi Littlejohn is bringing Cherokee history to life by sharing short videos online at culturally significant locations throughout Western North Carolina. (Page 32)

News Jackson human services board delays director hire ................................................3 Jackson abolishes consolidated health, DSS agency ............................................4 Civil rights advocates call for death of bail bonds ....................................................6 Changes can begin by offering pre-trial services ......................................................7 Knibbs toxicology report released ..................................................................................9 Haywood hires new county manager ........................................................................10 Cat museum plans for larger location ........................................................................12 Ghost Town sale, inspections haven’t happened ..................................................13 ‘Mocking memes’ matter moves forward ..................................................................14 Community Almanac ........................................................................................................17

Opinion Americans know better, even if Trump doesn’t ........................................................18

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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 Barbee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . susanna.b@smokymountainnews.com Amanda Bradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jc-ads@smokymountainnews.com Hylah Birenbaum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . hylah@smokymountainnews.com Scott Collier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . classads@smokymountainnews.com Jessi Stone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jessi@smokymountainnews.com Holly Kays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . holly@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), Gary Carden (writing), Don Hendershot (writing), Susanna Barbee (writing).

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August 22-28, 2018

A&E Nitty Gritty Dirt Band to headline Canton Labor Day ............................................22

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Turkeys played important role in Cherokee culture..................................................47

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Jackson human services board votes to delay director hire Process will proceed after November elections

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New member appointed Alex Stillwell will be the Jackson County Human Service’s Board’s newest member following a unanimous vote from the board Aug. 14.

Stillwell, of Stillwell Engineering, will fill the slot on the board that the state mandates be held by a professional engineer. He replaces Jerry DeWeese, who was appointed to the board when it was created in May but resigned partway through the first meeting in June due to dissatisfaction with the decision to consolidate. both Democrats, were adamantly opposed.

In the November elections, Elders, McMahan and Deitz are up for election, so depending on the outcome the majority could flip.

The consolidated board was created at the May 7 commissioners meeting, with slots filled based on state-mandated requirements and nominations from the then-existing health and social services boards. The new board met for the first time June 11, with multiple members questioning County Manager Don Adams on the mechanics of and rationale for consolidation. Board members said they hadn’t heard any real reasons given for why the consolidation had taken place or anything to indicate the existing boards weren’t doing their jobs just fine.

The board also took issue with commissioners’ intent to hire a new director to oversee the consolidated department. The position would be additional to the existing health and social services director positions and carry a salary range of $74,000 to $145,000, plus benefits. The application period for the position is now closed, with 15 candidates applying for the job.

Board members aren’t the only ones who have voiced concern over the department’s

Board members are appointed by county commissioners from nominees the human services board puts forward. The process is slightly different from that used for other county board appointments, for which nominations typically come from the commissioners themselves. Commissioners voted to appoint Stillwell during their Aug. 6 meeting before realizing that the initial nomination should have come from the human services board.

However, board members said they were happy with the choice, and County Manager Don Adams assured the board commissioners would follow the correct process going forward. future. Henry Dowling, who has been involved with the Jackson County Department of Social Services for decades, as an employee and upon his retirement as a volunteer, gave public comment to that effect Aug. 14.

“Like with the popular song a few years ago ‘Just Get Over It,’ I may be having trouble getting over the Jan. 29 meeting where 11 really knowledgeable people went before the commissioners and gave well thought-out, well-stated reasons why this should not take place, the consolidation,” Dowling said. “Of course, it did. I understand that. My concern has been to date as far as I know we’ve never gotten any specific reasons for why exactly this was done.”

LOOKING FOR ANSWERS McGuire made a motion during the June 11 meeting as well, asking that commissioners write a letter explaining their reasons for the consolidation. The move passed 8 to 3, with Luker, Bill Mobley and Board Chair Kathy Farmer opposed. However, commissioners responded that, because the consolidation vote was split and each commissioner likely had his own reasons for voting one way or another, it wouldn’t be appropriate to

Smoky Mountain News

A SPLIT DECISION The vote to consolidate came following a Jan. 29 public hearing that drew 11 community speakers — the speakers included current and former professionals, volunteers and board members with the health and social services departments — all of them opposed to consolidation. The vote split cleanly along party lines, with Republican commissioners Ron Mau, Charles Elders and Luker favoring consolidation, while Chairman Brian McMahan and Commissioner Boyce Deitz,

Commissioner Mickey Luker, a member of the human services board, explains the reasons for consolidation. Holly Kays photo

August 22-28, 2018

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ight months have passed since the Jackson County Commissioners voted to merge the county’s health and social services departments, but members of the Consolidated Human Services Board newly created to oversee the consolidated department are still holding out hope that the decision will be reversed. During its Aug. 14 meeting, the board voted to delay hiring a director for the merged department until after the November elections.

“They might be hired for a period of a month or two and if the election goes a certain way, it could be that this is rescinded,” said board member Dr. David McGuire, who made the motion to delay the hire.

That wouldn’t be fair to the candidate, who would have uprooted his or her life to take the job, and if the job came with some sort of extended contract, it wouldn’t be fair for the taxpayers who would foot the bill to buy it out, McGuire said.

Vice Chair Charles Wolfe seconded McGuire’s motion, adding that with all the well-documented contention surrounding the consolidation the county might wind up with a better pool of applicants if it waits to hire somebody until the issue is better settled.

“My thought is it could affect somebody’s decision,” Wolfe said. “Because of the uncertainties in that situation they might decide they don’t want to take that risk.”

Of the 11 board members present, 10 voted to delay the hire, with County Commissioner Mickey Luker, who sits on the board and voted in favor of consolidation, the sole opposing vote. In a follow-up phone call, he said he was frustrated with the decision and sees it as evidence of the board falling down on the job they are charged to carry out.

“Basically by the charter that was set forth by the board of commissioner for that board, they had a job to do and they have just been delaying this and delaying it,” Luker said by phone. “They just did not fulfill the request of the board of commissioners.”

write a letter like the one requested. The human services board in turn replied with a July 10 vote to ask the three commissioners who voted for consolidation to send a representative to share some common reasons for the decision.

During an Aug. 14 work session held the afternoon before the human services board’s evening meeting, commissioners asked Luker, who is also a member of the Human Services Board, to fulfill that request.

Luker gave each board member a sheet of paper that listed three bullet points. He said that consolidation would “help maintain, streamline, strengthen and when possible improve services to our most vulnerable citizens,” “facilitate the implementation of coordinated services between the Health Department and Social Services,” and create “a system that will be responsible to its citizens in both accountability and in service delivery.”

“Coordinated services,” Luker said, could include legal, finance and IT positions.

There was no discussion following Luker’s listing of reasons, but he encouraged board members to reach out to individual commissioners with any follow-up questions.

Later in the meeting, board member Dr. Cliff Faull asked Social Services Director Jennifer Abshire to list any areas of overlap in social services and health department services that could be bolstered through consolidation. “(Health Director) Shelley (Carraway) and I have been talking about this for a while, but since they’re moving out of their building it’s not a good time. But maybe station a food stamp worker over there and put a WIC worker in our office,” Abshire replied. “That’s the only thing I can think of right now, and we’ve been talking for some time.”

McGuire also questioned Adams, Carraway and Abshire closely as he went lineby-line through the state law that outlines the function of consolidated departments like Jackson’s and in particular the role of the director. According to state statute, the director of the consolidated department will administer human services programs, plan the budget and perform regulatory functions, among other duties.

“They will take care of the things you two are taking care of now?” McGuire asked Carraway and Abshire.

“My understanding is they will just make sure we are doing that, like any good boss,” Abshire answered, adding that the new director would likely be responsible for putting together agendas for board meetings.

McGuire also expressed concern about how the extra layer of administration could affect overall communication in county government, likening it to a game of telephone where the message is slightly altered with each telling. But Adams responded that there’s already a chain of command in place — the new system wouldn’t be that much different.

“There’s always the chance for miscommunication. That’s in any setting. But I’m also trying to explain to you that we already have a very similar chain of command here,” Adams said.

“I hear what you’re saying,” McGuire replied. “I’m just saying when we get this person we’ll have one more layer in this thing. I get what you’re saying.”

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news

Jackson abolishes consolidated health, DSS agency County manager says issue has become politicized

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR ackson County commissioners are back to square one after voting to abolish the newly consolidated human services agency and its newly seated board Monday night.

Just as the vote to consolidate the health and social services departments back in January, the vote to dissolve was split 3 to 2 with the three Republicans on the board — Charles Elders, Mickey Luker and Ron Mau — in favor and Democrats Brian McMahan and Boyce Deitz opposed.

Luker, who has been the main proponent of the consolidation since being elected in 2016, introduced two resolutions during the meeting — one to abolish the new board as well as the consolidated agency and the other to authorize the board of commissioners to assume all powers and duties of the county’s board of health and board of social services.

The split vote followed public comment and a lengthy debate regarding the controversial consolidation process and questions about how best to move forward given that the issue had become so politicized in the community. Luker’s proposed resolutions came just days after the human services board voted at its Aug. 14 meeting to delay hiring a director of the new consolidated department until after the Nov. 6 election.

With Elders, McMahan and Deitz all up for election this fall — and Luker running against McMahan for the chairman seat — the board didn’t want to hire a new position that a new commission could potentially do away with in a few months.

August 22-28, 2018

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Jackson County commissioners discuss the future of the consolidated human services agency and board. Jessi Stone photo Jerry DeWeese, who resigned from the human services board during its first meeting, said Luker only introduced the resolutions because he wasn’t happy about the decision to delay the hiring process.

“Last Tuesday, Mickey did not get the answer he wanted from the consolidated board that he conceived. This week he wants to dissolve the board and have you assume their duties,” DeWeese said during the Monday meeting. “This week he believes that you five commissioners can do a better job than 15 skilled and passionate professionals?

Removing authority from one’s critics in Jackson County smells a lot like what is happening on a national level. Also, just a year ago, you all stated that you did not want to assume the role of these two boards. Why the change now?”

DeWeese further accused Luker of trying to circumvent the process simply because

members of the new board were demanding explanation as to why he and the two other Republican commissioners wanted to consolidate two well-functioning agencies in the first place.

“Mickey, please just go ahead and tell everyone that you have already picked out your human services director to help you fulfill your hidden agenda and want to get him seated with a long contract before the November election. You just have to sit through some pesky interviews first,” he continued.

Carol Ann Cope, a retired county social services employee, said she didn’t understand why consolidation was moving forward when no one from the public or within the departments supported the move or could see any benefit to it. Even when Luker was asked to attend the human services board meeting to give an explanation, Cope said he couldn’t give any good reasoning.

HealthPATH

“That astounded and deeply concerned me. You should know what your reasons were at that meeting,” she said. “Commissioner Elders, I know you want to do what’s best for the county … in this case I think its frighteningly clear someone is being misled about what the benefits will be.”

County Manager Don Adams then gave the board a summary of the Aug. 14 human services board meeting in which the members still had many questions regarding their role and the overall process of hiring a director for the consolidated agency.

“Where do we stand right now?” Elders asked Adams. “What is the next move?”

Adams said it’s a hard question to answer given the controversial nature of the issue. He said he feared the consolidation had become too politicized, which puts his staff in a difficult position when trying to carry out the wishes of the board and

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Smoky Mountain News

Teachers across North Carolina want to alert state leaders that the momentum from the May 16 Rally for Respect will be channeled into specific strategies to bring about NC legislative action.

On Aug. 24, teacher leaders representing Red4EdNC, a nonprofit, non-partisan organization of North Carolina teachers,

will lead town hall/press conferences in eight locations across the state, including Macon County, Asheville, Winston-Salem, Charlotte, Durham, Raleigh, Goldsboro and Greenville.

Macon County’s press conference will be held at 5 p.m. in front of the Macon County Courthouse.

Teachers have invited state elected leaders from the surrounding areas to receive a signed copy of the “Declaration in Defense of NC’s Public Schoolchildren.”

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August 22-28, 2018

Teachers to lead town hall

gave for the consolidation was ridiculous and that there wasn’t a problem with departments until Luker and Mau came up with a problem.

Luker said he hadn’t made any board decisions political and that his push for consolidation came after hearing from people in the community and trying to find a solution to streamline services and improving county services. He said he’d spent multiple hours in Haywood, Stokes and Graham counties talking to directors about their consolidation process.

“There’s no denying we have two good agencies but something’s not broke, don’t fix it — if we played everything in life by that we wouldn’t win a whole lot of ballgames either,” he said. “Always looking for ways we can improve our services.”

Luker then made a motion to approve the two resolutions abolishing the consolidated agency and board and giving authority for commissioners to assume authority over health and social services boards.

Commissioner Mau seconded the motion and then gave his thoughts on the issue. He said he’s already received positive feedback about the consolidated services and believes it can save the county money in the long run just as it has for Buncombe County.

McMahan asked County Attorney Heather Baker if a public hearing was required before dissolving the agency and board.

Baker said, in her opinion, that it would be wise to hold a public hearing before taking a vote on the resolutions.

“To avoid any legal ramifications and to go extra mile to be transparent, the best option is to hold public hearing and then take action on these resolutions,” McMahan said, asking Luker if he wanted to amend his motion.

Luker said he wouldn’t amend his motion. He said there were varying legal opinions on the issue, but no case law providing a clear-cut directive.

McMahan said he still believes consolidation isn’t needed in Jackson County.

“I didn’t see any reason to change. Yes, there’s always an opportunity to dream about saving a dollar here and there but at the end of the day it’s all hypothetical. We may end up spending more money,” he said. “But I have not politicized this — I haven’t asked a single board member to vote one way or another and you’ll never find a record of me trying to politicize it.”

Luker’s resolutions passed 3 to 2 with McMahan and Deitz opposed. The resolutions are effective immediately.

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constantly fielding questions and resistance from the human services board.

“This whole process in my mind has become politicized. It’s openly being discussed about what may or may not occur in the next election. As manager representing the staff, it’s a position we don’t need to be in,” Adams said. “I’m not sure how we proceed forward, Charles.”

Elders said there was no place for politics when it comes to services provides by the health department and social services.

Though accused of just voting along party lines, Elders said meeting minutes would show his record of voting with the Democrats when it was for the betterment of the county.

He also said he did his research and saw the potential benefits of consolidation before making his decision.

“It bothers me the board we appointed went against us. I don’t want to be political in this deal at all,” he said.

There was a long silence before Commissioner Deitz spoke up.

“I don’t remember the board asking to do away with the consolidated board — they asked to wait for the election,” he said.

“There’s no use hiring someone for several weeks and bringing their family in and the election change it and a new board decides another route. Seems like common sense.”

Adams said he wasn’t sure how to move forward with the process at this point.

“Why would we even continue to meet if there’s a chance we’re going to remove it all anyway,” he asked. “I’m not sure I want to move forward at all until the election. It’s hard to proceed on and act like it’s not happening.”

Luker finally spoke up, expressing his distain for the way the process had been politicized by fellow commissioners and members of the human services board. He said a decision by the board whether unanimous or not should be the directive to push forward.

“It’s disturbing the fact you sat right over there and drew on a white board and said, ‘I sure hope political aren’t involved in this decision’ and it’s become nothing but a political battle — which is shameful,” Luker said to Deitz. “They did a political debate and pandering of promises that could end up being broken promises … that’s just not right.”

“I don’t care if I get a vote in this whole county,” Deitz shot back at Luker. “I’m not politicking with this. This thing is something that was brought up simply because — they ain’t nobody knows why we’re doing this.”

He went on to say the reasoning Luker

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news August 22-28, 2018

Case study: Durham County

Changes can begin by offering pre-trial services

Smoky Mountain News

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR he Durham County Detention Facility opened in the summer of 1996 with a capacity of 576 single cells. By 2005, the jail was at or over capacity a majority of the time.

“That’s when we started our pre-trial services. Now our jail population has gone down by 20 percent. We don’t have an overcrowding problem and our average daily population is lower than it has been since the jail opened,” said Gudrun Parmer, director of the Criminal Justice Resource Center in Durham County. “We can’t reduce the cost of the jail itself — most of that cost is fixed — but we are 15 years past the point where the county started talking about building a new one so we’re saving future costs.”

The work involved to get to those results hasn’t been quick or easy, but Parmer said the payoff has been worth it for the county.

The Criminal Justice Resource Center in Durham County has been in place since the late 1990s when the General Assembly passed reforms that put more uniform sentencing in place for felony convictions. The state reform also included grant funding for most counties to allow them to provide services to people being sentenced under the new grid.

With more state reform coming out of the 6 General Assembly in 2011, the original grant

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funding that helped establish the Durham resource center was done away with, but efforts have continued and programming has increased to provide services to people throughout the criminal justice system.

“In Durham, our community has grown well beyond that original program. We have services for people from the pre-arrest diversion programs all the way to our local reentry program for when people are released,” Parmer said.

The center still goes after a number of grants each year, especially if it’s looking to start a new program, but Durham County funds the programs that are deemed a success after a good trial run. A consolidated county criminal justice department also helps to save money.

“If we add a program, we don’t have to add administration — it’s more cost effective and we have a seamless system at this point for the adult population,” she said.

PRE-TRIAL SERVICES The pre-arrest diversion program is targeted for first-time offenders ages 16 to 21 for misdemeanor charges. Instead of being arrested, the person has 90 days to complete a community diversion program based on their individual assessment and needs. If the person completes the program, the incident report is closed out and the offense doesn’t show up on the person’s record. If the person doesn’t complete the program, the arresting officer can proceed with criminal charges and prosecution.

The resource center’s pre-trial services also include being inside the jail to screen everyone being booked using a standard assessment tool — this process allows resource center staff to provide judges with the most accurate information summary about each person when they have their day in court. Judges also utilize the resource center when it comes to

THE COST OF CONFINEMENT setting a person’s bail — sometimes a judge will turn the case over to the resource center for supervision in lieu of setting a money bond or sometimes it’s a combination of a money bond and supervision.

The substance abuse and the mental health court diversion programs inside the jail have also been helpful in keeping the inmate populations down while getting people the help they need.

“We have the most extensive mental health services in any jail in North Carolina — we have a whole team of people,” Parmer said.

The team works with inmates who’ve been diagnosed with severe or persistent mental illness to get them on the right medication, getting support while in jail and helping them connect with community health services once they released. The Mental Health Court allows people with mental illness to go through support services in lieu of a formal court process.

The same goes for people suffering from

drug addiction — if they complete the program the district attorney will drop the charges.

Durham County even has re-entry services to help people get back on their feet after they are released from jail in hopes of cutting down on high recidivism rates. The resource center’s team of caseworkers is on hand to help people find housing, employment, get medications, food and clothing. These services are typically available for two to six months after release to ease the transition.

Parmer has found that most people being released from jail don’t know where to turn for assistance and often times they’re in a worse position than when they were arrested. They could have lost their job, their children and any other stability they had in the community.

“We also connect people that have no support system with a faith-based group that will then become their support system when they’re released,” she said. “People just need somebody to help them maneuver the system. They need to know and see what it’s like to lead a life without drugs — it’s not always glamorous.”

More recently the resource center received a grant through the MacArthur Foundation to develop a notification system to remind people of their court date. This is one method local jurisdictions are testing to see if the money bond system can be replaced.

“With the IT department, we developed a web app where people can sign up for court reminders. It’s free and it was developed in a way that it could be used by any county in North Carolina,” Parmer said. “We started it a year ago and utilization is rising steadily.

We have about a third of our cases on there for reminders. The grant is finished but we’re continuing it. It’s a customer service thing that really the state and the courts should be providing.”

If the notifications can get more people to their court date, then the system would be less bogged down with failure to appear charges and subsequent bench warrants, revoked bonds, deputy and police having to find and bring people in a second time, and higher incarceration rates. The cost associated with failure to appear charges falls on the local taxpayers.

“It’s not easily analyzed statewide, but I’d say probably 10 percent of people in criminal District Court in Durham don’t show up,” she said. “If you’re picked up on a failure to appear, it’s a county cost and a tremendous amount of paper work for the state to process.”

MAKING PROGRESS The tangible success is that Durham County has decreased its jail population by 20 percent and isn’t looking to spend millions in the immediate future to build a new detention center. Also, the resource center’s diversion programs have had a 90 percent success rate, meaning only 10 percent of clients return on another arrest.

Parmer said there have been even more anecdotal successes that have come out of offering more services. The employment program finds tem-

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“If you look at trends of the use of money bonds you’re likely to see most charges now are given money bond and not just a citation,” she said. “And if a person of color is arrested they’re more likely to have a higher bond and are basically entering into loan agreements they’ll have to pay back for years to a bondsman.”

Becker and others also point to the impact pretrial incarceration has on a person and their families. If someone can’t make their bail, they are either forced to use a bail bondsman, put up collateral and pay 10 to 15 percent of the total bail that they won’t ever get back or they can sit in jail waiting for their day in court. Depending how long someone is waiting, they can lose their job and family sta-

bility in the meantime.

“We need to start emptying the jails, saving money and putting families back together,” Becker said. “I think part of the problem is we equate failure to appear with flight, but that’s not always the case. When there’s no public transportation, or the person is homeless and doesn’t have a steady home to receive mail, sometimes they just physically can’t get to court.”

People held pretrial can also find themselves in a more desperate situation when they’re released than when they were arrested, which makes them more likely to end up back in jail.

“Just a few days in jail increases the likelihood of new criminal activity and those held pretrial are much more likely to be convicted, receive incarceration sentences and longer sentences,” Burdeen said.

Once someone gets a failure to appear charge, a bench warrant is issued and that person can have his or her bond revoked and be placed right back in jail — creating a vicious cycle of incarceration and more paperwork for the court system to process.

Offering court date notifications is just one of many pre-trial services that counties could implement as a way to cut down on failures to appear in court as well as keep the average daily inmate population down at local jails. Those services definitely come at a cost, but advocates say it’s no more expensive than what counties are spending to fund overcrowded jails and more law enforcement officers to manage the jails. At least by offering more rehabilitation services, Becker said, you hope to improve recidivism rates.

“We need more judicial education. These practices have been going on so long that people don’t realize it’s not the constitutional

way to be done,” she said. “We need to be figuring out new practices because spending $100 a night to jail someone who isn’t a public danger and isn’t a flight risk just doesn’t make any sense. Why wouldn’t we want to use that money for job training, life skill training and support services?”

Becker said having a pretrial services department would give judges and attorneys an alternative to bonds because the pretrial staff could offer supervision on cases where it’s warranted. Pretrial Justice Institute found that pretrial supervision costs about $7.17 a day compared to the average cost of incarceration, which is about $75 a day.

So why aren’t more jurisdictions moving toward offering pretrial services with less emphasis on money bonds? Becker thinks the bail bondsmen industry, which has a powerful PAC in most states, is keeping legislators from passing bail reform.

“A huge component is the bail industry — we’ve had state legislatures that are attached to the bonds industry and are looking out for their best interest,” she said.

Even without state reform, Burdeen said everyone from law enforcement, magistrates and prosecutors have the ability to decrease the use of money bonds.

“Are public defenders at these bond hearings when someone’s liberty is at stake? Are prosecutors reviewing these cases to make sure they’re not over-charging someone? That needs to be reviewed immediately and not a month or two later when the DA reviews it and decides to reduce charges,” she said.

Recovering addicts are also becoming leaders in these programs, whether it’s through NA or by becoming a peer specialist at the resource center.

“Some people we have connected to the faith community are now working as a coordinator for a program,” she said.

“We’ve established peer support positions because we know that someone who has gone through the system can provide much better insight and connect better to our clients.”

The biggest improvement the resource center has made is moving people more quickly and efficiently through the system by providing them with the services they need to work toward rehabilitation and stabilization.

“The real impact we have is having services along the continuum to help them move forward,” Parmer said.

Her advice to other counties just getting started on trying to rein in overcrowded jails is to start by examining the jails — knowing

who’s in the jail, what they’re charged with and how long they’ve been incarcerated.

“Start with a data analysis and begin looking for easy opportunities — lower level cases — for release. Ask is it worthwhile for your community to lock someone up for a week for shoplifting because they can’t post a $500 bond. We need to ask ourselves if we can give someone a citation and still charge them without arresting and booking them,” she said. “We need to make sure we’re locking people up for the right reasons.”

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“Spending $100 a night to jail someone who isn’t a public danger and isn’t a flight risk just doesn’t make any sense.”

— Cristina Becker, public defender

Next week The Smoky Mountain News will take a closer look into the role of magistrate judges in Western North Carolina as well as the bail bondmen industry in North Carolina.

Smoky Mountain News

porary positions in the county government for people released from jail. The resource center’s clients can work with a department full time for six months at $15 an hour. At the end of the six months, Parmer said many have been hired on permanently as a county employee. She’s stopped seeing many of the same people struggling with mental health or addiction coming back into the jail time and time again. People who’ve gone through the substance abuse program are still attending NA meetings some 20 years later.

• When a person is arrested, they ordinarily have a right to seek temporary release from custody through a process of “making bail” or “posting bond.”

• The terms “bail” and “bond” get tossed around frequently. The difference between bond and bail is the source of money. Both terms allow a criminal defendant to get out of jail and enjoy temporary freedom while awaiting the next court appearance. The difference between the two terms hinges on who is posting the money and what is offered as payment.

• Bail is usually some form of property, generally in the form of cash or cash substitute, deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail. The property is held by the court until all the proceedings are over.

• A bond can be set if someone doesn’t have the money to make their bail. A secured bond is when a third party, a bail bondman, agrees to be responsible for the debt of the defendant.

The bondsmen charges usually 10-15 percent of the bail amount up front and keeps it regardless of whether the defendant appears in court. The bail bondsman pays the court part of the total bail.

August 22-28, 2018

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR he use of bail bonds dates back centuries as a means to settle disputes peacefully and to ensure a defendant shows up to court by having a friend or family member agree to pay the debt if the accused flees.

Around the turn of the 20th century, commercial bail bondsmen started popping up across the U.S. and today it is a billion dollar industry. Civil rights groups and criminal justice reform advocates are pushing for jurisdictions to do away with what they call an outdated and unconstitutional practice, claiming bail bonds simply punish the poor for being poor.

“It’s not constitutional because it’s not taking the defendant’s financial circumstances into account,” said Cristina Becker, a public defender in North Carolina and a Criminal Justice Debt Fellow with the ACLU of North Carolina. “If a magistrate doesn’t find them to be public danger or a flight risk, they should be released pretrial.”

Becker said there’s no good research that shows a connection between getting a bond and showing up for court. What a bond does do, she said, is keep poor people in jail before their court date because they can’t afford the bail — whether it’s $250 or $1,000.

Reform advocates claim the use of money bonds is one of the biggest factors in overcrowded rural jails and is driving up the cost of incarceration for county governments.

According to the Pretrial Justice Institute, people who have not been found guilty of charges against them account for 95 percent of the jail population growth between 20002014. Rural jails in the U.S. spend an estimated $14 billion every year to detain people who have not yet been convicted.

While sheriffs don’t have any say over how a magistrate judge sets a bail and/or bond, Macon County Sheriff Robert Holland offered a little insight into what he sees regarding the practice. In his experience, he said high bonds are reserved for repeat offenders who pose a public safety risk. First

Bond vs. Bail news

Civil rights advocates call for death of bail bonds

time offenders are usually given an unsecured bond, which means they only owe the money if they fail to appear in court.

Holland has also seen a number of people who could make their bail but choose not to be released pretrial because they plan to plead guilty and will get credit for time served when they go before the judge for sentencing.

“A lot of the time it’s a waiting game because they know they’ll get credit for time served. They’re afraid if they get out pretrial and then are later convicted, they’ll get sentenced to prison instead of jail,” he said.

Becker and others say there are effective alternatives to getting people to show up for their court date that doesn’t involve a transaction of money, which is why she thinks all counties should have a pretrial services department to work hand in hand with the criminal justice system.

“We don’t need to take the brutal approach. We’ve seen it work in other counties — if someone gets a text message 24 to 48 hours before their court date, they’re more likely to show up,” she said. “Mecklenburg County had a 90-percent show up rate after making that change.”

Cherise Burdeen, CEO of Pretrial Justice Institute, said the use of money bonds has increased over the years. While it used to be reserved for felonies, now it’s also commonly issued for low-level misdemeanors as well.

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A place where everyone can play

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER ost playgrounds aren’t accessible to children with physical or cognitive challenges; what’s worse, those kids are often left on the sidelines when their peers of average ability hit the slides, swings and sandboxes.

But not in Waynesville.

“We applied for several grants, and we were very successful in getting those. The entire idea quickly gained a lot of momentum from a lot of people and organizations and just coalesced very easily,” said Rhett Langston, Waynesville’s recreation director.

He’s talking about Waynesville’s new allabilities playground, where a group of supporters gathered for an official ribbon cutting on Aug. 16.

“What really kicked it off was, we were able to get Connect N.C. bond funds, which is designed to help veterans or those with special needs. If I remember correctly, that paid for $92,000 out of $155,000,” Langston said. “That kind of kicked it off, and then we got a grant from the Evergreen Foundation, Waynesville Kiwanis, even the company that we got the equipment from, they donated a piece of equipment.”

To say the idea was popular is an understatement; Waynesville won a Kiwanis online voting competition with more than twice the votes of the second place finisher, but in the end wasn’t awarded playground funding by the group, although it did end up making a donation.

Smoky Mountain News

August 22-28, 2018

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“I never had build a playground specifically like this, so we asked people in the community who had professional expertise or as parents who could tell us exactly what they would like to have,” he said.

The playground, located off Vance Street where an old ball field once stood, has an ADA-compliant sidewalk perimeter and is bisected by a spongy, forgiving surface called pour n’ play.

“We didn’t do the entire thing because it is very expensive, but this will give them access to any of the components of the playground,” he said.

Attractions include three musical instruments — two drums and a kind of xylophone — along with a slide that has rollers on it, as well as another item children can pull themselves through that also has rollers.

“The entire idea quickly gained a lot of momentum from a lot of people and organizations and just coalesced very easily.”

Maggie Garrett (right) helps Haywood County Schools Physical Therapist Mary Beth Brown cut the ribbon on Waynesville’s new all-abilities playground. Soft, spongy surfaces surfaces and smooth plastic shapes like on the carousel (below) make it easy for kids of all abilities to play together. Cory Vaillancourt photos

— Rhett Langston, Waynesville recreation director

“And, the zip lines,” he said. “Those were all specifically designed for the playground.”

A proposed second phase still needs funding.

“The price of that is right about $135,000 and it will attach right beside this playground,” he said. “Same concept.”

Given the first phase’s popularity, a second would be just as welcome as the first.

“I can’t say this for a fact, but from what I’ve been told,” he said, “this is the only one of its kind within a 90-mile radius.”

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Knibbs toxicology report released

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Smoky Mountain News

Rep. Mike Clampitt, R-Bryson City, announced that the Haywood County Town Hall is set for 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 28, at the Haywood County Public Library in Waynesville.

The Town Halls for Jackson and Swain County, which will be held in September and October respectively, will be announced at a later date.

August 22-28, 2018

Clampitt to hold Haywood Town Hall

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District Attorney Greg Newman confirmed earlier this week that the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of North Carolina released its toxicology report concerning Michael Scott Knibbs, who was shot by Macon County Sheriff ’s Deputy Anthony Wade Momphard, Jr. on April 30, after Knibbs aimed a loaded shotgun at the deputy.

The toxicology report shows that Knibbs’ blood alcohol level at the time of the incident was 0.23, almost three times the legal limit of 0.08 when driving a car.

“This information makes no difference in my original determination that Deputy Momphard was justified in his use of force.

But the level of alcohol in Mr. Knibbs’ body gives some explanation as to his behavior on the night in question,” Newman said.

“He (Knibbs) was belligerent with a young man who stopped at his home looking for the neighbor’s house. Knibbs then placed boards in the roadway on Pheasant Drive and no one in the Knibbs’ household responded to Deputy Momphard’s initial door knocks and announcement that he was with the Sheriff ’s Office. On the deputy’s second attempt at approaching the Knibbs’ home, he again announced himself and heard someone ‘rack’ a round in a shotgun. He yelled at least three times for the person to put the gun down, but then saw the barrel of the shotgun pointed at his head. It was at that point that he fired on the person with the gun, which turned out to be Mr. Knibbs.

“The alcohol level found in Mr. Knibbs’ body is significant. Most doctors have told me that at a 0.20 someone is either passed out or unable to walk. At a 0.23, Mr. Knibbs would have been intoxicated and this may explain his actions that led to the request for assistance from the sheriff ’s department. At any rate, loaded guns and large quantities of alcohol consumption are not a good combination,” Newman added.

Newman cleared Momphard of any criminal liability on Aug. 1 and was found to be justified in his use of force in the incident.

Macon County Sheriff Robert Holland will determine when Momphard will return to active patrol.

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Moving the freight:

the mountains. Our elevation isn’t as high as Haywood’s — not many are — but the Appalachian Trail runs through it, and we have Jefferson National Forest, so I grew up as a mountain guy.

When this position opened up and I was able to apply and get the job, it was like a dream come true because that’s a place that feels like home to me. I’m not a person to go to downtown Charlotte, go to fancy restaurants and things, I’m at heart a mountain guy, and that’s one of the reasons I applied for the job in Haywood.

New Haywood manager driven to serve

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER fter nearly a year without a permanent county manager, Haywood County commissioners voted unanimously Aug. 20 to extend an offer to Assistant Gaston County Manager Bryant E. Morehead.

“For all of us there was only one choice, and after the interviews, and the second interview continued to lead us that way, we knew we had somebody that’s really interested in Haywood County and wants to be here,” said Commissioner Mike Sorrells.

Morehead, 43, is expected to start Oct. 1 and earn $145,000 a year, about the same as former County Manager Ira Dove did when he resigned in October 2017.

Prior to his current role, Morehead has served almost exclusively within Gaston County, first as a budget analyst in 2003, then as assistant budget director from 2003 to 2006. He was named interim budget director in 2006 and then filled the permanent budget director role from 2007 to 2014, when he became the county’s director of financial services.

Originally from Bland County, Virginia, Morehead earned a bachelor’s degree in history at Concord University in Athens, West

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Virginia, and expects to complete his master’s thesis in 2019 for Virginia Tech.

“We did follow up with all his references as well, and all the references came back exceptionally high. This guy was number one on paper before we even interviewed anybody,” said Commissioner Brandon Rogers, who told The Smoky Mountain News on Aug. 1 that it wasn’t just about paper, but also about chemistry.

“After we talked to them as well, he still came up as the number one guy. I think he’ll be a great fit for the people here in Haywood County,” Rogers said just before the vote.

“I’ve interviewed a lot of people over the years with the school system, but I’ve never interviewed this number of quality candidates before,” said Commissioner Bill Upton. “We are in a win-win situation.

People really do want to come to Haywood County to work, and our candidate comes from the big city and wants to be in our environment. That’s the kind of people we want.”

And Upton couldn’t be more right — Morehead will actually take a small pay cut to work for Haywood County, but as an avid fisherman, skeet shooter and chef, it’s probably a fair trade off.

The Smoky Mountain News caught up

SMN: What was your familiarity with Haywood County before all this?

BM: I knew where it was. I’d been to downtown Waynesville one or two times. I like to go out exploring. I did quite a bit of research after I applied for the job. Since the middle of May I’ve been up five or six times.

Assistant Gaston County Manager Bryant Morehead is Haywood’s new county manager.

Donated photo

with Morehead the morning of Aug. 21 by phone to learn more about the man who says he’s driven to serve.

Smoky Mountain News: You were raised in Bland County, Virginia. That sounds like a lively place.

Bryant Morehead: It’s actually much smaller than Haywood County. Bland is about 6,500 people, give or take. We’re in

SMN: Commissioners told us that they did two rounds of interviews. Sounds like they did a little bit more than that.

BM: No, this was just on my own. I wanted to do my homework. Before I decided to make a move like this I wanted to do the due diligence and say, “Can this be home?” You can tell from my resume, I don’t want to move jobs. I want to go to a place, work hard and deliver services and I wanted to make sure that it was a good fit, but I only met with the board twice.

SMN: Commissioners talked a lot about chemistry before hiring you.

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August 22-28, 2018

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— Bryant Morehead

BM: I think we had some good conversations about their philosophies and I felt really good about it. When I got called back for the second interview, I felt a little more at ease and I think that I got to know them a little bit better. I think it was during that second interview the job felt even more right.

SMN: Tell me one question they asked you that you weren’t anticipating.

BM: They asked a question about ethical dilemmas, and how you handle those, if there was one you’d like to have back and handle differently. That question makes you really reflect back. I’ve always said, playing sports growing up, I was never a great athlete but I was coachable. It’s OK to mess up, but learn something new and don’t repeat it.

SMN: What’s your understanding of the major issues here?

SMN: The county’s fund balance is healthy right now. Legislatively, there’s a floor, and a ceiling has been floated as well. What’s your fund balance management philosophy?

BM: I’ll put my finance officer hat on for a while and tell you our experience through the recession. Our fund balance was healthy back in 2007 and 2008. At the time of the recession, we just issued, I believe it was $60 million to build a new high school. The good thing was, during the recession we got some really rock-bottom prices because people were hungry for work, and it was because we had a healthy fund balance that we could issue debt and still weather the storm.

So much of what governments do is mandated, and that doesn’t go away during periods of recession. People don’t quit going to the jail. People don’t quit calling 911 for ambulances. You have to be able to provide those services because that’s an expectation. So a healthy fund balance is critical in my mind.

I don’t want to get too abstract here, but this is kind of Keynesian economics — you put back money so you can weather the next storm. I think Haywood’s to be commended that they built their fund balance back to a real healthy level that will help seize opportunities for economic development, or building schools. You have some flexibility to address those challenges.

SMN: When your time here is over, someone will write a news story about you. What do you want that story to say?

BM: I hope it will say he enjoyed his job, he had a good time but he served the public.

He was a good servant. He put Haywood County first, and made it a better place — he left it in better shape than he found it.

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SMN: You’ve spent almost your entire professional career in Gaston County. What’s the most valuable thing you learned there?

BM: I think communicating and building good relationships where you have trust. I’ve been in the business of sharing bad news with people, coming from the budget world.

Not very often do I say, “You’re getting everything you want.” Actually, I don’t know if I’ve ever said that. But the key is to tell the story and say, “Look, this is what we’re facing, but here’s what we’re able to do.”

The way we have it designed here, the budget office is really an arm of the management office. I got really good experience working with the politicians, the community and our department heads. I always referred to it as “moving the freight.” The departments are the ones doing the front line work. In budgeting, you see how you can be a resource to get them what they need to serve the public.

SMN: Probably that and economic development are our two biggest focus areas right now.

BM: I think the partnership with Buncombe County is a creative approach.

The board is showing they’re willing to look at different ways of approaching [economic development]. I think you’re to be commended for at least being willing to try — it shows that you’re willing to have whatever tools in the toolbox you need.

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SMN: Gaston County has more than 210,000 people, and 15 incorporated municipalities. We have four, and like 60,000 people.

BM: Yeah, there’s a difference in numbers, but going back to how you build relationships and work with different stakeholders, it might be a good thing to work with just four. The more people at the table, it’s harder to get things accomplished. I think a smaller group of municipalities will be sort of refreshing to work with.

BM: The housing market is really interesting and as someone that’s sort of going through that right now, affordable housing is something we talked about in the interview process and I’m seeing it firsthand.

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When this position opened up and I was able to apply and get the job, it was like a dream come true because that’s a place that feels like home to me.

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Cat museum stretches its legs As visitation grows, museum plans for larger location

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ow well into its second year of operation, things are purring along at the American Museum of the House Cat in Sylva, so much so that director Harold Sims is hatching a plan to build a new, bigger home for the cat-honoring attraction.

“Getting a crowd like we have today, it’s pretty tight quarters in here,” Sims said on a rainy August Thursday that had seen more than 30 people check out the museum. “It will be more spacious.”

Sims envisions a space nearly triple the 1,000 square feet the museum now occupies cohabitating with the Old School Antique Mall on U.S. 441, in the Savannah area of Jackson County. Displays in the existing space are necessarily crowded, and Sims, a

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Smoky Mountain News

August 22-28, 2018

“It’s a legacy. It’s something I want to do while I’m here to do it ...

I pitched in my whole retirement years working for cats you might say.”

— Harold Sims

August 24, 31 & September 1, 6,* 7, 8 at 7:30 pm August 25, 26 & September 2, 9 at 2:00 pm Adults $26 Seniors $24 Students $13 *Special $16 tickets for all Adults on Thursday, September 6.

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The Performing Arts Center at the Shelton House 250 Pigeon St. in Waynesville, NC

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828-456-6322 | www.harttheatre.org

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This project was supported by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural & Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

longtime cat lover and collector of all manner of cat-related artifacts, has plenty more potential exhibits in storage. The plans are made and a preferred location picked out — all that’s left is to see the purchase go through and start building. Sims believes it would be possible to finish the new museum in time for the new season’s launch in April 2019.

“Everything in there is sacred, you might say,” Sims said as he gestured toward the rooms where the cat exhibits are. “A lot of it’s one-of-a-kind. A lot of the wind-up toys are going back to the 1890s, and the carousel cats are something you don’t see every day.”

The museum, one of only two cat-centric museums in the United States — the other is in Alliance, Ohio — opened its doors for the first time in April 2017, operating six days a week through the end of the season in December. More than 6,000 people visited the museum during those first nine months, Sims said, with nearly 3,000 people coming by in the first four months of the 2018 season, Sims said. Proceeds benefit the Catman2 cat shelter that Sims also runs.

“Everybody seems to be very pleased,” Sims said. “They come in and laugh at things.”

There’s plenty to laugh at — or marvel at — in the cat museum. There are minia-

Harold Sims (top) launched the American Museum of the House Cat in 2017 but has been involved in cat rescues in Western North Carolina since the 1990s. Stuffed replicas of Catman2’s mascot Kevin the Vampire Cat (above) perch in a row. Holly Kays photo

Support the museum Donations of time, money, shelter supplies and cat-related relics for the museum are wanted to support the American Museum of the House Cat and the shelter cats at Catman2 that museum proceeds benefit.

Find out how to get involved at www.catman2.org.

When you go The American Museum of the House Cat is located at the Old School Antique Mall in the Savannah area of Jackson County, at 4704 Highway 441 South, Sylva.

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays, but closed on Mondays.

Cats on leashes and small dogs are welcome. Admission is $7.50 for adults, $2 for children under 12 and free for children under 6. 828.476.9376.

ture cats playing instruments on a miniature stage, painted cats slinking on the sides of beer steins, cat masks hanging on walls, stuffed cats, carousel cats, framed cats in paintings, and even a real mummified cat from Egypt, likely killed and embalmed so that it could follow is master into the afterlife.

“I think cats are amazing animals that need to be seen by people for what they are,” Sims said.

That’s a sentence that summarizes the trajectory of Sims’ entire post-retirement life.

Now 83, Sims has been the force behind the Cullowhee cat shelter Catman2 since the organization began in 1996. After retiring from a career teaching biology at St. Petersburg Community College in Florida, he and his wife Kay moved north to the mountains, where he soon found himself absorbed with in the overwhelming task of trying to find homes for all the cats without them.

In 2002, that fixation gained a permanent monument with the completion of the Catman2 Shelter

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Ghost Town sale, ride inspections still haven’t happened

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A sign warns off trespassers in the roped-off parking lot of Ghost Town amusement park.

Cory Vaillancourt photo

next to Sims’ home in Cullowhee. The nokill shelter has an average population of 65 cats and handles about 150 animals each year, having conducted more than 3,000 adoptions since it opened. The shelter also manages a low-cost spay/neuter program, which has kept thousands of unwanted kittens from being conceived due to hundreds of spay/neuter operations on shelter animals, pets and feral cats.

“It’s a legacy,” said Sims. “It’s something I want to do while I’m here to do it that could have been done by anybody, but nobody wanted to do it. I pitched in my whole retire-

ment years working for cats you might say.”

Sims has put a lot of thought into his legacy. He’s getting older, and since the museum opened last year he’s felt the strain of being on his feet nearly every day, taking tickets and welcoming guests. He wants to know that the cats — and the Catman2 organization he created — will be taken care of when he’s gone.

“I gotta reach beyond the grave somehow to keep it going,” he said. “I think it can go on. It’s going to be bigger, it’s going to be better than it is right now — and it’s been tremendously good this year.”

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Smoky Mountain News

Inspectors from NCDOL have conducted preliminary testing on the chairlift towers, but “were told to put everything on hold until around mid-September,” according to Revels.

Oberle had also announced that a “vintage memorabilia sale” — to unload some of the unsold T-shirts, mugs, glasses and other souvenirs still lying about from previous incarnations of Ghost Town — would take place in conjunction with the Maggie Valley Chamber of Commerce’s “Explore Maggie Valley Event” on Aug. 11.

That didn’t happen, although Chamber Executive Director Teresa Smith said that Oberle told her she’d set up a table in Ghost Town’s parking lot and handed out flyers and old postcards.

And then there’s the subject of the park’s sale itself; on July 3, Oberle said that due to the nature of park owner Alaska Presley’s holdings as well as her own investment partners, “there’s been a series of closings that have occurred and we have one more milestone closing with a big investor.”

As of press time, the Haywood County GIS system showed that the parcels of land upon which Ghost Town sits have yet to be transferred from the ownership of Lula LLC, a North Carolina corporation registered to Presley’s Maggie Valley residence.

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August 22-28, 2018

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER mid high hopes for a rejuvenated Ghost Town in the Sky amusement park, it’s looking more and more like the been down this road before crowd may be on the right path.

Like previous Ghost Town operators over the past 15 years, Valerie Oberle made lots of promises at an event in Maggie Valley on July 3. As of this week, none of those promises has been fulfilled.

Oberle did not return an email seeking comment for this story on the park’s status, just as she declined to be interviewed by The Smoky Mountain News for a story July 3, citing an upcoming “media event” to be held in late July. No such event took place.

She also said there would be a limited opening of the park this fall. According to one source who wasn’t authorized to speak on the matter, that’s not happening, either.

That assertion is backed up by the state authority charged with inspecting the park’s aging rides and certifying them as being safe for operation.

“Currently no rides have been inspected nor are any rides certified to operate at Ghost Town,” said Mary Katherine Revels, a public information officer with the N.C. Department of Labor, via email Aug. 16.

Find out if Teeth Tomorrowtm is right for you.

1819 Country Club Drive Maggie Valley, NC

M AG G I E VA LLEY C LU B . CO M 13

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‘Mocking memes’ matter moves forward

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER lthough none of them were personally in room 3A of the Haywood County Courthouse, pornographer Larry Flynt, Rev. Jerry Falwell, former President Bill Clinton, President Donald Trump, pop sensation Sonny Bono and acclaimed singer Cher have all emerged in a lawsuit brought by a local Republican Party official who says she’s been injured by a series of mocking memes.

The suit itself, however, is no laughing matter. Filed by Haywood County Republican Party Vice Chair Debbie King on Feb. 6, King v. Haywood Republican Alliance, et al alleges she’s suffered “humiliation” and “physical disability” at the hands of three members of local political splinter group.

A judge’s recent ruling means parts of the suit will go forward, but the involvement of a pro se defendant, the purported existence of six mystery defendants, the unexpected death of another defendant and questions over the future of the HRA itself will compound what promises to be a complex and contentious battle over issues of commercial speech, political speech, free speech, public figures and online bullying.

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STICKS AND STONES

Smoky Mountain News

August 22-28, 2018

King’s allegations arise from photos and videos she says were circulated online by HRA members Eddie Cabe, Jeremy Davis and Richard West in mid-2017.

One in particular shows the faces of King and HCGOP Chairman Ken Henson pasted on to the bodies of 1960s pop icons Sonny and Cher, singing their 1965 hit “I Got You Babe.”

The image then made its way onto lapel buttons, which would come to be known as “Kebbie” buttons and were allegedly sold by Davis at the Maggie Valley’s Hillbilly Jam Festival in July 2017.

The mockery, according to King, wasn’t limited to claptrap retail knick knacks.

She and Henson also appear in a parody video of Danish electro-pop group Aqua’s 1997 hit “Barbie Girl,” but perhaps the most striking exhibit submitted by King is a Facebook post where she’s pictured with NCGOP Executive Director Dallas Woodhouse at a GOP function; comments on the post made mention of the 1978 pornographic film “Debbie Does Dallas” and, according to her lawsuit, contribute to the inference that King engaged in extramarital affairs.

Animosity between the GOP establishment and the HRA faction isn’t new; the two groups have been at each other’s throats for the past few years, ever since an HRA-led insurgency that seized party control from mainstream leadership was repelled in a counterinsurgency shortly thereafter.

Cabe, Davis and West were subsequently booted from the NCGOP last fall on party disloyalty charges, along with fellow HRA 14 member Monroe Miller, who is not named in

King’s suit, which alleges intentional infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy by appropriation of name or likeness.

King’s suit says she’s suffered “emotional psychological distress, embarrassment, humiliation, physical disability, loss of appetite [and] stress.”

She’s asking the court to order a cessation of the publication, sale, distribution or use of her likeness and also seeking more than $75,000 in damages as well as attorney’s fees from the defendants.

Davis and West secured the services of attorney Amanda Martin, a well-known First Amendment lawyer who also serves as deputy counsel to the North Carolina Press Association.

Martin faced off with King’s attorney Rusty McLean June 11 before Superior Court Presiding Judge Greg Horne; she was asking for dismissal of the intentional infliction of emotional distress charge, as well as dismissal of the invasion of privacy by appropriation claim.

Misappropriation is one of four invasion of privacy torts in North Carolina, and is a distinctly commercial tort, according to Martin.

“We would liken it, your honor, to someone who decided to make up T-shirts that say ‘impeach Bill Clinton’ or ‘impeach Donald Trump,’” she told Horne.

“Those are political statements. That is not using [the names] for a commercial purpose … the exchange of payment is not the way we define what is or is not commercial speech.

It is not the way you determine whether it is protected under the First Amendment — it’s the substance of it and in this case, that substance is political.”

Generally, political speech aimed at public figures like elected officials is protected. Although there are several “types” of public figures with corresponding degrees of protection, the gravamen of the complaint purports King, a low-level but nonetheless county political functionary in rural Western North Carolina, isn’t one at all.

“Your honor, this is a case brought by a plaintiff who happens to be a home-school mother, who instructs her children in home schooling,” said McLean. “She also happens to be a vice chair of the Haywood County Republican Party. She, other than that, has no public interest or engages in any public discourse.”

McLean went on to opine that since the videos and buttons allegedly disseminated by the defendants didn’t specifically advocate for a political candidate or cause, no First Amendment protections should apply to them.

“They only wanted to do it because it was funny, because they wanted to impugn her character through a caricature,” he said. “This was nothing more than an attempt by these defendants to embarrass, humiliate and degrade this woman’s character and reputation.”

Over the course of an hour, McLean made his case as to why defendants Davis and West should be brought to trial; he then made the same case against Eddie Cabe days later, on June 15. The only difference was, Cabe has represented himself since the suit was filed, a fact McLean took full advantage of from the outset.

Over the course of two hours, the seasoned McLean went back and forth with Cabe over a stack of 30-some motions, petitions, requests, answers and amendments filed by Cabe — almost all of which were improperly captioned and deemed duplicative, insufficient, ill-timed, unclear or unfounded.

A pair of orders from Horne, entered in early August, addressed both the Martin and Cabe hearings. In the former, Horne granted Martin’s motion for dismissal on the intentional infliction of emotional distress claims against Davis and West, but also denied her motion to dismiss the invasion of privacy by appropriation claim.

The landmark 1988 Supreme Court case Hustler Magazine, Inc. vs. Falwell held that

Buttons bearing the likeness of local GOP officials remain at the heart of a contentious, complicated lawsuit. File photo damages from intentional infliction of emotional distress, generally, could not be collected by public figures.

In the latter hearing, Horne denied almost all of Cabe’s motions, including one to “enter the Plaintiff ’s home and to inspect her computer for information possibly relevant to the case.” Interrogatories filed by Cabe include questions about King’s husband’s employment status, how she intends to pay McLean and what prescription medications she may be taking, if any.

Accordingly, McLean motioned for a protective order sealing King’s responses to Cabe’s discovery requests. Such an order would have effectively prevented Cabe from sharing anything submitted by King — an allusion to the very public nature of the case,

the animosity that yet persists and the atmosphere of ridicule McLean has repeatedly cited.

While Horne did say in rejecting McLean’s request that it was too broad and restrictive in scope, he also wrote in his order that “based upon the multitude of motions filed by defendant Cabe … oversight of any alleged discovery violations is necessary” and “any specific discovery requests that Plaintiff ’s counsel believes is baseless, abusive or requires answers that involve highly sensitive or personal information … be brought to the presiding superior court judge for review by motion.”

McLean said Aug. 20 he was “tickled” with Horne’s orders, particularly in regards to Cabe.

“There were 22 motions, all substantively denied,” said McLean. “You should always have a lawyer.”

THE LITTLE GENERAL It appears as though the matter of King v.

HRA, et al will now continue to move through the courts as assorted claims are still pending against the HRA itself, a series of six “John Does” and the three defendants — including Davis, who passed away unexpectedly on Aug. 4, leaving behind three young daughters.

In North Carolina, the estate of a decedent can be substituted for the decedent; in this case, McLean would have to make a motion before the court to do so, but he says he won’t.

“The client and I, we’ve had a long conversation about this, and there is no reason to punish the children and family for his conduct,” he said. “So what we will be doing is continuing the case with the surviving parties.”

HRA treasurer and Davis’ co-defendant Richard West probably won’t get lonely, though — McLean says he’ll reveal the six John Doe defendants in the near future, during the course of the discovery process which will likely stretch into the first weeks of 2019.

While Davis’ passing may not be a crippling blow to King’s case, it may be for the group that he helped found.

“Our community, our state and our nation has lost a powerful and effective advocate for conservative causes,” said Paul Yeager, vice chair of the HRA. “I believe the organization, the members of the organization, are going to attempt to carry on what Jeremy started.”

He was widely seen as the backbone of the organization, and was an energetic fundraiser as well; North Carolina Board of Elections and Ethics reports show the HRA has raised $18,790 since the current election cycle began on Jan. 1, 2017, even though the group wasn’t formally incorporated with the state until two months after that.

By comparison, the much larger, much more established Haywood County Republican Party has raised $27,179 since the start of the cycle.

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Smoky Mountain News

“At any given point in time, each one of us have a few friends that we can truly depend on. You can count them on one hand,” said Monroe Miller, who has a longstanding policy of not granting media interviews. “These are people that when you ask something of them, they will respond to anything you ask, without hesitation. I had five. Well, I just lost one, as I’m sure others did as well.”

When not on the road attending to obligations related to his profession — armorer and firearms vendor — Davis could usually be found volunteering at the HRA’s Waynesville office, where he was known to some as “the little general” for his small stature and larger-than-life leadership.

As of Aug. 19, that office appeared to be in the middle of a move, with empty cardboard boxes topping tables next to posters, signs and shelving stacked against the walls.

“That’s why we’re closing the headquarters,” Yeager said. “He raised a lot of money and put a lot of his own money into HRA.” While there are no immediate plans to open a new office location, Yeager said an HRA meeting next month would likely identify Davis’ replacement as the group tries to maintain momentum in advance of the November General Election.

“I think we’ll have less of an obvious presence because of the loss of Jeremy’s fundraising skills,” said Yeager. “But I think the prospects are good.”

August 22-28, 2018

Jeremy Davis

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“He was a very dedicated conserve activist and very skilled fundraiser,” said Yeager. “A skilled entrepreneur.”

Davis also performed both contract and volunteer political organizing services for a variety of conservative candidates and groups across the region — including a successful petition drive that ultimately landed the Constitution Party on N.C. ballots this year — and was known in conservative circles across the state as a knowledgeable and skilled political operator.

Indeed, his memorial service Aug. 9 in Bethel drew mourners from as far as Statesville and featured appearances by Republican elected officials like Bryson City Rep. Mike Clampitt, Haywood County Commissioner Brandon Rogers, Haywood County Tax Collector Mike Matthews and Winston-Salem-based conservative activist Vernon Robinson, among others.

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Bernard J Mcdougle - 2BR, 3BA $174,500 #3415889

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Canton - 4BR, 2BA, 1HB $590,000 #3421985

Smoky Mountain News

August 22-28, 2018

Walker-In-The-Hills - 2BR, 2BA, 1HB, $125,000 #3408226

DISCOVER COMMUNITIES… AT HOME AND ON THE GO! beverly-hanks.com Get details on any property in the MLS. Go to beverly-hanks.com and enter the MLS# into the search.

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Villages Of Plott Creek 3BR, 3BA $949,000 #3372632

74 North Main Street (828) 634-7333

EQUAL HOUSING

OPPORTUNITY Y

Community Almanac

Smoky Mountain News

Valley Club.

Businesses throughout Haywood County have graciously donated items, which include a propane-fired Smoker, an Amish country rocking chair, a Ghost Town legacy gift basket, numerous free stays at hotels in town, jewelry, an air compressor, multiple rounds of golf from local golf courses, a Harley-Davidson shadow box, and much more.

Bidding runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The public is encouraged to come out and bid. All proceeds go toward Lions Club charities.

Friends of Panthertown was awarded $10,000 for staff and material support to coordinate volunteers who will maintain, protect and improve recreational opportunities in Panthertown Valley. Friends of Panthertown photo

March on Overdose Awareness Day

to the meal. All are welcome and invited to attend.

For more information, call the church office at 828.586.2358.

Down Home North Carolina, The North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, Appalachian Community Services and North Carolina Council of Churches will gather at 4 p.m. Friday, Aug. 31, at the Waynesville Armory, 44 Boundary St., to commemorate International Overdose Awareness Day. During a march to the courthouse, participants will remember lives lost, raise prevention awareness and reduce the stigma surrounding drug use.

Speeches will be given at the courthouse. Event is free and open to the public.

For details, contact DHNC’s Brigid Flaherty at 917.678.8944 or brigid@downhomenc.org.

Renew Bryson educates community

Grant awarded to Big Brothers Big Sisters Big Brothers and Big Sisters recently received a grant from The Fund for Haywood County for $3,141 to implement the “Bigs in Blue” program.

In collaboration with the Waynesville, Canton and Clyde Police Departments and the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office, the program recruits officers and support personnel to provide one-on-one mentoring relationships for struggling students in Haywood County Schools.

Mentor applications are available at www.bbbswnc.org or call 828.356.2148 for more information.

The Fund for Haywood County is an affiliate of CFWNC. To learn more about The Community Foundation and its affiliates, visit www.cfwnc.org.

Open Door Meal and Sing The award-winning bluegrass band, Jonah Riddle and the Carolina Express, will perform at First Methodist’s Open Door Meal and Sing at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29, in the church’s Christian Life Center, 77 Jackson St., Sylva.

The community is invited to enjoy a meal prepared by church members, musical entertainment, and fellowship. A brief devotional will be led prior

Renew Bryson will host a free public education program to talk about addiction at 7 p.m. Aug. 28 at the Bryson City United Methodist Church in Swain County.

Speakers will be Jessica Tewell from Appalachian Community Services and Beth Young from Western Carolina University.

Cashiers fund awards $147,500 in grants The Cashiers Community Fund has awarded $147,500 in grants this year to nonprofits serving Cashiers and the surrounding region. Since 1994, the Cashiers Community Fund has awarded $1,332,785 to projects serving the Cashiers community.

Charity recipients include Animal Friends for Life, Blue Ridge Mountains Health Project, Inc., Boys & Girls Club of the Plateau, CashiersHighlands Humane Society, Community Care Clinic of Cashiers-Highlands, Fishes & Loaves Food Pantry Inc., Friends of Panthertown, Hampton School Inc., HighlandsCashiers Land Trust, Hospice House Foundation of WNC, Jackson County Parks and Recreation, ML Performing Arts Center, Mountain Youth Charities/Junior Appalachian Musicians - Blue Ridge, Summit Charter School, The Bascom and The Village Green.

To learn more, call 828.254.4960 or visit www.cfwnc.org.

Maggie Lions Club to host silent auction The Maggie Valley Lions Club will be having a Silent Auction Thursday, Aug. 23, at Maggie

Habitat raises roof at Harrah’s Raise the Roof to benefit Haywood Habitat for Humanity will be held at 6 p.m. Sept. 15, at River Walk at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort.

The event will feature a beautiful outdoor and riverside setting for food, beverages, music, Habitat’s hammering contest, raffles with great prizes and more.

Three levels of tickets are available from $60 to $140 and include a variety of perks. Funds raised will be used to build a new home in Waynesville.

To purchase tickets, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/raise-the-roof-tickets-48569966076, call 828.452.7960 or visit Jeweler’s Workbench on Main Street.

Foundation awards $540,000 in scholarships The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina recently approved scholarships totaling $540,000 to 103 students in Western North Carolina.

Top recipient Veronica Judson from Jackson County Early College was awarded the Clyde and Mildred Wright Endowment Fund Scholarship valued at $20,000 and the Gene and Lee Meyer Scholarship valued at $8,000. Zoe Alvarez and Pollyanna Ballentine of Blue Ridge Early College, Kelly Morgan of Smoky Mountain High School, Robin Reed of Cherokee High School and Brooke Rehmeier of Highlands High School were also awarded.

Junaluska offers marriage retreats Beginning this fall, Lake Junaluska will offer three-day marriage enrichment retreats.

The faith-based retreats will teach couples how to forge stronger relationships through meaningful conversation. Ned Martin, an expert in marriage counseling, will lead the retreats. By using emotionally focused therapy for couples, Martin will explain the psychology of successful relationships and guide couples through a series of conversations designed to help them connect.

Currently, four different sessions are available, starting in September 2018 with the last scheduled retreat in September 2019. Couples will

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• A picnic for all former employees and spouses of Dayco will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25, at Allens Creek Park. Bring a covered dish — drinks and plates will be provided.

• Macon County Animal Services is nearly at capacity and encourages the public to consider adopting a shelter dog or cat. The shelter is currently offering adoption specials to make more room. Call 828.349.2106 or visit the shelter at 1377 Lakeside Drive in Franklin.

ALSO:

• The Swain County Chamber of Commerce recently made a $500 donation to YMCA Camp Watia to cover the cost of a Swain County child attending the camp located in Almond.

• This year’s Haywood County Friends of the Library book sale set a new record after raising $44,643. New donations can start again Oct. 1 at the Canton or Waynesville branches.

VHS and cassette tapes or electronics will no longer be accepted.

• The Town of Waynesville offices will be closed on Monday, Sept. 3 in observance of Labor Day. Garbage will be picked up on Tuesday, Sept. 4.

• Codependents Anonymous meets at 5:30 on Fridays at the Friendship House on Academy Street, behind the First United Methodist Church of Waynesville. The group is for people desiring healthy and fulfilling relationships.

Call 828.775.2782 or visit www.coda.org. receive lodging, meals, counseling sessions and plenty of peace and quiet to reconnect with each, surrounded by the beauty of the Appalachian Mountains at Lake Junaluska.

Pricing for each couple combined is $699, including two nights of lodging, access to Lake Junaluska recreation and five meals. Registration and more information is available at www.lakejunaluska.com/marriage or by calling 800.222.4930.

Free microchip clinic offered Haywood Spay/Neuter will be holding a free microchip clinic sponsored by The Bissell Pet Foundation from 9 to 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8, at Haywood Spay/Neuter 182 Richland Avenue in Waynesville.

To avoid stress on the pets, cats will be microchipped from 9 to 11 a.m. and dogs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. There is no preregistration for this clinic.

Just show up between the scheduled times.

Haywood Spay/Neuter also offers a free microchip for every pet signed up for their lowcost spay/neuter transports. For more information on the microchip clinic or low-cost spay/neuter services call 828.452.1329 or check out www.haywoodspayneuter.org.

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Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

Americans know better, even if Trump doesn’t W

For me the glass is half full To the Editor: I hear that Trump derangement syndrome has now morphed into Trump anxiety disorder. I guess that means some leftists are anxious and concerned that the successes trump has achieved to the benefits of Americans will extend into more successes and eventually his re-election in 2020.

I doubt if those who are anxious include the unemployed who are now employed; the steel workers who are back on the job; the employees who received bonuses earlier this year (deemed crumbs by Democrat Rep. Nancy Pelosi); minorities whose employment is at an all time high for the first time in decades; the executives who have returned their operations back to the U.S. because they are not subjected to business killing government regulations; the international traders who see the beginnings of fair trade practices; the Israelis, who after years of promises by other presidents, have a U.S. embassy in Jerusalem; Catholic nuns and other religious groups that are no longer forced by government to pay for abortions; the families of three North Korean hostages returned; the loved ones of Korean War soldiers whose remains are being returned; legal immigrants waiting in line who are hopeful that there is control on illegal entrants who bust through

The problem isn’t that Trump argues against criticism of his initiatives. Let’s debate the merits of the recently passed tax overhaul, his plans for curtailing EPA rules, his foreign policy, his trade objectives and more. That’s politics, and it’s what has been going on in this country since its founding.

No, the problem is his inciting of his supporters to take a similarly dim and outrageous view of the media itself, calling it “the enemy of the people” and his favorite line about all the “fake news.” There is formal censorship and then there is censorship by intimidation. Trust me, I attended the Trump rally in Asheville during his campaign and never have I had the Editor kind of adrenaline rush — like when you sense imminent danger — that I felt there as he assailed the news media and my media badge around my neck like a neon sign.

After the tragic attack on the newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, I wrote that small and large newspapers alike knit communities together because we are part and parcel of our communities. One of my staff members will miss work regularly to volunteer at a school event while another rarely misses

Scott McLeod

e native-born Americans — most of us, anyway — have no real concept of life under a despot except from what we read. We have been raised on a daily diet of liberty and cut our teeth on the right to free speech. Because of that, it’s not surprising that our appreciation for these cornerstones of our democratic and civil society may sometimes dull.

That’s why Donald Trump’s continued attacks on the press as the enemy of the people should be treated by all as an assault on core American values. No one thinks Trump will ever become a maniacal totalitarian, but knowingly or unknowingly he’s using their tactics in ways that could damage what most of us hold dear. That’s more than just a little troubling.

Last week, the Boston Globe asked newspapers around the country to publish editorials and opinion pieces about the importance of a free and independent press. Hundreds responded, and they included publications whose opinion pages are considered conservative and liberal.

Trump argues that his critics are biased, and so much of the coverage of what he does is unfair. But newspapers in the days of our founders were far more biased than anything we read today. Still, our forefathers knew a free press was critical to a free society, and so enshrined these freedoms into the Constitution.

LETTERS our borders and float out into our country; taxpayers who see NATO members paying some of their fair share; taxpayers who like their income tax reductions (don’t let the left tell you the tax plan is only for the rich); investors in 401Ks, pension funds and stockholders whose investments are gaining in value as the stock market booms; veterans who now see private health providers when the VA hospital wait is too long.

All of these beneficiaries are Americans who are experiencing America becoming great again. President Trump has been in office less than two years. In that time he has accomplished not only an amazing number of advantages for Americans but he engages and listens to all factions to learn their needs and goals. Leftists subscribe to the “glass is half empty” attitude. One recently said the remains from North Korea contained pig bones, that there is increased employment but wages are low, Trump gained nothing for meeting with Kim Jung Un … forget that hostages were returned and there is evidence of denuclearization.

With attitudes like that you can bet if President Donald Trump cured cancer the left would denounce him for not curing heart disease. For me the glass is half full and filling up fast! Trump on America!

Carol Adams Glenville

the chance to donate blood. Another co-worker leads one of Haywood County’s most active nonprofit organizations, another has given countless hours to a public art committee and another loves her work with Big Brothers-Big Sisters.

Some of the most meaningful years of my life were spent coaching kids in baseball, soccer and basketball and also helping create a local swim team.

Some of the people mentioned above also get out and report the news. They strive to inform, to report news in proper context, and to be objective. Sometimes we fail, but more often than not it’s just a factual report that will we hope will help our friends and neighbors know their community better and make informed decisions when it comes time to debate issues or elect representatives.

Do we have political opinions? You bet, and you’ll find those expressed in our opinion pages or in personal columns — not in the news stories.

Trump, other politicians and all of our readers are absolutely justified in calling out errors and bias in news reporting. But attacking the press because they don’t support his views and calling them enemies of the people is both ridiculous and dangerous. Americans know better, even if our president doesn’t.

(Reach Scott McLeod at info@smokymountainnews.com)

Expanded ballot choices a good thing To the Editor: North Carolina now has five political parties represented on the ballot. They include the Republican Party, Constitution Party, Libertarian Party, Democratic Party and Green Party. Most of these organizations encourage people to join them. The Green Party seeks to join with others to foster peace, economic justice, social harmony and a vibrant economy.

Green Party values include the following: n Grassroots democracy giving every person a say in the decisions that affect their lives. n Ecological wisdom understanding that we are part of nature, not separate from nature. n Non-violence alternatives to our current pattern of violence in our families and in the streets of nations around the world. n Social justice and equal opportunity for all persons to have the rights and opportunities to benefit equally from the resources provided us by society and our environment. n Decentralization of wealth and power from centralized social, political and economic institutions that benefit a few. n Community-based economics that create jobs and provide a decent standard of living for all people while maintaining a healthy ecological balance including health and wellness in our communities.

n Feminism providing more cooperative ways of interacting which respects differences of opinion and gender. n Respect for diversity that values culture, ethnic, racial, sexual, religious and spiritual diversity. n Future focus and sustainability to protect valuable natural resources, safely dispose of all waste we create while developing sustainable economies that don’t depend on continual expansion for survival. n Personal and global responsibility in which individuals act to improve their personal well-being and enhance ecological balance and social harmony.

If you have interest in an organization that clearly defines and lives its values, please Google WNC Green Party to learn more.

Ron Robinson Sylva

Where in the district is Mark Meadows?

To the Editor: Mark Meadows represents a district that covers over 6,600 square miles and a constituent base of nearly 750,000 people. Notice the word “represents.” He is supposed to be our representative.

Yet it has been over one year since he had

S EE LETTERS, PAGE 19

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

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

Chris Cox

H

ministering to all three of our sick babies.

In the meantime, we started doing research on how to keep the mice away. One website recommended the use of powdered fox urine as a deterrent, which sounds like something the Darling family used in a divorce ritual on “The Andy Griffith Show” in the episode where Charlene Darling comes into town to divorce Dud Walsh so she can marry Sheriff Taylor.

Maybe the mice would leave our cars alone if we buried an owl’s beak, a broken comb, four tail feathers from a chicken hawk, and a heaping cup of powdered fox urine in our driveway under a full moon, while chanting: Toyota Prius, RAV4, and Subaru, Nary of these will you ever chew, Hear us, mice, you better scat, Or we’ll introduce you to our assassin cat.

@SmokyMtnNews

To the Editor: Do you know why Donald Trump has refused to reveal his income taxes as each president has for decades? Do you know why Donald Trump has not told our U.S. Intelligence organizations what the meeting between him and Vladimir Putin was about (the actual translation)? Why should any responsible president not carry out these two duties to the American people?

His conscience does not require him to account to other people! Neither does he fear any consequences from his fellow Republicans in the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives. Therefore, he can continue answering only to himself.

Many elected Republicans who want to be re-elected have abandoned the oath they took to serve in a co-equal branch of government, working in the interest of all Americans. They are hiding from their duty to force Trump to come clean.

Those who won’t stand up to Trump now certainly won’t stand up later. They are like algae, choking the life out of a pond.

But, there is a solution in front of the American people to rid us of the nuisance and threat to our lives. We can elect people to replace them on November 6th, 2018!

Newton’s third law: To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

We can drain this swamp that Donald Trump has developed.

Dave Waldrop Webster

A portion of Ryan Perry's "Yeah That's Us" official music video will be shot at Elevated Mountain Distilling Company. Come dressed for a live concert scene. All ages are welcome and we hope to see you there!

THURSDAY AUG. 23 7-10 PM

Smoky Mountain News

We have not yet procured the services of the cat. In fact, we have some trepidation about how an assassin cat would get along with our dogs — a miniature dachshund struggling with narcissism, a geriatric beagle who just craves a little peace in his golden years, and a chesty Chihuahua last seen chasing a husky about 20 times his size down our driveway. Can such a collection of personalities coexist? We have our doubts, but we also have a growing stack of car repair bills.

Before we begin auditions — and confronting the terrible reality of what an audition of an assassin cat might entail — we are trying a few last, desperate measures, including a full bag of powder, which we sprinkled over the driveway and then soaked for about an hour or two.

Tammy doused our engines with cinnamon — she read on another website that mice hate the smell of cinnamon. I liked this idea, thinking that the scent of French toast might waft through the vents on my way to work. Instead, once the engine heated up a little, the car smelled like a gallon of vomit.

I called her on the way to work with two reports. One, the car is running without any coughing, sputtering, or signs of a high fever. Two, the car smells like a gallon of vomit.

“Would you rather smell vomit or have mice eat your car engine?” she said.

“These are my options?”

“That, or powdered fox urine.”

Auditions for our new assassin cat are currently being scheduled.

(Chris Cox is a writer and a teacher who lives in Haywood County. jchriscox@live.com)

a town hall — August 7, 2017, at Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock.

That was the last and only town hall he has had since he was re-elected in 2016.

Given the size of the district, it would have taken over two hours for someone from Blowing Rock to have driven to Flat Rock to have been heard and about two-and-ahalf hours from Murphy, in the west.

That’s if that one day, which apparently was convenient for Meadows, could have worked with the schedules of the working people in Murphy or Blowing Rock.

As of today, August 10, Meadows’ website does not show that he has any town halls planned for this year — not a single one anywhere in the district. I am left wondering: why? Why is he not actively seeking input from his constituents so that he can represent us? Why has he held only a single Town Hall in one location in nearly two years? Why is he not interested in listening to and understanding our worries, concerns, needs? Why has he in the past forced people in the far reaches of the district to drive two hours plus to be heard? Why does he make it so difficult for constituents to be able to face him to ask questions and get answers? What is he afraid of?

Finally, why should we support a representative who does not seem to be interested in listening to and truly representing us?

Maria Chasins Cashiers

August 22-28, 2018

ere’s something I never thought I would say: I’m looking for a cat. Not just any cat, but a particular kind of cat, a cat with a particular set of skills. I need the Liam Neeson of cats. An assassin cat. A turbo mouser. A bloodthirsty, feral killer. A razor-thin barn cat that grew up hardscrabble, forced to fight a dozen siblings for a scrap of fish guts — or starve.

I have nothing against mice. Under the right circumstances, they can even be kind of cute.

Columnist I’ve rescued a few over the years, turning them loose in the fields of America to find their fortunes, feeling magnanimous and full-hearted.

But that was before they fixed their beady eyes on taking out our entire fleet of automobiles, a “fleet” here loosely defined as three cars: my Subaru, my wife’s Prius, and my daughter’s RAV4. After years of gratifying reliability, a few weeks ago these cars began displaying various symptoms of trouble.

One day, the RAV4 began coughing and sputtering as if it had come down with bronchitis, and then two days later, the Prius woke up sluggish and balky, refusing to climb a hill any faster than five miles per hour even with the pedal pushed to the ground. Two days after that, my Subaru, perhaps delirious with fever, lit up the dashboard with a series of flashing lights, warning me of all sorts of potential problems all at once: engine problems, brake problems, oil problems, tire problems.

Our cars had become schoolchildren.

One got sick, and then contaminated the others.

We took the RAV4 to the mechanic and feared the worst — bad engine, bad transmission, terminal illness, and so forth. We braced ourselves when the mechanic ducked in from the garage to give us a oneword diagnosis: mice.

It turns out that mice just love chewing on engine wires. At night, while we’re inside enjoying a bowl of microwave popcorn or instant pudding in front of the television, the mice are having little parties on our motor blocks, dining on engine cables as if they were strands of licorice or made out of Cool Ranch Doritos.

We played musical chairs with our cars for two weeks, as the mechanic took turns

Drain the swamp indeed opinion

The casting call is under way at the Cox home

LETTERS, CONTINUED FROM 18

3732 Soco Rd. Maggie Valley

Plan your trip today at

ElevatedMountain.com

19

tasteTHEmountains

Sunday: 12pm-6pm Tue-Thurs 3pm-8pm Fri-Sat: 12pm-9pm Monday: Closed AT BEARWATERS BREWING

101 PARK ST. CANTON 828.492.1422

PIGEONRIVERGRILLE.COM

Retail Restaurant LIVE Music

Events begin at 7:15pm unless otherwise noted.

Dinner and Music reservations at 828-452-6000.

Friday, August 24 James Hammel guitar, vocals.

Jazz, Pop, Originals.

August 22-28, 2018

Saturday, August 25 Speakeasy Night with 9th Street Stompers. Swing, gypsy jazz, rockabilly, tango. Dinner & music $50 bucks, plus drinks & gratuity. PW required.

Dress dapper. No coppers.

Thursday, August 30 Italian Wine Pairing Dinner with Musica Nostra performing Italian & Mediterranean Folk Music on mandolin, guitar, vocals. Music begins at 6:30pm.

Four course dinner, wine and music, $55 per person. Taxes and gratuity extra.

Taste the Mountains is an ever-evolving paid section of places to dine in Western North Carolina. If you would like to be included in the listing please contact our advertising department at 828.452.4251 BLUE ROOSTER SOUTHERN GRILL 207 Paragon Parkway, Clyde, Lakeside Plaza at the old Wal-Mart. 828.456.1997. Open Monday through Friday. Friendly and fun family atmosphere. Local, handmade Southern cuisine. Fresh-cut salads; slow-simmered soups; flame grilled burgers and steaks, and homemade signature desserts.

Blue-plates and local fresh vegetables daily.

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

BOOJUM BREWING COMPANY 50 N Main Street, Waynesville.

828.246.0350. Taproom Open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday & Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., Sunday 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Gem Bar Open Tuesday through Sunday 5 p.m. to 12 a.m. Enjoy lunch, dinner or drinks at Boojum’s Downtown Waynesville restaurant & bar. Choose from 16 taps of our fresh, delicious & ever rotating Boojum Beer plus cider, wine & craft cocktails. The taproom features seasonal pub faire including tasty burgers,

BOURBON BARREL BEEF & ALE 454 Hazelwood Ave., Waynesville, 828.452.9191. Lunch daily 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; dinner nightly at 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday. Wine Down Wednesday’s: ½ off wine by the bottle. We specialize in handcut, all natural steaks from local farms, incredible burgers, and other classic american comfort foods that are made using only the finest local and sustainable ingredients available.

CATALOOCHEE RANCH 119 Ranch Dr., Maggie Valley.

828.926.1401. Breakfast seven days a week, from 8 to 9:30 a.m. – with eggs, bacon, sausage, oatmeal, fresh fruit, sometimes French toast or pancakes, and always all-you-can-eat. Lunch menu every day from 12 noon to 2 p.m. includes homemade soup du jour and fresh-made salads. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday night will feature an evening cookout on the terrace. On all other nights of the week, dinner is served family style and includes locally sourced vegetables, homemade breads, jellies, desserts, and a wide selection of wine and craft beer. The evening social hour starts at 6 p.m., dinner is served starting at 7 p.m., and cozy rooms and cabins are available if you love us so much that you want to stay for breakfast, too. Please call for reservations. And see our

dinner menu online at www.cataloocheeranch.com/dining.

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

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

CHURCH STREET DEPOT 34 Church Street, downtown Waynesville.

828.246.6505. 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Mouthwatering all beef burgers and dogs, hand-dipped, hand-spun real ice cream shakes and floats, fresh hand-cut fries.

Locally sourced beef. Indoor and outdoor dining. facebook.com/ChurchStreetDepot, twitter.com/ChurchStDepot.

CITY LIGHTS CAFE Spring Street in downtown Sylva.

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

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

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

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

THE CLASSIC WINESELLER 20 Church Street, Waynesville.

828.452.6000. Underground retail wine and craft beer shop, restaurant, and intimate live

We’ll e fee ed your sp pirit, too.

Evening E vening feasts feasts. Casual lunches and breakfa br eakfa asts. And A nd the mile high peaks of the Great mile-high Great Smokies all around you. Call (828)926-1401 for reservations.

And get a little taste of heaven, Catalooc chee style. style

Friday, August 31 Ben Wilson (guitar, vocals) Alt Country, Pop, Originals.

Saturday, September 1 Joe Cruz piano, vocals. Beatles, Elton John, James Taylor + More.

Friday, September 7 Bob Zullo guitar, vocals.

Jazz, Rock, Pop.

Catalo t oche ee Ranch

828-452-6000 • classicwineseller.com 20 Church Street, Waynesville, NC

Smoky Mountain News

sandwiches, shareables and daily specials that pair perfectly with our beer. Cozy up inside or take in the mountain air on our back deck.”

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

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

Closed Tuesday

Sunday 12-9 p.m.

Sandwiches • Burgers • Wraps 32 Felmet Street

119 Ranch Drive, Maggie Valley, NC Catalooche eeRanch.com

WAYNESVILLE’S BEST BURGERS

(828) 246-0927

WEDNESDAY 5-9 P.M.

THURSDAY 5-9 P.M.

SUNDAY 11 A.M-3 P.M.

Rib buffet, fried chicken, vegetables, and a twenty-three item salad bar!

Piano Man & Angie

Buffet Brunch

$11.95

Country Buffet

$11.95

featuring turkey and dressing

$12.95

MON.-SAT. 11 A.M.-8 P.M.

34 CHURCH ST. WAYNESVILLE 828.246.6505 20

twitter.com/ChurchStDepot

facebook.com/ChurchStreetDepot

MadBatterFoodFilm.com

Downtown Sylva • 828.586.3555

828.926.0201 At the Maggie Valley Inn • 70 Soco Road, Maggie Valley

tasteTHEmountains music venue. Kitchen opens at 4 p.m.

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

FERRARA PIZZA & PASTA 243 Paragon Parkway, Clyde.

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

Check out our daily lunch specials plus customer appreciation nights on Monday and Tuesday 5 to 9 p.m. with large cheese pizzas for $9.95.

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

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

Open for dinner at 4:30 to 9 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. World-famous prime rib, steaks, fresh seafood, gorgonzola cheese and salads. All ABC permits and open year-round. Children always welcome.

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

KANINI’S 1196 N. Main St., Waynesville.

828.452.5187. Lunch Monday-Saturday from 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., eat in or carry out. Closed Sunday. A made-from-scratch kitchen using fresh ingredients and supporting the local food and local farm-totable program. Offering a variety of meals to go from frozen meals to be stored and cooked later to “Dinners to Go” that are made fresh and ready to enjoyed that day.

We also specialize in catering any event

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

828.926.1616. maggievalleyclub.com/dine.

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

MAGGIE VALLEY RESTAURANT 2804 Soco Road, Maggie Valley.

828.926.0425. 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

Daily specials including soups, sandwiches and southern dishes along with featured dishes such as fresh fried chicken, rainbow trout, country ham, pork chops and more.

Breakfast all day including omelets, pancakes, biscuits & gravy. facebook.com/carversmvr; instagram @carvers_mvr.

PIGEON RIVER GRILLE 101 Park St., Canton.

828.492.1422. Open Tuesday through Thursday 3 to 8 p.m.; Friday-Saturday noon to 9 p.m.; Sunday noon to 6 p.m.

Southern-inspired restaurant serving simply prepared, fresh food sourced from top purveyors. Located riverside at Bearwaters Brewing, enjoy daily specials, sandwiches, wings, fish and chips, flatbreads, soups, salads, and more. Be sure to save room for a slice of the delicious house made cake.

Relaxing inside/outside dining and spacious gathering areas for large groups.

RENDEZVOUS RESTAURANT AND BAR Maggie Valley Inn and Conference Center 70 Soco Road, Maggie Valley 828.926.0201 Home of the Maggie Valley Pizzeria. We deliver after 4 p.m. daily to all of Maggie Valley, J-Creek area, and Lake Junaluska.

Monday through Wednesday: 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Thursday: 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. country buffet and salad bar from 5 to 9 p.m. $11.95 with Steve Whiddon on piano.

Friday and Saturday: 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday 11:30 to 8 p.m. 11:30 to 3 p.m. family style, fried chicken, ham, fried fish, salad bar, along with all the fixings, $11.95.

Check out our events and menu at rendezvousmaggievalley.com WAYNESVILLE PIZZA COMPANY 32 Felmet Street, Waynesville.

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

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

Breakfast : Omelets, Pancakes, Biscuits & Gravy!

Real New Yorkers.

Real Italians. Real Pizza.

Dine-In ~ Take Out ~ Delivery New Hours: Thurs.-Mon. Open at 7 a.m.

Breakfast served all day!

2804 SOCO RD. • MAGGIE VALLEY 828.926.0425 • Facebook.com/carversmvr Instagram- @carvers_mvr

An Authentic Italian Pizzeria & Restaurant from New York to the Blue Ridge.

Just to serve you!

243 Paragon Parkway | Clyde

Order Online for Takeout Pay online and pick up with no waiting!

Menu at CityLightsCafe.com 3 E JACKSON ST. • SYLVA, NC

www.CityLightsCafe.com

828-476-5058 499 Champion Drive | Canton

828-492-0641

NEW LOCATION OPEN! 172 Sylva Plaza | Sylva

828-492-0641 All location hours: Mon-Sat 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Closed Sundays Present this coupon and recieve:

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207 Paragon Parkway, Clyde

828-456-1997 blueroostersoutherngrill.com Monday-Friday Open at 11am

Real Local Families, Real Local Farms, Real Local Food Smoky Mountain News

JUKEBOX JUNCTION U.S. 276 and N.C. 110 intersection, Bethel. 828.648.4193. 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

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

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

828.586.3555. Open Monday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. with Sunday Brunch from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Hand-tossed pizza, house-ground burgers, steak sandwiches & fresh salmon all from scratch. Casual family friendly atmosphere.

Craft beer and interesting wine. Free movies Thursday through Saturday. Visit madbatterfoodfilm.com for shows & events.

Daily Specials: Soups, Sandwiches & Southern Dishes

August 22-28, 2018

HARMON’S DEN BISTRO 250 Pigeon St., Waynesville 828.456.6322. Harmon’s Den is located in the Fangmeyer Theater at HART. Open 5:30-9 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday (Bistro closes at 7:30 p.m. on nights when there is a show in the Fangmeyer Theater) with Sunday brunch at 11 a.m. that includes breakfast and lunch items.

Harmon’s Den offers a complete menu with cocktails, wine list, and area beers on tap.

Enjoy casual dining with the guarantee of making it to the performance in time, then rub shoulders with the cast afterward with post-show food and beverage service.

Reservations recommended.

from from corporate lunches to weddings.

Menus created to fit your special event. kaninis.com

MAGGIE VALLEY RESTAURANT

Open Daily 7 a.m. to noon Closed Thursdays

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

4309 Soco Rd., Maggie Valley (828) 926-0212

21

22

A&E

Smoky Mountain News

Will the circle be unbroken Nitty Gritty Dirt Band to headline Canton Labor Day Festival

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF WRITER hen you look at bluegrass, the line in the sand — of where it originated and where it is today — arguably could be with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s landmark 1972 album, “Will the Circle be Unbroken.”

A “who’s who” of bluegrass and country music giants, it included the likes of “Mother” Maybelle Carter, Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Jimmy Martin, Norman Blake, Roy Acuff, Merle Travis and Vassar Clements.

All of these pillars of American music, many from the backwoods of Southern Appalachia, brought together by this seemingly ragtag bunch from sunny Southern California, these young pickers and grinners part of a country-rock revival where names like the NGDB, Flying Burrito Brothers, The Byrds and Gram Parsons were all rediscovering the melodic beauty of the past through modernday eyes and ears.

Intended as a concept album, “Will the Circle be Unbroken” broke down walls within the Nashville scene, dusting off the careers of legends who were thought to be put out to pasture years prior. It showed the unknown depths of talent and creativity that always resided in these icons, now brought into the spotlight of a whole new generation who couldn’t get enough of what they were hearing, many folks hearing it for the first time.

The Smoky Mountain News caught up with singer/guitarist Jeff Hanna. As a cofounder of the NGDB, Hanna, now 71, is also the longest tenured member of the current ensemble, who recently celebrated 50 years together.

W

Smoky Mountain News: When I’ve interviewed [some musicians] over the years, Rodney Crowell and Marty Stuart, folks like that, they always said to “stay close to the source,” in terms of being around older, wellrespected musicians. What can you say to that, what that means for a young musician and career longevity?

Jeff Hanna: We never forgot where we came from and who we admired. “Will the Circle be Unbroken” is the perfect answer to that question. When we did that album, most of the elder statesmen on that record, a lot of them were in their 40s and 50s, which seems like kids to me today. [Laughs]. Part of the beauty of that project is that it kind of reignited the careers of Jimmy Martin and Vassar Clements, maybe Earl [Scruggs] as well, Doc Watson cer-

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

“When we did that album, there were families [where] the kids and the parents weren’t talking, because they didn’t agree about anything.

And in some ways, that [album] brought some folks together. [Music] is the universal language, it jumps over barriers. I love that, and I totally believe in that.”

— Jeff Hanna

tainly. It exposed some folks, because the [Nitty Gritty] Dirt Band was literally on the charts with “Mr. Bojangles” right then. We were in the rock genre, so there were a lot of younger fans that never heard of those folks.

We’re very proud of that. After the “Circle” project, we became lifelong friends with Earl Scruggs and his family, same goes for The Carter Family.

Sometimes it’s your parents, but sometimes it’s a musical mentor. But, there’s something about the wise cat in the corner that’s just looking at you, taking it all in. And that great bullshit detection, and they’re willing to call bullshit on you. To quote the old bluegrass saying, “Don’t get above your raisin’.” That’s really necessary and useful, because it’s easy if you have a record on the radio or selling a lot of tickets, to say, “Well, this is rarified air, I’m get-

Want to go?

The 112th annual Canton Labor Day Festival will be held Sept. 2-3 in Sorrells Street Park in downtown.

Live music include the following: • Sunday, Sept. 2: Lyric (2 p.m.), McKayla Reece (3:30 p.m.), Canaan Cox (5 p.m.), Joe Lasher (6:30 p.m.) and The

ting a little lightheaded up here.” A reality check is always good.

SMN: Do you think you could make a record like “Circle” in the digital age?

JH: I think you could. I use the word “noise,” because there’s so much more of everything in the digital age, that it’s a little tough to get people’s attention. At the time, it seemed pretty revolutionary, during the Vietnam War era, Nixon is in the White House. The hippies versus rednecks was a real thing. So, there was that cultural gap, but also a generational gap that it bridged. When we did that album, there

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (8 p.m.). Admission is $10 at the gate or $8 in advance at Ingles Markets.

• Monday, Sept. 3: Vintage County (noon, 12:30 and 1:05 p.m.), Southern Appalachian Cloggers (12:20 p.m.), Green Valley Cloggers (12:50 p.m.), J Creek Cloggers (1:20 p.m.), Running Wolfe Renegades (1:30 p.m.), Cold Mountain (2:30 p.m.), Keil Nathan Smith (4 p.m.), Summer Brooke & The Mountain Faith Band (5:30

were families [where] the kids and the parents weren’t talking, because they didn’t agree about anything. And in some ways, that [album] brought some folks together. [Music] is the universal language, it jumps over barriers. I love that, and I totally believe in that. It’s tough right now, we’re in a similar situation.

Twenty years ago, I remember being like, “We’ll never be that polarized again.”

[Laughs].

Editor’s Note: To listen to the full audio of this conversation, go to YouTube and search “Jeff Hanna Garret K. Woodward.”

p.m.) and Balsam Range (7:30 p.m.). Admission is free.

There will also be a handcraft expo and Papertown Kids Village both days. The Mountain Gospel Experience will be from 2 to 5 p.m. Sept. 2 at the Colonial Theatre. The Labor Day Parade will be from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Sept. 3, following by the Smoky Mountain Cruisers Classic Car Show from noon to 4 p.m. www.cantonlaborday.com.

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

It took me about six days to do a solo trek from Idaho to New York. Around 2,700 miles one way. Listening to the radio and reading the newspapers while crossing the country, there was fear of an economic collapse, the never-ending war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a soon-to-be decided presidential election between Barak Obama and John McCain. Somewhere in Iowa, I paid $4.37 per gallon of gasoline, $3.95 if it was ethanol. Remember how eagerly we pursued corn as fuel back then?

From my journal:

The Grand Teton Mountains. National Park Service photo

Wherever particular people may congregate

Rock/reggae act Positive Mental Attitude will celebrate its 10-year anniversary with an all-day music event starting at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25, at Soul Infusion Tea House & Bistro in Sylva.

Ten years later, I’m packing up the truck and bolting out to the Tetons to see some old friends. Not much has changed, as one learns the older you get. The questions seem to remain similar: What’s next? Where is she?

What will tomorrow bring? Will I be OK? Nothing’s the same, everything’s the same, in essence. Your hopes and fears, dreams and disappointments, it all is one thing, you know? Especially in terms of politics and issues affecting society and the economy. The only thing that seems to change is the date on the calendar.

I try to keep that in mind when life gets a little heavy, which it seems to feel like more often these days, doesn’t it? Perhaps it’s the technology we carry around with us, where it wasn’t a daily reality back in 2008. All that 24/7 inundation of breaking news and constant connection to the good, bad and the ugly of the woes of the world — a rollercoaster of information with an increasing backlash (urge? need?) to detach.

I took off out west in pursuit of something, which really was just trying to find myself. Fast-forward a decade, and though I’ve shed many layers of skin from my soul, I’m itching again to remove another. Hit the road, see the natural beauty of our world, shake hands and make friends with strangers, and once again recognize that face in the mirror with a smile.

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

A Discussion on

Foster Care in Appalachia SATURDAY, AUGUST 25 • 3 P.M. 3 EAST JACKSON STREET • SYLVA

828/586-9499 • citylightsnc.com

Smoky Mountain News

Has it really been that long?

The Western Carolina University School of Art While making final prepaand Design and WCU Bardo Arts Center present rations for my upcoming trip a special evening with Mark Mothersbaugh out west, back to where it all of DEVO at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25, at the began for me as a writer, I center in Cullowhee. couldn’t believe it had been 10 years since I moved out to the Americana/rock act Gold Rose will perform at 9 Grand Teton Mountains of p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25, in The Gem downstairs Idaho/Wyoming, nine since I’d taproom at Boojum Brewing in Waynesville. last stepped foot in those vast, “An Appalachian Evening” will conclude for the majestic parts. season with bluegrass act The Kruger Brothers Rolling into Driggs, Idaho, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25, at the Stecoah in January 2008 to start work Valley Center in Robbinsville. at the tiny Teton Valley News, I would be back in my truck Americana/bluegrass group Ol’ Dirty Bathtub aimed for my native Upstate will perform at 9:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 24, at the New York by early September.

Water’n Hole Bar & Grill in Waynesville.

With my head hitting the ceilnewsstands, the economy blew apart. Teton ing at that publication, I figured I’d gained Valley became a ghost town of innumerable enough experience to head back east in million-dollar homes, most of which built on search of the “next level” of whatever it is I spec, in hopes of cashing in on a booming was, and still am, trying to accomplish in housing market. Several years of uncertainty, this haphazard industry. bankruptcy, foreclosure and lawsuits would But, the national economy had different follow, forever — physically and emotionally plans for me. Right as I was packing up my — changing the landscape of that area, and old pickup truck to head east, the economy most areas of America at that time. That tanked in September 2008. Heck, my final story was a dime-a-dozen then, and now. article for the Teton Valley News in midIt made my heart and soul sad to leave August 2008 was about a new real estate the Tetons. I’d always dreamed of someday company opening up. living there, ever since I was a kid visiting on In the article, a sales associate told me, a family vacation. Now in its midst, I was 23 rather confidently, “The market is quiet. We years old trying to find footing in an know people are scared of the market, but the underlying fact that this [Teton Valley] is unknown future.

From my journal: an incredible place to live and that hasn’t changed. Everything that brought us here 09/11/08. Jackson, Wyoming. “I’ll be back. hasn’t changed.”

I’ll be back,” I kept saying, trying to convince Within a month after that article hit

Bookstore

August 22-28, 2018

HOT PICKS 1 2 3 4 5

09/15/08. East Dubuque, Illinois. Sunshine pierces through the morning haze of the motel window. Glowing box in the corner blaring breaking news. Bear Sterns goes bankrupt.

Who’s next to collapse in the financial world?

Panic in the air. Paranoid views of the near future and beyond. Another Great Depression?

Blew through Chicago in the noonday sun.

Skyscrapers and tight knit streams of automobiles. Fierce, impatient faces, eager to get to the afternoon meeting. Must climb the corporate ladder, which eventually rots and fades away.

Unbeknownst to those who seek fortune.

arts & entertainment

This must be the place

myself that if I said it enough, it actually might become a reality and not just wishful thinking.

It was decided to spend the last night at The Virginian Saloon on West Broadway. Leaning against the bar, a handful of friends gave their best wishes over a bittersweet bourbon shot of celebration. A beautiful girl sat at a nearby table. We kept exchanging curious glances.

What’s the use? I would just talk her up, find out she was from Rhode Island, but still be on my way tomorrow. Where was this girl in March, when I had no intention of ever leaving the West?

23

arts & entertainment

On the beat Americana at Marianna To conclude this year’s “Summer Music Series,” the Marianna Black Library is proud to present the traditional Appalachian music of The Pressley Girls at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30, The Pressley Girls. in Bryson City.

The Pressley Girls (twin sisters, Katie and Corie Pressley) were born and raised in Brasstown. They are an authentic Appalachian duet that focuses on tight harmony and lyrical meaning. The duo performs a wide range of music including folk, bluegrass, gospel and country. Admiring the Louvin Brothers, classic country singers, and traditional folk musicians, they hope to bring transcendent genuine music back to the world.

This program is free

and open to area residents and visitors. The library is located in downtown Bryson City at the corner of Academy and Rector. For more information call 828.488.3030 or visit www.fontanalib.org/brysoncity.

The Kruger Brothers.

‘An Appalachian Evening’ The summer concert series “An Appalachian Evening” will conclude for the season with bluegrass act The Kruger Brothers at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25, at the Stecoah Valley Center in Robbinsville.

Tickets for the performance are $30, grades K-12 $10. Tickets are a pre-show dinner are also available for purchase. The Lynn L. Shields Auditorium is air-conditioned. www.stecoahvalleycenter.com.

August 22-28, 2018

Concerts on the Creek The Concerts on the Creek summer series will welcome Geoff McBride (rock/Americana) at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 24, at Bridge Park in downtown Sylva.

This year’s series will conclude with Dashboard Blue (classic hits) Aug. 31. The concerts are free and open to the public. There will also be food trucks onsite.

For more information, call 828.586.2155 or www.mountainlovers.com.

Four Freshmen to play Franklin

Smoky Mountain News

A male vocal band quartet that blends open-harmonic jazz arrangements with big band vocal sounds, The Four Freshmen will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 1, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

The Four Freshman started with two brothers in 1948 and created a sound that has endured for over six decades. In the beginning, they were known as Hal’s Harmonizers and were a college-based barbershop quartet.

When the quartet adopted a more jazz-oriented repertoire, they renamed themselves The Toppers.

After they developed their own style and vocal harmony, they went on the road as The Four Freshmen. They signed with Capitol Records in 1950, released their first charted single, “It’s a Blue World,” in 1952, and released their first album, “Voices in Modern,” in 1954.

With great popularity, The Four Freshmen released dozens of singles and albums over the next several years. Their album, “Four Freshmen and 5 Trombones,” set the standard for modern jazz vocal groups. Some of their hits include, “Day By Day,” “Graduation Day” and “Charmaine.”

Over the 1970s and 1980s, The Four 24

The Buchanan Boys.

Four Freshmen.

Freshmen had many band members come and go, but never chose to disband. When the last original member, Bob Flanigan, retired in 1993, he became the group manager and remained actively involved behind the scenes.

The Four Freshmen were nominated for a Grammy in the Vocal Group Performance category in 1958, 1961, 1964 and 1986, and won both JazzTimes and Down Beat magazines reader’s poll for “Best Vocal Group” multiple years. They have also been inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame. Groups such as the Beach Boys, The Lettermen, The Four Preps, and The Manhattan Transfer name The Four Freshmen as one of their greatest influences.

Tickets start at $20 each. To purchase tickets, visit www.greatmountainmusic.com or call 866.273.4615.

Groovin’ On the Green The Groovin’ On the Green concert series will host The Buchanan Boys (country/rock) at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 24, at The Village Green Commons stage and lawn.

Groovin’ On the Green is rain or shine.

Bring a chair and your family, friends, coworkers and neighbors to The Village Green Commons on Frank Allen Road.

Picnics and coolers are allowed, however

Indie rock at Boojum Brewing Asheville-based Americana/rock act Gold Rose will perform at 9 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 25, in The Gem downstairs taproom at Boojum Brewing in Waynesville.

concert goers can enjoy delicious food and beverage for sale from the vendors onsite.

Concerts are free, but donations are always appreciated. Dogs are welcome, but must be on a leash and under the control of their owners at all times.

To learn more about the concert schedule, or about community events at The Village Green visit www.villagegreencashiersnc.com. You can follow The Village Green on social media @cashiersgreen.

This alt-country trio consists of singer-songwriter/guitarist Kevin Fuller, bassist Ryan Kijanka and drummer Ryan Sargent. The band meshes crunchy guitar noise with folk, country and Americana stories.

The show is free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/goldrosetheband.

On the beat

Nutrition Facts serving size : ab out 50 p ag es

A program of vintage jazz and swing standards from the big band era, “Library Swings” will be presented at 1 p.m. Friday, Aug. 24, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin.

The Arts Council of Macon County band, C-Square, will perform familiar favorites like “Autumn Leaves,” “Bill Bailey,” “Mood Indigo,” “Summertime” and many more, inviting audience members to sing and dance along.

C-Square members are arranger/keyboardist Lionel Caynon, vocalist Bobbie Contino and dancer/vocalist Selma Sparks.

The ensemble performs regularly at area nursing homes and senior centers through the arts council’s music outreach program, and boasts an extensive vintage song list.

This interactive program is free and open to the public. It is produced by the Arts Council of Macon County. For details contact the council at arts4all@dnet.net or 828.524.ARTS (2787).

Franklin welcomes Navy ensemble

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Smoky Mountain News

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Reg ional New s

August 22-28, 2018

The United States Navy Band Country Current will perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

The group is the Navy’s premier countrybluegrass ensemble. This seven-member ensemble employs musicians from diverse backgrounds with extensive high-profile recording and touring experience in the music scenes of Nashville, New York, New Orleans, and more.

In the tradition of country music, each member is a skilled performer on multiple instruments. The band utilizes banjo, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, fiddle, electric bass, upright bass, dobro, pedal steel guitar and drums. The Country Current are all active members of the U.S. Navy and often performs for the president, the vicepresident and numerous other dignitaries.

All tickets are free to this event and will be available from the theatre box office only.

Tickets may be reserved in person or by phone. All tickets are general seating.

For more information, call 828.524.1598 or visit www.greatmountainmusic.com.

Am ount per Serving

arts & entertainment

Library offers vintage jazz, swing music

MyHaywoodRegional.com 25

arts & entertainment

On the beat • Andrews Brewing Company (Andrews) will host the “Lounge Series” with Tom Edwards Aug. 23, Troy Underwood (singers-songwriter) Aug. 24, Kato Estill Aug. 25, Gabe Myers Aug. 30, George Ausman Aug. 31 and The Harmed Brothers Sept. 1. All shows are free and begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.andrewsbrewing.com.

• Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva) will host Logan Watts Aug. 24, Daniel Perkins Aug. 31 and Balsam Beats Sept. 7. All shows begin at 9 p.m. www.facebook.com/balsamfallsbrewing.

• Blue Ridge Beer Hub (Waynesville) will host an acoustic jam with Main St. NoTones from 6 to 9 p.m. Aug. 23 and 30. Free and open to the public. www.blueridgebeerhub.com.

• Boojum Brewing Company (Waynesville) will host Gold Rose (Americana/rock) Aug. 25, Scoundrel’s Lounge Sept. 1 and Sanctum Sully (rock/jam) Sept. 8. All shows are free and begin at 9 p.m. www.boojumbrewing.com.

August 22-28, 2018

• The Classic Wineseller (Waynesville) will host James Hammel (guitar/vocals) Aug. 25, Ben Wilson (guitar/vocals) Aug. 31 and Joe Cruz (piano/vocals) Sept. 1. All shows are free and begin at 7 p.m. 828.452.6000 or www.classicwineseller.com.

• Currahee Brewing (Franklin) will host Americana Jones Aug. 25 and Eric Hendrix & Dr. Todd Davis (singer-songwriter) Sept. 1.

All shows are free and begin at 7:30 p.m.. www.curraheebrew.com.

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host The Keil Nathan Smith Band 8 p.m. Aug 24, Marc Keller 4 p.m. Aug. 25, Scoundrel’s Lounge 7 p.m. Aug. 25, Blue Ridge Buskeneers 7 p.m. Aug. 31 and Whiskey River Band 8 p.m. Sept. 1. All shows are free and open to the public. www.froglevelbrewing.com.

Smoky Mountain News

• Harmon’s Den Bistro at HART (Waynesville) will host karaoke and an open mic at 8 p.m. on Saturdays. All are welcome. www.harttheatre.org.

• Highlands Town Square “Friday Night Live” series will host Ben & Marce Aug. 24 and Silly Ridge Round Up Aug. 31. All shows are free and begin at 6 p.m. www.highlandschamber.org.

• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will have an Open Mic night Aug. 22 and 29, and a jazz night with the Kittle/Collings Duo Aug. 23 and 30, Tina Collins Duo (folk/Americana) Aug. 25 and Spalding McIntosh Sept. 1. All events are free and begin at 8 p.m. www.innovation-brewing.com.

• Isis Music Hall (West Asheville) will host Ashleigh Caudill 7 p.m. Aug. 22, Caleb Caudle (Americana/folk) 7 p.m. Aug. 24, 26 Radney Foster 9 p.m. Aug. 24, Banjo

Kickaru & Western Scooches 5:30 p.m. Aug. 26, Vance Gilbert & James Maddock 7:30 p.m. Aug. 26, Tuesday Bluegrass Sessions 7 p.m. Aug. 28, Wyatt Easterling & Rod Abernathy 7 p.m. Aug. 29, Ray T. Chesna 7 p.m. Aug. 30, Jack Victor & Alexa Rose 9 p.m. Aug. 30, “Lawn Show” w/Jordan Okrend Experience 6:30 p.m. Aug. 31, Ultrafaux 7 p.m. Aug. 31, Nathan Evans Fox 7 p.m. Sept. 1, Al Petteway 8:30 p.m. Sept.

1 and Carlos Aonzo Trio 5:30 p.m. Sept. 2.

For more information about the performances and/or to purchase tickets, visit www.isisasheville.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host an open mic night at 6:30 p.m. every Thursday, The UpBeats Aug. 25, Dirty Dave Patterson Aug. 31 and Andrew Scotchie & The River Rats (rock/blues) 8 p.m. Sept. 1. All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. For more information and a complete schedule of events, visit www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

ALSO:

• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host an open mic night every Thursday, Paul Davis (singer-songwriter) Aug. 24 and 31. All shows are free and begin at 7 p.m. www.mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.

• Nantahala Brewing (Bryson City) will host Meredith Joi Aug. 24, River Tramps Aug. 25, Machine Kid Aug. 31 and Urban Soil Sept. 2.

All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.nantahalabrewing.com.

• The Oconaluftee Visitor Center (Cherokee) will host a back porch old-time music jam from 1 to 3 p.m. Sept. 1. All are welcome to come play or simply sit and listen to sounds of Southern Appalachia.

• Pub 319 (Waynesville) will host an open mic night from 8 to 11 p.m. on Wednesday. Free and open to the public. www.pub319socialhouse.com.

• Salty Dog’s (Maggie Valley) will have Karaoke with Jason Wyatt at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays, Mile High (classic rock) 8 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays, and a Trivia w/Kelsey Jo 8 p.m. Thursdays.

• Satulah Mountain Brewing (Highlands) will host “Hoppy Hour” and an open mic at 6 p.m. on Thursdays and live music on Friday evenings. 828.482.9794 or www.satulahmountainbrewing.com.

• “Saturdays On Pine” concert series (Highlands) will host The Kind Thieves Sept.

1. All shows are free and begin at 6 p.m. www.highlandschamber.org.

• Soul Infusion Tea House & Bistro (Sylva) will host Positive Mental Attitude (reggae/jam) 10th anniversary party w/Bird In Hand (Americana/folk), Ol’ Dirty Bathtub (Americana/bluegrass) and Darren & The

Haywood Community Chorus fall rehearsals Haywood Community Chorus (HCC) will begin fall rehearsals on Monday, Sept.

3. Registration will be at 6:30 p.m., followed by a full chorus rehearsal from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Rehearsals continue each Monday evening for 12 weeks, culminating in the annual Christmas concert, scheduled for 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2, at the First United Methodist Church in Waynesville.

Antonio Vivaldi’s “Gloria” will be the major work this season; in addition, the chorus will perform traditional and contemporary songs for the Christmas season, including works by John Rutter, Bob Chilcott and David Willcocks.

Membership dues are $30, which covers the cost of music and hiring musicians for concert performances. All interested singers ages 18 and older are encouraged and welcome to join; auditions are not required. As attendance is important to Buttered Toast (soul/funk) starting at 3 p.m.

Aug. 25 (admission is $10) and Wintervals 7 p.m. Aug. 31. 828.586.1717 or www.soulinfusion.com.

• Southern Porch (Canton) will host Humboldt Fog Aug. 24. All shows begin at 7 p.m. Free and open to the public. www.southernporch.com.

• The Strand at 38 Main (Waynesville) will host an “Open Mic” night from 7 to 9 p.m.

learning music and to becoming accustomed to performing with fellow singers, members are encouraged to attend as many rehearsals as possible, missing no more than three, unless approved by director McNeil. The ability to read music is not required but is encouraged.

Sectional rehearsals are held each week 30 minutes prior to the regular 7 p.m. rehearsals; sopranos and altos alternate weeks with tenors, basses and baritones.

The schedule for sectional rehearsals is emailed to members each week. Please note that rehearsals are held in the Wilson Children’s Complex at Lake Junaluska.

Founded in 1997, HCC is supported by a grassroots grant through the Haywood Arts council and by the continued support of its founders, The Junaluskans. Director Kathy Geyer McNeil is Assistant Director of Music and Worship Arts and Organist at Waynesville First United Methodist Church, as well as Associate Director of the Junaluska Singers.

For questions, call Laura Schnabel at 828.557.9187. on Saturdays. 828.283.0079 or www.38main.com.

• The Ugly Dog Pub (Highlands) will host The Charles Walker Band Aug. 25. All shows begin at 9:30 p.m.

• The Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host Ol’ Dirty Bathtub (Americana/bluegrass) Aug. 24, EDM Night w/DJ Bent-It Aug. 25 and John the Revelator (blues/rock) Aug. 31. All shows begin at 9:30 p.m. 828.456.4750.

On the street

Dinner, gypsy jazz at Classic Wineseller

Cherokee Soul Revivers Christian Motorcycle Rally

The 9th Street Stompers.

There will be a special four-course dinner and performance by The 9th Street Stompers at 7:15 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25, at The Classic Wineseller in Waynesville.

The 9th Street Stompers are well-dressed no-counts chopping on acoustic instruments and singing about life, death, love and liquor. Hailing from Chattanooga, Tennessee, they bring to mind the musical scenery of an era when the lines between swing, gypsy jazz, blues, rockabilly, and tango weren’t nearly as hard and fast as the drinking and dancing.

With Skip Frontz Jr. slapping the string bass and Lon Eldridge on blues fingerstyle resonator guitar, ukulele, and kazoo, they share vocal duties. Miss Sampire turns percussion into a sultry feature, and Dalton Chapman, a 25-year-old Gypsy Swing virtuoso, demonstrates his diligent study of the great Django Reinhardt.

Admission is $50 per person. Dress dapper. Password required for entry. To RSVP, call 828.452.6000 or www.classicwineseller.com.

Throughout the rest of this month, Bosu’s Wine Shop in Waynesville will host an array of wine tastings and small plates from Chef Stacy’s gourmet cuisine, available at The Secret Wine Bar within the shop. Dog friendly patio and front garden open, weather permitting.

• Aug. 23/30: Five for $5 Wine Tasting from 5 to 9 p.m. Taste five magnificent wines and dine on Chef Stacy’s gourmet cuisine.

• Aug. 24/31: Secret Wine Bar Night from 5 to 9 p.m.. Gourmet food, and a great

wine & beer menu.

• Aug. 25: Free Saturday Wine Tasting from 1 to 5 p.m.: Every Saturday, Bosu’s opens two bottles (sometimes three) and pour free tastes.

• Aug. 27: TGI Monday (Spanish Wine) Sale & Tasting from 1 to 5 p.m. All Spanish wines 15 percent off.

• Aug. 29: Wines of the Iberian Peninsula Seated Tasting with Nick Demos, Advanced Sommelier, at 7 p.m. Join Bosu’s for this special seated tasting of Portuguese and Spanish wines. Light snacks served. This is a ticketed event, reservations required. $20 per person.

For more information, call 828.452.0120 or visit www.waynesvillewine.com.

Waynesville’s ‘Spread Out District’ Alex McKay, curator of the Waynesville Archive Museum, will lead a discussion on The Historic Spread Out District at 4 p.m.

Thursday, Aug. 30, at the Waynesville Library Auditorium.

This area has been cited as “a rare remnant of Waynesville’s past” and is a part of Waynesville’s National Historic District. It is more than just Walnut Street, power lines, and other infrastructure; it is part of the character of the town. Its history can tied to the arrival of the railroads in Waynesville in 1883 and the eventual collection of 54 homes, one of which was said to be a Woman’s Temperance Union Temple.

Seven Clans Rodeo The annual Seven Clans Rodeo will be held from 6 to 10 p.m. Sept. 1-2 across from the Cherokee Islands Park. Rodeo starts at 8 p.m. each night.

Between the broncos that will be busted, the bulls that will be bucking, and the rodeo clowns looking to avoid getting stomped in the head, there will be all sorts of skills competitions and top-name riders in this SRAsanctioned event. General admission tickets and cash only. www.facebook.com/sevenclansrodeo.

• There will be several ballroom and Latin dance classes offered on Sundays and Mondays at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. Classes for beginners, intermediate and all levels. $10 per class. www.froglevelbrewing.com.

• Line Dance Lessons will be held on Tuesdays in Waynesville. Times are 7 to 8 p.m. every other Tuesday. Cost is $10 per class and will feature modern/traditional line dancing. 828.734.0873 or kimcampbellross@gmail.com.

ALSO:

• “Laughing Balsam Sangha,” a meeting for Mindfullness in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh, meets will meet from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Mondays at 318 Skyland Drive in Sylva. Included are sitting and walking meditation, and Dharma discussion. Free admission. 828.335.8210, and “Like” them on Facebook.

Smoky Mountain News

Quality Trailers, Quality Prices

pricing starting at $499

Trailer Center

August 22-28, 2018

Bosu’s tastings, small plates

The Biker Down Lifted Up Motorcycle Ministry will hold the 2018 Cherokee Soul Revivers Christian Motorcycle Rally Aug. 31Sept. 1 at the Cherokee Indian Fairgrounds.

The organization is a nonprofit and all proceeds will benefit the ministry. BDLUWNC provides counseling and support to injured bikers and their families. The event promises family fun, music, food, vendors, bike games, and a local ride. All motorcycle ministries, churches, clubs and organizations are welcome.

There will be a free pancake breakfast on Sunday. Featured preaching by Pastor Cotton Pate of Frontline Biker Church in Kershaw, South Carolina; Scott Creasy, International Chaplain of Heaven’s Saints Motorcycle Ministry, and Pastor Tracy Smith from Ratcliffe Cove Baptist Church in Waynesville, North Carolina. Live music will be performed by bands Selfless Sunday, the Thad Coggins Band, Last Chance Band, and Tribe Called Praise.

Admission fee for the weekend is $10 and children under 12 get in free. www.bikerdownliftedupwnc.com.

The event is free and open to the public.

This program is presented by the Friends of the Library. No registration is required.

Friends of the Library is a nonprofit group that raises money for the library through memberships and the Annual Book Sale in July. Programming for adults and children, furniture, equipment and numerous materials are among the ways it supports the Haywood County Public Library.

arts & entertainment

On the table

financing available, ask for details

HaywoodBuilders.com 828-456-6051 | 100 Charles St. | Waynesville

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arts & entertainment

On the wall

CASUAL FINE DINING WITH LIVE MUSIC COVERED PATIO LATE NIGHT MENU

The annual Highlands Village Square Art & Craft Show will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m Aug. 25-26 at Kelsey-Hutchinson Park in Highlands.

High quality fine art, folk art and regionally made crafts. Sponsored by Highlands Rotary Mountaintop, who will also be serving lunch. Free admission.

For more information, call 828.787.2021 or visit www.highlandschamber.org.

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Workshops for artists, arts businesses

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SATURDAY & SUNDAY BRUNCH FROM 10AM TO 2PM 743 HAYWOOD RD • WEST ASHEVILLE

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August 22-28, 2018

Highlands arts, crafts festival

Cold Mountain

The Haywood County Arts Council has partnered with the Haywood Community College Small Business Center to provide three workshops for area artists and artsbased businesses.

The workshop series, titled “Arts In Business,” will take place on the last Tuesday of August, September and October at the Haywood County Arts Council in downtown Waynesville.

Wood sculpture and painting

by Michael Costello.

• “Better Photography for Your Small Business” from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 28. Speaker will be Phillip Turner. During this seminar small business owners will learn key tools, tips and tricks to incorporate quality photography into your small business marketing strategy.

• “Telling Your Small Business Story” from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 25. Speaker will be tenBiz. What makes your products stand out? What is it about you that connects with consumers? When you do a good job of telling your small business brand story, you become more accessible and make

Summer Music Series

Saturday, August 25

DEVO frontman to appear at WCU

Music: Erik & Norma Hendrix and Noah Proudfoot Food: Out of the Blue Featured Brew: Brewery TBA

Mark Mothersbaugh.

Ryan Schude photo

Saturday, September 8

Smoky Mountain News

Music: Devils in Dust Food: TBA Featured Brew: Ecusta Brewing

Saturday, September 22 (Gates open at 10 am/Music at noon) Music: Kenny George Band and EZ Shakes Food: Hit the Bit BBQ Featured Brew: Frog Level Arts & Crafts Vendors

Live Music • Family Friendly • Waterfront Open • Food Trucks • Local Beer At the gate: $15/carload $50/15 - passenger van - $5/bike Camping and cabins available.

Call 828.646.0095 for reservations.

Gates open at 3 pm Music starts at 5 pm

28

a better connection with your audience.

• “Social Media Strategies for Small Business” from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 30.

Speaker will be Chisa Pennix-Brown. This seminar is designed to help you, the small business owner put the pieces together. If you have a disjointed strategy or no strategy at all, this seminar will help to navigate your current marketing plan and enhance it with proven social media strategies.

The courses are free, but registration is required. Call 828.452.0593 or email info@haywoodarts.org to register for the classes.

lakelogan.org/events

The Western Carolina University School of Art and Design and WCU Bardo Arts Center present a special evening with Mark Mothersbaugh at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25, at the center in Cullowhee.

Mothersbaugh, well-known as a member of the band DEVO, will be interviewed on stage by Jon Jicha, Professor of Art, of the School of Art

and Design. He will be interviewed by Jicha.

Mothersbaugh and Jicha were in art school together at Kent State from 1968 through 1972.

This visit, his first in the South, will be an extraordinary opportunity to meet one of the most creative and influential contemporary artists. The interview will touch on subjects including his early work as founding member

of DEVO, visual art spanning nearly 50 years, and musical collaborations with motion picture directors.

While touring with DEVO, it was not uncommon for Mothersbaugh to lightly “correct” or add onto the bland paintings and prints that adorned the many hundreds of otherwise unmemorable hotel rooms that he occupied for one night at a time. Using a van, bus, hotel room, airplane, or any space as his workspace, he has created over 40,000 drawings which serve as the beginning of an idea that will emerge in his larger projects.

His artistic journey, however, goes well beyond DEVO; Mothersbaugh is a Conceptualist and began creating work in the late 1960s. He has created tens of thousands of works in various mediums including rubber stamp designs, mail art, decals, prints, ink illustrations, oil paintings, ceramic sculptures, manipulated photographs, video, film compositions, sonic sculptures, rugs, screensavers and the list continues. He has created many Hollywood compositions, from serving as Wes Anderson’s composer, to writing a variety of famous theme songs, like the wellknown opening to “Rugrats.”

Tickets to “Mark Mothersbaugh Talks” at Bardo Arts Center are $15 for adults and $10 for seniors 65 and over. The event is free for any student and is also a free event for WCU faculty/staff with their catcard at the door.

Learn more at arts.wcu.edu/marktalks.

On the wall

• The “Meet the Artist” reception with Brian Hannum (pianist), Drew Campbell (photographer) and Jon Houglum (painter) will be from 3 to 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 31, at Gallery Zella in Bryson City. Enjoy North Carolina wine, food and music. Free to attend. For more information, call 828.488.3638 or visit www.galleryzella.com.

• An exhibition for artisans Wanda DavisBrowne and Judy McManus will continue through Oct. 6 at Gallery 1 in Sylva. DavisBrowne’s photos are inspired by the diverse natural patterns and colors of nature, primarily flora. A glass artist, McManus was invited to join working artists at Jackson County’s Green Energy Park in Dillsboro in 2010. She also teaches classes and gives demonstrations at the facility and exhibits art in the GEP gallery. www.facebook.com/artinthemountains.

• There will be an upcoming artist workshop to be held by the Haywood County Arts Council at the HCAC Gallery & Gifts in Waynesville. Betina Morgan will host a drawing class from 2 to 4 p.m. Aug. 28.

Cost is $20 per person. Call HCAC for a supply list. For more information or to reserve a spot in any of these workshops, call HCAC at 828.452.0593.

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

• The Waynesville Fiber Friends will meet from 10 a.m. to noon on the second Saturday of the month at the Panacea Coffee House in Waynesville. All crafters and beginners interested in learning are invited. You can keep up with them through their Facebook group or by calling 828.276.6226 for more information.

ALSO:

• There will be a “Thursday Painters Open Studio” from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. at the Franklin Uptown Gallery. Bring a bag lunch, project and supplies. Free to the public. Membership not required. For information, call 828.349.4607.

Haywood Arts painting exhibition The Haywood County Arts Council will hold a new showcase featuring local artist Bee Sieberg & Students exhibiting their work Aug. 31-Sept. 29 at the gallery in downtown Waynesville.

After a professional lifetime producing voluptuous floral arrangements and displays for weddings and grand catered events, Sieberg now paints — her first love.

After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill with a BA in Arts Education in 1964, Sieberg taught art to elementary school children prior to being drawn into the floral arranging business by a catering friend. For decades, she operated a floral design studio called

• A “Youth Art Class” will be held from 10:30 a.m. to noon every Saturday at the Appalachian Art Farm on 22 Morris Street in Sylva. All ages welcome. $10 includes instruction, materials and snack. For more information, email appalachianartfarm@gmail.com or find them on Facebook.

Wildflowers, in locations that included Winston-Salem, Annapolis, Maryland, and St. Louis, Missouri. When Bee moved to Asheville in 1997, Wildflowers, which she had run largely out of her basement, blossomed into a storefront and shop in Biltmore Village called The Gardener’s Cottage. The original Wildflowers pansy logo remains there to this day, although Bee sold the business in 2004.

Works by local artists include Jan Ariko, Anne Arnold, Nancy Blevins, Caroline Bowen, Kathy Cochran, Sandy Green, Sandy Lester, Helyn Moore, Margaret Roberts, Sharon Smith, Cathy Summa, Ann Todd and Elizabeth Toomey.

More information about donating, including show contracts and inventory lists, can be found at www.haywoodarts.org.

arts & entertainment

• There will be a gourd nite light workshop at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 25, at the Uptown Gallery in Franklin. Instructor will be Betsey Sloan. Using a prepared gourd, students will create a nite lite, using either a vinyl design or buttons. Must bring a drill (Dremel, etc.) and bits. Cost is $20 members, $25 non-members. Please register at the gallery, located at 30 East Main Street.

For additional information information, call 828.349.4607.

• Free classes and open studio times are being offered at The Uptown Gallery in Franklin. Join others at a painting open studio session from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. every Tuesday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursdays.

For information on hours and additional art classes and workshops, contact the gallery on 30 East Main Street at 828.349.4607.

AUGUST SCHEDULE

Back to sics ...

Bas

CALL OR REGISTER ONLINE AT WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com

274 S. MAIN ST. WAYNESVILLE

828.246.6570

www w.ChampionCU U.com

Smoky Mountain News

Bankin ng...

August 22-28, 2018

MONDAY •9-10 AM: Slow Flow Yoga w/ Sara • 10:30-11:30: Gentle Yin Yoga w/ Sara • 10:45-11:30: Yoga Nidra w/ Jay • 5:45-6:45: Mixed Level Flow Yoga w/ Candra • 6-7: Yoga Basics w/ Sara • 7- 8: Buti Yoga w/ Jay TUESDAY •9-10 AM: Gentle Yoga w/ Jay • 10:30-11:30: Flow + Myofascial Release w/ Jay • 5:30-6:30: Yin Yoga w/ Hanna • 5:30-6:15: Barre Above* w/ Jay • 6:30- 7:30: Fluid Unwind w/ Hanna • 6:30- 7:30: Mixed Level Flow @ Lake Junaluska w/ Kendall WEDNESDAY •9-10 AM: Flow + Deep Stretch w/ Sara • 10:30-11:30: Gentle Yin Yoga w/ Sara •5:45-6:45: Mixed Level Flow Yoga w/ Leigh- Ann • 6- 7: Hot Stone Restorative w/ Amber • 7-8: Slow Flow + Yin w/ Katie THURSDAY •6- 7 AM: Sunrise Yoga @ Lake Junaluska w/ Michael • 910: Gentle (Chair) Yoga w/ Jay •10:30-11:30: Flow + Yin w/ Abbie • 10:30-11:30: Gentle Yoga @ Lake Junaluska w/ Amber • 5:30-6:15: Barre Above* w/ Jay • 5:30-6:30 PM: Yin Yoga w/ Amber • 6:30-7:30 PM: Candlelight Flow w/ Kendall FRIDAY •9-10 AM: Hot Stone Restorative w/ Amber • 10:30 – 11:30: Gentle Yin Yoga w/ Sara • 12- 1: Barre + Flow w/ Jay SATURDAY •9-10 AM: Mixed Level Flow Yoga w/ Michael or Candra •10:30-11:30: Beginner Flow Yoga w/ Rotating Staff • 12- 1: Tai Chi w/ Bill SUNDAY •11:30-12:30: Mixed Level Flow Yoga w/ Kendall • 4- 5: Beginner Flow w/ Rotating Staff

CANTON • 1 Acaademy St. St • Canton Canton, NC 28716 • 828-648-1515 828 648 1515 WA AY YNESVILLE • 311 Walnut St. • Waynesville, NC 28786 • 828-456-6268 828 456 6268 Find us on Facebook. Feederally Insured by NCUA

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arts & entertainment

PARENTS NIGHT OUT! For children ages 3-12 years

On the stage

HART presents ‘Ghost’ musical

Parents are encouraged to drop their children off for a night of excitement and fun!

Offered on Monday, September 10, 17 & 24 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Activities will include inflatables, spike ball, and much more.

Cost: Free for Waynesville Recreation Center Members; $20 per Month For Non-Members

WAYNESVILLE

PARKS AND RECREATION

828.456.2030

or email rlangston@waynesvillenc.gov

Smoky Mountain News

August 22-28, 2018

550 VANCE STREET • WAYNESVILLE

30

The Haywood Arts Regional Theatre will present the hit musical “Ghost” at 7:30 p.m.

Aug. 24, 31, Sept. 1, 6-8 and at 2 p.m. Aug. 25-26, Sept. 2, 9 in Waynesville.

The Broadway musical is based upon the popular 1990 romantic fantasy thriller that starred Whoopie Goldberg, Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. The film was a monster hit and featured the popular song “Unchained Melody” as its theme. The musical likewise draws heavily from that source but has a wonderful new score as well.

“Ghost the Musical” premiered in London’s West End in the summer of 2011 and became an immediate hit. It transferred to Broadway the following year and opened to

‘The Odd Couple’ in Highlands A production of Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 23-26 and Aug. 30-Sept. 2 at the Highlands Performing Arts Center.

Tickets may be purchased by calling 828.526.8084 or online at www.highlandscashiersplayers.org.

mixed reviews, garnering numerous award nominations but losing out in every case to the musical “Once.”

HART’s production is being directed by Mark Jones. The cast features Miles Rice, Ashley Huber, Charlie Burchill, Marisa Noelle, Badi Mirheli, Trissa King, Greg Austin, Matthew Harper, Adam Lentini, Joanna Pardo, Chelsey Mirheli, Jessica Garland and Sarah Corbitt.

To make reservations or for more information, call the HART box office at 828.456.6322 or go online to www.harttheatre.org. You can also make reservations to dine at Harmons’ Den Bistro at HART before the show.

• There is free comedy improv class from 7 to 9 p.m. every Tuesday at Moo Mountain Bakery in Maggie Valley. No experience necessary, just come to watch or join in the fun. Improv teacher Wayne Porter studied at Sak Comedy Lab in Orlando, Florida, and performed improvisation with several groups. Join Improv WNC on Facebook or come to the bakery at 2511 Soco Road.

ALSO:

Books

Smoky Mountain News

31

Hiaasen’s graduation book misses the mark bout 15 years ago, I was listening to a female critic discussing the seasons’ upcoming movies. When the moderator mentioned Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” the critic laughed and said, a little bitterly, “Well, we’ll all have our knives out for that one.”

What a strange comment, I thought then.

And think now, for that matter. Why would anyone decide ahead of time to rip into a book, a film, or a play?

Some of you who have followed this book review column over the years may Writer wonder why you find so few negative reviews here, so few snarky comments, so few occasions where your reviewer hauls out a blade and eviscerates a book? Am I, you may wonder, incapable of a nasty review? Am I some sort of Pollyanna critic, a Mr. Merry Sunshine of the literary crew?

Naw. The answer is much simpler than that.

It’s the editor.

You see, about 90 percent of the time, or more, Mr. Scott McLeod allows me to review whatever books I please, whatever titles jump off the shelves of a bookstore or the local library and into my hands. Given Mr. McLeod’s liberality in my choice of books, why on earth would I pick for review a book that didn’t in some way interest me enough to read it?

Those interests of mine may be of interest to readers too, because they influence what I review. Almost any book about books seizes my attention, as does any novel with the words book or bookshop in the title.

Sometimes I bumble into novelists like David Hewson, enter under his spell, and review sev-

Jeff Minick

A

eral books at a time. A new James Lee Burke novel will usually come under review here; occasional books of poetry and art pull me into their orbit; certain biographies — I just

reviewed one on Bette Davis, an excellent book though I am not a big fan of her films — yammer at me to read their pages.

Frequently, too, the book that whistles to me from a library shelf loses its luster as soon as I riffle its pages at home. The sensation is that of sitting in a bar near closing time beside a new-found companion who strikes you as attractive until the management flips all the lights on.

At any rate, keeping that process in mind,

Joy to present new book Hosted by Blue Ridge Books, critically acclaimed local author David Joy will hold a book reading and signing for his latest work, The Line That Held Us, at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30, at Smoky Mountain Roaster in Waynesville.

When Darl Moody went hunting after a monster buck he’s chased for years, he never expected he’d accidentally shoot a man digging ginseng. Worse yet, he’s killed a Brewer, a family notorious for vengeance and violence.

With nowhere to turn, Darl calls on the help of the only man he knows will answer, his best friend, Calvin Hooper. But when Dwayne Brewer comes looking for his missing brother and stumbles onto a blood trail leading straight back to Darl and Calvin, a nightmare of revenge rips apart their world.

The Line That Held Us is a story of friendship and family, a tale balanced between destruction and redemption, where the only hope is to hold on tight, clenching to those you love. What will you do for

let’s take a look at Carl Hiaasen’s Assume the Worst: The Graduation Speech You’ll Never Hear (Alfred A. Knopf, 2018, approximately 20 pages, depending on what you count as a page).

I selected this books for several reasons. First, the length: an average reader could gobble down Assume The Worst, including the illustrations by Roz Chast, in about the time it takes to eat a meal at McDonald’s.

Second, I am a sucker for published graduation speeches, and have read them by the likes of Josiah Bunting and J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame. (An aside: once I was paid a goodly sum to speak at a high school graduation. Gentle reader, I bombed. Ka-Boom! Never again, I vowed, and never again it has been.)

Third, I hear a lot about Carl Hiaasen as a novelist and columnist, have never read him, and thought this small book might be an easy introduction.

Parts of Assume The Worst, including the title, appealed to me.

Here is, as the subtitle says, advice most graduates would hear. Live each day as if it’s your last?

Ridiculous, says Hiaasen. If you set your mind to it, you can be anything you want to be? Again, Hiaasen knocks that one down, rightly pointing out that if you still believe this at graduation, then you are living in a bubble. Try to find goodness in everyone you meet? Don’t be quick to judge others? Hiaasen makes mock of both of these platitudes, though having been judged by others who don’t know all the circumstances of my life, I disagree with him on that last one.

Now, I noted above that I don’t want to waste my time with books unappealing to me.

the people who mean the most, and what will you grasp to when all that you have is gone? The only certainty in a place so shredded is that no one will get away unscathed.

Joy is the author of The Weight of This World and Where All Light Tends to Go, an Edgar finalist for “Best First Novel.” His stories and creative nonfiction have appeared in a number of publications, and he is the author of the memoir Growing Gills: A Fly Fisherman’s Journey.

Foster care in Appalachia Deborah Gold and Wendy Welch will present an event on foster care and the lives of children affected by the opioid epidemic in Appalachia at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva.

Gold’s memoir, Counting Down: A Memoir of Foster Care and Beyond, has been endorsed by figures such as Robert Morgan, Ron Rash and Lee Smith.

Here I have to say Assume The Worst ended up being about as appealing as Finnegan’s Wake, but because it was so short, the discomfort was minimal.

Here’s what I disliked: First, the price. A retail price of $15.95 is ridiculous for a book no thicker than my cell phone. Doubtless someone designed the size and price to appeal to grandparents giving the book to their non-reading graduate.

Next, the cartoons just aren’t that funny.

They do illustrate the text, but readers have to wonder whether they weren’t included just to bulk up the book.

Both the text and the cartoons are also shot through with politics, in this case from a liberal point of view, but either way I would have found the politics annoying. Can we really not do anything anymore, including delivering a graduation speech, without bringing in climate change, Richard Nixon, and the stupidity of those who don’t live on the Coastal United States.

Finally, at one point Mr. Hiaasen writes regarding his work in the media: “… the only excusable reason for becoming a reporter was to expose things that were wrong and unjust, on the slim chance that somebody in authority might do something about it.”

Baloney. The reason to be a reporter — and many reporters and non-reporters forget this today — is to report a story as truthfully, as accurately, and as factually as possible. The expose follows investigation and accurate reporting.

On the front flap, an editor of this book writes “Assume The Worst is the best gift anyone, at any age, can give.”

I’m afraid I still prefer “Expect the best.

Prepare for the worst.”

And as for best gifts, I am up for checks between four and six figures. Please send them care of the newspaper.

(Jeff Minick is a writer and teacher. minick0301@gmail.com.)

Rash stated, “Counting Down is a deeply moving memoir about both the rewards and the daunting challenges of being a foster parent...Gold has created a unique and valuable book. Bravo.”

Deborah Gold is the pseudonym of a teacher, writer, and former foster parent. Licensed as foster parents for 15 years, she and her husband have now gained custody of two siblings.

Welch’s book, Fall or Fly: The Strangely Hopeful Story of Foster Care and Adoption in Appalachia, is more journalistic and is described as a “compelling, unvarnished glimpse into the complex world of foster care and adoption in modern-day Appalachia,”

by Sen. Bill Carrico of the Virginia State Legislature.

Welch is a bookseller, ethnographer, and journalist, and is also the author of The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap and editor of Public Health In Appalachia. She divides her time between writing up observations of Appalachia and working to make it a more just and verdant place.

To reserve copies of either of their books in advance, call City Lights Bookstore at 828.586.9499.

32

Outdoors

Smoky Mountain News

History through story Cherokee storyteller seeks to preserve historical memory with filming project

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER athi Littlejohn can get lost in stories.

Especially Cherokee stories. Their origins are often moored in worlds long past, but these stories have a tendency to twist through the years to end up knocking on the door of modernity.

“One of my first jobs as a teenager was working at the Oconaluftee Indian Village, which I absolutely loved. I was a tour guide,” recalled Littlejohn, who is now 63. “And on bad weather days when it was real slow, it was so much fun for me to sit with the people that were doing the crafts or some of the older guides and listen to stories.”

Littlejohn always loved stories, always loved history, but she never thought of herself as a storyteller. Not until the 1980s, anyway, when she was living in Seattle and taking a nighttime course in children’s literature.

Many of her classmates were schoolteachers, and when she told the class a story from one of the local northwestern tribes as part of an assignment, she found herself getting invited out to the schools to tell more stories. She’s leaned into the role ever since.

At home in Western North Carolina, Littlejohn and her fellow tribal members in

K

the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians are surrounded not only by stories but by the mountains, rivers and seasons that inspired them centuries ago. Too often, though, Cherokee people drive by these places of cultural importance without ever knowing what happened there.

That’s a problem Littlejohn is hoping to fix through her latest project, a series of short videos “Cherokee History & Stories: What Happened Here.” Funded by a grant from the Cherokee Preservation Foundation and aided by experts in the Tribal Historic Preservation Office, the project seeks to capture on video the sites that inspired Cherokee stories and hosted historically important moments, each

Watch the videos Cherokee storyteller Kathi Littlejohn has made 10 videos featuring some of the places behind Cherokee stories and history, and they’re all available for free on YouTube at bit.ly/2wi9Jbl. The project is funded through a grant from the Cherokee Preservation Foundation with research help from the Tribal Historic Preservation Office.

Kathi Littlejohn stands at Soco Gap, known as Ambush Place in the Cherokee language due to Cherokee warriors’ long-ago ambush of the rival Shawano there.

Holly Kays photo

one featuring Littlejohn telling her audience what once took place on the ground where she stands.

“I got to thinking about people that have small children, or high school children, and how neat would it be if while they’re on their phone, while they’re waiting for their child to come out of basketball practice — why couldn’t they have just a five-minute history lesson?” said Littlejohn.

The videos are short — they range from just under two minutes to just short of six — each offering a concise summary of the location’s history paired with a traditional Cherokee story chosen specifically for that location. The initial grant covered production of 10 videos, all of which are completed and available on YouTube.

“We thought it was important, because not very many people know about the sites or where they are, or what is significant,” said Tinker Jenks, who is overseeing the grant for

the Preservation Foundation.

The Foundation will likely fund a second round of videos as well, though it hopes the project will eventually gain permanent backing from some other entity. Littlejohn is recovering from back surgery, but that hasn’t stopped her from actively planning that second phase, using an interview with The Smoky Mountain News as an opportunity to scout out one potential location — Soco Gap on the Blue Ridge Parkway, the site of a longago ambush the Cherokee mounted on an invading rival tribe, the Shawano. In the Cherokee language, Soco Gap is known as “Ambush Place.”

COVERED IN HISTORY With thousands of years of Cherokee history and an original territory that included parts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Georgia and Alabama, there are plenty of stories to choose from. An overwhelming number, really.

Before the removal and European settlement, the Cherokee nation was organized into districts, and Littlejohn decided “instead of running all over the place” to order her videos according to those districts, starting with sites in the valley towns — areas around Murphy, Andrews and Hayesville — and then moving to the overhill areas of Haywood, Jackson and Swain counties.

However, “running all over the place” has proven to be an inescapable part of the endeavor. There is no handbook giving GPS coordinates for the ruins of long-abandoned forts or the backdrops for ancient legends.

Many of the sites are now on private property.

Finding them is equal parts nose-in-a-book research and plain old driving around and talking to people.

Littlejohn has been studying history — and particularly Cherokee history — for decades, and the Tribal Historic Preservation Office also researches the stories she’s filming to ensure accuracy. But, just as important as the scholarly portion of the preparation, Littlejohn said, is the feeling she gets as she prepares.

“If I have a doubt or I’m not get-

outdoors

The fox and the rabbit Stories are an important part of Cherokee culture, used to instruct, amuse, warn and dream. Each of Kathi Littlejohn’s videos includes one of these stories to further illustrate the featured place. Littlejohn tells this story, featuring a gullible fox and a trickster rabbit, on a video shot at Fort Hembree in Hayesville.

You see, Rabbit was the trickster. He was lazy and always trying to get over on all the other animals. He tried everything he could do to get out of working for something, and he played tricks on everybody. One day, Rabbit was

up and says, “Would you look at that? Two dead rabbits. This is my lucky day. But I’ve got all these fish. I’d better not.”

And he stepped around Rabbit and walked on. Rabbit jumped up, ran to the other side and lay down across the path. Here comes Fox. “I can’t believe this! Three rabbits! I’ve got to get these rabbits. What can I do with my fish?”

So he takes the fish and he hides them in a hollow log and covers it all over with leaves.

And he went back to get the first and second rabbit. As soon as he did, Rabbit jumps up, takes his fish, skedaddles home and has a nice fish fry for supper.

ing to fish when the water boils, foam washes up and her baby is nearly swept away.

Luckily, the woman grabs the baby in time and goes to warn others. The others come and look down into the water, where they can see something huge moving around. The people would come to discover that the giant something was in fact a giant leech with red and white stripes along the length of its body. Every once in a while, an unwary traveler would get swept away in the foaming water and appear downstream with his nose and ears eaten off.

But one young man who heard the story laughed at the danger. He dressed in his finest clothes, painted his face and went to

Leech Place, boasting that he would tie red leech skins to his legs as garters. He walked out to the water, and it began to boil. A great wave washed over him, and he was never seen again.

A SENSE OF URGENCY Resurrecting these stories on the stage where they originally played out — the grassy fields and flowing rivers of the Cherokee homeland — brings home the reality of the past for Littlejohn, and she hopes it does the same for anyone else

Smoky Mountain News

home to seven town houses, two stickball fields, four stores, a gristmill and hundreds of Cherokee people. It was, as explorer George Featherstonhaugh wrote in an 1847 journal, “the paradise of the Cherokees.”

“For thousands of years, Cherokees raised their crops and their children, fished and hunted, and traded, danced and worshipped — and told stories,” Littlejohn says in the video.

One such story is the story of Leech Place, which is what Murphy is called in the Cherokee language.

In the story of Leech Place, a young Cherokee mother goes down to the river with her mother and her baby and is prepar-

walking and spied Fox coming with a fine mess of fish that he had caught for his supper.

Thinking about that he wanted those fish. He knew Fox wasn’t likely to share with him for all the tricks he’d played on him in the past. So laying down in the path he played dead.

Sure enough, Fox walks up and says, “Oh my goodness, look at this! A freshly killed rabbit! Oh, that would be good for my supper! But I’ve got these fish. I’d better not.” And he stepped around Rabbit and walked on.

When he was out of sight Rabbit jumped up, ran around, got in front of him and laid down on the other side of the path. Fox comes

August 22-28, 2018

ting much of the reference material about it, if I meet someone and then they start adding to it and it just grows — then I know that it was just really meant to be,” she said.

She saw an example of that when she went in search of the Valleytown Mission Boarding School, off of U.S. 64 about halfway between Hayesville and Murphy.

The filming crew found the spot, but the road was too busy to make a video without tons of traffic noise in the background.

“The name of the road that turns off the main road was Valleytown,” Littlejohn said.

“We thought, well, we’re close by and we can use the drone, so we’ll go there.”

So they did, pulling into a dirt driveway that they figured would allow them to be out of everyone’s way as they shot the video with the boarding school site just behind them.

But they’d barely gotten set up when a woman came flying down the road, slammed on her breaks, rolled down her window and let the group know in no uncertain terms that she was in a hurry to get up her driveway and they’d best clear out.

Meanwhile, a man in a pickup had rolled into the house across the street, and they figured they’d ask to film there instead.

“That man was awesome,” Littlejohn said. “He said, ‘Well, sure.’ He said, ‘You can do anything you want. You ever gone down to the spring? You see my garden spot?’ He said, ‘That’s where the boarding school’s church was.’”

Unlike most other Indian boarding schools, Valleytown didn’t force kids to speak English or punish them for using their native tongue. To the contrary, its board of directors adopted a policy to teach and preach in the Cherokee language. Its first director, a Welsh missionary named Rev. Evan Jones, became an advocate for the Cherokee people, helping them develop legal strategies to fight the Indian Removal Act that eventually resulted in the Trail of Tears and all the atrocities that accompanied that chapter of history.

The removal couldn’t stop Jones from ministering to the Cherokee people. He went with them to Fort Cass in Tennessee, where they were interned before marching west, and eventually traveled the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma, where he and his family settled.

Several of the school’s students also became active in opposing the removal and ministering to their fellow Cherokees who were caught up in it.

“That whole area is just covered in history and stories,” Littlejohn said. “But we never would have found the church if that woman hadn’t been so rude.”

Sites surrounding the removal figure prominently in the 10 videos Littlejohn has so far completed. But the videos also anchor on sites relating to happier moments in Cherokee history, and to myths and stories that go back much further than a mere 200 or 300 years.

Another video, filmed under the bridge holding Tennessee Street in Murphy, at the confluence of the Valley and Hiawassee rivers, reminds viewers of the size and complexity of Cherokee society before European contact. The valley area in present-day Clay and Cherokee counties, for instance, was

S EE H ISTORY, PAGE 34 33

he’d caught for supper.

“I can just imagine that at night, holding their children, trying to make sense of what was happening, that they told stories to lift up their spirits and try to make the best of a horrible situation,” she said. “I think it made me more determined to keep doing the videos, because we need people to make that connection so that things like that don’t ever happen again.”

The visits take an emotional toll, and there’s one video that Littlejohn is dreading.

That’s the one she’ll one day shoot at Fort Cass in Charleston, Tennessee, the largest

Smoky Mountain News

August 22-28, 2018

outdoors

H ISTORY, CONTINUED FROM 33 watching the videos.

“I’m hoping that by telling the stories and telling the history of the stories, that people would become more sensitive, and instead of hearing about things that might happen to a group of people or a family or an individual, instead of thinking, ‘Oh, that could never happen there,’ ‘Oh, that’s not going to happen at our high school,’ that yes, it can happen,” she said.

To modern ears, the story of the Trail of Tears might seem incredible, in the real etymological sense of not being credible.

Thousands of people rounded up, sent to concentration camps and forcibly marched over hundreds of miles to resettle in a far-off land they’d never seen before? Surely not.

Yet, it really did happen, and the effects of that forced migration have rippled through the years to impact the reality of modern Cherokees even now, nearly 200 years later. Especially for a tribal member like Littlejohn, a descendent of those same families who were evicted from their homeland, it’s impossible to visit sites like Fort Hembree in Hayesville, where more people died than at any other fort along the Trail of Tears, without feeling the weight of history.

Along with the historical facts of each place, Littlejohn chooses a traditional Cherokee tale for each video. For Fort Hembree, she deliberately chose a story that was a bit funny, about a rabbit who tricked a fox into surrendering a delicious mess of fish

camp where removed Cherokee were held before beginning the march to Oklahoma.

“That’s gonna be — tough,” said Littlejohn, her formerly bright voice shifting to a slower, more melancholy cadence as she spoke of Fort Cass. “Because so many people died there. They had — dysentery and cholera and then they had a drought, and the Cherokee elders asked them to wait until cooler weather and not force them to march with no water. But it just swept through the camps. So, I don’t know about that one. It’s going to be tough.”

“But, it needs to be told,” she continued, her voice resuming its usual cheery tone. “I’ll get to that one when we get there.”

She’s determined to get there, and to a number of places as well, as quickly as she can. But she knows it’s too big a job to do alone. The history of the Cherokee people is expansive, both chronologically and geographically speaking. And for many of these stories, the clock is ticking.

“All of the people we met who told us the stories were older,” Littlejohn said. “I think that kind of gives me a reason to keep pushing, and my own age — I’m 63.”

There’s also the places themselves. Many of them are privately owned, and while they might be farmland or forest at the moment, there’s always the possibility that they’ll one day be developed and the vestiges of the past removed.

“I think it won’t end with just me and the videos. I hope,” she said. “But I do have a sense of urgency.”

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H A Y WO O D • C O U N T Y y Fair

Fair

outdoors

Haywood Count

August 23th-26th, 2018 Haywood County Fairgrounds TUESDAY, AUGUST 21 10 a.m-6 p.m.

Fair Exhibits Accepted Vendor/Booth Set-Up

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22

portal and tag any photos with #MSTBirthdayHike.

The hike is a repeat of the 2017 effort to hike every miles of the MST in a day to recognize the trail’s 40th birthday.

Visit www.mountainstoseatrail.org/ birthdayhike to pick a leg (or legs) to hike or to report miles.

Open to the Public

5 p.m.-10 p.m.

Carnival Rides Open

DOGWOOD EVENTS CENTER

9 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Senior Citizens Day 55 and older

APPLE ORCHARD EVENT CENTER 4 p.m.-10 p.m.

4 p.m.-6:30 p.m.

Vendor booths & Exhibits Fish Fry - Pigeon Community Center

4 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Variety Music Show 5:30 pm-6:30 pm Military Appreciation & Opening Ceremonies 7:00 pm Bingo

DOGWOOD EVENTS CENTER

The one-way section of Balsam Mountain Road in Swain County will be temporarily closed this month for roadwork.

The gravel portion between the junction with Heintooga Ridge Road and Straight Fork Road near Round Bottom will be closed Mondays through Fridays until Aug. 31. The road will be open Saturday, Aug. 25, and Sunday, Aug. 26.

Three trails that intersect Balsam Mountain Road won’t be accessible from the road during the construction period: Spruce Mountain Trail, Palmer Creek Trail and Balsam Mountain Trail. Hikers can access these trails from other parts of the park but can’t start or end at Balsam Mountain Road. Balsam Mountain Campground, Balsam Mountain Picnic Area and Round Bottom Horse Camp will remain open and accessible via normal routes, but visitors should expect to encounter heavy equipment on the drive.

During this time, crews will add gravel and improve drainage features on the road. All temporary road closures in the park area listed at www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/temproadclose.htm.

9:00 pm - 2:00 pm Open for Seniors 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm Open for the Public to view

GREAT SMOKIES ARENA 5:00pm K-9 Demo 6:00 pm Firemen’s Competition Drinks and Snacks on sale by Fairgrounds Volunteers

LIONS CLUB BARN 4:00 pm - 10:00 pm Farm Animal Viewing Exhibit

FRIDAY, AUGUST 24 4:00 pm - 10:00 pm 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Open to the Public Carnival Rides Open

APPLE ORCHARD EVENT CENTER 4:00 pm - 10:00 pm 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Vendor booths and exhibits New Generation Jamboree

9:00 am - 5:00 pm Open for the Public 10:00 am & 3:00pm God Science 1:00 pm Ice Cream Eating Contest 2:00 pm Watermelon Eating Contest

LIONS CLUB BARN 10:00 am - 10:00 pm Farm Animal Viewing Exhibit

GREAT SMOKIES ARENA 9:00 am Tractor Pull Registration 1:30 pm - 5:00 pm Horseshoes (1st and 2nd Prizes) 4:30 pm Garden Tractor Pull

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Open to the Public 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm Carnival Rides Open

APPLE ORCHARD EVENT CENTER 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Vendor booths and exhibits 10:00 am Smokey Mountain Cowboy Church 1:30 pm - 5:00 pm Smoky Mountain Jubilee emceed by Joe Sam Queen

DOGWOOD EVENTS CENTER

August 22-28, 2018

Balsam Mountain Road closed for roadwork

APPLE ORCHARD EVENT CENTER

4 p.m.-10 p.m.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 23

A statewide hike of the Mountains-toSea Trail will attempt to log as many miles as possible on the cross-state trail between Friday, Sept. 7, and Sunday, Sept. 9.

Participants can choose any portion of the 1,175-mile trail to hike that weekend.

After the hike they’re asked to report the miles they’ve completed through an online

9:00 am - 10:00 pm Open to the Public 10:00 am - 2:00 pm “Family Fun Day at the Fair” 9:00 am - 10:00 pm Carnival Rides Open Richland Creek Meadow 9:00 am - 10:00 pm Vendor booths and exhibits 10:00 am Entries for King Arthur Flour Baking Contest 10:30 - 11:30 am Flour Baking Contest and Prize Bake Goods Auction 1:00 pm Natural Beauty Pageant 4:00 - 6:30 pm Smokey Mountain Cowboy Church BBQ, by Reeds Old Fashion BBQ 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm Heritage Hoedown

8 a.m.-5 p.m. Closed for judging 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Carnival rides only, no parking fee

Hike the Mountains-to-Sea Trail

SATURDAY, AUGUST 25

9:00 am - 5:00 pm Open for the Public

GREAT SMOKIES ARENA 1:00 pm Truck Pull

DOGWOOD EVENTS CENTER

MONDAY, AUGUST 27

4:00 pm - 8:00 pm Open for the Public to view

10 a.m.-6 p.m. Pick-Up and Take Down

BURLEY LIVESTOCK BARN 6:30 pm Sheep Show

LIONS CLUB BARN

An exhibit showcasing the work of three leading fiber artists and their quest to explore the mountains, meadows and marshes of Western North Carolina through fabric is on display through Sept.

16 at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville.

The quilted artwork offers a link to familiar images in the region, echoing the arboretum’s role in connecting people with plans. The pieces by artists Mary Stori, Judy Simmons and Kate Weston add a contemporary twist to the area’s rich quilt-making tradition, featuring pieces of varying sizes.

Free with regular $14 parking fee. All

4:00 pm - 10:00 pm Farm Animal Viewing Exhibit

GREAT SMOKIES ARENA 7:00 pm Horse Show

OTHER ATTRACTIONS Thursday-Sunday-Animal Viewing Zoo (Burley Livestock Barn)

Subject to change Call 828.400.1704 for information Quilt artists use fibers and fabrics to reflect the landscapes of Western North Carolina. Donated photo pieces are for sale, with proceeds benefiting the N.C. Arboretum Society.

www.haywoodcountyfairgrounds.org

Smoky Mountain News

Quilt exhibit echoes natural world

$5/vehicle Other Attractions Wednesday-Sunday: Farm Animal Exhibit (Livestock Barn) 35

outdoors

Boating safety course

Paddle the French Broad A paddle trip down the French Broad River will leave at 7:30 a.m.

Monday, Aug. 27, from the Waynesville Recreation Center and return by 5 p.m.

The French Broad starts as a small stream in the mountains and flows more than 200 miles to Knoxville, where it helps form the Tennessee River. The third-oldest river in the world, its route includes the center of Asheville and the surrounding national forests. $25, with participants asked to bring water shoes, sunscreen, a bathing suit, lunch and snacks.

Organized by the Waynesville Parks and Recreation Department.

Register at 828.456.2030 or tpetrea@waynesvillenc.gov.

A boating safety course will be offered 69 p.m. Aug. 28-29 at Haywood Community College, giving participants a shot at a certification required to operate vessels propelled by a motor of 10 horsepower or greater.

Participants must attend both sessions and pass a written exam. The free course is offered as a partnership between HCC and the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. The course will also be held Sept. 10-11.

Register at www.ncwildlife.org by selecting the “Learning” tab.

Fish Qualla country

August 22-28, 2018

A trout tournament offering $20,000 in prizes will hit Cherokee’s pristine streams Friday, Aug. 31, to Sunday, Sept. 2.

The Qualla Country Trout Tournament will feature tagged fish specially stocked for the event, able to be redeemed for cash prizes ranging from $25 to $5,000 with the $11 entry fee. Fishing will begin one hour before sunrise and end one hour after sunset each day, with prize redemption 4 to 6 p.m. each day.

Cherokee fishing license required to participate, with tournament registration available anywhere licenses are sold. Open to all ages and legal fishing methods.

Paula Price, 828.359.6110, paprice@nc-cherokee.com.

The day will include plenty of opportunity to perfect that kayak stroke. Donated photo

Tour Cashiers from a bicycle The Tour de Cashiers will deliver yet another challenging bicycle event Saturday, Sept. 15, offering 25-mile, 62-mile and 100-mile options for cyclists and a 5K for runners.

The mountainous route features stunning scenery and challenging ascents with total elevation gains of up to 10,500 feet for the 100-miler. The event attracts participants from all over the Southeast.

Cost is $30 to $50 until Aug. 26, depending on which event is chosen, with prices rising afterward. Proceeds benefit the Cashiers Area Chamber of Commerce. Sign up at www.tourdecashiers.com.

11th Annual

Youth Arts Festival at the Jackson County

Saturday

September 15 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Smoky Mountain News

Volunteers & artists are always welcome to join us for this event!

What To Expect: Artists Demonstrations in Glass, Metal, Ceramics, Paint, Printmaking, etc.

Activities

in weaving, hand-building with clay, wheel thrown clay etc.

Music & Dance performances Food Available for Purchase

For more information on how to get involved: 828.631.0271 or chelseamiller@jacksonnc.org 36

www.jcgep.org

Park Service turns 102

Mandatory bear canisters proposed for A.T. campers

explore life faith meaning

Coming to Long’s Chapel Aug. 29–Nov. 7 | 6:30 pm 175 Old Clyde Road | Waynesville 828.456.3993 | LongsChapel.com

OPEN INVITATION TO EVERYONE

August 22-28, 2018 Smoky Mountain News

Increased bear activity is prompting the U.S. Forest Service to consider broadening the list of places in Western North Carolina where overnight campers will be required to use bear canisters.

Under the proposal, all overnight campers on the Appalachian Trail’s route through North Carolina’s national forests and in the Nantahala Ranger District’s Panthertown Valley would be required to use bear-resistant food containers.

In the past few years, the Nantahala and Pisgah national forests have seen increasing instances of black bears exhibiting bold behavior over food, with most encounters happening at backcountry campsites rather than at campgrounds equipped with bearproof trash cans. Bears have taken food from tents and backpacks, damaged tents and stayed near inhabited campsites for hours.

“Bears are very reluctant to give up an easy food source and they have not been discouraged by humans banging pots, blowing air horns, and yelling,” said Nantahala District Wildlife Biologist Johnny Wills.

“Using bear-resistant food containers is the surest way to deny bears access to human food.”

The Forest Service has worked to educate visitors on bear safety using posters and postings on websites and social media.

However, potentially serious encounters have continued to increase.

Submit comments by Sept. 19 to comments-southern-north-carolina-nantahalanantahala@fs.fed.us or Johnny Wills, Nantahala RD Wildlife Biologist, Nantahala Ranger District, 90 Sloan Road, Franklin, N.C. 28734.

explore

outdoors

The National Park Service turns 102 this week with the anniversary of President Woodrow Wilson’s Aug. 25, 1916 signature on the Organic Act. The act established the National Park Service as part of the Department of Interior. Today, the Park Service protects more than 400 areas scattered throughout all 50 states, U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia, with a combined acreage of 84 million.

National Park units local to Western North Carolina include the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Appalachian National Scenic Trail and Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site.

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outdoors

September kids’ programs in Waynesville

Smoky Mountain News

August 22-28, 2018

The Waynesville Parks and Recreation Department Base Camp will offer a schedule of programs in September offering ample adventure for all ages. n Monday nights from 5 to 7 p.m. parents can drop off children ages 3 to 12 for an evening of inflatables, spike ball and more.

Free for members; $20 for the month for nonmembers. n Tuesday nights from 5:30 to 7 p.m., kids in fourth through seventh grades will have a choice of classes in disc golf or juggling and balance. Cost is $20 for all four sessions. n Tuesday nights from 5:30 to 7 p.m. kids ages 3 to 8 will have an outdoor play session. Cost is $20 for all four sessions.

{Celebrating the Southern Appalachians}

Tremont gets new CEO Catharine Terry has been hired as the new president and CEO of the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont near Townsend, Tennessee, and is scheduled to start work Sept. 4.

Terry will come to Tremont after serving as CFO for SOAR in Balsam, an ADHD adventure camp and year-round academy. Terry replaces Dr. Jen Jones, who resigned earlier this year.

“It is an honor to lead an organization that allows me to witness people, of all walks-of-life, as each discovers and develops their own connection to nature and to the Park,” Terry said. “I look forward to working with and learning from the passionate staff and dedicated board members as we focus on the growth of this remarkable organization. This is an exciting time to be at Tremont, and I am grateful to be a part of its future.”

A Tennessee native, Terry attended Tremont herself as a sixth-grader and holds a bachelor’s in ecology and environmental biology from Appalachian State University. She has worked in nonprofit administration for nearly 15 years and serves on the board of the Conservation Trust of North Carolina.

Smoky Mountain Living celebrates the mountain region’s culture, music, art, and special places. We tell our stories for those who are lucky enough to live here and those who want to stay in touch with the place they love.

Subscribe or learn more at smliv.com MAGAZINE

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n Thursday nights from 5:30 to 7 p.m. kids in fourth through seventh grades will engage in a paddle sport program. Cost is $30 for all four sessions. n Thursday nights from 5:30 to 7 p.m. kids in first through fourth grades will enjoy a lifetime sports program. Cost is $20 for all four sessions. n Thursday nights from 5:30 to 7 p.m. kids ages 3 to 8 will participate in a tumbling and obstacle course training program.

Cost is $20 for all four sessions.

All programs take place at the Waynesville Recreation Center. Register by calling 828.456.2030 or emailing tpetrea@waynesvillenc.gov.

Mushroom expert gives Highlands lecture Each summer, the Highlands Biological Foundation hosts free evening lectures at the Nature Center on Thursdays focused on the theme of natural history and conservation, a tradition that began in the 1930s. Today, these lectures are known as the Zahner Conservation Lecture Series, which serves to educate and inspire through a series of talks from well-known regional scientists, conservationists, artists, and writers.

At 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30, Tradd Cotter gives a lecture on “The Mushroom Matrix: The Dark Matter that Bins Life.”

Mushroom expert Cotter — a mycologist and founder of Mushroom Mountain — will deliver a lecture on native plants and their fungal partners. In order to sustain life on this planet, a complex matrix of organisms has evolved to orchestrate the balance.

Plants and fungi have merged and continue to unveil the benefits of collaborating with nature. Cotter is a microbiologist, professional mycologist, and organic gardener who has been tissue culturing, collecting native fungi in the Southeast, and cultivating both commercially and experimentally, for more than 22 years. In 1996, he founded Mushroom Mountain, which he owns and operates with his wife, Olga, to explore applications for mushrooms in various industries.

WNC Calendar COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS • Western North Carolina teachers will join teachers from across the state in airing their grievances to elected state leaders through a press conference at 5 p.m. on Aug. 24 at the Macon County Courthouse in Franklin.

• A picnic for all former Dayco employees and spouses is scheduled for 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 25, at Allens Creek Park in Waynesville. Drinks and plates furnished.

• The annual Seven Clans Rodeo will be held from 6 to 10 p.m. Sept. 1-2 across from the Cherokee Islands Park. Rodeo starts at 8 p.m. each night. General admission tickets and cash only. www.facebook.com/sevenclansrodeo.

All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted. offered from 1-4 p.m. on Fridays, Aug. 24-Sept. 28, through Haywood Community College’s Workforce Continuing Education Department in Clyde. Forge a marking knife. $75. For info or to register: 627.4669 or rgmassie@haywood.edu.

• A discussion on “The Historic Spread Out District” is scheduled for 4-5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 30, at the Waynesville Library Auditorium. Led by Alex McKay, curator of the Waynesville Archive Museum.

• Sign-ups are underway for Jackson County’s “Citizens Academy” – an eight-week course focused on services provided by the county – starting at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 11. Info and applications: 631.2295 or jcfitzgerald@jacksonnc.org.

• Registration is underway for a “Better Communication Through Creative Play” workshop that will be offered through Western Carolina University’s Office of Professional Growth and Enrichment from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 21, at WCU’s Biltmore Park location in Asheville. Led by Neela Munoz. Early bird registration: $99 through Sept. 1; rises to $125 after Sept. 1. Pdp.wcu.edu or 227.7397.

• The Village Green will offer an opportunity for public participation in “Growing a Vision for Cashiers” at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 22, in Cashiers. Future forums are at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 5 and Tuesday, Sept.

25. VillageGreenCashiersNC.com, info@villagegreencashiersnc.com or 743.3434.

• Registration is underway for “A Guide to Selling on Etsy for Small Business-Livestream,” which will be offered through Haywood Community College’s Small Business Center from 5-8 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 6, at the college’s Regional High Tech Center Auditorium in Clyde. SBC.Haywood.edu or 627.4512.

• Registration is underway for Marriage Enrichment Retreats that will be offered four times over the next year at Lake Junaluska. Led by Ned Martin, an expert in marriage counseling. Price is $699 per couple. Dates are Sept. 30-Oct 2; March 10-12, Aug. 18-20 of 2019 and Sept. 29-Oct. 1 in 2019. Registration and info: www.lakejunaluska.com/marriage or 800.222.4930.

• The Cherokee Bonfire & Storytelling will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 27 at the Oconaluftee Islands Park.

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

• Oconaluftee Indian Village will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday through Nov. 10. As you step into the Oconaluftee Indian Village, you’re transported back to witness the challenges of Cherokee life at a time of rapid cultural change. Tour guides help you explore the historic events and figures of the 1760’s. www.cherokeehistorical.org.

BUSINESS & EDUCATION • Registration is underway for a workshop on hiring effective nonprofit leaders, which will be offered by Western Carolina University’s Office of Professional Growth and Enrichment from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 30, at WCU’s instructional site at Biltmore Park in Asheville. For info or to register: pdp.wcu.edu.

• Haywood Community College will offer hunter safety courses from 6-9 p.m. on Sept. 17-18, Oct. 8-9 and Nov. 5-6 in Clyde. Preregistration required: www.ncwildlife.org.

• Alan French will present “Closed Cities in Russia: Part 1” at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 23, in the Macon County Public Library’s Meeting Room in Franklin.

524.3600.

• A “Forging Jewelry” class will be offered from 9 a.m.noon on Fridays, Aug. 24-Sept. 28, through Haywood Community College’s Workforce Continuing Education Department in Clyde. $225. For info or to register: 627.4669 or rgmassie@haywood.edu.

• A “Forging Tools for Woodworkers” class will be

FUNDRAISERS AND BENEFITS

Smoky Mountain News

HEALTH MATTERS • Back to school essential oils class being offered at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 27 at Mad Batter Food & Film. Come learn how to use essential oils to better your families experience this year whether you are a parent, teacher, administer, support staff, or college student this class will provide important information on supporting you in the stressful world of school and protecting yourself and your family from the germs that await you at every corner of the school. Stay after the class and make rollerbottle essential oil blends for you to try at home. Each roller is $5, make as many as you want.

RSVP to Wende Goode at 246.2256 or goodeoils@gmail.com. Space is limited.

• Registration is underway for an eating disorder workshop with Linda Bacon, Ph.D. the workshop is scheduled for 12:30-5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 25, at the Folk Art Center Auditorium in Asheville. Title is: “Nurturing Body Respect: The Facts, Fictions and Clinical Path” – an evidence based alternative to weight-focused care.

Advance tickets only; no on-site tickets. 298.7928. info@crcfored.com, . https://tinyurl.com/ya9qtvhh or 337.4685.

RECREATION AND FITNESS • Pangu Yoga: Cultivating Calmness will be offered from 2-4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 25, at Waynesville Yoga Center. $35 in advance or $40 at the door.

Register: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com.

• The American Legion will hold a Benefit Fish Fry from 4-7 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 25, at the North Hominy Community Center off Exit 33 in Canton. Proceeds will go toward a new room for American Legion Post No. 61 in Canton.

• There will be several ballroom and Latin dance classes offered on Sundays and Mondays at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. Classes for beginners, intermediate and all levels. $10 per class. For more information, click on www.froglevelbrewing.com.

• The Maggie Valley Lions Club will hold its 10th annual four-person captain’s choice scramble on Thursday, Aug. 23, at Maggie Valley Club. $75 per golfer; includes continental breakfast, lunch, door prize chance, 18 holes and a cart. 321.246.3667.

• Line Dance Lessons will be held on Tuesdays in Waynesville. Times are 7 to 8 p.m. every other Tuesday.

Cost is $10 per class and will feature modern/traditional line dancing. 734.0873 or kimcampbellross@gmail.com for more information.

• Tickets and sponsorships are available for “Bluegrass, Blue Jeans & Bling,” the fifth annual fundraising gala for the Southwestern Community College Foundation.

Event is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Aug. 25 at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort. Performances by Frogtown (Bluegrass) and Steve Johannessen (Classics). $150 per person; sponsorships start at $1,500. 339.4241 or www.southwesterncc.edu/foundation/2018-gala-eventdetails.

• Flow + Center Yoga is offered from 9-9:55 a.m. on Wednesdays at Maggie Valley Wellness Center.

944.0288 or maggievalleywellness.com.

• Biker Down Lifted Up Motorcycle Ministry will hold its Cherokee Soul Revivers Christian Motorcycle Rally from Aug. 31-Sept. 1 at the Cherokee Indian Fairgrounds in Cherokee. Music, food, vendors, bike games and local ride. Admission fee for the weekend: $10. Children under 12 free. www.bikerdownliftedupwnc.com.

• The P.A.W.S. wine tasting and silent auction will be held from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 1, at Lands Creek Log Cabins in Bryson City. Come out and support Swain County and Bryson City’s only animal shelter.

This annual event is a community favorite and features a great selection of local items for auction, great wines, and live entertainment. www.pawsbrysoncity.org

VOLUNTEERS & VENDORS • A Guardian ad Litem training class will be held in September through the Cherokee County GAL office. The N.C. Guardian ad Litem program recruits, trains and supervises volunteer advocates to represent and promote the best interests of abused, neglected and dependent children in the state court system. Info: www.ncgal.org or www.facebook.com/ncGuardianAdLitem. 837.8003.

• Flow + Chill Yoga is offered from 9-9:55 a.m. on Thursdays through November at Maggie Valley Wellness Center. 944.0288 or maggievalleywellness.com.

• Gentle Vin Yin Yoga is offered from 9-9:55 a.m. on Fridays through November at Maggie Valley Wellness Center. 944.0288 or maggievalleywellness.com.

• Lunchtime Flow Yoga is offered from noon-1 p.m. on Fridays through November at Maggie Valley Wellness Center. 944.0288 or maggievalleywellness.com.

• Mixed Levels Flow Yoga is offered from 9-9:55 a.m. on Saturdays through November at Maggie Valley Wellness Center. 944.0288 or maggievalleywellness.com.

• Pickleball is offered from 9 a.m.-noon on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at the Old Armory in Waynesville. 456.2030 or dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov.

• The Safekids USA/Blue Dragon Taekwondo School is offering self-defense classes from 9-10 a.m. on Saturdays. $5 per class. For females 14-older. Classes are at 93 Jones Cove Road in Clyde.

• Karaoke is happening at 8 p.m. on Saturdays at Harmon’s Den Bistro at HART Theatre in Waynesville.

• The Maggie Valley Wellness Center is offering two yoga classes from 9-9:55 a.m. on Wednesdays through March: Gentle Flow with Candra and Gentle Vin Yin with Jamie. 944.0288 or maggievalleywellness.com.

• Line dance lessons will be offered from 7-8 p.m. every other Tuesday in Waynesville. $10 per class.

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Visit www.smokymountainnews.com and click on Calendar for: ■ Complete listings of local music scene ■ Regional festivals ■ Art gallery events and openings ■ Complete listings of recreational offerings at regional health and fitness centers ■ Civic and social club gatherings Modern/traditional line dancing. 734.0873 or kimcampbellross@gmail.com.

• A wide variety of yoga classes are offered daily through the Waynesville Yoga Center. For updated, current listings, visit: http://waynesvilleyogacenter.com/class-schedule.

• Pickleball, a cross between tennis, badminton and ping-pong, will be offered from 9 a.m.-noon on Mondays and Wednesdays at the Old Hazelwood Gym in Waynesville. $3 per visit, or $20 for a 10-visit card.

452.6789 or iansmith@haywoodcountync.gov.

• Yoga classes designed specifically for those who have experienced trauma are being offered at the Fitness Connection in Waynesville. www.sonshineyoga.com.

• ZUMBA! Classes, are offered from 6-7 p.m. on Tuesdays, at the Canton Armory. $5 per class. 648.2363 or parks@cantonnc.com.

• Tai chi is offered from 10:45-11:45 a.m. every Tuesday and Thursday at Haywood Regional Health and Fitness Center. It’s also offered from 1-2 p.m. on Thursdays. Taught by Bill Muerdter. For info about the classes or HRHFC memberships and offerings, call 452.8080 or visit MyHaywoodRegional.com/Fitness.

• Ultimate Frisbee games are held from 5:30-8 p.m. on Mondays at the Cullowhee Recreation Park. Organized

by Jackson County Parks & Recreation. Pick-up style.

293.2053 or www.rec.jacksonnc.org.

• The Wednesday Croquet Group meets from 10 a.m.noon at the Vance Street Park across from the shelter.

For senior players ages 55 or older. 456.2030 or dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov.

• Pickleball is from 1-3 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday nights at First Methodist Church in Sylva. $1 each time you play; equipment provided. 293.3053.

• Cardio Lunch class will meet from noon-1 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Waynesville Recreation Center. For ages 16 and above. Cost is regular admission fee to the rec center or free for members. 456.2030 or tplowman@waynesvillenc.gov.

• Flexible Fitness class will meet from 4:30-5:15 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays at the Waynesville Recreation Center. For ages 16 and above. Cost is regular admission fee to the rec center or free for members.

456.2030 or tplowman@waynesvillenc.gov.

• Pump It Up class will meet from 6:30-7:30 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays at the Waynesville Recreation Center. For ages 16 and above. Cost is regular admission fee to the rec center or free for members. 456.2030 or tplowman@waynesvillenc.gov.

• Pickle ball is offered from 8 a.m.-noon on Mondays through Fridays at the Waynesville Recreation Center.

456.2030 or www.waynesvillnc.gov.

SPIRITUAL • Registration is underway for Personal Spiritual Retreats that will be offered at Lake Junaluska in the

wnc calendar

Flowers” at 11 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 31, at the Albert Carlton Cashiers Community Library in Cashiers. Debut novel about love, loss and the power of place. www.facebook.com/shadowsofflowers or www.paypal.me/hollykays.

• Registration is underway for a Self-Directed Retreats that will be offered at Lake Junaluska in the coming months. Spend time walking the trails, meditating in gardens, in private devotions, journaling, reflecting and more. Lake Junaluska will also provide a booklet with optional agendas, resources and ideas for structuring your retreat. $97 per person, per night, including lodging in Lambuth Inn, breakfast and retreat booklet.

Other dates are available, pricing varies. Dates are Sept. 9-12, Sept. 17-18, Oct. 17-18, Oct. 29-Nov. 1 and Nov. 19-21. www.lakejunaluska.com/retreats.

• A “Medicare 101” class will be offered from 2-3 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 28, at Waynesville Library. Led by John Chicoine of the Senior Resource Center. 356.2833.

• A Hand & Foot card game is held at 1 p.m. on Thursdays at Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. 356.2800.

• Registration is open for the Haywood County Arts Council’s Junior Appalachian Musicians classes, which are held from 3:30-5 p.m. on Sept. 11-May 14. For fourth-grade and up. Learn banjo, fiddle or guitar in the traditional way mountain music has been taught for generations. Register by Aug. 31. $150 per student for the school year; siblings are charged $50. Register: 452.0593 or director@haywoodarts.org. Info: www.haywoodarts.org.

• Registration is underway for “Mind the Music! Piano Lessons” that will be offered to ages 55-up starting the week of Sept. 24 and running through the week of Oct. 22. $60 plus a materials fee of less than $20. Led

by Susan Huckaby. director@haywoodarts.org, 452.0593 or HaywoodArts.org.

• Senior Sale Day is on the third Friday of every month at the Friends of the Library Used Bookstore. Patrons 60 and older get 20 percent off all purchases. Proceeds benefit the Sylva Library.

• Registration is underway for fall acting classes through Kids at HART program. Classes run from Sept.

10-Nov. 26. $120 for acting classes or $110 for voice classes. www.harttheatre.org.

POLITICAL • A reception for Joe Sam Queen and his bid for N.C. House Seat 119 is scheduled for 5:30-7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 28, at the Susan Todd Lounge at Lake Junaluska’s Harrell Center.

AUTHORS AND BOOKS • Authors Deborah Gold and Wendy Welch will present an event on foster care and the lives of children affected by the opioid epidemic in Appalachian at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 25, at City Lights in Sylva. Each author has written a book on the topic. Reserve a copy: 586.9499.

• An evening with author David Joy is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 30, at Smoky Mountain Roasters in Waynesville. His latest novel is “The Line That Held Us.”

August 22-28, 2018

• Author Holly Kays will share her novel “Shadows of

SENIOR ACTIVITIES

• The Waynesville Parks and Recreation Department has set a time for senior citizens (55-older) to play tennis from 9 a.m.-noon on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays through Oct. 28 at the Donnie Pankiw Tennis Center in Waynesville. For players intermediate or higher skill level. $1 per day. 456.2030 or dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov.

• The Waynesville Recreation Center will offer additional courts for pickleball for seniors from 7 a.m.-noon on Mondays through Fridays. For ages 60-up. Free for members; $3 for nonmembers. 456.2030 or dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov.

• The Mexican Train Dominoes Group seeks new players to join games at 1 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays at the Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville.

356.2800.

• A Silver Sneakers Cardio Fit class will meet from 1011 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Haywood County Senior Recreation Center. For ages 60 and above. Cost is regular admission fee to the rec center or free for members at the Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. 356.2800.

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• Book Club is held at 2 p.m. on the third Wednesday of the month at the Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. 356.2800

coming months. Experienced spiritual directors and clergy guide you through a group centering session, evening prayer service and an individual spiritual direction session, while leaving you ample time for personal reflection and renewal. $297 for two nights lodging in Lambuth Inn, program and retreat booklet. Dates are Aug. 27-29, Sept. 3-6, Oct. 1-3 and Nov. 5-7. www.lakejunaluska.com/retreats.

331 Walnut Street Waynesville

268-267

• Senior croquet for ages 55 and older is offered from 9-11:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Vance Street Park in front of Waynesville Recreation Center.

Free. For info, contact Donald Hummel at 456.2030 or dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov.

• Pinochle game is played at 10 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. 356.2800.

• Mah Jongg is played at 1 p.m. on Wednesdays at Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville.

356.2800.

• A Canasta card game is set for 1 p.m. on Mondays at the Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. 356.2800.

Baptist Church. For info or to schedule an appointment: 564.3310 or www.voicesinthelaurel.org.

KIDS FILMS • “Christopher Robin” is showing at 7 p.m. on Aug. 22-23 at The Strand On Main. See www.38main.com for tickets.

• “Avengers Infinity War” will be shown at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 24 and Aug. 31 & 7 p.m. on Aug. 25 at Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. Free. 586.3555

• A Parkinson’s Support Group is held at 2 p.m. on the last Wednesdays of each month at the Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. 356.2800.

A&E

KIDS & FAMILIES • Reservations are being accepted for a “Parents Night Out” program for kids ages 3-12 on Monday evenings throughout September at Waynesville Recreation Center. Cost is free for members or $20 for the month for nonmembers. 456.2030 or tpetrea@waynesvillenc.gov.

• Auditions for Voices in the Laurel Youth Choirs will be held from 4-6 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 28, at First

FESTIVALS AND SPECIAL EVENTS • The “Art After Dark” in downtown Waynesville is hosted on the first Friday of the month (MayDecember), Main Street transforms into an evening of art, music, finger foods, beverages and shopping as artisan studios and galleries keep their doors open

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• The Town of Canton 112th Labor Day Festival – “A Celebration of All Things Made in Western North Carolina.” Will be on Sept. 2-3 in downtown Canton.

Cantonlaborday.com.

FOOD & DRINK • Throughout the rest of this month, Bosu’s Wine Shop in Waynesville will host an array of wine tastings and small plates from Chef Stacy’s gourmet cuisine, available at The Secret Wine Bar within the shop. Dog friendly patio and front garden open, weather permitting. Aug. 23/30: Five for $5 Wine Tasting from 5 to 9 p.m. Come taste five magnificent wines and dine on Chef Stacy’s gourmet cuisine. Aug. 24/31: Secret Wine Bar Night from 5 to 9 p.m.. Gourmet food, and a great wine & beer menu. Aug. 25: Free Saturday Wine Tasting from 1 to 5 p.m.: Every Saturday, Bosu’s opens two bottles (sometimes three) and pour free tastes.

Aug. 27: TGI Monday (Spanish Wine) Sale & Tasting from 1 to 5 p.m. All Spanish wines 15 percent off.

Aug. 29: Wines of the Iberian Peninsula Seated Tasting with Nick Demos, Advanced Sommelier, at 7 p.m. Join Bosu’s for this special seated tasting of Portuguese and Spanish wines. Light snacks served.

This is a ticketed event, reservations required. $20 per person. 452.0120 or www.waynesvillewine.com.

• There will be an Italian wine tasting and food pairing at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30, at the Classic Wineseller in Waynesville. Live music by Musica Nostra starting at 6:30 p.m. Cost is $55 per person.

RSVP at 452.6000 or www.classicwineseller.com.

ON STAGE & IN CONCERT • Subscriptions are on sale now for the Bardo Arts Center’s Sunday Cinema Series, which presents encore live performances from the National Theatre in London starting Aug. 26 in Cullowhee. The first is “Yerma” at 3 p.m. on Aug. 26. A subscription for all seven screenings is $90 or $60 for WCU faculty/staff and seniors or $25 for WCU students. Individual tickets on sale Aug. 15 at the rate of $15 for adults; $10 for WCU faculty/staff and seniors and $5 for students.

Arts.wcu.cinema or 828.227.ARTS.

• Graywolf will be among the bands kicking off the Haywood County fair at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 23, in Waynesville. Classic country and classic rock.

• Michael Bolton will be in perform at 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, Aug. 23, at The Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Tickets start at $65 per person. www.greatmountainmusic.com or 866.273.4615.

• Highlands Cashiers Players will present Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple” for a two-week run Aug. 23-26 and Aug. 30-Sept. 2 in Cashiers. Directed by Tanj Marshall. 526.8084 or highlandscashiersplayers.org.

• A program of vintage jazz and swing standards

• Rock/reggae act Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) will celebrate its 10-year anniversary with an all-day music event starting at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25, at Soul Infusion Tea House & Bistro in Sylva.

• The Western Carolina University School of Art and Design and WCU Bardo Arts Center present a special evening with Mark Mothersbaugh of DEVO at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25, at the center in Cullowhee.

• The United States Navy Band Country Current will perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

All tickets are free to this event and will be available from the theatre box office only. 524.1598 or www.greatmountainmusic.com.

• To conclude this year’s “Summer Music Series,” the Marianna Black Library is proud to present the traditional Appalachian music of The Pressley Girls at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30, in Bryson City. 488.3030 or www.fontanalib.org/brysoncity.

• A male vocal band quartet that blends open-harmonic jazz arrangements with big band vocal sounds, The Four Freshmen will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 1, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Tickets start at $20 each. www.greatmountainmusic.com or 866.273.4615.

• Haywood Community Chorus (HCC), directed by Kathy Geyer McNeil will begin fall rehearsals on Monday, Sept. 3. Registration will be at 6:30 p.m., followed by a full chorus rehearsal from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Rehearsals continue each Monday evening for 12 weeks, culminating in the annual Christmas concert, scheduled for 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2, at the First United Methodist Church in Waynesville. Membership dues are $30, which covers the cost of music and hiring musicians for concert performances. 18 and up are encouraged and welcome to join; auditions are not required. Please note that rehearsals are held in the Wilson Children’s Complex at Lake Junaluska.

557.9187.

SUMMER MUSIC • Cold Mountain Music Series will host Erik & Norma Hendrix at 5 p.m. on Aug. 25. Gates open at 3 p.m.

Admission is $15 for a car, $50 for 15-passenger van and $5 for bikes. Food will be offered by Out of the Blue. Reservations by calling 646.0095 and more information at www.lakelogan.com/events.

• The Concerts on the Creek will have Geoff McBride (rock/Americana) at 7 p.m. Aug. 24 at Bridge Park in downtown Sylva. Free and open to the public. There will also be food trucks onsite. 586.2155 or www.mountainlovers.com.

• The “Groovin’ on the Green” concert series at The Village Green in Cashiers will be hosting The Buchanan Boys at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 24. www.villagegreencashiersnc.com.

• “An Appalachian Evening” will host The Kruger Brothers at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25, at the Stecoah Valley Center. www.stecoahvalleycenter.com.

• Highlands Town Square “Friday Night Live” series will host Ben & Marce Aug. 24 and Silly Ridge Round Up Aug. 31. All shows are free and begin at 6 p.m. www.highlandschamber.org.

• The Concerts on the Creek will conclude their summer series with have Dashboard Blue (classic hits) at 7 p.m. Aug. 31 at Bridge Park in downtown Sylva.

Free and open to the public. There will also be food trucks onsite. 586.2155 or www.mountainlovers.com.

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• As part of a Summer Music Series, the Marianna Black Library will present an evening with Andrew Kasab at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 23, at the library in Bryson City. 488.3030 or visit www.fontanalib.org/brysoncity.

• The Haywood Arts Regional Theatre will present the hit musical “Ghost” at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 24, 31, Sept. 1, 6-8 and at 2 p.m. Aug. 25-26, Sept. 2, 9 in Waynesville. 456.6322 or www.harttheatre.org.

August 22-28, 2018

• There will be a barbecue and craft beer tasting from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 1, on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, departing from Bryson City.

Tickets start at $71 and include a souvenir tasting glass for three samples of finely crafted beer selections. Adults-only and family friendly seating.

800.872.4681 or www.gsmr.com.

wnc calendar

• Registration is underway for the 48th Smoky Mountain Folk Festival, featuring traditional music and dance of the Southern Appalachian Region. The festival is Aug. 31-Sept. 1 at Lake Junaluska. https://tinyurl.com/y9a6jpug, 800.222.4930 or communications@lakejunaluska.com.

from the big band era, “Library Swings” will be presented at 1 p.m. Friday, Aug. 24, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. arts4all@dnet.net or 524.ARTS (2787).

new

later for local residents and visitors. www.waynesvillegalleryassociation.com.

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wnc calendar

CLASSES AND PROGRAMS • Bingo will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 23 at the Pavilion next to Maggie Valley Town. Sponsored by the Maggie Valley Civic Association. Cash prizes; snacks available.

• Cruso will host its 29th annual quilt show on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 24-25. Times are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday at the Cruso Community Center, 13186 Cruso Road in Canton.

Special exhibits, demonstrations, vendors and boutique gift shopping. www.crusonc.com or 919.949.0943.

• The Glenville Area Historical Society’s Historical Discovery Event will feature the history of Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy on Saturday, Aug. 25 at the Glenville History Museum. 743.1658, historicalsocietyglenvillearea@yahoo.com or www.glenvilleareahistoricalsociety.com.

• There will be a gourd nite light workshop at 11 a.m.

Saturday, Aug. 25, at the Uptown Gallery in Franklin.

Instructor will be Betsey Sloan. Using a prepared gourd, students will create a nite lite, using either a vinyl design or buttons. Must bring a drill (Dremel, etc.) and bits. Cost is $20 members, $25 non-members. Please register at the gallery, located at 30 East Main Street. 349.4607.

• The Highlands Village Square Art & Craft Show is scheduled for 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Aug. 25-26 at KelseyHutchinson “Founders” Park on Pine Street in downtown Highlands. Fine art, folk art and regionally made crafts. 787.2021.

• There will be an upcoming artist workshop to be held by the Haywood County Arts Council at the HCAC Gallery & Gifts in Waynesville. Betina Morgan will host a drawing class from 2 to 4 p.m. Aug. 28. Cost is $20 per person. Call HCAC for a supply list. 452.0593.

ART SHOWINGS AND August 22-28, 2018

GALLERIES • The Haywood County Arts Council (HCAC) will host Betina Morgan, who will be teach a drawing class from 2 to 4 p.m. Aug. 28, at the HCAC Gallery & Gifts in Waynesville. Cost is $20 per class session. Call for supply list. www.haywoodarts.org.

• The “Meet the Artist” reception with Brian Hannum (pianist), Drew Campbell (photographer) and Jon Houglum (painter) will be from 3 to 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 31, at Gallery Zella in Bryson City. Enjoy North Carolina wine, food and music. Free to attend. 488.3638 or www.galleryzella.com.

• The Haywood County Arts Council will hold a new showcase featuring local artist Bee Sieberg & Students exhibiting their work Aug. 31-Sept. 29 at the gallery in downtown Waynesville. www.haywoodarts.org.

Smoky Mountain News

• A new exhibit exploring the artistry, history and science behind the fragrance industry is open through Sept. 3 at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville Lecture by Dr. Richard Stamelman on the mysterious allure behind fragrances and the plants.

• Photographers Ed and Cindy Boos will present their nature photography from around the world at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 4, at Hudson Library in Highlands.

• An exhibit on photographer William A. Barnhill is on display through Sept. 14 at Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Center in Cullowhee.

Barnhill documented 20th century regional craftsmanship. 227.7129.

FILM & SCREEN • “Deadpool 2” will be shown at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 23 at Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. Free. 586.3555 • “Yerma” will be screened as part of the Bardo Arts Center’s Sunday Cinema Series at 3 p.m. on Aug. 26 in Cullowhee. $15 for adults; $10 for WCU faculty/staff and seniors and $5 for students. Arts.wcu.cinema or 42 828.227.ARTS.

• A documentary entitled “The Well Placed Weed, the Bountiful Life of Ryan Gainey” will be shown at 5 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 27, at Hines Hall at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Cashiers. Tickets: $20. Info: info@villagegreencashiersnc.com or 743.3434.

• “Book Club” will be shown at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 30 at Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. Free. 586.3555 • “RBG”, Ruth Barter Ginsburg documentary will be shown at 7p.m. on Sept. 1 at Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. Free. 586.3555

Outdoors

• Volunteers are being sought to help re-pot native azaleas from 9 a.m.-noon on Tuesdays through Thursdays at the Southern Highlands Reserve in Lake Toxaway. For info, and to schedule a shift: anorton@southernhighlandsreserve.org.

• Registration is underway for The Great Smoky Mountains Association’s 2018 Members Appreciation Weekend, which is scheduled for Thursday through Sunday, Sept. 13-16, at Fontana Village. Learn about Eagle and Hazel Creek communities, guided tours and more. $109. Register: https://conta.cc/2lHoLSI. • “Big Ideas and Lessons for Conservation Ecology” part of the Zahner Lecture Series – will be presented at 6 p.m. on Aug. 23 at the Nature Center at the Highlands Biological Station. www.highlandsbiological.org or 526.2221.

• A screening of the award-winning documentary “Sustainable” – an investigation of the economic and environmental instability of America’s food system – is scheduled for 2-4 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 23, at the Waynesville Library Auditorium.

• Smoky Mountain Field School will offer an ecotour called “Historic Cataloochee Valley, Smoky Mountain Elk and More” on Saturday, Aug. 25, in Haywood County. Led by naturalist Esther Blakely. Cost: $69.

Register: smfs.utk.edu.

• Mainspring Conservation Trust will host a day of snorkeling starting at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 25, in Graham County’s Cheoah River. Hosted by Aquatic Biologist Jason Meador. $15 adults; $10 children. Sign up: 524.2711 or sburdette@mainspringconserves.org.

• The Waynesville Parks and Recreation Department will offer a paddle trip from 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. on Aug. 27 on the French Broad River. $25 per person. Register and get more info: 456.2030 or tpetrea@waynesvillenc.gov.

• Boating Safety courses will be offered from 6-9 p.m. on Aug. 28-29 and Sept. 10-11 at Haywood Community College in Clyde. Must attend both meetings. Pre-registration required: www.ncwildlife.org.

• “The Mushroom Matrix” - part of the Zahner Lecture Series – will be presented at 6 p.m. on Aug. 30 at the Nature Center at the Highlands Biological Station. www.highlandsbiological.org or 526.2221.

• Registration is underway for the Qualla Country Trout Tournament, which is scheduled for Friday through Sunday, Aug. 31-Sept. 2, in Cherokee. 359.6110 or paprice@nc-cherokee.com.

• “Cherokee Culture” - part of the Zahner Lecture Series – will be presented at 6 p.m. on Sept. 6 at the Nature Center at the Highlands Biological Station. www.highlandsbiological.org or 526.2221.

• Reservations are being accepted for the 2018 Fly Fishing Hall of Fame ceremony, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 7, at Nantahala Brewing in Bryson City. Induction and ceremony are set for 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. on Sept. 8. Cost: $35. RSVP: info@greatsmokies.com or 488.3681.

• An easy cycling ride aiming to help people ease into

a healthier lifestyle through cycling is offered in the Canton area, typically covering 8-10 miles. Road bikes are preferred and helmets are required. Nobody will be left behind. A partnership of Bicycle Haywood N.C., the Blue Ridge Bike Club and MountainWise. For specific start times and locations: mttrantham@hotmail.com.

• A cycling ride exploring the Fire Mountain Trail System in Cherokee will be offered at 6 p.m. every other Thursday, rides started on April 12. Participants will divide into a beginner group and a non-beginner group, with 60 to 90 minutes on the trail each time.

Organized by the Nantahala Area Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association, with an event page at www.facebook.com/NantahalaAreaSORBA/. nantahala.area.sorba@gmail.com.

• A cycling ride exploring the Western Carolina University mountain bike trails will be offered at 6 p.m. every other Thursday, begin on April 19 in Cullowhee.

Participants will meet at the N.C. Center for the Advancement of Teaching and divide into a beginner group and a non-beginner group, with 60 to 90 minutes on the trail each time. Organized by the Nantahala Area Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association, with an event page at www.facebook.com/NantahalaAreaSORBA/. nantahala.area.sorba@gmail.com • A cycling ride leaves at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, with alternating starts at Smoky Mountain Bicycles and South Macon Elementary School in Franklin. Routes vary. Road bikes only. A no drop ride. Organized by Smoky Mountain Bicycles, 369.2881 or info@smokymtnbikes.com. Check the “Macon County Cyclists” Facebook page for updates.

FARM AND GARDEN • An upcoming round of seminars will show participants how to grow ginseng. Seminars are scheduled for 10:15 a.m.-noon on Tuesday, Sept. 4, at Albert Carlton Cashiers Library; 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, Sept.

13, at the Jackson County Extension Center in Sylva and 6-8 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 17, at the Swain County Extension Center in Bryson City. Registration required: 586.4009 or 488.3848.

FARMERS MARKETS • “Locally Grown on the Green,” the Cashiers farm stand market for local growers, will be held from 3-6 p.m. every Wednesday at the Village Green Commons in Cashiers. info@villagegreencashiersnc.com or 743.3434.

• The Swain County Farmer’s Market is held from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. every Friday through October on Island Street in downtown Bryson City. 488.3681 or chamber@greatsmokies.com.

• Jackson County Farmers Market runs from 9 to noon on Saturdays at Bridge Park in downtown Sylva.

• Waynesville Historic Farmers Market runs from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays 8 a.m. to noon at the HART Theater parking lot. waynesvillefarmersmarket.com • Franklin Farmers Tailgate Market runs from 8 a.m. to noon, Saturdays through the end of October, on East Palmer Street across from Drake Software. 349.2049 or www.facebook.com/franklinncfarmersmarket.

• A no-drop relaxed cycling road ride will roll from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesdays through the end of October from Motion Makers Bicycle Shop in Sylva. Routes vary and are open to cyclists of all levels. Organized by Motion Makers, 586.6925.

• The ‘Whee Farmers Market, Cullowhee runs from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays through the end of October, at the University Inn on 563 North Country Club Drive in Cullowhee. 476.0334 or www.facebook.com/CullowheeFarmersMarket.

• A group road cycling ride will leave at 6 p.m. on Tuesdays through the end of October from Motion Makers Bicycle Shop in Sylva to tackle a 40-mile “race” to the Balsam Post Office, climbing 1,600 feet of elevation gain. Organized by Motion Makers, 586.6925.

• The Original Waynesville Tailgate Market runs from 8 a.m. to noon on Wednesdays and Saturdays through the end of October at 171 Legion Drive in Waynesville.

456.1830 or vrogers12@att.net.

• A pair of ladies-only mountain bike rides will be offered at 6 p.m. on Wednesdays through Oct. 31 from the Ledford Branch Trailhead at Bent Creek in Asheville. A beginner-friendly, recovery pace social ride will cover 5 to 8 miles, with all skill levels encouraged to attend. Simultaneously, a training ride for ladies who know how to handle a bike and want to increase their speed will cover 8 to 12 miles on Bent Creek’s more technical trails. Organized by Motion Makers Bicycle Shop. 633.2227.

HIKING CLUBS • Carolina Mountain Club will have a 9.8-mile hike with a 2,264-foot ascent on Aug. 25 from Soco Gap to Woodfin Cascades. Info and reservations: 684.8656, 606.7297 or bjdworley@gmail.com.

• Carolina Mountain Club will have an eight-mile hike with a 1,500-foot ascent on Sunday, Aug. 26, at Sam Knob. Info and reservations: 864.398.2426 or blmspbgsc1957@yahoo.com.

• A weekly nighttime mountain bike ride is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Mondays from the Ledford Branch Trailhead at Bent Creek in Asheville. Organized by Motion Makers Bicycles. 633.2227.

• Carolina Mountain Club will have a 5.7-mile hike with a 1,300-foot ascent on Sunday, Aug. 26, at John Rock and Ice Cream Stop. Info and reservations: 777.5806 or bevmacdowellhappy@gmail.com.

• Starting in June, a cycling ride will leave at 8 a.m. on Saturdays from South Macon Elementary School in Franklin. Routes vary with distances typically 15-25 miles. Road bikes only. A no drop ride. Organized by Smoky Mountain Bicycles, 369.2881 or info@smokymtnbikes.com. Check the “Macon County Cyclists” Facebook page for updates.

• Carolina Mountain Club will have an eight-mile hike with a 2,000-foot acent on Wednesday, Aug. 29, at Horsepasture River. Info and reservations: 363.9950, 290.4429 or tbrode5060@yahoo.com.

COMPETITIVE EDGE • Registration is underway for the Tour de Cashiers, which is Saturday, Sept. 15. Options include 25-mile, 62-mile and 100-mile for cyclists and 5K for runners. $30-$50 through Aug. 26; prices rise afterward. www.tourdecashiers.com.

• Registration is underway for the 12th annual Power of Pink 5K run/Walk/Dog Walk that will be held on Saturday, Sept. 29, in Waynesville. Proceeds support prevention of breast cancer. Advance registration: $25 (by Aug. 31). Regular registration: $30 (after Aug. 31).

Dog registration is $10 per pet. Register at www.gloryhoundevents.com/event/power-of-pink. Info: 452.8343.

• Carolina Mountain Club will have a 10-mile hike with a 1,900-foot ascent on Sunday, Sept. 2, at Canebrake Trail. Info and reservations: 676.0255, 699.8857 or Isbernhardt50@gmail.com.

• Carolina Mountain Club will have a five-mile hike with a 1,000-foot elevation gain on Sept. 2 at Florence Nature Preserve. Info and reservations: 585.662.8047 or ron.navik@gmail.com.

• A statewide hike of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail is scheduled for Friday through Sunday, Sept. 7-9.

Participants can choose any portion they’d like and are asked to report miles and tag photos with #MSTBirthdayHike. www.mountainstoseatrail.org/birthdayhike.

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Rates:

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FOWLER - ONE OF A LITTER OF FOUR KITTENS ABOUT 11 WEEKS OLD. HE IS THE ONLY MALE. THEY ARE TYPICAL KITTENS, PLAYFUL AND ACTIVE, AND THEY ENJOY PLAYING WITH EACH OTHER, AN EMPTY BOX, JINGLE BALLS, OR WHATEVER ELSE THEY CAN GET THEIR LITTLE PAWS ON.

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EMPLOYMENT

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OFFICE HOURS:

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Equal Housing Opportunity

Equal Housing Opportunity

REAL ESTATE ANNOUNCEMENT All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Fair Housing Act which makes it illegal to advertise “any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, or an intention, to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination” Familial status includes children under the age of 18 living with parents or legal custodians, pregnant women and people securing custody of children under 18 This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All dwellings advertised in this newspaper are on an equal opportunity basis.

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Berkshire Hathaway - www.4Smokys.com Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate- Heritage • Carolyn Lauter - carolyn@bhgheritage.com Beverly Hanks & Associates- beverly-hanks.com • Ann Eavenson - anneavenson@beverly-hanks.com • George Escaravage - gescar@beverly-hanks.com • Billie Green - bgreen@beverly-hanks.com • Michelle McElroy- michellemcelroy@beverly-hanks.com • Marilynn Obrig - mobrig@beverly-hanks.com • Steve Mauldin - smauldin@beverly-hanks.com • Brian K. Noland - brianknoland.com • Anne Page - apage@beverly-hanks.com • Brooke Parrott - bparrott@beverly-hanks.com • Jerry Powell - jpowell@beverly-hanks.com • Catherine Proben - cproben@beverly-hanks.com • Ellen Sither - ellensither@beverly-hanks.com • Mike Stamey - mikestamey@beverly-hanks.com • Karen Hollingsed- khollingsed@beverly-hanks.com • Steve Mauldin- smauldin@beverly-hanks.com • Jerry Powell - jpowell@beverly-hanks.com • Mike Stamey - mstamey@beverly-hanks.com ERA Sunburst Realty - sunburstrealty.com • Amy Spivey - amyspivey.com • Rick Border - sunburstrealty.com • Pam James - pjames@sunburstrealty.com

Jerry Lee Mountain Realty Jerry Lee Hatley- jerryhatley@bellsouth.net Keller Williams Realty - kellerwilliamswaynesville.com • The Morris Team - www.themorristeamnc.com

Lakeshore Realty • Phyllis Robinson - lakeshore@lakejunaluska.com

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find us at: facebook.com/smnews

• Ron Rosendahl - ron@mountaincreekrealestate.com

Mountain Dreams Realty- maggievalleyhomesales.com • Shirley Cole - shirleycole13@gmail.com Mountain Home Properties mountaindream.com • Cindy Dubose - cdubose@mountaindream.com

McGovern Real Estate & Property Management • Bruce McGovern - shamrock13.com RE/MAX Executive - remax-waynesvillenc.com remax-maggievalleync.com • Holly Fletcher - hollyfletcher1975@gmail.com • The Real Team - TheRealTeamNC.com • Ron Breese - ronbreese.com • Landen Stevenson- Landen@landenstevenson.com • Dan Womack - womackdan@aol.com • Mary & Roger Hansen - mwhansen@charter.net • Judy Meyers - jameyers@charter.net • David Rogers - davidr@remax-waynesvillenc.com • Marsha Block- marshablockestates@gmail.com Rob Roland Realty - robrolandrealty.com

• Rob Roland - rroland33@gmail.com Rock Realty- rockrealtyonline.com Jeff Ferguson-jeff.rockrealty@gmail.com

smokymountainnews.com

SAVE YOUR HOME! Are you behind paying your Mortgage? Denied a Loan Modification? Is the bank threatening foreclosure? CALL 844.359.4330

OCEAN ISLE BEACH Last minute summer vacation bargains! Mention this ad and reveive a discount on all vacation homes and condominiums. Cooke Realty 1.800.622.3224. www.cookerealty.com

August 22-28, 2018

CHICKEN FARM, MARTIN COUNTY. Asking $275,000. Four operating houses, tractor and equipment incl., 6.5 acres. Motivated seller.

Call Harrell & Associates 252.441.7887.

4BD/5BA 4BD 4B BD/ D/5 /5B 5BA BA - 3494 349 34 494 94 Sq Ft 4BD 4B 4BD/4BA BD/ D/4 /4B 4BA BA on on Main Mai Ma ain in Level Lev Le eve vel el 2 Bonus Boonu nus us Rooms/1BA Roo Ro oooms ms/ s/1 /1B 1BA BA Lower Low owe wer er Level Lev eve vel ell Gorg rggeou eous F Fiirreeepppllac lace in Gr Gre rreea eat Roo oom Fiirreeepplac F lace & JJaac acuzz uzzzzi in M Maaste aster BD BD Exxcel xceell xc elle leent ent en Vac acat caati atio ioon Re Rent Ren enta ntaal Dec De Deck eck ck w/Hot w/H w/ /Ho Hoot Tub Tuub Facing Fa Fac accing inng V Viiew ieews ws Innnco com come Coomp Complete mpl ple leete Privacy Pri Pr riv iva vac acy cy on on 8.62 8.62 Acr Acrreess

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TO ADVERTISE IN THE NEXT ISSUE 828.452.4251 | ads@smokymountainnews.com 45

WNC MarketPlace August 22-28, 2018 www.smokymountainnews.com 46

CROSSWORD CLUES ACROSS 1. Sacred bull (Egyptian myth.)

5. One-time European money 8. Disfigure 11. Polish city 13. Move quickly on foot 14. Landlocked West African country 15. Used in aromatherapy 16. The greatest of all time 17. Type of horse 18. Volcanic craters 20. Type of graph (abbr.)

21. Supporters 22. North and South are two 25. Spread 30. Adjusted 31. Vietnamese offensive 32. Nazi architect 33. Nigerian peoples 38. When you hope to get there 41. Ridicules 43. Allied Powers vs. Central Powers 45. Produce 47. Ancient kingdom near Dead Sea 49. Hebrew unit of liquid capacity 50. Type of sword

55. “Sin City” actress 56. Female reproductive cells 57. Afflicted 59. One point north of northeast 60. Garland 61. Spiritual leader 62. Negative 63. Tooth caregiver 64. Cheek CLUES DOWN 1. Form of “to be” 2. A hand has one 3. Thought 4. Physical body 5. Removes 6. One who perpetrates wrongdoing 7. Make one 8. Kate and Rooney are two 9. __ Ladd, “Shane” actor 10. Makes fun of 12. Space station 14. Gene 19. Satisfy 23. Livid 24. It comes after “et” 25. More (Spanish) 26. Electronic data processing 27. Buffer solution to separate

DNA and RNA 28. Primate 29. Scattered 34. Evergreen tree 35. What engaged couples will say 36. Barbie’s friend 37. Midway between south and southeast 39. A position from which progress can be made 40. Showed up 41. Insecticide 42. Type of milk 44. Verandas 45. Annoyingly talkative 46. Abba __, Israeli politician 47. “Heat” director 48. Plant genus 51. Swiss river 52. Prejudice 53. Actor Idris 54. Freedom fighters (slang) 58. Criticize

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Turkeys played important role in Cherokee culture Editor’s note: This George Ellison column first appeared in The Smoky Mountain News in August 2016. he comeback of the wild turkey in the southern mountains in recent years is one of the notable success stories in wildlife restoration. Thirty or so years ago, the sighting of a flock of wild turkeys was a rarity. Thanks to the combined efforts of the National Wild Turkey Federation and its local chapters, working in conjunction with federal and state wildlife agencies, such sightings — while always memorable — have become rather commonplace.

The demise of the great bird in the face of over hunting and habitat destruction is a part of the story that’s been recited many times in wildlife publications. Another part of the historical record that’s been overlooked, however, is body of lore having to do with rituals and hunting methods of the ancient Cherokees.

The turkey population at the time of European contact has been estimated at 10 million birds. The bird was especially plentiful in what became the southeastern United States. In the region presently occupied by state of Georgia, it has been estimated that the population exceeded 500,000 birds.

Flocks numbering several hundred turkeys were commonly reported by early observers.

Deer and turkey were the favorite game

animals of the Cherokees. They knew the turkey as “gvna” (or sometimes “duleji”), which means “kernels” — a reference to the bird’s red throat appendage that has a kernel-like texture.

Another name applied only to male gobblers was “galagina” — which is glossed as “buck” — in association with the male deer. That the turkey was the most important of Columnist the avian fauna hunted by the Cherokees was clearly symbolized by its having led all the other wild birds out of the earth in their creation story depicting the origin of game and corn.

According to their mythology, the bird acquired many of its distinctive attributes as a result of specific incidents. The black “beard” that mature males have on their breasts is “actually” a scalp that the ancestral wild turkey stole from the ancestral terrapin.

One day the bird met the turtle coming home from a war with a fresh scalp hanging from its neck.

“That scalp doesn’t look right on you,” the turkey said. “Your neck is too short and

George Ellison

T

BACK THEN

low down to wear it that way. Let me show you.”

After putting the scalp around its own neck, the turkey “kept on walking ... and then broke into a run,” escaping with the scalp, which, in time, became breast feathers. But before the turkey made his escape he was shot in the legs with cane splints by the irate terrapin. While eating a drumstick, have you ever noticed the numerous splintered, seemingly useless bones? Now you know how they got there.

The grouse obtained its fine collar of turkey-like feathers in exchange for giving the larger bird voice lessons.

“I’ll stand on this hollow log, and when I give the signal by tapping on it, you must halloo as loudly as you can,” instructed the grouse.

But, alas, when the grouse suddenly drummed on the log, the turkey was so startled it couldn’t shout loudly. What came out instead was a surprised “gobble, gobble, gobble.” That’s why, whenever the male hears a sudden noise in the woods, he can only gobble.

The wild turkey became an essential element in the performance of major Cherokee ceremonies. Its meat was consumed during annual religious festivals. Large turkey-feather fans were waved over each new chief at his inauguration ceremony. Beautiful capes were made for important events from turkey

feathers sewn like overlapping shingles onto skins or cloth (an excellent example of this type of garment is on display at The Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee). Cockspurs were fastened to warrior’s moccasins and the long stems on their war pipes.

The Cherokee turkey dance mimicked the movements of both the hunter and the turkey, no doubt enacted on the theory that if you know how a bird feels and moves you have a better chance of anticipating its actions in the woods. Various formulas were sung before the hunt so as to exert magical power over the bird and make it come forth from cover. Not surprisingly, all of the recorded formulas had to do with observing turkeys in open, upland coves while the birds scratched in the leaf litter. In other words, the cautious birds would hopefully be located out in the open where they could readily be stalked or ambushed. Try singing this little formula (softly) the next time you go looking for a wild turkey: We are living in one cove, a flat and level cove.

We are scratching, spreading leaves, in just one cove.

Tail feathers spreading first one side, then the other.

(George Ellison is a naturalist and writer.

He can be reached at info@georgeellison.com.)

Labor Day Weekend

August 22-28, 2018

Western Carolina Football Home Opener Saturday, September 1 - vs. Newberry – 6 pm ns

e e fr

irt h s tt u O ite Wh

For ticket info: CATAMOUNTSPORTS.COM or 888.34.GOWCU

White Out & Fireworks Night

Smoky Mountain News

a 00 f 0 , 5 a t Firs eceive r

#WhiteOutWhitmire 47

JOIN THE

TEAM!

. . . e l z z u P a s ’ e Lif

We will

Help You put it together!

Project MARS/AmeriCorps is recruiting for full-time positions in Haywood, Swain, Transylvania, Cherokee, Graham and Buncombe counties.

MANY TO CHOOSE FROM

MEMBERS WILL: • Serve children directly within the schools

New shipment of Spring & Summer designs from:

• Provide mentoring, academic assistance and resources for success • Collaborate with teachers, staff and administration to identify students with needs

Smoky Mountain News

August 22-28, 2018

Living allowance, health insurance stipend, education awardand loan forbearance available.

Candidates must have a bachelor’s degree.

Please contact Kate Snow, program director for additional information: katies@bbbswnc.org or at 336.354.3325

48

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